Messiah

Story Name: Messiah: Ac Causa Hic Novo Mundus

Date Begun: 15th August 2005

Date Ended: 20th August 2005

Story Rating: R

Language: English

Genre: Action/Romance/Angst

Chapters: 5

Albums listened to during the making of this fiction: Shadow Hearts 2 Soundtrack, Ixnay on the Hombre/Americana/Ignition (Offspring), Facelift/Jar of Flies (Alice in Chains), Wiseblood (Corrosion of Conformity), Dutty Rock (Sean Paul), etc.

Author's Notes: Messiah: Ac Causa Hic Novo Mundus (which is loose Latin for Messiah: And For The Sake Of This New World) is the third collaboration between Kaiser, Christine and Shadow Bunny. And it's by far the most significant of them all. We all agreed that we wanted something hard and gritty in a Anime-flavoured light, something to break away from the soft heroism of Last Saga 4 and the simplicity of Circle of One. And this is the end result. A story of over 48,000 words. Though we had only planned to make it a 20,000 word story, we slogged our guts out and it ended up being twice as long. Messiah was originally intended with hand-to-hand battles rather than mecha ones. But after an entire week of watching Gundam Wing, Gasaraki and Neon Genesis Evangelion (as well as playing Xenogears for the first time ever), I convinced Christine and Shadow Bunny to let this be a giant robo fiction. In the end it came out as a sort of angsty action/light romance story with a particular flavour to it (sort of like Xenogears meets Serial Experiments Lain meets RahXephon). So read and see what you think. Be warned from now though. This story has a selectively mature outlook and detail. It contains violence (physical, emotional, psychological and sexual) as well as quotes from the Bible and romantic/sexual engagements between both women and men as well as women and women (once again I managed to convince Shadow Bunny to hold off on the guy/guy stuff. somehow). If any of those ideas put you off then I suggest you stay away from Messiah. If you're mature enough to handle it then read onwards.

The characters 'Terry' and 'Sophia' are the creations and property of Shadow Bunny. The character 'Celaph' is the creation and property of Christine. All other characters and Meta Suits are the creations and property of Kaiser Ryouga 2. The three authors of this story reserve joint ownership of it.

If you have any comments (and you've read this from a site that doesn't have review capabilities) then you can send them to moonknuckle@hotmail.com.

Okay then! On with the show!

~~~~~~~*~

Messiah: Ac Causa Hic Novo Mundus

~~~~~~~*~

Hey ah na na

Innocence is over

Hey ah na na

Over

Hey ah na na

Ignorance is spoken

Hey ah na na

Spoken

Hey ah na na

Confidence is broken

Hey ah na na

Broken

Hey ah na na

Sustenance is stolen

Hey ah na na

Stolen

Hey ah na na

Arrogance is potent

Hey ah na na

Potent, yeah

What I see is unreal

I've written my own part

Eat of the apple so young

I'm crawling back to start

Hey ah na na

I repent tomorrow

Hey ah na na

Tomorrow

Hey ah na na

Is suspended my sorrow

Hey ah na na

Sorrow, yeah

What I see is unreal

I've written my own part

Eat of the apple so young

I'm crawling back to start

Hey ah na na

A romance is fallen

Hey ah na na

Fallen

Hey ah na na

Recommend you borrow

Hey ah na na

Borrow, yeah

What I see is unreal

I've written my own part

Eat of the apple so young

I'm crawling back to start

Hey ah na na.

Hey ah na na.

Hey ah na na.

Hey ah na na.

~ 'Rotten Apple', Alice in Chains

~~~~~~~*~

Chronicle One - because her name is 'Yumi Mishima'

~~~~~~~*~

Light pattered through a gap between two curtains that had not been opened very often. That light traced itself as a beam across the carpeted floor of Yumi's bedroom. Rolling all the way over to her pristinely re-made bed. Of course she herself was not sleeping. In fact, that in itself was a task without a steady supply of sleeping pills. But the treatments her doctor had been giving her would have suggested otherwise. Which was why he cut Yumi off of them. The time had come for her to 'work out her insomnia without the use of drugs'.

If she had parents, they probably would have agreed with him.

But Yumi couldn't see it that way. And she never would. Which probably meant that she would be this tired for the rest of her life. The door to the young woman's bedroom (adorned with posters that had been dedicated to her favourite band, Suicide of Claire) opened. And Yumi walked back into the room with a steaming mug of coffee in her hand. She took one sip of it, even though coffee wasn't the best choice of beverage for a confirmed insomniac, and then sat down on the swivelling chair aside her computer. Yumi put down the coffee mug and sighed, placing her fingers to her keyboard. The scene she had left on her monitor came back to life with the end of the screen saver. A window popped up showing the conformation of the save of the very same thing she had spent nearly 230 hours downloading. Yumi's light frown didn't leave her face. But her emotions, quiet as they normally were, leapt at the thought of finally having downloaded it. Trigger Mode 890. The newest software in the field of AWG (Artificial World Generation). The known concept of Virtual Reality had grown much in recent years. No thanks in part to the technological heads of Protocol. The idea of forging your own virtual world and living it through with the brain visor was a dream come true for many. After all, such tech was not even in proper circulation to the public yet. But for someone like Yumi, with the hacking skills of a demon, it was a matter of find and take. Downloading this illegally would get her in trouble if she didn't watch herself.

If she had a significant other, he or she probably would have been concerned by the idea.

But Yumi was too good for that. To get the software she had to buy a neo-broadband modem, one that would run for the amount of time specified. Then she had to hack into the system of the Protocol mega-database, break (or rather bend) its numerous firewalls, and then download. Of course she couldn't just rely on that for 200+ hours. The Protocol Database was a stringent user of 'Security Demons'. Which were basically randomly coded security programs to detect criminal activity in the server. They 're-spawned' every two and a half days, always with a newer code for Yumi to deal with. But as said, she was no amateur in that field. Security Demons had a bonus in the fact that they changed constantly so they had no solid and consistent method of deletion. But because of their randomly generated codes, Security Demons weren't always very detailed. Thus they couldn't often detect the more secretive actions of hackers. And more importantly, Yumi had a program of her own to deal with the Security Demons. Her own invention. Something she liked to refer to as a 'Counter Demon Wall'. With use of that she could hide her downloading of Trigger Mode from the Security Demons.

The end result of that was this. Yumi took a blank CD from her drawer and opened the case. And then slotted the CD inside her C-Drive for the copying. In no time at all she saved the Trigger Mode software onto the CD, and then broke her links with the Protocol database. She was a daring hacker, but she wasn't stupid. You didn't wanna fuck around with an organization that controlled the world for too long. Skill may have been one of Yumi's strong points, but arrogance was not. Once she successfully saved the software to the CD, she breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed her mug of coffee. The eighteen-year-old took a sip and then relaxed peacefully. Now that her connections with the database were over, she could rest more easily. It was a dangerous business, hacking in the 22nd Century. Even more so when the hacker messed with a global force like that Protocol. This year of 2153 had seen the rise of the organization. The force that was once the UN had subsided to it long ago. It was both a scientific and political organization that acted as the world's first global, non-unilateral government. A representative from every country was sent to join a group known as the Upper Council. That group was the highest known authority in the world. They decided on many things for all countries in the world, or at least the parts that were under Protocol's jurisdiction. When it came to things like agriculture and military force, Protocol's heavy influence controlled everything.

Yumi leaned back on her chair, thinking about Protocol. It seemed a little unbelievable, even in this day and age, that a political faction like Protocol could exist. Especially one based on a theocracy. The world government was as religious as it was political. Often talking of the 'end of the world' and on 'human redemption'. Of course, Yumi was an embittered atheist so she didn't really know much else about the religious aspect of Protocol. Thankfully the group never really attempted to force their theocracy on anyone. Even at college, the learning of Protocol's religion, Messiahism, was a completely optional lesson. They had learned from the mistakes of previous eras, it seemed. Besides. Those living the good life in the world felt. indebted to Protocol.

Because, in some respects, they had restarted the world.

But rather than dwell on any thoughts of a war that took place nearly 148 years ago, the Japanese girl sipped the last of her coffee and stood upright, stretching out her arms. The girl then strode up to the curtains of the windows and pulled them open. She didn't like opening the curtains of her apartment much. Mostly because she wanted her privacy, partly because she preferred it dark in her rooms. It was an addition to a not necessarily gloomy decor, but it suited Yumi in the way she felt about things.

If she had friends, it might have bothered them.

Yumi was a lonely girl.

And there were only two things in her life that made it worthwhile. Her exploits as a hacker, and her. other. The closest thing that she had ever had to a friend. The woman known as Chizuru Matsubana. Even now, Yumi could feel her cheeks flowering at the thought of her. Chizuru was no ordinary woman, that was for sure. But those beautiful yet lofty fair-weather dreams were all she would ever get from the woman. Such thoughts further served the Mishima girl's depression. Yumi sighed once more then opened the two windows of her room. Allowing all new fresh air to seep in. Whilst looking outwardly into the wonders of the place known as Meta Tokyo. A regally grand and bustling offspring of its former self. The towering skyscrapers of Neo-Shinjuku could be seen as far away as Yumi's residential district. That was the centre of business when it came to Japan. And also the centre of the scientific/technological world. All twenty of the Japanese research stations of Protocol were stationed around Neo-Shinjuku. And when she looked down to the street she could see sweeper androids clearing up the rubbish left in the roads by the biological half of the city. Androids were an important part of life in this time. The world population was at least 42% lower than what it had been 148 years ago. Thus there was that little bastard issue called labour shortage for the world to suffer with. Around the time that Protocol had risen, the field of AI had seen massive growth. Mostly because scientists remaining from the Great War had to push up the speed of android development to quell the labour shortage. But also because the Great War had shown people just how much they resented participating in warfare. Conscription had been one of the tyrants of that particular war. Eventually the Protocol group made the jump into android tech. Now, more than a century later, androids were as commonplace as sex.

Once Yumi breathed in the freshness of the air that she didn't often admire, there was a subtle chime from the speakers of her computer. A bell that indicated that she had a new e-mail. That was strange. When she started up her computer, none of her contacts had been online. Yumi walked over to her desk and sat down once again to see what it was. She placed her hand over her mouse and brought the cursor to an open window of her explorer. She clicked on the address bar and then typed in the location of chosen e-mail account. The window switched to that same site, and the white-haired teen clicked on the icon that held her e-mail. Her inbox then appeared. In which she saw the e-mail. Addressed to her from someone under the title of 'anonymous'. The heading of the e-mail said nothing more than 'Yumi'.

She stared at it for a moment. It wasn't junk, her account would have deleted it if it was. So who was it from? She wasted absolutely no time pondering on that and opened the e-mail. When the window adjusted itself she read out the text of it, reciting, "Yumi Mishima. The world is subject to a constant cycle of Assimilation, Process and Reaction. The engine of the universe to which all things -- biological and technological -- are based. At the beginning of the time of the Seven Keys such distinctions were completely foreign to us. As was the concept of 'distinction'. If all is as destiny plans, that time will come again. You can remain as you are no longer."

End of the e-mail.

Yumi blinked. "What is this? Some kind of riddle?"

No matter was this thing actually was, Yumi knew that she couldn't understand a word of it. In her mindset she just ignored the content and focused on the more glaring fact. Whatever moron sent this e-mail, he or she knew her name. Her real name. The only person that knew Yumi's e-mail address in the real world was Chizuru. And she wasn't much of a techno-buff in any sort of way. So who was it from? And just how. did they know Yumi's real name?

~~~~~~~*~

In this world, the importance of the military was known to all. Not always as a method of destruction. But as a deterrent of it. That was the sentiment that Protocol pushed to separate themselves from the image of them as a bunch of unified despots. An image that was frequently being shown in the media force of the internet. But there was no separation between Protocol and military force. And in the centre of Meta-Tokyo, the heartland known as Neo-Shinjuku, the central station of the Japanese division of Protocol's military power existed.

Protocol's army had many bases across the world. This was only one of them. It was called the Shinrai Complex. A gigantic hexagonal building fenced off by nothing more than four long stone walls. Surrounded by a layer of grass and trees that sought, in design, to brighten the layout of the facility. It was bordered by the business skyscrapers of Neo-Shinjuku, dwarfed in height but not influence. In fact, even the grassy grounds around the walls of the building were off limits to unauthorized members of the public. In terms of firepower in reserve, the Shinrai Complex was the biggest non-armed military base in the world, under a square distance of 300 metres by another 345 metres, which included both building and layout. It was more a centre for admin and direction to the lesser, more-heavily armed bases around Japan. In fact the Shinrai Complex possessed only a few hangers for mobile weaponry in means of defence. But what it did have was a huge underground research facility, which connected to many tunnels underneath the city of Meta-Tokyo. One stretched all the way to Meta-Tokyo Bay as the primary escape route. The importance of this base to the web of military bases across the country was undeniable. Because this was the centre point of it all. Which made it easier to understand why the Divine Blade, the division of the Holy Protocol Army (which made total use of the weapons known as Meta Suits) was stationed primarily at the Shinrai Complex.

In the upper levels of this administrative building was a certain office. A richly designed one. It had a desk, and a computer and a large window for much light to peer through, naturally. But it also had trophies. Along the walls were armaments from bygone eras. The matchlock rifles that had been a staple Japanese firearm until the 1800's. The katanas and naginatas that this nation had been famous for. As well as pistols, axes, German Zweihander swords and spears. All mounted on the walls of that particular office. The reflection of a certain man's dreams, his fascination with the art of warfare. And that of his heart, a warrior's heart chilled by the taint of that which his superiors called peace. There was no greater pain than for a soldier to suffer the lust for conflict in a world of peace created as a result of conflict. That man, the one who suffered that same pain, was standing by the bright light of that large office window.

That man's name was William Ank Celaph.

In the Shinrai Complex, he was referred to as Commander Celaph. He was not a Japanese national. No, he was born far to the west, in England. But after the much publicized terrorist attacks on Meta-Tokyo's ports three months ago, the previous commander of the Japanese division of the Holy Protocol Army had 'abdicated' his post in a rather swift way. It came to the point where the Japanese military truly needed a new, charismatic and talented leader. And thus they had sent for William Ank Celaph. The man famed for his many successful string of victories against the rebels outside of the Meta Cities. Celaph looked out to the window to the scene of the many car-packed roads outside of the Shinrai Complex. The man of little more than twenty-nine-years brushed his blonde bangs out of his eye line, smiling unhappily. Meta-London was his home. But this would do for now. Across from Celaph, on his desk, the intercom went off. And his secretary, Mitsuko, called to him, announcing,

"Commander Celaph, you have been contacted."

"It must be the Triad of the Inquisition," He whispered, "please put it through, Mitsuko."

The girl made a confirming noise and did just that. Above the desk, in the ceiling, was a compartment. The doors to that compartment separated and opened to reveal a video screen. The mechanical gears and pulleys holding it up shifted the screen down slowly, so that the screen came into a vertical position to be seen. Then the screen turned itself on. An image of three shadowed figures, each bathed in darkness but glowing with their own individual aura stood silently. Celaph turned around and fell to one knee in esteem. It was truly a great honour. One that was not new to him but very important.

"It is good to see you all once again, great sirs." He exclaimed.

One of the three holy men, known forever more as the Triad of the Inquisition, spoke to Celaph with his biologically morphed voice box pouring out a seething and oily voice. "Commander Celaph. The time we have prepared for all this time, is finally upon us."

Celaph's eyes widened. "Do you actually mean to say. that the rebirth is finally at hand.?"

"Yes," One other replied, ".the reunion of Eros and the Thanatos to the birth of the Greater One. A Novus Deus after all our waiting. The time has come. Which means that nothing can interrupt the process."

Celaph stood back up. "I see. Is that why you had me stationed in Japan? To oversee the reunion?"

"No. We actually felt that your talents would be better issued to the destruction of the rebels. We have great reason to believe that Chrysalis is now operating out of Meta-Tokyo. They must be stopped once and for all."

"Hmm," The commander mused on the idea, "I see. Defeating them would more or less leave EDEN defenceless. Do you wish me to mobilize the Divine Blade for that mission? General Naam is a rather difficult man to control.but. his skills in piloting Meta Suits are almost flawless. The only one who surpasses them. is."

"Deploy the Divine Blade," One of the three answered, "Naam shall lead them into battle. You shall formulate their pattern of attack. Now. How is that one?"

"You mean the Thanatos? He is a. pistol. His recklessness knows no bounds. But then. that recklessness is a result of that amazing tank of energy he possesses. I've come to believe his significance. I just don't see putting him into battle conditions as a good idea as yet. The Raum Meta Suit is ready for him. but. I do not think that his mind is rational enough to follow orders on the battlefield."

The second of the Triad of the Inquisition addressed that. "Contact between the Eros and the Thanatos is not pivotal at this point. If he is not ready then send him to Ix Nos Babel for the time being. For now, you will focus your efforts on suppressing the insurgence of those following under the banner of Bartholomeus. You are familiar with his granddaughter, are you not?"

Celaph smiled solemnly. "We knew each other. once."

"Then no one is better suited to this operation than you, Celaph. The completion of both the Oriax and the Raum Meta Suits is just the first step in the plan. Use of them. might be necessary."

"Is Chrysalis that powerful? Have we been underestimating the Ark of the Luria? Or do you have a different reason for this?"

The middle of the Triad shook his head. ".You needn't concern yourself with that, Celaph. The important thing now is to secure the event to come. By destroying those who would interfere with it. That should be your primary concern."

That was enough for Celaph. "Fair enough. But then what of Eros? Should we make sure that one is secured as well? Transportation to Ix Nos Babel would not take long."

"We will handle that end," One of them replied to the English commander, "you just concentrate on the rebels. If something should happen in that respect, then, all issues concerned will be handed to you, Celaph. Do you understand?"

The Englishman nodded. "Yes, sirs. I understand. So. It's finally happening. The reversal of the events of the Seven Keys is finally at hand. One can't help but be. excited."

~~~~~~~*~

It had been an hour or so since Yumi had downloaded the Trigger Mode software from the Protocol mainframe. College had been out for the summer for the past three weeks. She still had plenty of time before she had to get to work on any of her mid-summer projects. It didn't much matter to Yumi; most schoolwork of her own she did with great ease. It was never really a challenge. But it was never an annoyance either. Putting it off was a matter of convenience. Not for Yumi herself, but rather for Chizuru. Who was the person that Yumi was going to meet today.

The white-haired teen had dressed in the best clothes she afforded for herself because of her meeting with Chizuru today. A beige brown set of shorts and a white top, one which had the phrase 'bad girl' on the back. Yumi looked down silently and waited for Chizuru to make her appearance. They had agreed to meet just outside of Yumi's apartment. On a side road just ten metres down from the door to Yumi's building. She stood leaning against the north wall of a bakery, smelling pleasantly the fragrance of freshly cooked bread. One of her club heel sandals tapped the other whilst waiting. She didn't mind waiting for Chizuru, even though there were times when she could become impatient. But seeing Chizuru in the flesh was a telling reason for her current patience all of itself. There were few women in this world or the next that were quite so beautiful.

Then she heard the phrase 'what's up, Yumi?' from a short distance across the road. Yumi's bright baby blue eyes blinked and she looked upwards from her feet. Her normal frown was now replaced with a small but heartfelt smile. And that all came from seeing that same girl of her dreams. Chizuru Matsubana. Yumi's cheeks automatically blushed. Just from being aware of the girl's presence. Never before and perhaps never again would Yumi be so attracted to a single person. The hacker dared or willed herself to look at Chizuru. To look at her long, flawless locks of raven black hair, inching all the way down to the crests of her small and tight rear end. She forced herself to admire Chizuru's long flawless legs, in their delicate yet athletic posture, and her healthy bouncing breasts. What Yumi felt was no more than sheer human attraction at this point. But she wasn't the kind to circumnavigate the reasons for and against it. All she was aware of was the beauty of the Matsubana girl. So much so that it caused a reaction in Chizuru herself. The long-haired female smirked playfully when she came up to the silent Yumi. Chizuru then pulled her hand out of her jeans pocket and pressed it against Yumi's forehead, analysing something.

"Have you had too much sun?" She asked rhetorically, "cause if you have, maybe we shouldn't be going out together?"

Yumi blinked, shaking herself out of her reverie. ".Um. no."

"Well then you can stop staring, Yumi," Chizuru said with a smile, "I'm not that ugly am I? Or is it the opposite?"

Given that Yumi had not ONCE spoken of her feelings (physical) to anyone, least of all to Chizuru, it should have struck her alarm bells to hear such a comment from the dark-haired woman. But she was far too caught up in the sweet, sweet beauty of Chizuru. They were not friends. Never once had they called themselves as such. But what they had was a shared interest in each other. Yumi was near enough bewitched by Chizuru's beauty. Enough to follow her even into the fiery pits of hell. And Chizuru had her own reasons for being around the hacker from time to time. She had never specified them. But rather Chizuru had a habit of using harmless flirtation to avoid the subject whenever it was brought up.

Times came when Yumi questioned why Chizuru, one of the most popular girls at college, would even bother associating herself with one of college's dregs.

Now was such a time. ".W-why. did you ask to meet me?"

Chizuru's face went still for a brief moment. Then she pulled a wide smile at her current companion. "What kind of question is that, huh? Do I really need a reason?"

"I suppose not." Yumi admitted.

"Yeah, well," Chizuru tugged a strand of her hair backwards to her ear and then said, "I do have an ulterior motive. I need you to do me a REALLY big favour. Could you do it for me, Yumi?"

"That depends on what it is."

"I need you to change something," The darker haired teen went into the back pocket of her jeans, ones which, Yumi noticed, hugged very closely to the globes of her ass. Still Chizuru pulled out something. It was an ID card, "Could you alter this for me?"

Yumi took the plastic card in her hand and looked it over. "Is that all you need me to do?"

"Well, I was hoping, if you're not too busy with your gloomy anti-social life, if you'd agree to come see a movie with me? I just need you to tamper with that card a little so that it says I'm 21 rather than 18. You'd have to do that with your card too if you wanna come."

The Mishima girl blinked, astounded. "You. actually. want to. hang out with me.?"

"Well duh! I just said so, didn't I? Don't act so surprised. You've done a lot for me since we met during the first term. I guess this is the least I can do for you."

It was then that Yumi's sudden peak of happiness mellowed out. So Chizuru only thought of it as an obligation. A way to repay favours. No matter what way Chizuru acted, she still couldn't see that Yumi felt something for her. It was understandable in a ridiculous way. She was a typical trendy bimbo in most cases. The only reason she had passed the flawlessly difficult entry exams into Meta-Tokyo was because she majored in Drama, which couldn't really be evaluated that way. And since they had met. all that existed between them was a system of want help and take help. Chizuru needed help on a certain homework problem from one of her secondary classes? Yumi was there for her. If ever she needed a written essay typed up on a computer then Yumi was the one to pull the all-nighter. You could have said that Chizuru was. taking advantage of Yumi. And you would have been right. But that little detail didn't really matter. to either of them. Yumi was too caught up in Chizuru's beauty. And young Chizuru was too caught up in herself.

Or so it seemed.

Yumi nodded as an acceptance of what Chizuru wanted. Chizuru replied with a loud and childish giggle. But if they were going to get into whichever movie that the taller girl wanted to see, then they would have to get back up to Yumi's apartment. ID cards were laminated but she had a device to change that. The two of them turned around to head back around to Yumi's apartment. But then when they did, they noted that two men, both dressed in dark black business suits, were waiting before the stoop of Yumi's apartment building. Both girls became cautious. It was a quiet area that Yumi lived in. These men seemed somehow out of place. And the focused smiles on their faces showed that they had an agenda. Chizuru huddled closer to Yumi while the pair of them walked over to the stoop. But before Yumi even set foot on it, one of them stepped ahead, stopping her.

He pulled a smirk, lowering his shades with his fingertips. "Would you happen to be a woman by the name of Yumi Mishima?"

A cold and blunt fear suddenly crept up Yumi's spine. What if this had something to do with her illegal downloads from the Protocol mainframe? ".W-why do you want to know t-that?"

"Just answer the question," The second man barked, "are you Yumi Mishima?"

"Look, we don't want any trouble," Chizuru said hopefully, "can you just let us go this time?"

The first of the suits laughed derisively. "This kid thinks that we're with Meta-Tokyo's constabulary. Hmph. That's rich. Broads really are stupider than they look. Hey there kid, d'you get that from your mom? All tits and no brains?"

The sparkling twinkle of anger shot through Chizuru's eyes in all but a flash, however she didn't act on it. Before she even would have had that chance, Yumi stepped ahead of Chizuru and hid the other girl's ID card. "Please leave us alone. If you're not the police, then-"

The second man growled, and then thrust his fist out. Yumi gasped as he grabbed her by the throat, so quickly that she barely caught onto it. The taller male sniggered rudely at her face. Watching her cheeks redden with the sudden lack of oxygen from the throat. His grip around her neck tightened, causing her to writhe, gag, and claw at his thick, muscled hand to stop. But he wasn't stopping. And it became clear that he had no intentions to do so, either.

"You're coming with us. Yumi Mishima."

This time Chizuru's frown was here to stay. "Hey! Let her go!"

Chizuru tried to get to Yumi before she choked, but the first of the suits stepped ahead of her, blocking her pass. He then tugged a grin and drew his hand up. Each of his fingers curled up into the palm, to form a fist. Then he smacked Chizuru across the face in one hard but controlled punch. Chizuru yelped and fell backwards, collapsing to the ground, her cheek bruising a dark purple. Yumi's eyes widened with alarm, catching sight of that. But no more so than when the tall business suit-dressed man stamped his scuffed black shoe into Chizuru's face, as she lay prone over the pavement. "Little bitch. Got something to say now?"

-- ASSIMILATION --

Yumi tried to yell at him to stop. She tried. But she could hardly part her lips. And it seemed that with each second that passed, the grip of the second man was growing tighter. Soon her feet began to rise up off the ground, her sandals clicking against the pavement. This man was strong enough to lift the teen right off her feet with just one hand. Which meant that he was at least using muscle enhancements. Which also meant that he was working for Protocol. Only they had that kind of performance-enhancing therapy. But Yumi's concern was never for herself. All she did was stare powerlessly at Chizuru. Watching that man step on her beautiful face like it was a doormat. And so, at that point, something clicked inside of Yumi.

-- PROCESS --

Her eyes dilated. A sudden action that had nothing to do with the man that was choking her. Yumi's head tilted backwards, almost as if she were in a trance. And her large blue eyes suddenly thinned out, their previous blue swiftly shifting into a subsequent white. The suit stared curiously at the thin white of Yumi's eyes, but couldn't figure it out. But she was no longer concerned by his actions. In Yumi's head, the scene with herself being choked and Chizuru being kicked around vanished. And was replaced by constant flashes. Scenes of a certain moment in time buried inside her brain as deep and hidden as any old file in a computer system. This images now ran unbidden in Yumi's mind. To a far different location. In her mind she could see a hallway. A hallway of a lab. The white walls and chilled air so vivid, as if she were there at present. Even deeper. she could see a small girl of no more than five or six years of age. Her hair was white like newly fallen snow, crying her eyes out in the middle of that corridor. In her hand was a teddy bear. The other she used to rub the tears out of her eyes. In between her sobs, she muttered 'Daddy' over and over again. And surrounding her were the bloody, broken corpses of four men. The red of their blood was smeared all over the ashen walls of that cold hallway, their corpses laying lifelessly in pools of it. Their skulls were broken open. The puréed matter of their brain tissue, in all its pink and red glory, was splattered across the ground. The fragments of the bone of their skulls and the scattered remains of their hair dotted the bloody excess of their cracked heads. And yet all the same. that white-haired girl stood, her frilly dress stained with blood and brain matter, stood crying, murmuring only one word.

Daddy.

Then Yumi's focus returned to the current situation, not the deeply suppressed images that dared to be thought of as memories. But the cause of them would be all the same. Yumi's now thin white eyes locked firmly on the one holding her by the neck. And a cold, almost chilling aura of silver awoke from her. Yumi's body was surrounded in a silver-flaming force that felt as cold as an arctic snowstorm. The coursing but frosty flames of silver covered her hands, her head, her legs, her chest, her thighs; all of her. All the while her snow-white hair rose up into the air, clearly presenting the sudden shift in her expression. The man holding her, whose body was now bathed in the glow of Yumi's silvery aura, blinked in alarm.

-- REACTION --

"Oh, crap!" He expressed, "Her Qi is awake! The biological lock isn't holding! Aaaa-AAAAHHH!"

One flick of Yumi's eyes and the skull of that man exploded. In a bright flash of cold silver force, that man's head burst open, spraying blood and brain tissue over the stoop and over Yumi's emotionless face. His now decapitated body fell backwards, releasing Yumi's neck from that choke hold. It collapsed without motion, spreading the blood from the shattered neck outwardly. Yumi remained hovering in the air. And her head slowly turned to see the man on top of Chizuru. Both Chizuru and that man were silent and shocked. With nothing more than a look, Yumi had. killed someone. But in Chizuru's eyes. their was less in the way of shock. and more in the way of worry. Yumi, her body alight with those cold silver flames, floated across from the corpse of the dead suit to the torso of the living one. She lifted her hand up, as if to strike him down, but couldn't act. Her arm froze when it hit the air. Her whole body started to shake. From the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes. The white of her eyes then revered back in blue, the wideness of them also returning. Yumi had recovered consciousness. But now she was bitterly aware of what she had done. And a haunted look framed her face. The cold fire of her manifest Qi soon evaporated into nothingness, causing her to fall to the ground. But Yumi's body still shook. She could. feel the blood and bone scraps over her face. As well as hear the sound of blood dripping off the edge of the pavement and into the drain.

