Kage/Shadow is Kira – but on this particular Arc, and to capitalize the fact that this is a Kira-Lacus fic… I'm writing him as Kira, but others will still call him Kage/Shadow.

And again… I will soon move this fic to M-rate. A precursor for future chapters.

When I said re-editing… the idea was simply to fine-tune and check for grammatical mistakes… turns out I found several unacceptable weak plot error, and I had to overhaul everything and cut several events. But in the end, I'm quite happy with this one. Enjoy.

NOTE:

"Doryaaaaaaaaaa!": normal talking

"Charge!": special case

'Darn!': thoughts

GWA HA HA HA! : Giant creature speech

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!

Please… read and review

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Chapter 27

I'm NOT your Bony Prince Charming!

The pilgrims continued their journey, but the atmosphere suddenly became extremely awkward, to put it kindly. Now everyone understood that Shadow and their beloved Princess Lacus was far from getting along. More like, it became clear that their silent treatment was the prelude of what now had become a blatant show of open hostility between arch enemies. Lamia and Hilda take extra measure not to allow Kira anywhere closer to Lacus. They don't have much to do in practice, since Kira now prefer solitude and spend most of his time alone, away from the company of the rest. The fact that the knights also did nothing to reprimand Lacus for her actions further enraged Kira. He refused to talk to anyone; and no one wants to talk to a man who dared to strike a girl in public either. Then there's the fact that Kira was still supposed to protect Lacus, which means he can't punish her personally. This fact struck a nerve on Kira. The wrong nerve. With no option left but to let the culprit got away lightly, the ninja vent out his anger on any unfortunate Genma that gets in his way.

A Genma had his skull literally smashed to pieces by Kira's knee as he ripped its clawed arm off and used the claw as a clubbing weapon, slapping the Genma several times with it before he used it as a throwing projectile, hurling it to a knight's head. As he finished the Genma with a slit to the throat with a kunai, he burst through the Genma's body as it turned to ashes to deal with the knight. The Knight clumsily lunge its sword forward only to have it cut by Shiki. Kira roared as he stabbed the Knight's gut with a kunai, and then push it upwards, effectively splitting the knight's dorsal area to two and then a horizontal bisection with Shiki as a finisher.

In response to his worsening temper, Kira's fighting method had become increasingly brutal, more savage. So brutal in fact, Waltfeldt suspected, his preference to melee engagement had reached the point where Kira would fight with tooth and nail if given the opportunity. And each time after combat, Kira would make a short report to Lowe and then zoom off ahead as scout, away from the others but never out of the earshot. Returning occasionally only to keep track of the pilgrims and help them off to deal with Genmas when they appear. He hardly spoke to anyone anymore unless absolutely necessary. Still… this drastic change in Shadow made the pilgrims wonder: should they be more afraid of the Genma or this man?

Lacus was no help either. After her open slapping, Lacus' mutual enmity with Kira had reached the point where her silent treatment had extended to everyone, even her sister. No matter how many times Lamia would glance to her, asking her in whispers on what the hell is really going on, she refused to answer by remaining silent. Lacus, in particular, pay close attention as to how easily Kira plow through the obstacles of the pilgrimage. She also looked at the fact that they're getting closer at the next sanctuary… at a ridiculously fast rate. A speed spurt owed largely to Kira's increased aggressiveness. But even Lamia would notice that the closer they get to the pillar, the paler and the more anxious Lacus get.

In summary, nobody understood what the hell is wrong with these two, other than the fact they are clearly at each other's throat. Only these two people knew exactly – or at least, had some faint idea, on what's happening with each other, and both take convenience in not talking or divulging anything.

As soon as the last Genma turned to dust, Kira didn't say a word but a nod to Lowe, and then he vanished in a puff of smoke, out ahead for scouting again.

"Haiyaah… he's REALLY pissed." Lowe moaned as he ruffled his hair. However, a few minutes later, Kira returned, far earlier than the usual 10 to 15 minutes, much to Lowe's confusion. "Pardner?"

"We're there."

"What?"

"The Sanctuary is just few kilometers away from here."

"You kidding me!" Lowe gaped in shock. It took them a month and a half just to get from one sanctuary to the next! And they just get to the said sanctuary this morning! And now they managed to get to the next already in just half a day?

Waltfeldt, who also heard the statement, looked at the pillar of light in disbelief. They used the size of the pillar of light as an indicator of how close they are to the next sanctuary. Judging by its size, they've shouldn't be anywhere close. And the pillar of light seems relatively smaller compared to previous ones they've passed through. Though he had to admit they've been travelling with little to no pause, so he kinda expected they'll be arriving at the next sanctuary much faster… but he couldn't imagine it'll be THIS fast. "You're sure?"

"I've seen the sanctuary with my own eyes. But we got few problems ahead."

"P…Problem?"

200 meters later…

The pilgrims stopped and looked at a relatively large bridge that crossed a dark chasm. The bridge is made of tattered wood, supported by worn out rope. One look and everyone understood what Shadow meant as problem: the bridge looked like anything… but safe.

"As you can see, it's tattered and it looked like it'll fall off in one fell swoop. But I think it can support even Waltfeldt-san just fine." Kira explained.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I tested it." Kira undo one of his handguard and gave it to Waltfeldt.

The Hakutenkun's eyes widened slightly upon feeling the weight of the said handguard. He nimbly measured the handguard's weight… "50 kilos?" Waltfeldt tossed the handguard back to Kira who caught it and put it back on.

"I got five of these things worn under my clothes." Kira was referring to his jacket, his leg guards and his handguards. "And I walked laps over that bridge on my scouting of the area. So I think…?" Kira's comment trailed to a full stop when he realized everyone is looking at his black clad slender, slim, no-muscle figure in disbelief. "…what?"

"Shadow-kun, reach to the sky. Banzaaaii…" Waltfeldt basically requested Kira to raise his hands.

"?" Wondering what on earth is he up to, Kira raised both of his hands upward and Waltfeldt grabbed him by the waist before lifting the ninja slightly off the ground. The Hakutenkun was measuring Shadow's full weight for a moment and then he dropped him back gently.

Waltfeldts start calculating: "From your weight… 250 belong to the weight suits… 20 belong to the chain mail coat… your equipment… that's about another 20 kilos… give or take 1 or 2 kilos…" Waltfeldt twitched in disbelief as he spurted the grand verdict: "…you're only 50 KILOS?"

"Well… yeah."

"What the hell have you been eating man?" Lowe gulped.

"Half bowl of ramen the morning I left here… and then I'm stapled on jerkies for the last few days. It doesn't matter. I never get fat no matter how much I ate anyway."

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Everyone looked at the source of the commotion: the horrified shriek of all the females in vicinity, even from the stone-cold Hilda! Lamia and Lacus jawdropped as their eyes twitched dangerously. Kisato looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. The other female knights stare dumbly at the ninja. They huddled up and began whispering amongst each other.

"Hey, how much do you weight?"

"I'm blabla-kilos. You?"

"I'm blabla-kilos." The lady knights looked at Kira again for one second… and then start crying en-masse, near hysterically, in shame.

"…what did I do?" Ever the dense person, Kira tilted his head in confusion.

"Girls will be girls." Liam chuckled. He even noticed some males are jealous out of their skull for Kira as well. Who wouldn't be?

"Anyway, I think you should apologize, Shadow-kun." Waltfeldt smiled solemnly in understanding.

"Eh? What for?"

"Girls don't like being outdone on THAT area by guys." Lowe snickered.

"What area?"

"Well, you know. Their w-" Before Lowe can elaborate further, Kisato threw a spiked mace to her boss' head, much to Kira's confusion.

"W…?"

"Shadow-san… it's a… it's a girl thing." Hilda, blushing as she's ever aware of her own weight-but less hysteric about it- cleared her throat after her involuntary outburst. It also serves to calm down the female knights under her charge. And so they stop crying. For now.

"Hmm." Kira's brow furrowed. "Anyway… as I was saying… basically, you knights can walk across, armor and all. But I think, to play it safe… two or three at a time." Kira looked at Hilda's heavy armor and Waltfeldt's large figure and quickly added. "Or alone, in case of those who are heavy loaded." Again the girls cried in shame, much to Kira's confusion. "…what's with the waterworks? What did I say?"

Lowe tapped Kira's shoulder several times. "Pardner, when we live through this… you and I gotta talk."

Kira quickly arranged the order they cross. "Waltfeldt-san, Hilda-san, you two are the heaviest among us. So you go last."

"And you're not heavy at 340 kilos, Shadow?" Hilda commented.

To answer that, Kira swiftly walked to the edge of the cliff, and then, in a blink of an eye, the shinobi turned into a black flicker and vanish in a puff of smoke, instantaneously reappearing on the other side of the cliff, to the shock and awe of everyone. And then Kira returned back to his original spot the same way he disappeared. "Oh, I really did test the bridge. Now unless you guys can do the same thing, you better start walking while the bridge is still intact." No comment. Kira also added: "There's also a sizable contingent of Genmas nearby. This place is the perfect spot for ambush so I suggest we move it QUICK. This is why I need you two to stay put. In case our rear is in danger…"

"We're the only ones who can hold our ground long enough for you to back us up with that flicker thingamajig. Got it." Waltfeldt gave a thumb up. Hilda also nodded and shouldered her spear. Soon, everyone divided themselves into small groups of threes.

"In that case I'm staying for the last too pardner."

"Lowe?" Kira looked at the spike haired man questioningly.

"I'm heavier than I look." Lowe tucked his super heavy nodachi, the Gerbera.

"Fine."

And so, they began crossing in threes. Kira moved to the other side to guard the incoming team. Just as Kira had expected, the bridge, tattered as it may, prove to be sturdier than it appears, capable of supporting the knights, armor and all. Soon, the other side is filled with a lot of knights, with the other side gradually became fewer and fewer. Soon, there are only a few knights left, and there's also Lacus and Lamia. Upon seeing this, Kira pay a closer attention. This is the problem he spoke of earlier.

"Lowe! Hilda! You two come here one by one! Now there are more people here. I could use a little help."

"Okay…" Hilda moved in first, and then Lowe. The bridge… still holds… though a few pieces did fall off to the abyss. A soon as Lowe arrive on the other side, the bridge looked more unsafe than ever. Hilda became incredibly nervous, especially with her charge, Lacus and Lamia is still on the other side. Hilda looked at Kira. He could move in a flash across the chasm. It's possible he could carry people across as well. But… Hilda swallowed a gulp. With the ninja and the princess at each other's throat… will he be willing to do that?

Before Hilda can think further, Kira flickered to the other side. He eyed Lacus viciously. "You and Lamia will go together."

That's an order, not a request. Lamia also wouldn't have it any other way either. "Come on Nee-sama."

Lacus nodded and the two sisters began to cross the bridge together, and everyone tensely held their breath. Lacus felt incredibly uncomfortable, not because the bridge seems to be falling apart, but given that Kira is eying her every move, her every step making sure that she won't come up with more mischief. As the two princesses began their slow crossing, Kira silently began to contemplate Lacus' actions so far. The first time when she 'accidentally' stunned him, Lamia and Waltfeldt… and then she 'accidentally' trip herself, falling to her possible death. And then, there's the time she switched his weapon with a fake. For a moment, it seems her target shifted to Kira, but all in all… in the long run, they ended up on the same goal. He can sense that the sisters' care for each other are genuine, would Lacus came up with something that would endanger her sister as well? This is the reason Kira wanted Lacus to go together with her sister. That doesn't mean he can relax his guard though.

Soon, the two sisters had reached just a few more steps from the end of the bridge, and almost everyone seemingly had found their breath. The knights at the end of the bridge distance themselves from the bridge to give space for the sisters. But Kira wasn't so sure.

SNAP.

That sound made everyone's heart skip a beat. The rope began to unravel right from the other end. Lamia, in fear for her sister, quickly rushed the short distance while pulling her sister's arm without looking back. But to her horror… she can feel her hand slipping away from her grip and that Lacus didn't budge an inch from where she was standing. When Lamia inadvertently and safely arrived on the other end of the bridge a second later, the sound of the ropes snapping was quickly followed by woods cracking and breaking. Lamia quickly turned around but the next thing she saw was the horrifying sight of her sister fell off with the wooden bridge collapsed underneath her feet.

"ONEE-SAMAAA!" Lamia screamed in horror. And for a moment, she looked like she was about to jumped in to rescue her beloved sister… until she saw Shadow had beaten her to it.

The ninja managed to catch Lacus midair, but they both quickly fell into the abyss' darkness anyway.

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Kira didn't know what propel him to do this. Was it the sight of how Lamia (and about half a dozen other knights) were on the verge of jumping right into the abyss-thus to their death just to save Lacus, his guilt for having miscalculated on both the bridge's strength and that Lacus would dare to perform yet another sabotage even with her sister right next to her, or he's just an idiot in some sense that pushed him to do this, Kira himself wasn't sure. But when he saw Lacus start falling, something screamed at the back of his neck, telling him to MOVE YOUR ASS! And with that, the instant the first wooden plank left Lacus' feet, Kira had made preparation and jumped right into the abyss. He managed to catch Lacus midair, much to the shock of the princess.

Fortunately, Kira didn't carry enough momentum in him to push them both any closer to the cliff wall. Thus, the two free-fall right into the abyss.

"What are you doing?" Lacus screeched as she struggled in panic in Kira's arms.

"Shut it! I'm saving your royal ass!" Kira growled back as he struggled to reach for his katana without letting go of Lacus. Problem is… the princess isn't exactly cooperating. Oh no. Not with her panicking and the fact they're falling, spiraling in a spin. And if that wasn't enough trouble…

Kira had just managed to pull out a katana out of his sheathe where, in her panic, Lacus accidentally knocked Shiki off Kira's hand. "Oh come on!" Thinking quickly, Kira grabbed hold of Lacus and then throw her up midair before he himself dived in to chase after Shiki. Meanwhile, Kira can feel the bottom of the ravine is coming in fast. After some diving, Kira finally managed to chase after his falling katana and caught it midair. He looked up and saw Lacus is also coming his way. But on the other hand, Kira can already see the bottom. 'Oh no… if I use Aoiro Shiki to suddenly stop the two us at our current speed, the momentum will break our necks.'

The bottom's coming fast, and Lacus is fast falling behind him. Kira quickly made a decision. In an instant, he undid all of his heavy equipments, lightening his load, and then he expanded his arms and legs, slowing down slightly and caught Lacus. "KYA!" Struggling, Kira sling his legs over Lacus' waist and pinned her tight, essentially pressing her back to his groin with his legs, much to Lacus' discomfort. But this is done so that both of Kira's arms remained free. He need them both to do what he's about to do. Kira spin around so that his head face downward and then he pointed Shiki and it transformed into Midori Shiki. Quickly enough, Kira pulled a green arrow and then shoot downward. The arrow zoomed downward and exploded at the bottom. The wave of the massive fiery explosion reached them and slightly decelerated the speed of their fall, but that wasn't enough. And so Kira frantically fired one shot after another, each explosion wave decelerate them even further. Until finally, as Kira fired the final shot and the Shiki reverted back to its original form, losing all its power. The bottom is coming, and they're still going too fast: they're still too heavy. And there's nothing more he can do to minimize the damage… except one.

Kira swing Lacus around and then hugged her tight.

"What… What are you doing?" Initially blushing at the sudden change of treatment, Lacus looked at Kira, and then to the bottom of the ravine… and then to their current position. Kira is hugging her with his back facing the bottom of the ravine so as to cushion their crash with his body… and quite possibly, his life. "No… No… Nonononono! You're crazy! Let me go! You can still save yourself! Just let me go!"

"SHUT UP! I WON'T LET YOU DIE DAMN IT!" Kira closed his eyes in preparation for the sheer agony and then subsequent death that will definitely come soon.

Lacus' eyes widened upon hearing the words.

The bottom is just seconds away…

"No."

A pink ball flashed in.

And suddenly, upon impact, a bright pink light engulf them both.

Kira's eyes remained closed for a few seconds, but the pain and subsequent death he had been preparing did not come to pass. The brunette opened his eyes to see what happened. The boy gasped in shock.

Kira and Lacus were currently held suspended midair inside a transparent orb made of pink light energy, floating but inches away from the ground floor. The orb is like an enlarged version of Lacus' Haro.

"Don't worry, haro. You're saved, haro."

Kira turned around to see the speaker and gaped. Lo and behold, there's another Lacus floating right behind them. Or so he thought. Kira quickly noticed a great number of differences. First, unlike Lacus who wear a Japanese style miko dress, the girl is wearing a closed Victorian white princess dress, with a large white ribbon adorning her chest and smaller ones decorating her dress here and there. The dress is also had various white rose theme, complete with genuine black thorny vines, it's contrasting black color perfectly matching the white dress, mixed with feathery and wing designs. In fact there are white roses literally growing out her long wavy pink hair, with the white rose petals were composed of feathers. This Lacus also look… older. More like she's in her twenties, contrasting Lacus who are in her teen years. Both of her hands were outstretched, apparently maintaining this spherical energy field in place.

"Y… You're…?"

"Haro!" The Lacus copycat smiled.

"Haro?" Kira blinked in shock. "You're Ms. Pink?"

"Haro!" Ms. Pink nodded. And then, she put down her arms, and the energy ball vanished. Kira and Lacus landed on the ground gently while Ms. Pink remained afloat. Kira quickly noticed underneath her large baggy dress skirt, other than a pair of legs, there are also multiple pairs of wings flapping about, holding her afloat a few millimeters off the ground.

"Thanks." Kira nodded.

Ms. Pink grabbed her skirt with both hands, lift it slightly and courteously bowed. "Your service, haro." Momentarily though, she was once again engulfed in a pink light and then reverted back to her small pink Haro ball form, yapping:"HARO! HARO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS!"

The pink haro quickly bounced back to her mistress, the kneeling Lacus. Upon seeing the girl, Kira was once again reminded on everything that has been happening. And this time… this time, he's officially out of patience. "Why did you try to kill yourself?" Kira barked angrily, finally coming at it clean.

Lacus didn't reply, her eyes remained cold and taciturn. It seems she was infuriated by Kira's latest act of her rescue.

"Don't think I didn't notice. That time when you stunned me, your sister, and Waltfeld-san. That was no misfire, wasn't it? You shot that spell with the express purpose of stunning the three of us… and then intend to leap to your death, with none of us being able to prevent it." Kira explained. "God knows how I was able to resist it!"

Lacus again didn't answer, but her expression clearly showed her dislike, further proving to Kira that he was right. "That was the first attempt, and then the switching my katana, what? You expect me to be unable to protect or something? And now this? What the Hell is wrong with YOU?" Kira roared in frustration. Not caring anymore if his scream will attract the undeads. Lacus refusal to react further infuriates Kira. What's wrong with this world? First Veia, and now even this innocent looking Girl! God, why does he keep running into people with tendencies for self destruction? "I told you before. I'm not interested in your personal shit. I don't care if you have some deathwish but-"

"Why?" Lacus suddenly cut him off.

"What?"

"If you don't care WHY did you save me? Why not just let me DIE!" Lacus shrieked, almost hysterically.

"Because if I didn't, someone else will!" Kira roared in frustration. "Your Sister, your royal guard, your bodyguards… anyone!"

