*Sanada, Morgan and Gael stood there speechless at what they were looking at. In a pod surrounded by mechanical bodies was the burnt body of an actual demihuman. Gael grabbed his head with one hand as he concentrated on the magic aura*
(Gael): I sense sadness, anger and betrayal emanating from this body.
(Sanada): Does this mean she’s still alive?
(Morgan): No, these burn marks are way too severe. No person, not even a demihuman, could survive wounds this bad. The pod she’s in must be sustaining her.
(Viktor): Right you are, Mr. Lanchester.
*Sanada, Morgan and Gael heard the voice coming from behind them over a speaker. They turned around as they heard a metal slider go up from above them. When they turned around, they saw Viktor Khaos standing in front of a glass window looking down on them while in a room filled with machines and computers*
(Viktor): Welcome, knights of Brister, to my lab. I do apologize for not greeting you in person, but the men do not take kindly to trespassers and neither do I.
(Morgan): *Takes a deep breath* Dr. Khaos, it’s so good to see you again. It’s been a while since we met. I’m honored that you remember me.
(Viktor): But of course. You’re one of the few humans I’ve met who isn’t a complete imbecile and actually understands my work to benefit society.
(Morgan): But of course. However, how does helping Blood Moon benefit society? You’ve spoken against them for years, condemning their actions and now here you stand working with them. Why?
(Viktor): Because I saw the truth. All these years I was wrong and they were right. The proof lies by looking in that pod behind you.
*The group turns around to look back at Cindy before returning to face Viktor*
(Viktor): Adorable isn’t she? My little granddaughter was always bursting with energy and had a smile that shone as bright as the sun until that unfortunate day came. Human supremacists came. They burned my home with me and my family inside. Apparently, they didn’t like how a demihuman was making headways in a field that had long been dominated by humans. I was prepared to accept my death, but then the fire force arrived. I was the first one they pulled out despite my protest as I wanted my family to be saved first. Of course, they didn’t listen. I was still an asset to them in the field of mechanical engineering and they needed me around to make themselves look good. As soon as I was pulled out the house came crumbling down and my family died that day. All because of petty jealousy against someone who wasn’t like them.
(Morgan): Viktor, I’m. . .so sorry. I had no idea that happened to you.
(Viktor): As I wallowed in my sorrow I was saved by Blood Moon who extended a hand out to me. It wasn’t my peers, my co-workers, not even my assistants who were concerned about me, it was the people that I had spoken out against. It was at that moment that I realized what a fool I’ve been. While I was busy concerning myself with advancing my goals in science, they were advancing the goals of demihumans to destroy all injustice in the world. I soon joined them after that and continued my research to create an army against the humans who took everything away from me.
(Sanada): And this is your answer? Honoring the life of your granddaughter by using her as a power source for your army?
(Viktor): My machines needed the DNA of a living creature for their magic stones to truly come to life and function on their own. Why not turn my granddaughter into a symbol of triumph for demihumans everywhere against those who wronged us?
(Gael): But is this really what she wants? I’ve been sensing her aura this whole time and right now she’s begging you to stop this madness. Is it really worth all the killing?
(Viktor): Think of it this way young one. To never again walk with the person you care about. To hug them on a cold winter’s night or see their smile on a hot summer’s day. Oh yes, I’d kill for that. I thought if anyone would understand my plight the most it would be you Mr. Lanchester.
(Morgan): Come down here and I’ll show exactly how I feel about those who desecrate the lives of their loved ones for their own selfish ambitions.
*With a look of anger in his eyes, Morgan takes out his wand and fires an ice spear at Viktor. Viktor stands perfectly still and emotionless as the spear closes in. Before the spear can reach the glass, an invisible force field destroys the spear entirely. Viktor lowers his head and begins to nod back and forth sideways*
(Viktor): *Sigh* There’s just no hope for you humans. You’re more animal than us.
*Viktor presses a button on his monitor which results in Cindy’s pod lighting up and electricity running through the pod before the black wires throughout the room begin to light up blue as they make their way to the pods of some of the mechanical soldiers. The pods of the mechanical soldiers begin to light up one by one as magic is fed into their pods. In a matter of seconds the mechanical soldiers begin to grow skin and take the form of Cindy. As the magical fluids are drained from the pods, the pods begin to open up and the mechanical soldiers open their eyes as they step out of the pods. Each mechanical soldier was using a different weapon or power. One soldier shot fire from its hands, another was carrying twin sabers, one had a hand that was a gatling gun, one had lightning beam eyes, and there was even one carrying a bo staff made of light that was similar to the one Gael was using*
(Gael): Hey! That’s magic infringement! I order you to cease and desist with your magic this instant!
