Disclaimer, I do not own any characters or places in this story except for the original characters. This story is written for fun and may contain spoilers.

Chapter 28

Despair

Lucas gazed up at the sky as a creature floated down and touched the ground, the creature looked at everyone, Lucas and the others quickly snapped out of their awe and got ready for a fight. The creature smiled and raised her hand, Lucas then felt the ground shake, he looked down and then jumped back as far as he possibly could. Out of the ground came a stampede of barbed wire, the wire twisted and turned and attacked the group forcing them back. The creature let out a horrific laugh and lowered her hand, as she did the killer barbed wire turned to dust taking Lucas by surprise. The creature seemed to be female however that could only be told from her voice and nothing more, she wore a tattered and ripped skirt with barbed wire wrapped all around her chest digging into her flesh. Her arms and hands resembled those of burn victims, they resembled a bunch of ashes clumped together to form an arm and hand. At times the skin on the burned hand would peal off and in it's place would be more freshly burned skin and black as night. All along her spine were large spikes that had been hammered into her back. Her legs were like that of a normal person except all of the flesh and muscle on her legs looked like it was literally being eaten away and then regrowing itself at an amazing speed, several times her own bones became visible. Out of her back grew wings however they hand no flesh or muscle on them, they were just bone. Her face looked like she had a fight with a chainsaw and lost, all over her burned and pealing skins were cuts and slashed especially around her face. Her eyes were reptilian, they would just watch you like a predator stalking it's prey, they looked like they had cried and cried until they could cry no more. Her hair was filled with suet and tar, it was tattered and ruined along with uneven. The creature walked over to Murder who had regenerated completely and she pulled him to his feet with a diabolical smile on her face.

"Hello brother, how long has it been?" asked the creature.

"Only half of one of our lifetimes, but the trio is still incomplete, brother supreme is still absent" said Murder.

Who the hell are you asked Lucas.

"How rude to interrupt me while I was talking with brother, Murder my dear who is this oaf?" asked the creature.

"He is Lucas Murphy, but you would know him by his true name Advaka, our creation" said Murder.

"Oh really, the one who is supposedly the only person that will successfully kill us" said the creature.

"What the hell are you on about?" asked Train.

"In that boy's blood flows the blood of a thousand generations of Chaos and Order, in simple terms he is a collection of blood samples from various defenders of the worlds and psychopaths, a walking blood bank" said the creature as she pointed at Lucas.

"So what does that mean?" asked Snow.

"It means...that the boy is going to help us destroy the world, even is he does not mean it or if he does not know it, when he awakens everything will die" said the creature.

"What kind of crap is that, who the hell are you anyway?" asked Etna.

"Well seeing as you asked so nicely, I am Despair, the bitter-less sorrow, where ever I walk hope and faith dies, I am the second lord of Chaos" said the creature.

"Despair?" questioned Ichigo.

"That is correct, perhaps I shall display my power to you, I have already been welcomed into your hearts more then once so welcome me again as I tear through your flesh and bone" said Despair.

Spikes shot out of the ground, everyone jumped into the air to avoid them, it was impressive, Despair seemed to be able to bring anything she wished into reality and she could easily take it away. Lucas and Ichigo landed and attacked Despair however she lifted her hand and the two of them became frozen in the air, they could not move their bodies nor would they fall to the ground. This was until Despair walked up to them, placed her fingers on their foreheads and simply flicked them away which sent them flying through several buildings. The captains, Yoruichi, Mir and Snow then tried to attack Despair but she simply laughed as Byakya's Bankai floated around her, she managed to redirect the attack and sent it straight at the others wounding Rangiku, Mir and Snow and sending the others flying through several walls. Train unloaded several shots into Despair and was the first one to actually hit her, however none of these bullets even made a dent in her, they just bounced off. Train was nothing more than shocked, even more so when Despair quickly appeared in front of him and pounded him into the earth. When Mint and Flynn tried to help Train Despair appeared before them and broke their legs in an instant, they didn't even have time to react. Etna then tried to attack with her spear only for Despair to grab it by the tip, pull it out of her hands and using the spear she whacked Etna into the same building she whacked Ichigo and Lucas into. Uruhara along with Jinta and Ururu tried to attack Despair which resulted in her appearing from behind Uruhara and impaling him with Etna's spear before turning her attention to Jinta and Ururu who she dropped kicked straight into the ground, this left a huge crater in the middle of town.

