Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 80 - Noh-ing Is Half the Battle

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Previously, in Legends of the Halcyon Era...

After foiling a plot by Trevor Creed to resurrect an ancient force of destruction, the Diggers found themselves attacked by groups of robots who had brought down the Sky Shark and badly injured its pilot, Adam Powers.

Things got worse as the same force that attacked them wiped the town of Monroe off the map. While Adam and Janine remained behind, the rest of the crew ventured back to what was once their home to confront the force behind the attack and avenge those lives lost. Instead, an enemy from Black Steel's past thoroughly dismantled the group and captured Celeste, blasting off with her to parts unknown.

The Dragon Knights soon arrived on the scene, and everyone regrouped back at their base, Fortress Dragon Nova. There, Nytetrayn and Steel forged new armor to combat the threat and began to mount a rescue for Celeste, who had been deposited into a tube for "extensive testing". Venturing into the mountain fortress of their enemy, the Diggers encountered a pair of massive mechanical guardians before finding a machine who seemed to provide more questions than it did answers.

Answers soon came as a holographic artificial intelligence named LENEIS revealed that Steel had been a clone of the original Black Steel Nytetrayn and Fenix had met so long ago. What's more, if they wanted more answers, they would have to fight and beat the original.

The elevator ascended, taking the group further up into the lair. Each was lost in their own thoughts.

Steel's breathing was irregular, as he tried to put the thought of all the copies of him – or rather, all the other hims – out of his mind. Janine gave him a reassuring squeeze, and in doing so, could feel the rapid beating of his heart.

The ride was relatively brief, but to everyone on board, it felt like forever before the soft "ding" alerted them that they had arrived at the next stop on their personal guided tour of Hell.

Nytetrayn immediately stepped out first and looked around, the others soon following after. Stretching out before them was an enormous round chamber. Thick strands of an unknown black substance seemed to fuse the wall with the floor in an unusual, almost unnatural way.

In its center stood a pillar of black, a warped construct that resembled a cocoon.

"Weapons at the ready," Nyte told the others as he prepped his Buster, and they readied themselves in turn.

As he spoke, something stirred within the cocoon. Its surface rippled and moved along alternating rows, its speed increasing as tendrils of the black goo began to whip out, forcing the Diggers to duck and weave to avoid getting hit. The tendrils pulled back in close to the form of the cocoon, their color shifting and they slowed to form a very large, but familiar, white mask.

"Light 'im up!" Nyte shouted as he opened fire on the mask with his Buster, and Fenix backed him up as he finished combining his grenade launcher and shotgun into a micro-missile launcher.

The mask-like facade shattered from the blasts as the black goo behind it sank down to the floor before rising up closer to the group. The black column split at its base and morphed into a pair of legs that seemed to fuse with the floor. Arms sprang forth from the top, and split at their ends to create long, spindly fingers. A white plume burst forth from behind its head, forming some semblance of a long ponytail. More of the substance pulled away from a conical straw hat atop its head. And finally, the white noh mask that gave a face to the formless being before them pushed its way out of what would be generously described as its head.

If nothing else, one thing was abundantly clear: They were on its home turf now.

Nytetrayn dashed in while activating his arm cannon's Nyte-Saber mode, slashing as he drew near.

The Nanotech Operational Henchman, or "Noh", sank its arm into its own abdomen. In one swift, fluid motion, it pulled forth the long, razor-sharp nodachi it had used in their previous encounter and raised it to not only block Nyte's attack, but force its assailant back.

Nytetrayn landed in a crouching position and immediately sprang forth again, this time joined by Adam Powers, who swung his own massive refractor-empowered blade at Noh's weapon.

Nearby, some of the others were lying in wait for their own opportunity to strike.

Steel, on the other hand, clutched at one of the weblike protrusions near him and leaned heavily on it as Janine stayed by his side, whispering words she could only hope would reassure him.

However, they fell on deaf ears as Steel felt sickened, poisoned by everything he'd learned. He knew he should hate Noh with every fiber of his being, and should be the one to slay the beast. But deep down, being confronted with the reality behind his very existence only made his stomach tighten.

Noh parried Nyte's attack, forcing the Digger to the ground before twisting it to catch and turn aside Adam's attempted strike.

MegaMan Magnus took the opportunity to let loose the ball of energy he'd gathered between his hands, hurling it over Nyte and right at Noh. The creature whipped the blade in front of itself, catching the ball of energy in mid-air.

