Chthonic Ultraman Episode 33 (2024)

WARNING: Disturbing content up ahead, reader discretion is advised.

The following episode contains graphic depictions of violence, those with sensitivities to such subjects are advised to tread with caution.

Prologue[]

When facing a mirror to fix his tie, it became practically impossible for one to ignore his own awkward grimace staring right back at him.

Normally Makoto was pretty in tune with his sense of fashion, he knew what matched with what, which colours worked together, which combinations were the more appropriate for each situation. Typically he'd have breezed through the process, but putting on a blue tie with purple diagonal stripes over a black tux he couldn't shake the feeling was bigger than it ought to be made him feel some type of deeply rooted uncertainty. Like everything was just wrong.

When Shigeru walked up from behind and sprayed him with perfume Makoto jolted in surprise, but thanked him nonetheless before getting a good look at himself on the mirror.

It wasn't just a passing glance nor a quick scan, but a thorough examination of what he had put on that, quite frankly, made him feel like a clown. A clown because of what he put on or because of what he did? He couldn't decide, so it was probably both.

Ultimately he took off that ugly tie he didn't even know he had and asked for Shigeru to hand him the one he typically wore along with his POD outfit, the orange one. He felt more at home in this one, like he belonged in it, yet even something he was so used to felt foreign on his skin. He'd put it on because he thought it'd make him feel more comfortable, but it did the exact opposite, it only made him feel like he was defiling it by what he was about to do.

Walking out of his room he took slow steps, repeatedly checking over his shoulder and tapping his pockets to make sure he wasn't going to forget anything at home, but no matter how many times he checked he couldn't shake that feeling off, so he just made peace with it.

What he wouldn't make peace with was the constant reminders of his stupidity laughing and pointing at him, making sure he wouldn't be let off the hook. The most grievous insult he received came from the person that deserved most of all to poke fun at him.

With a big grin on her face Hitori held out a flower with a pink, vaguely egg-shaped clump of petals. He was grateful for it, but that didn't stop him from standing in place staring at it awkwardly, wondering what it even was.

"Umm, thanks." he said and slowly gestured to pick it up, smelling it slightly to pick up on the light but pleasant fragrance. "It's nice." he commented and tried to put on his best smile.

"It's a tulip." replied the blue haired girl with hands behind her back, swiveling left and right with a look on her face that made it look like that should have clued him into something. As Makoto stood static and uncertain she then added "Hanami told me it's her favourite flower."

"Ooooh riiiiiight right." Makoto looked at it for a moment before back at her, exceeding bitterness filling his stomach.

"Figured she might like it if you gave her one since you're going on a date-"

"It's not a date!" Makoto hasted to snap back, louder than he probably should have. He remained silent for a moment, glancing around for anything in the room to take up his attention so he didn't have to look at her eye-to-eye. As he scratched the back of his neck while avoiding Hitori he continued. "It's not a date, we just got invited somewhere that's all."

Shaking her hands across the air slightly his roommate profusely apologized "Sorry sorry, I just hope you two have fun that's all."

Looking back down at the flower and realizing its stem had been slightly crumpled up Makoto lifted it to straighten it out, putting on a small smile to apologize himself for his sudden hostility. "Right, I'll try my best to... have fun."

That felt strange to say, like it would be some monumental task akin to the labours of Hercules. But he'd promised it to Hanami so there was no backing down now.

That was a lie.

He hadn't promised it to Hanami, he'd promised it to Hitori. He thought it was Hitori, otherwise he wouldn't have made the promise to begin with, but lo and behold it wasn't. That was Hanami, but there was no going back now. It'd be rude to cancel after an error of his own making, an insult of the highest degree. So as he stepped out of the doorframe he realized he'd just have to bear his punishment quietly, all so that his own mistakes wouldn't wipe the smile off her pretty face.

As Makoto prepared to close the door he hesitated, turning back to find Hitori unable to restrain her smile and waiting for him while a less enthusiastic Shigeru approached the window with a cigarette between his fingers.

He wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what, just anything at all.

"I'll be going now."

"See you soon." replied his roommate while waving at him goodbye.

'See you soon'. He liked the sound of that. Gave the feeling that reunion was guaranteed.

The door finally shut behind him and as Makoto swallowed the lump formed in his throat he felt even her echo go quiet.

He would still hear her voice in a little bit, just not from her.

Chapter 1[]

Clothes of all shapes and types were elegantly displayed on a variety of mannequins and stand all lining up the rooms like a museum for the fine arts. There was going to be a live show to see the various fashion pieces displayed on real people, but until then the guests were invited to marvel at them of their own accord by traversing the interior. Furthermore and much to the surprise of the guests, various pieces on display were marked available for anyone to pick up and admire, making for an interactive experience that would get the icons of the fashion industry chatting and the reporters taking notes.

Though the rooms were far from 'crammed' Makoto certainly felt they were that way, surrounded by people he didn't know talking amongst each other in terms even he was unfamiliar with. He was only between them for a favour anyway, as a show of gratitude on the owner's part over protecting his business against Sadola Brawler. Come to think of it he should have probably told someone in POD his identity was discovered by that man, but his brain had been too much of a mess to do so.

Instead he went on with it and endured the classy laughter interspliced with bickering by high profile individuals, drowning out their voices thanks to the blasting ACs in the room meant to keep it cool in the summer. At first Hanami and him entered the gallery full of wonder, always searching for something new to behold and talk over thanks to their mutual interest, but over time he found her taking the initiative and leading the conversation. It started with her picking what to look at next, to then leading him around and by the half hour mark Makoto felt like she was just talking to herself.

Without even intending to he lost focus on the flow of the conversation and seemed to tune out her words on instinct, filtering them along with the surrounding people. In its place remained a persistent buzzing sound like white noise, getting to the point that he just followed her around and nodded along while she rambled about every other dress she found regardless if it was the most beautiful piece of fabric she had seen or an affront to the name of fashion. In simple terms he was dazed and lost, yet he still followed along.

Makoto wasn't even fully conscious of how horribly he had zoned out, oblivious to the glassy look on his eyes while he began to function more like a zombie reanimated to follow her everywhere. He thought he was just fine and paying attention, but what had actually gotten a stronghold on his mind wasn't what he was seeing, what was in his immediate proximity that he should be paying attention to, but his own rampant thoughts.

Anything and everything could have occupied his mind at that moment, such was the case for any thing left out in the open and unguarded, yet as his spirit drifted it was what fell upon Makoto's gaze that assumed his full attention. By some coincidence his eyes had looked to a window -possible the lone one in the room-, though not to the window itself, that would have been frivolous. Rather what was beyond that, what it led to.

Far far off but rather close by in the ground scheme of things was a place he'd visited only once before some time after the Keylla incident: Ms Ohara's church.

He made out its distinct shape from all the way there, but it truly was a surprise at how this one window just so happened to align with it. Somehow one look at it demanded his full attention, making him reflect on some things. It'd been years since the last time he visited a church and even longer since the last time he could recall himself attending the eucharist, though he never thought too much about it, merely interpreting it as a side effect of his falling out with the world in general.

Yet right then when his mind was adrift only for his eyes to land upon that church and bring it to the front of his attention, he felt a certain way. Partly shame, a different one than he was used to, that all this time it had been this close but he'd never bothered to dwell on it. Partly comfort, one odd but familiar, that reaching it would be no greater labour than merely stretching out his hand.

He wondered if Ms Ohara could help him figure things out and set the confusion he was experiencing at the moment straight, actually would she even be there today or would she be at work? He doubted momentarily, but the compelling feeling in him didn't cease even in spite that. It only further made him want to talk, but to who and where?

As he kept his eyes focused on that which was beyond the window, the mouth of his soul began to mumble on its own.

"Hey... God, I've been told you aren't the author of confusion before so I'm just wondering... how do I get out of this confusing mess I'm in right now?"

"-tell us apart."

Makoto flinched at the sound of a voice before his mind's gears had began spinning again, making him recognise who it was from. He abruptly turned to Hanami in much the surprised manner of one that had just woken up and found that she had been talking to him all this time, but his ears only picked up the words she'd been saying at the very last second, somehow.

His bewildered expression did not fail to alert her as well, earning a mildly surprised look from the girl in jeans and a black tanktop underneath a white jacket who held out a pair of red glasses from among many designs in a wide assortment.

As they stood there frozen he realized he had no good way to get out of this, so he simply swallowed what little pride he had left and asked "Sorry, what did you say?"

Putting her smile back on, Hanami repeated "I should get different colour glasses, that might help you tell us apart."

'Us' being her and Hitori, she didn't need to explicitly state that for him to understand. Of course, he'd be grievously mistaken if he thought he could go the day without getting teased over his astronomical error the day prior. But at least that was better than her getting mad at him about it, he'd have nothing to say if that were the case.

Rolling his eyes to dismiss her joke, Makoto was slightly startled when that very same pair of glasses with a red frame were held out and put on his face by Hanami, encouraged to check them out once she put them on. The blond looked at himself in the mirror as he adjusted them with Hanami peeking in to get a good look.

"They really suit you, gives an aura of maturity... like a hot history professor!" the body double chuckled while wagging an index finger at him.

While she liked them, Makoto couldn't resist an awkward frown. They weren't bad, but he did feel like they were kind of off. "Red might be a little too scandalous of a colour I feel..."

"Oh my, then would you like more of a bad boy look?" she joked again, this time holding up a leather jacket decked out with so many spikes that it might as well be a health hazard. Yet at the sight of its absurdity Makoto couldn't deny he got a laugh.

Hanami wasn't a bad person. He wasn't sure why he needed to reiterate that since she hadn't wronged him in any way, but maybe reminding himself that would save him from falling into the pitfall of shifting the blame for his current situation onto her.

She had been sincere from the start, it was him who mistook her for Hitori and didn't give her any hints towards his error until it was too late. How was she supposed to know he still couldn't tell them apart anyway?

Whatever the case might be, he wanted to remind himself she wasn't a bad person so he could laugh in small moments like these. Hanami was fun to be around. That time when they got ice cream and Mr Shinichi showed up, when they and Rika had gotten a preview of the merchandise for the auction, that night on the beach, on all three occasions he was fully aware of who she was and still greatly enjoyed her company as Hanami.

Yesterday however, when he was dead certain she was Hitori it was... just different. The relief of it all, of finally letting that weight off his back, of confiding in someone and in return her calling him her hero, not just 'a' hero, 'her' hero. The tranquility he felt, that feeling of being at home where he belongs... it wasn't something Hanami could elicit. Only Hitori, with their history and struggles together could have made him feel that way. But it wasn't Hitori, it was Hanami.

He repeated it in his heart again before his innermost self could curse her for bringing this confusion upon him, Hanami was not a bad person. He did care for her, he did value her truly, but she wasn't the person that made him feel that way.

That was the crux of his headache at the end of the day: to who did these feelings belong to? Hanami or Hitori? The one physically present when they burned in his heart or the one he believed was there, the one who had lit the fire in the first place?

His conscience and sense of justice told him that Hanami was the one who 'deserved' them, because to put aside everything she did indeed play a part in it, her own words and gestures had been genuine. But if it were up to technicalities or logistics then scientists and mathematicians would have long developed a formula for the troublesome machinations of the heart.

He felt like someone living with false memories, happy ones but false nonetheless. So another way to phrase the question was which had more value, the reality of the situation or the feelings the lie brought out of him?

Plopping a silly hat onto his head, Hanami managed to snap him out of all that thinking once more. "Looking good." she mocked, prompting him to remove the hat and gauge just how bad it was for himself, spinning the little propeller on top.

Really abusing the items that were available for anyone to pick up, she began to chuck them at him to see what he'd look like, even grabbing his hair behind and fixing it in a bun that it was just barely enough to make. Even the other guests seemed to be looking at them with disgruntled looks which made Makoto somewhat uncomfortable, though Hanami didn't seem like she cared when making a show out of him.

"Is this really the place for this...?"

"Come on, you aren't invited to a place like this every day, have some fun while you're at it!" she said and came back from the front, bringing a hand to her chin to think as she examined his looks. "Do you think we could convince the owner to give us all this stuff for free since he owes you his life?"

"That's a bit extreme don't you think...?" Makoto replied, slowly taking them off of him piece by piece.

Hanami laughed and in turn said "I'm not wrong though! But fine, I'll stop making such a ruckus. Just wanted to give you a makeover that's all."

With all the extra stuff taken off of him Makoto was about to loosen his hair again before hearing that, instead stopping himself to turn at a mirror. Red glasses and a bun really did a lot more than he'd expected, even trying out various angles to get a good look at himself.

"I'm pretty sure that if I walked into POD7's base like this nobody would recognise me."

"Grow a goatee while you're at it and you'd be set for a whole fake identity!"

Makoto couldn't imagine himself with facial hair so he passed.

"But no, in all seriousness I do think you should try experimenting with different looks. We all need to have a fresh start every once in a while."

She might have been correct, emphasis on 'might'. Makoto couldn't rightly discern if she had a point or if that was superfluous and unnecessary, not just to the average person but to himself especially. Sure rekindling a flame was always good, but he was just getting used to his life as it was, wasn't that what they said to Shirogane Demaaga?

"Happiness isn't a final destination!" - "It's a way of living!"

When he had just welcomed this new life he didn't need any curveballs to flip it upside down or even spice it up in any way. He was simply content with what they had achieved together.

"I'm also thinking of getting a makeover."

That didn't elicit much of a response at first, Makoto taking a moment to fix his hair and take off those glasses before it suddenly hit him and he looked at her again, getting a good look at her own version of Hitori's appearance before she did away with it. He couldn't exactly blame her... after that fiasco it was reasonable that she might want to change her disguise entirely to avoid any further confusions, plus she probably had made new friends in the PCU willing to lend her their looks so she wasn't as limited any more.

An attendant went out into the room and drew in everyone's attention, informing them that the catwalk show was just about to begin and to all take seats. Reporters rushed in first while those of the higher class were more mindful of their step, meanwhile Makoto intended to enter last for the sake of being polite before something warm on his hand said otherwise.

Hanami grabbed him and pulled him forward gently, turning back to give him a smile as she asked "Do you want to get a makeover with me some day?"

Unsure of what to say to that, the best response Makoto could muster was "I'll think about it" and let himself be dragged along to the unknown.

Chapter 2[]

Far off from the luxuries of the catwalk and in the recesses of a small and compact room, Hitori and Shigeru were called in without prior warning to attend their captain in her office. The blue haired girl's curious gaze was welcomed by the woman with the eyepatch, their eyes meeting in a mutual feeling of confusion that revealed this sudden call was not exactly of Dorothy's choosing. Rather it was the fourth person in the room, the one who shut the blinds so as only tiny streaks of white slip through into the darkness that had been the one to demand everybody's attention, the captain merely acted as her proxy to summon them.

"What is this about?" asked Shigeru.

"Naoki said she wanted to tell us something." Turning over to a rather focused swordswoman whose lowered eyebrows revealed inner conflict, Dorothy signaled to pass her the baton.

"Where's Makoto?" asked Naoki upon turning from the thin blinds to them, thinking she had made it clear she wanted POD7's major players all there. At least those that could be.

"Oh, he's off with Hanami to some fashion show." answered Hitori somewhat excitedly, though by the looks on everybody else's faces she knew to pipe down. Ms Ohara in particular seemed to grow a bit dejected hearing that.

"It would be awkward to try and get him out of there at a time like this..." said the captain, content with the situation as it might be. "We'll just pass this on to him later then."

"If there is a 'later'..." Naoki scoffed and rolled her eyes but ultimately accepted their circ*mstances. If not before, then now Hitori knew this wasn't a matter to be taken lightly.

"Then let us proceed." the captain went and finally Naoki walked up to the front of her desk which she sat behind, bringing Hitori and Shigeru closer while revealing a tablet she put down for the girls in the room to see.

"Yesterday I managed to infiltrate UPG's base to extract some information with a little bit of help-"

Shigeru made a certain grumbling noise at that moment which only Dorothy understood was a hint that help came from him.

"-and this is what I could get."

With the presses of a few buttons Naoki unfolded whole catalogues booted into her tablet, names upon names consisting of the archives of what couldn't have been anything but the Possessed.

As she scrolled through them in awe Dorothy couldn't help but ask "What compelled you to do this?"

Relaxing a hand on her waist while her head slightly turned sideways to break eye contact, Naoki replied "I got a tip from one of the Shinigami that I couldn't not investigate."

Seeing her unlikely source, both Dorothy and Hitori turned to look at her with surprise whereas Shigeru merely crossed his arms.

"He told me that the leader of the Shinigami has been a follower of Enma for quite a while actually, specifically... that she was one of the monsters known as 'Boranga' that mysteriously appeared without explanation five years ago."

