Sorry for taking so long to update! It's really getting harder and harder to do the fight scenes! Hope you'll enjoy it thought!

Disclaimer: I do not own GA.

Chapter 34

Mikan had ripped off the lower half of her dark brown gown to reveal the black breeches that she was wearing. Luckily for her, the gown was designed in such a way that the top half could be used as usable top. She ensured that Misaki had laced the back tightly and properly so that she could be doing her current stunt; she was perched on top a beam in the ballroom. Using the commotion of Luna's sudden death, Mikan slipped into the shadows and onto the balcony outside. Just as they had planned, Tsubasa had placed a rope leading to one of the higher balconies.

Climbing up, she secured her hair into a tight bun and surveyed the surroundings before her. Mikan had to create a diversion for the guest within the ballroom to escape since Kuonji was standing at the only valid exit now. The ballroom was located on the second floor and making the guest jump out of the window was not an appealing choice. Wrecking her brains, she placed her left hand to activate her earpiece.

"Misaki-senpai, are you listening?"

"Yes I am."

"Here's our diversion."

Natsume stood in horror as he saw Luna age rapidly first, then burst into flames. It was as if someone's fire alice had gotten out of control.

"No… you need to focus." His mind was chiding him for his descend into the recesses of his mind.

He saw Mikan slipping out onto the balcony and realised that he had to implement the plan soon. Looking at Tetsuya stare at the burnt remains, anger whelmed up inside of him.

"Natsume?" Mikan's voice rang in his ears.

Looking up slightly, he saw her perched above Kuonji's current position. Giving her a slight nod, Mikan knew that he heard her.

"We'll be commencing the diversion soon. Keep your cool."

Giving another slight nod, Natsume turned to look at Hotaru and started to clench his fist. That was the sign which he was to give when he wanted to start the diversion. The movement of Kuonji from his position made Natsume jerk his head back to him, seeing that he was now looking for someone.

"Looking for someone, Kuonji?" Natsume spat with digust.

"Show some respect boy address your king with more respect. Where is that brown haired wrench?" Kuonji smirked and looked for his prey.

Natsume clenched and unclenched his fist, thinking of a way to make Kuonji walk nearer to him and further away from his comrades. "What king? Are you talking about yourself? Because all I see is a scrawny little boy."

Kuonji ignored Natsume's taunt, keeping to his main goal of looking for Mikan. "Come now Natsume, if I don't see her, I'll just kill these guests one by one till she appears. Besides, Goshima here looks a little fidgety, why don't you pick one guest you like and slice them up?"

Goshima smiled and jumped at such an opportunity, looking around, he saw a palace maid standing in the corner. Striding up to her, in one quick movement, he unsheathed his hand dagger and slit the maid's throat and stomach. His eyes were gleaming with insanity and he laughed loudly, seeing how the blood was flowing downwards, staining her pristine white uniform crimson red.

"Look Kuonji-sama, doesn't this colour look like Natsume's eyes when he's angry?"

Kuonji stopped to look at Goshima's handiwork. "Why they do… Why don't we try to make Natsume angry so that we can enjoy his crimson red eyes together?" As soon as he finished his sentence, Goshima somehow teleported to the opposite side of the ballroom and slit the throat of another person, this time, a dignitary from the kingdom of Techno, Hotaru's kingdom.

Natsume could feel his anger welling inside of him. Every person Kuonji striked, Natsume wanted to run towards him and take him down. However he knew that a hasty move would put everyone in danger. Kuonji was not making things any easier for him either, the longer he took to give Kuonji Mikan's position, the more Goshima killed.

Within a blink of an eye, Goshima now stood behind Sumire, poised to strike. He raised his arm, wanting to plunge the dagger downwards into his unsuspecting victim but, suddenly the floor beneath him began to crumble and he rolled away.

"SUMIRE!" Koko yelled with all his might as he saw Goshima readying his hand for the blow.

Sumire whirled around at Koko's shouting, to see the madman holding the dagger up. She closed her eyes, saying her last prayers, knowing that she did not have the chance to run away because time seemed to flow in slow motion. Despite all the preparations she made for the afterlife, she felt the floor beneath her vibrating and upon opening her eyes, she saw that she was standing at the edge of a hole on the floor, overlooking the first storey in the palace while Goshima had jumped to safety a few feet away from her.

