Outside Night Raid's Main Hideout...

Dr. Stylish leaned against a tree along the boarder of the massive forest he and his minions came from and the cliff overlooking Night Raid's mountain hideout.

Hana, Me, and Mimi stood more out in the open, but that didn't matter since their opponents have no idea they where there. (Note: Hana's the guy with the enormous nose, Me is the dude with big eyes and Mimi is the girl with huge ears.)

They were waiting patiently for the rest of Dr. Stylish's personal army of enhance soldiers to take position for their surprise assault.

Unknown to Dr. Stylish or his three sensory type lackeys, Serpentine watched them from afar. Thanks to his hive mind with his other hosts, the members of Clockwork were well aware of the current dilemma Night Raid was about to faced and moved to assist their potential allies.

The first wave would arrive in a few minutes, the rest following shortly after. Hopefully they would make it before the assault would begin or at least during the opening stages. Then, he would take advantage of the situation and assassinate Dr. Stylish.

Mimi turned to her master. "The infantry is in position."

The doctor smiled. "Excellent! Then let us begin our stylish assault."


Inside Night Raid's HQ...

Leone slowly sat upright, her head throbbing. Maybe she partied a little too hard...

It was worth it thought since Tatsumi returned.

Everyone was in a panic when Esdeath captured Tatsumi, half of them though she might've known he was a part of Night Raid. Turns out the sadistic bitch fell in love with him. Sure Tatsumi was a cute guy, but that don't mean she could straight out fall for him like that!

ESPECIALLY SINCE TATSUMI WAS ALREADY HER'S TO BEGIN WITH! (She had 'marked' him after all.)

Tatsumi, being the clever guy he is, managed to slip away from Esdeath and her Jaegers on Mt. Fake where he meet up with Akame and Lubbock, whom were keeping a close eye on him.

Now he's back and shared a ton of useful information about the Jaegers and, surprisingly, Clockwork.

That group had been a mystery up till now, seeing as they randomly appeared before Night Raid. Then all of a sudden their leader or something decides to share everything with Tatsumi. Clockwork is a covert ops group for a faction of...well rebels I guess, who plan on overthrowing the Capital from within.

Honestly, it sounded too good to be true. Tatsumi was hooked into it though, sounding like he was convinced that these guys where telling the truth.

Come to think of it, Tatsumi never mentioned their leader's name or anything...Oh well, it didn't matter much to her.

Anyway, she had to do something about her hangover and fast. This headache was really annoying.

Leone got off the couch she crashed on, carefully moving around her friends pasted out on the floor, and headed for outside bath in one of their open courtyards.

She took a few steps outside before yawning, the night air felt cool. Leone walked over to the pool, she knelt down and splash some water on her face.

Leone stared at her own reflection. Something felt...off. She looked deeper into the pool, at first she didn't see it but then something moved in the water.

Suddenly, her reflection vanished and with it an image of a fiendish, grey skinned man took it's place.

Leone's eyes widened, the man leaped out of the water throwing a knife at her throat. She fell forward, her head splashing into the pool while her body stayed on ground level.

The man with the looks and cloths of a graverobber smiled widely as he took his first steps forward.

"I've done it Master Stylish!" The ghoulish man shouted. "You're fateful servant Trooma has slain one of Night Raid!"


"-It would seem Trooma got one." Mimi said, relaying the latter's report.

"That's my knight in shinning armor." Dr. Stylish replied with a smile, he walked forward towards the cliff edge. "Charging head on into enemy headquarters."

"Now then," He threw his left hand forward, folding his left under it. Suddenly, dozens upon dozens of Dr. Stylish's enhanced soldiers leaped out of the forest. Filling the night sky with their vast numbers and very questionable outfits.

"Team Stylish! It's time to commence our intently passionate assault!"


A few minutes later...

Lubbock felt the threads of his Imperial Arms tugging so violently that it woke him from his slumber. It took him a few blinks for it to finally click. There where enemies in the area, and from the intensity of these tugs there were close and in massive numbers.

"Damn it!" He jumped to his feet. "They're already in the base!" He quickly stepped over to Tatsumi, whom was currently passed out on the floor. "Hey! Tatsumi, wake up! Come on, this is not the time to catch up on sleep!"

It took several shakes for Tatsumi to finally come to. "Huh?" He said as he rubbed an eye. "Lubbock? What-"

"No time to explain!" Lubbock cut in. "We're under attack!"

"What?!" Tatsumi hopped to his feet, adrenaline running through his blood stream. "How?!"

"I have no idea!" Lubbock ran over to Balut, kicking him in the butt over and over. "Right now we need everyone up!"

Instead of waking him, all Lubbock managed to do was turn Balut's dream into one that only reminded everyone of his preferences.

"Come on, no need to be so rough~" He said with a blush. "I know they're impressive but you're gonna loosen them up with all that pinching~"

Lubbock frowned, he didn't even want to know what was going on in Balut's head.

"Why did I think that would work?" He turned back to Tatsumi. "You get him up, I'll go find Akame and the others!"

He ran off, leaving Tatsumi and Balut.

Tatsumi stood for a few seconds, pondering how exactly to wake his mentor up. Once he decided, he walked over to Bro's sleeping form.

He knelt down, frowning and honestly disappointed that this was the best and quickest way he could think of to wake up Balut. He blushed, perhaps that time Esdeath spooning him had more of an impact than he originally thought.

Tatsumi leaned close to Balut's ear. 'I can't believe I'm about to do this.'

"Hey Bro," He started, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "I was thinking about what you said before, that I should reward you for teaching me up till now and..." Tatsumi grinned his teeth. This was the hardest thing he had to do.

"A-and...I was thinking...I-if you want...we...we could..." His face turned bright red, his heart beating faster and faster. "Take a shower together...Just the two of us."

Balut's eyes sprung wide open, he leaped up and turned in one motion. Tatsumi fell back in surprise. Balut held his fists up, giving his pupil an enthusiastic look.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"


Lubbock ran down one of many stone hallways within their base, he needed to find the rest of his teammates fast. The enemy was right on top of them, and they weren't just gonna sit around and let them regroup.

He heard a window crash directly ahead. He stopped, looking ahead. Before him was a masked man dressed in the type of cloths you see on a prostitute or someone into BDSM. Honestly, Lubbock hoped he didn't find out with one.

The man looked at him, his fingers wrapped in metal finger tip armor twitched eagerly.

"Enemy..." He said in a creeper tone. "Kill..!"

He pounced forward, Lubbock spun to one side and dodged. Wires from his Imperial Arms: Cross Tail wrapped around the enemy's neck.

"Sorry, I have no time for you." Lubbock said before twisting the man's neck. Just as he was about to retract the wires, the enemy soldier's neck began to move on its own.

'Wha-?'

The enemy spun around, stepping forward and sliced into Lubbock's chest. The latter few back a few steps, he looked up at the masked man and smiled.

"You know, you caught me by surprise for a second there." He straightened himself, smoke coming off his chest thanks to the last blow. Instead of coming off his skin however, it originated from a layer of string armor Lubbock weaved together moments before.

