A/N: Well here it is, I hope you've enjoyed the story up till now and that it was not too long of a wait. Be sure to read the Author's Note at the bottom, it is quite important.

"It has been a long time since we've seen of the Irregular isn't it Mikuni?"

"Maybe he fell off a cliff and died, that would be great, then I won't need to worry about finding replacements for the main school students. Speaking of which, the branch school hasn't handed in their yearly report yet."

"It has been a while since we last heard of them, could you go and check on them tomorrow?"

"Yes, President."

Mikuni headed to the branch school the next day, but could not find a single student as he travelled to the institute.

'Strange… Normally they would attack me as a training exercise whenever I come to visit… Maybe they've thought up a new strategy to combat me.'

Mikuni continued to walk on, until he came across an area that had bodies just absolutely everywhere. He had encountered worse than this before, so he trudged on to find out the cause of this disaster. As he continued walking, he noticed that the victims mostly died from a bullet wound or a claw.

As he reached the clearing the institute was supposed to be hidden in, signs of a great battle were evident everywhere. There were armored soldiers lying on the ground dead, along with multiple Exceed bodies. Most prominently was the fact that the building had been burned to the ground. He looked around for any survivors, but there were none.

Whilst checking the bodies, Mikuni discovered someone familiar. He could barely recognize her because of the damage to her body, but her signature bunny ears confirmed his suspicions. She was wearing one of those armored suits.

'This must be the Units the Equipment Smith is working on. I guess he wanted to test them out and so sent them to obliterate the branch schoo-'

Mikuni's pupils dilated and he scowled upon realization of what had really happen.

'The claws and bullet wounds… Only one person has the power to inflict this kind of damage… Kokonoe Tooru, when you get back, I will make sure that you will pay for this! You may have defeated the Units for us, but that was after you obliterated the branch school it seems, meaning that that was your intention all along. Mark my words, the President will hear of this.'

Mikuni hurried back and informed Sakuya of the incident. She was relatively annoyed, but waved it off in light of what he has proved.

"While that is an unfortunate loss, he has demonstrated to have the mental strength to advance in level. Should he return, you are not to kill him unless there is no other option, send him to me."

Mikuni gritted his teeth at the order but complied anyway.

'So, Kokonoe Tooru, will you be the first to reach Absolute Duo?"

Tooru had gone to visit the lab, within it, he killed off the Equipment Smith, Edward Walker, and disguised as a Libel when travelling between the his objectives. There were three things Tooru came for, one was the Destruction which he already got off the Equipment Smith, the other was the Luciful they had stolen and stored in the base, the last was a Unit. Apparently, the old man had been working on an improved version of K's suit in a restricted end of the lab.

Tooru easily gained access to the areas with the access card he appropriated from Walker. He carried the shot of Luciful to the Unit and killed off all the staff working on it. He decoupled the pipes and wiring connected to the tube and stuck the Destruction module onto the Unit. Tooru fitted himself into the Unit and jabbed the Luciful needle into his neck and activated the release. Walker's computer data banks had contained research theories on a possible fusion with the Blaze and Unit if done correctly. He was engulfed in flames immediately after the shot, his dark flames sealed the the bond between his Blaze and the Unit, making him a fully fledged hybrid.

The flames continued to burn as he felt his Blaze transform, the gauntlets began to liquefy and flow into the Unit, slowly seeping out as a black liquid, covering Tooru's entire body in a dark armor with blood red veins. His Blaze had assimilated the Unit to enhance itself, he felt powerful, he felt unstoppable.

Tooru kicked the door to the lab and it was blown off its hinges, smashing into a Libel soldier and crushing him against the wall. The commotion attracted other Libels from around the facility who ran towards the source to try and eliminate the threat. The general tried contacting the Equipment Smith, eventually breaking down the door, only to discover him skewered by a pipe to the wall.

The general quickly held an emergency meeting with his subordinates and gave out orders to capture the intruder. He had left out the part about Edward's death so as not to alarm them. The Libels immediately deployed themselves to Tooru's last known location, blocking off all exits and setting up blockades to intercept him. They split up into groups of five, one of them encountering Tooru before long.

