Tokyo Tower

Haruka sighed in relief, after holding his breath for so long and then... It was over. He sat on his knees, staring at the weeping Reaper as it finally fell. Tears still dripped a bit down his face knowing Zaharias was semi-permanently deleted from existence.

Lambros gave a firm grasp on the shoulder trying to help Haruka get his bearings. He felt his heart tear a bit when Thavas even shed a tear for his fallen comrades. The Aqua Force kept tight knit relations so losing one soldier, now two, including Ianis, was a hard loss for the force.

"We'll get him back, Captain..."

Haruka nodded, watching as the city cheered at the victory they achieved. They were moving forward to success. Even Haruka gave a warcry in honor of Zaharias and Ianis' efforts.

He watched as his allies, Bashiro, Jessie and Sakuya, and the remaining members of the Triad took their shot at the Reaper and succeeded. A smile eventually overtook his face as well.

With the primary threat out of the way, only one thing remained...

Haruka felt a somewhat icy presence approach him. The Queen. He braced himself. Lambros dipped and Thavas was quickly out of there too.

"O-Oh dear..."

Okuri sighed with relief as both Jessie and Bashiro stirred and made some noise or other to him. They both gave him a thumbs up right as Jessie just about passed out. Old memories were resonating in Okuri filling his heart with a certain mixture of happiness and mourning. He'd been a father in the past, though most of the details escaped him, and his concern for these two young humans was reminding him of some of it. But the past wasn't important right now. These two were exhausted but okay here and now and he had to get them back home safely. Though more than tired himself from battling with Gigaton he was prepared to carry them both back if he had to.

"Here Bashiro, lets get Jessie on my back, you can lean on me on the way back too if you need it. You two deserve a good long rest after what you pulled off." Okuri said as he drew in closer, examining the two for any sort of more serious injury.

"First", the queen opened with grabbing her lover by his cheeks, then aggressively pushing her lips onto his. Her kiss was full of desperation and desire, as if she had been starved having not done this for a good while. Had they not needed air and she wasn't tired, she would've tackled him onto the ground and never let him up. After a few moments, the girl let him go, blushing a little bit while panting to catch her breath. "I didn't get to do that at dinner", she breathed.

Yugure wrapped her arms around his sides, holding Haruka tightly, and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I missed you."

Bashiro did as Okuri told, lifting up his little brother onto his back. He rejected the offer to have himself carried though, as the proud thug staggered to his feet.

"Man... I feel good." The brawler said, smiling at the sky.

"You don't seem all that surprised at me." Okuri noted in passing about his illusion being down as Bashiro got Jessie situated on his back. It'd been quite some time since he'd supported a person's weight on him like that but he held up fine. Bashiro himself seemed well off enough as he didn't take up Okuri's offer of help. He took a few steps to ensure he was steady and wouldn't be dropping Jessie on the way back. More memories from past lives were returning to him as he thought of the life he carried on his back. He'd been alone for so long he missed having someone nearby, his own kind or human. It was a friendship that was just beginning but Jessie was quickly reminding him of a void in his heart that needed filling. Meanwhile Bashiro seemed pleased with the results of the battle as he looked up at the sky.

"I don't believe we've properly met either. Though you did try to assist me at the Scorpion fight I suppose. I know your name but mine is Okuri. You brother's are quickly working your way into my heart I'll have you know. Seeing what you were able to do I have to ask, how is it the two of you became so strong?" he said as he began the journey back to the base alongside Bashiro.

Yunos' catch put the icing on the cake, as humanity triumphed, once again, over the forces of the reapers. Three successes in a row were only going to make them stronger and stronger, and they finally had their leader back in full form, from the looks of it.

The feeling of success was short-lived, though, for when Satoshi saw the reformed Yugure's smile, the image of Nebula Lord came back. He tried his best to give a smile back, but his was significantly weaker. How did that girl come about and bring back something he wanted to put behind him, something that was the real reason he felt like he should leave in the first place? He was so committed to his friends, but that...

That only drove them further and further apart, in his mind.

While everyone else was rejoicing, the farmboy got to his feet, gave Yunos a nod of thanks, and started walking off, hands in his pockets. He had some thinking to do, somewhere else. Even if the rest of the Triad wanted him here...even if Mizumi did...it wasn't worth staying.

Not right now.

Haruka was limp in the arms of Yukino for a moment.

Wait.... what?

