Pinpoint Conviction

Chapter 9: The Decisive Blow

Bando and his new "partner" one he sort of just pretended wasn't around were walking through the busy city streets of one of the many European cities that littered the continent. The mute girl who only spoke body movements and a few expressions followed closely behind. The burly soldier had bought her a pair of black ribbons to tie around her horn to avoid detection. Of course he too had received the information about the attack on Lilian's fleet but he brushed it aside.

This was not out of lack of regret but perhaps a regret of lacking. A great fight was going on at the sea but he regretted lacking the ability to get over there. No his duty in finding those two monsters of the world who if together could re-shape history was always his top priority. Still though the path he was taking was not necessarily a blind one.

"That idiot wants me to go over there?" He muttered when he was contacted by the blue haired Australian. He had been given a location that was far too long to walk what with them being separated by several kilometers by countries. Even driving would take several days to get there. So that left but one option.

"Ok kid listen up." He said to the five year old girl who looked up at him as they arrived at the airport. "We need to get onto one of those planes. But we can't let you get spotted. Going through customs is going to be a pain in the ass, they'll be sure to check those ribbons on your head. Make sure you keep your damn horns covered!"

He growled as the girl began to play with the black fabrics.

"Listen here kid, I got something I need to do. You wait here and keep yourself hidden." Bando turned away only to be grabbed the edge of his green coat as the girl tugged on it. She tightened her grip, not wanting him to leave her.

Bando pushed her away. "Just wait you brat! Don't you get it? We can't just get on any plane. It's going to be a pain in the ass if we get on one and end up in fucking America or something. I have to make sure the piece of shit we get on actually goes where we want."

The girl either understood or realized Bando would return because she let go of him and watched as he went into the terminal to get his information.

He returned looking absolute livid.

"Son of a bitch! Got to wait another six fucking hours!"

The little Diclonius looked at him and then opened her mouth and pointed at it.

"…Grrrr…" He gave a displeasing growl at her before his own stomach growled as well. He gave an even greater moan afterwards.

Lilian spun backwards, barely avoiding the iron strong fist from knocking her brains right out of her skull. As her body twirled in the air, she saw Garder racing at break neck speeds from underneath her. Twisting her body around was making those broken ribs sear through her but she ignored it.

She had to ignore it in this battle. A battle against the Perfect Soldier was a battle in which one could not hesitate in the slightest. Lilian was a girl who knew this well enough now. She pushed herself away with her vectors deciding to remain up in the air as she used her corporeal hands to carry herself. It would also give her time to rest her body a bit and control her pain. The more pain she was in, the harder it was for her to control her vectors.

At the same time, the ship was blasted upon by the full might of Pro-Diclonius fleet.

Lilian was on the defense now. She flew around the ship while Garder chased after her. Both of them pulled out their guns and fired at one another. Lilian's vectors deflected the shots at her while Garder's skill and abilities avoided hers. Vectors now were not meant for an offensive ability. The power to cut anything even diamonds themselves could not match up to the abilities of the old general.

That was the obvious point made ago. But Lilian could possibly win. If she could just take the ship with Garder on it and leave him with no way to escape, then even if it meant her own death it would count as a victory.

Unfortunately, life was cruel to the horned girl.

"Now…I have gotten it." Garder uttered before his hand suddenly grabbed one of the corporeal wrists with his left hand. Surprise flung across Lilian's face right as Garder roughly pulled. Vectors were still partially physical points that could be touched and interacted with.

"Guh!" Lilian's body was forced forward by the momentum of Garder pulling her forward who quickly released his hand once he felt the corporeal hand begin to slice into his body. But this was all the moment Morotisan needed. Three small orbs flew up to the girl's body and three resounding explosions was heard as the grenades detonated around her.

Her body flew through the air and crashed against the ground where her left armed was mangle and broken. She had barely landed back on her feet before Garder's left fist swung at her face. Too slow, she was too slow and disoriented to block or avoid this attack. So without a doubt, she was going to die.

But Garder jumped back right before an explosion nearly blew him apart. At this point his concentration was now directly on the ships firing at him. He gave his order to the few jets flying around. "Take them out immediately." He ordered while his body swerved passed the explosions.

Like angelic wings from a once fallen angel. The pink haired woman with the designation of Queen flew as fast as she could threw the air. Already, Kaede could see the lights of an incredible fight over the horizon. She could see small black dots in the air, flying, burning, destroying.

Then as she neared closer to the location, she heard the low whistle of something coming near here. Moving speedily to the side, she felt the anti-tank bullet pass by her. She spun around and spread her corporeal wings to look down at another fleet locked its weapons on her.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance right before they began to bombard her with a multitude of bullets, missiles and practically anything else that could be classified as a weapon. To be truthful, it was an utterly incredible assault. She imagined what would happen if humans used this kind of firepower beforehand. Needless to say, getting out of that facility would have been all but impossible.

