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.

Wow. I get a LOT of yells on that last few scenes from the previous chapter. I'm no fan for child abuse either. But don't worry. As long it's not straight (normal lemon between man and woman), I'll try my best not to be overly graphic about it.

Recommendation: as you read this chapter, may I suggest doing so while listening to the song: The Battle Is to the Strong by Yuki Kajiura, the composer who made the BG for Fate/Zero.

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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I should've seen it coming.

He just couldn't take it anymore. We all know that he's an Advanced; we know he's a seasoned warrior, and unbelievably skilled despite his young age, and we know he can kill Genma. But fighting Genma isn't just about surviving a brutal assault on the body… but also a brutal assault on one's sanity. He has been killing Genma after Genma, but in retrospect, it means he's killing his own kind.

No matter how much the demons twisted them, they are still our brothers. To be able to kill them may means we can release them from their misery… but mercy killing is still killing one of your own. The very concept and the sheer amount of guilt of doing this was enough to send a lesser man to a guilt ridden road that may lead to insanity and finally self-destruction.

But not Shadow. He can do so with impunity. He easily paved a road of slaughter with piles of the dead.

TOO easily.

And I should've known it was too good to be true. No one escape something like that unscathed. No one. Not unless you were already half sane from the beginning.

The most painful part is the fact that he had already warned us long in advance. We listened to his warnings, but we do nothing. We were too entranced with his miraculous ability to see the fact. He was hurting. Badly. And we urged him on. It's piling inside him. The pain. The rage. The horror… the MADNESS. It was already huge in the first place. That much is certain. But in here… they grew even worse. Bloated. We realized too late. We have awoken a beast.

We've reaped what we sow.

And I can't believe I'm the one who erased the last bit of his sanity.

That was Lacus last thought… as she looked at Kira, now clad in a monstrous armored black form, hanging her by her hands with the black chains.

"Kage-san…" Tears just won't stop falling from Lacus' blue eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Kira growled and gritted his fangs. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" And with no one to stop him, the Dark Knight roared and shoved his clawed arm to Lacus' chest.

Chapter 29:

Wrath of the Dark Knight

Flashback about an hour ago…

"Slaughter all creation… ANKOKU SHIKI!" As soon as Kira stabbed Shiki to his chest, the transformation begins. Massive amount of chains burst out from his back, and they quickly engulfed him in a sphere made of layers after layers of chains. And then, the sphere of chains burst out razor sharp chains to every direction, creating a towering whirl of chains that lifted the spear up, creating massive obliteration in a large area surrounding the sphere during the transformation process. In response, the black sky directly above the sphere of chains suddenly became turbulent, and lightning cracked and tore through the skies.

The Exorcists, who revered Lightning, were horrified by this. "The Gods… the Gods are angry?"

Jeremiah looked at the sphere of chains that was Kira. "…the Gods… they… they react to that sphere… whatever's inside that sphere… whatever's happening to it… the Gods did not condone it."

"OF COURSE THEY DON'T!" Gino roared. "Lord Shadow's gone insane in that thing! We have to rescue him pronto!" Gino quickly rushed towards the sphere.

"NO! STAY AWAY FROM IT! THAT'S-" Alas, before Waltfeldt could finish, a few dozen chains whipped out of the sphere's outer layer and lashed out to every direction, obliterating and ripping apart everything it came through, unleashing the second wave of destruction. Some of them went straight to Gino and then to the Pilgrims. The Phoenix knight was too late to raise his weapons to defend himself and would've been ripped to pieces, if it weren't for Waltfeldt who immediately stood in front of him, shielding the young knight's body with his twin glaives. The chains whipped Waltfeldt 4-5 times, and Waltfeldt deflected them all. The rest were flying haphazardly and went straight towards the Tyrants and their armies. With just 2 or 3 lashes from a single chain, an entire battalion of evolved knights were ripped to ashes. The tyrants howled as the chains pierced through them and rip them apart inside out. In a single wave of the chain whips, the tyrants that encircled the pilgrims were turned to dust.

"O…Oi… the hell is that power?" Lowe gulped nervously and still he managed a smile. "If… if he had this much power… why didn't he use this from the beginning?" Even though Lowe's joking, everyone can clearly see the fear plastered on his face. It's the same fear that gripped their heart as well.

"Maybe because it's his humanity." Waltfeldt surmised. "If what that doppelganger said is true… than all this time Shadow was actually more powerful than he let on… and now thanks to that demon… Shadow abandoned his humanity… and that power is unleashed."

"Okay. That doesn't sound good." Gino gulped.

"It isn't." Lowe abandoned all joke now. "Gino… one more thing about berserkers? When they've gone REAL crazy… they have a tendency to attack everything that moves… and they won't stop until everyone is dead. Be it enemy… or friend."

Everyone swallowed a gulp. "B…But we have lord Waltfeldt, the Hakutenkun! The Desert Tiger. That ought to amount to something right?"

"Uhh… I may not look like it boys and it really doesn't mean much but… I think 3 or 4 of those damn chains whipped my chest… broke 1 or 2 of my ribs I think." Waltfeldt pointed at a horrible gash on the lower part of his exposed chest, where his armor was shattered by the attack.

And everyone paled in horror once again. But Lamia was the only one who considered everything is moot. Her sister and that monster are right in the middle of that ground zero! 'Lacus-nee-sama, where are you?'

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Lacus rose up and quickly rubbed her aching head. "Owiee…" She must've knocked her head on to something when she was knocked off by Kira's explosive transformation. Speaking of which, where is he now? Lacus looked around and then she saw the sphere of chains held aloft by a spiraling tower, also composed of chains.

As if on cue, the sphere began to shook, and the tower began to tremble. The sphere, just like an egg, is about to hatch, unleashing whatever hell it had cooked up. As if protesting, the sky rumbled, and lightning cracked ever more viciously. It was as if, as the Exorcists had suggested, the Gods were angry. They will not accept whatever creature that is about to hatch out of this wretched black egg to see the light of the day. "Kage-san…"

"Oh my… this is beyond my expectations…"

Lacus turned around and saw the doppelganger Kira, crawling on the ground… dying. He was hit full by the first wave of destruction that came with Kira's transformation and he was ripped in half. And it seems, when hit repeatedly by such highly powerful Genma killing strikes, a high level Genma demon like the Doppelganger finally reached its limits. At least, that's what Lacus surmised when she saw how the doppelganger had to drag his remaining upper body half on the ground. His lower half was completely destroyed without a trace during the second wave of destruction.

"What exactly do you hope to gain, Doppelganger? Now that you've made Kage-san lost his sanity completely, now he's unleashed his full power… what do you hope to gain from that?"

"Just to see it with my own eyes." The Doppel Kira looked at the cocoon that's just about ready to burst any second now. "The ultimate form of a destroyer."

"Destroyer?"

The Doppelganger continued to gaze at the sphere. "From his memories… I knew right away… he was born to end lives." The Doppel turned to Lacus. He remembered most of the things that happened between the two from Kira's memories. Particularly, their 'unique' relationship. "You guys… saw him as gift from the gods? Let me give you a warning… no… a prophecy…"

"?"

"One day… either you… or him… will DIE. You two are destined to destroy one another. One cannot live while the other exists. THAT… is your fate!"

Lacus of course, didn't believe a single word he says. "You're insane."

"Heh… it won't matter much soon."

At this point, the 'egg' had reached critical stage and the trembling reached its peak, until all the sudden, the lightning that has been rumbling in the sky suddenly sent down a bolt of lightning right on top of the sphere.

The process is complete.

The egg shattered inside out, unleashing the final, and by far, the largest wave of destruction to every direction in form of thousands and thousands of razor sharp chains that punctured and whipped everything apart. The wave quickly approached Lacus and the Doppelganger. Lacus quickly pulled out Ms. Pink.

"LILY!" Lacus called a name.

Ms. Pink let out a pink bright light, and the next instance, she was once again the feathery flower haired Lacus body double. Ms. Pink, AKA Lily, as she is now called, quickly clasped her hands together and then stretched them outward, creating a thick spherical pink barrier in the shape of a haro ball. The chains were stopped en-masse, creating a large mass of blocked razor sharp chains before the two of them. Lily grunted under the pressure. "What kind of power is this, haro!"

'Kage-san…'

"Amazing…" The doppelganger watched emotionlessly as the wave of destruction finally reached him, and in seconds, it tore him apart.

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The Pilgrims panicked upon seeing the massive wave of destruction. "EVERYONE, GET BEHIND ME!" Liam, Lowe, and Waltfeldt marched forward.

"DOTON! DORYUU HEKI!" Using the new and improved doton jutsu (courtesy of Kira) Liam generated a massive rock fortification that blocked some of the attacks, but the chains quickly filled it full of holes, making a beehive out of the solid stone wall within seconds.

"TIGRA ESPADA ORAGE!" Waltfeldt roared as he launched massive amount of Tigra Espada that filled the air. The vacuum claws managed to block most of the chains that plow through the earthen wall. But the remaining few still managed to get through.

"Final Hiken, KAGUTSUCHI!" Lowe once again coated his Gerbera in a firestorm. Under the effect of Kira's blood, it's a white hot firestorm, and using that flame, Lowe blocked away all the chains that managed to get through the earth wall.

It took all three of them to survive the final backlash of Kira's transformation process. Leaving one to wonder just how powerful the main event will be. They don't have to wonder for long, as from the distance, they can see the sphere has finally opened up, and a black figure rose up, standing atop a mass of molten chains.

"That's… Shadow?"

"Holy… God…"

Lacus looked at Kira's twisted form with horror evident. "Kage-san…"

Kira's form was completely twisted. So far, Aoiro Shiki covered only his left arm with blue armor, Midori Shiki covered his right. Kurenai Shiki covered his entire body in a coat made of feathers. Now, in stark contrast to the previous three forms, Ankoku Shiki is a full metal body armor that covered the entire upper half of Kira's body, draped in an over the shoulder cape composed of hundreds of strands of razor sharp spiked chains. A black bladed bastard sword can be seen right on the spot where Kira plunged his Shiki. The sword's blade was completely buried to Kira's chest, while the mass of chains from the cape were wrapped around the sword's handle, jutting out of his darkened chest. Underneath the cape of chains, one can see a thick armor that covered the upper portion of Kira's body. Unlike the previous two armor type Shiki which has Japanese design, Ankoku Shiki's design is more akin to Zaft Medieval Knight armor, like a gothic, twisted, demonic version of the already monstrous Genma Emerald Knight. A Dark Knight. Black spikes of varying length can also be seen protruding out from several spots around the said armor, as if the armor were nailed directly to the body of its wearer. The iron spiked gauntlets that covered his arms featured a pair of enlarged vicious claws, twitching menacingly. The head is also covered in a helmet. It's a full face helmet, no visor, leaving one to wonder how one can see under such helmet. The Helmet also features a single short blade protruding out of the forehead, acting as a horn protrusion. Lastly, the overall armor completely sealed Kira's upper body tight. The chinks and the joints in between were covered in muscle mass made of chains. What little opening it does have, is a mouth like opening with fangs lining up its lips. Problem is, they can't see what becomes of Shadow under there… it was as if…

The Dark Knight screeched, and the mouth like opening also opened up wide, letting out a beastly roar. Its gaping maw showed only darkness inside. Not even a trace of human in there.

Correction, that opening IS his mouth. Just like Kurenai Shiki where Kira and Shiki became one, in this form Kira (or, his upper half) and Ankoku Shiki had completely fused into one, terrifying, Dark Knight Construct.

The Pilgrims were now completely terrified. But one of the exorcists still feels that Shadow may still be on their side. "Well… that is some form. He's taken care of his doppelganger… now we can go straight to the Sanctuary. Right?" The extremely nervous Exorcist's voice trailed to a whisper. "…right?"

The Dark Knight growled and began walking towards the pilgrim. His intention is anything but good, judging by the way his claws twitched dangerously. Now the Pilgrims officially knew this Dark Knight is anything… but friendly. And that they are truly and undeniably screwed.

"We're screwed."

"He's screwed."

"Oh God no." Suddenly everyone realized the unbelievable situation they're about to get themselves in to. Kira was the greatest protector in this Hell… and all the sudden, he became their greatest threat. Worse, the Knights of Zaft in particular is in terrible dilemma. Waltfeldt had told them that they had to ensure Shadow's survival. But now, they have to fight his mentally deranged self?

"Everybody stand down." Waltfeldt, cracked his knuckles. "I'll knock some sense into him."

"Uwooh. My Lord!" The Pilgrims looked at the Empire's strongest defender with great hope and confidence. Unfortunately, Waltfeldt doesn't look as optimistic. "Clear the area… this is gonna be one hell of a fight."

"Okay people! Back off! Back off!" Jeremiah and Gino quickly ordered the pilgrims to clear the premise, giving the two some space.

Waltfeldt approached the dark knight with vigilance. After a few steps, Waltfeldt knew he's about to enter Shadow's perceived attack range and so he stopped. Kira is still marching forward, upon seeing or sensing Waltfeldt, the Dark Knight recognized the Hakutenkun as a target and quickened his pace.

"Shadow… you still in there?"

If Kira heard, then he paid no heed as he refused to stop his pace or even say anything in reply.

"Shadow… you don't want to do this." Waltfeldt threateningly pulled out his amber glaives.

In response, the claws on Kira's fingers extended slightly.

"Okay, maybe you do." Waltfeldt sighed exasperatedly. And so, the Desert Tiger had no choice and rushed forward, while making a mental note to restrain himself.

Sensing the enemy is coming, Kira roared and also charged to meet the opposition head on.

