A harsh buzzer pulled Mike out of his avatar, leaving Ko stranded in the high rise mountains of Dun Lorieg all by himself. A mix of emotions and thoughts joggled around in his mind as he began to pull his black leather wallet from the left pocket of his black denim pants. A silver spade decorated the front of his wallet and within were a series of yen bills. The things were more like candy than money to him, all through out his trip he had been pissing them away. Such a habit was the main reason why he never carried cash in the states. Using his debit or credit cards was good enough and less habitable.

"Boku wa enchou ga hoshii desu."

The American pulled out a wad of the uncounted currency and handed it off to the small Japanese waitress. For some reason though, she wasn't taking his money from him. Sometimes, in Internet cafe, people that have been in for a long time are cycled out for new customers but it didn't seem like that was the case. They could have just been trying to get rid of him because he's American but that's not probable either.

"Sumimasen, Anii-san... demo, okyakusan ga yakkai kara, a...ano... hanareru onegaishimasu."

She bared a weak and embarrassed tone when confronting him. He recognized it though, it was fear. Something had scared her into making him leave which meant that there was an enemy nearby. Her small and meek frame would be easy to take so if she was the enemy she wouldn't be a challenge. The manager watching from behind was a middle-aged, fattened, balding man with no threat rate either. Could it have been CC Corp singling him out from all of their other problems?

As his eyes cast around the room he began to realize that it was really him that she was scarred of. This whole time he had been screaming his head off while battling monsters, Lawfer, Fenrir, and Hrist. Albeit it was all in English but if he recalled correctly, most teenage Japanese kids knew English because it was a requirement for their version of junior high. After all, Sekai's never shown a problem in speaking and understanding English. Before someone decided to call the cops he hit a few key strokes that he knew was going to log Ko out of “The World” and made his way to the door.

”Gomen-nasai.”

And out the door he went with a new destination already in his mind. But first he needed to call a couple of people to make sure things were going to work out. From his right pocket this time he drew out a black and red cell phone that his fiance forced him to buy before they started making independent trips around the world.. He loathed his cell phone but not just that it was his phone; he hated the entirety of mobile cellular devices. Anyone and everyone walked about their lives screaming into a speaker to talk to people that weren't even there. They lied at their leisure with no sense of remorse because they didn't have to look the other person in the eyes. Oh how he hated being in the same classification as those other idiots because he owned a cell phone.

First he dialed the number that the Admin Kei had given him months ago. She told him at the time that she was the type of person that carried two phones; whatever that meant was almost completely meaningless to him. There are only two things that make cell phones worse for people. When the person has more than one cell phone and when they use those stupid little ear pieces to manage their phone calls.

“Kei? Ko. I'll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Their conversations were always quick, short, and to the point so he never felt bad about hanging up on her with out saying some kind of good bye. She was the same way though. Several times over when their conversations were done he wasn't quick enough to hang up first and he'd hear the click of her phone from his speaker. Next, he dialed the number that Mika had given him months ago when Sekai first became trapped in the game. If there was one place in Japan where he could play in private Mika would be able to give it to him.

“Mika-san? It's Mike. I need a room to play “The World” in private. Do you think you can help me out? Arigato Mika-san. I'm in the neighborhood. I'll be their in five. Ja ne.”

At the last minute the man turned on the ball of his foot and began to quickly walk away from a tall white house that he would have inevitably crossed in front of. That tall house was the former residence that Sekai lived in. Her parents lived there. Those disgusting bastards that dared to go about their lives with out so much as visiting their daughter. What he'd give for just a few minutes with them would be enough to buy off the devil but not enough to buy Sekai's forgiveness.

**

Mika wasn't happy to see him and it showed in the way she was barely able to restrain the look of accusation and suspicion in her eyes when she reluctantly opened the door. It was a simple house that seemed strangely familiar. It had simple clutter well lived in with a brown leather couch against the large front window and a fire place with a mirror above it. Another grayish-brown cloth couch rested against the wall closest to the door and the thin, worn blue carpet suggested that it used to be a small business place of some sort before being remodeled. A big screen TV sits in a corner, black screen dimly reflecting the figures moving around in the house. A large Bengal cat regarded him curiously, the twenty pound animal jumped down from the couch and brushed up against his leg with a series of inquiring mewls and almost chirp like meows.

Scooping up the cat with a practiced ease and cradling the animal protectively on her shoulder and chest, the green eyed girl walked down the hall and paused a little before one of the doors before she opened it up and walked in herself. The cat struggled a little and nimbly jumped on to a small twin sized bed tucked against the corner wall near a small window with the blinds and curtains drawn tightly closed. The bed was neatly made; soft powder blue comforter with three matching pillows lying unused against the made bed. A desktop was set up in on a small cream colored desk, a small film of dust covering the keyboard and the monitor from lack of use and movement while a laptop rested beside it, plugged in and fully charged with two sets of FMDs and external speakers ready and waiting to be used. Yellow-green eyes look up at the two in the room as the cat meowed insistently, almost protesting the entry into the room itself as it curled up in the middle of the bed. Mika tucked a strand of black hair behind her ears , green eyes not meeting his own deep brown pair as she spoke for the first time since his entry.

“This is Sekai's room, you'll be using her computer. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.”

“S-Sekai's room?”

The realization that this was considered “her” room is enough to have him back out with a look of terror turning his face ghastly pale. He wanted desperately to ask for a different room, any room other than one Sekai use to regulate. The illusion of her smell still filling the place was stifling and traumatic to the point where his chest grew tight and his lungs stopped breathing. With a harsh gulp and a bitter taste in his mouth, he forced himself forward into the room. The more he looked around the more he began to realize that this wasn't just Sekai's house but it was the house he had visited her in once already.

It's organized and neatened up, things put away and a small pair of photographs rest beside the computer pair; one of the traditional school photograph with Sekai and Mika in their school uniforms outside of their school entry way in the spring of last year and the other a professionally taken photograph of Sekai at one of the temples for New Years with Mika in their kimono. Lying open is a half-finished sketch of what looks like a group of players from “The World” on the desk next to the photos.

“She was sketching on and off before... well, you know. Need anything else or are you good to go?”

He took the sketch gently in hand with the other hand's index finger running across the parchment. High quality, decent weight, fine grade sketching paper. Perfect for the artist in training. His chin crinkled up a bit as he thought about how he left her in there again with out doing anything but he quickly smoothed it out and passed the movements off as a relief gesture to the unshaven tiny black stubbles irritating him.

“No Mika-san. This'll do fine. If you could, lock the door on your way out?”

“Funny how you know there's actually a lock on the door considering you've never been here before; though she swore that thing would get in if she didn't lock her door. I'll be out in the living room.”

Mika remarked bitterly, near storming out the door and closing it behind her to leave him in the room, locking it behind her by pressing the button on the knob from the inside. The cat jumped off the bed and sauntered over to look up at Mike questioningly, tail swishing from side to side as it meowed at him again and rubbed its head against his leg.

“Seems like your owner doesn't quite like me.”

Sitting down at a computer in some Japanese girl's house was a bitter reminder of when he spent the day at Sekai's house for his battle against Trent the first time. How ironic it was that he sat down at the very same computer under the same situation. A small bit of moisture began to form in his the corners of his eyes as he stares at the dull blue carpet. It's an annoyance to have such emotions weighing him down but he had become rather adept with shrugging them off. All he had to do was take a breath with his nose, lower his eye brows, and drown it all out with senseless violence and a heavy guitar rip sound track playing in his mind.

The fatigue of his last encounter in “The World,” battling the forces of the second Valkyrie, still weighed mildly on his mind as he placed the FMD on and took hold of the controller. His rolled his neck with noisy cracks echoing while his flexing wrist and fingers joined in. It's rather convenient that the girl carries a set of preferences similar to his. It allows for a joint play of keyboard and controller to open up the whole view of commands and action available to “The World's” game play. From these configurations he could tell that “Sana” had been fighting hard in the game for her own reasons; reasons not so unlike his own. After all, only experienced and well versed players made use of using the keyboard, mouse, and controller at the same time.

His player history logged him back into Theta server's Dun Lorieg, a high rise town built on rickety wooden platforms and half decayed bridges at the clustered peaks of cloud breaking mountains. In all seriousness he hated the root town of the Theta server and its bottomless pit canyon only a misstep away. Rather than check the stores and stock up on lost items used in his recent mission with the Army, he instantly accessed the Chaos Gate and utilized the “Server Change” option.

The Ko_Inuyasha avatar layered back into the game in the aqua capital of Mac Anu. “The World's” version of Venice complete with gondolas quietly sliding their way across the waters of the twilight city. An orange sunset cast over brown buildings and sparkling water canals. If he ever wanted to have anything to do with water, or “rue” as it was commonly called in wave terms, it would be this place.

At the Mac Anu chaos gate he held his hand up to the orange sky and selected the designated key words from his flashmail conversation with Kei.

”Shifting Paradise's Twin Hills.”

The layering of golden rings turned his avatar to a glowing blue will-o-wisp that quickly transported him to a vast green field of grass covered hills stretching out to a mountain covered horizon. Towering windmills dot the landscape with massive fan blades cutting the sky. Box kite constructions floated about in the white clouded sky with anchoring thick steel cables tying them down to the rock soiled earth.

At the base of the high rise hill Ko stood upon, a female Whipmaster picked herself up from her reclined position. Her slim fingered hands patted the excess plant life from her overly baggy tan khaki pants that stop just before the ankles and extremely tight fitting black wife beater top. Thin sandals barely keep her feet from being covered by the rich black soil of the field; something Ko could have a wanting for with his dirty, callused, and thick feet. Waste length mahogany brown hair flaps about in the wind while a black ribbon attempted to keep it tamed in vain. She has a deadly stare in her auburn eyes, a stare that could tear the hearts of those with weak constitutions out and grind it to dust.

“You're a bastard for making me wait so long.”

Her tone was as harsh and unwomanly as usual, combined with the jutting breath of her uphill stride. In some sort of gentlemanly gesture the Heavyblade began to walk down the forty-five some degree hill to meet her half way but quickly found that it was a mistake to get within her attack range so casually. A powerfully thick steel cable lashed out from her presence and snatched the bare ankle of the Heavyblade. With a tug of minimal effort he was quickly placed on his back and with the second tug forced to come all the way down the hill the painful way.

Before he could properly raise himself her thin sandaled foot promptly stomped down on his chest and kept him in his place.

”I hate being kept waiting, you know that. How hard is it to get somewhere in “The World” in only fifteen minutes? And if fifteen minutes isn't enough all you have to do is say that you'll be there in twenty. It's not rocket science!”

Her powerful leg gave him another shove into the soft fertile dirt before she walked away and kept her back turned. Her little temper-tantrum was doing little for his spirits and doing wonders to aggravate him to the greatest of ends.

”My apologies Kei. It's just that I was so excited that I found you something worth your time that I lost track of my own.”

Yes, even Ko could be sweet and charming when he wanted. He knew that the only reason Kei ever even became a debugger for CC Corp. was simply so that she could see the dramatic anomalies of cyberspace made real. For her, a freak like Trent and the things he left behind are more valuable than gold and diamonds. Before he could tease her more about it any further though, his hand was quickly snatched up by hers and soon following a sort of visor layered over her eyes. A semitransparent, lime green, visor that turned her auburn eyes dark as night. Her special status as an Admin of CC Corp. assigned to debugging “The World” gave her all kinds of extra options including the ability to see the images on their coding level and deleting any selected target coding with her weapon; this visor of hers was used for the latter.

Tiny thread like tentacles bound this accumulation of data to the avatar host. On the most basic of levels it appeared to be the same type of data that created an AI. Such a comparison would be like identifying an animal red blood cell. The careful Admin never jumps to conclusions and would love to use the term that boot print in the mud doesn't mean that a foot was there but, she's seen the bizarre and the strange in “The World.”

She pulls a syringe from her pants' pocket and uses the item to draw data from her own avatar the same way one would draw blood. Then, like a scientist performing an experiment, she stabs the item with her special needle and directly injects her avatar data into the ring's core. Like a plague the ring almost immediately devoured the character data, swallowing it whole and assimilating it into the fold. On the outside, veins of Ani scarring begin branching out along Ko's infected finger. His face twitched as he winced in pain from the spread, it must've been especially painful to cause such tiny noises to escape his lungs.

”Quit crying and hold still.”

Her whip would serve as the next piece of her experimentations. With simple ease the solid metal coils of her weapon was pierced and slightly drained of its data by the syringe. This data was uniquely different not only from her avatar data but from all normal weapons as well. With in Kei's weapon was contained all of her Admin data and abilities. If she were to ever lose this whip, her Administrator ID and settings would be lost as well making it one of the most valuable artifacts in the game.

The new data being applied to the ring doesn't become infected and taken over but actually has the exact opposite effect. The data from her weapon destroys what ever it touches, eliminating the infection of Ko's character data, but when it came to the core of the ring's properties nothing was able to touch it. She had to conclude that the data deleting properties that had been granted to her by CC Corp. as a debugging Admin were the polar opposite of the ring's infection. The core of the ring was different though because it was completely fused with Ko's avatar data. The only sure way to eliminate the ring would apparently be to delete Ko_Inuyasha entirely.

”All right here are the basics, this ring assimilates any data that it comes in contact with and uses the data as strength to further its infection on your character. The external infection alone can be countered by several means but the ring its self... that's stuck there forever.”

”Forever? That doesn't sound like you Kei.”

”The only real way would be to delete your data altogether. I mean I could-”

”Then we delete it.” The simple resolve in his eyes to do the simplest and immediate thing still stuns her, someone who thinks things through completely before making a move. If her data was the polar opposite of the ring, his personality was the polar opposite of hers. ”It's just data in a video game. Delete me and be done with it.

She nodded her head in confirmation and armed herself with her special whip. He'd never admit that there are emotions attached to this avatar that he'd never want deleted but him turning his back to Kei was proof enough of that. Under his breath he said good bye to his faux body when he heard Kei's whip slither over the grass behind her. There's a pause, a silence, and a quick breath taken just before she issued the attack command.

Suddenly something grips their avatars in a smothering grip. It almost takes the breath from their lungs in it's violent hold over their bodies. The field slowly begins to fade away to a black loading screen similar to that of a gate transfer. They find their characters being molded into a new field, a lava flow feel, hot and stifling with it's sulfur rich atmosphere. Kei checks the field's data in her drop option menu but Ko recognizes it from days long since past. Before she said it he interrupted

“Delta. Unending Unbounded Great Seal. A level ten vak affiliated field with a four level stone floor dungeon.”

She looks shocked at him until he points over to the unique stone slab defiantly out of place from the rest of the flowing lava. Her analyzers point out the obvious that it's data doesn't line up with the rest of the field. Hell, it doesn't even line up with the basic components of “The World.” The only way she could explain it is that it's an A.I. all on it's own.

“He put it there. I've guessed that it's a part of him.”

Kei nods in confirmation while analyzing the field further; currently finding the phenomenon more interesting than Ko's ring. The Heavyblade's golden eyes drift across the field to witness the coming of two players out of the dark sulfur mist that covers the field.

A dark girl, covered in black robe like clothing with an amethyst tint, walks across the field while hanging on the arm of a seemingly unimportant normal player. He identifies the man as a normal player because there's no chance of this girl being a normal player. Her appearance, her movements, even the way her voice played over the speakers comfortably placed over his ears, all of it plays out the same way he's seen A.I.s move around “The World.” She wears a thin shin length black coat that reveals it's amethyst cross weave when shined on just right by the light and bears sleeves only reaching just past her elbows. It only parts ways when it reaches her hips where it's no longer buttoned together. Underneath she wears a skirt of the same color and pattern that barely reaches where her finger tips would reach should she put her arms down. Hair just as long as the skirt runs down her back with a mess of it in the front cut into short bangs so as to not get in her face. On that pale face he finds the flaws accustomed to an actual creature instead of an avatar, it's the same kind of difference that separates Sekai and Raquar from the rest of the A.o.D. party. Her skin tones vary just like an actual person and her cheeks have accumulated a hint of the black ash from the air. Wrinkles have marked her eyes but not her mouth or forehead; she's been squinting a lot but not laughing or smiling.

She laughs and giggles with her puppet, playing the part of a flirtatious young girl, while making her way to the remnant concrete slab and hot steel chains of Trent's former manipulation of this field. In her false smiles and infatuated stares Ko can see the deeply rooted sadist, maliciousness, and the type of predatory hunger that sickeningly reminds him of the air around Trent.

“Kei.”

“It's an A.I. but it's nothing like anything I've seen. It's even completely different from this field and your ring.”

That wasn't what he meant. Her curiosity towards the weird and strange was getting the better of her.

“Lock the field. Purge the entire area.”

“A debug would be smarter so that you don't lose your character data. Bring it's Hp down to zero and we'll begin a safe cleaning.”

She wasn't really concerned about his player data, she just wanted to add the thing to her quota and get it to CC Corp. where they'll dissect and analyze it. It wouldn't really matter either way to Ko as long as they kept the AI completely locked away but, knowing anything that looks like Trent, he'd rather it was completely obliterated instead.

“No, be willing to do the purge if we can't get them to leave. I don't want a trace left behind. After all, characters can always be recreated.”

She nods in confirmation again while walking with him to intercept the two. He takes his back mounted great falchion style weapon into one hand while she reaches behind her hip to take her lengthy steel cable whip in one of her own hands.

“Excuse me players, I'm a CC corp. administrator and I regret to inform you that we are about to preform a routine scan over this field. We would appreciate it if you returned to the root town and saved your data.”

The couple responds like the pair of staff members aren't even there. The girl continues to hang on his arm while leading him to the stone slab.

“Excuse me players but-”

“Hey kids you need to leave this field right now!”

“They look pretty serious Abby. I think we should go before our accounts get flagged.”

Her violet eyes turned large and filled with tears, anyone with half a brain should have been able to see that she was turning on the water works at a cue but the boy player that she was dragging around seemed completely entranced by her display.

”Please. It's just right over there. They can't stop us in time.”

