Halbert flew in the sky and watched around him. He made sure that no one find out where Jackknife lived. He did this for most of the day without any events except when he crossed path with Ironchain who told him that he finally made a decision for his partner and will announce it tonight.

He looked at his back and the empty space was a little boring for Halberd. He liked when Hanako was on his back, flying with him. It was enjoyable and fun to speak with her.

"Tomorrow is another Sunday and we'll fly together," Halberd said with a smile.

Unknown to him, he was watched by three peoples.

"Did you note his usual routine female tool?" Gallows asked Sofia. His body was now completely healed and the hole in his chest was gone.

"I took notes of it Gallows. He always does the same routine every day, with or without the girl. Because she goes to school and is often with her brother Gao, she isn't with him unless it is Sunday when she doesn't have school," Sofia replied without emotions.

"But. It's a little girl Gallows. You could just eliminate him al- GWAH!" Shido yelled when he saw the claws of Gallows near his face.

"She's Gao's little sister. I will hurt Gao's for being the source of my pain. Sha!" Gallows yelled at the boy who cowered in fear, "That way. He'll be back for me, his heart searching for revenge with his vision and judgement clouded. It will be easier to eliminate them. After this, we'll target Zanya's little brother."

Shido nodded quietly while Sofia replied, "We'll do you're cowardly method then."

Gallows grumbled at the remark and flew closer to her face, "You want your life to end here?"

Sofia remained unemotional as she replied, "Not really, but you will be less efficient in haunting Findar."

Gallows grumbled before crossing his arms. He had nothing to counter-argue her. He just said, "Bitch."

Chapter 17: Halberd, Guardian Of Hanako

Sunday morning came and Halberd was already awakened. He sat on the ground a cleaned his face.

The family and the dragons had their usual breakfast and the dragons ate with great appetite. The unusual became normal, which made Halberd smile.

Once everyone's stomach was full, Gao went with Drum to search with Jackknife. Axia returned to his work at the dojo for the little time he had before Suzumi needed it.

Ironchain said to Halberd, "Have fun with Hanako," before starting his search.

Hanako walked near Halberd and smiled, "Are you ready Halberd?"

Hanako looked at Suzumi and asked, "Do we have the permission to go?"

"Of course. Just be careful and run away if you crossed the path with Findar," Suzumi replied.

"I won't put Hanako in danger, but if something happen, I'll protect her with everything I have," Halberd replied as he took his hear form. Hanako climbed on his back and the dragon flew outside.

Suzumi watched her daughter flying with Halberd. She lightly smiled, "I have get ready. The dojo will open soon. I hope Axia won't overuse his time."

Halberd flew in the sky with Hanako on his back. He felt her arms around his throat. It was another uneventful flight for the two.

"How's it going at your school?" Halberd asked the girl.

"It's doing alright. I've done my homework already so we'll be together longer," she replied to him.

Halberd smiled and said, "I'm glad you did. Are you ready? We are going to fly higher in the sky. Hang on!"

He felt the hands of Hanako tightened around his throat. He used the muscles of his wings to fly higher, but saw something at the corner of his eyes. He gasped when he saw a dark vine coming at him. He immediately used his wings to break and the saw the vines passing in front of him. He heard Hanako made a light scream when he suddenly stopped and told himself that he'll apology later.

Halberd grunted and landed on a tall building. He took Hanako and put her on the ground and ordered, "Hide. Something dangerous is closed by."

Hanako nodded and hid somewhere.

Halberd raised his arm and summoned his spear in his hands and waited for his opponent to come.

Sha. Sha. Sha.

Halberd wondered who said that when he saw a skeletal being landing on the ground, alone. Halberd recognised the description given by Gao and Drum.

"You are still alive Gallows," Halberd grunted.

"Sha. Sha. Sha. I am not a fragile human being," Gallows giggled. His purple eyes frowned before continuing, "I think you know why I'm here."

Halberd didn't look at Hanako or he might give the Dark monster where she was, "You are here to kill me."

Gallows raised his skeletal claw and replied, "Sha. Sha. You and her."

Halberd shouted furiously, "Leave her alone! She had nothing to do with this!"

Gallows chuckled loudly before countering Halberd, "She had everything to do with this. Her brother and the dragon drilled my heart into pieces. So killing her will be a little payback before the finally I had for them."

Halberd growled loudly as he summoned his spear and pointed at the face of Gallows, "A fiend like you only deserve a permanent death!"

Gallows chuckled loudly before saying, "Sorry, but I don't do permanent dead. Sha. Sha."