The two warriors rushed towards one another, and at critical distance the two lunged forward like a beast jumping towards their prey, roaring. They clashed midair, the force of their collision sent a massive shockwave that pushed the pilgrims back a step. Waltfeldt's stronger and larger built easily overwhelmed Kira's armored but lighter body. Waltfeldt pushed him to the ground as the two rolled on the ground several times before he throw Kira away, sending him crashing through a mound, causing it to collapse, burying Kira under the resulting rubble, creating a massive cloud of dust.

The Pilgrims cheered. But Waltfeldt doesn't share their sentiment. He rubbed his bruised chest. 'I'm stronger than him… but the boy hit like a battering ram…'

A black fist burst out of the rubble. A loud explosion later, Kira smashed out of the rubble, slightly disoriented and dazed but roaring mad. The Dark Knight slammed both of his fists to the ground, and his cape of chains flared to life. Several dozen chains extended out and began weaving a shape, crisscrossing, tying up… and finally formed a pair of enormous steel spiked fists, 4 times bigger than normal fists. Kira flexed his fingers several times, and the fists followed his movements accordingly. The Dark Knight then slammed the knuckled fists together as a challenge.

Waltfeldt gulped at the sight of those giant fists. But he cracked his fist and answered the challenge with a charge of his own. The ground rumbles with every step of Waltfeldt's giant foot stomp.

The Dark Knight simply cracked his right knuckle (pair of knuckles: the big one and the small one), and the moment his large opponent entered within range, Kira swing his one pair of right fists forward in a straight punch. The large chain fist punch hit Waltfeldt's chest in full, sending over 400 kilos worth of muscle and strength embodied flying off the ground all the way back, much to the horrified shock of the onlookers. Waltfeldt stabbed both of his glaives to the ground to stop himself from plummeting back any further, and then spit out some blood. Waltfeldt looked at his own blood with shock. How many years has it been since he felt pain and suffered any injury?

Another distorted roar quickly drew Waltfeldt's attention as he looked at where Kira was standing. The other chains on his cape began to move around, and they massed together to form 4 spiderlike limbs, which, after a slight tilt, spring the Dark Knight upward in a blur. Waltfeldt look up, and as expected, Kira was up there, roaring, his giant fists were raised up over his head, intending to bring it down. Waltfeldt saw little option and brought up both glaives to form up his guard. As Kira descend in a roll, the two fists hammered down at break neck speed, and the Hakutenkun managed to blocked the hammerfists attack completely, but Waltfeldt's mighty legs, the same legs that had helped him moved mountains, were unbelievably forced to drop down to its knees, shattering the ground beneath him. His amber glaives cracked.

Waltfeldt grunted at the enormous amount of pressure, but Kira didn't let up. He retracted one of his earth shattering fists and sent another one of such punch to pass through Waltfeldt's guard down under and went straight to his already injured abdomen. "GAHGK!" Waltfeldt choked blood. Monstrous strength or not, THAT clearly hurt. Staggering back, the Hakutenkun was helpless to stop another massive punch landing straight to his face. And another, and another. Furious, Waltfield took the offensive at the next incoming punch.

As soon as the said left fist coming to his head again, Waltfeldt took action and stabbed one of his glaive into the said knuckle. The force was enough to knock the oversized punch slightly off course, and the Desert Tiger forced the blade in further, yanking the fist and nailed it to the ground, stretching the arm, showing the strands of chains connecting, and controlling, the said chain fist. Waltfeldt raised his cracked glaive, and with a roar, he cut the chains off, effectively dismembering one of Kira's chain fists, which, upon disconnected from the main body, the chain fist immediately turned back to a jumbled mass of chains. Unfortunately, the feat also destroyed the said cracked glaive to pieces.

Undaunted at the loss of one of his 'limbs', the Dark Knight launched another fist to the Hakutenkun, but he was ready and caught the right fist with his left arm and put it in an arm lock. His right fist quickly sent a series of devastating blows to Kira's chest. And it clearly hurt him, as each punch caused the monster to spit blood out of its fanged mouth. And it's a red blood. Some of them splattered on Waltfeldt's face, and it made him realize: he's not fighting a demon here. He's fighting a human. Insane and completely monstrous, but he's still human. That instant of realization made Waltfeldt momentarily halted his next strike.

The Hakutenkun used that pause to roar in front of Kira's face. "COME TO YOUR SENSES SHADOW! I'M NOT YOUR ENEMY!"

But Kira was too far gone to respond, and he roared incoherently in reply. He even lunged forward and jumped to Waltfeldt's head, much to the Dessert Tiger's shock. The Dark Knight's claws sank to Waltfeldt's back and he opened his jaw before he took a bite and sank his fangs in Waltfeldt's shoulder, earning a roar of pain from the victim. "GRAAAARGH!"

The spectators looked at this with horror. "This doesn't look like a battle between humans anymore…"

Screaming in pain, Waltfeldt put a foot on Kira's remaining chain fist to lock it down while his left hand grabbed the back of Kira's neck and forcibly pried the monster knight off him, though his bite also took a small chunk of his shoulder in the process. Holding the Dark Knight in a chokehold, still gargling a piece of his torn, blood dripping flesh in his jaw, for a moment, Waltfeldt's anger overtook his better judgment and his next punch had all of its stops pulled out. Kira instinctively raised his arm to defend this attack. Waltfeldt sent forth his punch, breaking the sound barrier as it travelled straight to Kira's crossed arms, and a shockwave occurred when Waltfeldt's fist connected to Kira's raised arms, and it still sent the demon knight zooming off the ground across the battlefield, sweeping away all the dust clouds in the process, while his locked left chain fist was torn off from the main body.

That's when Waltfeldt's rationality returned and he realized what he had done. "Oh crap." Ignoring the small wound, the Hakutekun took his chance to catch his breath. That's when he noticed Lacus is right in the danger zone. In fact, Kira barely missed her head as he zoomed over her when he was sent flying back just now. "Princess Lacus, please! Get out of here! This place is dangerous!" Waltfeldt motioned the princess to return back to the pilgrims group behind him.

Instead of complying, Lacus instead chased after Kira and so she ran to the opposite direction, much to Waltfeldt's chagrin, and Lamia's horror.

"Oh dear Lord!" Waltfeldt quickly chased after the wayward princess.

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Lacus didn't know what propel her to do this. Was it the sight of how Kira instantly transformed from a calm, wise, and scholarly philosophical man to a mindless raging monstrosity, or of the Doppelganger's declaration that her people, the Advanced Race, Kira's own kind was the cause of this sudden change, or that she felt she owed Kira a favor for giving her a slap in the right direction - literally, Lacus herself wasn't sure what pushed her. She just knew, from the moment before his transformation, something tell her to HE NEEDS YOUR HELP YOU IDIOT! So when she saw Kira was sent flying overhead, courtesy of Waltfeldt, Lacus ignored everything else and she rushed towards a mentally unstable psychopath that hate her kind to the bone and, at his current mental state, will tear her apart in seconds, first chance he gets.

Lacus followed the trail left behind by the dark knight and finally, she arrived and saw Kira lying completely still in a crater. Both of his arms were bent the wrong way, obviously broken. Lacus wasted no time and quickly rushed over to him, checking his pulse. He's still alive. Just knocked out. She'll never get a better chance than this.

"Lacus! What are you doing, Haro?" Lily gulped nervously seeing her master's reckless behavior.

"I'm going for an Astral Dive." Lacus placed both of her hands around Kira's head as she sit right on top of him, pinning him down.

"Astral Dive, haro? Lacus, he's mentally unstable haro! You had no idea what you'll find in-"

"All the more reason to help him!" Lacus cut her off as she began concentrating. "The doppelganger said: the Advanced messed him up. We caused this… I need to know how." Lacus closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. She slowly emptied her mind, and soon, her consciousness began to wane.

A pink runic magical circle appeared beneath the two. To normal people, nothing else happened. But spiritual beings, e.g. Shikigami, like Ms. Pink, can see a silhouette of a spectral pink matter flowing out of Lacus. It quickly took shape of a semitransparent naked form of Lacus. A spiritual manifestation of her consciousness, her astral body, also pink in color. Lacus nodded once to Ms. Pink before she went inside Kira's head.

"Lacus… please be careful, haro."

Lacus quickly dived into Kira's mind. At first, everything is white. But that's because she's still in transition area. And then, Lacus arrived at the edges of Kira's domain and she gasped in horror. It's a pitch black world, full of spikes and crisscrossing chains of various sizes. Even more bizarre, everything in that domain was completely shattered and distorted. Like a broken cracked mirror, swirling in a kaleidoscope spiral of increasingly severe destruction.

"Kage-san… is in a place like that?" Lacus couldn't imagine the horror Kira went through to turn his world like that. Swallowing a gulp to reaffirm her resolution, Lacus dived in straight into Kira's shattered domain. "Okay… Astral Dive 101… always remember who you are, what you are, where you are, and most importantly, why you're here. Don't touch unnecessary memories, just focus on what drives you to enter a mind of an unrestrained insane berserker, without anything or anyone that can prevent him to kill your physical self in the real world as soon as he regained consciousness in the physical world, with the simple repercussion, of you losing your mind forever. Yeah. No pressure. Giggles."

But Kira's twisted mind didn't make things easier for Lacus. A soon as Lacus entered his domain, everything gone as mad as hell. Up suddenly became down, left switching with right, and like a vortex, Lacus's astral body was sucked into the said dark domain. "KyaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHH!" Lacus spiral down uncontrollably, plummeting deeper and deeper at break neck speed. She's free-falling into a pit filled with razor sharp spikes and bladed chains.

A protruding spike scratched her cheek. A tiny scratch, but to Lacus in Astral body, her cheek was literally ripped apart, so naturally it hurts like Hell. "ITAAAAAAIII!" Lacus cupped her torn cheek. "I heard that astral body is more fragile than flesh and blood… and that it's also 10 times as sensitive… I know it'll hurt but I never thought it'll hurt that much…" Also, at the same time when the spike scratched her cheek, a memory entered her mind. Kira's memory. And she saw… "Athrun?" Lacus blinked at the image of her fiancée flowed into her mind. 'What's he doing in Kage-san's memories?'

But Lacus steadied her mind. Astral dive is a seriously ugly business. She need to keep a mental fortitude to stay sane and so she can't ask too many questions or she will be lost. As long as she kept her sense of self, injuries will heal easily. In fact, the torn cheek recovered. But that was barely the beginning of the fall. Lacus watched in horror as more of such spikes are coming her way. Soon, her waist was cut, and Lacus saw the image of Kira's other friends: Tolle, Milly, Sai… than her shoulder was cut and ripped apart. Now Lacus saw a face of Kuzzey. Than her arm was cut… and Lacus saw a horrifying image: the image of that same boy, Kuzzey, being stabbed multiple times by Bladebanes… and then killed and finally died right in Kira's arms.

Lacus now realized that each of these spikes represent Kira's worst memories. Painful memories that had contributed greatly to his downfall from sanity. Every time she was cut by these spikes… she saw the painful memory it represent. A cut to her ears and she saw an image of a town, Amaterasu, and next instance, she saw it in flames, with Emerald Knights being the perpetrators. Each time she was cut, it was also coupled with an excruciating pain that made Lacus shrieked her lungs out. "What is this pain? It's… it's unlike anything I've ever-" All the sudden, her left arm was snagged by a razor sharp chain, and as expected, the said arm was ripped off. The pain was enough to make her wish she was dead. "KYAAAAAARGHHHHHH!" As if the pain to her body weren't bad enough… the memory that came flooding in… was amongst one of Kira's WORST memories. And what Lacus saw…

The sight of a helpless child under the mercy of a group of sexually deranged madmen.

And for a second there… Lacus once again thought if suicide is a good idea.

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On the outside, Lacus' physical body couldn't stop silently crying out of pain endured by her mind, but her arms, trembling as it may, remained locked with Kira's head. Lily watched in horror as she could only imagine what's going in there.

It was then Lamia and Waltfeldt arrived. Upon seeing Lacus lying on top of the unconscious black armored form of Kira in that particular position, Lamia was quick to put two to two together and understood what happened. "Oh no…"

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In Kira's mind, Lacus is still screaming hysterically at the loss of her arm in the astral plain. But that was nothing compared to the shock of such horrifying memory. She… she never knew… Kage-san was… Kage-san was… She ended spiraling even worse than before. Fortunately, she quickly fought the pain. She began chanting her identity to regain herself. "My name… is… Lacus… Clyne… daughter of… Siegel… Clyne… older… sister… of Lamia… Clyne… I'm here… for… for…" The memory of that horrifying image disturbed her concentration greatly. Her left arm began to recover again, but the pitfall began to narrow and Lacus gazed in horror as she's about to fall straight into an unavoidable hellish formation of crisscrossing bladed chains and spikes. "Oh God…"

The next instant, Lacus Astral body was ripped apart: her arms torn off, half of her face, ripped apart, her legs blown off, her beautiful body filled with scars and holes, when she passed through the hellhole, only a small portion of her upper half is left while she also missing the entire half of her head. The pain was beyond imagination, Lacus even lost the strength to scream. And her mind… flooded by a monstrous amount of even more of such horrifying memory… and it really threatened to shatter her sanity completely. "My name… my name… is… Lacus… La… la…" Her astral body began to wane.

A firm hand grasped her remaining shoulder.

"Your name… is Lacus Clyne."

Lacus' remaining eye opened up. She looked up and her astral eye widened. A massive bright being is looking at her. Soon, she felt rejuvenated. The Being's hand is sending in more power into her battered astral self, and they quickly reformed her body back to its original shape. Even more, the being also slowed down her fall, giving her the much needed break. "Wh…Who…?"

"Not important. If you want to help Kira… then you must press on."

Lacus blinked. "Kira?" Kira… that's… that's Kage-san's real name? Kira…

The Bright being pushed the girl back on her path. "Be careful. Kira's pain… Kira's source of pain is beyond anything you could imagine. It's beyond my ability to heal… and quite frankly… it's beyond yours too."