Natsume whirled around to see a new comrade; he saw Persona standing behind Mihara Kanbu, the living Medusa.

"Nice to see you, Persona." Goshima said while picking himself off the ground and dusting off any dirt on his clothes.

"Good, you're here Persona. Time to do some cleaning up." Kuonji instructed him, but Persona raised his hands to reveal claw like nails and pressed them to Mihara's throat.

"I will, starting with this man." Persona threatened, pressing the nails deeper into Mihara's skin, drawing blood.

"Mikan are you listening in?" An unfamiliar voice spoke through the earpiece.

Mikan, who was positioning herself to spring down upon Kuonji, was startled and stopped moving to answer the unknown man.

"Yes I am. Who are you?"

"Who I am is of no importance right now. Just know that I am one of the people below you."

Mikan scanned the room trying to pinpoint the man but she was interrupted by the instructions he was giving out, "You need to obtain the pendant which Keiko is now holding."

"You mean Luna's pendant?"

"Yes, it is actually Luna's alice stone. Once you've obtained it, insert it into Hotaru."

"Why?"

"Your friend is the only one capable of logical control over her subjects. Once the stone is within her, she can safely instruct people to evacuate."

"But we're planning a diversion plan to get the people out now."

"I don't think Kuonji will let them go quietly."

With that, the man stopped talking no matter how much Mikan was hissing into her earpiece.

Seeing that Persona had the living Medusa under his control, Natsume just had to make Kuonji walk a little further from his comrades and nearer to the center of the ballroom. At the same time, he also acknowledged the dangers that come with that. The man who could turn anything to stone could still see, and that was his biggest disadvantage. Any sudden movements could cause him to be petrified, or worst, rotting to death under Kuonji's wrath. The same thing applied to Goshima who could move as quick as light, taking down anyone who posed as a threat.

"Why don't we settle this one to one Kuonji? You let these people go and we'll settle it once and for all?" Natsume looked the 12 year old in the eye while giving him a proposal.

"No way… why give up all these people who could be used as your leverage?" Kuonji leered.

"They will never support you even after you've gotten the throne. Besides, if you are unable to use your alice, your reign will be a short one. How long can you live now?"

Kuonji was clearly becoming more upset, causing him to give a signal and the free Goshima rose to his feet and was about to target Sumire again when he realise he could no longer move. Goshima's eyes darted left and right, trying to look for the perpetrater who prevented him from moving but he could no longer turn his head.

"Why isn't it the shadow manupilator scum that works for Mikan. Finally showed up haven't you?" Kuonji took a few steps towards the center of the ballroom.

"I had to make a grand entrance sometime or later. Now why don't you just stand here and do a thousand squats while I go deal with your master?" Tsubasa smirked while uncapping a marker and writing '1000 squats' on the shadow he was standing on.

Natsume breathed out in relief, "that is one problem taken care of."

Infurated, Kuonji rushed towards Tsubasa, activating the alice of death within him but seeing that Kuonji had moved to the center of the ballroom, Hotaru whipped out 2 large guns and started to fire them on the ground, causing the pellets to release a thick screen of smoke.

Sumire, Natsume, Hotaru, Ruka, Tsubasa and Aoi placed their safety goggles on and Aoi then started to melt a window with her alice. Pressing a button on the wall to inflate a large slide, the group then quickly helped people out of the ballroom while Kuonji, Goshima, and Mihara were tearing and choking from the gas. Despite the injury that Ruka had sustained, he ran with all his strength and threw an extra gas mask over to Persona. Taking advantage of the tear gas, Persona felt that Mihara would not be a threat for now and released his throat, shoving him near Hotaru's gas pellets so that he would suffer the full effects.

Misaki then rushed into the room to give them more support, activating her alice, she had a dozen of herself aid those who were too stunned to move. Summoning a bit more of her alice, she shoved the baby pink stone into Natsume's hand, patted him on the back as a form of encouragement and left to help those who were injured. Once the guests were safe downstairs, the teachers took over from those in the ballroom as most of the rowdy crowd were subdued and had passed out.