"Too bad for you that I know more than one way to use a string."

The masked man roared, charging at Lubbock once more.

Lubbock smiled, moving his hands at an alarming speed as he crafted together another use for string.

"If you bind it together," Lubbock grabbed the string spear he bound together and threw it at his opponent. "You can even make things like this!"

The string spear pierced dead center through the man's chest. The latter fell back, dead upon the floor.

Lubbock smirked. "I'll have you know that I own a bookshop. So I've read a lot of Manga that have given me plenty of creative ideas."

He heard a noise coming from behind. "Another one?" He spun around and felt his heart skip a beat. Behind him were a large group of similarly dressed masked men and women.

"A...lot of you..." Lubbock scratched the side of his face, letting out a nervous laugh. "Ah, you see. Group battles aren't my thing so..." He spun around, running as fast as he could back down the hallway.

The mob behind him paused for a moment before chasing him at an abnormal speed.

"Ah damn! Why do they have to be so fast!"

A swirl of fire appeared off to Lubbock's side, out of it appeared the familiar figure of Pyro.

Lubbock ran past Pyro, staring as he went. Pyro smiled, focusing on the incoming mob. He took a deep breath, tilting his head back. A moment later, he threw his head forward and exiled. A trail of fire sprayed out of Pyro's mouth and towards the mob of enemies.

Those in the lead were instantly incinerated while those behind melted at a fast rate. In a matter of moments, the mob was reduced to ash and muck.

Pyro spun around, smiling at Lubbock. "First one's free."

"Very impressive." A voice from further down the hall spoke. The two turned, looking at a new figure emerging from the shadows. It was a dull gray haired man with glasses and a strange rhombus helmet. He wore a long robe and black pants.

He approached the two with his arms across his back.

"I wonder how my body would fair against such an attack." He said with a smile.

Pyro raised his hand and, with a smirk, launched a fireball at the new arrival.

The attack engulfed the man, burning the ends of his long coat. The flames dissipated a few seconds later and, aside from his singed cloths and a burn mark on his right cheek, the man was completely unharmed.

Pyro's eyebrow raised for a second before he figured out why the man survived.

"Ah, so his body is made of metal." He turned around as he closed his eyes. Pyro placed his hands in his pockets as he began to casually walk away. "Sorry, but as I am now I won't do any good against someone like that."

"What do you mean?" Lubbock spun around as Pyro pasted him. "The guy's an enemy!"

"Aye, but I'm not fired up. " Pyro tilted his head back. "These guys are no fun. I can't fight seriously."

Lubbock mouth hug in shock at how unbelievable this man was being. "Who cares if you aren't warmed up?"

"I do. If I can't then I won't be able to melt that guy's body." Pyro shrugged. "At least not as fast as I like to."

"You can't just leave me hear to face this guy alone!"

Pyro tilted his head back once more and smiled. "Who said I was leaving you alone?" He nudged his head.

Lubbock raised his eyebrows before turning back around. Behind the new enemy a figure moved in the shadows. Though her dark pink pajamas didn't aid her too well in hiding in the dark.

'Akame!' He smiled, causing his opponent to raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

Suddenly, he felt a ping across his backside. Akame had swung her blade across the man's back. She stood between Lubbock and this new foe. Before Lubbock could let out a cheer, Akame spun around and faced her opponent. He wasn't affected by Murasame's curse.

Pyro let out a sigh. "You didn't hear me when I said his body was made of metal?" He tilted his head to one side. "Well, you know now. Your One-Shot Kill won't affect him at all."

"He's correct." The man said with a smile. "My name is Toby, and I'm here to fight you one on one Akame!"

Blades popped out of the bottom of his feet. Toby moved forward, using the blades like a pair of skates quickly closing in on Akame. He bounced off the walls and floor, trying to throw off the direction of his opening attack.

Finally, Toby struck at Akame with a left downward strike. Akame bent down and held her sword up, causing her opponent to slide down her sword. Toby skated along the floor, spun and stopped a few feet from Akame. He held out one hand, gesturing at his opponent to come at her.

"Akame!" Lubbock ran forward, but was pulled back by Pyro. A moment later, two giant masked men similarly dressed to Toby crashed through the roof, blocking the path to Akame.

"Oh look, one for each of us." Pyro said with a smile.

"What, you all fired up now?" Lubbock replied, spreading his wires out in the open air.

"Not really, but I don't want anything to happen to Akame."

"What you got a thing for her?"

Pyro chuckled. "Something like that." His left arm suddenly morphed into pure fire. "Let's go."


Tatsumi, fully armored and sword in hand, crashed through a wall and out into the open field. As he fell to the open ground, he saw several masked minions before him. Once he landed, Tatsumi roared at the charging enemies. He unleashed a furry of kicks and punches, killing most with a single blow.

"Well well, how nice of you to show up." A large man to Tatsumi's right said. "You're the guy I'm supposta fight. So let's get down to it shall we?"

Tatsumi stared at the man for a few moments, noticing the giant pair of scissors held in his hand. His eyes widened. "That Imperial Arms...!"

The man smirked, holding the weapon up slightly. "Heh, you like this? Its called Exstas, Cutter of Creation. The two of us have been bounding nicely."

Tatsumi grinned his teeth. "That doesn't belong to you!" He rushed forward, unsheathing his sword. Tatsumi jumped up and swung his sword at the large man, the latter held his free hand up. Veins bulged from his arm as he focused on defense.

Tatsumi's sword hit the man's arms, snapping in two.

"Ha nice try kid but it'll take more than that to cut my flesh!" He quickly moved his free hand to his Imperial Arms. He moved the weapon forward, aiming to cut off Tatsumi's arms. "With this Imperial Arms though, I can cut through anything!"

Blood spewed from Tatsumi as Exstas grazed his arm.

"Heh, nice dodge there kid! I was aiming to take off that entire arm!" The large man said with a smile. Tatsumi landed a few feet from the man, using his good arm to hold his wound.

"Too bad that there's nothing in this world this Imperial Arms can't cut." The large man pointed Exstas towards him. "Kaku, that's the name of the man about to slice you and your armor into bits!"


Meanwhile...

A gut of green wind suddenly appeared, over taking a chunk of an open plain to the east of Night Raid's hideout. It dissipated as fast as it came, revealing several figures of various shapes and sizes.

Among the mix was Serpentine's host Steven, Raryu, Fuyu and Jast. The latter was dressed in a skin tight dark suit with green stars on one side and purple vertical lines on the other.

Fuyu and Jast walked forward, stopping once they where at the cliff edge. "My, my. That's quite the setup they got there." Fuyu said with a smile.

"Goes to show the capabilities of the Revolutionary Army." Jast added.

Serpentine approached the two, stopping a few inches away. "Most of my ninja hosts are on route." He said. "They'll be here within 3 minutes. My host near Dr. Stylish hasn't been discovered either, we can strike at anytime."

"Excellent, but I'll have you hold off on that until the rest of you arrive." Fuyu turned around, facing the other members of his coup faction. "In the mean time, I'll have your current host and our volunteers here assist Night Raid as best you can."