Against his better judgment the boy allowed the girl to pull him over to the concrete slab that stood defiantly unaffected by the flows of lava circling it.

”The story of this field goes that a man came out of the womb of “The World.” He loved “The World” so much and wanted nothing more than to protect it. But humans polluted his world and tried to rot it away. He fought valiantly against the impure humans on many fields but this one played a specific role because it was here that he left a piece of himself at. And more importantly, he left a piece of himself with three out of the four people that we have here today.”

As the female AI's violet eyes casted a malicious presence on the avatar Ko, the silver band still data bolted to Ko_Inuyasha's finger sent an unbelievable pulsation of pain through his body that could only be described as entire persons suddenly coming under a gravity three times that of the one on Earth. His avatar quickly fell to the cooled lava ground as his body tried to keep its self from curling into a ball in the pain.

While Kei turned to tend to the failing life signs of her comrade, Abigale quickly turned into the demon Ko knew her to be. In swift motion she grabbed the player and shackled his avatar to the burning surface of the concrete slab.

“W-What are you doing?! Why can't I log out?! Help me! Admin people, help me!”

And just a moment ago he was ignoring them just so that he could flirt.

”Three months ago you were pk'ed by a man with a three bladed sword in black armor.”

“S-S-So! Everyone gets pk'ed at least once that's just the way these games are!”

”That man left a piece of his data inside your avatar. A piece big enough to be cloned so that if his body were ever destroyed, it could always be rebuilt from your character data.”

“Please someone just help me!”

Against the pain, Ko rose back his feet and pulled the massive falchion blade up. Before he could even focus his eyes though, the female AI was already over top him and Kei with her trident holding Ko's left hand between its prongs.

”You don't need to protect this any longer, Uncle.”

Up close, her voice seemed lilting but a distinct animalistic, or growling, under tone could be heard. In the same manner as she flashed in front of the players, she quickly flashed back over at the slab where the poor trapped player was still struggling for his life. From inside her coat she removed a bleach white porcelain mask that she placed on the squirming face of her victim. Ko looked down to his hand at the same time Kei did to see that the ring that had previously been impossible to remove was taken away with out even a struggle. Once the mask was placed over his face, the player stopped moving completely and turned so silent that the two players began to think he was dead.

"Flesh given unwillingly, remnants of the mask that gave face to the void, that which sustained your strength, and the ring that ties them to memory; with these fragments you left behind, I return thee to this domain."

A dark glow began to cover over the slab with Kei quickly switching her player status to “analyze” mode, a way to view “The World” explicit to Admins with the task of debugging fields. The AI slowly slipped the ring over the avatar that was beginning to become corrupt from the input of pure ani wave direct from the sub levels of “The World.” The wave became a pulse that ripped through the field just slightly quieter than the screams ripping out of the unknown player's lungs. The shiver sent down the spines of Kei and Ko were evidence enough to them that the pain he was taking was real. In seconds he would be dead and that's something that they could just not allow. They took their weapons in hand and made a run for it only to be forced to the ground by an intense pressure that felt more like the gravity around them had tripled. What scared them the most was when the screams stopped and the hold over their bodies ended.

As they slowly pulled themselves off of the charred rocks the player, covered completely in the miasma of ani, pulled himself off of the concrete slab. His steps were slow and a little wobbly at first but he soon gained control over his functions as the thick cloud bleed from his form. Black greeves stepped free of the darkness with a clank echoing in the minds. Armored legging of the same colored followed with bracers, chest plate, and a crimson chain mail set coming out with each advancing step and then his face came into view.

To Kei, it's the face of a vagrant AI created by a former co-worker that she was assigned to delete. To Ko, it was the face of a demon, a demon that spawned other demons and threatened to was over every world like a plague. He had to stop this, had to kill them both, had to make sure they were dead for good once and for all.

“How much do you remember? Do you remember your name?”

The female AI slowly approached him but even she was halted by his stare. His eyes pierced right through her while his fingers flexed in the air. He was gauging his strength, learning what this body could do before his data completely digested the avatar skeleton within. In his right hand a flash of a dark cloud, similar to the one that covered his body during it's gestation, that quickly flowed away to reveal the materialization of a sleek, black, daikatana style sword stretching out for an even six feet for the blade and another foot for the hilt.

“My name? My name is Genocide, Poison, Malice. I am Hate, Wrath, and Chaos. I am the one that will wash away this world of rot and leave only the one true race. My name is Trent. Now, who are you?”

He smiled a disgusting smile and looked harmless enough with out a weapon in his hands but he's a predator through and through and was fully willing and able to snap the little girl's neck before turning against the opposition of Ko_Inuyasha and Kei.

“You could best describe me as your offspring. I've taken the name Abigale.”

”My daughter... Yes, my memory is returning now. When my data was fragmented the recycler must have combined it with the data of Elf. Strange though that you came out in a female form.”

”Don't be concerned about the potency of your data. You're 'genes' were very ample in my creation. Apart from several of my pigment traits I retained several of your abilities and the requirement to feed on human emotions.”

”And you talk like a machine...”

He seemed to be investigating something in the way Abigale moved, talked, and appeared to him. It was obvious that he wasn't trusting her and why should he? She had lured two of his enemies straight to him while he's in an obviously weakened condition.

”They are not a threat. I had to bring the red one here because he had one of your pieces and the administrator is a gift for you. She was the one that assisted him in your destruction so she should be the first to be slain.”

Kei's goggles revealed all sorts of items about their data to her. As if their Ani affiliations weren't obvious, the Admin view confirms that both are weak against Rai. Lucky for her that she's already aligned with Rai and thanks to her rare weapon she's granted both Zapping Twister and Static Binding Circle. Defeating either of them should prove easy for her as long as she kept true to her intuitions and kept her eyes open.

Abigale armed her trident adorned with the previous key rings to level M as their points. Trent raised up his long black daikatana with a sinister smile creeping across his face as though he was about to do something as natural as stretch after waking up. Kei's lengthy steel cable wrapped around her arm in preparation to be flung off at a moments notice. Finally, Ko mounted his massive flachion with all of its weight resonating with its owner's desire for victory.

Trent made the first move, vanishing for a split second with his super speed. Ko knew the move well and though wasn't as fast as Trent managed to arc his blade around and guard Kei's rear from the piercing strike of Trent's katana. The female admin didn't waste anytime on looking behind herself but took the opportunity to advance forward after the AI Abigale. Ko smacked the slim steel weapon away and charged forward with his sword dragging behind and building up strength in the resistance of his ever tensing muscles. Trent danced about with a grin and a mocking chuckle as Ko swung life threatening swing after swing at his dark counter-part. When he had grown tired of dodging he moved swiftly to the inside of Ko's attack range even though it meant that he couldn't attack with his own long sword.

”You've gotten soft in my absence. Have you been eating enough protein?”

The mocking gesture only served to piss Ko off past the point of reasonable fighting. To counter Trent being so close that he could feel his breath the brass Heavyblade used a head butt to attack. Smashing foreheads together the two found each other to be equally thick skulled and backed away. Trent rubbed the marked area with his raised middle finger while the white haired Ko had a bit of a blood trickle staining his bangs.

On the other side of the battle Kei danced around Abigale's speedy and powerful thrusts with her whip still firmly coiled around her arm. It wasn't that the AI was poor with her spear but rather that Kei was just that much better. She predicted each move that Abigale pulled out. Thrust, sweep, slash, shaft strike, overhead slash, Kei dodged them all until the thrust she was waiting for came. It was lined up perfectly with the ground and Abigale's feet were firmly planted for power which took away all of her maneuverability. Like no one else could, Kei extended her wrapped arm with her palm ready to be skewered and snapped her whip forward. The cable spiraled past the trident and down the shaft until it snapped closed around Abigale's amethyst clothed arms.

Shocked at the maneuver, Abigale tried her hardest to pull her arms free but found that she was completely bound to her spear so long as Kei was able to keep a hold on her whip and as easy at it seemed at the time to simply run the bitch through, Kei had moved forward and placed her hand on the exposed chest of the AI.

“Be deleted. Rai Rom!”

Trent looked on at Abigale's status go from bad to worse from over the attacking Ko_Inuyasha's shoulder. The enemy administrator had her pinned and was preparing a lightning spell with yellow wave energies building around her avatar. With speed that he could only perform for an instant he flashed over behind Kei and pushed her arm away from his daughter's chest. Swirling bolts of deadly lightning blasted into the black ashed sky before it began to rain the blood of a woman. With a powerful slash of his weapon Trent opened up the back of the Admin and tossed her to the ground along with her weapon.

”Don't turn your back on me!”

Trent barely manage to grab Abby and move before Ko's destructive sword smashed and destroyed the area the AI were previously standing on. Trent was right that the Heavyblade had gotten soft but he was getting sharper, slowly building his reflexes back to the point where he'll be able to fight on par just like before.

With the crimson robed Heavyblade still in close pursuit, Trent tossed Abigale away from his persons and leaped off in the opposite direction. It worked too, Ko followed Trent, at the time quickly moving up an over hang to gain the high ground, and ignored Abigale. What the maniacle monster hadn't imagined was that Kei was already up there waiting for him.

“Don't cut what you don't kill! Zapping Twister!”

Her steel cable shined with streaks of lightning that danced about the atmosphere. He barely manages to avoid the initial blow by touching his toes on the ground and leaping into open air. Out there he found that he had been boxed in by the hot-blooded Heavyblade moving quick to his rear and the Rai waved admin quickly chasing after.

”Damn you die! Karin!”

Ko's huge falchion shaped weapon burst forth with manifested flames from the attack's wave. Pincered and airborne Trent had no choice but to curl his arms in and defend himself while a racing Abigale moved beneath the three and jammed the points of her trident into the ground.

“Ani Zot!”

The claw of a black demon with hell fire stained hair as thick as a wall cover its arm and blood soaked talons for fingers pushes its way into the realm of the humans. The dark claw stretched out into the air and snatched Trent into a protective cage of its own flesh. Ko's flames and Kei's lightning streaked across the beast's arm in a violent torrent until the limb was completely destroyed. Off of the remnants of a palm, Trent leaped to safety to quickly recompose himself for the brawl.

Poor Abigale was left by herself with Ko and Kei both descending on her. Ko fell faster with his blade already preparing to ignite in another hell storm of fire. Kei stayed close behind with her whip dancing about his body to block off Abigale's escapes with rapid successions of attacks cutting away at the ground around her.

”Get out of the way little girl!”

He could've struck with another Karin skill but instead only used a normal slash that tore her open from shoulder to chest to hip but didn't come close enough to finishing her off. In the matter of the split second that both enemies stopped attacking the AI made a hasty retreat backwards to get some distance so that she could use her spear effectively. Kei wouldn't let her gain the advantage though and decided to actually land on Ko's body and make horizontal whiplashes at the vagrant AI. Ko's body began to slightly buckle under the pressure before he threw the female Admin at her target.

“Static Binding Circle!”

Kei's rai wave affinity collapsed inward on her own slim body as did her whip. The eight foot length of steel cable spun ever more rapidly against its self until what started as a few sparks became a torrent aura of electricity around her body. On contact with the ani aligned AI the attack exploded into a destructive force yet to see an equal in the battle at hand. At the end of the rapid succession of elemental critical hits Abigale was backhand smacked away from Kei's person only to be snatched in midair by the ankle by the ever assaulting admin's whip.

Kei was about to simply plow the girl into the ground when Ko comes up behind her and grabs her firmly by the tone hips barely covered by pants or shirt. With out any sort of confirmation or agreement between two the Heavyblade lifted his Whipmaster partner into the air and begins to spin her around with impressive speed. By the extension, Abigale also began to spin at the end of the whip until Ko had built up the speed he desired and smashed the girl into an overhang of cooled magma. The female AI had all but been deleted from the battle leaving the two players to take care of the Trent that has quickly flashed himself over to Abigale's aid.

“Who's gotten soft now?”

The monster disguised as a man stood up in defiance to Ko's arrogance and with his sword beginning to hum with the sadistic desire for blood he had a smile slowly slide across his face.

“Lets find out.”

The demonic AI flashed across the field with such speed that the lava flows rose in his wake. Within a fraction of a second he cleared more distance than the two of them could have even with Ap Do enhancing their characters. With a swift blow he tore open Kei's stomach with his slick black katana. With out missing a split second's worth of time he clashed swords so hard with Ko that the crimson Heavyblade was thrown off balance, stumbling backwards until kicked clean off of his feet. Ko bounced off of his back and resumed his stance quickly while Kei, who never fell, quickly bound Trent with her Administrator exclusive whip. With in the steel cable Trent found his power all but completely sapped from him.

”Strike now!”

He didn't even need to hear her say it. Already Ko was twisting his body and pulling his muscles so tight he could feel them straining against the force of his sword. The steel howled in the dry air and whistled in the wind as it cut the world in half in its path to kill Trent.

Abigale quickly rose to her shaking limbs, discharges of Rai energy still trickled from her body as she half hung onto the rocks that Trent left her next to. Her other hand extended out to the three and with Trent's life hanging in the balance she made the drastic move to warp Ko_Inuyasha and Trent back to the field Delta: Shifting Paradise's Twin Hills.

In just the razor's edge amount of time remaining Trent was able to slip his thinly daikatana in the way of Ko's massive strike. He saved himself from being brutishly bashed in half but suffered the concussion force of the collision to its near fullest. His AI body was thrown in the air before it landed feet first on the grassy hilled terrain of the field.

For warriors like them, so determined to kill each other that they'll battle their way through Hell, changing locations doesn't cause them to miss a step. Instantly Ko's footing shifted and adapted to the slippery terrain of the field where he could step and run freely, as opposed to the lava flow field where a misstep could cause you to plummet into a vat of molten rock. The two slid on the slick blades of grass as though they were on ice, so casual it seemed to battle on an uneven plain. Their swords clashed against each other again but with much more force than previous times. With the need to be watching their backs for a second opponent gone, they could swing with all their might and leave openings at their rear as long as the other Heavyblade was at their front. Their swords clash again with the resulting shock wave creating a violent wind about the area.

“I don't think you're the same as before. Can you beat me without your Administrator?”

Trent allows the great falchion to over power and push him back. With the force of Ko's blade aiding him he's able to make a significant amount of distance between he and the boy.

“Of course I can! I've beaten you before and I'll do it again!”

“Will you now? I'll let you in on a little secret: I'm only at a quarter of my full strength and when we fought last time I was at roughly eighty percent. So tell me, if you can barely withstand me at a fourth of my power now, how did you beat me back then?”

“It was my conviction to kill you! I couldn't let you kill all of those people. I couldn't allow myself to let that happen!”

”Wrong! It was because I allowed you to win. You did manage to ruin my plan at killing all of those human animals but you couldn't hope to oppose me. The administrators waiting for my return on the other side however, they would've been a problem. They wouldn't have been able to destroy me but, the chances of being locked in a cage for the rest of my existence were just above ten percent. I couldn't allow that to happen so I made use of my escape plan and let you kill me. Before my data was demolished I firmly injected my memories and consciousness into that ring that was on your finger and waited for the time when all the pieces I left behind were put back together. In all honesty though I never expected Abigale to come about and do it. I expected you to go insane and do it yourself. Sad that even I can't account for everything going on in this world.”

”You're lying!”

”Am I? Then kill me and find out.”

The red clad Heavyblade roared into his full run after his black enemy. The wind howled as it was divided by the sheer force of the massive falchion and the steel of the two blades screamed when they were clashed together. Sparks flew as their razor thin edges broke into each other. Each swing they took into each other damaged their weapons further, soon the weapons would be worthless dull chunks of metal. Even so, no matter how fast Ko pushed his character or how much power he placed into every single swing he wasn't making any progress against the superior Trent.

”Push push push little boy. You'll never hit me like this.”

A deep growl escaped from the clenched fangs in Ko's dog like mouth as he swung the blade in vain straight into the ground. A leg wrapped in black armor reached up from the ground and smashed into the player's face with a bone breaking result. A rapid succession of punch after kick followed by another punch struck into the unarmored flesh until his limp arm was snatched up and shattered in an instant. Against his deepest struggle Ko's blade slipped from his fingers and fell into the ground with an indent forming just under the pressure of its weight.

”Where's that conviction at Mike?!”

A violent swirl of Ani wrapped around Trent's blade as he pulled back and slashed with not only enough for to open the player's body up but enough to send him literally flying off the ground and smashing into one of the windmills the dot the landscape. With a demonic sort of laugh Trent called out to the sky in victory as one by one the blades of the windmill stopped spinning and crashed to the ground. He turned away from the collapsing structure with a confident smile on his face when something behind him didn't sound how it was suppose to. The fourth fan blade didn't fall to the ground like the other had, it stopped in midair and then presumed to rise back into the air. With a thunderous boom something exploded from the inside of the windmill and the blade shot into the sky with a red cloth flapping behind it.

”I'll show you the weight of my conviction you son of a bitch!”

Just barely able to get out of range of the huge windmill blade, Trent leaped back to avoid the huge collision. The huge weapon then became a plow that tore open the land as it charged for its target. Trent raised his blade in defense but the wood like structure of the item was sliced into too easily and shortly after his blade cut into the wood he was smashed into by the item. With a display of true brute strength Ko lifted the huge fan blade perfectly vertical over his head with Trent trapped at the tip and with an equal shear force of power he cried out with adrenaline leaking from his lips and smashed the wooden blade to splinters against the ground.

An injured AI lies on the ground with two large chunks of wood piercing his black armor under the hinges. A red pool of blood began to run down the slick grass as he weakly climbed to his feet. His hand patted around the soaked ground in vain for his lost sword when and blood drunk Ko came running up with his knee smashing into the AI's face. As Trent rose from his knees in the shock his face was palmed and his throat was smashed. With his enemy still held in the air Ko took his fist back and brutally pounded it into the solid plate of metal guarding Trent's stomach. Only three punch go into the armor before he find that he can only dent it, not break it. He dropped Trent from his raise position before shoving his palm into his blood covered nose. His hand then took hold of one of the large chunks of wood running through the AI's flesh and drags him off balance by it. When the faux man was about to fall over Ko brought a meaty Heavyblade arm into his throat and clotheslined his opponent to the flat of his back. With a final stomp of his foot onto the fallen enemy's foot he began to stagger away to reclaim his sword.