She wasn't... angry? No no no, wait, something was off here...

Haruka came to the conclusion that when her lips offensively came to his, maybe she was just celebrating victory in the moment. That was what he had decided her mindset was... and then completely blanked out because the only thing he could feel was warmth and softness and it invaded his senses in the best way possible. He loosely raised his arms and wrapped them around her neck for support.

Her face was red. His was redder. Probably because he was crying a bit before this, and now was embarrassed to have the commander of a military force kissing him on the battlefield. It was like the war was already over or something.

Haruka wasn't sure how to think Yukino would react to Haruka if they had actually just won the war. That was a day he wasn't prepared for.

"I... I missed you too, Yukino. Glad you're safe after all."

He smiled, pressing his face into her shoulder as well.

"I'm really glad you're okay."

His stature fell before the Queen. He was a Commander to the Aqua Force, but really all of that bravado wore off the second her hands reached for him, because he knew the fight was over if only for a moment, and that relieved him of the weight he carried for so many hours before this.

Yunos and Chronos both gave arrogant "hmph"s in response to Satoshi's departure and humanity's continued rejoicing respectively.

"After the shit I've seen, I believe anything", Bashiro responded to the spiritual animal before him. If it had been a few months ago, or maybe a year, he would freak out. But other having been up in those mountains, fighting against the Reapers, and... doing what he just did with everyone, shock was hard to come by at the sight of something strange. He introduced himself to Okuri as he would to anyone else: just a sleazebag who wants a drink and a pretty girl, Bashiro Hakaisha. At the inquiry of how they became so strong, he remembered that mountain training.

Jessie's leg was equal to that of a legendary sword while Bashiro's fist could destroy diamond. Yet, a figure in a red jacket has his back turned to the defeated brothers, a gigantic flame dragon looming over them with its arms crossed. "... We got trained by a freak of nature", the brawler answered.

Yukino pulled back only a little bit, just to get closer to his face and nuzzle her nose up to Haruka's. Her hands rubbed at his sides and back, wanting to flood him with more of her warmth in exchange for his, clinging to it like life support. His love and affection simply came to be a need for the stressed general - for the icy sword queen. "Stay closer to me..." She begged for a moment, moaning softly. The days of this war without him felt like torture, and it would likely be even worse in the coming future of this battle with the gods of death. Even so, she knew from day one back when her own timeline was assaulted: When this war was over, she was free to go crazy on him.

Speaking of that.

"... So... Harukaaaaaa..." She moaned a little more. "What's this Cerdic tells me about you and Aoi on the beach?"

Just because she was thirsty didn't mean he was going to escape this.

Carlos raced back to where his friends were. If the party they did to celebrate the first time they defeated a Reaper, this one was going to be an epic and legendary week-long festival. They defeated a Reaper bigger than... Huh, the world's tallest building! No matter if you're Chuck Norris, you don't do that everyday.

"Hey Hikari!" He ran faster, with hopes to begin the party sooner. However, he found that Hikari... Was in a pretty passionate moment. "Hey Hika- Oh... Wow". Not wanting to disrupt the couple and their touching scene, he just said goodbye quickly and went back from where he came from . "Huh, see you at the slums. Take care and have fun". Good choice, given that the air took an interesting sensation of danger.

He wanted to check on Bashiro and Jessie, but he soon he saw from afar that they were fine. Injured maybe, but fine. With all his doubts resolved, he then proceeded to take the long road back to the headquarters. Maybe a little detour on the way to refresh his mind a little.

Her desire to keep close to Haruka only made it so much easier for him to cling on to her wholeheartedly. It was only when they got to the point where they could basically feel each other's breath that something finally clicked. She requested he stay closer to her. Whether she meant in the moment or in general, he did as asked and pressed the rest of himself to her.

Then.

A chill rose up his spine. Was this part of the plan the entire time?!

She brought up the one thing Haruka desperately wanted to avoid from the beginning of this confrontation. He was so close to a paradise, for at least a few moments within Yukino's embrace. Then he remembered due to his... nature, he can't really have these nice things for too long.

"I-It isn't what it looked like. She freaked out when I said something so I had to perform an emergency procedure to calm her down, I swear! I can explain the rest if you give me long enough before you stab me repeatedly."

Haruka was clinging onto Yukino, but more realistically, he was clinging on to his dear life.