He held up his left hand, revealing the Imperial Arm: The Conqueror's Hand.

The 'eye' in the middle of the metal glove swung open and glowed purple.

"Obey my command." Fuyu spoke. "You are to assist Night Raid at any cost, even your own lives if need be. I don't want a single member of that unit slain tonight, understood?"

"Yes." They said in unison.

"Good." Fuyu said as he lowered his hand. He looked at Serpentine. "Take them and kill every last one of those freaks."

Serpentine nodded in response. He spun around, drawing his twin blades as he casually walked towards the 'volunteers'. Once he neared them, together they vanished in a green whirlwind.

Fuyu turned back towards the cliff edge and smiled. "This should be entertaining."


Bulat yelled as he cut down another of Dr. Stylish's masked minions. This was his fifth. They would come at him one at a time, and normally they would've been wiped out in a flash if he had Incursio.

Not that the former commando mind though, it was a good way to know how strong he was without an Imperial Arms, especially since these masked freaks were more resilient than the average human being.

Bulat heard a crash, followed by three more of the masked freaks appearing out of the darkness. They rushed at him all at once. Bulat clenched his teeth, these bastards where fast. Combine that with the fact we fighting in close quarters and didn't look too promising for the ex-commando.

He held his sword up, determined to take at least one of them with him.

"Tempest Swirl!" A familiar voice cried out.

A moment later, a green whirlwind smashed through a nearby window and into the charging three minions. They where sucked into the vortex, spinning end over end as their bodies were cut up by the high volume winds. The whirlwind dropped the three minutes after, they fell to the floor with a loud thump.

Bulat felt the presence of someone to his left and looked that way. Standing before him was Serpentine, in his host Steven. The latter smiled. "Looks like I came at the right time."

"You making that a habit." Bulat replied with his own smile.

"Eh." Serpentine shrugged. His eyes darted to his left. "There's more."

Bulat turned. Indeed there were more. A lot more than he could handle on his own without an Imperial Arms.

Serpentine shifted his stance. "We're switching dance partners today." He said.

Bulat looked at the young man for a moment before realizing what he meant. "I'm sure Tatsumi could hold his own without that guy."

"Maybe, but you can never too careful." Serpentine raised his twin swords. "Now then, shall we dance?"


Tatsumi rushed forward. "Give that back!" He shouted before grabbed onto Exstas. "That belongs to Sheele!"

"Huh?" Kaku raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell is Sheele?!" He threw Tatsumi back, the latter stumbled onto the ground.

Kaku smiled widely. "If you wanna die that badly," He spread the blades of Exstas apart. "I'll chop you u-"

CRACK!

A large boulder smashed into Kaku's side, the force of the blow combined with catching him off guard caused the large man to tumble into the ground. He picked himself up, grinning his teeth in anger as he spun around and looked at the direction the boulder came from.

Three figures were slowly approaching from that way.

One was a young looking, tall black haired male with red eyes. He was dressed in a black suit with a red tie and had a giant scythe resting on across his shoulders.

The one besides him was a black haired woman with crescent moon like bangs and red eyes. She wore a black dress with a red bow and held a sickle with a chain. Judging from how similar she looked to the first, one could only guess they were siblings if not twins.

The third was another man and by far the largest man Kaku had ever seen. He easily dwarfed his companions by 4 feet at least. He had dull aqua colored hair and a beard that took up most his face. He wore a winter hat and a green heavy coat. Most likely he was from the north. This giant of a man held an equally large axe.

"Nice throw Norman." The first man said. "Now we finish him."

The woman held her sickle up to her mouth and licked the blade. "Mmmm, My sickle hungers for his blood." Her eyes moved toward the man besides her. "Please tell me I can kill this man, brother."

The first nodded in response. "Of course, after all Master told us to kill everyone attacking Night Raid."

The giant Norman let out a chuckle. "And kill you we shall!" He held his axe up in the air. "For now you face the combined might of Norman the Giant Slayer and the Bloodborn Twins Luna and Lacus!"

Veins popped out of Kaku's head. "Yeah right! Like a bunch of weaklings without an Imperial Arms can defeat me!"

"That's were you're wrong." A voice said from behind the man.

Before Kaku could react, he felt three strikes hit certain points on his right arm. All of a sudden, his right arm went limp. Kaku quickly grabbed Exstas by its blade before it dropped to the ground. He tilted his head back, meeting the gaze of a middle-aged foreign male.

This man had brown hair tied up in a ponytail, he wore a greenish blue long robe(like Chinese martial artists.) and black slip on shoes.

"My name is Xein Shi." The man said. "A master of Impact Pressure Point fighting." He held out his hand, extending each finger like they were claws. Xein dug one of his fingers into Kaku's arm.

"I am also a master of Himo-Kiri Karate."

And with one swift motion, Xein ripped a nerve out of Kaku's right arm.

The latter felt unbelievable pain shoot up from his arm, and still he couldn't move it in the slightest.

Kaku breathed heavily, he never felt so much anger in years. He shifted Exstas in his left hand, holding it high above his head. "I'll kill you all!"

And then he felt pain, overwhelming pain in his left hand. Exstas fell to the ground as Kaku looked at his left hand. Pierced through it was the tip of a wooden spear.

Kaku let out a yell, bending down to his knees. His right arm was useless, and his left hand wasn't any better. There was no way he could wield his Imperial Arms, let alone any other weapon.

"And now you can no longer use your Imperial Arms." A voice familiar to Tatsumi spoke. The latter tilted his head, watching Raryu approaching behind him.

Kaku looked towards the man. Sweat poured down the enhanced criminal's face. "You barbarian! I tear you apart!"

"I don't think so." Raryu stopped one step ahead of Tatsumi. His gaze shifted to the approaching Bloodborn Twins. "He's all yours."

The twins smiled, dashing at their mostly disabled prey. Kaku turned toward them, grinning his teeth in frustration. "Don't underestimate me!" He charged forward, right arm flopping behind him.

Lacus moved to the left, Luna to the right. Kaku turned to face Lacus, the latter smiled wickedly as he moved his scythe off of his shoulders and held it in both hands. Kaku closed in, leaving Luna all the opportunities in the world. She swung her chain a few times before launching it towards Kaku.

The chain wrapped around the latter's neck, Luna pulled tightening the hold. This did little to slow the man down, which was fine. The chain was meant to keep Luna connected to her prey, not retrain him. She lunged forward, sinking her sickle into the back of Kaku's left arm.

The latter turned his head, surprised that the blade could pierce his enhanced skin and thus making another costly mistake. Lacus dashed forward, he held his scythe back aiming for the man's chest.

"You shouldn't have underestimated us!" He shouted, throwing his scythe forward. It sliced threw half of Kaku's lower chest. The latter coughed up blood as he fell back on his ass.

Luna chuckled, pulling her sickle out of the large man's arm. She walked over to her twin brother, both smiling down at their dying prey.

"Hey, hey. Let's do it while he's still fresh." Luna said with a grin.