Heavy breath was the least of his problems. As Mike looked at Ko's stats he could tell that his avatar wasn't going to be able to keep this sort of combat up for much longer. His Hp was suffering, his attack and wave stats were waining, and worst of all his stamina stat was running on empty. If he were a Twinblade he wouldn't have to worry about the stamina stat, that job class practically had stamina for blood. He reached down to the ground to retrieve his falchion to end this when something thick and solid ran through his body. Warm liquid ran down his abdomen before soaking his clothing and trickling to his mud covered toes. Opposing this was a cool moisture coming upon his ears.

”My turn!”

His rasped voice wasn't calm or collected anymore. Ko had done serious damage to a Trent that was down to only a fourth of his usual strength which meant that even he was feeling the strain of this elongated battle. Trent had ripped the chunks of wood out of his body and used one to return the injury flavor of blood, flesh, and bone to Ko. With a violent turn of the item he really let Ko feel the pain because with the strike came a leaking of his miasma, the same miasma that would cause Mike to feel Ko's pain in the past. At the turn of the spike Mike's back arched back from his chair and his voice let out a blood curling scream that echoed all throughout Mika's house.

By the steak running through Ko's chest, Trent lifted the boy into the air with one hand. He drew his free hand back and drove his gauntlet covered fist into the spine of the player. With each hit blood pours out of Ko_Inuyasha's back, a cloud of miasma rises out of his stomach, and in the real world Mike's body jerks with the pain of a metal bat being punished into his back. In a sadistic sense of glee Trent threw his prey into the ground with enough force to let him bounce once before rolling down the rest of the inclined hill. Down in the valley Ko quickly clambered to his feet and while enduring the worst pain he had ever felt in his life, he grabbed hold of the chunk of wood intruding his body, bit down on his shoulder, and ripped the item out of his body with all of his might. A scream equal to, if not louder than, the one he let out when the dull wooden spike was shoved in runs out of his body.

”Round two Trent!”

The crimson clad Heavyblade claimed his falchion firm in hand. As damaged as the steel was it was still the weapon of his class and the only way he could do significant damage to his enemies. All of his fist attacks barely caused a scratch in Trent's Hp and even though he had decent spells, his magical stats weren't high enough to compete with this altered AI version of a Heavyblade. His Sp would be better spent conserved for healing spells, which weren't going to be many more at this rate.

He coughed out another Repth spell as his dark enemy descended from the hill top as easily as though he were walking down stairs. If Ko recalled properly, Trent doesn't, or rather didn't, possess any Repth spells in his arsenal of spells; which meant that he wouldn't be healing his wounds anytime soon. He did, however, remember that every once in a while Trent would burn a wound shut with the acidic properties of his miasmal Ani spells. It wasn't something he did often so to Ko that meant that it didn't really heal his body but instead just stopped the bleeding. Despite this fact, the battle was turning out to be far too one sided for Ko_Inuyasha's tastes. He knew he had to deal crippling damage to Trent soon or there would be no way to win.

”Look at you, so in thought. It's very out of character. You should stick to swinging your sword around like a brute before you strain something in that bone skull or your's. Better yet, just run away back to your little soup kitchen and enjoy your short life while it's still around.”

”Feh, like you're so generous as to let prey run away. Don't feed me that bull.”

”You know best. I would've ran you through the instant I saw those faux eyes of that disgusting rent-a-body go glassy. Of course, I wouldn't have let you die either. I would've kept you here so that I could take you back to my field. On that burning slab of concrete you would've watched my skin that Admin. bitch alive.”

The sickening way he spoke with each syllable sounding like a hypnotic tone made it seem like he was inside the Heavyblade's head while he spoke. Poisoning images of Kei naked on the slab with Trent's knife cutting her just ever so slightly deep enough filled his mind. Sizzling blood quickly evaporated from the concrete surface while all the while Ko's laid out on his stomach unable to do anything but scream and wait for his turn. He couldn't let that happen, he wouldn't let that happen! He'll kill Trent for good this time and then go to finish the job he started on Abigale with Kei.

”Enough!”

In a fierce charge Ko crossed his great falchion against Trent's daikatana. So close to each other that Trent can see the sweat beading from the player's avatar, the demon couldn't help but relish a little too much. In his moment of distraction his crimson robed opponent got the better of him and began to push him back. His armored boots dug deep in vain as the brutish Heavyblade pushed and pushed until his target's back was pinned against the wall of a windmill that had previously been lucky enough to be unharmed from their battle. In danger now, Trent began to push back but he had lost so much ground that there was no changing the outcome of this bout; that wouldn't stop him from trying though.

Trent's dark Ani miasma began to surface while Ko's burning Vak flames began to burn forth. The ground beneath Ko's bare feet began to give way and like wise as the pressure between their dueling waves grew the wall behind Trent's back began to crumble to the foundation.

”You think you can defy the obvious gap in our strength?!”

”I defy you!”

The smog like Ani wave was rapidly overtaken by the flames of Ko_Inuyasha's wave and with that turn the wall that Trent had been pressed against was turned to rubble. Through the debris Ko quickly snatched Trent's falling form by the face. In a swift swing he pulled his enemy around and smashed him back into another solid wall. The dark figure took hold of his blade and readied to strike back only for his crimson assaulter to beat him to it. The entire width of the falchion plowed through armor, flesh, and concrete with blood pouring out in its removal.

”Reap it Trent you son of a bitch! Kannon!”

The wave that previously floated in the air like disconnected flames condensed and circulated the enormous flachion as it was pulled back and raised up for a strike. With flames burning in every which direction Ko thrust his blade firm and true at his enemy. But, Trent quickly vanished from view to retreat up an ancient looking, wooden staircase circling the walls of the dark windmill. Ko's flames scattered when impacted with the wall, leaving embers dancing about on the ground. It didn't take long for something to catch the dying flames and breath new life into them. As Ko went chasing up the stairs after his target a fire erupted at the bottom that left the roof as the only exit.

Half way up the climb Ko caught up to his bleeding enemy and with his head just narrowly miss a decapitating blow Trent begins to feel a very human amount of fear growing in his body. He blocked the next barbaric swing with his sword and took in the changing surroundings. His ability to adapt at a millisecond's call was something that put him above the almost tunnel visioned nature of Ko_Inuyasha. Up near the roof he spotted a window leading out; once he made it there he'd could leap out and have the advantage over this human opponent. The current circumstances around him were becoming far to dangerous for his tastes.

Their shadows flickered on the walls as they slowly climbed the stairs admits their conflict. Their sword swings cut fissures in the walls but with each of their secondary goals being to get out that window they're very careful in their duel to not damage the rickety stairs so much. Step, swing, two steps up, block, step, swing. They repeated this process twenty times over like a dance right up to the end when Trent did something that should have been obvious. His eyes narrowed and his grin curled when his blade stuck the wooden planks below their feet and caused a chain reaction that sent the entire stair case plummeting down into the growing flames that Ko created. Trent was left safe as he quickly vanished from the collapsing planks and reappeared on the safe stone ledge of the exit while the less fortunate crimson Heavyblade began to fall to his death. That is, he was falling to his death with every intention of making sure he was taking someone to Hell with him.

The world slowed to a crawl as Ko removed a scroll, wrapped in red paper and sealed with the kanji for fire, from his hitoe and pointed it at his enemy like a gun. Trent's eyes widened like never before as he began to figure out just what kid of power Ko had gained in his absence and worse, as he began to realize that he didn't have the energy to spare to defend himself from it.

”Vulcan!”

From with in the scroll surged an over immense amount of Vak wave that flattened all objects near Ko's person flat against the walls. Head first, the massive snout of a red and gold scaled dragon came bursting from the confines of the scroll's seal. Saw like teeth cut through air while black smog and burning embers turned the atmosphere uninhabitable. It's body broke free with a powerful wing beat that fanned every fire in the area into a hell storm. Thick, impenetrable, scales shined brightly in the flames as powerful talons dug into the structure of the crumbling windmill and a glowing orb of power burned the brightest of all with in the restricting jaws of the beast.

”Disgusting human, know your place. Wyrneck!”

In a last ditch effort Trent summoned forth nearly every ounce of what little strength he had regained. The wave that he allowed to flow and expand in retaliation to his enemy's untamed force collapsed in on its self until it was focused souly in the palm of his out reached hand. Unlike the gradual appearance of Ko's golden dragon, all at once a dark wyrm emerges from Trent's focused wave. A scraggly black mane ran over decaying flesh only half covered by manged fur. The beast had no arms but tattered black wings in their place. From its bony beak of a mouth spewed poisonous miasma and leaked venomous toxins. The cloud of toxins surrounding its body tainted and corroded the world around him; the dark beast Wyrneck.

The two creatures snarled and snared at each other much in the same way that their summoners did before gathering all of their aligned wave in the area into this localized point and utterly destroyed it in a hell storm of red flames and black smog.

Shooting for the sky with all of the rubble and debris, Ko and Trent didn't stop their battle for a single second. Their swords clashed in midair despite one's completely drained Sp and magic and the other's entire set of stats running out on him. Amidst the flying debris Ko planted his feet against one large enough chunk of former wall and gave it his all to leap from it after his black armored enemy. Like a missile the red player rammed shoulder first into the black Heavyblade and while the target was being pushed away the swiping falchion screamed through the sky and tore open its enemy's stomach. Trent flew back, digging his fingers into a chunk of debris, and took the time to gain his bearings in this mid-air combat.

Ko also planted himself down on a chunk of free falling rubble and by chance their two pieces were beginning to circle above one another. Trent's pearly white teeth grinned with malicious intent as he drew black the sleek black katana. Ko grunted with anger when he smashed his damaged sword against Trent's equally worn weapon. The force of their conflict repelled gravity keeping their platforms of concrete in a sort of orbit around each other. In a furious dance of strikes they powered on against each other until the circling platforms they stood on couldn't withstand the pressure and crumbled away. On the last strike they sent each other flying through the debris and into a free fall that was ended for each by the earth.

Trent landed with a knee bending to brace the fall. For a split second he lost track of the red streak that was his opponent which would have proved deadly fatal if it had not been charging straight for him. The great falchion style weapon, with cuts, dents, and flaws running along its length, cut through the air with a whistle behind it. With an arrogant smile Trent shot his weapon along the broad side of the attacking weapon and before Ko knew it he was being pummeled by shard after shard of his own sword. With unnatural accuracy Trent looped his sword around with a flick of his wrist. He cut into Ko's sword and fired the shaving shards across his entire body until only a stub and a hilt were left.

A bloodied Ko with his clothes torn to shreds made series of quick leaps back to escape the range of his opponent. Like the animalistic stalker that he is, Trent only took to walking to catch up with Ko until he saw that the crimson Heavyblade was going for another gigantic windmill blade. The damaging ability of that item would even knock Trent down a peg. He went for a quick step to cover the distance but his arrogance made the reach too great. Like a child the AI got batted out of the way by the massive hunk of wood.

Even with the over sized weapon slowing him down Ko_Inuyasha was quick to be all over his enemy. While Trent was still in the air from the last attack Ko took the fan blade high above his own head and crashed it down on his armored opponent. He would have bounced if the weight of the weapon wasn't pressing him into the soft black soil. Once more Ko raised the weapon up and then crashed it down on Trent with all his might before tossing it to the side.

Out of a quick flicker of flames Ko grabbed a new falchion out of the air. Even though Trent destroyed his weapon Ko's falchion style blade was just an image hack over his actual equipped sword. The previous sword, Hein, was indeed destroyed and useless until the player returns to a Root Town and has his character healed. This new sword, Horse Killer, was healthy, fresh, and read to spill some blood.

”No more hiding, no more running, no more games. Now it ends!”

With all of his hatred resonating from the blade Ko raised up his sword with the point reaching down for something to skewer. His breath was taken in death as he ran the blade through nothing but dirt. Violently he pulled the blade out and faced his black armored opponent straight on. Trent had used his quick stepping ability to instantly move out of the way of the attack, that much Ko understood. Something else was going on though, Trent seemed confident- more confident than usual. He stood there, taking his time in pulling his daikatana weapon from the void of his miasma like wave.

”I suppose you're right. This has gone on long enough. Prepare to see the gap between us.”

He flashed out of sight but Ko knew where he was going. He turned sharply and as he predicted there was Trent with his blade ready to slash. Something was wrong though, the control's response time was sluggish. So sluggish that Trent was able to quick step right into Ko's face and do as he wished, tearing his body apart with slash after slash of blood spewing swings. In short seconds Ko's blood was bathing the grass in a thick crimson river. He went to cure himself but his Sp was completely drained out. His items! Surely he could still use his items. He went for a health drink, the avatar reaching into the hitoe top as per its programing. As soon as the health was regained Trent just swiped it away with a swing of his sword. Over the fallen Heavyblade the AI laughed aloud as victory had been firmly grasped.

”In this world that you can never touch, you can never truly win. You are bound by a doctrine of rules and guidelines far out of your control that keep you from ever rising to even a level of concern to me. Your “statistics” can't keep up with the sheer will of my conviction. No matter how much you scream, no matter how much you fight, no matter how much you cry, your conviction in that world will never be realized in this one. That is why you humans don't belong here. Abigale, I'm done here.”

The trademark golden rings of transportation in “The World” warp Ko's fallen body back into the heated lava field first and Trent ever recovering form in second. Kei lies next to him in a pool of her own sizzling blood with wounds ripped through her body in much the same manner as Ko's. He had vaguely hoped that if he fell then Kei would be able to keep up the fight in his place and since Kei was slightly higher in level than the Heavyblade, Abigale was likely stronger than the current Trent.

His golden eyes lifted their sight from the ground as well as they could and peered through the heavy black smog at the joining AI. Abigale had actually lost an arm in her battle, much to Ko and Trent's surprise. The amethyst haired woman handed over a syringe to Trent, most likely the very same syringe that Kei had used earlier. Yes, the battle between them was becoming clear to Ko's eyes.

As Kei and Abigale battled on, Kei began to notice that her stats were wavering and that if she wasn't able to deal deathly blows to Abigale then she'd never win. She said that Abigale was different from the ring on a data level but she's also half composed of Trent's data and still a virus style AI. She must've drew data from her weapon, feigned weakness to draw Abigale in, then injected her with the data. The administrator properties must've proved fatal and to stop the corrosion Abigale cut off her own arm.

”You didn't kill your's.”

”I left her crippled for you to feed on when you were done. Should I deal the finishing blow?”

Her deep amethyst colored eyes shined with the desire to kill. Even with the heavy smog and ash floating through the air her eyes could be clearly viewed. It reminded Trent of the shinning eyes of Wyrneck when Trent summoned it. Through thick poisonous miasma the beast's eyes shined a blood thirsty red.

”No. These two will be left alive and here's why. Just now these two fought with all of their might, at one hundred percent, full strength.” With a
smile that oozed with arrogance Trent pulled up Ko's head by the hair to make sure he got the idea bored deep into his skull. ”You tried with all your might and failed. No more hiding, no more running, no more games. With a harsh slam he drove the fallen Heavyblade's into the ashy stone. ”You're done. So sit their until your genocide comes.”

Under Abigale's power they left the field with any place in “The World” as their destination. With her ability to travel from field to field regardless of server or Root Town there would be no way to trace their movements now.

**

Tired and beaten to hell, Ko found himself powerless to track or stop Trent. Kei said that she was going to investigate further into the matter but the worried expression and tone in her voice made him question what was really up with the short mail she received. There was one place that he could still turn to but the consequences might be too much to bear. Regardless, he knew that those two needed to be informed for their own safety. As people that are trapped with in “The World,” they had no sanctuary to hide from Trent in and fewer places to run as his strength continually improved.

There was only a brief wait between messages that gave him the kind of time where one thinks about how they must appear to the people around them. Ko sat on the rim of Mac Anu's grand fountain with his crimson robes torn, stained with blood, ground with dirt, and ripped apart to the point where his bare skin was showing. His hair was a mess of blood stained white locks while his face wasn't looing any better. His hour long battle had left not a single spot on him that didn't look like it was smashed with a dump truck... for the second time in his life.

”I guess Kira intercepted the message but, Jadin? Who the hell is Jadin?”

Mac Anu was as good a place as any to hold a conversation as long as someone was smart enough to use the whisper or party chat options but the bizarre nature of Ko, Sekai, and Kira all together would have most definitely caused an undesirable amount of attention. Further more, Ko wouldn't be able to defend himself should Trent just happen to stroll by in Mac Anu. It would be best if he chose a safer, remote, field location and get his avatar cleaned up before Sekai saw him.

Before he approached the Chaos Gate to go to the same field that he met Sana in when Sekai went comatose from the Dread Code infection, he went to the small male NPC that handles the saving and loading of data for characters. When he spoke with this NPC and saved his data, his character's avatar data was restored to the proper default configurations, with the exception of the common animal feature hack of his dog ears, the silver cuff still pierced to his left ear, and the image hack of his Heavyblade weapon. These items were all out of the normal scope of the game or simply altered versions of that scope; they'd never change no matter how many times Ko was refreshed.

Unending Forbidden Sea of Amber was indeed a vast desert field with golden white sand stretching over dune after dune for as far as the eye can see and a burning red sky extending just as far with not a single cloud marking the air. Large abandoned hermit crab shells dotted the landscape along with the remnants of a few desert society ruins. Apart from these minor obstructions, only the dungeon stood in this field which made it overly barren and uncommon to find even the most anal of treasure hunters in.

Sekai and Kira hurried to the Chaos Gate, barely pausing between one Root Town and the next before gating into the sandy field that she found somewhat familiar. Silvery hair flashed in the sun, same as the blade of her spear as Sekai's white hair flashed brightly off the burning sunlight. Both of them looked around, nodding silently to one another before taking off like a shot in opposing directions to search for the scarlet clad Heavyblade.