Halberd charged and tried to pierce the head of Gallows, but the dark monster blocked it with his skeletal hand.

"I am fighting with all my might right now!" Gallows yelled.

"That won't be enough!" Halberd yelled back.

The Commander of the police force was reading a report on his chair when he heard,

"Commander! We have an unidentified being situation on the roof of an hotel," one policeman said.

"Put it on the screen right now," he ordered. The image appeared and they saw a dragon fighting a skeletal monstrosity, "Check the schedule and see if anything like that was planned anywhere," Commander said.

"Already done sir. There's nothing about it anywhere. It's a real biped dragon fighting that thing," a policewoman replied.

"The helicopter will soon activate the audio record. We will soon hear what they are talking about," one policeman said.

The policewoman typed on her computer and said, "I already ordered an isolation of the sector so the helicopter news won't cause even more trouble."

They saw the skeletal monster piercing the flank of the dragon with his claw. The sound came right at the moment the dragon yelled, "-ARGH!-"

"This isn't any kind of fight. They are clearly fighting to the dead," the Commander said as he corrected his glasses, "Any intervention will cost the life of the force. Remain on stationary for now until the situation asked us to act."

Halberd screamed painfully before he used his spear to trap the hand on the ground. He spun around himself and kicked the face of Gallows. He used his tail to throw his spears in the air, grabbed it and pierced the dark chest of the monster, between two ribs.

Gallows screamed and grabbed the face of the dragon. He violently threw him on the ground before vine came out of his back and pierced the scales of the dragon. Halberd jumped away before the second impact came and panted.

"Halberd!" he heard yelling behind him.

Halberd eyes widened before ordering, "Stay hidden Hanako!"

"Come out Hanako. Sha. Sha. Prepare to meet your end," Gallows replied as his eyes grinned.

Hanako didn't come out, to the relief of Halberd and the annoyance of Gallows.

"Fine. I'll play with you later little one," Gallows said before using his vine to strike again.

Halberd was ready and spun his spear. He destroyed the vine before it hit him and grabbed one of the thorns with his tail and threw it back. It pierced the stomach of Gallows and black blood came out of his wound.

"How can you be stronger than the two other's I fought?" Gallows asked, not believing what was happening.

"I am much older than Drum and that Tsukikage. I fought more than one war you know," Halberd replied before charging his spear with electricity, "Prepare to die! Thunder Strike!"

Gallows saw he didn't have time to dodge it. He grinned as he turned into his chibi form and the attack passed over him. Once the thunder was gone, he returned to his real form.

"You missed!" Gallows yelled before calling a darkness ball in his hand. He threw it at Halberd who dodged it. Gallows grinned as he turned one of his hands into a fist and smacked the palm of the other one. The ball of darkness reappeared in front of Halberd.

Halberd was hit right on his face and was thrown backward. He bounced on the ground before rolling around himself until he stopped, near the end of the room.

His spellcards flew away from their spot and landed near Hanako hideout.

"Halberd!" Hanako yelled, running out of her hiding spot and stopped hear him.

"Hanako...You should have remained...hidden," he painfully replied.

"You're hurt!" She yelled again as she put her hand on the dragon's blood spilling on the ground.

The police forces watched the event in front of their eyes.

"-But you are not. That's more important,-" the dragon replied as he tried to stand up.

The commander watched this and knew the dragon had a kind heart. He knew the dragon spoke the true out of his mouth when he saw him smiling at the little girl.

"That dragon doesn't seem evil...Are you sure we cannot help him?" a policeman asked.

"We can't. You saw that fiend attack," The commander replied.

"-Sha. Sha. Sha. You are finally out of your hiding spot. Let me end your existence, so your brother know suffering too girl,-" the monster said.

The dragon walked in front of her and said, "-You will not hurt her! You'll have to pass over my corpse!-"

"-Good idea,-" Gallows joyfully replied before charging toward him.

"This is the end," Commander said, crisping and strongly grabbing the handles of his chair.

Hanako let out one tear as she raised a card in her hand. She knew how to do it, she saw her brother practicing often, "Leave Halberd alone you monster! Green Dragon Shield!"

Gallows hit the shield and grunted painfully when one of his claws broke and felt on the ground. He backed away and glared, "Still surviving hum? Let's end this. Sha. Sha."

He called another ball of darkness and threw it toward Halberd.

Halberd knew Hanako couldn't use the shield again. It took a while for the card to recharge and they didn't have time to wait 30 seconds. He raised his spear and prepared to block it when they heard.

"Time for magic yo! Send this little gift back to the expeditor!" a voice said.