Did I. did. I. kill. someone.?

Yumi, stricken by the realization, clasped her head, curling up into a fetal position. Her body shook constantly, over and over again, while the blood from the dead man stuck to her face. "No. no. it's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's. not. true. it's not. IT'S NOT TRUE!"

Yumi screamed out a bloodcurdling shriek of terror, one so loud that it echoed throughout the block. And then just as easily as that, she lost consciousness again. Her body jerked hard. Yumi's mind was emotionally exhausted. Chizuru and the man above her were still speechless. But there was someone else around who had seen the whole thing. Someone who was not at all surprised by this turn of events. A shadowed figure rushed out of the gap between two buildings across the road. His swift strides on his brown boots got him across the street quickly. Once he was there, the young man jumped up and swung his leg out. The last man in black didn't catch onto this in time. The unknown blonde man kicked him hard across the face, hearing him groan hard at the attack. The suit toppled over, robbed of his consciousness. And the young man who had done that, landed to the pavement. He beamed a stunning smile whilst running a hand through his long blonde bangs.

"Are you okay?" He said to Chizuru, concerned.

Chizuru exchanged glances between Yumi and this mystery man, who now looked to be western in origin. ".I. I."

The blonde youth caught onto Chizuru's wordless state and was going to say something to soothe her, until they both noticed that a new flaming silver aura surrounded Yumi's unconscious body.

~~~~~~~*~

"What in the.? It's awakening?!"

Deep below the building known as the Shinrai Complex was a multifaceted laboratory. The deep white of the walls and halls and the lab coats give this away without doubt. Hundreds of rooms were built in the jurisdiction of the lab. Each one used for separated purposes or experiments. Some technological, some biological. Over five levels and all of them underground, free from the risk of security breaches. Very few people other than those in the upper echelons of Protocol knew of this place. Or of the importance of it. Such information was considered top secret amongst Protocol personnel. So much so that only a few hundred people (92% of those people being the scientists that actually worked their) had even heard about it. For secrets, those hidden even from lesser-ranked members of Protocol, were aplenty in that place. And it was known as the Ochiai Underground Research Facility.

In the highest level of that underground laboratory, a large research room contained a certain something. A Meta Suit. These machines were gigantic humanoid-shape mecha. Designed specifically for combat, but also adapted for construction purposes. One particular Meta Suit stood upright in the large white room of that particular section of the Ochiai Underground Research Facility. At a towering height of 65.7 metres, with polished white and blue armouring made from the finest titanium that man had ever discovered. From its head came two thick and ear-like antennae that extended backwards diagonally. Its face had been sculpted in a human-like shape, with the contours of eyes, and those red glass eyes were glowing brightly now. It was clearly a Meta Suit like no other. Hooked up to many large wires which were also connected, at the ceiling, to a net of harnesses that held them in place. The information that was gathered from the body of that Meta Suit was fed directly to the computers in a separate room via those cables. That room was right next to the holding chamber of the Meta Suit. A thick glass pane allowed the three scientists inside to observe what was happening to the machine armour from there. A given safety.

One of them huddled by the computer terminals that was being fed information from the opposing room. His glasses were illuminated by the bright flashes of codes that was shown over the screen. So many at such a quick rate.

"I don't believe it!" He yelled ecstatically, "these readings are off the charts! Someone's Qi is coalescing with the essence of the Oriax! At this rate, the suit will achieve activation in less than three minutes!"

The second scientist looked out through the window pane to see the status of the Meta Suit they had dubbed as 'Oriax'. Its armour was now covered with streaks of blue electricity, the sheen of the metal growing. The light of its red eyes came alive. And all the cables that had been attached to its arms, legs, chest, head and back broke off. They dropped from the torso of Oriax, spurting out clear white gases and rogue electricity, as well as a green substance in drops which closely resembled blood. The doctor pressed his hand into the glass and expressed a dazzling smile of wonder.

"It's incredible." He said, "it must be the one. The biological lock we were told about must be breaking. Now that it is free. it must be. acting unintentionally as a beacon. But whoever that person is, they must not know that."

A hard look came to him and he turned around to his colleagues. "Come on, quickly now! The P.T.P (Phase Transport Phenomenon) will occur soon! Contact Control Room and tell them to deploy at least three Meta Suits as quickly as possible! And make sure that they inform Commander Celaph about this!"

~~~~~~~*~

Above ground, in the upper levels of the Shinrai Complex, was the office room of the commander in chief of Protocol's military affairs in Japan. That same man was Commander Celaph. Now gone from the window, he sat at the desk he had come to loathe for so long. It was such a place that a soldier should never have had to adjust to in his mind. But there was no real choice for him in the matter. The Triad of the Inquisition had given him his orders. It was a soldier's duty to follow them. But this time he was not the only soldier in that decorated office. Across from Celaph and his desk was the very same man that controlled the Divine Blade division of the Holy Protocol Army. The same man, clad in haughty red garbs with his chest bearing the golden standard of the lion, that had won so many battles against insurgents to the Meta Cities in the Eurasia area. The man that was not born in the Meta Cities. but had a frightening will to prove himself to those who were with his overwhelmingly skilled hand in the art of piloting Meta Suits.

That man, that infernal warrior, was known as General Naam.

The tall, strident leader of the Divine Blade Meta Suit forces, who had been stationed in Japan only two weeks ago. With a great wide grin and his ornamental broadsword strapped to his side, General Naam stood before Celaph, saying,

"Commander Celaph, is this true? You wish me to lead the attack against Chrysalis.? Are those our orders from the Upper Council?"

Celaph shook his head. "No. Not from the council. These orders come directly from the Triad of the Inquisition themselves. Thus you can understand why I summoned you from your quarters at such short notice."

"Ah, I see," the general said sneakily, ".it makes sense. But I won't pretend to care about the reason. Heh. All I care about is getting a second shot at Beatrix and her damned team. They made a FOOL of me in that battle at Shiratoo'i, the bastards! This time they will pay with their lives!"

Celaph smiled at the fiery Meta Suit warrior. "Do not underestimate that woman's talents as a leader. We both know what she is capable of, do we not? Such a situation demands more than brute strength. We need wiles and intelligence to stop Chrysalis."

"I fail to understand just what it is that you're getting at. What are you trying to say to me, Commander Celaph?"

"I have an informant who is following the movements of. a certain someone that is fundamental to our ultimate plans. I believe that that informant will soon have the details we need to both locate EDEN and launch an assault upon it. Just have patience. In the meantime, I want you to ready your men for the attack."

"Fair enough, but," General Naam suddenly became serious as stone when he continued, "I had actually believed that when you called me here, you might have had some information about. her."

Celaph held a hand to his chin. "Are you talking about the one who escaped Ix Nos Babel? I had a feeling you would have inquired about her at some point."

"Soldiers don't often ask favours. When they do it's often because they have something important to handle. That alone should have been enough of a warning to it."

"I suppose," Celaph replied, "but I wouldn't know much of it, now that I am forced to fight with pen and paper. In any case, we still have not yet caught up with her. But considering the calibre of the Meta Suit she pilots now. that is understandable. She was connected to your family somehow, was she not?"

General Naam dragged his fist across his grey beard. "That isn't really important right now. If you haven't found her then so be it. I'll take up the mission myself once Chrysalis is destroyed. Revenge is a certain something I like to carry onto the battlefield, too."

The commander smiled softly at that, but that smile faded when he heard the phone on his desk ring. Celaph lifted the receiver to his ear and listened in to what they had to say. His eyes narrowed with understanding to the comments being spoken into his ear, then he put down the phone. Shortly afterwards a second smile came to his face while he chuckled acrimoniously.

Naam was curious. "What was it?"

"Heh, heh, heh." The commander leaned back in his chair, ".that was the Control Room. It seems that the Oriax has finally awoken."

~~~~~~~*~

The cockpit of Oriax was unlike that of any other Meta Suit. Aside from the leather seat and the controls around it, it was not metallic. The surrounds of the cockpit were like a globular mass of water, fixed together to form a barrier that might have looked fragile to the naked eye, but acted as security the likes of which no one had ever known. For that strange cockpit existed inside a relatively small dimension. One that had been miniaturized with Qi manipulations for the 'womb' compartment of the Meta Suit. And the whole thing pulsed in rhythm like a clockwork heartbeat, every few seconds. Such technology was foreign fiction to all but Protocol. Their power manifest by nothing more than the existence of this tech.

A wisp of silver flames chilled the innards of that cockpit. And those flames formed into the girl known as Yumi Mishima. Teleportation as a result of unknown forces moved her through time and space into the cockpit of the Meta Suit. She dropped into the seat, her eyes resuming that pure white, and her body still burning with cold fire. Inside that trance of before, Yumi knew, subconsciously, what to do here. Her small hands gripped the control sticks that were built around the seat that hovered in that water-sphere womb barrier. In front of her appeared what looked to be a video screen. One that showed her what was going on around the Meta Suit from the eyes of the Oriax itself. Now she was in control.

Outside the Oriax, in the Ochiai Underground Research Facility, was the layout of its holding chamber. In the separate observation room, the very same scientists who had informed Control Room of these developments were now marvelling at the sight of the Oriax coming to life. No one aside from a chosen few could pilot it. This was truly a sign. From behind the sheet of metal that acted as a mouthpiece for the Oriax, came a loud, bestial and ethereal scream that rumbled throughout that section of the research facility. That in itself was a testament to the fact that this. Meta Suit. was not completely mechanical. The Oriax tilted its large head backwards and 'looked' upwards at the ceiling of the room it was trapped in. The polished breastplates of its armour shot open, one side swinging to the other, which showed the circular gemstone-like device in its chest. Acting as a kind of organ. That green 'heartstone' started glowing. A light so bright that the scientists had to look away to keep themselves from being blinded. Oriax released another bestial war cry, causing a huge beam of searing, Qi-converted energy to shoot outward from its chest. Filling the entire chamber with unearthly emerald light. That energy beam burned savagely through the roof of the research facility. Everything in its path was burnt to cinders. The floors, the furniture, the scientists, the machines, the tests. Everything in the path of that beam, that Jupiter Maelstrom, was obliterated before knowledge of that obliteration came. It burned all the way up to the top level of the compound. There were gasps from the nearby people when they saw a towering pillar of light burst up from the gardens of the Shinrai Complex and climbed up into the skies above.

The energy of the beam slowly faded away. With a hole successfully created in the ceiling of the chamber, all the way up to the top of the complex, Oriax jumped deftly through that hole with all the speed that it had been blessed with. The Meta Suit leapt out from the crater-hole into the scenes of Meta-Tokyo. All the people close enough to the complex could see both the Oriax and the energy blast that had preceded it. Waiting for the Oriax above ground were three Meta Suits. Each of them hovering in the air from their energy propulsion systems. They were combat Meta Suits, a type known as Zagan. They were armed with cannon rifles in their metallic, humanoid hands. Their black and brown military colours contrasting the white and blue of the taller Oriax.

One of the pilots of the Zagan yelled out through a com link, saying, "Is that the new experimental weapon that the research department was building?! I thought the only immediate forces stationed here were those of the Divine Blade accompanying General Naam!"

"Idiot!" The second yelled, "Those four-eyed bastards didn't create that thing for military use!"

The third one, the one in command, scoffed. "It doesn't matter. We were ordered to bring the Meta Suit back down to the Ochiai labs so that's what we'll do! Move out!"

".Roger!"

"Roger!"

The three Zagan Meta Suits then charged the Oriax through the air. Their speed was far greater than that of land-based Meta Suits. But it did not seem to be an issue for the Oriax. As they came at it, they all pulled up their rifle cannons and fired continuous blasts at their target. The shots from the Zagan suits rained down on the Oriax in a coordinated wave that simply engulfed the machine. It was rocked by a series of compact explosions that surrounded it in clouds of smoke and flame. The Zagan-types fired on and on at the smoke cloud, burying more of their rounds into the 'enemy' Meta Suit.

Once a full number of 9,700 blasts had been fired, the Zagans lowered their guns and scanned the scene for the result. The suit had to have been disabled by all that. But when the smoke faded, they were all shocked to see that the Oriax had not even been scratched. It had enswathed itself inside a circular shield of emerald energy. One that protected it from all of the shots fired by the Zagan's rifles. A second scream sounded out from the Oriax and it evaporated its shield. The white-armoured suit burst forwards with intense speed and grace, towards Zagan #1. The Oriax stuck out its hand and thrust it straight through the centre of the machine. The iron of the Zagan was no match for the titanium of the Oriax. The white suit reacted its hand and zoomed away. Subsequently, the first Zagan exploded in a bang of flame and metal; its remains falling out of the air. The second Zagan tried in vain to shoot down the Oriax. But it was no use. The line of fire now had a direct hit. But still the rounds could not pierce the armour of such a Meta Suit. Yumi's mecha put out its right hand to one side. Then a scimitar-shaped beam of energy formulated around it. Born of pure Qi from the pilot herself. The machine then flew across to Zagan #2. One powerful slash came down upon that standard military mecha. Slicing right through it. The machine exploded violently once the Gauntlet Blade had been dragged out of it. Leaving behind only one Meta Suit.

The pilot was, by now, terrified. "This can't be. there's no way a Meta Suit can be this strong! It's just not possible!"

The breastplates on the Oriax opened up again. The energy of the Jupiter Maelstrom blast was already gathering up. And it was fired just as easily as before. The third Zagan simply melted away within a roiling wave of jade Qi-force, one that did not simply shoot down the Zagan, but left absolutely no trace of it. The beam burnt right across the skies, travelling as far as the Neo-Shibuya district. All the city dwellers marvelled at the sparkling green light that brightened and darkened the air all at once. The light of the heavens. Once it vanished with the end of the beam the Oriax was left screaming its yell over the space of the city. It had destroyed three Zagan-types with less than an afterthought.

From the window of the head office, Celaph and Naam could see the Oriax and hear its scream. General Naam was astounded by the sheer power of the mecha, but Commander Celaph just grinned, closing his eyes with a dirty chuckle. ".For all intensive purposes. this is a setback. But one cannot speak of the consequences without first speaking of the lesson. as well as the realities of that same situation."

Naam turned to Celaph. ".What do you mean by that?"

"You wouldn't understand. Because there are very few that actually would. The bread of the body has been bitten. and the wine of the blood has been sipped. The rebirth of a Novus Deus, a perfect God, will soon be at hand."

~~~~~~~*~

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you

I'll tell you no lies

Well all is said and done

Does it really matter who's wrong or right

Don't ask me for a reason, I can't explain

Why we hurt each other again and again

As I lie here bleeding I still

I still reach for you

A thousand days, a thousand days

Have passed away

A thousand days, a thousand days

Were captured in her eyes

Your eyes are open now but you know

It's still hard to see inside

When action and intention

Are two separate things

Now I somehow wish I could explain

Why we hurt one and other again and again

Like someone on his dying breath I still

I still reach for you

A thousand days, a thousand days

Have passed away

A thousand days, a thousand days

Were captured in her eyes

Forever we've been

Trapped by our hearts

Trapped by our minds

I'd like to leave

I'd like to win at love

But I just can't let it go

And I just can't watch it slipping away

And I just can't let it go

And I just can't stand another minute

Maybe now someday our shattered lives

Will mend themselves again

But now a million miles away

I still wish I could

And though I somehow know, I can't explain

Why we hurt one and other again and again

Like someone on his dying breath I still

I still reach for you

A thousand days, a thousand days

A thousand days, a thousand days

'A Thousand Days', The Offspring

~~~~~~~*~

Chronicle Two - the battleship Leviathan

~~~~~~~*~

It's cold.

I'm so cold.

Why am I so cold?

"Why are you fighting it? That's your real question, ain't it? You can't fight your true nature. That's what it's about."

I don't. understand.

"Is that the way you think? One who is shrouded in darkness must remain so because it suits her? It's that kind of thinking that brought me to this pass. Don't shirk your responsibilities and mistake that for wisdom."

What. are. you talking about.?

"Please stop it, you two. I don't want. I don't want to think about all this right now. please stop."

Darkness. That was all Yumi could see. Pure and utter darkness. Cold and inhospitable. Ill winds seeped in from an unknown location. And because of that Yumi felt so cold. But she had no idea which direction the wind was coming from. Because she had no idea where she was. The hacker stood upright in the middle of a field of darkness. No one around her. No trees. No grass. No water. No birds. Nothing. A spotlight crashed down on her. Allowing herself to at least be seen. Though Yumi believed that there was no one around to do that. Until three spotlights came down on three select places around the girl. Which revealed three others.

Three select figures.

On a initial inspection, it might have seemed like Yumi had come into contact with people she didn't know. But she did know them. In some odd way. Because they were a part of her. Yumi looked to her right. The woman standing there was Yumi Mishima. An older version of her. A twentysomething. A jaded look crossed her face as she dragged a cigarette in and out of her mouth, puffing out smoke. While her clothes were a reflection. of at least one aspect of her. An outfit best described as. slutty. The leather boots and the jacket and the break-away bra. All her clothing reeked of cigarettes and alcohol, and was stained with hardened discharge. She was a prostitute.

Hacker Yumi turned her eyes from Prostitute Yumi and looked over at the spotlight ahead of her. The one that was in between Prostitute Yumi and the other. She was a young girl. No more than a child. In her hand was a teddy bear. With her other she wiped the tears from her eyes. Her frilly yellow dress was covered in blood. Hacker Yumi locked eyes with Child Yumi, watching her sob uncontrollably. The very sight of her was as frightening as seeing Prostitute Yumi was shocking. Somehow she managed to take her eyes away from Child Yumi. Then looked over to the left. Which was when she found herself gazing at another version of herself. This one was far more dignified and educated, dressed in a business suit with a female cut to it. With one finger, Bourgeois Yumi adjusted her glasses by shifting them up the bridge of her nose, while her cold glance observed Prostitute Yumi with both disgust and attraction.

Hacker Yumi blinked. "W-what's going on here.?"

Prostitute Yumi sniggered at her. "Looks like the social recluse's got somethin' to say. Ain't that rich? But then they do say that it's always the quiet ones, don't they?"

"You have no soul," Bourgeois Yumi suggested, "Do you know that? You are a complete and utter moron. You treat your body like a commodity for anyone to sample. Is that how you think you can live? By debasing yourself?"

"But at the end of the day. I'm a lot happier than you are, right? And isn't that what everyone wants? To be happy? How exactly do YOU fit that role, you little elitist? Dignity's pretty cool, but, who needs dignity when you're getting fucked?"

"Pervert!" Bourgeois Yumi yelled, "can you really believe that? You'd lead this girl along by those selfish desires? When you know that she could be doing so much more?! Would you honestly seek to free her from self constraint? Knowing what that would lead to?"

Prostitute Yumi took a drag from her cigarette. Then puffed out a cloud of smoke. "And if she didn't, would she have survived that attack by those guys on her and that hot little number Chizuru? Man, do you see everything in black and white?"

"Maybe that's true. But Yumi also needs restraint. Would you allow her to live without that? If that is the case then who knows what might happen to her in the future. If she wants to use her powers and love Chizuru at the same time then she must do so with proper guidance. She can't do that by following childish impulses and lusty urges!"

"So you're just gonna let her suffer with her guilt? That's just like you! She's been coping with that for ten fucking years! That's why she can't remember anything! Do you wanna reduce her. to that?!"

Bourgeois Yumi turned to the centre of their group once Prostitute Yumi pointed there. And they both looked at Child Yumi. Who was still crying her eyes out in her bloodstained dress, while whispering the word 'Daddy' repeatedly. Both of the adult Yumi's and the teen hacker Yumi watched this wholeheartedly. Eventually she calmed herself enough to speak to both Bourgeois Yumi and Prostitute Yumi saying, "I wish. you'd. all. be quiet. I don't care about power! I don't care about that! I just want my Daddy!"

".Well, this isn't going to be resolved," Claimed Bourgeois Yumi.

who was followed up by Prostitute Yumi, saying, "until you side with one of us."

Hacker Yumi gazed at them with both confusion and surprise. And all three of the other Yumis turned around to face her with very different expressions upon their faces, but they said the exact same thing in unison to her.

"Or do you choose. death?"

"Or do you choose. death?"

"Or do you choose. death?"

~~~~~~~*~

Yumi stirred, moaning slightly from the throat. In her semi-sleeping state she could hear sounds. The sound of waves crashing lightly against shores. As well as the sound of fire. Crackling with embers and bark. But a controlled fire. It was not the fire of war. Yumi sighed for a moment, then opened her sky blue eyes. Her head was propped up on a log. Because of this she looked directly up into the sky. It was night. The moon was full. The stars were shining brightly in the background. A dark bejewelled heaven that cascaded over a setting that was not Meta Tokyo. But a region outside it. Yumi groaned, feeling a throbbing pain inside her skull. Then eased up on the log. When she looked around she started to adjust to where she was. And who she was with. She was by the sand of a beach. At a sparse campsite. In the centre of camp was a fire, lit with wood. And in the far distance was the intimidating presence of Meta Tokyo. Its gigantic skyscrapers dominating the city. Then she paid more focus to the ones around the campsite. Across from her, sitting quite calmly on another log was Chizuru. And adjacent from Chizuru was a Western male with whom she felt no affiliation. He was blonde and looked to be about 20 or 21 years of age. He had his hand stuffed into the pockets of his chestnut brown bomber jacket, while a sheathed Japanese katana dangled from a strap around the waist of his denims. He jerked his head with a smile, causing his ponytail to fall over his shoulder, then eyed Yumi over.

"Hey," He said softly, "you okay?"

Yumi looked over at Chizuru once more, then gazed over at the blonde guy. "Who. are you.?"

"Who me? It's Terry. Terry Hennig."

"Are you an American or something?" Yumi asked.

Terry sniggered. "Well I guess you could say that. My Mom was an American. Hence the first name. And my Dad was a German. Hence the second name. But that really isn't important at this point. What matters is you, Yumi Mishima. And how you're gonna handle yourself from now on."

".First things first." Yumi looked over at Meta Tokyo, "explain to me just how I got here. I remember that Chizuru and I were attacked by two men in front of my apartment building. And then one of them grabbed me by the neck. After that, everything gets.hazy."

Chizuru squirmed, finally speaking. ".Yumi. maybe it isn't a good idea. to be thinking about all that right now. Please just try and get some rest."

".But. I want to know, Chizuru."

Terry sighed out of impulse and stepped into the space of the camp. He took a seat at one of the logs he had managed to salvage for the night they might be forced to spend here. ".I'll tell you. I guess the stress of your first time piloting a Qi-Generator Meta Suit was too much for you."

Yumi narrowed her eyes. ".Qi.?"

"The lifeforce of all living things," Terry answered, "everyone has it. Everything alive or that's been alive has it. The only thing that's different between people in terms of Qi is the magnitude of it. Some people have smaller reserves of it. Some people have so little Qi that they aren't even aware of it until death. But there are others. who have huge levels of Qi in their bodies. And you're one of them."

Yumi pointed at herself. ".Me.?"

"Yup. It was that Qi force of yours that brought you here, in so many ways. Once your powers took form. your body teleported itself right into that Meta Suit. over there."

Terry, Chizuru, and most of all Yumi, turned to the left in the direction facing away from Meta Tokyo. Yumi's eyes widened when she saw it genuinely for the first time. The Oriax. It loomed over the campsite with its large shadow, still beaming with polish and sparkle. The three of them stared at the bio-mechanical titan with awe and esteem, especially Terry, who said,

"That machine is apparently called the Oriax. A weapon developed by Protocol for still unknown reasons. I don't know how or why, but that mecha is connected to you somehow. Once your powers put you inside the suit, I couldn't catch sight of you. But then I heard the battle that took place by the Shinrai Complex. I knew that it had to be you. So I followed you outside the city. And your friend here came with me. By the time we caught up with you and the Oriax, night had already fallen. And you were unconscious. The cockpit probably ejected you by itself when it realized that you weren't able to pilot it any further."

Yumi was dumbfounded. Her eyes rolled up and down to take in the sight of the Meta Suit. While her neck leaned back to get a full view of the machine. She had actually piloted something like that? But she didn't even remember doing it. And for that matter. how did she even know how to operate it? In college the lessons in manning construction-type Meta Suits were available to everyone. But not once at Yumi applied for them. It seemed inconceivable that she could have known how to use something like the Oriax.

While Yumi marvelled at the Oriax, Chizuru looked over at Terry with a curious glare. ".I wanna know something."

".Shoot."

"How do you know these things?" Chizuru questioned, "just who are you? Really? Are you a member of Protocol or something?"

Terry scratched the back of his head with a chuckle. "Me? A member of Protocol? Heh! That's a laugh! But the fact that you girls have both left a Meta City without permission of a checkpoint makes things a little easier. 'Cause you're more or less outlaws now. So I guess there ain't much harm in telling you. who I work for."

Yumi turned back. "Who. you work for?"

"Yeah. I'm a fighter in the Anti-Protocol Rebel Army. And we call ourselves Chrysalis. We operate directly under the orders of Father Bartholomeus, the leader of our sovereign demi-nation; EDEN."

"EDEN? Chrysalis?" Yumi shook her head, "What is all this?"

Terry picked up a twig from the sand and tossed it into the camp fire to brighten it. "Look. I'm not good with the explanations. Suffice it to say. that I'm not a Protocol ass-kisser. Those bastards don't give a crap about who their hurt or who they exploit, just so long as they get their way. And I'll be damned if we have to suffer them forever. Chrysalis is the only hope left for mankind. Or what's left of it."

"So you're. terrorists?" Yumi stated.

Terry lowered his head with a grin. ".Not quite. but. I suppose you can see it like that from your position. You are a Meta City citizen after all."

Chizuru didn't let up. "If you're a member of this Chrysalis thing then what were you doing in Meta Tokyo?"

"I was looking for Yumi."

The hacker shifted on the log. "You were looking for me?"

"That's right," Terry answered, leaning back, "I guess right now you're kind of thinking of yourself as a normal kid. But for some reason, Protocol has an interest in you. And considering that you managed to assimilate with that Oriax monster over there, I can't really blame them. Our informants in Meta Tokyo managed to find out about that. So I snuck into the city to protect you."

"Did you come to protect her or kidnap her?" Chizuru asked suspiciously.

Terry held a hand to his forehead. "Look, I know this is all coming as a shock to you both. But I'm not here to put you in any nasty positions. For the most part. we just want to talk with Yumi."

"We?" Yumi looked over at Terry again, "Who else?"

"Our leader. Head of the Ark of the Luria and ruler of the people of EDEN. Father Bartholomeus. He's a wise old guy. He might be able to answer some of the questions you've got."

"What if I don't want to go? What if I just wanna go home?" Yumi answered.

"Yeah, well, you don't have any choice in that respect."

Yumi scowled fearfully. "W-what's that mean?!"

"Are you forgetting what you did? It's not like you could have escaped Meta Tokyo with flight alone. You downed three Protocol Meta Suits to get free. Not to mention the fact that the guy you killed was an agent for Protocol as well. If you go back, you'll be arrested for sure."

The claim of arrest didn't bother Yumi. But the comment that Terry made about her killing someone did. The Japanese teen suddenly saw flashes of what happened back in Meta Tokyo. Seeing that guy pummel Chizuru with kicks. Having that other man almost choke her to death. It all came flooding back. Which was when Yumi remembered what it is that she had done. In front of Chizuru, she had used her Qi to kill the man that was holding her. And she would have killed that other guy too if her senses hadn't come back. THAT was what happened. That was the event that triggered her union with the Oriax. Yumi had actually. killed someone. The moment those horrible images came to mind, Yumi screamed hoarsely and grabbed her head. Her brain ached maddeningly from the force of both sadness and guilt.

"Aaaah!" She yelped, rolling of the log. Terry and Chizuru hurried to her side to see what the problem was, but Yumi couldn't focus on them, and yelled, "IT'S NOT TRUE!"

Terry pressed a hand into her shoulder. "Hey, kid, are you alright?"

"Stay away from me!" Shouted Yumi, batting Terry's hand away. The girl then hopped to her feet and dashed away, leaving the camp with tears pouring down from her eyes already. Chizuru and Terry stood back watching her leave. Though Terry was the one most shocked.

"I'll go after her." Chizuru said, then ran in the same direction to catch up with her.

Terry stood alone, surrounded by the tall shadow of the Oriax and the sound of the waves. Though his mission was based on Yumi, he couldn't help but turn a little attention to Chizuru, stating, "Hmm. For a girl who just saw her friend blow a guy's head into bloody mush. she seems. pretty calm."

Close by to the beach was a small forest area. With plenty of trees and grass patches surrounding the area. The small forest animals scattered from the grounds nearby when they all heard the sound of footsteps. Those footsteps came to a stop when the accompanying sobs took on a new pitch. The sobs of Yumi. The white-haired girl lowered herself to the ground and cried, gripping herself by the shoulders. She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe that she was capable of killing someone. It wasn't her nature. It wasn't her way. And it was all a result of this horrible power inside of her. Yumi wept, her heart swelling with anguish. Why did it have to be her? Why did it have to be her who held this power?

Shortly behind Yumi came Chizuru. The young woman stopped when she reached the hacker. But she was in bits. Yumi had a very fragile heart by anyone's standards. No matter how much she tried to distance herself from people. It could never hide her weaknesses. And especially not from Chizuru.

The long-haired girl reached her hand out. ".Yumi, I."

"S-stay away!" Yumi yelled, ".stay. a-away."

Chizuru sighed, shaking her head. Then she stepped forwards, walking up to the emotionally-fazed Yumi. The unintentional pilot of the Oriax closed her eyes to try and end her tears. Not knowing that Chizuru was moving closer to her. Just until she felt Chizuru's arms wrap themselves around her waist. Yumi gasped and her soft blue eyes shot open, her sparkling tears falling from them in the moonlight. Chizuru settled her embrace of the girl, resting her chin on Yumi's shoulder.

"Please stop crying." She said sweetly, ".I don't like seeing you this way. You did what you did. to protect me. I don't see any harm in that. Don't blame yourself.okay?"

".But.?"

Chizuru moaned softly against her ear. "Promise me, Yumi. Promise me that you won't blame yourself for any of this. Can you do that one thing for me?"

".Okay."

Yumi still didn't think she could put this behind her. But it did make her happy to know that Chizuru didn't think of her as a freak. It was a surprisingly understanding attitude from someone who was normally so superficial.

"C'mon," Chizuru prodded in a whisper, "lets go back to the camp, okay? We can't go back to Meta Tokyo now, right? I think we can trust him. You get going and make up with Terry. I just need a moment to myself."

Yumi nodded slowly and finally got her breathing and crying under control. ".Okay. Chizuru."

Chizuru released Yumi from her hug and they stood up together. Yumi looked up at the slightly taller girl with watery eyes that wordlessly thanked Chizuru for her support. And the look that she gave in reply told Yumi not to worry about it. With that she walked back to the camp, leaving Chizuru behind. Once Yumi was gone, Chizuru lifted up her wrist and pulled down her jacket sleeve. A wrist watch, or something that looked like one, was under it. And the Japanese girl spoke into it.

"16th of August. Tenth year of Tendo. Mishima, Yumi's Qi has been unlocked. Contact with a Chrysalis operative has been made."

Over by the beach, Yumi walked back into the campsite. But now a new sound had been added to the setting. The sound of large motors moving in unison with tremendous horse power. Wind blew down on the beach, spreading the sand across and blowing out the flames of the campfire. Terry stood in the very middle of the encampment looking up into the night sky. As did Yumi. But her eyes widened when she did so. A huge cylinder-shaped hi-tech vessel of steel was hovering a good 200 metres in the air. It was gigantic. So large in fact that it made the Oriax seem small. Yumi had to yell to be heard over the sound of the running motors of that vessel.

"W-what the heck is that!?" Yumi wondered.

Terry grinned proudly. "Heh! That's Chrysalis's mobile air/sea/land battleship. Yumi Mishima? Say hello to the Leviathan."

