Chapter 48: Labyrinth's War Part I

-Pandora's Labyrinth-

[Sector B]

"All of this death is pointless." Ike commented once he killed the last man in the area.

His task, like all of the others inside the labyrinth, was to find and neutralize the soldiers. Part of those orders came with the added suggestion of trying to save as many people as possible. The last part he had no problem with considering it would mean not killing people that he could have once worked with. Thus he had joined with Aden to form a team to control Sector B.

Regretfully one they had landed there the soldiers took one Aden's red dragon form a simple attack with reckless abandon. After that the young mercenary and Dragon Tribe were forced to fight against the soldiers. Thankfully that batch of soldiers couldn't coordinate their attacks enough to fight in the tight space of the labyrinth.

Thus it turned into a quickly massacre as the dragon breathed its mighty fire on them. Then for added measure Ike used the wall walking technique Naruko had taught many of them to help his mobility around the area and take out any stragglers. Nonetheless the easy battle felt wrong to the fighters.

"I understand you worry young hatchling." Aden remarked as he looked at the burned bodies grimly. "Even among your kind Dova are feared enough make even some strong me stop and flee. The fact that they attack the moment they saw my form is… unnerving."

"It's almost like their being controlled." Ike noted while sheathing his sword. "No one should be this fanatic about something. There were 50 soldiers here and all of them just threw away their lives simply because we're allied with Valkyrie-san."

"Let's just hope the next section isn't the same." the dragon prayed and got ready to fly with the young mercenary. However he quickly turned to a pile of bodies when he heard something.

"What is it?" the blue haired teen asked. Then turned to the pile of burned bodies and his own eyes widen. "Oh not again…"

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[Sector A]

"You know, I think we may be a little outmatched here." Nalu commented with her back to Suigetsu

"What gave you the first clue?" Suigetsu asked sarcastically.

Both of them had their respective weapons out and ready but they didn't look that intimidating. After all, they had accidentally stumbled into the wrong section and end up in the middle of a group made out of heavily armored soldiers. It was the time of armor one would expect wall defenders to poses. This meant they had slow but extremely durable enemies surrounding them.

It didn't help that those shields the soldiers were holding had already proved capable of blocking Kubikiribōchō much to Suigetsu's dismay. Then there was that unnerving feeling both water users kept getting from the men. It was almost like the men were not human under all of that metal that all of their features. Adding to this was that Suigetsu himself was feeling almost the same kind of chakra he felt when Jugō lets the darker and more psychotic side of his personality take hold.

"Any ideas on how to get out of this?" the white haired swordsman asked.

"You could turn into water and we surf out of here." the aquamarine haired trident user suggested. However it appeared that was the wrong thing to say as the heavily armored knights pointed their spears at them and not a second later the spearheads become coated in electricity.

"I don't think that is an option I want." the waterboy growled and took a better hold of his sword.

"I just hope thing don't get worse." Nalu mumbled.

Clearly the girl had not worked long enough besides the being called Uzumaki Naruko.

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[Sector D]

"Well this part of Section D done." Masaru announced with a somewhat tried expression as the shadows ate away the last of the incapacitated bodies. "Okay, that was a horrible pun." the swordsman added once he noticed what he had said.

Like all other soldiers in the imperial army he had been assigned control over a certain sector of the huge labyrinth created by Armstrong and Titania. Their Valkyrie had also instructed them to subdue the soldiers whenever possible. However after he had transported himself through the shadows and appeared to the soldiers the primary orders had proven to be a little too difficult.

At first things had been going well when the captured soldiers had at least let him talk. Sure, some of them yelled at him and told him how much of a heretic he was, this he didn't deny, but at least they had not attack. In fact Masaru spoke to them for a better part of an hour and some progress had been made with trying to convince the soldiers to lay down their weapons.

Then one of the men threw a tomahawk at him. Masaru easily dodged it but it was like a switch had been flipped on the soldiers and they started attacking with reckless abandon. Thankfully the 15 captured they did not expect the swordsman's ability to move through their shadows as fluently as water. Because this, the fight didn't last more than a couple of minutes and best part of it was that he didn't kill them.

After much training under the Empress' command he master his sword's control over darkness to the point he could turn the blade into pure Dark Element and only cause blunt damage if need. Then there was the added bonus of him learning to create small pocket dimensions similar to the ones in sealing scroll which let him hide or carry almost whatever he wish. This was also the reason why his was letting the shadows "eat" the unconscious bodies of the soldiers. This way they wouldn't be a problem and he wouldn't have to kill them needlessly.

"You've been unusually quite Morris. What's wrong?" Masaru suddenly commented to the spirit in his sword.

"I really don't know… I feel like something going to happen but I have no idea what." the spirit in the sword commented with a distracted tone.

"Anything you can tell me?" the swordsman inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"If I was working with Valkyrie-sama I would probably know but right now I'm just getting a disturbance in the shadows." Morris replied with a little bit of a bite.

"Sorry for not being such a good master." Masaru chuckled at the comment from his companion. At the chuckle the spirit gave an aggravated grunt before he started speaking his mind.

"Humans are not meant to produce darkness itself because your hearts are easily corrupted by power. It's also the reason you were poisoned for weeks before you finally managed to gain an acceptable control over my abilities. However Valkyrie-sama… she… She's different."

"How so?"

"Darkness is a living and breathing entity that chooses who to give its powers to. Even the greatest of Necromancers can only hold a fraction of the darkness' true power. Yet from the first time I felt Valkyrie-sama use that black rasengan I knew she was more than just touched by the darkness."

"Now, what does that mean?"

"I do not know… Even when she wielded me during training I could not tell. All I know is that her connection to darkness is more than a simply control or extension of it and once will. *sigh* The closes that I could come to explain it is that she made the impossible happen by finding a way to naturally produce the Dark Element."

"What?" Masaru asked flatly which caused Morris to growl.

"Again, I don't know! It's frustrating as hell but those are that facts!" he yelled in anger and frustration. "Somehow Valkyrie-sama is not only able to wield darkness to that extent but she can also unconsciously block away her emotions during this to avoid total corrupting."

"You're afraid of her aren't you?" the raven haired man questioned with a matter-of-fact tone. Not a moment latter he could feel the spirits gaze at him with dead seriousness.

"Her clones already make her nearly omnipresent… adding total control over the darkness in the human will give her near true omnipresence. Not to mention while I was in her hands I could feel that her muscles had transformed into a machine that could destroy anything is it wanted to. I do not want to sound paranoid but I lived through the Final Wars and I can tell you this: The Valkyrie of Gaia has the potential to be humanity and the planet's greatest enemy should she choose to."

"You're scaring with all of this." Masaru chuckled awkwardly before opening a Shadow Portal. "It's almost like you think she some sort of god." he added while stepping into the portal.

"Gods are defined by power and Valkyrie-sama has too much of it. Thankfully she either doesn't know it or she knows and constantly holds back out of fear for her own potential."

With those final words from the sword spirit the two disappeared into the portal.

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[Sector L]

Leone could not speak, reflect or even thinking about what she was doing. She could not even get a chance to drink from alcohol. All she could do was feel…

Feel the thrill of the fight!

This soldiers, foolish as they were, at least knew how to hold their weapons withy actually skill. They did simply attack blindly or without order. No, they attack with a precision only brought out by true field experience that could give and not simply drill could install.

Thus she found herself dancing, jumping pivoting, running and doing all manner of maneuvering around ground, air and walls of the labyrinth to evade her opponent's attacks while making her own. It was difficult in the narrow halls but in truth she would not have it any other way. Plus it gave her a chance to train on that wall walking technique she has seen Valkyrie's clones use all over the place.

Nonetheless it all boiled down to her loving every moment of this fight.

'Now if only I could get rid of that nagging feeling that someone's watching me I could really enjoy this to the fullest!' she thought while somersaulting off a soldier's head and smashing the steel ball of her Naginata onto the back of his head. The lioness then twisted her body to avoid being impaled by spear as she landed. This was quickly followed be her dropping to the ground and rolling away from a sledgehammer that belong to one of the bigger soldiers.

After that she quickly up to her feet like a spring and spun her weapon towards her back to parry a sword slash. Then she followed up by using the weight of her naginta to carry her so she could land a round-house kick to the face of her last attacker.

After that Leone finished the swing of her kick by planting her foot on the steel ball of her weapon. This was followed up by her creating a small shockwave of fire around her that threw her opponents a few feet back. As result she now had more space around her to analyze her situation.

'Now, let's see… there are still 25 men left. Val-chan did say to keep them alive which is actually making this a little bit harder. But this is war and she can't blame for killing a few dozen or so soldiers.' The lioness thought as she smirked at her opponents. 'After all… *licks lips* The only thing better than the hunt is the kill.'

Truly, joining up with the army of the empire was one of her best decisions. Plus after this she could probably go and frustrate that little Uchiha. Gods know that the brat needs to let go sooner or later.

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[Section C]

Frederick didn't know how to feel about his current situation.

The man had come with his family to Sea Heart to escape the war and the endless slaughter. He wanted to finally find peace and forgiveness for all of the sins he committed during his time as a soldier. For the most part, the dirty blond haired man had found it and he was happy with his decision. Then Valkyrie came and proclaimed herself the Empress of the land.

That woman, with her presence alone had uprooted the very core of serenity the land once held and had now plugged it into the war Frederick had tried to escape from. Plus thanks to the Empress and her decision transform Sea Heart into a military reign he now had to fight.

No longer would peace bath the land. No longer would the children wake up happily knowing that at any moment they could become orphans. No longer would wives would just past the day telling stories with their friends as they waited for their husbands to return from a day's work.

No, now they were at war and people would only know the suffering that it brought onto the land. Yet through all of this Frederick couldn't really find it in his heart to truly blame the Empress for her decision to join the fighting.

'She's fighting for the freedom of the people.' the cleric told himself when volunteering to fight alongside the army. 'She has felt the pain of losing your family to this war and want to prevent others from feeling it.' he reasoned while holding the Holy Broadsword-Jeanne d'Arc. 'The Empress is fighting for the people because she knows they are the true rules of her kingdom.' He finally thought when he was assigned to control a section of the labyrinth.

Thus he now found himself once more on the trawls of war on a battlefield inside the Valkyrie's labyrinth. Frederick, however, was thankful to learn early into the fighting that his holy relic had an incredibly advantage over his opponents.

Apparently some of the more violent members of the soldiers seemed to be tainted enough that the mere presence of the sword's light could harm them. The affects were also exactly like back in the coronation when Valkyrie herself tried to used that weapon. The soldiers were simple burned by the aura but in a far more violent and painful manner.

This in turn had caused an unforeseen effect on his enemies. Said effect turned out to be the army turning onto itself. Apparently the more sane members of the invading force took notice of the weapons effects on these individuals and noticed the pattern quickly.