"Of course." Lacus held his scythe up, then brought it down on Kaku's right leg. The latter screamed as the blade pierced through his skin. Lacus knelt down, he place a hand on Kaku's chin.

"We can't have such tender meat go to waste now can we?" He said before licking his lips.


Raryu helped Tatsumi back on his feet. "You seem mostly unscathed." The tribesman said, patting the latter on his shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks to you guys."

"Perhaps." Raryu gave the young man a half smile.

"And here I came rushing cause I was worried about you." A new voice cut in.

Tatsumi and Raryu turned toward the voice. Casually walking towards them was Mine, she had her hair down and dressed in a white night gown. She held her Imperial Arms: Pumpkin. "Still, you needed to be rescued as always Tatsumi."

"What was that?" The latter took a half step towards the small girl, raising his fist up in the air. "I'll have you know I defeated a ton of those other enemies and would've done the same to that large guy!"

Mine smirked. "Sure, tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Why I outta-"

A loud scream cut Tatsumi off. He along with Mine and Raryu turned in the direction of the source. It originated from Kaku, the large enhanced man was slowly being sliced into by Luna Bloodborn. All the while, her brother stood there with the biggest smile on his face.

The twisted bastard was enjoying Kaku's suffering.

"Why don't they just finish him already?" Mine said with a bit of disgust.

Raryu turned his head toward her. "That's cause they like to play with their food."

"What?" Tatsumi replied. "What do you mean food?"

Raryu closed his eyes, pausing for a few moments before speaking once more. "The twins are cannibals."

Tatsumi turned toward the Bloodborn twins, ginning his teeth. He took a step forward before Raryu placed a hand on his shoulder. Tatsumi looked at the latter, whom simply shook his head.

"Why should I let them eat that man?!" Tatsumi yelled, turning his body to the tribesman.

"Do you think he would've stopped them if that was you?" Raryu removed his hand. "Let them be, he's a criminal who sold his body and soul to a madman. This is a fitting end for someone with such little care for their own self being."

He took a number of steps forward, scooping up a large item off the floor. Raryu turned around and walked to Mine. He stopped directly in front of her.

"I heard of your comrade whom gave her life for yours and of how her Imperial Arms fell to the Empire. " He held Exstas to Mine with both hands. "It's only right that you are entrusted with this. To honor her memory and to insure it doesn't fall into the hands of your enemies ever again."

Mine slowly reached out for the giant pair of scissors, her eyes started to water. She took the Imperial Arms and bend down to her knees. She rested it on her lap, tears rolled down her face.

"Thank you..." She muttered before pressing Exstas close to her chest. "Welcome home Sheele."

Tatsumi turned away, feeling a mix of joy and sorrow. Sheele was the first member of Night Raid to be really nice to him...OK maybe the first female member but that's besides the point. She helped him get over the deaths of his dear friends; Sayu and Ieyasu.

It hit him hard when she died protecting Mine.

Now, there was some closure. They reclaimed her Imperial Arms, and the will never let anyone with the Empire wield it again.

Raryu stared at Mine for a few moments, smiling, before turning his head to the giant of a man to his left. "Norman, there are still more of those minions out here. Go hunt them down."

"Gladly." The giant said with a smile.

The tribesman turned to the foreign man next.

"Xein Shi, you'll stay here with me."

"Understood."

Raryu turned his head to the Bloodborn twins. "Finish up quickly, there's still a battle raging on."

Luna was occupied with her...activity to even hear the tribesman. Her face covered in Kaku's blood as she continued to play with him.

Lacus however knew how 'into it' his sister could be and payed close attention to their surroundings. He briefly looked at Raryu, nodding his acknowledgement.

Raryu turned to Tatsumi, taking a few steps forward till he was next to the armored teen. "I will remain at your side for the duration of this engagement."

Tatsumi turned his head and nodded. "Great. With someone like you here, these guys don't stand a chance."

Raryu gave a half smile. "You flatter me."

Just then, several figures dressed in black appeared in front of Tatsumi and Raryu. Tatsumi took a step back, startled by their sudden appearance.

They were ninjas, about 10 or so, all dressed roughly the same with several different slight details that one could tell them apart.

One of them took a step forward, this one was the only ninja without the top of his head covered. He had dull brown spiky hair, a grey scarf around his neck, and had long metal claws. The most notable feature that he, along with every other one of the group, was their yellow colored snake eyes.

He placed an armored hand on his chest, closed his eyes and bowed slightly.

"Serpentine's Private Shinobi Host Army has arrived." He said in a low key. "Most of us are engaging the remaining enemy forces in the surrounding area. These before you will help clear out those inside the hideout." The shinobi opened his eyes, he looked at Tatsumi.

"Balut is with my host Steven." He said. "The two are putting up one hell of a fight for the enemy forces."

Tatsumi relaxed his stance. "That's good. I was a bit worried about leaving him alone, but Bro insisted I attack the enemy head on."

The shinobi nodded. "Leave the rest to us."

And with that, he along with the other ninjas vanished as quickly as they came.


Mimi grinned her teeth, her enhanced ears picked up just about everything happening down on the battlefield and none of it sounded good. Especially with the sudden appearance of these new foes. She didn't hear most of them approaching until they were engaged.

How that was possible was beyond her.

"Kaku has been defeated." She said bluntly. "The rest of our infantry are being hunted down by these new arrivals."

"How utterly tragic." Dr. Stylish said as a way to show he cared. In reality, his private army was nothing more than a bunch of disposable pawns at this beck and call. He wouldn't blink an eye if they all died today.

Mimi turned her head, looking above the forest behind the four. "There's something heading this way!"

As she spoke, a shadow appeared covering the four on the cliff.

Dr. Stylish tilted his head up, flying overhead was a large flying manta. "Is that the Danger Beast Air Manta?"

"There's someone riding on top of it!" Me exclaimed, pausing for a moment. "It's former General Najenda! There are others with her! Three of them!"

The manta passed over the four, flying towards the battlefield.

"How utterly stylish!" The doctor shouted, completely animated by the spectacle. "To ride a Danger Beast that she herself has tamed!"

"This isn't the time to be admiring her!" Hana replied.


The Danger Beast Air Manta circled above the battleground, below Najenda could see the various minions of Dr. Stylish fighting the agents of Clockwork and her Night Raid members.

"The Divination Imperial Arms Revolutionary HQ acquired is as impressive as ever." Najenda said, more to herself than anyone else. "They predicted danger befalling the base, and they were right on the mark."

She tilted her head back, looking at the three cloaked figures behind her. These three were Night Raid's new recruits, the only bodies the Revolutionary Army could spare. Each was a remarkable fighter, assassin or both.

"Time to show me what you can do." She said to the three.

"Roger that." The cloaked figure in the middle replied before standing up.

The voice of the figure sounded rough, like something was stuck in his throat half the time.

He threw off the cloak, revealing a middle aged dull grey haired man with side burns stretching down to his jaw and dark green eyes. He wore a long brown coat, a black shirt underneath that topped with a dull orange bandanna, dull green pants and a pair of brown boots. He held a cigar in his mouth and a brown 'cowboy' hat atop his head. (Not one of those ridiculously long ones.)

