When Carmilla and Valvrave landed on the hangar, and Haruto (in L-Elf body) as well as Saki floated out of their cockpit, they were welcomed by an expected icy reception from everyone of the Sakimori's student council, with Shoko at the fore-front. She was holding Haruto's lifeless body in her hands, crying as she called his name over and over to an unresponsive husk, while some students were holding on to the greatly weakened and all tied up A-Drei.

The atmosphere, appropriately, is far from happy. As it stands, it's more like they were criminals of the most heinous and dangerous sort walking into an arrest.

When Shoko saw L-Elf walking out of the Crimson Valvrave and seeing Haruto's lifeless body in her hand, she initially assumed the worst. She dropped Haruto's body and rushed at L-Elf with angry bloodshot eyes. Without saying anything, she punched 'L-Elf's' face with all the strength that she can muster. To Haruto-L-Elf, it felt like someone pushed his face with a soft bat. In fact, one can see that Shoko's fist suffered more damage when she punched L-Elf's rock hard face.

"You…! You…!" in the zero-G hangar, Shoko's tears floated like balls of water around her face. She swung her bruised fist back, getting ready to punch him again, but Haruto-L-Elf quickly stopped her from further injuring herself.

"Stop." Haruto's voice coming out of L-Elf's lips stopped Shoko dead on her tracks. Shoko looked in horror and confusion at the white haired boy.

Shoko looked at L-Elf's eyes, and to her shock, she recognize that look. That ice cold green eyes is now looking at her the same way Haruto would do with his warm blue eyes. Haruto-L-Elf walked towards the lifeless husk on the floor.

Haruto took his lifeless hand and bite it. Moments later, L-Elf's eyes went empty and he fell on the ground, knocked unconscious. Conversely, Haruto's lifeless body rejuvenated and life returned to his empty eyes.

When Haruto returned to his body and looked at everyone's reaction, what he gets was a multitude of shocked and horrified eyes. He fully expected that from everyone, after that shocking live revelation… but… Haruto didn't turn around. He knew, if he turned around now, he'll see the look on Shoko's face. Shoko's eyes, widened in horror and shock. Perhaps he'll also see her fearful gaze, which will turn into anger and eventually hate. Haruto closed his eyes. He's quite certain he won't be able to live through that.

"Haruto…"

Her voice reached his ears.

"I just… watched this incredible film."

Everyone's eyes bar Haruto's turned to Shoko.

"Some films have some incredible special effects aren't they? So incredible they can look so real."

Her voice was clearly strained as she tried to maintain her usual cheerful tone, but Haruto can easily tell she was cracking.

"In that film I saw some sick special effect… of you getting blown to bits."

Haruto balled his fist as he can feel a tightening on his chest. She's cracking. He can tell without looking. She's breaking badly.

"But it's just a film right? It's just a make believe movie… with special effect and all… Right?" At that point, her cheerful disposition cracked.

In truth, Shoko was already on her knees. Her widened green eyes were flooded in tears. She's still in utter denial over everything that has happened. She still refused to believe it. She still refused to believe that her childhood friend is no longer human. This is worsened with the fact that Haruto refused to neither look at her miserable state nor respond to her childish questions.

At this point, Shoko became desperate. "SAY SOMETHING!" She sobbed. "SAY ANYTHING! LOOK AT ME AND ANSWER ME! LIE TO ME! IF IT'S HARUTO I'LL BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU SAY!" She shrieked hysterically. "…please… please… tell me…"

Haruto closed his eyes. What he's about to do will be the cruelest thing he's ever done to her. He took a gun from L-Elf's holster and cocked it, checking if it's loaded or not. It is.

"Yamada-san…" Haruto prepared the gun as he addressed the bewildered boy.

"Hng?" Raizo rolled his eyes.

"When it starts… I won't be able to control myself and I might attack innocent bystanders… you better pin me to the ground first chance you get… and don't restrain your strength, don't let go until I calmed down. I'm pretty strong in that state."

Yamada Raizo saw the determination in Haruto's eyes and answered that determination with his own. "I'll stake my honor as the strongest man in Sakimori High: I'll pin you down so tight you won't be able to move a muscle. This is a promise from man to man."

Haruto smiled sadly. He turned around and looked at Shoko's wrecked state. He smiled sadly at her one last time, and put the gun to his head. Shoko's eyes widened as Haruto mouthed: "Good Bye." and fired.

Blood, torn flesh, grey matter, an eyeball, and other bile spread across the zero G environment like gelatinous red pearls, floating out of a hole in Haruto's head.

At first, the audiences were clearly shocked, and Shoko was as thunderstruck as she can be.

But then… something began to happen. Haruto's eye suddenly gleamed red, and red glowing crisscrossing scars appeared allover his face and fangs protruding out of his teeth. Raizo saw this and, as promised, he jumped at Haruto and pinned him to the floor, head's down. At the same time, the berserk Haruto began to roar and yell, squirming under Raizo's weight, struggling to break free. Red and gold energy bursting out of his open wound, touching and binding the pieces of his shattered head.

For his part, Raizo was shocked as he found himself hard pressed to keep this 'Haruto' in place. 'Holy… he's this strong!?' As his face smeared the floor, Haruto's mouth clenched several times, desperate to take a bite out of someone, anyone. Judging by the way he looked at Shoko hungrily, the said girl seems to be the primary candidate. But Raizo had given Haruto his word as a man. And he has no intention to break it. "Oi! YOU GUYS! HELP ME RESTRAIN HIM!" He called in some help from the other judo club members and they reluctantly lend their aid. Raizo pin Haruto's head to the ground while two other guys were struggling to restrain his arms. Three men struggled to hold a boy barely half their size to the ground.

Seeing how Haruto struggled so, Saki quickly took action. Running past the horrified Shoko, Saki opened the collar area of her pilot suit and shoved her own neck to Haruto. Seeing fresh neck, Haruto waste no time and sank his teeth into Saki's flesh. Saki gritted her teeth as she can feel Haruto was draining something out of her. Her blood… and something else.

As it happened, the hole on the other side of Haruto's head began to reunite itself, shred muscle strands knit themselves back together as the wound close and shrunk. His eyeball flew back to its socket as eyebrows and eyelashes reformed. It's like watching how the wound happened in reverse, and eventually, the hole close down and Haruto's head reverted back to its original state, as if it was never blown by a headshot.

Once the wound was no more, the red markings on Haruto's face vanished; his eyes reverted back to his original state, and along with it, his sanity returned and the boy stopped biting. Saki collapsed to her knees with her mangled neck bathed in her blood. However, moments later, that blood is nothing but cosmetic, as she cleaned the blood away, revealing a fully healed neck, much to everyone's horror.

At that point, Haruto also stopped struggling. Yamada and his friends now have easier time to restrain him. But after that outburst, they kept him pinned, just in case.

For his part, Haruto was quite satisfied as he got what he wanted. After that little demonstration, saying all other students were scared out of their wits… would be an understatement.

"Renbokuji-Senpai…" Haruto murmured.

Satomi jumped upon hearing Haruto addressed him. "Y-Yes?" He stuttered.

"Now you know why I can't let anyone touch those valvraves, yes?"

Satomi's teeth clattered as he nodded furiously.

Haruto continued. "Find the deepest, darkest hole you can find on this school… and lock me in there."

Chapter 2

Roar of the Valvraves

Barely a few hours after the whole headshot affair, chatter was once again abound allover the school. Messages on stream mostly discuss about the fact that Tokishima Haruto has become a blood sucking monster, popularly known as vampire. Reactions varied from person to person. Most understandably, were scared shitless.

"You're saying there's a genuine, blood sucking honest to God Vampire right beneath our school?"

"And I thought he was some normal timid guy… what a freak!"

But, there also those… who are like this.

SOK! A guy was sent flying with a fist shaped bruise on his face.

"Who're you calling freak!?" Said fist belong to an angry Yamada Raizo. "Just try and call Haruto-Aniki freak, I'll TURN your face to a freak!"

The gossip monger ran off in fear.

One of Raizo's company looked in wonder at their leader. "Raizo-aniki… why did you call Haruto… aniki?"

"Shuddup! I call him what I like!" Raizo barked angrily, momentarily scaring his crew. But after some time, Raizo calmed down and answered. "…because he's a true man. In every way."

"Huh?" They blinked.

"When I first saw him, I thought he's one of those happy go lucky, yellow bellied, beltway pansies. But any guy with enough guts to sacrifice his humanity to turn into monster for the sake of protecting everyone is not a monster. That's a man among man!" Raizo turned around and glared at his subordinates. "Anyone who wants to call him any funny names must ask my permission first! Though I have no intention to give any permission whatsoever though."

"Haaah…"

Naturally, news this big, spread around by student's mouth, it should take only minutes for it to reach outside world…

Satomi's vice president, Iori Kitagawa was still thoroughly shaken after witnessing what she correctly described as: "-The most horrifying thing I've ever seen!"

Surprisingly, Satomi kept quite a level head on this matter. "Now, now. Let's all be calm."

"How can I calm down when…" Iori looked at Satomi's unnaturally calm expression and she nodded down. "B… But… president! You lock that thing in the basement? Will it be safe? Will it be enough? For the sake of student's security… we should immediately sent him off the module as soon as-"

"Watch your tongue, Vice President."

The girl gasped.

"If we send Tokishima Haruto away, who will pilot the Valvrave the next time Dorssia attacks?"

"There are other people…?"

"And turn them into monsters like him as well!?" Satomi's stern scoffing turned into an angry yell, earning a short screech from the vice president. "Don't be too hasty on making decisions without thinking through the consequences!"

"H… hai…" But then, the Vice President seems to have something else to say. "A… Ano… president…"

"What else?"

"Umm… is there something wrong with the WIRED Network these days?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just… the story about Tokishima Haruto and all… everyone hears it… but… I keep searching the net and no one seem to post so much as a blog or a twitter or anything…"

It's been three hours since the headshot incident and not even a single uproar happened on the internet regarding the world's first genuine vampire. Satomi blinked. He didn't remember setting up any kind of information censure… and then he snapped. He knew one person who can hack the internet and block specific information within minutes.

00000000000000

After the headshot incident, Shoko didn't really know what to do, wandering around like a lifeless doll. But she eventually ended up in Akira's shack, where she found the still bound and gagged Computer Genius shut-in, and then sharing her snacks, giving her most of the things she made, but barely eating any herself.

"There… this snack goes with this jam… it taste good! Right Akira-chan?"

Akira tasted it and she nodded in agreement. But while she happily munched the snack in her mouth, she saw Shoko seem prefer to go and cry her eyes out.

Akira saw this and understands. L-Elf tied and gagged her, but she can still see everything that was happening. She doesn't care much if this Tokishima Haruto has turned into vampire or something… but when she saw how it tore Shoko apart, she felt compelled to do something.

"S… Sh… Sho…ko…" Akira stuttered.

"Hm?"

"Monitor… look…"

Shoko crawled to look at the monitor.

She saw a video of Haruto get blown to pieces in youtube, erased. A blow by blow picture of Haruto's head regenerate, erased. A blog of how Haruto bit a dorssian soldier to regenerate his limbs, erased. Everything was erased.

"Akira-chan… this is…"

"Insert… program… to the net… hunt data… Vampire Haruto… erase." Akira phrased it word by word slowly. If she went all technical, she doubt Shoko would understand. That and she's still having trouble with this whole… conversation thing.

The first thing she did after Shoko came and untied her after the whole L-elf coup d'état ordeal was uploading a certain program into the net. A program of her own making that will literally hunt down and erase all sort of data pertaining things that she specified; In this case, everything that pertains to Tokishima Haruto being a super space vampire. From blog to youtube video cam. From twitter to Google photos. Everything was erased as soon as they hit the WIRED Network.

"Akira…"

"This way… Haruto… Vampire… no one… knows… limit… module… Haruto… safe… Shoko… cheer up." Akira looked at Shoko, expecting her to smile… but what she get, was Shoko in tears.

"Sob… Sob…" Shoko trembled as her tears flooded freely. "I'm sorry… I just… I just don't know what…" She buried her face to her knees. Whens he cried, Akira actually panicked a bit. Did she do something wrong. "I'm sorry… (sob) I… I already promised that I won't cry… (sob) but…" Akira calmed down when she realized she wasn't reason Shoko cried. But now she's confused on what to do to cheer her up.

"Akira!" Said girl gasped when she heard the sound of her big brother right outside.

Indeed, Satomi is right outside her sister's shack, partly to bring her stuff, partly to ask her of her most recent undertaking. "Akira, sorry I'm late. There's a lot of thing going on… there's something I want to ask you…" As he opened the curtain, he saw his sister… and Shashinami Shoko crying her eyes out. "Shashinami?"

A pillow landed on his face, followed swiftly by a kick from Akira. "DON'T PEEK! OUT!" She actually shouted.

Satomi was more shocked of another matter entirely. "Akira… allowed someone else in other than me?" and he gritted his teeth in disbelief. "What's more… it's that Shashinami again!?"

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And finally… there's the matter of two Dorssian prisoners.

A-Drei and L-Elf were locked in the most secure prison available:

Strapped head to toe on the gurney, forcing them to face the ceiling RIGHT in front of two tied down Space Vampires, both of the Dorssian prisoners sharing a cell with one of them.

This particular one is also being strapped to the wall, though right now he's now struggling to break free of his restraints, jaws snapping nonstop in literal bloodthirst.

The other inmate, Saki looked in horror at the creature that is his fellow Valvrave pilot from her cell, together with a horrified Aina who was delivering Saki her meal. "Haruto…" Saki moaned helplessly from her separate cell. The students arrested them both, and she didn't resist. But she insisted that she's placed somewhere where she can keep an eye on Haruto at all times, she even consider sharing a cell with him. But Haruto, in his kindness, wouldn't allow that request to be accepted. So they compromise by putting her in a cell next to his. Unlike Haruto, she wasn't restrained, at least, not as tight as his.

Haruto roared and screamed as red scars appeared on his face. He was once again beinhg overtaken by the curse, his wrist and ankles began to bleed from having struggled to break free from these purposefully tight restraints. Drool and saliva trickled at the corner of his raging mouth.

Saki couldn't leave her eyes off Haruto. His screams were not screams of fury or animal. To her, it's more like screams of sheer unbearable pain… the screams of his humanity being torn apart inside out. And she couldn't stand it anymore. "Aina! Please! Let me out of here! I know what he needs and I'll gladly let him do it to me! Please!"

Aina looked at Saki's pained and sorrowful expression and realized how much Haruto meant for her. Unfortunately, she can't. "I'm sorry, Saki-chan… but I don't have the key… Tokishima-kun gave it to President for safekeeping, so…"

"It… it's okay…"

The two girls jerked when they heard the sane voice of Haruto.

"It's better… this way…" the now lucid Haruto pant and gasp. "I don't want… to hurt… anyone again…"

"Interesting."

That comment earned L-Elf an angry glare from everyone but A-Drei. "This makes the fourth episode in three hours. It's almost like a withdrawal reaction. My guess is, you need to… 'feed' periodically in order to prevent these episodes. It's pretty similar when you are fatally injured, this episode was triggered as some sort of a defense mechanism… like your survival instinct went haywire and boosted to the very limits."

"Shut up!" Haruto roared. "Whose fault was it that I'm like this!?"

"Let's not go there again, shall we? In fact, I think I owe you my compliments, Tokishima Haruto."

"Compliments!?"

"Yes." L-Elf smirked. "The splendid and direct way you resolved your situation with Shashinami Shoko… I never thought you had it in you. I may have been wrong about you, Tokishima Haruto. You may not be so naïve after all…"

"We'll see how smug you are when I asked them to unhook me and I feed on you!" Haruto, still partially under effect of his curse, roared ferociously. Conversely, L-Elf looked like he enjoyed this refreshing bloodthirst directed at him.