"Well kiddies, we'll take it from here." Narumi sung.

Just as Hotaru was about to usher Yura, the priestess out, her helper, Youichi looked at her and smiled, then gently shaking his head, he pointed to Mikan who was on the ground next to Ruka. Ruka having run to Persona, sped up the process of petrification near his heart. He collapsed immediately after throwing the mask and clenched his heart as he felt less oxygen surging through his body. Mikan who saw this from above, dropped down and used her stealing alice to remove the foreign alice within his body.

Like earlier in the evening, her heart was in her throat, but seeing Ruka take huge gulps of air once the process was completed, she turned her attention to the silver hair boy, wanting to thank him but he was now standing beside his mistress.

"Tono, you know what to do." Yura looked at the older man.

"Yeah yeah." Tono walked over to Natsume and slipped a chain over his head. Looking at the pendant that was dangling at his chest, Natsume saw that it was purple in colour.

Mikan ran from her current position to where Keiko was lying and took the pendant from Keiko's hand.

"Okaa-san?" Keiko tearfully looked up at her mother.

"Yes dear…" She gave Keiko a long hug before urging her to make her way towards the slide. Turning to Tetsuya, she placed her finger under the boy's chin and raised it so she could look into his eyes, "Tetsuya, come back to me. Tetsuya…"

The boy glared at Mikan with his crimson eyes. "He killed Okaa-san. He KILLED HER!" The boy screamed at Mikan.

"I know, but killing him will not heal your broken heart. Let go of the hatred within you." Mikan tried talking him out of revenge because she herself would give Kuonji a piece of her mind. Placing her hand over Tetsuya's rotting hand and removed the alice so that he was no longer in any pain.

Standing up, she pulled Tetsuya to her and gave him a warm motherly hug. Noting that the smoke was clearing, she pushed him towards Keiko who was waiting for him.

"Take care of each other and of the people below. Do you duties as the representatives of the Hyuuga royal family." Mikan instructed before running to Hotaru and showing her the pendant in her hand.

With one quick movement, she inserted it into Hotaru and told her what to do with her alice. Hotaru looked at her best friend and took out a hand held gun from the pocket of her dress, "take this and use it wisely, it's a stun gun capable of emitting enough electricity to knock an adult out. However, if you use it on Kuonji's body, that child-like body, he will die." Giving Mikan one last hug, Hotaru ran over to Ruka and supported him out to the slide. She was a little disappointed to not be able to fight beside her friend, but controlling a large crowd and bringing them to safety would help ease the worries that her friends who were fighting had.

"Don't worry Hotaru," Ruka wheezed, "She'll be all right. This time she has Natsume and that priestess. This time she has us." Smiling at her fiancée, Hotaru walked with a larger purpose and activated Luna's alice, enabling her to move a large group of people out of the palace and into the city square.

Within the ballroom, the smoke had started to clear and this time, Kuonji was very enraged.

"Be prepared, he's not in the best of mood and may do something rash. Stay alert." The mysterious voice rang through the intercom once again and this time Mikan finally pinpointed the source. Seeing a man slightly older than Narumi-sensei standing beside Yura-san, she noted that the man looked very similar to her late father.

"Will you be able to predict his movements?" Kazumi Yukihira asked the young girl he was standing beside.

The priestess used her forefingers to rub her throbbing temple. She never liked much action that was why she lived in a secluded cave with the minimal amount of people. "I am, but if he moves too fast, even the spirits have trouble picking up his trail of thoughts."

Tono then interjected, "are you sure giving the fire prince my alice stone is a good thing? He might loose control of his alice and all we're doing is repeating the same events that took place 6 years ago."

Yura looked at the young man in the eyes and he did not wait to hear her answer. From the look in her eyes, he knew that she had already seen a part of Natsume's future. Whatever it was, Tono knew that Yura would never abuse his alice. "Come on Youichi, we have some butts to protect and to kick. It's finally your first time in action." Tono motioned to the silver haired boy and they moved further away from their mistress.

Currently, those remaining in the room were Mikan, Natsume, Aoi, Koko, Sumire, Persona, Tsubasa, Misaki and Yura's group. The rest had fled the ballroom and were now moving to safety. The rather large group, except Yura and Kazumi, surrounded Kuonji's group and those with swords drew them, standing cautiously.