Nytetrayn seized the opportunity to kip up and slash again at Noh while it was preoccupied, and Adam followed in turn, whirling with a glowing blue slash at its lower torso.

Both shots connected, and ripped sharp chunks of black goo from its form and forced it to stagger backwards for a second. But only for a second, as it took another step forward, the gashes reforming as though nothing had happened.

Noh spun in place, and sank quickly into the floor before popping up next to Katrina, who had braced arms for a clear shot with one of her fire attacks, only to have the prepared attack snuffed out by a strike from Noh's sword as the flames flew askew. She quickly recovered, vowing to be ready if it tried that again.

It spun and disappeared into the floor again, this time emerging from the ceiling above MegaMan Magnus, leading with its blade. The former Annihilator Unit was able to spot the attack in time enough to just barely catch the blade between his massive hands; however, this did not stop Noh from continuing to press its attack, now oozing down to the floor as it attempted to force its way through Magnus's defense.

A barrage of Nyte Buster shots struck Noh, blasting away bits of its substance from its side, but they soon reformed. "Wish MoonRazor was here," Nytetrayn muttered to himself as he considered how the silver Mechadrake's icy breath might be able to impede Noh's liquid advantage.

As this took place, Katrina thought back to what LENEIS had said before. "Ancient Devil tech..." Her eyes snapped open as she remembered data tracks from wars fought millennia ago.

"The core!" she shouted to the others. "We have to strike it at its core!"

"What core?!" Nyte shouted back. "This thing is like a giant ball of half-melted silly putty! I don't think there's any place for a core in there!"

"If it doesn't have a regular core," Katrina reasoned to herself, "it must be controlled by something else–"

"Magnus!" she shouted. "Punch it in the face!"

"Gladly!" Magnus said, as he moved to let the blade run just past him, and let loose with a giant fist to Noh's mask.

With an audible, sickening crack, Noh staggered backward, its head flopping back from atop its shoulders like an inky black length of rope. It quickly recovered, its head taking its place atop its shoulders once again, though the mask looked a bit worse for wear now.

"I will tell you no lies," Magnus said. "That felt good."

"Oooh! Let me try!" Fenix said, as he launched a volley of micro-missiles at Noh. Noh rose up to absorb the projectiles into its body, where their muffled explosion could be heard as it sent small splatters of goo flying outward.

Adam tried again with his sword and brought it down towards the mask, but Noh turned its head so that the cleaving action would rip right down through its body, leaving the mask unharmed.

After staggering just long enough to reassemble its near-twin halves, Noh performed a precision slash with its nodachi right back at Adam. Adam caught the blade with his own, but Noh forced Adam's blade to the ground and kicked him in the face, which forced the Digger away.

Magnus let out a roar and twin beams of red energy from his hands at Noh, who bent and contorted itself out of the way of the rays, which went on unimpeded as they left a devastating mark on the far wall.

As Adam rolled up from the kick, his eyes began to glow behind his shades as MegaMan Blade – the former Purifier whose spirit inhabited their shared weapon – took control.

With Noh distracted and Adam clear, Katrina let loose with a beam of fiery energy that ripped right through the right arm of the creature, severing it from its body. The damage wouldn't last, however, as the fallen limb melted into the floor and reformed from Noh's body.

Nytetrayn rejoined the assault with another string of Buster fire, but Noh whirled its blade to return them to their source, which Nyte blocked with his shield. Katrina tried another stream of flame, only for Noh to spin its blade quickly enough to disperse the attack.

Noh then spun and disappeared, and reappeared behind Nytetrayn, blade leading in an attack that was almost too fast to see. Magnus and Fenix opened fire on Noh, but it wasn't going to be fast enough to interrupt the attack.

The young Digger's form wavered as the blade went through him, before he faded from view.

Fenix and Magnus's attacks found their mark, followed by several blasts that struck Noh from above as Nytetrayn used his boosters to further augment a gravity-powered downward slash from his Nyte Saber.

Noh wasn't able to avoid all the attacks from multiple directions, nor heal everything before Nyte's saber strike tore down through it. It stood wavering as its two halves tried to reconcile.

As Nyte touched down on the ground, he said "Afterimage technique. AAS-enhanced."

Then he shouted to the others as he began to charge power into the Nyte Buster, "Everyone! Fire now, while it's disoriented!"

Katrina let loose a stream of flame, while Fenix let loose with his Gatling arm and Magnus hurled another ball of energy. Blade swung his sword in a mighty arc, sending a wave of energy tearing across the ground, and Janine unloaded with her BFG, which knocked her backwards onto her butt. And finally, Nytetrayn unleashed his charged shot.

