A/N: Sorry for the delay, had a few issues to work out. By June, I will be putting all my stories on temporary hiatus due to mandatory military service. I will be forced from a computer for at least a month so i will try to put out as much chapters as i can before i enter.

Angel Beats!

What We Life For

Operation 9

Fists of Fury

It was getting close now, the number of Shadows that were getting through the fire that they were putting through was increasing. However their spirits were not down as they knew that they still had hope. Their plan to use the flares worked in attracting their comrades. Members of both Beta group and Charlie had found the clearing and ran over to aid them. According to Yue, who was the first of Charlie squad to return to the shed, shortly after Kazu led his group back into the forest, they came across a large Shadow that seemed to be spawning clones of itself. They were ambushed by the Shadows and forced to scatter. Only Hiroshi and Yue made it back to the shed, and only with the guidance of the flare.

Izumi and Kazu were still missing. Beta squad faired better, having all but one member still missing, Naoyuki. The de facto leader of Delta squad, Kusanagi Yamato, was surprised at how quickly the individual members of the other groups quickly came here and managed to grasp the situation, integrating themselves into the shed's defence. Of those who came, Yamato took particular note of a few. Beta squad's Motoyama Rei was the first to arrive, using his backpack to knock two Shadows off their feet before emptying his cartridge into a third. He used the stock of his rifle to knock a Shadow into another, forcing the two the stumble back before he fired into them. He was certainly a capable fighter. Another one to take note was Beta squad's Saya. She arrived with only a rifle in hand but her shots were well trained at. Her flexibility to dodge Shadow attacks, as well as acrobatic skills to of jumping out to get across to the shed safely, she had a good throw arm as well when she drew a knife she took from the cafeteria from her boot and threw it at a Shadow. It was like she was used to fighting already.

"We're running out of ammunition."

Wakamoto Souichirou muttered, grabbing the of bag of rifle clips and reached inside to grab one. Now was the time when the number of Shadows coming out would die down. From what Charlie squad reported, there are Shadows that were 'spawning' smaller clones of themselves. The seniors seemed baffled by this news, but they did not do anything. But these 'spawns' were easier to kill than their parent, as Yamato recalls back to the battle under the school in Guild. Each Shadow was meant to take on a full clip or two to die. These spawns were going down in mere single shots. But unless they deal with those larger Shadows, this battle would never end. They were also running out of ammunition with the number of people in the shed using their guns. With this new knowledge, Yamato knew what had to be done.

The end of this exercise was in sight and it brought a new sense of vigour to the group. But Yamato knew of the problem. Probably Katsuragi and Yue both knew of the problem as well. Where could they find these larger Shadows? The forest was still extremely thick and getting lost in there would be a given. The details given by those who had seen them were sketchy at best, and did not give even the slightest hint as to where they might be. In short, they were unable to move from this location, but it was a start nonetheless. It gave them hope and Yamato knew that morale was an important factor in battle, any sort of battle.

"We could send out scouts to find those Spawners, then mark them with a flare."

Katsuragi suggested. A good idea, but it was risky. Yamato mulled over her map once more. The Spawners were mainly stationary as members of Charlie squad had claimed. That would mean that they were within areas that were not explored by the groups. Yamato took a marker she found from the supply bag and marked on her map the routes taken by the squads. Crossing out some areas that were deemed down right impossible, then marking all possible paths that the individual members took to get to this shed. Yamato sat back, looking at the markings on her map. Ten possible areas to check and one was relatively close. Yamato looked at the ammunition bag. They were running out of clips, so should she take the gamble?

"E-enemy attack!"

Yamato looked up and cursed under her breath. Here comes another wave. Yamato ran to the window, and found to her horror that a large Shadow was making its way towards the shed. About half the size larger than the usual Shadow, this one was surrounded by smaller, normal sized Shadows.

"So that's a spawner."

Yamato muttered.

