Chapter 29: The Hate

09:58 AM (Japan Time), Thursday December the 29th…

"The bounty to catch this guy alive for that club is the biggest I've ever seen. This'll be easy!"

A man on his thirties walked down the streets of Akihara.

He had spiky green hair, a scar on his right cheek, and cold brown eyes.

He sported a black leather jacket, jeans and tall black boots.

He carried a large case with an "H" letter of a fluorescent color.

"Hmmm… Let's see…"

He scanned the surroundings and set his eyes on a house.

"That'll do."

He walked over there, rang the bell and a woman opened.

"Who might you be?" She asked.

"Gas inspector. Ma'am." He announced.

"Can I see your ID, please?" She asked.

"Indeed, ma'am. Just a minute, please."

The man rummaged his jacket's right pocket and drew a Taser gun, which was already activated.

He hit the woman with it and she was knocked out.

"No bad feelings, ma'am. I just need the 1st floor's windows." He muttered.

The man dragged her inside and left her resting in a sofa.

"Have a nap."

He climbed upstairs into the first floor, into a room looking at the stret.

He drew a PSG – 1 sniper rifle from the large case and put a clip on it before he aimed to a balcony across the street.

"I slept perfectly. I didn't dream, even. I felt tired for some reason or another… Guess I made too much exercise running from there to there with the skates."

"Exercise is good for the health, so…"

Netto spoke with Saito as he cleansed the bedroom, using a broom to take care of the dust.

The balcony was wide open.

"I don't care if kids like disguising as Navis… If I catch double, then I'm going to be given a higher reward. I know the owners aren't there and breaking in will be easy. My car is parked close by, too!"

"… There's a new email…"

Saito looked at the computer and frowned.

"From who?" Netto asked.

"It says "No. #1 Fan of Hikari Netto – sama: Urgent"." Saito announced.

"You know Bright Man's motto! Check it out!"

"What! "Rock Man – sama! It would be wise of your persona to shoot at the sniper occupying the bedroom of the front house. It is aiming to collect a bounty set by the resentful Cut Man Brothers. Yours honorably, a Kind Gentleman"… What the hell!" Saito cursed.

Netto gasped and ducked as a curious bullet embedded on the far wall and leaked some kind of fluid.

"Tranquilizer bullet! That was no joke! Charge Shot!"

The shot flew across the street and hit the sniper's rifle, making it fall off his hands.

"What! The kid is a real Net Navi?" He gasped.

Saito jumped down from the balcony and ran up the stairs of the house.

He checked inside and found the unconscious owner.

"In the bedroom, then…!" He muttered.

He ran upstairs and kicked the bedroom door open, but only found the rifle and its case.

He ran towards the window and opened the blinder.

"Niisan! The guy must be hiding in another room! No – one came out from the front! And I doubt the guy running off sans his bloody weapon!"

Someone grabbed Saito from behind and aimed the sharp side of a stylized knife at his neck.

"Not so fast, kid! I'm gonna have my bounty!" The man exclaimed.

"Say bye to that bounty!"

Saito moved his body forward and threw the mercenary towards the case.

The hit kicked it across the room and knocked him out.

A business card flew out and Saito caught it in mid-air.

"…"The Hate: Professional Sniper. Usual rate: 55000." … Damn the Cut Man Brothers!"

"Rock Man. Are you okay?" Someone asked.

Saito turned to see Miyabi standing there, having his katana drawn and aiming it at the man.

"Miyabi! We received a tip-off. The Cut Man Brothers put a bounty on us!"

"The Cut Man Brothers… I'd forgotten them. That was when I had my first and only encounter with Blues." Shadow Man recalled.

"This must be The Hate. I'd heard talks about the guy from that Marlongo lowlife. He looks like a punk come out of some hardcore music hall."

"Roger! Thank you, Miyabi." Saito smiled.

"Don't mind it: we're companions."

"Companions in the quest to destroy the One Ring…"

10:11 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm… The army is marching… Hmmm…"

A loud military march began to ring out and someone fell from the bed into the ground all of a sudden.

"Whack!"

The military march soon died down and the person sat up on the ground while rubbing the back of its head.

"Man. When did I program that into the alarm clock? Guess I was half-asleep last time I set it up! Lights, lights…"

The person stood up and touched the surroundings with the hands before finding the switch.

A small lamp set on a desk turned on and revealed Kuroumi.