"Then why?" Lacus choked. Suddenly tears start trickling down her eyes. "Why can't you all just… just…"

Kira was somewhat intimidated at this. He even stopped being angry. The girl was that desperate to end her own life? For a moment Kira felt of taking a pity on the girl. "Why? Why do you want to kill yourself that badly?"

Lacus merely collapsed to the ground, crying. "…Why? Why do you care?"

Kira growled angrily and his heart hardened once more. "I don't care about you." The shinobi spat. "I care about Lowe, about your Sister, about Waltfeld-san, and just about everyone who risked their necks defending an ungrateful little girl like you. If you die, than everything they've done will be for nothing. You're smearing all their efforts by acting this way!"

"You have no idea what I've endured!" Lacus shrieked back.

"No idea? Of course I have no idea you dumb ass!" Kira roared back. "You are the encyclopedia of the unknowable to me. How am I supposed to know everything when we barely met a day ago? What I do take issue… is your campaign to sabotage this whole operation. An operation which was intended for your safety, at the risk of a fate worse than death! These Knights deserved better than that!"

"DID YOU THINK I WANT THIS?" And finally, Lacus shrieked at the top of her lungs. "DID YOU THINK I WOULD RISK THEIR LIVES… MY SISTER, MY PROTECTOR… EVERYONE I CARED! I LOVED THEM! EVERY ONE OF THEM!"

Kira was taken aback by this sudden outburst.

Lacus looked at Kira. Her blue eyes, flooded with tears were glaring wide, filled with hopelessness and despair. She was… desperate; completely at the end of her rope. She picked this method not out of choice, but lack of other option. The girl was panting and looked at Kira's purple eyes, and her chest humped up and down, breathing at a rapid pace. For a moment, during that heartfelt outburst Kira saw, even for a glimpse, that Lacus' eyes changed. Before, it was like corpse. No life in her. She had absolutely no will to live… just like a doll. Just like Veia, a man who had completely lost all his desire to live. But during that outburst just now… she was alive. A bit vague… but she was alive. "…you… do you have… any… idea… how I feel… every time I watched those knights risked their life to protect me…" Lacus looked down to the ground. Her pink bangs covered her gloom eyes. Tears start falling off her cheek and her hands rose up to cover her eyes. "Everyone… everyone think I came here because, as a lady of Zaft, it is my duty to reclaim one of our lost land and put our brethren to rest… that I'm doing it for my country…" Lacus laughed bitterly. "They were wrong… I didn't do it for them… this is selfishly personal… but my sister… my father's friend… they had to suddenly get involved with all this… I… I…"

"Selfishly personal…?"

Lacus slowly rose up. "Shadow-san… the reason I came here… is to destroy the tradition known as the Pilgrimage."

Kira was utterly shocked at this. He took a few seconds to digest what Lacus just said. "…you mean… you wanted to… put an end to the Pilgrimage tradition? You… you've been trying to sabotage this pilgrimage… you wanted it to fail?"

Lacus nodded miserably. "Did you know… that with every failed pilgrimage, the Genmas in this continent grew more numerous, more powerful! Every time Zaft sent in more pilgrims to another pilgrimage, and it failed; the next Pilgrims will have to face a stronger, more powerful enemy barring their way. And when they fail and die, they bolster the Genmas. They became stronger with each one of us that falls."

It's as if someone just slapped Kira's face to kingdom come. Suddenly, his mind finally understands why Lennore Zala didn't make it back the second time. By that time, the enemy has grown much stronger compared to her first visit, 3 years back. "But… if that's true… if they keep this up… then Junius will someday…"

"…housed so many Genmas powerful enough that it became impossible for us to even reach the first Sanctuary." Lacus nodded. "You asked once… how come after 72 years, and there's still so many Genmas in here? There's your answer."

"But… if the idea is to discourage people to come here… how do you hope to achieve that by killing yourself here?"

Lacus looked at Kira and then glared. "You… You really don't know who I am? Doesn't the name 'Clyne' mean anything to you?"

"Clyne? Why would I care about some…" Kira's stopped midsentence as his mind began to process the name Clyne. A second later, realization came knocking on Kira's door like a battering ram. NOW he finally understands what Lacus was trying to achieve. And how his arrival had pretty much messed up all of her plans… hence the reason she hated him. But still… "Does it ever crossed your mind to simply asked the High Council and petition them to initiate a… blockade on this island or something?"

Lacus laughed shrilly. "Did you think I didn't try that? How do you expect to make them listen to me when they can't even stand my presence?"

Kira blinked. The 10 feet perimeter rule. "What ails you, really?"

Lacus looked at her hand. "…I was trained as a kunoichi, yes. But a different kind of Kunoichi."

"Huh?"

"I'm a medic nin." Lacus explained. "Kage-san. Have you ever heard of artificial immunization process?"

Kira shook his head. He's just a pseudo shinobi, after all.

"Humans… have what we call an immunity system." Lacus explained. "When we were struck by an acute illness, when… when something evil and foreign forcibly or unintentionally enter our system, our body… there's something in it that function to fight that illness, to counter, to suppress it. And after which, they develop an antibody… some sort of… substance which act as a counter to that foreign object. And once the Antibody has been developed, our body became immune to that foreign object should they ever enter our body again. This is called immunity."

"Now that foreign object… it could be anything, it could be some natural disease, or… or some infection… or in my case… poison." Lacus sighed. "Medic Nins… have a technique where… they digest a poison, let their body create the antidote… and then use that antidote to heal the patient. Artificial Immunization process… is a process where someone digest a non lethal amount of poison inside their body, forcing the body to react, to create an antibody to counter its effects. My sensei had me eat poison so that my body will become immune." Lacus looked at Kira's shocked expression. "Of course, it was done with me knowing it, and Lamia also watched." Lacus added with a smile. "I was amazed… the first time I use the antidote developed inside my own body to heal a poison invading my first patient… I was… happy. Yes… but more than anything I was curious… I was curious what else I could do. What if… I don't stop with one poison? What if I can do more? It… It thrilled me…" Lacus' eyes widened and her smile gradually turned maniacal. "You were right about one thing, Kage-san… I was a thrill seeker. I didn't… couldn't stop. My curiosity grew into near insanity… and before I knew it, I digested poison after poison… and my body developed immunity to them all!"

Kira's eyes bulged in horror. Lacus' maniac smile grew more terrifying as she approached him, her eyes widened and her tone increasingly hysterical. "But then… plants and flowers start to wither in my presence… birds dying one after another… and then… and then…" Lacus looked at her trembling hands… and for a moment her voice turned quiet. "There's this… boy… a little boy… it was supposed to be a simple surgery… removal of his kidney… I even managed to finish it in record time… and he died in her mother's arms… and the mother followed 3 days later…" The Princess is still with that insane smile but now tears flowing at the corner of her eyes. "They didn't blame me… saying it happened all the time… but how could they blame me? I'm the PRINCESS of the CLYNE family!" Lacus shrieked hysterically.

Lacus' tears continue to trickle as her widened maniacal blue eyes continued to look at Kira's purple eyes. Kira didn't realize he fell on his back and Lacus, completely delirious, began to crawl towards him on all fours. "All the poisons I've drunk… all the antibodies my body had created… they merged inside me… they evolve, they mutate… creating a poison unlike anything the world has ever seen… a fusion of evil… near sentient, an intelligent poison… combining the worst part of every poison and disease, expunging their weakness, worsening their effects… no cure, no antidote, no antibody can be made because it'll consume and even enhance itself with it… and that thing is flowing in my veins… and they engulf my entire being… and they spread… every time I breathe, every time I speak, every piece of my body… every fiber of my being is a carrier to this monster… and every second I exist, I'm killing everyone I care about just by being near them." Lacus laughed in despair as she slowly but surely began to crawl slowly atop Kira's body. Kira gulped nervously as Lacus smother every part of her breast around his waist area while she crawled up. "10 feet radius… was just the beginning …that was in open space. Soon it will expand, and spread. Imagine a closed room. Imagine a crowded street full of people with nowhere to run or hide! They won't have enough bodybags every time I take a stroll!"

And now Lacus directly on top of Kira. Her breathing was heavy and formed fume over her lip, still locked in that maniacal grin, and her widened mad blue eyes are now gazing directly into Kira's horrified purple eyes. Their fingers subconsciously clasped together as her arms held her suspended on top of him. Kira's bulging eyes calmed down somewhat, as he can feel her teardrops falling on his face.

"I'm a mother to a monster…" Lacus stated miserably. "It has no conscious… no morality… it didn't kill me because I'm its carrier. But it wants to GET OUT. And it grows stronger and stronger by the second. It wants to move away from the confines of my body… and when I die… that thing will come out… infecting everything: the air, the land, the water…" Lacus began to tremble. "I'm a bio-bomb, Kage-san. If I die in a populated area… even the Bloody Valentine will look like a joke."

Silence followed.

Kira looked at Lacus. Lacus looked at Kira. Her tears continue to fall on his masked face. Her pink bangs covered their head.

"If I don't kill myself first… I will kill everyone first… So please… if you say I have to live… …what should I do?" A quiet whisper followed, and Lacus suddenly fall unconscious right on top of Kira.

Kira motionlessly gaze to the sky far above through the strands of Lacus' disarrayed hair. Kira realized what he just witnessed was an explosion of frustration and emotion, all pent up, stressed out deep down there, in that small petite form. Kira recognize personal horror when he sees one, having one of his own, deep inside him. He doesn't want anyone to find out about his horror, and the girl clearly wished the same for her part. But she was at her limit. Kira had pushed her to that limit.

He didn't know how long he remained in that position, but that was enough time for him to think and make sense of everything: her reason to do this, her hostility and even sabotage to his effort… it all make sense now.

Pilgrimages were used to be performed at least twice to four times every year. Each pilgrimage used to number from 1-2000… but they steadily increase to 3-4000 as the years passed. The largest being 10,000! There was even an expedition set up… a task force of over 120,000 exorcists were launched in a Pilgrim Expedition. As expected, a total disaster. At that time, the military doctrine was superiority in numbers and firepower. That thought lasted for around 60 years… Well over a million advanced got killed during the period of that trend… a million which is added to the ranks of Genma. Maybe more. But then Lennore Zala came to this continent with only 300 of brutally drilled, handpicked cream of the crop elite knights, and she managed to go all the way to the 5th sanctuary. 'Naturally.' Kira chuckled in memory of his military tactics teacher. 'Any army commanded by Lady Lennore will have their individual soldier's strength amplified by the thousands.' After her successful return… that was like the much needed wakeup call: large armies are not always the ways to go. And then there was a booming trend of using a small team of elite commandos and aces to pierce through Junius. Even better, they decrease the frequency of the pilgrimage. The Pilgrims spend more time perfecting their skills for years before they even think of going in there. Now pilgrims are only sent once a year, with small numbers from 2-300 to 4-500. And though that number has been increasing as of late, Lennore's effort had decreased the rate of people that get sent to death here significantly. 'Maybe that was Lady Lennore's original intent all along…' Kira wanted to rub his chin, but then he realized Lacus' hands are still interlocked with his.

Lacus realized that if she ever die a natural death, and then she was buried normally in a normal cemetery near a living populace, the poison from her decomposed corpse will became an epidemic. Thusly, she wanted to kill herself here in Junius so that the disease will be released here where's there is no one alive to be killed and infected. Kira looked at the crying unconscious girl next to him. Poor girl. She doesn't want to hurt anyone, so she thought that, since she had to die for others to live… she might as well wanted her death to do some good in her passing. Or at least… that's what's in her mind. If Lady Lennore decreased the number of pilgrims being sacrificed… she intends to stop it completely. By any means necessary even if it means poisoning it. If, as she said it, the poison inside her is powerful enough to make Bloody Valentine looked like a joke… she'll practically made Junius COMPLETELY inaccessible. A poison like that infecting this entire island will kill everyone who even put a foot in here. Only Genma will survive since… they're technically already dead. And since no one can no longer come here… the Pilgrimage will be forever called off… at least until they found some way to counter her poison. This is what she meant by destroying the Pilgrimage tradition.

"Haro?"

Kira turned around and saw that cute rolling pink ball. "Hello there. Ahh… please don't tell this to Lamia? Imagine how she'll react when she found out her sister tried to rape me."

"HARO! HARO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS!"

"Yeah. Me neither. Suicidal nihilist is not my type. I'm just joking." Kira chuckled. "Still, please keep this a secret."

"You too! You too! Haro!"

"I'll take that as a yes. Attagirl. Now… please wake her up." Kira added with a malicious smile: "As violently as possible, if necessary."

For some reason, Ms. Pink approved… and took action accordingly. She bounced several times, getting higher with each bounce… and when her latest bounce is about 5 stories tall, she descend right on top of Lacus' head.

THUMP!

"ITEEEEE!" Lacus shrieked and woke up instantly as she held a lump suddenly forming over her head. "W… What? Ms. PINK!" Lacus looked angrily at her spherical pink friend.

"Wakey, wakey princess." Kage pushed Lacus away as the two stare one another. "I have a few questions for you."

"What?" Lacus was still annoyed. But for some reason… she felt… somewhat alleviated having exploded all her stress to someone. That made her somewhat… cooperative.

"If this poison is as terrifying as you said… How does this poison work?"

Now that she's somewhat calmer, Lacus began explaining thoroughly. "Inside me… inside my blood… they're inert and inactive, they don't feed, they don't infect, they don't multiply. They don't do anything, practically starving themselves out. Now this poison… this virus, when malnourished had a very short life. The virus died in my blood… but my body… had been so thoroughly warped, it's capable of naturally producing the virus on its own, and the amount being produced far outstrips the number of the poison that died out. And these… excess poisons came out of me through various openings in my body: my sweat glands, my nose, my mouth… even my earholes, all in the form of completely undetectable, odorless, colorless gas." Lacus flapped her hands behind her ears. "Stay in my presence in 3 minutes, the poison will have inoculated themselves in you, strike into your blood stream and start multiplying at a freakishly fast rate. Your immune system will be on hyperdrive to banish the poison out of your system, causing a high fever… bad enough to knock you unconscious. In 2 minutes, and you're still near me, your immune system fail, overworking themselves to death, literally… and you start puking infectious boiling blood… and then you die… painfully. And that's after all your overheated muscle literally burn your insides to mush and you hurl them out when you start puking blood." Lacus finished her explanation before the horrified Kira. "I called this… my Miasma."

Kira shook his head in dark glee. Immaculate holy powers? Yeah right. These superstitious idiotic gossipers and rumormongers. He's been hearing nothing but science from Lacus' lips. "Well… I've slapped you, kissed you, wrestle with you, have you slept right on top of me… all in point blank range. How come I'm not dead of poisoning? Yet?"

"That… I honestly don't know." Lacus scratched her head. "My sister… and my father were able to survive because… they're related to me by blood. See, the poison didn't harm me because it recognized my blood as a healthy carrier. And that's how it 'recognized' me and didn't do any harm. Now the thing is, the Miasma cannot differentiate between my blood… and my sister's or my father's. To it, we're one and the same. That's why the virus won't harm her. Fortunately they cannot inoculate inside her because her insides weren't set up to naturally produce the poison. Mine, as I've said earlier, had long since been altered to facilitate their survival and continued production of this poison. YOU are the anomaly." Lacus pointed Kira. "Somehow… in my opinion… you possess some sort of… immunity. Or was it repellant? Something in you, they don't like. So they steer clear of you."

Kira nodded. "Okay, good. That's all I need to know." As he cleaned himself up, Kira get back on his feet and checked his surroundings. "We need to move."

"…what?" the red eyed Lacus looked at Kira.

The ninja looked back at her. "We need to get out of here and return back to the group. We've made a lot of noise." Kira quickly added. "I could kill you. Right here and now, and then report back to your sister that you were killed by the fall… but letting you turn into one of these monsters doesn't sit right with me. Imagine how many future pilgrims you'll kill when they turned you into a Genma?"

Lacus stare dumbly at Kira. "Eh?"

"Don't 'eh' me." Kira glared and brought himself to Lacus' eye level. "I'll make you a deal. No more sabotage, no more half baked suicide attempts! Let's go see your sister and your friends one last time. And if after that and you still wanted to pursue this goal, and then I'll give you my word, I won't help you again next time. In fact…" Kira unsheathe Shiki and placed it on Lacus' neck. "I'll let the Genma turn you… and then after which I'll kill you. That's a promise."

Lacus stare wide eyed at the mass murderer in front of him. "Nya…"

"?"

"NYAhuh… NYAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! AhHAHA! WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lacus exploded into laughter. Loud, uncontrollable laughter, the likes of which she never thought possible. New fresh tears trickling from her eyes as she started grasping her stomach. But these are tears of glee. She laughed so hard her laughter echoed through the ravine and the princess was rolling on the floor, laughing, banging the ground. "Oh my God… My stomach… It hurts! WHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! This… Ahaha! This is really… Bwahaha… a first…! KYAAHaHAHAHa!"

"Did I just say something funny?"

"D… Do you know… how many people had said they will protect me, sell their lives dearly for me, keep me safe or whatever?" Lacus' laughter began to die down, replaced with panting. She didn't remember she ever laughed that hard. "I've heard it so many times from Princes, Lords, Barons, Counts, Knights… the like… all the… decorative words, and titles, and ranks, and… and all that… And didn't you say that you won't let me die a little earlier?"

"Well… how bout we put it this way: I won't let you die because I want the pleasure of killing you myself."

At that comment, Lacus burst into another fit of near hysterical laughter again. "KYAHAHAHAHAHAHA… This… this is the first time someone actually promised to KILL me! Oh, this is rich!" Lacus looked like she's about to laugh uncontrollably again but she managed to keep it down to a few snickers. When she finally calm down, her head rose up and looked at Kira. "You promise? You will kill me?"

"With one condition." Kira raised a finger.

"Yes?"

"…you won't ask for help."

"Eh?"

"Someone who's ready to die won't ask for help. They'll embrace it proudly. I know. I've seen this. If you truly ready to die… then you won't ask for help. If you can do that… then I solemnly swear I will kill you. Deal?"

Lacus contemplated, and then, she raised a hand, and showed her right pinky. "Pinky promise. This is how Japanese seal deals. Right? If one don't deliver…"

Kira gasped. Just a few days ago he dreamt about that stance. For a moment, Kira saw Lennore in place of Lacus. But he quickly shook his head and the illusion disappeared. "…one will swallow a thousand needles." Kira hooked his pinky to Lacus. "Alright. Contract complete. Now let's get the hell out of here." Kira get back up on his feet.

"Alright." Lacus, still on the ground, lifted her one arm to Kira. The ninja ignored it and be about recollecting his thrown away weight suit. Lacus was stuck lifting her hand dumbly for 10 minutes with Kira ignored her. It was only after Kira put back his Captain's coat that the boy noticed the girl is still laying on the ground with an outstretched arm. Awkward silence followed.

"…what?" Kira finally asked, wondering what's with this stretched arm gesture.

"Help me up will you?" Lacus quickly replied. Her initially amused expression was suddenly replaced with annoyance at Kira's insensitivity.

"You can't get up by yourself?"

Lacus tilted her head. "I… I think I sprained my ankle. I can't… I can't move my legs."

"You did?" Kira knelt down and take a look at one of her slender legs. One of them was indeed swollen, badly. "Well… I guess that's what they say 'you reap what you sow'."