Her boots sank deep into the sand, leaving tell tale marks in the sand as she hit the ground on one knee more than once in her search. Tawny eyes scanning frantically, heart in her throat and dread twisting her stomach, fearing the worst before a flash of red to her left nearly sent her breaking an ankle in haste to turn around. From the distance he looked like he hadn't been in a battle but... there were things that could make it seem that way, could make it seem like there wasn't anything wrong when there was.

She flung herself off the dune without a second thought, small body smashing into his and knocking the breath out of herself as they went crashing into the sand.

"Daijobu desu ka?!"

Pale and anxiety written in every line of her expression, even a little bit of the fear from the Flashmail lingering in her eyes, trying to be hidden but not quite succeeding as she frantically checked his HP and MP, trying to find where Trent might have hit him or where an injury could be. Kira showed up not even three minutes later, looking only slightly out of breath... and rather amused as she wiped the sweat off her brow with a wry grin on her face as she slid down the sand dune with practiced ease and walked towards the two in the sand. Her feet barely made any imprint on the soft surface as she marched up and looked down, one hand on her hip while the other balanced her spear on her shoulder.

"Am I going to have to worry about you stealin' her now too?"

She spoke with a teasing note in her voice, but her sharp amber eyes were already scanning for any lingering damage done by Trent's blade or any of the shit he could have used. Relief wasn't shielded in her gaze either at seeing him at least physically alright and in one piece as far as mindset went.

"Sekai, I know you've been worried sick but, get off your Nii-chan and let him get the sand out of his clothes before we get down to business. This needs to be explained fast and with as much detail as possible so we can prepare."

With some what of a smile trying to break free on his face Ko slowly rose up from the sand as the young Sekai slid off of him and stood next to Kira. Sekai wasn't petrified with fear and Kira wasn't in “royal eternal bitch” mode which made the Heavyblade feel all the better about calling them. His main focus was trying to get the events straight in his mind. So much had happened in the past hour and a half that it was near impossible to remember it all clearly.

“I'll try to keep it all clear but a lot has happened. First off, I'm in Mika's house right now...”

What needed to be said, what should be said, what shouldn't be said? He was so busy trying to classify all of the information that he was beginning to forget what he was even planning to tell them to begin with. At that second he remembered his promise to Sekai. They're suppose to share the weight no matter what, there shouldn't be anymore secrets or hidden agendas.

“When I was trapped in Trent's body I met an Administrator named Kei. A while back she helped me in my plot to destroy Trent so I turned to her in helping me get the ring taken off of my finger.”

He paused for a moment to lift up his left hand and show that the silver ring that was polluting his data was gone.

”During our meeting though our characters were suddenly warped to Unending Unbounded Great Seal where we came across a female AI leading a player to that slab the Trent left behind. We tried to stop her but she was somehow so fast the she removed the ring and preformed some kind of rite that released a swell of Ani. Using data that was left behind in the player's data, a mask, ani energy, and the ring, she was able to revive Trent in a near complete form.”

A shortmail from Kei containing an attached file of a screen shot of Abigale conveniently interrupted his speech. He quickly forwarded the file to the girl's accounts figuring that if they could receive flashmail they should be able to receive shortmail as well.

”That's the female AI. She calls herself Abigale and Trent's daughter. Trent even commented on remembering reproducing his data into a spawn and accepted Abigale to be his daughter. We fought for an hour straight before mine and Kei's avatars just couldn't keep up anymore. Abigale wanted to kill us, she seems far more deadly than Trent but it was still him that was the reason why we lost. Trent decided not to kill us though, he said he wanted those that opposed him to witness the “second genocide” he has planned.”

His pause was for his own purpose after that. He absorbed all the knowledge he gained from the battle, movements, tactics, special skills, everything that the AI's could do that he couldn't. He analyzed and committed each second to hard memory and even sent a shortmail back to Kei asking for a video file of the entire hour to be sent to him.

”That's why I need you now Kira! I need to know where Vulcan is so that I can demand the power that a regular player's avatar doesn't have! I can't beat him this time around with just my sword!”

Sekai couldn't help the shudder, the uncomfortable finch of fear that came with every pronunciation of Trent's name, her brave front was holding for the time being and she was really trying to be a good, solid partner to be relied upon. Kira, on the other hand, had gone completely stoic in expression; all the joking and friendliness gone and in its place a serious, listening expression that was only betrayed by the way her eyes would flicker and brighten with color for an instant. The murderer, the one that had tangled with her in the alleyways of Lamda Server was rising to the surface; and there was nothing Sekai could do to prevent it.

The mail was received, Sekai stiffening and Kira's eyes narrowing at the new challenge set before them. So that was the bitch who revived her enemy; a spear for her would be specially prepared and she'd meet the bitch in that icy abyss before she'd let her or Trent accomplish the second genocide.

"Jadin is... a twin of sorts you could say. She's my opposite in element and the one who speaks with Vulcan. She's been in a piss ass mood but, then again, I'm in one too so, I'll let her know to get her ass moving on this."

Kira leaned forward, amber eyes narrowing as her voice sharpened.

"Don't fight him alone with that administrator again; get us, or at least me there next time. I know the son of a bitch and I know what the second genocide is that he's planning."

”I'll definitely call you but I can't promise that Kei wont get to him first. She's a lot like you in some ways.”

He was almost half joking despite being completely right about the two. His chuckle was cut completely off before ever coming out though by the stern and strong look in Kira's pupilless amber eyes.

"This isn't something to pass off lightly,"

She replied softly, voice biting even as her eyes snapped to where Sekai was watching the interaction nervously and went just as quickly back to Ko again. Memory flickered through her mind, sharp as if they'd happened only hours before with clarity unlike she'd known before.

"He took your body under his possession once, tried and succeeded to fool all but myself when we fought the first Valkyrie. At one point Trent snapped and screamed about the next time he and I would meet, that he would destroy all inferior beings to leave the world to those who were superior."

A slight smile touched her lips as she looked pointed from Sekai to the Heavyblade once more, as if she had some private joke that they should feel honored to share.

"That, would be you two as humans, if you didn't already guess. That's what I'm guessing is the second genocide."

She stood in one swift movement, powerful, muscled shoulders rolling back and cracking as she inclined her head to the two of them and spoke as she walked off towards the smaller dune to her right, away from the two human allies she'd made and, yes, had come to care about.

"Theta: Blazing Spiraling Great Seal is where you'll find Jadin. It will take you directly to her headquarters. If she makes a fuss about it?"

A chilling smile, one almost shadowed was given over her shoulder, amber eyes glowing brightly in the shadows of her hair.

"Tell her that Asorain'll come and shut her up."

The Long Arm stormed off a little ways further and vanished behind the sand dune she'd been walking towards. Kira, Kirayne, Asorain, just how many aliases did Kira have he wondered. Sekai looked uneasily over at Ko, fidgeting a little in place, before hesitantly speaking up.

"She's... um, please don't be... too bothered by her words and behavior right now. It... it happens when she's really upset about something."

Tawny eyes peeked out from the shock of white bangs that fell into her eyes as she bit her lip and tilted her head.

"Are you sure... that you're okay?"

Sekai's caring attitude and cute little expressions always took the edge off of a conversation that had Kira's razor blade thin attitude. The last thing he wanted to do was worry her more but he promised honesty and he was always firm to deliver on a promise. Clawed nails pushed into her pudgy cheeks but it was the prints of his fingers that pinched her face and rolled her head around as if she was ten years old again.

”I'm so nervous and scared that I feel like locking myself in your room.”

He laughed fully and loudly with her face firmly held by his finger tips before letting go. She wasn't about to escape though has he reached out his arm, the hanging billowed sleeve of his hitoe flapping about in the wind, and rubbed her straight silver hair with vigor enough to turn it into a mop top.

"Daijobu koujou, Mata kimasu, sasae kotonashi desu yo. Pretty good huh?

If she'd have had animal ears like his, they'd have folded back in concern and worry, her large eyes looking up at him, almost as if she were wanting to say something, anything she could to make him feel any better. His hands pinching her face was completely unexpected, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates on the holidays as he rolled her head around as if she were some silly girl being picked on by an older br- oh yeah... he was... kinda, sorta... maybe? The threat to go into her room wasn't unheard, a predictable gasp escaping as she almost flailed and shook her head as best she could in her situation.

"A-Ano-"

She made a face, a wordless sound of protest escaping as his hand landed on her head and proceeded to muss her hair up just like it'd been mussed and tousled not even three days before. Her hands batted at his hand, trying to get it to stop and grasping his wrist in both hands before looking up at him.

"H-Hai... please come back safe and good luck."

Her eyes flickered towards the sand dune where Kira still hadn't emerged from and went back to looking up- darn him for being taller than she was still.

"You, um, should go let Kira know you're going if you're going to go right away. She's... worried about this situation... and not just because I, well, I didn't take the news well."

He would have rather just gone straight to the field with the way Kira walked off. He could tell that she divulged something that should probably shouldn't have but then again she gave him a new name to refer to her as. “The World” was only so old, just how many names and lives Kira had lived in this short time was something Ko was beginning to wonder about. He patted her on the head, gently moving some the hair back into place for her and gave her another smile.

He left Sekai behind and began to trudge up the ankle deep, sun baked, sand dune to look down on Kira. He could remember back when Kira was inside Sekai's body as just a voice. Then when Kira became a full personality that was in control over Sekai's body. Kira began to appear as a “ghost” form similar to a dead player and like wise Sekai could do the same thing is Kira was in control at the time. Now Kira's able to manifest her own form as long as she's in a proximity of Sekai. She had changed a lot since the beginning as had their relationship with each other. He could see her giving him a line back in the beginning.

"It's your ass, wipe it yourself."

Now she was almost completely devout in helping him with this problem. She was sitting with her back turned, resting one arm over her knee with her spear in the sand beside her hand. Her hair was in a rare state; down and freely falling over her shoulders and back as she glowered at nothing in particular on the ground in front of her.

”Any advice before I go see the Vak Kira?”

Kira didn't move at the sound of his footsteps approaching or at the sound of his voice behind her. Silence filled the air as she thought for a moment, and after some consideration, gave some advice she kept with herself whenever she went to see Jadin.

"Don't trust your eyes if you stare into the flames too long." A hesitant, uncomfortable pause arouse between the two. "Be careful."

He wasn't really sure how to respond to her. Kira was always so stubborn and annoying, seeing her act so timid and reluctant was almost uncomfortable to be around.

”Hey it's me. I'm always careful. Just watch your own back. He's the vengeful and repetitive type so you know he'll be coming sooner or later. I'll contact you two again when I'm done.”

He warped out of the field before they did and apparently they had no intention of returning to Mac Anu because he was patrolling the city for a good half hour for deals on equipment and items. Personal vendors, players that sell their own goods, usually jack up their prices from what the shop NPC's charge and the Pawn Shop was always a three to one gamble that you're going to get screwed; even for a regular shopper like Ko. So naturally Ko was one who took the time to go to NPC stores first, personal vendors second, and the pawn shop absolutely last and only if he couldn't find his object of desire through all other channels. Once his preparation were complete he returned to the chaos gate and still saw no trace of Sekai or Kira. He couldn't quiet make up his mind as to whether or not it was a good or bad thing that they were no where to be found. The good thing was that he wouldn't be losing any amount of conviction or focus; it was getting too far over due for his mind to get sharp again. As the bad thing, he would always like to know that the two were alright and staying out of trouble.

Grudgingly he selected the “Change Server” option and returned to where he started in Dun Logeig; the Theta sever. A high risen city in the mountain tops sits with clouds beneath and clouds above. It's suppose to be that the the Sigma server's root town, Fort Ouph, hides in the clouds above, in the back story. It's a floating fortress that looks over all the other towns of “The World” and makes sure that monsters never enter them. That's how the back story of the game goes but you never get to see the floating city from any of the root towns, even one so close as Dun Lorieg.

Ko had never once been to Fort Ouph before. The level of difficulty of the game increases from the Delta server to the Theta, then Lambda, Sigma, and Omega server. Only recently had he even gained the strength to hold his own while playing solo in Theta and could probably only manage in the Sigma if he were with friends. For a player of his average caliber, average in level, going to Fort Ouph was a pipe dream.

He had no desire to stand around in the Theta server, a server that he hated, and as soon as he was loaded into the town he turned and made a quick exit from there.

”Blazing Spiraling Great Seal.”

Amidst the dark smog covered atmosphere of a fire field flooded by lava flows a behemoth stood as a fortress in the center. Obelisks of black onyx burst from the walls of the gargantuan structure in all directions as though they were spears bursting from the shield to guard against other behemoths. As he moved closer and was able to focus more through the smog, Ko's eyes began to notice the inlaid veins of red, gold, and orange that existed with in the black structure. Even closer and he could begin to make out that there was no ground entrance but instead a flat platform about midway up the structure. Obviously, if this was a fortress, one would have to enter through this only entrance and would be allowed to enter if the residents so choose it.

”Fine then,” he said aloud to himself as he cracked his character's and his own knuckles. ”I'm not letting some stupid rock wall keep me from what I need.”

Bare hands grabbed onto the stone and quickly released as burning heat coursed through the real hands gripping the controls. As a player that has encountered the weird and the abnormal in “The World” it came as little surprise that he could feel pain in this field and as a chef well worth his spice he was well accustomed to the burning pain of steel on fire. He bit down on his lip and grabbed hold again, this time absorbing the pain and letting it back out of his body through a careful breath. With each grasp into the stone and each step into the foot hold he repeated the process, absorbing the pain with his mind and focusing relief with his breath. He knew all to well that it was only pain, nothing physical was going to be permanently marked on his body. As long as he kept that focus, the burning was nothing more than inconvenient.

The climb its self proved easy enough and he soon found himself on the platform looking in on a wide open mouth to the insides of the structure. Looking in from the outside, Ko began to see the area more as a secluded monastery than a fortress. Albeit the place did have a “spartan” feel to it with its bare walls and simple design. He found himself wonder more about whether or not this was a trap more than the decor. The hallway leading in was straight enough and there looked to be no holes in the walls so he wouldn't be caught in a crossfire and all of the planks were laid vertically with no real seam which left him thinking that the floor wasn't going to fall away on him. When all was said and done though he entered under the reasoning that Fire would never let someone walk in only to ambush them. No, if Fire was anything like him they would've came outside when he logged in and tried to kick his ass straight up. Clearly, he began to think to himself, they knew he was coming and thought him to be no threat.

The inside walls were fairly the exact same way as the walls on the outside. Black marble was the stone of choice with veins of red, gold, orange, and the occasional blue. Oddly enough though, the few torches that are scattered about have white or green flames inside. It's an odd thing for Ko to see and he's accustomed to the red flame in the game and the blue flame in his work.

There were several rooms that were hidden behind closed doors, unable to be opened by his hand, and few rooms that were left open. Like a field dungeon the open rooms had monster mortals in them but they had no exits. If he didn't have to go through the rooms, he wasn't going to waste the strength in fighting the monsters and moved on. One room stood out more than others, it was completely bare and the floor was made of sand. In the center floated a bright red flame that danced about with no source of fuel or substance. As it hovered there and he stared on something began to slip out of his mind. He was no longer thinking about anything and like he was in a trance was about to step in. The flames liked at the walls, revealing golden runes that had been craved in thick and deep to the stone, hungering for Ko's flesh and sustenance. It wanted him, wanted to devour him, wanted nothing to be left of him but dry ash.

When he was about to step inside he suddenly heard the cry of a girl being thrown to the ground and the snap of bone echoing through the hallways. He quickly through himself away from the door way and placed himself flat against the opposite wall. Even though he knew something was wrong with that fire, something evil was in that fire, it still danced about in its room as though nothing had happened.

As Ko gained sense over himself he turned and continued on to find the source of what sounded like a sparring competition. The wooden floor became carpeted as he moved on with a red carpet lined in gold. Soon after the start of he carpet is a pair of large double doors that stretch up past the ceiling of the hallway, meaning the room beyond was far larger. The doors themselves are decorated and designed with garnets, ambers, and rubies in an oriental appearance that's in the shape of a flame split down the middle by the two doors. Within this fake flame there's something real in such a way that he has never experienced before. Though he looks at a solid door and a decoration made of jewels he sees a real flame with an onyx colored serpent dragon and a ruby colored serpent dragon winding around each others. At the ends each on bites down on the other's tail trying to consume the other while being consumed themselves. It's a version of the Ouroboros which symbolizes the cycle of life and quiet possibly, in this case, the cycle of how fire ultimately destroys its self.

Not knowing whether or not he'd be consumed by what's on the other side or even if he'd make it past these dragons he reached out and pushed both doors opens. They're heavy but it's nothing compared to other weights. Slowly he pushed forward and entered into the main hall of this solitary fortress.

Three women were in the red veined black marble floored room, one sitting on the ground frowning at the bone sticking out of her wrist while the other looked on and quietly pulled a blade from the sheath nestled against the small of her brilliant gold and crimson qi pao clad back. Her red hair was pulled into a high ponytail that twitched serenely with her movements as she struck fast and hard at the woman who's orange and gold clad back was turned to her. In flashes of light, flame and screeches of metal against stone and the dull impact of bone against blade along side the sounds of blood splattering against the floor and walls to drip down.

After what seemed like forever in the brutally violent display, orange-white light flickered over all three as they picked themselves up and began to dust themselves off, chattering amongst each other as if they hadn't just tried to disembowel one another. The woman in black and scarlet turned around, auburn hair flashing in the light as she smiled in welcome and her magenta eyes lighting up at the sight of his blade and the obvious Vak marks she could damn near smell on him and yelled a greeting over to him, and thus drawing the attention directly to the newcomer.

“Well well, been a while since we seen one of your kind here, you here for a good fight or are you here for Jadin?”