"Normal" humans that were attacked by the sword only felt tried yet the ones being burn by the weapons aura were cut into oblivion. In fact, it turned that having armor didn't even matter to the sword as its ethereal blade simply phased through everything to deliver its judgment. Therefore both soldiers and Frederick quickly noticed that only one group of people could truly be hurt by Jeanne d'Arc.

This development at first troubled Frederick since he had thought his enemies would start exploiting this weakness in his attack. Thankfully it appeared the priest had drawn the luck straw as many in the enemies rebelled against their own as they noticed the swords truly ability to only truly hurt the wicked. It also helped that not long after a soldier had pointed out said weakness the men and women affect started to turn into grotesque beast which also turned on their comrades.

Hence the section Frederick had been assigned to turn into an all out free for all with on clear winner in sight.

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[Section K]

"What's wrong with you? We've been sitting here for 30 minutes doing nothing instead of finishing this group like we we're meant to!" Martel growled from her crouching position on top of the wall of the labyrinth.

"It wouldn't be a good idea." Jūgo commented for what felt like the 100th time.

"Why?" the blond growled. The giant almost answered but before he could the woman was already talking. "You know what? I am done waiting for you!" Then with all of her rage she jumped down onto her enemies with a killing strike. Well, that was what she had been planning to do anyway if Jūgo had not stopped her dead with just one hand.

"Martel-san, if you truly wish to live through this battle you will hear me out." The orange haired youth proclaimed with grave face looked to the unknowing soldiers below them.

"Okay, you got my attention." Martel announced while shrugging his hand off her soldier. "What's so serious that you wouldn't let me attack them while they can't see us?" she questioned with a small glare.

"Have you ever heard of the Curse Seal?" the teen asked in return as his orange eyes turned to gaze at her widening yellow ones.

"They're users down there?" the military woman inquired with a slight tremble. Then she glared once her question was answer with small nod. "How do you know this? Before I left with Roy and the others no one in Camilia's army possessed them to my knowledge."

"I know because the curses seals were created from my own blood and mutating cells." Jūgo and was not surprised by the shocked showed in the woman's face. "I can tell when someone has them. However I can feel something else is inside these men and it trying to transform the curse seals. I do not sure what it is but every part of my body is telling me to be careful if not run." he added while turning back to the soldiers below them.

"Then we should report this to central as quickly as we can." the woman commented and quickly tapped the transceiver in her ear.

"But that just won't make this fun, now would it?" a voice laughed behind them. Then before either of the two could react a blast of chakra hit them from behind and subsequently launched them downwards.

However both Martel and Jūgo were able to maneuver their bodies well enough to land safely. In Martel's case that meant landing in the shoulders of a soldier before breaking his neck and then jumping of the falling body while taking out her combat knives. Jūgo on the other hand just aliened his body to fall on his feet which he morphed so that they had something resembling padding that cushioned his fall.

After landing the two warriors looked up quickly to see who had not only managed to sneak up to them but also attacked. Doing so made them see their attacker was a woman. She was bald, face covered in war paint, wore a purple tattered dress that showed her near-none existent chest, walked bare foot and finally she came equipped with a pair of gauntlets with chakra gems in the palms.

"I hope you two are ready for the fight of your life." the bold woman proclaimed with a sadistic smirk as she looked down on everyone. "My name is Zalza the Necromancer and I believe my little toys will be enough to take you down."

With that the woman's gauntlets gloved a sick purple and swiped her hands over the crowd. No sooner that this was done the soldiers started screaming in pain as black marking started appearing over ever exposed part of her bodies.

"What the hell is going on?!" Martel yelled over the screams and Zalza's laughter.

"Forced awakening of the Curse Seal plus mind control." Jūgo answered with surprising calmness. "This will not be an easy battle." he added. At the same time he morphed his hands into claws and thanked his luck for meeting Valkyrie. After all, if it wasn't her the suppression seals she place on him the darker side of his mind would be already slaughtering everything in sight.

"I see what Ike-kun meant about Valkyrie being bad luck for missions." Martel grumbled as the soldier's bodies started to morph into beast similar to Jūgo's transformations.

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[Over the labyrinth]

Roy, Sasuke, Naruko and Mjoll where all traveling through the "roofs" of the labyrinth at a leisured pace. Well the leisured pace part was mostly for Sasuke, Naruko and Mjoll since the former two were trained shinobi and the latter could simply fly over the walls. Roy on the other hand was having a bit more trouble keeping the pace since he hadn't yet gotten used to this particular form of travel.

Yet the fact that this form of travel was not that only thing that was giving him trouble with keeping his concentration.

~Flashback Start~

It was the morning after the Empress' official birthday. Today was going to be a continuation but for Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye today's morning was one to relax form last night activities. Not to mentioning cleaning to look more presentable and keep a level of dignity after to remind people that they still held some authority.'

This was the reason why Riza was right now showing and thanking the heavens for the hot water.

"Roy-kun can you get the door?" Riza asked from their room's bathroom when she heard knocking.

"Do I have to? I rather wait for them to leave so I can enjoy the sight of you just getting out of the shower." Roy commented while he rested on the bed with his arms folded behind his head and heard the sound of water running. 'I'll have to thank Uzumaki-san latter for giving my little and me this room. Now I can see her in those tiny mini-skirts whenever I want!' he thought with a slight perverted grin and proud grin.

"Roy! Open the damn door! I can smell you two are fucking each other!" a voice screamed behind the door. That made both lovers blink in surprise by both the crass way of speaking and the slight level of rage they felt behind the steel door. Hence Roy quickly got up from the bed while Riza turned off the water from her shower.

Then when the blond got out still damped and a bathrobe covering her body she nodded and Mustang punched in the open button for the door. In a second the swooshing sound of the sliding mechanism gave way to the image of a serious looking Uzumaki Naruko. This was a stark contrast to the Empress that had been playing side by side the night prior.

Thus the Flame Alchemist let in the Valkyrie into the room without a word exchanged. The Valkyrie nodded in acceptance and enter quickly as the door closed itself. Then she turned back to the couple and the look she gave Roy made them feel a slight level of dread.

"War is coming." Roy stated not asked. He only need the ivory haired Empress to nod to confirm what he said. In response the Flame Alchemist cursed while Hawkeye narrowed her eye in worry.

"When do we start preparations? We need to find a place where protect the people first and then start planning a counter strategy." the black haired Colonel inquired briskly.

"Don't worry, I'm already working on that. However I came to discuss something else." the Valkyrie announced calmly but that only made the occupants of the room raise their eyebrows in confusion.

"What could be more important than an invading army?" Riza asked. Without missing a beat the Empress answered.

"The night before last I was attacked in my bedroom by a would-be assassin but he was quickly dealt with. The problem came from the one that ordered the assassination. Not only has this man gathered enough forces top feel comfortable enough to attack us but he also has manipulated the populace of Camilia into thinking I'm some sort of witch that made a pact with a demon for my powers."

The way the tall female explained it made them both blink owlishly. After all she just talked about someone trying to kill her in sleep was something completely common and to be expected. Yet they only took a few seconds to remember that their leader was not only a trained shinobi but also a jinchūriki. It was safe to say those two facts where sober remainders that even when this woman had just turned 17 she most have already been trained seen a child to face death like it was always a constant follower that loved to breath down your neck.

For Roy at least it made him happy to have her by his side considering it meant she wouldn't be his enemy. After all if she was this comfortable with talking about someone wanting to kill her in her sleep he was willing to beat she talk about the reverse just as easily.

'It's never a good thing to get on the bad side of someone that had no problems with killing people in their beds. You may not wake up later.' the raven haired thought with a slight shiver. But his thoughts soon shifted for the woman's possible past as a professional killer to the Empress that was in front of him and looking somewhat troubled.

"There's something else that you're not telling us." the Colonel said with a narrowed gaze.

"You catch on quick." Valkyrie commented off-handedly before sighing and crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll be blunt then. Roy the leader of the army is the one that ordered the dead of your father."

~Flashback End~

That last sentence had been one hard to swallow and had made Roy quickly anger. In fact he had scream in utter furry and nearly went to grab the Empress before he remembered he was about to attack the woman with a demon inside of her. Yet as he stopped his physical movement that didn't stop his mouth from declaring that she better let him fight the bastard.

Thankfully Valkyrie had nodded in agreement with him with only a warning to prepare for things to go south quickly after it looks like they were winning. In fact to cement this line of thought she handed him a new pair of ignition gloves and his pocket watch. The gloves, he had noticed, where white like his normal ones but he could practically feel power radiating from this pair and even without that he could see that the seals on them were more complex and with a much more artful touch.

Yet it was his pocket watch that really surprised him since he was sure that said watch had been in his pocket a minute ago. But the fact that Naruko had pickpocketed him so easily fell short to the gift inside it. Said gift being an incredible rare red chakra stone instead of the usual green.

Nonetheless said gifts showed the severity of the situation and gave the flame user propose. Hence why he was now part of the team put together to take down the King.

'That bastard is going to pay for what he did.' the Flame Alchemist swore as he clenched his fists in rage. But regretfully this rage distracted mind final caught up to him and he slipped on the last jump which made him fall into the labyrinth. This in turn made the soldiers in that part of the labyrinth aware of him.

"There! His one of the people that betrayed Camilia for the witch!" a soldier screamed which alerted everyone else.

'Dammit! I need to concentrate more!' Mustang berated himself while getting back to his feet and prepared to fight. Yet the fighting didn't start as he thought. In fact there was no fight at all as feathers started to drop from the sky and in quick succession the soldiers fell to the ground sleeping.

"I didn't think you knew the Feather Illusion Justu." the Valkyrie's voice was heard overhead.

"The really name is Temple of Nirvana Jutsu. Either way it's perfect to knock out none trained shinobi like these soldiers." the voice of boy name Sasuke joined in. That made the older male look to see his team standing over the walls calmly. Then the Empress yelled back to him.

"Oi! Get your ass back up here! We still have a few more ckicks to go and it would be best if you stay concentrated on the road!"

With that command the Colonel sighed and slowly walked up the wall with his barely acquired technique and join the group of two shinobi and flying human formed summon.

"Could you be anymore slow?" Sasuke berated before Naruko smacked the back of his head.

"Get off you high horse. Both of us couldn't even climb a single tree without falling even after train for years as shinobi."

"Do you have to remind me?" the Uchiha asked with a frown.

"That it took one of the weakest member of generation teaching us like babies to learn a basic technique?" the Uzumaki asked back with a raised eyebrow. Then her expression changed into a smirk. "Hell no! It's one of the best weapons against a "genius" like you. Beside if I admit it people will see I'm still human and can still make mistakes." She finished while sticking her tongue childishly at the now scowling genius.