"They told me... you pushed her to the ground and held her there so she wouldn't struggle", Yukino repeated what Militiades had wrongly blabbed to everyone the actions and "motives" behind what he bore witness to. Being the little pissant the Ripple soldier was, he slowly but surely exaggerated the story as it spread, even using Thavas' picture of Aoi's... elated state to further mess with the Blue Storm Captain. He continued to snicker as he knew this warped fantasy reached the Chosen Sword. While the woman was still giddy and blushing over being close to her boyfriend again, there was also an intend of... murder and lust. She was jealous and angry enough to want to kill him, envy inherited from Blaster Dark himself. Yet... being the love-crazed animal she was, she could use that violent nature for activities Haruka was no longer allowed to have a choice in.

"Something... about... feeding her your gumballs...?" Her tone got darker with every word that came out of her lips with steamy breath. She drew closer to him, getting her lips by his again, but attempting to tease him a little by keeping them right there, inches away before he answered.

Indeed Okuri's appearance was nothing to be alarmed at for those accustomed to fighting reapers. It was almost enough to make him consider dropping it permanently at least among the resistance. To stop hiding and truly live among humans was something he had longed to do but only ever gotten small tastes of in the past. Bashiro introduced himself about the same way Jessie described him. He described their strength merely as the result of some sort of freak of nature training them. Truly a curious pair these brothers. However he felt Bashiro's description of himself a little inaccurate.

"Your humility is impressive seeing as one could easily attribute words like 'hero' or 'savior' to your name after today. And you've done a fine job raising Jessie here in place of your parents. You should have seen him in that med bay when he was trying to get me some help." he said chuckling. The rest of the story of that adventure would be told as they meandered on back to the base.

Looking back to the battlefield now only the buildings of man dominated the sky line as was normal. The massive reaper gone without any real trace of it's existence left behind. How impossible it had seemed when they had arrived.

He had to lick his lips at least two to three times, keeping his eyes locked on nowhere in particular. Staring into Yukino's eyes would only reflect a terrifying icy gaze... her lips would only tempt him more, but he knows the second he attempts to kiss her again that a blade is going right through his back. His choice of words here didn't matter. In reality, it probably didn't matter if he responded at all, as it was becoming quite clear where this was going.

Not the fun way.

"Y-Yukino... calm down... I was going to give her orders from Maelstrom, I swear. She freaked out when I said it, so Genovious told Lambros to tell me to give her this medicine in the form of a gumball in her pocket to help calm her down but she was shaking and it was difficult to get it out of her pant pocket so I held her down and.... You don't, you don't really care do you..."

His lips were quivering, only barely gracing over hers in between every word but he knew any second that murderous intent would spring into action and the pain would commence. He simply closed his eyes, pressed his forehead to hers and grinned.

Going out with a bang.

"Do your worst, love. Just make sure to stitch me up before I lose too much blood."

Fate was accepted.

There was vague horns in the back of Haruka's head... the sound of an anthem, a trumpet. It was the funeral song the Aqua Force played when a soldier died. At first he believed it was for Thavas, but then he noticed Lambros was present, saluting...

"Today we honor this fallen Captain, Haruka Nakahara."

Haruka gulped.

"Not... particularly." Yugure answered his inquiry of if she cared about his excuse or the situation. The queen was angry and aroused, still kissing him and giving a malicious giggle that would come out of Harbinger's mouth. To be frank, the woman found Haruka's breath intoxicating. Thankfully, for his sake, a blade didn't go into his back. Oh no, she still loved him enough to keep him alive and... not brutally injure him. But there was going to be some blood. A duplicate of the claymore: Blaster Dark was summoned in her right hand that let go of the boy. She licked her lips eagerly, When he caved and accepted his fate, her bladed pupils gazed lovingly and maddeningly into his.

"Not here... You're coming back home with me... Father isn't going to stop me from what I'm about to put you through."

That woundlicking fetish was going to be cranked up the eleven.

Gripping one of his hands tightly, the commander began yanking him away from the public.

Several soldiers saluted and bowed, thanking the navyman for his service.

Karin sat atop the tower, looking out across the mostly-destroyed landscape of the surrounding district. Gigaton had left his mark, the crater left over from his deletion impossible to miss amidst the wreckage of ruined buildings and collapsed structures. Despite not reaching the Tower itself, the damage that had been done was still very real, and very significant.

But here, everything was quiet. Not even the wind stirred.