Hitori was mildly surprised to hear that but it didn't do much for her, at worst she thought it was just an odd coincidence. For Dorothy however that was a different story. A bunch of humans were mysteriously transformed into identical monsters which the Ultraman named 'Gaia' fended off against prior to Lugiel obtaining his ultimate power, which promptly reverted them back to human. No source for their transformation had ever gone on record and they largely remained a mystery, so while to hear one of them just so happened to later become a Possessed wasn't completely improbable, it was still a curious thing of note. Out of curiosity only she checked to see that Naoki had also loaded the logs of the Boranga from the database as well, but even from UPG's direct record their source was labeled a blank, or rather blanked out. Did that mean that at some point UPG had it registered and later censored it?

Picking up the tablet from her hands, Naoki ran a program that cross checked the two databases, showing them what she got to witness first hand the day prior. "This information wasn't made available and you'd have to personally look through the archives to discover it, but approximately ninety two percent of all Borangas would later become Possessed, some of the earliest known ones in fact."

So they don't just take her word for it she pushed the tablet their way and implored they look through the logs of people found in both registries, finding that most of them dated to well over four and a half years ago when the Possessed phenomenon was just beginning to spread.

Dorothy covered her mouth with one hand as she was deep in contemplation, Hitori and Shigeru meanwhile remaining silent either from speechlessness or from choice. "So it would appear as if... the Borangas were patients zero?"

"Seems like it." Naoki attested and then crossed her arms, continuing. "If we can find out what provoked the Borangas into transforming in the first place then we might discover the whole source of the Possessed phenomenon."

"I beg to disagree." answered the man who wore sunglasses even in the darkness, appearing dismissive to her testimony. "You don't just get Possessed by walking past someone on the street, some form of closer interaction is needed for it to spread between people. That's why when confronting a Possessed we often have police or field agents try and investigate how they got infected, be it from family, coworkers or friends, but not too rarely will we find no link at all, as if they just got Possessed on their own."

"Shigeru is right." noted Dorothy, hoping to not get too ahead of herself. "I do still believe Naoki is onto something, but we cannot disregard the possibility of other sources."

The hazelnut brown hair of the shorter girl bobbed up and down as she nodded. "I know that, but this is too good of a find not to linger on it. Furthermore the archives confirmed that what the Shinigami told me wasn't bogus because their leader is indeed there, registered as 'Gargorgon Possessed'."

Hitori leaned in as her captain typed out the specific name in question, finding it present on both archives and with details matching the leader.

"No doubt about it, that's her!" commented the blue haired girl as she aggressively pointed at the screen.

Dorothy's gaze wandered off to find Shigeru patiently standing back, appearing to have a subtly upset expression on his face that reeked of contained anger.

"Right, that is a good find but... it still doesn't shed light on where the Boranga's came from or teach us anything about her. At least anything that we can use to find her." said the captain, aiming to switch back to the reality of the situation.

"On its own it doesn't, you're right on that. But I believe it pointed me to the right direction of where to look for further clues, and I believe another name on the list provided just that." Extending a finger to the screen she scrolled down a little more while it was still in Dorothy's hands, bringing their attention to a name a little further down that seemed inconspicuous at first, but as soon as they dwelled on it proved to be most intriguing.

"Shibahara... Chie?" asked Dorothy as soon as she laid eye on the image of an older but still well maintained woman with medium brown hair.

On subsequent inquiry, Hitori's face went pale as she realized just who this person must have been. "Is that Tatsuya's mom?"

"And the wife of the Shibahara Corporation's CEO, that's right." uttered Naoki before then going on to say "This isn't information on the UPG records so bear with me here, but when I went to look for articles and websites from five years ago reporting on Enma's attack it was repeatedly noted that it took place in close proximity to Shibahara Tower and how it disrupted the festival for their products..."

Curious glances were traded between the three mute girls, even Shigeru casting away his previously doubtful front to put on a slightly lowered jaw of mild curiosity and surprise.

"Do you see what I'm seeing?" she asked with a deadpan tone before extending her hands out in a shrugging position. "Enma somehow turns a bunch of people into Borangas through mysterious means on the same day as the company's big event, where the CEO's wife just so happens to become one of those Borangas and then when the Possessed start spreading from the people like her his company partners with the military to create the weapons with which we fend off against the Possessed..."

The room went quiet, eerily so. All were put aside into their own little world to contemplate and draw their own conclusions with what info was provided, with Hitori in particular scratching the side of her head while she grimaced. "Now I regret buying Explosive Monster Champ VR from them..."

"So if I'm getting this right, your theory is that the whole Possessed phenomenon and possibly Enma's original attack were orchestrated by the company?" asked Shigeru, for once first to inquire on the ramifications of Naoki's words.

"I didn't theorize on anything, I just put the facts on the table."

None could protest against her for the evidence she had provided, and what compelling evidence it was if all of them thought of the same thing.

"For what purpose... would a person do something like this?" asked a disheartened Dorothy before the silence in the room was disrupted by a most startling and deafening surprise: her ringtone.

The name on it was enough to give anybody chills, but the timing only further earned concerned glares thrown between one another.

'Commander Aikawa'

"Byakuya..." grumbled Dorothy, grasping her phone before Naoki interrupted her.

"Captain." was all she said to earn her attention, the shorter girl in a stern but acceptant glare. "Don't tell anybody the things you learned today. If he's after me then let me alone bear this punishment, you don't need to be dragged into something I did without asking you first."

The prospect of Naoki having to suffer for her choice, brash as it might have been, disturbed Dorothy. They didn't know it would be about what she did so she might end up being fine, but if she wasn't then she couldn't just stand idly as her subordinate is punished, she would need to act- but how? Every second she delayed answering was one making their case even worse, so by laying her phone down on her desk under everyone's curious eyes and held breaths she answered.

"Commander in Chief?"

"There has been an infiltration in Shibahara Tower. POD7 is ordered to dispatch immediately with any weapon they can use- but do not under any circ*mstances activate any White Magnums within the building. That is an order."

Chapter 3[]

Tears and snot and all sorts of mucus mixed together as it raced down a young man's face. Bound hand and foot with rope so tight that it dug and burnt rashes into his skin, gagged with a black cloth and finally thrown in the back of a abandoned trailer in a remote parking lot, one could not say his situation was anything close to ideal.

Pain creaked through his body as he hit the metal floor, squirming like a worm while he wept bitter tears and tried to press himself up against a wall, cowering while muffled pleas and sniffles filled the humid air. His face was so red and veins so bloated from inner pressure that he looked like he was about to pop, making for quite a disturbing sight to the two people who had brought him there.

Standing at the entrance of the trailer with light pouring in from their backs and leaving their fronts covered in shade were a young woman in a white dress, orange twin tails and a blindfold who placed hands on her hips and another man in a white hooded robe with a silver mark and leather gloves and boots. While the latter's expression was indecipherable beyond his covering and idle stance, the former seemed rather upset hearing the poor civilian weep in words that couldn't be heard, less because of any pity and more from utter annoyance at how pathetic he was.

The masked man shook his head and decided he didn't want to hear anything more, bringing out a big silver headset which he then forced onto the stranger's head and fastened over his eyes in spite of his fierce protests.

"Is this really necessary?" asked the woman that now all knew as Gargorgon Possessed while her partner seemed to press a few buttons on the two joysticks made for human hands.

"It absolutely is. This guy is the key to everything, you'll understand when we get there." enthusiastically answered the robed individual before finally placing the joysticks down, no longer of use to him. He walked by the side of his coconspirator and promptly slammed the door shut, leaving the man the two of them had kidnapped with nothing better to do but lie down and cry.

After a moment something loaded in his headset, the one thing he would be looking at for an undetermined amount of time: a title screen to some game called 'Explosive Monster Champ VR'.

The nefarious duo marched through the formerly sealed off parking lot onto an area filled with birds of various shapes and sizes, but none any less hideous and deformed than the rest. Miniature Buzzard Birdons sat down waiting for them with the two largest ones of the flock surpassing them in height, big enough for them to hitch a ride on their backs. Under the order of the masked man they all took off, a cacophony of squawking filling the area before they dashed out of the darkness of the underground and into the light of the surface world.

In the distance their destination lied, standing upright in the vast blue which bounced off its glass walls: Shibahara Tower, otherwise known as Neo-Babel.

The mysterious flock caught the attention of only a few and even they couldn't perceive it for what it was, merely dismissing it as an odd bird formation. As they drew closer the birds rose in elevation and seemed to be heading for the large golden planetoid shape with a ringed construct resting firmly at the very top of the tower, about half way up however the masked figure spoke up out of nowhere and what he said was "Jump"

In the blink of an eye both of them leapt off of their rides, letting the thin red laser that shot from the planetoid shape on the top bisect only the birds they rode at while they lunged to the side of the building.

Coffee, snacks and idle talk around watercooler's was the norm of the corporation's employees, it had become such a staple that gossip could eat up their entire attention span, making them oblivious to the two shadows flying into them. Windows shattered and their shards stabbed into various of the surprised employees as the duo in white made a safe landing on the carpeted floors, Gargorgon putting her hand forward when she fell on her feet while the robed figure kept both of his on his pockets, landing safe in a squat.

Screams of terror filled the room and flooded out of the broken windows, but not on this floor only. On every one below them the infected birds nosedived to invade the building, spreading panic when they began going after the various workers inside.

While the employees fled from the white-dressed terrors the two of them dusted themselves off and checked for any injuries, the masked man in particular commenting "Talk about a warm welcome" under their terrified screams.

Whereas most whether hurt or lucky to have been shielded from the glass by those in front of them ran off, one pair of footsteps was brave enough to instead run to the direction of the invaders. A security guard dressed in blue held up a gun against them with shaking hands, minding his distance even when it took them a moment to realize he was even there.

"D-Don't move, Shinigami!"

The duo turned to each other for a moment before Gargorgon shrugged and the masked man walked forward nonchalantly.

Flinching back, the security guard gripped the gun with greater vigor. "I said don't move!"

"What? You said 'don't move Shinigami', and look-" he pointed back to the still Gargorgon. "She's not moving. I'm not one of them so I can move, isn't that how it is?"

"Don't play games with me!" shouted the frightened guard as he mustered the courage to shoot anyway, but as the button neared the robed figure Gargorgon's index finger and thumb moved to capture it right before hitting his chest, halting all momentum with just two fingers.

The security guard jumped back as he marveled at her speed, his sweat-covered face and dropped jaw giving them a read on his emotions.

Gargorgon fidgeted around with the bullet between her fingers before holding it up for him to see. "Why don't you just pipe down and die?" she grumbled and pulled her arm back before throwing it forward at speeds to break the sound barrier. The bullet was fired back at its owner whose still face didn't even have time to process as it flew into his forehead. Flesh ripped apart, bone cracked and brain matter splattered as her throw served to scatter the chunks of his skull across the room, leaving his headless body to drop to the floor with a thud.

"Hmph" she scoffed and swept her hair to the side, advancing onward with the assistance of the robed figure.

Into every hall and room they went into chaos surrounded them, flying papers and broken shards of glass speeding through the air while the infected birds chased down the staff, clearing the path for the two of them to march safely while blood was shed around them and the interior utterly ravaged.

Barricaded in his own room for now the second day, the CEO of the corporation cowered in fear in the corner with all blinds and windows shut, the freezing AC and the gun in his hand marked red from strain of the constant clutch being his only companions and forms of solace. Whether it was from the cold or his own fear he shivered away without sleep.

From the moment of the Kabukicho Invasion he'd been stuck in paranoia like this, images of the events five years passed tormenting him and keeping him in perpetual unease. Little did he know however that such an incident had come knocking on his own door.

The phone rang and like a python stretching to grab its prey his hand reached out to grab it, holding it to his ear. "Yes?!" he asked in a hurry, as if he couldn't waste too long on the call. All he heard however was commotion, screams and cries for help, getting him to remove the receiver from his ear and stare at it in awe.

He could see them, he could see that day unfolding before his very eyes so he shut them tightly until it hurt his own cheeks. He wanted to shut them and never open his eyes again, but a familiar voice forced him to.

"Mr Shibahara? Mr Shibahara can you hear me?!"

"Rie?"

Recognising the muffled voice of his secretary past all the chaos, he took heed to her words.

"Mr Shibahara it's a disaster! There's birds- birds everywhere! They're on every floor, they're attacking everybody I- I don't know what's happening!"

"What!? Get out of here right now!"

"I can't! Nobody can! We're stuck here, these things are going to kill everybody- Mr Shibahara I'm- I'm scared Mr Shibahara! I'm scared!"

As her pleas turned into whimpers he shut his eyes once more, his hand shivering while he pressed it and the receiver against his forehead. A disaster was unfolding right underneath his feet, quite literally in fact. He could hear the rampant cawing of vultures ready to feast on human skin, of people shedding tears that could be stopped, of his own company falling apart.

Maybe it was for the better, maybe it didn't deserve to exist any more, but was such a fate deserving of his workers also?

Part of him considered calling the Four Faces who he had a direct line to communicate with, but another part protested.

Five years ago it had all gone downhill because he had listened to someone who thought he was doing good, only to fall right into the hands of evil. He made the mistake of trusting someone else over his own resolve, so if he listened to them once again then who was to say the past wouldn't repeat? If he didn't want to relive that fateful then he'd have to trust what he thought right above all.

Thrusting down the receiver he ended his call with Rie but no sooner leapt towards one of his drawers and brought out a small safe. Punching in a code with frantic and sweaty fingers he brought out a small device resembling a bulky walky-talky. On its side was a red button that upon typing in a code he pressed, revealing the phrase 'Zomborg Protocol Engage' in the digital screen.

The phone closed on her, the secretary cowered under a desk and covered her head to block out the screams of her coworkers less fortunate than her. When her desk was upturned by a sizeable bird monster that squawked into her ear she couldn't do anything but fall on her back and crawl away, sunken eyes stuck on the pursuing predator casting a shadow over her with its flaunting wings. Its beak dripped in acid that melted the carpet on the floor, when fire brewed inside she clenched her teeth and braced for the worst- only for several laser rounds to pierce through the bird and riddle it with holes, including its skull.

Giving up the spirit, the miniature Buzzard Birdon collapsed to her feet before Rie crawled away to escape it, eyes turning to her saviour.

Densely armoured and all black, robotic soldiers were introduced to the building when walls came apart and revealed metallic coffins inside, out of which the Shibahara Corporation's last line of defense rushed out. Their striking red eyes lit the room when they assaulted the invading avians with electric stun rods and laser rifles, either shooting them down or beating them into a pulp. Their beaks cracked and wings were torn apart with the strength of metal, the robot soldiers fending off against the invaders in every floor to allow workers to descend and rush out of the building to safety.

The duo in white advanced down the halls nonchalantly, leaving their minions to clear the room behind them and prevent any interlopers from getting in the way. As they went forward the sounds of the torment they enacted grew all too faint, practically inaudible as they entered into the mouth of a long corridor, down which was the elevator.

"We'll take this to get to the top floor where the servers are, on the inside of that big planet-shaped thing that shot at us from outside. I hoped we could have headed there immediately but it looks like we'll have to make do." explained the masked man.

"Good enough for me, I am eager to see what you have in mind." replied a shrugging Gargorgon and took a step forward, only to then pause at a slight whirring sound.

Her partner looked around while she stood still and listened, discovering through sound that the walls were opening up to reveal the true security of this corporation: Zomborg Soldiers.

"Oh? I didn't know about these guys." commented the robed one, ducking and sidestepping the swings of their electric batons, sometimes multiple at once while he prioritized safety over counterattack.

"Looks like you didn't plan out everything as well as you'd have liked." snickered the last Shinigami standing. On contrast she endured the shock applied to her body and grabbed onto the baton of one robot before pulling it closer to ram her knee into its abdomen. With hands on its shoulders she hurled it onto one of its peers and kicked them both away before ducking under a punch from a third one, following it up with a swift spin that allowed her nails to cut through its chest armour.

Dodging one electrified strike so it may land on another robot he replied "Well, I don't think a small surprise such as this can hold you back, can it?"

Grabbing a soldier by the back of his head, Gargorgon repeatedly punched it in the optics until she'd caved its face in before blowing a hole through its chest with her fist. She threw it away and when another one tried sneaking up on her she kicked back without even turning, impaling it with her heel. Jamming her fingers into the throat of the very same robot she yanked out its head and immediately hurled it to the direction of one with a laser rifle attempting to shoot at her partner from behind, the flying head colliding with its own to behead it as well. Even when collapsing its fingers still pressed the trigger, however the robed figure dodged and let the blast blow up a robot on his front.

Wiping splattered oil off her cheek, the Shinigami finally answered "Not in your wildest dreams."

Vermillion, white, black and azure. Once again the second throne in the baroque room remained empty while those on the first and third were occupied by people on the edge of their seats. The last one had its owner standing upright, his hands on his pockets while they all listened to the voice of a man from his phone lying on the table.

With the sounds of ambulances blaring in the background, the coarse voice explained "The leader of the Shinigami and an as of yet unidentified figure infiltrated the building and unleashed bird monsters reminiscent of Buzzard Birdon to clear the area. Shibahara dispatched the Zomborg Soldiers which gave us a way out, but if you ask me I don't think they're going to last against those two."