Lacus quickly frowned and growled in annoyance. "You are a VERY unpleasant fellow; did anyone ever tell you that?"

"Thank you."

"I'm not praising you!"

"Compare that with some of the things they called me, 'unpleasant fellow' sounds like a compliment." Kira smirked beneath his mask, while Lacus became visibly annoyed even further. Kira simply stated the truth: Compare that to Black Devil… unpleasant fellow did sound saint-like by comparison. Kira then put two sturdy sticks around Lacus swollen leg, and, before Lacus can say anything, tore up a part of Lacus' detached sleeves and used it to bandage the said leg. Rather poorly. After long minutes, the bandaging was complete, but it was loose and unfastened. Lacus growled in annoyance at such a poor handling and quickly took action. She slapped Kira's arm away, earning a frown from the said person. Lacus quickly undo and redo Kira's poor bandaging, even tearing more of her own clothes without hesitation when she needed more bandages. Within seconds, Lacus put finishing touches on the tightened, well handled makeshift leg cast.

Kira nodded in admiration at her vastly superior medical treatment handiwork. Medic nin indeed. But that small measure of admiration vanished upon seeing Lacus smug smirk, as if saying: "Not so handy after all, heh?"

For SOME reason… that really pissed him off.

The next second…

"I'll say this again… I really… REALLY hate you!"

"…and I'll say this again… the feeling is mutual."

Lacus mumbled angrily as she was being carried on Kira's back as the nin wallwalked vertically out of the ravine, but not in a way she would call dignified: he hold her by her waist with one arm, with her slender body is slung over his left shoulder with her head facing his back and her butt facing forward. The same way people would carry around a hunk of sack over their shoulder.

"If you're gonna carry me, can you at least carry me in a humanlike fashion?"

"What? The legendary princess bridal style carry? Don't be stupid. That method used both of my hands. If we were attacked I won't be able to reach for my weapons and defend us both. Like this, I only use one hand, and the other stays free." Lacus frowned, trying to digest Kira's logic. Yeah, he was right. Kira correctly took her silence as an agreement, but couldn't resist not delivering another jab to her girlish ego. "This ain't the normal happily ever after fairy tale, princess. Plus, you're not a damsel in distress; you're a damsel BRINGING distress. And I'm NOT your bony prince Charming prancing around in some shiny armor and sparkly pony."

Lacus, ever the infinitely patient and forgiving to a fault, suddenly found her temper short fused when dealing with this shinobi. "And let me tell you that you're FAR from a girl's image of prince charming: you look like a dried old bat, you smell like a combination of a pee and recess, and your attitude is as bad as your language!"

But to Kira, all those points are moot. What should he act like some aristocrat? He's a soldier… heck he's an assassin. His looks, his smell, and his attitude will be the least of the girl's worries. So in response, Kira merely yapped his free hand in a mouth like fashion.

Realizing the nin is silently ridiculing her again, Lacus was further infuriated and added. "And let me just add about that mask, which I guess, is hiding a bald head of unsightly creatures-"

"You do realize I'm not bald, right?" Kira shook his brunette head in glee.

Lacus took a peek at Kira's full flock of brown messy hair crowning his head… and she felt really… really stupid. Her face reddened in anger. And once again she burst in anger: "YOU ARE THE RUDEST, MOST INSENSITIVE, THE BIGGEST JERK I HAVE EVER-" Overly excited with her angry shouts, Lacus accidentally slipped past Kira's arms and slide down below and start falling. Again.

Kira gaped and quickly turned around and quickly performed a Shunshin to catch up with her falling figure. He managed to barely catch Lacus's skirt by a hairbreadth.

Lacus, held upside down by her skirt, looked at the ravine down below and then gave an angry glare to Kira, since at this position; Kira can clearly see her underwear.

But Kira was too furious to even care what he sees. "You, ma'am, are Trouble with a capital T!"

"NOW WA-"

"TUTuTuTaatataa! Zip it!"

"But I-"

"Zip! It!" Kira gave his final ultimatum.

"No! I'll TALK WHEN I WANT TO! And I SAY THIS ONE FOR YOU, Y-GARLalla…Mmm! Mmmmrf!"

Kira ignored Lacus' angry moans and continued his climb while sighing in relief: "Aaaah… silence at last." The next moment, the grumbling and pouting Lacus was bound and forcibly gagged to shut her up and Kira carried her bound figure in a fashion similar to a true kidnaper: by dragging her up by the rope, while having her hogtied upside down.

00000000000000

The trip was uneventful until they reached the top of the cliff where the fallen bridge once lay. Up there, as expected, the knights were still there, exactly as they left them.

Upon seeing Kage's figure rose up from the ravine, everyone shifted from mourning to cheering. The teary red eyed Lamia smiled as happy as she can be when she saw Kage and Lacus was safe after that disastrous fall. But her smile… and everyone's for that matter… quickly turned into horrified gasp upon seeing the manner in which the savior saved the damsel in distress.

Kira ignorantly, and purposefully rough, dropped the bound and gagged Princess to the ground and put a foot on her back. "She's all yours." Smirking mischievously to the squirming Lacus, who replied that mischievous glare with an angry bloodshot eyes that can probably rival her sister as if saying: 'Don't you dare!'. Ignoring it, Kira gently pushed the bound figure with his foot and send her rolling on the ground towards Lamia's horrified feet.

Lamia quickly came to her sister's aid-rescue and untied her while spitting fire at the Shinobi. "This is the most unacceptable treatment of a VIP to put it kindly, Shadow!" Kira can bet that if she weren't busy untying her sister, Lamia would've taken the opportunity to try and hack him to pieces for this wantonly brutal treatment. "What are you trying to do, kidnap my sister?"

"I had to admit the thought crossed my mind. Held her ransom for double whatever pay you gave to the Junk Guild…" Kira replied in a sadistically casual cold tone. Upon seeing the horrified look of everyone, Kira added: "That was a joke." Regardless, Kira can the sadistic jokes and addressed Lamia, seriously. "…though no amount of money is worth the problem your sister is causing."

Lamia glared angrily at Kira, demanding explanation. "You have to explain… that statement, sir."

"…you needed an explanation… but you're asking to the wrong person." Kira glared angrily at the gloomy Lacus, who had been unbound and freed.

Lamia gritted her teeth in anger. "My sister's life… is worth a billion of yours!" Suddenly Kira can feel everyone from Zaft is glaring angrily at him. The Exorcists and the Knights who revere and adore him this morning is suddenly itching to make him pay for this lack of respect. But Kira was undaunted. Rather, things progressing exactly as he had expected. He looked at Lacus, who saw all this, and as expected, she was horrified at the atmosphere and the knights' reaction. How much they cared for her well being. Lacus realized quickly that Kira's goading and insults was for this purpose. And she felt further weighted by an even bigger sense of guilt, further making her expression even more miserable than before.

Kira merely chuckled and turned around as he replied: "That's not what she thinks."

"OF ALL THE IMPERTINENCE!" Lamia exploded, but before she can react, Lacus grabbed her hand and stopped her from taking any action. "Onee-sama?"

Lacus looked at Lamia with sorrowful pleading eyes. She shook her head. "No… don't…"

"Onee-sama? But he… the way he…"

Lacus shook her head again. "No…" Lacus had no choice and Kira knows this. One of Lacus' main goals is to ensure all of their survival (bar her own), and she realized that if the idea is for Lamia and everyone to walk out of this alive, Kira's ability to kill Genma is indispensable, no questions asked.

Kira grinned behind his mask in triumph. "So she says." He unsheathed Shiki. The katana's color momentarily returned back from gray to its original shine. Recharging complete. 'Must've recharged during the climb… that's unusually fast, Shiki.'

'I'm not sure master… usually it took a full day for me to absorb your chakra to replenish myself… but in here… your powers seems impossibly strong. It was as if…'

'What?'

'…it's as if you're becoming stronger… with every Genma you kill.'

Kira chortled. 'Ain't that interesting?' Though he really doesn't take it seriously. Kira lifted Shiki. 'Slice the Heaven… Aoiro Shiki!' Shiki transformed into its polearm form. Kira pointed it towards the other end of the bridge and fired the blade. The immaterial blade extended to the other side and sank there, creating a bridge. Kira tested it by tapping his armored left arm to the blade several times. It's solid. He motioned Waltfeldt and the other knights on the other side to go on.

Waltfeldt also tapped the immaterial blade several times… it's solid. He put a foot over it… and it's sturdy. And then, everyone quickly crossed the ravine atop Aoiro Shiki's blade's surface.

Thus the pilgrimage continued at Lacus' urging, and most of the Zaft warriors decided to keep their anger down. But it became obvious their trust on Kira reached an all time low. Kira was then assigned to the rear guard at the outer circle. The Shinobi went from Hero of the hour to the most undesirable jerk of the century in one afternoon. Lowe and his team, as well as Waltfeldt is pretty much the only one who would still want to talk to him. "So… pardner… How far are we from the Sanctuary?"

"Not far… but there's a bit of a problem along the way."

"Wh… weren't that bridge earlier is the problem?"

"If that was the only problem I wouldn't bother coming back." Kira chuckled. 'Though the princess is enough trouble as it is…' "It's what comes next that got me a bit worried."

"What comes next?" Waltfeldt frowned.

"You'll see."

Beyond that, no one would want to even bat him an eye. Kira didn't mind; rather he appreciates the silent treatment. All those awestruck stare and worship doesn't suit his taste anyway. At the afternoon, the group rested, and the shinobi isolated himself from the group as usual. The boy spent much of that afternoon to himself, sinisterly rubbing his chin, alone to his deep thoughts, not talking to anyone. And then his head tilted up and looked at the direction of Lacus' spot as if he just had an idea popped out in his head.

Lamia glared angrily at the black figure that is Kage in the distance. She can feel the shinobi is looking at this direction, specifically, he was looking at Lacus. And she doesn't like the way he's looking at her. Lamia growled. She asked her sisters about what happened in that ravine many times, but Lacus remained silent. And she doesn't like this. Not. One. Bit.

"Break up. We're moving again." Waltfeldt signaled the team to move again. Everyone get back on their feet. Lamia however pick up her things and quickly make her way to Kira. As soon as she reached him Lamia quickly put an arm to Kira's collar. The shinobi, as if expecting this, slapped the said arm away before it reached him. Lamia tried again but Kira quickly grabbed the said arm tight. Lamia angrily shook her arm several times, but Kira's grip won't budge. Finally she merely glared at the shinobi's cold eyes.

Kira nonchalantly remarked: "Can I help you?"

"I'm warning you. I don't know what you've done to my sister or what's going on between you two. But if you even hurt one strand of her hair… Genma Slayer or not… I'll rip out your insides and use your intestines for shoelace." Lamia threaten menacingly.

Kira was undaunted and then he revealed something in his other hand. A few strands of Lacus' hair. "You're welcome to try."

Lamia gritted her teeth again in anger. But she finally relented and Kira's grip was released. She furiously turned around and returned to her sister's side. Kira only chuckled. He already had a plan in mind. And it might do more than just a few strands of hair. Kira smirked and drop another one of Lacus' hair. The nth one he dropped after several others he had previously left behind on the road ever since they left the ravine. He still remembered another thing about genma: hell's ears like you won't believe… and a terrifying sense of smell. Kira's ears twitched slightly. Already he can start hearing the sound of roars and yells from the distance. Kira smiled.

Though… he probably won't be smiling if he saw this…

Some distance away, a couple of Genma hunters found a single strand of Lacus' hair, sniffed it several times and growled. They screeched to the direction where the pilgrims had gone to. And then suddenly something burst out of the ground, swallowed the hair and Hunters whole and then drilled back in as it made its way towards the pilgrims. It roared one last time before getting back into the ground.

00000000000000

A few kilometers later, and they arrived before another crevasse, nay, a chasm. The sanctuary lies right at the end of the gap, a few kilometers, just straight ahead. There's only one problem.

"By the… Gods…"

"Mercy…"

"Ask that from the devils? Yeah right."

The gigantic chasm is filled with a formation of floating razor sharp volcanic rocks, dripping with Lava and magma. "There's another thing." Kage commented. Everyone looked at the ninja as he plucked a pebble and then throw it into the rock formation. At first, the force of Kira's throw made the rock flew straight, but then it began to bend upward. Halfway there, the rock bend to the left, swaying up and down before shooting straight in a crisscrossing slalom and finally, crash landed into a floating rock, flying 200 meters above it, with the force of a meteorite before stopping dead midair.

"Gravitational distortion anomaly?" Waltfeldt gulped in horror.

"I think this was once a plain mountainous region, and then the Bloody Valentine struck, and this place got hit by some… gravity distorting whammy catastrophe… and the mountains were torn off the ground… and made into this." Kira motioned the floating rocks before them. And if that wasn't enough trouble, they can sense movements in those rocks. Some of these flying rocks were swarming with Genmas!

"And this is a problem to you why? What? You can't teleport?" One of the knights snorted.

"It's not teleport. Just extremely fast enhanced jump. And I can't jump that far."

"Hah!" The knights snickered.

"Though I can fly through them no problem." Kira added.

Laughter stopped. "What?" Isn't there anything this guy CAN'T do?

"I can fly through them. But it's not like I can carry you all from one end of the cliff to the other. Some of you are just too heavy for me, see." Kira nonchalantly commented.

And the girls went back to their chorus of cry, much to Kira's genuine confusion.

"Uh-hum." Waltfeldt cleared his throat. "So… what do you propose we do?"

"Ever since I first saw this, I've been thinking non-stop on how are we supposed to deal with this…" Kira scratched his head. "Well… we can't go to the mountains… so the mountains will have to go to us."

A little preparation later…

"Hey… pardner…"

"Yes, Lowe?"

"Tell me again how did you convince me into doing this?"

"I convinced the Princess to pay you double for your trouble."

"No amount of MONEY IS WORTH THIS!"

"Thank you for the testimony."

Kira and Lowe stood on each of Waltfeldt palms; both were carrying a set of large anchor like contraption tied to large chains on their back. The Anchor looked like oversized Kunai, albeit the blade has a hook, and a ring on its pommel, where the chains are connected. The midsection is wooden octagon prism.

"So let me see if I get your plan: I'm going to throw the two of you as hard as I can towards one of those rocks while you two perform your Shunshin thingamajig at the same time. This will provide enough force to send the two of you flying straight into that rock. And then Lowe will nail these anchors into that rock so that I can pull the entire rock here through these chains. And then all of us board the rock, and then repeat the routine on another rock, and keep at it, moving from one rock to another until we get to the other side. That's your idea?" Waltfeldt looked at his target: a sizable chunk of rock, probably a peak of a small mountain back in the day. It has a diameter of about 7-800 meters. Probably weight about 2-300 tons. At least.

"Yes. I know it sound imposing too much on you but…" Kira stopped when he heard Waltfeldt snickered.

"It's ingenious. The bad thing about it, I'm a Hakutenkun and I can't ask extra payment for my effort. My salary can't get any higher."

"When we live through this, I'll make you a barrelful of coffee for your trouble."

"Deal." Waltfeldt smiled excitedly as his muscles began to bulge up, and veins popped up as he lifted two surprisingly super heavy weighted yet small sized human projectiles in his hands. "Ready?"

"Maybe I should've said this earlier but… Shunshin was never one of my strong points!" Lowe began to felt a cold chill down his spine when he realized the gravity of the things he's about to do.

"OH SHUT UP AND GROW A PAIR LOWE! IT'S DOUBLE PAYMENT HERE!" A saliva dripping and money eyed Kisato screeched back with a nasty devil's smile plastered on her face. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU DIE ON LANDING, BUT MAKE SURE WE GET THAT BONUS!"

Kira looked at Lacus. "Princess! Remember your promise."

Lacus nodded giddily with a smile. "Oh don't you fret any. I'll pull the payment for Mr. Lowe and you out of my own pocket if I have to."

"I meant your other promise."

Lacus' smile vanished for one moment. "I'll keep mine you keep yours."

Kira nodded. "That's good enough. Waltfeldt-san, if you please."

"Wait! Wait! I'm not ready yet!" Lowe squealed in panic.

"Launch in 3… 2…" Waltfeldt gritted his teeth. "…and… LIFTOFF!" With a roar, Waltfeldt hurl the two boys. At the peak of the throw's momentum, Kira and Lowe timed their shunshin. Combining the force Waltfeldt's throw and the Shinobis' shushin, the force was enough to propel the two at blurring speed across the chasm into the flying rock formation. The giant thick chains they're carrying trailing behind them, whilst the bundle of chains left behind on the ground were whirling out at a freakishly fast rate. Everyone waited with held breath… and then two craters with a halo of smoke appeared on the upper surface of the said rock. And the chain also stopped whirling. A sign that the two landed. And then:

"OOOOUCH!" Two echoes of fresh howls of pain coming from the two craters. Another sign they arrived safely without harm. Well… scratch the last part.

"Fuck me, they cleared it." Waltfeldt chuckled.

Lamia approached Lacus carefully. "Lacus? What promise did you two made?"

Lacus looked at her sister and smiled mischievously. "That's a s-e-c-r-e-t."

"Ow…" Kira and Lowe get up from the crater. Kira quickly surveyed their surroundings for any hostilities. None he can find. "Okay. We're clear."

"Right. I'm planting the anchor." Lowe than set about to his work as he plant the anchor deep into the ground.

Hilda looked at the chains extending all the way to the said rock. She's still having a hard time believing at how the Junk Guilds can quickly forge chains kilometers long, made from melted scrap armors and weapons in almost no time at all, with very little to no equipment in the middle of an Undead Continent! That's craftsmanship that can shame even the Forge Corpse Legionnaire! But still, they produced it as needed in Shadow's plan… "I… I'm not sure I'm following what that ninja is up to."

"The two are now planting and securing that anchor into that rock while Shadow will clear it of all lingering Genma presence. After that, it'll be up to me to pull that rock towards us." Waltfeldt cracked his knuckles in preparation for the heavy duty.

Once the said anchor is firmly secured, Lowe shook the chains several times. That was the sign for Waltfeldt to begin pulling. He nailed both of his feet to the ground and grunted. "GRrrhh…ROAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Veins popped out of Waltfeldt's arm as he pulled the chains as hard as he can. The floating rock trembled as it began to move away from its original spot, much to the shock of its two current occupants. Unbelievably, Waltfeldt began to reel the rock closer to the cliff.

"Whoo-hoo! Keep at it!" Lowe cheered.

Kira chuckled nervously. That Hakutenkun's brute force truly defies reason. He wasn't even sure this plan will work if he didn't saw how the man tossed a stories tall giant monster like a softball.

After long minutes, the rock is finally within reach for Kira to flicker back and forth. Kira flipped his Shiki and transformed it into Aoiro Shiki. He pointed the blade socket to the ground, and then its immaterial solid blade appeared, bridging the two grounds. "Alright, let's go."

"No way! What if you turned off your superweapon thingamajig when we're still crossing?" One of the knights protested.

"Look we don't have time to argue…"

"How can we trust you?" "Yeah!" "That's Right!"

"Oh you gotta be kidding me…" Kira shook his head. He knew they don't trust him that much anymore, but this is ridiculous. Kira looked as if he's about to say something until a scene caught his attention.

Lacus suddenly performed her own shunshin no jutsu and disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing right on the edge of the immaterial blade, causing the shocked knights to instantly back away in fright when the princess suddenly appear close to them. The vicinity of 10 feet radius around Lacus was quickly emptied.