The man started to walk forward, pulling a lighter out of one pocket. He lit his cigar before coming to a stop next to Najenda, putting the lighter back in his pocket. "Hard to tell who's friend or foe down there though."

Najenda looked at the scruffy looking man. "Is that a problem Walker?"

Walker held his cigar, letting out a puff. "Not really." He put the cigar back on his lips.

He pulled out a pair of twin pistols. These pistols were mostly white with a single light green line that stretched from the gun barrel to past the trigger and down the end of the handle. In all honestly, the things looked like a pair of water guns or some sort of children's toy.

Walker held one of the twin pistols above the other, a moment later that one started to transform. The very gun shifted form, turning into a large extended barrel. The wannabee cowboy look alike connected the barrel with a single turn. A small clear sight popped out at the connected point.

Walker lowered the gun, aiming it towards the ground. He leaned his head slightly, looking down the gun's sight.

"Just sayin." He said, smiling widely.

He pulled the trigger, firing a long green laser towards his appointed target. The laser round made contact, hitting one of the masked enhanced soldiers dead center in the head.

"One down."


Inside Night Raid's HQ, the battle between Toby and Akame still raged on.

The forward attacked aggressively, but had yet to land a single blow. The latter stayed on the defensive, observing her opponent's fighting style. While it was aggressive, he left too many openings.

Akame waited for the next opening before slicing off Toby's left arm.

The latter grinned his teeth, but otherwise didn't even let out so much as a peep. Odd, given the amount of pain he should be feeling.

Toby backed away from Akame, the latter took up a fighting stance. "If I can't kill you in one blow. Then I'll have to cut you up bit by bit." She held up her sword. "It's going to be quite painful. Hope you're ready for it!"

Toby smiled, letting out a short chuckle. A sword popped out of his flesh, taking up the space were his arm was moments ago. "With this new body of mine, I don't feel pain anymore!"

"Well then, you wouldn't mind if I did this?!"

CRASH!

A figure broke through a nearby window. It was a brown skinned man covered in various tattoos. He was bald and had a beige bandanna covering the top his head. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of beige pocketless pants. The man held a pair of single handed axes.

As he broke into the hideout and landed on the floor, he gave the two the widest grin either had seen in a long time. He juggled one axe in the air while pointing the other towards the two.

"My name's Roi the Chopper!" He said before charging at Toby. "I'm here to kill you!"

The latter turned around. "This is a one on one duel between myself and Akame." He dashed forward, quickly appearing beside Roi. "Don't interfere!"

Toby swung his sword arm down, Roi let out a laugh before moving one his axe to block. The latter's axe hit Toby's sword arm, stopping it much to the latter's surprise. Roi smiled even wider, which seemed impossible, before dropping his one axe, causing Toby to fall forward, and allowing Roi to spin around to his opponent's backside. He grabbed onto Toby, chopping his right arm off.

A gun spawned out of the vacant spot, desperately Toby tired to fire at Roi but the latter simply avoided the bullets by pulling himself closer to Toby's backside.

The Chopper crossed his legs around his opponents, then Roi slashed his remaining axe into the gun barrel, blocking it's path and making the gun unusable.

He tilted his head a bit to the right, staring straight at Akame. "Akame now! Its the perfect opportunity! Take him out!"

Akame tightened her grip, dashing forward.

Toby grinned his teeth, this wasn't the way it he wanted this fight to go, but as long as he defeated Akame it hardly mattered.

He opened his mouth, a gun barrel popped out. The gun fired at Akame, the latter was surprised for the briefest of moments before she held up her sword and deflected the bullet.

She closed in, holding her sword up to strike. Toby grinned his teeth, he couldn't do anything more with this annoying fly on his back.

Roi let out a chuckle. "You shouldn't have been so aggressive, maybe then you could've beaten her."

'I should have focused on defense?' Toby closed his eyes, letting out a sad smile. 'I see. Maybe a sense of pain isn't such a burden after a-'

SLICE!

Toby's head flew across the stone hallway. Blood spewing from his headless body.

Akame turned, looking at her unknown ally.

"I'm sorry." She said bluntly.

The man let out a snicker, turning to face her. His cheek had a scratch, a nip from Murasame. The markings of it's curse started to appear along Roi's tattooed body.

"Don't be." Roi said with a smiled. "For a criminal like me to die by the hands of someone so skilled, is something I always wished for."

And with that, his heart stopped beating.

Akame stared as he fell to the floor. Even such a small cut from this blade is deadly, such is the One-Hit Kill of this Imperial Arms.

Behind her, Lubbock and Pyro defeated their opponents and moved to join her. Akame turned around, her eyes focusing on Pyro. The latter held up his hand. "Hey Akame, long time no see."

"You again."

Pyro chuckled. "That's all you have to say to me?" He smiled, ginning his teeth. "I'm disappointed Akame. Especially after I saved your friend here."

Lubbock replied with a nervous laugh. "Yeah, but don't forget you were gonna leave me all alone when Toby showed up."

"Hey, I never said I was leaving you. All I said was I didn't feel like fighting that guy."

"Big difference bud."

Akame spun around. "We should meet up with the others." She began to march off. "Judging from the commotion, I'd say everyone else is outside."

Pyro sighed after Akame took a few steps forward. "She always this social?"

"Pretty much." Lubbock said before heading after Akame.


Back outside, Tatsumi's group stared at the flying manta circling overhead. Occasionally, a green beam of light would shoot off from the top of the giant flyer to the ground below.

"What's that?" Tatsumi was the first to speak. "More enemies?"

"It looks like a flying fish." Xein replied, crossing his arms. "I wonder what it would taste like..."

"Hold on." Mine added, she opened a secret compartment inside Pumpkin, inside was a red single eyed visor. (TOTALLY NOT A SCOUTER) She placed the device over her left eye and, after closing her right eye, focused on the flying manta.

The visor acted like a scope, zooming in on the giant beast. Mine made out four figures aboard it, two wore cloaks with made them hard to identify, the third was scruffy looking man wearing an outfit befitting a renegade cowboy wannabe and held a long mostly with gun, and the fourth was a figure she knew all too well.

Mine smiled. "It's the boss! She back from HQ!"

"Awesome!" Tatsumi threw his arms up in celebration. "And so unfair!"

Mine frowned, she turned her head to the latter. "...Why?"

Tatsumi turned back, looking at Mine. "Cause she arrives to the battle riding on something so cool! I want one!"

Raryu smiled, closing his eyes. "You truly are still young."

"Tatsumi, I've been meaning to tell you this," Mine started to reply. "But you're tastes are totally weird."

A figure moved quietly in the bushes behind them. It was Trooma, Dr. Stylish's 'Knight.' He snuck his way through Night Raid's base and into the forest outside.

The ghoulish looking man smiled, quietly chuckling to himself. His sights were set upon Mine, whom had no idea he was there.

'Oh you adorable young girl.' He jumped from his hiding spot, knife in hand as he prepared to thrust it into the young girl's neck. 'You left yourself wide open!'