"All guns, concentrate fire on the spawner!"

Yamato ordered, getting everyone to positions.

"Melee fighters, prevent any of those smaller ones from getting close to this shed!"

Yamato directed the battle as though she had experience in it, though in truth she was at her wit's end with this. You cannot just pick up a high school girl and drop her into a battle zone and expect her to become a warrior overnight. Does not work in life, or in death. Everything Yamato was doing was on the fly. Instincts pushing her to survive. She will not go down here. Not now. Not until she had her revenge. The concentrated fire was proved to be effective as it wasn't long before the spawner Shadow fell to the ground and disappeared.

"Yes! We did it!"

Cheers from the others made Yamato slightly relieved. But that feeling was short-lived as more Spawners burst through the forest into the clearing.

"Spawners out in the open!"

"Fire at those closest to you only!"

This was a nightmare come true. The Shadows were pushing through extremely hard, with four of those Spawners and their little clones rushing for the shed.

"We can't hold out!"

"You will."

A voice said. Yamato was about to turn to see who spoke but a pistol shoved its way just past her cheek, firing a few rounds out. Each round exploded into a ball of fire, forcing the Shadows back. Yamato looked at the wielder of the pistol, and saw that Ryougi Mana, the senior who followed them in Delta squad, finally making a move. Her pistol was a large, revolver type of gun. But the problem of it was the sheer size of the pistol. The chambers of the rounds were huge, and the rounds were equally large. This wasn't a pistol, but it could be called a miniature grenade launcher. Mana loaded more rounds into her gun before snapping the cylinder back before taking aim once more. Mana pulled the trigger with one hand, the kick-back from the gun making her hand fly up but Mana had clear control over it as she quickly brought it down to fire again. Yamato noted that this was, in fact, not Mana's side arm. Ryougi Mana had brought along this gun even though Kyou had told her and her partner to only bring along side-arms

"Mana, I didn't know you brought that along."

Osakabe, her partner, admitted, taking out his side arm and firing a few shots out of a window at the Shadows.

"I'm always prepared."

Mana answered simply, swinging the cylinder from the large pistol out to load it again. It only carried six rounds and the rate Mana was using it, Yamato had to guess she was either trigger happy or had a lot of bullets.

"You know the Major isn't going to be happy about it."

Osakabe added, suddenly fishing out what appeared to be a grenade. Mana merely smirked.

"Let's make sure she will not find out. But this makes us even."

Osakabe smiled back before pulling the pin from the grenade and tossing the grenade out of the window. Within moments the grenade exploded, killing Shadows in the area. These two were extremely calm, not to mention extremely good at this. Yamato could not believe that this was what the SSS2 was.

"Recruit, this fight isn't over."

Yamato turned and saw Mana standing over her, offering her hand.

"Get to your feet and fight. This is what we do. This is what we face. You have already chosen to walk this path of blood and there is no return. Stand and fight, Kusanagi Yamato."

Yamato blinked and stared. Stand and fight. It was the only way she had left. Kill or be killed. Survival of the strongest. Yamato did not want to die, did not want to disappear. She will survive. Not matter what. She took the hand, to which Mana smiled.

"Hope you are not regretting this."

Mana said, pulling Yamato to her feet.

"I already am... but it's too late to regret anything now."

Yamato replied, turning her attention to the field. She will survive this.

"Mark Spawners with flares! We'll make them confused even if it only lasts a short while!"

Yamato ordered and immediately some members took out the flares from their backpacks, igniting them and tossing them out like grenades. The moment the flares landed by the Spawners, the Shadows were thrown into confusion, charging at their own Spawners.

"So, rather than using grenades, use the flares that attract Shadows instead. Interesting."

Mana smiled.

"That girl is good. She would make an excellent squad leader."

Osakabe said, walking over to Mana as the recruits managed to turn the tide of the battle to their favour.

"Forget about it. Yuki would take her to become a Wolf."