"Don't think that little stunt would deter me from killing you Natsume." Kuonji spat while observing his comrades from the corner of his eyes. Goshima was close to useless now since he was still doing his squats but Mihara was slowly getting up. Having Mihara was good enough since none of them will be able to move while he was still living.

Drawing his own sword, he charged towards the nearest person, Aoi. He was within mere inches of her abdomen when he felt that he could not move. Luckily for Aoi, one of Youichi's spirits held on to Kuonji's sword while Tsubasa swooped down and stepped on his shadow. "Damn you people!" Kuonji screamed, but by this time, Mihara was already standing and had his lungs cleared of Hotaru's gas. He quickly threw 2 daggers which lodged themselves into Tsuabsa's undefended back.

"UGH!" Tsubasa shouted out as he felt two sharp pains in his right shoulder and left leg simultaneously, collapsing to the group and loosening his footing on Kuonji's shadow.

Seeing that his master was being threatened, Mihara tried to eliminate all possible threats and started to turn their swords into stone.

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Natsume shouted and the party hid behind fallen rubble, away from the living Medusa's sight. Things around them were slowly turning into stone and despite hiding a few metres away from the duo, the radius of Mihara's alice was growing bigger and bigger.

Misaki saw Tsubasa wriggling on the floor, trying to reach for the daggers and pull them out. She saw how much blood he was loosing, but despite all that, Mihara did not bother about him, but focused most of his gaze on everyone else. "I have to help him before he turns into stone!"

Inching out from her position, she was all ready to make a dash for Tsubasa and pull him behind the nearest piece of rubble, but she was stopped by Yura. "Move." Misaki said in a stern voice. However Yura said nothing and merely pointed at Kuonji who now stood beside Mihara. Then she heard Koko's voice in her head, "if you make a move on Tsubasa, Kuonji would just use the Mark of death alice on you, then you wouldn't be able to save Tsubasa. He's not in critical condition yet, so pull yourself together!"

Looking at Yura who was staring at her, she thanked the priestess. Again she heard Koko's voice, "She said you're welcome and that she can't speak because she's focusing on listening to the spirits' voices."

Natsume peeked over the large marble slab that he was hiding behind and noted that Aoi was not that far away from where Mihara was standing. Pressing his left hand to his ear, he spoke through the earpiece, "Aoi, I need you to get rid of the guy who's turning everything to stone. Use your alice and burn him. It should create enough of a diversion for us to move in closer to Kuonji."

"Roger."

Within seconds, there was a clear distinction between the things in the ballroom that were turned into stone and things which were not. Aoi immediately activated her alice and concentrated on incinerating Mihara. The man was screaming in pain as he felt his flesh burning but could not do anything to extinguish the fire's flame. Kuonji who once stood beside him, jumped away to safety, seeing that his comrade was now in flames.

"Help me! Help me!" Mihara kept screaming, in his desperateness to extinguish the flames, he ran around the ballroom looking for a source of water and sadly, he tripped over the now rock hard carpet and fell to his death, landing in an awkward angle, producing a rather loud sound.

Everyone, including Tsuabsa on the ground, cheered upon seeing the man dead but in their happiness, they had forgotten about Goshima who had, by now, completed his 1000 squats. His legs were screaming out in protest as he urged them to move as fast as they could towards Mikan. Producing a dagger from under his shirt, he managed to slice Mikan's arm before she leapt back in surprise.

"Tono, transfer some of your alice into Mikan." Koko spoke to the young man. Nodding in reply, he ran from his hiding spot to where Mikan was hiding and upon seeing the massive amount of blood flowing out of her fresh wound, he knew that the cut was not shallow, neither was it normal. Tearing a long strip from his white shirt, Tono bandaged the wound as tight as he could to try and slow the bleeding, seeing that she was still conscious, he created an alice stone and forced Mikan ato clutch it. Feeling the cool stone within her burning palms, Mikan absorbed it into her body, like sand absorbing water. She felt slightly stronger and attempted to stand, but slid back down.

"Don't force yourself, you're running low on blood at the moment." Tono urged her to sit as her body cope with the lesser amount of blood.