But then, a cup flew from outside the cell straight to L-Elf's head, hitting him pretty hard, attracting everyone's attention. The thrower was Sakurai Aina, who showed her rarely occurring anger. "Y-YOU… Shut up!" She stuttered furiously. "D-D-Don't you listen to him, T-T-Tokishima-kun! B-b-because of him, Inuzuka-s-s-senpai had to spend time in the hospital!"

"That's right!" Saki followed. "Don't fall to his pace! Next thing you know, he'll force you to join Dorssia!"

L-Elf care not. That was never his intention and Dorssia can rot for all he cares. "By the way… Rukino Saki… Food for thought… how long have you been an immortal?"

"Why do you care?"

"It came to my attention because… I just realized… the two of you are transformed by the Valvrave but you didn't suffer any episode at all… unlike Tokishima Haruto here. Is there something different about you besides the time of your transformation?"

"None of your damn concern." Or so she says… but what L-Elf said did have her thinking. It does strike her odd that Haruto appear to be in need to aggressively feed, whereas she hardly felt any impulse to bite on people. Was there something different with them?

"The machines…" for the first time in the longest time, A-Drei suddenly chose that time to speak. "You said the Valvrave changed them… Was there anything different between the red and green unit, L-Elf?"

Surprised that A-Drei chose to enter the conversation, L-Elf answered the best he could. "Last I check… Unit 01 posses some features that other Valvrave do not possess… and then… there's that weird… guidance program." L-Elf commented.

"Guidance program?" A-Drei frowned.

"Yes. Some AI I think… awkwardly, only unit 01 seems to have it." L-Elf remembered the time he checked the insides of unit 01, that girl-like guidance program is following his every move not unlike a living human being.

"Now that you mention it… I've only seen Unit-01 performed that 'harakiri blade'…"

Deciding to ignore this discussion between two dorssian soldiers, Haruto asked Aina the question that has been nagging his mind. "By the way… Aina… how is… Inuzuka-senpai doing? Is he alright? You said he's in hospital?"

"H-His leg was torn… but m-more importantly… h-h-he lost a lot of blood."

"Don't we have blood banks?" Saki asked.

"That's the problem." Aina smiled nervously. "As it turns out… Inuzuka-senpai has a rather rare O-Type blood. You know how O-type works… they can only accept the same type of blood. Inuzuka's O-type is an even rarer O-type… we're still looking if there's anyone with the same blood type… but…"

"But?" Saki pushed.

"The chances are small…" Aina grew more sorrowful. "He once said to me… that his blood type is so rare, you can get 200 yen per pint. He considers his own blood as a nice asset to be used whenever he needed some extra capital. He even think of sending L-Elf the bill for all his spent blood… it's quite a sum."

If the situation wasn't so dire, Haruto and Saki might snort. Haruto's best friend: Inuzuka Kyuma: Businessman to his very last breath.

"That's awkward…"

Again, L-Elf earned the death glare of everyone. "When I set up that booby trap, I designed it in such a way, he would've survived the blast."

"Well, you miscalculated you mr. Perfect Dorssian soldier sir!" Saki snapped.

A-Drei snorted.

"What so funny?" Saki growled.

"If we're talking about any other soldier other than L-Elf, then yes, Rukino Saki, I would be inclined to agree with you." A-Drei smirked. "But L-Elf… is not just any soldier. He never miscalculates. Perfect would be an understatement."

Saki growled. "Then, mind explaining why he ended up with a shredded leg and losing about half of his blood!?"

"Knock it off, both of you." Haruto murmured. "What's done, is done. What's important right now is what can we do to help him?"

Aina has no answer to that, neither did anyone in that room, obviously. But L-Elf has an answer. "Come now. We both know the answer to that, right, Tokishima Haruto?"

"L-Elf, ONE MORE WORD FROM YOU, and I'm gonna unhook myself and feed off you until you're all dried up!" Haruto roared. And L-Elf merely smiled calmly.

"Well… I better go back to the hospital." Aina made a motion to leave.

"By the way…" Once again, L-Elf earned the glare from everyone.

"What now!?" Saki snapped.

"What time is it?"

The three Jiorian looked at each other, and Aina answered: "It's 4 O'clock."

L-Elf smirked as he closed his eyes with ease. "Then… you have 6 hours."

"Until what?"

"Until your papier mache country falls."

It's official. L-Elf is now the most hated carbon based lifeform in the 100 yard radius.

000000000000000

Meanwhile, not far from the module…

A single Dorssian Walkit class heavy Space Cruiser had just meet with an entire fleet of such space ships, and right now, its commander, Colonel Cain is making contact with the commander of the Dorssian fleet in his command bridge.

Meanwhile, what's left of Cain's Karstein team: X-Ein, H-Neun and Q-Vier returned from their mission a disgraced team: losing most of their battle units was one thing, being forced to leave behind their team leader under the mercy of the enemy was even more so.

X-Ein and H-Neun in particular were beating himself up for this, while Q-Vier, being Q-Vier, had not a care in the world. They were told to wait just outside the commander's room. They can just about imagine that their commander, Colonel Cain, is receiving an earful right now for their mess. How can he not? One of his boys went AWOL, another one MIA. No burying it now, Cain HAD to report his progress to the HQ. They are less than pleased, obviously.

His aide, Kriemhild, a young woman with striking features and braided long hair walked out of the office with a very distressed look on her face.

"Officer Kriemhild! How'd it go?" H-Neun asked.

"What do you think?" Kriemhild snapped. "Central Command was furious that we allowed our elite unit being continually made fool of by a bunch of kids! We may lose this mission at this rate."

As soon as Kriemhild said that, the door to the commander's room was opened. Out came Cain. His face is as calm as ever, but beneath the cold exterior, belie a well restrained emotion. "Our orders are to retreat to a rear position. Commodore Manninger and his fleet will take charge of this mission. We are to take supportive role on the next mission."

"And what about A-Drei!? We can't just leave him behind in the hands of those monsters!" H-Neun protested.

"SILENCE!" Cain barked.

H-Neun and X-Ein took a step back.

"What's done is done. Learn from this mistake and improve. Only then will A-Drei's sacrifice means something." Cain glared at his crew to make his point. "And one more thing. Regarding this… immortal monster that A-Drei was blabbering about… you would be wise to keep this to yourself."

"With all due respect, Colonel. A-Drei is not the type of person who would make make-believe excuses to cover for his failure!" H-Neun retorted.

"Yet his failure is real enough." Cain once again ceases all argument short. "I say this again: keep this matter of immortal monster of the Module 77 to yourself. Keep spouting such nonsense will only make you liable to face the firing squad for demoralizing the army. Understood? Blitzendegen!"

"Blitzendegen." The squad reluctantly replied.

Cain left his squad to the capable hands of his deputy Kriemhild as he make his way back to his room. He sat on the table, thinking about the way A-Drei describe his assailant. Contrary to what his subordinates might think and what he said to them, they had no idea of how high he values this information that A-Drei gave him. Judging by the way A-Drei describes it, it can only mean one thing. "…I see… I see… so I see now… they had succeeded. Do you hear me, Prue? They had succeeded."

A green light inside a bird's cage set up on Cain's table trembled furiously upon hearing that comment.

000000000000000

In the Valvrave Cage…

Yusuke Otamaya was now starting to have second thoughts about the Valvraves. Especially after he learned what it can do, he made it a point to stay as far away from the cockpit as possible, leaving it to Dr. Kibukawa. They're currently working on Valvrave unit 3 (yellow) and 5 (blue) respectively.

Yusuke looked with worry as his teacher, Takumi Kibukawa has been inside Valvrave unit 05's cockpit for a while. Yusuke start imagining the worse. What if Kibukawa sensei walked out of the cockpit as something else? His mind began to play an image of a maniacal physics teacher of death with bolts through his head and stitches across his face armed with noxious test tubes rising from cockpit.

"YOSH! I'm done here!"

Yusuke jumped 3 feet upon hearing Kibukawa's shout. Erasing the last image of Kibukawa Frankenstein Physics Teacher of death from his head was the sight of a very normal, very human Prof. Kibukawa. Kibukawa looked at Yusuke's flustered look. "Hm? Something wrong?"

Yusuke looked at Kibukawa-sensei's features: no stitches, no screws through his head, human. He sighed in relief. "Nothing, nothing at all, Sensei."

Kibukawa smirked. "You're afraid I'll turn into some kind of monster like Haruto?"

"Eh… well…" Yusuke flabbergasted.

"Actually… when I was checking the cockpit, I pressed the on button and then that choice appears: do you want to renounce your humanity? Yes or No?"

Yusuke stopped flabbergasting and looked at their sensei… who's starting to emanate a bad vibe…

"And I answered…" Kibukawa smiled sadistically with his eyes covered in the menacing gleam of his glasses.

The sight seriously freaked Yusuke to no end.

"And I answered…" Kibukawa repeated.

Yusuke was on the verge of pissing himself in his pants.

"And I answered…" Kibukawa smiled. "…No."

"!?" Yusuke blinked several times.

Kibukawa smirked… before he laughed full force at Yusuke's expense. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA! DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACES!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Yusuke glowed red in anger and embarrassment. "Sensei! I was so worried for you!" He barked.

Kibukawa, still chuckling, patted Yusuke's head to thank him for his concern. "Ahahaha… sorry. But now you understand right?"

"Understand?"

"It's a choice. It's a matter of decisions. The system didn't force you to do things you don't want to. It's a decision that you can make on your own accord, to agree or not. That's human: the ability to choose yes or no is proof of one's own will. And I choose no."

Yusuke calmed down, somewhat… but he quickly gloomed again. "Haruto must've chosen yes… as did Saki-chan… are you saying they're not human, sensei?"

"No, Yusuke. What is needed for a human to make any choice at all, yes or no, is the heart to choose what they want. Whether to choose to stay human, or forsake it for whatever reason… both decisions take immense courage. Something that only a human being with a strong heart can muster."

Yusuke looked at Kibukawa and smiled. He got the message loud and clear: no matter what becomes of them, Haruto and Saki are human. If not in body, then in heart and soul. "I wish… I'm as strong as they are." He looked down with sorrow. "If it were me… I'm not sure if I can make that decision."

Kibukawa smiled gently. "You are strong, Yusuke-kun. You have strength of other kind. Dare I say, it is something that perhaps even Haruto or Saki doesn't have." Yusuke blushed as Kibukawa ruffled the boy's head. "Others may not see it now… I think even you haven't seen it either… but… eventually everyone will and so will you."

Yusuke's grinned as wide as possible. And with it, came his confidence. "YOSH! I'll go check up on unit-03's cockpit! I'm gonna turn that thing upside down inside out!"

Kibukawa laughed at Yusuke's newfound enthusiasm.

000000000000000

Sakurai Aina's eyes had long gone red from constantly crying. Inuzuka's condition grew worse and worse with every passing minute. Nanami sensei did everything in her power, but it's no use. It all boils down to one problem: they just don't have the equipment needed to save him.

And Aina beat herself up over two facts: he's at this state is because of her fault… and secondly, there's nothing she can do to save him.

"Come now. We both know the answer to that, right, Tokishima Haruto?"

L-Elf's comment echoed in her head, and suddenly, she realized the answer. 'The Valvrave!'

And moments later, she's already inside Haruto's red Valvrave. That's right… if Valvrave turned Haruto into a holy spirit, and she had seen how strong his regenerative properties… But just before she pressed the On button, she hesitate. She remembered how monstrous Haruto can become when he's like that… will… will Inuzuka-senpai turned into that too…? She faltered, but her finger accidentally pressed the On button, and the console lit up.

A fairy like girl with a very revealing dress appeared on the screen. Her hair tied in a green glowing bow tie that resembles Valvrave's head crest. The choice is before her again:

Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?

Aina gulped. "So this is it? This is what Haruto-kun and Saki-san faced?"

"Yes or no?"

Aina blinked. Did she misheard that?

"Hurry up and pick! Yes or no! I'm so hungry for Runes!"

No. She did not misheard… The girl in the console just spoke to her. "A… A… you can… speak?"

The Fairy Girl nodded. "Course I can! I finally figured out how! Hey! Hey! Hurry up and pick yes! I'm starving and that Haruto haven't fed for a while! Is he fasting or something?"

Aina blinked several times in awe and wonder. "Are you… Valvrave's… spirit… or something?"

"Ummm? Well, I guess you can call me that."

Aina momentarily forget about her plight and became entranced with this little fairy, the spirit of Valvrave. "M… my name is Sakurai Aina… what's your name?"

The fairy also became interested on Aina and she answered. "Pino! My name is Pino! Nice to meet you!"

Aina chuckled. "Nice to meet you too!"

"Nee, nee, Aina! Yes or no?" Pino quickly gestured at the option before her: Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?

Upon seeing that choice, Aina blinked and once again reminded of why she came here. "Anoo… Pino… I'm sorry to ask this out of the blue… but… are you the one who turned Haruto-kun and Rukino-san into Holy Spirits?"

"Holy spirits? Oh, you mean turning them into Magius? No. The Valvrave did it."

'Magius?' Aina shelved that question for later. "Uh… can this valvrave… turn Inuzuka-senpai into Holy Spirit as well?"

Pino cheerfully answered. "Of course it can! He just needs to answer yes." Pino pointed at the question window again.

"Then… will he be saved?"

"Saved? Why would he be saved? What's wrong with him?"

"Well… he's injured… badly… and we don't know how to save him… but… but I don't want him to die! Can you save him?"

"Hmm… I see…" Pino tilted her head up and down. "Magius does possess superior regenerative powers compared to human… provided we have enough runes to do so. But… how bad is his injury… this Inuzuka Senpai of yours?"

"Well… his leg was torn up badly…"

"Just his leg? Ah. Piece of cake! That'll heal quick in a jiffy without a fuss!"

"Really?" Aina's eyes trickled with tears of happiness.

Pino nodded happily. "Just bring him here, put him in a Valvrave, and have him click 'yes' when asked the question, then he'll turn into a Magius and whoosh! He'll be as good as new!"

Aina's smile vanished upon hearing that explanation. That's right. There's a price: you gave up your humanity.

"C… can the process be reversed?"

"Huh? Why would you want to go back being human? Where's the fun in that?"

And that was the final straw. After that last exchange, Aina walked out of cockpit, more conflicted than ever.

If she let Inuzuka-senpai as is, he'll die of his injuries.

But if she healed him by turning him into a Holy Spirit, he'll lose his humanity forever.

Aina wasn't sure how she managed to returned to Inuzuka's room, where various kinds of tubes and apparel are strapped to his comatose being. Aina collapsed right next to his bed, tears streaming down her eyes. "W… What should I do?"

000000000000000

Meanwhile, back in the cell…

It's been roughly five hours since Haruto's latest episode… and it seems Haruto had managed to calm down well enough, he hadn't had an attack since then. But he still kept himself tied up and right now, his head hung low, his bangs covering his eyes underneath the shade. And while anyone wouldn't be able to notice, Haruto was mumbling to himself in a voice beneath a whisper. Ignorant bystanders might mistake his mumbling for twitching lips. But if anyone were to listen closely: "Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Poitier, battle of Normandy, Waterloo…" In fact, Haruto's eyes were twitching behind his eyelids.

Saki, unaware of this, had even began to stop worrying for Haruto, hoping his seizures is at an end… at least for today. To fill her time, Saki started to hum her song. "La,la, lalalala… for happy day… hm, hm, hmhmhmmm."

Upon hearing that, Haruto stopped twitching as he listen to Saki's humming.

However, A-Drei found it annoying. "Rukino Saki! Keep that racket down! Some of us are trying to think!"

Saki twitched and looked coldly at A-Drei. "Like I care what you think! Stupid Dorssian!"

"What-"

"You… SHUT UP." Haruto suddenly growled at A-Drei.

Everyone turned to Haruto.

"If you don't shut up…" Haruto raised his head, showing his face. "I'll bite your head off!" Much to their surprise, the red scar markings are showing on Haruto's face, fangs protruding from his mouth, and his eyes are gleaming red. The curse is active once again… and yet… he's sane (partially) and in control.