"She's doing more damage then those Hollows" said Amu.

"She is also more vicious then Murder" said Sakura.

Syaoran then tried to attack Despair which resulted in Despair stopping the sword with her bare hands, pulling the sword our of Syaoran's arms, pulling on of his arms behind his back and grabbing his throat and pulling him close to her so he was just a breath away.

"Shall I send you back to the hospital magic boy, perhaps permanently this time" said Despair.

She then dislocated and broke Syaoran's arm as well as scratched his throat before sending him flying into the earth face first. Despair laughed enormously as Michel and Eric appeared beside her.

"My lady please be careful, you have just awoken and have not sampled any of the rich Chaos we have acquired for you" said Michel.

"I am not as weak as my brother Michel and besides I get all of my power from despair and despair is most often found on a battlefield, these bugs are making me stronger then I ever have been" said Despair.

"Still my lady, we are on a tight schedule and we also have an unwelcome guest who is watching us" said Eric.

"Don't take me for a fool, Project H can no longer touch me even if she wanted too, I am a stronger arcana then the hanged man" said Despair.

Kenpachi then who had recovered tried to attack Despair which caused her to simply stop his sword with her bare hands and then threw him at Lucas and Ichigo who had returned to the battle. It was a direct hit that sent the three of them flying all the way into several more buildings causing the last one to collapse and fall on them. They barely managed to pull themselves out of the rubble of the building only to fall to the ground as soon as the reached the surface.

"See, I can easily beat these fools" said Despair.

"Be that as it may my lady we still have to consider your brother" said Michel.

"Listen sister, we must revive brother" said Murder.

"Very well but at least let me kill some and wound some" said Despair.

This caused Lucas to remember what Project H had told them about Sakura and how something would be born from a death of one of her friends.

"It is now, the time is now and nothing can stop it, I warned you Lucas" said Project H from atop a building.

As much as she wanted it was impossible for her to interfere in her current state, all she could do was observe the game and the fate of the pieces on the chess board.

"I am mealy an observer but not for long, I just need to hold out until that time, soon I shall usher in my trump cards and the tide will turn before long, for their to be happiness first must come despair" said Project H as she vanished.

"Very well but make it fast sister" said Murder.

"Not my style but fine, despair shall full upon even the most carefree heart" said Despair.

She clicked her fingers as everyone managed to pull themselves to their feet, Lucas watched as metal spikes appeared out of the ground and floated in the air. The spikes began to move rapidly abound despair before flying high into the sky and moving round the area, Despair seemed to have no control over them and just seemed to be waiting to see who would die. First of Lucas got hit, a spike flew out of no where at an alarming speed and went through his hand and impaled him to a wall, Lucas let out a whale of pain as he pulled the spike out and gazed at the giant hole in his hand.

"Damn it, first hit wasn't a kill, don't worry there are seven more and even I don't know were they will go" said Despair.

Everyone watched the spikes carefully and cautiously, Ichigo got hit in the leg next, he didn't even see it coming. As he fell to the ground a spike went through Syaoran's shoulder and pinned him to a wall, Sakura yelled his name and tried to help him, Amu also rushed to help him but as she did a spike flew out of nowhere and hit her in the belly. Amu stopped and looked down to see the spike and her bloody hands around her chest, she then fell to the ground breathing heavily and in shock.

"AMU!" shouted Lucas.

"Sakura I'm fine, help Amu" said Syaoran.

Sakura nodded and rushed over to Amu, she pulled out the spike and immediately began tying to heal her and save Amu's life, it seemed that the spike had missed the organs but she had lost a lot of blood.

"Damn it, where the hell are they coming from" said Captain Hitsugaya.

"What is that, four left now huh" said Despair.

"I just love spike roulette, it is such an enjoyable way to kill our enemies" said Murder.

Another unstoppable spike had found it's next target and began it's decent, Mint was watching the spikes carefully when she heard a scraping sound, she turned round to see Lucas holding one of the spikes which was just a breath away from her head. It seemed he had managed to catch it with his other hand but had badly hurt it in the process.