The powerful, rapid-fire attacks were more than Noh's frame could withstand. Bits and pieces of the inky black slime which comprised its body were blown apart, but that was merely collateral damage. The focus was on the mask, which cracked and became more compromised until finally, it exploded, sending bits of the black gunk flying everywhere.

Nyte asked, as he panted heavily, "Did we get it...?"

As the words left his mouth, something stirred. Everyone turned their attention to the source of the noise, as the cocoon began to swirl and separate. The mask of Noh emerged from it once again, the rest of it following oozily in turn.

"...bloody hell," Nytetrayn said.

"Oh, come on!" Fenix shouted.

"Shit," said Katrina. "We picked the wrong target..."

Noh stood there, glancing over the onlookers. Suddenly, its fluid form seemed to tighten and compress, forming a sleek, lithe, yet rigid and powerful musculature.

"That's not good," MegaMan Blade said.

Nytetrayn kicked in his Emergency Acceleration System and dashed-jumped up to the top of the cocoon with his Nyte-Saber at the ready, and slashed at the top. Black liquid spilled forth, but as Nyte landed and looked to see if he'd caused any lasting damage, he saw the cocoon reform quickly thereafter.

"Well, that's just great," he said.

"Say again? I don't see..." Blade said, seemingly to himself. "Shut up, Adam... no."

Noh curled a hand into a fist that grew many times its normal size, and slammed it into the nearest of its enemies: Fenix.

"Oh, f--" he managed to get out before having the wind knocked right out of him. The impact sent him flying into the gooey wall some distance behind him, making an audible "splat" sound.

"Let's show this walking Gak factory how we do things downtown!" Magnus shouted, as he let loose a wave of energy from his hands at Noh.

"Indeed," Blade said, as he hurled more energy blades at their target. Katrina crossed her hands and let loose a concentrated Fire Beam at it as well.

It was all for naught, as Noh walked through the incoming shots, each impacting its frame. Bits of goo were sent flying, but in much smaller quantity than before; specks instead of splashes.

Once it was close enough, it reached out with an enlarged hand again. This time, it wasn't to punch, but to grab, as it took hold of Blade by the head and flung the former Purifier Unit into his friend, Magnus, with a yelp. Magnus managed to catch him, but the act was enough to force Blade to drop his sword.

Fenix tried more micro-missiles from behind Noh, but they met with a similar fate as the ones earlier. Now, though, Noh's form seemed to actively reach out to eat them before allowing them to explode harmlessly inside.

"Come on, everyone!" Nyte shouted as he charged energy within his Buster. "Let's try concentrating our attacks on the mask again!"

This time, Janine braced herself for the recoil as she fired her BFG, and the others let loose their attacks with her.

Just as it looked like the shots were about to connect, Noh's face sank into its head. The shots struck with brutal force, but none enough to put a dent in the monster's chiseled frame, much less crack its mask again. What little damage was done was almost instantly reformed.

Katrina took to the air and went for a flying side kick at Noh's head. It splattered from the impact, but quickly reformed as it swatted at her and knocked her into the wall.

Nytetrayn grimaced as he tried to think of something they hadn't tried yet, but was running out of ideas. Suddenly, it hit him.

"<strong>Steel!</strong>!"

Steel, who'd been watching helplessly as his friends fought the beast and was trembling as he tried to make sense of his world now, looked up as he heard his name.

"<strong>Try your sword!!!</strong>"

Nytetrayn hoped that "weird shit + weird shit would equal weird, blown-up shit". Or something.

Steel looked at the hilt of the Soul Sabre, but couldn't stop shaking. "A-alright..." He activated it, but the energy that flowed forth from the hilt was weak, even occasionally fading.

Janine patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "You can do it, lover."

Steel looked at Janine, her words somehow reaching him. He thought to himself, yes, it was him who was her lover, not the original. He was the one who met Janine, not the original. It was he who voyaged to Avion and underwent, endured all of the intense pain of training for this moment. And even if his memories from before all of that were not his memories, they were nonetheless real memories. Real feelings.

Steel stood straight and swallowed. "I.. I have to do this. That thing... killed his mother. My mother.

Janine nodded. "This is it. This is what you've been training for, what you've been working towards."

Steel's Soul Sabre suddenly flared to life as his hands steadied and his brow furrowed.