And with that, the Being left and disappeared. Lacus was left to wonder what on earth that was, but nevertheless, she was back on course. The rest of her journey was strangely easier than before. She still free-falling just as fast, but her Astral body seems tougher and it didn't hurt as much anymore every time she was scratched or ripped apart by those spikes and chains. Unfortunately, the memory flood remained the same… rather like… they grew worse the deeper she gets. But the more Lacus saw them, the more she came to understand the reason for Kira's seething hatred of his own kind. Seriously, how demented a sexual deviant can get? Dressed up some pretty boy like a girl and then gangraped his brains out? Quite frankly, Lacus was amazed that after so much crap in his life, Kira still willing to go so far as to donate his own blood to help them. Finally, she arrived at her destination.

A pitch black open space. Everything she saw is a complete darkness. Lacus turned around several times to see if there's nothing but darkness in there. Now that's she's at the center of Kira's heart she can feel a certain emotion: rage. A black all-consuming fires of rage that left little capacity for thought or rationality. And then… she saw… them.

Inside the twisted Kira, the sky is now completely black. The mass of chains that had violated Shiki had been completely destroyed, leaving just a few small links floating about in empty darkness. Standing in the middle of the darkness, Ankoku Shiki stood by, her eyes and lips were bound with a bondage of black ribbons, and her short black hair are crowned with a black shroud, decorated with chains-the same chains that had defiled her. Her skin is now albino white. Unlike Kurenai Shiki simple clothed form, Ankoku Shiki was dressed regally, like a bride… except that her bridal clothes were jet black, they looked more like mourning garments. What's more, instead of being made of silk or sown material, the bridal clothes were composed of pieces of gothic knightly armors, decorated with strands of spiked chains wrapping about around her form – not dissimilar with Kira's armor. And in her hands… instead of a bouquet, Shiki's holding a gleaming white flame, flickering as if it's about to die out. The small flickering flame was caged in a spherical globe made of chains.

Lacus gasped and then she slowly approached Shiki. In particular, Lacus pay a closer attention to the small flickering white flame in Shiki's hand. She could barely make out an image of Kira inside. Lacus found herself entranced by that light. It's a small light, but she can feel a pleasant warmness… and kindness flowing out from that small light. That's when Lacus realized… this is what the Doppelganger was talking about. This… is the one spark of light that said had kept Kira's sanity intact. One last faint light of his humanity's ego. Even when he went insane, that spark remained steadfast inside him.

"I can't believe it… Kira-san… he must be a very kind person… even when things went this bad, he's still had such a warm light inside him…" More and more Lacus became amazed. Just what was Kira like before he became… well… before he became… this… Lacus looked at the darkness around her. Then she turned towards the light that is Kira's remaining psyche. The cage must've kept the light inside from growing stronger. "Okay… I'm gonna get you out of there, Kira-san."

But as soon as Lacus said that, Shiki suddenly reacted, violently. A misshapen bastard burst out of her clawed hand and she swings it to Lacus. The princess barely managed to dodge the attack. Lacus gritted her teeth. "You will NOT imprison him!"

Shiki pointed her misshapen blade menacingly to Lacus while she held the chain cage close to her chest, protecting it from Lacus, as if she didn't want anyone else to lay a hand on it.

"Don't make me angry… you won't like it when I'm angry." Lacus raised her hand menacingly.

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Outside, Kira remained still, while Lacus is still in a dive. If there's any improvement, Lily noted, is that Lacus no longer cry or tremble. But she still frown from time to time, a sign of stress.

"Lily… what exactly is Lacus trying to do?" Lamia asked her sister's shikigami.

"Astral Dive… into human mind, haro. You know she's a magus right, haro? Magus had the ability called Astral Body, haro. They use that to see the world from spectral point of view, haro." Lily began explaining. "That means it gives them ability to see, touch, and interact with supernatural matter like spirits… like me, haro. Lacus she… she combined this technique… modified it to be used on psycho-therapy. Using Astral Body… to dive into another person's mind, haro." Lily looked at Waltfeldt, standing vigilantly at the far back along with the other pilgrims, while one of his men get the wound on his shoulder treated. "She developed this technique to try to help with people having mental problems, haro… such as Goud Veia's Multiple Personality Disorder haro. The theory is solid, haro."

"The theory? THE THEORY? ARE YOU NUTS?" Lamia screeched in anger. Doing something… anything involving this insane monster based on theory? "You have any idea-"

"If Lacus woke up suddenly in this state or her body suffered any injury when her mind is on the dive… her mind will be trapped forever in the body of the patient and the patient will go insane, haro. I KNOW THAT, haro!" Lily shrieked in nervousness. "Before Lacus miasma reached this stage, we've tested it before on some subjects… the result was positive. But we've never tried it on someone who is…" Lily gulped seeing Kira's unconscious figure. "…mentally unstable."

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"Haroha Haroha, Roharo…"

Ankoku Shiki suddenly found herself having a big run for her money. First glance, Lacus' spells looked as if they're just jokes… but…

"Haro, haro BLOB!" A small green haro appeared in front of Lacus' open palm. The Haro opened up its mouth (?) and shot a spray of multi-colored goopy material in shape of Haro in a wide angle. The gluey material hit with the force of a cannonball, and worse, when it hit you, it's like being covered in a mass of glue, and it'll stick on you tighter than dirt on cloth. Even worse, they harden instantly, and when they do, they weigh a ton (which cost Shiki a sword). But the WORST part is…

Shiki fly like a bat out of hell trying to dodge those blobs… which had grown wings midflight and are now tailing her wherever she goes.

Yes, they HOME in on their targets.

Shiki unleashed a mass of chains to destroy the blobs. But… glues are practically gels, and they are indestructible. But the blob stick to the chains, they harden, and then collapsed.

"Haro, haro, BEAM!" This time, a red haro, and it fired a continuous laser beam that bounced allover the place, changing colors every time it bounced, turning the initially dark and gloomy space into something akin into a laser disco palace. The catch, the laser never cuts off. It continues to extend on and on as long as Lacus wills it so, even after the red Haro no longer fired the laser. Soon, the whole space was filled with crisscrossing laser array. Anything got hit by it will be bound instantly and they will also be paralyzed. So naturally, Shiki's were immediately caught like a fly in the net.

"I got you! Haro, haro BLOB!" Once again, the red haro turned green, and Lacus fired another barrage of blob right unto the trapped Shiki, who was helpless to stop herself from being turned into a mass of multicolored cemented mass. "Ha! Got you!" And then, the after effects of Lacus' wacky spells vanished, leaving only the trapped Shiki. Lacus floated to Shiki and took the chain cage containing Kira's heart from her claws.

"It's okay Kira-san… I'm gonna get you out of there."

That… unfortunately…

Lacus tear the chain open.

…was Lacus GREATEST mistake.

00000000000000

In the sea, aboard the ship waiting for Kira…

Mwu and Sai were having a meal when a glass cracked. The two looked at each other and instantly surmised…

"Kira?"

00000000000000

As soon as she opened the cage, that was when Lacus realized her biggest mistake. Ankoku Shiki wasn't imprisoning Kira's humanity. She was protecting it. The chain cage was there to prevent the darkness… from rushing in and completely corrupt and extinguish what little left of Kira's sanity. Lacus watched in horror as the spark rapidly diminish. "Oh no. nononono…" Lacus quickly rushed in to save the last bit of spark… but she was too late. As soon as even the faintest light vanished and turned black, the empty space was now completely distorted and shattered. Spikes bursting out as pillars of razor sharp chains tear the space apart.

Lacus watched in horror as the space around her collapsed. She can hear the echoes of Kira's scream became even more distorted, more hysterical, echoing from the shattered world which has now collapsed completely. "Oh no… oh no… oh no… what have I done? What have I DONE?"

Outside the effect was visible immediately. Kira began to wake up, and he began to roar and growl, like a beast would.

"Oh God…" Lamia quickly grabbed hold of one of Kira's broken arm to restrain the dark knight to no avail. She looked in horror as the armor began to forcibly twist and turn Kira's broken arm. Sickening cracks can be heard as the Ankoku Shiki armor is forcibly relocating and fix Kira's broken arm. Lily, who's restraining Kira's other arm, also witnessed the same event.

"The armor's twisting his broken arm like a Barbie doll, haro!"

"LACUS! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" Lamia screamed to Lacus' unconscious figure. "LACUUUS!"

Lacus didn't have much choice either. The space is closing and diminishing at a fast rate. She really mess it up this time. Taking one last look at the disoriented Shiki still trapped on the collapsing space, Lacus reluctantly retreated away out of Kira's mind. The journey out was gratefully faster and painless. But when Lacus finally returned back to her body, the first thing she saw, was the sight of Kira still trapped in that demonic knight form, angry as hell, with both of his arms recovered… and… thanks to Lacus… more insane than ever.

"LACUS!" Lamia quickly grabbed her sister away from the insane knight just before Kira roared and clawed her, missing her completely but he managed to rip apart some portion of her skirt. The chains then massed on one of his hands, and they formed a gigantic bastard sword – significantly smaller than Aoiro Shiki, but it's still several times longer than its wielder. An enlarged version of Ankoku Shiki's misshapen Bastard sword.

And without further ado, the insane Dark Knight swung it towards the two sisters. Lamia reacted quickly and screamed: "STOP!" Her voice transformed into an energy wall that instantly appeared between the two sisters and the blade, blocking the attack. The blade smashed through the said wall, causing it to explode, but the explosion was enough to propel Lamia and Lacus with enough momentum to make a quick getaway from the insane monster.

Kira roared and roared again. He quickly broke his way out of the crater. The armor also began to pulse and distort. Cracks can be heard as the armor is forcibly forcing Kira's broken body to fix itself in a brutal manner: snapped bones were forcibly reconnected. Spikes bursting out from the armor's insides, piercing through his flesh, pushed the pieces back together and at the same time reinforcing his fractured bones. Some broken bones that jutted out of Kira's skin were forcibly hammered back inside. This brutal treatment naturally caused more injury, and the blood spurt out of the smallest chinks of the armor, falling on the surface of the armor, decorating the black armor with the red strands of flowing blood across its black surface. And that's not all. Chains covered his skin, reinforcing his torn muscles while also becoming new extra muscles. This gives the Dark Knight a slightly buffed up upper body portion, not to mention a more sickening look with blood constantly dripping from every chink of his armor. Injures aside, no matter how one look at it, the Dark Knight had become stronger.

Lamia took this as a sign that their problems is far from over. "I thought you're supposed to make him sane again…"

"I didn't." Lacus sorrowfully shook her head in pure horror. Tears swelling up at the corner of her blue eyes. "I accidentally did the exact opposite…"

"What?"

"I made him even more insane." Lacus confessed miserably.

The now completely insane Kira roared one last time to the sky. And then, quietly he turned towards the pilgrims. Silently, and menacingly, the Dark Knight began walking towards them, and with his newly reformed and significantly larger and longer chain mantle cape flaring up violently behind him, the hostility was evident. The Pilgrims looked at each other. Waltfeldt had that much trouble against a half insane Kira, and now, he's even MORE insane… not to mention the power up! Now they REALLY start to miss the Genmas.

Kira crossed his arms and began to tremble. The chain cape around him began to flicker and went rigid. Several chains went around his arms, and they spin and wreath around faster and faster, charging up.

"Everyone get ready! It's a big ONE!" Now every pilgrim pulled out their weapons ready to fight their now insane former protector.

"Hell's Judgment!" The Dark Knight declared, and he slammed both of his claws to the ground. The earth cracked everywhere, and all the sudden, a massive number of gigantic pillars of spikes made of swirling crisscrossing chains burst out of the ground at random, obliterating the surrounding, changing the landscape from an open plain… into a hellish formation of spiky pillars drilling out of the ground, reaching to the sky. Even worse, the big ones were also accompanied by relatively smaller spikes bursting out every inch of the ground.

The pilgrims quickly break ranks, trying to run from this catastrophic land altering attack. Some were too late to run and they were engulfed and swallowed by the chain pillars before they had a chance to scream, others, the lucky ones, were impaled by the smaller spike. Waltfeldt jumped here and there to escape the spikes erupting up from under his feet, continuously moving while rescuing anyone he can.

Jeremiah was about to be swallowed by one of the pillars when Gino, in his eagle form, caught his back and lift him up.

"Thank you, Sir Weinberg." Jeremiah sigh a relief.

"Your welcome, Sir Gottwald." Gino looked at the pandemonium down below. "But this is… this is impossible…"

The two exorcists were too focused on the destruction coming from below; they didn't realize a black figure rising behind them.

Hilda was rescued by her thick armor. She also managed to protect some of the lady knights under her charge. Unfortunately, before the chaos itself was over, the Dark Knight suddenly emerged in front of them.

"Lord Sha-"

Before she can finish, Kira launched a mass salvo of chains towards them. The flying pieces of the knights' destroyed armor and the spray of fresh blood were accompanied by their owners' screams of pain and horror.

Lowe supervised the evacuation of his team to safe area while the spikes are still rising nonstop.

Lamia, who concentrated on taking her sister as far away from Kira as possible, managed to escape out of the range of this mass destruction along with the horrified Lacus.

Lamia looked in horror at the carnage ensuing at the moment. She looked at Lacus horrified self. Her eyes became lifeless, widened in shock, her parted lips dried, she looked like she just gone through hell. 'Is this that monster's doing?' Lamia measured their situation. Kira's blood is needed if they want to make more of these Shadowforged weapons… but on the other hand… is it worth the lives that they will lose if they are to endure a brutal assault from a completely insane knight to capture him alive, on the risk that he might wipe out all of them? Imagine if he went insane in populated area! No. It's not worth it. "There's nothing to it. We have to kill him. He's too dangerous!"

Upon hearing her sister declared it so, Lacus quickly protested. "NO."

"Lacus?"