"Impossible, he caught it" said Eric.

"Everyone I have figured it out, stop looking at the spikes in the sky they are just a distraction, while we are distracted by them we are open for attack and they take advantage of that, they can only attack from the ground and they cannot turn once they have a target, watch the ground for vibrations" said Lucas.

Everyone did as he said and Hitsugaya managed to destroy one with his sword just a second before it hit him in the face. The next one aimed itself at Mir who seemed unable to notice them, it charged causing Aigis to jump in it's path and to just barely stop it with both her hands.

"Got one" said Aigis.

"Same here" said Captain Hitsugaya.

"Alright, just one more" said Snow.

"How is she doing Sakura?" asked Lucas.

"She'll survive, she has lost a lot of blood and she will be asleep for a while but she'll live" said Sakura.

"Don't count on it, I can guarantee that one will die today" said Despair.

"Oh really, well there is only one spike left, all we have to do is keep watching it in the sky and then stop it when it makes a move, so suck it bitch" said Lucas.

"Um Lucas" said Train.

"What?" asked Lucas.

"The spike has kind of turned invisible" said Train.

Lucas looked up at the sky and found the spike gone, he looked everywhere but saw nothing, there were no signs of movement and there was not a sound, the thing had disappeared.

"Oh no" said Lucas.

"Oh did I forget to mention, the final one always vanishes and cannot be seen by anyone other then me" said Despair.

"She mentions that now" said Snow.

"Damn it, everyone be careful" said Mir.

Everyone moved about carefully waiting for the spike to show itself, there was no movement or sound for what felt like hours, everyone cautiously awaited Despair's last attack. Despair laughed as Lucas felt something move past his ear, Lucas turned to see nothing but blood flow through the air, the sound that filled the air was Sakura's scream and Despair's horrific laughter, a thud was heard as a body fell to the floor. Lucas mouth was wide open with shock and surprise, Despair grew a crooked smile as the wounded person lifted their hand to the sky.

"No...not her" said Joy.

A bell was heard, a small tiny hand reached up to the sky, and tears rained down Sakura's face as she looked down on her saviour. Pan lay on the ground, a spike clean through her chest and her clothes and fur dyed in blood. Lucas rushed to the scene, Pan was still alive but barely holding on to life.

"Ha brouhaha, at last that happy go luck group shall be tainted by despair, there are none that can survive a blow like that from me, especially not that rabbit" said Despair.

"What the hell HAVE YOU GONE AND DONE!" shouted Lucas.

"I have ridden us all of a rodent, no need to thank me I take great joy in skewering trash, all those that are killed by me feel and fall into despair and so their souls become mine, I guess you could call it recycling worthless trash into a work of art like myself" said Despair.

"You monster, your dead you hear me, DEAD!" shouted Train as he charged at Despair.

Despair laughed and easily dodged his attack, she then grabbed his gun and snapped it in two before whacking Train into a building. Mir unleashed a spell on Despair only for her to destroy it with her bare hand. Despair teleported in front of Mir and attempted to grab her throat but Ichigo and Lucas pushed her away with their swords.

"DAMN YOU!" shouted Ichigo and Lucas as they charged at Despair.

Despair simply teleported behind Lucas and grabbed him by his head, Lucas struggled as Despair rammed him into the ground head first. Despair then turned her attention to Ichgio and punched him straight in the face sending him flying. When Ichigo tried to get up Despair summoned a whip which wrapped itself tightly around Ichigo's neck. Despair then used a second whip to torment Ichigo, she beat him senselessly before letting him fall to the floor. When he tried to get up again she drop kicked him into the floor and stood on his head ploughing his face into the dirt. When others tried to help she sent them flying with a wave of her hand, everyone flew through the air as if they were flees to her.

"How could Michel and Eric have had so much trouble, your efforts to defeat me are absolutely hilarious, you are all severely beaten yet none of you have laid a hand on me and looks like none of you ever will" said Despair.

"Oh..." said a sinister voice.

Ichigo then began chuckling like crazy, Eric, Michel and Despair looked at him surprised, as Lucas pulled himself out of the ground he noticed some off about Ichigo.