"Hiding will not save you all," Kuonji taunted.

Persona tried to use his alice on Kuonji to handicap him, but Kuonji knew when he activated his alice. "Come on Persona, don't you realise that the alice that flow through you now flows through me as well? We're kind of like brothers! I know when you are going to use your alice, and you know what, I thank you for giving me such a great amount of it. Goodbye Persona."

Summoning as much as he could of Persona's alice, Kuonji created a large cloud of black smoke which was starting to eat away at things that were close to him. "Let's see you try and avoid this. With Mikan already using up so much of her alice, I doubt she will be able to nullify this large cloud."

Persona felt his alice being used but unlike the last few times, he felt that he was being drained, as if his soul was being sucked out by a vacuum. Large cuts were mysteriously produced all over his body and blood began streaming out of them. He screamed, feeling as though his body was being pricked by a million needles, feeling as though his soul was tearing away from his skin and bones.

The cloud hovered around Kuonji and Goshima, "We're now going to go to the treasury little Natsume. Once I have the fragment, your people will be forced to acknowledge me as King again." Releasing the large cloud of black smoke, Kuonji threw open the ballroom doors and walked out, leaving them to deal with the mark of death.

"Shiki, I need you to create a barrier around us now. Do make it visible as well." Kazumi instructed. "Mikan, I need you to infuse your nullification alice into the barrier which Shiki is creating."

Seeing a translucent barrier being formed in front of her comrades, Mikan activated her nullification alice and infused it into the barrier. The parts of the cloud that came into contact with the barrier immediately changed to a white cloud and disappeared. As the barrier covered everyone, the massive cloud tried to attack them from all position, as if trying to find a small hole, but at the same time aware of its obliteration if it touched the barrier.

Sumire stood in disgust as the cloud wriggled and moved, as if it had a mind of its own. "Ew ew ew!" She exclaimed.

"Permy, this isn't the time to get all squimish. Look at Persona." Koko notioned to Persona who was on the ground, enduring the pain.

Misaki who was tending to Tsubasa's wounds, got up and produced a vial of liquid which she tipped into Persona's mouth. The effects were immediate, Persona's wounds closed and the black cloud outside of the barrier slowly disappeared. After a while, Persona just laid on the floor breathing in and out slowly.

"Whoa Misaki, what did you feed Persona?" Koko asked quizzically, noting that Persona had fallen asleep.

"It's a potion which Misaki-sensei created, thanks to Aoi's research on Persona's alice. Its suppose to allow him to reabsorb his alice and regain control over it." Misaki gave a rough idea of how the potion worked.

Aoi then spoke up, "since his alice was given by the God's, only those who possessed a fragment that was given by God could control it. For Persona, it was his porcelain mask, for Kuonji, it was the nullification stone within him."

"You mean Mikan's nullification alice was once a God's alice?" Tsubasa spoke up.

"Technically, it was an alice which a God used to punish those undeserving of an alice but hid away because he wanted everyone to have an alice, thinking that they should know how to execute self-control." Aoi explained further.

"So then, what is this fragment that Kuonji is going to get in your treasury?" Sumire's question left the air very still.

"CRAP!" They all exclaimed together having apparently forgotten that Kuonji was on his way there as they were so busy worrying about the massive cloud and Persona who was in pain.

Natsume took charge, instructing Sumire, Koko, Mikan, Tono and Youichi to follow him. The rest were to take care of the wounded and lead them to safety.

Sumire pressed for an answer again, "so… what's with this fragment?"

While running, Natsume answered her queries, "this fragment was created by the first King of Firenze. He felt that only those worthy enough could assume the throne. Since Kuonji had once been king, the fragment would answer to him."

"So you're saying that Kuonji is worthy of being king?" Tono was clearly irritated.

"The fragment doesn't discriminate, it does not know that Kuonji was creating clones, it just reacts when a potential heir touches it."

"And what is this fragment?" Mikan asked.

"It's a crown. As soon as a potential heir touches it, it will immediately clad the heir in a golden armour. This armour is impenetrable, nothing can pierce it. The first king created it to protect his heir from being assassinated on the coronation day." Turning a sharp right, the small party now faced a fork in the road.

"Now what? Don't you know the way to the treasury?" Youichi asked.