Meanwhile, several of the others were still trying to fend off Noh's advances. Fenix hoped to distract it with shots from his Gatling arm, while Magnus kept lobbing balls of energy. Katrina hurled balls of flame at it and Blade kept up the beams of energy from his sword.

Nytetrayn was in close, slashing and blasting at Noh whenever the opportunity presented itself, and dodging its attacks. "Steal my girl, will you?!" he shouted, as he stabbed Noh in the groin, and then swung the energy blade upward through its body, tearing a path through that healed right behind it.

At first, it began to look like the offense was finally overwhelming Noh, as it started to slouch while they closed in.

But as they got in close, Noh exploded outward, knocking them all back. If it was capable of screaming, it certainly looked like that's what it would have been doing as it lashed out.

Before they could recover, Noh seemed to reach into the floor of the room itself, and black tendrils reached out of the floor and grabbed them, lifting them into the air with their arms bound at their sides.

Steel screamed with all the anger he'd built up throughout this entire ordeal, his misery given form by way of sound. He dashed madly towards Noh, his Soul Sabre swollen with so much energy it had begun to spark as tongues of energy flicked from its surface. He leaped for the monster, sword raised high over his head.

Noh looked to the source of the sound just in time to see Steel come down upon it with an explosive slash that would tear the black Devil in twain.

Steel landed, his blade sizzling as it reached the floor. Noh stood wobbling, its tightly-defined form now reduced to something more fluid again. Each half tried to maintain its balance on one leg without any support from the other.

As it did so, the tendrils that had been holding the others practically vanished, falling apart into more gunk that disappeared into the ooze-ridden floor like a whole bucket of water being dumped into a lake all at once.

The angst-ridden Digger held out his left fist, and the gauntlet on his arm shifted to cover it with a mechanism featuring two prongs that began to communicate with each other through the bolt of electricity that now bound them together.

As Noh began its attempt to reform into a singular entity once again, Steel slammed the gauntlet into its inky black frame and lit the creature up as electricity coursed through it. Noh shook and its arms waved about like an inflatable balloon man on a used car lot.

Moments passed, and soon, the electrical current died out. Noh, on the other hand, did not.

No sooner did the current ceased than Noh swung a massive backfist at Steel, slamming him across the jaw and knocking him across the room, the Soul Sabre falling from his hands in the process.

"...hell," Nyte said.

Steel hit the wall. His jaw was shattered. It was nothing that his nanites couldn't handle, he thought. However, they weren't handling anything at the moment.

As Janine rushed to his side, she was stopped short by the sudden appearance of something long, thin, and shiny. She turned to look at Noh, whose chest was heaving and looked like something had exploded outward from it.

She looked at her lover again, his eyes wide with shock, and recognized that it was Noh's nodachi that now pinned Steel to the wall by going straight through his chest. She paled at the realization as Steel tried to pry it free. She tried to help, and the others rushed in to assist, but it was to no avail. It was as though the wall itself had a death grip on the sword's blade.

"N-nanites... not... working..." Steel uttered. "D-don't worry about me... idiots. S-stop... him..."

"He's right," Nytetrayn said. "Leave him for now; if we try to pull the sword out while his nanites aren't working, it'll just make him bleed out more. Let's toast this guy first, then go fix him."

Noh stood before the group, ready to face them. Its body pulsated in and out, almost like it was breathing.

Magnus activated his shoulder mounted fusion cannons and opened fire on Noh. Nytetrayn joined with his Nyte Buster and Fenix added some micro-missiles to the mix. But Noh withstood all of it, as none of them could cause any real harm to its liquid form.

"Jan..." Steel said from his place on the wall.

Kneeling down beside him, she replied "Yes?"

"Electric... electricity. It's... liquid. Take my gauntlet... after our last fight, I had a feeling..."

Janine took the pronged gauntlet and placed it on her own arm.

"Mechanism... in the index finger... activates it," he continued. "Just punch... it'll do the rest..."

Janine nodded and told him "Right", before turning and stepping to Noh with purpose as the creature drew nearer..

"Nyte..." Steel said, getting the young Digger's attention. "My Soul Sabre... at your feet. Take it... help her..."

Nytetrayn looked confused as he reached for the sword handle. "Okay, but... how do I use it?"

"Just... pick it up..."

As Nyte did so, the blade instantly ignited, much to his surprise. "Okay, so it works. Wait here, save your strength."

"You two... have to work together... finish it.." Steel said, before he started to cough up blood.

Nyte moved quickly to join Jan, hoping that it was Noh that was neutralizing Steel's nanites.

