XXVI - The Obsessive Man

The man finally showed up after cowering away from the previous event. She looked at his eyes with fury in her eyes. He's the one who took Kaizo away from her. There was no surprise. She had expected something like this would come to them. What was slightly unexpected was the absence of Kaizo. They didn't see him anywhere.

"Alexander!" Nerissa shouts in anger.

Fang's eyes widened after hearing that name. Alexander is now right in front of him. This time, he won't run away like a coward. He already swore himself to save him, no matter what.

"That's Alexander?!" Fang grits his teeth.

He clenches his fist, wanting to kill him right now. His hand forms dark shadows. Ready to unleash his Shadow Hands. Nerissa's eyes widened after he saw his hand. The shadow hands are about to strike at the enemy. Just about a few centimeters away from his face, the hands are halted immediately.

Fang felt his whole body being halted all at once. He can't even move an inch of it. This is the first time Fang felt this. Is this what she called blood bending, he thought. Now his attack couldn't reach his enemy. And Fang saw Alexander's smug smirk. It made him uncomfortable.

"What are you doing, Nerissa?!" He shouts in anger.

"Hold your horses, Fang." She commands.

Whether he likes it or not, he must obey his senior's instructions. He doesn't know what kind of strength Alexander held, nor is Nerissa.

Alexander then speaks, "I see that you have discovered this place. Congratulations, both of you."

"Cut to the point, Alexander." Nerissa snarls, "Where is Kaizo?"

"The captain? Ah... I lend him from you for a while. He became my subject. I find him... interesting."

Fang couldn't resist his waves of anger anymore, "WHERE IS HE?!"

Alexander casually ignored the little boy's angry shout and gave them a little lecture. Nerissa cautiously summons her blood sword in case there is a trap.

"I learned lots of things from Kaizo. Love and family. The more I discover his life, the more it fascinates me."

It made her uncomfortable. Alexander discovered his whole life that he also found out about her.

"This town I created was also born from my longing for life." Alexander reveals, "Such a waste that such a noble place will be the graveyard of your beloved Kaizo, right, Nerissa?"

"WHAT?!"

Alexander smirks knowingly. If Kaizo is dead before their arrival, this man will be responsible. She restrained her anger also Fang's anger. She knew she wanted to kill him so bad. But she must hold herself. If she defeats him first, the possibility of finding Kaizo will be very low. Alexander didn't seem to care and carried on with his lecture.

"I studied the attributes in human lives and mimicked them. Some mimics love, and some mimics family. I watched recordings, read some books, wore clothes, ate food, all those things..." He explains, "But then I realized after mimicking lots of things. The true essence of humanity... is violence. Fighting, stealing, killing. This is humanity in its true color!"

Alexander's voice is filled with enthusiasm. Spreading his arms dramatically, and his voice echoes across the whole city. It's like he speaks in front of many people, not just Nerissa and Fang. That behavior irritates Fang.

"Love brings hate, and families bring conflict and arguments..."

Fang suddenly angers, "Don't talk about family with that filthy mouth!"

Nerissa didn't realize that she struck her sword out of frustration. She thought Adam would evade by teleporting. Instead, he stops the blade with one arm. The sleeve of his shirt tore open, and red liquids gushed out.

"I'm correct, am I, Nerissa?"

Nerissa answers with a shout, "Shut the fuck up!"

The spray of red stops. It was the self-regeneration at work, just like how Alexanders clone did. But when Nerissa saw his face, she witnessed an odd expression on his face. It's an expression that is unsuited to the words he would say.

"Why must humans conflict with one another when they're the same species? I want to know what makes them like that."

"Nonsense!"

"Shadow Tiger Fusion!"

Fang didn't wait for an answer to the attack. He scars his body until the red liquid gushes out again and stops. Alexander makes the same bizarre expression, yet it looks similar to sadness.

"I, humanoid machine, which is connected to our network, am immortal. Yet..."

Is he trying to say that it's useless to attack? Then all they needed to do was attack multiple times until the regeneration couldn't keep up.

"Our data has no awareness of mortality. It can't understand the concept of death. I wanted to feel death. That's why I'm going to detach myself from the network."

The expression that looked like sadness disappeared with no trace. Alexander laughed like a maniac. His face shows pure joy.

"Let us kill each other!!" Alexander shouts.

His words snapped back to reality. Nerissa knew she wanted to kill him. Because she kidnapped Kaizo. But there, something feels wrong here.

Nerissa speaks coolly, "I don't want to waste my time on you. Just tell me, Alexander," Then, she questions, "Where is Kaizo?"

Their only reason in here is to rescue Kaizo, that's all.

"Oh... I do know where he is..." He answers.

He levitates his body, heading to the top of the time tower. Alexander points at a part of its outer wall.

"I prepared him just for you..."

Part of the wall starts to crumble and falls to the ground. It reveals something. Nerissa's and Fang's eyes widen in shock, witnessing it with sadness and rage.

"BROTHER!" Fang shouts.

It is Kaizo, on a crucifix. His hands and limbs are stabbed to the wall. Blood dripping from him. But, thankfully, he's still conscious. He was neither struggling nor moaning. He is completely limp. What in the heavens has Alexander done him?

"You son of a..." Nerissa's words shook, unbear to hold her tears.

Her mouth's mouth instantly dried up. She felt her heart rate surge. Fang quickly jumps up to attack Alexander.

"YOU BASTARD!!"

