Author's Notes: Thank you guys for the reviews here, (especially Shelter, really good help, thanks) and I sincerly apologise for the lateness of this chapter due to a lot of things, but this has quality at the maximum I can give in this chapter to make up for it. An Epilogue is to follow this and chapters 3 and 4 will be revised and re-done. So in the words of Luquid Snake "It's not over yet!" (Metal Gear Solid reference)

Awakening of the Beast within

Gray's control of his Yoki was diminishing, his entire body shivered and shook as he forced his Yoki to stop rising, this was the moment he had feared since his training. He breathed heavily, his Yoki at the final limit. He was looking at the ground, still on his knees, he gripped the wet soil below him as he struggled to keep his humanity, The strength of his will was tested. All he could feel was an intense pain throughout his body, enough to make any lesser man yell in pain.

Flaring golden eyes looked up on instinct to see Rika had been knocked from her feet and Eira was moving to Serenity. With an expression of fear, he watched as Serenity and Eira clash. Shaking and struggling to hold back, he watched as Serenity made the first strike, a point-blank range shot of one of the spiked rods to the forehead. "damn it!" he shouted in a roar filled with rage from the very fires of hell itself. Gray blinked to see his dying comrade's claymore cut through Serenity's head from the throat, but Eira's death was inevitable, he could do nothing to save her.

Serenity's death was quick, she gave one last sly grin as she died, although death had found her, she died knowing it was only a matter of time before Gray would awaken. All life drained out of her as her lifeless body fell to the floor. Gray could only watch as Eira stood for mere seconds and looked at him. He could only look in her eyes as she told him she hated him. He could not blame her, he had as good as killed her, although he could read past her eyes that said different.

"This hunt,,,it didn't have to happen this way! I....cannot be forgiven....everyone close to me has died right front of in my eyes, and I was the cause of their deaths. the only friends I had as a child, my parents, my comrades…Meryl...and now Eira!" he struggled to say, his voice deep, that of a monster. Rage was now almost in control. " I am a monster! always was, my existence is as they said, I am just another tool that's ended its time of use and needs to be disposed of. " He looked in Rika's direction, she was still alive.

"I guess the organization was right about me. I must die." his sanity was thin, even he knew that and he hoped Rika could hear him. "RIKA!"

A heavy blow to the stomach from Serenity, prior to her death, had thrown Rika away from the battlefield and straight into a tree, temporarily stunning her. Nevertheless she got to her feet, It took her some time to recover, but she did not give up. Gray was in a critical state, she couldn't let him die or lose himself now. Although he was near awakening, Rika didn't abandon h him and raised her own yoki to fifty percent to get near him quickly, and knock him unconscious, believing that doing so would stop his awakening, before his yoki would explode and he would awaken. She headed to him with speed worthy of her rank and attempted a spin kick that would put him out She was too late.

Unfortunately her kick landed the moment before Gray awakened. It wasn't enough for her to knock him out or barely injure him. The surge of power blasted Rika away and from the dust that came a new shape could be distinguished.

His entire skin had become a hardened metallic black caraprace with a slight tinge of crimson. His form was still somewhat humanoid but skeletal by appearance, insect-like with a resemblance to a Xenomorph, an Alien. He now stood at seven and a half feet tall with thin arms that sported extremely sharp spikes pointed outwards, these seemed strong enough to penetrate another easily. The arms were significantly longer than that of a human's and ended in deadly claws that appeared to be slightly larger than a Yoma's. The blades at the ends of these claws were sharp enough to penetrate an armoured human with ease with the right strength behind them. His clawed feet were straight and skeletal. However they had shorter claws too. His head was now an elonginated shape that was heavily armoured with a face that spoke of only a beast. A Monster. The beast that once was Gray also sported a long, segmented tail with a curved blade from the second half of the tail to it's end. Which appeared to be metallic and was extremely sharp. A thin yet wide mouth and clear thin white eyes opened at the front of its face. The creature let out a deafening screech that even shook the Single Digit before it. Yet she did not show any signs of faltering.