Wicked, ruby and onyx fans were in her hands all of a sudden, opening to reveal their bladed edges as her eyes gleamed in eager preparation. The girl with the ponytail spoke up next, rather calm and still seeming more like she'd be at home meditating in front of a fire or giving some kind of meditative lecture in a secluded temple in the mountains.

“Aidyn, I believe he is here to see Lady Jadin, not to indulge you in a random act of violence and battle prowess.”

The last woman, standing as tall as a rather familiar Long Arm, stood with her feet spread a shoulder's width apart and completely at ease in the position; an obvious martial artist of some sort. Her long orange hair was unbound, completely opposing from a certain someone, though the eyes held the same shape and color. Dressed in a darker shade of orange with the same flame symbol on the chest of her halter top and a pattern of gold flames up the side of both legs that disappeared into her shorts. Sleeves held by gold bands around her arms and gold hoop earrings completed her outfit as she leaned forward, hair falling over her shoulder as she stretched and looked at him expectantly.

“So, who the hell are you and why're you in my home little dog? Not many humans have the brass to show up here.”

”Little dog... So that one is Kira's “twin.”

He brought it on himself, always being called little, boy, and dog, since he purposefully named himself Ko_Inuyasha – puppy forest spirit- donned a pair of dog ears, and kept himself at only five feet and six inches tall. If it really got on his nerves as bad as he acted he could always just change his avatar and name.

How best to handle the situation was the primary concern. If she's really like Kira then she's not going to trust him with a toe nail clipping now that she's first met him. But, then again, if she really is just like Kira, then there's only one sort of personality that he'll know exactly how she'll respond.

”I'm Ko_Inuyasha and I'm here for Vulcan's powers. Whether they're given to me or taken by me I wont be leaving here with out them.”

With heavy steps he walked cleanly into the room and positioned himself with in the heart of the three. Even if Kira didn't mention them, the two others were obviously “Lady Jadin's” subordinates. He wont have to worry about them unless Jadin makes a move or suggestion to them. He's perfectly safe keeping his dead stare on the woman's tell tale pupil lacking eyes. Even if things did get worse, he still had the trump card that Kira gave him. If Kira was telling the truth, dropping the name Asorain should almost guarantee him some kind of safe passage.

Bold of him to walk into the lion's den without his weapon drawn and ready, she thought as she narrowed her eyes at the short figure in front of her. Heavy blade, obviously, loose robes and bare feet even in this kind of terrain, though she didn't think he was the same as the other one Kirayne had taken a shine to. Hmph, stupid humans and their inferior state of being in her world.

Her knuckles cracked as she examined her nails, already playing bored with the conversation and, regardless of whether or not he was full of shit, she figured she might as well play her "part" in this whole thing. Sometimes, even the men in her element drove her crazy.

"They all say that, you even seen half the skulls and bones on the field yet? All of them were wannabes who couldn't handle the true definition of Fire and turned to ashes in the end. Three quarters of those ashes were the same class you are."

She gave him a casual once over and yawned, stretching herself out and putting one hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow at him.

"You're no different than they are; go back to your cute little world and play with your, what was it they were called... matches? Go play with your matches and candles; I don't need more of my time wasted."

His massive sword almost made the air howl when its pulled from the Heavyblade's back and narrowed directly at the woman. Never mind the women to his side, if they wanted to flank him and kill him that's fine. He is just a character in “The World” and as such he'll just keep coming back day after day if that's what it takes. One way or another though he's going to crack through this Vak Kira and get what he needs.

”If you wanna cut me down, insult me, and have a pissing contest that's fine. I'll put you on the ground first and then go find Vulcan's power myself. Or you just put me through whatever trial there is and decide for yourself what I'm made of when I'm done beating it! Either way get a move on because I don't have all day to have my time wasted by some vak princess.”

His eyes patrolled the room. The two lesser girls to his left and Jadin still in his front. If he waited for a fight then he might be slain too quickly to make mention of Kira. He had to think about this like a strategy game. If he reveals his trump card too quickly, he'll lose it as a bargaining chip later. Too late, and it'll be too late. All in all considered, he decided to go for it. He kept his right hand firmly holding the blade, a feat really considering the weapons sheer weight, and took the thumb of his left to point out the icy silver ear cuff firmly pierced in his white doggy ears.

”Know now though Jadin. Making an enemy of me is making an enemy of Asorain.”

Half of him expected immediate compliance, no it was more like thirty percent of him expected compliance. The other seventy percent expected Jadin and her partners to burst into laughing as if the name Kira gave him was some sort of joke. Then Kira would walk out from behind one of the hanging red and orange tapestries adorning the walls of the room, joining into the laughter and Ko sulks his head and considers whether to kill them all or just himself.

The words had the intended effect alright... though it wasn't one that he probably had expected. Alma and Aidyn quickly exchanged matching uneasy, almost nervous glances between the two of them and shifted closer to Jadin. Obviously something they knew wasn't entirely comforting as the two handmaidens waited for their High Priestess to react.

Jadin's expression froze, face draining of color and in a flash of orange and gold, was immediately in his face with her fingertips brushing against the crystallized metal. Jerking back as if she'd been shot and staring with anger mixed with awe and something that might have been fear in her eyes, she stumbled back and looked as if she were about to be sick.

"She told you to give me that name? Then this isn't, you're not,"

The long haired woman shook her head and rubbed her temples as she began to pace back and forth before finally speaking again.

"She really does trust the likes of you if she gave you permission to use that name to get past the barriers, even to find this place. Very well."

She stopped her pacing and looked over her shoulder, wiping away any trace of emotion save for a good deal of unease in her body language as she spoke to him on a more serious level than she had been.

"Which power of Vulcan's are you seeking? And for what purpose?"

Something inside his mind whispered a word that was impossible to make out. He would've passed it off as nothing but the whisper wasn't in his mind but rather in his speakers. The speakers of his FMD hummed what was surely a man's voice saying a single word over and over but it was near completely illegible.

”Any of it, all of it. I need power that will help me touch this world. There is an AI that I must defeat but I can't do it with the normal powers of a player. I need to cross the line that keeps me out.”

He threw the sword back onto his back with a harsh jerk running his body from the shifting weight. Even with the sword put away, his eyes remained as sharp as the blade of his sword and his stare carried its weight.

The three women exchanged glances between them, Jadin looking more than a little uneasy as confirmation came that she had hoped wasn't there. Reluctantly she spoke, running a hand through her hair in a nervous habit as she frowned and all in all looked like there was somewhere she'd rather been than right there at that moment.

"We... have something that you may find of use to you, though I will explain this here and now; the trials to get to them are... taxing on the mind and soul of someone who has them. Even if you pass that trial, you'll face against someone who guards that power against the unworthy. Though no one has reached him in quite sometime."

As if her head pained her extensively, Jadin closed her eyes and massaged her temples. This was getting more and more complicated, something about him was sending warnings in her mind, that her sister was in danger from just being near him.

That some irrevocable change was going to shatter everything.

"Alma, take him to the entry way, I'm unwell and wish to lie down for a little while."

The girl in Chinese styled clothing nodded and smiled kindly at the taller Heavyblade. She herself was only 4'7 in height and it was kind of nice to see someone smaller than Jadin's 5'9 and Aidyn's 5'7 for a change. Smiling and very pleased with her lady's request, she walked towards a pair of gauzy gold and scarlet curtains, pulling them back to reveal a pair of hidden doors with an odd symbol that changed from moment to moment engraved within the ebony stone. Jadin and Alma looked at each other uneasily before turning to leave themselves. The High Priestess paused in another doorway, looking like she was struggling to contain some inner battle and gave in. Her voice was slightly higher in tone than Kira's, though a far cry from any high pitched singing woman as she spoke hesitantly to him.

"You're lucky that Kirayne and Asorain have that much faith and trust in you; don't fuck that up if you know what's good for you, what'll happen if you do won't be pleasant."

With a brief flare of the flames in the room, the orange haired woman was gone, as was the dark auburn haired woman with her. Alma smiled pleasantly and gave a courteous bow.

"Well then, shall we begin the trials you have left? Through these doors is a long corridor that you must traverse, it'll be pitch black and you'll have to trust your other senses to get to the next stage. Once you reach that stage, well... best of luck to you, only one other has passed besides those of us unaffected. Lady Asorain must see something wonderfully great in you if she sent you to the Vak Trials."

Opening the doors, she stepped off to the side and waited for him to go through, if he was at all.

"I have the ability to answer up to three questions about the trials if you have any, please do make them quick or else... there may be complications in the trials themselves."

”If time's important than forget the questions. I'll do it all blindfolded if I have to.”

Alma bowed and removed herself from the doorway's path.

"May the blessings of Vulcan be upon you and the flame within never diminish."

Just like he wished, it seemed like he would be doing things blindfolded. As he walked through the door, all light seemed to drain from the world as well as all memory of what the room ahead looked like vanished from his mind. Even when he turned around to find the door, that too was gone with out memory of where it went to.

Tsch... Is this all there is to it, a black room? This is nothing.

As the arrogant fire lover that he is, Ko found walking with out sight, sound, or touch as easy as... well, walking. He just kept walking forward with out a wall to guide him or an obstacle interfering with his progress. There were three things that he could figure would come from this and figured that these things were common among people on a psychological level. First, he could be driven into fear in this lack of physical surroundings. Having no walls to guide his balance, floor to guide his feet, or any obstacle to show that he's even moving but the true terror came when he reached for his body and couldn't feel it. Second, he would be driven mad from the seclusion. No contact with people to justify existence and no relation to time to represent passage is enough to drive anyone crazy.

It seems like he's been in the dark for hours before something bright takes his eyes by surprise. Before he knew it he was standing on an over hanging peak of ocean viewing bluffs. It's mildly surprising at first but when the wind picks up and something black has taken the place of what should be red it becomes terrifying. He rapidly looked over his body to find that he was no longer his avatar Ko but his true self. It had to just be an illusion generated by The World's programing but he clearly felt the pain when he brought his finger to his lips and bit down.

”Calm down Mike, this isn't the first time The World has looked like the real world and isn't the first time you've felt pain in The World. Just assess the situation and find out where the solution-”

His mouth became too dry to even breath let alone speak. A pair of memorial stones where unmarked to anyone else's eyes but two symbols laid etched in the concrete. They're words that only he knew, words he made up, fancy squiggly lines by any other definition. One marked Sekai and the other marked Kira. Despair and fear quickly turned to anger as it always does.

”Don't fuck with me Jadin! What the hell is this?!”

His cries go out in vain, taken on the wind out to the ocean with no ears to grasp them. With no response to vent on the emotions build inside the man until he's brought to his knees by their weight. His fists pounded into the dirt under, powered by frustration and anger as he refused to accept the reality.

”You trying to tell me this is the future?! Answer me!”

At the instant that a presence behind him is sensed he turned and attacked. With out paying attention to the character he grabbed him by the collar and put his fist up; ready to smash a skull in if needed. When he let his eyes relax though he found himself face to face with his avatar body.

”What now? Don't screw around either with that, 'I'm you,' shit.”

”Who's here to screw around?” With force equal to what he represents in Ko's body, Mike is viciously thrown to the ground. Laying on the flat of his back Mike finds the air in his body quickly escaping as he's repeatedly kicked and stomped on by his avatar. ”You're the idiot that let this happen! It was because of your own weakness that this crap occurred! So who are you to say that I'm not you?! It's you that's not me!”

Quietly, he took his beating from his apparent alter-ego. If it truly was because of him that these two died then it is only right.

”Lying there taking it huh? Well I know better that this isn't enough to punish you. To really make you understand how much you've screwed up you need to see it with your own damn eyes.”

By his hair Mike was picked up off the ground and dragged through the grass as it shifted to coarse golden sand. The tiny rocks dug into every part of his body that they could enter before he was left to fall into the soft bed. Waves crashed on the cold, moonlit, beach but didn't do justice enough to cover the sobbing of women. Picking his head out of the sand to see the women in front of him, Ko doesn't even need to focus clearly to know who they are. Kira's Kira no matter which body she's in and even though she's aged a bit Sekai looks all the same as well.

Waves wash over their bodies as they hold each other in deathly tight grips. He can feel the waning presence in Kira's body because it stabs his heart with lingering pains. It's the longest ten minutes of his life, watching one of his closest friends painfully wither away from the inside out. Her body cringed from unbearable as her warrior pride never let her cry out. Every continuing second they gripped each other a little tighter. In their unity they struggled with all their love and soul to push death's grip off of her throat. Through it all, in his own weakness, he too cried and cried. If he could he would have willed his life into her, if it was allowed he would have reached out to them, but all of that was for not. Instead of being able to change anything he was forced to watch like a ghost. Unseen and unheard his cries go out to no one but himself; his powerless self.

”Kira!”

A final wave washed over the two. Though they became completely submerged with this one their grip remained ever vigilant. Never even once did they let each other go even as the last bit of life drained from her human body. Color left her skin, light left her eyes, tension left her limbs. There was no more pain to be had for Asorain Kira; she was moving to a different place.

”Look at this! This is the future that you're creating. Can you accept this? Is this what you want to happen?” Though the sand feels real enough to him, Mike's clawing fingers passed right through the earth like they were on separate planes. ”What you think you can do anything over there? You caused this, you don't get to atone now.”

”I never got the answer for you! You weren't suppose to die until I had the answer for you!”

The raw emotion seemed to cause the Ko avatar to hesitate slightly before responding violently. It drove Mike's face into the sand with the bone of its heel. Mike's tears bathed the sand that stuck to his face a rich brown color before he was grabbed by the back of his hair again and lifted off the ground. The sand that once existed became a sleek white tile floor. He recognized it immediately as a hospital floor but it was the sound of a vital sign monitoring machine that confirmed it for him. As he rose from the ground he expected to see a comatose Sekai but instead found a Sekai that was awake, sitting up, and writing. It was a bitter sweet joy as the poor girl was obviously deathly ill. Her body was thin and uncared for. She had dull eyes, no color in her lips or flesh, and a look about her that made it seem like she hadn't slept soundly in weeks.

Unlike the dramatic fight against death that he just viewed though, Sekai seemed to be at a sort of peace. Her heart was calm and her eyes were steady as she wrote away on a notepad.

”Don't let the serene mood fool you. It is still because of you that this one is going to die.” Mike's tear filled eyes leaned over to try and read the hidden message. ”What, the letter? You want to read it?”

A disembodied voice of Sekai's voice began to speak out in the room; reading off what was being written in her letter.

Mike,

It still feels a bit strange to address you by your given name, you are still Ko_Inuyasha in my mind, or Ko as I ended up shortening your name to eventually during our adventures back in the old days. I am not sure exactly how to explain everything that has happened in the past years, the loss of contact and the oft cold shoulder or obvious stoicism I would use when we encountered each other in the revised, new version of The World. They were awkward and I should have just came out and said that, I blame you.

You have grabbed a family for yourself, taking happiness in all of your perfect ways while leaving me to suffer in every world. In The World you left us behind, trapped inside, fighting for our lives. In this world you never came to us. You let both Kira and I rot away on the streets. In the second version of the world you never once came back to my rescue. How could you have ever called us family when you left us behind so callously.

By the time you receive this letter though, or by the time Mika may or may not call you to inform you; I will no longer be in this world. I have not been well for several years now and my kidney is no longer the only problem. It is kind of funny to be writing this, I imagined myself being rescued by you for so long and even now I just wish you'd walk through the door, if not with some miracle cure then just to be with me in my final moments.

It is strange though; I believe settling things with you have finally dispelled my fears concerning what will happen to me once I close my eyes. I am no longer afraid to move on and leave this body behind because I'll be moving to a place where you will no longer be a concern. I wont forgive you though, even in death. I just can't let it be knowing that it was because of your meddling choices and horrible inactivity. I want you to know that mine and Kira's deaths are a weight on your shoulders that you can't run from this time.

-Namino Sekai

”This is the lesson from all of this: You're not good enough. Fire is the element of destruction, it destroys everything around it and then when everything's gone it destroys its self. The same will be for you. You will destroy all of those around you and then destroy yourself. But, you can skip a step and just destroy yourself before everyone is burned away. It's the noble thing, the right thing to do; to hurt yourself instead of those you love.”

A confused and weakened Mike looked frantically looked around the hospital floor as if trying to find the answer written out for him. Was this an illusion? It felt so real, like true emotion had been poured into it. But Sekai would never say such words to him, it's not in her nature. He couldn't just accept the future was planned out for him but he very well couldn't gamble the lives of Kira and Sekai on this false hope.

"Nii-san."

From the white light materialized a familiar form. Still small but with a presence, an air of quiet confidence and security, of surety that wasn't present before, surrounding her as she smiled gently at him from where she stood. Her shoulders firm and straight and her dark grey eyes seeking direct contact as the soft, pastel green sun dress-like garment rustled gently in some invisible breeze. Bare feet were nearly hidden as she walked a little closer, chestnut bangs blown out of her face as she tucked a stray strand behind her ears and stood with a subtle pride in front of him.

She wasn't in the truest flush of health, still fairly pale and with minor shadows under her eyes, the price of becoming an adult in an unforgiving world, but she still had the same sweet, gentle smile and the quiet air of someone who was content with life; nothing at all like the wretched, broken creature penning the words in that hospital bed. Her voice proved it, soft but more assured, no stutter in sight as she looked around the place they were in and then back at him.

"This is the person before you, she's someone who lives, who chose not to stop fighting when it would have been easier to. Because that is what you taught her; that fighting until achieving the result that one desired is the true and only option in life."

Sekai paused, adjusting the pin in her hastily made bun before shaking her head with a smile.

"That was what I really admired about you, that strength and courage within your heart. Even during your silly arguments with Kira, most of which you do know she started to simply watch you get all passionate, heated and ready to face whatever came at you next, that courage to keep walking, to never give up was what shone the brightest out of that heart I saw in you."

There was a fond shine in her eyes, a genuinely happy note in her voice as she finished up.

"It was because of you Mike, because of you I was able to find my own strength, to find the courage and to look within my own heart to find what shone the brightest there. You showed me how to fight and how to refuse to accept defeat or failure as an option in my life."

