XXIII - Alexander

Their whole place is inside an alien mothership, buried deep underground. This place must be almost centuries old. They could see some strange dead creatures sitting on some kind of a throne, which is why the unknown man called it the graveyard of his dead ancestors.

"The name... Alexander. A particle of machine created by my ancestors."

This Alexander guy... Red eyes indicate he is a machine. He has long red hair, black glasses, a white shirt with an uneven black tie, and black pants. He has these dragon-scaled gloves on his arms. Short-heeled boots to end the look.

Judging from the way he talks, he seems to have a cool-headed temperament. But Kaizo and Nerissa would not let that judgment get into themselves, not ignoring the fact Alexander is still the enemy.

"I assume you're the one who caused trouble around here," Kaizo speaks.

Alexander notices the masculine sound. His eyes quickly scan him from head to toe and catch interest in the T badges they're wearing.

"Looks like you're one of those soldiers. Let me guess, you want to retake Weaponbot?" He questions.

Surprisingly, he knows their purpose here. Where did he learn that?

"It's good that you know our purpose here." Nerissa comments.

Kaizo then questions, "What's your purpose on this planet?"

Alexander then struts around the area while glancing at his dead ancestors. Touching its wrinkled head. They both are not very sure what he thinks.

"I'm a man of curiosity. I aimed for one goal: learning about life and death. That's what my ancestors programmed me. They have a deep interest in it and anything related to them. I learned... lots of things about it from time to time." He replies.

Hearing his answers, she asks, "And what did you learn?"

Alexander explains, "You know... there are a lot of questions about it. Why are we here? What is life all about? The purpose of our existence. The words life and death completely depend on each other it's not understandable to fathom them separately. As you simply understand what a life with death is, it's also important to know what death is without life. As everything has their opposites, for instance, night and day, white and black, the existence of death makes us understand the meaning of life."

Nerissa feels like she does agree with his explanation. But she wants to add something to it.

"But there's more about life, Alexander. Not only the existence of death. To seek wisdom and knowledge. To love, to feel, and enjoy the act of living." She speaks.

Then Alexander easily cuts her off by saying, "Yet all of that becomes nothing in the end."

"What?" Kaizo raises his eyebrow.

"Life or human existence has no real meaning or purpose because human existence occurred out of a random chance in nature, and anything that exists by chance has no intended purpose. Humans try to associate a meaning or purpose so we can justify our existence. So, to be short, there is no point in life, and that is exactly what makes it so special."

"Then, now that you've learned everything about it. Will you stop all of this disturbance?" Kaizo asks.

"Oh, I don't think I will," Alexander smirks.

"Why not?"

He answers, "I wanted to spend the rest of my life learning all this. This concept of life and death. It's fascinating. All of your dead soldiers who came here, they're all interrupting my peace. They trespassed on this holy ground. So, I killed them all." After he speaks, he added, "Plus, the mothership's broken centuries ago, so I can't go anywhere."

"So, now that we have "trespassed" your holy ground, I assume you're going to kill us?" Nerissa asks.

Alexander clicks his tongue and answers, "Unfortunately, yes."

He points his index finger up, telling them to look above. Kaizo and Nerissa lift their heads to face the ceiling. There, they saw some kind of a light beam covered in stones pulsing. Both of them didn't notice it before.

They suddenly heard a generating sound behind them. Weaponbot and its chamber start to shrink to the ground. Kaizo quickly notices it and starts chasing it. But it's too late. They failed to reclaim the power sphere.

"What are you going to do with Weaponbot, Alexa-"

The moment she turns her head after she queried that, he's gone. Alexander is gone, nowhere to be found. He left the two captains alone in the empty chamber.

"He's gone..."

Kaizo scoffs, "What?!"

They both hear the pulse getting faster and louder. Until it immediately stops with a loud bang sound.

"What happened?!"

Like a cocoon, that light beam opens its stone covering on its own, with liquids falling as it opens. There's another thing falling, and it lands on the ground. A human-like creature covered in slimy fluids. It has long red hair.

The man struggles to get up. Unashamed of his naked form, he raises his head and opens his eyes. Yet, his face looks exactly like the man they both met earlier.

"Alexander?!" Kaizo shocked.

Nerissa looks at him closely. He didn't show any emotions or expressions. Just blank. She senses something different from it.

"I don't think that's him." She comments, "Cloning?"

"Perhaps." Kaizo assumes.

Kaizo's mask activates on its own, and he pulls out his energy sword. The same goes for Nerissa, she quickly summons her blood sword. Both are on their horses.

Kaizo stopped thinking and quickly struck the newly-born man with his energy sword. They both put the appearance matter aside. It's an enemy, after all. Better to destroy it quick than regret it later on.

A red liquid similar to blood gushes out from its mouth. Nerissa attempts to blood bend it, but it is a strange thing that happens. It didn't work, somehow.

"Nerissa!" Kaizo exclaims, "Can you blood bend it?!"

She tries to do it again, "I can't!"

"What?! The blood already came out!" He exclaims again.

"I-I don't know! It feels different. I don't think it was blood!"

Kaizo continues to slash it multiple times, unable to inflict fatal damage. The man's movements are unexpectedly fast.

He clicks his tongue, "Damn it!"

His mask turns into a yellow-colored mask, and he raises his fist, "AMBER MASK!"