Calmly listening to the man's account until now, Byakuya then commented "How simpleminded that man is... instead of locking down the building completely he decides to struggle and fight like a cornered dog..."

"Pardon me sir but, if he had done that then I wouldn't be alive to be giving you this testimony..."

Going completely ignored, Arisa said over the man on the phone "Shibahara has always been a rebellious one. We must school him properly."

Ichiro who continuously tapped his foot against the ground and fiddled with his fingers anxiously looked between the other two, finding not a shred of emotion bar disappointment in their glares. "Is this really the time for that? We must intervene immediately!"

Slightly turning his gaze from the phone, Byakuya looked at him from the corner of his eye. "We didn't intervene in the Kabukicho Invasion and we're not intervening now. Until things get dire there will be no need for that."

Lunging upwards to stand upright, the man in spiky swept back black hair approached his fellow Face with increasingly heated wording and mannerisms. "Is this not dire enough?!"

In response, all Byakuya needed to do was calmly turn with his stone cold face and look at him directly, making Ichiro shrink back into his chair. "It is indeed not. Need I remind you Hanamura how 'fickle' the servers can be when approached by Black Blood? We must exercise utmost caution to protect both the servers and the outside world."

Baffled, aggravated, but without a word to refute him, Ichiro merely sighed and ran a hand down his face.

Arisa scanned her downcast peer before turning back to Byakuya. "At this rate they will reach then in no time. Right now the best course of action is to send someone who can stand a chance against the Shinigami or whoever is attacking. I suggest you end this call with your spy and assemble POD7 for the mission."

"Ah... I seen we've grown to depend on them now..." in narrowed brows the commander met UPG's captain, Ichiro sensing traces of tension between them now. Despite how strictly they were attempting to behave he could sense the situation was indeed affecting the both of them also.

Eventually Arisa broke the stalemate of fierce glares and explained herself "They're the best shot we have, simple as that. If they could be useful in Shinjuku then they can be useful here as well."

"Very well then." replied Byakuya after ending the call with the man he had in the Shibahara Corporation, as he began to go through his contacts in search of Dorothy he made a comment with a dry laugh, saying "Perhaps this might urge Maboroshi to come out of whichever hole she's hiding in."

Chapter 4[]

Rend apart and torn asunder, the pieces of mechanical warriors were finally put to rest when the last one was lifted over Gargorgon's head and pulled into two separate segments from the waist. Dropping it on the floor, the woman with burn marks and ashes on her arms dusted herself off while her robed partner walked between the scattered pieces to approach her. Given the green light to move, both of them prepared to step forward towards the elevator only for something unexpected to happen: it made a 'ding' sound.

Its metal door opening wide, the elevator allowed four more figures to step out into the tattered hallway, people dressed in black with multicoloured ties revealing their status.

"Oh, how nice of POD to join us." commented the concealed one as he watched them line up.

Though they all bore White Magnums in their holsters none moved to remove them. Instead, Naoki, Shigeru and Dorothy all unsheathed swords to point their way, the former appearing to be the most adept with them of the bunch and the only one to have had it readily on her person. Last in line was Hitori who rather than using a melee weapon brought out a laser pistol of UPG usage, one typically intended to be pit against giant monsters.

"What's Makoto up to?" asked Shigeru.

"I don't know, he's not responding to any of his calls." a concerned Hitori replied, momentarily checking her phone to find no response, but not without keeping her eyes on her targets.

"Guess we'll have to do this on our own then." grumbled the vice captain.

Making an internal note to confront Makoto on this later, Dorothy stood her ground as captain and got ahead of the rest, asking Naoki while she kept both hands on her sword's base. "You said you've struck her with a White Magnum weapon before, right?"

"That's right, so anything we hit her with is safe now." replied the prime swordswoman. Though the possibility of their enemy dying on them was one they wouldn't have to fear for, that hardly meant she was going to go easy on her.

"Hmph" grunted Gargorgon, remembering the voice of that annoying girl. Turning to her partner she asked "You foresaw this, didn't you?"

"Indeed. I knew that even if I somehow went past their defenses they'd resort to calling POD, which is why I needed you to be my muscle."

"I see how it is. In that case I'll keep them busy so you can go up the elevator and continue with the plan."

Clapping his leather gloves together, the robed figure replied "I'll make sure to show you what I promised!"

Now facing off against the four POD agents, Gargorgon's unreadable blindfolded glare made Hitori and Dorothy uneasy. Shigeru was much the same as her, a mystery in his own right, but given by how tightly he was gripping this lighter weapon it appeared he was practicing utmost caution. That's why out of everyone Naoki was the most confident, having already encountered her before and raring to go for round two.

Like two bisons running to ram skulls into each other, the Shinigami's leader and the swordswoman sprinted forward, Naoki making a broad horizontal swing of her sword that Gargorgon jumped over to land behind her. Immediately the shorter girl turned and swung at her again, but found her blow parried by mere nails tough as diamonds. Shigeru and Dorothy came at her from behind only for her to flip out of their range and then narrowly sidestep an energy blast that spread cracks across the wall, coming from Hitori.

When Dorothy and Naoki both came after her from two different sides she kicked up at the blunt side of the captain's blade to knock it into the air before throwing her off with a spinning kick, at the end of which she grabbed the flying blade and used it to block Naoki's swing. The two of them contested in strength for a moment, Gargorgon pushing all her brawn into getting Naoki to fold. When it seemed she was about to, Shigeru dashed from behind and forced her to take one hand off the sword to counter his with her nails. That moment of splitting her focus however gave Dorothy a moment to run in and dropkicked the Shinigami away, leaving Hitori to land several energy blasts that charred her skin and burnt parts of her dress as she rolled back.

With various burn marks on her body, Gargorgon had to act quickly and picked up a disembodied metal torso devoid of all its limbs to throw at them, Hitori's blasts blowing it up into pieces that made a smokescreen to cover her. With a temporary means to hide herself she threw her sword at them through it so none may predict where it would go, but Naoki's keen senses enabled her to not only dodge but grab onto its handle as it flew past her, running in with both swords at once. She swung at her and dispelled the smoke only for Gargorgon to dodge, intent on cutting the swordswoman from behind before a sucker punch from Shigeru knocked her away.

Hitori was about to shoot once more before a cool breeze brushed against her face, dispersing her hair to cover her eyes. She didn't know where the wind came from, there weren't any windows nearby and it was too chilly to be from the mere motions of her allies or enemy, but it had served its job in distracting her. When she moved a hand to get it out of her face she saw traces of white cloth walking past her, a tickle in her brain commanding her to turn and find the robed figure calmly proceeding onto the elevator which they'd come from.

"Don't move!" she shouted and prepared to open fire.

Calm as ever, the figure looked at the panel of numbers for all the floors with one at the very top being for the server room. He pressed it, but found the digital screen light up and demand of him a code to input with the rest of the available buttons, the room wouldn't be broadly accessible after all. Groaning and tilting his head back in annoyance, he conjured some manner of scarf floating in the air around him from black ink. At first it moved gently before extending upwards in a sudden motion to cut off a square in the roof before throwing it at Hitori. Her blast blew it to smithereens, but in the process gave him an opening to grab onto the lower end of his scarf while the top one stretched up, pulling him through the vacant shaft.

"Eh?!" she flinched as he disappeared, but before she could get the chance to pursue him the grunting of her team alerted her that now was no time for slacking.

Lifted through the darkness, the ribbon of black latched onto the ceiling while he with one hand on it was lifted upwards, finally arriving at the open door of the highest floor which he stepped into with a light hopping motion. His creation receded into nothingness as he dusted himself clean, letting the sound of his boots echo in the shade while he drew deeper into the room.

He knew that the servers of the Shibahara Corporation held their secrets, but what he found was truly beyond any expectations.

Somewhere deep in there were pillars of machinery lined up against each other with a plethora of lights blinking inside, but beyond layers and layers of dark material overgrowing them it was hard to even make out their shape. Like an infection taking root, bloated black growths had compiled and devoured the servers completely, vein-like tendrils branching from them to amass and solidify onto the floor while also simultaneously stretching upwards to covet the roof, a tree of organic, almost fleshy material concealing the machinery still whirring inside. At its heart it bore a deep crimson colour flashing with an internal light, pulsating and squirming in some sort of sack.

Out of everything, every lump of cancerous puss and parasitic organ strung upon this abominable biomechanical thing, that heart disturbed the infiltrator the most and thus rightfully earned his full attention. The way it moved, the way it seemed to puff up and shrink in a rhythm, the sloshing sounds it made accompanied by distorted giggles, it awoke the primal memory of an embryo in him. And that tumour seemed to be the origin of everything, this entire tree spanning from bottom to top born of flesh and sin mixed into one, conjoined in its scarlet core.

His awe and disgust could not be satisfied with a mere glimpse, his eyes needed to examine every centimeter of this affront to nature for him to truly perceive it as an object of reality. It had gone past the point of morbid curiosity, now it was fascination.

But that fascination had taken up his full attention, preventing him from realizing the elevator had arose until a gunshot rung out behind him.

In the nick of time he turned and extended a gloved hand, conjuring his black ribbon to flow into the shape of a circle. In the open space within it every last bullet that went his way was stopped and suspended mid air until there were no more to fire, the CEO's gun betraying him by making only clicking sounds.

Casting away the dark scarf, the infiltrator let the bullets drop to the ground as he confronted the man who had taken it up to himself to stop him: Kojiro Shibahara.

"Tch" the hefty and unkempt man in suspenders and messy grey hair grunted, looking at the useless weapon that had practically melted into his hand before back at the robed stranger.

The two looked at each other for a moment, Kojiro trying to read the intentions of this man beyond the visor on his silver mask. That was until a yawning sound caught their attention, getting both to look at the heart in the centre of the growths that bubbled up and began frothing, only for its excrement to sink to the bottom and harden as more roots on the floor.

"Ahahahah- I am absolutely appalled by all of this."

"Tsk" His grip on his weapon loosened, all of its rounds already unloaded. If he couldn't kill him even with a sneak attack he'd at least bother to talk. "Who are you? What do you want here?"

"Isn't it obvious or has your intuition gone bad along with your senile age?" Pointing a thumb back, he gestured to the servers... or what had become of them. "I've had a theory for some time now... about what really happened here five years ago. I wanted to confirm it even if things had to get ugly but I think asking what on Earth happened here is far more interesting."

Fully loose, his palm felt itself in intense pain now that his skin broke free from the side of the handle, Kojiro looking down at his feet so he doesn't look at that red stain on the fleshy tree. "Mistakes happened, that's what."

"Hardly helpful... I should have guessed."

Turning back from the CEO, the robed figure extended his hand towards the servers and manifested his ribbon around them once more, this time stretching to completely envelop them and the back end to meet the front, connecting into a circle. With minute gestures of his hand whether left or right like he was cracking the code of a safe he ordered the ribbon to pulsate and move in patterns like waves, switching frequency and intensity according to his movements. Kojiro should have interrupted him, he wanted to but as he saw him exert influence over the servers with whatever that ability was he became more mystified than anything. Over time his ability seemed to bear fruit, making the machines deep inside the black growths heat up and make sound, activating all sorts of lights which earned a chuckle from the infiltrator.

That laughter snapped Kojiro awake and reminded him of his duties. He could have used a White Magnum on him, but knowing what would happen if one of such weapons was used inside the tower and especially in such close proximity to the servers outweighed the reward. Instead he'd have to go the old fashioned way, running up to him and trying to bludgeon the robed figure with the blunt end of his gun.

Weaving his way out of the older and more sluggish man's attacks, the robed figure fought back for the first time when he landed a direct hook onto his face, sending him rolling back. It seemed even he was hurt by the intensity of his own blow, having to shake the pain off right after.

The older man coughed as he raised himself on his knees, struggling to even get up while the masked one was making progress. The futility of the situation was worthy of laughter.

"What do you even want?!" he barked and slammed a hand into the metal floor, at least one of the parts of it not overrun with vines.

Turning his visor back to Kojiro, he replied "Didn't I tell you? I want to shed light on the past so I'm running an experiment, now sit back and watch... a trip down memory lane."

Click.

Much to his own surprise, his last motion had managed to awaken something in the biomechanical mass spread across the whole room, getting the machine part to whir and the flesh part to writhe and squeal like a baby. The lights of the servers turned purple and lit the room, getting a frantic Kojiro to lower his head to the floor, shut his eyes and cover his ears while the ground began shaking.

The observant man behind the mask however could do nothing but stare, uttering an amazed "Oh my."

Dorothy cast away her white coat and threw it on the leader of the Shinigami, blocking her eyesight and enabling her to land several punches that pushed her away. As Shigeru jumped and descended with an upside down sword Gargorgon had to improvise and instead held onto the jacket, using it to slow down the sword that stabbed into it. She coiled it around Shigeru's weapon and used it as a means to manhandle him, throwing him onto Dorothy before knocking both away with a punch.

From the other end came Hitori charging at her, landing repeated jabs and chops she kept on blocking with her forearms before at last she felt something cold and metal press up against the side of her stomach: the laser pistol. Hitori pressed down and fired a point blank round that tore through the side of her stomach, cutting a gash into it while simultaneously cauterizing the wound. In a fit of anger she intended to jam her nails into Hitori's throat, only for Naoki to come in with vertical slashes with both swords parallel to each other, one scarring her arm while the other her face and sliced off her blindfold.

The leader of the Shinigami fell back to recover, hiding her eyes with a palm while the two girls regrouped.

"We've got this in the bag!" cheered Hitori, however Naoki appeared more cautious.

Taking off her hand, Gargorgon revealed her left eye had been disfigured with Naoki's slash, but her right remained. Even so one could hardly call it anything but malformed, for multiple pupils and irises floated across her white sclera. From it she fired a beam of orange and blue at them, Naoki grabbing Hitori and dragging her down to duck while the Shinigami's attack struck the wall behind them, partially petrifying it.

For just one second the two of them turned to look at it, but in that same second had Gargorgon reached for the defunct body of a robot soldier, hurling it at such speed that it smashed through that same wall and made an exit for the outside.

Hasting to recover, both girls were taken aback by receiving kicks to their guts by the Shinigami, not fast enough to react after her attack threw them off. While they both kneeled she cracked her knuckles and drew closer to them, her breath panting and appearance messy, covered in burn marks and bruises.

Additionally, Hitori noted that they could look at each other and not turn to stone, assuming that after using her Metamorphosis the specifications of her ability must have changed.

What saved them afterwards was no great ploy of their own for they were all too hurt to react, but rather outside intervention: a sudden quake.

Purple flames rose in a pillar in the vast distance, being visible to all from the sizeable opening Gargorgon had previously made that allowed them to peek outside. All eyes that could see turned to its direction, finding that out of the dark inferno arose no ordinary Possessed, for that wouldn't have solicited the jaw of the Shinigami to drop and her skin to turn pale.

A giant beast akin to a metal salamander rose up and clawed its way out of the curtain of flames, pulling them apart in its glory of black and glossy violet that glistened in the rays of the sun. Its roars were like wails blasted through a megaphone, its movements wild and thrashing, full of primal rage and vigor.

To the humans this were nothing short of a nightmare incarnate, a reminder of a day that had shaken the nation. To some a day of terror, to others the potential progenitor of all the toils they suffered today. None dared utter its name bar the one who wondered if her powers had come from its likeness.

"Boranga..." grunted Hitori.

Gargorgon recognised what direction it had come from, the direction of the parking lot and that trailer. Now it all clicked and it all brought tears to her eyes. In a surprising show of emotion she lifted her hands to cover her mouth, holding back whimpers.

"Enma... oh lord Enma you're back... I... I knew you'd return, I knew I would have your blessing again..." rubbing her cheeks, feeling her arms, the hairs on the Shinigami's body stood on their ends as she seemed deeply moved by what she was seeing, filled with emotions those simpletons could not grasp. With a loud wail she reached out, extending her bloodied hands to the direction of the Boranga which seemed to be heading their "I never forgot you Enma!"

Out of everyone Naoki seemed the most disturbed by what she was seeing, those gestures of joy, those postures of worship. Looking at her chipped and wounded fingers upset her on a fundamental level knowing something she had omitted to bring up to the rest, what those hands had done.

With both of her swords she rushed in, swinging her left at full power while crying out "Are those the same hands that gutted Ayana?!"

Her back was turned to Naoki, her attention was focused on that which had brought her to tears, and yet in spite of everything she had moved at just the right time to capture her sword in her grip, holding it tight enough to stop all of Naoki's momentum.

On her face was painted rage, her muscles contorted, her brow compressed and she bore her fangs like a wild beast, utter and unfiltered hatred brewing behind that wide open eye. "Ayana rejected Enma's blessing, that betrayal is grounds for only the most cruel of punishments!" she cried out without the slightest hint of remorse, snapping Naoki's sword in half and then grabbing onto the detached end as a dagger she thrust at Naoki's direction.

Ducking under it, the swordswoman shoved her blade deep in Gargorgon's stomach, getting her to cough up blood before she smirked and said "That's no way to talk about your sister... you should have been more grateful while you still had her."