She bowed deeply, every sign in her sincere and grateful as she held the position for a moment and came back up with the same smile, but with a serious note in her voice.

"You must go back. This isn't the place you need to be and there's no way the Mike I know would give up. You saved me and gave me something to hold on to until I could stand on my own two feet and fight my own battles, my own demons. Because of you, I'm no longer afraid. Find that courage, that strength that I so greatly cherish and admire within you and let that be the fire that burns through anything in your path."

Her form began to vanish slowly, from the feet up, returning back into the light she'd come from. Two words echoing when she finally vanished completely, lingering on even after they should have fallen silent.

"Thank you."

The tears in his eyes faded away as did the girl before him. He was shown the truth of what was in front of him, a blurred line of the real future and faux future designed to confuse him. Sekai and Kira both were going to die, nothing could change that, but they died the way they chose to. They fought bravely through their respective battles and never once placed blame on anyone except the enemy for the troubles that served as catalysts for their growing strength. He refused to allow that truth to blurred from his eyes any more.

Like paper, the ground beneath him shred away as his clawed fingertips dragged themselves into a fist. With narrow, convicted, eyes Mike stood back up in his avatar form of Ko_Inuyasha and faced the true form of the one that had been weakening his resolve. A flickering flame hovered in front of him in a barely humanoid form. It was similar to the one that he had seen earlier in Jadin's fortress but was bigger and seemed more powerful. He could sense its desire to consume him, to devour everything about him right down to the soul. It's the essence of fire a razor thin border between control and destruction. Ko had now realized that it was intended for him to face this flame in a battle where one would absorb the other. He was to claim this flame as his own power or be completely destroyed by it.

As if it were a curtain, Ko grabbed hold of the air and in pulling it away from his body he pulled away the illusion of a hospital room. The cloth vanished upon release from his fingers to leave behind the true room he had been in. Around the flame were twenty-one brown ropes that formed a circle around Its presence. On the ropes were an uncountable number of paper seals. The ropes themselves were linked by thick chains to sandstone walls that had black runes etched all over their surface. The floor was solid enough but on top of it was a thin layer of soft golden sand that flickered a tan glow against the burning essence that was sealed in the room.

”You did well human to not be devoured immediately,” it's voice echoed in Ko's mind, a telepathic sort of thing that was really just Ko communicating with the spirit of flame in front of him with his own flame like personality. ”You wouldn't have been very satisfying to my hunger if you fell to only the illusion like so many before you.”

The Heavyblade smirked arrogantly at the flame as he figured out that the flame was most likely only sealed at its own desire. At its whim it could break its self free and attempt to devour him once again.

”Ya well you wouldn't serve my purposes well if it wasn't so hard. But you forgot that the elements of other people balance out the element of flame. The girls you showed me turned against you when their spirits tempered my own.”

”Then yours is a flame closer to Nirvana than I. Devouring you will be most satisfying!”

The ropes and paper seals that confined the creature burned to nothing but ash almost immediately at the flexing of its power. Ko would have been burned away as well if it weren't for his own Vak wave wave extending outward into an active state. With both of their waves of the same type conflicting though, it caused physical manifestations of flames dancing about the room. As their waves clash with each other the room begins to spin and alter in shape. It's not an illusion this time, the room was literally changing in shape. Walls burst from the ground as the four main walls expanded outwards. The living flame doesn't have a face but Ko can sense a smirk on its head as he slowly slid away behind the walls of a forming labyrinth.

”Quit hiding from me you damn coward! I don't have time to play these games with you!”

From around the corner to his back the living fire slowly stepped out. The Heavy Blade turned with his sword slicing a fissure in one of the walls. Obviously the flame hoped to gain some kind of tactical advantage by fighting in a labyrinth. It took a fighting stance similar to those that Fist Fighters take, perhaps it thought that these narrow walls would limit Ko's ability to swing. How wrong he was to think Ko's blade so dull in edge. What ever the flame hoped to gain from this Ko charged forward with his sword dragging in the inches of sand under his feet.

With a fierce scream before the swing and a powerful wind trailing his blade he swung full force at the living fire. With its hand pressing down on Ko's shoulder, the flaming enemy easily leaped over his head to avoid the devastation destruction of a Heavyblade swing. While above Ko's head the creature took quick shots at the player's head, while falling behind him it gave him a powerful kick, and when it touched down it mule-kicked him in the back of the head. Ko staggered forward a couple of steps before wildly swing his sword and body around after the flame again. The pillar of steel ripped through the sand stone wall with relative ease but its speed suffered greatly.

The living fire went into a series of very rapid and powerful back handspring down the corridor while being pursued by Ko's swinging weapon. A sudden kick to the face however, leaves Ko stunned to what had just happened. The flame finishes its gymnastic routine with a double back flip going straight into its fighting stance without it even looking it ever kicked the player. His golden eyes shifted around the dark walls of the labyrinth in search of whatever it was that seemed off with the situation. The creature's undefined form made it hard to tell but it was definitely trying to make a “bring it” gesture with its hand. He hated to play into the monster's hands but with little alternative Ko went rushing forward.

He used a high swing this time, pulling the weapon over his shoulders and swiping downward. The flame performed a baseball slide to move between a small gap between the walls and Ko's left leg. The player's canine ears twitched as he picked up the sounds of someone kicking off of the wall. The sound was blocked over last time because they both performed the same move but this time Ko had him. The player quickly let go of the blade and reached out his hands to the top of the left wall. A flaming leg came reaching over the wall and with deadly viciousness Ko snatched it out of the air and pulled the entire body up into the air.

”Welcome to the party!”

As the flame was ripped from the wall its supposed head knocked against a corner but that was the least of its problems. As if he was swinging his sword, Ko grabbed the creature's leg with both hands and swung it with all of his might into the opposing wall. On contact the flames sprayed all over the place like a popped water balloon. In the spin from the swing Ko knelt down, grabbed his sword, and sliced the charging fist fighting flame across the midsection with relative ease. This flame too sprayed out and lost form, falling to the ground and spreading across the sand covered floor like water.

Slightly confused but more so disappointed, Ko looked around his surroundings, mostly flickering with liquid fire running on them, and couldn't figure out what the hell he was suppose to do now. He was in a labyrinth so maybe killing these two wimps wasn't suppose to be his goal. With little other choice, he slapped his sword onto his back and marched onward. All of a sudden a flaming fist ran through his gut followed by a harsh foot pushing him from the limb.

Blood stained the crimson garbs a darker red but the owner rose just fine from the ground. His harsh golden eyes stared down a pair of flame beings regenerating themselves without a hint of trouble. Ko slammed his mighty flachion into the ground where it stood as he stretched out his body. Popping noises echoed out from his spine and joints as he rolled them around while his knuckles cracked when he took a firm hold on his ever weighty sword.

”Alright then.”

The two fist fighting flames charge at him only to be quickly slashed in two with a powerful wind blowing past them. Their lives remain though as their bodies reattached themselves in midair. Their unhindered rush led to Ko receiving equal burning limbs to his torso and face while they paid for it with their bodies being divided once again by his diagonally flying blade. The Heavyblade nimbly rolled between the regenerating bodies, quickly stood back up, and just as the two had regained form they were cut down once again. One evaded the attack this time, flipping over the brutish swing of the fake tessaiga
and planting its heal between the ears on Ko's crown. While the being was still in the air Ko grabbed it by the ankle and smashed its body into the wall as he had done before while simultaneously thrusting his sword through the recovering second flame.

”Damn it this is getting me no where. No matter how many times I kill them and no matter which order I kill them in, they keep coming back to life. I've gotta run to the end of the maze while keeping them from killing me.”

He removed his sword with a twist and a slash that cut the flaming head of his enemy in half before running around the corner as fast as he could. He didn't realize before that it was the labyrinth was only being lit by the flames of his enemies' bodies. It gave him the advantage of knowing when they were going to attack but with out them he couldn't see where he was going or even really tell if he was running around in circles.

Around near every corner Ko came face to face with a flame being. Their numerous encounters were beginning to make him question whether or not there really were just two of them. Regardless of their numbers though, as long as they weren't flooding over him he was easily striking them down with a single blow. That wasn't keeping them from slowly waning his own Hp from him with their short but quick kicks and punches. With the impatient Ko though, it didn't take long for him to lose his temper over the situation and get sick of this constant combat. He had originally held back in using Vak attacks for fear that it would only strength his enemies that were made of fire. Now he cried out a brutish scream while his sword cried out with flames ripping the air dry of its oxygen.

”Kannon!”

A violent reaction that never would have been guessed by anyone occurs when the flame of an essence of Vak was struck by the sword tamed flame of Ko. Like a barrel of gun powder the creature exploded into a violent storm of flames that tore the area around it to shreds. Even Ko was caught in the full fury of the blast, being completely engulfed by the destruction. Every cut and wound on his body along with his mouth and eyes were bombarded with a rush of fire that burned its way into his flesh and began tearing him apart from the inside out. Even in the real world he felt the full ferocity of the power burning through his body. Every muscle in his body was literally lit on fire along with every inch of skin, bone, and hair. He couldn't help but try to scream but when he opened his mouth nothing came out. Instead his lungs and throat were filled with the pain of unbearable heat sucking ever sense of moisture from his walls of flesh.

Out of sheer desperation, with not a single intelligible throat capable of being present in his mind, when the other flame creature came charging at him he struck the beast down with another flaming sword swing. The exact response of the previous attack was duplicated upon contact. In half a second the pain coursing his body was doubled or maybe even tripled as he was engulfed. This extent of pain was short lived when his body and mind finally gave out.

He convulsed and shook violently in the game chair with his teeth clamping down so hard they might have broke and his fingers digging so hard into the leather that it was beginning to tear. Saliva began to foam out of his mouth as his eyes began to roll back and his lungs stopped bringing in oxygen as his heart began to cease beating.

Surrounded by darkness once again, Ko was beginning to believe that he had failed the trial before a bright white tunnel wrapped over his body. Indistinguishable, familiar voices of people barely remembered called to him from the brightest point at the center of the tunnel.

”Am I... dead?”

”Did I go and become an idiot, of course you're not dead! You're dying.”

It was definitely his voice this time. Last time when the flame took his form there was something slightly off about his voice and expressions but this time they were so flawless that it was like he was speaking with a voice in his mind.

”Dying?” His slow progression through the tunnel stopped as his subconscious began to harbor regrets.

”Yes, dying. As in the opposite of coming to life. You're dying because an moron like you decided to give up.”

”I haven't given up!” His eyes, once narrow slits barely open enough to really take in the light shot open. Golden iris flared with color as his pupils adjusted to the bright lights. Particles in the air swirled around in front of him before forming the child like form that he originally donned when he first started playing “The World.” ”I'm not going to fall for the same trap twice.”

His will rejected the reality but the world around him didn't tear away like the last one. The two dog eared Heavyblades looked around at the surroundings, one surprised that it wasn't working and the other mocking his expressions.

”This isn't a trick. This is fact. Those girls told you that this was dangerous and that tons of other players have died here. You just weren't strong enough to take in the fire like you thought. Of course, if it were me, you can bet I would've already dragged myself out of the labyrinth.”

”Don't give me that shit! If you're so great and we're the same then why I I dead!”

”Because you lost conviction! You think you can just snatch it out of the air whenever you need it?! You think this is just something you can say once and live by for the rest of your life?! Is that what being Fire is?! No! Conviction is something you always hold onto, you never let it off your mind, you commit to it with sincerity and determination. Every second of every day is spent pushing yourself closer and closer to that peek! Never looking back, always moving forward, and never letting anything get in your way! Now what is your conviction?”

”To be stronger...”

”Not good enough.”

”To defeat Trent...”

”Not good enough!”

”To protect the people close to me...”

”That's not good enough! These are all shit goals that don't merit the word 'conviction.' A conviction is in your blood, in your heart, and in your head. It's why you get up in the morning. It's the belief in something better than what is. It is an unexplainable force that separates you from the average sheep running around in the masses. Now tell me! What is your conviction?!”

”I...I-”

An answer didn't roll right off his tongue like he expected it to. Anything that came to mind he knew he would just shoot down. Everything that he has wanted thus far in “The World” seemed so trivial now. He looked on at what Trent wanted. The dark AI wanted to make the world a “better” place for the rest of the AI. He was working on a scale so out of proportion to what Ko wanted that it was becoming obvious why he wasn't to defeat him. Then he found his own conviction in there. He wasn't trying to stop Trent for just one person. Millions if not Billions of people were going to suffer at the hands of this man because of his morbid sense of being a messiah.

”I am Fire. Mine is strength, justice, and the power to destroy anything in my path. Through tempered steel and burning flame I take it upon myself to protect the world and stop all threats to it from AI or human. I will protect this world where I live with so many people that are important to me.”

”That's more like it. Now don't forget it or it'll really cost your life.” The child form of himself turned back into a swirl of particles in the air but this time had a sphere like flame resting in the middle. ”This is the Heart of a Fire. When your body first absorbed this you didn't have the will to handle it and died. If you succeed in taking it into your body this time you will be revived. But if you try and fail, you'll suffer a fate worse than death. You will be in Mu, emptiness, forever. Your consciousness will be permanently locked away with out even time to relate to. Slowly you'll drift into a mad driven nightmare that will tear you to pieces. You can still walk away.”

”Even if I could, I wont.”

The consciousness of his old self understood the situation, probably even more than his current self. Now that Ko accept this fate the return of his self and the power of the flame was pushed into his body through his mouth and chest. It still burned but it was different this time. His acceptance had already granted him a path for the flame to take straight into his chest where it took the place of his heart, lungs, and soul as a manner of life force. A warmth embraced his body as the light rejected his soul and sent it back down to his body.

At the same time as his real life body came around his video game avatar reverted back to its full body form. Since he was at the end of the maze he figured that its walls were really a confusing trap that was generated by his lack of conviction. In the real world he was taking the time to clean his face off with the tail of his T-shirt. While his in character eyes began looking around for something new to fight.

“j0.”

A pair of heavy steel swords clashed together with furiously heated wind blasting from the both of them. Ko's increase in power even surprised him initially as he found his sword was lighter in his hands and more powerful on contact. His opponent this time is a smiling man that gives off the feeling of a player rather than another AI or monster. He has crimson eyes that match the clothing he wears where armor isn't, stands just above six feet. His black hair matches the worn black armor that he wears over his chest, shoulders, shins, and forearms. A tattered cape, black on the back and crimson on the inside, bears the insignia of the same twin Ouroboros that was on the door to Jadin's room. His smile seemed to be driven by enjoyment or pleasure instead of one soaked in malicious intent.

”You suppose to be the next one to try and stop me.”

Suddenly the opponent's blade went weak and was withdrawn. A quick flash of flames occurred and his weapon vanished. One would assume that the weapon was removed from his equipment but it just didn't seem the same some how.

“No, I'm not. You're at the end. My name in here is Reikan.”

”General in any language is a pretty arrogant name.”

He snickered slightly through his exhale before collecting himself. ”Perhaps but now it's your name too. Reikan, isn't just a name. It's a title passed down from one human to another in the service of Vulcan and his High Priestess.”

”Hold on a sec,” the younger of the two blurted out with out concern for interrupting the other's thought. ”I never agreed to in anyone's service.”

The Reikan began snickering to himself again as nostalgia was taking hold of his mind. It was hard for him to believe that just a few short years ago he was so similar to this hot tempered kid.

”Alright then, just turn that Fire you took from Vulcan back and we'll call it even. Of course then you'll be giving up any chance of doing what you came here to do.”

He reached out his hand for Ko's chest in earnest to take the flame from his body. In defense, the crimson robed flame bearer grabbed his chest, quickly jumped back, and placed one hand up to signal for him to stop.

”Wait,” he was weighing the options in his mind. The least he could is hear what it was he'd have to do to keep this flame. ”What would I have to do?”

”For ten hours every week over the next four years you will do whatever it is that you are commanded to do. If she wants you to kill someone, you do it. If she wants you to massage her feet, you do it. One thousand and eighty hours of your life belong to her and to make sure you obey, he reached behind his back and pulled out a silver chain identical to the necklace he wore, ”you'll wear one of these.”

”And what is that?”

”This, is a binding contract with Vulcan. Having this placed on your neck allows you to use his power freely as it grows with in you, marks you as the new Reikan, and contracts you to follow orders in his army under penalty of death.” It was obvious that Ko was taking this serious now but what he didn't know was that this was another test. Like he had told himself, a conviction requires absolute sincerity no matter what the circumstances are. Rejecting your beliefs just because your life is on the line means you never really believed in it to begin with. ”It's not as bad as it sounds; it's much worse. You can not put this item on or take it off. You have to have someone else, someone extremely close to you in “The World,” put it on for you. This binds them to the contract as well and to boot you're not allowed to tell them any of the stipulations of the contract. If you don't complete your ten hours of service in “The World,” that person will die. If you refuse an assignment, that person dies. If you remove it yourself, that person dies. But, if Jadin breaks her deal then the chain is broken and you will retain your power. There's also the minor side effect that the first command given to you by the person that put it on will instantly be completed every subsequent time that it is spoken by that person in your presence.”

”What the hell is up with that?”

”I know, I said the same thing. But back to the matter,” he thrusted the chain out, tightly clenched in his white knuckled fist. ”Do you accept the terms of this agreement?”

The brass Heavybalde attempted to snatched the item from his hands but only managed to create a tug-o-war between he two. The Reikan was giving the boy more time to think this through more than he was following the orders to test him. He didn't smile this time but he let go regardless. In Ko's hands now, the chain links altered in form. They changed into a series of wooden beads with a bone tooth dividing each segment of five beads. It was almost identical to the rosary that was found on the Inuyasha anime character that he took his name and appearance from. He held the item up to The Reikan in confusion.

”It changes with each new Reikan, taking on a form akin to their personality.”

"So he passed, just as you expected."