The Libels in the base were trained more intensively and as a result were more skilled than the ones Tooru fought off before, but skill could only do so much against Tooru with what he had achieved. With his new Blaze, Tooru was a living nightmare, his armor was essentially his shield and so had all of its abilities. Tooru did not even need to look back to know that they were there, their heavy armor's clanking made them easily noticeable. Tooru opened up the slits in his back and willed the guns to fire, taking them all down. Wave after wave Tooru eliminated the Libels, destroying all the blockades in his way with ease.

The Libels were starting to lose hope, no matter which direction they approached him from, slits would open in his armor and Blaze imbued bullets would shoot out from them. Many tried to escape the facility, but were shot down by their commanding officers. The remaining Libels could only hope for a quick death as they were ordered towards their death. Eventually, the last Libel soldier fell and the general was left alone.

He was frustrated, the intruder had gone past many exits multiple times, ignoring them each time, he seemed hell bent on wiping out the entire Libel army. Based on security footage, he had stolen the Luciful from the vault and commandeered the secret Unit that Edward had been working on personally. From what he could infer, the intruder was an Exceed like Tsukimi but instead of working together, his Blaze had consumed the Unit to empower itself.

The hybrid was also much more powerful than Tsukimi ever was, shrugging off their most powerful projectiles as if they were nothing. What's worse, some of his men had gone mad with fear, claiming he was a demon that had come to cleanse them from the Earth. Not that he could blame them, the armor he wore was demonic in nature, the ebony black of the main segments were lined with blood red veins that glowed and pulsed as he moved. The general looked at the feed from the security cameras as he smoked his cigar and let out a sigh.

"Todays as a day as any to see Ma I guess…"

He walked towards the weapon cache in his office and swiped the keypad, revealing a hidden one behind it. The general entered the code and scanned his fingerprint. A panel in the wall opened up to reveal the first Unit ever created. Edward had given it to him as a token of their friendship. The prototype was powerful, but it had killed whoever used it because of how much it strained their bodies. It even surpassed the one K had worn, but he doubted it would stand a chance against that monster.

He put it and twisted the helmet into place as it pressurized itself. The general willed the Unit to activate and immediately felt the strain on his muscles. He knew he wouldn't hold out for long and rushed to Tooru with his enhanced speed, ramming into him and knocking him back an inch or two. Tooru had not expected it and could not prepare for the strike. After the initial impact, Tooru extended his claws and started to slice at the general. He dodged the oncoming slashes with a little leeway and proceeded to throw a reinforced punch at Tooru's gut. The impact was solid, but the armor protected him and a loud clang was all they was achieved.

The general immediately jumped back to avoid Tooru's retaliation. As he landed, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest and clutched his chest. Tooru saw the opening and immediately kicked the general in the face, causing him to fall backward on his back. Tooru stepped on the general's chest, forcing him to the ground. He struggled to remove the foot from his chest but could barely manage to even shift it.

Tooru moved his gun-claw to aim at the general's head and willed it to fire, killing off the general and wiping out the last Libel. Tooru headed to the generator room and stabbed his claws into the coolant unit of the reactor, causing it to start overheating. He quickly ran out of the base through the emergency exit and exited the facility into a desert. He used his boosted speed to escape the blast radius and saw a giant mushroom sand cloud as he looked back

"Now that that's settled, I think it's time I paid the academy a visit…"

Tooru started the journey back to the city, it had taken him a week to find the lab because of it's depth underground. The trip back wouldn't take as long, Tooru activated Destruction and the wings sprouted from his back, enabling him to fly. He landed and demanifested his Blaze on the outskirts of the city to avoid detection.

Once he reached the monorail station, Tooru simply jumped onto the rail and ran up it to reach the academy. upon landing, alarms immediately sounded and Ethnarches immediately surrounded Tooru with their Blazes drawn. He looked around and saw archers stationed at the many vantage points of the institute.