~~~~~~~*~

"Okay, now begins today's briefing!"

The Shinrai Complex had been on red alert since the escape of the Oriax. All but those in the top ranks had been obsessing about it. More guards had been stationed around the walls of the upper level. And Meta Suits had been shipped in from the Tokyo Bay base for the defence of the complex. But this was all just standard procedure. It didn't amount to much. Because everyone knew that the Oriax was outside of Meta Tokyo by now. Three surveillance teams had been sent out to scour the city. But nothing had been found inside its districts.

These events were the talk of the Divine Blade. The highest ranking officials of which had gathered together in the conference room of the Shinrai Complex's second floor. Over sixty men and women, young and old, had taken their seats in large rows whilst waiting for General Naam to give his briefing on the next battle. But even before the briefing, talk of the mecha that had escaped the compound was rife. Nobody in the ranks of the Holy Protocol Army had more of an understanding of Meta Suits than these folk. So it was logical that these events were considered highly controversial by them.

General Naam stood at a large podium on a slightly risen stage next to the front of the room. Behind him was a huge video screen which was now charged for the briefing. Naam continued, saying, "As you all know. there was a breech of security recently. Because of that, the experimental Meta Suit, Oriax, has been taken from both the Shinrai Complex and Meta Tokyo. We know this because our scout teams have discovered no trace of the suit. Thus our upcoming battle may involve this machine. So I shall instruct you on its capabilities."

The video screen behind Naam came on, presenting a computerized 3D picture of the Oriax. The group gasped at the looks of it, while their general continued, "This is the Oriax. Its capabilities are far superior to those of normal Meta Suits. Thus fighting it will take a joint effort from us. Because of the Qi-Generator inside of the mecha it cannot be piloted by just anyone under the sun. Which should prove the significance of the current pilot. Now. Its vital statistics. The Oriax possesses no thermal energy weapons but has the ability produce a curved energy knife referred to as Gauntlet Blade from its left hand. Both of the hands of the mecha contain hidden twin Gatling Guns that hold a maximum of 8000 bullets for either hand. It has the power to fire that ammunition at a 200 bullets per second rate. It also possesses a Wave/Anti-Wave Generator in addition to its Qi-Generator. This gives Oriax the power to produce sonic wave patterns and counter other wave patterns with Anti-Wave ones. The power of sound is useless against it because of this. Underneath the chestplate of the machine is a jewelled form of energy that is connected directly to the Qi-Generator. From this comes the attack known as the Jupiter Maelstrom. A highly concentrated beam of energy well surpassing a heat of 2,500 degrees at less than 50% of its full capacity. If you expect to stay alive. don't get in the path of that beam. Those are the Oriax's skills in terms of offence. In sheer capability, it manipulates Zero Gravity Movement; i.e. flight. The Qi-Generator also has the ability to produce spherical Qi Barriers to protect the mecha. Its strength, speed and firepower outclass any individual Meta Suits that are in the possession of the Divine Blade. However if we attack it in a series of coordinated waves I am sure that it can be bested. Now. I want all of you to prepare for the next battle. Soon we will being our attack on EDEN. Once our plans have been finalized, you will be briefed on them as well. That ends today's briefing. Return to your quarters at your own leisure."

General Naam then stepped off the podium, walking away toward the door. Leaving his soldiers to ruminate on what he had told them. And on the image of the Oriax on the screen. All the same, most of them stood up and talked it over as they left. But three particular men (and one woman) of the group did not move. They sat at the back of the conference room whilst watching the representation of the Oriax on the screen.

The 'leader' of those four soldiers, a Swiss pilot - Kraepelin, smiled at the video screen. "Hmm. It's an impressive beast, that's for sure. I can see why the Upper Council wants the Divine Blade to deal with it."

A slightly younger Canadian black man, Steed, sneered at the suit and its description. "The General is overreacting about it. It only took down three Zagan-model Meta Suits. Our Amon-type suits outgun those old models hands down."

"Don't underestimate it," Claimed the Welsh pilot Ry, eldest and wisest of the bunch, "our Amons are powerful. but the Ochiai Research Team have created strong mecha in the past."

The female of the group, the Australian girl known as Aria, crossed her arms and chuckled. "I heard that those production-model Baal-type Meta Suits that have already been deployed for the defence of Ix Nos Babel and the Lunar Station, had their operating systems created here at the Shinrai Building. Think there's a connection?"

"It doesn't matter, either way," Kraepelin added, "if we're ordered to bring it in, we'll bring it in. If we're ordered to destroy it, then we'll destroy it. We are soldiers after all. We don't have to worry about the reason. Only the result. The one created by our hands."

~~~~~~~*~

The Leviathan was unlike anything Yumi had ever seen before. A vessel that not even the Trigger Mode software she had downloaded could have conceived. It was a technological paradise. Steel and iron framing almost everything. The lifts, computers, vending machines, lavatories, showers, televisions and internet terminals were all controlled or powered by a central computer that acted as the brain of the ship. Such ships had often been denounced as pure fiction on all the forums and message lists that Yumi had toured in her time. Yet this was real. And it didn't have a single scrap of metal supplied to it by Protocol. This technology was purely of the world outside of the Meta Cities. The villager would that, until now, Yumi had had no contact with. She, along with Chizuru, was led through one of the many steel halls of the upper level of the Leviathan by Terry.

Once the ship had come to the beach, the three of them were allowed to board it. And the Oriax had been taken up into it bowels. In the hanger would be the Meta Suit itself. Along with a few combat Meta Suits created by Chrysalis and for Chrysalis. The sky-mode ones were called Uvall-types. The land-mode ones were called Gusion-types (they too had flight capabilities but not to the same degree as the Uvalls). It was certain that they were to be used against Protocol, at least in Yumi's mindset. Which was when it finally sunk into her head that Terry was not bullshitting her. He really was a member of an anti-Protocol group. But what bothered her was the fact that she had never heard of them before. And it was something she was sure to ask about when Terry got them to the bridge. While the three of them walked through this particular corridor, Yumi looked over at Chizuru. She was shocked by the advanced technology of it, too. But she seemed to be taking special note of it. Which Yumi found odd. For the most part, Chizuru had never really seemed interested in technology.

Terry suddenly stopped walking when he reached a door. And so, Yumi and Chizuru did the same thing. The blonde boy then turned his head and smiled. "This is the bridge, girls."

The half-American, half-German swordsman grabbed the handle of the metal door before them and opened it. He walked inside while motioning Yumi and Chizuru to follow him. Which was when they were treated to the sight of the bridge. Which was equally as hi-tech as the rest of the Leviathan. All the terminals, dials, computer screens, sonar & radar meters showed that much. Four people were manning the controls of the helm, with a huge video screen in the background, curling around the head of the room. And aside from themselves, there were two other people in there. Two women, who stood at the upper platform above those at the helm. Obviously the ones who were in control of the actions of Chrysalis and who ran the Leviathan. All people on hand were dressed in gold and green army uniforms, each armed with a small pistol as a firearm.

Terry saluted the older of the two women at the platform, an action that Yumi took to mean that she was the commander of this ship. "I'm back, Colonel! And I brought the very same girl that Protocol's been obsessing over. Yumi Mishima."

The woman whom Terry had addressed as colonel crossed her arms, her shoulder-long locks of forest green hair flailing about. Her eyes looked Yumi up and down to observe her, then her gaze turned to Chizuru Matsubana. ".And what of this one?"

".The name's Chizuru, lady," She replied indignantly, "and I'm with Yumi."

Terry waved her off when Chizuru and the colonel started glaring at each other. "Uh. don't worry about Chizuru, Colonel. I can vouch for her and Yumi."

"Fair enough, Lieutenant Hennig," She said, "let me introduce myself. I am Cecelia Faye Beatrix. Commander in action of this group we call Chrysalis. We follow under the teachings of the Ark of the Luria and operate from this ship; Leviathan."

Chizuru scratched her temple. ".Ark of the Luria.?"

".I suppose you could call it our. religion," Beatrix said, "but for now, let me introduce you to my crew. This young woman standing beside me is Major Sophia Mariette. My. second in command."

Sophia nudged her spectacles up the bridge of her nose, nodding to both Yumi and Chizuru. "A great pleasure."

Colonel Beatrix turned back around, her black shoulder cape flocking around her right arm. Then she extended her hand to the people at the helm of the ship's controls. "These are the helmsmen and women of the Leviathan. And the man that brought you here is Lieutenant Terry Hennig. But I assume he's already told you that. This ship is the very forefront of the Anti-Protocol efforts. We have over 380 people living here at this point in time. Our Gusion and Uvall Meta Suits are ready to be deployed at any moment for a strike against them. With that and the Leviathan's Gamma Cannon to contend with. it seems our existence has become a hot topic within the system. But all we strive for is to do down the group that infests the world right now. The fall of Protocol is our chief agenda."

The stereotypically ditzy Chizuru suddenly seemed quite serious when dealing with them. "You're being a bit too trusting, don't you think? What's to stop us from taking this information straight to the authorities?"

Beatrix chuckled, shutting her eyes. ".Heh, heh, heh. Is that so? Has it not occurred to you that you are an escapee? Leaving a Meta City without formal written permission is a criminal offence under Protocol's doctrines. Correct? In which case. you really don't have much in the way of options. Such a crime carries a stiff sentence of at least five years imprisonment. Or perhaps I am mistaken. Perhaps you would enjoy spending the rest of your youth inside a prison camp."

Whatever outspoken attitude Chizuru had plucked up was now gone, because she silenced herself in that instant. Terry winced at the sudden distaste between Chizuru and Colonel Beatrix, and pressed a hand into his second charge's shoulder. ".Um. why don't you try not to over-think things, Chizuru. We aren't the bad guys here. We will take good care of you and Yumi."

Beatrix looked away. ".We are not here to intimidate anyone. And I won't force you into anything either. All I request is that you speak with our leader. Father Bartholomeus. If do that then we can at least assure your safety."

".I'll cooperate for now," Yumi said, "but I want to know a few things first."

Sophia looked at Yumi. "Like what? What can we help you with?"

"EDEN and that Luria thing," Yumi put forth, "what is it all?"

It seemed that the Major would be answering that. "Sure. Well I can tell you that EDEN is our home. You see, those who reject Protocol's way of life have only two choices. To live in the outside world or die in the Meta Cities. But the outside world is. extremely dangerous. The conflicts of the Great War cast irreparable damage on the world. Living in the Meta Cities is vastly different from the constantly unstable life outside of them. The energy barriers that enfold each city gives them protection against most natural disasters that occur as a result of that nuclear war. But for the 1.5 billion people out of the line of safety, that wasn't an option. So forty three years ago, Father Bartholomeus led a campaign of salvation. And he, along with thousands of other young men and women, built the fortress-city of EDEN. It is the teachings of Father Bartholomeus that guide us. And those teachings are called the Ark of the Luria."

Yumi nodded. ".I see."

"So what's your answer?" Beatrix questioned, "will you meet with him?"

Before Yumi could give her an answer, one of the helmsmen called out to Colonel Beatrix in urgency. "Colonel! We've just received a message from an unknown Meta Suit!"

"A Meta Suit? Where?"

That same guy began tapping a few keys on his terminal. The video screen at the head of the bridge then flashed with an image of the night sky. It had been a few hours since they had picked up Terry, Yumi and Chizuru from those Japanese beaches. By now they were well over the Pacific Ocean, miles from Japanese soil. The scene on the video screen reflected that. In the far distance of the night there was a Meta Suit, hovering over the sea. It was of pure black steel, lined in certain parts with streaks of white. From its metallic back extended a pair of wings, giving it a total wingspan of 88 metres. Made of a silvery-blue energy that had to be the pilot's converted Qi. The green eyes in the face of the mecha glowed brightly in the darkness. It didn't move a muscle but just waited in a distant position that put it directly ahead of the Leviathan. Everyone stared quietly at the screen. Was this an attack from Protocol?

Sophia mused. "Is that a. Protocol Meta Suit?"

One of the helmswomen replied. "We aren't sure, Major. But it's less than 160 metres ahead of the ship. We'll crash into it in less than four minutes if the thing doesn't veer off."

".Stop the engines," Beatrix ordered, "take us onto silent running on hover mode. If this one is challenging us then we have to deal with it, in case they follow us to EDEN. Measure its Qi level and scan for any other Meta Suits."

"Roger!" Replied that helmswoman. She tapped some codes into her terminal and figures appeared on her miniature computer screen right ahead of it. She studied the mini-screen for a second, then gasped wildly, "oh my God!"

"What is it?" Terry asked.

"There are no other Meta Suits around, at least not within the 2300 meter range of the scanners, but the computer says that. this Meta Suit is currently operating at a Qi level of over 11,000!"

Beatrix's eyes widened. "11,000?! Are you sure?"

"But that just can't be," Sophia whispered, "there is no pilot alive who has a synchronization level high enough to produce a Qi reading of that magnitude. Even the highest ranking pilots of the Divine Blade can only muster a level of 6,500 at the most."

Beatrix pressed her hand into her hip. "What about that message? Patch it through."

"Yes ma'am." The third of the helms people typed in a few codes into his terminal. Then that static-ridden message was produced aloud from the five large speakers on the ceiling and walls of the bridge.

".TER.RY. HE.NNIG.."

All eyes turned to the young swordsman of lieutenant rank. And he was confused. As was everyone else. Terry pointed at himself in that confusion. ".That pilot wants me?!"

Chizuru looked over at Yumi. ".For a moment there, I thought that it wanted you."

".Yeah." Sighed the hacker.

Terry jerked his 'dirty blonde' ponytail over his broad shoulder and smirked. "Dah well. If that thing wants me then that's exactly what the dude's gonna get."

"Are you serious?" Sophia asked, "how are you going about it?"

The young man smiled at her. "With my Meta Suit, how else?"

One of the people at the helm, who also happened to be a mechanic for the Meta Suits on the Leviathan, swivelled around in his chair to look at Terry sincerely. "But Lieutenant Hennig, the Bishamon isn't completed yet! It still needs a few adjustments before you even think of piloting it!"

"Don't worry about it," He said, "I've seen the specs. Its Operating Systems, Gatlings and Zero Gravity Movement are all online. And that's all I need for this one."

There was little any one could do to argue with him. Though he was a calm young man, he could also be very hot-blooded. It showed in his great piloting skills. Beatrix smiled grudgingly and nodded to him as consent. She knew that he had to do it. Terry saluted her and then ran to the door of the bridge. He opened it then shunted himself out into the corridor. Terry rushed through the halls, past all the other Chrysalis personnel about. At the end of that corridor was a lift. Once he got to the far wall he tapped one of the buttons on the control panel. The metal doors opened up. And he entered the lift. The button he pressed would take him all the way down to the Meta Suit Holding Chambers. A few moments later the lift went directly down to it. And the doors opened up for him once more. Terry ran out. But this time he was surrounded by the sight of Meta Suits and the towering railings that surrounded them. As well as the sound of metal clanging against metal and the smells of oil and cold steel. Across from him by thirty or so metres was the Oriax. Which, thankfully, was not resonating with this mystery Meta Suit. Terry bolted across the metal platform that was erected more than eighty-nine metres above ground level of the hanger. Past the large heads of Gusion and Uvall Meta Suits. Until he came to his own.

The Bishamon.

Terry grinned as he reached the head of the mecha from the upper railing. It was of a different design to the others. More like the Oriax in some cases. Except that Bishamon's body was painted a slightly dark red. Its design was also less sleek than that of the Oriax. Yumi's suit had a more lithe, feminine look to it. The Bishamon was stockier and larger. Over its shoulders and thighs were multi-segmented plates of armour, alike with Japanese Samurai armour. Next to the suit was a large weapon. A 32-metre long Katana. Its true strength was that it worked with thermal properties in connection with the Qi-Generator. Of course that sword wasn't ready yet, so he couldn't use it.

Terry just ignored that for the moment and climbed down the metal ladder next to the Bishamon. Which brought him down to the secondary metal platform. Once Terry came into close contact with the 'stomach' of the Meta Suit, its doors opened for him. Revealing the cockpit. The blonde boy jumped into the dark opening and took a seat, grabbing the control sticks. The doors then closed up for him, and the whole thing brightened up when the Bishamon came online.

"I've missed ya, buddy," Terry muttered, ".I haven't fought with you in a while, have I? Well, this is what Mom and Dad would have wanted, after all."

Terry tapped on the keypad to bring up a visual image of one of the helmsmen in the bridge. "Hey! Open the hanger doors!"

"Roger!"

The steel doors below the feet of the Bishamon opened slowly. The Meta Suit dropped out of the Leviathan and into the skies that the Leviathan was hovering in. Directly below it. Bishamon's Zero Gravity Movement ability kicked in instantly. And blue trails of propulsion energy trailed behind its feet when the suit flew forwards. The Bishamon flew straight out of the shadow of the Leviathan, peeling up from its long underbelly, and out into the open night skies. From this point on, Terry could see the unknown Meta Suit in the distance. It really was waiting for him. But who was inside it? That he would find out if he had anything to say about it. The Bishamon flew straight ahead, crossing the gap between the Leviathan and the unknown suit. The Bishamon flew to a stop when the gap between itself and the mystery suit was only sixty metres.

Terry yelled at the thing from the speakers built into the mouth of the Bishamon. "You called my name? Well here I am! Now what's your deal? Who are you?"

The voice of the pilot also spoke through the mouthpiece of his/her own Meta Suit. ".You may call this one. Asmodeus."

Internally, Terry noted that the pilot of the 'Asmodeus' had an unmistakably feminine tone to it. "Asmodeus, huh? So that's the name of your mecha? Fine! Now what do you want from me, eh?"

The Asmodeus didn't make an immediate reply, staying mute. "."

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

The woman inside the Asmodeus then replied with, ".You are under-unarmed. Even with a Qi level of 5,600... you can only fight to 65% of your Meta Suit's true capabilities without its weapon."

Terry sneered. ".Are you kidding me? Just what is it you want? A battle? If you want a battle then why did you ask for me? And how the hell do you know my name?!"

".You've grown up strong."

"Huh?" That one struck Terry hard, ".do you. know me.?"

The Asmodeus flapped its energy wings backwards, and it flew out of the path of the Leviathan ship. The woman that was inside the Asmodeus answered the young man soon afterwards. ".When you find yourself with all of your strength. when you find yourself possessed by the demons of your past. you will see me again. But until that time. goodbye."

The thrusters at the legs of the Asmodeus kicked in. And it zoomed away like a jumbo jet into the darkness of the night. The Bishamon floated in the air as Terry sat in the cockpit in confusion. Who on earth was that? And what did she mean by 'demons of the past?'. As his Meta Suit hovered in the air, a transmission came in from the Leviathan. The face of Sophia, leaning over the shoulder of one of the helmswomen, came into view on a mini-screen.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" She asked, "what happened?"

Terry leaned back on his seat and exhaled. "You know. I'm not even sure, Major. I think. that the pilot of that Meta Suit knows me somehow. But I haven't got a clue who she is."

".I see. Well get back in the hanger. Don't waste any of your fuel on this. fluke. Besides. EDEN is calling us."

Terry blinked. ".What makes you say that?"

"Just look ahead."

Terry lowered the head of the Bishamon so he could see what Sophia was talking about. A good distance ahead, on the horizon of the sea, was a metal structure. It seemed rather small from that great distance. But it was definitely big. And definitely a sight for sore eyes.

In the cockpit, Terry grinned at that sight. ".Home sweet home."

~~~~~~~*~

The Ochiai Underground Research Facility had been on high alert since the escape of the Oriax. But that had not stopped the flow of the experiments that would be taking place there. Or the transactions that would be going down either. In one of the many long white corridors that was built into the laboratories underneath the Shinrai Building, the commander of the Japanese Protocol forces, Celaph, was walking along. He passed by many doors as he walked, right through the hallway. Until he reached a certain door. The one he was looking for, number 347. On that pure white door was a silvery metal plaque that read a sole name on it. "Freeman Ronove."

Celaph stuck a hand into his trousers and pulled out a key card. He swiped the key card through the control panel by the door. And the automatic lock was thereafter released. The door shifted open with a puff of very cold air, and Commander Celaph walked in. The room was cold and covered in frost. So much so that every time Celaph exhaled he breathed out a cloud of chilled air. But the leader of the Japanese forces was not concerned with himself. He only looked forwards to the glass cylinder in the centre of the room. It contained a light blue liquid. And inside that liquid was the body of a human. A naked young man, curled up in a fetal position.

Celaph pulled a smile. ".So. It's time once again to awaken you. I am sure that the previous generation's Thanatos wasn't nearly as problematic as you. Isn't that right, Mr. Ronove?"

~~~~~~~*~

Far from reach

How the serpents preach

Life is a sin when the shepherds are breeding

In the quiet place

Force the mind to erase

So the people pray to the distant drummer

These are primitive times

These are primitive...

These are primitive times

No care, no less

Divine surplus

Be it man or...

Ashes cover the man

Which the decades demand

And paves the way for the sick and the dying

The devil hides his tail

Behind the virgin's veil

So the dead can dance to the distant drummer

These are primitive times

These are primitive...

These are primitive times

No care, no less

Divine surplus

Be it man or ...

Ashes fall like rain

As the blind go insane

The shepherds fall to the feet of their martyr

Baptized with gasoline

Holy flame, unholy scene

As the ashes rise to the distant drummer

These are primitive times

These are primitive...

These are primitive times

No care, no less

Divine surplus

Be it man or ash!

Not man or ash

Not man or...

Not man or ash

Not man or ash

Not man or ash

Not man or...

~ 'Man or Ash', Corrosion of Conformity