With all the might in her body she ran and dragged her along, jumping out of the window to drag the Shinigami into her doom. Naoki's comrades ran after her in panic, but upon approaching the window saw a pillar of light and a pillar of purple flames rise, revealing she had transformed in the nick of time.

Karakuri Bijou jumped back, skidding across the parking lot while she braced herself. On the contrary, a draconic fiend took shape within the flames. Cerulean scales over a yellow underbody, orange tassels at the ends of two tails and various spikes and talons across her body. A face like an eyeless snake with the horns of a ram curving back and two more smaller heads protruding from her shoulders, the roars of the mad beast like laughter, snarling and screaming of the damned.

「 SHINIGAMI #1: SAINT GARGORGON 」

Boranga from one direction, Gargorgon from the other, Bijou would have to exercise caution until reinforcements could arrive.

Hitori looked at her and pulled out her White Magnum and Salva Key, yet before even connecting them she felt a strange sensation emanating from both. That's when she realized why Naoki had to exit the forbidden ground of the tower to transform. Stopping herself from doing so while still inside, she instead turned to her captain and vice captain.

"I'm going out!"

"Do your best, we'll keep calling Makoto to see if we can reach through." commented Dorothy, with Shigeru then stating "If he doesn't respond we'll just have to personally drag him out of wherever he is." in a rather angry tone.

Turning from them, Hitori took a few steps back and then ran to jump out of the window, finally connecting her devices together.

"Grigio Morgana - Loading" - "No time for tears! - Open Fire!"

As streaks of fire and lightning encased her and the ground seem to come closer and closer Hitori reflected to herself, wondering just where her roommate could be right now. Was he enjoying life oblivious to what was happening? Had he been so carried away with Hanami that he couldn't be there or perhaps did he not even have the choice? She remembered overhearing a conversation between her captain and Shigeru about Hanami, but whether POD or PCU she was still a friend either way, wasn't she? Hitori wanted her to be happy and Makoto also, whether together or apart it didn't matter to her, so long as those two could be happy. So putting her trust in Hanami she wished that wherever she was, whatever she was doing or whoever her allegiance was with, she could make Makoto happy. When the feet of the caramel coloured dragon covered in turquoise regalia touched the ground and stirred up dust, she decided to make these wishes a reality and win this on her own for his sake.

Grigio Morgana attracted the shrieking Gargorgon's attention, her heads jerking back and forth as they bit on the air.

Bijou watched them measure each other up and noted their proximity to the Shibahara Tower. Even when outside of it which was a permissible zone by technicality, she could still feel tingling in the back of her head. Considering that might not have been enough, she decided to avoid any risks and displaced the ground beneath them, lifting the road at their feet high into the air while attracting innumerable boulders and rocks to build up around it, conjuring islands of rock high into the sky.

She intended to climb up there as well, but booming sound waves from Boranga struck her back and interrupted her. The floating islands almost fell as a result, but putting her focus on them she fought to keep them suspended, perhaps it'd be safer to be down there with Boranga after all.

When a second blast of sound waves came at her she detached six of her drones to form a snowflake pattern in front of her, scattering them into outwards ripples. She then attached them into her arms as blades and ran up to Boranga, ducking under its swing while running past it to land slashes across its stomach.

Keeping the islands afloat and fighting at the same time would take double effort, but if her choice was balancing these troubles and giving up, she sure wasn't going to take the option that cursed everybody.

Chapter 5[]

Fashion models, bodies forged in fire and honed to perfection to become a spectacle to all. Myriads of different patterns and designs were put together into a variety of clothes that these people lend their bodies to parade, an extravagant catwalk that earned the amazed murmurs of wide eyed VIPs invited for a show like this.

At first Makoto watched eagerly, curious to see what sort of designs the owner had come up with to earn him such fame, though as they grew increasingly more ridiculous he felt almost ridiculed by them. He was a fan of fashion, not spectacle, stuff that could look pleasant to the eye in modest living and not eyecatching tests of how much you could put on the human body to render it unrecognisable. He never really liked this brand of prestigious fashion made only for galas and elite parties, so he could not pretend to be interested once he discovered what this show really was about. Something about such needless luxury repulsed him.

While his attention wavered his sense of reason and desire to be polite did not, so unlike those who would scoff and dismiss everything as a way of showing they weren't interested, he continued watching. At the very least he had the decency to keep his eyes fixed on the show even if his mind drifted elsewhere, wondering what he could be doing right now instead of wasting his time.

A buzzing sound resonated in his pocket, snapping him out of the trance-like state he was in. Makoto looked down and pulled out his phone which was on vibrate, someone calling him. It was a bit crude to think of it that way, but it was like an escape from this nonsense and one he could gladly take. Before he could answer, let alone check who was calling him a hand moved to snatch it out of his own, revealed to be a smirking Hanami who held her index finger to her lips, shushing him.

"Don't want to disturb the show now, do you?" she snickered in a whisper and hid his phone in her own pocket before turning back to the show.

Momentarily dazed by her brashness, he leveled with his own thoughts and examined her action more carefully, considering that perhaps he himself was the one being rude.

He needed to reevaluate things, calling this a waste of time in his own head was doing a disservice to Hanami. They were there, together to have a good time and let the difficulties of the outside world be washed away. Never mind that a city was turned to stone, if the world was moving on then they should to. No time to contemplate, to grieve, to wonder what had gone wrong, what could go wrong, just keep on living. That's what Hanami wanted of him, to find his peace, so by telling himself how much of a waste or a distraction this all was he continuously failed to enjoy the time he had with her, he disrespected the work she had put in for him.

Deeming it his duty to relax for once he leaned back on his chair and kept on watching the show, melting his brain by the nonsense parading in front of him. She seemed to be having fun though, so perhaps to make himself feel better he ought to instead think about her then. Like taking your kid to the movies, even if you didn't like what you were watching you still enjoyed it for their sake.

Still, as the show went on his attention couldn't help itself but slip from him, especially when he began sensing commotion in the same room. Lined up in a row near the front were reporters flashing bright lights from their cameras at the models who by now must have been blinded by the onslaught. Some of them however had began to break off of the rest an whisper to each other, looking down at their phones with quite the bewildered looks, as if there was some scoop out there that took precedent over the show. Growing curious, Makoto scooched closer to try and have a look, finding them watching some sort of footage he couldn't make out the details of, but he got the general gist of it.

Whatever it was, it was big and it was bad, enough to elicit terror from their faces. Was something happening outside? Were people in danger?

From simple interest born of disinterest at the show Makoto's feelings turned into those of worry. He wanted to get closer and see for himself what they were looking at but abruptly a few of the reporters rushed outside, leaving him in worry, all to his thoughts.

The situation had escalated, something was definitely happening while all these people- while he was doing nothing of use. Desperate to learn he reached out to Hanami, drawing her attention. "Hey, can I have my phone back?" he asked, probably a little louder than a place like this would permit, but he didn't think it through.

In total disregard of his words or worries Hanami shushed him once more. "Shh, you don't want to disturb the show right?"

She seemed to be ignoring him, or rather his intentions as she then tried to direct his attention back to the show. "Look, isn't that dress pretty?"

"Uh I-" realizing he was being loud again, Makoto quieted down so he doesn't get the same response. "I guess it's fine but- I really need my phone."

"Huuh? Why? Aren't you having fun?"

She said that with a snicker, but her eyes seemed to be in contrast to her smile. Her gaze was stern, fixed and unblinking as if she meant the question seriously.

To tell her the truth, he wasn't having fun. Not one bit and now with whatever was happening outside he was having anything but fun. But could he tell her that?

If she had been Hitori -he hated to force himself to think of it like that, but it was the truth- then he would have not because he respected her less, but because he could be open and honest with Hitori. He could be crass, he could bicker and laugh like an idiot and he wouldn't hesitate to tell her this whole show was an absolute bore. But with Hanami... hadn't he done all the same things? Hadn't they had ice cream and splashed water on each other on the beach? Hadn't she told him about her father? Hadn't he confined in her about Enma? Hadn't she told him she would protect him?

So why, if they had both done so much for him, could he be at ease in front of one and at edge in front of the other?

There was something he was missing, something about the two girls that above everything else separated them in his mind and prevented him from seeing them the same way, but he simply couldn't find it.

He wouldn't answer her question, he couldn't lest he hurt her, so he avoided doing so altogether and instead merely sighed.

"Excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom." he said as he got up and began to walk away, leaving Hanami curiously scanning him on his way out.

Though the way he moved was slow inside his head he was in an incredible rush, hoping to catch up to the reporters who had walked out. Trying out various different halls and doors, Makoto eventually found two of them walking down a corridor chatting amongst each other, seemingly looking at something in their hands.

Now without any concern for his volume he shouted "Hey!" and ran after them, explaining the details when he got close. "I'm sorry, but could I have a look at that?"

One of the reporters looked down at his phone and before he could even give the green light Makoto snatched it to have a look.

Four giants stomped close to each other, two he recognised as his fellow warriors, the opposing two as a three headed serpentine beast and the other-

Chills ran down Makoto's spine, both when he saw it and when he realized where they were, helicopter footage getting a clear shot of the tower behind them, the battleground of five years past.

When Bijou lifted Morgana and her opponent in the air through a spectacular show of amassed rocks it only became clearer to him that this was no lie nor illusion, this was the reality coming back to haunt him.

"To fight for someone you love... to fight to the very end, with everything you have, with all of your power... to come this close to victory... to be filled with hope and certainty, to reach your happiest moment... and then to find that your strength was still not enough by the tiniest of margins... and to have it all stripped from you in an instant. I hope you live to see that future one day, Ultraman."

Juru's words rang in his brain once more, his curse that would neither fade nor subside until it had tormented him properly. Every time he thought he had avoided it those words repeated in his head, reminding him how easy it would be for all to be lost just as he took it for granted.

He began to squeeze the phone with such vigor that its owner was afraid he'd snap it in half, having to yank it out of his hands and walk away while muttering insults under his breath.

Dazed and frozen, Makoto stood immobile under the white light of the corridor. What to do, what to say, where to go now except back in that cursed tower, to end the battle he had started.

His steps were firm on the ground and resolute, but they were few for those swift as thunder smacked against the floor behind him repeatedly, echoing to overshadow his own. A hand reached for his own, but he felt no warmth from it, only cold.

Pulling him back by force was a rather distraught Hanami, forcing him to look at her. Slightly red on her face and looking like she'd ran a marathon to find him, shaky and with shrunken pupils she put on a small smile and tried to get him back where she'd come from. "H-hey, you don't want to miss the show do you?" she said and tugged to pull him with her. "It'd be rude to deny the owner's invitation now, you deserve it after saving his life!"

Her efforts to get through to him was unmistakable, her drive to get him back could not be understated.

Maybe Hitori didn't need him, she was strong after all, she could win fights on her own. Maybe he was getting too worried again, putting the blame on himself again, shutting himself off, fearing without reason instead of simply trusting her to win. He worried about failing her by not being there when she always had been for him.

But no, that couldn't be it, Hitori was happy he was spending quality time with Hanami, she was happy for him every time he went off with her because every time he returned she had a new surprise ready back home. He wondered what she might be thinking of right now, if she was fighting for him so he can have a good time without needing to fear, so he can enjoy himself, because Hitori really did want him to be happy. So Makoto had to ask himself, was he dishonouring her request and wishes by not being happy?

Maybe he should just calm down and let Hanami lead the way, after all of Hitori wanted his help then she would have asked, wouldn't she?

Well, what if she had?

That buzzing on his phone, that call he didn't get to answer- could that have been her? Could she have called him to inform him of a mission, the mission she was currently fighting for while he slacked away for the sake of a leisure he didn't even believe in?

When he saw it that way was when he resisted Hanami's pull, he was in no debt to her.

"Give me back my phone." he requested plain and simple, stating his desire plainly.

"Huh?"

"I said give me back my phone." the blond repeated unenthusiastically, maintaining a stern gaze. The body double seemed to grow upset at that, her eyes shifting left and right, anywhere but to meet his own.

Eventually realizing he wouldn't budge she let go and reached into her pocket, handing him back his phone with a disappointed sigh.

Frantic, Makoto looked through his contacts and found several missed calls from both Hitori and Shigeru. A lump formed in his throat as a result, the realization that all this time they were asking for help while he stood there, enduring for anyone's sake but his own.

He wanted to go out there and help them fight right now, but something told him that another moment would need to be taken care of first.

"Why did you do that?" he asked the girl before him, the girl that bore the image of Hitori but none of her substance, the one that now more than ever before looked totally distinct and unmistakable. That's because the apathetic expression she put on her face was one he could never picture his roommate with.

Breathing out a sigh from her nostrils, Hanami momentarily shut her eyes and controlled her pace, calming down. "You don't have to fight, Makoto."

"Why's that?"

His expression grew calmer, he realized this seemed like an interrogation and such a thing would yield no results, if he was distant and cold he couldn't reach through to her so he wanted to be sincere, because he really did want to know. In return so did Hanami calm down, her expression now displaying hints of worry and fear.

"Because... nothing good is going to come out of fighting."

His eyebrow rose as her words went through him like a frozen saber.

"Weren't you trying to lift my spirits yesterday? Telling me how much people loved me?"

"I was!" she retorted, taking a step closer while bringing a hand to her chest. "And it's true, people love you for what you have done until now, they'll remember you as a hero for years... but every hero must retire while he still has the peoples' love."

Putting a new spin on her prior words gave him the power of retrospect, seeing from a different light all the things she'd said, all the things she'd made him feel.

"What are you talking about?"

Her eyes fixed on his own underneath lowered eyelids, hiding behind the the shield of her glasses. More than ever before he felt a chill in the room, like they were all alone in frozen time.

"I want you to run away with me Makoto. This world... you're too good for it. There's already people willing to put their lives at stake to defend it, so you should keep yours."

"You're... out of your mind."

"Just listen to me okay?!" Hanami's voice grew louder, her hair flying forward as she took a single mighty step and raised the tone of her voice. "I said I wanted to protect you and I really do but- but if you keep fighting then it'll reach a point where I won't be able to help you any more! There's bad people out there Makoto, horrible people who don't see you the way I do-"

His mind rushed to the Shinigami, their blind worship of Enma that pained him down to his heart.

"So I want to protect you from them. That's why I've been trying to keep you away from them, away from the people who don't see you as the hero you are a-and I wanted today to be the day I told you. So let's run away together, let's leave POD and everything behind and let's live in peace, start a new life where we won't have to worry about anyone and anything!"

Hanami... was saying some worrisome things. She seemed to know a lot, to have kept this deep in her heart for a while now, building up to it, bracing herself. He hadn't seen her this upset since she talked about her father, so when viewing it from her point of view he calmed down and instead of disappointment and anger felt pity. That all this time she'd been holding this in, suffering until the breaking point when she just had to tell him- just like how he confined in her.

And yet, through this realization he came to a conclusion of his own, the definitive thing that allowed him to be at ease with Hitori but not with her.

"You told me to start a new life somewhere else... anywhere but here... but I can't do that. I can't throw away this life after I fought for it for so long... because it's not just my own."

Reaching for his chest, Makoto grabbed his shirt in a tight fistfull, wrinkling it while his hand's veins grew vibrant. "Hitori has been there all this time, fighting with me, being there with me. If I leave this life- our life behind then... wouldn't she be sad? Wouldn't she cry? I... don't want to make Hitori cry. I made this life with her, not with you, so I can't leave her for you."

Letting go he brought his hand forward, feeling all anxiousness leave his palm while it stretched open.

"I'm sorry Hanami, I know you want to save my life from whatever it is that's gotten you so afraid... but it's because I've lost it once before that I want to cling onto it this time. I don't want to live a life where Hitori isn't there."

Her hands balled up into fists, ice growing out to cover them whole. Makoto took note and braced himself before her evident anger- before the frost subsided and melted apart.

Breathing out a sigh, Hanami shook her head and with disappointment she did not bother to hide said "I guess I can't save what doesn't belong to me."

Now it all became crystal clear to Makoto, what the truth of what he'd been feeling the past two days was. Even if they were forced in lies, those good times were real to him, so now more than ever he felt encouraged to return to Hitori and experience those good times with her, the real her this time.

"You said I am a hero but... I don't want to be a hero. I haven't seen anyone call me a hero in person and I don't expect them to. I just want to keep living."

His resolve solid as steel, Makoto turned from her. He didn't know what to say, if this was goodbye, if this was hello, if they'd see each other again, so he left it at hopeful vagueness.

"See you soon."

Hanami lowered her head and shut her eyes, coming to terms with his decision and embracing it with a smile of her own.

"Yeah, see you soon."

Chapter 6[]

Far above the clouds in the vast blue of the sky, the mighty frames of giants clashed in a mutual tackle that rang out like a gong, shaking the island of rock and the vast pillars erected from it that kept them in the air.