Running his hand through his hair in frustration, Natsume's vein popped, "well, the thing about the treasury is that no one knows the route there except the current king, the next heir and the treasurer, who is obviously with those we evacuated earlier."

"Aren't you the heir?" Sumire practically screamed at Natsume.

"By default yes, but father had never officially proclaimed that I was, and with that, the knowledge of the route was never passed to me."

"Sheesh!" Sumire rubbed her temples and whiskers were produced from her face, she held her hands in a fist and she went down on all four. "You people are just hopeless. Keeping such a place so hidden that even their own prince doesn't know the way there." Sniffing the air, she immediately picked up Kuonji and Goshima's scent. "This way." She indicated to the left before running down to the next fork.

For the next few choices, Sumire brought them closer and closer to the treasury door. "This is the last one." Natsume said.

"There's a problem, the scent I was following is coming from both the left and the right fork." Sumire was confused, how could someone walk down both paths, and shouldn't Kuonji know the way since he ruled for so long?

"It's the right." Youichi spoke up.

"How'd you know?" Sumire challenged the smaller boy.

Youichi waved his hand and his spirit became visible, "I had my spirits tail Kuonji and Goshima. They're in the treasury all right, but they (the spirits) can't enter."

"Yeah, it's another protective thing, in case someone tried to obtain the fragment by using their spirits." Natsume nonchalantly explained.

Hurriedly making their way to the door of the treasury, Natsume placed his hand on the door and yanked it open.

However they were too late because facing them was Kuonji clad in the golden armour and Goshima pounced from above the door, stabbing Natsume in the stomach.

"Together is life and death… now you and Mikan can have the same poison flowing through your veins. Your lives ebbing away as you see me take back my kingdom." Kuonji gave an evil laugh.

So the second death is revealed... The next chapter will be the last fight scene! And sadly, I think it's going to be the last chapter! :( THANK YOU ALL WHO REVIEWED AND FAVOURITE THIS STORY! YOU ALL KEEP ME WRITING!

Now replies...

Blueberryxn: First review again! I'll be really sad when this fanfic ends because you've been an awesome reader!

Gosi-chan 08: Yeah it's ending in the next chapter. I might put the epilogue in the next chapter if I can't think of more ideas. YUP! I'll definitely be writing another fanfic after this, in fact I've already gotten the plot done! Thank you for all your support!

RandomDalmatian326: haha, it's shadowfox, that's her alter ego. She's really constrained right now, having to think of her comrades so she can't really do anything risky that she would have done if alone. Thank you! Yes you've mentioned it before I think. The ending will be a bang!

akjupiter: yup yup! Kuonji is now here and won't go away soon... Natsume had to do nothing because he's a rash person. One wrong move in this situation would mean his team mates being in danger. so yeah, he was just standing there, controlling his feelings.

Lildaydreamer06: Thanks a lot! I've been busy with uni stuff so will take sometime to update. FORGIVE ME!

Sakura Breeze: One reader said I was the queen of cliffhangers! :D The next chapter will be updated soon I promise!

Shimmerinq: happy with the death? now hang on to your seats for the last one! :)

aspmprn11: Thanks! :D I'm really honoured when readers like you say that my story is one of your favourites, or better still, your absolute favourite! It makes me want to make the next chapter better and better still, make the next fanfic even more awesome!

Lessthenthreeanime: Awesome sauce? haha. Yeah, Luna had karma coming her way... muahaha. Thanks for understanding! I'm trying to get this fanfic done before I leave for uni!

BlackRabbit: Don't worry I'll continue. I'm really very happy to hear that you've read it all in one day! Hope this chapter was up to your expectation!

Meg-umi Denise: THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! :D I'm really honoured when you say that you want to be as good as me. Frankly this is my first fanfic. My main inspiration for all the fighting actually came from this PS3 game that I play. :)

Lovely Queen Witch: Woah woah! Don't hate me yet. haha! It's really nice to hear that people read all the chapters in one/ two days. The cliffhangers are there to make you speculate on what's to come! Yup in a way Mikan automatically wins. I tried to make it more entertaining (a lighter mood) but found it quite difficult. Hopefully the permy part at the end brightened it, a little.