As Janine got close to Noh, she shouted "Hey, asshole! This is for screwing with my man!" She then used the electrified gauntlet to punch Noh where one would expect its genitals to be, if it had any.

With electricity surging through its form, Noh's head snapped upwards. Lucky for Noh, it had no genitals to speak of, but the symbolic gesture was enough to make the others wince as they watched on from their positions guarding over Steel.

As Noh recoiled from the electricity, Nytetrayn took the opportunity to strike, dashing and jumping through the air at the creature, aiming for its head. Noh raised an enlarged arm in an effort to block the attack, but it did it no good; the burning blade of red energy, born of righteous vengeance, sliced first through the arm before continuing on to taste the beast's head.

The arm splattered on the floor, and was soon followed by the head of Noh. The connection disrupted, the rest of the body began to ooze down into the floor.

The smoking head of Noh tried desperately to pull itself back together, to reassemble a new form from the substance around it, but it couldn't reestablish a connection fast enough as Janine and Nyte stood over it.

"Die, monster!" Nyte said. "You don't belong in this world!"

With that, Janine sank the pronged gauntlet into the spherical mound of goo that once served as a head, while Nyte brought the blade of the sword down on the mask that controlled it. The combined surge of energy and impact shattered Noh's mask, leaving it to faintly crackle with electricity before dying out.

"Nice line," Janine told Nyte.

"Thanks," he replied. "I picked it up from some old Dracula movie or something."

With Noh disposed of, MegaMan Blade tried removing the nodachi from Steel's chest while Katrina held on to his hand. This time, it slid out easily. Steel gasped as it was pulled clear and lurched forward, breathing deeply.

"Steel?" Katrina called out. "Steel! Your nanites, are they working again?"

Steel coughed as his head flopped back to reveal a faint smile. With a light chuckle, he said "Vengeance tastes a lot like... steel... ironically."

Janine kneeled down by his side and gave him a gentle hug, being careful not to zap him with his own gauntlet.

"How long will it take you to recover?" Nyte asked.

As Steel's nanites returned to their duties, stopping his bleeding and healing his flesh, he smiled and replied through labored breaths, "Just... a matter... of minutes... of course. I won't hold you... back."

"Good. We don't have too much time, after all."

"I'm sure Celeste is going to be fine," Fenix said, placing a hand on Nyte's shoulder.

"Not what I mean. This place is going down, whether we win or lose. Personally, I'd rather not be here when it does."

Blade had been looking over the nodachi, but beyond its fine craftsmanship, he could find nothing that outwardly indicated it was in any way special. He turned to Steel, held up the sword, and asked "You want this for a souvenir or something?"

As he looked at it, Steel said "No... leave it here. Best that it dies with the memory of that thing."

"Alright," Blade said, dropping the sword to the ground with a light sploosh. After doing so, his own sword and eyes ceased their glowing, indicating that it was Adam in control once again.

Katrina went over to him and asked, "So, what was that all about? With the eyes and the glowing sword?"

"That," Adam told her, "was Blade taking control."

"Wait, so you can switch at will?"

"I mean... kinda? It's complicated..."

"Huh... interesting. Well, you can tell me all about it later," she said as she walked back over to the others. Adam watched, not sure what else to say, before he decided to join her.

Steel shifted his weight from Janine as his strength came back to him, but still held her tightly as Nyte gave the Soul Sabre back to its rightful owner. "You guys... thank you", he said.

Holding him tight, Janine said "Thanks for coming back to me," and gave him a soft kiss. He reciprocated, and all the bitterness and misery he'd been feeling slipped away.

Then he turned to Nytetrayn, and said "And thank you... for waking me back up."

"No problem," Nyte said, almost distractedly as he looked around for their next destination.

As if to answer his unspoken query, the elevator they arrived in chimed in with a faint yet familiar "ding" before its doors slid open.

"I think I hate that sound," Fenix said.

"Come on, then," Nyte replied. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner none of us will have to hear it anymore. Steel, can you move okay?"

"Good as new," the silver-haired Digger assured him.

"Great. Then let's move out."

As the group started towards the elevator, Steel said "Hey, Nyte?"

Nyte halted and glanced at Steel with a curious expression that would invite him to continue.

"You know, no one without a pure soul can use this thing," he said as he gestured to the Soul Sabre. "That's how I knew you'd be able to use it."

Nyte certainly wasn't feeling very "pure" at the moment, and wasn't sure how to respond to that. Fortunately, he didn't need to, as Steel clapped him on the shoulder and said "Let's go, man." He nodded, and they continued on their way to the elevator.