The claws of the two draconic beasts met in the middle as they pushed against each other, the muscles of their arms put under strain which they vented by snarling to the faces of one another. To break out of the stalemate Morgana pulled her opponent closer and rammed a knee into her gut, earning a gagging cough which she followed up on by socking her right across the face. The extra heads of Gargorgon extending from her shoulders reached out and bit into her neck, needle-like teeth sinking past her rocky armour to hold her still and enable her to land repeated punches into the Grigio's chest without the chance to escape. Following a headbutt she managed to push Morgana back as her cut through her neck muscles, the booming impact on her head leaving the Grigio dazed as she backtracked.

When Gargorgon attempted to run after her the spikes on her tail began to light up and fire homing darts of energy that curved and pelted her all over, knocking her enemy away.

With the field clear, a hunched Morgana narrowed her brow and encased her fist in a coat of black, rushing at her while shouting "Mortis!"

A head on collision and burst of dark thunderbolts, Morgana seemed to have secured a direct hit on her soul and as a result sneered. Yet what she saw proved the contrary. The pigmentation of Gargorgon's whole body seemed to flicker from its usual colour to black, resisting the strike as she defended her very soul and body alike.

"Eh?" pondered Morgana. Even as Grigio Bone her Mortis had managed to inflict immense damage to Shirogane Demaaga so as King it should be even stronger, but Gargorgon's spiritual defenses appeared so great that they completely withstood her blow.

"You must be wondering... how could I endure that when the number two Shinigami couldn't, isn't that right?"

Morgana's eyes shot open, hearing Gargorgon mock her like she'd read her mind. Fist still attached to her stomach, she looked up to see her main head in a smirk, something inside glistening.

"I'll have you know then, that Saint Shirogane Demaaga even at her peak was less than half as strong as I am."

Following that chilling sentiment, Gargorgon reeled back her claw coated in black and swiped it across Morgana's chest, cutting through her very soul with enough force to send her flying back.

"MORTIS!" the leader of the Shinigami announced when she saw Morgana crash into a pillar that then collapsed in her, a mute scream exiting her wide jaws, not even a whisper coming out as pain invaded every aspect of her existence.

In due time she crawled out of the rubble encasing her, but before she could make a full recovery was kicked in the rib by Gargorgon's sharp talons. Rolling back, Morgana couldn't even rise on her second try as she was kicked again and again, further knocked away. The three-headed dragon's claws reached for the back of her neck and lifted her up just for a punch to land right into her gut, throwing her away once more.

Gargorgon's extra heads laughed at her before stretching forward to fire electric bolts, Morgana's innate ability however allowed her to absorb them, beginning to rise unharmed. Seeing that Gargorgon shouted "Null Lightning!", coating them with Black Blood to bypass her ability and remind her of the unfortunate pain of an electric shock, earning groans out of Morgana.

Through the vast blue a figure of orange cut through the clouds and the air, steadily rising to the elevation of the floating islands. Yomi was steadfast in his approach, holding his breath until he could make it and counting the seconds in agony.

Little did he know however that tailing him were the remainder of the flock of infected birds. Taken over by Braun's last virus, they began to mingle with each other and ram their bodies together, melting apart, losing individuality to be stitched together into one colossal abomination. Grey, purple and green feathers, an atrophied and boney physiology with messy fuzz covering its body, the artificial Buzzard Birdon roared to life like a chimera of patchwork, its flesh sewn together with the string and needle of their own intestines. In its maw it called forth purple flames while it pursued the Ultra, but before it could fire it was deterred by spikes of ice flying at it from underneath, stabbing it and sending it off course to fly far off from the floating island without Yomi ever knowing it had chased after him.

Instead the Ultra flew up over it and scanned the area, witnessing the three-headed dragon's fierce assault on his partner. Burning from within with the fires of justice, he flipped himself feet forward and generated an intense gravitational field beneath himself, a spot of black spiraling in turquoise and pulling space in. Kicking forward, he went flying coated in a drill of energy, a black hole at his very heel with which he struck the unsuspecting Gargorgon, detonating the singularity in her face to send her flying into and through a pillar of stone.

As he landed he reached for the gasping Morgana and helped her stand.

"Makoto!" she said, glad to be free.

In return he wanted to say so much, but at that moment nothing took priority over "I'm sorry I took so long."

She shook her head, appearing to not care the least bit for his delay and holding no grudge. "It's fine, I'm sorry we had to drag you here from your date though."

"It wasn't a date!" He didn't know how to relay it to her, that if he had spend more time with Hanami then Hitori would have been in mortal danger. He grew frustrated at that, but ultimately swallowed his own feelings for the greater good. "A-and besides, it's you I'm worried about!"

Flattered by that, Hitori would be given no change to express her gratitude when the sound of shifting rubble earned their attention, turning to find Gargorgon rise up undeterred.

"How heartwarming, now I can send you both to your graves together!" she exclaimed and fired forward more streaks of black lightning.

"You're worried about me huh? Guess we really are inseparable after all!" Hitori joked before the both of them rushed forward, ducking under her attacks.

Yomi took the lead and rolled behind, grabbing Gargorgon by her two tails. His body was put under strain momentarily before he sent a wave of turquoise energy flowing through her, burning her from the inside out and causing her to stop, thereby making an opening for Morgana to leave clawmarks across her chest coated in fire and lightning.

In a fit of rage the Shinigami tugged the Ultra forward with a swing of her tail and punched the back of his head to throw him away, meanwhile she backhanded Morgana in the same second with her other hand. Yomi rolled forward after enduring her hit and landed on a knee, subsequently stretching his hand to fire arrowhead projectiles into her face and chest, knocking her back to fall into the Grigio's arms which wrapped around her waist and sent volts through her body. Retaliating, her extra heads curled backwards and bit into Morgana's neck before she mustered strength to flip her over herself, sending her flying at Yomi who instead jumped over Morgana for a kick that Gargorgon caught by the ankle, swinging him back to slam Yomi into the ground.

"Pitiful, you two are pathetic excuses for Possessed!" Gargorgon wailed when Morgana lunged at her like a wild cat only to be swatted away by her tails onto Yomi who then grabbed her by the tail and lowered her weight. Performing a reverberating spin, he hurled his partner right back to use her wings and cut the Shinigami before landing down to then spew a fireball. Gargorgon swiped her hand across the air and deflected the flaming bullet only for Yomi to catch it and then slam it on the back of her head.

"Your kindness, your teamwork, it makes me sick to my very core!" Tails wrapping around his feet, Gargorgon dragged him by force to throw him onto Morgana who helped cushion his fall before both of them rushed forward, bumping their shoulders into the enemy's chest to make her stumble back.

"Those sound like the ramblings of a loser!" accused Morgana, pointing a finger forward. "You just can't stand that other people could be stronger than you without sinking so low!" Running forward she attempted to grapple with the Shinigami, locking claws together before a kick to her side weakened her enough to be shoved away.

After her last charge, Morgana had separated herself from Yomi who now stood behind their enemy's back, instead she directly confronted her.

"Stronger? You think you're stronger because you have each other? You don't get it, you don't get what it means to be Possessed... you don't even get what it means to be human!" she shouted out, stretching her hands to the sides as she aligned her eyeless face with the heavens. "Humans have survived all these eons by being selfish, by seeking more power no matter the cost, no matter which fellow man they have to kill and which species they must hunt to extinction!"

As Morgana charged closer, Gargorgon opened her mouth wide to reveal no throat, but instead an eye marked with red veins staring forward at her. Energy swirled and gathered into it before out came speeding a blue ray of energy wrapped in orange streaks, striking the Grigio's legs where they proceeded to rapidly petrify.

Paralysis overcame her lower half, finding herself incapable of moving Morgana began to channel all of her Black Blood into resisting her effect, the black flames fighting against the petrification to slow its progress, but not stop it.

Her footsteps grew slower, yet her approach didn't cease. Casting a shadow over the struggling Morgana, the Shinigami approached her with a look of sheer disappointment. "Your virtues... your compassion... it's all useless to me. Violence is not second nature to humans, it is our nature. That's why the Possessed... the most free people to act as they see fit and be violent to their heart's content are the true humans."

Gargorgon's claw flashed in black lightning, a second Mortis charging. Morgana braced herself, focusing all her Black Blood on defense to both withstand the petrification and her incoming attack- but a flash of black from behind her showed she need not worry.

Sensing a spike in energy behind her, Gargorgon suddenly turned to find Yomi with blackened hands swinging them over his head in parallel circular motions. He crossed them at the wrists and out of them fired forth a beam painted in black ink. In the nick of time she changed the pigmentation of her skin to a black colour, channeling her own spiritual defenses to withstand his attack, much to the surprise of the orange giant. As he kept on firing she resisted and walked through it, negating the soul-damaging effect through her own superior innate power. The closer she got the harder he pushed and tried to think of what to do, but just as he had given someone else a way out so would the favour be returned to him.

From her maw Morgana fired a beam of flames and lightning that was too painted black, her attack striking the back of the unsuspecting Gargorgon. Their attacks pushed past her defenses and earned a roar, getting her to groan in pain before the collective power punched through her spiritual armour, meeting in the middle to blow a hole through body and soul.

Once they ceased fire and the smoke cleared they found Gargorgon panting, hunched forward with a gaping wound on her chest, one that enabled them to see each other from its two ends. Furthermore as her black colour faded, the dark flame seemed to curve around the wound, showing that with potent enough Black Blood they could cut a hole through her soul's defenses.

Her breathing was rugged, her composure pale, her muscles lost their vigor and her limbs seemed spindly and weak, no longer fixed to their joints. For all intents and purposes Gargorgon should have been defeated, yet she still stood no matter the harm.

"Haha- hahahahahaha!"

The both of them flinched at the sound of her laughter, hearty, boisterous laughter that resonated from the lungs she no longer had.

Morgana felt a tingle and looked down, finding that even without her resisting it the petrification had stopped expanding, only making it up to her waist.

"It looks like by destroying a part of her soul we erased her ability altogether... but why is she still alive?" the Grigio asked, beginning to grow worried before the cackling menace that was the Shinigami's leader.

"I can't die! I'm immortal! I'm unbeatable! I'm invincible! And that's- that's only because... I'm blessed by Enma!"

Yomi's fist curled up and clenched, his spirit boiling under the misplaced adoration these fiends gave to that crooked memory.

"He won't let me die because he wants me to spread his message! Yes, that's right! I have to let the world know, I have to remind humans what it means to be human!"

"What are you yammering about?!" shouted Morgana, tired of her vague words.

"Enma's message, he preached it to my very skull five years ago... I still remember it vividly to this day. He told me that humans should set themselves free of any morality, of any shame and let their worst selves come out, because their worst selves are their most true selves! We're all vile on the inside so why not show it on the outside as well?! That's what a Possessed really is! THAT'S Enma's dream! A world where humans can be free to be as evil as they want!"

Sweat ran down Makoto's face.

So she was one of them, one of the people who were forcefully transformed into a Boranga. Tortured by his own true hands, left to run around in madness for five years and then returned as a most mad Possessed, one obsessed with him, infatuated with him. The worship of the Shinigami appalled him, it made him want to gag and throw up listening to every word of her insane ramblings.

Once again he felt at fault for everything, for turning her into the person she was and by proxy killing all the people she killed.

When that realization hit he looked down at his hands, not seeing, but feeling all the blood that was upon it from his doing.

His sense of justice flared up, it boomed and roared inside of him. He couldn't contain it, he had to shout, he had to scream, he had to let it out at all cost if only to rebuke her as the one she supposedly poured her heart and soul out to.

"That's not what Enma's dream was in the slightest!" he yelled out at her, swinging a fist across the air.

The frame of the wounded dragon froze up, her lone eye slowly turning to face him before with a deadpan voice she replied "What could you possibly know about Enma...?"

All vigor with which he had shut his fists seemed to dissipate, cooling down while he let them drop. He had gotten so far as to say something so bold, he had already said it once. Hitori was there, stuck in place yet still holding fast to the intent to fight. She wasn't going to give up now, was she? So he better not either. He told himself that again and again, he better not run, he better not hide, he better face the truth and her, the person he wanted to share this life with.

By his mannerisms and calm demeanor his body seemed to grow calmer, almost acceptant like a corpse giving up the spirit. With a small breath Yomi looked ahead not to Gargorgon, nor to Morgana with his blue eyes and said-

"Because I am Enma."

Morgana's eyes widened as she slightly straightened her posture, yet making no sound whatsoever. Gargorgon's pupil shrunk, her gaze fixed on him, on his idle frame, staring and staring without any motion performed by any of the three of them. They needn't even move their tongues, their eyes did all the talking in the dead cold silence.

"Liar."

Of course, that was to be expected.

"It's true. Enma is I. I am Enma and I know-"

"You're lying."

"I know more than anybody else that what you're saying was never Enma's dream."

"Stop lying."

"Enma- I didn't want people to be 'free', at least not in the way you're thinking of. I didn't want peoples' innermost and worst selves to come out and be visible to all, to be embraced. I wanted to purge them of all that evil if only to turn mankind and aliens alike into drones. I did it because... I didn't want to confront the parts of myself I disliked... so I wanted to erase them from myself and everybody as well. That is the tru-"

"LIES!"

Her voice boomed out like a thunderbolt, silencing all while she flailed her arms out like a mad fiend.

"YOU'RE LYING! YOU'RE TELLING NOTHING BUT LIES! ENMA BLESSED ME- HE CHOSE ME- HE SENT ME OUT TO BE HIS APOSTLE IN THE WORLD AND BRING OUT THE TRUE NATURE OF ALL HUMANS! I KNOW HIM BETTER THAN ANYONE AND ANYTHING, SO YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT HE WANTS!"

Denial, as anticipated. Yomi could only shake his head at her frantic cries, witnessing the rage of someone whose worldview fell apart in front of her very eyes. "I'm sorry to tell you, but that simply is the truth. The whole truth that I've been keeping locked up all this time, afraid that... I'll be hated, I'll be cursed, maybe for a good reason."

Tears ran down Gargorgon's lone eye, dripping from her jaws like saliva. "No... no, I- No, I won't have it. I won't listen to you, I won't let you blaspheme the one truth- the one thing I've had that's been keeping me sane for the past five years!"

Clutching the side of her aching head she wept "I've been losing my mind, the only thing that's been keeping me going has been Enma's promise so I- I can't- I won't believe it was a lie. He would never forsake me. I didn't do everything I did for a lie, I didn't... my sister didn't... not for a lie!"

Making wild swings she clapped her hands together, performing the first motions that got Yomi and Morgana to tense up.

"I'll show you... I'll show you now... Second Metamorphosis!"

Black Blood poured out of her gaping wound, flowing through her entire body to convert it into monochrome black scales and a white underbody before all her teeth, nails and talons rapidly deteriorated into a diseased and rotten green hue. Her muscles atrophied to wrap around her bones, giving a slimmer and more lean humanoid appearance. Horns expanded out of her skull and curved multiple times over as a crown of bones ripped out of her flesh, marked with three horizontal parallel lines and one vertical running down through them. Her extra heads curved back as their throats bloated, regurgitating five spinal cords each that curved to make boney wings. From where was only a void in her chest, it suddenly puffed up and tendrils connected on the inside, coming together to fill the vacant space completely and then bloom outwards into a flower, a second eye sprouting from it.

Her talons landed on the ground and immediately spread cracks through it, a coarse croak running up her throat before she let out a beastly shout.

"Babylon Grim Reaper!"

An intense aura emanated from her, an energy that struck fear into the hearts of her fellow Possessed, the two who had chosen virtue over sin and as a result been excommunicated from the ranks of the corrupted and perverse. A dim light, darker than darkness itself curved and coiled around her figure, turning the skies into a gloomy grey colour, mournful before her presence.

Her two eyes stared at the one of them that she, the great judge of chaos, deemed the most grievous offender, the foul horned giant who dared utter such insulting lies.

"You like how I look?" she asked, a seemingly innocent question coming from such a fiend, the voice of a woman no doubt making it more pleasant to the ears than the eyes.

"This is what a real human looks like."

In a flash and a burst of rippling air she lunged at such speeds that the ground where she stood at shattered into tiny pieces. Before his eyes could even register it, Yomi found her gross claws wrapped around his throat, time seemingly slowed to a halt to let him witness them clenching around it, her speed so grand and baffling that it put even Shirogane Demaaga's ultimate move to a sluggish shame.

Picking him up, Gargorgon drove the Ultra from one pillar to the other, pounding his skull though hundreds of thousands of tons of solid rock as she crossed the island to subject him to the worst pain imaginable. A line of dust shooting up in the air was carved for kilometers until awareness returned to Yomi's battered skull, bringing him to reach for the blade in his head and swing down to slice off the arm choking him. Focusing all strength into his legs he jumped upwards to escape the cloud of dust, looking down at it with a frantic gaze that couldn't focus itself no matter how hard it tried, perpetually blurry.