"As much I would like to see you both flirt I do believe we have a war to win." Mjoll's voice interrupted the rivals. At that retort both nodded and proceeded to continue their travel over the walls. However after a couple of minutes of jumping over the walls it was Sasuke who asked a very important question.

"What's the plan for taking down the King?"

"That's the least of our problems right now." the eye-patch wearing female announced with a worried edge to her otherwise even voice.

"Care to explain?" the Uchiha inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"The clones I sent first to spring the trap fought again him. But that's when thing took a turn for the strange and unusual." the whiskered female almost grumbled in annoyance.

"How bad is it? Did he beat your clones already and started attacking the other sectors or is someone unexpected backing him up?" Mustang questioned seriously. 'Damn. Those two options are both horrible in their own right. If it's the former than that means we lost part of the element of surprise considering he will now know how weak Uzumaki-san's copies are. However if it's the later than that means will be fighting even more blind than we are right now. Either way things are about to go south fast.'

"Actually my clones won already and their waiting for us to get there." Naruko commented almost off-handed.

"Wait-What?! Hold up!" Sasuke quickly screamed in response while at the same time stopped himself from jumping onto the next wall. In turn everyone else stopped as well and joyed him on that ledge he had land. "You're telling me that we already won!" the onyx eyed teen accused with growl. He just knew thing where about the snowball. 'Dammit! This is my first mission since once more teaming up with Naruko and already her luck acting up again! I swear someone hates me up there.' he thought in dismay and it didn't help the Uzumaki herself looked annoyed as well.

"It appears so." the Empress commented while crossing her arm over her chest. Then she adopted thoughtful frown while explaining what she knew. "From the group of clones I sent to start all of this dispelled itself to let me know and that was almost an hour ago."

"You have got to be kidding me! We took out the leader of the invasion since THE BEGINNING?!" the human Mjoll exclaimed in bewilderment with slack-jawed expression. Mustang accompanied her in the surprise department while Sasuke on the other hand faced-palmed and cursed under his breath. Naruko nearly smirk in pity for her old friend/rival.

"I know teme and I don't like it either. Worst is that, as unbelievable as it is, something is jamming my Omni-tool since I can't reach Central Command for a status report." the tall woman announced which elected a gasp from her summon friend.

"That could mean something or something could be attacking Riza-chan and Elsy-chan right now!" the blond griffin muttered in worry yet everyone heard it clearly. Thankfully the Empress shook her head negatively.

"I'm not sure about that because one of the clone working with them would have dispelled by now to let me know. However I'll send a couple of clones there to see what's wrong. One can never be too cautious when on the battlefield."

With that the jinchūriki crossed her fingers and prepared to summon a few clones to watch over everything. Yet this plan was stalled by a sudden voice making itself know to everyone.

"That won't be necessary my dear Zombie-hime." a near childlike voice announced with mirth and giggling.

"Who said that?" Sasuke quickly asked while activating his Sharingan and looking everywhere for an enemy. However it was Naruko's frigid growl that really took most of his attention.

"It's someone that just shot up a couple of ranks on my Must Murdered Brutally list." Naruko answered while baring her shark-like fangs at her left wrist which happened to hold her Omni-tool. It was then that her teammates heard another set of giggles coming for the ancient-yet-futuristic piece of technology.

"Oh that's just mean Zombie-hime! You know I love you! After all I was the one that gave a body with the power to pick up mountains with a single arm."

"Tsk, You're also the one that made it so I would die a slow painful death as my "strong body" continues to rots from the inside out at a snail's pace each day which forces me to not only inject myself with Log knows what but also forces me to eat human flesh and brain matter to supplement what I lost as my own body tries to keep the rotting in check which we is always a losing battle."

"At least you now know the wonders of cannibalism! In fact I have this real good cookbook about-"

"Tell me what you're doing here Hel?"

"Appreciating Riza and Elsy's naked flesh before I eat it."

"WHAT?!"

Click!

"Kidding! Oh my gawd! Your faces! You so have to see them!" Hel's voice hollered in complete hysteria. At the same time a picture of all four of the teams horrified expression flashed into sight which as clearly mocking.

"That does it!" the blue eyed female commanded in rage. She turned sharply to point at her team with barely retrained blood rage. "You three go for the King! Work together and keep each other's back covered. I'm have a have a psycho to punch into paste."

"Are you sure you're willing to sacrifice the lives of those two plus your only medics?" Hel's voice inquired with much more serious tone. This stop all movement and only then did the image of Hel flicker into existence through a hologram screen. Thanks to this the four fighters could see the greennette's smirking visage. "I see I've caught your attention. I do hope this means we can come to an agreement then."

"I wouldn't surrender to you." the Empress growled at the audacity of her enemy. But that only made the stitched up woman to chuckle like she heard a good inside joke.

"I think you're misunderstanding the situation presented her my dear Empress. I do not want you to lose I want you to win. In fact I came here today with the idea of helping you in the future provided you do something for me first." Hel explained with salesman's smile at full force. Seeing this Sasuke scoffed with his Sharigan spinning in annoyance.

"Pease tell me you do not believe this? She's clearly trying to see up a trap for us." he said while glaring at the woman in the screen.

"She isn't." Mjoll suddenly spoke which made them all turn to her to see the human-griffin trembling in both fear and rage directed at Hel. "This is just how the Merchant of the End those her business."

"I'm surprised the summons of this day and age still know that nickname."

"We would never forget the person responsible for starting the war that reset the clock back to the stone ages."

"Hehe, I see my reputation is still admirable although I distinctly remember that during that time I was just selling thing. Not my fault people decided to use them against one another. But that's not important right now. What is important is getting back to the topic at hand…"

With that last sentence a holo-screen flickered into existence however that image in it only made the four-man squad gasp. The image it showed was both Elsy and Riza stripped of everything besides their underwear and being hanged by chains warp around their wrist. Surprising, however, was that while both female were unconscious neither of them seemed visibly hurt and were breathing normally for someone sleeping.

It was then that the camera zoomed out to show Hel standing beside both women.

"As you can see these two lovely ladies have been stripped of all of their clothing and hanged like prisoners in dungeons. Kind of fitting for what was going to happen to them. However the girls here were put in such states of dress thanks in part to your clone, Naru-chan, who are resting right here!"

This time Hel apparently grabbed the camera she was using to transmit the events and moved it to left. Once the image stopped moving the group saw the all of the clone Naruko had left where indeed still there. However, the clones themselves were just sitting on the floor like marionettes and with just as soulless expressions.

"As you can see over here the poor dears are under a combined genjutsu and puppet technique used by the person assigned to attack for Central Command. I, however, took the liberty of eliminating. But don't worry, I left the brain intact so when you eat it you'll be able to see all of his memories. Also the rest is here if you to eat it."

After saying Hel quickly flicker the camera to a body, well what was called a body once anyway. This corpse was headless which clearly meant it have been headed to project said head from receiving any damaged to come. Yet below the neck it was an indescribable mess of gore and horror that made Roy and Mjoll throw up mere moments after seeing it.

Naruko and Sasuke, having seen worst either by finding crime scenes (Naruko's clones) or seeing torture scenes play out first hand (Sasuke forced to see Orochimaru's "experiments"), managed to see the damage would showing signs of it disturbing them too much. Said damage appeared to be a combination of the chest being completely ripped open, the internal organs shredded to hell and back, bones sticking out at odd angle outside of the body and multiple all-round the body that ranged from cuts and blunt force trauma to burns which could either be from open flames to chemicals. Either way what was left barely seemed like it was once human.

"You're a sick bitch." Naruko finally mutter darkly while besides her she noticed Sasuke had closed his eyes momentarily to look away. Poor guy was probably trying to raise the image that his Sharigan had forever burn into his head.

"I know" the sadistic scientist announced with pride clearly showing in both her face and voice once the camera was focused on her. "But getting back to the deal I want to make. As your first battle ready clones today may have noticed the King you're facing has a unique dōjutsu which I want since it's wasted on the likes of him. The deal is this: get those eyes for me and I'll make sure no one in Gaia learns where Hyūga Hinata lives."

"What?!" Naruko screamed loudly in rage which had the regretful effect of alerting four groups of soldiers below their position from both sides of the wall they were standing on. These four groups, who had been looking for theme since their first scream a while back, quickly brew their bows and arrows.

Both of the train shinobi of the team noticed and quickly went through the same set of seals at a lighting fast pace. Then both slammed their hands unto the ground.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall Jutsu!" both screamed and part of the wall rose up on both sides in an instant. What followed next were the dull thuds of the arrows breaking upon hitting the hard rock surface. But that was not enough as two suddenly appeared each face one of the walls while concentrating chakra into their opened palm. Then they rammed them into the walls.

"Falling Rampart!" the clone yelled in union as a shockwave of chakra and kinetic energy pass through the walls. Then as expected cracks were soon heard before the walls fell over onto the now screaming soldiers. After that the clone themselves jump into the labyrinth and start knocking out any and all soldiers left conscious and unburied by the ruble.

"Since when do you know Earth Style? I thought you were a combination of fire and wind." Sasuke quickly asked while he and Naruko stood back up.

"I learned it along with a least one jutsu of every element after I learned everyone can use any element en theory." the Empress grumbled before looking back at the screen that held a triumphantly smirk stitched up psycho female. "Now tell me, what the fuck you meant with that threat about Hinata-chan?" the whiskered female demanded with a feral growl. That only made the mad scientist chuckle before adopting a superior and mocking look.

"Well my dear you see, both my sister and I have a lot of connection and this connections reach very far. However I could spare a good amount of resources on protecting her and everyone else you my know in the Elemental Nations for being pulled into the war your taking part in."

"Why are you doing this? What can you possibly gain form doing all of this? Make me and my people your obedient slaves?!" Naruko accused but once more the woman chuckled.

"Hehe, You think too small my dear. But for now just be happy with the fact that I will do almost anything if it means I get to see you and Nobunaga-sama fight to the death and bring this silly little war to an end." Hel commented and without another word the holo-screen flickered out of existence.

Thus to four members were left with only with the sound of the clones battle below and their thoughts. However it was Mjoll who spoke first.

"What do we do now partner?" the griffin thought in worry. Yet her answer did not come as Naruko kneeled down and enclose her fist around one another. Then the Empress gently rested her forehead on fist which ends in her appearing to pray to some unknown force or god. This of course intrigue the Uchiha since to his understanding the religion the Uzumaki ever practice was that of The Log which almost every shinobi of Konoha ended doing at one point in time. He even remembered Itachi doing it once in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment.

"Hey, Naruko what are-" he tried to asked but was stopped by Mjoll's hand on her shoulder.

"Please be silent and calm our heart and mind Uchiha-san. Partner here is about to release binds around her powers Empathy. This will allow her to feel out the emotions on the battlefield. That task while probably take lot of concentration to not be overwhelmed by everything and even more so when Kyūbi-sama is not in her to damper the feedback." the summoned explained clearly but in a soft and low tone so as not to disturb her summoner.