"We'll just have to see about that then won't we" said Ichigo.

"This presence, it's not the same as a normal...who the hell are you" said Despair.

"You want to know who I am...he he he ...let me tell you I have NO NAME" shouted Ichigo.

He immediately grabbed Despair's foot while laying down and threw her effortlessly into a building, everyone was shocked by this as Ichigo lifted himself off the floor, his orange hair covering his face.

"This is..." said Byakya.

"It's not polite to refer to someone as this YOU IDIOT!" shouted Ichigo.

He lifted his face to reveal a white mask similar to that of a Hollows covering half his face. He began laughing hysterically and lashed out at anything that moved, he glared at everyone with an evil smile and blood lust in his eyes. Despair pulled herself out of the building she had been sent though only to get hit again by this Hollow Ichigo and sent plummeting into the ground. Hollow Ichigo landed in front of Despair as she pulled herself off the ground seemingly unharmed by Hollow Ichigo's attacks.

"This is unexpected, there is a foe here that can lay a hand on me, how interesting, I thought you were just a normal Soul Reaper" said Despair.

Michel and Eric then came to Despair's aid with their weapons drawn and ready for a fight, however Eric was quickly sent flying by a punch to the gut from Hollow Ichigo.

Ichigo is the only normal one around here, I am far superior to that weakling said Hollow Ichigo.

Michel attacked with his sword only for Hollow Ichigo to deflect it with his hand and then shoved his sword through Michel's chest, he pulled it out slightly before shoving it though yet again, he did this again and again laughing hysterically before finally finishing Michel off with a Getsuga Tensho sending him flying into a building.

"Although I prefer to not be connected at all it would be awkward if he were to die, so I'll kill you instead" said Hollow Ichigo.

Ichigo tried to attack Despair however she just grabbed his sword stopping it in the air, shocking everyone, Ichigo smiled as did Despair as she glanced at the Hollow Mask forming around his face.

"So you wish to be separated from this weakling, then I believe we can strike a deal" said Despair.

"Oh, is that so" said Hollow Ichigo.

"I want some entertainment, kill Lucas Murphy and I shall grant you complete control over that body and send that boy's soul into the darkness" said Despair.

Michel and Eric then rejoined Despair at her side, Eric looked like crap while Michel just dusted some of the rubble from the building of his shoulder and then straightened his tie.

"Can we trust him?" asked Michel.

"No, not really" said Despair.

"Well that is a very interesting deal, however it will be more interesting and fun to just kill you all" said Hollow Ichigo.

"Oh I don't think so" said Despair.

Despair then grabbed the Hollow mask and pulled it straight off Ichigo's face causing Hollow Ichigo to scream in pain. Ichigo's eyes turned back to their normal colour as Despair crushed the Hollow Mask in her hand and then kicked Ichigo away.

"Shame, he could have been quite useful" said Michel.

"We should go now" said Eric.

"Yes sister, we should leave now we have much work to do" said Murder.

"No, one girl put into a coma and one demi killed, by blood-lust is not satisfied yet brother, all three of you stay out of my way or I will kill you instead" said Despair.

"Damn you, haven't you done enough damage, what the hell do you people want anyway" said Lucas.

"The way you are acting, you have no goals what so ever, what was the point in Pandora, all of the villains you have requited and the lives you have ruined" said Mir.

"You mean what was the point in getting you to betray your friends, how can you people simply allow a traitor like her to be with you, she nearly got you killed more then once" said Eric.

Mir was shocked by Eric's words and became depressed as she held her arm and looked away in shame from her actions.

"It's because Mir isn't a bad person" said Lucas.

This shocked Mir as she expected the exact opposite of what Lucas had said, she was surprised to see Lucas didn't think bad of her after what she had put him through.

"Sure she is a bit egotistical and somewhat crazy, she drives me round the bend and caused me more hassle then I care to remember she has her good points" said Lucas.

"If it wasn't for Mir half of us wouldn't be here, she has saved our backs countless times and helped us win many battles" said Lyner.

"Even though she betrayed us she returned and saved us, even though she knew we may never except her again she was brave enough to come back and say sorry and that is good enough for us" said Snow.