~~~~~~~*~

Chronicle Three - respect and/or hatred, the Garden of Eden

~~~~~~~*~

If a Meta Suit was to Leviathan what an ant was to a human, then the Leviathan was to EDEN what a human was to a city. Yumi had thought that the Leviathan itself was large. But EDEN was just something else. From a distance it looked like an oil refinery. But once the Leviathan had gotten closer to the structure, Yumi and Chizuru could clearly see that that was not the case. It was a fortress city. Covering over one square mile of territory, deep in the middle of the pacific ocean. The entire city was held up from the sea by a series of metal underwater pillars. Ones that reached all the way down to the bottom of sea level. Once the Leviathan came to the edge of the way, the people at the helm made contact with those at one of the fifteen Control Rooms of the rebel city. The operatives there knew of the Leviathan. And so didn't even request proof of identity. The gigantic bay overhanging the inner hanger opened up into two sections. Both doors separating underneath the ship while beacon lights were flashing across the east 'deck' of EDEN's ground level landing bay. The Leviathan was cleared for entry so it landed into the east hanger through those opening doors. The ship control centre of the Chrysalis slowly descended from above to the darker innards of one of the four EDEN hangers. Dozens of men and women yelled to each other with handheld beacon lights to help guide the ship down. A good ten minutes later the ship safely touched ground, the connection between the two echoing loudly. Despite the fact that it was made with the lightest defensively sound alloys known to man, the Leviathan weighed at least 800 tons. Such a loud sound was inevitable. It was decided by Commander Beatrix that only a few people would disembark, herself included. Their main priorities were restocking the Leviathan with arms and fuel, repairing and upgrading their Gusions and Uvalls. Besides that, this trip back was only for showing Yumi to the leader of both EDEN and the Ark of the Luria. Father Bartholomeus.

From the side hull of the ship, one of the doors slowly opened up. The metal door extended outwardly until its tip touched the floor of the hanger, 30 metres below. Out from that came Beatrix and Sophia. Behind them was Yumi, Chizuru and Terry. And behind those three were a few others that would be coming with them. The others of Chrysalis would remain on the Leviathan until the commander came back. Yumi descended down the steps of the extended door, then looked over to her left. From the lower left of the Leviathan, its large side doors into the Meta Suit hanger had been opened. She could see the large mechas Oriax and Bishamon being moved out of the ship via a moving conveyer belt and guiding energy beams. But Yumi didn't know how she felt when she looked at it. The Oriax had caused her to leave Meta Tokyo and safety. Did she feel connected to that thing regardless of that?

Chizuru put a hand on Yumi's shoulder. "Hey. Are you okay? I know that this must all be a little. overwhelming for you."

".I-I'm fine," Yumi answered, ".I think I'm more concerned about you, Chizuru. It's because of me that you've been dragged into all of this. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. I'm okay with it. As long as I'm here with you."

Yumi turned a tiny little smile and blushed, while Terry looked ahead towards the far wall of this hanger. ".I'll be taking the pair of you to see Father Bartholomeus. I think you'll find him to be an interesting man. We think very highly of him here."

"Why me?" Chizuru said, "Why am I coming? Not that I mind or anything."

Terry crossed his arms over his chest. "You're Yumi's friend, aren't you? I know from experience that people feel more comfortable in foreign places when they have someone familiar around. The two of you should stick together here. EDEN can be a little intimidating when you're on your own."

Chizuru looked at Terry. It seems that comment meant more than he gave off. She could tell that Terry had felt that way when he first came here. The brave pilot of Chrysalis probably wasn't always so brave. The group came off the long stepping way and touched their feet to the steel of EDEN. A few men were already at hand to greet Commander Beatrix and Major Mariette when they arrived. Beatrix addressed them for a moment then left with the others to go about her business. They would only be stopping on EDEN for a few days. After that they would move onto their next mission. They marched from one side of that extremely large hanger over to the furthest wall. To the south. The eighteen-metre tall doors into the steel citadel opened for them when they came to it. This led them to a separate corridor of the layout. It was a big forked hallway that they came to.

Beatrix closed her eyes. "Lieutenant Hennig."

"Uh? Yes, ma'am?"

".Please take Miss Mishima and Miss Matsubana with you to see Father Bartholomeus. No delays. I am sure that he is eager to meet with them."

Terry saluted his commander. "Yes, Colonel Beatrix."

Beatrix turned to Sophia. "Major Mariette? You'll be coming with me."

"Roger."

Then the group split into three. Yumi, Terry and Chizuru marched straight ahead with Terry in the lead to direct them to Bartholomeus' quarters. While the Chrysalis operatives along with them turned to the right to reach one of the control rooms. It was them who would be organizing the repairs necessary for the Leviathan and the Meta Suits it had on hand. Beatrix and Sophia turned to the left. And kept walking until they found a quiet side room for utilities. Beatrix took a key card out of her pocket and swiped it through the control panel. Then opened the door. They walked in and closed the door behind them. The two then stared at each other for a moment. Then lunged at each other. Their lips connected with a burning swiftness that truly displayed how passionate they were about each other. Sophia moaned whilst Beatrix pressed her hard up against the door of the utilities room. And they kissed fervently. Sophia wrapped her arms around the taller Beatrix's shoulders and neck. And moaned again when she felt the older woman slip her tongue between her lips. The commander of Chrysalis ran her thigh between the younger woman's legs and parted her dark green military skirt. Though her smooth pantyhose Beatrix could feel Sophia's wetness as clear as day. The musky smell of it began to rise into the air, joining the sound effects of their lips smacking against each other. As well as the light moans and the sound of their uniforms being ruffled in the embrace. Finally Sophia broke their kiss, gasping for breath, feeling Beatrix's strong hand cupping her left breast through the fabric of her uniform.

".Cecelia." Sophia muttered breathlessly.

Beatrix pressed the tip of her finger to Sophia's lips to shush her, all the while her thigh was stroking up and down the blue-haired girl's underwear-masked vulva. ".Don't say anything. I probably should have waited until we got to my room. But we have so little privacy on the Leviathan. I suppose I just. couldn't control myself."

"I don't mind," Sophia admitted, "I feel the same way, Cecelia. We must keep this a secret from the troops. It could cause complications if we don't. And I can't honestly say that your grandfather would approve. But I'm okay with that. As long as I can be with you. even for just a brief few minutes at a time."

Although she didn't often do so, Beatrix smiled. Lustfully. "Oh, Sophia. Hearing you speak like that. makes this so much harder."

Then she instantly dove at the flesh of the girl's neck. Sophia moaned aloud and held onto the taller woman, feeling that stroke between her thighs increase in pace. And while they expressed their 'love' in that particular utilities closet; Terry, Yumi and Chizuru had made it to the door of Bartholomeus' room. Thankfully he didn't reside too far from the east hanger. The three of them waited at the door of the corridor until Terry knocked on it. A light flashed on the control panel. One that indicated that the door was already open. So he pressed the button and it shifted to one side. Terry, Yumi and Chizuru walked inside and marvelled at its innards. It was a large chamber. At least fifty by fifty-five metres in size. The floors were covered in oriental rugs and multi-coloured throw pillows. While the walls were decorated with scrolls that depicted direct Latin excerpts from the Bible. Over to the far wall of the room was an altar. Four candles of incense burned from it, and that particular smell wafted around the room. Yumi didn't like it much but she could tolerate it. Just before the altar there was a wooden chair. And on that chair was a certain man. An elderly man that looked to be about seventy years of age sat on that chair like a throne. His regal black and gold robes extended all the way to his sandaled feet. And his long grey beard trailed down to his lap.

Yumi stared at him. ".Are you. Father Bartholomeus?"

Terry nodded. "Uh huh. This is our absolute leader. Bartholomeus Beatrix."

Chizuru blinked. "Beatrix? Does that mean that you.?"

"Yes," This time Bartholomeus answered her, ".commander of the mobile army Chrysalis; Cecelia Faye Beatrix, is my granddaughter. I am very pleased to be meeting you. Miss Yumi Mishima."

"O-of course," Yumi gestured towards Chizuru, "this is. Chizuru Matsubana."

Chizuru bowed her head to the Father for a moment. "It's nice to meet you, sir. I hope it's okay that I came with Yumi."

Father Bartholomeus stared at her for a moment, then bobbed his head in the exact same way, replying with his extensive, lingering voice of wisdom. "Think nothing of it, my dear. EDEN is a home for humanity. Rejection of residence is not our way of life. And I am glad that you have both reached here in good condition. The teams of soldiers sent out by Protocol often track escapees from the Meta Cities without fail."

"What about the people of EDEN?" Asked Yumi.

"Out of the 950,000 people that live in the citadel," began the priest, "less than 2% of them were born in Meta Cities. They only managed to join us because of the cloaking abilities of the Leviathan. They escaped to it and were able to flee to EDEN. Which I am grateful for. Because people should have the option to escape the current way of life in the Meta Cities."

Chizuru ran a hand through her hair. "So you built EDEN for that?"

Bartholomeus smiled. ".The name EDEN is an abbreviation of four Latin words. The first e is for 'Ecclesia' which means Church. The d is for 'Deduco' which means to found a colony. The second is e is for 'Enimus' which means at a distance. Finally the n is for 'Natio', which means nation. My way of thinking, the Ark of the Luria, is based upon contemporary Christian teachings. Those shackled to a force that it cannot quite agree with it should be given the opportunity to shirk it, if they wish."

". And what makes your way any different from Protocol's? It's not like Christianity has always been a force for good." Chizuru asked directly.

"That is a fair comment," Bartholomeus said, "but to judge the dogma of a faith by the way the followers of that faith carry them out is quite unfair. Ark of the Luria offers choice above all else. From Protocol comes the strain of which we are afflicted."

Chizuru locked eyes with him. "But you're prepared to remove a choice in life by defeating Protocol, aren't you? Where's the option in that?"

".For many years we have sought to co-exist with the rule of Protocol. All we asked was that those who do not wish to live under its reign were given rights to govern themselves outside of Protocol's sphere of influence. And we were denied that entitlement. Thus forced to live out our lives in seclusion, afforded less rights than those of a criminal. People who dislike Protocol's system of governing were reduced to no more than political radicals. And so we were forced to flee elsewhere. To build a free nation of our own. That is EDEN. But there are still billions of people suffering Protocol's tyranny. For those people to gain freedom. the chains that restrain them must be broken."

"But what have I got to with that?" Yumi wondered, "Terry said that Protocol had some sort of interest in me. If they do then what is it? I'm just a normal college student."

".Well," The old man began, ".I cannot honestly tell you that I am in the know of Protocol's plans. But what little I do know. I will share. According to the teachings of Protocol's scholars; thousands of years ago there was a time when humanity was deeply connected to each other. A time when life was plentiful and we understood how to live in harmonious balance with nature. This was overseen by what Protocol calls a 'God' and was supposedly a period of great kinship and knowledge. However. There was a sole human being who sought to monopolize the shared knowledge of humanity. That person attempted it. Thus shattering both the inter-connections between men and the connection with that 'God'. But it did not escape unscathed. It was corrupted by that act, which Protocol calls the 'Second Sin'. That corruption caused it to become imperfect. The God then seems to have died because of those imperfections. I think that Protocol now seeks to. resurrect that God."

Though this was supposedly the first time that Yumi and Chizuru were hearing this story, it was Yumi who was startled by it. "They actually want to. resurrect a God?"

".Or rather an organism that acts in God's place," Bartholomeus replied, "the events of the death of Protocol's God took place in the space of seven days. And that week is known as The Seven Keys."

Yumi became thoughtful. "The Seven Keys.?"

"What is it?" Chizuru asked.

"I received an e-mail yesterday morning," She admitted, "I thought that it was junk. But it did mention something about the Seven Keys. I remember that."

Bartholomeus smiled. "I see that the e-mail I had my followers send actually reached your computer."

"That was you?"

The modern Christian man nodded. "Yes. Because although it might not seem it, Yumi, you are an integral part of their plans to revive this God of theirs. So I must ask you. Have you ever dealt with Protocol in the past? Do you have any idea as to what they plan to do with you?"

"No." Yumi said softly, ".I mean. I've dealt with Protocol no more than any average person has. as far as I know I've never been heavily. involved with them."

Bartholomeus pulled up an eyebrow. "As far as you know.?"

".Well. I don't have many memories. before the age of thirteen. So I don't know what happened. until then. I have. no parents now. I think I can. recall a father. but I don't even remember his face, let alone his name. There are instances. when I see myself as a younger girl. I. see myself crying. And. my dress is. covered in blood. with. c-corpses all around me. but I don't know if it's a dream. or a. memory."

Father Bartholomeus ran his fingers through his beard. ".I see. It might be possible that you had contact with Protocol before you lost your memories of the past. But make no mistake about it. Our sources are sure that you are important to them. I feel that way also. Even now I can sense tremendous inner strength from you, Yumi. And if I might be so bold. I would like to make a request?"

".A. request.?"

".We need your strength," He said, "to stop Protocol. And you need a home to reside in from now on. I would like to ask you to assume citizenship on EDEN. and assume a role as a member of Chrysalis."

Yumi's eyes enlarged. ".Join Chrysalis.?"

"Yes. Will you help us?"

There was a sudden flash of that dream/memory image of a child Yumi, her dress stained in blood, running through the hacker's mind at that point. With it came a throbbing pain in her skull. Yumi grabbed her head and scowled, but retained her glance on Father Bartholomeus. ".Y-you mean become y-your soldier!?"

"No, Miss Mishima, that is not what I-"

"W-well it seems like it to m-me!" Yumi cried loudly, her cranium in pain, "I have this. horrible power inside of me! One that controlled me into killing someone! I won't do that again! I'm NOT a killer! I just want to be a normal girl! I won't be a murderer for you or for Protocol!"

Bartholomeus sighed at that declaration, looking downwards. Terry, who had said quiet throughout all this, now spoke up. "C'mon, Yumi. I know that this is hard, believe me I do, but if these guys really wanna bring back some dead deity from the grave, you know that isn't not gonna be a good thing. For all we know it could give them unlimited power. But we could stop them. If you'd join us we would be so much better off. We could-"

"It's not my concern!" Yumi shouted, ".I just want to be normal!"

"Well. believe it or not, you aren't," Terry retorted, "you've got a power inside of you that can protect both you and those around you. Even if it means sacrificing yourself, aren't you prepared to defend those who have no means to defend themselves?"

".It's not my concern." Yumi repeated.

Now Terry found himself getting angry. ".So you'll just sit back and whimper when innocent people are crying out for help that you know you could give? You'd turn your back to the millions of men, women and children trapped inside the Meta Cities just like you were up until yesterday?!"

Yumi looked away, averting his gaze. ".Why should I care about the lives of others. when I don't even care about my own.?"

A loud snarl tore through the room. Followed by the palm of Terry's hand when he slapped Yumi across the face. The white-haired teen yelped and fell backwards. Chizuru gasped and quickly kneeled to her side, while Father Bartholomeus looked on with shock. Terry lowered his hand and scowled, ignoring Yumi's tears. And the one of his own that ran down his left cheek.

"You. fucking. coward!" He barked, ".you're no different than those Protocol bastards! If you can stand there and tell me that you'd ignore the suffering of others just so you can feel better about yourself then you're worse than they are! If you wanna stay there and sulk then that's your own goddamned prerogative! But don't you DARE expect pity from me!"

The half-American, half-German youth turned his back to the sobbing Yumi and marched out of the room, walking out through the doorway. Chizuru cuddled Yumi by the shoulders, while Father Bartholomeus stood up from his chair with a sad expression.

"Please. forgive him," He said to the pair, ".Terry Hennig is a good, kind-hearted boy. But there can be times when his anger will run away with him."

Chizuru helped Yumi back up into a standing position, holding her fast, while saying, "What the hell is his problem? If Yumi doesn't wanna fight, then."

The elderly priest looked on solemnly. ".He has a problem with people who possess power. but choose not to use it for the greater good. His childhood was. very traumatic. Not unlike yours I assume, Yumi."

Yumi held a hand to the bruise on her cheek. ".Like me.?"

"Yes. Terry has no parents. They were both killed when his village was caught in the middle of a Meta Suit training exercise. I am told that he was only eight or nine years of age when it happened. The proctors of that examination were Protocolian pilots working for a constabulary from the nearby Meta City. However. they did not act. And Terry's entire village was destroyed. Out of the 500 people living in the village at that time, Terry is thought to be the only one who survived. They were all killed in the crossfire. Including his much loved parents. Ever since then he has had a crippling hatred of those who abuse power. and those who shirk the responsibilities that come with it. I think the two of you might be able to understand each other better than I ever could."

Yumi held her sore cheek and cast a glance back at the door. All this time and yet the blonde youth had been dealing with the same loneliness as she had. ".Terry."

~~~~~~~*~

"Have I not kept this in reserve

and sealed it in my vaults?

It is mine to avenge; I will repay.

In due time their foot will slip;

their day of disaster is near

and their doom rushes upon them."

Deuteronomy 32:17 - 'The Song of Moses'

~~~~~~~*~

Night fell on the quiet pacific seas around EDEN.

It had been at least twenty hours since the Leviathan had landed in the hanger, and Yumi & the others had disembarked. Twenty hours since Yumi and Chizuru had spoken with Father Bartholomeus about Protocol. Twenty hours since Terry's outburst. Yumi hadn't seen him since then. Thankfully one of Bartholomeus' other attendants showed she and Chizuru around in place of him. They had been allowed to check out a few things inside EDEN. But it was the size of a small city, so she couldn't see everything that it had to offer. But that was okay for now. By the time night had come down on EDEN, Yumi had finished her touring of the structure. She just wanted some air and the truth was that she couldn't concentrate on the layout of the place. All day she had been thinking about what Terry had said. And what Father Bartholomeus had asked of her. Which was why she went out to the upper level of EDEN. She found herself on a small metal balcony sticking outwardly from the eastern side of the city. From there she could look down and gaze at waves of the sea, crashing against the pillars holding up EDEN. Or look out unto the setting of the night and the stars that sparkled in it.

The night was so very beautiful.

But always associated with darkness.

Yumi couldn't help but feel that she too was experiencing something of a similar situation. This power boiling within her body was very influential and important. But it had brought her nothing other than insecurity and fear. Could she really use it to fight? She didn't want to kill people. She could spare lives on the battlefield. but what was to say that that power wouldn't overtake her again and kill them anyway? There was no assurance that in the heat of battle, she would be able to keep her cool. If killing one man instantaneously was just the tip of her strength, then it was truly frightening to think that something worse would happen if she lost all control. But she could make a difference with this power. Could Yumi really turn her back on the people out there who wanted to be saved from Protocol?

Yumi leaned idly over the red-painted railing of the metal balcony and sighed.

"What should I do.?" She whispered.

A male voice called out to her from behind. ".Yumi?"

She knew that particular voice. The white-haired girl looked up when she heard that certain someone lean their elbows on the railing like she had done. It was Terry. The blonde boy looked out unto the sea and stars, admiring them.

".Beautiful, isn't it? The scene from here."

Yumi watched it. ".Yes."

".I'm sorry I hit you, Yumi." Terry apologized, "I had no right to do that. And I should know better. My mom always told me never to hit a girl. It's just. sometimes I get angrier than I want. I find it hard coping with certain views. So I lash out. A shrink in the medical area told me that I have unresolved mental issues brought on by trauma. But I guess using that as an excuse would make me the coward."

Yumi lowered her head. ".Don't. apologize, Terry. What you said was true. I. suppose I wasn't being very considerate. There are other people with similar problems to my own. at least in a psychological sense."

Terry pulled a grim smile. "The Father told you then, huh?"

"I'm so sorry," Yumi said in earnest, "I know that it can't have been easy. To watch your village be destroyed. And growing up without your parents. I know how. lonely that feels."

"It's pathetic, isn't it? It happened over eleven years ago. but I still can't move on. I remember. after those Meta Suits went home, I was too afraid to leave. The village had been burned down but I couldn't leave my Dad's corpse. My mom's body was nowhere to be seen. But I saw her get killed. I spent an hour by my dead dad's corpse because I was too afraid to leave the place that had been home to me up until then. When I finally stopped crying I got myself together. I dug a grave, buried my dad, then left. I drifted for days in the forests without so much a slice of bread to eat. I collapsed from exhaustion at some point. By the time I woke up I was in another village. A woman had found me in the forest and took me with her to her home."

"A woman?"

Terry widened his grim smile. ".Colonel Beatrix. But that was before she had become colonel. She was visiting a friend at that village and was helping her pick herbs when she found me. Though she doesn't always seem it. Colonel Beatrix is a kind woman. When it became obvious that I had no home to go back to, she let me come with her to EDEN. Which was when I came to regard this place as my new home."

"I understand," Claimed Yumi, "but then. why did you become a pilot? If I had been in your position I would have hated Meta Suits from my heart."

"What would be the point of that, though? The Meta Suits were powerful. But power isn't good or bad. It doesn't govern itself. Tragedy is caused by people who abuse power by using it the wrong way. I'm not arrogant enough to say that I'd know the right way to manipulate power. But. my mom taught me well enough to know the difference between right and wrong. And Protocol are wrong. They have to be stopped before they do that to anymore innocent children. That's why I became a pilot. I'd give anything to assure that no other little boy would have to make that choice."

Yumi smiled gently whilst looking at the sea. Father Bartholomeus was right. Terry really was a kind-hearted guy. ".I can respect that, Terry."

The Hennig boy exhaled and turned, facing Yumi. He placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her around to face him. He gazed honestly at her. "Yumi. You don't have to fight if you don't want to. Like I said before, I didn't bring you here to force you into anything you didn't wanna do. Whatever you choose. I'll support you in it. I think that's the least I can for you. Of course."

Terry's bright smile finally returned. ".fighting alongside a pretty girl wouldn't be so bad, right?"

Yumi blushed and looked downwards, staring at her sandals. Terry chuckled at that, letting go of her shoulders. "Heh, heh, heh. Relax. I'm not hitting on you. It's Chizuru you love. right?"

".Y-you. know about that.?"

"It's all over you," Said Terry, ".have you told her yet?"

Yumi shook her head. ".No. I'm afraid. of what her reaction might be. I've already asked a lot of her. and she's been so kind to me about. what happened. in Meta Tokyo."

"Don't make my mistakes, Yumi." Terry told her, "if you have something you wanna say to someone then tell them before its too late. 'Cause you never know when something's gonna happen to prevent you from doing so."

".I suppose you're right. But still. it's never easy for people like us. to share our feelings, is it?"

Terry didn't answer. At that point he was staring hard into the night sky. Yumi expected some response so looked over at him when she didn't get one. And she saw that serious expression on his face. He was looking at something. Yumi cast her gaze in the same direction as Terry. Off in the distance, there were lights in the sky. A few of them were. growing in size. Then Yumi gasped when she realized that that light wasn't growing. but rather moving.

Terry growled and dove for Yumi. "Get down!"

The two teens fell to the ground. And that light rushing their way came straight at EDEN. It smashed into the iron frame of the upper level, causing a huge explosion that swallowed up a small section of the deck. Right next to the landing planes and cargo carriers. The combustion rocked the immediate area and caused debris to be spewed from the explosion point onwards. Including over the balconies. Terry shielded Yumi from the blasted scraps of wood and metal with his back. He grunted at the pain, but bore the weight of it. Flames rose up above. And smoke spread from that point. EDEN had been attacked by a beam cannon. Looking out into the sky, Terry could see hundreds of blue lights. Which he knew to be the exhaust energy of Meta Suits. The blonde man rolled off of Yumi once the debris stopped falling, and the girl stood up, looking confused as ever before. "What. is happening.?"

".Ah! Why, those bastards!" Terry growled loudly, "It's Protocol! They've found EDEN somehow!"

Yumi stared quietly at the Meta Suit army that was coming their way. ".Protocol? But how. did they get here.?"

"Yumi!" Terry quickly rushed to the doorway, but looked back to address her, "Hurry! Find one of the attendants and have them lead you to one of the shelters! I've gotta get to my Meta Suit!"

~~~~~~~*~

The Shinrai Building.

As Commander Celaph sat on the chair of his desk, he once again found himself looking up towards the ceiling at the screen coming out of it. And at the images on that screen. Those of the three hooded men known only as the Triad of the Inquisition. Once again they were enshrouded in darkness. And once again they were speaking to the current commander of all Protocol's military power in Japan.

Celaph clasped his gloved hands together. ".It is as you say. The Thanatos has been awakened from his slumber and is now being shipped to Ix Nos Babel. I find that his temperament has changed slightly. Perhaps cryogenic suspension was actually beneficial for him in the long run."

"That may be so," One of the three said, "but there is still the matter of his other half. The Eros. Our attempt to catch her was fruitless. And as we all know. she escaped Meta Tokyo with the Oriax. This is no longer within the jurisdiction of our abilities. You will have to find her."

Celaph smiled. "She has already been found."

All three men looked on, until the second said, ".You have located the Eros, Celaph?"

"Yes," He confirmed, "she has been monitored for sometime now by one of my informants. Not only has she successfully broken the biological restraints on her powers with mere thought. it appears that she has taken herself in with Chrysalis."

"Chrysalis?" One of the Triad members replied, "So she met with a rebel in the outside world, eh? Interesting. What more have you learned from this. informant?"

"The location of EDEN."

The first Triad member spoke. "You have found EDEN?"

"Yes," The commander separated his hands, "it is six miles off the Japanese eastern coast. Shrouded by barrier fields strong enough to cloak it from our scanners for all this time. So I sent Naam and fifty soldiers of the Divine Blade to secure its destruction."

"You deployed the Divine Blade?" Said the second hooded man.

"I apologize for taking military action without consulting you or at least the Upper Council. But I didn't want to waste time. Eros is with them. And the anniversary of her eighteenth year is closing in. I had to assure that she was secured before then. I am willing to accept the penalties for my insubordination, sirs."

".We shall ignore that in this case, Commander Celaph," Claimed the first of the three, "your actions were the correct ones, regardless of the haste. However it seems risky to trigger a battle in an isolated place like EDEN. If the Eros is killed. then it was all for naught."

"Do not be worried, sirs." He replied, ".she is far too strong."

The second of the three then said, "Very well. We shall entrust this mission fully to your hands. However. There will be a slight change of plans. The Reunion will take place at Ix Nos Babel."

"Ix Nos Babel?" Celaph mimicked absently.

"That is right. The Japanese branch has drawn too much attention to itself with the release of the Oriax Meta Suit. Cold winter shall be the embrace this time around. Make the necessary preparations once the operation against EDEN is complete."

Celaph bowed his head to them in acceptance of that. "Yes, sir."

~~~~~~~*~

The regular forces of EDEN's defence were known as the Protectors of the Ark. A symbolic name for their sworn fealty to the Ark of the Luria. And their control room, their station of command for both the Meta Suit troops and the foot soldiers, was a Seminal Control Tower of the central eastern district. Below the steel roof of the upper level was the steel roof of the control tower, protected from attacks by that level. Normally the operatives inside the tower were only there to do sweeping checks of the vicinity around EDEN every few hours. Not to command the city's troops in the event of an attack. EDEN had never been attacked once in its forty-three year history. But now the Divine Blade squad of the Holy Protocol Army had made history.

They had attacked EDEN.

Now people were scrambling to and around the Seminal Control Tower for guidance on how to act. Fifteen men and women from the upper levels had come down to man the highly modernized computer terminals of that central Control Room. And the leader of EDEN's military forces (in terms of defence) had come, too. He was Colonel Vice Whitfield. The fifty-something army leader crossed his arms and began giving orders to all the helms people at hand. For them to relay his orders to counteract this threat. The whole of EDEN was on red alert. In every hallway, corridor, dorm, hall, chamber, hanger, shop and storage room, the alert siren was going off. A repeated mantra of danger, joined by flashing red lights. Over the intercom, all able-bodied men and women were ordered to make their way from the city area to the shelters while the regular forces and the Meta Suit forces scrambled to deal with the attack.

At the back of the control room, the automatic door opened up. Beatrix and Sophia ran into the room in urgency, moving over to Colonel Whitfield in the centre of the command post.

"What's going on?" Beatrix asked, "what is happening?"

Whitfield crossed his arms. "We are under attack. At least fifty Meta Suits from the Divine Blade forces have attacked EDEN. They've already destroyed at least 20% of the upper level. Now our own troops have to be deployed."

"Above the city!?" Sophia said seriously, "but have you evacuated all the citizens up there?"

"There was not enough time." Replied Whitfield.

Sophia scowled. "What do you mean by that?! If those people get caught in the crossfire then they are sure to be killed!"

"You're overstepping rank, Major!" Whitfield shouted, "this is a war we're fighting, not a game! We have informed everyone to flee to a shelter! If anyone remains then it's their own fault for not heeding our words! We have no time this now! Or would you rather see EDEN destroyed?!"

After hearing that outburst from Colonel Whitfield, Sophia said no more. While Beatrix tried to calm the situation down with another issue, "what of my grandfather?"

"Father Bartholomeus is safe." Claimed Whitfield.

Beatrix thanked God for that. But she couldn't help but be concerned with the fate of the upper level.

~~~~~~~*~

High above the artificially lighted Control Tower was the surface of EDEN. The beautiful night stars were now drowned out in brightness by the flash of explosions and fire. Fire that burned across the entire east side of the structure, and now spreading into the over-ground parts of the city. Young and old alike screamed and ran for cover as the Meta Suits zoomed high up above in combat. The Divine Blade soldiers rained down heavy gunfire from their two-handed Beam Rifles. Viscous explosion after vicious explosion rocked that level to the cast of the metal. People were thrown off their feet from the strength of the vibrations that emanated from those compressed bursts of combustion. Smoke seeped through the houses and shops of the citizens of EDEN. As the townsfolk tried to run they coughed and wheezed on that smoke. Constantly passing by the mangled corpses of the current dead as they did. The attack was fast and furious. In a short time the Divine Blade had done much damage.

The floor hanger doors on the eastern side then opened up. Out from it flew the Bishamon. Alongside it were the dozens of Meta Suits deployed in the defence of the city. The brown-coloured Uvalls and Gusions of Chrysalis, as well as the green-coloured Halphas-type ones that had been created specifically to defend EDEN. Altogether there was a number of seventy Meta Suits that had come out of the hanger for the battle. The Bishamon was at the head of that army. And they all flew in the direction of the attacking Amon Meta Suits from Protocol's army. While he did, Terry looked down from the video screen in his cockpit. At least half of the eastern section of the upper city section was in flames. The Protocol scum had only attacked around fifteen minutes ago and yet they had obliterated that which had taken years to build.

"Damn those bastards to hell!" Terry seethed, "Are you with me, guys?! Lets go kick some ass!"

The Uvalls, Gusions and Halphas' pilots all yelled their agreement and zoomed into the thicket of the Divine Blade's assault. The purple-coloured and heavily armoured Amons soon caught onto the mobilization of EDEN's military and started firing from their beam cannons. EDEN's forces exchanged that gunfire with their own. Soon the sight of blue and purple gun energy was shooting through the skies like a pyrotechnic show. The lights and sounds of the battle could be heard from miles off. And new explosions took place. Those of destroyed Meta Suits on both sides. The battle was on. The Bishamon flew through the engaged air above the city. One of the Amons came flying in from the front. It pulled up its long beam rifle then fired for Terry's mecha. The Bishamon pumped up its thrusters and blazed to one side of the gunfire. Then the plates of Japanese shoulder armour mounted on its shoulders reacted. They rose up slightly. And out came the twin turrets of the Bishamon's Gatling capabilities. Dozens of bullets were offloaded in rapid fire bursts from the Bishamon's shoulder cannons. And the attacking Amon was trapped in that hail of firepower. Right until it exploded into purple-painted shards of metal and ash. The gatling guns, one on either shoulder of the Bishamon, returned to their compartments underneath the armour. Which was when Terry noticed one coming at him from the left. The Bishamon swung around in reflex and reached behind its back with one of its large metallic hands. Then pulled out that enormous Japanese-flavour sword. The thermal energy Katana. The Bishamon unsheathed the weapon and charged it with searing hot energy extending from the Qi-Generator of the mech. It then rushed forwards on the power of its thrusters and slashed. Cutting that Amon and its pilot into two even halves, with a long streak of jade fire trailing behind it. The remains of the Amon exploded into nothingness. The Bishamon flew back around and started hacking a path through all the mecha in its way. Terry yelled fierce war cries from the crux of his throat with each strike. Until he saw one particular mecha that caught his interest.

Terry froze in the cockpit, while the Bishamon recoiled from the destruction of another Amon. He stared through the video screen at a certain mecha in the battle that was definitely an enemy, but looked different from the Amon-types. It was of a dusky-red, similar in colour to his own Meta Suit. But that one had a design like a Teutonic knight. The thick plates of Prussian/Germanic armour in polished red, with that big golden lion symbol on its chest, screamed a certain familiarity to Terry. But he couldn't quite place it.

"That suit." He said, ".where have I seen that suit.?"

Then it all came flashing back. His memories of the past were clear and concise. When he looked back at the flames of his village, deep in his memory, Terry could see that same Meta Suit.

That very same one.

".That's the one." He said, anger rising in every syllable, "that's the one. that killed my father! That's the one that destroyed my village! Bastaaaaaaaaaaard!"