But she was different from before. She was different from that murderous girl who slaughtered everyone because she hated her life and the people around it. Now she was not only massively more powerful than she could ever hope to dream, but she had gained friends, a family and a reason for living.

"You idiots…" She muttered in her low, cold voice, a small sneer covering her face. Having a good heart didn't mean she still wasn't prone to old customs like laughing in the face of her enemy. Some things just wouldn't change about her no matter how hard she tries.

"As if you can't take me down with that amount of firepower!"

Screaming, her vector wings exploded outwards, creating a combination of both a shield that protected her and then send out a stream of lights that bombarded the rest of the incoming attacks against her. Suddenly everything in the sky turned to dust, everything was obscured while the gunfire of the ships stopped. They could not risk hitting something that was not there and wasting ammo.

A shame because…

"Too slow!" Kaede was near the first ship, a long arm high in the air. Long may have been the wrong word, because something that is 50 meters in length is a lot more than long. She swung it down with full force. With its strength, rivaled by none, she split the ship directly in half. One of about ten fleet ships exploded in a fiery blaze. The Queen landed on the soon to be sinking wreckage while she heard the sounds of something buzzing all around her. It was ear grating to say the least and an unhelpful sign as well when the vector cancellers on each ship emerged.

That would make things hard even for her. As long as those things were around her, it didn't matter how strong her vectors were. Leaping up into the air, what was left of the broken ship was decimated by its ally's firepower. Now the girl was put on the defensive, forced to block and avoid attacks with her unable to go on the offensive.

But it occurred to her very soon that there were ways to destroy her enemies. After all, she was a woman who was pragmatic. The soldiers on board those ships must have wondered what the pink haired woman was doing when she began to dive bomb towards them. Her vectors could not break through their shields though their energy for those shields would not last forever.

So why was she…?

And then she slipped right through. The Vector Cancellers were designed to be used on vectors. That didn't mean a physical body couldn't break through. She removed her wings until she sipped through the barrier and then reformed them safely inside. Crashing into the ship's hull, denting it with her vectors, she did not leave a single moment of hesitation in her wake. She saw fear in the men's eyes when the saw her. She smiled back, it was her pitiful state that she just couldn't help but laugh when she was about to destroy her enemies. She giggled silently inside of her heart when they raised their guns whose bullets would never reach her.

"Heh, I guess I still haven't gotten over my pasts. Let's go Lucy, let's show these punk shits what happens when they aim their guns at us."

"Kill them."

Everything vanished in a haze of explosion and shower of blood and guts. Being a changed girl did not make Kaede a merciful one. She lashed out every single person that she could reach and she could reach everyone. She ripped apart the ship, tore it asunder and split it into so many pieces she lost count.

"Please! Please! Don't kill me!"

A call for mercy? She laughed; laughed in a way that she was glad Kouta or her daughter wasn't around to see her. Mercy belongs to those who actually deserve them. If this man knew anything about her, past or present, he would know she was not merciful. She couldn't be one when she trying to make a better world for her friends and family.

He died quickly though. Messily it was true, there was a lot of blood and the last scene of her demented smile would put nightmares in anyone. But he died quickly and Kaede finished her job by jumping off the ship and forming her wings.

Eight more ships to go and not one of them had landed a single hit on her. Could they even hope to stop her? Could they even hope to land a hit on her? She was the Queen of the Diclonius race, the single most powerful horned girl bar none. There was nobody in this world who could even hold a candle to her destructive capabilities.

This was why she was one of the few people who could fight Garder F. Morotisan on near equal grounds. She was one of the last hopes that they had in stopping him. As they aimed their guns once more, she decided it would be best to finish things in one blow.

Circles of light, things that appeared to made of the same structure as vectors but were much different in shape and form. She was in the air, wings out, arms and legs out, she truly looked like a shining pink haired angel now. Vectors did not have to be made of arms or take the shape of hands. Vectors could be manipulated into many different things, including her personal favorite.

Beams.

"Get out of my way you fuckers!" She cursed loudly, sending a wave of destruction down. "I don't have time to deal with all of you!"

She sent her power down, not on the ships that would reflect her vector abilities, but on the ocean. She sent a force like a bomb down as hard as she could and as fast as she could. The results were something similar to what happens when a very large object drops into the water.

In short, the ships were overcome and tossed around by the massive tsunami that was formed by her attack, capsizing them. The Vector Cancellers on each ship malfunctioned in the wake of the devastation and that was all she needed.

In the span of about 30 seconds, Queen Kaede, the strongest Diclonius and woman in the world, crushed what was left of her pitiful enemies.