"WE DESERVE IT!" Lacus shrieked, remembering every single horrible thing she saw in Kira's mind, she shrieked. "After everything we've done to him… after everything he went through because of us… we deserve what he did to us a hundred times over!"

"Everything we've… done to him?"

"I saw it, Lamia… I saw everything. What he went through… I know his true form now."

"True… form…?"

"Kir… Kage… Shadow… is a monster. A monster born from our society. Just like me. But I had it easy. Kage was desecrated, defiled… Our father… our family… we tried to change the society… but we didn't do enough… and Kage paid the price."

Lamia's eyes widened.

"He's a true product of the decadence of our empire. But he… but he…" Lacus finally understand why Kira helped them. "He was still trying to forgive us. He was still trying to give us a chance… and we failed him at every turn…" She couldn't believe it. To still trying to forgive the people who had done all that to him… saying it is easy… but to actually try to do it to such extent… "Sister… please…" Lacus begged with tear filled eyes. "We have to save him… if we don't… if we can't…"

An explosion occurred from the field of spikes. Lamia and Lacus watched from the distance, as the survivors' of Kira's mass destruction attacks run for their lives, lead by the relatively uninjured Lowe and Waltfeldt. Some of the knights were carrying wounded knights that fall victim to Kira or the spikes.

Behind them, Kira walked calmly through the field of spikes. The razor sharp field opened up to create a safe path for their master, allowing him to walk uninjured. His armor seem to have expanded and start spreading to his lower body as well, starting with his waist and one of his knees. But even more terrifying for the survivors, is what is being displayed behind Kira's back. Hung in a web of chains made from the chains jutting out of from his blood soaked armor, are the bodies of the barely alive Hilda and Gino, both were beaten and broken, bathed in their own blood. Still alive, but they were crucified in chains, hanged like some twisted battle standards. This 'improved' insane Kira is even worse than before. There are no more roars. No more beastlike growling. No more intimidating screams or animalistic behavior. He fights in a very human manner… one hell bent only to kill, kill, kill, and kill until he dies.

The half dead Jeremiah could barely walk, much less fight, but there he is, trying to stand his ground before this insane Dark Knight. His infamous steel skin has been partially flayed off. "You… MONSTER! GRAAAH!" Jeremiah threw his giant blade shield towards Kira. But the chains flared up again, creating a net and caught the giant shuriken-like weapon. The chains wrapped over the said weapon several times, and then, just like Gino's twin pickaxe and Hilda's great spear, Kira used the chains to wield the said weapon. Jeremiah angrily pulled out a pair of short swords and charged forward. But before he can get far, Kira suddenly closed the distance, and the last thing his left eye see was the tip of Kira's claw… plucking the said eyeball out of the socket.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH! ARAAARGHHHH!" Jeremiah screamed in horror, holding his bleeding left eye socket. As a finisher, the Dark knight swing his newly acquired weapon and cut its own original wielder's right arm, piercing through his supposedly impenetrable skin. Jeremiah was thrown off the ground, hit a rock and fell unconscious, dangerously halfway to death.

This brutality finally cemented the pilgrims' resolve: FIGHT or DIE. With that in mind, the survivors who are relatively uninjured turned back and charged towards the insane dark knight. But Kira responded with a quick tilt of his head to the side, and just like that, his chain cape flared to life, sent out hundreds of Chainwhip at blurring speed, lashing out to every direction. Everyone in range was mercilessly and brutally whipped. The air was filled with the black blurs of the chains whipping about at incredible speed, the pieces of armors and weapons shattered by it, and the red blood bursting from the victims when the chains tore through their flesh as well as the sound of their painful screams. By the time Kira was done, the ground was filled with the dying pilgrims, brutalized halfway to death, their shattered bodies lying in the pool of their own blood. The only ones still standing, the only ones who managed to defend against such brutal assault, were Waltfeldt and Lowe.

The bare chested Waltfeldt still remained standing, ready to fight, even though his last amber glaive has been completely destroyed. Lowe is still holding his Gerbera, but his bleeding hands were trembling badly, still feeling numb after blocking all that chain whips coming his way. Fact is, other than dodging and defending against Kira's attacks, they've managed to land some of their own. However, the Dark Knight didn't seem to budge, no matter how hard Waltfeldt hit him or how powerful the explosive Lowe lobbed on to him.

Kira began to take another step, but then a great spear pierced through his shoulder. The unfazed Kira turned his eyeless face towards Hilda, who somehow had managed to regain consciousness, yanked her spear and then stabbed him with it. "Don't… underestimate… the royal guard of the Clyne Family…!"

In response, more chains wrapped up around Hilda tightly until she can no longer move a finger, followed by a sickening series of cracks. Kira coldly broke her arm, ignoring the muffled scream that followed, and then brutally slammed Hilda; head first, to the ground before he sent her as a projectile, shot straight towards Waltfeldt, who caught the brutalized one eyed lady knight with some difficulty.

Lowe quickly charged forward, but Kira swing his chains around, and the blood bathed Gino was tossed haphazardly like a ragdoll. Kira used his body as a bludgeoning weapon and a human shield. Lowe quickly retracted his sword for fear of cutting one's own ally. But this gives him the chance to cling on to the chains. The chains shook Lowe and Gino several times in an attempt to throw Lowe off, but Lowe quickly slashed his Gerbera and he finally managed to cut the chains and freed Gino. The Phoenix Knight was very weak and delirious.

Kira continued his march towards the last warriors standing. Apparently he really intends to finish the job, much to Waltfeldt and Lowe's dismay.

That is… until an arrow landed on his shoulder. Kira stopped and silently plucked out the arrow. The arrow tip burns in a white flame seconds later, as are the wound. They looked at the direction where the arrows comes from and saw a large ironically-Heaven-sent Genma rush coming their way.

"Oh my… That's right… our battles are VERY noisy. I think it's a given it would attract attention…" Waltfeldt tilted his head towards Kira, wondering what will be his reaction.

Kira silently frowned behind his helmet and silently made his decision. His chains suddenly flared up and shot out to several directions, slithering through the field of battle. Once the chains returned, lo and behold, Kira had taken back all 30 Shadowforged Weapons that contained his blood and now he's wielding them all at once with his chain cape. Four spiderlike limbs extended out of cape once more and sprang the dark knight to the sky, straight towards a charging Tyrant. The monster's head were torn to pieces upon Kira's violent landing. Kira emerged amidst the rotten bile of the said monster. Several chains wrapped around both of his hands and they merged to form a pair of bastard swords. Kira jumped down from the now headless tyrants and he began his carnage amidst the hapless Genma.

"He ignored us?" Lowe looked at Waltfeldt, who seem to be expecting this.

"Not ignore us… he just resorted his priorities. To him, the larger number of the Genmas means bigger threat than a Hakutenkun and a Junk Guild chief. He'll kill them all first… then he'll return to us."

"I never thought I'll say this… but thank God those Genma came." Seriously. If Kira kept going like that, Lowe weren't sure if he can take it anymore. Now the Genma rush had brought them several precious minutes it'll take for Kira to kill all the Genma , and they can used that time to rest their muscles and come up with a plan. "What's with that armor? None of our attacks get through!"

"Oh… it gets through alright." Waltfeldt did a quick check on Hilda. She's alive, thank god. "It's just that he doesn't feel the pain coming from it."

"What?"

Waltfeldt looked at the proceeding of Kira's slaughter of the Genmas. Like an unfeeling Juggernaut, Kira leapt around the ocean of Genmas, unleashing carnage and slaughter wherever he lands, and he kept killing and killing everything that moves. Even when a hulk throw a punch to his chest, Kira simply budged slightly upon impact and then tear the Hulk to pieces a moment later. "That armor… I think it nullify all sense of pain in one's body. He's injured. Severely I'm sure. But because he doesn't feel any pain, to him it was as if he was never injured. The same deal if we break a bone or torn a muscle… his armor will quickly take immediate action to ensure that kid remained in top form to do slaughter, no matter what. The armor reinforced his bones by piercing his body with spikes and fortified his bones. It replaced its torn muscles with strands of chains acting as external artificial iron muscle strands…"

Lowe's eyes widened with horror. "But… but that means… He's… if he's injured, how came his power is still so huge?"

"Do you not recall? Shadow removed his weight suit that limited his strength. Whatever knowledge or guesses we have of his true power has been rendered obsolete. He's more powerful than we thought. And… do not underestimate the effect of losing your sense pain. Humans, in order to not inflict injury upon themselves subconsciously limit their strength. Pain is a signal used by body to signal such event. But if you lose it… you forgot what it's like to be tired or injured… a human who lost their sense of pain had incredible strength and reflexes. But at the same time…"

"His injuries left unattended and even became more severe… coupled with fresh new injuries coming from the armor itself… yet he won't feel any pain… an exponential increase in all of one's parameter… at the cost of that armor eating him alive… He keeps this up…" Waltfeldt grunted in fear as he can see more blood flowing out of the tiny chinks of Kira's Ankoku Shiki armor, a sign that its wearer are getting killed slowly inside that armor.

"And his armor will kill him first…" Lowe gave the final terrifying conclusion.

"Not if we can help it."

Lowe and Waltfedt turned around and saw Lacus and Lamia approaching them. Their eyes were determined, like women on a mission, Lacus in particular.

"Milady? Please! Find cover, this place is dangerous!"

"NO!" Lacus barked back. "I'm staying. I want to… I CAN help him."

"Help him?" Lowe was taken aghast. "How on earth are we supposed to help THAT?" Lowe pointed at the sight of Kira single handedly manhandle a Tyrant, bashing the said titan with a pair of Hulks tied by his chains and used them like a pair of squirming boxing knuckles.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE KAGE HELPED US?" Lacus roared angrily. "HOW MANY TIMES HAS HE RISKED HIS LIFE TO SAVE US? And now when he's in a mess that WE'VE CAUSED WE'RE JUST GONNA LEAVE HIM BE?"

Lowe gulped. He never knew the princess can explode like that. "I want to help my partner as much as you princess… but… we're at our limit." Lowe noted the amount of blood flowing out of the armor. The black armor is steadily being bleached red. The moment the last black color of that armor is colored red… "And so is he. Any more big injuries… and the next 'recovery' from that damn armor will surely kill him!"

Lacus gulped. She knew that all too well. "We're not going to injure him; we're going to stop him."

"C… Count me in!" Everyone turned and was shocked to find Gino still standing. And now that they noticed it, amidst the fallen pilgrims, around 6 Exorcists also get back up on their feet. All of them were worse for wear. Kisato and Liam, wounded but alive, also managed to go back in action..

"You guys should rest now!"

"No. We want to help too." Gino stubbornly refused. "He became like this because some Genma messed him up… and then you say we caused it. Hell yeah. We caused it alright! We're incompetents and we can't do anything right and end up having him do everything for us."

"If we can't be of use to him, then at the very least, we'll help him up!" The other exorcists also yelled their resolution.

"Give us your orders milady! What would you have us do?"

Lacus looked at the brave exorcists who stood up and, like her, wanted to help Kira. She looked at Lamia and Waltfeldt for support. The two nodded to her. Lacus took a deep, deep breath and exhaled. "Alright. Alright. Okay." Lacus calmed herself and then she regaled her plan. "I'm going to perform another Astral Dive into Kage-san's mind. Try to… wring out some more humanity from him. I need you guys to restrain him and lock him in place while I'm doing it." Lacus looked at the field of slaughter. There aren't many Genma left. "As soon as Kage-san killed the last genma, he will stop for one moment to catch his breath… we will use that chance and then get to him en-masse, and then we'll restrain him together. After which I'll perform an astral dive."

"But… while we restrain him, you perform an astral dive… that means…" Everyone knew what the exorcist' was talking about. That means they'll be well within the range of Lacus' miasma. When it starts, they have 5 minutes to live.

"I know. This suggestion is cruel. But… I'm asking you to trust me. Please." Lacus timidly bowed down her head. Though she's clearly far from optimistic. Like anyone would want to shorten their lives to 5 minutes just to save one insane berserker.

"Princess Lacus Clyne…"

Lacus raised her head.

"We'll bet our name and pride as Zaft Warriors… we will stop Shadow. You will have your 5 minutes."

Lacus' tears almost welled up again, but she steeled herself and bowed in gratitude. "Thank you."

The pilgrims moved to their position and make ready. All the sudden, they heard whispers in their ears.

'Don't say a word. Don't react, just listen. Tis I, Lamia. I'm talking to you by whispering straight into your eardrum.'

The pilgrims remained indifferent, but they showed their confirmation with their silence. Lamia continued. 'My sister's wish is sincere. And it truly tortures her to come up with the first plan. She's a wonderful doctor, but this I have to say: she's woefully inadequate in military maneuvers.'

The pilgrims had to agree with that.

'You guys didn't say anything earlier, but you know, as well as I do, her plan will never work. Not against an enemy like Shadow. He's crazy… but he's not stupid. So, this is my plan. If you guys ready to hear and agree to it, wink at me first chance you get.' And so Lamia explained her plan in secret.

One by one, the pilgrims winked to Lamia as a sign that they agreed and will do as planned. And so, they prepared themselves to make what could possibly be… their last stand.

"Lacus, get behind me." Lamia motioned her sister to move behind her.

"Lamia-chan. Remember. Stick to the plan. We go at him together."

Lamia nodded without a word. In the distance, Shadow was nearly finished. At this point, the Ankoku Shiki had completely covered his entire being, creating full body Dark knight armor. Just a small cohort of knights and a single Hulk left. Planting some of his chain appendages to the ground, Kira pull himself back, stretching the appendages until they achieved maximum tension, and he soon catapulted himself towards the doomed Genmas.