The sun hung low in the sky, only having just risen about an hour ago. There was no life below her, every citizen having been evacuated after the Reaper's descent two days ago. With the battle having been so recently, no one had gotten a chance to begin the reconstruction process, leaving the area desolate and empty. Karin was the only one here, the only living being at the Tower.

She glanced down at a small object in her hand. It was a mirror- A compact she had gotten years ago, for one reason or another, probably for whatever small smudge of makeup she might need when going through puberty at the start of high school. She stared into it, her orange and blue eyes staring back at her. Her mind was clearer than it had been in a long time. After spending practically her entire day yesterday with Solis, Karin was ready to spend some time alone, figuring out her endless questions, and to hopefully come up with at least a few answers.

Well, she had already figured out one answer. Her state of mind, her urge, her need to hang on Overlord's every word and follow him without question... That was, without a doubt, a quality the Reapers themselves had blessed Sharyu with. There was no room for questioning it in Karin's mind, her multicolored eyes as proof of it. She had begun to notice it only recently, but she had felt it clearly the last battle, with Gigaton. Every time Sharyu was defeated, every time he was struck down, his control over her weakened. When the Gold Paladins had brought their swords down on Sharyu, his voice went silent in Karin's head, abruptly and suddenly, and he had stayed silent ever since. She could feel his flames rousing within her again, the orange in her eye almost glowing since the previous night, but they hadn't fully reawakened. Karin suspected they would by the time the next Reaper descended. But...

...Perhaps there was a way to keep those flames down? She pondered this possibility, one she had not considered before, deeply. Going against Overlord, almost entirely, to keep him silenced while he rest within Karin's spirit, until Yukino and the rest of the Resistance found a way to either break the hold over Karin herself, or destroy Harbinger and end the Reapers' reign directly. She had never even imagined this day would come, that she might have to stand against her Avatar... But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. She would have to continue helping the Reapers, until the bond could be fully broken... But she could move more freely like this. She could actually try to help, if only just a little, and without drawing suspicion to herself.

As long as Overlord continued to fall, Karin's free will could persist, even through the Reaper's controlling touch.

Karin hopped off the top of the tower, beginning her slow descend back to the ground.

Tokyo Tower, Gigaton's "resting" place, if the deleted could rest. The tower itself was fine, but the destruction left in the Mashing Deletor's wake rang true. Harbinger smirked and giggled, proud of chaos born from one of their most powerful Reapers. ... It was a shame humanity was getting strong enough to deal with all but the top three. Even so, with her new toy walking alongside her, all would be well, as man would succumb to their efforts being for naught - in vain. Harbinger and Nemesis entered the area, Harbinger's hips swaying distracting most of the guards left in the area with her luscious curves and bouncing breasts. Humanity is so easy, she thought evilly, looking at her pet who did not speak or express anything. She'd be as boring as Fuki if it wasn't her sworn enemy being exactly what said enemy would hate being.

"This looks like a good spot." The Reaper queen noted, getting some attention from guards and mercenaries who actually tried doing their jobs instead of being seduced by the bodacious Deletor. "Move them out of the way, would you?"

"Understood." Nemesis obeyed, dutifully activating a Lock executable that caused her bladed wings to spread, then several detached, poking at the men, and binding them with black rings that clamped on tightly, attempted to squeeze the life out of them. The redhead clapped, proud of her work. It's time to put it into practice. This is gonna be good.

"Get their attention."

Nemesis approached Tokyo Tower, locking the fools who would dare stay her away from her mission. A simple objective would be born from causing panic from power loss. One of her blades returned, and she jabbed it into the side of the enormous structure. Then, black and red lightning - the colors of void - were launched into it, beginning to cause an overlord while literally cutting off power by literally deleting it and the excess.

Japan's electronics are freaking out. Some turning on by themselves, others ceasing to function entirely.

Karin blinked in beside Nemesis, wearing the same emotionless face as she faded into existence. She was holding up her phone... Which had ceased function entirely, its screen gone completely black. She glanced at Harbinger, showing her the shut-off phone. "You interrupted a game." Karin said flatly, slipping the now useless phone back into her pocket. "In any case, Sovereign said it was time to act again. Unless you've got something else for me to do, I can take watch over Nemesis once you're done with her."

"Nobody cares about your rousing failure at Angry Birds", Harbinger jeered in response to Karin seeming upset over her game being halted by "technical difficulties". Nemesis didn't bother responding, still messing with Japan's power in its entirety. "I'm going to be staying here for a minute", the Reaper cackled lightly. "I want to introduce our best friend personally."