Trooma inched closer, nearly within striking distance when someone kicked him hard in the face. The enhance soldier flew across the field, tumbling end over end.

Tatsumi, Mine, Raryu and Xein turned, watching a transformed Leone slowly approach the fallen Trooma.

"You jerk, attacking me when I'm tired and with a hangover!" She said, cracking her knuckles. "That's a recipe for a serious asskicking from yours truly!"

She reached the collapsed Trooma. She grabbed him by the neck, holding him up above her head. The latter grabbed onto her hand, coughing and even daring to cry a plea for help.

"Listen here!" Leone shouted. "I'm a huge fan of surprise attacks, but I ABSOLUTELY hate it when they happen to me!" She tightened her grip. "It looks like you're body's been enhanced so I bet you wouldn't die so easily."

Trooma smirked, he pressed a button within his shoe. A blade snapped out of the top of his right shoe. He swung his right leg, aiming his shoe at Leone's neck.

The latter tilted her head, catching the blade with her teeth.

Trooma's eyes widened, realizing she most of did this same trick before. "My, my, aren't you full of surprises!" He struggled out.

Leone's eyes bulged as she bit down on the blade, snapping it in two. She slammed Trooma down with such force the man died upon impact. She let the corpse go, cracking her neck. "Man, just never learns does he?"

She looked down, finally realizing what she did. "Ah crap, I think I killed him."

"You're alright!" Akame's voice called out to the group. They turned to her, noticing Lubbock and Pyro approaching with the young assassin.

"What you'd expect?" Pyro replied. "Raryu was with 'em. Bastards need to add the firepower of the entire Imperial army and still wouldn't have enough to stop him."

Tatsumi took a step forward, smiling. He opened his mouth, about to speak when he realized something important. "What about Bro?"

As if waiting for that very moment, a green whirlwind suddenly picked up a fair distance off to the latter's right. It soon dissipated, leaving Balut and Steven in its place.

"Right here Tatsumi." Balut said with a smile, leaning his sword on his shoulder.

"Looks like we're all here." Mine said, stating the obvious.

Suddenly, several dozen shadows jumped out of the forest. They landed around the gathered warriors of Night Raid and Clockwork, forming a circle around them. They were ninjas, Serpentine's Shinobi Army. They had their backs turned to the group, eyes focusing on the forest.

"It's not over yet." One of them spoke. "The enemy survivors are heading this way."

The combined group of Night Raid and Clockwork spun around, each facing some direction to the forest. They settled into their individual fighting stances, waiting for the enemy's counterattack.


Back atop the cliff to the east of the battleground, Fuyu and Jast watched the battle with great interest.

"It seems this will be the enemy's last stand." Jast said.

"Indeed!" Fuyu place a hand upon his chin. "I wonder what little trick Dr. Stylish will pull at this stage. That man always struck me as the type to have a few aces up his sleeve."

"It's nothing our forces can't handle."

Fuyu closed his eyes and smiled. "How optimistic." He turned around, taking a step back. "I think I should take my leave now. If anyone should see me, it'll throw our plan off considerably. The rest is in your capable hands."

Jast smirked. "Very well," He pulled out a clown mask, staring at it for a moment. It was one of those painted masks with one side showing half a smiling face while the other showed half a sad, tearing face. "Then I suppose I should finish my outfit."

Jast placed the mask over his face, he looked at Fuyu whom turned around and stared with a smile. The long black haired politician turned to his co-conspirator. His mask hiding the smile he held.

"And look like someone befitting the codename: Joker."


On an adjacent cliff to the southeast, Dr. Stylish and his three sensory type soldiers watched the systematic slaughter of their forces.

"Since it's come to this I have no choice." Dr. Stylish pulled out a vial from his lab coat. "I'll use one of my ace's: A ultra stylish paralysis poison!"

Before the good doctor could release the poison into the air. Mimi turned her head to the right. Sweat poured down her face.

"Master Stylish!" She turned her head to the doctor. "Someone's approaching!"

Dr. Stylish, along with Me and Hana turned to the right. Moments later, they heard the rumbling footsteps. Minutes after, they could make out a covered head slightly popping up and down from the treeline.

The giant emerged from the forest, axe resting on his shoulder as he approached the four. He stopped a few steps from them.

"Well, well!" The giant Norman tilted his head slightly, grinning his teeth in a smile. "Just where he said you'd be, hello enemy commander!"

Dr. Stylish grinned his teeth. He couldn't use the poison on this foe, he wasn't downwind of the giant and it sure as hell didn't look like he'd let him move to the man's side.

He didn't want to, but with this latest development the good doctor just might have to use his other ace.

"Look out!" Mimi suddenly yelled. Dr. Stylish turned to the forest on his right, he saw a kunai knife slowly heading towards him. No, it wasn't that it was slow but rather his perception of time slowed.

'Is this, how I die?' That single though ran threw the doctor's mind.

Moments passed, the knife closed in. Suddenly, a large black figure started to occupy Dr. Stylish's view. It took a few moments for the latter to recognize the black figure as the leather jacket worn by the massive Me.

Time seemed to speed back up to its regular pace. Me shielded his master from the knife, it pierce dead center in his chest. The latter fringed, pulling the knife out and throwing it aside. Blood trickled out of the wound, but it wasn't serious.

A new figure hopped out of the forest: A shinobi with bits of blue hair popping out of his masked head. He held three kunai knifes in one hand, his other reaching for something other behind his back.

"Master Stylish, you should flee." Me said, portraying the pain he felt in his voice.

"We shall hold them off for as long as we can!" Hana added in.

"Will you now?" Norman let out a hearty laugh, he lifted his axe off his shoulder. "I'd like to see that."


Walker continued shooting at the approaching mask soldiers from above. Thinning as many as he could before they made contact with his allies on the ground.

It was odd though, when he was recruited for Night Raid he was told it was a small cover group and yet when they arrived here laid a small army!

Even Najenda, the leader of Night Raid, hadn't a clue who most of these people were just that they were assisting her subordinates. That was good enough for the middle-aged sharpshooter. They'd have plenty of time afterwards to figure out that mystery.

He let off a few more shots before he sat up. He rested his gun on his shoulder, taking a quick puff from his cigar. In that moment, something caught his eagle eyes.

"Oh?" He nudged Najenda on her shoulder. "Hey boss, looks like we got a commotion over to the southeast." He said, pointing in the given direction.

The latter turned her head, she pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked at the cliff to the southeast.

There six figures were gather, four huddled together while the other two surrounded them from two directions. One was another ninja like those helping out her subordinates, the other was a large almost giant man who looked like he was from the Northern Tribes.

"Good eye." She said, lowering her binoculars. "Looks like our allies found the enemy commander." She tilted her head back, focusing on one of the remaining cloaked figures.

"It's your turn now, Susanoo."


Dr. Stylish felt a drop of sweat fall from his stylish face. He along with his three recon type minions were surrounded by enemies on two sides. Leaving only one path available for escape. He wanted to capture the members of Night Raid and even some of these interlopers for his experiments, but as things stand it looks like he won't even acquire one specimen.