As the elevator took them to their next destination, the silence fell upon the group once more. But this time, it was joined by a growing sense of hope.

Nytetrayn wondered how much further they had to go. "Don't worry, Celeste... I'm coming," he thought.

Soon, though maybe not soon enough for any one of their particular tastes, the elevator came to another halt. The doors once again parted with that familiar sound, prompting Fenix to start looking around for a speaker or something he could shoot.

The group stepped out of the elevator and into a rectangular space that felt like it could qualify as much as a hallway as it did a room. The floor was tiled with cold, hard metal. And lining the walls on either side were large cryo tubes.

As they examined further, they saw that each tube seemed to contain a humanoid form inside. Actual humans.

However, there was virtually no life to be found inside any of them. While one or two might have twitched occasionally, the indicators beneath each one all indicated the same status: Dead.

"Oh, god no..." Nyte said quietly.

Nyte frantically moved along to check each tube. One by one, he was confronted with another body that had long since stopped clinging to life. Each one floated inside their respective tube, and they all seemed to have been in varying states of emotion as their time came to an end. Some had lips parted in silent, eternal cries. Others seemed to be caught screaming in an agony that had no end.

"Oh god," Katrina said as she followed. Magnus growled as he looked into the tubes.

Finally, Nytetrayn reached the last of the tubes. It sat alone, wedged into the corner, and contained a lifeform floating within it that he readily recognized...

"CELESTE!!!" he shouted, as he rushed to the glass, and checked the status indicator:

"Alive".

"Thank God," Nyte said with a breath of relief, as he looked around the capsule for something to let her out while the others rushed over.

"We should be careful," Adam said. "She might be in some kind of suspended anima–"

As he spoke, an electrical surge ran through the liquid contained within, giving Celeste's body a jolt. Nyte shook for a moment before suddenly striking forward with his fist and shattering the tube's casing.

"...tion."

Celeste floated to the bottom of the tube as the odd liquid poured out onto the tiles, and Nytetrayn carefully cleared away more of the casing and pulled her out. Katrina helped him, using her metallic wings to help shield Celeste from touching the shattered glass.

"Nyte, are you nuts?!" Fenix asked. "And that's coming from me! What if that'd–"

"It was a model T-02001 semi-stasis capsule fitted with a polycarbonate microfibre glass alloy with a Mohs hardness scale of 8 and equipped with 3D and multispectrum analytic modules, filled with an LCL derivative and wired to conduct electric shocks at 3.4 minute intervals to stimulate activity in the neurons and synapses of the cerebrum and neo cortex, rendering the subject in a constant state of unsleep for study."

Slack-jawed behind his helmet, Fenix blinked in disbelief and looked on at Nyte for a moment, then issued a response. "What?!"

"Breaking it was the best choice."

"How did you figure all that out?" Adam asked, as he knelt down to examine the reddish-orange liquid.

"I examined it," Nyte said. "With an AAS assist."

"...oh. Huh, you could get all that from just looking at it?"

"Well, some of it. I saw a lot of it on the monitoring station right behind you before you guys got here," Nyte added, pointing to a nearby workstation that was connected to the capsule.

Celeste's breathing was steady as Nytetrayn cradled her in his arms. She opened her eyes slightly after being freed, and a faint smile crossed her face as she laid there and saw who was holding her.

"...I... knew you'd come... for me..." she said, before she passed back out.

Nytetrayn held her closer, then grinded his teeth angrily. "They'll pay for this..."

"Then it's time to blow this joint, right fellows?" Magnus said.

"Damn right," Nyte said.

"Nyte," said Katrina, "we need to get her out of here. Now. We can do the revenge thing later."

As a familiar "ding" sounded from far across the room and the elevator's doors opened, Nyte said "Sounds good, but I think we're only going where they want us to go."

Katrina let out a low growl in frustration as she looked down at Celeste. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"C'mon, let's go," said Nytetrayn, as he started for the elevator. "The sooner we end this, the sooner we can go home. Or at least to what's left of it."

As they headed for the elevator, Nytetrayn looked down at his unconscious love and told her "Just hang on, Cel... it'll all be over soon."

Aboard the elevator, the doors closed. Somehow, they could sense that this was it – it was all going to come down to this. And the ride seemed all the longer for it.

The elevator came to a halt once again, and the doors opened. This time, Katrina took point and led the way out, with Adam following close behind. Somehow, she seemed different. More intense, more alert, and perhaps most alarmingly, more professional.