"That is the most likely scenario... Do you feel that?"

Osakabe asked, suddenly looking out of the window as though he smelt something. Mana closed her eyes and sighed, shaking her head.

"... Muscle brain is here."

The moment Mana said that, a large explosion came from just beyond the edge of the clearing.

"Wha-"

"'Chou-dai Hyaka Shougan'!"

What seemed to be a beam of light ripped through the air, tearing the ground as it flew across through the clearing and completely destroying the Shadows in the area. The recruits were clearly in shock, some even unable to stand. Stepping out into the clearing, was a large man, probably two heads taller than Tanaka. Sporting two metal gauntlets, he walked calmly into the battlefield as though nothing around him could phase him. For that brief moment, the thought of a certain 'fist' of a certain direction came to mind of everyone. A group of Shadows charged at him in retaliation, but he simply stood his ground, taking a deep breath in as he reared his fist back.

"... Ougi: SHOUMETSU-HA!"

He threw his punch forward, and a large explosion erupted, causing all Shadows to disintegrate immediately. What was left was a large crater that could fill up with an entire swimming pool's worth of water.

"Wha- what was that? !"

Daisuke finally broke the silence in the shed. Mana sighed and shook her head while muttering 'idiot'. The large man closed his eyes and brought his hand to his chin as he seemed to be in deep thought about something.

"Hmm... Shoumetsu-ha doesn't have that much of an impact... Too broad of a name for something that only affects a small area."

He muttered, quite loudly as well.

"...Huh?"

Everyone in the shed was simply confused by what he said.

"That is Houiin Hideou. One of the strongest members of the Assault squad's shock troops, Edge."

Mana explained, stepping forward with a scowl on her face.

"He's stupidly strong, almost to the point of being a cheat character. He could flatten the school with one punch, that is how strong he is. But he is an idiot beyond compare."

"You mean... all of that shouting?"

Yamato asked.

"Exactly. That idiot thinks that every attack he makes has to have a name, like this is some sort of movie or cartoon. Most of the names have no meaning, and sometimes bordering down-right stupid- ah, he's going to do it again."

Mana pointed to where Hideou was raising his hands up into the air and bringing them down through a wide arc. Like some sort of Chinese martial artist channelling chi or energy, he waved his hands about, almost like a bird would. But it was clear that his powers were great, quite visibly as the ground around him started to crack under pressure.

"Haa... ETERNAL-"

He struck a pose.

"SUPER-"

He struck another pose.

"INCREDIBLE-"

He did flexing pose.

"NIGHT-"

He did another flexing pose with a smile.

"F.E.V.E.R!"

He shot his hands out and caused the entire ground around him to explode, creating another crater which some Shadows fell into.

"Justice always wins!"

He shouted, striking a victory pose not unlike those from a power ranger show.

"Ah... a real idiot."

Yamato muttered.

"See? What did I tell you."

Mana replied, closing her eyes in disappointment. Once again, Hideou closed his eyes in thought.

"Hmm... doesn't have that much of an impact, though it would be good to teach my apprentice, Furuichi. Yes, I should name it 'Furuichi Eternal Super Incredible Night Dragon Fever'. It will suit him well!"

"He added another word to that move."

Katsuragi noted, though that was not the point.

"By the way, Furuichi is a sergeant who is not his apprentice, but just so happens to be unable to refuse Hideou when this mountain of muscles asks him to follow. Got to feel sorry for that kid."

Osakabe noted.

"Mu mu, this one senses more enemies to vanquish."

Hideou turns to face on an onslaught of Shadows all rushing at him. He stood there, tucking his hands by his side as he closed his eyes to take a deep breath in.

"... Haaaaaa... KATSU!"

Hideou gave out a shout so loud and so intense that his uniform ripped into shreds, as well as the ground buckling under pressure. It was then revealed that all this powerful fighter was wearing after this clothes were torn was-

"... Fundoushi?"