"Lacus-sama!"

"Onee-sama!"

Lacus touched the solid immaterial blade and then took a step. And another and another, and another, suddenly she found herself standing in the middle of the Aoiro Shiki's bridge, gazing at the bottomless abyss right below her through the transparent blade. Lacus eerily eyed the abyss and then looked at the shinobi. Their eyes meet, and they somehow managed to communicate without a word.

Is this it?

No. Not yet, Princess.

Lacus nodded, and then continued her steady gait until she reached the other side. She hopped to the ground and smiled cheerfully. "Haaai! I'm okay!" She giddily gave the other pilgrims a happy wave.

And then, timidly, and slowly, the pilgrims began to take the cue from their princess and began crossing atop Kira's Aoiro Shiki. But horror and uncertainty made the progress rather slow.

"For a second there… I really thought you were going to jump." Kira used that chance to have another private conversation with his 'client'.

"You are part of Lowe-san's group. Which means you're from Orb. If I jumped… or do something when you're directly involved… Orb will be blamed for my death, enough excuse for Zaft to wage war against Orb. That will simply add more bloodshed and death to the fray."

Kira chuckled in surprise. The girl is surprisingly farsighted and quite bright. "Ha, very good. That's more rational than I thought possible for someone with a deathwish."

Lacus smiled as she looked back at Kira, winking an eye meaningfully. "If my death can serve some purpose that save more lives in the future, I don't mind. I'm prepared to make that sacrifice. But it has to be mine. No one else's."

"I understand." Kira nodded and smiled kindly behind his mask. This girl… maybe she wasn't so horrible after all. That's why she saved him during that fall. She wants to die, but she doesn't want to drag anyone with her down her trip to Hell.

At that, Lamia had finally reached the end of the sword bridge and impatiently jumped down Kira's sword and grabbed Lacus before pulling her away from Kira. The two merely chuckled, much to her confusion and frustration. Soon, everyone followed suit, and the crossing's pace accelerated. Eventually, only Waltfeldt remained. Awkwardly, Kira retracted the Aoiro Shiki.

"You do think of a way for Lord Waltfeldt to cross, do you?"

"Unless I miss my guess… he won't even have to." Kira gulped nervously. The trembling of the rock they're standing on is getting worse and worse.

"Right you are boy… Everyone hold on to something!" Waltfeldt gave the warning, knowing full well what will happen as soon as he relaxed his footing.

Kira merely locked himself in place to the ground with chakra while others quickly kneel down or hold on to something.

Waltfeldt finally let go his feet from the ground. Upon losing the force that kept the rock locked in place, the abnormal gravitational force of that area violently pulled the whole rock and catapulted it back towards its original spot, carrying everyone, including Waltfeldt, dangling on chains still in his hands, along with it. The momentum carried by the speed of the rock result in the rock overshot its original spot by a few hundred meters until it finally stabilized and stopped just a distance away from another enormous floating rock. But with this, the pilgrims had instantly cover one third of the chasm.

Kira and Lowe quickly start pulling the chains to pull Waltfeldt up. "Permission to come aboard the rock vessel?" The Desert tiger smirked.

"Granted." The two young warriors replied with a grin.

"That was fun. Can I do that again?" Waltfeldt hopped on to the even surface. He looked at the other knights, they're still kneeling on the ground with their legs shaking in fright. Others go out of their way puking their brains out.

"I'll say Pardner… that was a bit too extreme of an idea to cross." Lowe looked at the frightened knights with sympathy.

"To be honest with you, the original plan was to connect one rock after another, creating a bridge." Kira scratched his cheek nervously. "I never thought the gravitational distortion is so strong, it will forcibly pull the rocks back to its original position…a few hundred meters off the target."

"But I approve. I think we can do this, Shadow-kun." Waltfeldt nodded in support.

The pilgrims rested for about half an hour on top of that rock, gathering their wits. Fortunately, there are no Genma on this rock. It was too small after all. While they rested, Kira checked the surrounding, searching for the next rock feasible to be made target for their next leap. The brunette narrowed it down to one potential target: a large spherical rock, with mountainous surface. It's three times larger than the current rock they reside on. Lowe gazed nervously at the said Big Rock. "Umm… can't we find another rock?"

"It's the only rock in vicinity that's big enough for all of us to stand on." Kira couldn't see any other options either. The other rocks ahead are either too far or just pebbles barely big enough for them to stand on. "But can you pull something that big, Waltfeldt-san?"

"Don't you fret none. This Little Rock is quite flimsy for me. Three times of this should be nothing." Waltfeldt cracked his knuckles while smiling confidently. "Though if I can't do it alone, I still got others to help me."

"That's encouraging…" Kira chuckled.

"We need more anchors." Lowe noted. "One anchor won't be enough to haul in something that big. We need to place several anchors in several spots…"

"A rock that big… there must be a lot of Genma hiding in there." Now Waltfeldt looked at Kira. "Can you kill an entire rock, Shadow?"

Kira laughed sarcastically at the prospect. "Yeah, right." Just because he can kill them easily doesn't mean he's invincible.

"Maybe I can think of something…"

Not long after, the pilgrims were once again viewing a familiar sight. Kira and Lowe kneeling on the palms of Waltfeldt's hands, both were carrying packages filled with multiple anchors on their back, with chains trailing behind them. "Yosh… now listen up. When you two land, you're gonna make a lot of noise. So if there are any Genmas out there in that Big Rock, and I'd reckon there will be, those Genmas will surely come pouring out to get you. So unplaster yourself out of the crater as quickly as possible once you've landed. Got it?"

Kira and Lowe nodded. But Kira also added: "Lowe, we'll be jumping into that rock while carrying some extra weight. That's to say, we need to make our shunshin a hell lot stronger than usual. Here." Kira handed a bag full of Soldier's pill to Lowe. "I doubt we'll land on a secure slightly even ground like before. We probably gonna land on a vertical surface of a cliff. So as soon as we land, we stick to the wall with chakra."

"You're the boss." Lowe nodded nervously.

Kira paused for a moment, and then added to Hilda and the other knights: "I don't know if the Genmas are smart enough to climb chains to cross… but in the case that they do, and if you found yourself in danger, you cut those chains, even if we're still on that rock. Is that clear?"

"What?" Everyone turned towards the source of protest that is Lacus. "You… But you'll…!"

Kira smiled and narrowed his eyebrows in a curve. "If my death can serve some purpose that save more lives in the future, I don't mind. I'm prepared to make that sacrifice. But it has to be mine. No one else's."

Lacus was stumped in silence at this. Her own words are now being used against her! Her eyes narrowed and looked like she was on the verge of crying. But she glared angrily at Kira, and once again, the two communicate without a sound.

You promised!

Don't worry, I'm a man of my word.

You… you planned this?

You don't even know the half of it.

Lacus reluctantly relented in silence and hold her tongue. And no one wants to argue or say anything unsupportive of the plan either. Waltfeldt looked at Lacus sorrowful frown and then to Kira preparing to leap from his hands. His manly intuition clicked in and he chuckled meaningfully. 'Now… isn't this interesting?' With no more protest, Waltfeldt moved to launching position. "You two ready?"

"I haven't written my will yet…" Lowe was on the verge of squealing like a girl.

"Shouldn't you be doing that BEFORE you came here?" Waltfeldt grinned.

"I don't even have a will." Kira knelt down in preparation. "Let's do it, Waltfeldt-san."

"ALLEY-UP!"

As before, Waltfeldt, with his herculean strength, throw the two shinobi in his hand towards the Big Rock. The two nin also timed their Shunshin no Jutsu accordingly and the two vanished in a trail of smoke, with only the flowing chains trailing behind them giving some indication as to where they are.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Lowe squealed as the scenery around him became nothing more than a blur.

Kira was reminded of his experience when he first used Shunshin to leap across great distance back in Archangel. But this is different. It was much, much faster than anything he has ever done. The air is blowing past him with incredible speed and he can hear his bone making funny sounds and his skin felt like they were about to be torn by the wind.

But at this speed, they will reach the rock safely when they start slowing down, much to Kira's relief. That is… when he realized they weren't slowing down. They didn't lose their momentum. Rather, as they approached the rock, they're accelerating. Faster and faster. Kira sharp mind quickly came up with an understanding of what happened. "Oh shit… this is gonna hurt."

Two craters appeared where Kira and Lowe landed. Waltfeldt and the others sighed in relief. But they're still waiting some confirmation if the two packages survived the crash.

On the new Big Rock, Lowe and Kira moaned in pure agony as they landed with their front side plastered to the ground, slapped tight into the crater with their body half-sank. The combination force of Waltfeldt's extraordinary strength and their shunshin propelled them with the force of a bullet… they had to land on a rock with three times gravitational force than normal. Technically, the Big Rock has its own gravitational core. So unlike the normal gravity which pulls people down to the direction of the Earth's core, the rock's gravitational force is pulling towards the core of the said rock. It's like that rock is a small earth with its own gravitational pull. Worse: it's 3 times the normal gravity! Which also means: when they entered the Big Rock's gravitational field, they just went from a horizontal bullet curve approach to diving dead vertical to the ground and landed 3 times as hard, 3 times as painful!

"I don't think this place likes me…" Kira, his face half buried into the rock, moaned in pure anger and pain. He could barely feel his fingers and clinging to consciousness amidst the sheer pain of all his bones getting smashed into a wall/ground.

"That's because it knows you've been killing its inhabitants to kingdom come with pure impunity." Lowe growled. Just then, he felt movements. And then to his horror, he saw in the distance: a horde of Genma coming their way, their attention drawn by the sound of their landing. "Oh shit… Zombie… Zombie alert…"

From the other side at the Little Rock everyone can see a mass of black dots are circling nearer towards the two craters, where the two nins had just landed.

"I hate this place…" Kira mumbled in pure raw rage. His patience is just about spent: corpse earth, boiling blood lava, rain of acid blood, zombies everywhere, breathing hot air coupled with rotten stench of corpses, baby lobbing demons, and now gravitationally distorted mountains? What's next? The Genma had really gone all out and fuck this entire continent inside out. If his face weren't half buried in fossilized living corpses, he'll probably be screaming murder.

"Keep them away from me!" Lowe squealed.

"I hate baby-throwing spider-lady, and I hate zombie army belching gorilla-centaur!"

"Oh… Nooo…"

"I want my cold stinking bunk…"

"Yeah!" Lowe mumbled in support.

"I wanna eat my hand-made ramen…"

"Hell yeah!"

"I want my PAPERWORK!"

"Uhh… You want your paperwork?" Now that, Lowe doesn't fully agree to.

"I wanna go home!" Kira suddenly found his arm again as it began to move. "I wanna get the FUCK out of here!" His legs began to shudder to life as the ground around it began to crack. "I! WANT! TO! GO! FUCKING! HOOOOOOOOOOME!" With one roar, Kira finally burst free out of the crater, just as the Genmas are right in front of his face.

But no amount of nightmarish visage can scare Kira now. Not when he's this angry. The 3G is weighing him down. Fine. He quickly removed all his weight suits and the first thing he did with them is to throw them as projectiles into the Genma's heads, crushing their heads to oblivion. He's been living with weight worth 5 times his own body weight for some time anyway. 3 times is just a cinch. A series of quick handseals and Kira quickly cast: "KATON, KARYUU-HEKI! (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Wall)"

A litany of profanity echoing from the said Big Rock, coupled with the sight of burst of fire in the shape of circling dragon coming from the center of the first crater, creating a wall of fire that consume every black and red swarm encircling the craters gave confirmation to Waltfeldt that Shadow and Lowe survived. And then, following soon after, one fireball after another were launched to every direction from the same source, leaving a trail of fire and charred ground, and then a series of red hot explosions ravaging the Big Rock's surface, no doubt burning all the Genmas in the area to ashes. Courtesy of an Angry as Hell Kira. And then, the center of the said destruction began to move, and the chains also continue to flow on. Kira, with Lowe trying to catch up behind him, plow through the hordes of Genma and then stopped only at a strategic point where Lowe planted and secure an anchor to the ground.

"Yo pardner, gimme a minute to recalibrate this anchor."

"What?" Kira beheaded a hunter while kicking another.

"We designed this thing to operate in normal gravity, not three times of it! I need to readjust it so that it'll operate in maximum capacity even in this condition."

"Fine. I'll cover you! Hurry up!" Kira made a series of handseals and breathe a stream of fire that turned all incoming Genma to dust.

Once Lowe's finished, they moved again to another spot a little farther than the previous and the same routine repeated itself. The duo ran around encircling the rock, planting anchor after anchor, each were interconnected by the chains. The same chains they carried into the rock and extend all the way back to the cliff. The Genmas of course, noticed the chains and at first, attempted to climb the chain to cross towards the Little Rock, as Kira had feared. But before the knights at the Little Rock can do anything, a high pitched ringing sound was heard.

Kira randomly banged the tuning fork he had been carrying, generating a high pitched sound that attract the Genmas to him, so the Genmas will ignore the anchors and chains and focus on trying to kill him and Lowe, much to the latter's horror and resignation.

Lowe had just getting himself adjusted to the 3G when they're halfway to finishing their massive work of encircling the rock, securing the nth anchor into the ground, while Kira protected him by cleaning up all the Genmas in the area, cutting them up to ashes one after the other. "Lowe? How much longer?"

"Just give me some more time. We need to get these anchor drilled deep into ground, otherwise we're screwed."

"Take all the time you need!" Kira raised Shiki up, charged some energy, and then let loose another Tetsuga that rampage through ranks of the Genmas. But another horde is closing in on them again. They're intending to use the sheer weight of numbers to overwhelm him. Kira gulped. Shiki can say all she wants about he grew stronger with every Genma he kills, but the fact is: his stamina is not without limits. Sweat began to pour on his brows. "On second thoughts… Lowe… do hurry up." Lowe was more than happy to oblige.

Fortunately, the gravitational force is working in their favor this time. That being said, the said flying rock is like a small planetoid with its own gravitational pull. Even if they're walking upside down, they are in no danger of falling into the abyss; which means they don't need to waste chakra to wall-walk, allowing them to concentrate to fight and survive. And they can jump and perform acrobatics while walking upside down with no danger of falling, provided they stay within the Big Rock's Gravitational area.

But the Genma kept pouring in from every corner and every hole. Their work is near completion as the two had finished going around the rock and run a full circle, returning back to where they landed when the Genma attack grew more intense, particularly when the dreaded Archer Hostesses came into play.

"Not these bitches again…" Kira gasped.

Everyone at the other edge of the cliff can only watch the battle on the rock's surface where the black mark that is Kira engaged in a ferocious and fiery battle against a swarm of black and red undeads coming from every direction. From their point of view, the Genmas looked like red ants which disperse immediately when the black figure that is Shadow launched another stream of fire or two. The other one, a red figure unmistakably that of Lowe was finishing his works on the final anchor.

"Damn… that jerk got a right to be bigheaded. He's a freakin one man army." One of the knights on the Little Rock commented. "He just ran a marathon across that rock, killing every Genma he can lay his eyes on!"

The other knights also had to grudgingly agree. Shadow may not be much of manners, but as warrior, they had to admit, he's exemplary.

But Waltfeldt would beg to differ. The perimeter around the two warriors which Kira guarded has became visibly smaller, denoting he was hard-pressed on preventing the Genmas from gaining ground, and the Genma has virtually no limit in numbers, pressuring the poor boy. What's more, the frequency of the bursts of flames and white shockwave is steadily decreasing. This shows that the boy's stamina is also reaching rock bottom. "The kid won't last much longer at this rate…"

Lacus tensed upon overhearing the comment. Truth be told, throughout the whole skirmish, Lacus' eyes never left Kira's figure. Her fist had balled so tightly that all blood had rushed out of her fingers, rendering it pale white.

The Desert tiger rubbed his chin. "All Exorcists hear my orders."

The Exorcists quickly lined up, awaiting orders.

"Give me all your skulls and light them all up as explosives."

Back on the Big Rock, Kira had just cleaved a Genma knight to dust when a rain of arrows pinned him down, followed soon by a baby grenade landing a few feet away from him and quickly crawled towards him. Kira managed to swiftly throw a kunai, killing as well blowing up the living bomb prematurely. Alas, it was still too close; the blast nearly engulfed him and still managed to throw him off the ground. Kira grunted when he landed with a crash, dirty, bruised, and tired as Hell. And yet there's still so many more out there. Kira quickly unleash a Tetsuga that rip all target to pieces. "Lowe… (pant) hurry up… it's getting bad out here."

"Patience is a virtue my friend…"

"Not this time it ain't!" Kira launched a Tetsuga to another Hostess that just about to lob another baby. The timing was right, and the misfire caused a massive conflagration that engulfed nearby Genmas. But once the smoke subsided, another pack of knights coming. Worse, Shiki phased out after that final shot. She's out of power. "Oh come on!"

All the sudden, a small meteorite literally fell right on top of the Genma and pulverized them flat. Kira looked up and saw the source:

On the Little Rock, Waltfeldt smirked as he tossed a flaming skull up and down in one hand. "This skull doesn't weigh as much as you two youngsters… so-o…" The Desert Tiger took his stance, and then pitched the flaming skull at the speed faster and more powerful than a cannonfire. The skull landed as a meteorite and exploded with the force of a hundred cannonballs. Anything got hit by the said projectile were pulverized beyond recovery, Undead or otherwise. Waltfeldt couldn't kill them naturally, but the blast clearly disabled them since it destroyed their body to smithereens. "…I can throw these guys with impunity." Waltfeldt grinned. "Keep the skulls coming boys!" And so Waltfeldt threw one flaming skull after another, giving the two warriors some much needed artillery support, massacring hapless scores of demons with each shot.

Kira smiled in relief. Finally some help.

As if on cue, Lowe chose that time to yell: "Pardner! It's ready!"

"About damn time!" Kira rushed towards the Main Anchor Lowe had been preparing, dodging a couple of grenades and arrows along the way, killing through several knights and hunters who managed to get in close. Unfortunately, a baby grenade suddenly exploded right next to Kira and sent him flying with a few burns and disappeared into rubble.

"PARDNER!" Lowe roared in horror.

A moment later, much to Lowe's shock and relief, Kira's hand burst out of the ground, followed quickly by the rest of his battered body. Some parts of his chains mail were blasted off; riddling his coat with holes, but the person was otherwise unharmed except a few burns. He quickly crawled towards the anchor. "Lowe!"

"IT'S READY! DO IT PARTNER!"

Kira weakly made a few handseals. "katon… Ryuuka no Jutsu (Dragon Fire Technique)!" And with that, Kira faintly placed both of his hands to the anchor. And then the jutsu unraveled: a stream of fire enveloped the anchor and then move along the chains, setting it alight. From that point, the flame travelled via the chains and lit up the anchor and then move on to the next anchor in the same manner, and on to the next, and to the next, and to next, until every anchor planted on that rock was alight. Everyone on the first rock looked in awe as a network of flaming chains glowed on the second rock's surface. Soon, all anchors were alight, and that's when the device of the Junk Guild's making revealed its true trump: the wooden prism on the Anchor's midsection opened up, flipping out a hose before its mechanism activates and began spinning rapidly… spraying droplets of oil to every direction, engulfed by fire, they instantly turn into sparks of fire. Every Anchor which was alight also performed the same routine. As the result, from every part of the rock where the anchor were planted, sparks of fire bloomed in a 360 degree pattern that expanded to engulf the entire Big Rock's surface.