The Bishamon turned on its thrusters once more and darted through the crowds of battling mecha, through the explosion and gunfire, all the way to the presence of that red mecha. While rushing towards it, the twin gatlings under the Bishamon's shoulder armour came out from their short slumber and fired. The red mecha, armed with both a mecha-sized broadsword and mecha-sized wrist shield, caught onto this. The mecha swung around and pushed forward its circular shield to deflect all the rapid fire bullets. The Bishamon ceased this attack when Terry realized it was getting him no where. The gatlings slid back into the shoulder plates. And the two mechas were left facing each other in the middle of that loud, echoing battleground in the sky.

Terry yelled out through a com-link so his voice could be heard by the other pilot. ".You! Who are you?! Were you at the village of Eberbach eleven years ago!?"

The pilot of the red suit laughed through the speakers of his own com-link. "Hah, hah, hah! Eberbach! That takes me back. But who would ask such a question of the great General Naam in the middle of a battle?"

Terry took note of the name and the familiarity of the voice but soon answered with, "It was you.. You were one of the ones who ruined my village. damn you."

"A citizen of Eberbach.?" Naam wondered, ".who are you?"

The pilot of the Bishamon snarled. ".Remember it well. Because it's the name of your executioner. I am Terry Hennig!"

General Naam fell silent for a moment. Right before, ".Terry.? Hennig.? So then. you must. be the son of Heinrich and. Lilith. So you actually survived the contest. now that is something I never would have predicted."

".Heinrich and Lilith. that's my mom and dad. How do you know who they are!? Why did you kill them?!"

Naam swung the broadsword of his Meta Suit to one side in an attempt to provoke Terry. ".Fool. I'll not make the same mistake twice. What does the past mean to soldiers in the thick of battle? Come at me in that Samurai Meta Suit of yours! And see if you can best my Bahamut in a fight! Do you want revenge?!"

"Orraaaagggghhh!" Terry left nothing to mere words after that. The Bishamon flew forwards at blinding speeds at the Bahamut. The two thermal-capable weapons clashed against each other with a warped ripple that passed through the air in waves. The two Meta Suits locked swords, and their heads leaned into one and other. The force of their clash pushed them both back. Bishamon regained its sense of stability first and opened the shoulder plates once more. A hail of bullets came flying from the turrets of his gatlings once again. The Bahamut swung up its shield and blocked them once again. But this time it advanced into a charge whilst guarding against the bullet shower. The Bahamut's shield rammed into the chestplate of the Bishamon. Terry and his mecha jerked back violently from that. Then Naam followed up his attack, swinging the broadsword into the air. The Bishamon replied. The two swords clashed once more with a loud, throbbing bang. And they held each other off in this fresh weapon lock. The Bishamon strained to hold off the heavier blade with its own. Which was when Terry looked at his control panel. His sensors were reading General Naam's Qi level at 6,450. And Terry, in his current state of mind, was bearing up at only 5,200. Naam seemed to notice this too, because Terry could here his laugher through the speakers of his Meta Suit's mouthpiece. The katana was now losing ground to the broadsword, coming close to the head of the Bishamon. Naam was overpowering him. And Terry couldn't focus. His mind was to caught up with his parents.

".Dammit." He seethed in the cockpit, ".tell me. who are you, Naam? What's your connection to my parents!? What do you know that I don't?"

Naam sniggered. "Stupid boy. just like your father. the reasons why don't matter at all. All that matters is the result. And the result for me is victory."

The Bahamut extended its long mechanical leg and kicked the Bishamon straight in the stomach area. Which happened to be where the cockpit was positioned. The samurai-like Meta Suit was knocked out of the sword lock and thrown out of the air. It went careening into a layout of houses in the city. The suit smashed into those homes without anything else to cushion it. Crushing to death the families left trapped inside them. Rubble clattered over the legs and chest of the Bishamon, while blood ran down from Terry's forehead. The forceful kicks of the Bahamut were something to be feared.

".Damn you." Terry seethed to himself weakly, right before he lost consciousness, encircled by the sound of explosions and gunfire.

~~~~~~~*~

Across the tract of EDEN, a separate team of Amon mechas attacked the western side of the citadel. The residential area. That team was of four particular Amons. Each one belonging to a particular pilot of high Divine Blade rank. Those pilots were Kraepelin, Steed, Aria and Ry. Their Amons were armed with either beam rifles or energy-charged broadswords linked up to their generators via a thick cable. And each of them had given a particular name to their Amons.

Kraepelin regarded his as 'Azazel'. Steed called his 'Bifrons'. Aria had named her Meta Suit 'Crocell'. Finally Ry called his suit by the name 'Decarabia'. The four of them hovered over the western side of the town without any EDEN mecha around. They were too caught up with the battle taking place just a quarter of a mile away. The sound of it was vibrant enough to be heard from that distance. But it was having no bearing on what these four did. Those with beam cannons (Bifrons and Crocell) fired ruthlessly upon the unguarded homes of those living there. Fire swept through that part of the city wildly. Smoke rose up into the air while the screams of those torched to death from the fire joined it.

Kraepelin laughed from the cockpit of Azazel while his two friends went about blowing up innocent citizens. "Heh, heh, heh. Those two are so zealous. They're worse than me!"

"General Naam should be pleased," Ry said from the safety of his Decarabia, "the ring leaders of these fragile people should come out at some point. If we have our way. this whole thing will go down into sea as a distant memory."

While they spoke, Crocell had its long-snout gun aimed at another group of houses. It was about to pull the trigger but halted when a family (a man, a woman and two kids) ran out of the house and onto the 'street', for dear life. Aria's smile widened and she focused the crosshairs of her rifle at the four of them, yelling, "Some survivors, eh? Anyone who denies the will of Protocol must die! Even children! So say goodbye, you little bitches!"

A second female voice yelled out through the speakers of a Meta Suit just before Crocell pulled the trigger of the beam rifle. "Stop it!"

Aria looked to her right from the cockpit of the Crocell. From her side cameras she could she a Meta Suit rushing towards her with a long, beaming energy blade extended from its titanium left hand. But that was the last thing she would ever see. Bifrons, Decarabia and Azazel became alert. The energy blade of that Meta Suit slashed straight through the metal torso of the Crocell. That mecha burst backwards from the hacked machine. And the Crocell exploded violently in the air, killing Aria instantly. While the family that she had aimed at continued to escape. Bifrons, Decarabia and Azazel readied their weapons and stared down at this mecha. But they knew it well. Or at least from what General Naam had told them.

It was the Oriax.

And its pilot, Yumi Mishima, was sitting on the elongated leather seat of its watery trans-dimensional cockpit with her hands at the controls.

Steed growled angrily from his cockpit. "Damn you! Killing Aria was a mistake you won't live to regret!"

"So that's the one." Ry commented.

"The Oriax." Kraepelin grinned, ".this should be fun."

Yumi yelled at them from the Oriax's mouthpiece. "I didn't want to fight! I didn't want to kill again! But you attacked a peaceful haven for peaceful people! I can't ignore that! Even if it causes me pain, I cannot let you kill innocent people!"

Steed snarled at her, while the Bifrons leapt into a charging action towards the Oriax. "Little girl! If you can't handle the battlefield then stay. away!"

The Oriax watched the actions of the attacking Bifrons. It fired a hard shot from its beam cannon. The Oriax vaulted upwards with its thrusters as well as its Zero Gravity Movement. Then it protruded its right hand. The palm opened and a Vulcan turret shifted out. The Oriax fired rapidly into the steel torso of the Bifrons. Hundreds of bullets were buried into its armour by the time it was done. Steed yelled a death cry when the whole thing exploded, joining Aria in the great beyond. Decarabia rushed forwards without a word coming from Ry and tried to slash the Oriax with its energy sword. Yumi powered up the Oriax's Gauntlet Blade once again and slashed back. The Oriax's energy blade burned straight through the sword of the Decarabia and then down into its armour. It swiftly dragged the Gauntlet Blade out of the Amon-type Meta Suit moments before it blew up. The oil from the remains of the machine splattered over the chest and head of the Oriax. But that left only the Azazel.

Kraepelin shivered in his cockpit. ".H-how can a Meta Suit be that strong.? According to Azazel's readings. that suit is running on a Qi level of over 9, 500!"

The Oriax lifted its blazing energy wrist blade and pointed it at the Azazel, while Yumi said to the pilot, "This does not have to continue any longer! Please just leave!"

Kraepelin sneered however. ".Wrong! I won't leave. This is just a setback. You're nothing but a kid! And I know exactly who you are! The one that General Naam told us to capture. the pilot of the Oriax. Yumi Mishima! Now it's all coming to a head."

"What are you talking about.?"

"It's simple," Kraepelin jabbed, ".you're too soft to be a soldier. I can hear it in your voice. You're completely unprepared for battle. And it will be your downfall!"

Yumi watched from the Oriax as Azazel opened a compartment in its metallic wrist. A gatling gun of its own came up slowly from it. Then it pointed directly towards the ground they were hovering over. "My sensors tell me that there are at least fifteen living people inside the three houses that are below me. I can offload at least 200 bullets in the five seconds it would take for you to fly over here and chop my Meta Suit in half. That's more than enough firepower to kill every single one of them! Even the little baby bawling in its cot! Unless you surrender and hand over the Oriax, I'll kill them all!"

"W-what!?"

Kraepelin grinned evilly. ".You have two choices. You can either attack and watch me murder those pathetic bystanders just an instant before I die. or you can submit and I'll let them live."

"Y-you're bluffing!" Yumi argued, "You'd kill them anyway!"

"Maybe I am bluffing. Maybe I'm not. But the real question is. are you prepared to risk their lives to find out.?"

A bead of sweat dripped down Yumi's face. Her eyes shook. Even now she could see flashes of that little girl version of herself covered in blood. And the voice of Terry in her mind. 'I'd give anything to assure that no other little boy would have to make that choice'. In that way. it was obvious that she had no choice but to surrender. Even if this man was bluffing (and there didn't really seem to be a reason as to why we would) she couldn't risk someone being killed if there was something she could do about it. Yumi sighed in defeat, lowering her head. ".You win."

Kraepelin sniggered. ".Good. I knew you'd see sense. Now get out of the cockpit."

The Oriax slowly descended to ground level. It landed on a street of the city, and the door forged into the stomach of the machine (the one that led into the miniature cockpit-dimension) opened. Yumi stepped out of the door to its innards and jumped down to the blazing fires of the streets below. She looked up at the now lofty Azazel, which kept its gatling gauntlet pointed at the houses Kraepelin had threatened to gun down. The Azazel landed loudly. Its own cockpit door opened. And Kraepelin stepped out with a gun in his uniformed hand. He jumped out off the Meta Suit as Yumi had done and landed to the ground. Then walked forwards with the gun pointed at the young woman. While he walked he stuffed his hand into his pocket. Then pulled out a pair of handcuffs. He tossed them to the feet of Yumi.

"Put those on." He ordered.

Yumi sighed and kneeled down. Taking the cuffs into her hands she attached them to her wrists awkwardly. Kraepelin chuckled with victory. Then stepped forwards, coming face to face with the securely restrained girl. He then grit his teeth at her and smacked her violently over the face with the butt of his gun. Yumi cried out and dropped to the ground, bleeding from the mouth.

Kraepelin then sheathed his gun in its pocket holster. "That's for Aria, Steed and Ry. Know this. Anyone who defies Protocol earns themselves a one-way ticket to hell."

Yumi coughed from the smoke and heat, spurting up blood which splattered over the metal floor. ".T-tell me. h-how. did you. find this. place.?"

"Hmph," Kraepelin looked over to the right, ".to regard it in terms of a criminal offence. I'd have to call it an act of espionage. She's supplied us with more information on EDEN and its military capabilities than you can imagine."

Yumi rolled over onto her stomach to she could look to the right, as Kraepelin had done. Though she had not noticed it before, there was a small fighter plane nestled between two artificial gardens on the other side of the road. It had been newly landed. And a woman stood astride it. Bearing long black hair and dressed in a Protocol military uniform of dark green. A woman. Yumi couldn't see her very well at first because of the smoke and the shadows of the fire that was cast upon her. It wasn't until the woman, that informant for Protocol, stepped forward that Yumi saw her face. The hacker's eyes enlarged and her heart skipped a beat. The Protocolian spy was.

".C-Chizuru.?!"

The dark-haired woman, now with a very serious expression on her frighteningly dazzling face, stopped walking. "That's not my name. I am Lieutenant First Class -- Chizu Yagata. Operative of the Special Reconnaissance & Tactical Intelligence Division of the Holy Protocol Army. And you, Miss Mishima, you once again belong to Protocol."

~~~~~~~*~

I am my own parasite

I don't need a host to live

We feed off of each other

We can share our endorphins

Doll steak, test meat

Look on the bright side is suicide

Lost eyesight I'm on your side

Angel left wing, right wing, broken wing

Lack of iron and/or sleeping

I am my own pet virus

I get to pet and name her

Her milk is my shit

My shit is her milk

Test meat, doll steak

Look on the bright side is suicide

Lost eyesight I'm on your side

Angel left wing, right wing, broken wing

Lack of iron and/or sleeping

Doll steak, test meat

Look on the bright side is suicide

Lost eyesight I'm on your side

Angel left wing, right wing, broken wing

Lack of iron and/or sleeping

Protector of the kennel

Ecto-plasma

Ecto-skeletal

Obituary birthday

Your scent is still here in my place of recovery

~ 'Milk It', Nirvana

~~~~~~~*~

Chronicle Four - the RE-birth of God

~~~~~~~*~

The Arctic.

That part of the northern hemisphere surrounding the North Pole; that which is arbitrarily defined as the region lying N of the Arctic Circle (66º 32'N) or N of the tree line. And there was no Arctic continent. The greater part of the region comprised the Arctic Ocean,

which was the world's smallest ocean. Arctic climate, fauna, and flora extended over the islands and northern edges of continental land masses that surrounded the Arctic Ocean (examples of which being Svalbard, Iceland, Greenland, Siberia, Scandinavia and Alaska). The region immediately at and around the North Pole was covered with rough sea ice, and the depth of the water at the North Pole itself was more than 3,658 m/2,000 fathoms. If truth be told, the whole ocean was covered over with sea ice, which varied in depth from 1.5 m/5 ft to 9 m/30 ft, with an average of about 3 m/33 ft.

With all that in mind, the Arctic Circle region was not a good place for man to settle. However 85 years ago, the group Protocol employed over 32 large Russian submarines as well as 35,000 able men from around the globe, to build an artificial island in the middle point of the circle, an island which would later become known as 'Kyoga'. It was a large land mass considering the fact that it was built by mankind itself, at over 3.3 miles in length and 4.2 miles in distance. Eternally covered in snow, only a select few had ever seen the Kyoga. And so its existence was often rumoured as a myth in some critic circles outside of the Protocol Organization.

There were some people who often called it the 'Second St. Helena', due to the rumours that a well-known cyber-criminal had been imprisoned there for his part in the spreading of a hyper-worm virus, which infected 2,500,000 computers worldwide. But what those few people could confirm, was that it was the home of a gigantic tower forged in the centre of the icy synthetic island. That tower was at a height of 23 kilometres and at width of 12 kilometres. The fact was, it could be seen from any distance upon the island. Anyone in the upper ranks of Protocolian sway knew that this place was the true HQ of the Protocol organization.

It was called. Ix Nos Babel.

And that was Terry's target.

Across the deep layers of ice on Kyoga Island, a large red Meta Suit flew low across the ground, while light snow fell down from the grey heavens above. It was the Bishamon suit. But now looking far different than it did three weeks ago. Its frame had become smaller and sleeker, with extra power diverted to the thrusters as well as a completely new Energy Katana sheathed at its back. The suit was covered with all new polish which showed its upgrades. A faster, stronger version of the previous model of the same name. This was the Bishamon M-2. Terry's eyes hardened from the cockpit as he looked ahead through its cameras. In the distance there was a long line of armaments. Tall Amon-type Meta Suits standing guard alongside power generators. Those that had been created to sustain an invisible (to the human eye) wall of energy. In front of that energy wall were hundreds of ground-based laser cannons running on the same operating system as the power generators for the shield. Behind that wall of defence was the distant presence of that Protocol base, Ix Nos Babel, just two more miles inland.

".This must be the Second Defensive Line of the three, eh?" Terry commented, "looks tougher than the one on the shoreline. But now nothing is gonna stop me. Just you wait, Naam."

He poured more force into the thrusters built into the legs of the Bishamon. It propelled him at a harder rate towards the Second Defensive Line. A system of protection for the tower known as Ix Nos Babel. The Bishamon shifted its arm up. The red metal wrist of the mecha opened up in part. A compartment opened. A small but powerful wrist cannon, one running on Qi energy rather than bullets or plasmatic/thermal energy, rose from it. Terry aimed the crosshairs on his video screen directly for the chain of power generators behind the shield. Then fired. A thin but extremely high frequency blast of energy shot from the wrist cannon towards the shield, burning the air around it. The power beam struck into the shield violently and did its job. Breaking straight through it. The blast then hurtled into the power generators as the target. The following explosion echoed throughout the area. Metal and fire was tossed upwards as far as the eye could see. Then those nearby Amons were caught up in that combustion, flame spreading across the ground, too strong to be put out by falling flakes of snow. The Bishamon returned its wrist cannon to its wrist and then rushed ahead at the broken shield. It reached back and pulled out the long Energy Katana sheathed on its back. Once awakened, the sword began to charge itself up with bright streaks of powerful Qi energy, that of Terry, magnified by the strength of the Bishamon's Qi-Generator. By that time the Amons on guard were already flying up and leaving their posts to bring down the attacker. Terry snarled angrily at the Amons coming his way.

"Bastards! You won't stop me!" He screamed, "I'll rescue Yumi and tear down that tower all by myself!"

While watching the group of Amons charge him, Terry could not help but remember the point at which he had been given this new power.

The line of thirty Amon Meta Suits pulled up their large hand guns and began firing at the target. The Bishamon dodged past all that gun fire. It flew upwards and downwards at lightning-fast speeds, dodging and darting through all of the blasts. Manipulating speed and agility that the previous Bishamon couldn't have hoped to have achieved. Then it slashed downwards with the katana. A huge wave of Qi energy trailed along the movements of the blade and then was hurled forwards from it, coming down in a sweeping arc, in the abstract shaped of a bird of prey. The Qi wave sliced through the troop of Amons. It cut savagely through the first line of ten. Then the second line. Then finally the third. Vivid chain explosions of thirty followed the attack. Huge pillars of smoke and fire rose into that cold, cold air. Yet the Bishamon just flew through it. Then went about slaughtering the remaining seventy Amons that were directly in its way. The purple debris and black oil of the mecha littered the ground like flesh and blood, while the men piloting the Amons stood no chance against the Bishamon.

"Yaaah!" Terry howled a war cry, his Bishamon's sword hacking through and destroying Amon after Amon, "D'you hear me, Naam!? I'm coming for yaaaaaaaahh!"

~~~~~~~*~

".So you're finally awake.?"

Yumi moaned softly from her lips. Her eyes still felt heavy and tired. But her body it seems was rejecting anymore sleep than what she had gone through so far. Her tired eyelids started to flutter open. And her eyesight was hazy. She must have been asleep for a while. The redness of her eyes and the matter around them was proof of that much. All the same, Yumi started to awaken. She opened her eyes fully, realizing that her head was drooping downwards. From that position she could see a long white dress on her body. While her bare feet dangled just a short distance from the ground. Then she noticed ache in the joints of her arms. She was chained to a wall with her arms reaching up diagonally. Forming her body into a sort of Y shape. The hacker tilted her head back up. Then looked forwards. A woman was standing before her by a metre. A woman dressed in a green Protocol uniform. That woman was the one who betrayed Yumi. The one who had supplied information to Protocol about the location of EDEN. The one who had monitored Yumi in secret. The one who Yumi felt she could really care about. Even now. it hurt Yumi's heart to know of her true colours.

and that woman was Chizuru Matsubana.

Or rather, 'Chizu Yagata'.

The Protocolian spy.

".Chizuru," Yumi whispered, almost in a sob, ".why.?"

The very serious and now prolifically non-ditzy Chizu crossed her arms. ".I'm just following orders, Miss Mishima. It's nothing personal, really. I've been tracking and monitoring you for years now. That was my mission. To watch you and observe the development of your powers. Once you entered college, you became more distant than usual. Living only through cyber-space. So I was forced to recruit myself in the same college as you. All for the purpose of getting close enough to observe your progression. While delivering information of the location of EDEN to Commander Celaph was not part of my orders, it was my duty to do so."

".B-but. I. thought."

"What?" Chizu prodded, "That I cared for you? I'm not heartless. I never once pretended to be your friend or a potential lover. I hold no ties to anyone but the Commander."

Yumi's heart ached. She could hear the quiver in Chizu's voice when she spoke of her leader. ".The Commander..?"

"William Ank Celaph," Chizu uttered coolly, "my fiancée."

And that was the final nail in the coffin of Yumi's heart. Not only was Chizu as spy, not only had she betrayed Yumi, not only did she not have feelings for Yumi from the beginning, but she was in love with someone else. The same man who had probably ordered the attack on EDEN. A heavy sense of pain and betrayal infected Yumi's heart. There was no getting over something like this. She could stand it if everyone else had betrayed her. But not Chizuru/Chizu. That was the greatest agony of all. Yumi was utterly devastated.

Chizu observed the white-haired girl for a brief moment, and then sighed. ".At least be thankful that you still have your life. Many on EDEN were not so lucky. Now that metal ocean city is under our control."

A tear dropped from Yumi's cheek. ".How could you.?"

"Very easily," Chizu answered, "it's my job. I was only following orders like I told you before, Miss Mishima. The will of Protocol must be upheld. As long as the people see that. then there is no need for bloodshed. If any losses were sustained as a result of the battle then it is the duty of the rebels to bear the responsibility. Our way at Protocol is not destruction but rather preservation. That is our wish. In the hallowed name of God, our righteousness will prevail. Insurrectionist militias like Chrysalis, heretics like Father Bartholomeus, and establishments like EDEN stand in our way. Thus they stand in the way of God. And we just can't have that."

".You're not the woman I thought. you were." Yumi said in tears.

Chizu frowned. Then turned her back on Yumi. They were inside a circular room. One that was shaped like a large hexagon. It was of pure white. And Chizu walked towards the door. She pressed a few keys on the control panel and the automatic door opened. A man was waiting out there. Yumi could just about see him from that distance. An Englishman. Though Yumi couldn't quite hear what was said, the man walked up to Chizu and said,

"Is she awake yet, Lieutenant Yagata?"

Chizu nodded. "Yes. Are you going to speak with her?"

"I will. By the way. An unknown custom model Meta Suit has just broken through the secondary defensive line. Send orders to the North Control Room. Have them station as many of the Baal-types as possible to bolster the third defensive line. Then we'll dine later on."

Chizu saluted him. "Yes sir."

The spy then went off to do as commanded, while the Englishman walked into Yumi's pure white holding chamber. The automatic door closed behind him. And he walked up to the restrained Yumi, his cape flowing behind him like a banner. The taller man stopped when he reached within a metre of her. Then crossed his arms and looked over Yumi.

"So you are the infamous 'Yumi Mishima'," He commented, "a child female with the ability to not only steal programs from our own mainframes and pilot the Oriax Meta Suit. but change the world. Your Qi is enormous. Quite frankly I've never heard of anyone possessing a stronger Qi force than yours. Katsuragi was right about you all along."

Yumi observed this man. ".Who. are you.?"

"William Ank Celaph," He proclaimed, "Substitute commander for the Japanese forces of the Holy Protocol Army. I was commissioned to come here by our leaders for this. It's your eighteenth birthday today, is it not?"

The hacker stared at the commander. This was William Ank Celaph. He was the man that Chizu was engaged to. Another member of Protocol. And he was the one who ordered the attack on EDEN. When Yumi did not reply to him, Celaph continued regardless.

".I imagine that this is all a shock to you. I suppose you should know that EDEN is now in our grasp. The ring leaders and main operatives for that group you had contact with, Chrysalis, are on the run. But it is only a matter of time before we find them. Your decision to submit rather than fight was wise. Please don't think I do not respect that."

Yumi looked away. ".I don't want your 'respect'."

"Well I can see as much." Celaph replied, "but I can at least inform you of certain things. You might be a prisoner. but we only treat you so because of your exceptional powers. Those shackles you are restrained in are made from a particular kind of alloy. One that has a chemical agent mixed into it. That chemical blocks out Qi force. We must take precautions with someone such as yourself."

Yumi rolled her head to one side, looking around. Celaph noticed this and spoke up once again. "Are you wondering where you are? This place is a holding cell in a structure known as Ix Nos Babel. It is our headquarters. The fact that you have been brought here must show to you. your importance to us."

".What is it. that you want.?"

"From you? I suppose there is no harm in telling you this now. Ix Nos Babel is built over an artificial island in the Arctic Circle. It may seem odd to base our headquarters in such a strange place. However deep below the ice, on the sea bed of the Arctic Ocean, there are certain buildings. We call them the 'Ancient Ruins'. They are the last trace of the first ever human civilization on Earth. 78 years ago a Protocolian submarine was damaged and ended up very close to the Ancient Ruins. When our retrieval team went to save them, they stumbled upon those ruins. We spent the next 28 years excavating them. Which was when we discovered the Tablets of Destiny."

Yumi blinked. ".Tablets. of Destiny."

"The last remaining piece of literature of that civilization. It detailed the events of the Seven Keys. And the results. You see. mankind did not evolve from simians. Homo Sapiens were an instantaneous creation of a God that came down from the stars. That perfect God, which we refer to as 'Novus Deus', produced an organism that we have called Bio-System. It was a very intricately designed life-form, that had an unmistakable need to assimilate information. Almost alike a computer. And it eventually began to divide itself as the knowledge that the Bio-System gained gave it the ability to do so. The Bio-System separated into multiple organisms that we call humanity. However. humanity may not have had a biological connection to each other anymore. but what it did have was a sustained psychological correlation. Our minds were still connected in a synonymous network not unlike the Internet. We call that the Interlink. Its power was so great that if one man died on one end of the world, another man on the other end of the world would know about it in seconds. All this was overseen by the Novus Deus, guiding its children. But then tragedy struck."

"Tragedy?"

"A sole woman attempted to manipulate all knowledge to herself using the Interlink to her own advantage. This caused the Interlink's breakdown. Forever dividing mankind into a thousand races, hearts, minds and souls. This event was known as the Second Sin. And it had a chain reaction. For now that the Interlink was broken, the Novus Deus had no means by which to sustain itself. It was polluted by the Second Sin, and died. Its corpse then halved itself into two forms. The Eros and the Thanatos. The Eros representing mankind's potential for life, and the Thanatos representing mankind's eventual passage into death. Those events took place within the space of seven days. Thus comes the term 'Seven Keys'. Eros and Thanatos, those two organisms, those offshoots of the death of the Novus Deus, became pivotal to the future of the world. Because they are drawn to each other through time and space. Destiny proclaimed that the Novus Deus would rise again, and that every 148 years, the Eros and Thanatos would find each other and mate, to produce a new Novus Deus. However. One would not be born until the impurities caused by the Second Sin had been 'bred out' of the bloodline. Consequently. if a particular generation's Eros and Thanatos still possessed too much of the evil of the Second Sin in its blood, an imperfect Novus Deus. a 'Vulnus Deus'. would be born. An imperfect God. eternally a trigger for tragic event. So far there has not been a perfect birth since the arrival of the original Novus Deus. Every 148 years the Eros and Thanatos mate and yet they have created only Vulnus Deus. These Vulnus Deus then die shortly afterwards, separating into two forms. Those two forms are embryos that hibernate and evolve into the Eros and Thanatos of the next generation, 130 years later. Once they both turn 18... they mate. and the cycle continues. And it will continue again and again and again until a Novus Deus is born."

Yumi was shocked. She knew the general trend of that story from what Father Bartholomeus told her, but there was so much more to it. Celaph watched Yumi's reaction and said, "Since the Novus Deus died more than 6,000 years ago, it should be obvious to you now that there has never been a successful mating between the many incarnations of the Eros and Thanatos throughout time. But we believe. that this time will be different."

"Maybe so," Yumi commented, "but what does ANY of that have to do with me?"

Celaph smiled at her. ".Hasn't it sunk in yet? The reason we have monitored and kidnapped you so unceremoniously is because. you are this generation's Eros."

Yumi's eyed widened. ".Me.?"

"Correct," Said the commander, "that is the reason you possess such strong Qi force. And by now you may wonder what the Oriax has in connection to all of this. Because by now you must have realized that it is not purely mechanical. It was created with the remains of the last Vulnus Deus. The creature you were spawned from. Its carcass was buried under the ice of the Arctic Circle, produced by two research workers in 2005. It was that Vulnus Deus birth that stimulated the nuclear war between Iran and the West. Which consequently gave Protocol the means by which to govern the world after the war ended. 30% of the Oriax and its brother mecha, the Raum, was created from the cloned cells left of the Vulnus Deus. It reacts well with you. In some ways. it was truly created for you."

Yumi was stunned. So she was the Eros. ".I can't. believe."

"This is probably all very overwhelming," Celaph said, "but it is not an illusion, I assure you."

"But. what do. you plan on doing. if a. perfect. God is."

Celaph finished her sentence for her. ".Born? You might think that Protocol is controlled by the Upper Council. But our true leaders are three prophets. Aherg, Ein, and Karahi. As a unit they are known as the Triad of the Inquisition. They are Protocol's unseen benefactors. And they have declared our fate. Once the Novus Deus is born. humanity will become as one organism. We will merge into a sole form, free from the divides of language, thought, race, sex, sexuality, creed and physical appearance. Humanity will be restored to its original Bio-System form. Novus Deus will breathe new life into the planet. We shall all become one."

Yumi looked on with fright. "B-but that's. crazy."

".Is it? You only think that way because of your imperfect individuality, Eros. That will be gone soon. Mankind will once again assume one form."

The hacker lowered her head. "No. this isn't."

"You have no choice in the matter, Miss Mishima. Because you are a direct descendant of a perfect God. And today you will give birth to a second one."