Yamato had her mouth agape in shock. Yes, Houiin Hideou was wearing nothing but a mere loincloth under his clothes that had the large character for 'spirit' printed on it. But it was now clear just what sort of body this powerful fighter had. With rippling muscles that seemed to have its own muscles built on them, he was probably the clear definition of 'muscle mountain'. In truth, it was quite sickening to look at.

"Not enough! Not enough you evil spirits! Power lies within the BASICS!"

Hideou punched forward, sending a beam of some sorts tearing through the enemy ranks.

"BASIC KICK!"

He threw a punch instead.

"SUPER LEFT HOOK!"

He did a right hook. And what happened to the basics?

"DIVINE FIST!"

He grabbed a shadow and did a German suplex on it.

"He's really messing up the names, isn't he?"

Katsuragi noted rather unnecessarily.

"That's not the point."

Yamato replied, turning her eyes from the rather offensive scene. She knew that with the appearance of this senpai, this exercise would not be over.

"Since Hideou is here, we can assume that this exercise has been terminated. However, as much as Hideou is powerful, even he would be unable to finish off all of the Shadows. He tends to miss quite a whole lot of them once he rips his uniforms."

Mana explained, loading her pistol while her eyes seemed to indicate a strong urge to shoot that muscle bound maniac outside the shed.

"Once he begins his shirt ripping, he becomes blind all everything until he runs out of energy, which would be in an hour. We shall use this this time to search out the remaining Spawners. Yamato, you will stay here until the rescue team arrives. Osakabe and I will take care of the remaining spawners."

Yamato wanted to argue, but knew that the remaining recruits would be too tired to go out for another battle. The best course of action would be stay here. But Yamato was still worried.

"Sorry to intrude, senpai, but I still worry about Alpha squad and the remaining missing team members."

"Your fears are rightfully justified, but this is already beyond your abilities and the scope of this exercise. You recruits will stand down. That is an order."

Mana said before nodding to Osakabe. The two seniors then left the shed, running across the clearing and disappearing into the woods. Yamato sighed, slumping to the ground. It's been a tiring day and she was still conflicted about not being able to head out. But what Mana said was right, this was already way beyond what this exercise was meant to be. It was best to leave it to the seniors. The loud shouts and explosions from outside made by Hideou could still be heard, making Yamato wonder if that guy would every cool off. Was this how she was going to continue living? In this World of Purgatory? To fight and fight till the end of time? She knew that within her heart, her revenge would still linger, that her anger will continue to anchor her here. Until she satisfies this unbearable anguish, she would be here, fighting. She knew that it would be best to simply forget about it, but she couldn't. It wasn't that simple. It never was.

The exercise was officially cancelled with the sound of a siren about two hours after the muscle bound Hideou cooled off. The recruits were quite surprised to see that after cooling off, Hideou literally just collapsed onto the floor and started to sleep. So much for the powerful fist of a certain direction. Of course, he had cooled off long after he finished off the Shadows in the clearing. For the rest of the time, which was approximately twenty minutes, he just started shouting random gibberish to no one in particular, blasting his aura around the place and creating giant craters in the clearing. At one point, his gibberish words that were meant to be 'skill names' soon became weird roaring sounds that had no recognizable words in them. It went from shouts like:

"Toutestu-Kouma-ken!"

To something like:

"! # $ % ^& * "

Talk about a berserker. Katsuragi and the others were gathered outside the shed by a large squad of Assault division members, all looking extremely professional. And for good reason. These were members of the main squad of the 'War Boars', led personally by Fujibayashi Kyou. The said leader walked towards the recruits, her eyes surveying the area around the shed and the tired looks of the recruits. Alpha squad was escorted out of the woods and into the clearing, as well as the remaining missing members, having been found by the assault members. Kyou nodded and turned her attention to the recruits as her members scattered around the clearing to finish up any left over Shadows and to detail the situation.