Yet even after the explanation Sasuke still felt curious. After all this was another new thing about Naruko he just learned in the short time since the reunion. Because of this, and the fact that this was the first time he ever heard of a power called Empathy, he activated his Sharingan to try and decipher just what was this new ability or jutsu. But was his eyes slowly spun to life he could only gasp at the sight before him.

But nothing he ever saw prepared him for the raw emotion and power he felt at being that stood before him.

This being, although angel seemed to be a better term, stood over the body of Uzumaki Naruko. Although the angel did stand her feet so much as float with her different colored wings speared out to their full length. The wings, Sasuke noticed in surprise, were one white which reminded him of a dove while the other was black like that of a raven. Then he noticed that the angel's body while naked was nothing warm and comforting blue energy, very reminiscent to chakra, in the shape of the female's body. But what really surprised him was the angel's face which was Naruko's but with her white hair flowing like she was in water.

"Beautiful…" was all he could say at the sight which elected a small smile out of the angel.

'Thank you. I know you mean it.' Naruko's voice sounded softly and like a melody that made the young man blush and feel unworthy of being in her presence. But as he looked to the angle he knew that voice hadn't been in his head but inside very soul which the Empress had just touch a moment ago.

Yet this paled in comparison to the new feeling that he felt he the angel opened her eyes. It was like a blanket of warmth had fallen over him yet at the same time had stripped him of all his defenses and left him vulnerable the world. But even as he felt both exposed and safe he knew he wasn't the only one since Mustang also showed signs of being affected by this power.

'This… This is something I've never felt before… It's like Naruko is trying to enter my very self and at the same time wants me to know she's the one in control. By Kami… just show much have you change? It's just unreal that a simple jutsu to activate a sensor's ability like Karin's could be this powerful.' the Uchiha thought in wonder.

What Sasuke didn't know was that this particular ability Naruko had developed was somewhat different than Karin's sensor ability. Yes, it was true that both techniques were created to locate both potential targets and allies. However for Karin's version one could only detect sources of chakra and their present levels which meant that the redhead still could not determine whether or not the sources of chakra were hostile or not if she did not know the chakra signature.

But with Naruko's version it was she could not sense any chakra instead she flooded her own mind with her chakra to extend the field around her. Then to compensate for this flaw Naruko gain the ability to tell a part friend and foe by the spectrum of emotions they showed in the fore front. Not to mention that if she tried hard enough and concentrated she would be able to see slight glimpses of what the people around were thinking and imagining thought that particular part was still hard to control. After all, the bigger she made the field the more susceptible she became to the emotions presented to her. This in turn could overwhelm her mind enough that she could accidently alert someone as she lost control.

Nonetheless at this very moment she didn't have to worry about alerting her enemies so she expanded her reach to her maximum range which managed to cover a great part of the battlefield.

Because of that the first thing to hit her was the fear, anxiety, anger, hate, frustration and hate that soldiers felt upon being trap in the labyrinth so easily. Yet Naruko fought against all of those emotions and did her best to make them nothing but a dull background noise. Thus she fought back and concentrated of the people she knew, on the people she cared about and on the one that had vowed to give their lives for her.

'Everyone… Where are you?' her every soul called out to her people. Yet doing this only made her worry as she only got a response from those inside the labyrinth. Hence she forced herself unto those that did not and finally got her answers as worrisome as they were. Thus she softly returned her mind to its proper state and once more sealed most of her empathy away.

"What did you find?" Mjoll quickly questioned upon seeing the displeasure on her summoner's face.

"Not good." the Empress muttered and she stood up to her full height.

"I dare not ask but can be worst than being cut off from Central Command and our medics being threaten with death?" Roy asked with grim curiosity. It certainly did not help how the woman sighed and scratched part of her braided hair.

"Somehow the soldiers with had station outside of the labyrinth had been put to sleep by a genjutsu, Titania and Armstrong along with the battery clone have been paralyzed by an unknown enemy, Karin and Mist are being held hostage by someone incredibly hostile, Ike and Aden are fighting some weird flying machine, Sūgetsu and Nalu are fighting heavily armored curse seal users, Jugō is trying to absorbed the curse seals from a group of rampaging soldiers and Martel is fighting a woman that appears to possess an ability to control people with curse seals." the Empress replied in frustration of the situation.

"Any good news?" Mjoll inquired to try and calm the two men. Though surprising enough it was Sasuke who look the most worried about the whole situation. Naruko noticed that and could only raised an eyebrow at what she felt coming from him.

'This is new. Last time I was on a team with him Sakura and I barely registered on his world. Now at the mere mention of his teammates being in danger he's almost ready to pull a one-man rescue mission. I guess my death at his hands really did change him.' the whiskered female thought with a level of pride for her old teammate. However she didn't let it show as she answered her summon's question. "The only good news we have is Frederick somehow made some of his enemies become his allies, Leone is practically decimating her opponents and the generals that were fighting Akane are so knee deep in fear of her that they already down on their collective knees and are close to start worshiping her as some sort of god. Heh, and from what I felt coming from her she's enjoying it to its fullest."

"Demons having fun tent to have that effect of people." the griffin muttered almost too quite in annoyance for a moment before asking "What are we going to do now? Should we split up?"

"No" Naruko answered plainly.

"What?!" the Uchiha suddenly growled in anger. "I need to save my team!" he finished and got a slap to the back of his head for his worries.

"You didn't let me finished." the Empress reprimanded. "What I meant was that we are not splitting up. Our squad has a mission to finish. However we will not abandon them." She commented and crossed her fingers. Moments later seven clones appeared beside her. However these were different in that the single bun of their braided hair was read instead of white like the rest of their hair. "These clones will be enough."

"Clone? You had clones with them and they all failed to protect them already!" the Uchiha accused and found himself in the receiving end a withering glare.

"That's because all of those clones combined wouldn't be able to fight their way out of a wet paper bag. They were made for thinking not fighting while the ones I just made can fight. Besides now we had the element of surprise and I know what the enemies' positions are."

With that the clone nodded to their creator and blasted off at a speed that even Sasuke's Sharingan had trouble following for a split second. After which the Empress herself proceeded to continue jumping towards the Hero King. This wordless action prompted her team to quickly follow and hope the clones would to their job.

Thankfully do to the pace the woman had put on them the group managed to quickly enough. This in turn made them see the image of the dark shinned blond King stripped of his armor and tied up while the first clone watch over him. Thankfully the clone had left him some dignity as she had left him in a red shirt and pants although his was bare footed and his crown was nowhere to be found. Nonetheless they jumped down and managed to get a better look at the man.

"Well that's weird. I thought he would be far more beaten than this." Mjoll commented upon seeing the nearly pristine looking man at their feet.

"I know what you mean." the clone moaned in displeasure. "Not only did I shatter his sword by pure accident but I knocked him out with one good upper-cup. This was almost as disappointing as fighting an unarmed civilian." she added and "lightly" kicked the man in the stomach.

"Then why the gag?" Naruko asked upon seeing the cloth around the man's mouth.

"Bastard wouldn't shut up on how "God" would punish us for being heretics." the clone air quoted. "I even asked him what he meant by that but all I got was him saying that he wouldn't waste his breath on explaining "good" to "evil" or whatever." the clone finished as she moved away from the bonded man and towards her creator. At the same time Mustang started to briskly walk toward the King. But as he passed by the clone she whispered.

"Roy-sama, please be careful when dealing with him. He was too weak to a leader and I fear this is all a trap." she warned and it gave a slight pause to the older man. However that was only briefly before he once more continued to walk up to the leader of the invasion. Then once he was in front of the man Roy grabbed to too gently the man's undershirt so they were looking eye to eye.

"Why?" Mustang growled angry at the self-proclaimed King.

"Why what, traitor?" the King asked back without interest as he quickly recognized the Flame Alchemist. However this response only made the fire user angrier if the way his fist clench was any indication.

"Why did you give the order that killed my father as well as murdered dozens of civilians?"

"Your father sold out his country to a demon. As Camilia's rightful King it is only fitting that I gave him a traitor's punishment. As for the civilians? Their lost was only collateral since they also continuously asked for help from that Witch Queen who's orders you now follow blindly." the King answered evenly and with a shrug like he was talking about the simplest thing. That only earned him a hard right hook to the face that broke his lower lip open.

"That's it?! Just because he decided to help someone that helped him?! You didn't even give him a chance to defend his reason you fucking bastard!" the raven haired man growled.

"Roy!" he suddenly heard Naruko warn. But before Roy could ask what was wrong the King decided to talk again.

"There was no reason to give him or them a trial. The woman known as Valkyrie uses her demon arts in plain day and without fear. Yet knowing this your father still contacted her and allied himself with her just like you. An example needed to be made." the King proclaimed as his black eyes changed to orange iris with the pupils turning into a small crosses.

"MUSTANG! HIS EYES ARE ABOUT TO RELEASE SOMETHING!" Sasuke suddenly warned with haste.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" the Flame Alchemist replied just as quick and reared his fist back. Then with every ounce of his being the fire user gave the King the strongest haymaker he could. Yet even then the results that came from the fist connecting with the man's face were not something the people expected. After all, when was the last time that any of them had seen someone get punched in the face so hard one of their eyeballs popped out in all their gory glory?

"Whoa…" Mjoll commented with blinking eyes as they all saw the little orb fall and roll around on the ground. Yet only Naruko managed to notice the King smirk in triumph and that was only because of her passive empathy.

"Thank you foolish child." the tied up man said.

Then the eye on the ground shined for brief moment and they all heard a ripping sound behind them; more specifically were Naruko was. Hence they all turned to were the woman was and found a swirling blood red hole behind her. Yet before she could do anything spiked chains that ended in hooks shot out of the hole and started wrapping themselves around her limbs.

"What the hell?!" Naruko screamed at she started to fight off the chains and break them with her inhuman level of strength.

"NARUKO!" Roy, Mjoll and Sasuke screamed while trying to run towards the woman. But it turned out to be a futile effort when one chain shot straight through Naruko's neck and split into four hooks the nailed themselves into her neck. Then as the surprised Uzumaki gargled and spit her own blood 10 other chains exploded out different parts of her body and nailed themselves into her. But to the horror of the woman and her allies she wasn't ripped apart but pulled into the hole violently which closed that moment she was fully in.

However while both of the males felt dread clutch at them it was Mjoll who truly felt the horror of the situation as she fell on her knees while grabbing her heart.

'No… I… I can't…. feel her! Our connection! Our connection is not there!' the griffin screamed in mind as panic started to fill her mind. Then as the male watch her breathing became erratic with its pace and then Mjoll fell on her side while the few clones left in the area disappeared. At seeing this Sasuke quickly ran to summon as she started to scream and trash about not soon after falling onto the ground.

