Pinpoint Conviction

Chapter 6: Drawing Near To Destruction

"I hope things are alright back at the S.S. Diclonius." A young fair haired Lilian thought while she watched the ocean glisten before her eyes. The sun was high above the sky, the weather was timid and the winds light. The Captain and horned girl of the ship was heading northwards to Europe to meet up with some allies near the European sea. This meant that protection for the S.S. Diclonius was increased to prevent attacks.

The plan was simple, receive new supplies and details from Europe. Then return back to base as per protocol. The Diclonius sighed with her hands behind her back, the cap on her head blocking out the rays of the sun. Luckily there had not been any problems since their departure. Ever since she had defeated the Anti-Diclonius Vessel things had remained peaceful. But peace only remained for so long, they would return again and with tougher weapons at that.

The journey to Europe by ship though would take several days, even more so when it came to the point that they couldn't just head anywhere.

Lilian reached inside her pockets and pulled out a lonely silver coin. The one and currently only memento of her father.

*Clack* *Clack* *Clack*

The sound of those heavy footsteps echoed in the large white building of Director Garder F. Morotisan location. His brown coat fluttered behind him and he opened up the doors to head into the central room where several computers and screes were showing different images of pieces of data.

"Report…" He uttered.

"We received information that ex-Director Kakuzawa has been released from his prison by Dr. Kurama. We believe they're taking him to their base."

"Kakuzawa huh?" Garder muttered with a nod of his head and closing his eyes. "I'm surprised Kaede would want to bring him with her. We both know the relationship he has with her kind. However…" Garder mused. "It may not have been a foolish idea."

"Why is that sir?" A woman spoke out.

"Kakuzawa is many things, arrogant and egotistical, but he is the one who created the entire Diclonius research facility in the first place. Let us be frank, there is nobody in this world who knows more about the Diclonius than the man who once fervently believed himself to be one before. The knowledge he's accumulated in these long years would be vital to them.

Hm! Perhaps I was the fool to not bring him along with me." Garder admitted to his own mistake. He never thought Kakuzawa would have been that useful to him. Or at the very least he felt he would be more of a liability.

"What's going on in Europe?" He finally asked.

"Reports of killings by Kiriashu Onyara, several dead. She escaped though and we don't know where her last appearance has been. The same thing with Lagusa, no sign of her sister at all. The man called Bando is still searching for as well."

"I see…" Garder responded back nodding again. "This may be the only time our objectives are the same as Kaede's. We want Onyara and Lagusa killed as much as they do. Find out where Bando is and deliver some supplies to him."

A murmur of shock ran through the group.

"Don't act so shocked." Garder added in his low tone. "I already told you, as far as Onyara and her sister is concerned, we have the same goal."

"Understood sir, we'll get supplies to him as soon as we can. Meanwhile it would appear Lilian and her team are heading back to Europe. We can't tell why but it may be to bring supplies back to the group. Should we intercept her?"

Garder thought about it before agreeing.

"That would be good. But the last attack on her ship did not go well. The fleet she had destroyed our offensive but now…" He added "…Her defenses have weakened since most of her fleet should be protecting Kaede's group. Along with myself taking her down will be easier."

So Garder would be attack Lilian's ship and small fleet heading to Europe. The troubles that would cause were bound to be catastrophic. But Garder had to hear a few more pieces of information before he left.

"We haven't found much contact with Roy Synth either. Apparently he and another militia group were last seen somewhere in Spain at the time. All things are going good with the Anti-Diclonius defense system in Japan as well."

Garder as before nodded. He wasn't surprised to hear about the lack of information on Roy. Nor was he surprised and rightfully glad to hear about Japan. Japan was the centerfold for his anti-Diclonius technology. Take that down and it would be a shattering wound to his plan on taking out the Diclonius race. Japan was not only his greatest spot on Anti-Diclonius technology, it was also his greatest military power against the horned humans as well.

But there was another thing he wanted to know.

"Have you found any reports on Vladimir Cents?"

"…No sir." The woman stated.

That man would be a real problem if he came out and did anything without them knowing. It was like trying to catch a ghost, gratingly difficult. The only thing Morotisan knew was that at some point, be it in now or in the future, that man would make his move. The worst part about it was that there was no way to actually read his movements at all. Because Vladimir Cents was a man who did not follow a simple patter of logic and reason. That's what made him dangerous, because he was so chaotic in his way of doing things. But Garder's anxiety wasn't only for himself, he knew the others would be as anxious as he was.