*The soldier with the bo staff of light lunged at Gael ready to strike. Gael quickly formed his bo staff to block the attack and got pushed back by the soldier before standing his ground and the two fell into a deadlock with each other*
(Morgan): It would appear that the pod housing Cindy is the power source of these soldiers. Cut the main wire and that should put a stop to this army.
(Sanada): Understood.
*Sanada and Morgan began to run towards Cindy’s pod, but were stopped by the soldiers. The soldier with the gatling gun for an arm fired at them where Morgan jumped out of the way while Sanada held his ground and instead blocked the bullets with his sword. When Morgan jumped out of the way he was attacked by the soldier who shot fire from its hands and the soldier with lightning beam eyes. Morgan formed an ice shield to guard against the attacks. Unfortunately, the shield exploded from the attacks and Morgan flew backwards falling to the ground. Morgan laid on the ground dazed and defenseless which opened the door for the soldier with twin sabers who leaped in the air and prepared to strike Morgan as it descended*
(Sanada): Morgan!
*Sanada seeing what was about to happen out of the corner of his eyes, blocked one last bullet and rushed over to protect Morgan. Sanada made it just in the nick of time to block the attack of the soldier and swat them away where the soldier flipped through the air to land back on its feet steady to fight. Morgan returned to his feet snapping out of his daze and ready to keep on fighting. Gael was busy fighting against the soldier with the same light magic as him as their staves kept clashing with each other*
(Gael): *Growls* The only one allowed to use this kind of light magic is me!
*Gael ducks and goes for a low sweep of the legs but the soldier jumps in the air just like Gael predicted. Gael blasts the soldier with a light sphere he shoots from his right hand. The sphere manages to blasts through the staff of the soldier leaving it defenseless. Gael takes advantage of this and jams his staff into the magic stone of the soldier. The soldier began thrashing around trying to escape as its eyes continued to flicker rapidly until its eyes finally go dark, it stops thrashing around and goes limp as it starts to slowly slides down the staff motionless before Gael just flings it off his staff and towards the wall where it falls to the ground unresponsive as small sparks fly out from its chest. Back with Sanada and Morgan, the two were busy taking on the four remaining soldiers. Sanada took on the soldiers with the twin sabers and lightning beam eyes while Morgan took on the soldiers with the gatling gun and fire hands. Sanada was sword fighting with the saber soldier while the other soldier fired lightning at him. Sanada managed to kick the saber soldier away so that he could focus on the lightning soldier who powered up its eyes for one powerful attack. With the soldier’s eyes lighting up yellow, it fired a powerful beam of lightning at Sanada who blocked the attack with his sword and redirected the attack toward the saber soldier who couldn’t get its blades up in enough time to block the attack. The beam of lightning shot through the stomach of the saber soldier creating a large hole which destroyed part of the magic stone and made it fall to the ground face first motionless. The lightning soldier fell to one knee trying to recharge as Sanada ran towards it prepared to strike it down. The soldier fired lightning beams at Sanada but they were too weak and he was able to deflect them with ease. Sanada used his sword to swiftly chop off the head of the soldier and watched it roll on the ground while the body just fell helplessly to the ground. Morgan was also finishing up his fight against the soldiers. He was running down dodging the attacks of the soldiers before he began running toward the soldier with the gatling gun. Using his wand, he created a sheet of ice to slide between the legs of the soldiers and return to his feet when he was through. Once he was off the ice, he tapped the ice with his wand allowing ice spears to rise up and pierce the solider throughout its body to kill it. The soldier with the flame hands melted the ice and stepped over the lifeless body of its comrade to fire off a stream of fire towards Morgan who countered by firing a stream of ice from his wand. The two attacks stop one another from advancing until Morgan finally gained the upper hand and pushed forward freezing the arms of the soldier to leave it defenseless.
(Morgan): Ice lancer, now!
*A ice spirit wearing armor and holding a lance comes jumping out of the ice and pierces the soldier through the head with its lance to defeat it*
(Viktor): Not bad. Perhaps a few familiar powers will deliver a better challenge.