"All of you have done well. Well beyond my expectations and beyond the expectations by the division heads. What happened here was an accident, whether you choose to believe it or not is up to you. For now, all of you have passed this portion of the training. Report back to the barracks and rest. Tomorrow will be more training."

Kyou announced, earning some groans from the recruits. Normally Kyou would throw a few books at them, but she would let them complain for now. They earned it. Besides, she needed to confront someone. Tanaka appeared and brought the recruits back to the barracks. As for Kyou, she stayed behind, overseeing her squad sorting through the damage. As she watched five members try to drag Hideou out of a hole, she sened the approach of several people behind her. She did not need to turn around to know who they were. They merely pressence was unmistakenable.

"I heard you have a new type of shadow here."

A familiar voice spoke up from behind.

"Ah, damn right. Your group had 'no idea' about this, am i right?"

Kyou asked sarcastically, turning around to face the young looking girl standing there with four subordinates, each carrying a large case. The young girl had light blue hair with a deep blue pair of eyes that just seemed to make Kyou extremely irritated. Of all people from 'that' division to come down here to harrass her, it had to be this one. The second in command of the Intelligence division-

"Testarossa Iris. What do you want this time?"

Kyou narrowed her eyes at the doll-faced vice commander of the intelligence division, who merely smirked.

"Why, i'm here to collect samples of this new shadow, of course."

"Don't joke around, Testarossa, your division knew about this new type of Shadow."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Major Fujibayashi-"

Before Iris could finish her sentence, Kyou reached out and grabbed the vice commander of the intelligence division by the collar, using her strength to pull Iris close. Kyou was fuming mad and did not bother to hide that fiery emotion at all.

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME! THESE SHADOWS WERE FROM YOUR DIVISION! HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM? !"

Kyou shouted so loudly that everyone stopped what they were doing to look on. Iris narrowed her eyes at Kyou, unfazed by Kyou's outburst.

"Is this how Assault members treat others? How barbaric as usual."

"WHY YOU-"

Iris grabbed Kyou's wrist, forcing the latter to let go. Iris commanded a lot of power, and her icy glare was said to freeze even the most short tempered members of the SSS2. Kyou glared at her, finally backing off, though unwillingly.

"As for your Shadow, we did not know about their cloning capabilities. Whether you accept that as the truth is up to you. What we did know was that they were altered by the Angel Player program by someone shortly before we captured them. However tests showed no abnormal abilities besides having their physical size enlarged to that of a gorilla."
Iris explained, straightening her collar and dusting her sleeves.

"Angel Program? They were altered?"

"Yes, and before you go asking, we have yet to discover who altered them. But clearly this isn't the work of an Angel."
Iris said, pulling out a bunch of papers and handed them to Kyou, who grudgingly took them and flipped through the stack.

"This is..."

Kyou's eyes widened as she realized what was written on this report.

"Yes, it is. While this is normally our jurisdiction, Yuki has forced us to cooperate with every other division to find the culprit."

"'Your jurisdiction' my ass. If this is true, it would go straight to division six."

Kyou said, tapping the report.

"... True, but it has not yet been established who did it. If it is truly one of our own who is the traitor, we, the intelligence division, shall deal with it in our own fashion."

"Traitors are meant to be dealt with by division six. There would not be any exception to this-"

"'Unless at least three leaders have agreed upon this decision'. I've read the ruling before, Fujibayashi. Here is the validation."

Iris produced another piece of paper, on it were three signatures.

"... Your own leader, Yuuko and... Kou?"

Kyou stared at the signature, completely shocked at what she was seeing. Kurogane Kou, the leader of the sixth division, gave her authorization for this?

"She is still a division leader, if i remember correctly. There is nothing wrong with her being able to give her approval."

Iris said, taking the approval letter back. Kyou narrowed her eyes at Iris, not liking this one bit.

"... Fine, so you will be wanting every division to help with this investigation and hand the culprit over to you. Am i right?"