A few midair swipes and a piercing slash with all 30 weapons, and the last of the Genma turned to dust in a blink of an eye. Kira landed, and, just as Lacus predicted, he was visibly panting, albeit subconsciously. His Ankoku Shiki armor had become a full body armor that covered his entire form, keeping him going in tip top form… if only suggestively. If it weren't for his armor keeping him on a overdrive, he would be collapsing by now.

Just then, he heard another roar coming. Kira turned and saw the pilgrims are coming at him. Balling his knuckles, his chain cape let go all the Shadowforged weapons, subconsciously remembered that it's not meant to be used against human. Kira readied his chains and prepared to, at last, finish this job before moving on to the next one.

"ALRIGHT! Now come on! Before he can recover! Get him toge…ther?" Lacus blinked.

Instead of joining as one, the pilgrims spread out to different direction.

"W… What are you doing! Fight as one guys!"

But her orders were ignored. The first six exorcists quickly went to Kira from various directions haphazardly.

"COME ON SHADOW! I GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU, HERE WE GO!" The first exorcist unleashed a breath of volcano cloud towards Kira. Kira silently replied by unleashing a wave of whipping chains that blow away all the volcano dust and went straight to its sender. "Aw shit…" the chain whips made a short work of the exorcists and whip him apart.

As soon as Kira was finished with one exorcist, a small explosion blew up on his head. Kira turned around and saw another exorcists throwing one explosive pimple after another to his head. His chain whips flared up again ready to tear that disgusting exorcists a new one… until a God awful smell of gas reached his nose. He turned around and saw another exorcists sending wave of after wave of gas from his pores towards him. Another explosive pimple exploded right next to him… and a second later, a gigantic conflagration engulfed around him.

"Did that did it?" The blurs of over a few dozen chain whips lashing out of the smokes of explosion answered the two exorcists' question. "Well, we've tried." In resignation, they let the chain whips landed several hundred lashes upon their being.

'See… my plan will be something far crueler to you guys.'

Upon seeing this horrifying scene, Lacus suddenly realized the Knights had their own plan. And the only one who can hatch this without her knowing about it is none other than "Lamia! You…" But her sister was nowhere in sight.

'The first thing is… forget trying to catch him without hurting him. Use your best attacks against him. Worry about accidentally killing him later. Though, my guess? He'll whip our arses easily.'

Another Exorcist charged while roaring his warcry, hopping about at rapid speed. Kira easily caught the knight midair, slammed him to the ground and finished him off with a few quick swipes.

"Instead of going at it as one like my sister suggested, the moment we start attacking, we'll spread out and attack sporadically, with controlled timing."

Kira was just done with one exorcist, another came charging at him as a flaming boulder. Kira sent a barrage of chainwhips that first flayed the rock off the exorcists' skin, and then tear the actual person up with another barrage.

"We'll attack him from varying direction, and time our attacks properly so that the next attack will come directly after the first, don't let him breathe."

Another Exorcist came from below slithering sneaking behind Kira's back and he even managed to bind Kira's legs, much to Kira's unseen surprise. Kira yanked the slithering knight off him and landed a giant punch that sent him flying. "Oooh… this is gonna hurt…" As expected, Kira finished him off with a few dozen whiplashes midair.

"By doing so, we'll split his concentration, dispersing all that focused power bit by bit."

Gino the eagle descend at break neck speed towards Kira. Only God will ever know what Gino was up to because a moment later, Kira noticed the incoming possible airstrike and Kira sent another barrage of whips towards him. The Phoenix knight collapsed and crash-landed passed Kira's head as he transformed back to his human form. Gino, completely covered in blood, muttered with a silent smile: "Wake up… Lord… Sha…dow…"

"Use EVERY strategy you can think off. Remember, you're all just going to buy time."

Lacus could barely watch this scene anymore.

Kisato hop around and approached Kira from the back. But Kira was ready and sent another series of whips. The whips rip Kisato apart, but her remains turned into a mass of water. A kawarimi. The real one appeared from the opposite direction, right in front of Kira. But the chain cape flared up and automatically protected Kira, and tied her up. "I told you this will never-" Kira mercilessly sent another whiplash and blast the screaming girl away.

Lamia strategy began to show results: Kira's reaction time is visibly slowing down. It took more time for Kira to react and deal with each subsequent attacker. Even though the armor is keeping him from mentally getting tired, inevitably, his actual physical body is at its limit. The subsequent attacker can now penetrate into his range deeper than the previous ones could. And the next last attacks will be the big one.

Liam casted a big doton jutsu from the distance: "Doton, Jisshin Tou! (Earth Quake Sword)" A series of razor sharp earthen sword rumbled out of the ground and went straight to Kira. Kira reacted and sent a stream of chainwhip in a straight line that block, pierce, destroyed, and break through the earthen attack, going straight towards the caster. "I'm counting on you, Lowe…" Such was Liam's last statement before the chainwhips mercilessly rain down upon his body.

From the leftovers of Liam's earthen constructs, Lowe jumped out of the hiding and went straight to Kira. Kira, for the first time, gasped in shock. He was unable to react as his chains are still stretched so far. It'll took him but a few small moments, but that little priceless pause were used correctly by Lowe, who quickly brought down his Gerbera in a powerful horizontal slash towards' Kira's head. "PARDNEEEER!" The slash managed to shatter the upper portion of Kira's eyeless helmet, revealing the upper portion of his head. Kira's eyes were both dilated and in seed mode… until a few very small shrapnel from the broken helmet accidentally hit Kira's left eye. No matter how powerful, when one got hit in the eye, one would show defensive response. In Kira's case, his defensive response is to fall back to a considerable distance away from Lowe. His eye returned to normal with one of them was closed as it let out tears of blood.

Seeing the chance, Lowe charged forward to continue his assault. But Kira, his helmet now reduced to a fanged facemask that covered his nose and mouth, is evidently but silently furious. He instantly pulled back all his chain whips before he unleashed a massively devastating barrage of chain whips that pummeled every inch of Lowe's body. The battered Junk Guild chief was mercilessly swept aside as Lowe wondered in satisfaction of how many of his bones were broken by that attack.

And last, but not least, was Waltfeldt who charged straight on from the front door, without any strategy or trick… or so it would seem. "ORAORAORAORAORAAAAA!" Against this avatar of pure strength, Kira mercilessly sent a continuous barrage of chainwhips using all of his available whips… which number in hundreds. But Waltfeldlt, true to his title as the strongest Hakutenkun, simply endured through the attack and pushed forward, rapidly closing the distance. Seeing this juggernaut of a man, Kira escalate the attacks by grabbing nearby weapons, leftovers from the Genma he killed earlier and using that weapon he lashed out against the Dessert tiger… to no avail. The worst that Kira can do is leaving massive amount of scratches around Waltfeldt's powerful body. Gritting his fangs in frustration, Kira engulf several swords with his chains and, a moment later, they turned into vicious misshapen sharp blades. Without further ado, Kira plunged the blades to Waltfeldt…and this time, they penetrate. But Waltfeldt ignored the new fresh injuries and press on.

But eventually, even Waltfeldt has his limits. When he was halfway towards Kira, his speed began to decline. His whole body is bruised and filled with horrible stab wounds. Until at last… when he's just about a few steps away from Kira, his endurance spent and the Hakutenkun finally collapsed. Kira's eyes gleamed with visible twisted delight. The bruised and beaten Waltfedlt knelt atop the field of slaughter as he watched helplessly while the chains lifted the series of chained weapons to the sky, ready to impale him en-masse at a moment's notice.

With a speed of a twisted thought, Kira launched all blades towards Waltfeldt. Waltfeldt simply let them come as hundreds of blades punctured his massive form. When it was finally over, he looked like a pincushion. Kira simply shrugged in satisfaction.

And Waltfeldt suddenly sprang to life and grabbed all of Kira's chainwhips connected to his body and hold them all tight with his arms. Kira jerked several times to pull the chains off, but Waltfeldt's vast strength locked all the chainwhips he had in place. "Sane or not… remember boy…"

"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A HAKUTENKUN!"Waltfeldt launched a powerful kick that launched Kira backwards while at the same time, he ripped apart all of his chainwhips in the process, effectively destroying the chain cape, his main weapon. Kira continue to fly backwards until he was caught and stopped by something… or someone.

"And remember…"

That someone being Lamia.

"…you are all just decoys…"

"And I'm the boom surprise." Lamia placed Kira in a headlock. "LIAM, NOW!"

Removing Kira's heavy padded vest that managed to protect him from the chain stabs, the still grievously wounded Liam nevertheless managed to perform one last doton jutsu: "Doton… Ishi Yosai!"

A small pyramid made of thick solid slabs of stone completely sealed off both Kira and Lamia. The ceiling was sealed tight. There's not one crack of opening in there.

"Ever wondered why no one ever feared sound?" Lamia whispered sinisterly.

Kira struggled to break free. He could easily yank Lamia off his back in 3 seconds…

But it took only a second for Lamia to complete what she had planned to do. "Because no one ever tasted it in a closed room."

And with that, Lamia screamed as loud as she ever thought possible. An enormous explosion of sound that would've ripped apart normal people's eardrums exploded from her throat. Normally the sound would only do that. But that kind of sound are being unleashed in a completely sealed room, and so they reverberated around the walls of the pyramid, amplified to destructive level, and concentrated in a space barely enough for two person. The sound didn't reach outside, but that's the proof that the destruction isn't going anywhere. The pyramid structure is like a megaphone. Kira and Lamia are standing at the heart of a sound amplifier, and the two received that amplified sound power in full. The small pyramid vibrated like crazy.

Lacus collapsed on her knees in shock and disbelief. THIS is what her sister came up with?

Soon, the pyramid cracked open from the inside, and it crumbled away, revealing Kira and Lamia. Both were clearly severely injured and very much near death. Lamia finally let go of her headlock and collapsed on her back. Her armor shattered to pieces as she fell, with blood flowing out of her burst eardrums, nose and every hole in her body. She clearly suffered massive internal injuries and fractured bones allover her insides.

Likewise, Kira stood still unmoving, but his Ankoku Shiki armor, now supporting a greyish color, is cracking from head to toe, and they looked like they're ready to fall apart in one fell swoop. But his internal body suffered more or less the same damage.

Waltfeldt and Liam stood and waited. Hoping. But their hope was dashed when Kira jerked back to life, and he started walking out the ruins of what could've been his tomb.

"Uso… daro…" Liam gaped in disbelief.

Waltfeldt chuckled bitterly. After all that… And he still wants to go on? "Okay… time to get serious." Waltfeldt get back on his feet and ready to fight for his life.

Kira took a few staggered steps… but he finally collapsed to his knees, much to Waltfeldt's shock… and relief. "Princess Lacus!"

Lacus was too disturbed by the carnage before her to answer.

"LACUS CLYNE!" Waltfeldt roared again.

This time, Lacus jerked back to the real world and she look up to see that the terrible battle is over.

"Now's your chance. Do your thing, princess."

After a few momentary pauses, Lacus finally began walking towards Kira, midway it turned into a desperate run. As she did this, she saw every people who had spilt their blood for this. All of it… ALL OF IT… for the small chance of her being able to recover what she had personally destroyed. Lacus gritted her teeth in anger to herself. This is not Kira's fault. This is hers. All of it is hers. Her ineptitude, her inexperience. 'Thank you… thank you… ALL of you! I WILL rescue Kira! No matter what!'

Lacus quickly rushed to Kira's side. Taking a moment of grievance to look at Lamia's battered form, Lacus cupped her hands over Kira's shattered self, and she also connected their forehead, for good measure. The more physical contact they make, the stronger the connection. The bigger the risk though.

"Commencing… Astral Dive!" A magical circle appeared beneath the two.

And Lacus consciousness once again entered the Astral Plain. And this time, Lacus didn't bother to stop. She went straight to Kira's domain and rather than free falling, she took the initiative and dived down straight ahead into Kira's shattered mind. "I'm Lacus Clyne. And I'm here to save Kira! Take my arms, take my legs, take whatever you want but I WILL SAVE HIM!"

But the spikes couldn't take anything even if they want to. Unlike before, Lacus's resolution is now rock solid. This greatly affected the strength of her Astral body, the spikes can't even nick it and the chains were ripped apart before she even passed through them. Lacus easily zoom through all obstacles and before long, she arrived back into that dark space. But now, unlike before where previously she had a room to maneuver around… this looks more like a prison. And then, all the sudden, a chain burst through her shoulder. Lacus grunted and looked where the chain come from and gasped in shock.

It's Shiki! And she looked worse than ever. And more pissed. The armors are now bursting out of her own body, coupled with spikes puncturing out of her armor in various spot.

"You… You're Ankoku Shiki… right?"

To answer her, Shiki launched another chain that painfully burst out of her skin and pierced Lacus several more times.

"I don't want to fight you anymore. And I know I deserved this." Lacus admitted. "I should've known you were trying to protect Kira more than anyone. I came along and ruined everything."

Hearing the conviction, Ankoku Shiki grew more wrathful and lash out against Lacus, ripping her body apart.

Lacus grunted at the immeasurable pain, but she did nothing to stop the punishment she so rightfully deserved a hundred times over.

On the outside, blood trickled out at the corner of Lacus' lips.

"I… deserved… to die… and you… have the right… but please… hear… me… out…" Lacus tried the best she could not to be overwhelmed by the pain of having her mind torn apart. "I… can save him… I can… bring him… back…"

The mute Ankoku Shiki glared through the ribbons covering her eyes.

"Listen… listen to me… these spikes… these chains… they are the source of Kira-san's worst memories… but that can't be all! I don't believe there's not a single happy memory in his heart. There must be something… You know this! There's more to him than just anger and hate!"

Ankoku Shiki tilted her head in disbelief. She swept her hand angrily. What's the guarantee that Lacus won't make things even worse than they already have?

"I don't have any guarantee. I wish I can say to you please trust me… but that's impossible. I've made such a big mess."

Shiki gave Lacus the bird. She got that right.

