Note: Okayyy…soooo…yeah I've been gone for quite a while sorry about that! But hey I'm finally back! And to make it up to you all this chapter will be longer than usual so you can all take your time enjoying the story as it concludes and wraps up! So go ahead and enjoy chapter 22!

"Maka, are you-"

"Please don't talk to me about Soul right now" Maka whispers as she continues forward shutting her eyes. Jackie lets out a sigh and keeps walking from behind Maka, with the twin pots on her side.

Looking over at Maka, Crona nervously approaches her. "M-Maka…w-where exactly are we going?"

Ignoring the pink haired boy, Maka continues forward with her gaze ahead, not even acknowledging the others in her group. Frowning slightly, Kid shakes his head. "If we go on like this we won't get anywhere. At this point we're just tiring ourselves out for nothing. Seriously Maka we need to stop now and devise a plan."

Seeing that Maka continued to ignore the group, Kid raised his voice. "Maka! Ignoring us won't bring Soul back! You know that don't you?"

"Shut up!" Maka snaps as she turns around and glares at Kid. Finally getting her attention, the young shinigami approaches her. "Listen to me Maka…I miss Soul just as much as you do. I understand you two were close but you can't-"

"I said shut up!" Maka cries out as her hand quickly flings out and slaps Kid across the face, making the shinigami stumble back in shock. Gasping, Liz and Patty stare wide eyed at Maka as everyone suddenly goes quiet. Shivering and staring at her feet, the ash blonde haired girl bites down on her lip, drawing a bit of blood. "Why did he have to die…"

Looking into the cameras from Asura's hideout, Black*Star let out a deep sigh. It seemed that Maka wasn't dealing with Soul's death very well. Sure he was upset too but this wasn't the time and place for mourning.

"I really don't see why you continue to resist me. Why don't you just go back from where you came and rejoin your friends so we can keep our little game going?" Asura asks with his head tilted, a pleased smirk on his face.

"Yes, I agree. It's pointless to try and stop us. You won't accomplish anything. You'll die here just like my sister if you don't go back" Arachne says coolly, approving of Asura's statement. "I still have to try! I can't go back now…I'm not going back until I end this damned game one way or another!" Black*Star yells out, his eyes filled with nothing but determination.

Chuckling to himself, the Kishin shakes his head, his arms folded. "My…you're a stubborn kid aren't you? You'd really go this far to save your friends? Knowing well enough that you may die here?"

Not answering the question, Black*Star gets back to his feet as he glares at Asura and Arachne, then mutters for Tsubaki who morphs into her enchanted sword mode.

"Not gonna answer my question huh?" Asura says with his brow raised.

"It doesn't matter" the blue haired assassin mutters.

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter if I answer your question or not. Because whether or not I die isn't what I'm worried about right now" Black*Star replies as he gets in fighting stance. Grinning, Asura unfolds his arms and raises his head. "I admire your determination. Really I do. But it's a shame that you'll die here. So much potential yet this is where it ends…"

"Oh would you shut up!" Black*Star cries out as he tosses Tsubaki who quickly had turned into her shuriken form. Smirking and staying where he was, Asura let the attack graze his cheek as Tsubaki flew past him. "Heh…you missed me" Asura says quietly.

"I wasn't aiming for you!" the blue haired male said with a grin.

Eyes going wide, the Kishin quickly turns around to see Tsubaki revert to her human form as she now stood inside the control room.

"You crafty little ants…!" Asura snarls as he makes his way towards Tsubaki.

"No you don't!" Black*Star yells as he sprints towards the Kishin. Glaring as he sees Black*Star, the Kishin attempts to grab him only to be drop kicked in the face before he could do so.

Seeing the turn of events unfold, Arachne gulps and backs away headed for a nearby escape pod. "This isn't good…I can't be here if things keep going this way…" Quickly getting into the pod, Arachne pushes an inner button and locks eyes with an angered Asura for a split second before being shot off the island.

"Hey are you seeing that!?" Spirit Albarn calls out as he points at an object that shoots out towards the sky from the center of the island. Nodding, Stein rubs his chin. "Yeah I see that alright…"

"Do you think that was the students?" Marie asks hopefully. Shaking his head, Stein continues to ponder. "No it couldn't have been them. Because whatever that thing is, it isn't large enough to carry all of them."