"What is with this greeting Sakuya? Is this how you welcome back students?"

The Ethnarches parted to reveal Mikuni who pushed up his glasses as he addressed Tooru.

"No, but this is how we address enemies. Your actions have made you an enemy of the Dawn Organization, Sakuya has requested that I hold off killing you until you meet with her. Will you come quietly?"

"What makes you think you can make me come quietly?"

"Then I guess I have no choice…"

"Blaze!"

Tooru laughed as he saw the puny Stiletto in Mikuni's hand.

"You're gonna fight me with this? What makes you think you stand even a minute chance against me?"

"Look again fool, I have thirteen blades!"

Tooru looked up and saw a circle of Stilettos hovering over Mikuni. The blades immediately flew for Tooru, one by one as he dodged them. He never got a moment to rest as the Stilettos that missed tried to stab him on their way back to the circle. Seeing that there was an actual threat to him, Tooru manifested his Blaze.

"Blaze!"

The dark flames engulfed Tooru as the Unit-Blaze hybrid armor manifested around him. Mikuni and the other Exceed shielded their eyes as the flames burned. Soon they began to fade and it reveal Tooru in his new form, the Exceeds got into stance as they carefully watched their enemy. Mikuni however, was outraged at what he saw.

"Kokonoe! How dare you defile the purity of Luciful by merging it with the filth that the Equipment Smith created!"

"I don't care about your ideals, the only thing I care about is power! And I'll need more of it if I'm going to get my revenge…"

"You!"

Mikuni sent his blades flying at Tooru in rage and gave the signals for the archers to fire, the ground troops also started to charge Tooru. The huge wave of enemies did not phase Tooru as slits opened all over his armor at different angles and Blaze infused bullets were fired at the the Exceeds. Those who were quick enough to notice the projectiles brought their Blazes up to block, but they were easily pierced by Tooru's bullets and destroyed. The only one left standing was Mikuni who was shielded by a wall he had created out of his Stilettos.

"Are you satisfied Kokonoe? The Dawn Organization is almost in ruins because of you! You've killed most of our operatives, trainees and staff! Will you not rest until the entirety of the world is destroyed by you?!"

"Maybe… If that is what I have to do to reach my goal…"

Mikuni stayed silent and just started his assault, having given up trying to communicate with a madman. He sent the blades flying in a mad frenzy, using risky maneuvers in an attempt to finish off Tooru. He knew that his safer tactics would barely phase the hybrid and so had to resort to more powerful moves to deal damage.

He flew his blades in a circle around Tooru at speeds which would make controlling them difficult, but at the same time it would make aiming difficult for Tooru to get a good shot on them. The Stilettos sliced against him armor as they flew, but could not manage to even scratch the reinforced armor that encased Tooru.

Going for more power, Mikuni sped up the Stilettos even more, pushing himself to his absolute limit. One of the Stilettos flew too fast and Tooru knocked it off course, sending it flying towards Mikuni. He used the Stiletto he held in his hand to block the dagger but they both broke from the impact. Mikuni felt immense pain as two portions of his Blaze got destroyed. He quickly recomposed himself the best he could before summoning one of the other eleven to his side.

"Interesting, your Blaze exists in thirteen pieces and so only a fraction of your soul gets damaged whenever each one is destroyed. You also seem to need to have one on hand to control the others, you've revealed a lot about your Blaze in such a short time Sensei… That wasn't a smart move!"

Tooru immediately began his counter attack and grabbed ahold of two of the Stilettos, crushing them. The consequence was immediately felt by Mikuni who clutched his heart in pain, momentarily losing control of the Stilettos as they fell to the ground. Tooru laughed as he saw the man, who was said to be the strongest Exceed, in such pain. Tooru walked towards Mikuni and pulled back his foot and kicked his gut. Mikuni dodged the kick and reactivated his blades, willing them to stab Tooru from behind.