"What did you do?!" Sasuke yelled in both desperation and anger. 'Dammit! I just meet Naruko after three years of thinking I killed her! I can't let her or her friends die now!' his mind screamed. Then as he heard the ropes binding King ripped apart Mjoll was covered in light before transforming into her small child griffin size.

"Oh, I just ripped a small hole in the fabric of space and time to send your little Queen into hell. It was part of the contract after all and I have to say. Getting this youthful body as payment was the best." the person possessing the King's body commented as the eye on the ground floated back into his empty eye-socket.

"Contract? What contract and what do you mean getting that body as payment?" Roy questioned while readying his body for battle.

"Tsk. Tsk. Child, a gentleman can't kiss and tell when he deals with beautiful ladies." the contract killer admonished like one would a child. But then he smirked upon seeing the small griffin that Sasuke had picked up and cradled into his kimono shirt. "However if you give me that griffin over there I may be willing to have some information. I have a little disagreement with them since that my dealing with their last summoner on the final confrontation." he added and the Uchiha felt the summon tense.

"Our… last summoner?" Mjoll asked softly before her widen. "But that... would… mean… you…" she tried to articulate as her body started to shake from fear.

"Mjoll?" the Sharingan user inquired worriedly. Then she looked up at him with wide fearful yellow eyes.

"If… if what he says is true… we wouldn't life pass… today."

"Who the hell is he?" Mustang finally asked and got his answer from the man inside the King's body laughing.

"Name's Booker, Booker of the Shifting Realms and my profession is that of a humble merchant that looks to sell the rarest of species to the highest coin. I hope you don't mind but I will be taking the griffin and your eyes." the now named Booker finished with a smirk.

Then as a beastly roar echoed in the background three rifts opened around him. The first rift, to his right, produced a long black staff that ended in a curve blade that held a spinning crystal that his right hand gripped. The second rift, to his left, released a clawed gauntlet with purple gem on each knuckle which enclosed his left hand. Final from the third rift, that was right below his bare feet, came out a group of chains that wrapped around his feet. Then in a few seconds the chains melted together and a pair of metal boots with wing designs on each appeared in their place.

"I do hope you at least put a fight. I want to see what this new body can do." Booker announced as his dark skinned and blond haired body levitated itself from the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(A few minutes before Naruko was sent to hell)

[Section F]

Midori didn't know what to feel right now.

On one hand, people that she true and utterly hated since the moment she had started as simply private were gone. This meant she would not have a chance to grab the power needed to final make the army advance to a new ear and even show them that female were as if not more useful as the men. In fact, if she had enough power she could build her only armada of the greatest of woman like the legendary Amazonian woman does ancient books in the library spoke of.

Yet on the other hand, Midori could and would say that right now she was terrified beyond any known reason. After all, her green eyes had just seen the demonic vixen not just decimate but completely massacre 15 of the best fighters she thought existed. It hadn't even been a fight from her perspective. No, what she witness had been nothing more short of bloodbath with the way the redhead had made each an everyone one of her opponents explode in a mess of blood, organs and brain matter.

Worst yet, after the other generals had final realized how futile it was to attack the woman the vixen just stopped attacking them altogether and just watch them. Then as if to add insult to injury the vixen made a makeshift throne from the remains of the bodies for her to take a sit and eat some of her victims. After that the vixen simply blasted them with so much chakra pressure that they had no choice but to fall down on their knees before her like she was some kind of god or holy being far above humanities' understanding.

But that was for only a few minutes before the vixen got board. They knew this because the redhead started throwing pieces of the dead bodies at them to see how they would react. Yet when that did bring the demoness the entertainment she wanted she got up. Then the woman calmly strode to them and stopped in front of poor Midori.

"Get up Green-Green." the vixen had ordered in an uninterested tone. Midori, fearing what might happen if she did otherwise, got up only for her chin to be capture by clawed fingers. Said fingers then forced her to look at the woman's blood red slit eyes.

"I like how those green eyes of yours look right now. They're so full of fear for the unknown yet somehow full of hope for a rescue that will never come." the vixen commented in an almost sensual tone. "Tell me. What s your real dream? What is it that you want to do if you survive today?"

"To s-s-show the world that w-w-women can f-f-fight just as well as men." Midori answered and Akane let go of her. Of course the vixen let go to fall into a fit of mirth laugher. Thus, it was here that the green eyed girl now found herself thinking whether she was lucky or not. But soon the laughter dialed down to chuckles.

"That's so novel goal! So much like Mito, Kushina and my Empress!" the redhead noted before her laughing subsided. However she still remained smirking in amusement before asking "You know you have amused me. What about it? Want to make deal? Swear your loyalty to me plus who I work for and we'll let you form an army built of the strongest of females."

This gave Midori pause. Here was a woman that was not only stronger than she thought a human could possibly be. This woman who also appeared to be an unknown type of sub-beast not only acknowledge her goal but also mention it was on par with a person this demoness considered it's leader. That meant if she accepted the deal she would finally get her own female only army, she would built her own world were beauty also meant strength and she could create a new era for women all around Gaia.

But then the green hair general realized what this deal would mean.

If she accepted this deal it would mean betrayal. Accepting this deal would mean abandoning her fellow soldiers, her friend, family and love ones all for a something that she could still create with her own power. Hence she understood that she couldn't let herself be controlled by her fear. Sure, the being in front of her seemed to be worlds stronger than any of the people of the army but she was still made of flesh and flesh bleed when cut. Not to mention that this being disguised itself as a human to fool them. It lied to them by not showing its true face hence there was no indication that this supposed beneficial deal wasn't a lie.

Thus with renewed courage Midori clenched her fist to try and stop her trembling and glared down at the vixen.

"E-E-Even if it means dying… I wouldn't betray my people. *gulp* I will not join you and the Witch Queen!" the female General ended up screaming to try and show her courage. However her proclamation only seemed to feed Akane's smirk.

"Good choice." the whiskered redhead announced before disappearing. Yet that was for a second Midori found herself bending over and falling her knees while clutching her stomach and bent body armor as an immeasurable amount of pain exploded from it alongside the air from her lungs. "I'll make sure to break you and rebuilt into one of the strongest women around." the vixen added in a low seductive tone.

"Why?" Midori gasped out through the pain. At this happened she noticed the vixen kneeling in front of her and grabbing her chin. However as the vixen did this the greennette asked herself for one fleeting moment 'Why aren't the other helping?' before remembering the ungodly amount of bloodlust radiating from the redhead that had paralyzed almost all of them.

"I'm doing this because I like strong woman and I love it when strong woman beat up men that think they're the top of the top. So, I'm going to beat you up until you're nothing but a pile of broken bone and bruised flesh. Then I'm going to rebuild that broken body into that of a true warrior. Plus, I if I do a good enough job with you I'll be rewarded with a strong mate for when I finally get my own body." the red eyed female proclaimed victoriously. This only made Midori glare at her through the pain.

"You think *cough* I would abandon my people for a demon's promise of power?"

"I never said you had a choice."

With that last word Akane stood up with all of her fingers extended and pointing up. Yet no one dared asked why small flaming red lights started to appear on each individual finger tip. Then at the center of each palm another much bigger red orb appeared which caused the little ones to start making cracking while sending something that looked like lighting into the bigger one. Then the red orb on the left hand expanded and stretched into a long cylindrical objected while the red orb on the right hand just became more dense and darker.

But this only lasted for a few seconds before the cylindrical object stopped shining and solidified into a small red pole. Then the vixen lightly threw the now blood red orb while grabbing the pole with both hands and taking a swinging position. Thus when the dark ball fell back down it was hit with the pole that made an echoing metal clag sound was the sphere shot forward. This sphere then sailed right over Midori's head and in less than a second hit one of the other Generals.

Yet that was not the end as the dark ball exploded in a searing and violent display that unleashed a white hot flame that actually melted the rock walls it touched. Though this inferno only lasted about five second before it vanished without a single ember in its place. Not even the ashes of the generals' bones were left. Only the melted rock walls could say what really happened.

"After all, now you're the only one with enough power to lead your people right now." the vixen finished what her thought while admiring her work.

"You monster… you just… killed them." Midori stuttered at she stared in horror at where her allies used to be. Not even single thing was left to remember them by or thing to their families. Now these men will never have a proper burial.

"I am and I did but you can't really blame me. I mean, I've been stuck inside three different humans for almost every second of their lifetimes and experienced every little thing they did which only made me feel like eradicating humanity more and more. It's only natural that now that I have some freedom I would let some of those urges out.

But really it's not like I'm always some evil entity hell bent on destruction. I like to play in the fields and smell the flowers like a normal fox you know. I even sleep in the grass under the sun if it's warm enough! Plus, most of the time I kill is because I'm hungry or trying to make a point of not pissing my off!" Akane ranted off and continued on for while as Midori continued to stare.

However even as fear gripped her everything something that the woman said at the start finally reached her quickly diminishing reasoning.

"What do you mean by "stuck inside three different humans"? Are you some kind of evil spirit that needs to kill their victims from the inside to keep yourself alive?" Midori asked without being able to stop her body from trembling. The thankfully had the immediate effect of stopping the ranting woman as she blinked in surprise before adopting a somewhat disappointing look.

"No I'm not nor would I want to be." the vixen answered dully and then added with a smirk "I'm just your run of the mill demon lord. Although I now go by the name Akane I usually go by my title of Kyūbi no Yoko."

It was only natural after that Kyūbi would relish Midori's shock and fear as the woman took her time to fathom what this all meant. After all, it was not every day that one meets a Bijū in the flesh while they are out of the jinchūriki and it was even less frequent to survive long enough learned they were fighting one let alone the strongest of them. Thus when the green eye woman's brain finally rebooted she could only scream one thing.

"You're a Bijū?!"

"Yep!" the demoness answered with a full blown grin and victory towards the shock stricken female. "Now, are you willing to make our deal or do I have to release my true power?"

"Real power?"

"Why yes! You see-"

That sudden pause in the Bijū's sentence practically made Midori feel like her own heart had stopped. Yet as the seconds ticked down the woman's worries grew larger and larger as the vixen's face started to morph. At first it was just a blinking of the eyes then red eyes widened followed by trembling lips and then the vixen's face just transformed into the most vicious, blood thirsty, ranger filled and just plain beastly expression that Midori had ever seen. Then came the greatest and angriest roar ever produced by an animal when the Kyūbi bellowed to the sky as she was covered in an aura of red energy.

Then to Midori's horror the demoness directed shining crimson eyes at her green one. At that moment the lone General could only think one thing.

'I'm going to die.' her mind stated in a surprisingly calm tone of acceptance of fate as the enraged demon strode to her like a hunter towards its prey.

"Human. Tell me your name." Akane growled in an even deeper rumble than her already power filled voice as she stood over the downed general.