At this point, Lilian wasn't even attempting to fight the old ex-General any more. She could barely concentrate as she threw herself to the side in one of the open doors as Garder was bombarded by gunfire that would take out the entire ship. As long as they were firing, she knew they had not hit him. It was insane to think a mere human could have the potential for this kind of skill and ability.

More so while doing it blind. It was not unknown to her or others of the resistance that Garder possessed a specialized serum that allowed his body to blow passed the peak of normal human endurance. Everything, strength, speed, agility, technique and even mental prowess was on a level that could hardly even be qualified as superhuman.

Originally the setback of this power was the fact that he would eventually go blind by overusing his serum. But despite this setback, through his own adept hearing he had surpassed this handicap. Even while blind, Garder's strength did not waver. One may have even said that it had gotten even stronger.

The ship rocked violently. A few more shots and it would be crushed. She along with Garder would be sunk into the depths with nothing left. She would certainly die but they would have taken out their greatest opponent in this war. The sacrifice for that would be more than worth her life in the end.

….

It was become silent. Daring to peak outside of her room, she saw Garder standing there, looking up at the sky. She could hear a few planes, obviously from his own but they didn't sound like much. She dared to step out, wondering why her men had stopped firing upon her. She had given a strict order to annihilate the entire place even if it meant killing her.

So why had they stopped?

When she stepped out, her horror was realized.

"Y-You're kidding me…" She muttered, looking around her, the last few of her fleet ships…were burning and sinking into the ground. To be honest, it wasn't like the one she was on was going to be afloat much longer either but to have the rest of her fleet decimated like that was impossible. Although Garder's air force had suffered intensive damage as well with only about 3 planes soaring through the air, it was still his victory.

"I commend you again, Lilian Cents. You are young and still inexperienced but you would have made a great leader in any army. I suppose the apple truly doesn't fall far from the tree."

She groaned while holding her body which was screaming with every fiber of her being.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I have no need to joke around girl. Your father was a man of dreadful action and disposition. He was without a doubt the single most sadistic and dangerous person I have ever known in my life. But he was a leader who despite his crazed obsessions led entire armies throughout battle. Armies that obeyed him not out of fear but out of desire and respect."

He walked towards her, each step slowly as he was breathing somewhat heavily. He might not have taken any damage but the constant movement had gotten to him. She did not run away as such a thing would have been pointless even if she tried. She bravely stood her ground and just glared at him. If her body wasn't in so much pain, she'd have brought out her arms as well.

His fist flew out and headed towards her face in a few seconds it took for him to sprint across the derelict ship. She clenched her teeth and awaited the killing attack. Something did hit, very loud like a sonic boom which caused her ears to ring out. It was very painful so when she closed her eyes on instinct she automatically assumed she had died.

"Not bad…" A curt voice, confident and once filled with sadism said. "That's what I expect from you, putting up this much of a fight."

She opened her eyes, slowly, still believing some of her brain matter had been punched out of her skull. In front of her was strands of pink, flowing wildly in the salty wind. A woman of breathtaking beauty and power that rivaled few to none. The woman's hand was out, fingers stretched as a wall of corporeal energy ran between her and Garder's fist which was bleeding between the fingers.

Kaede grinned and looked back over to Lilian who collapsed on her knees, perhaps from pain, shock or both.

"So now let's let me have a little crack at this." The wind, a hurricane like wind blew around, rushing everywhere while Lilian covered her head, crying with surprise while the old man remained unperturbed.

"My men failed to stop you." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"Yeah, wasn't much of a theat. Compared to you it isn't like there are many people who can stand up to my strength. Garder…" her smiled dropped and she became deadly serious. "I'm going to take you down and save this world."

"Kill her…" Garder ordered, snapping his fingers. But even before the jets could fire one bullet, three hands flew out. High into the sky, the snatched the pilots out of their cockpits and crushed each one. She did with ease, so easily that Lilian was left speechless.

Morotisan kept his hand in the air for a few seconds and then lowered it, his face curt, stern and emotionless.

"Get away from here, get inside one of the rooms and stay there. I'll handle this." The pink haired woman ordered.

"You should just take this entire place down Kaede. Crush it completely along with him! I don't care if I die in the end, just take that bastard out!" Lilian screeched.

The young woman mused it in her head and laughed. "Hahahaha! Not a bad idea but I won't let you die. I can't let the important people around me die any more…SHIT!"

She cursed loudly and instinctively brought her vectors out to defend against Garder's assault. This was different from his fight with Lilian. Garder was putting in a lot more offensive attacks into his body as he began to slam his fists into Kaede's vector defenses. He did not once relent, harder, pushing his muscles until…

*Crack*…*Crrriiik*

"Fuck!" Kaede thought. "He's actually breaking through my vectors!? Crap!" She tried to move away, to take into the air but he would not relent his pursue of her. Vectors could pass through anything, even if it was diamond itself. But they were unable to block extremely heavy power and the weight behind Garder's fist was something to behold.