L-Elf gaped. "He's… controlling it?"

A-Drei looked at Haruto's state and smirked. "I'd like to see you try and bite me."

Haruto gritted his teeth and swing his tied arm forward, ripping the straps and a piece of the wall along with it. One of his hands is now free, much to A-Drei's horror. "Really, Dorssian? You want to try me now?" And A-drei shut his mouth.

"Haruto!" Saki clenched the bars dividing her cell and Haruto's tightly with her hands, as if wanting to tear that bar apart. "The curse…"

"In truth… I was about to have another seizure until about a few seconds ago… but then… I heard your voice… your song… and…" Haruto groaned as he struggled to fight of the curse. "it feels like… I feel… sane… when… Urgh…" He growled again. The curse is about to overtake him again.

Upon hearing that, Saki wastes no time asking question and starts humming the tone of her song before she began singing in full.

Sometimes I forget my cell phone…

Haruto's eyes jerked open.

Sometimes I fought with boyfriend…

His body stopped twitching

Sometimes things just don't work out…!

His breathings calmed down and steadied.

Even then I eat yummy food…

But the curse continues to try to claw its way to Haruto's soul…

And spend time joking with my friends…

But as he listens to Saki's beautiful voice, some strength entered his being, and he fights back all the fiercer.

That's why we can all do our best every daaay…

Saki kept singing, putting everything she had on this song…

Good luck, for you, for you…

The most important song in her life... in a battle for the soul of the most important person in her heart.

For happy days

And to her joy… she's winning.

Bring peace for you, for you

True enough, Haruto turned to her and smiled. The markings began to disappear and Haruto's red eyes had been reduced to a red hue.

For you and me

Saki didn't… wouldn't stop singing.

That is how, I wish I could

How can she? Why would she?

Go from here…

She's singing with all her heart to the love of her life.

I know you are hero

Saki joyfully looked at Haruto. And he looked back at her with that familiar heartfelt warmness that she loves, smiling, no longer under that curse. Their eyes meet, and Saki was certain of it now.

In your life

Yes. He's definitely not a monster. He's a hero. Her hero.

I know I am hero

And now she can be his too.

In my life

She'll always be his hero…

Let's enjoy another day

Forever…

Of our live~es

And after…

Haruto finally calmed down and the curse completely disappeared… for now.

"Haruto? Are you okay?"

Haruto nodded with a smile. "Hai… I'm… okay now… thank you."

Saki smiled lovingly at Haruto. "All the trouble we went through beating you down when we can just sing you out of it…"

"Ha, hahaha…" Haruto laughed. "It's not like I can ask people to sing for me every hour…"

Saki thought of doing something more… "You know… if you like…"

"Hm?"

"Whenever you felt like the curse is about to give… or… whenever you like to hear… just come to me… I'll sing for you as many times as you want." Saki turned around and blushed furiously at her boldness.

Haruto looked a bit stumped for a moment… but then he smiled. "Hai… I'm counting on you."

Just outside the prison, a certain brown haired girl with ribbons on her bangs winced as she eavesdropped on this particular conversation. She bit her lips before she ran off, holding back her tears.

Saki heard this and looked at Haruto. She couldn't help but to be on cloud nine. Finally. Something that only she can do for Haruto. Her Haruto. She smiled sweetly. "Hai! Leave it to me!"

So sweet in fact that Haruto gasped and blushed furiously. He never saw her with that expression. "T-Thank you… Rukino-san."

"Saki."

"Eh?"

"Stop calling me Rukino-san will you!? Call me Saki!" Saki moaned cutely.

"Eh? But… to call you by first name… I…" Haruto blushed furiously.

Saki chuckled. There it is. Now she's certain of it. Haruto's back. That innocent, overly naïve but unconditionally kind and warm albeit easily teased Tokishima Haruto is back. "It's okay! I allow it! You know I didn't let anyone to call me by my first name. Do you know why I let you?"

"Heh?"

"Because you are special! Get it? S. p. e. c. i. a. l." She winked cutely, earning another furious blush from Haruto. That was too much for Saki. Flustered Haruto is just too cute! She hid her own embarrassment with naughty laughter. "Hora! Call me Saki! S.A.K.I!"

Haruto overcome the shyness and tried his damndest to say the name. "S… Sa… Saki… san?"

"NOPE! Saki! Just Saki."

"Sa… ki… S…!" Haruto choked the name out.

"Louder."

"Saki…!?"

"Louder!" Saki placed a hand behind her ear to emphasize her point.

"Saki!"

"Add chan, please?"

"Saki…chan?" Haruto whispered the chan part under his breath.

"Louder!" God, she's having too much fun.

"Oi. You two lovebirds realized we're right here right?"

L-Elf HAD to come and ruin the mood.

The two were left blushing furiously, embarrassed out of their skull with the good atmosphere officially gone.

A-Drei shook his head. "You know L-Elf, when I saw how Tokishima Haruto being what he is; I thought I finally understand the reason for your choice of hands." A-Drei followed. "But in all honesty… entrusting your faith in these amateurs… I'm starting to seriously question your sanity."

L-Elf nodded. "You and me both."

Saki glared at the silver haired boy strapped on a gurney.

God. Help her. One of these days she's gonna let a berserk Haruto loose and let him bit their fucking heads off.

Suddenly, they heard the alarm sounded.

Haruto and Saki winced. Another attack. Just like Dorssia.

Outside, the students are rushing to their stations. Satomi yelled orders through the intercom. "Everyone! To your stations! Iori, come with me! We're going to the basement and release the Valvrave pilots. We're gonna need them."

"H-hai!" The Vice President gulped.

000000000000000

Outside, a whole fleet of 7 Dorssian Walkit class space cruiser are right at their door, along with Waffes in their hundreds, and dozens of Ideal Annihilators. The battleships were positioned in a three row formation. One ship at the front as vanguard, three ships at the middle, one at the center, the flagship, and two at the rear as support and backup.

The commander of the Flagship and the entire fleet, was Commodore Manninger, who had heard of Cain's failure. And what he thought about that was…

"Seriously, that Cain is a total idiot. How could he lose repeatedly to a bunch of kids?" said commodore was an aged man with noticeable sideburns and a mustache. His clothing is a highly decorated Dorssia commander suit.

"These kids possess some of the most powerful weapon ever made by men, sir." His aide, a short haired woman, responded nonchalantly.

"I know! But weapons are only as good as the people who use them!" the commodore smirked. "Attack!"

And the battleships began to open fire. The blasts hit the Module multiple times, causing massive damage with every shot. Some students were either get hit by a direct blast, crushed by the falling rubble, or blasted out of the airhole faster than the system can seal off the breach, screaming as they did.

One shot hits the hospital.

Pretty close to where Aina and Kyuuma were being held.

Another hit the hangar.

Right into the Valvrave Cage.

000000000000000

Down in the basement…

Satomi unlocked Haruto's cell whilst his deputy, Iori unlocked Saki's. Satomi winced when he saw one of Haruto's restraints was ripped off, clearly by sheer brute force. Iori quickly ran off behind the steel door as Saki walked out of her cage in her usual cold and aloof persona.

Haruto's eyes glared open and he undo the rest of his restraints, tearing them apart with inhuman strength. He looked at Satomi with glaring darkened eyes that unnerved him. "How many?"

"Several battleships. There are many." Satomi gulped. It felt like they just unleashed the bloodhound. A rumble can be heard from outside.

"Seven, to be exact." L-Elf nodded. "They've already starting to open fire, Renbokuji Satomi. How many of your comrades were killed by each shot, I wonder?"

Satomi gritted his teeth in anger and took a step forward, but Haruto stopped him.

"Leave him!" Haruto shook his head. "Come on! We have to get to the hangar!"

As they went towards the hangar, the situation grew worse and worse. The Dorssian fleet spared no mercy and employed trigger happy gunners. Haruto grew steadily angrier and angrier with each rumble he felt. Haruto and Saki part ways with Satomi midway as they rushed towards the Valvrave cage… but when they get there…

"Oh my God… what happened here…?"

The shot that landed on the cage had made a mess of the place, with rubbles floating everywhere. Half of the Valvrave hangar was buried in massive mass of rubble, along with the remaining Valvraves. The only ones visible were the red and green valvrave. But they were half buried under the collapsed ceiling, unable to sortie. Mangled bodies and blood droplets filed the air. One of them, much to Haruto's horror, he recognized as Toru Miyamichi, Yusuke's close friend.

"Those damn Dorssians!" Saki gritted her teeth.

Her comment brought some of the pit crew to consciousness, including Yusuke. Who watched with horrified eyes at the state of the hangar, and some his friends. "Toru…!" he floated to hold the mangled body of his friend in his hand. Tears streamed down his face, along with some snot. Kibukawa-sensei was nowhere to be found. Was he buried under the rubble? Yusuke don't know anymore, and the situation had spiraled down into hell as he cried hysterically.

In the command station, Shoko was already supervising the room when Satomi arrived. "How's the situation?"

"We suffered many damages on various parts of the module." One of the students reported.

"Why haven't the Valvrave sortie yet? Contact Rukino and Tokishima!"

"We just had a report… the hangar was shot and suffered catastrophic damage. Both Valvraves were unable to sortie!"

Satomi paled and gaped.

Meanwhile, the rumbling stopped.

"The Dorssian fleet stopped firing all the sudden."

000000000000000

Outside, true enough, the fleet stopped firing.

"Yosh. Hail them now."

000000000000000

The screens on the command center beeped multiple times.

"They're hailing us?" Satomi opened the channel. On the screen, there's a bunch of Dorssian guards, surrounding a person… whose head is enclosed in a bag. Shoko winced. She recognized that person.

"Attention, Jior citizens aboard module 77. Attention. If you please direct your eyes to the screen."

Everywhere around the Module, that same scene is being broadcasted. The same scene are shown in the Valvrave's console. Haruto's eyes widened when he saw that figure tied to the seat. He recognized him too. "It can't be… that's…"

"Those early shots were to demonstrate our commitment to our goal. And now, we came to offer you a choice."

The guards took off the man's face, and Haruto as well as Shoko's worst fears were realized: that was Prime Minister of JIOR… Shoko's father.

"We arrested Prime Minister Ryuuji Shashinami for slander and lies. He announced JIOR neutrality, and yet he developed deadly weapons such as the Valvraves that you children had been using. As you can see, we have your prime minister as hostage… and what's more…" The screen switched to a different view: they saw a multitude of people being forced on their knees, with a squad of Dorssian troopers aiming their gun at them.

Some of the students in the command center screeched in horror. "Papa! Mama!" "Oi! That's our family!"

To demonstrate this, one ship moved ahead of the other fleet, shielding the rest. Obviously, that ship was the one carrying most of the hostages, effectively using them as a shield. "Aboard our ships' hold, we brought along your parents and relatives. And their lives… are now in our hands." And suddenly, the Dorssian troopers opened fire at the first row of hostages, killing them all where they stand, shocking the audience to no end.

"Oi! THEY JUST OPENED FIRE!" "PAPA! MAMA! NOOOOOOOOO!" "Those cowardly Dorssian bastards!"

Saki gritted her teeth. Haruto gaped at the brutality played out in front of him. Are those Dorssian really human!?

Shoko became even more horrified.

"We demand your surrender. Both the surrender of the Module and it entire occupants… and the surrender of the Advanced mechanized unit known as Valvraves. You have one hour. After half an hour, we'll kill half of the hostage to test your resolve and if it's still hold and you fail to comply after the time is up… then we will kill a hostage for every minute you made us wait. Remember. One hour."

And the transmission was ended.

000000000000000

Meanwhile… in the hospital…

Aina managed to regain her consciousness. That blast rattled the whole hospital and knock her off her feet. She starts seeing rocks floating in the sky. Did the blast damage their artificial gravitational engine? She quickly gets up to speed with her surroundings. The floor is littered with rubbles; her vision's cracked… correction; that was her prescription glasses cracked. Arms, hurting but fine, body, in a piece, legs, injured but okay. Everything checks out…

She turned her gaze to her surrounding and caught a sight that made her heart stop.

Inuzuka is still on his bed… but a couple of sharp debris had punctured parts of his body, shredding some of his limbs as well. "INUZUKA-SENPAI!" Aina shrieked.

Aina quickly floated to his side, she looked at his worsening condition. Inuzuka panted and gasped. It doesn't take a doctor to know he's not gonna last a day. "Inuzuka-senpai! Inuzuka-senpai!"

"A… Aina…? Is that you? It's… dark… I can't see a thing…"

"No!" Aina screeched. "No! Don't die! Inuzuka-senpai! Don't give up! INUZUKA-SENPAI!"

Kyuuma choked blood. "Aina… it's okay."

"NO it's not!"

Aina looked at Inuzuka's condition… and she realized… now she had no choice. No way to go around it, the only way for him to survive is by bonding him with a valvrave. Turning him into… Holy Spirit. With that determination, Aina struggled to move the gurney carrying Kyuuma. Alas, said gurney was stuck and even in zero G, Aina doesn't have the strength to pull it out.

Just as Aina began to despair…

"OI! IS ANYBODY HERE!? IS THERE ANYONE STILL ALIVE!?"

Came the hoarse and loud roar of Yamada Raizo, who knocked some rubble out of his way as he finally arrived at the scene. Upon seeing Aina struggling to pull a still wounded Inuzuka. "W…What are you doing?"

"I'm taking Inuzuka-senpai to the Valvrave! The Valvrave will heal him!"

"The Valvrave? You mean those robots?" And then Yamada remembered the fact that all who pilot valvraves are now super humans. "The Valvrave… did that? That's what turned Haruto-aniki into that?" Putting two to two together and he understand what Aina was planning to do. "You'll… turn him something like Haruto… won't you?"

"Not something!" Aina continued to struggle. "A HOLY SPIRIT!"

"Holy spirit?" Raizo looked at Aina's futile struggle and smirked in admiration. 'This guy and that guy… heh.' Raizo made his decision and approached Aina. "Here, let me help you!" Raizo took over and used his strength to do that which Aina could not.

"Yamada-senpai… arigato!" Aina watched as Raizo made easier progress than she did.

"IT'S…" Raizo gritted his teeth as he was preparing to give one last pull…

"THUNDER!" With one load roar, he pulled the gurney out of the rubble.

000000000000000

Meanwhile, as the standoff between Module 77 and Dorssian fleet continues, a single ship break off its stealth camouflage and docked Module 77.

Led by the Karstein Agents, H-Neun, X-Ein and Q-Vier, bringing with them the whole squad of Dorssian elite. "Yosh! If everything goes right, we can rescue A-Drei!" X-Ein fixed his glasses.

"And L-Elf too right?" H-Neun commented.

"Maa… what a bother! Can't I just kill them all!?"

000000000000000

Meanwhile Shoko was following a panicking Satomi down to the brig.

"President! Calm down and think it over!"

"No time, Shashinami! Your father is also a hostage right there!"

"I know! Which is why we must be very calm and think of a plan!" Shoko herself was on the verge of crying.

"NO TIME! The safety of the school is at stake here!"

The two finally arrived at the brig where L-Elf and A-Drei were being interred. A couple of students armed with salvaged Dorssian rifles were guarding them at gun point, overseen by Takahi Ninomiya.

Satomi and Shoko looked at the two prisoners.

"Satomi? What are you doing here?" Takahi pondered.

Satomi pulled out a phone and show it to L-Elf and A-drei. "Beg your life to your Dorssian friends! We'll use you to negotiate with them!"

L-elf didn't budge, and A-Drei merely snorted.

"WHAT SO FUNNY!?" A panicked Satomi roared.

"If we did, we would be marked as kill on sight." A-Drei chuckled. "Dorssian Soldiers will never beg for their life. We would rather burn together with our enemies before we beg."