Kyou raised an eyebrow at Iris, who merely nodded.

"That is correct. Now, i have to collect the remains of these 'spawner' Shadows, as your recruits call them."

"I wouldn't bother with that. My men have killed every one of those things and burned away any remains."

Kyou answered, making Iris furrow her brows. That touched a nerve.

"Do you know what you have done?"

Iris asked, her voice tensed.

"What I have done is ensure that not a single one of those 'creatures' survive. I have to ensure that nothing can ever threaten the safety of the SSS2, that is what i have done."

"You-... We could have studied more about it, learn more and perhaps unlock even more secrets behind the Angel Player program and this World! You destroyed our hope for ending this stupid war!"

"I destroyed nothing but our enemies who threaten to kill us."

Kyou shot back, almost physically butting heads with Iris by now.

"Maybe it hasn't sunk deep yet into your skull, Testarossa, but this war isn't going to end. You know it, i know it, everyone here knows about it. Stop dreaming about stupid fantasies and wake up to our reality. Maybe the sooner you understand that, the sooner you can find a way to shut down that Angel Player program."

Iris wanted to argue back, but held her tongue. It was pointless to argue further with Kyou.

"Fine, have it your way."

She said through clenched teeth.

"Men, go collect the soil. Even if they were burnt away, they must have still left essences around in the ground."

Iris ordered and her men nodded, leaving immediately to the different areas to carry out the order.

"... This is not over, Fujibayashi."

Iris said, before leaving. Kyou sighed, shaking her head to cool it off after that intense arguement.

"... Of course it isn't over... stupid idiot."

The recruits suffered for another week of training under Fujibayashi Kyou before she was willing to accept them as 'passable'. Most of them were too tired to comment on Kyou's pep-talks by the third day but at least with the training they were accustomed to this World and the war that they were thrown into. Kyou never got them to do another 'exercise', opting instead for a relatively safer approach. Though the word 'relatively' is used loosely. In fact, Kyou's 'safer' approach had caused each recruit to die horribly at least five times within a day by spike traps, explosions and one particularly large metal ball.

Tanaka had collected the recruits from Kyou and led them back to the school, at which point all of the recruits broke down in tears. Having not seen civilization in a week, which was more like five years to the recruits suffering in the hellish training of Kyou, the recruits had a rather long emotional break-down. After an hour of crying and kissing the running grounds, the recruits were led back to their rooms in the staff building. As they entered, they noticed that most of the members walking around all had smiles and eyes of approval for them. It seemed that they were finally accepted into the organization, or everyone in the organization knew what a hellish training they went through and showed their sympathy. Either way, it was a comforting change from the training in the woods.

"Alright, you guys can rest for tonight, tomorrow, you all will go through your final training with the diversion division. Rest well."

Tanaka told them before he left. Rest well. A phrase that Katsuragi knew not to expect much from it. Whether it was really meant to convey Tanaka's well wishes, or whether they were some sort of sarcastic remark, he would not know. But he guess he would take this opportunity to rest.

"We're finally back."

Daisuke sighed, throwing himself onto his bed.

"Ah... that we are."

Katsuragi said, sitting down on his own bed. Most of the guys had decided that they were too tired to hit the showers, leaving the room to stink a little. But as before, no one had the energy to care.

"... Ne, Daisuke."

"Hm?"

"Get me some tea."

"Sure-... Do i look like some sort of servant?"

"Yes."

"No hesitation..."

Katsuragi noted that even this lame conversation was lacking its energy. He was tired, they all were. Training and more training. Was this how things were going to be for the rest of eternity? Was this war something that Katsuragi really wanted to be part of? What was his reason for being here? What was his pain? What was his regret? Why was he still trying to survive? What was his reason for living?

"... He seems to be questioning himself."

"Maybe it would be better to tell him."

"No... not yet. It isn't time yet."

"... If you say so."