But, he suddenly felt a deep punch in his stomach. That punch threw him to the glass floor, and Nerissa witnessed that. Her worries became true.

"F-Fang?" Her breath was shaken.

Fang spits blood from his mouth because that punch hit him to the core. He struggles to stand up. Something was tearing at her inside, and she couldn't hold it back. Her hand shook without realizing it. Alexander smiled contentedly and floated down to earth.

"Yes! That's the emotion I wanted to see! Hatred!"

It didn't matter because she was going to kill him. She sprinted toward him and leaped.

"You fuck!"

She just kept swinging. It was a pool of red liquid. The only things she could hear were her screams and Alexander's laughter. She wanted to shut him up. She tried to jam her sword through his mouth, yelling out annoying things. She wasn't able to, so instead, she kept swinging recklessly. Until his regeneration skill is slowing down.

Alexander launches a kick at her stomach, making her slide backward and hit the wall. It irritates her.

"M-My lady..." Grandia speaks.

"Shut up!"

She didn't want to listen while Adam was laughing shrilly. His white shirt becomes utterly red due to the red oil splats. His smile from ear to ear deeply disturbed her.

He is a machine. A machine. But he is so different. He even has supple flesh and red oil, which looks like blood. Everything he sputters is creepy, and Nerissa wanted to tear that mouth of his.

"DIE!" Nerissa screams.

The moment is anti-climatic. Nerissas sword slid through him without a hitch. The sensation closely resembled the feeling of piercing flesh, which she knew very well.

Alexander clings on to Nerissa. It is either in pain or intention to resist. Yet his arms are very limp. The hand that grabbed the back of Nerissa's head slid down to her shoulder. Like a hug.

He stutters, "I-Is this what... death... feels like?"

She withdraws her sword. She is drenched in warm red liquid from head to toe. Adam fell to his knees and collapsed. He looked content, somewhat unsatisfied at the same time. That was the expression on his face. Yet, he is smiling, without a doubt.

"So dark... So cold..."

A puddle of red liquid spread from underneath Alexander's body. Nerissa just stared at the scene as she pants.

"Nerissa?"

Her scattered mind quickly came to a realization as she heard that voice. Fang's calling out for her. She saw that terrified expression on his face. He witnessed everything. How she tears Alexander's body apart, how she screams in agony, everything. It's brutal. All the red stains on her are masked due to red clothing. It's a horrifying scene for teenagers to witness.

"I..." Nerissa stutters, "I'm so... sorry. Forgive me. You had to witness that."

A noise suddenly interrupted her thoughts. The noise of something crumbling and a heavy object falling. She came to and looked over her shoulder. Kaizo was slumped on the invisible pavement. Scattered around him were chunks of the wall.

"Kaizo!"

"Brother!"

Nerissa steps her heels towards him. Leaving red tracks as she walks. Fang struggles to stand up and walk carefully toward his brother. Nerissa helps Kaizo to sit up. He slowly opened his eyes, but she recognized that he was trying to say "Pang." Fang tears up at his heavily wounded big brother.

But, something else happened. Both Nerissa and Fang heard a crackling sound, echoing. The mirrors are broken as they look around them, and the whole city crackles. Worst, the glass pavement they're on right now is tearing itself. They quickly looked at each other, terrified.

"Oh, shit..."

The glass pavement is breaking. The three are all falling to the never-ending bright bottom, along with the corpse of Alexander. She heard Fang's scream as he hugged his brother. Nerissa hugs him, too. Not knowing how far the fall will be.

It is time for them to fall back. Nerissa quickly summons a huge red teleportation circle, huge enough to teleport 3 people. They entered it and now arrived at Tempur-A Hangar.

Everyone is gathering at the sudden sound. The three stumble on the metal carts. Nerissa grunts as she gets up. She came closer to him and saw Fang hugging him, hoping he would wake up.

"K-Kaizo?" She touches his face, "Kaizo, wake up!"

He is unconscious, not opening his eyes, not saying anything. The holes in his body spit blood.

"N-Nerissa! Please, heal him! He's not waking up!" Fang cries.

Nerissa quickly cuts both of her palms until it drips blood. She uses it to heal him quick. His holes are now recovered. She uses her magic on his head to wake him up. Yet, he still did not wake up.

"No..." She stutters, "No, no, no..."

Her tears are running down her cheeks, and so is Fang. She rests her forehand on his, and Fang still hugs him. They both are praying for him to wake up. She touches Fang's gripping hand, signaling him to stay strong and pray for him.

"Please, wake up, my love..." She whispers as her tears fall on his cheeks.

Miracle happened.

Kaizo's sudden gasp startles both Nerissa and Fang. He breathes heavily and witnesses his two beloved people crying. He did a quick reality check on himself. Fang and Nerissa couldn't believe what they had just seen. He came back.

"Is Alexander defeated yet?" Kaizo questions.

They both quickly hug him. He heard all their cries. He senses his lover's kisses on his cheeks and a hug from his little brother. They saved him, at last.

"You came back." She sniffles.

Nerissa felt his kiss on her cheeks, and she wraps her arms around his neck. This has been a while. His eyes now glance at Fang.

"P-Pang... You saved me." He ruffles his hair.

This made him cry even more. They both hug him again. That made Kaizo smile in happiness. Until the medical team takes control of this, they bring him to the emergency room, under Commander Koko Ci and Admiral Tarung's order.