"That's how it is." L-Elf calmly smiled. "Besides… there's only one person who will make a contract with me. Tell Tokishima Haruto that my offer still stands. Accept my offer… and I will save everyone."

Satomi reached the zenith of his panic and he grabbed a rifle from one of the student guards, aiming it at L-Elf. But L-Elf didn't budge. Satomi's breathings grew more paced… his fingers trembled…

"ENOUGH!" Shoko move forward and shielded L-Elf. "That's enough, president!"

As if on cue, Shoko's phone rang.

"This ring tone… Haruto?"

L-Elf smiled in triumph.

"Haruto!" Shoko opened the phone. "Haruto are you okay!?"

00000000

Hangar…

"I'm fine. Listen, the Hangar was shot. Both of our Valvraves are buried. We can't sortie without getting them out first! Shoko… are you okay? Your father!"

"I know…" Shoko tried hard to sound strong. "Don't worry! My father will be okay! We're going to save him! Right!?"

Haruto honestly don't know the answer to that. Without the Valvraves, things looked bleak. It'll take a genius to get out of this situation…

And as if they hadn't had enough trouble, another rumbling sounded. This time, it came from within the Module!

000000000000000

A missile just landed right on the field, very close to the school!

Nanami looked at where the missile came from and gaped. "Battleships on water!? Where did that come from? Those are Jior battleships!"

Aboard the battleship…

X-Ein smirked. "In the end they're just students. They can't even count their own armaments right." And then he took a loudspeaker and hailed the school through its intercom. "Dear people of JIOR!"

Yamada, still carrying the dying Inuzuka on his back together with Aina heard the broadcast. "'Dear' my ass! THIS AGAIN!?"

"That was but a warning. We have you surrounded, inside and outside. Drop your weapons and surrender."

H-Neun looked at X-Ein. "You're not gonna ask them to surrender their prisoners?"

"Why would I beg for something we can take freely when we won?"

000000000000000

Meanwhile, aboard Commodore Manninger's bridge…

"The Karlstein boys had infiltrated the module." His deputy reported.

"Huh. Seriously. Like taking a candy from a baby. Did Cain even know how to lead?" He looked at his deputy again. "How much time left?"

"20 minutes." She answered.

"20? Well… I was expecting they'll answer in 5… I guess they got some balls to wait."

000000000000000

"What to do? What to do now?" Satomi truly panicked now when the news of how they have enemy INSIDE the module reached his ears. "What can we do… what can we do…!?"

"Shoko?" Haruto called.

"Yes?"

"Is… is L-Elf there… by any chance?"

Shoko looked at the silver haired boy on the gurney. "Yes."

"Put me on a speaker."

As soon as Shoko did that, L-Elf muttered. "Eight."

"Excuse me?"

"I can save you, save the hostages, even save Shashinami-Shoko's father, the Prime Minister of Jior… with only 8 lives lost." L-Elf declared.

Shoko blinked as she looked at L-Elf. Did he seriously mean that? He can save them all?

"No." Haruto blared. "I want you to save everyone without any sacrifices!"

Shoko blinked… and out of gut feeling, she decided to pressed some buttons… contact Akira for some favors… which include broadcasting this conversation to the entire school. Everyone looked at their phone and watched the conversation occurring.

"A war is right in front of you, and you're still so naively sweet?" L-Elf muttered.

"I'm fine being sweet. You're bitter. I'm sweet. Coffee taste better with sugar, no?"

L-Elf had to hold back a chuckle.

Takahi quickly protested. "Wait a second, Haruto! You're not seriously asking him to make our battle plans right!? Don't sell your soul to the devil!"

"Unless you forget, I've already gone and done that, both Saki and I." Haruto chuckled. "Plus… I trust him."

Everyone was a bit taken back, including L-Elf.

"You trust me?" L-Elf sighed. "After what I did to you?"

"I'll trust that heart of yours."

"Heart?" L-elf chuckled. "What makes you think I have a heart?"

Haruto shrugged. "L-Elf…" Haruto sighed as he dug down to his memories… specifically L-Elf's. "…who's Lieselotte?"

And for the first time, everyone noticed that it is now L-Elf who budged. His eyes blared open and looked at Haruto on Shoko's phone screen. A-Drei also reacted. "Lieselotte? Princess of Dorssian Royalty, Lieselotte?" A-Drei gave a questioning look at L-Elf.

"You… how did you know that name?" L-elf glared.

"I was in your head, remember?" Haruto answered. "I jacked you several times. Both times… your memories… your thoughts… your emotions… I felt them all as I walk in your shoes. And she figure prominently in your mind. And the fact I said the same thing she did about halfsies when you two first met… well… talk about coincidence. I know what you're trying to do, L-Elf. You wanted to turn this Module into a sanctuary. A safe haven for her. With us, the Valvrave Holy Spirits, as guardians."

"You monster!"

"Says the guy who asked for help from that monster."

L-Elf went silent.

"I have every reason to hate you. You ruined my life. Yet here I find myself trying to trust that side of you who knows how to love. I'll trust you… and you trust me… and I'll save everyone… my friends, their families! Everyone! I'll make a safe haven for everyone… for her also. And I'll be the guardian spirit that will protect them from all harm, just like what you wanted." To make his point, Haruto gave a V sign to the screen. The same V-sign L-Elf gave to him when he offered him the contract. "Use me however you like, L-Elf! I can take it! I'm an immortal monster remember!? I don't care what you do to me as long as my friends are safe!"

The students who heard all this from the intercom gasped in shock. This is the guy they've doubted all this time?

"Use me too!" Saki suddenly entered the conversation. "Haruto isn't the only immortal monster on board! You can use me too!"

"And me!" Shoko suddenly added. "You tell us what to do, and we'll get it done, Heil-Elf!"

Takahi and Satomi gaped. "Shashinami… you serious!?"

"Yeah! I'm dead serious." Shoko smiled. "And so are they!" She showed her phone.

"TOKISHIMA! WE'RE WITH YOU!" "LET'S GO KICK SOME DORSSIAN ASS!" "WE'LL FGHT WITH YOU!" "TOKISHIMA-KUN! FORGIVE US!" "YOU'RE DEFINITELY OUR HERO!" Message after message of more or less the same line kept appearing on the network, coming from the classmates of the Sakimori high.

Haruto also saw this in shock and awe. "What… how…"

"Shashinami Shoko… you…!?" L-Elf frowned while Shoko grinned.

"I took a leaf out of you, Heil-Elf!" She showed L-Elf her phone. "I've broadcasted that conversation to entire school! Now they know what Haruto really are!" Shoko smirked in triumph. "He's a hero that will protect us all!"

"Shoko…" Haruto gasped and smiled wide in gratitude. He turned to L-Elf again. "How's it gonna be L-elf? For victory… for peace… for our dreams! Ready to walk with the devil?"

"Dreams?" L-Elf chuckled… as it steadily increase into a laugh. "Hu…hahahahaha!" And then he got up, all the straps that covered his body unstrapped on its own as if he was removing a blanket. "My goodness… your naivety is amazing. However… not asking for a sacrifice… with all Valvraves in such state… with so many hostages… don't go on asking the impossible, Tokishima Haruto. Even I have my limits."

00000000

Haruto gritted his teeth. "We're digging the two Valvraves as fast as we can, L-Elf!" In fact, after that broadcast, the pit crew redoubled their effort to unearth the Valvrave.

"We're not going to make it, Tokishima Haruto. What's more, it seems you've let another Dorssia assault force entering your perimeter. Two valvrave is not enough to tackle this sitaution!"

True. This is too much, even for L-Elf…

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" They suddenly heard a familiar loud roar, albeit mumbled.

"Yamada-kun?" Haruto gaped. "Yamada!?" He looked around but he couldn't find him anywhere. "Where are you?"

"That voice… HARUTO-ANIKI!?"

"Aniki?" Saki rolled her eyes.

"YAMADA-SAN!?" Haruto looked around… and then he realized Yamada's voice is coming from the rubble where the other valvraves were buried. "He's in there…?"

"What a voice he had." Saki blinked.

Haruto and Saki flew towards the pile of ruin. There's a small hole there, a man can barely fit… and they can barely see Yamada's face. "Yamada-san! What are you doing here?"

"We took a shortcut towards the Hangar… when we get here… we ended up on this dump!"

"We?"

"Yeah. I'm escorting… them." Yamada glumly motioned at the people behind him: Aina and a dying Inuzuka. Haruto skipped a beat. "Oh God… Inuzuka-senpai!"

"Haruto-kun!" Aina cried.

Haruto looked at Inuzuka's worsening condition, and how Aina was struggling to bring him to a nearby Valvrave… the blue one.

"Aina… if you do that… Inuzuka-senpai will…"

"I know." Aina nodded. "But I want to save him! Please! The Spirit of Valvrave told me we can save him using the Valvrave!"

"The Spirit of Valvrave?" Haruto blinked.

In short order…

Haruto turned on the console of the red Valvrave and Pino appeared on the screen. "…Pino? Is that your name?"

This time, Pino vocally responded. "Uwaah! Haruto! You finally talked to me!"

Saki winced. "E… Eh? What is this?"

"Pino… you told Aina that we can save Inuzuka-senpai with the Valvrave?"

Pino nodded. "Because… she was so desperate… she seem to really like this Inuzuka."

Haruto was a bit taken back. He looked at the small hole where Aina and Yamada were waiting for his decision. Haruto shook his head. He had no choice. "Alright… alright. But he's heavily wounded."

"Huh? Aina said he's only wounded in his leg?"

"It got worse along the way…"

"Ummm…" Pino rubbed her chin as she peeked at the hole that Haruto was looking at. "Is there… a Valvrave in there? Alrighty. I'll transfer my core to that Valvrave, and see what I can do from there."

"You can do that?"

"Of course! All Valvrave are my children, after all!" Pino quickly added. "But whenever I do this… I'll always get really hungry! So don't forget to pig out on the Runes after, okay?"

"Runes?" Haruto blinked.

As soon as she said that, Valvrave one suddenly went online. Its chest piece opened, its sphere-like core, the Rave Engine glowed with green energy. And then a gold, pink and green speck of light, that is Pino, flickered out of the sphere, fly around the air before it zoomed straight into the hole. Pino also disappeared from Valvrave's screen.

Within the rubble, Pino's light illuminated the dark crevice before she flew into Valvrave Unit 05. Said Valvrave went online, with Pino now showing up on the screen. "Uwah! What is this? This child is pretty banged up!" Her voice echoed from the Valvrave's loudspeaker.

That was a cue for Raizo that they needed a mechanic. And so he quickly roared. "OTAMAYA! YUSUKE OTAMAYA! ARE YOU THERE!? GET YER ASS IN HERE!"

Hearing his name being called out loud, Yusuke quickly flew towards the hole where Raizo's voice was coming from. The hole is too small for someone of Raizo's build… but for Yusuke, it's a perfect fit. He crawled in as Raizo pulled him in from the other side. Haruto handed him his tools and flashlight helmet.

Meanwhile, another call came from L-Elf.

"Tokishima Haruto! We have 6 minutes and 40 seconds left before they kill half of the hostages! Make your decision, now!"

"L-Elf… wait… there's a new development."

"?"

"We'll soon have three online Valvrave available to us."

00000000

L-Elf blinked, while the others shrugged, "Three?" Satomi gulped. "Where's the other one came from?"

"Inuzuka Kyuuma… is it?" L-Elf surmised.

"Yes." Haruto nodded.

L-Elf smirked. "Tokishima Haruto… I take it back."

"Eh?"

"We'll do it your way. We'll save everyone, save the hostages, save the module… without a single sacrifice."

"You just said it's impossible."

"That was before you tell me we will have three online Valvrave soon." L-Elf nodded. "How soon can you get the Valvraves out of the rubble? Specifically unit 01?"

Haruto checked on the progress…

00000000

The pit crew roared: "On our honor, we'll do it in two!"

"2 Minutes."

00000000

"The hostages. We know they're inside the battleship, the question is… which ship?"

"What do you mean?" Shoko asked.

"There's a possibility that they did not kept civilians and the Leader of Jior on the same ship. They might've separated them… to keep up the leverage." L-Elf turned to Shoko. "Shashinami Shoko… contact your friend, Renbokuji Akira. She's a hacker of outstanding skill. They broadcast the video of the hostages; we need her to track the signal back to its source."

"Okay." But before Shoko could press the button a message came in from Akira. "Heh?" Shoko opened the mail, it says:

Father on bridge. Hostage in the hull. Both on foremost ship.

"That's what she says." Shoko smiled. "She's been watching…!"

True enough, ever since that horrid broadcast, Akira worked like a hacker possessed, cracking Dorssian firewalls and unscrambling encryptions.

"That's crazy!" A-Drei gasped. "Dorssian Firewall is impregnable! How did a civilian…!"

"My sister… is the no 1 Hacker in the world!" Satomi proudly declared.

"A lot more useful than you, Satomi Renbokuji." L-Elf remarked.

"Urp."

Haruto heard all this and followed. "So we know both of the hostages are in the same ship. We have a chance to save both of them at the same time… how?"

"Trojan horse, Tokishima Haruto." L-Elf remarked. "We'll send in the Valvrave as a token of surrender. Then we'll infiltrate the ship, and take it over from inside."

"They'll suspect a trap. Such an obvious plan…" A-Drei criticizes.

"This army is not led by Colonel Cain." L-Elf argued. "Putting top priority hostage together with cannon fodder hostage is not something Cain would do. I'll admit there's a risk but it's possible."

"Wait…" Haruto commented. "We don't have to send a team… just send one. One person to take over that ship."

L-Elf chuckled. "Are you suggesting that you jacked me? Me, the infamous one man army who is wanted for treason? They'll shoot us down as soon as they did a facial scan!"

"No they won't." Haruto remarked. "Not if I go."

L-Elf quickly understood what Haruto was planning to do. Shoko protested. "NO! HARUTO! DON'T DO IT! YOU CAN'T FIGHT AGAINTS THE WHOLE SHIP!"

"Haruto!?" Saki was equally terrified at this suggestion.

"Who am I? I'm just a nobody who happens to be an immortal monster, and in control of the Valvrave. They know about the machine… what they don't know… is what becomes of the guy inside the Valvrave." Haruto smiled calmly.

L-Elf chuckled and laughed. "Hahahaha… as outrageous as ever… not so sweety naive after all are we?" L-Elf nodded. "But are you sure? Remember, when it starts, you can barely control yourself. What's the guarantee that you will not go ahead and kill everyone, including the hostage?"

"Trust me." Haruto's answer was simple. "You've seen it. I can control it… somewhat."

L-Elf chuckled. "You really are starting to think like a Dorssian Soldier."

"Shut up." Haruto doesn't take it as a compliment. Not one bit.

"That's a bit too far, L-elf." Suddenly, A-drei also got up from his gurney, all his restraints slid off automatically as they unlocked seamlessly. "He's still far from what I would call a true Dorssian soldier."

The student guards aimed their rifle at A-drei in shock, who paid it no heed.

"A-Drei… what are you going to do? If you're going to stop me-"

"I won't." A-Drei replied. "I have no idea what is your relationship with the princess. But I see now you haven't forgotten that aspiration we talked about. I'm going to watch you, L-Elf. You and… these… civilians you trusted. If for one second I found that they are wanting… I will not hesitate to bring all your little schemes to an end."

L-elf remained calm while all others were clearly unnerved. "Then sit tight and enjoy the show." He calmly replied. "I will not fail."

"Alright, we're almost there." Came another transmission from Haruto. "As soon as Pino's back, I'll sortie."

"Who's Pino?" Shoko, Satomi and Takahi asked in a chorus… and ignored due to time constraints.

L-Elf quickly remembered. "One more thing. Your abilities as an immortal are something that must not come out on the public. We must find a way to jam the transmission and prevent any news of what will happen here to come to light. Can Renbokuji Akira do that?"