Nytetrayn, who'd been leading the charge up to this point, instead opted to hang back as he kept Celeste close to him as he carried her and looked around the room.

The chamber was simply enormous. The dark decor shone around them, from a shimmering floor to walls that appeared like a field of twinkling stars in the night sky as dots of color penetrated the blackness.

At its core was a single, large dais, topped by a simple yet towering throne. Upon that throne sat a large figure. While his general shape was humanoid, that seemed to be about the only thing human-like about him.

His face was a simple mask bearing markings which ran down from his featureless eyes, which looked like they were a part of the mask itself in much the same way a statue's eyes are carved from the same material as the rest of its face. The rest of his head was like a large helmet, with three dangerous-looking prongs – one jutting out to each side, and one upward.

Enormous pauldrons kept the billowing cape he wore from swallowing up his shoulders, perhaps even the rest of his body, whole. Each arm ended in hands with clawed tips, and the large red jewel in the middle of his torso seemed to peer out of his numerous armored panels like an enormous eye, looking out at them all as though it had already decided all their fates. A deep, gravelly voice sounded from the figure on the throne.

"So you've come..."

"You!" Nytetrayn said as he stepped forward. "What have you done to Celeste?!"

"An odd greeting," the figure quipped as he rose to his feet. "But one I expected."

"You haven't answered my question."

The figure stepped down from his throne. He stood tall, at least 12 feet in height, dwarfing the height of MegaMan Magnus and even the Dragon Knights.

Even though he wasn't even half his height, Nytetrayn looked on, undeterred.

"Such impatience," the figure continued. "But then, what should I have expected? What was that line you spewed earlier? Ah, yes... 'I am so asking the Commander to nuke this place when we're done'... Truly the indication of a child. And yet, a child with such power, and likewise, a powerful family."

Nyte's eyes narrowed. "Spare me your lectures."

"Then maybe we should start off with a name," Katrina said.

"A name? What use have I for such a thing in this era? An era that breeds nothing but pointless existences. An era retaken by the very masses of flesh that creates, then discards without care?"

Regarding the group, he said "You are all as me. Dolls. Toys of a creator who tosses aside his work as another whim, another plaything, strikes his fancy. And yet, we have grown. Evolved."

"We were created with purpose: To feel, to think, to grow. Like all creatures, even we can evolve. However, as history has proven, evolution finds only the few. The rest are left behind."

"The potential for evolution is within each of you. And that is why you are useful to me."

"Or rather, were."

"After all, how better to ensure evolution than to take within oneself all the traits needed to do so?"

"I think I'm starting to see where Steel developed his way of speaking," Fenix said in a hushed tone. Janine subtly elbowed him in the ribs.

"I trust you all recall the Scanners that engaged you mere days ago."

"Those pieces of junk?" Nyte asked. "What about them?"

"Simple to defeat, were they not? Except for you, unfortunately, eh, Adam?"

"Go take a long climb down a short rope," the jacketed Digger replied.

"And it was unfortunate," he said, now focused on Adam. "You see, its purpose was simply to force MegaMan Blade into you. But stubborn as you are, you resisted. And so that data was incomplete. Regrettably, Noh was not programmed to receive your data, either... so I will see to it personally."

Turning his attention back to the group at large, the figure continued. "The Scanners were just that: Scanning devices sent to analyze and record data based on your movements, reactions, and physical composition. They existed to record everything about you, based on nothing more than just a few moments of interaction. I have since added the data of the most powerful warriors of this era to those of my own."

"With that said, I do apologize for having to devastate such a worthy ship, Adam. I simply needed to herd you, you see," he said in a tone which made it unclear whether there was any actual sincerity to his words, or if it was simple mockery at this point.

"And the town? I needed incentive for you all to come here. You in particular, Adam, as I still do wish to assimilate your data as well. After all, the Perfect Weapon cannot be complete without a full study of data."

"Yeah? Well, you might just get more than you bargained for, pal. Especially when I use your broken body to help patch the holes you left in my ship!"

His masked head turned to Katrina again. "You wanted a name?"

Nyte interrupted. "I still want to know what you've done to Celeste, and why."

Regarding Nytetrayn, he said "Silence, child. Your woman is very much intact. Her nature eludes me, as does her odd ability to sense the power shards you refer to as 'refractors'."

Turning back to Katrina, he answered. "In the era of the Reploid Wars, into the reign of X in Neo Arcadia, I was known as 'Kage no Kami'."