Now, the fire spark sprinkled by Lowe's contraption is far from lethal, that is if the target is human. But for the Genmas, the flame was cast by Kira, carrying his Genma killing effect, it felt like being sprinkled with red hot armor piercing bullets. The result: the Demons were all screaming in agony as their bodies were literally being riddled with holes that burn and turn them all to dust. There's no escape even for the Genmas hiding underground. The rock's 3g ensure the flammable liquid will permeate all the way to the deepest hole. In a simultaneous spray of fire, the Big Rock is sterilized of all Genma presence, leaving nothing but ashes.

Kira whistled as he saw every Anchor did its job and burn all Genma to nothing. He lit the fire but he had to hand it to Lowe. The way he just came up with some modified Sprinkler equipped Anchor just like that… this guy is probably a genius inventor rivaling Athrun. "These… sprinklers… they're amazing."

"I planned to use them for gardening." Lowe also smiled in satisfaction upon seeing his invention worked like wonders. "With water of course."

"Gardening? Nice." Kira sighed. The two warriors, exhausted and tired but satisfied, sat on the ground, waiting for Waltfeldt to do his part.

Down on the Little Rock, Waltfeldt also nodded in understanding and awe upon seeing the cleansing fire sparks blooming like fireworks on the surface of the Big Rock. Even the knights who initially hated Kira also cheered. "I'll say. Orb is truly a frightening country to have warriors of this caliber in their employ."

"One is a Japanese Shinobi, the other was trained by a Japanese Samurai." Lamia commented. "…is this the power of those with the blood of that race flowing in their veins?"

Lacus didn't care. Suddenly she found herself breathing much easier than before. She failed to realize that she was breathing in relief. And it has nothing to do with the fact that Kira had managed to secure a new footing for them.

Waltfeldt took the chains and grunted as he pulled them as hard as he can. But try as he might, the Big Rock won't budge. Rather, it's the Little Rock they're standing on which began to tremble.

Upon seeing the trembling small rock, Kira understand the problem: not only the rock they're standing on is 3 times as larger than before; it also has three times the gravity. Whatever weight this rock possess are being tripled by that factor. With that in mind, Kira yelled from the Big Rock: "Don't pull this rock to you! Pull that rock to US!"

Waltfeldt heard and understand. "Okay." So, new approach. Instead of pulling the giant rock into the smaller one, Waltfeldt concentrated his effort into pulling this smaller rock closer to the bigger one. He stomped both of his legs into the ground so hard that it sank as to anchor himself to the Little Rock and grabbed the chains while Kisato and Liam planted several spare anchors into the Little rock to secure their grip before connecting them to the main chain extending to the Big rock. Waltfeldt, rather than pulling the chain, began climbing it, effectively dragging the smaller rock along with him. On the said larger rock, Kira and Lowe also used all their strength to pull down the chains connecting the two rocks together, aided by the gravitational force of that place, resulting in their weight being tripled.

All these effort bore result as the Little Rock finally budge and began to close the distance between the two floating objects. Inch by inch, the two rocks grew closer and closer, until at last, the two reached a critical distance, when Kira ordered them to stop immediately. At this point, the larger rock is right on top of the smaller one, with Kira and Lowe is standing upside down, necessitating the two to bend their head upward to look down upon the other group on the smaller rock beneath them, while the group on the smaller rock also had to look up. Yeah. It's a bit confusing.

"WAIT! STOP! STOOP!"

"Why? Just a little more!" Waltfeldt replied.

"This rock has a localized gravitational pull with three times the force of normal gravity. You guys are standing just on the edge of its gravitational field. Any closer and that rock will be pulled down from the sky like a meteorite upon this one, squashing you all flat."

Everyone on the Little Rock gulped. They can see how that will be bad for their health. "So… what are you suggesting, Lord Shadow?"

Kira pointed at a makeshift trampoline that Lowe had managed to create using torn capes and stuff – yeah, Kira still having a hard time believing how Lowe managed to do this. "Climb the chains down… or from your point of view, up. But remember, once you entered the gravitational pull of the Big Rock, you'll be falling towards us. So hold on tight… or mind your head."

One knight wondering what Kira meant, began climbing the chain. Halfway through the journey was a normal upward climb. Midway, the knight was caught off guard by the big Rock's reverse triple Gravitation and then, just as Kira had warned, he literally free-falling upward to the earthen sky and dive straight into the trampoline-head first.

THONK!

Kira and Lowe winced as they knew all too well how painful that must be. The knights walked away from the trampoline still slightly disoriented and dizzy, and since he had yet to adjust to the triple gravitational pull, he had to crawl away from his landing spot.

"Moving to the next one and do hurry up if you please. Waltfeld-san doesn't have all day."

"Don't worry about me."

And so with the occasional rhyme of THANK, THINK, THUNK, THENK, and THONK, coupled with some BAM, BHOINK, WHAMMO, and etc2, etc2… the knights began climbing one by one from the little rock to the bigger one, where they get pulled by the 3 g midway. Sometimes they managed to hold on to the chains long enough to climb the rest of the way down before landing with their dignity intact. But most of them landed in some of the most disgraceful (and painful) manner imaginable. Lowe's trampoline did little to alleviate their pain, only preventing lethal fall. The girls were somewhat easier since, in sense, they're lighter than the boys. Except when it's Hilda's turn.

Midway, she fell to the 3Gs and for a moment, she looked like she'll hold… but the weight of her heavy armor went triple in an instant and she fell slightly off the target… instead of the trampoline she went straight toward Kira and Lowe down below. The two boys shrieked and tried to escape but-WHAM. Hilda safely landed on the ground on her back squeezing Kira and Lowe who break her fall.

"I'm terribly sorry."

The barely conscious Kira and Lowe can barely answer.

Finally, only Lacus, Lamia and Waltfeldt are left on the small rock. "Just the three of us left. What are you going to do Shadow-kun?"

Kira nodded and looked at Shiki. Again she already regained her former color as the katana phased in, recharging complete. 'Wow… she recharged herself pretty quick.' Again, Shiki turned into Aoiro Shiki. But instead of pointing the blade upward, he pointed it downward. The blade extended and began elevating Kira who stand on her wide handguard. The higher he gets, the more the gravity pulled him down, but Aoiro Shiki dutifully extend herself up and finally pushed Kira out of the gravitational pull of the Big Rock. Kira quickly flipped down and landed on the little rock: "Okay. Aoiro Shiki VIP Express elevator at your service."

Waltfeldt chuckled at the naming. Terrible manners and evil jokes aside, the boy does have some good sense of humor. Lacus and Lamia looked at each other and the two princesses finally hop on and hold on to Shiki's pole arm handle.

"Mind your heads." Kira chose to remain standing upside down on Shiki's handguard, and the blade retracts. Midway, Lacus and Lamia were once again affected by the gravitational pull and Lamia managed to get a footing on Shiki's handguard, Lacus did not.

"KYA!" Lacus fell but Kira quickly slide down and caught her hand if barely, much to Lacus and Kira's shock. Kira looked at Lacus, her expression is full of shock and surprise. "I thought we agreed…"

"That was an ACCIDENT!" Lacus roared back. Yes. That was pure accident. There's no pre-planning, no calculation or whatever. A pure accident that even caught Lacus by surprise. Soon, the three landed on the big rock. Lamia frowned slightly as she began adjusting to the gravity while Lacus… Lacus is still panting from her shock. She caressed her chest; she can still feel her heart beats at a rapid rate, and then her finger start trailing slowly to her lips. That squeal just now… she was squealing out of… fright?

"Remember." Kira whispered behind a shocked Lacus' ears. "Our deal is off if you ask for help." Lacus angrily turned around and noticed Kira was eying her mischievously. Before she can protest, Kira followed: "Of course… what happened just now doesn't count. It was… an 'accident' after all."

Lacus faintly caught the sound of a faint chuckle from Kira. Before she can press the issue, Kira began yelling to Waltfeldt up above. "Waltfeldt-san! You come down here too!"

"What good will that do?"

"With you here, we can pull the Little Rock down so that it will crash into the big Rock! The force of the impact will propel the Big Rock across!"

"Whatever you say." Waltfeldt start having a slight headache with all this… gravitational physics. He's a warrior not a scientist god damn it. "I'm coming down. Or going up… or whatever…" They could go on forever about this gravitational perspective… thing.

However, before Waltfeldt can even begin, a roar echoed, coming from all the way back to the cliff where the pilgrims first started. Everyone looked at the cliff and saw it collapsed under the weight of another Genma Tyrant who just appeared out of nowhere, roaring angrily when it realized it has been cheated by its prey.

The pilgrims atop the Big Rock cheered and ridiculed the Tyrant from the distance. "Nyaa, nyaa, nyaaa! You can't catch us! Hahahaha!"

Their laughter was cut short when the Tyrant was instantly swallowed in a gulp by ANOTHER even more titanic Genma, bursting out right from the Tyrant's back. This Genma is truly the largest creature they've ever seen. It was massive and presumably serpentine. The only visible part of the beast is its head and elongated neck while the rest is obscured by the darkness below and even that had already dwarfed the big rock by the sheer size of the neck's width. No visible limbs other than series of atrophied claws with scythe talons appearing randomly along its serpentine neck and its entire body were covered in layered demonic scales; each has black and red ichors growing out of the said scales, serving as spikes. The Head is also draconic in appearance, with demonic ichors and carapace covering its head, serving as its horns and scales. Unlike the Tyrant and the Hulk which still show how it was created from large number of fused knights and corpses, this… Genma Dragon seems to be purely demonic in origin, with not a single trace of corpse or any vestiges of humanity can be found. The Genma dragon roared to the sky, showing glowing magma churning down his throat and its razor sharp teeth are glowing red hot. Its lower jaw is also riddled with extra fangs and tusks covering the frontal portion of its lower jaw. The Genma dragon has tiny eyes, with four pairs of nostrils.

"Holy… that is one big ugly mother…" Kira muttered in horror.

"That thing looked like babel tower…"

"Babylon?" Lowe concluded.

The Genma Dragon, now christened Babylon, roared towards the pilgrims. Its eight nostrils sniffed several times and then, having caught the scent of its prey and deemed it of fresh meat, the Babylon roared in an ear splitting volume before it dived back in to the darkness of the abyss.

Kira quickly yelled to Waltfeldt. "Waltfeldt-san! Get out of there now!"

The Desert tiger quickly jumped as high as he can and grabbed the chains as he start to climb towards the Big Rock. Waltfeldt entered the Rock's gravitational pull just in time as a second later; the Babylon rose up from the abyss, lunging forward, smashing through several giant floating rocks to pieces in the process and sank its teeth on the Little Rock, instantly breaking the small mountain sized rock to pieces with a single chomp. The force of the Babylon's bite also jerked the chains, causing Waltfeldt to lose his grip and landed, fortunately, unto the Big Rock. The Big rock, who was anchored to the little rock was also yanked violently slightly off its original position.

The Babylon chewed what's left of the Little Rock in his mouth several times while everybody watched in horror. "Why do the bad guys always get the good shit?"

"Okay… HOW IN SAM'S HILL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT THAT?" One of the Exorcists exploded. Everyone looked at Kira, the Genma killing expert. But even Kira seem to be at lost. The boy quickly looked to his surroundings, seeing what options he had, which are few: his shiki has been fully recharged, thank goodness, they have a rock the size of a mountain to stand on, maneuvering, that's nice, a few explosive tags, some tested high level fire jutsu, capable to be reinforced by the Exorcists, that's good. Then he noticed something else: as the Babylon is eating the Little Rock, something was dangling from the corner of its mouth: the Chains that were planted around the Little Rock are still connected to the Big Rock and now they're stuck on his teeth. Fortunately the beast didn't seem to realize this. Kira wasn't sure how it's going to be useful, but…

The analysis of the opposition: an astronomically huge undead dragon who can swallow a Tyrant, itself is already a Genma several stories tall, in one gulp. Heavily armored, yet surprisingly agile. Large multiple nostrils, small eyes, relying on smell. And it appears that the beast was not affected by the gravitational anomaly of this area.

The Babylon jerked up again as he swallowed the last trace of Little Rock. At that time, the entire Big Rock was once again yanked a few meters off their original spot, much to the shock of its current occupants.

The jerk gave another confirmation to Kira: that monster is also astronomically powerful enough to move a mountain sized rock under the effect of 3Gs, without the monster even realizing it.

"Come on! What to do, what to do…" Kira frowned. Thinking hard on what can he do to solve this problem. Before he can come up with some form of solution, the knights began yelling in panic. Kira turned to see what else. To his horror, the Babylon had finished digesting the Little Rock and now it's preparing to attack them. It raised its head high, and like a snake, it quickly descends at blurring speed towards the Big Rock… right towards Lacus.

A few milliseconds just before the Babylon's teeth sank upon the rock, for Kira, time suddenly stood still. It's like someone just added the last piece of the puzzle he needed to solve this situation. The last piece being Lacus. The realization also comes with an epiphany as to why the Babylon was here. A seed fall, his purple eyes turned dilated for one moment, before reverting back to its original state.

The moment time began to move again, Kira was gone. In one millisecond, he was already at Lacus' side. The next millisecond, the two were gone, leaving behind a trail of red feathers, and at the third millisecond, the Babylon's fangs had clenched itself upon the Big Rock, destroying a portion of the Rock. Some unfortunate knights were caught in the destruction; others were swallowed, but most survived and quickly ran away from the gargantuan beast. The Babylon realized his target managed to escape. In anger, the dragon growled and tore a chunk out of the Big Rock before start gnawing that piece while continue looking for his main morsel. As he did this, the Babylon also swallowed several anchors planted on the Big Rock a little earlier, and as the result, more chains are now dangling from its mouth, yet the beast pay no heed.

Lacus was still closing her eyes when she felt wind blowing againts her face. She opened her eyes and lo and behold, she's in Kira's arms, again.

"W… What…?" Lacus reassert herself and looked at her surroundings.

They're flying.

Kira is carrying her in his arms, and he's clad in a red coat with feathery design. The coat has four feathery extensions composed of red wings sown together. The edges of the said coat is glowing brightly, releasing red feathery flake particles made of red light. They were also surrounded with slivering streams of red feathers, dancing about their form. "Wakey, wakey. I need you to wake up, Princess."

"We're flying?" Lacus checked her eyes in case she was hallucinating and pinched her own cheek. It hurts. She wasn't dreaming. "We're FLYING!"

"Yes we are. Don't wear it out." Kira commented. "It's time for me to keep our promise."

Lacus blinked, looked at Babylon, and jawdropped. Kira really intend to fulfill his promise of killing her… and he didn't cut corners, rather, he went out of his way to go overboard. "THIS IS YOUR PLAN? Summoning larger than life undead demon dragon to swallow one tiny me?"

"I'll be honest with you, I didn't expect this one either. I was prepared for a whole army of that Tyrant thing at the worst…" Kira gulped nervously. "The point is this: the Babylon wants YOU. It caught your scent. I've been leaving a trail of your hair along the way. Apparently that guy caught the sample… and now it wants the whole thing."

"Wha…" Before Lacus can comment any further, Kira raise her up and yelled.

"HEY! YOU WANT HER? SHE'S RIGHT HERE!"

The Babylon heard the yell, and after swallowing the chunk of the Big Rock with a snap, it turned towards the source of the sound and found his main prey, floating about in the air, ready to be eaten. The Babylon roared and charged forward.

Lamia, who saw and heard what happened, screamed Kira's (code)name in rage: "SHADOOOW! HOW DARE YOU USE MY SISTER AS A-WHOA!" Her comments were cut short the whole Big Rock was once again yanked around when the Babylon moved again, dragging the rock by the chains. But the chain has its limit and now it's on the verge of breaking. Noticing that, Kira quickly zoomed back towards the rock. The Babylon quickly followed and back away, returning to the rock. Thinking quickly, Kira placed Lacus on his back and grabbed a few chain linked anchors. "Hold on Princess. First we need to get your men and your sister to safety."

Holding several anchors and chains, Kira zoomed back to the sky, with Lacus on his back. Seeing his morsel before him, Babylon roared and quickly followed. Kira flew as fast as he could, but not too fast so that he can still bait the Babylon with Lacus on his back. The dragon opened its jaw wide, giving Lacus a full view of its horrifying maw. And just before the jaw snap shut, Kira accelerated and disappeared into a blur of red light, quickly vanishing to thin air, much to the dragon's shock. The Babylon swished its head several times, looking for its flying prey with its tiny eyes, sniffing the air several times.

And then suddenly, appearing out of nowhere, Kira suddenly dive dead vertical at break neck speed and throw an anchor like a spear towards one of Babylon's unprotected eyes. The anchor punctured deep and the Dragon roared in fury upon the loss of one of its eyes. Kira used the chance to quickly fly circles around its jaw, whirling chains around it, chains which are also connected to the Big Rock. The Babylon is really angry now and began searching for that flying prey who had taken out one of its eyes. Much to its further fury, the prey vanished again. The Babylon eight nostrils began sniffing the air once more, and Kira appeared again from another direction. But the Babylon suddenly swished its head and lunged towards Kira in surprise. Caught unprepared, Kira made a sharp turn and dived into Babylon's open mouth, but barely escaped when it clenched its jaws. The shock of such sudden movement caused Lacus to lose her grip and she fell to the abyss. The Babylon, upon sensing its prey is falling, quickly descend towards Lacus, intending to swallow her full.

Upon seeing the situation, Kira was about to give aid, but then remembered his promise… and so he stopped midair, and watch.

Lacus who saw this now realized this is it. Kira intend to keep his word after all. This is it, now she's going to die. The Babylon opened its jaw and descend upon her, ready to swallow her whole. 'Yes… this is… this is it… right?'

The Babylon closed in on her.

Lacus closed her eyes and smiled in resignation. 'This is exactly what I wanted…'

Her small figure is right inside the reach of the dragon's jaws…

Lacus took a peek to the big rock and saw everyone.

All the Babylon need to do was snapped its jaw, and the prey is his.

Upon seeing Lamia's tear stained horrified expression though, suddenly… something snapped.

Time stopped and then Lacus suddenly had all the time in the world to observe her surroundings in greater clarity. They say your whole life flashes before your eyes before you die. But in case of Lacus, what she saw instead was visions of the future:

She saw many nobles and knights, all dressed in mourning black garb, standing in front of the casket bearing her name. She saw a lot of strangers. Faces that she had never even seen. But they all looked like statues being carved on stone. No expression. She heard crying and wailing coming from their unmoving lips… but they look completely unnatural. Like a parody of mourning. She saw her father, Siegel Clyne… pale as a corpse. His eyes blank and his hair looked like they'll fell off. But she couldn't find her sister. And then she heard murmurs. She wasn't sure if that was just voices or pieces of full sentences, but among them she heard…

"Poor girl…" "Die at young age…" "Her daughter…"

"…heard she was eaten by some Genma…" "…suspect thrill seeking…"

"…her sister never got it over…" "Heard she went nuts…" "…Locked in asylum, escape, went killing spree…" "…Suicide…"

"Her father?" "…resign…" "Dying…" "…Lost will to live…" "Doctor gave him 3 months…" "…miracle seeing him standing here…"

"Her retinue…" "…all died…" "…went suicidal in Junius…" "…Refused to leave…" "…waste of life…"

Lacus' eyes widened in disbelief. Was this her imagination or some mad hallucination? Her mind must've made all this up…

And then the view changed, now there's her casket, and her fathers' and her sisters'… and hundreds more. Voices and whispers then followed…

"…all died…" "…keep trying…" "…Never give up, never forget…"

"…Junius remain a dead island…" "…off limit…" "…pilgrimage failure…" "…sanctuary losing power…"

"…casualty in the millions…" "…Genma escalate…" "…spread beyond border of the continent…"

"…my son…" "…Undead…" "…killed his own father…"

"…my daughter…" "…defiled…" "…bodies never found…"

"…going there…" "…had nothing left…" "…my children devour me…"

Lacus grew more horrified as the voices began to escalate and the cemetery grew larger and vaster as more and more graves were added by the dozens… than hundreds… thousands… "No…" This is not what she wanted! She want to… she want to save some lives! But this… this is not… This is not worth dying for!