Another message came from Akira to Shoko's phone. "She said she could… but for remote hacking… she needs a powerful transmitter and on site receiver."

L-Elf contacted Haruto again. "Tokishima Haruto. What's the status on Valvrave unit 06? It's a purple colored unit."

00000000

"Unit 06? The purple one?" Haruto asked into the hole. "Is there a purple Valvrave in there?"

Yamada looked at the situation and found the said purple valvrave. Thank the Heavens… it's intact. "Yeah! It's in one piece!"

00000000

"Based on the schematics I read, Valvrave 06 is purposed for electronic warfare. It possesses a very powerful long range radio transmitter that can overwhelm any frequencies." L-elf reiterated.

"Hold your horses! You're not seriously asking Akira to ride a Valvrave are you?" Satomi protested.

"She doesn't have to. Even without a pilot, most of Valvrave's equipments are online. We can simply connect 06 to the WIRED network, hack the system to bypass pilot control, and hotwire it. We do have a mechanic on site."

00000000

"Yusuke?" Haruto asked.

"I'll be done with Valvrave 05 in 30 seconds! I'll work on the 06 in a jiffy!"

00000000

"What's the onsite receiver?" Shoko asked.

L-Elf answered: "Valvrave 01."

"Akira?"

Message came: give me the signal strength spec.

L-Elf mentioned some high sounding number: "50."

50 Megabytes/sec… Not enough.

"Let me finish: 50 Exabyte per Microsecond." (AN: Megabyte: 1,000,000 byte, Exa: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 byte)

It took a while for Akira to digest that ridiculous spec number… and then she sent a message.

Can do.

"What about the hijacked fleet in the module?" Takahi asked.

L-Elf seemingly ignored the question. 'ETA: 3 minutes… and counting…' "I have to go. We'll keep in contact with this." L-Elf pointed at his earpiece. "Report back to me as soon as Valvrave 04 and 05 is ready for sortie. And you…" He looked at Satomi. "Give them the call in 2 minutes time."

000000000000000

Meanwhile… beneath the rubble…

Yusuke managed to restore some of the systems in Valvrave 05 where Pino is now observing Inuzuka's condition, meanwhile, he began working . "T… this is…"

"Yes?" Aina's heart skipped a beat.

"Aina… I don't see how he'll survive."

"WHAT?" Aina gasped.

"His injuries are too extensive. He's very weak! He will not survive the transformation into a Magius!"

"B… But Haruto-kun and Rukino-san can do it!"

"They were healthy when they transformed. But this one… is beyond help." Pino mourned. "If only he's a little bit better…"

"No…" Aina collapsed on her knees.

"SOME HOLY SPIRIT YOU ARE!" Yamada roared angrily.

"Even I have my limits! Don't ask me to do something impossible!" Pino protested.

"Is… is there no other way?" Aina's eyes are flooded with tears. "Is there really nothing you can do?"

Pino looked at Aina with pity in her eyes. "There's a way."

"Hm?"

"But… it will require a sacrifice… from you."

"What?"

000000000000000

God knows what Pino and Aina were talking about in the caverns, but moments later, the shining speck of light that is Pino floated out of the hole and entered back into Valvrave one's RAVE Engine, where Haruto was ready and waiting. "How did it go?"

Pino frowned and smiled warmly. "Hey… Haruto…"

"Hm?"

"Humans… are amazing aren't they?"

"What?"

"When they love someone… so much… they readily accept anything."

"What do you mean? What happened?"

Suddenly, he heard banging from outside, and he saw Saki, her face wrecked with worry and horror. Haruto opened the cockpit hatch and Saki burst in, her eyes in tears. "Haruto! Don't go! Please don't go!"

"Saki!"

"Haruto please!" Saki cried. "I don't like this plan! There must be some other way!"

"There's no other way. You heard it."

"Then let me go with you!"

"Don't. We don't even know if you'll undergo the same process when you're fatally injured! Valvrave 01 is special… I'm special! Remember?"

"Haruto-!"

"Sssh!" Haruto stopped Saki by raising a fist. And then he handed her something… a long range mike with a powerful transmitter.

Haruto pointed at his ear, where an earphone is plugged inside. "If I'm going to do this right… I need you to back me up… I need you to sing to me. Can you do that?"

Saki's face cracked… and before he can say anything, she brought her head forward and engulfed his lips with hers. Her arms sling over at his back, pushing his head towards hers, deepening the kiss. Haruto was initially shocked, but in moments that felt like forever, he gave in and let his lips merged with hers as he closed his eyes. Saki's kiss was deep and desperate… as if this will be her last kiss with Haruto. In truth… they may well be. If she had her way, let her lips merged with his so that they'll be together forever.

Regrettably, they don't have forever. In seconds that felt like hours, Saki finally let go and looked at Haruto's face. She couldn't hold back her tears. "You'll come back! You hear me!? You'll come back!"

Haruto nodded. "I will. I promise."

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1 minute to deadline…

Aboard the Dorssian Battleship carrying the hostage…

The soldiers on the hull aimed their rifles at the frightened hostage, getting ready to kill half of them as they said they would.

On the bridge, Prime Minister Ryuuji Shashinami growled. "You guys… I was wrong that I did not watch over my colonies a little better that they develop such weapon… but please let go of my citizens! When the world finds out about this-"

"SHUT UP! YOU LOWLY JIORIAN!" one of the guards kicked the minister in the face, sending him tumbling on the floor. He placed a dirty boot on his head, squeezing it. "Besides, we're just gonna kill a couple hundred Jiorians anyway… there's still a million more where you insects came from!" Everyone laughed sadistically.

The Prime Minister, Shoko's father, Ryuuji Shashinami gritted his teeth. 'Shoko… don't mind about me… save the people! Save your friends!'

One of the guard grabbed the man's head and point it towards the screen. "Now then. Let's watch your people die, like a good prime minister should!"

Ryuuji gritted his bloodied teeth.

30 seconds…

Suddenly…

"They're hailing the Commodore."

"Hng!?" the rowdy guard let go.

Commodore Manninger received the hail from Module 77. Satomi's face appeared on the screen.

"A-Alright!" He stuttered. "W-We surrender. B-But give us more time to prepare! W-We have a l-lot of wounded here… many of them were sealed shut in isolated places! We'll surrender, but give us more time."

"No can do son." Manninger chuckled seeing the boy stuttered badly. This will be a piece of cake. "Surrender now, or we will blow your families to a bloody mush."

Again Satomi lose his cool… until Shoko took the com from him and continued from there. "You do that and we will destroy the Red Valvrave!"

"Excuse me?"

Shoko glared angrily at the screen. "Look. You want the Module, because you want the Valvrave. And we want our family safe. So here's what we're going to do: the valvrave… for our family."

"You realize we could just destroy the lot of you?"

"Haven't you already underestimated us enough times? We don't want any more trouble. Lookie here… as a sign of good faith… we're sending a valvrave to you. One valvrave, completely unarmed, with one pilot inside. Here… see for yourself."

Manninger looked and saw the kid was serious. Valvrave 01 launched out Module 77. A quick scan showed that all of its armaments had been disarmed… even the CIWS was empty. But Manninger grunted. "Girl, you think I was born yesterday!? I know there are more than one valvrave in there-"

"You destroyed them all!" Shoko retorted.

"What!?"

"Why do you think we haven't sortie all this time you were bombarding us, inside out?" Shoko barked. "One of your shots blasted our hangar, and destroyed all but one valvrave! The one we're sending you, is the LAST Valvrave in the world! If you don't believe me, take a look! This is a live feed at our hangar!"

Shoko clicked a button, and Akira, in her shack went to work, sending a doctored video of a hellish looking hangar, where all Valvrave have been completely obliterated… as in the green one. All this was further supported with floating body pieces and wounded pit crew. No sign of the blue, yellow, or purple valvraves. Then again Dorssian forces had no idea that there are more than two.

"There! You believe me now?" Shoko retorted.

Manninger looked at the vid and he was already partially convinced. "And what about the Valvrave you're sending us? Does it contain an elite strike force that will annihilate my crew?"

"We're students you dumbass!" Shoko balked. "Where can we get something like that?"

"I don't know. Before yesterday, we have no idea you had access to super robots."

"You know what? If you don't believe me… contact the pilot. I'll give you his frequency."

000000000000000

Meanwhile… with the Dorssian forces within the Dome…

X-Ein and H-Neun see the proceeding and suddenly realized what's happening as they recognized the red Valvrave. "Oh my God… They're sending in the Immortal Monster!" H-Neun gaped. "Contact Commodore Manninger! They're gonna get themselves slaughtered!"

However, try as they might, their communications were jammed. Not even Dorssian's secure channel can get through. "They're… jamming us?" X-Ein gawked. "How on earth did they do that? Our communication array is the strongest in the world!"

Clearly, the designer of that communication array never dealt with a communication hacking system called Valvrave Unit 06. Said Valvrave is now being connected to Module 77 system, specifically Akira's private system. And she was totally thrilled at how powerful the signal that Valvrave 06 are giving. The parameters' are through the roof! Akira was having the time of her life. It's truly is a Hacker's Christmas dream! "Shoko… when… over… can I keep it?" Akira texted Shoko.

Shoko laughed nervously. "We'll see about that…" She imagined Haruto and Akira's brother would have a thing or two to say about that…

"Confound it! Fire at the school! They must have a hacker in there!" X-Ein instructed.

"Oi, what about A-Drei?!"

"He'll prefer to die in the blaze of glory rather than being an obstacle! FIRE!"

Not on Akira's watch.

"Sir?" One of the Dorssian soldier swallowed a gulp as he gave the report. "Our whole system has crashed…"

The screen of every piece of computer inside the ship turned into the blue screen of death before they crashed… then they come back online… and the word: "FUCKOFF!" repeated over and over and over…

All electronic doors on the ship snapped shut, locking everyone inside.

"Oh crap…" H-Neun gulped while X-Ein frowned in deep thought.

While Q-vier, being Q-Vier, merely laughed manically.

But X-Ein hadn't lost yet. "Contact the ground team, we need to get that hacker, whoever that is, taken out!"

000000000000000

Back in space…

Manninger contacted the Valvrave, and he looked at the pilot wearing red suit. Some kid he didn't know. Thermal scan also shows there is indeed only one occupant on that Valvrave. Other scans that could penetrate even the most tightly knit camouflage also returned with the same result.

"And… who are you?"

"My name is Tokishima Haruto. As you can see, I'm alone. I'll come aboard your vessel. Please don't kill anymore hostages until then."

Manninger had thought they'll send in the traitor L-Elf, who was well known as a one man army… but seeing this one boy… alone… some nobody civilian… he had to hold back a laugh. "Pffffft…! Very well, come aboard, Mr. Tokishima. Contact the Potemkin. Tell them to be ready to receive a 'guest'."

The Dorssian Walkit battleship Potemkin approached the Valvrave and opened its docks as the Valvrave slowly made its way towards the gateway.

Manninger's aide was not convinced. "Is this wise, Commodore Manninger?"

"They sent a kid. A civilian kid inside the most powerful weapon in the world walking straight into our very hands! How dumb can they get? What have we to fear?"

000000000000000

L-Elf smirked as he ran across the Module. "They took the bait."

Just then… report came in from the hangar. "Oi! L-Elf!" It was Saki… and she's not happy. "Carmilla's ready to go!"

L-Elf further added. "What is the status of Valvrave 05?"

"It's…" as soon as Saki said that, the rubble that buried Valrave 03, 05, and 06 were blasted out, revealing a blue and black valvrave bearing a pair of massive yellow transparent shields on its shoulders. Inside, a pilot wearing a blue pilot suit with its visor darkened were sitting on the cockpit.

"…online." Saki reported.

"Good. It's all up to Renbokuji Akira and Tokishima Haruto now." Soon, he's nearing the hangar where they kept non Valvrave military equipment, and as expected, he met his first resistance from the Dorssain ground forces sent there by X-Ein. He rushed through the rain of bullets and killed two of them in an instant.

000000000000000

Slowly, Valvrave 01 landed on the docks of Potemkin.

As soon as the red Valvrave feet touched the ground and the gate was closed, Akira, all the way in her shack, went to work. Using the transmitter from Valvrave 06, she transmitted her special virus program wirelessly into Valvrave 01 systems. It should be a piece of cake now that she had cracked Dorssian system once… but then, she saw a complication. "Huh? HUH!?"

She texted Shoko furiously.

000000000000000

SHOKO! BAD! FREQUENCY MISALIGNING! LOSING CONNECTION! VIRUS CANNOT TRANSMIT!

"That's what she says!" Shoko reported to L-Elf.

"Of course. They realized their communication frequency had been compromised and now they're changing its frequency. How soon can Renbokuji Akira realign and reconnect?" L-Elf salvaged an Assault rifle and headshot multiple soldiers in a row.

"Akira-chan?"

2 minutes.

"Tokishima Haruto! You have to stall them for 2 minutes!" an explosion sounded when one of his booby trapped killed several Dorssian soldiers that was tasked to hunt down Akira.

000000000000000

Haruto gulped. 'Stall them!? How am I supposed to do that!?' Too late, the Valvrave had been surrounded by a whole army of armed soldiers and Waffes. He had no choice but to open the hatch and revealed himself.

Truth be told, every Dorssian soldier was curious as to know what sort of person who pilot this red valvrave. And then… when said pilot revealed himself… opening his helmet and showed his boyish face in all its glory, their first response is, understandably and inevitably…

…that of a ceremonious and thunderous laughter.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

L-Elf rolled his eyes upon hearing that laughter. With luck, that laughter will last 15 seconds or so, and time kept burning down nicely. "Well, Tokishima Haruto definitely had a gift of being a laughing stock."

"Now that's not very nice." Shoko argued.

When the laughter died down, Haruto looked at all these guns aiming at him. And his response to that is… waving his hand and said: "Uh… hiya?"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" there goes another burst of laughter that's gonna last a dozen seconds or so.

'Gifted. Definitely, gifted.' L-Elf concluded as he killed another pack of troops.

Meanwhile, Akira tapped her keyboard furiously, trying to meet the deadline with precious time Haruto was buying for her. But at the same time, she's having a problem of her own. With the frequency misaligning, she's losing control of the various systems she's blocking. One of them are the control for the Dorssian hijacked JIOR battleships inside the Module. Luckily she noticed this just in time. "SHOKO-CHAN!"

Shoko. Battleship. Coming online. 30 seconds. Cannot stop. Communication block. Undone. Will work on that. Cannot block weaponry.

L-Elf nodded. "Tell the Valvraves to be ready to come out in 20 seconds!"

"Wait, if they come out now, Haruto's cover as the only Valvrave remaining will be blown!" Shoko protested. If that happens, they will not hesitate to destroy the Valvrave and they're back to square one… and worse.

"And if Rukino Saki didn't come out before the battleships went online, X-Ein will blow the entire module to kingdom come! Rukino Saki, prepare to launch in 15 seconds!"

Shoko gritted her teeth. Right now, all she can do is hope that Akira made it in time. "Akira-chan! Hurry up!"

"Shoko-chan!" Akira typed even faster. She almost got it…

000000000000000

In the Potemkin…

"Ahh… well… nice to meet you guys… I'm Haruto Tokishima… and… uh… well… I was hoping we can discuss this? You know… maybe find a solution by having it half and half?"

Some still laugh, but some had enough with this amusement. "And what makes you think we wanted to share with you lowly Jiorians?"

Haruto chuckled nervously. "Well… surely we can compromise. You got something we want, I have something you want. Is there no way we can… be all happy being halfsies and… compromise… so that both of us can be happy?"

One of the Dorssian soldier had enough and punched Haruto down to the ground before he put a foot on top of Haruto's head. "Listen well, you lower lifeform. You're all just worker insects. You are like a disposable tissue that we crumpled and throw away once we unloaded all our snot into it. Share? Halfsies? We'll take whatever we want from you until there's nothing left, rape your mother, kill your father, and if you so much as to say anything, we'll cut your fucking tongue out and rip out your balls off… if you got any. You feel me, you piece of shit?"

