In the Overworld's side of things...

Confronting one of the figures representing Zaiaku, Geord has a hard time shooting back at his recently revealed past lover. Alice's sniper rifle shots keep getting more and more close to killing him, yet Geord's all the more inaccurate. Wanting to keep both of them alive, Geord needs to find another way to deal with her. He wants to talk it out.

Geord- It doesn't have to be like this, Alice!

Alice- You don't understand, Geord... There's no other way...

A bullet passes right next to his face.

"Shit.. I've gotta close the gap or I'm dead meat."

Geord finds an opportunity when Alice reloads and runs at her while purposefully missing all his shots. Scared as she is, Alice doesn't counter attack and plays it safe. That gives Geord a chance to close the distance and enables him to talk to her again.

Geord- We can still make things as they were back then. Please, Alice, help us defeat the Faith Organization and then we can all—

Alice- You don't see the whole picture, Geord. The Faith Organization is massive, with roots all across Japan. Even if we kill Zaiaku, the Organization's need for leadership will end up creating a new one. All you're doing is just scratching the surface. The only way out of this is to join them...

Alice in melee range alternates between kicking and punching him while still talking. Geord listens to her while blocking all the attacks.

Geord returns a powerful punch and shouts the following.

Geord- Running away from your problems is never the solution! If you don't try to achieve anything then how can you call yourself Human?

Alice- This philosophy is going to get you killed, Geord... You're just lukcy to be alive till this point, whereas I am just playing to my odds. Our odds for better or for worse lie with them—

Geord- Joining the enemy is pure cowrdice! I'd rather be dead than live a life I feel ashamed of!

Alice takes this psychological punch in the face. Geord's determination in his speech makes the message behind his words all the more powerful.

Alice- (...)

Geord closes the little distance left between them and taps Alice's shoulders.

Geord- We can overthrow them, Alice. We can do this together. Just like back then...

Alice caresses Geord's left cheek and tears up. With a smile on his face, Geord asks her one final time.

Geord- What do you say, Alice?

Her final tear is shed, and Alice answers.

Alice- I know you can do it. You have the strength to achieve anything. I'm really rooting for you, Geord, that's why you're not the only one missing your shots on purpose.

"But things can't return to how they were."

Alice brings out a handgun from her back pocket.

Alice- I wish I was as resilent as you. But I am weak. I am a coward. I didn't have the guts to fight back. And without realising it, I ended up betraying you for 20 years straight. Now I cannot go back with this burden in my heart. All the trouble I have caused you as Zaiaku, I can never take back.

Geord- D-Don't say that, A-Alice. I forgive you...

"The thing is. If I joined you, I'd never forgive myself. " she answers back and makes Geord's words lose all power and meaning.

A moment of silence arises. Geord and Alice are unsure of what to do. Since they can't settle their score in any way possible, they just look at each other and feel each others emotions in this eternal encounter. No way to settle this is on the horizon, yet one must be found. A choice must be made...

Alice opens her tearful eyes and makes her final decision.

Alice- Since I know neither of us can kill the other, I have to do this for the sake of us both.

Geord- Alice! Nooo!

With the pistol pressed against the side of her head, Alice says her final words.

Alice- I hope the rest of your life is filled with nothing but joy, dear Geord.

The trigger is pulled and tears flow down his cheeks like rivers. Gripped by her regrets, Alice decided to kill herself than face his loved one after her grand betrayal.

Geord- Aliceeeeeee!

Geord holds Alice's dead body in his arms and shouts her name the loudest he's ever had, completely engulfed by sadness. The fights between Samei and Gidenir as well as Ikki and Harabalo are all momentarily paused due to Geord's outcry.

Gidenir- Tsk... We lost one Zaiaku...

Although her death should be good news for her, Samei can't help but shed tears. She knows how much Geord loved Alice and hearing his crying voice makes her all the more emotional.

While swiping her last few teardrops, Samei thinks "There's no time to cry for the death of an enemy. Especially when I have yet to finish off Gidenir."

Seeing how angry Gidenir is, Samei gets also pretty serious and reloads both of her pistols.

"We're one step closer to victory. But that doesn't mean we've won yet. We have to deal with Gidenir and Harabalo, inargueably the toughest opponents we've ever faced. I need to give it my all..."

Gidenir also reloads his assult rifle and initiates his final fight with his student, Samei Kendomo.