A new voice entered the dark end of the labyrinth before a white streak dove in between the two fire wielders, a shrill, piercing cry echoing as the flying form made a second round and settled on the shoulder of a woman with long black skirts and a strapless bodice trimmed with gold celtic embroidery. High black lace stockings ended below the knee, replaced by black leather boots with a slight heel. Her waist length pale hair moved as she walked forward, the falcon on her shoulder looking keenly at the two of them. Black-silver eyes studied the smaller of the two figures as she walked past, a light smile playing upon her lips as she stood beside Reikan.

"You and Jadin seem to invent new tests every time I come to meet you." No sign of weaponry on her as she offered a hand to the dog eared player in greeting. "Do you carry the strength of the spirit that you based your design upon, Inuyasha? Or should I call you Ko?"

”Ko will be fine.”

Hesitantly he reached out and shook her hand. She had a firm grip that he'd expect from a man indicating that she was well versed in “The World's” battle system.

"A pleasure."

He looked on into the woman's eyes where he felt a pain in his chest. The flame inside him was responding to something about the girl, surging as if trying to bust from his body to get to her. Reikan quickly moved between the two with one of his dumb laughs and a smile.

”Now now Iza. Don't tease the guy he's been through a lot today. Just ask him your questions and be done with it.”

With The Reikan blocking the path Ko was able to come to his senses again, regaining his bearings as the feeling began to subside. She smiled kindly at him, eyes changing slightly to be more silver than black as she folded her arms over her chest in a business-like manner that was more than typical. Nothing echoed, he hadn't received one of those odd... well, one of the odd abilities that she and Reikan had. That in and out of itself was good enough for her. Though something whispered he'd be a good one to ask for what she sought.

"I don't mean to sound insensitive but, any information you have will be of great help. I'm investigating the so called rumors of people falling into comas from this game. Have you heard anything or are you able to tell me anything about the subject?"

His eyes shifted away from her as her felt the pain of the topic hitting too close to home for his own good. There was reason to trust her well enough but he still had no idea what her intentions might be. Instead of just blurting out everything he knew, he decided to play a game where they'd both reveal everything to each other.

”That kind of crap's just rumor and gossip on the BBS. I've been with the Eventide Crescendo and the BBS is lying about their actions. Then there's that clan of people in Carmina Gadalica. I'm sure they come out sooner or later. But what makes you so interested in gossip?”

"Rumors, gossip and the Eventide Crescendo."

She repeated, eyes flickering more to black as she sneaked an unreadable look to Reikan and schooled her expression back to the friendly but professional one she'd worn before.

"As a veteran of this world... it isn't uncommon to go looking into the past to see how it repeats in the future."

If he wished to play this kind of game, well, Reikan should have warned him against such a thing. A friendly smile returned to her expression as she inclined her head.

"If you discover any other information, let Reikan or I know as soon as possible. The offer also extends if you need any information. We can consider it a trade."

This might've been the best chance to find a way to help Sekai get out of her coma. He couldn't let this pass him by, not at all.

”If it's a trade then I'll trade information for how you plan to help the comatose victims.”

She liked him already, reminded her of Reikan in their younger days when they'd first encountered one another in Fragment. An eyebrow raised as her voice changed ever so slightly in tone. Reikan released a harsh sneeze that didn't seem to dull the mood at all but seemed to put him in good spirits.

”Some pretty lady out there must be thinking about me. I need to get out of here quick before she forgets about me.”

"Gesundheit. Put a sweater on before you catch a chill."

She almost appeared to be scolding him for a sneeze. The image of Kira scolding him ran through Ko's mind. A painful sort of reminder that he needed to speak with her about these events when he got done.

"You're forward and blunt, something that will serve you well in your journey; let us cut the fancy footwork and get right down to it. I'm looking for a connection between the coma incidents; if I can find a common link, I'm certain I'll be able to find out just what separates the mind and the body, thus one step closer to a cure." Izayoi paused for a moment before deciding to dangle a bit of information in front of him. "I intend to use the full of my abilities to discover this link, and the cure that must be out there. Now then," Her eyes turned completely silver in the span of a heartbeat. "What information do you have other than the Eventide Crescendo and a group in Carmina Gadelica?"

”Tsch, she didn't tell me a damn thing. What kind of trade is this?”

His arms crossed over his chest before his right one slipped out with an open palm that was more pointing at Izayoi than suggesting the weight of her information.

”The you don't know have a cure, connection, or name. So I have more information than you do and you have nothing to trade. I have a new proposition, I'll give you a location and a name to where to go and in exchange after you meet this person we'll exchange information again. How's that?”

A snap of his finger triggered a falling away wall that revealed an object similar to a Chaos Gate. A golden base held a golden sphere of supports that contained a pale blue sphere. The object spun silently and slowly with a needle at the top spinning at an equal rate in the opposite direction.

"Who has forgotten? Surely not I."

Whatever the exchange had been, it seemed to put her in an entertained frame of mind, and thus in a better mood as she chuckled to herself and shook her head.

"I have no cure yet, a connection on the other hand, I do indeed. His name is not unforgotten, neither is mine even with the new Wave you've come in on. But, suit yourself, I will meet this individual."

He hesitated for a few moments as he decided how exactly he wanted to do this. Names were easy but locations were something else. It was true that he once was with the EC but that was only for one of their missions and after Sekai and Raquar had fallen into comas he couldn't stand to be around their adequateness. He took a harsh swallow before finally deciding on what he could and couldn't say.

”Nemera of the Eventide Crescendo. She's a tiny Heavyblade with white hair. They're currently investigating a field to stop the attacks by a code they call “Dread Code” but CC Corp. has covered it up to make it look like they're the one's responsible. And in the Carmina Gadelica group... there's a man named Raquar. There's also a girl, an Archer, dressed in green and brown with white hair. As part of our agreement you are not allowed to approach her or anyone she is around at the time. If you patrol Mac Anu for the next couple of hours you should have a good chance of finding Nemera and the same goes for Raquar in Carmina Gadelica. Is that enough for you?”

"The Archer will not be approached."

Izayoi said, a tone of finality and solemn agreement in her voice as she seemed to contemplate a few things. After a moment, she handed over her member address, a light smile on her face as she inclined her head.

"Call on myself, or Reikan if he's given you his if you're in need of assistance." She turned to the black armored man with a hand on her hip. "Ready? I believe Kusuki's unhappy with being left behind."

With a snap of his finger an object similar to a Chaos Gate was revealed behind a falling wall. The item had a golden stand supporting a brass sphere of vertically stood rings. With in the rings was contained a sphere of blue light, which was what made it seem like a Chaos Gate to Ko. The sphere slowly turned in one direction while a point on top spun in the other.

”You can use this to get back to Mac Anu. You have until tomorrow to find someone to put the chain on you and don't forget that you can't tell them the stipulations. Next week Jadin will contact you with your first assignment.”

The Heavyblade dog began walking past them, unaware of the increasing sadness that was looming over The Reikan's face. Each step the kid took seemed to be like a razor cutting into his body. He kept his back turned to the boy even when he called out one last piece of advice.

“Yo kid. Remember, everything in every world has a shadow, an opposite. You know the law: for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. This opposite isn't always what you think it is and even if you position yourself to be the opposing force to another force it doesn't mean that you're suppose to be each other's opposite.”

He nodded in understanding before making use of the glowing orb to leave the area and return to the normal side of “The World.” Alone in the cave, Reikan grabbed hold of the chain around his neck and took on a slightly depressed look.

”After I finish training him, this thing will finally come off of me. But... Iza, is it right for me to pass my burden onto another? I think I'd rather serve another four years than make that kid go through it.”

The tall woman walked over, the black and white blades reappearing on their owners' hip as she rested a hand against his back in silent support as the dog eared player left, watching him gate out and the way his shoulders slumped after he was out of sight. Her voice was soft as she spoke, with a grave note within the tone as she stared after the vanished player.

"If he were not strong enough, he would not have made it through those trials. All you can do is train him and, well, seeing as how he reminds me ever so slightly of a certain someone at that age, perhaps 'beat the sense into' is more appropriate, hope for the best."

Her free hand rubbed briefly at her temples, something like a stone visor covering her eyes for a moment before vanishing again.

"He'll make it. His heart will give him no other option but to make it. You know this as well as I; if you are truly worried, we can keep a close eye on him and observe his progress." A smile. "After all; the road to succession is a long and difficult one; that shadow of his will continue to bother me. Think we'll encounter him?"

***

Finally, Ko was able to return to Mac Anu with out having to shortly leave for Dun Loreig. The vibrant reds and oranges in the dusk sky and the reflection of it in the waters made it look like the world was lit on fire. The brown stoned walls and beige roof tops only added to the atmosphere in a brilliant way that truly showed that an artist of graphic design was assigned to this server.

”Ko?” Obviously he looked exactly the same but for some reason for a split second she didn't recognize the crimson robed Heavyblade. When his confirming glance casted on her she even almost felt like she was feeling him right in front of her before her skeptic personality shoved the stupid opinion away. ”Come on, I got some things to tell you.”

She switched over to whisper mode between her and Ko but continued to speak freely as she lead him through the alleyways of Mac Anu.

”As you might've guessed Trent and the one calling its self Abigale escaped the field with out a trace and then dropped off the radar. They've been completely impossible to locate despite the generous amount of data material we have to track them by. Know what that means?”

”They're no longer in The World...”

”Half and Half. Theoretically Trent's incomplete avatar data would allow him to break down and travel in systems that aren't connected to The World but Abigale can not. Instead they have gone to a place in The World that is not part of The World. Don't worry I know you don't understand. As you already know there are many parts of The World. Various program levels, black box rooms, root towns, server areas, fields, dungeon, hideouts, clan rooms, and separate from all of them are parts that have been “glued” on. I can't really explain it in depth for you but imagine a center, that center is the root program of The World. The center provides us with everything from the sun rising to gravity pulling us down to the avatars we use. Now imagine that a platform is placed around that center, that platform is The World. Now put three platforms about the center platform and three platforms on the bottom. Each of these platforms are also partly The World and partly not The World.”

”If not from CC Corp where do these other platforms come from?”

”Hackers? Administrators acting independently? To tell you the truth we really just don't know. There are a lot of secrets that I could get in trouble for just hinting towards that CC Corp just can't deal with. Instead we just work around them.”

She stops him in the area where the majority of the rooms called “hide outs” are located. These areas are private rooms located in the various severs that players can buy from CC Corp. They're expensive but you gain a private room that you can decorate with various furnitures available in shops. Players in the room can chat and act privately with out worry of on lookers. For the rare players that never log out of the game it can also serve as a very nice place to just leave the avatar in an idle state.

”No one, and I mean no one, gets inside one of my homes unless I permit it. This home falls under the same rules but I'll let you decide who can come in as well. Don't worry about the bill, I've got it... and don't touch my furniture.”

Through the door Ko was lead to a barren room with a messed up couch that looks like it spent ten years in a house with five kids sits on the far wall with a wooden box sitting in front of it acting as a coffee table. A simple window with out a real view serves as the main source of light in the room. In a corner on the other side of the room, to the left of the old couch, stood a slender girl with chin length neon pink hair, that looked more like fiber cable than hair strands, and matching eyes that showed no sign of emotion or concern. Her blank face did ill to her obviously cute appearance. Some sort of cylinder apparatus hung from her right ear that had a glowing light bulb the same color as her hair at the end that hung to her shoulder. Over her body she wore a blue jean jacket with sleeves reaching her finger tips even as they were placed straight down on her thighs. A cotton white T could be seen worn tight over her torso under her open jacket. Blue jeans, slightly darker than her jacket, run the length of her legs tight at the top and flaring out at the bottom.

“That's Jinzo, one of my AI.”

She motioned her hand casually to the girl in the corner before moving around the room in some sort of strange investigative manner. Ko looked on at the girl in a slight bit of puzzlement. Her eyes were so bright in color but so dead in emotion that she didn't even look like she belonged in her own body.

”Oh an AI, wait what?! What do you mean one your AI.”

She turned back around like it was something strange to have an AI just standing there in her room like a desktop PC.

”Lest you forget, my job for CC Corp. is to find and destroy AI. Sometime though, while I'm off the clock, I just happen to come across a stray AI somewhere randomly in a field. Since I'm not on the clock, I don't have to destroy it so I add it to the collection if it's worth while.”

He couldn't believe his ears. After battling AI for so long, hunting them down, deleting them, she not only believed that they were alive enough to be defined as something other than “it,” she was actually collecting them like items.

”To avoid the impossible argument that would surely follow, I'm going to ignore all of those comments.”

”Good boy. Now, for as long as you need them, this hide out and Jinzo are your's to use as you need. Jinzo has a complete data base on everything I've observed and recorded. Whatever you need to ask her she will respond properly.” She walked around the room as if inspecting it. There wasn't a damn thing in the room save the couch, box, and girl but still she looked all over. ”I'll check in every once in a while but right now, I have to go do my job so that I can get paid.”

In some sort of gentlemanly way Ko walked with Kei out of the hideout's door. The act went with out acknowledgment from the unwomanly Kei. She waved her arm and walked off in the direction of the chaos gate that happened to have a confused looking newbie in a black trench coat along the way. He looked like he was going to confront the Admin female but it seemed to be of no concern of his.

On the other hand, Kira had appeared out of nowhere right behind Ko. He wouldn't have noticed her at all if she didn't reach out and tweak his left ear in the painfully annoying way that she has become all too accustomed to. He made a harsh turn and leaped a fight worthy distance away from her. His eyes scolded her more than his words could, though she was more than capable of shrugging all scolds off.

”Here to check up on me? As you can see I'm all in one piece. I gotta say, for your “twin” I was a little disappointed.”

The truth that he'd never admit of course being that he was pushed to a limit that he wasn't even aware he had. Not to mention he had no idea the actual contract that he'd be making for this new power. Reikan and Izayoi's appearance also was something he had no idea was going to happen, they even live in Japan and have insisted on a real life meeting. Every time he thought about all of the events that happened out of his control, he couldn't help but think that he was beginning to bite off more than he could chew.

Back to the point at hand, there was something different about the slender framed AI. Her pupil lacking amber eyes looked on at him with an inquisitive look that he had never seen before. First she showed concern and hesitation while in the field and now she was acting all curious and shy towards him. This level of openness towards him was beginning to border on the weird.

”What?!

She damn near jumped out of her skin from the half-yell as she whipped her head back around and stared at him, surprise visible in her eyes as she stood there, almost like she was at a loss for words before scowling back and grumbling something inaudible to herself. Shit, this was going to suck.

"I just had a question, even though you never did give me the answer to the other one."

Color rose into her cheeks and she looked at the Chaos Gate, jaw stubbornly set against the embarrassment shown clearly on her face.

"You're human, what's it like to be pregnant?"

His golden eyes widened and his body nearly fell over when he stumbled back. She had to be playing some sort of game with him. What kind of question is that, “what's it like to be pregnant?” Where did that even come from all of a sudden. She just walks up acting all weird and emotional and then asks... What's it like being pregnant? “Oh no!” Ran through his head a million times as he began to piece otherwise random segments of memory together. The mood swings, the seclusion, this inquisitive personality, the randomness of the question with Sekai no where to be seen. Kira was pregnant and she was asking him for advice.

”Wh-wh-wh-at are you asking me that for?! AI get pregnant all the time don't you. I mean-” With every fiber of his being telling him to run for it he instead stayed and while curiosity was at its peak he couldn't keep his eyes from scanning over her body. It wasn't the same sort of battle instinct scan that he had done to her many times over, instead he was looking at her as a woman. The curves of her body hidden behind clothes, the light in her eye, and the smoothness of her skin- even the callused palms and fingers a warrior woman. ”You are... umm... uhh.. anatomically correct?”

A random player walks by while he was speaking in open chat. Outside of the game his face was beginning to turn brighter than Ko's robes. He insistently grabbed Kira by the forearm and pulled her into the room. The implications were getting worse and worser still as he slammed the door shut.

”What I mean is-” Jinzo's bright pink features catch Ko's eyes and add in even more frustration with the situation. His hands shook while his fingers slowly went from a raking position to balled fists before he through them to his side and screamed out. ”Jinzo shut down! Kira sit and tell me what this is all about!”

Confused beyond belief, and wondering if Jadin hadn't accidentally kicked him in the head a little too hard, she sat down when told to out of surprise more than anything and looked expectantly up at him like he was supposed to know what was going on.

"It's, shit what's got a Headhunter up your ass?, it's just a question. Don't flip out or anything over it, I,"

Kira settled back against the wall, looking like a sulking teenager caught doing something embarrassing and having to explain herself. Her chin rested on her knees as she wrapped her arms around her ankles and glared up at him.

"I just wanted to know, that's all. I heard someone talking about being 'pregnant' the other day in Dun Loireag and figured you'd be the one person who wouldn' shit themselves at the question. Guess I was wrong about that, don't answer it, I'll find someone else to do it."

Obviously she was more than a little embarrassed about the whole thing and she rose to her feet, looking well intended to go storming out the door and probably go jump in a lake in one of the fields or something similar to cool off.

”No wait!”

He positioned himself between Kira and the door and though he was about to grab her by the shoulders against he instead grabbed his head firmly and began to rub the frustration away.

”So ummm... You're not-” His entire body was beginning to shake, his words were even shaking that's ho nervous he was. Through it all though he had to push out a word that was heavier, larger, and thicker than anything else. ”Pregnant?”

"How can I?"

There was a bitter note in her voice, something in the way her expression hardened and the edge in the way she spoke.

"I'm not human, remember? Just nothing more than a bunch of letters, numbers and random bits of stupid data that only fakes an appearance of being human."

It was a truth that he often lost sight of but never thought that Kira would ever say such a thing. He had been slowly turning around to the opinion that AI were as much alive as any human. Despite the fact that this made something like Trent a living being it also made Kira alive which was his original intent.

”Well umm... I'm not a woman and Christine and I haven't had kids yet so I can't give a personal account. But uhhh... lets go have a seat and see if I can work my way through this.”

He motioned Kira back over to the worn and aged couch that Kei had left. As he sat down and hunched over to rest his elbows on his knees he went through all of the information and memories associated with pregnancy and child birth. He worked his way past sex and fertilization, deciding that he's just ready to give “the talk” to the ice princess.