Haruto grunted with his face smeared to the floor.

000000000000000

Meanwhile, the situation continues to worsen inside the Module. X-ein had finally managed to regain full control of the ship's system. The first thing he did was to open a com to Manninger! "COMMODORE! YOU'RE WALKING INTO A TRAP! THEY HAVE AN IM-"

0000000

Precisely at that time, Akira finally managed to reconnect her transmission with that of the new Dorssian Frequency wavelength and hacked the system again. First thing she did was to cut off the com, cutting X-Ein right then and there.

00000000

"IM-?" Manninger blinked. "Im- what? Impotence? Immaturity? Impressionist?"

"I don't think so…" his aide shook her head.

00000000

X-Ein frowned in anger. Worse, his ground team didn't respond to his call. Judging by the decreasing number of thermal signatures he's getting, they're being wiped out wholesale, clearly by L-Elf, judging by the speed of which they are getting killed. This hacker of that Sakimori school… He/she is really good! "Destroy that bloody school! Prepare the missiles!"

And while Akira managed to block the communication again, she cannot stop the weapons being armed. Not in time.

00000000

L-Elf roared. "Rukino Saki! Get in there and destroy those ships!"

"WAIT! WAIT UNTIL AKIRA-CHAN FINISH! YOU GOT TO GIVE THEM MORE TIME!" Shoko roared.

"THERE'S NO MORE TIME!" L-Elf also lost his patience. "IN 10 SECONDS THEY'LL FIRE!"

"I'M ASKING YOU, HEIL-ELF! JUST 10. MORE. SECONDS!"

00000000

Akira had managed to reconnect the transmission, and now she's prepping the package… "And… send!" She pressed enter, and the virus is now being transmitted, from her computer, to the network, into Valvrave 06…. And finally to Pino, within Valvrave 01.

Pino received part of the package and tilted her head in interest. "Humans really have nice toys! Okay! Let's play!" And she activated the program. But the virus package was huge, it'll take time for it to completely activate. Regardless, Valvrave 01 suddenly went online with its eyes flashing, attracting everyone's attention. "Huh? What's this?"

00000000

Meanwhile, the battleships had armed their missiles.

"Missile ready sir!"

"Fire!"

The artillery missiles flew, and once again, they're headed towards land, and this time, it's heading straight towards the Sakimori High School.

"Oh shit!" The student shrieked. "They fired a missile here!" "NOOO!"

Suddenly, a hail of blue hardlight projectiles burst out of the sea, raining down upon the missiles, shooting them all down.

X-Ein blinked…

H-neun gaped in disbelief. "Where did that come from?"

"WHOO HOOOO! They blow everything up!" Q-Vier squealed happily (more like crazily).

Down at the bottom of the artificial sea, Valvrave 05 cocked its crossbow gun.

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L-Elf was outraged as he saw this happening through the window. "Unit 05 WHAT are you doing? You're not supposed to be in there!" he vent his anger by barraging a supposedly ambush squad that appeared right out of the corner, killing them all without even looking at them.

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X-Ein growled as he quickly understood where that blast came from and how. "I don't care how, find a line, we HAVE to contact Commodore Manninger! There's ANOTHER valvrave! And God knows how many more!"

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At that time, Akira managed to regain remote control of the battleships… again.

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And once again, that same officer is feeling a sense of déjà vu as he must report back to X-Ein that "…the system has… never mind."

The same routine: crash, blue screen of death, shut down… and a repeated word of: Fuckoff. Again and again and again…

X-Ein literally exploded due to stress, lost his cool, and roared as he kicked the useless rustbucket they call battleship. "MANUAL OVERRIDE! I've had enough of computers! We'll load the weapons by hand if we have to!"

Seeing the battleships had been rendered inert, Valvrave 05 swam away back into the depths of the artificial ocean.

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Manninger is seriously confused out of his wits. "What the hell is going on in there?" After spending time trying to guess what Im- means, he resorted to contact the Karstein team to reiterate their report. Funnily enough… no matter how he tried, they can't get through. Their communications are being jammed. "Something's wrong… they're making a fool of us! Contact the Potemkin! HURRY!"

Fortunately for the New Jiorians, at about that time, Akira's virus program had been successfully downloaded and now Valvrave 01 is broadcasting it, full force, infecting the whole ship with it. Within seconds, Potemkin's system suffered a catastrophic crash and shutdown. Everything from weapons control, navigations, climate control, weapon system and more importantly the security camera. Potemkin went completely dark and offline, but the best part is: most of the crew didn't realize this until it was too late. The program that Akira inserted, through Valvrave 01, simulates an illusion to its crew as if they're still in control. But nothing can be further from the truth: the Walkit Heavy Space cruiser Potemkin is now under her complete control. Using its surveillance cameras she saw where are all the hostages, including Shoko's father, all the way up there on the bridge. First thing she did was to shut all doors heading towards the hull where the student's families were kept, sealing everyone inside. Then she also shut the door to the room that held Shoko's father, preventing the guards from moving him anywhere else or reinforcing the isolated guard. She also sealed off several rooms, trapping Dorssian soldiers inside.

Shoko's father smirked upon seeing the panic in his captor's faces as they were the first to realize that their ship no longer follow their commands. "Things not going according to plan?" not even a kick to his chest can erase his smile.

Akira grinned ear to ear as she texted Shoko.

Ship's mine. Father top floor, bridge. Other hostage safe, secure in lower hull, can't do anything about the guards. But locked away most of them.

Likewise, Shoko also grinned ear to ear to L-Elf from his phone.

L-elf found his breath again as his plans are getting back on track… at last. "Tokishima Haruto. Now."

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Inside the now remotely hijacked Battleship Potemkin, Haruto grinned. He grunted and pushed the boot off his head. The soldier who stepped on his head glared at him. All soldiers aimed their rifle at him, even the Waffe is pointing its Gatling gun at Haruto.

Against all this firepower, Haruto pulled out… a handgun.

And now, every Dorssian soldier, who had yet to realize their predicament, concluded:

This guy ain't stupid.

He's just as crazy as a loon.

Haruto sighed exasperatedly. "Know… that I really tried to talk you guys out of this. I'm sorry." He cocked the gun, and a hundred guns are clicking aiming at his being. Haruto slowly lifted the handgun… and point it to his head.

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Shoko knew what's coming as soon as she winced upon hearing the sound of gunshot. "Akira-chan… you… might wanna turn off the audio and close your eyes for a while?"

Akira did so, for she too knows what will soon happen. But not before she sent the feed to the command center for L-Elf's viewing on his phone, per his request.

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The Dorssian soldiers now wondered what's the deal with this guy? He came here, riding a Valvrave… all just to shoot himself in the head right in front of them? Kids these days. They came in all sorts of craz-?

Haruto's body suddenly twitched.

Much to their horror, the kid with the half blown head rise up, red markings appeared on his face as his eyes turned red. And as he roared, fangs protruded out from his teeth. Red and gold energy burst out of his shattered head, keeping his broken flesh together. "GRAAAAAAAARGHH!" Haruto charged towards the Dorssian soldiers who opened fire.

Several dozen shots hit Haruto, ripping him apart in several parts, but wherever he incurred an injury, big or small, the red and gold energy leaked out and kept his shredded flesh together. Haruto jumped towards a hail of gunfire and his fangs finally landed on the flesh of his first prey. The first of many.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!" the soldiers screamed and shouted as he can feel his blood… and something else… was being drained out by this monster in human form. He screamed and screamed, screaming for help. "ARRRGGHHH! HELP ME! GOD! HELP ME! Help me… H~" His death rattle was followed with the sight of his eyes turned blank. When Haruto was done, he spit the man's neck of his bloodied mouth and most of his injuries had healed, having completely drained the man's life force to heal himself.

The Dorssian soldiers, the fearless Dorssian soldiers who is the exemplar of bravery and steadfastness is now on the verge of pissing themselves. So this is why they only send one guy.

Haruto turned towards the Dorssian soldiers and roared. More. He wants more. He hadn't feed on anything for hours. Now he's really HUNGRY! He… needs… to FEED!

Pino cheered: "Yay!"

Haruto rushed on all fours towards the Dorssian soldiers, who, completely scared out of their wits, opened fire in a futile attempt to push back the beast.

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"Hoeeek!" Satomi couldn't stand it anymore and find a bucket so that he can vomit. They've agreed to this plan… but it didn't make the sight of Haruto feeding on Dorssian soldier while having his body being pierced by a rain of hot lead any less bizarre.

Shoko kept watching as the creature that was her beloved Haruto got his arm blown off by a hail of machine gun, but a burst of red and gold energy spill out and took over, creating an approximation of arm, and Haruto used that to rip the machine gun emplacement and its user to pieces. She bit her lips, straining her eyes, hoping that she will find a glimpse… just a tiny glimpse… of the remnants of Tokishima Haruto somewhere within this abomination.

A-Drei, and by extension, L-Elf, are the only ones who can watch this atrocious video feed without flinching. A-Drei had his brow knitted the whole time as he watched Haruto, engulfed in that red and gold energy, literally grabbed a Waffe and smashed it on top of about a dozen screaming Dorssian soldiers, squashing them into a blood stain on the floor. He then watched how Haruto ripped the cockpit of the Waffe, dragged the screaming pilot out and fed on him. "You're going to use this monster to bring revolution to Dorssia? I'm not convinced, L-elf. What makes you think you can control this… savagery?"

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In the corridor…

L-Elf answered with a demonstration. As soon as Haruto finished feeding on the last Dorssian soldier in that dock, L-Elf attempted to contact him through his ear piece. "Tokishima Haruto. Tokishima Haruto!"

All he heard is growling and screaming.

L-Elf contacted: "Rukino Saki. If you please."

Down in the hangar aboard Carmilla, Saki turned on the mike. As soon as the first hum of her song reached Haruto's ears, one can visibly see the berserk vampire calms down significantly.

Enough that L-Elf's words can now reach his mind. "Tokishima Haruto?"

"L… Elf…" Came his raspy reply.

"Walkit Class Space Cruiser has 5 floors. You are in the fourth, the hangar and the factory. Take the elevator to your left. It will take you to the 2nd floor, where the access elevator to the Bridge is located." L-Elf explained the inner workings of the Dorssian ship as he continue to wipe every Dorssian infiltration team in his way, walking pastwounded and killed students along the way.

"Wait! Shouldn't Haruto go help the other hostages first?" Shoko interjected, prioritizing the family of her classmates over her own father.

L-Elf shook his head. "We take the bridge, we take over the ship. We take over the ship, we take over the hostage situation."

Haruto sanity returned well enough to allow him to perform basic human activity such as listening to conversation and understanding them. He did as L-Elf instructed and access the lift… but he can't move it. The whole battleship is still offline.

L-Elf called to Shoko. "Tell Renbokuji Akira to activate the elevator and take Tokishima Haruto-"

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"-To the 2nd floor. Got it, Heil-Elf." Shoko made the call. "Akira!"

"I admit it still needs a lot of work." L-Elf answered A-Drei's earlier question through the com. "But at this rate, I believe we are getting there."

A-Drei shrugged.

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The elevator suddenly came online and went up.

When the door slid open, he was welcomed by at least a dozen heavy machine gun emplacements and a hundred soldiers. Somehow, despite the offline communication system, word had got out of his rampage.

"FIRE!"

The burst of bullet ripped Haruto apart, but once again, the 'Holy Spirit' defense mechanism activates, and a berserk Haruto was once again engulfed in a red and gold light as he dashed on all fours towards the enemy, and the bloody process repeated itself.

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Meanwhile, Commodore Manninger is at the end of his patience. Both the infiltration team and Potemkin did not respond to his call. In his desperation, he finally ordered…

"That's enough! All forces! Open fire at the module!"

"Blitzendegen!"

All battleships aimed their cannons at the Dome like module and they opened fire, unleashing a hailstorm of cannon blast. The energy blast converge and formed a massive energy stream.

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"Valvrave 05, your turn."

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The Blue Valvrave finally sortie out of Module 77 and it was welcomed by a massive energy stream. It crossed its twin shell-like shields together and blocked the massive blast, dispersing it into tinier energy streams that completely avoid the module.

"W… WHAT!?" Manninger jaw dropped.

"Those were shots from the main cannons!"

The fleet began attacking the blue valvrave. But Valvrave 05 was designed specifically to endure sieges, a stark contrast with the previous lightweight Valvrave 01 and 04 who cover short to mid range combat. It was designed to receive plenty of punishment and send some back. Hundreds of missiles from the Ideal Annihilators, millions of shells from the Waffe, a rain of beam cannons, they all were blocked by Valvrave 05's impregnable shield. Once the attack is over, Valvrave 05 returned fire, launching multitudes of hardlight arrows to every direction. Dozens of waffes were destroyed in a single salvo.

"Valvrave's weakness is heat! Use the Boomerangs!" Ideals carrying the Boomerang launcher moved forward. But they are forgetting one thing. They were designed to deal with Valvrave and Carmilla, who are both close combat units, hence the short range of the Launcher was not an issue. Problem is, Valvrave 05 completely outrange the launcher by a huge margin, designed specifically for long range engagements. A hail of hardlight arrows sniped the launchers and the Ideals that were carrying them at extreme long range, shooting them all down before they can even get close.

But one Ideal managed to get close from Valvrave 05's back, noticing a weakness in its unprotected rear. "HAH! Your back is more open than your mother's groin!" The Dorssian pilot was sure he's getting the jump on the long range Valvrave. Much to his surprise, the shields of the Valvrave moved independently from the main body, and folded back, as if it was having a will of its own (and a pair of eyes at the back of its head), shielded the initially exposed rear area of the Valvrave. The Ideal collided with the shield and pulverized itself against the said shield while pushing the caught off guard but otherwise unscathed Valvrave 05.

The main body quickly turned around and unleashed another hail of hardlight arrows that reduced the Annihilator to pincushion. But not before the pilot angrily unleashed his boomerang launcher. Hundreds of electromagnetic boomerangs strapped allover the Valvrave's body.

Seeing this, other Ideals and Waffes approached 05, thinking that this is it. In other cases, being strapped with boomerangs half that number was more than enough to stop unit 01 and 04 cold.

They got another thing coming.

05 can still move even with that much restraint and even opened fire at the incoming Dorssian forces, much to their shock. In its console, its temperature only rise to the range of 55-60. A stark contrast with the other valvrave who would've hit 80-85 by now, 05 possessed longer operational time and tougher endurance.

"That thing's a tank!" A dorssian pilot gasped as his Waffe was ripped apart within seconds, even with his shield on.

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Meanwhile, as 05 defend its position against the entire Dorssain fleet single handedly, Commodore Manninger railed and raged in his bridge.

"T… Those damn kids! So they have another Valvrave in there! I KNEW IT!"

"If you knew it why did you believed them?" The aide stated the obvious.

"Eeei! Contact Potemkin! Kill all the hostages!"

"Communications are down sir! We're still being jammed!"

Manninger's temper reached an all time high. "THAT'S IT! DESTROY THE POTEMKIN! I DON'T NEED A SHIP THAT WON'T OBEY ME!"

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All this is exactly as L-Elf had predicted. "05, they're targeting the Hostage Cruiser. Protect it. Tokishima Haruto needs more time. 04, prepare to launch!" He's nearing the hangar, and the Dorssian infiltration team is starting to run out of soldiers.

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Outside, 05 had just finished destroying the last Ideal that carries the boomerang launcher before confirming the new order with a gleam of its eyes and then it moved towards the Potemkin, protecting it from enemy fire with its shield. However, the pilot looked at the thermal gauge and saw it's already reaching the 97-98 range. It doesn't have much time left.

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Meanwhile… back in the Valvrave Cage…

Help came for the Pit Crew in form of every member of the Sakimori Athletic Club – most of them are Raizo's underlings.