The doctor still had his paralyzing poison, but that would only affect the enemies downwind and they weren't his imminent concern. He could run, Me and Hana would hold off the enemy for a time. Perhaps that would be enough for him to gain enough ground to escape.

His eyes darted to the blue haired ninja on his right. 'That one's fast though, unless I disable him I doubt I can get away.' Dr. Stylish grinned his teeth. In a situation like this, perhaps it was best to use his last resort.

Suddenly, the air manta rushed overhead at an alarming speed. A gust of air followed, almost knocking the good doctor to his knees. The latter looked up. "She's just as tenacious as they say!"

A figure jumped off the flying Danger Beast, landing behind the doctor and his minions. The figure stood up, staring at the four. This man had short bushy blue hair with two horns sticking out of the sides of his head. He wore a white robe with a black skin tight shirt underneath and held a large stave-like weapon.

Dr. Stylish turned a full 180, looking at the new arrival. "Now we're completely surrounded."

"Susanoo!" Najenda yelled from atop the Danger Beast. "Assist our allies and eliminate those four!"

The blue haired man turned his head. "Understood." He turned his head back around, slowly he began to walk towards Dr. Stylish and his lackeys.

At the same time, Norman began his approach with a big grin on his face while Shi held his ground waiting for the enemy to make a move.

Dr. Stylish reached inside his coat, pulling out another vial. This one had a needle on one side, meaning the content inside was meant for direct injection.

"My last resort!" Dr. Stylish yelled, injected himself with the vial. "The essence of a Danger Beast!"

The empty vial dropped to the ground. Dr. Stylish's body started to more and pulse unnaturally. Hana, Me and Mimi looked at their master with concern. After a few moments, the doctor's body exploded outward at an alarming rate. His body transformed, now twice the size of the giant Norman.

Dr. Stylish laughed. "I have successfully fused my body with the essence of a Danger Beast!" He smiled widely. "With this new stylish form I'll destroy each one of you!"

His lackey's Hana and Me were the first to offer their opinion on his new form.

"How lovely!"

"Most impressive Master Stylish."

Dr. Stylish looked at the two, grabbing them in each hand.

"You are my precious nutrients!" A large mouth opened on the doctor's chest. "Its time for us to become one!"

He ate the two, leaving Mimi petrified in fear. After a few moments of hesitation, she turned to flee. The large eared girl didn't get too far before her master grabbed her, soon she joined her fellow sensory types in the stomach of Dr. Stylish's new form.

Then, the doctor's body began to morph. Evolving at an alarming rate as it grew much, much larger.

"As I thought!" The mad doctor said with glee. "After eating those healthy meats, I level up!"

Dr. Stylish grew wider and wider, taller and taller, and even still after the cliff edge started to crack, giving way to the massive weight of the doctor's new body.

The doctor slid down the cliff wall, chunks of rock tumbled down with him. It wasn't long for Dr. Stylish's feet to hit the ground. In his new form, his head and upper chest popped over the cliff he'd fallen off of.

This new body was more disturbing than the last, now he looked like a half mechanical mutated baby straight out of a nightmare.

There was a star-like scar on the baby's forehead, in the center of that mark was the upper torso of Dr. Stylish. His hair stood up in a spike way. (Much like a Super Saiyan.) It's color changed from blue to full white.

"It's still not tall enough." Dr. Stylish said bluntly. "The Ultimate Imperial Arms is still larger."

The doctor looked at the three gathered on the cliff. "In order to grow, I need to feed." He moved one giant hand towards the closest of the trio. "I'LL EAT YOU TOO!"

The hand rushed towards Susanoo. The latter dodged the blow, spinning to the side of the massive arm. He jabbed his weapon into the back of the giant's hand, only to be rewarded with the feeling that he was hitting a steel wall.

"It's tough." He said bluntly. The hand moved towards him, smacking him back a few feet.

Norman let out a battle cry, charging at the massive Danger Beast hybrid. He fought plenty of Danger Beasts in the north, so the giant man was confident he could do something against this freak of nature.

Dr. Stylish noticed the giant foolishly charging. He let out a laugh, sending an arm in Norman's direction. "What can someone like you do against me?!"

Norman took the blow head on, sending him backwards at an alarming speed. The latter threw his axe into the ground, holding it with both hands. It managed to slow him down, not all at once but gradually. When he stopped, the large man bent down to one knee, blood trickled down the side of his mouth.

Norman breathed heavy, he lifted his head up. Susanoo was on the defensive, skillfully dodging Dr. Stylish's attacks. It meant nothing if they couldn't find a weakness or something to give them the edge.

Slowly, Norman stood back up. He been threw worse fights against far more dangerous foes, and he sure as hell wasn't one to give up. The giant slayer looked at the monster known as Dr. Stylish, grinning his teeth in a mix of rage and satisfaction at finding a foe worthy to die by his own hands.

"I've fought giants and Danger Beasts much larger and tougher than you!" Norman shouted at the mad scientist, he threw his free hand in the air, clenching it so tightly that it shook.

"DO YOU HEAR ME!? I AM NORMAN THE GIANT SLAYER! COME AND DO YOUR WORST YOU ABOMINATION!"

The latter looked at the giant, stubborn man. "You dare call the ultimate in stylish perfection an abomination?!" Veins popped up on Dr. Stylish's face. He grinned his teeth angrily at the giant man.

"PEOPLE WITH NO TASTE SHOULD JUST FADE AWAY!"

He threw another fist at Norman. The latter held his axe up, smiling between pants as he waited for the blow to come. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of the giant taking the blow with his stave-like weapon.

"You should leave." Susanoo said before knocking the massive hand to his right. "This is not an opponent normal humans can face."

Norman blinked once before letting out a laugh. "Well I'm not exactly a normal human being." Norman smirked. "Then again, you're not exactly normal are you?"

Susanoo replied with silence.


Back on the field before Night Raid's hideout, the remnants of Dr. Stylish's personal army engaged the many shinobi hosts Serpentine had under his control. It was mostly one-sided, as the ninja's shared one mind and worked in perfect unity.

Several of the masked enhanced soldiers slipped past the first line of defense and engaged the members of Night Raid and Clockwork. Together they easily took down all that stood before them.

As the massive figure of Dr. Stylish appeared, smashing whatever was on top the cliff to the southeast, several members of Night Raid and Clockwork stared in wonder and disgust at the abomination.

"What the hell is that?" Tatsumi said aloud the question on everyone's mind. (At least those that were paying the hybrid any attention.)

"It's disgusting whatever it is." Mine replied. "Reminds me of a monster."

"That's Dr. Stylish." Serpentine said, through his host Steven. "Crazy bastard injected himself with some Danger Beast DNA and turned into that thing."

The members of Night Raid turned to the young teen.

"How did he manage to do that?" Lubbock asked.

"No freaken idea."

"Doesn't matter." Akame added. "He's an enemy, so we have t-"

"I'll take that one." Pyro cut in, taking a few steps towards the giant figure. "Yeah, something as ugly as that deserves to be purged with cleansing fire."