Gray was obliviously out of control but Rika could only attempt to persuade him at least. Deep down emotions raced. She stayed calm. Not realising Gray was no more.

"You must be pretty angry now, big boy, for that… well kick. Calm down. I don't want to kill you, in your current state you are not even a challenge for me at fifty percent," Though Rika tried to talk to Gray he didn't show any sign of understanding a thing she said. She would learn soon enough how much she had underestimated Gray.

She then tried to continue but Gray was already out of control. She thought she could handle Gray at fifty percent but when she tried to dodge his attack the difference in speed was clear. Gray had the edge here and managed to tear her left arm completely to the bone in one swipe. Realizing this she though of something as complex as she did before and twice as risky. She headed for Gray as he charged at her. It was a battle of sentience against primal instinct.

"Though it seems I underestimated your speed, you are no match for someone with a clear mind." She said as her yoki rose instantly to seventy percent, still remaining under her control. While running and estimating Gray's steps, she launched herself towards Gray's head by landing her feet near the other and crouching before her actual jump. It looked like a pretty stupid move but in reality she did a backwards cartwheel which lead her with both her legs above Gray's head. While her first kick missed his head her second didn't and in that exact moment, she switched the direction of the first kick and kicked Gray in the face. The impact stopped Gray from his charge but it didn't stop Rika. Both her feet landed on Gray's shoulders and she bounced off of Gray, while pushing him backwards.

After bouncing back and moving with graceful agility Rika got near a claymore. Since only her right hand was fit to carry it she reached for it and grabbed it tightly. It was that very moment she felt something strange, a cold chill coming down her spine and then something cold over her hand, and… pain. Her hand was no longer. Gray had cut it into pieces. The feeling she had been stuck with was either death or something else. It was unknown to Rika as everything became rather slow, gloomy and inexplicably darker. Immense pain had taken over her as she froze coming from her stomach, she could not say why. As she tried to comprehend what was wrong she felt something dripping on her leg. When she looked down she saw blood, a lot of blood and a strange thing covered in that blood which moved. Gray's tail.

Her sweet smile didn't leave that beautiful face of hers, not even on the brink of death, not even while blood came out of her mouth. Despite her deplorable state she still kept that angelic aura and that certain sweetness of hers. She saw Gray's monstrous face in her last moments on this realm.

"You pathetic little kid. Tell me, what did you achieve with killing a person who didn't want to fight you in the first place? Should I have been serious you would be no match for me at 50% in the first place. And why don't you check the symbol on this claymore. It's not mine." She replied while barely breathing.

As Gray looked over the sword he saw his own symbol.

"I intended to show you what you fight for."

The beast that was the former claymore suddenly froze, not even moving for almost a minute, the insane raging beast that dominated Gray was no longer, and only to be replaced with the very humanity he had feared losing. Gray realised what he had done, he saw his own metallic black tail impaled right through Rika, and he felt it. Guilt, sorrow and shame overcame him; he fell to his knees and couldn't bring himself to look at Rika in the eye. The first person he had met since becoming a warrior who did not look at him with hatred, ignorance or neglect, was dying right in front of his eyes, by his own hands. He was physically shaking, completely cold from shock, sorrow and fear. The metallic black beast fell to his knees, tears beginning to fall from his eyes. "What have I done?" he asked quietly, not taking his eyes from Rika. "Forgive me, please."

As Gray begged forgiveness he returned to his human form collapsing to his knees, his tail retracting from impaling Rika. She could still control her yoki that went beyond the limit in her state. It rose to eighty percent and then dropped instantly. Rika's lips gently touched Gray's forehead as she dropped to the ground, but it was unknown if she did this consciously or if it was a simple coincidence. Gray caught her as she fell and gently laid her body on the ground. Shock, guilt, disbelief, loss and sorrow overcame him as he comprehended what he had done. He hated himself for what he had become and could not forgive himself for his actions. Tears fell from his eyes.

"I don't even deserve your forgiveness."