"Huh?" the greennette blinked in surprised while she felt the sizzling of the Bijū's red energy on her skin.

"Tell. Me. Your. Name." the vixen growled like a caged animal about to break lose.

"M-M-Midori, General of the 8th Regiment." the green eyed female stuttered as she felt the red energy intensify so much if looked it was taking to corporal form a raging fox.

"Your weapon of choice is what?"

"K-K-Kusarigama. Ma'am." Midori answered automatically and not even noticing the respect she had given her enemy.

Akane on the other hand noticed and extended her right hand forward like when she created the pole and fire bomb. This time, however, while the pole remained firmly gripped by the left the energy on the right started to crackle and spin into another pole like form. But then the energy flashed like it exploded and once the light cleared it showed a pristine if somewhat demonic looking kusarigama.

The metal pole of the weapon was warped in a crimson cloth for a better grip while the sickle-blade resembled more a war scythe do to its much longer length compared to the regular version of the weapon. The chain part of the weapon was of such dark color it felt like it eat the light around it and then heavy iron weight normal found at the end was replaced by a small spiked ball that looked better suited for a mace. Finally to finish the menacing look the word Penitence was carved in the blade's sides.

"With this weapon forged from my every chakra you will fight beside me and kill the one who has wronged my warden." the Kyūbi no Yoko commanded like a lord would to their servant.

"What?" to human inquired as her eyes shifted back and forth from the power radiating from the weapon to the demon that created it.

"Midori, General of the 8th Regiment I give you two choices. One: Betray your nation and die to let it survive my wrath or Two: refuse and live to watch it burn to the ground by my own hands." Akane explained before making the kusarigama float in front of Midori's face. "Your choice human. Betrayal to save a nation or loyalty to doomed its people?"

The choice, if you could call it that, made Midori shake in horror. Both options giving to her meant going against everything she promised when she took the mantle of General. Both options only lead to her betraying her people for the enemy. Worst was that she knew that there was no third option of stealing that weapon and cutting down the demon. If she were to choose that option one of two things were bonded to happen: 1) the Kyūbi would strike her down faster than she could move or 2) the weapon herself would kill her.

"Your time and my patience are run thin human." the human form of the Kyūbi announced as her fox ears flatted and her tail slowly twitched like it wanted to smash something into pieces.

That was the final push the last general of Camilia needed to regretfully accept her fate of treachery towards her people. Thus, with resignation and self-hatred her hand slowly reached towards the weapon but stopped just short of grabbing it.

"Why are you giving me this choice? Why not just kill me?"

"Because I need someone to keep the throne warm for my warden before she finally conquers your pathetic nation that dared to invade ours without so much as a single provocation."

With that final answer from the demon the human grabbed the demonic weapon. Yet no words could describe the pain that Midori felt as her hand grasped the weapon and the red energy entered her. In pain the only thing she could think that would even come close was acid being injected in her veins while her skin was bathed in white hot fire. But while it felt like an eternity it only lasted a couple of seconds the end result surprised the greennette.

Considering her fighting style normally consisted a agility do to her weapon specialty she usually wore strong leather but that still left part between the end of the gauntlets and shoulders exposed. Because of this she was able to see how the black chain around her bare skin while the pole with the blade, pointing to the right, attached itself to the back of her gauntlet. However what really surprised her was that the palm of her glove was burned away to leave her bare palm exposed with K-9 written on it in.

Yet the woman had no time to think its meaning before they turned red and her body automatically got up. Then her head turned to the Kyūbi and both of them nodded even though Midori didn't understand why. After that her body turned sharply to a wall before running straight at it. That was the moment Midori finally realized she had lost complete control of her body because she could neither stop herself from running or closing her eyes. Yet instead of crashing like she thought her foot landed on the wall followed by the other and in less in without understanding what was going on she ran up the wall like it was still part of the road.

Then when reaching the edge her body jumped into a backwards summersault that ended with Midori's body land on her hand on the wall behind her. Next she fell into a running position that gave her the running boost to jump onto the next wall without effort. This then continued with the next and the one after that and the following again and again without impediment. But out of the corner of her eye the greennette noticed the Kyūbi had also jumped alongside her. However, as she realized, it was as if the demoness was sailing through the air because what took her human body four or five jumps to reach the Bijū only did it one.

Thus Midori traveled inside her body without way of controlling it and only one question running to her mind: Who will remain alive after today?

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[Section B]

"ADEN! ABOVE!" Ike screamed while punching the face of one of the revived soldiers. At the same time Aden, in his dragon form, did a corkscrew in midair to avoid the diving attack from the flying metal-flesh hybrid monstrosity that was attacking them.

The creature was a mixed between a human and a bat with the fangs of a lion. However the most disturbing thing about this monster was that it used to be one of the soldiers before the transformation. Now the legs were bent so it could walk on its toes that had grown into claws while the fingers of the person's hands extended as the membrane slowly built itself between the fingers. Then the jaw of the person broke and set until it could bite off an entire person's head. However, while this was going on the metal of the man's armor started to meld together to the flesh with a sizzling sound until one could not tell what was flesh and what was metal as both appeared around the body in different patches an intervals.

Then when the creature jumped into the air Aden went after it. This left Ike to fight of the revived soldiers which acted a lot like the zombies he had encountered with Valkyrie back at the catacombs of the castle. Though these were a little different in that instead of trying to eat him they just fought relentlessly with their weapons. Thankfully the zombie soldiers didn't seem to possess a high level of ability which let Ike survive so far with just a few cuts and bruises.

However it was the flying monstrosity that was the real problem. Not only could the thing out fly Aden but at least three times the monster had thrown a screech so high the very air vibrated right before something exploded. Thankfully while tiring Ike had managed to evade these attacks be throwing one of the soldier. Hence that reason why they knew how dangerous the attack could be although the first time had be a fluke considering Ike had just sidestepped a sword slash which had moved him away from the attack. The soldier had not been so luck and his head a exploded in a very unhealthy fashion.

"Dammit! When will this bastards stop getting back up!" the blue haired swordsman growled while kicking one of the zombie soldiers to the wall and watch as it got back up.

Then to his surprise the wall feel on top of the soldier who made a very wet splat upon hitting the ground. But this cause a small dust cloud to rise which blocked his vision and put him in very dangerous position. Yet his worry was for not quickly heard the sounds of flesh and metal being shredded apart all around him. Then when the dust cleared he saw that all of his opponents laid cut and shredded to ribbons on the ground.

"What the hell?" he asked himself before seeing something run out of the corner of his eye. Thus he quickly turned to the direction expecting a new enemy only to find a figure moving at high speed running up the wall. Not a moment later the figure reached the top it jump hard towards Aden who had been flying low.

"Watch me!" the figure ordered with strong female voice. The dovah did miss a beat was its claws grabbed the figure and shot high into the air. At the same time something was threw at the humanoid bat that exploded with enough force to anger it as it turn and flew to them.

"Let go now!" the female then yelled and the dragon did so without question.

The bat monster didn't seem to mind much as it moved slightly to avoid the falling female however it did not count on the chain that wrapped itself around its head and pulled it down along with the woman. Because of this the creature screeched in surprise at the sudden jack it felt around its neck and then was even more caught off guard as the chain swung around and wrapped itself again around its neck. Then the creature felt something land on it back.

"Sorry but I don't had the luxury of making this an epic 3-vs-1 fight!" the female screamed with her fist raised. "Now die!" she ordered and brought her fist crashing down. Though neither the best, Aden or Ike just how strong the impact was until shot straight down to the ground like a rock. Thus the monster could do nothing to spot itself from crashing without enough force to go from a synthetic-organic hybrid to a pile of broken and bent metal bathed in a puddle of blood.

It was only after the dust from the crash that Ike finally noticed that the woman was actually Naruko. However this Naruko looked pale, sickly and was definitely sweating profusely while trying to gulp down as much air as possible. Not to mention that her legs looked like they would give out at any moment. Seeing this Ike rushed at her which proved to be the right to do because her leg did in fact buckled under her weight.

"Naruko-san!" the young swordsman yelled upon catching the falling female. "What's wrong? Why do you look like this and what happened to the others?"

"Not… boss… She… She's in trouble…" the clone panted out while Ike rested her on her back.

"You're a clone? What happen to her and the others?" Ike asked with worry as Aden landed softly beside them.

"I… I don't know. The connection… its not there… my lifeline… time so short… fading…" the tried clone answered as her breath became shallower and she started to sweat.

"Hold on! Please! Tell me what can I do to help?" the young man questioned. At the same time the clone forced herself to take out one of her gloves, which immediately popped out of existence, and raise it to his face and cradle it.

"Hand… bare… forehead… memory transfer…" the clone implored and Ike nodded. Thus he quickly undid his bandana and took of the clone's crown which also popped out of existence. Then he helped her raised her head so both of their foreheads would touch. What followed next was Ike experiencing images flooding into his mind and flashing at disorienting rate that made his head feel like it was about to burst like a bubble. Yet as they slowly stopped flashing he could tell they were a cry for help and that he now knew where Naruko and her team where. "Help… them…" the clone begged as her body slowly started to break apart into particles of blue light. "Akane-sama will… have… our… power."

Those were the last words the clone said before its body finally vanished into chakra dust that was carried by the wind and most probably to the Kyūbi. But seeing this, the red dovah turned his gaze at that swordsman who was putting his green bandana back on.

"Ike?"

"We need to go to Naruko-san's last location." the blue haired teen answered while getting back up. "The vision... it was hard to understand but I know we need to lend her team our strength now or they could die."

"Let us hope that we arrive in time."

With that the dragon laguz lowered himself onto he was on all fours and extended his neck for the swordsman to ride him. Ike nodded while picking up a sword in better condition than the one he had been using previously to fend off his attackers. Once the used but still acceptable weapon was sheathed he sat on the mighty dragon's shoulders while his legs fell beside the creature's neck. After wish the two blasted off into the sky with Ike directing them toward were they were needed.

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-Leinbeck Town-

[Healing Center]

"Why doesn't anyone come and help us?" Mist whispered to Karin. "The clones were killed so she should have gotten their memories by now."

"That wouldn't work here." Karin whispered back to in frustration.

Right now both teens were tied back to back by a rope courtesy of their capture. Said capture was not really present right now because he was taking care of some "business" with one of the cows out back. Karin just thanked whatever deity had decided to take some mercy on them considering the man had said they needed to be untouched for whatever they were need. Yet the idea of being trapped by a man that considered bovine equal to women in terms of stress reliving did not sit well with Karin at all.

Worst yet was who the man had captured them. The monster of a man had simply exploded through one o f the wooden walls on the barn they were in and started hacking away at the clones like a wild animal. It didn't help he had been using an especially large Executioner's Axe that match the man's outfit. Said outfit consisted of a blood-soaked black cloth over his head over his head that concealed his face, a large black apron tattered and soaked in blood, long red gloves and with the physique of a power-lifter. Not mention to add to the creep factor the man had dozens of nails protruding from every few square inches of his exposed skin, including three very large hooks impaled into his back.