Haruka noticed the power outage before exiting the mansion. Something was... Definitely up. Upon exiting the estate and getting into the city, the circuitry of the whole city had gone haywire. This wasn't some faulty messup on the workers part, something was happening with the main power lines. That would mean the central source was...

Haruka darted as fast as he could on foot to the Tokyo Tower, hoping for the best but as he expected, a large red and black lightning undulates loomed in the tower itself. Haruka raised his bangle to his mouth, shouting an order to all Resistance members available.

"Everyone, the source of the power outages is Tokyo Tower! Head there as soon possible. Be cautious, I have half a brain that Harbinger and the drones wants us to be here. Keep your eyes peeled and watch your backs. I'll meet you all there."

Haruka faced towards the tower base, dashing past the defenseless and vulnerable guards and stayed low to keep out of sight. It was suicide getting anywhere close to the top of the tower, or really anywhere in eyesight. If Haruka's suspicion was correct, this was Reaper work and Harbinger was here to mess with them. Albeit, he needed to make sure that everyone was safe. Even if Reapers weren't at work here, someone had to be...

No, that unusual lightning around the structure made it too obvious. Haruka sneered. He wanted to be pissed off but without a calm and collected head, the chances of practical decision making slimmed.

From the sky above descended Darren, crashing to the ground as he wondered where he was. "Have I been here before? Hard to tell without the lights."

"Malice has... this is the Tokyo Tower. This place is the center of Tokyo Japan."

"Losing it now would be pretty bad. We're gonna have to make this battle count."

Darren rushed towards the tower area. From here out, his eyes and their ability to see the Reaper energy could guide him where he needed to go. There was a lot of it, as bad as Shop Handsome at least. He glared forward as he said, "Whatever's going down, we're gonna put a stop to it!" He didn't stop until he saw Harbinger, not even looking elsewhere. "Looks like I found you, Tomato Head!"

"Jellal are you ready?" Blaster Dark appeared beside his partner, staring into his blue eyes. He didn't see any doubt or hesitation in them. Before he realized it, he knew asking that question seemed unnecessary.

"Always." Jellal said while turning back to his avatar and giving him a sign of approval. Blaster Dark slowly shut his eyes before taking observations of his surroundings.

"Stand by your friends and watch out for anything." The black knight reminded Jellal. "Don't act reckless and careless, proceed with caution, got it?" The words he spoke that were being drilled into Jellal were met with a nod from the blonde mixed cardfighter.

Seifer had followed Haruka, stopping at his side. Things already seemed to be chaos, and the fighting hadn't started. Great, this was going to be a fun day.

"So would this count as that kind of emergency?" he spoke to Haruka about the conversation earlier, not really meaning doing what he'd mentioned... He knew he couldn't right now anyway. Had no idea how yet.

Rosalia was of course by her fiancé's side as they arrived, stopping when he did and glancing at Haruka. "This can't be good... Well, I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be," she mused. Her hand rest over the white deck box at her hip, already getting prepared for the fight that was bound to happen. She hadn't had any practice between the previous battle and now, but she was going to do whatever it took to keep everyone alive.

Karin sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "You and Sovereign both give me a headache..." She muttered to herself. Not only was Harbinger going to show off her new toy-slash-cheating-device, but she was going to taunt humanity with their broken and repurposed savior at the same time. Crush their old hope, give them new hope, and crush that too... It was disgusting to think about, and would likely be even more disgusting to watch. "...Whatever."

The disturbance at the Tokyo Tower took affect on Haruto while he was at his home doing his renovations and cleaning, at the same time he had his laptop on charge mode as music was blaring in the background. He had so much to do and so many ppl to speak to that he just felt like some music might soothe him as he did these tedious activities. Unfortunately, the disturbance occurred and Haruto was forced to leave the Falcon Den to take a look at the Tokyo Tower he wanted to know what was happening with the electricity.

When he arrived he saw many familiar faces who seemed to be affected as well, without waiting he waved to
Seifer and the others, then went to Neo's side, "What's going on?" he asked.
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At the same time a figure descended next to Nemesis and Harbringer while making sure that he was undetected by the crowd that had begun to gather around the area. He did not say anything but merely stood there ready to assist his master whenever she wanted him to.