~~~~~~~*~

After the success of the Divine Blade forces in the attack against EDEN, their stationing at the Shinrai Complex of Meta Tokyo was officially absolved. In the three weeks after that day, the Divine Blade had been ordered to leave for Ix Nos Babel as soon as they got back from the EDEN battle. Commander Celaph had come with them at the command of the upper branches. No one, not even the leader of the Divine Blade, General Naam, knew what the reason was for it. But most suspected that it had something to do with the Meta Suit that had been re-captured. As well as the female pilot that had 'stolen' it from the Shinrai Complex. Yumi Mishima and the Oriax.

Most members of the Divine Blade were happy to go. Ix Nos Babel was like holy ground for Protocol members. But ironically, the only one of the Divine Blade who did not share that jubilation was General Naam.

Right now the haughty military genius stood in one of the thirty great hanger bays of Ix Nos Babel. He looked up, staring blankly at the presence of his knightly Meta Suit, the Bahamut. It stood with its broadsword between its hands, the tip on the ground. Naam crossed his arms and remained there. just staring at it. The damage it had taken during the battle had been repaired days ago. Now his forces were just waiting for orders from above. But Naam wasn't thinking about any of that. Though his eyes were fixed on Bahamut, his mind was picturing that red Bishamon suit. As well as the voice of the pilot that was inside it.

General Naam scowled, whispering to himself. ".It's like a revival from the grave. They probably even look the same. His voice and his fire. just like. Heinrich."

While dozens of the other Divine Blade soldiers around worked on updating and repairing their suits, there was one guy who didn't need to. And he walked over to the pensive general with a smile on his face. That man was the Swiss Pilot Kraepelin. The man who had taken in the Oriax Meta Suit.

"General?" He said, "is everything alright?"

Naam turned his head. ".Hm. It's you, Kraepelin. Enjoying your promotion to Captain, are you?"

"Yes sir," Kraepelin replied eagerly, "it was something that my partners, Steed, Aria and Ry; always wanted for me. And it feels magnificent that I got this promotion thanks to capturing the girl who killed them all. They'll rest easy knowing that. And now that I'm a captain. it gives me all the perks of custom-built mechas."

Naam looked over at the Meta Suit next to his own. The one that had been given to Kraepelin as a symbol and reward for his promotion. It was a custom-built mecha known as Eon. The armour was painted black and gold. It had a leaner shape than the Bahamut but a stockier one than the Amons. Its main weapons were its wrist gatlings and that powerful flamethrower rifle connected to Eon by the upper right arm. Far more powerful than any Amon or Zagan-type suit.

General Naam then looked back with a still face at the Bahamut. "Good for you."

Captain Kraepelin twisted his face into one of confusion. "This isn't like you, General. You are usually the most driven of us all."

"I met a certain warrior on EDEN," Replied the general, "I bested him in combat, but. I spared him for some reason. Fighting him was like fighting my past. I never thought I'd feel that way again."

".What's that mean.?"

Naam sighed. ".Did I ever tell you about how I joined Protocol, Captain? I was born outside of the Meta Cities. In a German village called Eberbach. It was a sleepy local. I hated it. It was boring, plain, and simplistic. My fighting spirit was tortured from living there. But most of all. I would have done anything to escape the shadow of my brother. By the time I left. he had married the one woman I wanted to have above all else. I swore that I'd come back and take my revenge on my brother and Eberbach Village. So I joined Protocol and rose up in rank to become general. Then eleven years ago I decided to fulfil my destiny and destroy Eberbach. What better way than test out new mecha in a training program? It gave me total freedom. And I got my revenge. Killing a man I wanted dead since he was born. and 'killing' the woman. I did not want to kill. That boy I met was a survivor of that day. a survivor of Eberbach."

Kraepelin had never been told this before. The young man ran a hand through his bangs and wondered, "Fair enough. But can I ask you something.? Why did you spare that kid?"

"." Naam said nothing.

"Was he someone you knew before leaving Eberbach?"

The General continued to look at Bahamut. Though his mind was clearly elsewhere. ".He's so much like his father."

Kraepelin tilted his head to one side. "Huh?"

".That boy. is my nephew," Naam stated, "and the next time I see him. I'll kill him."

~~~~~~~*~

The Bishamon M-2 blazed a trail across the snow.

Its clear blue exhaust flowed from the lower end of its legs as it rushed forwards across the snow towards the mighty Ix Nos Babel. It was protected by three rings of military defence. The Defence Lines. The Bishamon had smashed his way through the previous two. Now as it came closer to Ix Nos Babel, the third line was coming into view. It had no barriers. Just pure military defences in its ranks. Twice the amount of cannons that the second line had and four times the amount of cannons that the first one had. But more than that, the third line had a different kind of mass-production Meta Suit guarding watchfully. A new model. Terry could tell because of the sheen, even in snowfall. Their armour was coloured an even lighter purple than the Amons, and their hand cannons seemed smaller in size. But equally new. They did not look ordinary somehow.

But by this point, Terry was too consumed by rage to care about the capabilities of any new Meta Suits coming his way. But these were not quite Meta Suits. Because they were the Baals. And they did not rely on a pilot. They were controlled by an AI fighting system. A kind of brain to control an unmanned Meta Suit. The Baal was the first in a line of that which would come to be known as the Marionette.

Terry pushed forwards, looking at the line up from the cameras of his cockpit. ".So. Saved the beef for last, eh? Just watch me, you motherfuckers! Bishamon and I won't be stopped by no half-assed drones!"

The Bishamon, with his Energy Katana fully powered up, flew out to the third and final line directly. Where over 400 large ground based cannons and 70+ Baal suits were waiting for him. The frontal groups of those cannons swung around aimed in the direction of the attacking Bishamon. Before they got their shots off, Bishamon's shoulder gatlings made their appearance. The shoulder plates of the mecha's armour rose up and out came the turrets. It fired seconds later at a heavier rate of fire than the old Bishamon could muster. Hundreds of bullets rained down on three of the charging cannons, causing them to explode in a cluster of flames. Those flames spread from force of the explosion. But at a smaller distance than Terry had hoped for. His shoulder gatlings returned to their position under the plates. But then came the gunfire. The first eight of the cannons fired in unison at the target. A huge wave of laser-fire swept across the fields of snow towards the Bishamon. Blasted at a speed far higher than the cannons of the other two defensive lines. Bishamon kept up the pace of its flying until it was bombarded by that gunfire. That wave of cannon blasts stopped the process of flight dead in its tracks. Battering the armour of the Bishamon with tremendous destructive force, knocking the Meta Suit to and fro as if it were a tossed leaf on the wind

"Aaaah!" Terry cried. The force of the numerous impacts knocked the Bishamon back. Hurling it out of that flight path. Terry's back slapped hard on the seat of the cockpit, causing a rough cough from his throat. But he toughed it out.

Sweat dripped down Terry's face once the first wave of gunfire ended. The cannons stopped to re-charge for the next wave. But the results had been felt. Already the Bishamon's sensors were detecting damage. The right arm, left leg and right chestplate had been injured in the rain of energy. It was not serious damage but it meant that the sword wouldn't be able to be swung to the same degree of strength as before. By now some of the Baals were rising up from their positions on the snow and were now flying straight towards the floating (but un-moving) Bishamon.

Terry watched them come, closing one of his eyes and pulling an angry smile, all the while his shoulders fell up and down from his tired, heavy breathing. ".Bring it on! I'll do whatever it takes to avenge my mom and dad. I'll fight all day and all night if I have to.!"

One of the advancing Baal's pulled up its hand cannon and fired. The shot streamlined for the Bishamon. And that shot nailed its right shoulder. Metal was blown from its source from the force of that compressed blast. Damaging the Bishamon in one go.

".N-not bad." Terry admitted, ".how's this!?"

The Bishamon pulled up its arm and pointed at the incoming Baal type. The compartment with the wrist Qi-cannon opened. And it fired another powerful but condensed blast of jade force towards the Baals. The group of them flew apart like a flock of birds, darting to all sides in a uniformed pattern. The forceful blast from the Bishamon's cannon hit nothing but air.

Terry's bleak grin widened, though his situation was nothing to smile about. ".Damn! They're faster than I thought they'd be."

The Bishamon activated its thrusters and locked on to the closest of the Baal sentries. The flames of Qi-energy around the blade of its katana were magnified. Then it vaulted forwards and slashed. The Baal was chopped straight into two flaming pieces of steel, which exploded once cut. Before the flames of the explosion ended a second shot then came from behind. The back of the Bishamon was struck hard by the savage force, fracturing part of the armour. Terry howled a scream of pain from the shockwaves of the attack. One so quick and so forceful that the Bishamon was knocked out of the air. It plummeted downward until it crashed loudly into the snow of that imitation atoll.

The fifteen Baals who had taken it upon themselves to fight the Bishamon, flew around it and encircled. They all pointed their rifles at the downed Chrysalis mecha and fired. Chain blasts of vaporous golden energy blasted the machine ruthlessly. The soulless machines showed nothing of mercy and bombarded the Bishamon with as much firepower as their guns could produce. And so the Meta Suit of Japanese design was pinned down by the rain of laser fire. All the while its armour was slowly chipped down. Bit by bit. The polish of Bishamon M-2 was becoming a thing of the past. But Terry still held the controls defiantly, his head and ponytail jerking which each blast that the Bishamon sustained. Blood was now dripping from his forehead and how. But he wouldn't give up.

He would not give up.

".Never. ugh! .I'll never. ah! .give up. gah! I won't. ugh! .Stop fighting. gah! .until I'm six feet under!"

"SO YOU'LL SAVE YUMI AND AVENGE YOUR PARENTS BY CHOOSING DEATH?"

Terry gasped when he heard a transmission come in from a different Meta Suit. Delivered by a voice that sounded quite familiar. Terry became alert when he heard the sound of an explosion. Not of his own Bishamon, but of the Marionettes that were flocking around him like vultures. He pressed a button on his control panel to allow him to use the rear view camera. And he could see a dark, winged Meta Suit slicing apart the Baal-types. His eyes widened with familiarity. It was the same suit that had challenged him on the day that he had met Yumi. The suit known as the Asmodeus.

"What the hell is. that thing doing here?" Terry wondered.

By now the Asmodeus was making sport of the Baals at a Qi reading that fast exceeded 12,000. The black-metal Meta Suit flew with amazing grace and speed between each of the Baal around the Bishamon M-2. From its wrist extended a Qi-generated Gauntlet Blade, much like that of the Oriax. But this one was of a bright blue as opposed to the Oriax's light green. The Asmodeus flew through the freezing air and slashed through the torsos of the attacking Baals. One after the other. Some of them attempted to fire at it. Once fire came it its direction, the Asmodeus moved out of its way, so swiftly that it looked like a blur. It vanished and reappeared before the remaining Baals. Then started hacking them down. After fifteen loud explosions, with mangled Baal parts littering the snow around the Bishamon, the cannons of the Third Defensive Line were ready to fire. Which they did. A second unified wave of cannon fire surged forwards in the direction of the seemingly defenceless Asmodeus.

"Look out!" Terry yelled to the pilot.

The Asmodeus spread open its arms, while its Qi-sparkling wings flapped behind it. As the unholy angel spread its hands apart, a circle of bluish Qi force grew from the action. The shield extended to a large size, dwarfing the overall size of the Asmodeus itself. Lengthening itself from three metres across to ninety metres across. Which both protected the Asmodeus and the Bishamon from the attack. The golden beams of gunfire hammered into the shield with increased frenzy. But did not break it. The translucent shield held off the cannon fire until they stopped to recharge. Once they did, the shield was dropped. The Asmodeus flapped its wings and flew up higher into the air, while its head looked down on the layers of armaments for the Third Defence Line. Now some of the 55 other Baals were coming its way, no longer seeing the Bishamon as a threat. The Asmodeus stopped flying upwards when it reached a certain height. Then its hands performed a certain set of gestures. These actions were so fast and fluid that they looked to have been carried out by biological arms, not heavy mechanical ones. A separate orb of energy manifested in front of the dark suit. An orb of over twenty-eight metres in diameter, created of Qi.

Terry looked on, stunned at the reading that the Bishamon was giving him about it. ".No way! That thing has a magnitude of over 13,000 units of force!"

The Asmodeus shot its hand out to elicit a command whilst hovering in the air. The spherical ball of sapphire Qi force before it was thrown directly at the attacking Baals and down towards the rest of them. And as the ball shot downwards it stretched out in its size. It passed through the leading Baals, callously burning them away, as effortlessly as paper to fire. The tough metal they had been made of was simply blown into dust by the incomprehensively forceful Qi of the attack known as the Genocide Orb. It then crashed into the middle of the third line. Then there was the explosion. A huge, tearing, consuming, rending, violent explosion that spread outwardly at a startling rate. The sphere of the combustion reached heights of over ninety metres. While its diameter widened to encompass over two hundred metres of snow. Everything within that blatantly devastating sphere, the cannons, the snow, the ground, the Baals; all of it was destroyed. Terry closed his eyes from the brightness of the sapphire light that shone everywhere as a result. The Bishamon was forced to grab onto the ground to prevent from being blown back. The people monitoring the battle from Ix Nos Babel were baffled as to how a Qi attack could be that powerful.

And the Asmodeus just hovered over the blast, its arms crossed and its wings fully open, looking down upon its work like the Angel of Death.

Gradually the force of the blast started to fade away. The smoke rose up. And it exposed a colossal crater. More than 220-metres wide. Still burning in certain places with sparkling blue Qi fire. The entire Third Defensive Line had been obliterated in little above the space of three minutes. All the Baals and Cannons were gone. In fact the only trace of the Third Defensive Line left was the remains of the Baals that were laying around the Bishamon.

Terry, and the people observing the battle from the control rooms of Ix Nos Babel, were all astounded. The only difference between them was that the Protocol control teams knew exactly what the Asmodeus was and who was 'piloting' it. If such a term could be used in this case. The Asmodeus flew back down to ground level. Its metallic feet touched upon the snow. Just next to the Bishamon.

"You're too reckless," The unknown pilot (now clearly female) said to the downed warrior mecha, "throwing yourself into suicidal rampages is not going to save Yumi. Nor will it be enough to defeat General Naam."

The Bishamon slowly pulled itself out of the deep trench it had made for itself in the snow. While the Meta Suit was rising up, its pilot said, ".How do you know all of that? I don't remember seeing you at EDEN. were you the one who gave away its location?"

"No. That was not my doing."

"Well what are you doing here?" Terry barked, "Why did you help me out? The last time we met, you were looking to kick off a fight, weren't you?"

The Asmodeus' pilot chuckled gently. ".Would you rather die?"

"I don't care what happens to me. I'm gonna kill Naam. And I'm gonna rescue Yumi."

The pilot of the Asmodeus took interest in that. ".You care for her, don't you? It's only been three weeks but you feel something for her."

Terry grinned. ".I wouldn't have expected something like that to come from a shit-kicker like you."

"The idea of me having power makes me seem incapable of understanding love? You still have some of your childish beliefs in that stubborn head of yours. It's time you started thinking more with your head and less with your heart, Terry Hennig. This anger will only take you so far. If you want to stop Naam and accomplish something. if you want to end their control over the world. then you will have to focus. And storming Ix Nos Babel alone will get you nowhere."

The giant machine turned its back to the Bishamon, spreading its Qi-force wings out. "Heed my words, Terry. I could always. tell that you were special. You are one of the ones. who truly has the power to change the world. My power alone is nothing compared to that. I want you to fight sensibly. Seek to attain goals within your reach rather then straining for something you can't do. If you can know your limits. then I know you can find a way to surpass them."

Just before the Asmodeus, left Terry called to the pilot. ".Wait! I only have one question. Who. in the world are you?"

".You will have to find that out for yourself," The Asmodeus then pointed in the opposite direction with its right arm, ".I think that those people will be able to help you."

The head of the Bishamon turned to the right. In the distance, was the sight of the gigantic airship Leviathan. It was a ways back, but the Bishamon had more than enough fuel to make the journey. Then Terry heard the sound of hi-powered thrusters launching something into the air. It was the Asmodeus. The dark angel suit flew away into the cloudy grey skies, amid the light snow fall. The Bishamon looked up at the Asmodeus while it left.

".Thanks." Terry whispered, under his breath.

~~~~~~~*~

The time had come.

Yumi had been moved from the wall she was chained to, over to a bed in the centre of the large room. She was now chained to that. And was unable to free herself. Even if she wanted to use her powers, she would not have been able to thanks to the chemicals woven into the metal of her shackles. Two scientists stood beside her on that simple white bed. One of them had a syringe in their hand. Though Yumi could not have known it, she was being watched by a select few people other than those two scientists. Those people were Commander Celaph and his fiancée, Chizu Yagata. Beside them was a young doctor who manned controls that read Yumi's life signs, as well her Qi level. They watched the prone Yumi from another room, the window connecting the two being high up the walls of Yumi's room. And of course the Triad of the Inquisition, observing the events from unknown locations and by unknown means.

The automatic door on the other side of the room opened. Out stepped a young man of the same age as Yumi. Eighteen. His looks were not Asiatic, like Yumi's, but more western in origin. Of course that was nothing more than a consequence of development. This man was of the same biological origins as Yumi.

The Thanatos of this generation, Freeman Ronove.

He came up to the trapped Yumi and beamed a sheepishly dark smile at her. ".We two are as one. you and I."

".S-stop." Yumi strained against her bonds, knowing what was about to happen to her, ".you can't. do this."

One of the scientists nodded to the other. Then he walked over to Yumi. He held her by the arm and pressed the syringe to her skin. And then into it. A certain chemical was injected directly into her bloodstream. With effects that were almost instantaneous. By the time the scientist withdrew the needle from her arm, she was already heavily under the effects of its contents. Which did more than simply make her drowsy. It effected her enough to cloud and trick her mind. Yumi's eyes grew heavy. And she could only open them part of the way. Then the sight of Freeman and the cold white laboratory/bedroom went away. In her eyes, the two scientists went away. Being replaced by trees. The surrounding room disappeared and was replaced with the sun, sand and sea of Okinawa. And the sight of Freeman morphed into that of a bikini-clad Chizuru.

Not Chizu Yagata, the cold reality of that girl, but Yumi's mental perception of the woman she thought Chizu was up until seeing her true colours. Yumi, stuck in this dreamed up deliria, shed tears of happiness from seeing 'her'. From seeing 'Chizuru'. The taller 'girl' came up to the shorter one and mounted the bed in the middle of this 'beach'.

'She' whispered, ".Don't be afraid. It is our destiny."

Though Yumi had no idea what 'Chizuru' was addressing, but did not care, either. 'Chizuru' leaned down and kissed Yumi against her neck. Dragging 'her' tongue around the hacker's collarbone and the indentation of her throat. 'Chizuru's' hands slid up underneath Yumi's white dress. 'Her' hands cupped Yumi's small, well-shaped breasts and caressed them, causing their pink nipples to harden. 'Chizuru' then kissed Yumi's lips while 'her' hands manipulated the girl's breasts, repeatedly and with increasing fervour. Yumi moaned into 'Chizuru's' mouth and a wetness spread from her vagina, moistening both her labial region and her panties. 'Chizuru' let one of 'her' hands slip from Yumi's left breast. It then stroked all the way down to her crotch. 'She' put 'her' hand under the thin protection of those panties, massaging Yumi's vulva. The eighteen-year-old Jap girl increased her moaning, though she wanted to embrace 'Chizuru' she felt something invisible restraining her hands. 'Chizuru' fiddled with the lower half of the bikini that 'she' was wearing. Then Yumi felt something press against the opening to her vagina. It felt awfully phallic, but since Yumi couldn't see or feel 'Chizuru's' other hand, she assumed that it was two of the dark-haired one's fingers.

'Chizuru' broke their kiss and whispered, "Be strong, Eros. This is the beginning of a new genesis for mankind. just the beginning."

Yumi muffled a slight groan of discomfort when 'Chizuru' pierced the thin flesh of her hymen with a thrust of 'her fingers'. But that slight discomfort was weakened when she felt the bliss of those two 'fingers' prising apart the sopping wet folds of her vaginal walls. Yumi gasped and breathlessly called Chizuru's name, while the 'girl herself' breathed heavily. 'She' started thrusting 'her fingers' in and out of Yumi, whilst strangely making light moans and grunts of 'her' own. As if 'she' were enjoying this as much as Yumi was. That thrusting continued until Yumi felt something hot and sticky shoot into her. She couldn't quite understand what that meant, but was concerned only with sating herself on the 'fingers of Chizuru'.

But in the real world, nothing like that was happening. Yumi lay out across the bed with a dreamy, euphoric expression, constantly murmuring the word 'Chizuru' over and over. Freeman groaned with his premature ejaculation, and pulled himself out of Yumi, his erect penis coated with his own semen, as well as traces of Yumi's vaginal discharge and blood. He stepped back and climbed off the bed, strangely tired. One of the scientists rushed over to him and helped him out of the room, through the automatic door. Moments after Yumi's penetration, she passed out, the chemicals in her blood stream forcing the action. The last scientist, Celaph, Chizu, their doctor/readings taker, and the Triad of the Inquisition watched with bated breath, yet not disgust. The semen of Thanatos had been implanted within the Eros. Now was the time for the birth of a pure, untainted God. A Novus Deus.

Though she could not have known what was going on, deep inside there was a reaction. The sperm of Freeman had already made contact with her egg at a speed unknown to other men. It was already being fertilized. But fertilization and birth was far different to what it would be for a normal woman. That fertilized egg soon transformed itself into a mass of energy. The energy was not quite Qi. but held all the properties of it and much besides. That energy spread outwardly from her internal genitals, through to the rest of her body. It moved through her cells like a small but palpable wave of warmth and it expanded until her entire body, even her skin, was glowing a bright forest green. Everyone looked on with awe as that energy then lifted upwards from Yumi's body. The energy separated itself from the Japanese hacker. But it had taken on a humanoid shape. The glow from the humanoid-shaped body shone around the entire room, overwhelming the leering presence of white. Up above from his own room, Celaph covered his eyes and tried to see what was happened amidst all that green light. Chizu did the same, but with a far colder expression.

"Is this. God?" She asked.

Its body was formed exactly like that of Yumi. From the shape of her breasts to the length of her legs and the size of her small feet. The entity reached out with its transparent green hand (made purely of that foreign energy-matter) and carefully stroked Yumi across the cheek, saying, ".Mother.", in a ethereal, semi-feminine voice. The facsimile of energy stepped back from Yumi and the bed. It lowered its hands and tilted its head backwards, looking directly up at the ceiling. The glowing body of that 'God' rose up into the air and flew upwards until it phased through the stone ceiling of the room. The scientist, Celaph and Chizu (and the Triad of the Inquisition) watched it leave. It floated through each floor of the 300-floor tower, onwards and upwards, until five minutes later, it phased up to the roof of Ix Nos Babel. Once it got there it stopped moving. The being of pure energy opened its arms and pushed them forwards, its breast-like proportions swaying while doing so. It opened its mouth as if it was singing a hymn.

But nothing happened.

The expressionless entity looked downwards. A crack formed at its thigh. One that spread up from that point. Its glowing, crystalline green body started cracking in parts all over its limbs. It grabbed its face and opened its mouth once again, as if to express a painful scream of some sort, but no sound came out of its mouth. The creature rose up into the air with bits of its body matter dropping from it like broken pieces of pottery. From the satellite orbiting the area of space above the arctic ocean, the cameras of it were taking visual images of this. Ones that were beamed to the computer terminal in Celaph's room. He and Chizu watched with disappointment at the screen. The being produced soundless screams and writhed in what appeared to be agony.

It was apparent that this was no Novus Deus, but yet another imperfect Vulnus Deus. A flawed attempt to recreate God.

The (assumed) 41st Vulnus Deus, the child of Yumi and Freeman, crumbled away into nothingness. Its glittering particles of matter dissolved into the freezing cold air of the Arctic. As if were never there. Two remaining pieces of the Vulnus Deus were left. Those two pieces levitated from the surface of Ix Nos Babel's roof, and then converted into two pieces of light. They then shot away from each other at the speed of light, one going west, the other going east. They were the 'eggs' of the Vulnus Deus. The pieces of its carcass. They would go on to seek hibernation for the next 130 years. Then they would both transform into humanoid babies and become the next generation's Eros and Thanatos. In Celaph's room, the air was bitter with the stench of failure.

"It. failed." Chizu claimed.

The Englishman Celaph stared at the screen blankly. ".There's still too much impurity in the bloodline. to produce a Novus Deus."

But then there was a different reaction.

"Commander!" The data-collector yelled by his computer, "there's an abnormal surge of Qi coming from the Eros!"

Celaph looked out the window into Yumi's room. ".What?"

Inside Yumi's room, the glow of green produced by the Vulnus Deus born from her womb was still there. It was not the energy of her child, but an unknown after-effect that was not planned by anyone. The least of which being Celaph. The emerald light enfolded Yumi's unconscious body until it became a spherical floating ball. A shell of force, in many ways. It was about two metres in diameter and it hovered over the bed of the room. With Yumi inside it. Celaph and Chizu stared with mystification at this orb.

".What is this?" Asked the Commander, ".the Tablets of Destiny never mentioned anything about further reactions within the Eros or Thanatos after conception. so. what of Freeman?"

"His life signs are stable, sir," Replied the data collector.

Chizu watched the orb through the upper window. ".So it's only Miss Mishima? What. in the world is happening?"

~~~~~~~*~

There was a large hall of darkness within an unknown location, far from Ix Nos Babel. Inside that hall were the Three Wise Men; Aherg, Ein, and Karahi. The Triad of the Inquisition. The three mysterious hooded figures stood around a large circle which looked like a pool of water on the floor. But it was a window to the activities that had taken place moments ago. They had seen everything. The rise and fall of another Vulnus Deus.

".The bloodline remains tainted," Commented Aherg.

Ein nodded. "Yes. we were wrong. to think that the time has come. It still needs more. time before a successful birth."

"Will Man ever be one with God again?" Wondered Karahi.

Ein bobbed his head. "Yes. We shall be. One day."

".In any case," Aherg began, "this is a setback. Not a defeat. If we cannot save the world by unifying mankind. then we shall have to go to Plan B. We shall conduct the second holocaust. But this one. will encompass the entire human race."

~~~~~~~*~

Bury me softly in this womb

I give this part of me for you

Sand rains down and here I sit

Holding rare flowers in a tomb

In bloom

Down in a hole and I don't know if I can be saved

See my heart I decorate it like a grave

You don't understand who they thought I was supposed to be

Look at me now I'm a man who won't let himself be

Down in a hole, feelin' so small

Down in a hole, losin' my soul

I'd like to fly

But my wings have been so denied

Down in a hole and they've put all the stones in their place

I've eaten the sun so my tongue has been burned of the taste

I have been guilty of kicking myself in the teeth

I will speak no more of my feelings beneath

Down in a hole, feelin' so small

Down in a hole, losin' my soul

I'd like to fly

But my wings have been so denied

Bury me softly in this womb (Oh, I want to be inside if you)

I give this part of me for you (Oh, I want to be inside if you)

Sand rains down and here I sit (Oh, I want to be inside if you)

Holding rare flowers in a tomb. in bloom

(Oh, I want to be inside)

Down in a hole, feelin' so small

Down in a hole, losin' my soul

Down in a hole, feelin' so small

Down in a hole, out of control

I'd like to fly

But my wings have been so denied

~ 'Down In A Hole', Alice in Chains

~~~~~~~*~

Chronicle Five - Genesis & Revelation (a face of a Tainted Mirror)

~~~~~~~*~

"Lieutenant Hennig, you do realize that you're going to have to face some sort of punishment for attacking Protocol without orders, don't you?"

Terry nodded, his hands pressed into his hips. Even now, when Beatrix was telling him what was what for disobeying orders, he felt like a little kid being scolded by his/her own guardian. It wasn't such a distant memory that Terry recalled himself being saved by this woman. The young blonde man had returned to the Leviathan as soon as the Asmodeus had fled. Once he returned to it in the Bishamon M-2, the field/engineering team went to work on repairing it for the next battle. Thankfully the damage that Terry's suit sustained whilst fighting the Baal Marionettes wasn't too extensive in any way. Nothing that couldn't be taken care of. And now he had come back, Terry was prepared to face the consequences of his action. It wasn't desertion, but launching a single-handed attack on Ix Nos Babel was an arbitrary act of recklessness that could have gotten him killed. That alone was enough to incur the wrath of Beatrix.