"However you have hurt our friends and destroyed many lives" said Train.

"You take great pleasure in hurting others and you do whatever the hell you want, well now it stops, everything you have done is unforgivable and right here, right now I'll make you pay for what you have done" said Lucas.

He tried to stand up but could barely get off his feet, Despair laughed at him until Ichigo helped him onto his feet, somehow Ichigo had recovered from Despair's barrage of attacks, nearly all of his wounds were healed.

"I think it is about time we shut that big mouth of hers" said Ichigo.

"I've got a plan but we need some cover" said Lucas.

Lucas lifted his sword to his face and then placed the palm of his right hand on the blade as he muttered an incantation. Smoke shot out of his blade and covered everything, the smoke was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Lucas could barely see the palm of his own hand as he took out a knife and cut his own hand allowing the blood to flow. Despair just smiled and charged into the fog with an urge to kill when she was blinded by a bright light.

"Pact Accepted" said a voice that sounded throughout the smoke.

Despair opened her eyes as a wave of energy hit her directly in the chest and sent her flying through the air, she quickly managed to recover and landed on her feet as a faint scar appeared on her chest from the attack. Gradually the smoke cleared, Ichigo was on the floor unconscious and standing next to him was Lucas. He was dressed in a Soul Reaper's uniform with silver knight boots and shoulder pads that had three long spikes jutting out of them. His hair had become long and pitch black as it was waved through the sky by the wind. His mask was in the form of the same Hollow mask that appeared on Ichigo's face however it was clear whose mind was behind the mask and who was in control. Lucas' sword seemed to have fused together with Ichigo's Zangetsu and in one hand he held the combination of Ichigo's Zangetsu and his sword while in the other he held Zangetsu in it's Bankai from.

"Now then, lets end this" said Lucas.

"A worthy opponent, or perhaps not, either way this will satisfy me" said Despair.

The two of them launched themselves at each other, trying to close the gap between them as fast as possible to unleash more bloodshed and carnage. However just when they were a few seconds from each other something bowled into the ground creating a cloud of smoke, someone instantly grabbed Lucas' swords and forced him back while someone else forcefully pushed Despair away from Lucas. The smoke cleared and Lucas found Project H standing before him stopping his sword with just a finger. On the other side Marcus Fenix had managed to push Despair back while Zangetsu and Fai held her back and stopped her from attacking.

"That is enough, enough blood shed for today, it is not yet time for the game to reach it's conclusion" said Project H.

"You dare interfere , you simple observer" said Despair.

"I am an observer no longer, now I am a piece on the board, so you choose Despair" said Project H.

Despair was angered by Project H's remark, so much that she managed to send all of her captors away with just one strike. However she managed to swing her arms wildly and managed to catch Fai in the chest causing him to bleed quite rapidly, Despair with a satisfied look and her hand draped in blood simply turned. Fai's friends rushed to his side as Despair, Murder, Michel and Eric took their leave. Project H was shocked by what had happened and after glancing at the carnage that Despair had caused used a radio to quickly contact someone who could help.

"Alright Doctor and the crew of that stupid ship I know you are listening, get your ass's down here as soon as possible and bring as many medics that you have" said Project H.

The Elle Ciel began to descend onto the town while Project H used a spell to put all of the civilians to sleep.

"While the hell did you stop me, I could have ended this right then" said Lucas.

"No you couldn't, you're not strong enough yet" said Project H.

"But you let them get away" said Lucas.

"Hush, you're like a baby, did you forget everything I taught you, if so then never mind, it is time I shall reveal to you and all your companions, to all the worlds you touched the game that you have been playing and it's rules" said Project H.

Aftermath

Hi I am Project H, sorry Joy isnt her right now but our special guest is

"Greetings" said Kuja.

So Kuja your thoughts on this chapter please

"I believe it has raised even more questions, questions that will be answered next time" said Kuja.

They certainly will, finally I will get to reveal the truth, the game board will finally be known

"There will also be many farewells next time" said Kuja.

But that's life, anyway the answer to last time's riddle is simple, all of them are boys

"Today's riddle is what has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?" said Kuja.

See ya next time and sorry for the long wait