The sound of an intense flap resonated behind his head and he turned, finding that with her wings Gargorgon had risen to his level right on time for her arm to regenerate, putting it to good use by socking him against the face fast enough to go plummeting down. Yet in just a second flap not only did she outpace him, but she landed down and jumped back up to intervene mid air, landing her knee right into his spine with such power that his whole body bent into an arc.

From the intensity of that move Yomi was flung into the air once more, performing various spins before he got some semblance of stability. Generating an intense gravitational pull in his palm he fired down a distorted sphere curving and coiling space into a drill that dragged all inside, yet all Gargorgon needed to do was let out her hand and catch it, crushing the black hole in her grip. In front of her eyes generated spheres of darkness with a cyan outline, each one firing rampant beams of electric energy that sniped and blasted him all across the air before finally she flew up herself after him. Like a cornered dog he swung his blade at her, yet each strike was parried by her claws without effort, slowly outpacing him before she got to a point he couldn't even react to her flurry of punches sending his skull rocking back and forth.

"You think you can get away with all the crap you said?!" Gargorgon cried out before lifting up a fist, coating it in a layer of black even darker than her own scales. "Mortis!" she yelled and punched down into his cranium, the force of her blow flowing through his entire body before it even registered and sent him crashing into the ground, cutting a fissure into it from the impact.

With her wings clearing up the intense dust cloud, Gargorgon descended before the battered and irresponsive Ultra to land on the ground, using her tail to constrict his throat and suspend him to meet eye-to-eye by force.

His eyes could hardly see, vision blurred and muddy, senses fading. Hers wished they couldn't utterly disgusted with the person in front of her.

Makoto could feel her hate wrapping around his throat, stabbing into him, cursing him to his bitter core, and he understood. He understood why after everything he'd done why she of all people would hate him, why Enma deserved this for making her this way. However someone seemed to beg to differ.

"Don't you dare touch him!"

Morgana was shaking to her core, eyes twitching, watering as her whole body shivered. In a desperate attempt to provide aid she flapped her wings and released multiple arcs of teal energy, however when Gargorgon turned her way she only needed a swing of her claws to shatter them all like glass. Even so, she wouldn't keep quiet.

"Don't lay a finger on him, you hear me? You hear me?! I won't let you hurt him any longer, not for one second longer! He's had enough already!"

Yet when the whole world would have wanted him to suffer more, Hitori demanded she take the burden once again.

"You two are awful close... aren't you?" said the deadpan Shinigami as she looked back at Yomi, zeroing in on him to see if he agreed. Once again she returned to Morgana, grinning at the though of how she could make her feeble self suffer, as a punishment or... a treat for acting tough just now. "Then... who should I gut alive in front the other first?"

Chapter 7[]

Trees and foliage were rattled at the rapid descent of something from above, the scrawny and rotten body of a patchwork bird that crashed down and thrashed amongst the forest. Roots and stones were ripped out of the soil and flung about as it clawed at its own skin, trying to get the shards of ice lodged into it off while a shadow was cast over the field.

Sending a tremor, the feet of a crustacean giant landed on the dirt, her armour a dark navy colour with a yellow abdomen and light blue bulb-like eyes. She raised her fists as the bird of prey arose, its wicked form taller than her, more imposing as it waved its shredded wings to inspire fear in her heart. Yet as she remembered what she was fighting for, Hanami swallowed the lump on her throat and ran after it.

While she closed the distance, the Alukela swiped her hands across the air and fired off multiple daggers of ice that Buzzard Birdon countered by flapping its wings, unleashing sharp feathers to clash against them. Their total number overpowered those of Hanami's and some cut through her exoskeleton, forcing her to lift up her arms and block while they stabbed into her.

From the bottom of its bellowing throat, the infected avian gurgled out a stream of purple flames she ducked under and steadily advanced, generating a frozen spear that she then jammed into its wing, putting her brawn into pushing back while she forced Birdon to cease fire. She pushed and shoved, giving it all she had to overpower her towering adversary even if it brought her physical body to its limits, but if it couldn't even withstand this test then what good was it for?

At a time like this, when putting herself under such intense strain and risking her life she had to wonder, just how did she get there?

Silver halls around her and white fluorescent lights shining from above, tailing a man in a blue military uniform who always seemed just a little quicker than her in his step turned into a labor far earlier than she expected, trying to keep up with him.

Ever since she had been enrolled in the Paranormal Comprehension Unit she'd been put under tasks and trials that were more to her liking than anything in POD. Rather than building physical strength and stamina, speed and tactics to deal against all sorts of deadly adversaries she learned to weed out suspicious people, to see through their lies and spot them in a crowd. How to blend amongst the crowd and be hidden, how to persuade with words only and how to cover her tracks. It were utterly fascinating and she always had kind people like Mr Irae leading her along the way.

Of course she wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for Mr Aikawa taking her out of POD7 and enrolling her in the first place, she wanted to thank him now that he paid them a visit, but when he brought her into an isolated room she realized she might not get the chance to.

"Irae has informed me that your training is complete, young Ms Maboroshi." he said in a stern voice she could never quite read, but surely if he was saying such nice things he must mean them. Thus, innocent as she were, she smiled and bowed.

"Thank you, it means a lot that-"

"For that reason, me and him have finally decided to entrust you with a special mission above all else you have handled up to this point."

A promotion? She felt flattered that a newcomer like her could rise up in prestige this quickly, so she gladly nodded and heard him.

"I'm all ears!"

Compared to her enthusiasm, Byakuya seemed to be more subtly pleased. "You are to return to your previous post in POD7-"

Oh how her heart went aflutter! Returning to the team that had housed and looked after her for so long, being now able to return the favour by applying all sorts of skills she'd learned to their missions! She couldn't wait to hear what they'd be doing together.

"-under the new task of keeping tabs on Asagiri Makoto."

But when she did, she could hardly maintain her joy.

"Makoto?" the blond guy, otherwise known as Ultraman Possessed. He was a special one, that much she could infer from day one. She thought he was a nice person, relatively handsome, polite if a little gloomy, she was grateful to him and Hitori for lending her a hand in coming out of her shell but she couldn't say they had any particular connection. "So, do I have to hang out with him or-?"

"You will be instructed in due time on the specifics, but your goal will be to take up as much of his time as possible and dig through his past and who he is."

Byakuya wasn't saying it explicitly, but what he basically told her was to spy on Makoto. Slowly she was beginning to grow skeptical, not entirely distrustful but at least a little lost, leading her to ask a question that bordered on childlike innocence.

"Did he do something bad?"

"Potentially. Captain Sugita of UPG has gone on record that she believes Mr Asagiri's true identity is that of the dark giant 'Ultraman Enma' that appeared five years ago. She's confident in it but has no proof, which is why we need you to get close to him and discover the truth."

Hanami was shaken to learn that. Makoto? That unsuspecting guy caught in the crossfire was one and the same as that monster that had haunted the whole world? She couldn't fathom it. What was their evidence? Their reasoning? Their motivation? You couldn't just accuse a normal guy of something like that with only a gut feeling, there had to be more than meets the eye with what was going on and maybe before looking into him she should look into that.

"What will you gain if he -hypothetically- was Enma?"

Growing more serious she posed that question to gauge their intentions, though all it solicited was a smirk.

"Why, it would make the world a more peaceful place of course. If Makoto really was Enma then we could learn quite a bit from him, maybe find a way to cure the Possession scourge as a whole. Modern science can truly achieve miracles, it's just that we need willing subjects to be miracle workers, that's all."

That simultaneously answered and failed to answer her question. She couldn't get a read on Byakuya, he seemed like someone that valued the peace of the nation and was well intentioned, but why would he seek out such a dangerous being lying dormant if that were the case?

Unless Makoto wasn't as normal as he seemed. Unless perhaps they had a reason to be weary of him.

Seeing it from his point of view, Makoto could be a ticking time bomb, a threat ready to explode and wipe out the whole world with it if they didn't play it safe. Would it be responsible to let such a threat run around even if potentially neutralized? Could she sleep safely at night knowing that?

Now getting a better perspective on things, Hanami nodded with a distant and lost gaze on her pale face, contemplating what this could mean for the world if her searches really did yield any fruit.

"I understand. I'll pay close attention to Makoto and report on my results."

"That's wonderful, but I hope you're prepared for what you'll be facing and stick through to the very end."

"I'm sure I'll-"

"It's not as easy as you think." he interrupted her, making it abundantly obvious that to take her word for it was something he would be a fool to do. "If you ever feel like changing your mind or going soft... just remember that you already know too much."

Byakuya spoke like a cold zombie, his eyes unblinking, his facial muscles never shifting to portray emotion, his gaze glassy. It made Hanami refrain from blinking either, scorching her eyes with pain in fear that she would come to regret it if she made a blind spot for herself in his presence. Thus, like a good soldier, she had to stand at attention.

"We've been wanting a live Possessed to study for a while now but they've always evaded us or transformed before we could start digging. You, Asagiri and Yorugo could have been exactly what we needed to take apart and see how the Possessed really work, had Ohara of POD7 not taken you under her wing as members. But now you're with the PCU, she can't protect you any more, so keep that in mind if you ever feel your loyalty wavering."

Hanami froze in place, his words settling and making their nest deep inside his mind. Her mission could change the world, was it much to handle? Maybe, but now there was no going back. She'd have to do it for peace, for the greater good, to find out who Makoto really was and if he could really be called a monster.

She remembered that day and laughed back at it, how scared she was, how gullible she could be. The image of a monster and a person overlapped in her mind when it came to the identity to Makoto, so even after they reunited she felt herself cautious around his presence, wondering if she knew more than him, or the other way around.

In the present as she harkened back to those thoughts, Hanami was abruptly pulled out of them by a stinging pain in her chest like she'd been stabbed with a knife. Its neck extending from its torso, Buzzard Birdon jammed its beak into the armour on her thorax and spread cracks across it. Though it didn't fully breach through it hurt immensely, making the thought of what could have happened if it went deeper a horrifying one. This momentary lapse of attention enabled her enemy to raise its talons and pounce on her, dropping Hanami to her back where it clawed and dug into her chest. If its beak couldn't finish the job then its scratching would, sinking fingers past her defenses and using all its might to cut them open, reveal the tender flesh inside.

With its pointed beak glimmering under the sunlight, it lunged forth once more and stabbed it into her frail insides, earning a cry of pain when it pierces her chest. With the razor-sharp tooth-like protrusions it picked and pecked at her, stretching until it tore off chunks of flesh that it raised its head up to lead down its throat, swallowing.

Hanami's breathing turned erratic, her inner temperature rising as blood and bile rose to the wound. She could feel the absence of skin, the wind caressing her wound and the flesh that had abandoned her.

She was told she wouldn't have to fight... and she didn't. Nobody forced her to go after Makoto, to intercept Buzzard Birdon, to drag it all the way out there and fight to the death. She wasn't trained for this, so why had she done it?

Hanami recalled the days she'd spent investigating Makoto, the time she got in the way of those civilians that were harassing him, the time they had ice cream and were seen by Hitori's landlord person, the cold and horrified look on his face when he saw the Scabs of Enma in the auction, that night in the beach when she said everything about her father.

Come to think of it, she hadn't done that much investigating, had she? Maybe that's just how it was meant to be and she acted according to plan or maybe things turned out that way by sheer coincidence, but all the answers she'd extracted weren't even brought out by her own machinations.

Rather, by simply getting close to him everything lined itself up on its own. Had she done anything intentionally these past few weeks? Had she intended to?

She had a mission that she kept in the back of her mind at all times but in hindsight, had she really worked towards achieving it or had Makoto simply let out his secrets on his own?

What kind of person was he, really?

Enma had brought massive damage to the world, be it the conscious or the subconscious of people, he had been a black stain in history, but looking at Makoto one could never guess he could have ever done any of that. He was polite, he was demure, he was humble, he was vulnerable. A person that had brought such harm to people could never have been so poor in spirit, yet strong in character. It wasn't uncommon for her to contemplate if they'd made a mistake or not, if Makoto could really have been that monster.

But there he went and said so himself. What more could she ask after that?

The reasonable thing to do was tell the Commander, that was her mission after all. But she didn't. Why had that been? Why did she go against orders?

All these questions and no answers, it was starting to make her brain hurt.

Between the beak caving in her thorax and the pounding pain on her head, Hanami had never felt such agony since she learned what happened to Mizuki and Juru.

Oh.

There she went throwing another burdensome thought into her head.

She remembered how on the day of the Kabukicho Invasion she'd had to take a moment to herself to reflect on that. What bitter tears she shed that day.

It was no formality of the mission, nobody had asked her to care about Mizuki, nobody had given her that obligation besides her own self. For that reason she could blame nobody other than herself for the despair she felt when they died.

As she took a moment to recover she realized that the others had gone ahead to the battle without her, so in fear of neglecting her mission due to her personal weakness she chased after them. Come to think of it she had become something of Makoto's bodyguard in her efforts to get through to him, see him for who he really was, apparently. But how could she show such care for another person when her own feelings were in such a messy state, thrust to the side so she can prioritize her mission?

Reminiscing on the moment, when the pain without was only pain within, she remembered peeking at the large battle in the train station from behind a corner, watching with stars in her eyes the bravery of POD, of those three fighting against the Shinigami threat. Their words were vivid today as they were two days ago.

"We aren't pretending to be anything. When you see a world full of monsters you run wild and sink into depravity to become a monster yourself-"

"But we're different, we seek to save the cruel world by holding onto our humanity!"

"If it's born of cruelty, then we don't need your strength!"

That's right. Just then Hanami realized that answered all the questions she had.

Makoto's prior words made so much sense to her now. That's why he was so firm on his resolve to stay, because through all the cruelty of the world -all the cruelty she sought to take him out of and bring him into luxury and peace- he had found a life worth living.

And for that reason so had she went after him, for that reason she was fighting this battle she wasn't cut out for. Because she too wanted to be a part of this life.

Steeling her resolve, she latched tight onto Buzzard Birdon's legs and immediately began to freeze them, grasping tight and squeezing until they shattered up to the knee. Gravely injured, the avian abomination shrieked in pain as it fell over, giving her an opportunity to muster all the primal strength in her body powering through her blood and pain to jump over it, pinning the monster down to repeatedly slam her fists into its face.

Punch after punch she groaned, feeling the exoskeleton on her hands chipping away and her knuckles getting bloody. Yet it was for no small reason, because equally so Buzzard Birdon's chest caved in and its beak began to crack and fall apart. Some birds making up the whole of the body sought to regain individuality, clawing their way out of the body's seams and flying off, but to prevent escape she stabbed her fingers into the monster's chest and began freezing it from inside out.

In retaliation, Buzzard Birdon's crossed eyes rolled back while it spewed purple flames directly into her face, searing deep into her skin as her carapace melted, vision going blurry before red filled her sight. Yet when the neurons that allowed her to feel pain in the first place were burnt to a crisp she knew better than ever before that there was no going back. After all, the torture of the inferno was one she was all too familiar with.

Frozen from within until even the fire-breathing organ deteriorated and gave in, Buzzard Birdon was completely encased in ice sprouting and tearing through its crystal body. Hanami raised her weak and frail arms over her head and promptly slammed them down, shattering the giant into fragments and pieces.

Left along, down on her knees and burnt a crispy black, she panted, letting the adrenaline in her body cool down.

At least from the flames it had cauterized the wound on her chest, she assessed that and promptly reverted to human form, breaking apart in a cloud of snowflakes.

Down on the ground she took the form of Hitori once more. Oh how envious she was of that girl, of the stronghold she unknowingly had over Makoto's mind even when she wasn't around.

But she was no better now, she had no right to complain.

"Take good care of him... won't you, Hitori?" she chuckled in a whispering voice, respecting the sanctity of the forest before she began to march off, stumbling to an unknown destination.

Stalking after her however, the lesser of Buzzard Birdon's components hovered over the air, drawn to the smell of something rotten.

Chapter 8[]

The violence enacted upon Yomi wasn't isolated for the gaze of those in his immediate presence. Rather, three of the Four Faces watched satellite footage of it from the comfort of their headquarters. Or maybe just two, Arisa and Ichiro -the latter in particular- were glued to the screen, anxious for the next blow he would take as the wicked Gargorgon brutalized him. Byakuya meanwhile had turned the other way, hands in his pockets and deep in contemplation.

Taking his eyes off the massacre for he could not bear to witness it any longer, Ichiro found the state Byakuya was in and felt increasingly aggravated by his inaction, getting up to go after him.

"This cannot continue, if we keep going then we'll lose even the things we take for granted. We have to intervene!"

The commander grit his teeth, face contorting as all its wrinkles became apparent. He wouldn't stand this persistent and childish insistence any longer. Thus he turned back and shouted "Shut your insolent mouth Hanamura!", getting Ichiro to stand back.

Calming down, he added with no less severity "We do not intervene until I judge that we intervene. It is that simple."

Ichiro turned over to UPG's captain, finding her without a say in the matter, only patiently observing.

With nobody else to help in his protests Ichiro conceded and shut back down no less uneasy than before. At this point all he could wonder was what exactly was Byakuya even waiting for?