"Unless of course they all didn't make it" Azusa points out as she adjusts her glasses. Glaring at the female, Spirit clenches his teeth and prepares to say something but is stopped when Stein grabs his arm and shakes his head. Sighing, Spirit stares at his feet and bites his lip. "Well what are we supposed to do now?"

Staring up at the sky, Stein remains silent as he rubs his chin. "We have to wait for an opening."

Glaring furiously as Arachne leaves; the Kishin grits his teeth in a rather harsh manner. "Arachne you damned witch…" Balling up his fists, Asura turns to see Black*Star and Tsubaki attempting to interfere with the game.

"No you don't brats!" he yells out, his finger extending at a rapid rate as it shoots towards the pair like a razor sharp needle. "Watch out Tsubaki!" Black*Star quickly snaps as he jumps on Tsubaki, pushing her out of the way.

Yelping and shutting her eyes, Tsubaki shivers as she feels Black*Star knock her down and cower over her.

"Tsubaki are you okay?"

Opening her eyes slowly she nods. "Yes I'm f-" Her eyes widen as she sees Black*Star's arm bleeding. Gasping, she sits up and tries to address the wound. "Black*Star! Your arm!"

Smirking, Black*Star shakes his head as he stands up. "Don't worry about it Tsubaki just focus on finding an off switch or something to this damned game." Blinking, Tsubaki stares at her meister shocked before nodding quickly and rushing to the controls. "Y-Yes of course!"

"Worthless ants…" Asura mutters as he does the same attack again, this time using multiple fingers. Avoiding the needle-like fingers, the blue haired male smirks and lands on his feet preparing for the next attack. "Bring it on!"

Gnashing his teeth together, the Kishin continued to grow even more furious by the second. "You think you can stand a chance against me? Against me!? I am the Kishin, Asura! A mere ant like you cannot defeat me!"

Pressing a random button, Tsubaki gulps as the cameras suddenly go blank with a red error message flashing. "U-Uh I don't know if I clicked the right thing…"

"Don't touch my things!" Asura snaps as he narrows his eyes. Thankfully all she did was disrupt the cameras…the game is still going and my madness dome is still up…

"Over here dumb ass!" Black*Star yells out as he attempts to kick the distracted Asura in the jaw. "What part of you can't defeat me didn't you understand!?" the Kishin yells out as he ducks to avoid the attack and punches the blue haired assassin square in the chest. Eyes widening, Black*Star groans as he coughs up a decent amount of blood as he curls over and falls by Asura's feet.

Noticing Black*Star in trouble, Tsubaki hesitates to touch anymore equipment from Asura's control room.

"Keep going Tsubaki…" Black*Star manages to utter. "We have to end this…"

Quickly hearing his words, Tsubaki bites her lip and nods quickly, turning to the controls and randomly hitting a button.

Back on the island, Maka and the gang suddenly look up at the sky in utter awe as the dome that had been keeping them captive was suddenly disappearing. Eyes going wide, Kid kept on staring in confusion. "T-This is a dream right? The madness sphere seems to be going away…"

"Holy crap that thing really is going away! Let's make a run for it!" Ragnarok yells out as he pulls on Crona's hair. "Is this real? We can leave now?" Jackie whispers, looking around.

Sinking to her knees, Maka silently begins to weep. Staring at her in surprise, Kid kneels down beside her. "Maka…its over…we can leave."

"B-But…" Maka whimpers, wiping her tears as she trembles. But Soul isn't here to see this…

"You're seeing this too, right Eruka?" Free says as he looks around noticing the madness sphere was gone. "Yeah…" the frog witch nods, her hands tightly grasping Free's. Grinning, the werewolf stands and lets out a laugh. "Ah man this is great! This shit is finally over!"

Back at the hidden lair, Tsubaki tilts her head unable to tell if she clicked the right button since the cameras were still out. Asura on the other hand knew exactly what she had clicked and lunges towards her in frustration. "You lousy brats really know how to annoy me!"

"Don't you touch her!" Black*Star cries out as he manages to somehow make it to the Kishin before he could attack Tsubaki. Not seeing the blue haired male in that instant, Asura already had his attack in motion causing Black*Star to be hit instead and sent flying into the cameras. In that same instant, Tsubaki pressed another button not realizing what it would do.

The second after Tsubaki pressed the button, the entire island began to shake. Maka and the others were suddenly stunned at the sudden action and Kid loses his balance falling onto his rear. "Ah! What the Death is going on now!?"