"But I know you want to protect Kira. Distrust me if you want, but please… I want to help Kira just as much as you!"

And for a moment, Shiki contemplate whether she should help her… or tear her to nothingness. After a minute of thought, Shiki waved her hand, and a portal leading to a light opened up.

Lacus smiled in relief and bowed down in gratitude to Shiki. But the Spirit of the Sword had a few last words. She swiveled her arm and sent a chain that hung on Lacus neck to send the message LOUD and CLEAR:

Mess him up again, and I'll kill you, bitch.

Lacus nodded. And as soon as Shiki let her go, she went even deeper into Kira's mindscape. Simply put, the mind where Shiki reside just now was the conscious level. Now she went deeper and deeper into the sub-conscious level. If she theorized correctly, that's exactly where she can find what she needs. Deeper and deeper she dived down… until she landed on a world filled with orbs of various colors. Lacus looked around wondering where she is. All the sudden, a bright ball with khaki color hit her chest, and a memory burst into her head:

"Haaai! Irrashai masen! Welcome to Amate-ramen! The best noodle in Orb!"

And then the image was gone. Lacus blinked several times. And then she realized… this is it! This is what she's looking for! This is a reservoir of Kira-san's memory! All of it stored here in this memory bank deep in his subconscious level! Now she need only to find the strongest, brightest and happiest memory she can find and brought it up to surface, to conscious level.

Lacus continue to fly through the reservoir. She flew carefully as to not collide into other memories. Rule no 1 in human mind Astral Dive: you're essentially a thief breaking and entering a person's house. This brought the word intruding on someone's privacy to a whole new level! These orbs are Kira's memories. Orbs with bright light and colors are happy memories. A gloom and dark colored orb means the opposite. If she wants to, Lacus can see all of Kira's darkest secrets, destroy and wipe out all of Kira's memories… 'or a simple peek on some Japanese food recipes…' Lacus stopped short at that thought. She wasn't tempted on mind wipe or some dark little secret for some blackmail material… but that… that sounds a liiitle…

NOOOOO! FIGHT IT LACUS! DO NOT FALL INTO TEMPTATION!

But JUUUUST a Liiiii-tle peek…

NOOOOOO!

Lacus would be LYING if she said she wasn't interested on Kira's past self after that accidental revelation: Kira a Japanese who is a waiter in some Japanese food in a Japanese Restaurant living in Japan. To an otaku like her, that's like blaring a red flag in front of a raging bull. Finally, it took every ounce of her self-restraint to get back on track.

But maybe I can find some memories about…

DO NOT LET THE DEMONS WIN!

"Oh my… we have a visitor, I see."

Lacus jerked in surprise as she turned around and saw a blue haired man, with differing eye color: one blue, the other yellow. Or so she thought. The man is a man… but for some reason, Lacus can see behind the man a silhouette… of an enormously huge and even more exorbitantly powerful existence. Something about the man's aura compelled Lacus to descend, drop down to her knees, and bow down in respect and utter the words: "I'm humbled in thy presence."

"What would a magus be doing in here?"

Lacus remembered her purpose here. "I'm here… to help Kira-san."

"Help him?" The man was amused, in a sarcastic way. "And why would you want to do that, Princess of Zaft? Haven't you done enough damage already?"

"So I did. That's why I'm here to take responsibility. I… I want to help him. And…" Lacus paused for a moment… and stated. "And I guess a part of me kinda wanted to take Kira back to Zaft. See if I can… see if I can ask for his aid to help me. A man of such vision and stature…" Lacus didn't mince word to beautify her other underlying desire. A young man of vision like Kira, speaking in a podium in front of the High Council, backed with his incredibly beyond belief bloodline limit that will earn him instant support from the knighthood and the people… that's a potent political mix any politician would love to get their hands on. But Lacus now knew it was just a wishful thinking. After what she saw, Kira would sooner lined up all those politicians and execute them one by one rather than talking with them. And Lacus was ashamed that a part of her who is well versed in the dance of politics had even thought that way. "I'm sorry. It was selfish I know… but still…"

The Man eyed Lacus closely with lips parted in surprise. There's no lie in her words and she blatantly admitted her other underlying goal. "You're an honest girl, Lacus Clyne. Naïve… and slightly on the… foolish side. But you're an honest fool. Reason enough for me to give you a chance. But you have to understand." The man pointed up. Lacus bent her head up and gasped.

A black hole. A gigantic black hole in the sky, attracting… no… spitting out dark black memories out, and into the portal that led to the consciousness. "That's…"

"The root of Kira's darkness. The origin. And as you can see… it's huge." And even that was an understatement. In sense, if the other bright small orbs around Lacus are small planetoids… then the darkness… is an entire light forsaken solar system. A giant dark hole in a world, surrounded by an enormous number of gloomy dark orbs of terrible memories. It's been sending one orb at a time to Kira's consciousness. "Luckily he's unconscious right now. When he wakes up, the memory literally floods out. And you've seen what becomes of him when that happened. But, as you can imagine, you don't gather that much darkness in you overnight. You're looking at an accumulated rage, anger, and hatred beyond reckoning that has been going… for years. A good portion of his life, to be precise."

"My God…" Lacus clasped her mouth in horror. "Kira… you… what on earth did you do to deserve this…?"

The Man didn't answer, but he didn't look at Lacus in the eye either. He quickly went back on track on Lacus' grand plan to save Kira. "You want to use Kira's brightest and happiest memory to… reboot his humanity… well… that's a good plan." The Man nodded. "But even if you can heal him now, the darkness will never disappear. It will someday re-emerge again. It will NEVER heal unless you take the whole thing back to its roots. But… your people have been giving him one reason after another for him to… well… to add to it. He takes as much pain in hurting others as he is when being hurt. And with each… transgressions… and retribution from his part… the darkness continues to grow and now we can't even make the heads or tails of it."

Seeing your friend tortured to death in front you, your home destroyed, subjected to constant perversion of maniacs when he was underage… Lacus shook her head in sorrow. A lesser men would break completely or be out for blood. But Kira… he killed so many of his own kind for revenge… and still he was saddened with each kill. God… why did you torture a man like this in such a way? "You… are you… some kind of… Kira's inside caretaker or something?"

The Man tilted his head and chuckled. "I suppose you could call me that…"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING TO STOP WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Lacus roared in anger.

The Man was undaunted and replied calmly in sorrow. "Even if I want to… no matter how much I try to stop it, eventually it'll come to this. Kira was like a bomb waiting to explode." The Man crossed his arms. "A dark past is a dark past. Kira was trying to bury that away. But… eventually they will come a time when you had to face the music. And I can't help him there."

The Man followed. "You're a good doctor… but healing a human's mind… is not the same as healing a human's body. You can search the whole wide world for some miracle medicine… and you'll never find a cure for a shattered mind and mutilated spirit." The Man waved his hand. Something bright began to move towards them. Something warm… and kind.

It even attracted the depressed Lacus. The memory is… small… the size of a man's head… but it glows very brightly. The brightest of all happy memories. Like a tiny sun. "This is?"

"If that giant dark hole is the root of Kira's darkness… this one… is the exact opposite. This is what you're looking for. Kira's happiest and brightest memory. The root of his humanity."

Lacus smiled in relief. She stretched out her hand to reach for the orb, but the Man stopped her.

"You really want to rescue him?"

"Yes!"

"I'll hold you to it. Deliver this to Shiki. She'll know what to do with it. She's been with Kira's consciousness for quite some time now, she knew Kira's mindscape better than anyone." The Man motioned the orb to Lacus. "And one more thing. Right now, you're an astral body in an Astral Plain. Anything you think will manifest physically, and it may affect this memory. Happy thoughts are welcome… but not negative. That includes fear, anger or despair… well you know."

"I know!" Lacus cheerfully answered as she was as happy as she could be. With this she can definitely save Kira now. The thought was so uplifting, it seems impossible for her to generate any negative feeling. Lacus caught the orb and cupped it in her hands. Lacus was surprised at the sensation of holding this memory: it's so soft and fragile like it will break with the slightest pressure… and yet… it glowed so bright… so strong… What's more, it felt familiar. Somehow… it akin to that… Bright Being who helped her earlier when she first dived. And the memory that came with it…

Kira blowing up a birthday cake, followed by clapping hands from what seems to be his parents… and a young Athrun, and… 'Lennore Zala?'

Lacus blinked in slight surprise. That memory just now… When Kira spoke of losing an important woman to the pilgrimage… he was referring to… Lennore Zala? Lacus couldn't imagine what kind of relationship Kira had with her… but… the expression that Kira made in that memory… so full of life… so full of hope… so full of happiness… No wonder this is his happiest memory. Yes. This will DEFINITELY do the job.

And then, suddenly, everything began to move again. The Orbs of memories were getting agitated. The dark hole began to send in more and more of dark memories into Kira's consciousness.

"Kira's waking up. You must hurry. Don't let any of those dark memories touches you princess. Kira's memories have been mostly an ugly sight these days. I don't think you can call yourself human if you smile at them."

Lacus nodded and without further ado she quickly floated away, going straight into the portal towards Kira's consciousness.

00000000000000

Outside, the team who handled Kira began to awake, one by one. All of them were horribly injured and a bloody mess… but they're still alive. Liam, the only Junk Guild member still standing is also taking care of the ransacked-to-Hell but still alive and kicking Lowe.

Waltfeldt still looked like a pincushion, but he refused to let the weapons be pulled out of him until the surgeons are up and around. However unlikely that maybe. Lamia, in particular, had the worst out of them all with fractured bones everywhere. But, as Gino checked her vitals, "She's in no danger."

"Good." But Waltfeldt's heart skipped a beat when Kira began to stir slightly. And Lacus is still connected to him.

Every survivor gulped in sheer horror. If Kira woke up insane again… they're not sure they can take this anymore…

"Hurry up girl… hurry up!"

00000000000000

Lacus, with Kira's brightest memories in her hands, zoomed past and ahead of a stream of dark black memories. Lacus didn't know and does not wish to know what kind of pain Kira have I those memories, and she can't let them touch her either or all this has been for nothing. Even worse, the flow rate of these dark memories is increasing. Kira must be close to waking up. After much difficulty flying past all the moving dark orbs, Lacus finally reached her destination. Already she can saw Shiki was waiting for her.

"SHIKI-SAN! THIS IS IT!" Lacus fly faster in excitement. The glowing bright orb is shining in her hands. She stretched out both of her hands, showing the glowing orb to Shiki.

Shiki also stretched out her hands, preparing to take the orb. The Orb was just seconds way from her hands.

Lacus cheered. "Yosh! With this, Kira-san will be back to nor-"

Until a zooming black orb suddenly get in her way and hit her by the chest.

And the memory that came with it…

The sight of Goud Veia, with blood flowing out of his disemboweled guts, and Kira, (Kage) lifted a sword over his head, in preparation to behead him.

And Lacus' heart practically stopped for one second. '…Kira-san… Veia…sama…?'

The orb in her hand twitched and the glow dimmed slightly with a spark of darkness… from Lacus.

At the same time, it finally reached Shiki, and the spirit of sword quickly caught it. Upon reaching Shiki's arms… or to be more precise, upon reaching the domain of Kira's consciousness, the orb shined brightly. So bright it knocked away Shiki's blindfold and mouthgag.

00000000000000

Lacus was also forcibly pushed out of Kira's mind. But not without having the image of Veia's demise imprinted on her mind. 'No… No… way…' Soon, Lacus returned back to her physical self. Horrified and disoriented, Lacus jumped away from Kira and fell on her back, deliriously crawling away in shock.

"Lacus? Did you do it?"

"No way…no way… that was… just now… that was… no way… no way…" Lacus clasped her cheek; tears began rolling down her eyes again. "No… No… That's… that's impossible… Kira-san… Kira-san…"

"Lacus? Something wrong?" One look and Wlatfeldt knew right away there's something terribly wrong with the girl.

But then, their attention was attracted when they sense movements, coming from Kira, who had finally regained consciousness. Except the fact… he start growling angrily.

"Uhh…" Just hearing those growls was an instant clarification for Waltfeldt.

"GRhhh… GRhhhahahh… GRAAAAAGGHH!" The still insane Kira roared angrily.

"And we're back to square one!" Waltfeldt gritted his teeth. This is just like the beastlike Dark Knight from the first time with the roars and the animalistic behavior. "Is this guy's insanity incurable?"

Upon seeing what happened, that's when Lacus realized what happened… and what she had done. "No… that's not it…"

The insane Kira shrieked incoherently, grasping his head and slammed it to the ground several times in obvious pain.

"I did get the right memory… but at the last second… I…" Lacus remembered that last image… the image when Kira was about to end Veia's life. At that time… at that one time… Lacus… was shocked, and felt betrayed. In just a single instant, for just one single moment her desire to help Kira vanished momentarily, replaced by anger and horror. This sudden shift affected and corrupted the root of Kira's brightest humanity. And Lacus had shoved that slightly corrupted happy memory into Kira's heart. The result… "…light and darkness are now fighting inside him… but… the light itself is also… weakened… it was corrupted by a slight darkness… and now it's tearing his mind apart…"

"Corrupted?" Waltfeldt looked at the horrified Lacus. "Why was it corrupted?"

"It was corrupted because…" Lacus trembled in horror. She had this one chance. ONE last chance to save Kira… and she blew it again. "Oh God…"

The maniacal Kira lunged towards Lacus on all fours, intending to so some serious harm.

"Princess!" Waltfeldt quickly rushed in between Lacus and Kira and lunged towards the insane Dark knight. The two collided again, but unlike before, due largely to Waltfeldt's injuries, the result were even as the two warriors were stopped midair and landed on their feet, wrestling with their arms interlocked. Kira and Wlatfeldt gritted their teeth, trying to overpower the opposition. But then, Kira's chain cape suddenly regenerated to a small chain scarf, and they wove together to form a large skeletal clawed hand that quickly grasped Waltfeldt's face. "Grhh!" With his three arms, Kira lifted Waltfeldt of the ground and then, with another roar, perform a German surplex that slammed Waltfeldt head first to the ground. This, coupled with other numerous injuries, knocked Waltfeldt out of the fight for good.