"Oh look at you acting so high and mighty." Lubbock crossed his arms. "Are you actually 'fired up' or are you gonna half ass it like last time?"

Pyro smiled, his body started to morph between flame and flesh. "Oh yeah, I'm fired up alright." He grinned his teeth, widening his smile. "There's about to be one less repulsive stain on this Earth."


Susanoo deflected another of the doctor's blows. He was on the defensive from the start, but he defended the stubborn Norman.

Despite his warning, the giant man refused to leave the area. Given the fact that he's an ally combined with the fact that Susanoo had yet to pinpoint a weakness on Dr. Stylish's new form he was left with little options.

He could've left the giant to fend for himself, but it was against Susanoo's purpose to leave an ally in need.

Another blow came and went, this had to end soon. Susanoo scanned the doctor's body, looking for any hints of a weakness. He found one: Dr. Stylish's exposed self in the center of the star-like scar. This didn't help though, not unless he left the giant to strike at this weakness.

Susanoo looked to his left, noticing the shinobi holding his ground a few inches from the forest edge. This blue haired ninja was the best chance they had right now, but even still he doubted the man could get within range.

He'd have to look for another angle, perhaps that marksmen his master had with her. Surly he could hit that weak spot.

Before Susanoo could carry out his plan, a swirl of fire and light appeared a few inches besides the ninja. It to transform, from fire to flesh. In moments a dark, spiky haired man wearing an unzipped jacket, dark blue pants and sandals appeared.

The man took a step forward. "Yep, you really are an ugly son of a bitch." He said loud enough for Dr. Stylish to hear. The latter turned his gaze towards the man, his assault on Susanoo stopped if only temporarily.

"You people," Dr. Stylish said with a frown. "Have no appreciation for style or grace!"

Pyro let out a laugh. "Style? Grace? You? That's funny." He placed his hands in his pockets. Pyro tilted his head back, nudging at the ninja behind him. With a nod, the latter vanished into thin air.

The spiky haired man smirked, grinning his teeth at the hybrid. "You wouldn't know style if it hit you square in the face!"

"Is that so?!" Dr. Stylish turned his body, aiming a fist at the man. He launched it, crushing the ground were Pyro once was. The latter vanished into flame at the last moment. Susanoo saw small light bits moving up the giant robotic arm.

After a few moments, a swirl of flame appeared on the lower half of Dr. Stylish's arm. It transformed in Pyro, the latter wasted no time and ran up the giant's arm smiling as he went.

The mad scientist moved his free arm, aiming it at the man running up his left arm. He smashed it down, and again Pyro vanished into a flash of light and fire only to reappear moments after and further up the doctor's arm.

The latter moved his free arm, hoping to sweep the annoyance off. Pyro saw it coming from a mile away. He turned, holding one hand off to his side. A fireball no larger than a baseball formed his open hand, he threw the fireball at the approaching hand.

It made contact, exploding with a force one wouldn't expect from such a small thing. The giant hand was knocked back. Pyro smiled, vanishing into a spiral of flame and reappearing on Dr. Stylish's right shoulder. He ran until he neared the abomination's neck.

Pyro looked up, and jumped. His feet transforming into formless fire, allowing him to seemingly fly further up than he'd normally should've.

Dr. Stylish grinned his teeth in anger, this man had tarnished his stylish new body with his filth footsteps and even had the audacity to singe the skin off his left arm! This would not go unanswered, not at all!

"I'm not through with you!" Dr. Stylish yelled, summoning several large cords originating from the back of the giant machine baby's head. The cords rushed towards Pyro, piercing threw the man's body.

Dr. Stylish smiled widely, confident that he killed this tasteless man. This feeling was quickly tarnished when the punctured Pyro smiled, the areas were the cords punched threw danced as if his body wasn't really there.

"Sorry, but I'm intangible." He drifted threw the cords, body forming back into a seemingly tangible state.

There was nothing Dr. Stylish could do aside from waiting for his opponent to finish him off. The latter stopped drifting forward, hovering face to face with the Jagear member.

Slowly, Pyro raised his right index finger. Dr. Stylish watched in breathless horror as the latter's index finger neared his forehead.

"Cleansed by fire," Pyro placed his finger on the doctor's head. A red glow formed under the point of contact. "And reborn anew."

Dr. Stylish felt a brief pain, blood trickled down his nose and out the side of his mouth. He didn't know it at the time, but his brain was burning from the inside out.

'There were still so many...experiments I wanted to preform...' The mad scientist thought as the flames continued to burn, the back of his eyes started to feel hot as blood teared out.

'Why...must I have...such bad luck?'

His massive body fell lump. It leaned forward on the cliff edge, crushing stone before finally settling.


Several minutes afterward...

Dr. Stylish was dead, his army decimated. The members of Night Raid gather around in the open field, greeting their boss as well as their new recruits. The members of Clockwork and their allies were around as well, though Serpentine's Shinobi Host Army had left save a light blue haired ninja.

They mingled about; Pyro chatted with Serpentine (Steven), Xein Shi tended to Norman's wounds much to the latter's stubborn protests, Raryu stared at Najenda, tapping a finger on his crossed arms while Shi kept an eye on the tribesman and the BloodBorn Twins doing what they loved: Eating.

Between conversations with the members of Night Raid, Susanoo approached Mine. His eyes focusing on a few hairs seemingly out of place. The young pink haired girl turned her head, raising an eyebrow as he drew closer.

"What is it?"

Susanoo ignored the question, his hands drifting towards her head. With one motion, he smoother out her hair. Susanoo withdrew his hands.

"Fixed."

Mine tilted her head, she was weirded out by the gesture and even more so by the strange persona Susanoo seemed to have.

"What?"

"Who's that?" Balut said, directing his comrades attention towards an approaching figure.

It was a man, or what was assumed to be a man, dressed in a skin tight dark suit with green stars on one side and purple vertical lines on the other. He wore a white masquerade mask, one half held a smiley face while the other held a sad, tearing face.

The man neared the group, stopping a few meters from the members of Night Raid.

"I wish to congratulate you all on a job well done." He said, turning his head to the members of Clockwork off to his left. The man's voice muffled under the strange mask, though somewhat familiar to Tatsumi and Lubbock.

"Thanks to your efforts, Night Raid has made it through this assault without a single casualty." The masked man continued. He turned back to the assassins before him, pausing a few moments before speaking once more.

"My name is Joker, leader of Clockwork. We have much to discuss, members of Night Raid."


And here ends another entry! This would've been done 2-3 days ago if the universe didn't decided to get in the way of my progress this week.

So a number of significant things in this one. From an idea of Pyro's capabilities(and a hint at how he simply disappears into fire and reappears elsewhere) to Fuyu's 'volunteer' forces to an additional recruit for Night Raid.

Hope you enjoyed this as always, and this is now the longest entry to date! (See how easily I can trump my own stuff.)

What does Joker wish to share with Night Raid? Will it be a proposal for an alliance or something more? Find out next time!