Lacus' eyes bulged and widened in pure horror as she ruffled her hair in fright and looked up: the images were gone, replaced by the reality where the gaping maw of the Babylon is right in front of her. Suddenly her eyes were opened. The demon dragon's mouth was filled with rows and rows of misshapen rotting red fangs. Tendrils of demonic nature bursting out, spitting disgusting bile, greasing the Babylon's scalding glowing throat. It's ugly, it's horrifying.

"No… this is not what I wanted… no… NO… NO! I… I… I don't want to die… not like this… Somebody…" Suddenly Lacus forget what she wanted to do in the first place. Her head were completely filled with the sight of his half dead father, her sister's horrified maniacal expression, the voices of sorrow and despair, the thousands of caskets… her mind went blank, and she couldn't think of anything else. And when she saw a monster right in front of her is just about ready to consume her… before she can stop herself, Lacus shrieked: "SOMEONE! ANYONE! H… HELP MEEE!"

And suddenly, Kira is right behind her, and in a blink of an eye, just as Babylon snapped his jaw shut, he found, to his further irritation, that he once again snapped his jaw on empty air. But before the Genma Dragon can rage over his repeated failure, the last thing his remaining eye saw was the sight of Kira, with Lacus on his back, planting another anchor to his remaining eye.

The Babylon went mad with wrath. Being Undead, the monster cannot feel the pain, but the loss of its eyesight is something he can clearly feel and it enraged him to no end. The undead dragon has now been completely blinded and it roared around the area, trashing around in pain, smashing apart several floating rocks in blind fury. Kira used that chance to fly around the gargantuan serpent in blurs of red flashes encircling and dancing in the sky around the beast, leaving a trail of red aura and feathers, wrapping the beast in layers after layers of chains, planting anchors on the chinks of the creature's scales. By the time Kira was done, at least half a dozen chains connect the Babylon to the deformed Big Rock.

Kira flew back to the Rock and stopped midair for one second to warn its occupants. "Everyone! BRACE YOURSELF! WE'RE IN FOR ONE WILD RIDE!"

"BEFORE THAT! RETURN MY SISTER RIGHT THIS INSTANT YOU LUNATIC!" Lamia shrieked hysterically.

"No. Not yet. She make a good bait."

"WHAT?"

Kira turned around and saw the Babylon is at his heels again and quickly zoomed away in a red blur. The Babylon roared and chased after this annoying little red fly. "Yes that's it! You can't see her, you can't hear her, but you CAN SMELL her! SO COME ON!" Kira let down Lacus and held her tightly by one of her hand, hanging her around like a ragdoll, using the princess as bait to the Genma dragon. Lacus was still too shocked and too dazed to protest.

The Babylon sniffed, caught the scent of his prey and quickly lunged forward. But Kira continued to elude him of his coveted prize yet again.

One of the knights looked at how Kira turned into streams of zigzagging red light in the sky, avoiding the Babylon's jaw by a hairbreadth. "Well waddyaknow. He really CAN fly." The chains allover the Big Rock began to swirl at a fast rate, being pulled away by such a massive creature at such speed. Waltfeldt quickly realized the full extent of what Kira was trying to do: this Big Rock has become a carriage and the Babylon has become its beast of burden. And the time is short! "EVERYBODY HANG ON!"

Kira continue to bait the Babylon with the morsel that is Lacus, and the Beast relentlessly give chase, pulling the chains bound to his body until finally, all the chains connecting the serpent to the Big Rock stood erect, and with another mighty lunge from Babylon, the entire Big Rock was finally yanked off the sky. Its entire occupants fell on their backs upon the sudden speed spurt as the serpent pull the entire rock and yet, due to the monster's undead nature or perhaps because of its own monstrous strength, it didn't realize it was dragging a mountain behind him. The angered Babylon thought little else but to get his prize, no matter what stands in its way: be it a pebble, a rock, or even another flying mountain! The serpent smashed through everything that gets in his way, chasing after this annoying fly that's carrying his prize, unintentionally shielding the Big Rock behind it in the process… as well as getting its occupants across the massive chasm.

Zooming across the rocks with the sound of his heart beating a few miles a minute roaring in his ears, competing with the sound of wind booming, Kira exert every last bit of strength and concentration to lead the way: fast enough to stay on the lead of this monstrosity, yet capable to instantly slow down to bait him on, to be agile enough to dodge and fly past the razor sharp rocks coming at him at blurring speed, and directing the gargantuan demon behind him to chase him across the chasm, effectively carrying the Big Rock, and its occupants, to the other side. Not even fighting Veia or Raww was as taxing to his mental capacity as this. No pressure? Yeah right.

"Brother! THIS IS ACTION! WHOO-HOOO!" Lowe cheered. Riding on top of a flying rock being pulled by a giant demon serpent, in what world can they get something as extreme as this? "We're riding the biggest chariot in the whole wide world! YEE-HAAAA!"

"And we're getting across alright…" Liam was laying on the ground on all fours, completely scared shitless. This is some way to cross the chasm. Just then, a big chunk from a mountain that got smashed by the Babylon flew straight at them and flayed a chunk of the Big Rock. "Oh… that doesn't look good."

More of such chunks are coming their way. And not just the chunk from the rocks smashed by the Babylon, but other chunks as well who were distorted and pulled by the abnormal gravitational anomaly of the Big Rock. Coupled with the speed they're going, the Big Rock is being flayed off a piece at a time at an increasingly fast rate. Realizing they're losing ground at a rapid rate, Waltfeldt issued another order: "Everyone gather together! We're losing ground!" And the knights quickly clustered together and holding tightly to whatever they can for dear life.

Pretty soon, this rapidly deteriorating gigantic rock chariot and its monstrous serpentine 'steed', led by a flying sparkling red bird had plowed through the floating rock formation causing massive destruction, both to the abnormal environment and to the Big Rock Chariot. Regardless, they finally get very close to crossing the chasm. And just beyond that… the Sanctuary is just ahead. Upon seeing the end of this wild ride, Kira turned around and saw that the Big Rock has been reduced to barely a third of its original size. "I hope Waltfeldt-san understand."

On top of the Big Rock, Waltfeldt saw the situation and understood. "Everyone! GET READY TO TAKE COVER AND CUT THE CHAINS ON MY MARK!"

Liam quickly made a series of handseals and casted: "DOTON, DORYUU HEKI!" A series of crude earthen wall rose up and fortify the Rock, giving its occupants some measure of protection.

As he nearing the exit of the chasm, Kira decelerate and slowed down before turning around as he flew backward, the barely conscious Lacus is on his back and the Babylon is right in front of him, ready to finish this cat and mouse game once and for all! The Babylon lunged with its mouth open wide, ready to swallow everything in a gulp. Kira waited until the last possible moment, and just before the Babylon brought his jaw down, Kira instantly accelerate and turned into a stream of red light, crisscrossing past the serpent right beneath its closing lower jaw and in an instant he was already behind the Babylon's head.

Being blinded by Kira, the Babylon didn't realize that on his final lunge, he was just a few feet away from the Sanctuary, the place that all Genma (Who can see) avoid at all cost. Now, reliant on his nose to track his pray, the Babylon was shocked when Lacus' scent had suddenly moved from being in front of him to behind him. The shock was enough to bring the mighty serpentine dragon from a full forward lunge to a sudden full stop to turn around, only to have the Big Rock, all of its chains were cut off but still carrying the momentum from its fast wild ride, smash through its massive girth and pushed the serpent further forward… until the beast's head, along with the Big Rock were thrown into the Sanctuary's pillar perimeter of holy light.

The Babylon had only about a second to roar before the Sanctuary holy power instantly incinerate his head to dust and ashes and finally nothingness. The not so Big anymore Rock, cleansed by the Sanctuary, also lost its gravitation distorting property, the earthen wall that Liam made was smashed open upon crash landing. Moments later, its still living occupants slowly crawled out of the rock and quickly landed safely into the sanctuary ground, albeit greatly shaken by the wild ride.

Lowe quickly scurry out of the Rock and vomited. Sacred ground be damned, he hurled 4 times during the ride, but the speed has kept it in his stomach.

Hilda quickly collapsed to the green grass of the Sanctuary.

Everybody else could hardly believe what just transpired. They're alive! After ALL that… ALL OF THAT! By God they're alive and they've reached the 3rd Sanctuary! And they even killed a gargantuan larger than life demon to boot!

Waltfeldt also walked out of the rock and looked at the headless corpse of the gigantic Babylon. The now headless body of the Babylon began to collapse on its own weight and the rest of its unseen body down below in the abyss began to drag down its headless neck back into the darkness. And just then, he saw another figure. Like a red angel descending from the sky, carrying the pink haired princess in his arms, was the man responsible for all this. "When he first saw the Babylon… he really doesn't know what to do. Until he saw how Babylon after Lacus almost single mindedly… it took him that instant. JUST. THAT. ONE. Instant! To come up with a plan to get us across and kill that monster at the same time. All of this! In one moment!" Waltfeldt swallowed a gulp. "That's first class genius, boys and girls. My god, that's first class pure genius."

Hilda and Lamia felt a very cold chill down their spine. A brutal warrior, a brilliant tactician, and a fully mastered super weapon in his employ. Invincible seems to be the only word came to mind in the face of such overwhelmingly powerful combination.

Every survivor looked up towards the shinobi. The knights suddenly forget everything. They forget their dignity, their initial hated of this man, they forget how the man had used their beloved priestess as bait. They forget everything. And in unison, everyone cheered and yelled loudly. In adoration, in relief, in awe. They all yelled and roared wildly.

Kira gasped and wheezed heavily, gently descended and landed on the ground. The moment his feet touched the ground, Kira collapsed to his knees in severe exhaustion and the Kurenai Shiki dispersed, sweat flooded his entire figure, with Lacus still safe and unharmed in his arms.

The jerk of Kira's collapse also brought Lacus back from her stupor to full alert.

The Princess was still somewhat at lost at what happened, but then she quickly remembered everything that had transpired and went into shock over what she had done. The shock was enough to make her roll over, grasping her mouth… and in finality, hurl out in disgust. She panted and gasped as she fell to her knees, staring at her own bile. She couldn't believe what she just said. She just… screamed out loud… she just… she just…

"You just asked for help, Princess." Kira spoke her mind for her. "You… just decided… at edge of life and death… that you want to live. So you asked me to save you."

Lacus looked at Kira with horrified eyes. Begging him to tell her that it was not true.

Kira sighed. "…so much for your resolution."

Tears began to swell at the corner of Lacus' eyes.

"But that's the fact. You can say that you're ready to sacrifice yourself for everyone's sake… and your life… had gone so bad, so hellish… you thought you no longer had anything to lose. But… when the time comes… you just can't do it." Kira touched Lacus's cheek gently. "That's because… you finally realized… that you got a LOT to lose. And suddenly… you can bark that you're ready to die… but in the end… you aren't. You think I'm wrong… fine. Call me a liar. I don't care. Deny me all you like. But first… you have to deny the fact… that just now… the only thing you can think of… is your own survival." As Kira explained this, his breathing became more erratic. "That deep down inside… You WANT to live."

Lacus tears flow freely from her eyes now. She gasped and choked silently on her knees. She cupped her face with her hands as she first cried in silence… but finally, she just couldn't hold it and her cry turn into full blown howls and cries of sorrow as well as disgust. Disgust to her weakness, to her own stupidity… disgust to her own self.

Kira smiled and let the girl cry her heart out and saw Waltfeldt, Hilda and Lamia is approaching them. The latter two, in particular, was as angry as hell. Apparently they had put two to two together and realized that Kira was the one who unintentionally summoned the Babylon. Kira get up and walked a distance away past the crying Lacus. Kira defiantly felt absolutely no remorse, and it clearly showed from his eyes. "I did what I have to do. There's no point in protecting someone who doesn't want to be protected. I'm not sorry."

"Sorry is no longer necessary you monster!" Lamia couldn't believe it. He summoned the Genma just for THIS? "I've warned you!"

"This is not a defense… but I made a promise with your sister. I promised that I will kill her when the Genma turned her. And she promised she won't ask for help." Kira looked at the sobbing Lacus. "I kept my promise… she didn't."

"I hope you've made your peace, you bastard." Lamia charged at Kira sword first, but her blade stopped short just inches away from Lacus's chest, who, at the last moment, suddenly jumped right in between Kira and her sister, shielding Kira.

"Onee-sama?" Lamia gasped and quickly retracted her weapon. "What are you doing?"

"He was right." Lacus finished her sob and then declared clearly. "I strike a deal with Kage-san. I asked him to let the Genma turn me, and then he'll kill me. In short… I asked him to kill me. As to the why…" Lacus took a deep breath and concluded. "…because I really did came here to die."

The three people who are closest to Lacus gasped with widened eyes upon hearing the statement. Lamia, in particular, to say she was devastated would be an understatement. "But… Onee-sama! W… WHY?"

"We have a lot to talk about my dear sister. A talk we should've had long before all this… a talk that we should've had at better circumstances…" Lacus turned to Kira, giving him a grateful smile. "…a talk that… thanks to Kage-san's effort… we now have a lifetime to discuss."

That was a cue for Kira that Lacus had finally abandoned her idea of suicide for good. Or at least… for now. "Good." Kira then hunched forward and lightly pushed Lacus towards Lamia, much to the former's confusion.

"K…Kage-san?" Lacus lightly touched Kira's side stomach… and felt an unnerving wet substance. She lifted her hand and saw it was covered in blood. She looked back to Kira in pure horror. "No… No… Not you… NOT YOU!"

Kira grunted in pain. One of Babylon tusk's at his lower jaw got him good with that last charge. "Take her away from me!" Kira roughly pushed the horrified Lacus back to Lamia. The Princess began to hysterically scream. "No! NO! NOO!" Tears exploded from her eyes.

"Heheheh…" Kira chuckled painfully. He doesn't seem to be turning into Genma any time soon, but his body is now assaulted by a massive fever. "I might turn into a Genma, but I can still feel that I'm still alive. But when I do turn into Genma, God only knows the kind of monster I'll turn into. If you wanna finish me off, you'll never get a better shot than this." Everyone looked in horror at the wound on Kira's side stomach. Genma 101: Even one scratch is fatal.

Lacus' eyes widened upon hearing the statement and tears flooded her eyes again. She struggled to run to Kira's side to do something… anything, but Lamia shook her head and hold her tight.

"This is truly regretful, Kage." Waltfeldt heavy-heartedly readied his blade. Likewise, Hilda also readied her great spear. Lamia had to held down the horrified and hysterical Lacus.

Kira slowly began to move to the edge of the cliff. Everyone who watched this suddenly realized what happened.

"Any last request?" Hilda gave the doomed one his final rights.

"Any message to your loved ones, perhaps?" Waltfeldt added.

"Last wish: tear my body to pieces. TINY pieces. And then burn it with the purification at point blank range for good measure. I refuse to become one of them or be of any use to these monsters, not even as a fertilizer. Message… well…" Kira thought of his friends. But then, he just couldn't find anything to say. He was too tired to think of anything coherent. "…there's nothing left unsaid."

The knights who heard this bowed their heads in sorrow, shame and respect to this great warrior. The Exorcists began praying and giving Kira his last rites. "Requiescat in pace oh ye who art without fear…"

Waltfeldt lifted his amber blade just as Hilda lifted her great spear.

Suddenly smoke began to appear around the wound on Kira's stomach. Kira grunted and grasped the gaping wound even tighter. He felt like he was on fire. But the next instant, what happened really shocked him:

His wound combust. The area around his wound is on fire… literally. The flame… is pure white… and it's as hot as hell! For a moment, it looked like his entire body burst into flames. White flames.

"UAAAAAAAAAARRRGGHH!" Kira screamed in panic and pain. The flame is boiling him alive, INSIDE OUT! Everyone who saw this gaped in shock, having never seen this phenomenon before. Awkwardly, the flame began to shrunk until eventually it is completely concentrated around the area of Kira's genma wound, and it didn't spread or burn anything else, not even his clothes. After several seconds that felt like an eternity, the flame finally died out, and Kira also stopped squirming and yelling, as the pain also died out with the flame. Kira finally came to and looked at his wound.

It was gone. He touched it again several times, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He also touched his heart and felt a heartbeat. He's still alive and among the living. But he do feel as tired as hell. He weakly looked at Lacus.

Judging by her surprised look, and everyone's for that matter, they were all as surprised of this fact as him. "W… What…" And with that, Kira lost his consciousness.

0000000000000000

The knights carried Kira's body into the safety of the Sanctuary. Two tents were set up. One, the tent used by High ranking officers such as Waltfeldt, was used to place Kira and allow him to rest. The other tent was for Lacus and Lamia to spend their time talking in private. The sisters were in it for hours. Voices were raised. Whatever they are discussing, it was obvious that it was a discussion long time coming, all pent up inside Lacus until today.

Kira woke up in another tent. Still fully clothed in his shinobi garb, and other than battle damage, there's no sign of burn anywhere. Kira moved his hand to his side stomach and caress it. The wound is gone now… but that burning sensation remained. And it's hard to forget when you get burned inside out. 'That's awkward…'

"You're awake?"

Kira turned around and saw Waltfeldt and Hilda by the door. Waltfeldt then sat next to Kira's figure and Hilda stayed behind. She looked… ashamed. "How are you feeling boy?" Waltfeldt began.

Kira placed his hand over his chest and felt his heart beat. And then he placed his palm over his nose and felt the air flowing in and out. "I'm alive. Not undead. Alive."

"You really gave us a scare." Waltfeldt laughed. This kid is full of surprise.

"For the record, I wasn't trying to scare the shit out of you all. I mean I had fever… and… I just felt terrible… I really… I really thought I was going to turn into one of them."

"That makes all of us." Waltfeldt quickly added as he pointed at Kira's arms. Kira noticed that he was chained to bed. Instead of being angry, Kira chuckled in understanding. A precautionary action. They chained him to bed in case he really turned into a monster. "And no one see your face. Not even Lacus." The Desert Tiger quickly added.

"You're sure?"

"Lacus kinda made sure of it." Waltfeldt added with a chuckle. "She wouldn't leave your side for any reason, and none of us but her sister can get in to drag her out." Waltfeldt's chuckle trailed to unnerved silence when he saw Kira's angry glare.

Unnerving silence for a few seconds.