Kira roared and his chain scarf splintered away and mercilessly slapped everyone in vicinity, leaving just Lacus, alone and defenseless. Kira approached the tear-eyed Lacus. His Chain scarf extended a whip and slither towards Lacus before it bind her hands and lifted her up until her feet was off the ground.

Flashback ends…

Kira put a chokehold on Lacus and yanked her up until she's hanging right on top of him.

Lacus looked at Kira's insane purple eye. She had this one chance… one LAST chance to return a soul… to mend a broken mind… one terrifying image, and she may have extinguished and even corrupted this man's humanity beyond recovery. She didn't help him… she ruined him. After everything he had gone through… after everything he's done to them… and she failed him. Lacus laughed bitterly. What is this all talk about wanting to change Zaft's decadent society for good? She turns out to be no better… no… she's the worst of them all. They broke him… and as if he hadn't had enough suffering, she hammered the final coffin nail personally to Kira's soul. Lacus didn't resist as Kira's grip on her neck tightened. She deserved this. God, she deserved this a hundred times over. May her soul rot in Hell. Tears fell ceaselessly from Lacus' blue eyes, falling on top of the unflinching Kira's face.

Kira retracted his other claw, fully intending on slamming it to Lacus' chest.

"Kage-san…" Tears just won't stop falling from Lacus' blue eyes. "I'm sorry…" Lacus didn't expect to be forgiven, but her lips instinctively spoke the word: "I'm so… so sorry…"

Kira growled and gritted his fangs. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" And with no one to stop him, the Dark Knight roared and shoved his clawed arm to Lacus' chest.

Or rather, it looked like it was shoved to her chest, but merely pierced through something on the frontal part of Lacus' miko robe… and penetrated a small creature… bearing a small face on its back.

"Eh?" Lacus gasped.

Kira growled and took away the creature from Lacus's chest, accidentally tearing apart her miko robe, revealing the cleavage of her breasts. It looked like a spider… with a fragment of Kira's face on it. Lacus gasped. That's… the Doppelganger? A small piece of the creature must've stuck on her clothes when it was first destroyed. But… Kira noticed it… and took it away from her? Then… that… means… Lacus looked hopefully at Kira's eyes, but found only insanity. No… Kira haven't recovered yet… but still… he's fighting it! He's trying to be sane again! "Ka… no… Kira-san? Kira-san you're there?"

Kira growled angrily in pain, but he clearly responded when someone called him with his true name for the first time in what felt like an eternity. "Gr… Grgg…"

Before Kira or Lacus can do anything, something burst out of the ground and hit Kira's waist. Kira choked and looked at what hit him: a wooden root. A mass of black thorny wooden root, woven and merged together and formed a road. A large road. The ground next to them where the roots burst out collapsed, showing a tunnel.

Kira gasped and looked at the dark tunnel… something's coming…

And that something… is an enormous chariot, pulled by four enormous horse constructs with blades on their heads, formed by bones and muscles. At the helm… was the Lifeless Lord, sitting on his throne. Kira's eyes were transfixed at the Lord's form, emanating an aura that made the Lord's attire ever clearer. And something clicked. Of course, that was a split second before the horses rode over Kira and trampled him mercilessly under their stomping hoof, followed swiftly by the chariot's massive wheels that grinded him to the ground, dragging him for a few meters. The chariot dragged him across the ground before the Dark Knight finally fell off the chariot, whose wheels left behind a trail of rotten tracks – messed up when they dragged Kira around. The Chariot stopped a few meters away from Kira's battered form. Everyone who saw this gasped. Lacus was horrified when she saw the brutal attack. She wanted to rush over to Kira, but something stopped her legs.

A few moments later, the Lifeless Lord rose up from his throne and observed the surroundings.

Everyone gasped in horror. First, the chariot was gigantic. Significantly larger than the previous one they've encountered… not to mention it was far more heavily fortified. Unlike the previous chariot, which looked like a normal demonized chariot, this chariot look… surprisingly human? Very few distortions, except the fact that its crew were fused to the said war-wagon. But the dark aura trailing on its enormous spiked wheels are evident enough of its corruption. The car of the chariot looked like a small fortress on wheels and it was split into five compartments, with the Lord's throne at the center compartment, and each of the other 4 compartments surrounding it were 'manned' (technically, the occupants were fused) by 2 heavily armored knights carrying spears, manned several small multi bolted ballista, inbuilt into the chariot. It's colored in blood red, sporting two enormous wheels, twice as tall as a man, at the front and two smaller ones at the back. The front wheels were incredibly thick, as it was made of metal with spikes lining up its tires, and in addition to a massive scything shank on the wheel's axis, it has four Tristan cannons encircling the said axis of each of the frontal iron wheel, jutting outward to the side. The horses that pulled it are also enormous. 1.5 times bigger than normal horses. The Chariot has two enormous yoke inbetween each pair of horses hanging by their back, each sported a cannon barrel, granting two forward cannons, and a pair of gigantic bayonet spears on each cannon for piercing power.

An unearthly huge chariot heavily armed to the point it being too ridiculous to be true. But even the intimidation that came from seeing this enormous construct fell short at the aura of its master. The Lifeless Lord stood up from his throne, and suddenly, everyone felt short out of breath and they can't understand why. This is the exact same Lifeless Lord that they encountered earlier… so why does it feel to be something entirely different? Unlike the previous Lifeless Lord, the Lord truly exhume an aura of regality, with a pressure of a vast abyssal demonic power emanating from every inch of his body that seem to distort the atmosphere around and knock the air off the sky, hence their difficulty to breathe. Truly worthy of being called the Lord of the Genmas. Waltfeldt was also quick to note that this Lord wield a different weapon than the previous one. Or more like, he carried different types of weapons: a broadsword, a halberd spear, a set of bow and arrows, and a whip, all packed up on his throne.

The Lord observed the surrounding, noting the large number of casualties: so many wounded… all because of one madman. "Well… this is definitely not what I had in mind."

"Not what you had in mind Huh?" Waltfeldt was outraged. The bastard still had the gall to say those things when he was the first one who drove the poor boy to insanity… or… did he?

The Lord lifted the misshapen spider-like creature with Kira's face. The doppelganger squirmed in his hand. "You mean this guy?"

And suddenly, Waltfeldt understood. "That was… he copied you?"

"Doppelganger. A high level demon with intelligence that can copy everything it saw and touched in shape, form, memory and skills." Everyone who heard this statement jawdropped. They fought a copy… so this is the ORIGINAL Lifeless Lord. No wonder it felt so different! A Raven, the raven who spied on them in the beginning, landed on the shoulder of its one true master. And just like that, the raven expanded and became a feathery demonic pelt over the Lifeless Lord's armor. This gave him an even more kingly form, further fortifying his position as a Genma Lord of the Undead. "Unfortunately… he was not that smart. He had this compulsion to copy everything that is even remotely stronger than him… like me… and the boy. Problem is… I said he's a high level demon… as far as intelligence goes… but he's a lesser weak demon. A lot of things are more than remotely stronger than him. And so he had a tendency to bit off more than he can chew."

"But you… that demon… he…"

"I sent him of course. To measure your strength, living ones. To see how powerful you are. You actually passed. With flying colors."

"And why would you care about what happened to us?"

"Nothing." The Lifeless Lord turns out to be as emotionless as its lapdog. "You people… are morsels. From the point of view of a Genma such as me. You guys are food. First class quality. But… food needs preparations. If the ingredients aren't good, then your food won't taste good either, no?"

Waltfeldt didn't know if he had to feel disgusted or honored. "So… you really think this whole thing… as a cooking preparation or something?"

"Wrong. I take you all very seriously. I will not enter a battle with you without knowing what you are truly capable off. And seeing all this… I daresay I would've enjoyed our battle too…" The Lord looked once again at the black figure that is Kira. "But the fool took things too far." The Lifeless Lord squeezed the squirming Doppelganger in his hand, as if wanting to crush him in anger. "Who would've guessed so much damage can be done by one insane boy."

Agree. One insane boy with a superweapon and a crapload amount of power at his disposal, and their pilgrimage was shot to hell.

"You guys are no longer fit for battle. Injured, half dead… my army could easily destroy you all in one day. Even you, Andrew Waltfeldt. It doesn't matter if you're a Hakutenkun. The current you is not my match."

"Oh really? Why don't you get down here and let me show your royal assness a thing or two!" Waltfeldt angrily cracked his knuckles.

"You might think things will be a lot faster that way, but I would call that barbaric. And barbarism deserve… undeath. You… had proven that you are NOT a barbaric lot. My taste is refined for a far more artful battle. And I spared you all for that purpose. To tell you all that you no longer face a mindless rabble. Hopefully, this knowledge will make your struggle to death a far more worthy in our battle."

"He's right."

Everyone stopped moving and looked at the speaker. Lacus' heart skipped a beat in joy. The Pilgrims stood aghast. Waltfeldt angry frown turned into a cheerful surprise.

It was Kira. His eyes opened, and he just spoke coherent words… he's still wearing the grey fractured armor-what's left of them anyway- of the Ankoku Shiki, but he's sane at last. "Don't fight him, Waltfeldt-san… you're injured. Severely. I made sure of that. With your condition such it was, he'll mop the floor with your ass."

"Oh… my…"

The Lifeless Lord exhaled. "You're a tough one, boy. You're sure I have not turned you into one of us?"

"My heart still beats, no." Kira tilted his head. His body doesn't feel any pain but… Kira knew his body more than anyone. "However… I'm surprised."

"Errhh… the guy just steamrolled you with a gigantic chariot… and that only surprised you?" Gino blinked with a smile plastered on his face.

"No. I'm only surprised at how much you've changed." Kira jerked towards the Lifeless Lord.

Now everyone's attentions are shifting back and forth between Kira and the Lifeless Lord. Wait… they know each other?

"I don't know you."

"Course you don't. I've changed a lot over the years. So did you." Kira sighed. "But… taunting… sending expendable pawns to gather information… making early assumptions… bragging… I remembered you as a more humble man who never does things like that. You always say: never assume. The first commodity a commander must collect is not troops, not weapons… not even supplies… but knowledge. With knowledge, a battle, even a war, can be waged-"

"-fought, and won before the battle itself." The Lifeless Lord finished it for Kira, realizing the boy was reciting his own words… back when he was alive. A spark of humanity returned to the Lifeless Lord's empty eyes. "You… who are you?"

Kira snorted bitterly. Slowly he got back up, but he was not strong enough to stand on his feet, so he sat on the ground, staring at the Lifeless Lord. "I had dearly hoped that I never get to see you on this cursed land. Because if I did see you…then that means my greatest fear has come true. Lady Lennore really is dead."

"Lady Lennore?" Gino looked at Kira in shock. "You mean Lennore Zala? The Grand Priestess Lennore Zala?"

"Yes." Kira looked at Waltfeldt. "Waltfeldt-san… you're NOT the first Hakutenkun to be sent here."

Waltfeldt frowned and gasped in shock at what Kira meant. Yes. There was once another Hakutenkun sent here… that… means… Waltfeldt looked at the now familiar looking Lifeless Lord in horror.

"Lord Shadow… you know him?" One of the Exorcists gasped in shock.

"Actually… I'm more surprised of the fact that you guys DIDN'T know him. You all should be."

"Wha…" The knights of Zaft were now really confused.

"Guys. Do you remember during the early decades of the Bloody valentine war we were always get hit hard by the Alliance due to their cannons? We didn't develop our own artilleries back then because we don't know how to fit them into our codex… And then around 30 years ago, this man arrived. He joined every military branch of Zaft, and then he quit after outclassing all of its instructors… he has all the specialties and skills of all 8 branches of Zaft military forces, he even have the powers of all five Elemental knights to top it off. Naturally, he was given the rank a Hakutenkun, and with that he modernized our army, starting a booming of artillery development." Waltfeldt wanted to punch himself in the face for not recognizing this man a little earlier. This guy is a national hero, a legend on par with Goud Veia for God's sake!

Kira followed. "This man did something never done before. Together with Lennore Zala, He's the one responsible of revolutionizing and modernizing the Codex. Modifying it to suit the changing of warfare's face from bows and arrows to cannons and gunpowders, as well as adding in a lot of new and improved knowledge into it. You guys were trained by your instructors… your senior knights… Well, every senior knight that lived today from every branch of Zaft military arms has, at some point, been trained by him. You could say… he's the father of all modern day Zaft military warfare. And for that, he's unclassifiable to any of the eight branches of Zaft's military arms because he can fit right into any of those branches… and instead he was given a title of his own. He later joined both of Lennore Zala's pilgrimage. Returned on the first… and on the second… well… here he is…"

Now every Zaft knights knew who the Lifeless Lord really is.

"…Former Hakutenkun, royal Guard of the Zala Family, andthe legendary Grand Knightmaster, Ray Yuki."

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This sub story basically tells the same story as the previous one, but this one was told from the point of view of the Samurais – as well as what the hell really happened that made them a bunch of God Damn lunatic battle maniacs – at least from the point of view of the Great Empire.