He exchanges his amber energy sword for his energy sword. Using that, his attack seems to damage it. His wounds slowly get bigger and more blood gushes out.

"mEn...LifE..."

The groans turn into words. Surprising, indeed. But they did witness many previous enemies who made groans into words. However...

"aVOiD... ATtaCk..."

Nerissa quickly attacks and cuts at empty air. The naked man had cultivated evasive movements. On top of that, all his previous cuts have sealed up. Meaning that he has a self-regenerative ability.

Suddenly, the man crouches and swings his leg up. It is a stiff way to counterattack.

"That thing's evolving?!" Nerissa says.

The clone's learning fast. How to evade and attack everything that comes towards the man. Yet, it is impossible to think that he learned to dodge and attack in such a short battle. They knew he was going to be a difficult opponent.

"Nerissa! Let's put an end to this!" Kaizo exclaims.

"Right!"

Nerissa gathers all her strength to her palms. The red smoke now mixed with the black smoke she created. She felt the adrenaline inside her body.

"BERSERK MODE!"

She quickly dashes her way towards her opponent and slashes it with her berserk blood slash. And just like his amber energy slash, hers does hurt the clone a lot.

The longer the battle lasts, the more the man would learn. Their instincts to exterminate the enemy quickly is in no way misguided. Attacking together, they barely managed to surround the male clone.

They can inflict a fatal wound before self-regeneration can seal them. Kaizo penetrates his amber energy sword from the front, and Nerissa stabs it from the back. The two swords pierced the body of the man. The clone topples over and falls to the ground on a large blood puddle.

"What exactly is this thing?" Kaizo sputters.

Nerissa looks down to the red puddle, wondering why she couldn't blood bend that thing. She went to one knee and touched the pool. Her fingertips feel the liquid very oily, not like normal blood.

"Oil," Nerissa speaks.

Kaizo turns to her and asks, "What?"

She roses to her feet and corrects herself, "It's oil, Kaizo. A red-colored oil. That's why I couldn't blood bend it."

He nods in understanding, "I see.."

Yet, Nerissa had the same doubts. This fight had been different from all their past battles. The supple flesh and body warmth were very identical to a human.

However, those thoughts are cut short as they see the dead man's wounds have suddenly regenerated quickly.

"T-This can't be?!" Nerissa shocked.

Kaizo couldn't put the rest into words. All his wounds recovered. The man wobbles to stand up and see his two enemies in shock. They're on their horses, holding their swords. He starts to howl at a high pitch, hurting their hearings. His tremendous noise made the whole facility shaken. Everything inside it starts to crumble from the reverberation.

Kaizo could see Nerissa shouting something to her while covering his ears.

"Kaizo! We have to get out of here!!"

He could read her lips when she said that. While the sound was dangerous enough, the walls were collapsing more. He quickly scans the area and spots the entrance door open. They dodged the falling metal walls while they ran.

They left the clone man behind, crushed by the falling empty cocoon.

Kaizo and Nerissa entered the entrance door, but it wasn't the same place they were in. They quickly run, escaping the falling facility. This place is like a maze. They reached the molding bridge with a very, very, very deep end underneath it.

They run across it. But, the worst thing happened. Right in the middle of the bridge, it breaks down. Both quickly halt their movements so they can't fall for it. Yet, the bridge piece they're on is also collapsing. They both stumble. Kaizo almost fell for it, trying himself to crawl upward. She quickly grabs his wrist while holding the metal edge, preventing him from falling. Holding for their dear lives.

She could quickly teleport him somewhere, but the problem is her hands are both occupied. Nerissa tries her best pulling his heavy body up and groans.

"Hang on, Kaizo!" She pleads to him.

Kaizo struggles, "Nerissa..."

"Hold on... I think I can..."

Her words are cut off when the bridge is shaken to collapse. Kaizo looks down to see how deep the fall goes.

"Forget it, Nerissa!"

"DON'T YOU GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT!!" She shouts, holding back her tears.

"I won't be able to make this!!" He shouts back.

"Please, Kaizo! Don't do this..." She struggles to pull him up.

Her grip slips her wrist for a bit. Kaizo could feel his weight would be too much for her. Suddenly, a thought came to him. He prepares himself... for his sacrifice. He looks deep into her eyes, and a tear runs his cheek.

"Take care of Fang for me..." He advises her.

She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Tears ran down her cheek. She is not prepared for this to happen.

"No..." She cried, "Please!"

He smirks at her for the last time, remembering her beautiful face.

"I love you, Nerry."

Slipped. Nerissas hands could no longer feel his skin as she saw Kaizo falling into the deep, never-ending hole. Her chest hurts as she bursts her screams, tears, and sadness. She pours all of that. Not accepting his decision to sacrifice himself.

The bridge is shaken once again until it is collapsed. And Nerissa? She falls for it, too. Deep inside.

The abandoned factory is now completely collapsed. Alexander witnessed all of it. Their deaths. He stood on top of it, holding Weaponbot in his palm.

"They said they wanted this, right? I just learned about weapons in this galaxy, and I think I have had enough. Oh, well, I'll just give it to them. It's no use to me anymore."

He throws the small power sphere to its depth. Not caring about his accident, he looks the other way and leaves the abandoned city behind.