The same goes over with Ikki and Harabalo. The youngest Alpha Heretic is marked by death by the true descendant of the Faith Organization. Harabalo reloads his shiny revolver and taunts Ikki to come at him.

Ikki has already hit him once in the leg before and he is confident he can do it again and completely immobilize him. The mirrors are also gone and Zaiaku no longer has the advantage. But these fortunate events make Ikki overconfident and underestimate his opponent. His aim is miles worse than Zaiaku and his inexperience in battle is revealing openings to his defenses that shouldn't be there.

And when the cunning Harabalo tries to slowly reload his revolver, Ikki thinks he can get him. Little did he know, however, Harabalo was only just pretending to have an empty magazine. In reality his revolver is locked and loaded.

Ikki- What?!

Harabalo- How naive!

The bullet finds Ikki's upper right leg, just below his waist. Out of desperation, Ikki tries to return fire but unfortunately misses everything. Just as he tries to find cover, his life is spared from one lucky happening. With both hands holding the gun, Harabalo carefully aims at Ikki's head and presses the trigger. At the perfect moment, as if it was divine interferance, Ikki almost trips from his severe leg injury. As a result, he instinctively ducks and luckily dodges the otherwise lethal bullet.

Harabalo- I guess luck is a skill as well...

Harabalo now reloads his revolver and pursues his pray from a different angle.

Just like Ikki, Samei is having a really hard time dealing with her opponent. The skill difference between Samei and Gidenir is overshadowed by Gidenir's overwhelmingly powerful weapon. He is armed with countless bullets and a deadly assult rifle, whereas Samei has two pistols with limited magazines which also require precise aiming from this distance. On the contrary, Gidenir has no care in the world and just unleashes a barrage of bullets that pressure Samei a gread lot.

Samei tries to peak her head in hope of finding some other angle of attack, as the wall she is hiding behind is starting to fall apart. Just as she does that, however, one of the hundreds of bullets passes right next to her nose and breaks the left lense of her glasses.

Her heart almost skips a beat. Were she a few centimeters to the left, she would have lost her left eye, if not her life right away. Her vision is now completely dependent on her right eye and she also has a few cuts on the left side of her head due to the glass suddenly breaking.

All this has her worried. Her fear of dying is dramatically increased. The odds aren't on her side and the accumulated fear makes her chances even worse.

Samei gulps and tries to think straight, not allowing the despair to get to her. She takes a few deep breaths and reevaluating her position. Although it seems doomed at first glace, Samei notices a few key things. Samei has no real injuries, but the enemy should have a few serious unattended ones. Gidenir's left arm is in shambles right now. That's why his aiming is so bad. He mostly uses his right hand alone to hold the gun upright. Not only that but Gidenir has no easy way to escape due to his right leg injury. Thinking about it from his perspective, Samei makes a clever realisation.

Samei- Wait... He must be way more scared than I am... He's just acting tough to get to my head.

Gidenir- Come on Samei! Don't be a scaredy cat!

Indeed, Samei is right. Although he acts tough, in reality, Gidenir is really scared. But as a grown-up, undercover teacher, he has an easy time hiding things. That's the only reason he was winning till this point. His pretention of being on the winning side is what actually gave him the upper hand. Now that Samei has realised that, she knows how her enemy thinks and she has the opportunity to strike where it hurts.

Samei shouts a loud, frightening battlecry and leaves her hiding spot. She then runs towards Gidenir while reloading her twin pistols and when she has sight of the enemy she unloads everything she's got. Gidenir widens his eyes and knowning he can't escape, he desperately tries to fire back. Due to how scared he is from how fearsome Samei acts and because of his left arm injury, he panics and misses eveerything. On the other hand, Samei has clear vision of the target and the skill to punish his signs of cowardice and fear.

One-two, the bullets hit him in the chest. Gidenir vomits blood and tries his best to escape. His bloody hands mark the wall he's desperately clutching on while making a turn to flee.

After doing that, he looks back to check if Samei is right behind him or not. She's not there. Gidenir lets out a long sigh and then opens his eyes looking ahead of him. Just as he does that, however, his expression instantly changes dramatically, showing absolute terror.

Geord- Where are you running off to?

Standing still and aiming at Gidenir's head, Geord presses the trigger of his pistol two times and delivers two clean headshots.