He wore black pajamas and was barefoot.

His white hair was as messy as always and he looked sleepy.

The room was very similar to Sidier's but it had a poster of the periodical table of elements as well as one of a rock band.

There also was a bookcase with some books on it and a cupboard.

"Man. I overslept and this thing had to wake me up… What a lovely way to start the morning, really." He muttered.

He rummaged into the cupboard and grabbed some clothes.

"Let's see…"

He choose a reddish brown and green wool sweater, jeans, white socks and black leather boots, which reached almost to the knee.

"Good."

He changed, folded his pajamas, and placed them under the cushion.

He grabbed his black cloak and put it over his clothes.

"All's set. Let's go say hi to the club." He muttered.

He exited his room and made his way to the throne room.

Yamikawa sat on it, looking at a screen displaying a patrol car parked in front of the Hikari house.

Two officers were leading the man known as The Hate onboard while Miyabi stood there and didn't seem to care about the insults shot at him.

"Renegade! Traitor! Dog! Worm! Pawn! Fool! Idiot! Double-faced bastard!" The man roared.

The officers had him get onboard the car and then climbed into the front seats to leave.

Miyabi headed over to the Hikari house and rang the bell.

The door opened and he stepped in before it closed from the inside.

"Man! Who was that green-haired guy? He looked like he'd come out of a rave party!" Kuroumi laughed.

"It'd seem he's called The Hate. He tried to collect that bounty Nemenaya Mies posted on them time ago." Yamikawa grumbled.

"What about that of yesterday?"

"It'd seem they've recovered somehow. Maybe they used some kind of therapy. I should've acted earlier regarding that "Organization", but I dismissed them because I thought they were just a bunch of show-off paramilitary guys! Even if I say that, I want them alive for the "show"! However, I didn't want them to break down. At all. I never approved of people abusing others like that. It's just like what that man did on us."

"I know…"

"I'd never wish for anyone to suffer something like that." Yamikawa sighed.

"… True. How did they know the guy was there, however?"

"I was wondering that, too. I got a copy of an email from someone who claimed the Cut Man Brothers had set that bounty up."

"The Cut Man Brothers? Nostalgic!"

"I guess the one behind it didn't want to bring out anything connected to yesterday so he came up with a plausible scapegoat. And something tells me that "someone" was the Eye of Mordor."

"Come to speak of it… Somari – chan told me that the guy copied and stole Rock Man's backup data while freezing that patch of the Science Labs' Cyber World for some minutes. The Navi behind that avatar must be terribly powerful! Not even we could do that."

"Then I wouldn't want to have to face it." Yamikawa grumbled.

"I wouldn't either." Kagehi admitted.

"By the way… Is Sidier still sleeping or is he working on something on his room? I thought he was the early bird type…" Kuroumi brought up.

"Dunno."

"Anyway! It'd seem that the Cut Man Brothers are still lingering around! The explosion of their own bomb wasn't enough to take them out. They've seemingly been keeping a low profile and trying to come up with countless plans to have payback on Hikari Saito. Their elder has a hard time dealing with them, from what it looks like."

"That trap of the fake Internet City was funny! Those paper figures were creative, too. Who'd said Shadow Man liked being literal to his name…"

"Sure!"

"And hiding in the shadow of one of the Cut Man Brothers. It'd seem Blues has hawk eyes! He could see him hiding there."

"By the way! Somari – chan! Weren't you working on something regarding a hologram as of late?" Yamikawa asked.

"That? It's more or less complete. I'm just trying to think who I should scare with it! I know! Let's make it show up on the Cut Man Brothers' hideout! They'll be trembling in fear!"

"Let's allow Sidier to play the Duelist! He'll fit with the role."

10:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"No, no and NO! That plan is stupid! How can you hope to take out Rock Man just by putting a bomb in every PET you find? There are BILLIONS of them! It'd take us FOREVER!"

"But… Jirou – niichan…!"

The five Cut Man Brothers were going over another of their joint plans but Jirou didn't like it at all.

"Saburou, Shirou, Gorou and Rokurou! Can't you come up with something far more original? Can't you think of something deadlier?"

"Well…"

"That's…" Shirou trailed off.

"Difficult…" Gorou muttered.

"Very difficult!" Rokurou finished.

"You guys… You're still going over it?" The elder asked them.

"Elder – sama knows it very well! We won't concede defeat until Rock Man is defeated! We must protect society from his evil!"