*Viktor presses a button on his monitor which opens up nine pods down below. The soldiers come out with each one having the powers of Shadow Eye. Sanada and Morgan stood there shocked at what they were seeing*
(Gael): Oh great! More magic infringement.
(Morgan): How? How do they know our powers?
(Viktor): A very good question, Mr. Lanchester. You see throughout this battle in the city I sent one of my dearest creations, mechanical mosquitos to collect a blood sample of those with magical powers. These creatures are so small that not even those with the best vision can see them. I then took those blood samples and infused them into the magic stones.
(Morgan): And then you combine that with the DNA of your granddaughter to create an army of mechanical soldiers with different powers.
(Viktor): Correct. You catch on quickly, Mr. Lanchester. I must admit, out of all the blood samples I’ve seen so far your samples were by far the strongest of the bunch. I’m very proud of the soldiers you see before you. They know all your moves, so nothing you do will surprise them.
(Sanada): Just because they know our moves doesn’t mean they’ve mastered them.
*All of a sudden the door to the room gets blasted open and out of the dust comes Raika and Jade*
(Jade): Hey guys, we finally found you.
(Raika): Sorry we’re late. You would not believe how much of a maze this place-woah! What is going on here?
(Sanada): It’s a long story. Here’s the short version. Girl in the pod is Cindy. She’s Viktor’s granddaughter. They use her to create the skins of the mechanical soldiers and the soldiers get their powers by using our blood which Viktor stole using mosquitos which we never noticed.
(Raika and Jade): . . .What!?
(Morgan): Just help us defeat the soldiers who have our magic powers.
(Jade): Wait! They have our magic powers? That’s magic infringement!
(Gael): I know, right!? That’s what I’ve been saying.
*Morgan lets out a deep sigh of exhaustion at what he has to deal with while Sanada lets out a small chuckle*
(Morgan): Anyway, we need to cut that wire on Cindy’s tube to stop him from completing all of these mechanical soldiers or we’ll have even more dangerous ones to deal with.
(Raika): No problem. Sanada, we’ll cover you while you cut the wire.
(Sanada): Very well. Let us begin.
*The group begins to run towards the soldiers. The soldiers who have Sanada, Morgan, Raika, and Jade’s powers run toward the group. Raika uses her energy saber to slash through the Sanada soldier with ease*
(Raika): HA! Sanada’s swordsmanship is way better than this third rank soldier.
*The Morgan soldier used its wand to summon a giant ice fist and hurled it toward Jade who uses her own fist to shatter the ice fist into a thousand pieces before making it to the Morgan soldier and shredding through it with her wolf claws*
(Jade): An ice fist? Really? Morgan has way more creativity and strategy then that.
*Morgan took on the Jade soldier who was running wildly at him. He used his wand to shoot ice spears at the soldier who easily deflected them away not knowing that it stepped into a puddle of water created from the melted ice caused by the fire soldier. Morgan lifted his wind up where it began to glow and the water turned into ice trapping the Jade soldier in a block of ice unable to move*
(Morgan): The real Jade would have been smart enough to know I was laying a trap for her and been more aware of her surroundings.
*The Raika soldier was holding an assault rifle aiming at Sanada but couldn’t lock onto him quick enough. When the soldier finally shot, Sanada was protected by Gael who deflected the bullet which allowed Sanada to cut through the rifle and then through the body of the soldier before continuing on*
(Sanada): Raika’s precision and firing rate is much quicker than yours.
*There were now only five remaining soldiers and the group was confident they could defeat them with ease. Jade pounced on the Zia soldier taking it to the ground and then stomped its face in with her foot to crush the head*
(Jade): The Zia I know isn’t some weakling.
*The Amarti soldier threw his disc blades at Sanada which were destroyed by Raika using her handgun. Raika fired a shot towards the wall where the bullet ricocheted off the wall and hit the Amarti soldier in the head to stun it. Raika finished off the Amarti soldier with her energy saber slicing it in two down the middle of its body*
(Raika): Couldn’t even ricochet it off the wall to throw me off. Advanced beings my ass.
*Morgan took on the Dust soldier who tried to attack using its wire whip only to miss him. The Dust soldier then created a wire trap for Morgan where he stopped and took out a summoning crystal from his pocket and tossed it toward the soldier where the crystal transformed into an ice ninja who easily navigated through the trap and managed to reach the soldier where it cross slashed the soldier using its knives before landing on the ground unable to function. Morgan slowly approaches the soldier with a look of disappointment*
(Morgan): What is this? Where’s the quick wit? Where’s that devilish charm I hate but at the same time respect? My ice models of him would have been a bigger threat.