Gidenir doesn't even get to react. Instant death has befallen him. Now on the floor, his body is surrounded by a pool of blood, ever expanding in circumference. Samei soon catches up to them and is surprised to see what just happened to her teacher.

Even though he rightfully got what he deserved, Samei still wants to puke with the state she finds her homeroom teacher in. She can't look at his dead body any longer and averts her gaze. Geord then holds her in her arms and tries to calm her down.

Geord- It's hard, I know... He was your homeroom teacher all these years... I know this feeling too well...

In reality, Geord does not hug Samei for her sake alone. He's also doing it for his own .

Samei- Don't worry. I'm okay, Geord. I was prepared for this. I knew it wouldn't be easy.

Geord- You're right...

Geord lets go of the light hug and Samei wipes her nearly formed tears from her eyes. Now that they have both put their feelings aside, they get ready to end this madness once and for all.

Samei- Now there's only one Zaiaku left. He must be fighting Ikki. Let's hurry and help him out.

Geord nods and they both run towards the sound of Harabalo's continuous gunshots. On the way, Samei goes over their final plan; what they will do once they defeat Zaiaku as a whole.

Samei- After all is done and dusted, I'll hack into the main computer system of the Faith Organization and destroy their enitre data base and control panel. There will be utter chaos in all hidden bases and the F.O. will crumble on its own without a leader to bring back order.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Geord- That's smart. If we shake their entire foundation and corrupt all of their bases, they won't be able to create a new leader to bring back order.

Their thought process is indeed correct. The Faith Organization heavily relies on Zaiaku to operate. So much so, in fact, that three of them were needed to keep the whole organization in order. So if there's noone who calls themselves Zaiaku, and the chaos makes it impossible to make a new leader, then that would be the end for the Faith Organization. Without faith, the Faith Organization is no more.

Running as they are, Geord and Samei get closer and closer to Harabalo and Ikki's battling ground.

Ikki is having a really hard time. This pain in his leg is not getting any better. It is slowing him down and he's constantly losing more and more blood. If this continuous, his odds at surviving are really slim.

Ikki- Tsk... I'm bleeding a lot...

Just in the nick of time, Ikki moves to the left, despite how painful a maneauver that is, and avoids Harabalo's next shot from his revolver. Ikki is sweating and panting so much compared to the last Zaiaku. Trying to shoot back is an unthinkable scenario, due to how slow and methodical Ikki's every action is. Harabalo is better than him at everything. Even this similar leg wound they have, Harabalo has in a less vital spot and he also stopped the bleeding earlier. Ikki is just unable to do anything.

And as if that wasn't enough already, Ikki crucially runs out of luck and trips on his own from his malfunctional right leg.

Ikki- Ahhh! Shit!!!

Harabalo readies his revolver and utters these next powerful words.

Harabalo- Look at little Kinako Junior... Gonna cry?

Gunshots from two different kinds of pistols stop Harabalo on the spot and save Ikki.

Samei- You'll touch my brother over my dead body, you asshole!

Ikki- Samei! Geord! You came just in time!

Samei and Geord join Ikki and unite as a team once again to finish off Zaiaku.

Zaiaku- Hah... You rats killed Alice and Antonio... Now it's only me left alive...

Harabalo, the only Zaiaku left, gets really serious.

"I'll make you regret what you did here, today, you three..."

Having the number advantage, Ikki Geord and Samei stand their ground and shoot down Zaiaku. Knowing that at best he could injure one enemy at the cost of his life, Harabalo does not make the trade and swiftly rolls to the right where stands a wall he can use as cover.

Samei closes her eyes and tries to think how Kinako would approach the situation. When she opens them again, she commands her allies to strategically eliminate Zaiaku.

Samei- Geord, move to the left side and flank him from behind. Me and Ikki will pressure from this wall.

Geord- Got it!

Just as Geord is on the flank, the two siblings exchange fire with Zaiaku. In the intervals of reloading, Samei gives a bandage over to Ikki to prevent any further blood loss. When she has ensured Ikki's safety, Samei calculates their final assult in her head and prepares to execute it.

Samei- I'll charge in, Ikki. You stay here and cover for me. When I get close enough, Geord should have made the flank and we'll corner him.

Ikki nods twice and Samei gets ready to run fast with both pistols ready.

Samei- Now!

Ikki covers for Samei with numerous warning shots, and Samei runs forwards to corner Harabalo with Geord. If her calculations are correct, then the moment she gets close enough, Harabalo should be looking Geord's way.