"We need to get out of here!" Liz cries out as the ground continues to shake violently. Shivering and curling up in fetal position, Crona covers his ears. "I-I don't like this! I can't deal with this…!"

Looking over at Crona, Maka's eyes widen as she notices cracks begin to form around the ground. "Crona! You have to mo-"

A loud thundering bang is heard throughout the island as the ground begins to crumble and tear apart. "What is this an earthquake or something!?" Kid yells out as he runs off trying to get away from the destruction.

Crying out in fear and desperation, Crona jolts up and meets Maka's eyes. Rushing to get to him, Maka extends her arm. "Take my hand Crona, quick!"

"Take her hand already, dumb ass!" Ragnarok yells out pulling on the male's hair. Whimpering, Crona reaches for Maka's hand only for the ground below him to give out as he is sent tumbling down.

"Crona!" Maka shrieks, her eyes wide and fearful as she sees Crona fall right in front of her. A hand suddenly goes on her shoulder and forces her to her feet. As Maka turns around she saw it was Patty. "Maka lets goooo!" the blonde snapped as she began running while holding Maka's hand. Before she could protest, the ash blonde haired girl is forced to run not even getting a chance to go back and look for Crona.

Glaring angrily, Asura takes a deep breath. "Okay you've driven my patience enough…" Raising his hand, he prepares to strike Tsubaki. "Don't touch her…" Black*Star mutters as he attempts to get to his feet. Stopping, the Kishin turns to face him. "Ah you're still alive…I'm impressed."

"Shut up…" Black*Star whispers as he groans trying to get to his feet. Chuckling, Asura grins widely and tilts his head as he examines the male. "I don't see why you defend this female so much. She's practically useless without you using her. She'd die eventually so I'm doing you a favor."

"Don't you talk about her that way!" Black*Star yells out angrily as he stands up straight. As soon as he said this however he gasped and hunched over, coughing up more blood and groaning. Laughing, Asura approaches him in a calm manner. "Oh Black*Star come on now you should just give up now. It'd be much more easy if you did."

"I don't care if I die…" Black*Star mutters glaring up at the Kishin. "All I care about is keeping my friends safe!

Frowning, Asura kicks him across the face sending him reeling back to the ground. "You idiot. You can't save them. Nothing you do or say is going to save them."

Groaning, Black*Star tries to get up but is unable to this time, the pain being like an unbelievable amount of weight holding him down. Grinning, Asura turns his attention to Tsubaki this time who was frozen in fear. "Now then…I believe you're next."

Gulping and backing away, Tsubaki begins to panic in her mind as she frantically looks around to find something that could somehow save her. As he continued walking towards her, the Kishin licked his lips while raising his hands towards her. Finally having nowhere else to back up into, Tsubaki bumps into the controls and whimpers quietly as she tries to find a way to avoid Asura.

"Push the black button…" Black*Star manages to utter just above a whisper. Tsubaki jolts her head to look at him in surprise. "W-What?"

"Push the black button Tsubaki…" the blue haired male repeats this time a lot weaker. Turning back around quickly, Tsubaki searches frantically until her gaze stumbles upon a certain black button. Could this be the button Black*Star is talking about..?

Tsubaki had no way of knowing but the uniqueness of the button told her it was the one so without hesitating she pressed it much to Asura's astonishment. As soon as the button was pushed, flashing lights filled the entire lair and Asura could feel his anger turn to sudden anguish. "No, you pressed the self destruct button you fool…!" Gritting his teeth, the Kishin clenched his fists. "That button was a last resort. And you clicked it before this game ended…you'll pay…you'll all pay…"

He turned to Tsubaki angrily ready to attack her when Black*Star's hand suddenly grabbed his leg.

"Don't…hurt…her…" the assassin managed to mutter. Glaring, Asura moves his foot away making Black*Star let go. "I'll kill her now in front of you and there's nothing you can do about-"

Angrily yelling, Black*Star uses the last of his inner strength to leap up and uppercut the Kishin in his jaw, catching him off guard. After hitting Asura, Black*Star collapses, his breathing suddenly becoming very unstable.

Rubbing his jaw, Asura chuckles and stares at Black*Star. "So you still had some fight in you…I see…"

Surprised, Tsubaki sees Asura start to walk off, ignoring her and Black*Star. "Aren't you going to kill us?"

Shaking his head the Kishin grins. "No not yet…I see potential in that boy. So I suggest you leave now while you can. This place will self destruct in about three minutes." And with that he began floating off with his arms folded as he flew away from the lair leaving Tsubaki and Black*Star.