But hostility wasn't quite what Terry got.

The Lieutenant stood on the rising platform of the bridge of the Leviathan, alongside Colonel Beatrix and Major Mariette. Beatrix crossed her arms and sighed, watching her subordinate. ".But for now, I'm just glad that you haven't been killed."

".Colonel.?"

".Terry." Beatrix said, ignoring rank, "have more respect for the life that I saved, huh?"

Sophia pulled a smile at her lover as did Terry himself. People might not have believed it but women like Beatrix could show kinder sides to themselves when needed. Just as the Major and Lieutenant had thought all along. But now there was no time for such things. Chrysalis was going for a collision with the power-base of Protocol. Because there was just no better time than now. Beatrix looked out over the railing of the platform to the giant video screen on the front of the room. On the screen was the not-so-distant image of Ix Nos Babel, out in the snow and snowfall. Yumi and the Oriax were somewhere inside that tower.

Major Mariette spoke for her. ".You're probably wondering why we are here in the first place, Lieutenant. Father Bartholomeus has given us orders to retrieve Yumi and the Oriax before Protocol can use her to 'resurrect' their God."

"How many troops do we have?" Terry questioned.

"570 soldiers, 352 Meta Suits," Sophia said, "we would have brought more suits but the Leviathan couldn't take anymore than that. We've been pushing it up till now as it is. But we just need to retrieve Yumi and the Oriax. The military forces of the Divine Blade are tight, and they've been stationed in Ix Nos Babel. but we don't have any other choice. And now that the three Defensive Lines have been destroyed it's only a matter of time before they take action too."

Terry nodded. "I gotcha. So what about reinforcements?"

"Don't expect any. No ships are running yet from the Mouth of the Shenlong. So I seriously doubt anything like that will occur. If we drop below a certain amount of Meta Suits then we'll be forced to pull out. Right now we need every able fighter on the battlefield. And that's what the situation is."

Beatrix pressed her hands into the metal railing. ".It's a sad fact. We are outnumbered on this occasion. as well as on their territory, but.. I don't think there's a better chance than now to get Yumi back from them. So our hands are. tied. Launch all Meta Suits!"

The four men and women at the helm all yelled 'Roger!' back at their commander, then began giving those orders to the soldiers in the suit hangers of the Leviathan. Terry smiled, strangely happy to have his allies with him now. He then turned to Sophia and said, "Hey, Major, you're a bit of hacker, right?"

"Yes. why?" She asked.

"I need a favour."

~~~~~~~*~

The Main Control Room of Ix Nos Babel was big. Very big, in fact. It was a large hexagonal shaped hall. Surrounding the three upper walls of it were a long line of analytical data collectors. Each of the nineteen data collectors were sitting before their own terminal from which to follow orders, carry out defensive weapons commands, relay orders to others from the leaders, and analyse the Qi readings they got from Meta Suit pilots. Both those of their own forces and of enemy forces. In some respects this was the nerve centre of Protocol. In the centre of that arc of data collectors was a white stone platform not unlike the one on the bridge of the Leviathan. From the far door of the hall were the automatic doors. They opened swiftly and Commander Celaph, as well as his subordinate and consort, Chizu Yagata, walked into the room. They strode up to the platform and stopped there, overlooking the thin paling to the wide screen on the far wall. It showed a visual picture of the outside. In the distance was the Leviathan. The hanger doors on the underside of it opened and Meta Suits came pouring out in the dozens (which looked tiny compared to the Leviathan).

"Commander!" One of the data collector yelled, "a very large enemy battleship is operational and stationary 0.3 miles southwest of Ix Nos Babel!"

Celaph crossed his arms. ".I see. It's the Leviathan. Which means Chrysalis. and Beatrix. So. My old friend has challenged us on our playing field. One can't help but respect that. But what about the defensive lines? Aren't there any remaining suits or marionettes?"

"No sir," The second replied, "they've all be completely decimated. An unknown custom-model Meta Suit was the one to destroy the first two. It was then that the Asmodeus attacked and obliterated the final one."

Celaph's light eyes widened. ".The Asmodeus? Is it working in conjunction with Chrysalis.?"

The fourth data collector answered that one. "We have no idea, sir! But it seems the Asmodeus has fled Kyoga. If that is an indication of anything then I highly doubt it!"

Chizu looked up at her future husband. "Commander.? Do you think that General Naam is aware of this?"

"Probably not." The Englishman commented, "But it does not matter in this. He made his choices. As did we. There is only one thing we need to think of. Defending Ix Nos Babel and its interests from Chrysalis' attack. Deploy all able Meta Suits of the Divine Blade! It's time Beatrix and I dealt with our rivalry in direction. Lets see what they've got."

The fourth of the data collectors nodded to that from his seat, adjusting his head set. "Roger, sir! Informing the Divine Blade now, as ordered!"

Then the fifth yelled to the commander with urgency. "Commander, I'm receiving a message from the Triad of the Inquisition!"

Celaph sighed once again. ".It must be with regards to the failure of the Reunion. Patch them through for me."

The fifth data collector nodded and tapped a few keys on his control panel. A smaller video screen, one connected to the ceiling above the main video screen, switched itself on. And the three hooded leaders of Protocol, the Triad of the Inquisition, appeared on screen. Celaph looked up with humility.

"Greetings, honourable sirs," He said, ".I am truly regretful for the failure of our plans. I was as certain as anyone that bloodline had finally been rendered pure, but. it seems that is not the case."

Ein was the first to speak. ".The bloodline has failed us. A perfect God will not arise now. What we must be concerned with is the fate of this planet."

"I agree, sirs." Celaph admitted.

"The very stagnation of humankind," Karahi started, "is this planet's mortal bane, Commander Celaph. Our plans to save the world by unifying humanity before its divisions tore it apart has failed. A trade of emotion now would be sufficient."

Neither Celaph nor Chizu liked where this was going. Though Celaph was the only one there with enough authority to question the Triad of the Inquisition. ".What do you mean by that.?"

Aherg replied. "Resurrection is not possible without death. Protocol may have a system of control over the global political sphere. but we control a world that is tainted by the festering wounds of the past. The Great War did much to devalue everything we own before we were even able to regard them as possessions. If the Novus Deus cannot bring about our salvation then we shall emancipate the world ourselves. Activate the Anti-Matter Cannon."

Everyone, including the data collectors, gasped at that. The Anti-Matter Cannon? It was a huge mortar built in Protocol's only footing in space, the Moon-based compound called the Lunar Station. It ran on a specific form of crystallized Qi. That physical Qi material gave the cannon power to disrupt the very atoms of matter. Destroying (.or at the very least, distorting) the fabric of the target, causing its collapse. The beam itself wasn't the destructive thing but rather the waves it produced after hitting the target. A shot from the Anti-Matter Cannon could demolish a skyscraper that was miles away from the blast point. Its blast radius could be expanded at a rate of three miles every time the force of the beam increased by 1%. Which meant that its maximum blast radius was little under 300 miles. Which also meant that it had an area of effect that covered an estimated 1200 miles (at full power). That was more than enough firepower to wipe out a major city. The Anti-Matter Cannon was to the 22nd Century what A-Bombs were to the 20th Century. Which perhaps made it easier to understand why it had never been used before. Its very existence was top secret. Below the Triad of the Inquisition, only Celaph and the Upper Council had the authority to use it.

".The AM-Cannon?!" Celaph said in disbelief, ".But-"

Karahi spoke next, instantly silencing Celaph. "Did you not hear us, Commander William Ank Celaph? Your targets are the Meta Cities of Meta London, Meta Cape Town and Meta Tokyo. You will give the order to fire at maximum capacity. Once we see success of the attack we will give you further orders. Is that clear?"

The Englishman lowered his head, his fist shaking at his side. One of the targets of the AM-Cannon was Meta London. His home amongst homes. The Triad knew that perfectly well. They had probably put the city on the list as a test of Celaph's resolve. Chizu stared with worry at her lover, but he answered soon enough, still looking downwards. ".Affirmative."

The dark image of the Triad of the Inquisition vanished off screen. Leaving a very quiet room behind. Because they all knew what the prospects of successful fire would be. If the AM-Cannon was fired then none of the people living in those cities would survive. There was no doubt about it. Even their allies would be killed. Before they even knew what had hit them. Chizu turned to Celaph.

"William," She said, dropping formalities, ".we can't."

The Commander struggled to harden himself. ".We can. And we w-will. I maybe be the current commander of operations. but I'm still a soldier at h-heart. And soldiers do not question the orders that are given to them. We fight only to follow and accomplish those orders. How long will it take to charge the AM-Cannon for three consecutive blasts?"

The sixth data collector answered. "Uh. I. about 900 seconds, sir."

"Fifteen minutes, huh? Fine then. Begin charging the cannon."

~~~~~~~*~

(Who. am I.?)

WHO ARE YOU

(What. am I.?)

WHAT ARE YOU

(.I am.)

YOU ARE.

".Yumi. Mishima."

It was dark. Dark again. Where she found herself. Dark and. cold. Cold like the ice of the arctic. But it wasn't the location. it was herself. The girl breathed out into the darkness. A puff of chilled air leaving her lips. She cuddled herself moments later. Running her hands up and down her arms, crossed over her chest. Which was when she realized her own nakedness. Yumi shivered at both the thought and the cold aura around her. When her eyes adjusted she looked out into the distance. A short few paces ahead of her, under a spotlight in the middle of the darkness, was a child version of herself. That same Child Yumi that had been haunting her for years. The Child Yumi that cried incessantly. Her teddy bear hanging from her loose grip. Her lips occasionally whispering the word 'Daddy'. Her frilly dress covered in so much blood.

Yumi looked down at the child version of herself. ".Who are you?"

She sobbed and sniffled before replying. ".Y-Yumi M-Mishima."

".What are you?" Asked the taller one.

".I.I'm." Child Yumi gazed upwards with tearful eyes, ".you."

The two facets of the tainted mirror stared at each other. The naked older version staring into the big innocent eyes of the bloodied younger version. Neither of them understanding the significance of the other. Adult Yumi and Child Yumi remained that way. Staring at each other. Not understanding the reason for this. Nor what their meeting meant. It was not the first time. but it would be the most important.

Two edges of the same coin.

the two hearts of Yumi Mishima.

"WHAT AM I?"

• What is all this? Who is that girl?

yumi mishima.

• She is you.

"WHAT AM I?"

• That girl is the same as me?

Yumi Mishima.

• Yes.

"WHAT AM I?"

• Why is she covered in blood?

YUMI MISHIMA.

• Why do you still carry her scars?

"WHAT AM I?"

• Her scars?

yUMI mISHIMA.

• Her pain. Her sadness.

"WHAT AM I?"

• I don't want it.

iMUY aMIHSIM.

• Yet you still have it.

"WHAT AM I?"

• Is this all my fault?

aMIHSIM iMUY.

• No.

"WHO AM I?"

• So why must I go through this?

mISHIMA yUMI.

• It's up to you.

"WHO AM I?"

• Me?

MISHIMA YUMI.

• Yes.

"WHO AM I?"

• Why me?

Mishima Yumi.

• You are special.

"WHO AM I?"

• What's so special about me?

mishima yumi.

• You are the one God chose, Yumi Mishima. Thus you must.

".OPEN THE DOOR."

Adult Yumi broke her gaze with Child Yumi when the sound of a creaking door was heard up ahead. A short distance behind Child Yumi was a door. An ordinary-seeming door made of wood. But it stood out in the darkness. Attached to no wall. Simply standing in the middle of the bleak and lifeless void. Yet despite its simple nature, voices came from it. The voices of a young girl and an older man laughing together. Adult Yumi could not place the laughter of the older man, but she knew the giggles of the young girl to be the infrequent giggles of her younger self. It was a door to the past. A past that had been closed off in her mind for more than eleven years. And she was compelled to discover what lay behind it. The spectral body of Child Yumi vanished into thin air. Leaving Adult Yumi and the door behind. The white-haired hacker stepped forwards, one bare foot after the other. When Yumi came to the door she stopped. She pressed her hand against it. It was warm. Much unlike the rest of this place. With one hard push. the door was opened.

And Yumi walked into it.

or rather, into the past.

~~~~~~~*~

The numerous Meta Suit hangers of Ix Nos Babel. The rumours of an attack had been confirmed over the intercom. One of the many data collectors in the Main Control Room had given all available pilots orders to board their Meta Suits and launch. Hundreds of pilots were now doing that. All members of the Divine Blade came down to one of the Meta Suit hangers, the ones that held their own personal, mass-produced mecha. Though Divine Blade members were scrambling to get to their Meta Suits, none of them were surprised about the command to launch or the idea of attack. It was unlikely that they would have been commissioned to such a degree if there was no chance of combat. These was the thing they had been brought to Ix Nos Babel for.

They all came down through the lifts and stairwells to the hangers, boarded their suits, then made a few adjustments to the computer systems that operated the suits. On each level that those 440+ members of the Divine Blade waited, in time for the hanger doors to open. One after the other, the thin steel doors standing before each available exit opened up by means of the tower's giant super computer, Behemoth. Then soon afterwards all of the Divine Blade suits were launched from them. Meta Suit after Meta Suit flew out of the many gateways of the hangers (which all looked like miniscule specs compared to the height of the tower itself) and darted into the cold skies of Kyoga Island, their suit's armour chilled over by the freezing cold winds and snowy downpour. Those 440+ mechas all joined in flight together, headed by none other than the Bahamut. The red knight Meta Suit piloted by the leader of the Divine Blade, General Naam. He was closely followed by the newly promoted Captain Kraepelin, who was grinning deviously from the cockpit of his new custom-model Meta Suit, the Eon. In the close distance they could see one thing. A thin but elongated cloud of Chrysalis Meta Suits. The two armies; the Chrysalis paramilitaries numbering at 350, consisting of Uvalls, Gusions and patched up Halphas suits; and the Divine Blade battalion, at a number of 455, made up heavily of Amons and Zagan-type suits. Along with the Zagans and Amons were a new type of Meta Suit. One not built for high-speed aerial battles, but assistance to such battles from below, on the terrain. Those were the slow, ambling Allocer-type Meta Suits. Heavy and clunky in design. With thick stumpy legs and a complicated targeting system. But on their shoulders was a very powerful beam cannon. Those rifles could only fire one round at a time but their force was twice as powerful as a blast from a standard Baal Marionette hand-rifle. The Allocer pilots, numbering at only 35, were not in any way a cavalry for the Divine Blade. Only a support force that was used in important battles. They would be doing their jobs today.

The two armies flew at each other high above the snowy build up of the island, over the ruins of the Third Defensive Line. Then began the exchange of fire. The Uvalls at the head of the Chrysalis army lifted their beam cannons up and fired the lasers straight at their targets. The Divine Blade's frontal Amons did the same thing. The mix of lights of colour throbbed around what was now the morning chill of Kyoga Island. Thereafter began the explosions. Meta Suits from both sides began to fall to the gunfire of the other. When the two armies met each other in the skies, the clashes took off.

The Bahamut flew into the lines of Gusions. One of them, Gusion #224, came at Naam's Meta Suit from the front. It lifted its hand cannon and fired, attempting to blow the Bahamut out of the sky. The Bahamut swung itself around whilst moving to one side. Dodging the blasts, it then slashed its large broadsword. The gigantic weapon hacked through the steel of the Gusion #224. It blew up brusquely with the Bahamut flying through the cloud of its remains. It zoomed towards three other suits for Chrysalis. Gusion #108, Uvall #89, and Gusion #202. The Bahamut flew right into the face of Gusion #108 and extended its free hand. That hand grabbed the head of the mecha, preventing it from moving anywhere. The red knight suit then re-gripped his broadsword and thrust it into stomach of the Gusion-model. The metal titan exploded shortly afterwards, spitting its oil and remains over the Bahamut's armour.

The pilot of Gusion #202 sneered from his cockpit. ".Bastard!"

That same Gusion lifted its hand cannon and fired repeatedly. As did Uvall #89. The Bahamut leapt even higher into the air to avoid the blasts and turned back down in an arc. It came down at Uvall #89 from above. Then slashed downwards in a straight vertical cut. The Uvall was destroyed instantly, Bahamut's sword cutting through its main engine. Naam's mecha then rushed at Gusion #202. It then whacked the head off in one clean stroke, the head of the Gusion falling out of the air. While the rest of the body was swallowed up in fire. Bahamut bolted off from that point and went on to take up its fight with other mecha. And just thirty metres away in that new battlefield of the sky, the Eon (or rather its pilot, Kraepelin) was cutting down its own targets. Gusion #109 and Uvall #12 came at it from the left and right. The Eon extended both arms outwards. The wrist compartment of the left arm opened up, unleashing its gatling. The Eon fired the gatling and buried dozens of bullets into the attacking Uvall #12. It exploded once bullets pierced its engine. Then Eon focused on the Gusion coming from the right. But its right arm was the one that had that new flamethrower rifle. Seconds after the Eon turned its head the rifle spewed out a blazing cloud of flames at Gusion #109. The Gusion was engulfed in fire. And it took only brief moments for the thing to find itself incinerated from the strength of that fire. When the Eon ceased its attack and lowered its arm, Gusion #109 was nothing more than a molten clump of metal. Smoky and burned, the pilot already dead. It fell out of the sky battlefield.

"Ah!" Kraepelin said with a smirk, "This was what I have been waiting for! A powerful suit. Aria, Ry, Steed. This one's for you. I'll rise up in rank even further with this Meta Suit. I will become the new leader of the Divine Blade. Just you watch me!"

The video screen in the cockpit of the Eon could see the battle. But Kraepelin's interest was not the battle, but rather the colossal thing behind it. His sensors focused on the Leviathan. "Destroying such a large and magnificent beast would make me legendary, would it not, Eon? Let us go and demolish it!"

The Eon continued its advance, activating its thrusters. The mecha of the Swiss Captain pulled up its right arm and fired the flamethrower at the Gusions that came its way. Kraepelin had no time for them. He was looking towards only one thing. Leviathan.

~~~~~~~*~

"How goes the battle so far?" Asked Beatrix.

One of the four men and women surrounding the frontal terminals of the Leviathan's bridge pressed the keys on her panel. Which brought up a separate set of readings on her mini-screen about the current details of the battle. Those that the Leviathan had been able to pick up on.

The data collector replied with, "Twenty Chrysalis suits destroyed, six of them Uvalls and the other fourteen being Gusions. While twelve enemy Meta Suits have been downed. Four Amons, seven Zagans and one Allocer."

Beatrix gripped the rails of her platform. "Hmm. It seems that Celaph isn't holding back this time. What have you got up your sleeve this time, old friend?"

Across from the platform at which Beatrix observed the battle, to the side of the bridge, was a computer terminal that Sophia had gotten herself to. The young woman exchanged swift keystrokes with periodical adjustments to her glasses. All the while Terry leaned over her shoulder, watching the data go by. Sophia was a hacker just like Yumi was. And though she didn't have Yumi's overall skill in the art, what she did have was the ability to surpass Protocol's quick and regenerative Security Demons without use of a Security Demon Wall. Eventually she got inside the database of Protocol. And onward to the files concerning the Holy Protocol Army. A particular thing of notice was the Army's registration. It contained highly top secret data. Like the head count of the H. P. A (31.2 Million) and the military bases that each of those men operated from primarily. But her chief concern (more Terry's) was for a data file on General Naam. Sophia typed his name into the searching-software of her own making (plugged into this terminal). One file came up concerning him. Sophia opened it.

And it read..

• GENERAL NAAM -

NAME: WALTRECH NAAM HENNIG

DATE OF BIRTH: 24TH AUGUST 2110

AGE: 43

SEX: MALE

WEIGHT: 168 LBS

HEIGHT: 6' 1"

NATIONALITY: GERMAN

CURRENT RANK: GENERAL

PAST RANKS: PRIVATE, LIEUTENANT, CAPTAIN & MAJOR

ACCOLADES: IRON CROSS, BRONZE CROSS, GOLD CROSS

• NOTES -

CURRENT LEADER OF THE DIVINE BLADE FORCES OF THE HOLY PROTOCOL ARMY. JOINED THE PROTOCOL ORGANIZATION IN 2130 AND ROSE UP IN RANK SWIFTLY TO BECOME GENERAL IN 2150 AS A CONSEQUENCE OF HIS EXCEPTIONAL SKILLS IN THE PILOTING OF META SUITS. HIS CURRENT SUIT IS THE BAHAMUT CUSTOM MODEL, 4TH MOST POWERFUL SUIT OF CUSTOM CREATION IN THE HOLY PROTOCOL ARMY'S ANALOGUES. HE HAS PARTICIPATED IN THE BATTLES OF ROME, SHIRATOO'I, ST. HELENA, KYOTO, AND EDEN. ELEVEN YEARS AGO (2142) HE PARTICIPATED IN A TRAINING SESSION OF HIS OWN SUGGESTION AT A VILLAGE CALLED EBERBACH. THE TEST CAUSED NUMEROUS DEATHS AT AN ESTIMATED TOTAL OF 300. CONTROVERSY WAS CAUSED WHEN IT WAS CONFIRMED THAT HIS META SUIT HAD BEEN THE ONE TO FIRE THE FIRST SHOT AT A CIVILIAN. THAT CIVILIAN WAS THOUGHT TO BE HEINRICH HENNIG, BROTHER OF GENERAL NAAM. THE CHILD OF THIS MAN, TERRY HENNIG, IS ALSO THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN KILLED. THE MOTHER OF THE CHILD, WIFE OF THE BROTHER, AN AMERICAN IMMIGRANT; LILITH HENNIG, WAS INJURED MORTALLY IN THE SESSION. NAAM LEFT WITH HER BODY AND BROUGHT HER TO IX NOS BABEL FOR TREATMENT AS A REWARD FOR HIS BRILLIANT LINE OF SERVICE TO THE HOLY PROTOCOL ARMY. HER BODY WAS REVIVED BUT COULD NOT SUSTAIN ITSELF. THEREFORE LILITH HENNIG HAD HER BODY INCORPORATED INTO 'PROJECT A'. THE TEST SUBJECT WAS ATTACHED TO A LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEM BUILT INTO THE MOST POWERFUL CUSTOM MODEL META SUIT IN EXISTENCE, THE ASMODEUS. A MONTH LATER THE ASMODEUS ESCAPED FROM IX NOS BABEL AND HAS BEEN MISSING IN ACTION EVER SINCE. THE FACT OF GENERAL NAAM'S ENGAGEMENT IN THIS SCENARIO HAS BEEN DEBATED BY THE UPPER COUNCIL AMID CALLS FOR HIS RESIGNATION AS GENERAL. NOTHING CAME OF THEM.

Terry looked up from the screen with a stunned expression on his face. Now everything fit into place. Everything made sense. General Naam, or rather, Waltrech Hennig, was his uncle. The brother of his father and the brother in law of Lilith. He had used Eberbach on purpose. And killed Terry's dad in cold blood. Then before his mother died, her body was fixed by experimentation into the suit known as Asmodeus. That winged black Meta Suit that had saved him out there in the cold, was the Asmodeus. That suit. was his mother.

Sophia looked up at him. "Does that help you at all, Lieutenant?"

".Yeah." Terry said, in a downcast tone, ".Thanks, Major."

Terry stepped back and looked downwards. He finally had all the answers to his questions. Now he knew the truth. But he couldn't say that he felt some great jubilation from it. Since his youth he had thought that his mother and father were dead. Although his father had ascended to heaven, his mother had not. Thanks to Naam she was trapped inside that horrendously powerful Meta Suit, the Asmodeus. If she tried to leave it, she would die. All thanks to that Naam. But Terry felt little anger now. Only the resolve to end this chapter of the Hennig family. He had to know why Naam had chosen to virtually attack Eberbach Village. and why he took his mother away to Ix Nos Babel. If he could find that out and defeat Naam. it would close this book of the Hennig legacy once and for all. Terry jerked his head, tossing his ponytail over his shoulder, then turned back to Sophia.

"Hey Major," He said, "I need another favour."

Sophia nudged her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "I keep giving you all these. favours. So what is it?"

"I need permission to head out onto the battlefield with Bishamon. I know that I broke orders by attacking the tower without permission but I could really use this chance. It might be my only opportunity to settle things with that guy. So can I?"

Sophia sighed in defeat. ".Fine. You and I are friends, after all. The repairs should be complete by now. So I'll take responsibility for it. Just remember that you owe me one, Terry."

Terry pulled a smile. "Thanks. Sophia."

He then ran for the far door, opened it, and left. Out into the corridor and down it toward the lift. Terry tapped a few keys on the control panel and it opened for him. He ambled inside, the door closed behind him. And it took him all the way down to the Meta Suit hanger. The doors opened for him and he ran out across the upper metal railing that spanned across an empty hanger. Empty except for one suit. The Bishamon M-2. Terry ran up to the section that had his Meta Suit and climbed down its ladder. Some of the young engineers who were patching up some of the damage were still at work, but scattered when they saw Terry climb down to the secondary railing. He opened the stomach-area door which showed the cockpit. Terry jumped in and sat down on the seat, setting the operating system online. Everything was operational. Just as Sophia said it would be.

The door into the cockpit automatically closed when Terry settled down. He pressed his hands into the controls, gripping the control sticks, while the hanger doors began to open up beneath the feet of the Bishamon.