Samei- We got this...

But things did not go as planned...

Geord- What the—

Harabalo notices Geord's clever flank and throws a grenade at his path to block him off and delay the flank for a few more seconds.

While Samei is running towards Zaiku this explosion resonates in the battlefield and signals that something is off. Yet Samei can't turn back now. When Ikki runs out of bullets, she will be in a terrible position. Samei has to take the risk and keep moving forward.

And when she does make the turn to corner Harabalo, he finds him not in the slightest vulnerable position. Zaiaku was expecting to be cornered and pretended as if he didn't know, only to be the one who ambushes them. Holding his revolver in his one hand, and a knife in other, he strikes first. He shoots with his revolver and immediately after shooting, he slashes Samei with his hidden knife.

Samei was expecting a shot from his revolver and manages to sidestep the first attack, but she'd never think of Zaiaku's follow-up slash with a knife. Consequently, she gets severely hit by this slash attack and a heavy cut is now apparent on her left forearm.

Samei loses the ability to hold her left gun and watches it fall down on the floor at the moment of being hit. Still holding on to her other gun, she shoots at Zaiaku while falling back, abandoning her strategy to corner him altogether. Then, a few seconds late, Geord flanks Harabalo. Knowing this would happen, Zaiaku is ready to defend his position and doesn't let any bullet come near him.

Geord- Fuck. He's good at positioning, this bastard.

Geord can't pressure any further without having to risk his life, so he abandons the flank angle and returns back to Ikki. The same thing does Samei, although contrary to Geord, she comes back with a serious injury on top.

Samei- I'm sorry... I thought my strategy had no flaws, but I really underestimated Harabalo. He knows what he's doing really well. I don't think I've faced a more fearsome enemy.

Geord- Yeah We have to be extremely careful. He also has grenades, so sticking together isn't a clever option as well.

Samei uses the last bandage they have while waiting for Harabalo to reveal his next move. She still is confined to only using one pistol, but the insufferable pain is kept at bay at least.

Now that she has one less thing to worry about she evaluates the situation one last time.

In the long run, Harabalo should run out of bullets faster than them. So waiting the fight out should ensure them the win.

But waiting for so long to finish this is risky. They have limited time to end this, as members from other bases are on their way to their location. More concrete measures need to be taken.

Then there's the thought about grouping together and ending him with number advantage. Samei quickly shakes her head as this is not going to work out. Harabalo has grenades and could easily deal with them that way.

They somehow need to outsmart him. But how?

Samei- A distraction.

Steadily moving south with his gun ready for action at all times, Zaiaku carefully makes his way towards the enemy. He still has one grenade left and a bunch of bullets left, so he's feeling confident, especially after his smart move earlier. And just as he tries to move between two different covers, what he witnesses makes him stop and surprisingly enough, nervously laugh.

Geord- Ikki! Noooo! We need to get moving!

Ikki has fallen on the floor from his severe leg injury in the middle of switching safe spots. Geord is trying to help him stand and get him to move again.

Harabalo- I thought this was a serious battle! Hahahaha!

Harabalo points his gun at them and keeps on laughing.

Geord- No, Harabalo, please! Call an ambulance!

Harabalo grins and holds fire to hear Geord's amusing responses.

Geord- Call an ambulance, call an ambulance!

Geord is the only one laughing now.

"But not for me!"

Zaiaku shoots two times, but Ikki and Geord quickly move to the side without any trouble whatsoever.

Then, from his back, Samei moves out of her hiding spot and charges at Zaiaku.

Samei- You're wide open!

Harabalo- Fuck! That was a distraction!

Samei dodges the next two bullets and shoots Zaiaku once in the left flank. After being hit, Zaiaku barely manages to throw out his last grenade as a final attempt to retreat.

Samei widens her eyes as the grenade is extremely close to her. Due to her unfathomably brutal training however, Samei is the only person in the world able to counter such a deadly attack. She jumps in the air and precisely kicks the grenade away from her, but instead towards the wall behind Harabalo.

Harabalo- Impossible...

After landing again, Samei carefully aims at Zaiaku one last time and shoots one last time.

Samei- Go to hell, Zaiaku!

The bullet lands on his chest and makes him vomit blood. Not only that, but the grenade explosion causes chunks of the wall to break down and fall on top of him, devastatingly crushing him to death.