Sengoku Period

Part 2: Samurai Side

It all started, with a caste of warriors who were known by a different name once before, in a language now lost in antiquity. At that time, the world was still young and weak. Demons can penetrate into the human world as easily as one walk through open doors. Though they cannot manifest physically, they can subtly manipulate possess mortal beings to do their bidding. Even with that, the Demons were able to sow chaos and destruction through their human pawns. It was dark era. And the Great Empire of the Onis and their mortal protégé, the Human race, were the only thing that stands between survival, and eternal damnation. And so began the Great Crusade: the time of chaos and endless war, when the Great Empire expanded their borders to conquer all known worlds and safeguard the land from the demons. However, it was also during this time that the Onis began to diminish. And so an army unlike any other were created and assembled. An army of very versatile super soldiers capable of surviving impossible odds in any situation, the first and last line of defense against demons. They were taught to feel no fear or pain, with an unflinching loyalty to the White Emperor. It is said that each one of these warriors is an army of its own right. A single one of them was enough to mount a one man invasion and destroy an enemy encampment. An entire army can overturn an entire nation in one day. The only thing that limit their power… is their lack of strength in numbers. This army was created during the time when the Onis are on a slow path of extinction. So these warriors were created under the principle of quality over quantity, compensating the fact that the Onis had lost their strength in numbers.

The bravest and brightest of these warriors are Izanagi and Izanami. The two saw how their proud caste is on a slow path to extinction, while the enemy still so vast and continue to endlessly encroach their borders. Unwilling to forgo their seemingly eternal mission to vanquish these enemies, Izanagi and Izanami had a bright idea to use the humans. The race that, supposedly, was destined to replace them as the caretakers of this world. Izanagi and Izanami intend to create an army not dissimilar with their own, but composed of humans without sacrificing any reduction to the quality of this army. To do so, they need to gather humans with a very specific genetic makeup. Such was the Oni's knowledge that surpassed all mortal knowledge; they can differentiate humans down to their genetic code. At that time, humans with the required genetic code they need are rare and hard to come by. But gather them they did. And once everything is ready, Izanagi and Izanami began training them the same way they would train their own kind. Pit them against impossible odds; augment their bodies with drugs and inhuman training regimes… excruciating surgical process that fortify their bones… and various other methods, but above all, the ability to control a melding of physical and spiritual energy, Chakra. The candidates were in droves of tens of thousands… but the survivors are only in the dozens. But the result, at least to Izanami, was worth it. These warriors are just exactly like what she wanted. They were as powerful as the original Oni variants. Although… the human's mortality was a glaring flaw, she considers that matter to be moot. If needs be, she's prepared to send an entire squadron of these human warriors on a suicide mission to ensure success. Hopefully, with any amount of luck, enough warriors will survive the gauntlet and returned back alive to instruct their juniors. Regrettably, so far there has been no such luck.

However, Izanagi does not share the sentiment. This fatality rate was considered it unacceptable. The loss of each of these warriors was not easily replaced. And even if he didn't send his warrior progenies to suicide missions, the rate at which they're getting killed far outpace the rate they are being replenished. And so, Izanagi surmised that the only way he can ensure their survival, was to create a pure breed. A seed that will allow the race which has this rare genetic code to multiply themselves naturally, without fearing the thinning of the said race. Izanagi decided to cross breed these people, by taking a human bride. After several cross breeding and some genetic alteration, he succeeded. A race of humans with this rare genetic code now existing naturally within their genetic makeup was born. Izanagi named these people, the Japanese. When Izanami learned of what Izanagi has done however, she was furious. So she too assimilated with the Japanese, but if Izanagi's joining gave them a gift, she laid them a curse. A curse of rage and madness are planted in their subconscious mind and were set to manifest at a random time. They could manifest during childhood or when reaching adulthood, or even when they're still in their mother's womb. It's a wild card value. And the chance of it appearing increases the more they engage in violence. These people became extremely ferocious, yet extremely skillful warriors. Izanagi found out about this flaw and tried desperately to reverse Izanami's curse, by also teaching the human warriors about art, philosophy, and above all the concept of honor and loyalty, in the hopes that it will help them suppress this terrible curse by redirecting some of their powers to something less violent. Unfortunately, at that time, the world at the time was at constant turbulent war. And they are in need of warriors, not poets. Eventually, Izanagi and Izanami spend the rest of their lives hating each other, trying to undo each other's work, and they died as such. Yet they were able to keep their enmity a secret. A mistake that would prove fatal in later years. The command and training of the Samurais were later passed on to another Onis who would take up the mantle to continue their work… unaware of the dark flaw.

The combination of super human physical capability, skills hones to perfection, incredible reflex, masterful use of chakra, innate instinct for combat, bloodline limit (in some of them) all this were amplified by the brutal power increase that was brought about by the all consuming rage of Izanami's curse. The power of these Japanese warriors now far surpassed their predecessors. They are always outnumbered, but impossible odds never stopped them, or rather… can't. It is said that with a single sword in hand, these warriors are far more destructive then a volley of cannons. And when Izanami's rage overcomes them, they're nigh unstoppable and will not stop until they're dead. During the clamors of a worldwide unification war of the Great Crusade, none can tell or differentiate when these Japanese are just courageous selfless warrior… or a rampaging suicidal lunatic. But this flaw will eventually manifest itself ever more clearly during the peace time that followed after the Great Crusade was ended. As a gift of their meritorious service, the survivors, what's left of the warrior caste were given a land in Japan, after the name of their race. A land where they can start fresh, and lived the rest of their life in peace. But Izanami's curse forced the Japanese to continue to seek fights as an outlet to their rage… manifesting in battle lust. They will fight and fight, all for the sake of becoming the strongest, and they will continue to do so even during the era of peace. This resulted in a seemingly never ending conflict in the land of Japan. The Japanese refused to receive any aid or meddling from the Great Empire, who, by that time, has been run mostly by the mortals. All envoys that demand peace from them were rejected. The curse of Izanami's rage has gone too far deep and infected everyone. Left with no choice, the mortal caretakers decided to isolate the Japan Island. This escalate the violence in the Japan island which eventually imploded and reached its zenith during the 1000 generation long Sengoku Era, or the Warring States. Isolated and out of contact from the influences of other race, the Japanese adapted by holding on and develop what they have already known, the teachings of Izanagi, with an interesting result. Izanagi's and Izanami's legacy did not cancel each other out or corrode one another… they combined to create a culture. A civilization of warriors who lived by a stringent code of honor that they considered worth more than their own lives. Following the way of warrior, Bushido. The training system had become a lifestyle. The warrior caste finally had its name: to serve, or in their tongue: Samurais. Their whole life is now dedicated to serve an ideal… a code of personal honor. Or to serve another's code, if the said code are worthy of their service, all the while to achieve their desire of becoming the strongest. This sort of mindset turned the Japanese Samurais into some of the most powerful warriors the world has ever seen.

It was also during this time that Shinobi also came to prominence. The Samurais realized that there's something wrong with them. A power beyond their control is manipulating their minds, sending them to into an uncontrolled berserk fury. The Samurais learned to moderately control the rage of Izanami's curse, using their principles of loyalty and honor (which was taught by Izanagi) to anchor their sanity, thus enabling them to use that curse to their advantage in battle. But there are also those who tried to completely suppress it. And for this, knowing that violence and frontal combat will trigger the rage, this caste of warriors chooses a more stealthy and subtle method to wage their wars by hiding in the shadow and strike unseen. Meditating and stilling their emotions, these shadowy warriors were trained in the assassination arts and came to be known as Shinobi. The Shinobis also developed and enhanced the Chakra technique of the Samurais. With cold calm mind, they can now bend elements, creating a spell casting technique the world has never seen before: Jutsu. While initially there is a great concern over the Shinobi's role and their 'unorthodox' ways… which seems to be an anathema to everything a samurai believed in. But with time, and unquestionable fact that the Shinobi can clearly control the Curse better than the Samurais ever did, the Samurais finally welcomed this new stealthy warrior caste, and it wasn't long before the two integrated each other's skills and techniques, as well as countering one another. Samurais implemented Shinobi's jutsu and their ways of completely suppressing the Izanami's Curse, to a certain extent, and there also Shinobis who walked the path of Samurai while maintaining their stealthy ways. When Shinobis began employing poison gas, the Samurais developed gas mask. When Samurai develop heavy chakra armor, Shinobi employed explosive tags. In this way, the two castes of warriors' skills and abilities develop rapidly through a healthy competition. Samurais will fight in the open as the sword and shield of the army, Shinobis will strike with precision from the shadows like needles and scalpels. Samurais and Shinobis dominate the society and became the backbone of every aspect of the country: society, politics, military, organization… The Greatest of the Samurais were given the title Shogun, and they are the rulers of the society.

Despite this cultural development, warriors who know not how to be at peace will always needed an outlet in form of war. With nowhere else to go, the splintered factions, each led by its own Shogun with their own beliefs and ideals, make heavy use of Samurais and Shinobis and waged war upon another, with the simple goal of uniting the land of the Rising Sun under their banner. It end when there's only one last shogun standing and created an era of their own where they ruled. For a time… until infighting and battle lust tear the era down. So far two eras had passed, and the Japanese are in danger of going extinct completely. The previous two eras, the Oda era and the Toyotomi Era were destroyed in such a way. The Oda period, a militaristic government that lasted for 50 generations was being destroyed when their shogun was killed by its vassal, its successor, the Toyotomi era saw only one shogun managed to rule for one generation until he died in his deathbed, but the inheritors fought amongst themselves and tear the country apart once again. They've rebuilt, stronger than before… but now, the current Era, the Tokugawa Era is in danger of suffering the same fate. And then… help came. A mysterious group of people arrived at their doorstep. They were unlike the people of the land of the rising sun, but they speak their language, act like them, some even lived among them and others gone so far as to settle down and even married with the locals. They spoke of the ocean. Of the lands beyond the borders of the land of the Rising Sun across the blue sea. At first, they were considered insane and delusional. After all, after 1000 generation of living an isolated life in one country, the thought of going outside had since passed living memory. The Japanese had always thought that their world… the land of the Rising Sun is the only world there is.

However, the seed was planted. Mockery and disbelief turned to bewilderment. Bewilderment turned into interest. Interest bred curiosity. Curiosity escalate into a thirst to know more… and suddenly, a new fever pitch of the words navy, ocean, ships and anything sea related became the new trend that ravaged the country. For one moment, all the haze of combat was suddenly lifted out of the eyes of the maddened warriors. For the first time in 1000 generations, they set aside all enmity, united together to understand a simple truth: they are not alone… and that they, at the whim of external forces, are prisoners. Prisoners for a sin and a flaw that was not of their making. If they don't break free… they will die. And conveniently enough, several… ancient manuscripts were found. Its contents are now recognized of pertaining to schematics of battleship designs. Many more discoveries were made, pertaining knowledge of seamanship, weapon designs, even tactics. They were gathered and then put together. They were battleships unlike anything they've ever seen, for if their traditional ship used wood, these ships used metal. Unlike anything they (and unknown to them until much later, the rest of the world) had ever constructed. They have little experience in ship manufacturing, but it was clear that this is a vehicle used to traverse the seas. And if the seas were meant to be traversed, it was clear that out there, there is another world, another land beyond the land of the rising sun. And with that the decision was made. To encourage diversity, the Samurais and the Shinobis were split and given free rein to develop what they consider their ideal naval ships. The Samurais created metal plated, fully armed battleships that can withstand heavy attack and pay them back with interest. Shinobis develop ships that can submerged underwater, and then bring out precisions strikes and then hide down again in the abyss. The Japanese poured with little resource they have left to construct one fleet. Just one fleet of ships composed of 3 battleships and 8 under-ships…AKA Submarines. When it was ready, the fleet set out with one purpose: to break free.

At first, the expedition was a peaceful one. They hoped to find new lands, new resources so that these spoils can support their dying land, keeping it alive. But what awaits them was the hostility of an entire naval might of the Great Empire, the Empire that had isolated them for 1000 generations. But this only serves to prove that the Japanese were being imprisoned. The desire to know more suddenly became the desire for vengeance. The first assault was towards the naval guard whose base situated in Pearl Harbor, destroying all the vastly inferior battleships of the great Empire and then, when it comes to men to men battle, they let loose the wrath of Izanami's curse in full amplifying their 1000 generations worth of fighting experience and prowess. With a fury pent up for what seem like forever, the Samurais, the Shinobis, the Japanese were prepared to unleash their wrath upon the world. The whole island finally goes to war. In response, the Great Empire unleashed the full might of their naval prowess. Having little to no opposition in the sea for centuries had made the naval guards of the Empire weak and decadent, relatively speaking. In stark contrast, the only profession that the Japanese had known in the last 1000 generations… is war. A war that they now wage, for the first time, not amongst themselves… but to other nation. A great battle was fought between the military might of the whole world… against the children of Izanagi and Izanami. The two great Onis may always been at each other's throat… but they looked after their children that day.

To be continued…

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"Just tell me the truth… did I really saw what I think I saw?" The teary eyed Lacus asked.

Kira stay silent for a few moments… and then unveiled the truth: "I killed Goud Veia."

What if…

Kira knelt before the casket

The pillars of light of the sanctuary were swirling violently

The things that you believed in…

The Shockwave rippled across the ground

All seven sanctuaries on Junius swirled.

Is a lie?

The Lifeless Lord jerked his fist.

Kira roared as he slammed his left fist to the surface.

Chapter 30:

A Little Truth and A Great Lie

"Either way… whatever happens, this is going to be the last time I will help you guys."

The pilgrims were surrounded by thousands of heavily armed Genmas.

"From here on out… the fight is on your own."

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Ahh… the beauty of a character with very little role in the original series. In the anime, Ray Yuki is just some character in the background destined to die and/or forgotten. Though at the final episode of the anime, he's the guy who later got shot by Patrick Zala, and then shot Patrick himself before dying! The poor guy gets VEERY little development but still enough that he got his own page in Gundam Wiki. Long live wiki! Long live Free Information! Mwaahahahahahaha…

Which means I can put whatever the Hell I want into his background. And so I uplifted the guy to a Genma Hakutenkun, a super knight with the abilities and skills of all 8 Branches of Knighthood

R&R please. This fic get surprisingly few attentions…