"The biggest mystery for me, in regards to your princess' case, is as to why he considers suicide seems to be the best option." Kira angrily noted.

"Lord Shadow…?" Waltfeldt and Hilda were left completely speechless at Kira's angry analysis.

"Priestess should've volunteered to go to this island. And that is after they pass through a stringent aptitude test. But it was not the same with her. She was barely qualified as a priestess, and yet she was sent anyway. Why?" Kira barked.

Hilda gasped in horror. "Are you saying that someone want her dead?"

"No. Not someone. It's not a person." Kira frowned in deep thought. "The Clyne family. I finally remembered the significance of that name."

"Here are the facts: Clyne family… one of the families who are responsible for the Collapse." Kira continued his analysis. "Lacus and Lamia are the daughters of Siegel Clyne. One of the most prominent member of Zaft High Council, and ages old family, dating back to the days of the founding of Zaft." The shinobi looked at the two Zaft knights. Both nodded in confirmation. Kira continued with his theory. "For years, I only knew that High Councilor Siegel Clyne was among one of those most vocally pushing for peace between Zaft and the Alliance. In certain circles, the Clyne family is known for being the pinnacle of pacifism." Kira tilted his head. "In other circles though… they are known as a family of sinners."

Hilda's grip on her spear slightly tightened.

"When George of Glenn died, centuries ago, the Clyne family was the one who used the legendary Regalia to retaliate… creating the 12 continents… but also caused the Collapse. Worse, they also broke the Regalia. Destroying a creation of the Onis… that's like spitting in the face of the Gods. Hence, the sinner stigma." Kira waited for a moment in silence. The two Zaft knights didn't say anything, not even Hilda. That's proof that there's nothing wrong with what he just said. It was just facts based on history that everyone knew, after all.

"But the Clynes had changed since then!" Waltfeldt remarked. "And how they've changed. For 6 generations now, the Clynes had pushed away all their pro-aggression militaristic ways. Siegel spent half his life struggling to broker a peaceful solution with the Alliance."

"But apparently that wasn't enough." Kira retorted. "The Clynes were not the only one who had that stigma. There's another family who bear the same sin. The Zala family. Together with the Clynes, the Zala was also partially responsible for the Collapse. But there's one thing in particular that absolved the Zala family of their sinner status." Kira turned. "The sacrifice of Lennore Zala. She's the first priestess who managed to 'nearly' complete the Pilgrimage and returned alive. Though she did fail in her second attempt, it is also a fact… that her death shocked the wealthy and the powerful of Zaft… elevating her husband's political career in the process."

Catching up with what Kira was implying; Waltfeldt quickly defended Siegel's honor. "Siegel will not sacrifice her daughter's life for his own political agenda!"

"Fine, so Siegel is not that kind of person, according to you. All the same, she still ended up here." Waltfeldt and Hilda looked as if they try to find an answer, but if they knew the answer, they might've never brought the princess here from the first place.

Kira sighed, remembering the way Lacus exploded down there on the cliff. "What she did? She didn't do it for herself. She did it for you. For all of you. Not just for her retinues and her sister… but for all Zaft. But let me ask you this…" Kira glared back at the two. "What has Zaft did to her?"

Waltfeldt and Hilda were caught off guard by this question.

"As if not enough you blacken her family name for 6 generation straight for some stupid Oni trinket, you guys had this… stupid 10 feet radius rule. Immaculate holy power my ass. I kissed her twice (in mask), carried her on my back in a climb, arguing with her at point blank range in her face while she spat on me, and we danced around like a maniac in a flight gauntlet holding her in my back and occasionally tossing her around like a ragdoll. I was that close, and I'm still alive!" Kira barked in anger. "Okay, fine so I had some immunity you guys don't. DID any of you even stop to think rationally for one second as to why she's like that? Did any of you ever tried to help her? No. You make assumptions, you make crazy stories. And look what happened: you all treated her like a disease. You didn't deify her… you demonize her. She's not a princess. She's a monster." Wlqatfeldt and Hilda gasped in horror, but Kira continued. "She's a monster created by her society. The society who tried to lay the blame of the past on someone else other than themselves."

"That's a bit too much don't you think?" Hilda nervously retorted. "We tried everything to help her!"

"Everything but the most important thing: to be by her side, no matter what. And why don't you keep trying? I HAD A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE, right here, right now!" Kira pointed at the guilt ridden Waltfeldt, who understood perfectly what Kira meant. "Waltfeldt-san, you said Lacus stay beside me to ensure no one came in. Well no one did, because they're AFRAID of her 'powers' and you LAUGH it off? You think that's funny? You just left your princess alone with a guy who baited her to a Genma! And you tell me you guys loved her?"

"The 10 feet rule was her request-" But Waltfeldt knew that was a weak argument as Kira quickly cut him off with an answer he knew to be the correct one.

"Then you might as well ask her to FIRE THE LOT OF YOU! That's the one order you guys should never obey and you fucking know it!"

Waltfeldt and Hilda eyes bulged in shock. Not only because of how Kira's words rang true, but also because it shocked them that it never crossed their mind to do so. It was so simple, so easy, but they never thought of it.

"A sinner brand on her family… and then she herself was branded a monster, denied by her society. To have every door shut in your face. Every option, taken from her. Even those who profess to be closest to her were also so distant. And others would be so glad to be rid of her, but refused to get their hands dirty or even saying it upright in front of her, they used her kindness and gave her an excuse to toss herself to the dead." Kira listed these things with his fingers. "No wonder she saw little value in her life."

The two full grown adults suddenly found themselves completely speechless, unable to retort a boy barely half their age. They understand completely what Kira was saying. There are countless people in the Empire who had… 101 reasons of wanting to see her dead… But in the end, the one that had pushed Lacus to take this course of action is not a person. It's a system. A system born from the fear and the spun lies that the society had imposed on her. Of what she had become. Lacus set up the 10 feet rule in order to protect the people around her and because she recognized herself as the monster that she is… But with it, she realized she had also worsened her family name. Her ancestors destroyed an inheritance of the Onis, and now the latest generation possess… has a monster growing inside her. Instead of finding a way to deal with it, they spun lies and deception to distort the truth, driving her deeper and deeper into depression, for the society refuse to see her as a danger. Desperate and maddened by fear, Lacus' kindness and unwillingness to harm people did the rest of the decision process that lead to suicide ever smoother. And the society that sent her here… those who… secretly knew… were more than glad to be rid of her.

"She's sick." Kira concluded. "I'm not a doctor. But she's sick alright. Sick of lies, sick of trickery, sick of people bullshitting in front her… smiling at the front, while sneaking daggers behind her back. All those smoothtalkers and asskissers… She's sick of it all. She was just too kind to ever show that she was already fed up." That's when Kira noticed someone else came in. "Well, speak of the devil…" The princess in question. Waltfeldt and Hilda quickly get up from their seat in shock.

She just stood there, fidgeting nervously. Her sister nervously waited outside.

"Lacus-sama!" Hilda and Waltfeldt were surprised when they saw the pink haired princess.

Lacus smiled nervously, and then she stated timidly. "Umm… Waltfeldt-san… Hilda-san… could you both leave us alone?"

Hilda and Waltfeldt looked at each other and then to Lacus… and then to Kira. By us… does she mean… Lacus and Kira, alone? Hilda looked somewhat disapprovingly at Kira. After the whole fiasco Genma baiting, she wasn't even sure to allow the shinobi to go within anywhere of her Princess. She turned to Lacus again for some confirmation. Lacus nodded again in assurance. Yes. She wanted to spend some private time with Kira, the man who nearly had her killed.

Kira simply lay there in waiting, indifferently.

Waltfeldt looked at Lamia, hoping for some sort of protest, but Lamia didn't say anything. Her face was incredibly gloomy. Apparently she and Lacus had talked about this earlier and in length. Surprisingly, Lacus somehow managed to convince her protective sister to allow this. The Hakutenkun finally nodded. He tapped Hilda's shoulder once. The female knight nodded, took the cue, and reluctantly walked away. The two joined Lamia as Lacus made her distance.

But Waltfeldt and Hilda, having been preached in length by Kira, chose to walk normally towards Lacus, defying the 10 feet rule, to her shock. The two knights ignore her shocked face and simply walk calmly towards her. They grew visibly weaker the closer they get to Lacus, but the two pay their deteriorating condition no heed. Kira quickly noticed strange menacing markings appearing on their paling skin, coupled with eerie veins, the closer they get to Lacus. 'What are those… markings?'

Waltfeldt even stopped for one second right next to Lacus and looked at the shocked Princess one last time as if asking if she really want to do this.

Lacus confirmed again with a confident smile.

Waltfeldt nodded and then joined the other two, and the three left giving her the privacy she requested.

0000

Outside, once the two knights were well and away from Lacus, Hilda and Waltfeldt collapsed and were completely out of breath. Lamia quickly scolded them. "What were you two thinking? You blatantly defy the 10 feet rule…?"

"Never… never again." Waltfeldt wheezed. "We'll never leave her alone again."

"Never." Hilda choked. But she gritted her teeth in conviction. "We'll find a way. Definitely."

Lamia blinked.

0000

Lacus turned to Kira, who had silently sat on his bed, waiting for her.

Lacus sighed and approached Kira and cupped his face, much to his surprise. "Hmm… you seem to be okay."

"I'm a fast healer." Kira replied.

"Wanna take a walk?" Lacus pointed her finger to the chains that bound Kira to bed, and just like that, they magically unlocked themselves.

And so Kira and Lacus secretly exited the tent and move out of the sanctuary, and found the cliff where the Babylon fell. Lacus sat on the edge of the cliff. She then motioned for Kira to sit next to her.

"I'd rather stand."

"Oh no you don't! Sit down. Relax, I won't bite." Lacus chuckled. "Much."

"I'll stand."

"Sit down…" Lacus threatened Kira with the one thing she knew will make him obey her. "Or you'll be looking for your partner next to Babylon's corpse down below." Lacus snapped her finger, and Ms. Pink showed up, hovering above the ravine while she held Shiki in her hands and threatening to drop her into the abyss.

"OI! What are you doing!" Kira panicked upon realizing Shiki's precarious circumstances.

"Payback for baiting me to that monster and treating me like a ragdoll." Lacus smiled evilly.

Ms. Pinky laughed nervously. "Master Shadow, I suggest you cease and desist, haro. Nothing can dissuade milady when she's like this, haro."

Kira's eyes twitched dangerously and he finally and grudgingly sat down next to Lacus. Once he did, Lacus smiled happily, and then, all the sudden, she rested her head on his shoulder, much to Kira's embarrassment. "Umm… Princess…"

"Ssshhh… I'm a little tired and my head felt really heavy. Let's talk. You and I. Like this. And stop calling me Princess. Call me Lacus."

Kira blushed furiously all the way to his ears. "Okay… Prin… Lacus…san. What do you want to talk about?"

Lacus pouted at the addition of '-san' behind her name but she let it slide… for now. "First… allow me to reinforce what Waltfeldt-san said about my father. He would never sacrifice people for his political career advancement." Lacus started. "Truth is… he didn't even know I was here. He just knew I was on some errand."

"Okay."

Lacus remained silent for a few moments and stay in that position for a while. Kira looked at Lacus, and notice the girl is really resting her head on his shoulder to rest. She was visibly tired. Her eyes were half opened and empty, but unlike before, it was dazed because she's in total relaxation.

"You might wonder… of all the possibilities of what I could do as the daughter of Siegel Clyne… you might wonder why I choose this extreme method?"

"I had a feeling you'll tell me."

Lacus chuckled and rose up from Kira's shoulder and stare into the abyss that is Babylon's grave. "You know of how decadent the high class society of Zaft Empire… but I'm guessing your knowledge about us has been… shall we say outdated?"

Kira didn't deny it and nodded. He left Zaft a long time ago. Anything can happen during so long of a time.

Lacus smiled nervously and continued. "Well… I guess I can tell you… whatever ugliness you saw during your time is currently escalating… at an alarming rate. My father… he tried his best to fix the situation while at the same time trying to broker some peaceful solution to this war. It doesn't help when the war is on the horizon. His… political program… will make over half of the nobles his enemies because it was intended to take away a great deal of their monetary assets. Loss of monetary assets means loss of political influence. Loss of political influence means loss of potential chance of sitting at the seat of High Council. It's all politics and all that." Lacus looked at Kira's eyes. "And you think I'm just protecting my father's name? Let me tell you that… to pursue this… my father had nearly bankrupted our family financial status. Lamia and I had given up our inheritance to prevent total collapse, and father had sold most of his assets. We're probably the poorest Noble family of the High Councils." Lacus chortled. "Relatively speaking of course."

Lacus took a deep, deep breath of the wind, but she quickly stopped. It stinks of corpse after all. "…but it was not enough. Between… ignorance, corruption, and sabotage… compound that with the call for war and… and… various overzealous fanatics pushing for it… and the general thrill seeking youths going to battle for some high… my father had spend half of his life barely making a dent to our… our rotten society." Lacus shook her head in sorrow remembering how her father will often look tired and still giving her that sad, hollow smile every time she came to welcome him. "No. Words… no longer suffice. What they need is a shock. A shock to the system. I thought I can be that shock."

"By making Junius completely inaccessible by use of suicide bio-bombing?" Kira chuckled. That is ONE hell of an idea. Especially if it was done by someone of Lacus highly esteemed social standing. "Won't that blacken your family name even more?"

"I don't care about my name." Lacus spat bitterly. "What good does it do to me? Courters with their gifts and their fake proposals, favor seekers and their… their insincere ass-kissing praise… That's all this name ever brought to me." Lacus snorted. "Yet… it's also a fact that I was quite famous in certain circles. Some even say, my father had his fame because of the two of us, me and my sister, whose fame had exceeded and supported his. My name carry some weight and impact… I guess I tried to do what Lennore Zala did, years ago… by shocking the powerful and the wealthy of Zaft into action with my death. I thought I can come here… and try to change the world." Lacus' chuckle turned into a gloom and somber face. "God, the arrogance…"

"Arrogant? No. I don't think so." Kira commented as Lacus looked at him. "I don't think your effort is a sign of arrogance. Misguided and naïve maybe… but… not arrogant. Given your circumstances, you try to do the best you can with what you have. You feel you have the power to make the difference, so you decided to make something good out of it. That makes you a hell lot better than those good-for-nothing think tanks of high Councils who only… council every day. Probably only about how to tank themselves up."

"When I'm still practicing, there were these… patients… a bunch of obese council members get sent in… they were supposed to have this… presentation and apparently they fell off the podium when it crashed due to their weight. Highest level of cholesterols I've ever seen, with lever problem, the lot of them. Ate too much meat, with too much sauce on it." Lacus pointed her chin and think again. "…wait… I asked them later, and I think their diet consist of only beefsteaks."

"What was their presentation about?" Kira, out of pure curiosity, asked.

"Uhm… I think it's about the high price of cattle…?" Lacus's comment trailed to a stop…

The two looked at each other… and suddenly, before they can stop themselves, they burst into laughter. The laughter lasted for several minutes, with Kira stopping first. Kira gasp and wheeze in-between chuckles, shocked at the fact that… just now… he laughed freely. Not sinisterly or… or for intimidation or stress relief… the laughter he just had serve absolutely no purpose. Just… glee. When was the last time he laughed like that?

Lacus also stopped momentarily and smiled to herself, now thoroughly glad that she was alive and can laugh about it.

"One more thing, Lacus-san."

"Yes?"

"I get what you're trying to do. But why did you bring your family along with it? You realized you could've killed Lamia during all your suicide attempts?"

"That was a miscalculation on my part. Believe me. I was HORRIFIED when I heard they signed up. I never approved it. It was done without my awareness of the fact." Lacus bent her head down. "But… it's too late. They were committed. And they were ready to follow me even to the jaws of Hell."

Now it's Kira's turn to be somewhat perked up. Where have he heard this story before?

"Nothing I say can change their mind. I was scared. But… at that time… I made a resolution to go ahead with this plan… and then… and then…"

"And then… you decided to try to kill yourself as early as possible… In the last one month and a half." Kira ruffled his messy brown hair as he finally managed to piece the story together. "And Junius is perfect. The hellish landscape, the onslaught of demons… all that contribute to an unquantifiable chances of you dying, thus fulfilling your plan… at the earliest stages of the pilgrimage… when the demon attacks weren't as severe… and your entourage can still return when it's still relatively safe… but something happened… something that you didn't expect… something that seem like a Godsent divine intervention…" Kira chuckled nervously. That's why she hates him.

"Yes. YOU happened." Lacus growled as she playfully tapped Kira's back. "A guy with an incredible ability to kill Genma. You increased the chance of me surviving this pilgrimage exponentially. All my plans… all my resolution… they gone up in ashes. All because of you."

"And with me around… the speed in which this pilgrimage progress increase hundredfold… and the crew gone deeper than anyone ever did… if you die at that stage… where Genmas are at their most powerful… you know they might not survive the return trip." Kira shook his head. No wonder she was pissed.

Lacus frowned. "But I'm not that angry anymore. Thanks to you, I finally realized I'm far from ready. I've endangered my family… my friends… and… and… God… what was I doing?" Lacus felt like she had been half asleep all this time. And then Kira came along and suddenly she felt she just being slapped wide awake. She was going to kill herself before the eyes of all those who loved and cared about her. It's not like she lost everything yet. And to think… it took a close up standoff with a demonic monstrosity to make her see that.

Kira admitted. "You know… back in the ravine… when you told me your grand goal of sabotaging the Pilgrimage to end this tradition… I decided then and there to help you."

"Really?" Lacus lifted her head and looked at Kira.

"A long time ago… I lost… a woman I cared about… a mother… because of the pilgrimage. She was a priestess too." Kira tilted his head sadly and looked straight at Lacus, who was somewhat taken by surprise. "I had more reason… than anyone… to hate this tradition. I want what you want. I want it to end too. So I'll be honest with you… that idea of yours… I really think it was a good idea. Pity it wasn't one of mine. And even if it was… you're probably the only one who can pull it through."

"Wow… wait the sec… you mean… you really were going to let me die back there?" Lacus chortled. Now that's new.

"Of course. You may think I baited you to those Genma in order to scare you halfway to death to convince how scary dying is… but… if you hadn't cracked back then… I really was going to let Babylon eat you." Kira chuckled. "In short, I was really helping you to stick to your original plan."

Lacus gulped nervously and then chuckled. "Wow. But if that's true… why save me?"

"This comes from the girl who screamed and cried 'Someone! Anyone! Please save me… a few hours ago?" Kira barked. "I told you… as much as I don't like you… better you… than them. Imagine the kind of Genma you'll turn into!"

And Lacus… surprisingly, she laughed. Bitterly, but she laughed.

"You and I… we both had something in common. We both think very little of our own lives." Kira chuckled bitterly. "I once met a man. He lost everything. His friends, his family… even his own soul. He may talk and speak as if he's alive… but… seeing him… those Genmas… and you… I suddenly realized you guys really are dead. In here." Kira pointed at his heart. "…but the thing that really get to me… is the fact that I'm not in the position to say anything about it. To tell you that you should live on, don't be suicidal… And all… that living… stuff… I… I don't have that right."

"And why not?"