The ball of darkness suddenly came the other way. Gallows yelled surprised just before it hit his chest and send him away. He was suddenly stopped when he was grabbed around his throat by pink arms.

"I hope you are ready. This is Asmodai special suplex. Meteor Suplex!" Asmodai yelled before doing it and crashed the head of Gallows on the ground.

Gallows tried to free himself, but noticed his horns were stuck on the ground. He used the vine to free himself. He didn't have a chance to act that chains grabbed his body and squeezed him.

"You dear hurt my friend and a tried to kill a child! Unforgivable!" Ironchain yelled before charging. He used his knee and violently hit the skull of Gallows and crashed him on the roof of the building again.

Gallows furiously yelled and broke the chain. He didn't have time to do anything that Asmodai appeared and violently punched the dark monster stomach.

"Sha!" Gallows yelled before seeing lightning coming at him. "AH!" he screamed when he was electrocuted.

Smoke came out of his body. He didn't have time to recuperate that Ironchain kicked his throat and Asmodai punched his chest, between his ribs.

Gallows was enraged and was about to use all his power when he saw the spear coming at him. It pierced his left eye and was stuck there, "Argh!" he yelled before grabbing it and throwing it away. His vision was reduced to the right. He wanted so much to destroy them right now, but knew he would only die. He tried to escape when chains grabbed his throat and squeezed it.

"You won't go anywhere! Dangers of this world like you only deserve death!" Ironchain shouted.

Gallows panicked as the embrace of death was coming when darkness suddenly envelop him, he chuckled loudly and said, "You will all die another time!"

Gallows suddenly disappeared, at the fury of the dragons and the demon.

"Halberd!" Hanako hugged Halberd leg and cried, "I...I thought you gonna die!"

Halberd made his spear disappeared and put his hand on her head, "Don't worry Hanako. I didn't intent to die."

Asmodai grabbed his partner Tetsuya and said, "We'll check around in case that monster remained around."

"Before that yo!" Tetsuya said grabbing another card. The card shined and the body of Halberd healed. Once he was healed, Asmodai and Tetsuya leaved them alone.

Halberd grabbed Hanako and hugged her, "There is no reason to cry another Hanako. I'm alright, just like you are."

"But-" Hanako felt someone putting his hand on her head.

"Do not worry Hanako. Halberd is strong and never lies. He was as much worried then you. If you keep crying, you'll make him worried for you even more."

Hanako wimped, but she eventually stopped crying. She didn't say anything else.

"We'll talk about it later Hanako. We should go home," Halberd replied.

"Not now. Look," Ironchain said pointing at the helicopter.

"We'll have to lose them first," Halberd replied.

They both flew away from the helicopter.

The police force listened to everything they said before the dragons flew away.

"We shall follow-" the policeman was about to say.

"Let them go. They know we saw them and will escape us," the Commander said.

"Alright," the policeman replied.

The Commander stood up and said, "I shall give a report on this event. Then, we will have to enter in communication with them. Big things are going on and we need to know what it is."

"Yes sir!" the police force replied.

Commander walked away.

Sofia and Shido watched the dragon flying away.

"Why did you save him?" Sofia asked. She turned toward Shido and added, "You could have been free of him."

"What if he survived this time again and is really infuriated? He would kill us!" Shido cowardly replied.

"He's right Sofia. I might have killed you. Because I would survive without any trouble. Sha. Sha. Sha," Gallows said appearing by the side of Shido in his chibi form. He grabbed Shido and pat the cheek of the boy with his own, "I didn't know you would save me. You like me right? Or maybe you have the...Stockholm syndrome for me? Sha. Sha. Sha."

"No I don't," Shido replied.

"I knew I was right to bring you there in case things turned wrong," Gallows said as black blood felt out of his left eye.

"We should go. The police is watching and might find us," Sofia said before walking away.

Gallows continued patting Shido cheek as he said, "You know tool. Saving me put me in a good mood. I'm still enraged to lose again, but no punishment for you. Let's go to your house and make me some Takoyaki. Spicy this time."

Shido thought back and wondered if it was better to rescue Gallows or let him die or get gravely injured again. It was too late to regret anyway. He sighted and followed Sofia before the helicopter saw them.

AC: This is the end of chapter 17. I hope you like the fight. Yep, Gallows got really hurt again and is really pissed off.

I wonder how you like the fight. You can leave a review and the next chapter will come out sooner.

Chapter 18: Next Step.

The direct consequence of Gallows action for the dragons.

Chapter 19: The Horrible Test Of Jackknife Part 1.

Discover how much Jackknife is ready to go just to save Tasuku.