Zaiaku's immovable body is surrounded by broken wall chunks and this spot will mark his grave. All three Zaiakus have fallen and this feat marks the end for the Faith Organization.

Ikki- Samei! We did it!

Samei- Ikki! Geord! I'm so glad it worked out! It was worth the risk in the end!

Geord- Hehe! My acting gave us the win I swear!

They both laugh a bit and then get ready to finish what they started.

Samei- Alright, before more enemies appear, we have to hack into the enemy's computer system and literally cause chaos. If we do that, without Zaiaku to bring back order, the Faith Organization will finally fall!

Geord- Sweat!

Ikki- That's great!

Following after Samei, Geord and finally Ikki confidently move towards the main monitor in the middle of the room.

At that moment, though, a peculiar sound is heard. Samei is the only one to notice is. Even though they should be the only ones left in the room, a certain sound of something being drawn back is heard.

Samei turns around—

With the hammer of his shiny revolver cocked back, Zaiaku offers them his parting gift.

Harabalo- Not so fast, you H-Heretics!

Aimed at Ikki, the trigger of the revolver is pulled.

Samei- IKKIII!!!!!

Samei gets in front of her little brother and saves his life. The lingering sound the revolver makes slowly fades away together with Harabalo's life.

Ikki and Geord widen their eyes. They can't believe what just happened. Holding Samei together, they shout her name again and again.

Ikki / Geord- SAMEI! SAMEIII!!!

Samei coughs blood and tries to answer.

Samei- Ghk* I'm— sorry.....

Ikki- What are you apologising for you silly!!! Don't talk! Geord give me a hand here!

Geord- Hold on Samei, we'll move you down here...

Ikki- Fuck! There's a lot blood...

As they lie her down, their hands get soaked in Samei's blood.

Ikki- I'll go find a first aid kit! Hold in there Samei!

Just as he is about to leave, Samei uses her last bit of grip strength to grab him and stop him from leaving.

Samei- Don't— Leave me— be-behind...

Seeing how much blood Samei has already lost, Ikki tries to stop the mass bleeding with his bare hands.

Ikki- I'm here! I'm here, Samei! I'm not going anywhere! Just hold in there!

Geord looks around desperately in search of anything they can use. Even if they had a first aid kit at hand, it wouldn't do at this point. And in this white-ass room, there's not much else for them to look for. It's all looking pretty gloomy for Samei.

Goerd- Fuck! Samei!

Geord holds Samei's right hand and tears up.

Samei- I don't have much time left...

Ikki- Don't say that!

Samei- I know from m-my victims...... Ghk* Ghk* This i-is the f-fatal stage, i-isn't it?

Ikki tears up and looks away after saying "Fuck!" He then hugs his dying sister and gets some feelings out of his chest. Feelings he was really trying to get across to her, but was hesitant to do so before.

Ikki- Samei... I wanted to tell you a long time ago, but I didn't get the chance. I want you to know that I really, really love you... Everything you've done for me... I really admire and appreciate everything. You're the most caring sister in the world, the best sister one could wish for. I want you to know that... From the bottom of my heart... I really love you, Samei...

Samei caresess Ikki's hand and returns the feeling with a few simple words.

Samei- I know... I love you too, Ikki... You're my only little brother, after all...

Ikki tries to smile, but his tears are getting in the way. Geord says the name "Samei" while trying not to cry as well.

Samei then asks one final thing from them.

Samei- Please, you two. Don't worry about me and finish what we all started. Find a way to deal with the Faith Organization. You can do it. You can change the World, I'm sure of it, Ikki!

Quoting Geord on her final words, Samei says "Keep moving forward and the road ahead of you will open. Follow your hearts and do what you have to do, Geord, Ikki!"

Samei uses up her last ounce of strength for these words to sound clear. After saying that, she smiles at Geord and Ikki and tightly holds their hands. A last wishful tear falls down her left cheek and Samei Kendomo lets out her final breath.

"Samei!!!" both of them cry from the bottom of their hearts. Their vision is extremely blurry from the rivers of tears formed. Crying and crying, Geord and Ikki can't get over Samei's death. Such a gruesome fate has befallen this pure soul. It's really sad to see a fellow Human die like this. And it's not only them that can't bear this loss. Sometimes the feels strike when you don't see them coming... Ah... Yes, Indeed...