"Because… put me in your shoes… and I'd probably end up with the same idea." Kira smiled bitterly. Yesterday was a fine example. He quickly used himself as a sacrifice all for the sake of allowing his friends to live. So quick he was to throw away his life. Even though he may argue it was for the sake of others… but it wasn't for Sai. It was for himself. To keep himself from going insane with grief. Fact is: he himself is suicidal. He understands that now. "I myself am suicidal. I would throw away my life so easily. For personal reason or for the sake of others, that doesn't matter. A suicidal is a suicidal. And being one myself… who am I to tell another to not be suicidal? I don't have that right… not when…" Kira looked sadly at Lacus. "Not when I can't stand the fact that I keep seeing myself in you."

Lacus frowned and looked at Kira with great concern. Now that she noticed it… his purple eyes had no life in them. She had heard of this before. Soldiers… knights who had seen too much bloodshed… they had this look… the veteran warriors call it… what was it… the 'Thousand Yard Stare'. It's a limp, unfocused gaze, a despondent stare, with nothing reflected on the pupil. Almost as if the gazer is completely detached of everything, no emotion. The ones she had seen were elder veteran warrior retiree. But Kira's age was no more different than her own. What kind of horror has he seen in such short time? Lacus crossed her slim arm around herself and shivered uncomfortably. Suddenly she felt really scared. 'Was I like that?'

Lacus gasped as her eyes widened. "I… I'm sorry… I'm terribly…"

"Don't be. You're far easier to understand. At least I know you're doing this not for anyone else… but for yourself. You're selfish… but at least you're honest about it. But as for her… I never did understand why she left. She had everything anyone could ever want. Love. Family. Respect. But she… she chose this… over all that." Kira showed the hellish landscape of Junius. "You're a fellow priestess… maybe you can understand why?"

Lacus tuck her head down in sorrow. Sorrow because… she didn't have an answer either.

"Yeah. That's what I thought." Kira understood, and fortunately for Lacus, he's not interested in pressing the issue. End of discussion. For now. "So… what now?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean… what are your plans now? Don't tell me you still want to do this?"

At this Lacus smile burst out again. "Yeah. I've been thinking about it. Long and hard. And I decided… to go on."

"WHAT?" Kira roared in disbelief and rose up in shock. "Are you CRAZY?" It was at this time, the three eavesdroppers, namely Lamia, Waltfeldt and Hilda quickly rushed into the scene when they heard the yell. All they saw was an angry Kira towering over a smirking Lacus. "I'm surprised your sister haven't hogtie you up and drag you home after all this!" Kira pointed at Lamia.

"Trust me! The thought crossed my mind!" Lamia yelled back angrily. "Many times!"

Lacus chuckled. But then her chuckle vanished and she frowned. "Lamia and I… we… have a lot to talk about. It's not enough with just one session of discussion. We… we have a lot to settle."

"And to do that, you need to stay alive to talk about it! Staying in the land of the living dead is NOT a good way to preserve your life."

"Yes. But that was before you." Lacus pointed at Kira.

"Wha… WHAT?" Kira couldn't believe this girl. "You're glutton for punishment, you know that?"

"Guilty as charged." Lacus stood up, walked to the edge of the cliff and stood there with half a foot. Upon seeing this, Lamia's brows quickly raised in suspicion and horror.

And, as expected, Lacus suddenly throw herself off the cliff, and Kira just stood there silently, no response, no attempt to rescue or whatsoever.

"LACUS!" Lamia, Hilda and Waltfeldt quickly rushed to her rescue. But when they get there…

They saw what Kira saw: down there, Lacus calmly crossed her arm over her chest as she stood vertically on the surface of a cliff, smiling innocently while she's at it. Her long pink hair blared horizontally as it was blown away by the strong wind.

"Relax. She's okay." Kira grumbled. Of course she's okay. She's a shinobi. And unless Kira missed his guess, unlike him, she's a fully fledged Kunoichi. Wall-walking should be child's play for her. Lacus' entourage stood dumbly there in bewilderment at the top of the cliff.

"I can't believe it. You really let me fall." Lacus smiled broadly. "I thought you're gonna jump and catch me." Lacus yelled over the sound of the roaring wind.

"Not falling for that, princess. You're a witch, a priestess… and a fully fledged Kunoichi. You're FAR from damsel in distress… you're damsel BRINGING distress!" Kira snorted calmly as he counted Lacus' profession with his fingers that would make rescuers redundant. "And I'm not some knight in shining armor riding around on prancing sparkly pony-"

"And you're not the bony prince charming and this is not your average fairy tale. I get that. Tee-hee!" Lacus chuckled sweetly – Kira translates: devilishly.

"Princess… what…" Hilda panted and gasped while holding her poor beating heart. She never knew that timid and kind Princess Lacus Clyne had this side of her.

"Relax. I'm fine. See? Look! No hands!" Lacus flapped her hands jokingly.

"Doesn't anybody ever do anything to her for this? Like… spank her in her ass or something?" Kira growled at Waltfeldt.

"Trust me…" Even the Tiger of the Desert is at his wits end and bellowed in frustration. "When Siegel hear of this, I swear I'm gonna make sure he ground you FOR LIFE, young lady!"

Lacus laughed. Oh hell yeah, she laughed so hard that her stomach hurts. Much to the frustration of Kira and the others.

"At any rate. I'm through. I don't owe you or anybody one more minute of service. If you intend to go on with this suicidal mission… then I quit. I can't go on with you if you're gonna… do this allover again!" Kira angrily turned around and saw Lowe and his crew was waiting with concern. "…my advice… you guys quit too. Whatever she's paying you, it's not enough if you're not alive to spend it!"

"Well I can't live with that sort of thing, pardner." Lowe grumbled in frustration. "It's not a matter of money, it's a matter of principle. We have our own code of conduct in which we do business. We had a deal with them… and we have obligation to honor it. Even if our clients are… well… uncooperatively suicidal."

"Lowe-" But before Kira can finish, something grabbed his leg and quickly pulled him down the cliff. "WHOAAAAAAAA!" Kira quickly slammed both of his feet to the cliff wall and stick there with Chakra. He turned around angrily at the culprit, the smirking Lacus, with the abyss at her back. "YOU CRAZY BITCH! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?"

"Payback's a bitch!" Lacus surprisingly do know some foul vocabulary, much to the horror of a certain over-protective little sister. "I'm proposing a new contract."

"WHAT?" Kira and Lacus stood there, vertically on the cliff, with fierce wind blowing at their figure. Lacus motioned Kira to follow her deeper into the abyss as she walked down into the ravine. Lacus' retinues could only gaze helplessly from up above, completely scared out of their wits. Kira was so angry he looked like he was ready to leap down and rip the girl to pieces.

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Down below, Lacus and Kira went deeper into the abyss to the point where, thanks to the wind blowing, the bystanders can't hear a word they're saying. They can only stare helplessly as Kira and Lacus engage in their private, gravity defying, and vertically challenged discussion.

"What are they saying? Can you hear anything?" Waltfeldt knelt next to the cliff. Unlike the two shinobis, he doesn't know any wall walking trick.

"I don't know. The wind… the blasted wind distort their voice. I can't hear a thing!" Lamia growled.

"You're a shinobi too, can't you do the same trick?" Hilda looked at Lowe.

"Hey, I got my limits…" Lowe gulped.

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"Seriously. This time… for real. I'm formally asking you to protect us. I was uncooperative before, I'll admit that much. But this time… this time… I genuinely want to survive. I want to live. No more suicide attempt, no more sabotage. I really want to go home alive." Her eyes are now brimming with confidence and… life. This is no longer the same girl from before. This is a new Lacus altogether.

"Then leave this place immediately, and NEVER return."

"But I STILL wanted to end the Pilgrimage tradition. At first, I thought the only way is to discourage people from coming here by scaring them away. But that was because a lack of option. Until YOU came around, and presented me with a second, initially nearly impossible, option. We FINISH this pilgrimage." Lacus declared.

"Wha… but I thought you said you realized you COULDN'T do it!"

"Yes. But that was because… as you mentioned before… your coming here accelerated the progress of this pilgrimage many times. I mean… it took us a month and a half to finish one sanctuary. If you look at it from a different angle, that gave me plenty of time to rest and prepare. And now we cleared two sanctuaries in a day. All thanks to you! I rapidly used my spiritual energy too fast in one day. And I wasn't in my right state of mind, remember?"

"As much as I want to record that last statement for posterity… I still fail to see any reason why I should stay."

"I'll give you two reasons." Lacus confidently raised two fingers: "1. because you know, as well as I do… at this far stage of the pilgrimage, we won't last two days in here without YOU."

"Reason no 2?"

"Because you want the same thing I want. I need you to clear a path to the sanctuary. You need me to purify them all, thus ending this tradition. If we manage to finish this pilgrimage… then this continent is purified, and no more priestess will have to be sacrificed. Right?"

Kira grunted. The biggest hurdle in clearing the Sanctuaries primarily came from the endless hordes of Undead. If he somehow can defeat them… then that hurdle is no more. Lacus was right, with him around… purifying all SEVEN sanctuary is no longer as impossible as before. "Well ain't that the God-damn truth."

"But don't get me wrong." Lacus stated as she pointed a finger. "We're sorting out priorities. My request is that to ensure that everyone… and I do mean, EVERYONE, must get out of here alive. And that takes priority over everything else."

"You realize of course… I'm still under time constraint."

"In return for your extra trouble… I will take personal measure to ensure your safe return to wherever it is you need to be going."

'That's what I'm worried about…' That's exactly what Kira was trying to prevent. The Shinobi looked at the Kunoichi with a look of annoyance as he measured his options. A long thought process followed and then Kira realized: he had no choice. The only way he can better ensure the scenario where his soldiers and the pilgrims did not cross paths, is that if he keep things close to the chest. That means sticking with her wherever she goes, if only to curb her from getting another one of her funny ideas. With this realization, Kira groaned in defeat.

"Looks like you're running out of excuses." Lacus smiled childishly in triumph.

"But we do this… MY way! First sign of trouble, we're out. Even if I have to drag you out screaming and hogtie you proper. Is that clear?" Kira angrily growled as he pointed at Lacus.

"Crys-tal." Lacus smiled cheerfully again. She's back to that childish happy go lucky persona… this time with a tinge of deviousness in it. What had Kira wrought unto this world?

Kira growled in frustration. "Okay. We had a deal. Now get the hell out of there before you murder yourself. NO FUNNY BUSINESS!" Kira just had enough of Lacus' mischievousness.

"Dully noted." Lacus nodded. But it seems, she still hadn't had enough fun with Kira for the day. So she began to wallwalk out of the ravine, but once she's right next to Kira… she suddenly glomped on to him by the neck.

"…What?" Kira growled murderously.

"Carry me up will you?" Lacus hugged Kira tightly till their faces touched. "That's the only way for you to ensure I didn't… slip to my death." Ignoring Kira's angry growl, Lacus tightened her hold over Kira's neck, and her feet is also starting to let go from the cliff's surface. Kira gasped when he began to feel the increased weight. She's no longer wall-walking.

Kira quickly swing around to support her, and by coincidence, or more likely, Lacus' surprisingly diabolical machination, Kira suddenly found himself carrying the princess… in that legendary princess bridal carry style in vertical condition. One arm under her legs and the other supporting her back like a groom carrying his bride. Lacus smiled sweetly and then closed her lips to Kira's ear: "Don't let go now." She whispered sweetly.

She can hear the brunette shinobi mumbled murderously in reply. "I hate you."

"The feeling's mutual." Lacus singsongly replied, smiling brightly as she did.

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The Collapse

When George of Glenn sacrificed himself to destabilize the Dark Portal opened by the Order of Blue Cosmos that would've brought forth a downpour of demonic forces unto the mortal world, the interdimensional explosion that occurred in the event rattled the Earth to its very core. Fortunately, despite its potential for massive worldwide calamity, the Earth still stands. However, it does put the Earth in a rather precariously fragile state. Unfortunately, blinded by anger and desire for swift retribution, the house of Zala and Clyne decided to use the legendary Land Creator Regalia as means for revenge. They used the Regalia to literally raise 11 Plant continents inside the Pacific Ocean. This world altering act literally increased the size of the Planet Earth itself (AN, about twice and half size of the real world Earth), due to increased land-mass, as well as proportionately massive increase in water volume to support these new continents. This expanded the said Ocean, and parted the northern Russia far, far away from the tip of Northern America (Alaska). Such a colossal act proved too much for the wounded mother Earth to handle, as well as breaking the Land Creator in the process.

It was a colossal error for the two families, one that they could possibly had not foreseen. The creation of these Plant continents caused a permanent mark on the planet, creating massive wave of unnatural ecological destruction in form of unnaturally powerful extreme weather, a destructive colossal tsunami that rippled across the altered world. The whole world was changed: the land, the sky, the sea, even the life itself was altered. Some lands were broken, others were sunk. And there are also other lands that were raised. Oceans were waded, some dried out, some spill to the land. Mountains were flattened, rivers were shut, the earth split, land rose up. The entire planet was being twisted inside out. Super lightning storm striking the ground with static charges, earthquake that flip mountains upside down, gigantic maelstrom that sucks in islands. It was as if Mother Nature was furious with how her mortal children try to play God. This condition lasted for several decades, destroying much of the current civilization. This event where the earth breaks apart was known forevermore as the day of Collapsing Earth… or the Collapse.

But humanity has a way of surviving almost anything. Many members of Logos were killed. The organization was, for all intents and purposes, considered defunct. The Naturals seeking someone to blame, initially pointed fingers to Logos' military arms, the Order of Blue Cosmos, and they were partially right. But with skillful oratory and a mixture of lies and truth, the Order managed to shift the blame to the Advanced. In the clamors of anger and sorrow that followed, the weakened Blue Cosmos finally shifted underground, creating a clandestine organization that secretly began to gather supporters and rebuild in secret.

Eerily similar, the Church of Fire also began to gather supporters from the Advanced race at a rapid rate. The only difference being that they do so publicly. The entire population of Advanced then decided to leave the main land en-masse and inhabit the newly formed Plant Continent… albeit they were regularly harassed by somewhat an unstable climate problem, but with the Advanced stronger than natural's physique, they consider this problem to be moot, and the Advanced also rebuilt and replenish their strength. Due to forceful use, the Land Creator Regalia was broken. It can no longer create any more continents. A loss which all Advanced will keenly felt when Junius was destroyed.

Both sides were equally wounded, and they generally decided to keep to themselves. But defensive measures were taken. In particular, Zaft Empire used the largest and most powerful Regalia they have in their disposal: the mobile fortress island Boaz to constantly encircling the 12 Plant continents, guarding its water. Likewise, the naturals were weary of the Advanced using Regalia to cause another world-wide cataclysm. So they went into a regalia hunt of their own. With the breaking of the planet, many of these Regalias who were initially protected by the Onis' defenses were cracked open, and ready for grabs. However… between the world wide cataclysm, desperate grave robbers and disgruntled naturals who came across such Regalia and would rather destroy the Regalia rather than use them, the Regalia hunt done by the Naturals yielded little to no result. What's more… most of the military resources are now being redirected into rebuilding the Natural's once powerful military force instead of some wild goose chase. In sense, both are wary and constantly rebuild and improve their military prowess… but they are at a chokehold. Both sides ready to pop, both sides aren't so keen on starting another war.

This era of Cold War lasted for 2-3 centuries. Enough time for various events during the previous war to become legend. Unfortunately, this powder keg finally exploded after the Bloody Valentine, and the war began anew. The Blue Cosmos somehow managed to slip past through Boaz's defenses, and performed the Dark Ritual, with catastrophic results. A little while later, Zaft Empire finally activated the second Mobile Fortress, the Jachin Due. At the same time, the two Regalias also began generating the Mirage Mist which completely shielded the entire continents of the Zaft Empire from view, rendering them completely invisible. Any hostile ship that tried to enter these waters all met grizzly end. As the result, during 72 years of the bloody Valentine war, no Alliance naval expedition has been able to even found a single continent, enormous as they may. Some would venture and disappeared for years, only to be found in wreckages. In stark contrast, Zaft army can pretty much attack Natural's dominion with impunity, their only challenge (a rather big one) was the vast combined resources that the Alliance can pull out numerically superior forces to outnumber Zaft knights 10 to 1. Zaft have very limited natural resources due to living in artificial continent as compared to the Alliance virtually superior financial backing and naturally available superior resources.

Regardless, the two sides fought tooth and nail, and they have their losses and victories. At the present, Alliance soldiers are heavily entrenched in various outposts around the world, with five main bases: The Triplets Fortresses in China's Central Plain controlling much of the Asian' continent, the Great Marine Headquarter in Panama and the Alliance Supreme Joint Headquarter Josh-a in Alaska controlling the entirety of the American continent, and the Victoria Base controlling much of East Africa to hold the fort in Africa and Heaven's Base in Iceland to keep watch on the Orb controlled Europe. These five massive, heavily entrenched base ensured that the Alliance remain the uncontested power in most of the continents in the world. But so far, Zaft had managed to gain various footholds: the Australia was the first to be taken, and there, Goud Veia constructed his infamous aquatic military fortress, the Gamoff, which became the crown jewel of the Carpentaria naval base. Carpentaria controlled much of the Southeast Asia, and would later become one of Zaft's most important staging grounds, for which many assaults were made. –Unfortunately, after Veia's death, much of the Southeast Asia has become conflict ground-. The most disastrous of such assault was the Battle of a Hundred Fangs which saw the Alliance lose much of their foothold in Africa. Officially, the Alliance considered Africa a land of conflict, where Zaft's footholds are still 'contested'. But others knew better and Zaft is heavily reinforced and remain uncontested in this area. The Wall Fortress Lesseps stood at the mouth of Suez Canal in Egypt as the testimony to that, and to keep the Alliance in Africa away from getting help from Europe. India was a different story altogether. Zaft wants it due to their strategic value which will provide them with the invaluable staging ground to attack China. However, Alliance presences here are strong, largely due to the military backings of the Central Plain Triplet Fortresses. As the result, India has been switching hands more times than anyone could count with both sides had never been able to hold on to it for long. Thus the said country has been quite torn apart the most out of all countries. The only safe haven… is in Orb Controlled territories. Orb, with their capital in Onogoro in Japan, controlled the entirety of Japan, the northern part of Asia, which includes Mongolia and much of Russia, as well the northern part of the European continent. And they've been mostly played an isolationist doctrine in which they will not attack another nation, will not allow another nation to attack them, and will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations.

Welcome to the Bloody Valentine War.

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If you guys think Kira and Lacus' relationship had mended somewhat… or will mend anytime soon… think again. (laughs evilly)

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A trailer for the next chapter:

"I'm just saying, Andy."

"KAGE-SAN! STOOOP!"

"We had it easy! We've only went through a paltry 72 years of war."

"You… you're the only one…"

"Yet they've endured its concentrated form for 1000 years…"

"Admit it! This is your normal! Your nature!"

"50 years into this Bloody Valentine war and I already gave birth to my own demons…"

A seed fell, Kira opened his eye and it's in Seed mode.

"Your point Veia?" Andy looked at the white haired Hakutenkun.

The black figure exploded, unleashing hundreds of razor sharp tendrils to every direction.

"A person… no… a race won't survive something like that… without developing some inherent insanity." Veia concluded.

Chapter 28:

Slaughter all Creation

The two echoed: "TETSUGA TENSHOU!"