"YOOSH! ALL YOU BASTARDS! HELP ME UNEARTH THIS YELLOW ONE! IT'S GONNA BE MINE ONE DAY!" Raizo pointed at unit 03 which, despite being partially buried under the rubble, were mostly intact.

The excavation process went faster with the help of extra hand… but then they found a hand sticking out of the rubble. "Hey! There's someone here!"

They dug the hand out… and found, to Yusuke's horror, it was Kibukawa-sensei, severely wounded. "Sensei!"

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Meanwhile, back to the hijacked fleet…

It's slow, but they finally managed to get the battleship under their control again. X-Ein had had enough. "Aim the missiles at the school. And you better get it right this time!"

"Sir, without the computer targeting system, we have to do this the old fashioned way."

"Do it then."

The old fashioned way is by firing an unguided missile at preset coordinates. That is to say the missile can't track the targets and fire at pin point accuracy. They have to input the coordinates, test fire, and see where it lands, and then repeat until they get the coordinates right. Downside… it'll take some time before they can blow the school sky high. On the upside: the Hacker can't hack into this one.

Nanami squealed when a missile missed the school by several miles. "Uhh… somebody… tell command center that we're getting fired again!?"

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Shoko. Battleship firing. Cannot stop. Manual override.

"Heil-Elf!"

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L-Elf nodded. "04. Your turn." He quickly made his preparations as well. "05, rendezvous with 04, now!"

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Down in the hangar, Saki heard the order and sortie.

She didn't realize that Carmilla was letting out weird noises from its frame.

Meanwhile, the athletic club team had finally managed to get Kibukawa-sensei out of the rubble. He was gravely injured, but he's still breathing, much to Yusuke's relief.

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Once outside, Carmilla grabbed the Spindle Knuckles just as 05 stopped right next to it.

"Target area 2078 with the Spindle Knuckle. Don't skimp on the power."

Charging all the hard light into the chakram-like weapons, Carmilla throw it at the designated target. When the two spinning wheels burst through the shell, burst of water that quickly turned into ice showered the two units. Unit 05 were cooled down and the water washed away all of the stuck Electromagnetic Boomerang. The Thermal Gauge decreases to 63-65 range.

Inside the module…

"W… WHAT NOW!?" H-Neun yelled.

The water was that of the Module's Artificial Ocean water. This caused the sea to become instantly turbulent, as if there's a powerful storm coming, rocking and tossing the ships up and about, left and right, completely messing up their targeting. There's no way they can operate like this.

X-Ein gritted his teeth, their operation had failed. "That's enough! We're retreating!"

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Outside, 05 had enough of cooling down, and now it's going back to protecting the Potemkin.

"I'll help you out." But before Saki can do so… electricity suddenly coruscates allover Carmilla's being. Warning signs appeared allover her console, denoting and repeating the word: Malfunction. "Eh?" Saki shook her controllers several times. "Oh you gotta be kidding me!?"

Carmilla stopped mid air, completely still. Its head crest flashes on and off.

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"What's wrong with Carmilla now!?" Shoko gasped.

Everyone can see that the green valvrave is unable to move anywhere, completely sitting ducks right in space, with electricity jumping up and down its frame.

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In the hangar, L-Elf saw this as well. "The blast into the Valvrave cage earlier… it damaged its systems?"

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Unfortunately, Manninger saw this as well. "Fire at that green Valvrave! It's looks like she's broken!"

And the whole fleet now concentrated their fire power at Carmilla.

05 quickly moved in and protected her. But in doing so, it neglected its duty to cover Potemkin. Some shots landed on the said ship, much to everyone's horror. Luckily most of the weapons made by Dorssia are plenty tough. But it won't last long against a barrage of this scale.

Saki gritted her teeth. "Why… Why am I only getting in the way!?"

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Yusuke saw Carmilla didn't move an inch. He quickly recognized a system malfunction when he sees one.

She needs a mechanic! Now! But there's no way they can send a normal mechanic right in the middle of that rain of fire! He need something… something big… tough… and… and… Yusuke looked at the yellow Valvrave. He spent all morning disassembling that thing inside out. He knew what it can do… besides vaporizing and breaking stuff.

Meanwhile, Yamada had just finished suiting up and was getting ready to board Valvrave 03. "Yosh! Minna! Just watch! I'm gonna beat the shit out of…"

"THUNDER-SENPAI! SORRY!" As if possessed, Yusuke grabbed a baseball bat and beat Raizo's head, knocking him out silly. The members of the Athletic club roared in anger upon seeing their boss getting beat, but Yusuke nimbly climbed the unearthed Valvrave 03 and went down its cockpit, and closed the hatch. "OI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! OII!" They shout and yelled, but Yusuke pay no heed.

Yusuke looked at the console and turned it on… and beheld the fateful question:

Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?

Yusuke at first felt compelled to press Yes… but then he paused and remembered the consequences of pressing. A lifetime consequences that he will never be able to let go. As he reached the peak of his doubt, he's starting to panic, until he looked at Kibukawa-sensei's broken body lying on the ground. And then he remembered.

"It's a choice. It's a matter of decisions. The system didn't force you to do things you don't want to. It's a decision that you can make on your own accord, to agree or not. That's human: the ability to choose yes or no is proof of one's own will. What is needed for a human to make any choice at all, yes or no, is the heart to choose what they want. Whether to choose to stay human, or forsake it for whatever reason… both decisions take immense courage. Something that only a human being with a strong heart can muster. You are strong, Yusuke-kun. You have strength of other kind. Dare I say, it is something that perhaps even Haruto or Saki doesn't have… Others may not see it now… I think even you haven't seen it either… but… eventually everyone will, and so will you."

Yusuke closed his eyes and renewed his resolve. "That's right. Sorry, Yamada-san… but this is something only I can do." And he pressed yes.

The injector extended and sting him on the neck. Yusuke gasped as he can feel something surged throughout his body.

The white parts of Valvrave 03 turned black, a sign that the Valvrave had successfully bonded with its new owner. The gigantic machine rise up, its enlarged arms, mounted on its backpack, shook the remaining rubble off its massive broad shoulders.

The Valvrave walked out of the rubble and into the catapult, much to the shock and awe of everyone. Raizo woke up just in time to see the Valvrave launched right in front of his nose. "O~OOII!"

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Valvrave 03 burst out of the Module heading straight towards the malfunctioning Carmilla.

"ANOTHER ONE!?" an overly stressed Manninger made a mental note to see his nerve doctor if he ever get out of this.

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The students in the command center gaped when the icon of Valvrave 03 were added to the list of online Valvraves. "Who pilots it?" Satomi gaped.

They opened the screen and behold: "YUSUKE?"

The bespectacled boy chuckled. "Sorry! I'm here to help… and I'm kinda desperate and all… and… ahahahaha…"

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Valvrave 03 landed right next to Carmilla. "Okay…" Yusuke flexed his fingers. "Saki-chan! This might tickle a little bit…" 03's massive shoulder mounted arms, the Armstronger split into 8 smaller hands. Using the lithe and small fingers of the said arm, Yusuke began to tinker at Carmilla's frame. This is just like when he disassembles the Valvraves. Only, he can do it in super scale mode, and at much easier time as well. In fact it's almost like assembling an oversized real life plamo. "Now… if I managed the output of the blaster right, I can use it as a welding torch and…"

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Everyone, as in everyone, even the Dorssian army watched in awe as the Valvrave 03 began disassembling Carmilla… and fixing her ON the field with delicacy and accuracy that belies its massive built. L-Elf clearly didn't expect this. He read the specs of 03 were that of extreme combat and long range bombardment. It was clearly NOT designed for what it's doing right now: field repairs. Whoever the pilot… he improvised!? "05! Protect 03 and 04!"

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That goes without saying and 05 moved in front of 03 and Carmilla. With its rock solid defenses, 05 ensured that Yusuke's work on Carmilla went undisturbed.

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As this went on, aboard the Potemkin…

Pino did say Haruto had to pig on the Runes… but…

"Burp!"

Pino closed her mouth. At this rate, she might have to go on a diet.

At the second floor, Haruto had finished off roughly half of the ship's 70 crew occupants. Now he needs to go up, right where the Prime Minister… Ryuuji Shahsinami, Shoko's father, was being kept. But the elevator won't budge. A constant humming from Saki made sure Haruto remained partially sane though. "Shoko?" He panted and gasped. "Need… pick up!" the rumbling is getting worse. Some parts of the ship had been critically damaged.

As if on cue, the elevator went online and Haruto board it.

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Meanwhile, back in Module 77…

Akira watched as the Dorssian's fleet is steadily damaging the ship. She needs to find a way to protect it… and then she checked the ship's record: 50 sets of Waffe. 1 set contains one manned Waffe, and 19 unmanned for support. Akira tapped her computers like crazy and start hacking. Normally it would be impossible… but with unit 06's powerful transmitter and 01 is still receiving and broadcasting the signal… it'll be like playing radio control.

Moments later, the Potemkin's entire stock of Waffe suddenly came online on its own, much to the horror of the hangar guardsmen, and they all swarmed out of the ship. The Waffes put together their shields creating walls that protect the Potemkin against incoming shots. Thus Akira managed to buy some more time.

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In the command center, Shoko and Satomi received a hail… from the scared shitless captain of the Potemkin.

"Hey! You there! Are you the one in charge!?" The captain was referring to the one who seem to keep her act together: Shashinami Shoko.

Shoko looked at her father and nodded as she put on her mask of professionalism. "Yes. I am. I'm Shashinami Shoko. Daughter of Ryuuji Shashinami, Prime Minister of JIOR!" She proudly declared.

Ryuuji couldn't help but to show his pride.

"He's your father?" The desperate captain smirked. "Then that makes it easier. Call back that… that monster of yours… or say goodbye to your daddy!"

Shoko frowned… and then she glared at the frightened captain. "Goodbye dad. Don't worry. Haruto will kill every one of them to avenge you."

The captain paled while Ryuuji laughed his brains out. "That's my daughter for you! Hahahahaha!"

"Are you crazy, woman! This is your father!"

"Precisely!" Shoko struggled to keep her stone cold disposition. She managed. "You guys invade my country, kidnap its people and you threaten the family of my classmates by holding them hostage. You even made a hostage out of MY father. My father, the head of JIOR! You're not an army. YOU'RE TERRORIST! WE, THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW JIOR, DO NOT. NEGOTIATE. WITH. TERRORISTS!" Shoko shrieked. Every student in the command room looked at Shashinami Shoko with awe. Truly. She's a born leader. Even the prideful Renbokuji had to finally admit… as far as leadership and people's skills go… Shashinami was not his match.

"You said it Shoko!" Ryuuji cheered her daughter on even as the terrified guards beat him down to shut him up.

As if on cue, the door leading to the bridge was dented from outside. Roars had reached their ears. Haruto is RIGHT outside.

Shoko faked a terrible smile. "You want to live?"

The captain turned to the screen and her devilish smile.

"You want to be spared?" Shoko pushed again. The captain nodded furiously. "Here's a hint. Kill my father and any of the hostage… and nothing will stop him from tearing you all apart." And Shoko turned off the transmission.

As soon as she did, Shoko collapsed on her knees, completely scared out of her wits. Scared for her father, scared for everything. Her mask crumbled and tears began to roll on her eyes as her teeth clattered.

To her surprise, she heard clapping sound. Everyone turned and saw it was… A-drei, applauding Shoko.

"What are you doing?" Shoko pant and gasped.

"Applauding your courage and dignity, Shashinami Shoko." A-drei nodded. "A leader is someone who leads. They must not allow themselves to be dictated by anyone else. That is the fundamental basis of leadership qualities."

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In the Potemkin's bridge, the door was opened, revealing an angry berserk Haruto, his body half blown to hell with red and gold rune energy bursting out of every wound and cranny. The terrified soldiers empty their clip at Haruto, but it was no use. The creature that was Haruto smashed at him and bit his neck, causing blood to splatter allover his face. Haruto jumped towards the two guards that are holding the Prime Minister. "GROOOWWWLLL!" His arms reached out ahead of him and grabbed their necks, pushing them down to the floor, bashing them again and again until they are close to death before he starts feeding on one of them, causing the said victim to jitter and twitch in obvious pain. "AAARGHH! AAAARGH! AARGGHa~" and he died as his eyes emptied.

Ryuuji looked at this abomination that was once his daughter's childhood friend as well as possible future son in law. 'T… this… is…'

After Haruto finished off the last guard, the only one left is the terrified captain.

"Stay back… stay back!" In panic, the captain unloaded a couple of shots at Haruto, scoring a few hits. But the monster kept walking, and the bullet holes were enclosed by red and gold energy that has been emanating from his being, and he still coming towards him.

The captain became desperate… and he finally aimed the gun to his own head, hoping for a quick release from this horror…

Click.

Click, click.

Out of ammo.

The captain cried and pissed himself as Haruto roared and rushed towards him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGGHH!"

And as Haruto devoured the captain's neck voraciously, Ryuuji whispered under his breath. "Shoichi… what have you turned our children into?"

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Outside, Yusuke put the last finishing touches on Carmilla as he put her back together. "Yosh! It's done!"

Saki is still supporting Haruto with her singing in the cockpit. But she no longer needs protection with Carmilla's mobility restored.

Unit 05 flew away and concentrated on its original duty: protecting the Potemkin. And just in time too. The last of Akira's remote controlled Waffe had just been destroyed.

"LET'S GOOO!" Yusuke roared as unit 03's Armstronger Cannon opened fire, taking out an Annihilator.

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On the Potemkin's bridge…

Haruto pant and gasp as the lifeless and completely drained captain of the Potemkin fell off his mouth. He turned and looked at the downed Ryuuji Shashinami.

Ryuuji can still see the red markings and red glow on Haruto's eyes, moments before it began to fade. "Shashinami-san…" Haruto finally returned back to the way he was. "It's been a while."

"Haruto-kun…" Ryuuji looked at Haruto. "Yes it has." He smiled.

Haruto smiled and then start pressing the buttons on the console with practiced hands. Draining the captain, and most of its crew, had given him an intimate understanding on the way this Dorssian Space cruiser works. "First… let's go tell Shoko you're okay."

Ryuuji nodded. But then he noticed something… "Umm… before that, Haruto-kun…!"

"Hm?"

"Put something on first."

Too little too late, the screens opened and the Module 77 Command Center are in full display, giving the students on the command center a clear view of the Potemkin's bridge…

As well as a full view of Haruto… whose clothes had all been blown away, thus he was standing in all his naked glory for everyone to see.

Shoko, Takahi, Iori, and every female student on the command center jawdropped, particularly at that part.

Monstrosity.

Indeed.

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Unit 05 continues to rain arrows using its Bolt Phalanx. More than offensive, it now served as a shield for the much more fragile Carmilla. As for the firepower department, it left that role to the newly arrived unit 03. An Ideal Annihilator pilot gaped when unit 03's massive armstronger arms spin like a drill, coated with yellow hardlight energy and it smashed into the machine's frame. The pilot escaped immediately, while 03's other Armstronger cannon split into four and start raining fire at the other forces, using the wrecked Annihilator as an impromptu shield. "Saki-chan! Ideal Annihilators are terrible on turns! Especially at close range!"

A manned Waffer was ripped in half by Carmilla's spindle knuckle. "Got it." Saki responded as she charged towards another Ideal. Using the multi leg propulsion system, unit 04 boosted at blinding speed, quickly flanking the Annihilator and sent her spinning wheel to its chest, ripping it apart. Just then, a transmission came from Haruto, much to her joy. "Haruto-kun!"

"Saki… are you alright? I was worried when I heard Carmilla malfunctioned." Haruto had already put on some clothes at that point, Dorssian white and gold clothes.

"Yes! Yes I'm okay!" Saki had a little bit difficulty maintaining her composure. He's alive. She couldn't believe it! He's very much alive!