The Stilettos flew and at Tooru's back, only to suddenly be engulfed in flames the moment the struck the armor. The flames dissipated to reveal brackets securing all the Stilettos to his armor. Tooru smiled evily as he willed the brackets to shrink, crushing the Blazes. Mikuni fell to his knees as the pain jolted through his body.

"What are you going to do now Sensei? You're soul is hanging by a thread, is this all the supposed strongest Exceed is capable of?"

Mikuni smirked as he looked up at Tooru and spat at him.

"At least I could delay you long enough for the President to escape…"

Upon realization that Mikuni had been stalling, Toori focused his vision on the horizon and sure enough, he saw a helicopter flying away.

"Hah, no Mikuni, it is you that has doomed the Dawn Organization… That helicopter is likely heading towards the main base of the Dawn Organization, meaning that if I follow it, I will find it."

"The waters around the academy are filled with whirlpools, I doubt you'd be able to swim through them! The only way there is by the skies and you can't fly!"

"Or can I? Look closely Sensei, for this will likely be the last thing you'll see…"

Tooru spread out his arms, willing Destruction to deploy itself. The four prongs emerged from Tooru's back, they followed the style of his armor and shared the colour scheme, however, the veins were only present along the edge of the wings and shined dimmer than they usually did. The prongs split and started to shoot out dark ebony black flames. The wings propelled Tooru upwards as Mikuni looked on in fear.

When he reached a good height, Tooru took hold of the two bottom prongs and held them by his sides. He set them to target the main buildings of the academy and charged them. The veins glowed brighter as it charged, going back to their dimmed state once the Blaze infused energy projectile was fired. They flew across the sky, hitting the dormitories and medical facility.

Tooru continued his spree of destruction as he continued to fire off more and more of the deadly projectiles. Within seconds, the academy had been leveled, Mikuni was disintegrated along with it and Tooru let go of the two cannons. He looked towards where the helicopter had been and sure enough he could see a tiny speck on the horizon. Tooru boosted the wings to their max and flew towards the island, intent on getting the last of the Luciful he needed to reach Level Five.

Tooru was nearing the island when he became the target of hidden underwater turrets. They emerged and started to fire upon him, some were equipped with rockets and others with lasers. Tooru took hold of his top wings and channeled power into them. The veins glowed brighter and a stream of energy emerged, creating an energy saber.

Tooru turned back and sliced the heat seeking rockets in half before flying next to the turrets and slicing them in half. The defenses were obliterated near instantly as Tooru continued his attack. Soon the turrets were all destroyed and Tooru continued on to the island. As expected, as he got closer, he saw a giant sun symbol on a huge building in the middle of the island.

"That must be the Dawn Organization's main headquarters, The vault should hold the Luciful I need to achieve Level Five, and if I'm right, it should be underground..."

The Luciful required to reach Level Five was special and was only produced at the headquarters of the Dawn Organization. Tooru flew directly above the building and started to rain down hell on it's occupants. He continued this until he hit a wall, which was the vault, and flew down. He looked around the wreckage and saw all the bodies strewn on the floor.

He had blasted a crater where the building once stood, all the staff had apparently been ready to fight him, but he had killed them off already in the process of reaching the vault. Tooru landed and used his energy blades to cut through the vault, tossing the reinforced metal door behind him as he finished removing the door. Inside, he saw Sakuya standing without any fear in the middle of the vault with a pedestal holding a Luciful injector.

The rest of the vault was empty, all of it's contents had been removed and utilized to try and keep the organization alive. She pushed a button and the pedestal descended into the ground. Looking at Tooru, Sakuya sighed.

"Are you happy now Kokonoe? You've ruined me and my entire organization, now all that stands between you and more power is a defenseless little girl… What will you do?"

"Simple, I'll kill you."

"Come at me then, Absolute Carnage!"

Tooru charged at Sakuya, intent on impaling her for a quick victory, though it was quickly denied as he suddenly felt a tiny shift in the wind and manifested his shield. Not a second sooner, a small pin sized projectile pricked his shield. Normally this wouldn't phase him, but the needle was thrown with such force that the amount of pressure generated was extreme and managed to create a miniscule dent on his shield. He decoupled his gauntlets to see Sakuya spinning the small needle with a thread.