Gazing out the window, the figure in the white robe watched the battle between Karakuri Bijou and the Boranga, enamoured by the sight of the demonic creature.

He turned over to Kojiro, finding him with his face on the floor blocking all outside stimuli, as if he didn't even want to lay eyes on that thing.

"I think the show has gone on long enough."

Pitying him, he ordered his dark ribbon to retract and return to him only to then fly around the heart of the overgrown mass, circling its scarlet centre. With a gentle motion of his wrist he ordered the ribbon to spin which in turn manipulated the object in its range. As if some invisible hand had reached it, the heart began to be pulled off the greater mass, a weeping sound echoing from inside to torment their ears. Still, it was held in place by various dark tendrils which after another motion of his wrist began to be riddled in small cuts and incisions, tearing apart to divide it from the rest of the machine.

With the sound of a whip cracking, the last tendril was severed and the red heart was detached, ordered to float gently to the robed man by the black scarf that floated around it. As it drew closer its dim light reflected off his silver mask and he bore witness to it from up close.

"I get it now, this must be some concentrated cluster of Enma's scabs, right?"

Slowly his glove reached out for it, ready to grab ahold of the beating organ before it suddenly evaded his reach, flying away from him.

"Huh?" he asked as he saw it break out and make haste towards the window, slamming into it to spread cracks all over. It failed to break through, so it floated back and rammed itself again and again, its body squishy and malleable, yet with a metallic texture as if some crimson steel balloon.

He looked back to his floating scarf of black ink that should have kept it contained and suspended. "So that thing has enough Black Blood to escape my control..."

It was fascinating, but in all honesty he felt like he should have seen that coming.

Pondering what that banging sound was, Kojiro shyly raised his head to see the heart detached from the main body, the organic mass overgrowing the servers beginning to wither as a result. For some reason that made him smile.

Eventually the heart broke through, shattering the window and flying straight upwards, causing the two men to jump back in shock. Their eyes remained fixed on it as it rose, pondering where it could have headed off to, or why.

Her tail wrapping around the throat of the Ultra, her claws charging in energy to blow the Grigio to smithereens. Gargorgon wondered which one to torment first, whose cries of agony would make for the most satisfying music to her ears. Maybe she wouldn't kill either immediately and instead tease them, slowly pulling them apart while the other begged to stop, to just get over with it already.

Which punishment was more befitting of these traitors that had gone against the wishes of Enma, she wondered and wondered, wishing her lord himself could have been there to enact that torment they deserved. Oh how much more cruel he could have been, how brilliant his depravity. She longed for his reign on this pitiful world and it seemed that at last her wishes had been heard.

A red light shined on the grey skies from above, something rose up high and then descended onto the floating battlefield, earning the widened gazes of all three combatants.

It seemed to be some organic mass, some gangrenous growth of crimson that beat and pulsated, giggling like a small child as it puffed up and stretched past its physical shell. Gargorgon felt a massive signature of Black Blood emanating from it, one worth tens of scabs, more than she had consumed up to his very day. Bewildered, amazed and simply in awe, the muscles of her tail loosened up as she went to approach it, looking for where it was about to descend over with gleaming eyes.

"Oh... lord...." stretching out her hands for it, she gladly welcomed the floating growth that looked as if it were about to pop. "Oh lord you have returned for me..."

Morgana could only stare at her in disbelief and pity over the kind of person she was witnessing. Yomi on the contrary groveled in the dirt, using his arms to barely push himself up only to see it.

"Enma... lord Enma I have done your bidding just as you asked... I have followed you every single day... I have killed for you, I- I have grown stronger, so so much stronger! You taught me how to be a real human and I tried to teach it to the rest of the world but- but they wouldn't hear me... but now that you're here..."

Makoto couldn't help but despair at her, talking to an idol, talking to herself and uttering such heartfelt words to boot. It brought him great sadness to know she reveled a ghost of who he'd been, of how he'd done this to her- but even then, if he could make it out of his own darkness then what had stopped her all this time? Five years and all she'd done is embraced that delusion, given herself over to selfishness and hate while he-

He turned to Hitori, he thought back to Shigeru, his captain, Finzo, Naoki, Shoko, Mr Ishiguro, Mr Shinichi, Tatsuya, even Rika for crying out loud!

Hanami.

She wanted him to live, so he couldn't be bound by the shackles of the past.

"We'll kill them together!"

Reaching out to embrace the organic balloon, Gargorgon found it fleeing from her grasp, circling around her and instead making its way over to the orange giant, so filled with awe at its arrival.

"...What?"

Pushing past the pain in his physical body, he looked to the strength in his soul.

No. He couldn't have done this if he counted on his strength alone.

He couldn't have made it this far if it wasn't for other people and even with them things wouldn't have been certain. But it was when he accepted another strength that did not come from within that he truly knew he could win, one from above.

"There really is a god out there, Shinigami. But he sure as hell is not Enma!"

His crest blade firm in his right hand, Yomi swung at the cluster of scabs and tore through the outside membrane, getting it to pop with a loud shriek as Black Blood gushed out, showering him all over.

From a liquid state it lit on fire, cleansing him with flames as the power of darkness turned into light that shimmered underneath the sun. The curtain lifted from him, it revealed that past the holes where his fingers slipped into the sharp end of his weapon had greatly grown in length, becoming a long curved sword from which emanated black flames dressed in a turquoise outline flowing upwards like smokestacks carried by the wind.

"Metamorphosis: Tenshi Shoumetsu"

The red veins on her eyes popped and grew, filling them with boiling, bloody rage. She grit her teeth, face contorting into a growl of a ferocious beast, wrinkled and rotten and full of nothing but hatred for who she stared at.

"YOOOUUUUU CUUUURRRSSEEEEDDDD BBBRRRRAAAAATTTT!!!!!!!!"

With a push of her legs stirring up whirlwinds Gargorgon accelerated forward but Yomi too returned the favour, leaping ahead with new life breathed into his battered limbs. Meeting in the middle, claw and blade struck and flashed out in sparks of black before the accelerated a second time, landing slashes when they ran past each other. The Ultra turned and cut through the dust clouds with his sword while the Shinigami jumped over, raising her foot to land a kick on the side of his head. Yet Yomi bounced back from the recoil and blocked a subsequent kick from the side of his weapon, throwing a vertical slash Gargorgon sidestepped and then a horizontal one she dodged by backflipping, kicking up to counter his sword to counter.

Even when she thought she had escaped his ranged however Yomi was never too slow to catch up, a downwards swing nicking her chest and earning a spurt of blood. She reeled back a foot them and as he prepared to strike again pushed it forward, her heel colliding with his blade to repel them both.

Yomi's blue eyes glimmered as they scanned her, seeing the very shape of her soul and the void in the middle. Though the wound on her chest had regenerated on her physical body there was still one in her soul, a weak spot he could exploit.

"Null Lightning!" she roared and fired powerful electric beams from both of her eyes. Putting both hands at his blade's base he lifted it over his head and thrust down, unleashing a black arc outlined in turquoise that shred through her beams. It left no physical mark, but it didn't need to for cutting her soul was all it needed, earning out an appropriate agonized roar.

"Why?!" she growled and reached for one of the spinal cords that made up her wings, ripping it off to use as a sword that clashed against his own. "Why after everything did he choose you?!"

Tracing the outline of a circle with her, Yomi parried her blows before their blades locked in the middle in a contest of strength. Grunting, he answered as plainly as he could by saying "I wasn't chosen by anybody, it's just the power returning to its owner!" before raising a foot to repel her with a kick in the gut.

As Gargorgon backtracked, a teal beam of flames and electricity struck her from behind and boomed out in an explosion, getting her to turn and see a fierce Morgana.

"Win! Makoto!"

When he was at his lowest she bought him time, when he was at his highest she reminded him she was still there and ready to help, just as he had against Horoboros. That was best companion he could ever ask for.

"Do you two never shut up?!" groaned the Shinigami and jammed the rattling ends of her tails into the ground, sending a subterranean wave of energy to spread to Yomi's direction and detonate form beneath.

The Ultra jumped back to dodge the bursting boulders before through the clouds he saw Gargorgon speeding towards his partially petrified partner's direction with her sword thrusting forward.

Activating High-Spec Mode to encase himself in an aura of turquoise energy he accelerated, weaving his way around the flying boulders as if he had enough time to analyze and dodge every last one before he outsped his enemy and landed in front of Morgana. With his mere palm he grabbed onto Gargorgon's sword, holding it still and stopping her momentum while his eyes met the sharp end.

"Didn't you hear her?" asked Makoto, getting the Shinigami to flinch. "She told me to win, so I can't disappoint her now!"

Snapping her weapon like a twig he thrust his own forward, getting her to panic and flip what remained of her blade to the side in an attempt to block. Yomi's sword pierced through her own like paper, sliding into and through the eye on her chest before he pulled it out and with it a geyser of Black Blood.

Gargorgon roared in pain, disarmed and gravely injured. She stretched her wings and took to the air, but with his heightened powers Yomi didn't just arrive at her location faster, but with a precision strike severed one of her wings. With the other she made a desperate attempt to swing at him like a big boney hand only for a subsequent hit where High-Spec Mode's aura flowed into his sword shattered it to pieces and shot her straight down.

At such ferocity Gargorgon descended that she pierced through the stone and broke out of the floating island's underside, splitting it into two while all three plummeted down. Yomi reached for Morgana to lower her weight with him, calmly descending on the streets while Gargorgon was dealt no such favour, her teeth cracking from the impact with the crumbled roads.

Bijou meanwhile backflipped away from Boranga with her drones making swords that protruded from her legs, slashing the monster's stomach when she landed back. Concentrating sound waves and energy it fired a repulsive energy beam directly at her, yet by relocating her drones to her arms she made an arm blade that not only absorbed it, but fired it back in an arc that collided with the monster and sent it backtracking.

A sound like thunder alerted her and Bijou turned to find her partners descending before she realized what that meant, looking up to see the floating island threatening to fall upon the city. Sticking her arms to the air she ordered the rocks that made it up to break and sent them off into outer space, but that momentarily break allowed the Boranga to sneak up on her.

One glare from Yomi was directed their way and abruptly the monster froze before it could lay hands on Bijou. Confused, she turned to look at it only to find Boranga going up in purple flames all on its own, reverting to a mere human down on the ground.

"What the...?" Naoki contemplated, but something took precedent over her surprise. She turned back to Yomi and Morgana, watching as to confront them a monstrous Gargorgon rose out of the rubble.

"You... you.... yoooouuuu....!!!"

She clenched her fists, she coughed and gagged and she tried to direct Black Blood onto her wounds to regenerate them, but realized something had put her regeneration to a halt. Yomi had damaged her soul enough that it couldn't regenerate any longer.

She was about to scream, to cry and roar out at him in rage, but foreign voices seemed to boom out louder than herself.

"Ultraman!" they shouted, catching the attention of all combatants.

Yomi stood amazed at what he saw, gathered civilians the police desperately tried to hold back, all of them pumping their fists in the air, shouting, screaming for him words of praise.

"You can do it!"

"Win!"

"Beat her up!"

"Hang in there!"

Shigeru and Dorothy watched from Shibahara Tower, left without words at how far the two of them had come.

All of the tension of battle seemed to dissipate from Makoto, a strange calmness taking over.

Hanami told him about it, but he didn't believe it until now, until he'd seen it with his own two eyes.

"Look at that... we really are their heroes." commented Hitori, feeling all warm on the inside.

"Yeah..." Makoto replied, taking a moment to let it fester in. To thank Hanami.

Turning his attention back to Gargorgon he boldly raised his sword over his head and made a loop with the streams of dark fire before pointing its edge at the ground. "You hear this? This is love... it's what makes us human."

Her words were no longer distinguishable from the bellows of an incoherent beast, Gargorgon merely charged forward, each step sending up pillars of dust. Her tails and extra heads turned forward, moving like pairs of arms to repeatedly fly back and forth in a vein attempt to strike him. Yomi however outpaced all six limbers with just one of his own, his blade moving fast enough to block and counter each and every last strike going his way no matter the direction, even as multiple at once sped towards him.

Coating her fangs in lightning, Gargorgon suddenly thrust her head forward to take a bite right out of him, but with his other hand Yomi grabbed her by the neck and held her in place, finally giving room for a decisive diagonal slice.

His sword went through her in a clean swing, coming out the other side without delay. Initially both he and Gargorgon remained stationary before her upper body began to slide off, purple flames flowing out in a magnificent burst of light that reached to the skies, a marker of victory.

Chapter 9[]

In a white gown torn and shredded, a girl in loose orange hair lied on her back in tattered roads. Her eyesight was blurry, her senses weak. She didn't feel like herself any longer, as if all the hate she had lived for had merely disappeared.

Yomi gestured towards her, his palm lightning up in a black flame that flowed to the girl's direction. They didn't burn, but rather they cleansed, restoring all of the pieces of her soul that had been destroyed in their battle.

At that she could rest easily, closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.

Morgana's lower half began to glow and the rock recede, returning back to organic material. She felt blood flow through her legs again and stretched them to recover, but as soon as she turned towards her partner she found him gone.

Observing them, Bijou's heart skipped a beat as she took off towards the air, heading to the stone city.

The unconscious man in the headset that she'd left behind was left on his lonesome, a black ribbon manifesting around him and swirling, warping him off.

Buildings, roads, waters and all sorts of living things both above and underground regained their colour and usual consistency texture, returning back from rock into what they really were.

Life returned to the land, neon signs lighting up once more, POD agents waking up from their stone prisons to recover each other now in broad daylight, the darkness of that night faded.

In the distance, the colossal Zor-Kelbim reverted back and immediately collapsed on its face, sending up clouds of dust as its system's rebooted, awaiting orders.

The electric vigilante returned back to his sprint but stopped mid way, surprised to see his surroundings had shifted. He witnessed rock around him revert back to its original materials and took a moment to contemplate before realizing that had happened to him too. Zephyr sensed no hostility in the area and thus let his shoulders slump as he breathed out a sigh, content with what he had done now that everything was over.

In the underground railway, the Prime Inquisitor woke up while holding onto her aching head, trying to remember what had happened to her. She looked down at her sleeveless and beat up outfit, her weapon planted on the ground far from her as well as numerous of the infected footsoldiers dismantled and sprawled across the floor. Clearly, she had some catching up to do.

Groggy like he'd waken up from a poor nap, the Reguran struggled to keep himself up as he regained composure, almost taking his hand off the handle of his White Magnum planted in the floor. He was given little time to recover when a bright voice shouted "Finzo!" and he immediately found a shorter human girl jumping on him in a hug, nearly making him fall over.

"N-Naoki? Did we win?"

"You bet!"

Realizing what that meant, he nudged for her to get off but noticed she wouldn't listen. "H-hey, can you let me free everyone then?"

As she remembered about the people in the pocket dimensions, the swordswoman hopped off of him and began acting formally. "Right" she said in a serious tone and coughed into her knuckle while straightening her posture.

Sighing in relief, Finzo undid his Metamorphosis and let the sounds of gunshots echo across the city, hundreds of people warping abruptly into all sorts of uncomfortable positions, though most cheered for their long awaited freedom.

Among those released was an old balding man who glanced at his surroundings, witnessing the ruined city in daylight, the dawn of a better day already underway. As he lowered his gaze he found two figures approaching him, one a woman with an eyepatch and a small smirk and the other an unamused man in sunglasses.

"Guess you really are cut out for the job Shigeru..." the older man initially grumbled before placing his hands in his pockets. He lowered his head, closed his eyes momentarily and smiled. "Your parents should be proud of you."

Patting him on the back and helping him walk, Shigeru replied "Thank you, uncle."

Cracking open one more beer, Eve pulled in Doven in a dizzy hug while he was transfixed on the TV broadcast of the events.

"Ya-hoo! They really went 'n did it, right Daedalus? Ahaha-haaa!"

Shutting his nose to block out the smell of alcohol emanating from her, Doven felt a warm feeling within, seeing how his gamble for the next generation had paid off.

The class burst into cheers as they watched the battle unfold on the TV, kids yelling out, throwing their arms in the air, pulling each other in with cheers and great joy that brought some to tears.

The anxious Shoko at the back of the room felt the beat of her heart slow down as she lowered her head, muttering under her breath "Well done... Makoto."

"WOOOOOOOAAAHHHHHH" Mr Shinichi and his Alien Chibu coworker wrapped their appendages, be they arms of tentacles around one another as they shouted together with tears in their eyes, disturbing the entire cafe.

"THEY DID IT, THEY REALLY DID IT MR KILP!!!" yelled the human while throttling his alien friend.

"I can see that Shinichi!"

Though he couldn't say it out loud, Shinichi cheered for Hitori every time she gave a helping hand during the battle. Even if the ultimate victory wasn't hers, it was still a praiseworthy triumph nonetheless.

From the hospital, the former Shinigami all burst into wild screams when they saw the finishing blow, in particular Saint Sadola Brawler jumped on his bed and pumped a fist forward.