This meant that there were four groups total in this war. There was his side who fought to kill Diclonius. There was Kaede's side who sought to save everyone and defeat him. There was Onyara and Lagusa who sought to change the world for their own and destroy humanity in the process.

"So…" Garder thought. "What do you want now, Cents? There is nobody around here who knows your mind better than I do. They may call you insane and the thing is, they wouldn't be too far off. You were always talking about your own desires to make the world suffer perfectly. So what are you doing now in these long years that you've been hidden?"

The thoughts could only be answered by more questions.

"Everyone! Stand together and keep attacking!" The voice came from a young man, in his mid 30s. He was a relatively tall man with bright blue hair and a pair of black jeans. His shirt as well sat he jeans that he roar were ripped to reds and one of his arms was missing. But the arm had nothing to do with taking damage.

A battle was roaring in a small, relatively obscured town in Spain. Bullets flew around, bombs exploded and the smell of rust, iron and blood soaked the air. A group of armed soldiers ran across the war torn street, guns blazing out. Behind a red car, the enemy returned fire as those at the top of a uninteresting looking building rained fire down on them.

A shot to the head on both sides, two casualties for both but the fight pressed on. The man with the bright blue hair urged his team to move on. To crush the forces before them and complete their objective.

This man was Roy Synth. The leader of the European Pro Diclonius Alliance and the husband of Kaede and father of Kanae. Years ago he had lost both of his arms and had learned to amazingly cope without them for years. A few years before though, he had gotten new prosthetics.

His left arm was gone, replaced by what appeared to be a mechanical cannon like object that was charging up widely. He aimed at the building of the enemies in front of him and took aim. All the while, around his body zipping like flies were bullets. This was the specialized power of the man simply known as "The Sniper." He controlled about 20-30 bullets with his own mental capability, the round objects flying around him and attacking like hoards of stinging bees. While not as powerful as they would be if they had the kinetic force from the actual gun to be fired, they were strong enough to the point that they'd get the job done anyways.

It also meant that he had a 360 degree range of his bullets. If one thought about it, was similar to Onyara's vein's with her ability to control her powers directly away from her body. Roy's however had far more distance.

But his second weapon was his arm, built into him during his days as a member of the group called "Cents" it was high powered sound cannon and it was fully charged.

*BOOM!*

A flash of white light a rushing wind shot from Roy's arm that crashed into the building before him. All sound was erased for a few seconds so that even somebody standing right next to the destruction of the structure wouldn't have heard a single thing. The ears weren't ringing, the eardrums were fine. Everyone's ears were perfectly alright besides those directly in front of the blast. But all sound was gone for those few seconds. It was like watching a colorful silent movie, one could only imagine the sounds that were emerging.

But time came and the sounds returned like they did before. The enemy began to retreat and cheers from Roy's group exploded at their victory. The blue haired man, covered in soot and a few bloody marks, though remarkably well off otherwise slid down the rocky hill to the small burning town that was currently being worked on by his team. There had been little causalities thankfully and only because of idiots who didn't know how to leave a place when a battle was ongoing. His destination, a prison holding what was believed to be 30 or so horned girls for execution.

The place was grimy and the girls were trapped behind reinforced steel. There was also wires attached to the bodies which he inferred kept them from using their vectors. One couldn't trap a Diclonius without special preparations.

"What do you want!?" One of them called out in thick Spanish.

"I'm here to save you." Roy replied smiling and speaking Spanish as well but having a distinct Australian accent to it. "Who do you think just ended up getting rid of your guards?" The girls weren't so truth worthy to believe him, at least until he broke their restrains and helped them up. Roy did keep an eye on them, and he kept his guard up. Any one of them could feel threatened and attack him without provocation. It was best to get their trust first.

"My name's Roy Synth. I'm part of a military group to help your kind, on orders from my dear wife and your Queen, Kaede."

"Kaede?" The name sounded out. "The Queen?"

"That's right. We're going to bring you over to the others. But we have to get to the waters first. Can you all move?" He asked putting genuine kindness into his voice. They could though their bodies were dirty and their clothes tattered as well. Cleaning them up would have to wait though unfortunately.

"Why are you helping us?"

"Why?" Roy asked while grinning. "You know what happened the first time I met some of you girls? You tore off my arm." They looked at his missing one. "And then another one of you girls ripped off the other arm. You could probably see why I might feel a tiny ounce of distrust to you all. But I've gotten older, learned to know more about your kind and hey look at me now. Married to the Queen of the Diclonius herself and I even have a cute daughter back at home. I lost a lot of things in my life before. My limbs, my first wife, my son. But thanks to Kaede and your kind I've finally gotten something I can fight for. You might be a bit obnoxious at times…"

He received some cold looks.