Of course Garder had changed his directive now that Kaede had arrived. This was one of the few people who had the firepower to take him on in a fight. Especially in this environment, if he allowed that woman to get into the air, he was done for.

But he would keep her on this ground, on this ship that was going to sink soon.

"God dammit! Get out of the way!" The girl screeched, a wave of light flashing towards the Perfect Soldier. Avoided but it was hopefully enough to get Garder off her back for just a moment to fly towards Lilian and pick her up. But as she came to her, saw Garder's foot flying towards her head.

*CLASH!*

The heel of his boot smashed into her vector and once again she was on the defensive.

Punch. Punch. Punch. Punch.

He threw each punch out and slammed it into Kaede's defenses, creating cracks into her walls while simultaneously avoiding her strikes. This was not her kind of fight right now. Kaede's destructive power was what gave her the edge. Fighting in close combat with Garder was not to her advantage. The only reason she could last was because her defenses were so spectacular. But Garder could use that weakness to his advantage. He could use the advantage that Kaede had in wanting to project Lilian and save her.

"Kaede-sama! Just take him out! Forget about me and get in the air! With your power you should be able to do it!" The girl with the beaten body cried out and begged with all of her heart.

Kaede clenched her teeth as hard as she could. It was true, in the air she had the advantage and with her destructive power, she could win this fight. But that woman who once killed dozens of innocent lives in the past could not bear to lose another person close to her. Lilian was that girl that she had become friends with, along with Caren, Elrya and Miriana. Already two of those close friends from that educational institution were dead.

She could not bear to lose another.

"I can't…" She growled. "I won't let you die or be some kind of martyr!"

"This is Garder F. Morotisan. Requesting back up and immediate evacuation." Garder said into his head piece as he continued his assault on Kaede who said those words to Lilian.

"Enough of this shit!" Kaede yelled with utter fury. This time she put on the offensive. She lashed out with her arms, more and more and though he dodged, though not one hit him. He was put on the defensive and forced away while Kaede did everything she could to make this count. Yet her opponent would not done even with all this pressure on him.

*CRRRAAAACK!*

Something loud sounded. This wasn't because of either Garder or Kaede. Instead the entire ship had now been split right in half. At this moment Garder could only race towards his enemy and avoid the hands as before. Kaede could do nothing else but hold him off for a few more seconds and hopefully take victory.

Fingers tightening around a small orb, Kaede put her hands in front of her face on instinct and as the explosion from the grenade rattled her face.

"Fuck!"

Lilian was on the move by the time Kaede let out her screech. This might have been her last chance to help. She didn't know if it would work but at this moment, it was her only option. Kaede blew the wind and smoke out of her face and then swung her body around when she didn't see Garder in front of her.

Too slow!

*BASH!*

Her defenses barely kept his fist from breaking her stomach open. But it was enough to catch the Queen of the Diclonius off guard and she felt another fist slam into her face. Blood splattered from her mouth and nose.

"Don't you dare give up you bitch! I didn't teach you give up after that!" Lucy screamed inside of her head.

"AAAARRRRRGH!"

Garder responded to Kaede's primal roar and the swing of her vector with a silent but deadly straight hook that would now truly take off the woman's head. It would be over in a flash, over in the moment because he knew he was faster. He was faster and that was all that mattered. Even Kaede with her eyes widening knew her vector would not reach him before his fist reached her.

She managed to survive the first punch but she would not survive the second one. Even though she screamed and put in all of her strength and speed into her vector, she was going to lose.

She was going to die.

She was going to…

"Ah!?"

Had Garder ever shown true shock and surprise like that before? When a young Diclonius named Lilian Cents grasped his body from behind without his notice, was this the first time that Garder F. Morotisan had been truly caught off guard. If this was not a miracle on itself, the next one would be.

"DO IT NOW!" Lilian cried out. She could only use her normal strength to hold Garder. Her normal strength which was bloodied and about to collapse. Garder could easily break free from this hold He pulled away with ease as well. But this moment would not go to waste. Because that young girl named Lilian had given Kaede just enough time.

*SLASH!*

Blood flew from Garder's body along with the rubble of the ship that flew into the sky as Kaede's vector slashed through the hull of the massive fleet ship and right down to the bottom. Even Garder could not withhold his shock when his left arm was sent hurtling into the air as the vector cut his arm straight off from the elbow.

Kaede's vector may have hit something. Because in that moment, everything disappeared in a flash of light and one hell of an explosion came afterwards. At that point, anything left of the ship that the three were on, was ablaze and sent into the sea.

Author's Note: It's been a while since I got a chapter in here. But here it is and I hope you all enjoy it. I can't say when the next chapter will be released but hopefully soon. Thanks for reading, please R&R.