Jirou announced while making a dramatic pose.

"You kids! Sorry, but "Gospel" was the evil. We were the evil. Rock Man was just doing what he had to do! His duty. To stop a disgrace from happening!" The elder reminded them.

"Sir! Please don't side with that Demon!" Saburou exclaimed.

"He's gotta be the Demon King!" Shirou added.

"There can't be any mistakes!" Gorou yelled.

"That's why we'll take 'im down for the sake of the world!"

"Are you blind and deaf!? The Demon King was named Twilight and he's dead! There was a guy claiming to be the Demon Tribe Chief, but he had nothing to do with Rock Man!"

"Looks like they're pretty energetic…"

An amused and familiar voice rang out of nowhere.

"What were you saying, Saburou?" Jirou asked.

"I didn't say anything! It was Shirou." Saburou replied.

"It was Gorou." Shirou replied.

"It was Rokurou." Gorou replied.

"It wastThe elder – sama!" Rokurou replied.

"No! Shadow Man – dono!" The elder gasped.

"WHAT!?"

Shadow Man emerged from the elder's shadow, placing his fingers in the ninja pose.

"T-that guy is…!" Jirou exclaimed.

"He hid behind Jirou – niichan's shadow back then!" Saburou exclaimed.

"Shadow Man…?" Shirou wondered.

"Why didn't they call the guy Ninja Man to begin with?" Gorou suggested.

"It'd reciprocal." Rokurou replied.

"You lowlifes posted a bounty on Rock Man's head, didn't you?"

"A bounty…? Why didn't I think of that before? It'd been easy!"

The other four slapped their foreheads in defeat while the elder sighed in defeat at their behavior.

The area shook and the "skies" turned purple.

A golden spheroid with patterns drawn into it descended from above the clouds and hovered over the ground, emitting a golden and bright light.

It was so strong that it forced the Cut Man Brothers, the elder and Shadow Man to shield their eyes.

"Ra will gain its power from the gathering of 3 Sacrifices. However, God shall only obey the one who offers the ancient spell to the sky."

The spheroid emitted more light and it began to open and move to reveal a gigantic, golden creature.

It had red eyes and a large mouth filled with teeth.

It looked about five or six meters tall.

Its mere presence was imposing and inflicted fear on everyone.

"W-what the hell is that?" Miyabi uttered.

"Do you expect me to know?" Shadow Man sarcastically replied.

The monster made a large shriek of power and powerful wind began to sweep the area before it vanished.

"… God shall revive from the earth…" Someone chanted.

The monster showed up again as a streak of flames jumped out of the ground and then assumed the form of the monster, surrounded by a bright aura.

"The servant will devote its life to complete its resurrection rite! All foes on the battlefield shall instantly become corpses, along with flames!"

A purple fog formed a figure atop a large blue diamond set on the monster's head.

"One Turn Kill! God Blaze Cannon!" The figure commanded.

The monster's mouth opened and it shot incandescent spheroids, which bombarded the ground but left no mark and no damage.

"They're holograms!" Shadow Man realized.

"Then who the hell is the figure riding atop the thing?" Miyabi questioned.

The monster vanished for the second time and they heard a chuckle echo around the zone.

"God shall instantly become a phoenix!"

The Egyptian Ankh symbol colored red formed and then the monster's wings showed up of where: the rest of it formed in an instant.

"What now?"

The monster spit out fire from its mouth and its whole body was covered by it until it assumed a large phoenix's shape.

"The chosen Monsters shall sleep within the Land. God Phoenix!"

The monster jumped into the air and dived towards the building:.

The Cut Man Brothers panicked and ran off as the hologram swept through it and flew skywards again before vanishing.

"If the show is over, then come out!" Shadow Man demanded.

"What bothersome foolish guys!" The voice exclaimed.

"Damn. I know that motto." Netto cursed.

Sidier appeared inside of the building, amused at the situation.

"What the hell was that monster?" Saito questioned.

"It wasn't a "monster"! It was a God! The Winged God Dragon of Ra!"

"Ra? Wasn't that the Sun God in the Egyptian mythology?"

"Kagehi – sama tasked this little project into me. As you can see, Ra is no joke! It can sweep armies and enemies in just mere instants! Well? Starting to feel the fear?" Sidier announced.

"Yikes! Who's that?" Jirou wondered.