"So that's your Blaze? It's so tiny, just like you. Also, what is this Absolute Carnage thing?"

"It's a nickname for you, rather fitting isn't it? But anyway, let's continue…"

Sakuya shot her needle at Tooru, forcing him to dive to the side to avoid the projectile. The needle continued on and pierced through the wall of the vault before returning to Sakuya. Knowing that getting close was too risky, Tooru fired off a volley of Thirty Calibre rounds at Sakuya in an attempt to overwhelm her with the sheer volume of bullets to dodge.

Surprisingly, Sakuya spun her needle thread faster before shooting the needle at each and every one of the bullets, piercing and destroying them. Tooru barely registered the movement as it happened, her speed bewildering him. He tried a stronger salvo of bullets in an attempt to overpower her, firing off Sixty Calibre rounds.

The larger bullets were still destroyed, but Sakuya was showing signs of exhaustion now. Not letting up, Tooru upped the difficulty and fired Eighty Calibre rounds at her, she took longer to destroy the projectiles and her palm was blistered, her speed had also greatly decreased. Sensing she was nearing her limit, Tooru fired off a Hundred Calibre round, he hadn't shot a round this large before, never seeing the need for it.

The bullet that erupted from the barrel was massive and Sakuya put all her strength into the needles throw, the two projectiles collided and sparks flew as they grinded against each other and fought for dominance. The battle ended and both projectiles were destroyed. Sakuya flinched as her Blaze was destroy, but still managed to maintain consciousness.

It didn't count for much as Tooru took the opportunity while she was distracted to go behind and impale her. She coughed some blood as she felt the life drain from her body. She opened her mouth to speak her last words, knowing that Tooru would heed them.

"Work towards Absolute Duo, Kokonoe, your sister's murderer is an obstacle on that path… He works under one of the Organizations of the Rein, but I know not which. At least grant me a quick death..."

"No."

Tooru tore his claws out of her and put the gauntlets together while they were against her back. The shield usually manifested on the outside of his gauntlets, meaning that since it was against her back, the shield manifested inside her and ripped her in half from the inside. Tooru smashed his claws into the ground where the Luciful pedestal had been and ripped the injector out. He finally had a good lead on his target, after all these years of searching, he would finally have a chance to face him.

He put the Luciful injector to his neck and clicked the release, the specially engineered Luciful entered him, altering his genetic makeup, empowering him, making him stronger. A dark aura started to seep out from Tooru as his body accepted the Luciful. He felt stronger than ever before, like nothing could stop him...

In an unknown location of the world, the remaining members of the Rein convened to discuss the situation.

"So. Ougi, what do you think of him?"

"He is a force to be reckoned with Beatrix, it would not do us well to underestimate him any further…"

"I agree, we should send our forces at him immediately!"

"Don't be a fool. Clovis, Sakuya has likely sent him after us so that he can achieve Absolute Duo without competition…"

"But Yuugo, if we don't do anything now, there's no telling how much stronger he will become!"

"He gets stronger by assimilating the powers of one of us, if we keep hidden and avoid contact with him, we can use the time to build up our armies."

"He'll find one of us sooner or later!"

"Then they'll have to stall him so the others can have more time to prepare."

"Then it's settled I guess, we need to ramp up production immediately, but make sure to do it discreetly to avoid detection."

"Anyone else have any other issues to bring up?"

The room became silent as no issues were brought up.

"This meeting is adjourned then."

A/N: Well that's the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it, just to make it clear, Tooru has not reached Absolute Duo, he is just the closest anyone's ever been. I will eventually make a sequel to this story where Tooru finally finds Otoha's killer, but I will leave it here for now since it is the equivalent of where the Anime ended. Be sure to check out my others stories and poll. Don't forget to review and follow either because I will be posting the new chapter here when I do write it.