"Way to go!" he commended them.

Monsarger and Arados had calmer reactions, smiling with the first nodding and the second clapping his hands. Zumbolar peeked from under her sheets to witness the television, her eyes lighting up at the sight. Pris-Ma nearly choked on his food until Shirogane Demaaga smacked him in the back, getting him to spit it out.

Mina and Akemi looked at each other and back at the television, overjoyed at what they saw.

Meanwhile Buzzard Braun bore a dejected look on his face, shaking his head in disappointment that this is how it ended. As he relaxed back in his bed, knowing there was nothing that could be done any longer he looked to the side, finding a small music box resting on the nightstand. It was chipped, cracked and partially broken, but strangely enough it still let out a humble tune when it opened. How it got there, when and how it opened was a mystery even to him.

"Rest well, your majesty."

Even the Four Faces expressed relief at long last, Arisa getting up from her seat towards the window to open it and get some fresh air. Ichiro meanwhile shook his fists in the air and cheered out loud whereas Byakuya lowered his head and shook it.

"I'll send a message to POD to go and recover Ms Sayo." said Ichiro as he rushed out of the room, hoping the Prime Inquisitor would be up to join them again in no time.

Byakuya too wished a quick recovery, but less because he valued her attendance and more because he wanted to know what had happened to her.

"Now that it's over, it's time for everything to fall into place."

From the shattered window in the top of the tower, both Kojiro and the masked man watched the climax of the fight. The former quite bewildered, the latter's emotions remaining a mystery.

He had extended his arm onto the air to the direction where Boranga had last been in as if conjuring up his black scarf somewhere in the distance. Thing seemed oddly calm between them, though likely because Kojiro had nothing to do and the robed man nothing more to gain.

The CEO looked back to the wilted organic matter overrunning the servers. Part of him felt fear for what that would entail while another contemplated if maybe that had been for the better.

"Did your test yield any results?" he asked in a dry voice.

"You could say that... yes. I am now certain of the thing I came here to confirm... though in the process I only made more questions for myself." Lowering his hand, the concealed one let out a chuckle.

He turned back to the servers, the cluster of scabs he had extracted from them which he would have liked for himself, but it looked like they had chosen another.

"Hmm... looks like I'm going to need to get more from elsewhere..."

A ringing sound filled the room and drew their attention to the elevator, two Zomborg guards rushing out with laser rifles to shoot at the infiltrator while Kojiro took cover.

Acting quick, he summoned his black scarf to swirl in the air around him, deflecting every laser blast that shot his way.

"This has been an informative detour. I'm glad I could finally get in here, but I'm afraid I have to bid you adieu now."

The CEO raised his head from the ground and looked at him. This man, this stranger had showed up with a goal, had made such a mess to do so little. He said he got his answers, but to what questions? What did he want the heart for? Why?

So many questions raced across his mind, but as he found the infiltrator's body vanishing under the scarf he could only muster out one of them. "What's your name?!"

Slightly startled, the robed figure raised a hand to his chin and thought. "I didn't think of one... but I suppose you should call me... Mordred."

Like an erased had swiped across space, his body disappeared into nothingness while the ribbon curled up into itself, shrinking into nothingness, leaving Kojiro all on his own.

It was over, but looking at the servers once again, he wondered if it had only just began.

Chapter 10[]

As the sun was beginning to set, Hitori searched far and wide for Makoto, looking down across the entire city while she flew overhead. And yet nothing was found no matter how hard she looked. When she grew tired she reconsidered her approach, perhaps her eyes weren't what she should have used to find him, but rather her soul.

Closing them to cut out external stimuli she focused on just sensing him. She thought about him, his whole being and every aspect of his person before she felt a tingle in the back of her head, something guiding her.

When she descended upon a currently vacant road she let her whole body flash in teal lightning before she shrunk to human form, a gentle breeze caressing her hair.

The two of them had gone there only once before but even then she felt the place resonate with Makoto, but this time something told her that he would have wanted to be here.

Walking across the courtyard while scanning left and right for visual confirmation, he found a small figure hunched in front of the lavish building that resembled none in its surrounding: a church.

The pace of her steps grew slower and slower so they may be more quiet, carefully approaching from the back as she first made out his clothes and blond hair. Now that she knew she could sit still and wait. One did not fall to his knees, lower his head and bring his hands together before such a place for no good reason, so she wouldn't want to disturb him.

He must have had a lot in his mind for a while now, maybe five years, maybe more full of stuff and horrible things he wanted to get out. Not to a human, those would come later, but to someone he could trust would listen without ever turning the other way. She didn't know how people prayed, why, when and where, but she knew Makoto must have had a lot he wanted to confess, that much was evident.

Maybe to keep him company she should get there as well and join him, just so she call tell him she's there. She didn't know what she'd do after that if anything at all, but at least her presence might put him at ease.

Regardless of what she wanted, there wouldn't be a chance for it as Makoto had gotten up before she could do anything, turning to look at her under the orange skies.

Both of them stood there, looking at each other, waiting, contemplating. Who to make the first move, what to say, how to say it. Maybe talking to people really was harder than pouring your heart out to who was above, but it was something that needed to be done. After all, both had given him the strength he needed to win this battle.

Slowly one of them -neither knew which one- took the first step and then the other took the second. The distance was closing even if they didn't know how, didn't know when they'd meet in the middle and didn't know what they'd say, but before they even knew it they were there, staring eye to eye.

"Was all of what you said... true?"

"All of it, every last word."

That was an honest answer, but Makoto still didn't feel like it was the right one. He broke eye contact for just one second to think and then reestablished it once more, continuing.

"Whatever way you feel, I understand. That must have been a lot to take in and I only gave you vague hints in the past, so if it's way beyond what you were expecting about my secret, then I understand."

Hitori's expression seemed lost and indecipherable, like her eyes were made of glass and her skin of porcelain. She appeared to be deep in thought about it, so whatever her response might be he'd swallow what few embers of his pride he had left and accept it. He knew her better than to assume it would be total rejection, but expecting laughter and cheers was equally unrealistic.

Instead, her words bore neither positivity nor negativity, just confusion.

"How did that happen?"

Makoto focused for a second, unsure he had heard that right.

"What do you mean?"

Hitori looked a little lower and brought a hand to her chin to think. "Five years ago weren't you like, fifteen?"

"Fourteen actually."

"Fourteen... What in the world could make a fourteen year old kid do all of that?"

"It's a horrible story, I'm not sure if you want to hear it."

It was a combination of factors, a long downwards descent of repeated errors and mistakes, of misplaced trust, of lost passions, a story of hatred for one's own self. And yet over the years it had deteriorated in his memory, broken down into small -painful, but small- fragments of key events that however lacked direct cause and effect. In a way he had moved on so far from then that his present self was just as confused as Hitori.

"No actually, I do want to know."

Bold, defiant and determined, she took one step forward with her head held high, her expression one of certainty.

"A kid doesn't just... do all of that without a reason. The past is the past, I know who you are in the present day and that's all that matters to me, but I still want to understand what made you that way Makoto. I really do want to know more about you."

The blond was shaken to his very core. Hitori bore no animosity towards him, only pity for that little boy that was now all grown up. Like a nurse tending the wounds a patient had left to rot without attendance for years, her words were gentle and aiming to cleanse him, to seal those injuries once and for all. She could prescribe him the medication, but it was his choice whether or not he'd want to take it.

"Then... where do I start..." Looking elsewhere he tried to get himself to think. She had expressed interest so might as well start catching her up, right?

"Wherever you want, I'm going to listen to the story in full anyway. And then... we can go back to watching more Transformers Animated and cooking and reading oldschool manga and- and-" Hitori began frantically scratching her head, trying to put to number all her interests. "Oooooh! There's just so many things I want to do with you! Enough with the Shinigami and the Possessed and all that nonsense already!"

"So do I! I also want to do lots of things with you, like reading the comics my mum got me as a kid or watching western cinema or cooking- wait no, you already said that one..."

"Doesn't matter, we'll do it anyway now that we finally have some free time!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!!!"

The two of them began to go off about all the ideas and plans they had. All the things they could pull Shigeru into, all the old things they wanted to introduce to each other and new things they wanted to learn. They had a long life ahead of them, one they'd made together with their own two hands, so now they could actually start living it.

The next day, Hanami would peek her head past the door to POD7's base as well.

Yeah.

She'd show up with a big smile, going "Heeeyyy yaa!!!" and the rest would all cheer on her.

Shigeru would put on a big frown and say they're being too loud, but they'd just laugh it off, maybe the captain would tease him about being no fun and get a laugh out of the rest.

Hanami would tell them about that ice cream place she used to go with her dad to and Makoto would go "Oh yeah I remember when you took me there" and she'd remind him of how she'd embarrassed him in front of Mr Shinichi. Hitori would whine about that a little but then feel her stomach grumbling, oh- and because she didn't have anything for breakfast and has totally messed up eating habits she'd agree to have ice cream!

Naoki would pop in all serious with a bunch of papers in her hands going "Well hold on now, don't you have work to do?" but then Finzo would remind them that after the Shinigami had been dealt with they didn't have anything else to do and that they were free to go for ice cream any day they wanted.

Yeah! That's totally how it'd go!!!

They'd then go to get ice cream and buy two- no, three(!!!) scoops and one of them (probably Hitori) would get brain freeze and the rest would laugh.

Then some wacky Possessed like Eledoronga or Blitzard would show up and the three would team up to beat it up, then it'd roar and turn giant but it would be okay because Yomi and Morgana and Alukela also would save the day!

Once they were done with that the captain would congratulate them for a good day's work and see them off home, laughing and joking and having all sorts of fun with each other.

Yeah! Yeah!! Yeah!!! Totally, that's totally how it would be from now on! If only-

If only Hanami could walk, just a little longer.

Splish, splash.

The pitter patter of bloody droplets made a trail behind her, slowly limping for kilometers on end, from the forest all the way to the city.

Hot and damp, the sunset air felt torturous to her skin, the distance growing distorted as the edge of the horizon rippled like a mirage. It was sizzling hot and wherever she went she felt like she was walking through a ghost town, not one person on the road she'd taken.

It was so hot that she wanted to peel off her own skin, dunk herself in ice, yet she couldn't generate any more of it under such strain from her wounds. Somewhere in a big plaza littered with pigeons instead of people she found a fountain and walked towards it, cherishing the sweet cooling of water that had turned orange under such lighting.

Hanami was momentarily startled by the pigeons taking off to escape her, no doubt frightened by those birds chasing after her. She tried to, but she could never forget they were always there, stalking her. Every once in a while those small birds still carrying the infection would swoop down and peck a piece of her skin off, some times fighting amongst each other to pluck out a tendon or two. Weakly she swung about to try and scare them away, but she could never move fast enough to reach them, instead she just made them backtrack a little and bought herself a little extra time for them to swoop in.

A stinging pain was felt in the back of her head, one of them must have plucked out a tuft of hair and skin right from her scalp. It hurt, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Her lips and eyes were dry, all she could do was wish for refreshment and replay those dreams for tomorrow inside her head over and over, hoping they would give her the strength to continue.

Eventually she made it to the fountain and contemplated whether to jump inside or just drink from it. She reeked of blood and rot so she'd need a bath definitely, but this might not be the place for it, she had that much decency left in her at least.

Hanami hunched over the water and looked down, but immediately jumped back to take her eyes off of what she saw.

Half of her face had molten off, her disguise slipping away from her skin to reveal a charred black underneath, the burnt corpse that she really was.

Panic overcame her, a sensation stronger than thirst. She didn't care how much strain it would put on her weakened muscles, but she had to run now.

Though her limp could hardly be called a run, she remained steadfast in it, speeding away as fast as she could, even if her sense of balance wavered, one foot dragged along the ground and her inner temperature bordering on overheat, she had to get away and go into hiding.

She couldn't let anybody see her this way, not even Makoto. She may have told him what she really looked like, but she hadn't shown him, she never could have. Because if she did then he'd never see her the same way again. One could never feel anything for a carcass other than pity after all.

Hanami could never be part of their life again if she was seen this way, so for her sake and for everybody else's she ran just so one day she could cross the doors to POD7 again, tell them "Good morning!" and laugh once more.

She had something good for once, so she wanted to cherish it. That's why she wanted to protect Makoto, because there was nothing she hated more than people losing what they took for granted.

And yet he'd ran in pursuit of his own life, because he cherished it and wanted to protect it as well, protect it and share it with those he himself held dearest.

How badly she wanted to be a part of that life.

There was still hope for her, so even in spite of her injuries she'd advance and stop at nothing to fulfil that dream.

Nothing, except for what indeed caused her to stop.

She gasped, both her rotten eye and that of her disguise widening. Even the birds tailing her were startled and stood in awe at what she'd seen.

The one thing that could wake her up from that dream and bring her to reality.

Epilogue[]

"Hey you two, come outside for a second."

With a towel on her freshy washed hair Hitori walked out of the bathroom in light clothing, overhearing Shigeru's words. Makoto was in the kitchen making something quick for them to eat when he heard them too, so giving each other a look they stopped what they were doing and walked outside under the dark of the sky.

Their housemate was there, eyes facing up in the air but still concealed by his sunglasses, hands in the pockets of his pajamas. "Have a look." he said before a streak of red rose up the air a great distance away, popping off in a brilliant show of lights.

The surprise of them both transformed into smiles, Hitori as the more eager one stepping forth to say "Woah, are those fireworks?"

Accepting that they were without waiting for an answer, Makoto asked "What are they for?"

"If I had to guess... probably a celebration for the defeat of the Shinigami."

Red, blue, green and yellow, often in varying patterns and configurations making various images and breaking apart into different ornate shapes. As the assortment of colours lit up the night sky the eyes of the two youths reflected their many shades, staring with amazement and making all sorts of excited noises at each one.

Hitori noticed that Shigeru seemed to also be enjoying them if the small smirk on his face were to be trusted even though he, by all accounts, shouldn't.

"Hey, you look pretty happy!"

"Wow, is it such a crime to smile for once?" he asked and immediately turned it into a frown.

Shaking her hands, Hitori said "Ah, no no! It's just that, well, you can't really see them, can you? So what about them is making you so happy?"

Shigeru reached up and scratched the back of his neck. "Even if I can't see the fireworks, hearing the laughter of those who can is good enough for me."

Hitori and Makoto looked at each other, surprised by his answer before their attention was drawn by the fireworks once more. If that were the case then they'd laugh and keep on laughing for him for as long as this life kept them under the same roof.

Though the night had drawn itself over the sky, a tough day of work was still far from over for Dorothy and Naoki.

Finzo and the others were allowed to go back home to recover, but the two of them had some talking to do in regards to what happened at Shibahara Tower.

There was some connection between it, the Boranga and the Possessed as a whole, one that at the moment it seemed only they were privy to. They had no concrete evidence or even a way to enter the building and see for themselves, security was definitely going to be amped after the attack anyway and the Four Faces were notoriously opposed to talking, so either they'd have to do their own investigating or take it to the grave.

Still, in the middle of their talk a call had come in by local police seeking Dorothy in particular, asking her to come to a certain plaza. Naoki followed for safety's sake, but judged the situation safe when once they walked out of the car they found it to be an open space.

There was a fountain illuminated by the red and blue lights of the vehicles and it was sealed off by police tape, so after greeting them they walked closer to the person in charge.

"What's the situation?" Dorothy ask in a tired tone, unsure of what to expect at an hour like that.

The officer seemed to be a bit shaky and uncertain of what to say when dealing with POD's matters, so she would have to be patient with him.

"Thank you for coming Ms Ohara, if you could follow me-" he said and walked up to the fountain, extending his arm to reveal multiple bird-like creatures bearing foul growths that had seemingly drowned inside.

"Gross..." commented Naoki first before squinting, realizing she recognised those birds. "Hey... those are miniature Buzzard Birdons."

"The leader of the Shinigami and her partner used them to infiltrate, what about them?"

"Uh, right-" resumed the officer. "These were found here about an hour ago but they're not the reason why you were called. Instead it's this White Magnum we found with them whose serial numbers trace back to POD7, so we figured you might know something."

Lifting up a plastic bag usually fit for evidence in a crime scene, he revealed what was indeed a White Magnum that seemed to have been wet, likely submerged in the fountain's water as well. Dorothy received it, but couldn't pretend she could tell them apart exactly.

"I don't think any of our agents reported missing one as of late..."

"Oh, I see. Then, does this Salva Key we found with it ring any bells?"

Next the officer lifted not one, but two separate plastic bags that quite startled her. Each one had the broken halves of a Salva Key, one dark blue in colour and if put together seemingly having the pattern of insectoid wings. Besides the fact that they were cracked in half, they seemed to be missing the Scab of Enma built into none of the usual Salva Keys, but those belonging to the Possessed to control their transformation.

It took a moment for everything to click in her head, but once it did she was quick to snatch them from his hands and examine them carefully. A lump formed in her throat as a bullet of cold sweat ran down her spine, assaulting it with a creeping tingle.

"This is... Hanami's..."