"...But I have no intention on seeing your kind getting wiped off the planet. I can understand Garder's plight. It's not often that we see someone who is fighting for a good cause. We can't even call his cause wrong or anything he just wants to protect humanity and sees your kind as something so dangerous that if he doesn't humanity will get taken off. Even so, I can't let him win. Let's just say the fond memories I have of your kind outweigh the negative ones. That's while I'll do everything in my power to protect all of you."

Those words, honest to the core were what finally made the girls trust him.

"Please follow my men and do what they say. I can promise that none of them will hurt you. Please if you can help them along the way. You girls are strong and as much as people might claim you to be the bane of human existence, I know if we work together we can make things fit together."

Roy left the girls to his men as he set off in the direction of where he had last heard of one of his old friends.

"I wonder what that warmonger is up to now." He thought as he smirked, an image of the burly sunglasses wearing man in his head. A low rumble shook in his pockets. So even after all that his phone was still working. The technology they had these day.

"Hello." He called over, firstly in English.

"Huh? Papa?"

"Oh I'm sorry Kanae." Roy switched back to Japanese when he heard the cute voice of his five year old daughter. The little girl was holding the phone with both hands to her ears. "Are you calling to say hi?" He asked in a rather childish voice that he wouldn't have used elsewhere.

"Yes I am papa!" Kanae responded, glad to hear her father's voice. She never got to see her father often but she did get to talk to him whenever she had the chance. "Are you still helping people?"

"You know I am! It's good to hear from you Kanae, daddy loves you."

"I love you too papa! Oh Kalana wants to talk to you also!"

Anyone who didn't understand would've wondered who Kanae was talking about when it appeared she was talking again. "Papa!"

Roy Synth knew about the internal voice of the Diclonius and his daughter. It was only right that he remained a father to both sides of his daughter.

"Kalana! How is my girl doing!"

"I'm doing wonderful papa!" Though speaking, the mental structure was that of her biological voice Kalana. Her voice was slightly higher pitched as well and she seemed really excited. "I've been really good papa. I've kept myself under control and I'm always listening to Anna sensei!"

"Good job Kalana! I'm incredibly proud of you right now."

Kalana giggled happily at being praised. Roy was glad to know that something that was supposed to desire the death of humanity, could sound and act so happily around humans themselves.

"Mama brought someone new!" The five year old voice of Kalana said.

"Really?" Roy asked. "Who?"

"I don't know. It was some really old man in a suit and everyone else gave him this really angry look."

"Old man?" Roy questioned, trying to think who she could be talking about.

"Yeah! He was this really old man, and he was really mean also I think. I know I'm not supposed to say this but…" The little girl whispered silently on the phone. "I really didn't like him either."

"Ah ha…" Roy muttered. "Dear, can you put your mother on the phone?"

"She's talking to the old man right now." Kalana answered.

"Oh. Do you know the name of this man?"

"I think his name was…" Kalana thought as hard as he could. "…Kakuzawa!"

"…"

Roy remained silent for a few seconds.

"Kalana-chan." Roy replied in an overly cute manner as he tried to hide his ire. "Give the phone to your mother please."

"Huh? Ok papa…" She handed her phone to her mother who was in…conversation…if one called it that with the old man Kakuzawa.

"Yes?" Kaede replied.

"Hello dear, what are you doing with that jackass?"

"Ah Roy!" Kaede happily responded hearing the voice of her husband. "Things going well over there? Oh him? Y-Yeah we had some issues and we needed the help and…bye." Kaede quickly hung up the phone and tossed it back to her daughter.

Roy sighed. He hoped Kaede knew what she was doing bringing that man on board.

"Director Morotisan!"

Garder walked calmly across the air strip, a few jets soaring over his head. The person who greeted him was a military captain who saluted his arrival. The plan had already been set before. He was going to attack Lilian's fleet that was to arrive in Europe and take it down for good. But Garder thought that instead of sending another fleet at them, attacking them from the air would be a better idea.

"Is everything set as I have asked?"

"Yes sir." The captain answered back. "It'll take about two hours to get the final touches ready but after that we'll be ready to leave at your command."

"Good. Get your team ready and prepare them for battle. We are going to take out Lilian's fleet. At the same time do not underestimate them. She's already taken out one of the vector crafts. But we are going to win…and we are going to take that girl and her fleet out for good."

Those words were not just those of moral support for his team.

They were a conviction.

Author's notes: Sorry for the wait everyone, been incredibly busy but here is the next chapter. It's our favorite armless Australian.