".Stay strong for me, old friend," Terry remarked, "we've just got one last battle to fight."

~~~~~~~*~

The meanings of dreams for Yumi were often hidden.

• ASSIMILATION -

This world that Yumi found herself in, this world within her own mind, seemed somewhat abstract. Up until now. The door had been opened. And now the faces of her memories started to reappear to her knowledge. The faces of the mirror that had been buried deep in her subconscious, so many years ago. Yumi found herself as a spectral wisp. Her dress and body transparent. She was hovering over a certain scene. It was a compact but well stocked laboratory. Full of beakers, Bunsen burners, tripods, mats, chemicals and scalpels. As well as many computers around the room. Above the door was a crest. A shield and lion. One of the three crests of the Protocol Organization. This place, wherever it was, was being funded by Protocol. There were three people inside that small lab. Not including the spectral image of Yumi watching it all. One of three was just a random white coat with glasses, standing over the keyboard of a side computer typing in certain codes. His name was Shugo Yamamoto. The other was much more significant. A tall man of about 45 years of age. His long dark hair had been tied into a ponytail which flowed down his white-coat back. His name was Katsuragi Mishima. Though his birth name was Kazuo Mishima, everyone had nicknamed him 'Katsuragi' because of a famous Japanese doctor of the same name. One that Dr. Mishima greatly respected, and based most of this physiological theories and scientific methodology on. And the good doctor stood in front of a large beaker. Large enough to contain the body of a 'human' baby. A child that looked to be no more than a year of age. Even now she had a small mop of white hair. And that baby. was Yumi. The third person in that small laboratory. Floating in a vat of liquid that seemed to be oxygenated. Enough to allow the child to breathe in her stasis.

Katsuragi looked at his assistant by the computer. ".Yamamoto. Do you have the readings yet? What do they say about the Eros?"

"She's amazing." Yamamoto claimed, ".she's actually as strong as the Thanatos. Her Qi-level is well over 500 right now. That's more than 50 times the level of a normal child of this age. And every hour it rises by a few more points. Just imagine what she could do if she were to synchronize with a Meta Suit."

"She is still a child," Katsuragi said, "nobody should be thinking about synchronizing her with a Meta Suit right now. And yet the Shinrai Complex has already begun work on the Raum and Oriax Meta Suits. I can't believe that the Triad of the Inquisition entrusted the DNA of the last Vulnus Deus to those maniacs."

"You don't think highly of them, do you?"

Katsuragi chuckled with amusement, looking into the watery jar with little Baby Yumi inside of it. ".Not really. But how could I really hold them to scorn? Look at this girl. Ignorant. Unknowing. Completely unaware of her destiny. She will give birth to God. But to do that. we will have to imprison her here for the next seventeen years. How can I look this child in the face when she matures? Knowing that I stole her childhood from her? It's things like that that make me question Protocol's methods. And yet I feel guilty for even thinking that about the benefactors of my research. I am much too weak and pathetic to pass judgement on the Ochiai Research Team."

"Don't sell yourself short, sir. We are working toward a new genesis for mankind, remember? A new beginning within the grace of God. It will come whether we are involved or not. At least with us this girl won't be treated like some sort of pawn."

Katsuragi crossed his arms. "I'm suppose that's one thing that Yumi can be thankful for. I know I made the right choice in taking over her guardianship."

Yamamoto's eyes widened. ".Yumi? So you've named Eros after your biological daughter, have you?"

"Yes," Replied the elder scientist, ".I was never there for my other daughter. I was too busy in Ix Nos Babel preparing the Asmodeus with the other engineers. So when both she and my wife Mariko died in the fire. I wasn't notified until the funerals. I will never forget that feeling. And I want to do right by this child now. I hope that making a success of parental guardianship over my adoptive daughter will appease the spirit of my biological one."

Yamamoto shook his head. "This might sound odd coming from your subordinate, sir. but you don't sound like a scientist right now. We can't let our personal feelings enter into this."

"Hmph," Katsuragi scoffed with a smile, "you youngsters are far too prim and proper. We're not machines, you know. Forsaking our emotions is necessary for certain situations. but to live out a life of indifference to the suffering of others is truly a vile practice. Once Yumi gives birth to a new Novus Deus. all such evils and all rituals that lead to them will be extinguished."

Yamamoto smiled. ".Well I think that's at least one thing all we scientists share. Romanticism. But whatever God this child creates. I can't see it changing the world so radically. Mankind's future lays in machinery and science. God need only guide us. That's what I believe."

"I suppose we'll never agree on the subject," Said Katsuragi, "but what we can agree on is the importance of Yumi to the world. We have to make sure that we do our best. Both for her and for ourselves. The greater data we collect the less chance of her being shipped to the Shinrai Complex or Ix Nos Babel itself."

The floating image of the adult Yumi watched this conversation between Yamamoto and Katsuragi Mishima. Who Yumi now knew was her adoptive father. She kept watching until the setting changed around her.

• PROCESS -

Time and space shifted ahead before her eyes. So much so that when she was laying her eyes upon a stable image of the world, it was a completely different setting. She was floating above a canteen of the same white background as before. This was obviously another part of the research facility that Katsuragi and Yamamoto were based in. Katsuragi sat by one of the many tables in that empty canteen with a bowl of ramen before him. Sitting next to him was little Yumi. Dressed in the same cream/yellow dress that spectral Yumi had seen before. But this one didn't have any bloodstains on it. The child Yumi, who was now around seven or eight years in development, slowly sucked on the straw of a carton of apple juice, while her other hand held onto her plush teddy bear.

"Finally," Katsuragi expressed, ".I can get some time away from the lab. I've been working far too hard. And nobody has found it more taxing than you, have they, Yumi?"

The cute little girl pulled a wide smile and shook her head from side to side. Katsuragi smiled back and pressed his hand into her flourishing tresses of snow white hair. "That's a good girl."

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

Yumi kicked her legs under the table. ".What's the outside like?"

".Where is this coming from?" Katsuragi asked.

"Uncle Yamamoto said that a girl as sweet as me should see the outside world once. What'd he mean, Daddy?"

Katsuragi put his hands together. He'd surely chew Yamamoto for stirring this up later on. ".He meant that you are a special girl. And because you're a special girl. you should be able do to special things. that not many other 'special girls' can do."

Yumi gave Katsuragi another bright smile. ".I'm special!"

".Yes, you are," Katsuragi said softly, a brief hint of nostalgia in his voice, ".yes you are."

• REACTION -

Once again the scene that the spectral entity of Yumi saw changed. Time shifted at a lesser pace forwards. Until a new setting had been staged for her. It was a long white corridor in that same research complex that Katsuragi and Yumi had been living in. It was the same corridor that Yumi had seen endlessly in her dreams but had done nothing to understand. Not that she ever would have until now. In that corridor was Child Yumi. Who had only aged by a few months at this time. She stood behind the leg of the taller Katsuragi, who guarded her along the path of that long corridor. He guarded her from three other men. All of them were dressed in dark black suits. Not unlike the two men who had harassed Yumi and Chizuru/Chizu in the real world. They all had unsheathed guns in their hands. Aimed not at Yumi but rather at Katsuragi.

The doctor spread out his arms and sneered. "I should have known that the Shinrai Complex would have tried something like this! What business do you have here?!"

The first of the men in black smiled at him, aiming. "We want you to hand over the girl. She will be placed in our care. And we will take her to Ix Nos Babel for the time being. Unlike the Thanatos. her powers are not completely stable. And we feel that you are not quite capable of maintaining the role of her guardianship."

"What are you talking about?!" Dr. Mishima yelled, "I was the one who placed the biological lock on Yumi to keep her powers under control! I have already assured the Ochiai Research Team of it!"

The second suit sneered. "Don't be ridiculous. These orders come directly from the Triad of the Inquisition. Your feelings for this child have grown beyond simple test subject and researcher. Can you honestly say to us that you don't think of the Eros as your own daughter? Sentimentality has no business in this line of work, Doctor Mishima. For someone of your high scientific stature to make this mistake is. troubling."

Yumi wrapped her arms around the older man, still clinging to her teddy bear. "Daddy. are they gonna take me away? I don't wanna go away! I wanna be with you!"

".You heard the child." Katsuragi said, "leave at once.!"

The third rogue grinned. ".I'm afraid that neither you nor the Eros have a choice in the matter. And since you are obstructing a direct order from our leaders. I am afraid I have no choice. Goodbye, Dr. Mishima."

The third man pulled the trigger. Off went the sound and out went the bullet. Straight into the skull of the good doctor. Blood splattered over Yumi's face as the force of the bullet burst open the back of the scientist's head. He was knocked back by the sudden shot, briefly whispering 'Y-Yumi.' right before collapsing to the ground. Dead. Young Yumi kneeled down to his side frantically, screaming 'Daddy, Daddy!' over and over again. But it was no use. He was dead. And Yumi was old enough now to understand death. And understand the fact that the dead would never come back. The three suited men slotted their guns into the sleeves of their blazers. They were not ordered to kill Katsuragi, but it was necessary if he planned to interfere with the plans of their masters. They all smiled with victory. But their smiles ended when they heard the crackling of Qi-flames. It was Yumi. Her body was surrounded in bright silver spirit energy. Far stronger than anything they had ever seen before. Even at that age, Yumi's powers were ferocious. And her reaction to her father's death was utterly appropriate. Though she had no control over herself during that moment.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!" She bellowed furiously.

The silver fire, the silver fire that was so deeply cold, flashed from her torso and was thrown ahead in three powerful arc-shaped waves. Those waves sliced through the torsos of her Father's killer and his cohorts. Their blood and internal organs were ripped from their backs and it was all sprayed across the thin walls of that white corridor. The pureed remains of the three suits oozed down the walls and the pools of blood around their mutilated bodies spread outwardly. Yumi's body was surrounded by that blazing/freezing silver fire. And it began to effect everything around her. The walls started to darken from the singeing effect that her Qi Force had. The upper light rods that brightened the corridor exploded from the cold energy that was generated from the girl. One after the other. The glass from those exploded light lamps fell to the ground in a trail. While the security cameras that had monitored the whole thing also exploded. The shards of their metal were thrown across the corridor along with the glass of the lights. Whilst Yumi's force circulated against no restraint.

Other than her conscience.

The cold silver fire around her body started to regress. As did the dilation of her eyes. Her pure white hair fell back into place. And the hem of her dress stopped flocking with the winds generated from her Qi. When she calmed down. she caught sight of what she had done. And what had been done to her father. Blood was everywhere. All over her dress and her teddy bear (which she had not let go of) as well as the walls and the corpses of the three men she had just killed. Not to mention her father. It was frightening and horrifying to her. Not only to know that someone had killed her father but to know that she had killed them, too.

Yumi closed her eyes and sobbed, standing in welling pools of blood and surrounded by bloodstained walls, the floor of the corridor tainted with shot and dissected corpses. Then all of a sudden. that energy inside of her returned. And the young child vanished into thin air. It was Qi-Force controlled teleportation. Leaving that bloody corridor and the anonymous research facility it had been built in; behind.

• RESULT -

Spectral Yumi was closed her eyes for a moment. She was finally understanding the meaning of herself in that bloody corridor as a child. When she opened her eyes again she was looking into a whole new setting. It was alike a hospital. But less intensive. A line of beds were against a windowless wall. A ceiling fan span monotonously up above. The third bed down contained a certain girl. That girl was Yumi. But no longer as a child. She was a teenager of thirteen years. Yumi Mishima had grown beyond the frightened girl in the corridor at this time. But her eyes were closed. And they had been for some time now. Spectral Yumi watched from above as two people walked up to the unconscious Yumi's bed. One of them was a nurse. The other seemed to be some kind of dignitary from Protocol.

The nurse adjusted Yumi's feeding tube whilst addressing the Protocolian dignitary. ".Is this the one? Our little Jane Doe?"

The man nodded to the nurse. "This is the one. Her name is Yumi Mishima. Where exactly did you find her?"

"She's been comatose for at least five years," The nurse said, "long before I started working here. Her previous doctor told me that she had been found in the forests just outside the city when she was no more than a little tyke of eight. And she was brought here soon afterwards. She's been assessed time after time, but we've found nothing physically wrong with her. We guessed that the thing maintaining her coma is some sort of psychological trauma."

The delegate crossed his arms. "Hm. Protocol should be able to handle this. We have better resources than this place. I'm taking this girl into my custody. If you have any reservations then I shall give you the legal affidavit when the arrangements are made."

It was then that Yumi Mishima's eyes flashed open after five years of deep sleep. And the Spectral Yumi could remember everything from that point on. That was when her current memory began. Now Yumi understood everything. All her past. Why it was that she could not remember anything from before the age of thirteen, why she always pictured herself as a little girl surrounded in blood. It all had come to this. The memories of that hospice faded away into the annals of her mind. Unlocked but still dormant. Yumi had all that she needed now. Which was when her physical body started to react to the developments in her mind.

The girl was deep inside the energy of her own Qi after giving birth to the failed Vulnus Deus. But her body was surrounded by more of her silvery cold flames and teleported from its innards directly into another compartment. That of the Oriax. Her body landed into the seat of the cockpit. Gone was her look of sadness, misery and fear. That was now replaced with a stern glance that beamed with all new awareness and power. Power that was making its mark on the Oriax itself.

Higher above in Ix Nos Babel, inside the Main Control Room, Celaph and Chizu observed the battle with quiet expressions. Neither of them were thinking about Chrysalis. But rather the impending destruction of their home Meta Cities. Until one of the nineteen data collectors got new readings on his console.

"Commander Celaph!" He cried, "I'm getting life signs from inside the Oriax! Someone is inside its cockpit!"

"What?" Expressed Celaph.

Chizu uncrossed her arms. ".Is it Miss Mishima?"

The data collector nodded. "It has to be! The Qi-anomaly inside her room has vanished! But that's not the least of it! Mishima's Qi-readings are off the charts!"

A second one confirmed that. "He's right, sir! The current Qi-level is reading at 14,000 and rising! .15,000... 17,000... 21,000... 29,000! Aaah!"

The console that that particular data collected suddenly exploded, causing everyone to judder with shock. The Qi-readings of Yumi inside the Oriax had risen so fast that it broke down the computer just trying to keep up with it. At this rate she was probably well over 30,000 in Qi-level. All that destructive force in one person, the idea was just. incredible. Celaph watched as some of the workers ran to the flaming computer and put out the fire with cool gusts from fire extinguishers. Yumi had somehow unlocked her true power. but. just what she plan on doing with it?

~~~~~~~*~

The Bahamut zoomed up to Gusion #25 in the sky battlefield above the snowy island of Kyoga. Leading with his broadsword, he stabbed it straight through the torso of the metal titan. The sword reappeared from the back of Gusion #25, covered in a thick build up of oil. The Bahamut ripped the sword out of the Gusion and zoomed backwards, escaping the vicinity of the subsequent explosion. It turned around while backing up to strike down an Uvall that was coming his way. Uvall #19. The Bahamut pulled back its sword to strike as it came close to mecha. Until some bullets were fired rapidly in its direction. The Bahamut jetted to the left to avoid the bullets of that attack. And it didn't come from the Uvall.

They came from the Bishamon M-2.

The Bahamut and the Uvall #19 looked back to the south, a short distance from them in the air. Waiting there, surrounded by the sounds and sights of a Meta Suit Battle, was the Bishamon. With its shoulder gatlings unhidden. Inside the cockpit of the Bahamut, General Naam was smiling vigorously. It was the one he had fought in EDEN, alright.

Terry opened communications with the pilot on Uvall #19. "Hey man. You let me handle this one, while you go and back up the other troops against the Divine Blade."

"Yes sir, Lieutenant Hennig!" The pilot yelled, right before his Meta Suit flew out to continue the battle elsewhere. The Bishamon and the Bahamut turned to face each other. It had been a good three weeks since they had last met on the battlefield. But much had changed. Both in what the pilots knew and how they now saw each other.

Naam called out to Terry. "Ah. You must be the nephew of mine that I defeated on EDEN. Terry Hennig. Or am I mistaken?"

"I know everything now," Terry replied, "I know that you're my uncle. I know that you killed my Dad, your brother. And I also know that you were the one who put my mom inside that Asmodeus Meta Suit. So I don't wanna hear any of this 'or am I mistaken' bullshit. Tell me. Why did you do it? Why?"

General Naam sniggered. ".Curious. Just like Lilith is. She was the most beautiful creature on Earth, you know. She might have been nothing more than an undignified American. but there was no mistaking her beauty or her kindness. I would have done ANYTHING to have such a beautiful flower in my possession. When she married Heinrich. it was the last straw. I left Eberbach to seek out the power I needed to take my revenge. And so I did. I didn't intend for your mother to be caught up in the crossfire. But she loved that pompous brother of mine. I took her away to beg those at Ix Nos Babel to heal her wounds. It was a success. but not in the way I wanted. Lilith became that unstoppable mecha, Asmodeus. I lost the one thing I wanted above all else. And every time I hear your voice. I hear the voice of Heinrich. Chastising me about it all. Once I take care of you. I'll be free of it!"

Terry snarled angrily. ".You that's why you let them put my Mom in that damn contraption. Fine! Lets do this! I'll avenge my father once and for all!"

The Bahamut swung its massive sword to one side then advanced. Then Bishamon retracted its shoulder gatlings and reached behind its back. It unsheathed the katana from its scabbard then charged ahead in the exact same way as the Bahamut did. The two mechas came hurtling towards each other, both pilots exchanging fearsome battle cries while closing the gap of distance between them. The Bahamut swung its sword around in a horizontal position that hacked around in an arc. The Bishamon focused its power into its blade and repelled that strike in one hard, powerful motion.

Naam blinked at the readings he was getting from Terry's mecha. "What?! His Qi-level, it's."

The moment that the blade of the Bahamut was repelled, Bishamon flashed forwards and span around in tandem, shifting behind Naam's meta suit, back to back. The Bishamon turned its energy katana backwards and thrust it behind. It impaled the solid armour of the red knight suit. Slashing right through the stomach of the Bahamut. Oil ran of its tip like blood. The Bishamon then withdrew its blade from the body of the beast. Then flew from it, placing some distance between the two. General Naam grinned with defeat. The sensors in his cockpit were now flashing red. For alert. Terry had struck the engine of his mecha in one move. This was his end. By the hands of the son of his brother. Almost like the ghosts of his past had come back to life. ".So. The Revolving Slash. I suppose that Lilith taught you that one."

Terry replied, his face serious. "She taught me a lot of things back then. You wouldn't understand."

".I suppose not. Heh. I'll tell Heinrich you said. 'hello'."

The Bahamut then blew up into a flaming cloud of smoke and fire. Its remains were spat into the cold air of the arctic, the corpse of the pilot unable to be seen. That was the end of General Naam. And it was hopefully the end of that phase in the Hennig Family's saga. The young blonde man looked up to the readings of his own performance from one of the mini-screens in the cockpit of the Bishamon. ".A Qi-level of 7,300? Not bad at all. Thanks for believing in me. Mom."

At that point there was a huge explosion. One so loud and vicious that everyone on the battlefield and everyone on the bridge of the Leviathan could hear and see it. That explosion came from Ix Nos Babel. The tower itself was around half a mile high. But that explosion came from a far closer position to the bottom of Ix Nos Babel. About 1/9 of the way up. A large cloud of smoke surrounded the large hole that had been created from that explosion.

Then a quick blur of white and blue came screaming out of that cloud of smoke. It flew out into the battlefield above the island. That blur then set its targets on the Amons, Zagans and Allocers. The troops and machinery of the Divine Blade. The white and blue blur flew right past three Zagans and three Amons without looking to have done anything. Seconds later, all six mecha separated into two even halves that exploded into nothingness. The blur then began doing the same thing to other mecha for the Divine Blade. As it moved forwards through the battlefield in lightning-fast strides, all the machines in its path were reduced to pieces of metal that were surrounded in flame and smoke. Terry became worried when the blur started heading his way. The Bishamon pulled put its sword into a defensive stance, to await the attack. But it never came. Once the blur stopped moving, the true image revealed itself. It was a Meta Suit, alright.

The Oriax.

Terry's smiled widened. ".The Oriax.? Yumi!"

She was piloting it. But she was different now. And so too was the Oriax. The Meta Suit had changed slightly. His sheen was still intact but there were streaks of green, lightning-like Qi energy running up and down it. From its back extended a pair of angelic, feathered wings. They were formatted from Qi, obviously, but they looked completely organic. The aura of the mecha had changed now. It looked more like a Machine God rather than just a human tool for warfare. And Yumi had changed too. In the alternate dimension of a cockpit, her expression had changed from one of eternal fear and confusion to one of resolve and determination. She had been beaten, betrayed, abused, kidnapped, raped and broken. But her mind had come through it all. And a new chapter, a new awareness, had been awakened inside of her. The last of the biological lock that had been placed on her by Katsuragi Mishima ten years ago was gone. All of her power was now at her disposal. But she had full control over it.

Yumi opened a com-link with Terry. ".Terry, are you alright?"

".I'm fine," The young man blushed, "Man, this is a switch. We all came here to rescue you. but it seems like you're the one who's rescuing us, huh?"

Yumi blinked. "You came to rescue me?"

"Well, yeah. You didn't think we'd leave you in the lurch, did you?"

Yumi was going to answer that, until her new senses, as well as the sensors of the Oriax, caught onto something moving near the Leviathan. Something with enough firepower to level it if its flamethrower was aimed in the right place. The Oriax extended its wings to their full wingspan and then bolted forwards, diving through the crowds of the battle. It dashed from point to point in a blurred rush of movement, inching ahead until it drew closer to the Meta Suit it had its eyes on. The Eon.

In the cockpit of the Eon was Kraepelin. Who had his heart set on the destruction of the Leviathan. Until that blurred image of the Oriax flashed into his way. It stopped like a bolt of lightning and remained there. Kraepelin sneered when he realized what suit this was.

"The Oriax, huh?" He remarked, "I don't how you escaped Ix Nos Babel and I don't know you took the time to remodel your suit. But if you stand in my way. know this. you will fall!"

Yumi, her face hard as stone, responded. ".I'm sorry for what I did to your friends. I've never wanted to kill or be killed. But I've learned something throughout all this. Things won't change until someone takes a stand against people like you. And if it means controlling my own feelings of remorse and guilt on the battlefield I will do that. I will be the soldier of the unspoken. And I'll build a peaceful new world by taking down the one force that prevents such a world from taking shape. Protocol."

".Silence!" The Eon lifted its rifle arm and then pointed its long flamethrower at the Oriax. The flames were spouted from the tip and burned outwards in huge gusts. The Oriax didn't move from that point, it only flapped its wings and leaned forwards slightly. The Wave/Anti-Wave Generator inside it was now going to be used. There was a loud, throbbing sonic blast fired from the mouthpiece of the Oriax. It moved in an invisible pattern of outwardly radiating decibels that disrupted the cold air that it moved through. It sounded like the shriek of an animal. Those sonic waves bombarded the flames of the Eon's rifle and nullified them. The pillar of fire was scattered into loose embers.

Kraepelin gasped, then looked at the Qi-reading he was getting his sensors in regards to the Oriax. ".Impossible! A Meta Suit with a Qi-level of 32,000!? That just can't be! It can't be!"

".You're nothing to me." Yumi chided, ".death is not my way. But a man like you knows no other way. does he?"

The powerful, curved energy of the Gauntlet Blade had been active since the Oriax had broken out of Ix Nos Babel. It charged forward at the Eon and swept its arm to one side. The Eon was chopped into two halves. It then burst into flames. The two pieces of the Eon fell out of the air with Kraepelin inside, falling to what would inevitably be his death. Yumi dissolved her Gauntlet Blade and sighed.

Just then, a transmission came in from the Leviathan to all suits connected to Chrysalis, which included the Oriax. "This is Major Mariette! All of you be alert! We have just detected a large mass of energy being charged on the Lunar Station! It could be being aimed at the battlefield so watch out for yourselves!"

Yumi closed her eyes and searched her senses. ".It's a cannon. A very powerful one. Aimed at the Earth. It will not be easy. but."

~~~~~~~*~

"Rejoice, O nations,

with his people,

for he will avenge the blood

of his servants;

he will take vengeance

on his enemies

and make atonement for his land

and people."

Deuteronomy 32: 18 'The Song of Moses'

~~~~~~~*~

The Oriax began crackling with energy. Yumi was about to do something. The Meta Suit programmed with the DNA of the 40th Vulnus Deus vaulted into the air and vanished. Not unlike the same teleportation of Yumi's normal powers. High above, not on Earth but in space; something was proceeding. On the space base built into the surface of the moon. One of the 279 vault doors on the steel complex opened gradually, without the backdrop supplement of sound to indicate that it was happening. The slow-moving metal of those gates unbolted part of the way to create an aperture. Then a very large cannon head poked out of it. The AM-Cannon of the Lunar Station. It was a one of a kind make. Completely unstoppable in any normal circumstances. And energy was boiling inside of it. Fully charged. The darkness of the inner part of the cannon disappeared when the cannon began the firing process. Then came the soundless bang that broke the silence of space. A GIGANTIC white-coloured blast of anti material power was thrown straight into the direction of the Earth sphere. Slicing through the darkness and stillness of the cosmos. That blast was then followed by two more, shot from the AM-Cannon. Each of them aimed for a certain city on Earth.

~~~~~~~*~

"Great and marvellous are your deeds,

Lord God Almighty.

Just and true are your ways,

King of the ages.

Who will not fear you, O Lord,

and bring glory to your name?

For you alone are holy.

All nations will come

and worship before you,

for your righteous acts have been

revealed."

Revelation 15:3 - "Seven Angels with Seven Plagues"

~~~~~~~*~

Down in the streets of Meta Tokyo, things were as normal as ever. People shopped, talked, walked around, sold things, bought things. No one expected anything out of the ordinary to happen. Until the skies began to brighten much more than usual. A light that transcended that of the sun came down towards the city from the heavens. People covered their eyes and looked up into the sky at the newfound brightness. Their gasps were those of awe and esteem. But those gasps of amazement changed into those of fear when they saw that that light was not ordinary. And it was coming their way. The Light of God was moments away from swallowing up the entire city of Meta Tokyo in destruction. Until the Oriax teleported directly in front of it. The Meta Suit extended its hand and pushed forwards. Its Qi Barrier materialized around it. But then it did something unusual. The barrier unravelled itself from behind like the peel of an orange. Then the shield extended outwardly until it became a circular one rather than a spherical. The wideness of that circle increased until it grew enough in size to accommodate the width of the first blast of the Anti-Matter Cannon. The blast then crashed fiercely into the defensive force of the Oriax's shield. Yumi grunted at the weight of the Qi it took to repel such an attack. But she stood her own. And held off that titanic beam of energy, one that was strong enough to destroy millions of lives. Then the energy of that blast shattered into tiny fragments. The blast dissolved away, unable to break the wall of force that the Oriax had shielded Meta Tokyo with. Once the threat of danger to Meta Tokyo was over, Yumi teleported the Oriax out of the air. The Oriax reappeared over the skies of Meta Cape Town. The second Anti-Matter blast descended towards the city like the first had done at Meta Tokyo. The Oriax expanded its shield again and resisted the second blast. Once the energy of that vanished, the Oriax teleported to the air above Meta London.

And for the final time, she resisted the Anti-Matter blasts.

~~~~~~~*~

In the Main Control Room of Ix Nos Babel, three monitors had been turned on to see the outcome of the Anti-Matter Cannon's attacks. Each of them had been deflected. And now on the main screen, there was the image of the Oriax, standing triumphantly at the defeat of the force of the AM-Cannon. Deep down there was a sigh of relief from most of the people on the bridge. Disaster had been averted by the enemy. but who there could begrudge that? Certainly not the majority of the data collectors.

Chizu was stunned, staring at the image on screen. ".Yumi.?"

One of the data collectors yelled out to Commander Celaph from his seat. "Commander, all three shots from the Anti-Matter Cannon of the Lunar Station have been nullified by the Qi Barrier of the Oriax. Should we. make a second attempt?"

Celaph crossed his arms seriously, ruffling his cape. "Absolutely not! Cancel any further attacks!"

"But, Commander!" Cried one of the data collectors, "We were given strict orders from the Triad of the Inquisition to."

"I'm overriding those orders. That girl just risked her life to save a world that has done nothing but abuse and dehumanise her. We have to at least be as brave as she was. I'd rather die with self-respect than live in constant guilt. Tell the lunar base to cancel any further attacks with the AM-Cannon. Then sent out commands for the withdrawal of the Divine Blade."

Chizu blinked. ".Commander.?"

"This battle has no meaning to it now," He answered, "it would be foolish to continue fighting. Carrying on would only waste more lives. If being human means betraying the will of the soldier, then, I have no right to be called such. Now all of you! Send out the order!"

Three of the data collectors confirmed that. "Yes sir!"

Celaph sighed, knowing that he would incur the wrath of the Triad of the Inquisition for this. ".For the children of today. those who are the soldiers of tomorrow."

~~~~~~~*~

It had been four days since the battle at Ix Nos Babel.

The events of that day seemed so long and inescapable. Somehow Yumi had managed to get through it. And change herself. Many things were changing now, though. Celaph had taken full command over the Holy Protocol Army. And one of his first acts (after the pull out from the battle at Kyoga) was to lift the occupation of EDEN. Which was where Yumi was now. The girl stood out, leaning over one of the metal railings of a balcony. Her arms dangled from it. And she looked down at the waters surrounding the many pillars that kept the city afloat. She had thought at one point that she would never see EDEN again. But Yumi was happy that she did. She didn't feel scared or frightened anymore for some reason. After learning the truth about her father, she was finally able to put that all behind her. Without those ghosts hanging over her shoulder. Yumi Mishima could finally move forward in her life. Whilst looking out into the distant sea, a second person came up from the door leading back inside. It was Terry. Fully dressed in his Chrysalis uniform. The half-German, half-American youth strode up to the balcony railing and smiled.

"How come your not dressed in your uniform yet?" Asked Terry, "We're meeting up with Celaph to get these ceasefire talks up and running. Even a 'young soldier' can push for peace when his rump lands on the thin end of the bush."

"It'll be tough seeing Chizuru again." Yumi stated.

"Yeah," Terry said, thinking of her, "who'd have thought that such a pretty girl was a Protocolian spy? Still. she and Celaph are making an effort. Father Bartholomeus is excited about it. I can't get in the way of that."

Yumi nodded. "I know."

".I know that Protocol screwed around with you pretty badly. But I don't want you to think that."

"Don't worry, Terry." Yumi answered, ".I don't hold it against any of you. I joined Chrysalis of my own free will, didn't I? Peace is our main objective. And that's what I came here to bring about. If that means dealing with Protocol I'm prepared to do it. Because there are still so many things on the Earth. that I want to protect."

It was hard for Terry to believe that such a comment would come from Yumi after everything she'd been through. ".Oh yeah? Like what?"

Yumi smiled at the blonde youth. ".You. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Terry smiled back at her, as the two of them were bathed in the light of the high sun above them, "that we are."

~~~~~~~*~

Far, far away in locations that very few men had ever seen, was the great hall of darkness that the Triad of the Inquisition; Aherg, Karahi and Ein resided in. Three hooded wise men stood quietly in a circle in the middle of that unknown chamber. The air around them was grim. Grim with the weight of the events that were unfolding in the Earth Sphere.

"It is hard to overlook the past when the future seems so dismal. Is that why Celaph has done this?" Aherg wondered.

Ein sneered (though it could not be seen). ".Celaph has betrayed us. He possesses far too much influence in the Protocol Organization to be overthrown with any form of ease."

"Yes." Answered Karahi, ".it seems that way. But the seeds of failure sometimes bare fruits of success when plucked from the tree at the right time, do they not?"

Aherg nodded to that. ".The Qi anomaly that formed around the Eros after the Reunion somehow allowed her to evolve to the next level. She is more significant than we gave her credit for. I didn't think that anything other than the Vulnus Deus could achieve symbiosis with the Heart of the Astaroth. Especially not a mere human. But life is not something you can easily predict. Besides. We possess our own avatar, is that not so. Freeman Ronove?"

A short distance behind Aherg was Freeman, father to the 41st Vulnus Deus, owner of the Raum Meta Suit. His body sizzled with a smouldering purple flame aura. He kneeled down before the Triad of the Inquisition, his dark and evil grin spreading across his cunning face. ".Yes, sir. My body is yours."

Aherg chuckled and looked upwards. ".The new world that we seek to create. the new beginning that we presume to deliver. that shall be our only focus. That shall be our divine purpose. Even if we must free the Enemy of God itself."

In the far darkness of that hall was a large, intimidating and anonymous presence. A Meta Suit. One that glowed with a bleak amethyst aura that resonated tremendously with that of Freeman. But it was not the Raum. It was something.

far more sinister.

~~~~~~~*~

END OF MESSIAH: AC CAUSA HIC NOVO MUNDUS

~~~~~~~*~