"I've rescued the Prime Minister. I'm gonna go rescue the other hostages."

"Tokishima Haruto! That won't be necessary." Came L-Elf's interruption.

"L-Elf?"

"You have the ship under our complete control. We also have access to its weapon system. We will use it to attack the remaining Dorssian fleet." L-Elf reiterated. "You, on the other hand, must charge to 666 for the Harakiri Blade and use it to destroy the rest of the fleet. Once that is done, the remaining crew which you haven't slaughtered will have no choice but to surrender."

Haruto nodded, accepting L-Elf's logic. He looked at the still injured Prime Minister. "Will you be alright?"

"You do what you had to, Son. I'll stay here. This bridge is the safest place on this ship." Ryuuji sat his aged back on the captain's chair.

Haruto nodded and contacted Shoko. "Shoko, as soon as I left, tell Akira to seal all the doors leading to the bridge!"

"Ok! Akira-chan!"

As soon as she said that, all the doors leading to the bridge were sealed shut as soon as Haruto left the room.

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Things grew steadily worse for the Dorssian forces. Suddenly, the Heavy space cruiser Potemkin came online… and starts firing at its own allies, supporting the Valvraves.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING!?" Manninger reached the zenith of his stress and tears off his own sideburns.

One space cruiser was caught off guard by this attack and was severely damaged.

The Valvraves concentrate on protecting the Potemkin, knowing the hostages are still inside. One red blur appeared out of the hangar bay of the Potemkin. 01 had entered the battle at last.

At the same time, a Splicer carrying a massive package set out from Module 77's hangar. It was L-Elf. "Tokishima Haruto! CATCH!" The package was launched towards the Valvrave 01. The package unraveled itself midflight as the Vurutoga, 01's entire Arsenal all combined into one massive weapon. 01 caught it and start open fire at the enemy fleet.

"Alright. Now to charge to 666…" Haruto groaned. His Valvrave is still in the range 45 to 50. It's quite cool. It'll take some time before it reached 666. "Oh no… we need to hurry the charging…"

"You can if you use Runes!" Pino suddenly came out.

"Runes?" Haruto blinked.

"Hm! The information particle! Just channel all your runes into the Valvrave and it'll do the rest."

"Uhh… how do you channel runes?"

"Okay! For the banquet earlier, Pino will teach you a neat trick!"

Saki's ears winced when she heard the familiar sound of Haruto screaming. He's having another seizure. "oh no… no, not now! Haruto! Haruto! Listen to my voice! Come on Haruto!"

Inside his cockpit, Haruto suffered the most violent seizure he ever had. He roared and growled as red glowing scars appeared on his face and fangs extended out. Even Saki's song was drowned by his screams and his mind was immediately drowned in primal bestial instincts without any chance for him to resist. A burst of red and gold energy emanates from his being. His eyes turned blood red… and suddenly, a retinal eye scanner sweep Haruto's eyes and the console went nuts. Amidst the emerging windows and the buzzing encryptions, it all ended as it showed one notice:

Eldar Valvire Magius detected. Releasing limiter.

The thermal gauge on the Valvrave 01 instantly turned from 100 to 666. The number also increased at a very rapid pace: 100, 200, 300, 400… all in a span of seconds.

"Like I'll let you use that attack!" X-Ein, having escaped Module 77 along with H-Neun and Q-Vier, together they boarded an Ideal Annihilator, with X-Ein as the main pilot, and now they're charging towards Valvrave 01, who's still in the process of gathering energy.

But at the last moment, L-Elf, having also foreseen this, used the Splicer on a kamikaze run at X-Ein's Ideal. The splicer smashed the Ideal's arm, knocking the Annihilator off course, and destroyed the Splicer, with l-Elf ejected at the last moment. "X-ein, the problem with you is that you're too straight forward." L-elf commented.

Q-Vier laughed. "L-ELF! YOU'RE AWESOME! WaAHAHAHAHAH!" H-neun squealed. "WHOAAA!" Whereas X-ein howled. "L-elf!" But there's nothing he can do, and the Annihilator spin out of control, away from the battlefield.

At the same time, Valvrave 01, protected by the other Valvraves and support fire from the Potemkin, finished charging. The whole Valvrave were bursting with gold and red energy. So bright, the black part of the Valvrave turned gold. The valvrave pulled both of its Z-Edges katana from the Vurutoga. Unlike the usual method where 01 only stabbed one sword, this time, it stabbed both swords into its exposed RAVE engine.

"Double Harakiri blade?" L-elf gaped,

As it did so, 01's green wing were engulfed in a massive amount of gold red energy, creating an approximation of what looked like… bird wings. It was so massive, it even momentarily dwarfed the Potemkin. Said energy wings flapped once and 01 flew above the theater of war, carrying its reassembled Vurutoga rifle. 01 aimed the Vurutoga, now also enveloped with that golden energy at the incoming Dorssian fleet.

Golden flakes of energy concentrated on the cannon and 01 pulled the trigger. Two massive streams of energy blasted out the barrel, spiraling together to create a massive energy blast 3 times the size of the normal Harakiri blade.

The blast completely engulfed the Dorssian fleet, vaporizing everything in its way. As the blast continues, 01's energy wing unraveled into tiny flakes of light as it rapidly decreases in size, the longer the Valvrave maintained the shot. Manninger didn't have the time to run before the blast reached him and obliterated his ship without a trace, along with everyone aboard.

Kain's ship, the one at the rearmost position throughout the engagement barely managed to avoid destruction thanks to the timely command of Kriemhild. Alas, it consumes another one of their ship along with it. "Mein Gott… what is that!?" But while Kriemhild was horrified, Kain looked at the golden light with entranced eyes. "Yes… that is the light of Runes…"

A while later, the light finally died down, leaving behind remnants of the blast… which strangely resemble raven feathers made of light…

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When Haruto regained consciousness, he was still in the cockpit of 01. As he readjusted to his surroundings, he can hear voices calling his name.

"Haruto! HARUTO!"

Haruto shook his head and noticed multiple window screens in front of him. He nodded to show he heard whoever called him, which in this occasion, was a tearful Saki. "The fleet?'

"Run away with their tail between their legs, Haruto! All thanks to you! That was AWESOME brotha!" Yusuke grinned.

There's… "Saki, Shoko, Yusuke-san… and… and… who is that piloting unit 05? You're not… Inuzuka-senpai… you're too small!" Haruto remembered Inuzuka Kyuuma's figure. He's a much bigger person than this guy.

The pilot of unit 05 chuckled… and then she opened her helmet revealing:

"AINA-CHAN!?" Haruto and Shoko gaped.

"Sakurai-san!?" Saki gaped.

Yusuke jawdropped.

"I thought… you were going to make Inuzuka-senpai…"

"This…"

Much to everyone's shock…

"…will require some explanation." Inuzuka Kyuuma's voice flowed out of Sakurai Aina's lips.

"Sakurai… san? Your voice is breaking…!" Saki blinked.

"No. It's Inuzuka. It's me. Inside Aina's body."

"E… EEEEEEEEERGHHH!?" Everyone jawdropped.

Inuzuka sighed. "Pino said that… I was too injured to undergo the transformation into a holy spirit. The damage was too severe. So Aina made some arrangements." Inuzuka frowned. "We trade bodies and mind. She was transformed into a holy spirit, and then she put my mind inside her body… and her mind inside my body."

Saki gasped. "Then… Sakurai-san… What happened to her!? She didn't…"

"I'm right here, Rukino-san."

Saki blinked when she heard Aina's voice coming from Inuzuka's screen.

Inuzuka gestured at the console of 05, and there, Sakurai Aina appeared on the console monitor. "I've become the spirit of Valvrave. Just like Pino."

"Where's your body, Senpai?" Haruto asked.

"In here." 05 gestured at the chest cavity where its Rave engine lies. "Rave Engine isn't just some power core. It seems it can also be used as some kind of a… a very sophisticated life support system. My body can be preserved here on this unit… kept my broken body alive… until we can fix it properly." Inuzuka explained. "Lord knows why they designed it that way."

Shoko then brought the most important question. "So… what should we call you now? Sakurai Kyuuma? Inuzuka Aina?"

Inuzuka blushed. Put it that way and it sounded like they were married or something. "Now, now… just call me-"

"Inuzuka Aina has a nice ring to it."

Inuzuka blinked and looked at Aina… she was blushing… furiously.

"I… I don't mind."

"A… Aina-chan…" Likewise, the newly christened 'Inuzuka Aina' also blushed furiously, mimicking the avatar on the console.

Awkwardly, seeing that they are identical, it doesn't look like lovers… more like twin sisters now.

"This is… gonna take some time to get used to…" Saki chuckled nervously. But then, she noticed Haruto was distracted over something else. "Haruto-kun?"

Haruto looked around, checking his sensors… it took almost forever… and then he found him.

01 set off and headed towards a certain coordinate.

And there he found… L-Elf, floating amidst the debris of the Splicer he used. "You had any idea what a pain it is to look for you? We promised there will be zero sacrifice, right?"

As 01 put L-elf in its palm, L-elf moaned. "It's exactly as I planned."

"?"

"I know you'll come looking for me. You're a monster… but your naivety is truly incurable… eh?"

"Told you. I'm okay being sweet." Haruto smiled. "And you're too bitter for your own good."

"Shut up…" L-Elf closed his eyes.

He may not say it, but it was obvious that even L-Elf was in need of total rest. After all… throughout their coms, it sounded like L-elf was on the run. He must've like… marathoned the whole module, killing Dorssian soldiers left and right and then ride a plane to deliver 01 its weapons before he kamikazed an Annihilator. And now that Haruto think about it… he's pretty dead tired as well.

And then, Haruto received a transmission… from the Potemkin.

It was Prime Minister Shashinami. "Haruto-kun! Haruto-kun do you read?"

"Shashinami-san?"

"I have wonderful news. The remaining Dorssian soldiers aboard the Potemkin surrendered. I'm with the hostages; they're releasing them right now. We're safe." Ryuuji turned and looked at the grateful and freed hostages. While some of the armed ones were arresting Dorssian soldiers, forcing them to put their hands in the air.

Haruto contacted the command center. "Shoko!"

"Haruto?"

"Your father's safe. Hostages secured. We're coming home." Haruto was pleased to see Shoko cried tears of happiness. "Spread the word."

Shoko nodded. She looked at Satomi. "You tell them. You're the student Council President."

Satomi considered the idea… but he finally relented with a smile to Shoko. "No. You tell them, Shashinami. You, the daughter of our Prime Minister… OUR leader."

Shoko blinked several times and finally accepted the offer. She pressed the intercom broadcast. "This is Shashinami Shoko…"

The students of Sakimori High looked at the intercom with held breath.

"Dorssian forces had been defeated and some retreated, the rest surrendered…"

Yamada punched his fist to the sky with a smirk…

"All Valvraves are present and accounted for…"

"Yes!" the pit crew toasted with one another…

And the most important bit:

"All hostages are safe."

Everyone gasped.

And Shoko added:

"We won."

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOOOOOO! And the whole module exploded with cheer of all the surviving students. Some were hugging one another, some were jumping up and down, screaming until their throat burst.

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Akira saw all this through her monitor and smiled. Until suddenly…

"And here I was wondering exactly who this 'Akira' who cracked our system is."

Akira turned around and saw, to her horror, A-Drei was peeking through the entrance of her shack.

"Never take you for a girl."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!" Once again falling into her anxiety attack, a panicking Akira tossed various things at A-drei's head: snacks, doll, pillow, mouse, keyboard, broken laptop, and finally a CPU chasing, effectively sending him away with a bruise on his head. Of course the thick headed A-Drei didn't understand a thing on what just happened.

"What… was that all about?"

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One by one, the Valvrave landed back to the Module 77 hangar.

When Inuzuka Aina popped her head out of the cockpit, she grinned wide and cute as she sticks her tongue out. It was a very un-Aina-ish way, much to the original one's chargrin, and the horror of all of Aina's female friends.

When Yusuke popped out unit 03's cockpit, he was welcomed… by the sight of Kibukawa on intravenous drip, alive, albeit mounted on a gurney pushed by Nanami-sensei, giving a knowing smile and a weak thumbs up. Yusuke smiled back… until a baseball bat hit him in the head thrown by a pissed off Raizo Yamada. "YUSUKE! MAKE YOUR PEACE AND COME HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" A grinning and happy Raizo cracked his knuckles.

The first thing Saki did after she jumped out of Carmilla's cockpit was to look for Haruto. Instead, she ran into Shoko. "Uhh… Shoko…"

"Rukino-san… Thank you for your hard work!"

"Ah… ahaha!" Saki smiled.

And then, finally, all eyes turned to the one most important figure.

Valvrave 01 flies back into the hangar with L-Elf in its hands, escorting a small shuttle. The shuttle landed first, and when the door opened, all of the hostages spill out. The students who found their relative burst into tears and rushed towards their family, calling out their names. "Papa! Mama!" "Big bro!" "Mama…!" Everyone was happy. And then one person stepped out of the shuttle. It was Ryuuji Shashinami. He looked around… and spotted her daughter.

Upon seeing her father, Shoko finally cracked and burst into tears. She couldn't say anything, something caught up in her throat and she ran towards her father, crying. Ryuuji caught her and hugged her tight, as if they hadn't meet like forever.

Saki felt happy for Shoko, but then she turned her eyes to the one she wants to see first. The one who had promised to return.

Valvrave 01 finally landed, and the cockpit opened… revealing a very tired but very happy, Tokishima Haruto.

And then, at the sight of Haruto, the cheer exploded again, doubly loud. Haruto found the sensation nostalgic. It's just like when the students first found out how he was the pilot of Valvrave 01 the first time, but this time, they cheered for their one true hero. The students' family also clapped their hands and some screamed until their throat sore.

But then, something rammed Haruto full force. It was Saki. Smiling sweetly as her eyes flooded with tears. "Saki… I heard it."

Saki smiled. "You heard it."

"Yeah. I heard your song."

Saki cried again. And then finally, unable to hold herself anymore, she grabbed Haruto's face, and without a care of the world, she passionately kissed him with everything she's got in front of everyone's shocked eyes. Haruto was momentarily caught off guard… but he finally closed his eyes and returned the kiss.

The silence of the shock was only a moment, and the crowd went nuts soon after and cheered. Yusuke cried manly tears of happiness for the new couple. Raizo laughed and then he start chanting: "Ha-ru-to! Ha-ru-to!" Before long, the chorus repeated and followed by everyone, all voices yelled Haruto's name at the top of their lung. The whole module screamed the name Haruto as every occupants watched the scene of Haruto kissing with Saki on the screens. HARUTO! HARUTO! HARUTO!

All voice but one.

As her father let her go, Shoko's eyes widened seeing the melded lips of Tokishima Haruto and Rukino Saki.

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For Raizo's fans, worry not. I haven't given up on him. It's not just the pilots that's changed… even the mecha will also underwent some changes. You'll see.

Besides… I want all Valvraves to follow some pattern. They're all based on mystical creatures that are demonic in nature… most of them are undead or have something to do with death. Here are patterns I'm using:

Valvrave 01 – Hito – Vampire and Yatagarasu, a three legged crow deity from Japan, and Valravn, Raven of the Slain, from Danish Folklore.

Valvrave 02 – Tekka – no concrete idea yet, but it'll be in the breath of Werewolves and Crusaders.

Valvrave 03 – Hikaminari – 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and Frankenstein

Valvrave 04 – Hinowa - Succubus (or Siren) and Jourougumo (Spider bride)

Valvrave 05 – Hiuchiba – Egyptian myth (the whole preserving dead bodies for rebirth thing, you know, Mummies) and Scarabs

Valvrave 06 – Hiasobi – Witch, grim reaper, and bats

Valvrave 07 - ? – any ideas folks?

This is an interesting story. But it'll be pretty short. I think. Of course, each chapter will be long, so reading it will be satisfying. I hope.

Happy reading.