"The Cut Man Brothers! I've heard about the exploits of you guys! You were rather funny." Sidier told them.

"…"Funny"! They were clever!" Jirou protested.

"We're clever!" Saburou exclaimed.

"They were cleverer than Mr. Universe, even!" Shirou added.

"Take that!" Gorou laughed.

"We're invincible!" Rokurou boasted.

"You guys…" The elder sighed in defeat.

"Rock Man! We heard you! Come out and fight us like a man!"

"There's no reason to battle." Saito replied.

"Like the guy said… You're just comic relief guys. You're totally harmless."

"Why, you…!" The five of them growled.

"My, my… It'd seem there's some ruckus over here. I better call the cleansing brigade to clean it up." Sidier joked.

"Why, you…!" The five of them yelled at Sidier.

"You guys… When will you stop?" The elder grumbled.

"Take that! Cut Boomerang!"

The gigantic scissor flew towards Sidier.

He and drew his sword to swipe it vertically from the ground to the sky and it bounced the scissors back at the Cut Man Brothers.

The attack hit them and sent them flying across the room, crashing into the ground.

"Your attacks are weak."

"Why, you…!" The five of them roared.

"The Sengoku has begun." Shadow Man announced.

The air distorted as if there was a heat wave, followed by the Eye of Mordor appearing there.

"You lowlife!" Sidier growled.

"What's that? The Eye of Mordor…? The thing from the Peter Jackson movie trilogy… What's it doing there, anyway?" Netto asked.

"Papa told me about it! That's an avatar for a Navi that intruded the Science Labs! It froze part of it and stole my backup data!"

"You mean "freeze" as in processor freezing?" Netto guessed.

"Whoever the guy is, he's a different party altogether and seems to have his own goals." Saito added.

"Who the hell are ya?" The Cut Man Brothers questioned.

The Eye and projected a message written in English into the air.

"… "I am Sauron." … Ware wa Sauron…" Saito translated.

"Yikes! Sauron…! The Master of the One Ring…!" Jirou gasped.

"…"Feel the fear"… Kyofu wo kanjiro…" Shadow Man read.

"You lowlife…! Don't try to pull the same trick on me twice!"

Sidier growled as he aimed his sword at it.

"… "Bark, you buffoon"… Hoe, kono douke me…"

"Buffoon!? Me!? Damn you!"

"This heat is starting to get into me. I guess the guy must've knocked Sidier out by using simulated heat and that's why he's pissed off!"

"Surprise Choppin'!" The five of them announced.

They ran towards the Eye, but it "emptied" (or, rather, lost its front cover) to reveal a VPN tunnel, and light travelled outwards from its depths.

"This is bad." Shadow Man muttered.

"Shit." Sidier growled.

Both jumped out of the building as an energy shockwave swept the building and it became gray.

All movement inside of the building stopped, apparently frozen in time.

The Eye, having put on the "cover" again, calmly flew out of the building and vanished from the area.

The building regained its color and they heard the sound of a collision ring out inside of it.

"You guys! You crashed with me!" Jirou cursed.

"What in the…!" The elder gasped.

"Sheesh. So that "Eye" can become a VPN tunnel… I'd better report this. And I'll deal with you guys later on." Sidier grumbled.

He swung his sword and vanished in that mysterious manner of leaving diamond figures floating in the air before they dispersed.

"The Eye of Mordor… Who controls it?" Netto wondered.

"One thing is clear enough, otouto! The guy is extremely powerful."

"Shadow Man. What do you think?" Miyabi asked.

"It looked nothing short of a Demon God." Shadow Man admitted.

"Is this guy an enemy or an ally? I guess it's too early to say."

"I get that same vibe, too, otouto." Saito admitted.

"It was looking for stray souls to eat up."

"You and your stray souls… I'm fed up with that."

"Then Tomahawk Man will summon Totem – sama and have it create a Holy Panel Area." Shadow Man amusedly replied.

"How original of you, Shadow Man."

"That dryness of yours amuses me, Miyabi…"

"I know. End of the tale. Let's move out to report."

"That guy… What does he want and why doesn't he show his hide around to begin with? I don't think we know them." Netto frowned.

"Dunno. But I think he's up to something bad…"

"As bad as Ooyama forgetting his pride as cook…"

"Sheesh. That doesn't make sense! No need for jokes!"

"That guy… Who is it, and what do they want?"