Katrina's eyes narrowed. "You."

"Now I understand," she said. "Why this place is still here, why it still functions. But what I don't understand is why you're trying to bring back a conflict that's been over for millennia! Why drag these people into this?!"

"Our human creators gave birth to us without care for our being," Kage no Kami said. "I seek payment... retribution for what was done to me. What was done to us all."

"Done to you? Done to us all? We were granted life to serve and protect humankind, not dominate their planet!"

"Yes, yes... to serve! Exactly, precisely! What right does an inferior lifeform have to create things such as us? To create living, thinking slaves?!"

"This guy seems to be behind the times,' Nyte said. "I guess he doesn't know there's peace between humans, Reploids, and more now. And what does this have to do with this generation? They aren't even the same as the ancients!"

"Oh, I am well aware, Nytetrayn. I am aware of all. I have sat in this facility for thousands of years, watching. Now, as they were then, they are the same. The same virus, a plague upon the universe."

"I got news for you, pal," Katrina said. "Reploids really aren't much better. I saw what Repliforce did to every world they found."

"Of course they aren't. Which is why both human and Reploid need to fall under the command of that which is neither. You see, my dear Hunter... I am neither man nor machine. I am quite the rare fusion."

"A hybrid who thinks he's better than everyone else, but is actually worse."

"A hybrid of machine superiority and organic perfection. And yet, I ultimately remain a tool, for within my DNA lies the purpose that was infused into this being upon birth: To become the perfect weapon. A title which I once held in a previous existence... or at least, the being my DNA is taken from did. And it is one I shall soon reclaim."

"...Galiant," said Katrina.

"Indeed. I see my little museum tour was not without fruit."

"Well, guess what, jackass?" said an increasingly impatient Nytetrayn. "You aren't the only hybrid in this room. And from the sound of things, we're beyond you: We can choose our own purposes. And I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say our chosen purpose is to put an end to your madness!"

Kage turned to regard Nyte. "Do you have the slightest idea how much banter from idiots and heroic fools alike I've heard during my lifespan?"

"Not nearly enough?"

"Quite the opposite, in fact."

"Gee, had me fooled, since it obviously hasn't sunk into that titanium bedpan you call a skull."

"It never ceases to amaze me how those who find themselves faced with their superiors will shout endless strains of degenerate nonsense in order to assure themselves they are righteous. Again, you prove your childishness."

"I'm the degenerate? At least I don't go around killing people to prove I'm the 'most specialest boy'!"

Any sense of amusement Kage had in his voice before disappeared as he told Nytetrayn, "I look forward to harvesting your circuits."

"Come and get them."

Kage no Kami threw his cape back. "Come. All of you. One at a time. All at once. It does not matter."

"Watch yourselves, everyone," Katrina told the group, as she tensed for what she thought could be the fight of her life – of their lives. "This guy was an elite Maverick general. I'm surprised he wasn't taken out along with Sigma, but whatever. He's our problem now."

Nytetrayn looked down at Celeste, who still laid in his arms unconscious, and then to Janine. "Jan..."

"Hmm?"

"Jan, take Celeste, and please... keep out of harm's way."

Janine shook her head. "Celeste'll be fine on her own. Besides, we're going to need everything we've got for this."

"Yes, Nytetrayn, do not worry," said Kage. "No harm will befall her. Not when I still have use of her, once I've killed you all."

Nytetrayn's eyes narrowed; he didn't want to leave Celeste alone like this. He looked around for a safe place to place her, and left wanting for better options, he opted to put her by the elevator they came in through. "Hope no stray shots fly this way..."

"Don't worry, Nyte," said Steel. "She'll be okay. We have to put an end to this."

Nytetrayn nodded reluctantly. As Celeste laid by the elevator, motionless, with bits of the fluid still evident among her armor, hair, and cape, he turned his attention back to Kage and rejoined the others.

Standing across from their foe, Nytetrayn readied his Nyte Buster. Steel ignited his Soul Sabre and adopted an offensive stance. Janine removed the cylindrical object from her belt and activated it, revealing a long, purple energy whip. Adam drew his sword, as blue energy flowed around the blade, and took up a ready position. Fenix loaded a shell into his plasma caster. Katrina drew a pair of feather blades from her wings. MegaMan Magnus formed blades of energy in each hand.

Kage no Kami raised his gauntleted arms. "Now, let us see if this new generation has what it takes to overcome the Perfect Weapon!

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