”Well... being pregnant is... hard. A human pregnancy lasts nine months which is divided into three trimesters which are three months each. The baby grows from a single cell to a full size child. I was seven pounds and eleven ounces when I came out but my Dad was twelve pound and my cousin was only five pounds. We don't always last the nine months, most of the time we end up coming out early. And uhhh this is the worst part... the child comes out of your... a... woman's...”

He begins making a hand gesture to his groin. Kira was once in Sekai's body so she should know what he was trying to get at.

”So you see it's considered extremely painful. Women try to compare it to men trying to shove a football out their ass.”

Football huh. Kira frowned and tried to imagine something like that inside a human being and shook her head, looking puzzled as hell and like she didn't quite get the concept entirely. Tilting her head to one side, slowly repeating some of the information to herself, as if memorizing it and committing it to memory, she looked back up after a moment and spoke.

"So, five to twelve pounds is considered average for a human baby's weight when they're 'born'? And is there a specific size that they adhere to or are they really shaped like footballs? I can't quite picture that in my mind and I've never seen a human baby before, we AI are 'born' as little kids about three feet tall at shortest."

She leaned forward, raw curiosity in her eyes and a sudden epiphany lighting her expression up like a child who'd just discovered they'd known the answer to a damnable riddle this entire time. A note of barely contained excitement was in her voice as she smiled up at the Heavyblade on the couch.

"So that's why you asked if I were anatomically correct! You humans have to have a male and a female copulate in order to have children; geez, how do you guys have so many people then? Shouldn't that make it harder since you can't do as AI do when they need more?"

”Well you see, we're the dominant species on our planet with no natural predators. Even with some incurable diseases and our own stupidity wiping out a million or so a year they don't keep us from procreating before our deaths. Then our average child expectancy has risen from two point five to three point five over the past ten years. So you see, even though it takes two of us to create children, each couple makes three children. Then the couple doesn't last and two new couples are formed making three more children each. Then, thanks be to modern life and technology, it's not uncommon anymore for each gender to live past eighty years old. So, we compare the human life expectancy of eighty years and the millenniums that we've been around to the what, ten years you've been around? And your life expectancy of only a few months. It's fairly easy to see how, with our overly comfortable life styles, we have over grown in our world.”

If he had a drink it'd be time to take a drink but instead he leaned back in the chair. If nothing else he could be relieved that the conversation was being shifted from human pregnancy to social comparison between the two races.

”What about AI? If you don't... 'copulate' how do you reproduce?”

"Those of us who are 'born' in The World and not created are anatomically correct, we do, err, copulate but, we females don't have the reproductive organs the human females do and the guys, well, couldn't knock anything up if they tried. I don't know if you have a term for that."

She shrugged and shifted a little, settling more into a criss cross style of sitting with her hands on her knees and raised an eyebrow as she continued.

"There's two ways of reproducing that I know of; two AI, usually male and female to make a balance and give the offspring an equal chance to 'choose' their gender, will get the sense of something being amiss in a nearby field or dungeon, sometimes even a root town will be source. But they're called there and each of them stands before it and lends a bit of their data to the unstable and formless mass racing around. Usually they'll get there before a virus or an administrator has a chance to get to it and fuck things up."

She paused for breath.

"The other way isn't one I'm familiar with but I guess could be a way for one to kind of do the same thing a human would do if they wanted offspring. They go around collecting data until they've amassed enough to sustain a life, then they'll find someone of the opposite gender that they trust and ask them to give a bit of their data to create the child. We come out... I think about the same age as what Sekai told me a five or six year old in your world looks like and we mature faster, obviously. Most of the females have four stages."

She raised up her index finger to signify the coming of the first stage. "Child is the first stage and is when we're most impressionable. We usually don't do anything unless we're asked by our 'mother' or 'father' instructor and we learn the basics. Her middle finger then rose to part the second stage, [b]then comes the Apprentice stage; where we're instructed in the ways of our class and what each of our potential, power and affinity is. Usually the girls get thrown to the order, especially if they wind up Wavemasters, or they become handmaidens or specialized soldiers depending on your element.” Now her ring finger for the third stage, ”next comes Priestess, Soldier or Maiden stage; you're assigned one of those occupancies, I chose to be a Soldier rather than stay as Priestess. It's... unusual for an AI to have the ability to choose."

She didn't raise her finger this time but instead but her hand down on her knee and took on a different tone. The moment of pause along with her eyes drifting to the left meant she was recalling some significant memory that he wouldn't be able to piece together until later when he'd have the clarity to think about how Kira has changed recently and how different she must've been when she was going by this “Asarain” name.

"The final stage is Elder or Avatar; only two kinds of AI reach that level and frankly, both can go get fucked as far as I care. An Avatar must change their class from whatever it was to Wavemaster in order to use the full extent of the power of their respective deity. An Elder is someone either not qualified for Avatarship or who has wisdom that the Council and their land needs. With each stage being reached, the appearances changes, usually the attire, is made to fit the new stage and the responsibilities granted upon them."

He didn't quite get the concept but basically he linked the concept of how a human ages into different stages of human development. A child progresses to adolescence and then into adulthood. The progress is mostly determined by the hormonal state of the body but mental stability plays its own role in the age process.

”Master Ko,” to the shock of Ko the stoic pink haired AI interrupted the conversation with almost a mechanical response in her monotone voice. His eyes grew wider and wider as his head slowly turned to look on at her. ”Mistress Kei keeps a detailed file on the stage of AI development in my database. If it would help with the topic these files are available for your view. By reference, your companion is of the third stage that would be comparable to a human that is leaving the adolescence stage of human development while I am of the second stage similar to a teen ager in human terms.”

Slowly but surely Ko began to figure out what this meant for him. Kie was watching the whole thing from afar, probably recording it too, through Jinzo's eyes.

”Jinzo! I told you to shut down!”

He wined more than he yelled about the situation and just about dropped to his knees when he quickly stood from the raggedy couch.

”You were under a misconception that I recognized such commands. My body is unable to shut down. I attempted to ignore the conversation for you but was given the order to aid in the conversation.”

Her neon pink eyes casted from the depressed lump that was once a Heavyblade to the icy woman still sitting calmly.

”There is another form of AI birth in my database that you did not mention. Like when a sperm cell and an egg cell merge and give over the DNA that they each possess to make a complete cell, two AI contribute half or all of their data to be compiled into a new being that is different from either original. This process is often fatal to the original parents, as an AI giving up its data is more comparable to a human giving its life than its DNA, but there have been six successful contained breedings where the parents were able to survive in controlled experiments by CC Corporation. The only successful reproduction without supervision was performed by the AI known as Trent in creating the AI known as Abigale.”

However, this Jinzo girl's explanation had her disturbed and overall at full sharp attention as she stared straight at her the entire time she was explaining things. Her face drained of color, hands clenching into fists in her lap and every muscle in her body seemed to suddenly be wound tight, as if she were about to cut loose with every bit of power she had. Breeding? That damn company supposedly in "charge" of her world was breeding them as if they were Grunties?

"Someone is breeding, us as if we're something to be used and controlled?!"

Kira rose to her feet abruptly, clearly upset by the information and pacing back and forth as a result. A tiger bound in a cage only big enough to turn around and walk a few paces while spectators stared and whispered, that was how she felt and had seen a thing on such a spectacle once on that data box thing that Mika often watched. Pissed her off beyond belief and she'd spent the next while looking into cases, hating humanity for every account she'd read after that too.

"I didn't mention it because I didn't know that someone'd managed to make a somewhat full functioning AI that's been created by a human. Only those who're naturally 'born' into this world are usually able to produce offspring because of a certain data signature we tend to hav that humans miss completely."

She whirled around again, stepping back towards the couch and then spinning back around to go stare out the window of the small little house thing they were in and back again.

"Any other AI I've encountered and that those I know who've encountered them as well have all had the same experience, there's a word you humans use, they're... dammit, it's like they're missing the human crap that they use to reproduce all together in males. Cas..Castration or something like that. They're missing that and the actual working bit for sex too. That's what kind of data signature's always been missing, that the son of a bitch can actually reproduce-"

Kira's voice sounded sharp, furious and had an edge that only came in when something was particularly loathed in conversation. Her expression seemed to portray the same thing... until she turned away and refused to look at them, staring at the door and window with her back turned to them both, muscles coiled and the aura around her distinctly different than the norm. She stopped at the window, contemplating breaking it with a fist and one nicely aimed kick before bolting out of there to get some goddamn air before she choked to death in the atmosphere boiling around her.

"...how far has he been restored? Strength and power wise."

They weren't there to see the expression in her eyes, she'd specifically chosen to face away from them so they wouldn't see it, it'd piss her off and she wouldn't admit it right then. Yeah, it bothered the hell out of her about learning about what humans were doing with AI but...

Trent, something a human created, having the ability to procreate if he so wished.

For one of the first times in her entire lifespan, Kira could feel it, the sensation of something digging into her metaphorical heart and sending waves of the feeling through her entire body to inspire the fight or flight response.

She was afraid of what this meant.

”Apologies. I'm under order to not inform you of anymore information.”

Her robotic reply was annoying even to Ko. The utter lack of emotion and complete obedience was something that not even Ko was able to stomach well. With the way Kira was pacing around the place it didn't look like she was going to take “no” for an answer anyways.

”Calm down Kira. She's with the Admin that helped me so she wont help you without permission. What CC Corp does is beyond our control, we can only handle the problem right in front of our faces.” He moved in between the two AI females and made sure that Kira would be focused on him instead of Jinzo. ”By my own prediction I estimate Trent was at a fourth, maybe a third, of his true power. And, even he said that Abigale was his daughter so I'm inclined to believe it's true.”

She listened intently, though she gave no impression of doing so until the last words had left his mouth. In a fit of rage, a crashing sound ripped through the room as Kira put her fist completely through the window in front of her, glass shards spraying out of the room and at her feet. Her shoulders and chest heaved, blood from where a shard had sliced her cheek dripped down to the ground, her fist and wrist sticking out of the hole she'd made before she pulled it back in and gave a glare to scare off any onlookers who were nosy and wanted to get into her business. Baring her teeth and hissing at some of the more obstinate ones until they bought a fucking clue and took off in a hurry, Kira pulled her wrist back into the room and stared at the lacerations and shards of glass sticking out of her torn and bleeding flesh.

"A fourth or possible third of his power and what happens; you and this all powerful, AI studying Administrator both come out licking your wounds after an ass kicking and he's still not at full power and he's able to procreate?!"

She whirled around, amber eyes glowing in the dimly lit room with anger clearly attempting to mask the hidden fear she felt over this whole situation, the sinking, sickening feeling in her stomach and chest that things were going to get worse before they got any better overwhelming.

"You told me not to underestimate that son of a bitch once, just being anywhere in the same field as he's lurking in is enough to send me into immediate fight or flight mode. I. don't. do. flight or fight mode. Ever. That should fucking tell you something right there."

Her fists clenched tightly in her tirade before she threw a hand to the side, blood splattering against the wall from the momentum as she finished up her rant.

"If the two of you, despite all your power combined and everything, come back defeated, what the fuck kind of chance does another AI even combined with a human's power have with you two as well?! He's become something I can't even predict now and dammit, he would have to be some specialized hybrid that I haven't seen before."

His head hung low as he was reminded of his incompetence and weakness. As far as he was concerned she was absolutely right! Sekai's in the hospital because he wasn't strong enough. Trent is alive because he's not strong enough. The entire World is in trouble because he's not God damn strong enough! Even Kira was standing here in her own way admitting fear and regret because Ko wasn't strong enough to eliminate the threat.

”I'm... sorry... Kira.”

Quiet little words barely spoken through his barely separated lips. He couldn't even find the strength to cast his golden eyes, he just hung there, completely broken.

”I'm not strong enough to handle my own problems and they're spilling into the lives of the people around me.”

Flashes of Sekai in that damn white hospital room flashed in his head over and over. His powerless form just stood their, unable to do anything for her, while the life monitor continued its rythmatic beep. His fists clenched tight around the controls as the emotions began to swell within his chest. His chest chew tight and making his breathing grow irregular and his words stutter with skips.

But-... But I'm trying Kira, I really am. I passed Jadin's trial and I was given the power I need and the teacher to show me how. It's no excuse for all of my screw ups and it doesn't make things right but, if you keep letting me I'll keep protecting Sekai... and... you.”

For a minute she just stared, completely taken aback by the admission, by the way he just sank into such a defeated stance without so much as a 'shut the fuck up' or anything like what she'd expected, what she was so used to when dealing with him. Fists clenching as he refused to raise his head even after everything, after all he'd said and done, Kira stormed over and threw a punch at his jaw with her own bloodied hand. Glaring down at him with an expression she wasn't used to having on her face, the sting of salt in her eyes as she let him have it.

"You fucking- do you realize why I'm reacting like this?! It's because you didn't call on me to come help you out! I told you specifically to contact me if Trent showed his face again so I could help you out!"

She looked away, shoulders shaking and looking like she'd like nothing more than to either hit him again or... do something unnatural and unusual for her; burst into tears. He couldn't help but feel like there was something he should be doing but everything that came to mind seemed so unnatural for his, almost rivalry in nature, relationship with Kira.

"Dammit, half the reason I enter that mode is because Sekai's going to be a huge liability because she's so fucking terrified that she can't even sleep in peace without him popping up and tormenting her. That other half?"

Tearful defiance as her eyes grew over bright, refusing to let herself crack and, well, to let herself be an actual female rather than some headstrong, cocky and sarcastic soldier.

"The other half is because I don't want to show up too late to one of those battles and see your body desecrated on the battlefield and hearing, feeling that lingering echo of his fucking laughter on the wind. Dammit,"

Tiny salt filled tears barely made their ways out her eyes before she wiped them with the back of her hands. They stung at the tiny cuts that were still open across her hands, a bitter reminder of battles lost in time.

"I can't help you unless you fucking ask or tell me something, don't you get that?! I swear we had this system worked out; unspoken agreement to watch out for Sekai and damn your Gods, you did your best and so did I to do that! And because we agreed on that, was I a fucking idiot to think that the same rule applied to you 'n me too?! That we have an unspoken agreement to watch each other's backs as well?!"

Kira turned her back, angry and embarrassed that she'd been reduced to some emotional pile of useless data all because she couldn't handle stupid things like information she'd damn asked for. She shook, trembling like Sekai after the girl had woken up from one of her nightmares and gripped her elbows to try and calm herself down.

"You stupid, stubborn human! Just," she yelled the rest of it out, just completely worn down with the facts hitting her all at once and confused because she had no idea what the fuck was wrong with her. "Stop trying to do so much on your own dammit, you wanted us to rely and trust you, fucking do the same alright?! It's a two way street and I know I'd at least have the brass to send you a message!"

With an strange smirk on his face he lowered his head down and came to a new revelation. For the very first time he was around Kira with no sense of tension or resistance. This bizarre new feeling and expression set off the tone in the air and brought forth a new link between the two. He moved in close to her in this state of relief. His presence slowly mingled with hers without being met with retaliation. His red sleeved arms reached out around her body and pulled her in so close that their white locks mixed together. Maybe it was a psychological thing but he could swear that he was breathing in arctic winds. Air so cold that it bitterly stung the inside of his body. Regardless of the pain he still held the woman close in this embrace.

”You're my sister too, Kira.”

"What the hell is wrong with your head?! D-Don't fucking mess with me like that."

It was probably telling that she wouldn't even look at him after she spoke, the uncomfortable way she moved, the frustration and confusion clear in both body language and in expression. Now was as good a time as any to bring up what had been on his mind the whole time. Out of his left sleeve he drew the rosary of clacking beads. It was strange and yet suiting that they'd convert from the metal ball bearings to the wood and bone orbs that were placed on the anime character that he took his own form from. With these his avatar character would be complete; a weak incentive to the contract to be complete.

”You know what this is?” Her expression upon seeing it was answer enough to know she knew exactly what the rosary beads were and the price that came along with them. ”I need someone inside “The World” to place this on my neck but I can't ask someone to do this without them knowing about the things involved. It's hard to ask but, would you be the one to place this on my neck?”

"You want me to,"

She cut herself off in mid-sentence, brow furrowing into something that, had anyone else been there, would have pointed out that the AI almost looked distressed about the item being offered and the question. Reluctantly, she took the beads from him and lifted it from his hand, staring at him through the loop for a long moment. With a solemn gentleness that even surprised her, Kira set the rosary over his head and straightened it around his neck before stepping back and away.

"It's done."

With that the contract was completely signed and dated. Over the next four years a minimum of two thousand and eighty hours of Ko's life would be spent in the service of Jadin's army else he and Kira would be slain with the snap of a finger. It's a heavy price to pay for the fire in his chest but then again, it wouldn't be worth having if it wasn't a weight that was going to make him stronger.

Ko_Inuyasha: +5 Levels, + Dragon Head, x3 Flame Blast

Bet it feels good to have that sucker done, don't it? XD I loved the windmill fighting scene, has to be some of the best battle work I've seen from a long time, I still hate you for making me laugh at something Trent said, jerk, that's still wrong that I found him funny. The personalities are developing increasingly well, Abby still has that aura of sadistic, malicious mystery that makes me both go, "KILL HER NOW" and "...what is with her? What's she aiming for?" that draws me in. Storyline progressed really well, there were some points where some commas or a semi-colon would have been good as well as a few words where the tenses needed to be changed to past or kept with the present.

Your descriptive paragraphs are getting much better and the visualizations, the voices of the characters are really starting to break through and shine in their respective light. The emotional tension, the psychological strain on Ko is powerful and Trent's just as big a bastard as ever.

Keep up the good work and remember to do a quick check, try speaking some of the sentences out, if you have to take more than two breaths, separate them or use a semi-colon. Spelling errors were non-existent, just a few grammar errors that you'll catch on to quickly.

Looking forward to your next piece of work and seeing what everyone's favorite dog eared smartass is up to!