Their only saving grace had been that Karin had sense the monster at the last moment and escape the first attack. However that had not last for long before the pole part of the massive weapon had knock them aside like nothing. This of course was why they were now tied together.

"Why is it that it won't work Karin-chan? Normally whenever Valkyrie-san's clones burst she always gets their memories. Why is now different?" the brunette finally asked and redhead sighed.

"The difference here is that while the Kage Bushin were made with cousin's chakra the consciousness in them was yours and mine. Thus, only we would get the memories since it was our mind that were copied not hers."

"Then how do we escape?"

"I have an idea but I'm not sure we would want to escape."

"Why? People could be in danger right now!"

"That's exactly my point. We're medics not fighters and our jobs are to heal them not put our lives on the line to rescue them from powerful enemies. I know it sounds pathetic but we have to wait for someone to save us before we think of using our chakra to kill something. It's would be rather problematic if we managed to escape only to realize we're too tried to save our friends."

"So we wait?"

"As hard as it is to say it. Yes, for now we wait."

"Well then, be thankful you won't have to wait for long." a new voice commented beside them before a flash of light passed by them.

"Huh?" both females asked as their ropes were cut. Then when they turn to the direction of the voice it was Mist how gasped while Karin just raised an eyebrow.

"Masaru-san! What are you doing here?" the brunette asked which caused the man to chuckle a little.

"Let's just say a little angle showed me the way." Masaru answered while outing back his sword on its sheath. Then he gave his hands to help the females get up. "Anyway, we have to get out of here fast and help our two earth masters."

"What happened?" Mist asked with worried. Karin on the other hand glared not so much at the man but at what was going to happen next.

"I think what more important is how are we getting out of here?" the bespectacled female questioned. She didn't say anything but she had been feeling around with her censor field and had noticed all of the unknown chakra sources that had suddenly appeared. But what really worried her was that she couldn't feel Naruko's chakra which she had found out early on that was nearly impossible considering just how massive they were.

"To answer both of your questions: 1) I can only say that something unpredicted happened and we're facing new problems all over the place. But we're dealing we them as they come. And 2) I have a plan but I'll need a kunai or a knife as well as a sealing kit." the shadow swordsman announced with the last bit directed at the Uzumaki who raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the Uzumaki Clan was supposed to be some really special clan that produced at lot of Seal Masters. So cousin forced me to start learning the basics at least which thankfully I'm got the hang off fast enough." Karin explained before taking out the sealing kit out of a seal in her ninja pouch.

Then she kneeled down to open it and extracted the small brush and phial of ink that was mixed with her blood to actually make it able to conduct chakra. After all, ink like everything on this planet could conduct chakra to a point but what really made sealing acts as strong and unpredictable as they were known for was that the same seal could have different levels of effect if they used their own blood because people themselves were different. Of course there were other factors in this that were normally not explored upon or explain to do its complexity but on fact remained: blooded ink was one of the greatest materials for making seals.

"What kind of seal do you want?" Karin asked as she dipped her brush.

"Just this one on this kunai." Masaru said while taking out a paper with a seal on it and a regular kunai. Taking both items the orange eyed teen commenced her work of copying the seal onto the weapon. Thanks to the training forced upon her do to her slave-drive of a cousin this processes was done in seconds.

"Done. But what are you going to use it for anyway?" the Apprentice level seals maker asked as the same took out a canteen.

"To test out a theory I learned from one of the books Val-chan and Akane-sama made read until I practically memorized it." the man responded cryptically unscrewing the top and taking kunai while channeling his chakra into the seal. Then he tilted the bottle and poured the water on the weapon which drank and drank and drank and drank and…

"How much water is there?" Mist inquired in fascination as water just kept pouring out without any signs of stopping. It was Karin that decided to answer as the question while keeping her senses open to watch out for the executioner. The only bad part about it was that had to see the excitement in the man's chakra and knew just why he was excited.

"It's a water containment seal. It's simple to make and use but very versatile considering they can hold anything from gallons to barrels worth of liquid." the redhead informed and added "Question is: What kind of jutsu are you going to do with that much water?"

"Just a little something." the swordsman replied finally closed the bottle a few seconds later. Then he proceeded to walk out of the barn with the girls close behind him. They then stayed close to the walls as possible to avoid the tall man from seeing them. Yet that didn't them feel any safer as they could hear the executioner's grunts and moans of pleasure grow louder the closer they got. Soon enough they got to the edge of the walls and looked around the corner. Thankfully Masaru was able to stop Mist from look; Karin and Masaru himself weren't so lucky.

"Oh god that's disgusting. Not even Orochimaru was that depraved." the now very green colored healer said while trying to hold back her breakfast.

"Then let's finish this quickly." the spiky haired male proclaimed and stepped out into the light. Then he took out the kunai and aimed at his target. After he felt ready he threw the knife with all of his strength and it sailed through the air until it hit its mark death center and buried itself a few inches. Said mark behind the back for the executioner's head. Not stopping there Masaru quickly did a half ram sign and released all of the water in the kunai. Moments later there was a very wet and grotesque splat as the executioner's head bursts like a balloon; a very fleshy, filled with blood and holding a brain balloon.

"Okay… remind me not have you help Sūigetsu learn new water style jutsus." Karin commented while cleaning her glasses because she had the bad luck of a few specs of gore reaching her.

"Nevertheless we have to get to Armstrong and Titania. We will need their power to finish this war if worst comes to worst." Masaru replied with a serious look on his face. He was probably fighting his reflex to gag after seeing what he had just done. Mist, regretfully, was not that strong yet.

"Okay but let me seal away the body fast. I don't want to run the risqué of this bastard somehow coming back to life and attacking from behind."

"Do it fast then."

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[Section A]

"Any ideas?" Sūigetsu questioned while holding his massive sword defensively.

"None what so ever." Nalu answered holding her trident in an equally defensive manner.

"Then I can say we are officially fucked."

The reason for the user of the legendary sword had said those words was because they had yet to even scratch their opponents. Oh sure, they had managed to hit passed the shields but it did nothing against the heavy and somewhat oversized armor their enemies were using. This coupled with the fact that their enemies were running electricity through their weapons the two water users just couldn't do anything. However they did have one saving grace which that the soldiers only countered attacks not initiate them.

But that didn't really helped their situation considering both parties had just stopped moving for almost half an hour. Plus the whole standstill standoff was just nerve-racking beyond believe.

"Hey?" the shark tooth teen spoke with a grin.

"What?" the green haired woman responded

"If we managed to get out of here." he started before turning his head to her with a full grin that practically screamed pervert. "Will you go out with me on a date?"

"I don't think this is the time for this! Besides, you're a criminal, I'm an officer of the law and I'm older than you!" Nalu screamed back with her tanned cheeks dusted with a soft blush of embarrassment.

"That makes it even better! There's the thrill of doing something forbidden!" Sūigetsu cackled at her mortification. However before she could smash his face in the back of his head found itself in the receiving end of a flying kick that nailed him to the ground. Thankfully the leg belong to Valkyrie although she looked she was about fall over if the wind pushed her to hard.

"Valkyrie-sama! What's wrong?" Nalu asked upon seeing the panting woman.

"Not boss… just clone... Make path… both of you… run." the clone panted as it concentrated all of its chakra over the fingertips of her right hand which was poised like a claw. At the same time Sūigetsu started to get up from his downed position and rubbing his head.

"I'm guessing that little whiny bastard needs my help then?" he asked though it sounded more like a statement. This actually made the clone smirk in some mirth.

"Yeah" she answered while her fingers became shrouded in chakra and formed a claw.

"Roger that." the purple eyed teen nodded and put Kubikiribōnchō on his back. Then he calmly walked over to Nalu and, to her surprised, picked her up like on would a princess or bride.

"Hey! What are you doing! Let me down!" the trident user yelled in protest while struggling but failing. Well, that was her immediate reaction until she felt the clones was ready to attack. Thus, she turned her head to see the clone extend her hand as far back as she could while firmly panting her feet to the ground and taking one last breath before attacking.

"Thousand Cuts Style: Soul Shredder!" the clone chanted and swung her claw with all her might.

That effects were almost immediate as five very large and wide blade suddenly blasted forward right as the clone burst into smoke. Seeing this Sūigetsu took it as a clue to run and went in the same direction as the blade. Nalu didn't even bother to ask why as she saw the blade go through the shields and armor of the man like they were just wet parchment. Though if you were to asked right now as Sūigetsu jumped over the shredded bodies and wall Nalu would say she was slightly annoyed with the situation.

After all those few seconds made it feel like the struggle she and Sūigetsu had just been a wasted of time.

"I hope we get to do better for the next fight." she finally grumbled as they escaped and presumably went to where Valkyrie was.

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[Section K]

"JŪGO!" the shadow clone screamed as she ran at the gentle giant.

But this proved to be a little more difficult do to the curse seal users in her way. Thankfully her job was being man a little easier do in part to her using the Thousand Cuts martial arts style that her mistress partially created from at least two different styles used in Uzushiogakure plus her mistress natural wind infinity. Yet, taijutsu was still in its trial phases considering one couldn't practice against allies while using it because of how deadly even the basic movements were. But now the clone had enemies to practice and however short her life would be without the connection to her creator she would test out this taijutsu to her limits.

Then end result was her carving a bloody path of dismembered bodies and shredded metal as her hands waved through the soldiers in front of her. Thus, in moments she managed to reach the orange haired shape-shifter though already too tired to talk. Hence she just threw herself at him while her body disintegrated and the chakra dust cover him to transfer the images like the other one did with Ike.

However while this was going on the ground above on the walls was a different story. You see, Martel had taken it upon herself to fight bald Zalza and she wasn't fairing too well. The reason for this was that while Martel could extend her range to stretching ability the woman she was fighting could fire purple chakra blast from an even greater distance. Thus the blond found herself more than once on the defensive as she jumped and waved through the volley of energy balls. Though she did find go motivation to keep going this since the purple spheres appeared to be highly corrosive considering that when they burst whatever it touched melted with very audible sizzle.

"Stand still dammit!" Martel growled in frustration as she threw three kunias with one hand. Zalza smirked and did just that while raising just one gauntlet covered hand. Not a second too soon or late a transparent round purple shield blocked the kunais who bounce harmlessly upon hitting the shield. Yes, this shield was another reason for Martel's growing frustration with her opponent.

"What's wrong snake-bitch? Your fangs not long enough?" the bald woman taunted before shrinking and condensing her shield into a large ball. Then, just as Martel was starting to curse her luck, Zalza enlarged the sphere until burst and from that explosion came 30 small floating orbs that hover around the sorceress.