Rushing over to Black*Star, Tsubaki wrapped her arms around him and tried to pick him up. "We need to go now!"

"Leave me Tsubaki…I don't need you to do things for me…" Black*Star managed to whisper. "No I won't leave you! I can't!" Tsubaki cries out in protest.

"Tsubaki…"

'Be q-quiet! I'll find a way to get you out of here! I'll carry you if I have to!"

Back on the island, Maka and the others continue to run as the island resumes collapsing on itself. "Where are we supposed to go!?" Liz yells out as she follows behind Kid. "I don't know but we can't stop running! Not now! We stop and we're dead!" Kid replies quickly as he keeps running, not even looking back.

As Maka runs with Patty holding onto her, she notices that something was off. "Patty, wait."

"What do you mean, wait!" Patty pipes up in a rather surprised tone. Maka forces Patty to let her go by tugging her hand away and she remains still looking around. Stopping to look at Maka, Patty blinks and stares at her dumbfounded. "What are you stopping for!?"

"Can't you feel it? The ground isn't moving as much anymore. Its stopping" Maka explains. Blinking, Patty began looking around and tilted her head. "Whoa you're right, it is stopping!"

After another few moments the entire island had stopped shaking and everything was silent. Looking around, Kid and Liz stared at the damage caused by the earthquake. "Any more of that and it would have been the end for us" Kid stated blankly as he rubbed his chin.

The DWMA students gathered suddenly and stared at one another, unsure of what had happened and what to do.

"Guys?"

Looking towards the voice, Maka and the others gasp and stare wide eyed to see Tsubaki walking towards them. "Tsubaki!?

Smiling weakly she nodded. "Yes…it's me." Noticing that Black*Star wasn't with her, Kid frowned. "And where's Black*Star?"

Tsubaki's smile fading she looked to the side and held her arm. When the group received no reply, Jackie gasped. "Don't tell me he's-"

"He's alive," Tsubaki said quickly. "Badly injured but alive…"

Sighing in relief, Maka smiles a bit. "So that idiot survived huh?"

Giggling, Tsubaki nodded a bit. "Yeah…he did…"

"So what exactly happened anyway?" Patty asked titling her head. That's when Tsubaki sat down and began explaining everything that had happened including Medusa's death and Asura's abandonment of the game.

"I see now…" Kid said quietly as Tsubaki finished speaking. "So then…we can basically leave now right?" Liz asks nervously. That's when Maka stands up and shakes her head. "No! We're not leaving! Not without Crona!"

"Maka…" Jackie whispered staring at the determined female in awe. Clenching her fists, Maka shuts her eyes. "I already lost Soul to this damn game…I won't lose Crona too. I won't lose anyone else!"

Before anyone could protest, the sound of footsteps could be heard from behind them all. "I see you're all in one piece" Stein says calmly as he steps forward with Spirit and the others. "Maka!" Rushing towards his daughter, Spirit picks her up and hugs her tightly not wanting to let her go.

"Papa!? Let me go!" Maka flushed red with embarrassment as she tried to shove him off. Laughing, the DWMA students and the staff all smiled at each other, forgetting about everything that transpired on the island for a moment.

"Say…where's that Soul kid you're always with?" Spirit suddenly asks searching for Soul among the students. At the mention of Soul, Maka feels her smile fade and her eyes grow watery. Blinking and looking at his daughter, the red haired male stared at her confused. "What? What'd I say?"

"P-Papa you idiot…" Maka mutters as she buries her face in his chest, silently weeping. At this, everyone suddenly went quiet and had their heads hanging low. After a moment, Kid burst into tears along with his twin weapons. Then Jackie and the twin pots followed. Lastly, Tsubaki began to cry as well, and soon the sound of crying children could be heard throughout the island.

"We never ask any of them what happened here" Stein whispered to the rest of the staff very seriously, getting nods of approval from them.

Maka's vision became blurred as her tears streamed down her cheeks. I thought I could get over this but…I can't. I miss you, Soul…I miss you so much…Why did you have to leave me like this…

END OF CHAPTER 22
DEATH COUNT: 12
GAME OVER

Note: well this chapter basically concludes the story! And I know it's a bad part to end this series on so I'm gonna add a final chapter to this later when I have time so stay tuned for that! Thanks so much for the support though everyone I really appreciate it!