*Gael was fighting against the Jin soldier who was using a giant shield to block Gael’s attacks*
(Gael): Don’t know who you are, but I think you and I are going to have an interesting relationship.
*Gael used his bo staff to pierce through the shield and into the magic stone of the soldier who lets go of the shield and reveals an electric glove on its left hand. Before shutting down, the soldier grabs Gael and unleashes an electric pulse through his body which paralyzes him as he falls to the ground. Sanada was close to the wire where the only thing stopping him was the Ryuuji soldier who put its hands on the ground and created a fire wall to block Sanada. Showing no hesitation, Sanada ran headfirst into the fire*
(Sanada): Cyclone Stance: Demon Whirlwind of Fire!
*Sanada emerged from the flames with his sword on fire and swung it diagonally across the body of the soldier to split it in two as it caught fire and then jumped up to slice through the big cord on Cindy’s pod to halt the creation of the mechanical soldiers. Sanada soon landed on the ground with his kimono slightly burnt in different areas and the fire on the sword dying out and returning his sword to normal as he sheathed it*
(Sanada): Flaming swords aren’t too bad. I’ll have to talk to Ryuuji about this. I’m sure his flames will be even stronger than yours.
*Sanada turned around to face the now completely burnt soldier just as Raika, Morgan, and Jade caught up to him. Sanada looked around for Gael*
(Sanada): Where’s Gael?
*Everyone started to look around where Morgan looked up to see that Viktor was no longer watching them*
(Morgan): Where’s Viktor?
(Viktor): Right here.
*Everyone’s attention followed the voice where Viktor stepped out behind a pod while holding Gael and pointing a gun toward his head. Viktor walked to the center of the room with Gael and the others stood still. They had been in this situation before and knew better than to move. However, Raika had her handgun pointed at Viktor and Morgan had an ice spear ready to fire*
(Viktor): An impressive display of fighting. With the data you have given me my soldiers will become stronger and better than ever. For that you have my gratitude.
(Raika): It’s over Viktor. Let the kid go and we’ll let you live. Barely.
(Viktor): I think not. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to walk out of here alive with him as my hostage and if any of you so much as tries to follow me this demihuman’s blood will be on your hands.
*Raika lowered her gun and Morgan dissolved his ice spear*
(Gael): What are you guys waiting for, take this guy out! We fought hard to get to this point, don’t let it go to waste! Don’t worry about my life! I’ve done a lot of bad things I’m not proud of, so at least let me go down knowing I took this scumbag with me!
(Viktor): Quiet!
*Viktor holds the gun closer to the head of Gael. Sweat was starting to drip from his forehead*
(Viktor): Don’t try to put on a brave act, child. I know you’re afraid to die as well.
*Sanada stepped forward taking a running stance which started to worry Viktor*
(Viktor): Don’t be stupid, samurai. I saw how much you cared for this child. You wouldn’t dare hurt him.
(Sanada): Gael. I see your resolve and I’m going to honor it. Just know this, I won’t allow you to die here. Will you trust me to honor that promise?
*Gael smiles happily*
(Gael): Of course bro! I’ll trust you with my life.
*Sanada smiles happily*
(Sanada): Well said. Now, grit your teeth.
*In a split second Sanada vanishes and the sound of a gun being fired and the scream of a man can be heard as everyone rushed forward*
Author’s Note: And chapter. How’s that for a cliffhanger? Things got pretty intense near the end there. Khaos’s backstory took inspiration and dialog was largely inspired by Heart of Ice from Batman: The Animated Series. One of my favorite shows growing up as well as one of my favorite episodes. I wanted to make Khaos come across as a Shakespearean tragic character. A man who wanted to do good and spoke out against evil only to have one bad day that changed his life and view forever. He became what he fought against and you can’t help but feel sympathy for him. As for the fight against the mechanical soldiers, I’m sure some of you are saying they went down too easy, but keep in mind, that these soldiers have the same powers as the members of Shadow Eye. So, when you’ve fought beside someone for years you’ll naturally have a good idea of what their powers can do and how they think in battle that you’ll be able to counter them. These mechanical soldiers may have their powers but they don’t know how to use them at all. And that’ll do it for me. What will become of Gael? Will he live or will he die? Find out next week in the volume’s finale. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.