"Oh come on!" the female Armstrong screamed.

This was right before she turned tail and ran as purple acid destruction started to rain down on her. Jump, run, roll, sidestep, skip, back-peddle, dive, spin and a little bit of luck you name it she had to do it to escape death. Yet during her last jump her luck ran out as section of the wall gave out thanks to being hit by a previously avoided attack. Regretfully that momentary shock provided by the slipup was all the remaining spheres need to crash down on her. Safe to say that her falling screams of pain echo morbidly well with Zalza's sadistic cackle.

However Martel was saved from falling head first onto the ground by Jūgo catching her at the last minute. Though this meant he too was covered in the purple acid which was corrosive enough to burn part of his transformed skin. It didn't burn through like it was doing with Martel's skin but the fact that it managed to hurt his thick skin was all that the giant needed to know about this corrosive potential. Hence he quickly ran towards one of the corpses of the soldiers whose curse seal he had forcibly extracted and proceeded to absorb the dying cells. Then he quickly transformed them into healing chakra which he immediately injected directly into Martel's veins to hopefully safe her.

"Fuck!" the woman cursed through clenched teeth while adding "What the hell are you doing?!"

"It's one of my abilities. Right now I'm pumping full of healing chakra to try and stop the acid from eating away your body."

"Well it fucking hurts!" the blond accidentally screamed as she felt her face burning.

"THAT'S NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT I HAVE IN STORED FOR YOU WHEN I FIND YOU!" the deranged scream of Zalza echoed over them.

"What's wrong with her?" the blond female asked with a raised eyebrow and thankfully something was distracting her from the pain. At her question the spiky orange haired teen chuckled.

"I managed to hit her with my Chakra Cannons while she gloated about killing you. Right before diving at you I saw the attack send her flying over a few walls." he answered as he finished giving her enough chakra and cells to stop the worse of the acid's corrosion.

He could probably give her more and nullify the effects completely but the woman's biology was still too foreign for him to risk as larger transfusion. Hence when it was finished he carefully took out his flesh needle and tried to remove the acid on her skin. Strangely enough Jūgo noted what looked small snake like scale appearing wherever he cleaned off the purple liquid chakra.

"Too bad it didn't kill her." Martel grumbled before smiling at the teen. "Thanks for the save by the way. Maybe you're not that much of a coward I made you out to be."

"All is forgiven." Jūgo nodded with his normal gentle smile before turning serious. "However we still have to find a way to finish her off. One of Valkyrie-sama's clones reached me and informed me that the Empress and her team are in trouble."

"I doubt we will be able to help much in my condition." the yellow eyed woman commented with a sigh as she still felt her insides burning and stinging from that foul chakra. Yet when her eyes opened their glare spoke with determination. "But what we can do is take out that bitch once and for all."

"How?" the taller human asked as both got to their feet. It was only then that they noticed how quiet the area around them was. It was too quiet for their taste that much was for sure. Nevertheless Martel answered.

"Our little Empress is a total sadist when it comes to training so she took it upon herself to summon her god-dammed Bijū on us to "get in shape." End result was we puny humans having enough physiological traumas for a life time. But out of all the torture I endured I learned that my body is a lot more elastic than I ever thought possible."

"Ah! Does that mean you can make your veins pump more blood then usual to increase your overall performance?"

"That's… That can be a possibility but not what I have planned." Martel replied while blinking at the new idea her momentary comrade had given her to later test out. But she quickly shook her head to stay alert. Plus, it help fight of the dizziness she was starting to fell. "Either way I will still need you to hold her down somehow or else my attack won't land."

"THERE YOU ARE!" a voice thundered over them with malice and a sizable amount of power.

The trained fighter reacted fast and jumped apart as giant purple sphere crashed where they had been not a second prior with a small explosion that created a purple gas cloud. However, before the venomous cloud had vanished Zalza burst out of it swing at Martel with clawed gauntlets. What followed next was the still weakened Martel bending her body in all sure of manner while running backwards to avoid getting hit by those chakra laced claws.

"What's the matter?! I thought could fight!" Zalza laughed as Martel jumped back from the last swing.

Regretfully for the nibbled fighter the last slash had been a faint to set an energy volt from her other hand. The bald sorceress smirked and fired that attack which hit true by landing on her opponent's stomach. The blond military woman yelped upon being caught mid-jump and was violently thrown backwards which resulted in her crashing into the wall behind her. Thankfully while it hurt like hell the bang was just hard enough to disorient her instead of just cracking her skull wide open.

"Hehehe, I guess this is where you die." the bald woman announce as she built up chakra into her right hand and pointing the enlarging orb at the blond.

But before she could finish of the blond Zalza felt something running at her from behind and turned. That proved to be her saving grace as she was able to transform the orb in a shield to block a mass axe from chopping her in half. The shield, however, didn't stop the full brunt of the impact as she felt her entire being vibrate from the hit.

"Let's see if you can block this. Piston Fist!" Jūgo announced before transforming his right arm.

Then he let lose the hammer like punch onto the shield. The shield only lasted about a second before it shattered and the sorceress created a second one hastily which broke apart almost on impact. However the third consecutive shield managed to deflect the blow. But that was what Jūgo waited for took another swing with his Destroying Axe Fist which was barely blocked.

Poor Zalza didn't even have time to growl in frustration when she the orange haired giant's other hand transform into another axe. In fact she couldn't do much of anything except stand in place and create shield after shield to block the erratic swings of the giant. Hell, she couldn't even try to move away from the unrelenting assault since she needed the leverage of staying stand still to be able to generate enough power to redirect the heavy axes.

So concentrated in this was she that Zalza didn't have the chance of seeing the two combat knives that came from behind. Thus she could do nothing against the hands wielding them from plunging them into thighs and cutting her femoral arteries open when they came out. That was followed by the knives going higher and stabbing both her liver and ripping open her stomach. The pain alone from the stabbing was enough to make her concentration flatter which let her open for Jūgo's axes that had already going down by the time the first double stabbing happened.

Hence that single moment of missed concentration cost Zalza her arms which were both cut at the elbow. The cuts were bloody, vicious, painful and clean. However she didn't have a chance to scream in agony as the knives were shift to move to her throat and head. The right one sank into her neck while the left dug itself into side of her head. Then with one mighty pull from both knives her throat was slid open and finally decapitated which turned her body into something reminiscent to fountain for a couple of seconds before it finally collapsed.

"What happened to using your elasticity to killer?" Jūgo asked as he wiped away some of the blood that had splash onto his face. His question was received with a raised eyebrow from the woman.

"You're kind, right? You gave me the chance to kill her using my knives instead of using a technique that was sure to incapacitate me for God knows how long. I rather go for the practical kill instead of the flashy one." Martel answered while putting down the head on the ground. Then she put her foot on it and pulled her knife free to holster both of her combat knives after cleaning them on her pants.

"By that logic I'm pretty sure the knife to the side of the head would have sufficed." the orange eye teen chuckled awkwardly. The yellow eyed adult just glared at the disembodied head.

"Bitch pissed me off." the woman muttered darkly. However she quickly took out a scroll from one of the pockets in her pants. She then sealed away the head and gauntlets with the arms still in them. After which she put the scroll back in its pocket and got up. "Now let's get back to the girls to see if they can heal me enough for me to back onto the field."

"Good idea." Jūgo noted with a nodded while bending so Martel would ride his back. "Thankfully we won't be meeting anymore resistance from curse seal users." he added as the knife wielder generously accepted the piggyback ride.

"Why do you say that?" she asked once she was on his back.

"I don't feel any more active curse seal. Not to mention that the moment you sealed away those gauntlets that strange feeling inside the curse seals vanished."

"Then that hopefully means we took out a major player."

"Let's hope indeed."

With that Jūgo jumped up the wall and proceeded travel over the walls to their healers. He really wanted to go and help Sasuke and Sūigetsu right now but he wasn't about to let Martel die alone. This blond woman was friends with the person that saved him from his darker half and he would be damned if he didn't repay the favor by helping protect the Empress' allies.

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[Unknown Location]

A figure dresses in red robes that their body and face stood in front of a crowed dress much the same. This group was standing around a large stone sanctuary that has seen much better days considering most of the structure laid crumbled, broken and bare to the elements. Not mention even though it had many pillars standing around it or on the floor this temple had no ceiling which tell any of look up see the blood red skies and their seemingly endless storm. Nevertheless the figures didn't mind as they gathered in front of their leader who was standing at the pedestal. Behind the leader stood a wall that normally held the painting of their lord and savior.

Strangely enough today a large part of the wall was covered a black curtain. Even stranger was the fact that none of the members seem to mind the fact that their leader was standing in a pool of blood that seem to originate from the wall behind him.

"Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons and lover." the leader started "Many of you may be wondering why I brought you here. Well fear not for your answers will come soon. You see, a few days ago I was contacted by one true Cardinal of Eternal Darkness. They have given me a piece of information that will forever change our lives! If friends! I was told that the vessel of our savior would come to us!"

This announcement caused the room to be filled by an uproar of cheers.

"Silence!" the leader suddenly commanded and the group did was told although somewhat surprised. "I know you are happy to know this. Believe I am as well but I will need you all to concentrate for the rebirth ceremony which we will commence at this very moment."

Upon hearing this many of the hooded figures started pulling out candles inside of human skulls from their robes. Then as they started to chant in a language unknown to human ears their slowly lit up one by one by themselves. While the other members started their chanting the leader extracted a long claymore sword from his robe. The sword itself looked ordinary but upon closer inspection there were strange letters written on the blade that became brighter with each candle that was lit.

But the leader paid not mind to this as his hand grabbed the curtain and pulled it off the wall.

As the curtain fell to the ground they revealed an upside-down cross nailed to the stone. However there was a person on the cross tied by bloody chains protruding from their body. This person, a female, seemed to be unconscious if not death from too much blood lust considering the generous blood pooling below her. The sight only made the leader of the religions group smirk in admiration.

"Behold my family! Uzumaki Naruko! The vessel of our lord The Great Kyūbi no Yoko!" the leader proclaimed with glee while raising the sword and holding in a reverse grip with both hands. "Today! Today, our savoir will finally be free from their mortal prison and bring about salvation!" With those final words the male turned to plunge his blade into the female's stomach.

He never noticed that Naruko had opened her right eye. An eye that contained a slit pupil on an orange iris that was surrounded by darkness…

Next Time: The fight for survival begins.

A/N:

HELL YEAH! Finally back after 300 years!

….

Okay, yeah, it was only 3 months to the date (Last update before this chapter: 3/7/2014) but I finally made it. I'm really sorry it took so long to make this chapter but between Finals and Bravely Default I was kind of busy. Nonetheless this chapter is done and I can start with the next!

P.S. I'm finally graduating and getting my Bachelor's Degree on June 11th, 2014! I'm so happy!