Author's Note: First of all I congratulate anyone who is still reading this and hope that you have all enjoyed the story. More important I have noticed the many grammatical errors throughout my story. At some point I will do my best to fix these. For the meantime, please continue reading and please give some feedback.

Ch 22: Bullets Vs. Vectors

The unison of gasps was more than just apparent as the siplitets all around got a firsthand sample of just exactly the kind of "low scum idiotic human" their Queen was fighting. She had attacked from behind, her vectors lunging towards the back of Jericho's unguarded neck. What should have happened was his disgusting head falling clear off of his shoulders. They did not expect him to abruptly turn on his heels, put his weapon towards the incoming arm and fire.

Widening her eyes a moment, Celia felt her own vector violently ricochet off the explosion from the bullet. Her arm flung backwards from the pressure of the attack. Those bullets were not normal, even her own Vectors, increased in power because of her transformation would have trouble dealing with that kind of firepower. She threw her vectors out and watched as he began to dodge them. Even now she could not understand this concept. Her anger was beginning to rise, she increased the pressure.

Jericho felt the recoil from the gun. These were not ordinary Tungsten bullets. He had them specially modified into an explosive shell. Even still, Jericho was just as surprised as anyone else was at the moment, if only head a different reason for it. He thanked his sights, and his abilities to see Vectors, otherwise he was sure he would have been dead. He was glad he had outfitted his guns this properly before entering the battle, this change in Celia was astounding.

So this was the power of The Queen of the Diclonius. He brought out both guns, aiming one at the pink haired girl and began to fire. He kept the other one at an angle to fire at different angles to deflect any vectors. He kept his concentration as cool as ever, but even he began to sweat with concern. Vectors coming from so many angles, he had to be on red alert now. While his weapons were capable of handling these vectors, he could not stand here and keep shooting. He held equal grounds with this powerful entity only as long as he had ammo. At this current location, he would not be able to kill Celia unless she messed up, something he doubt was going to happen. He would have to close the distance between them.

Celia herself was beginning to feel the pressure also from the battle. She either caught or repelled the bullets that came her way, but she could feel their powerful explosive mass affecting even her own dominant arms. He was getting closer to her, far too close. The vectors were having a harder time deflecting the projectiles. However, his closeness to her would allow her attack more easily than he if he was far away. It was a blessing and curse for both of them. Equally matched against each other, it would only take one blow from either to end the other's life.

Then they stopped. The last bullet being repelled by a single Vector. The distance between the was about 15 meters, both combatants breathing heavily, but retaining their calm attributes. If anything, this had been a warm up.

"How does he do that?"

"What?" Celia said to The Voice.

"Dodging our attacks like that. What allows him to see our vectors like that? I want to know why? I want to kill him."

"The thought is mutual." She replied, looking back at Jericho. "You…Jericho!" She called out. "I have a question for you. How is it that a human like you can so easily dodge my vectors? These arms of mine should be invisible to humans like you."

She waited, realizing then that she had never actually heard Jericho speak before in front of her. She had seen him walking past her cell when she was stuck in that horrific place. For a second, she didn't expect him to speak and was startled when he did.

"Truthfully I do not know the full answer to that. However maybe this will explain things better." His voice was rough and low and oddly accented. He brought the back side of his hand as he was still holding the gun, and pushed back the right side of his hair to reveal a small triangular bump protruding from his cranium. This time Celia couldn't help but express her shock.

"You are…a Diclonius!" She yelled, her calm exposure rattled at this revelation.

"No." Jericho said plainly, pushing his hair back down so that it covered the minuscule horn. He brought his guns back out, both of them this time and aimed. Celia was concentrating enough at least to get into position herself, though her shock was still apparent despite the answer she had received.

"I am human. I am a full blooded human. These horns are nothing more than a bone mutation, I merely showed them as to give you some answer for your question. I do not know why I can see your vectors. From the day I was born, I could see your kind, see those arms of yours. I never knew why and the only possible answer I could give were these."

Then he began to fire.

A state of emergency had been called for the country of Japan and the reason seemed obvious if not completely crazy. The incident in Kamakura as the nearby city was only a testament of the horrors that had now begun to pop up. Diclonius all around were revolting and killing humans. The Japanese army itself had to get involve to the point that Japan had now become a literal war zone.

Standing at the edge of the waters, Nana and Lucy stood with baited breath feeing Celia's immense strength from the island.

"What's happening over there?" Nana said, stunned. Lucy was in agreement, she could feel Celia's specific aura but whoever she was fighting did not produce any kind of aura. She could feel the presence of many siplitets, but they were all motionless. Whoever it was giving Celia one hell of a fight. Looking at each other, they gave a curt nod, preparing to head over to her direction when the coming of several Diclonius came from behind them.

"Damn!" Lucy cursed, turning on the spot and sending out her vectors. Nothing ever came easy did it? Nana too attacked, the thought alone sending chills down her spine. Her best friend Mayu was killed and she had no idea what was happening with Celia over at the island. Though they did recognize both a feeling and lack of feeling. None of them could feel that awful signature from the island. However, something was replaced by it…a signature emitted by Celia. It was dark…

It was evil.