Max kicked down the wall and walked into the room. "Hey, this room isn't empty."

Melvin then opened the door beside the hole Max had created. "Ever heard of a door?" Melvin walked into the room and looked at his surroundings. "Looks like an operating room."

The room where they had entered was a small operating theater, with a single operating table at the very center surrounded by various apparatuses.

"This where they're making those ghouls and hemocaly?" Max asked.

"Homunculi." Melvin corrected. "Probably, but it looks too small for the amount that we saw." Melvin walked towards the operating table. "There might be a bigger one somewhere." He then turned round to Max and saw him looking around.

"No way." He then ran out of the room.

"What is it?!" Melvin ran after him, finding him in the corridor sniffing around.

"It's them. But what are they doing here?"

"Um... Who is it? I don't see anyone."

A loud streak then came to their right. Three ghouls stuttered down the corridor towards the two.

"Oh crap!" Melvin drew his wand and pointed it at the ghouls.

"That way." Max then charged forwards towards the ghouls. When he was close enough the ghouls lunged at him. Max dodged one blow before bashing the creature to the wall. He kicked the one below him and punched the final one sending both flying back, smashing into the nearby walls and remained motionless.

Ok. Maybe it was a good idea to go with him.

Max continued to run past the knocked out ghouls.

"H-Hey! Wait for me!" Melvin yelled as he ran after him.

Sharly's workshop

Cliff and Yuki approached a large door in front of them. A sign above reading 'Sharly's Workshop.'

"You smell that," Cliff said to Yuki.

"Yeah." Yuki took in a whiff of a foul stench that leaked from the door. "Smells like corpses." He then walked towards the big door and stuck one hand on it. "Stay here if you don't have the stomach for this."

"Ha, cute."

Yuki creaked the door open and the two went inside. The room was large, and particular dark compared to the corridors they navigated to reach this spot. As the two continued to walk, dim flashing light then started to blink, showing more of the workshop. Bloodstained operating tables with grotesque bodies started to show themselves. A stench of what smelled like rotting flesh could be smelled.

"Ok, this seems like something straight out of a horror movie," Cliff commented as he looked around.

"Greetings intruders." A low booming voice then came in from the speakers.

"Who's there?" Cliff turned round to find the source of the speaker while Yuki reached for his sword.

"Your death." The voice said.

"Our death huh?" Yuki carefully looked around, pushing the crossguard of his sword up with his thumb. "So where exactly are you?"

"I'm not telling."

"Are you the Alchemist?" Cliff asked.

"Maybe I am, or maybe I'm not."

"Doesn't matter either way," Yuki said.

"I guess you're right on that." Cliff looked around and found the nearest speaker. "Wherever you are, come on out!"

The sound of metal scraping against the floor flooded the room. "Hear that?" Yuki said, slowly reaching for his sword grip.

"Yeah." Cliff looked around at the operating tables.

"Allow me to introduce your death." The metallic scraping then sensed as something stood in front of the two men. "I call him, the Executioner."

The lights continued to flicker, shedding some light on a grotesque creature standing before them. It was bigger than both of them. Its upper body was exposed and wore a horrible iron mask that made it impossible to see out of. In its hand, it hulled a massive cleaver the size of a door, big enough to slice a person in one strike.

"Ok, Definably out of a horror movie." The creature started to drag itself forwards, lugging the massive blade across the floor. In response, Cliff took a stance before Yuki started to walk towards the creature. "What are you doing?"

"Leave this to me." He said.

When he got close, the Creature heaved the massive cleaver off the floor, heeled it in both hands overhead and prepared to strike down. Before it could, Yuki crouched, gripped his sword and lunged, drawing the blade and slicing through the creature's waist in quick succession. The creature dropped the blade, and then it's upper body slid off its waist and collapsed to the ground. "That was no fun."

Cliff gawked in amazement at Yuki's attack. Wow. He moves so fast I didn't even see him attack. This guy really is no joke.

"Noooooo! My Executioner!" The voice moaned on the speaker. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to make him with the scraps mother gives me?"

"Mother?"

A long pause came before the voice spoke again. "Whoops."

"So this guy isn't the alchemist?" Yuki said to Cliff.

"Apparently not," Cliff said. He then looked for the nearest speaker. "Hey, you out there! You're a Homunculus aren't you?"

Another brief pause came before an answer was given. "Alright fine you got me." the lights were then turned completely on, illuminating the entire room.

"The lights are on," Yuki said.

"This ain't over." A door in the distance then opened. From it, a second creature, far bigger than the first emerged. Unlike the previous one, a thick shell-like armor, covering its torso, arms, legs, and face, armored this one's entire body.

"Great. Another freak." Yuki turned to face the new opponent. "So what's this one called?"

"Introducing, the Juggernaut."

The creature banged its fists together and started approaching Yuki. Yuki was about to charge the creature when Cliff walked past him, clicking his knuckles.

"Let me handle this." He said as he walked towards the creature.

"Sure? You could break your hand on that thing." Yuki said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Cliff chuckled as he stopped and dropped his fists to his sides, clenching them as he took a combat stance. "We'll see."

"Are you mad?" the voice spoke. "You won't be able to break through that armor. I made the Juggernaut to be indestructible."

"Indestructible huh? Let's put that to the test."

The Creature stopped short and puffed out its armored chest, anticipating the coming blow. Cliff drew back a punch and then pushed forwards. He impacted the creature, sending a loud ding echoing through the workshop. A second later, the armor cracked and buckled as Cliff's punched upwards into the creature's chest with incredible force, sending the monster flying back into the air before impacting on the ground, laying there completely motionless.

"Indestructible my ass," Cliff said as he regained his composure. "That wasn't even half of what I got."

"My Juggernaut!!" the voice cried out. "That's it! You guys are dead! Even if I have to do it myself!"

"Well stop beating around the bush and face us!" Cliff taunted.

"Alright, you asked for this." The voice responded with menace. "Walk through the door that the Juggernaut came out of!"

Cliff looked to the door at the far end of the workshop where the creature emerged. It leads to what seemed to be a large chamber, as far as he could tell. "Could be a trap." He said to Yuki.

"Only one way to find out." Yuki then started walking towards the door.

"H-hold on! What if it really is a trap?"

"Don't worry. Worst case, we all die."

"That's not exactly encouraging." Cliff let out a big sigh. "What a carefree approach to something potentially life-threatening." he then caught up with Yuki and they both entered the door.

The Arena Battles: Cliff and Yuki vs. Sharly's masterpieces

The door leads the two into a massive and dark arena. Unlike the rest of the labyrinth, this particular room was made of metal and had large mechanical doors located at the sides, adding even more mystery to its creator. As the two entered the door slammed shut behind them. "Guess there's no going back," Cliff said as he looked around.

"Pretty big place for something underground," Yuki said, sword still drawn at the ready.

"Apparently it was here before mother moved in." A girl's voice spoke out. "I use it to test my dolls."

Cliff and Yuki looked around for the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" Cliff said.

"Up here." The two looked up and saw a catwalk suspended above the arena, seeing a small figure standing there. "I'm the artist who created these dolls. I'm the one who slaved for hours creating them." As though on cue, the room lit up completely, revealing the small figure on the catwalk. "I'm the second hand to Mother's work. The Homunculus-" The girls gave a slight pause as she struck a pose. "Sharly the Modifier!"

Cliff and Yuki stirred in stunned silence at Sharly's bizarre appearance.

"Are those.... Bunny ears?" Yuki asked, a little afraid to know the answer.

"You can see it too?" Cliff was equally baffled. "Good. I thought I was seeing things for a sec."

Sharly continued her rant. "Now that you're in my lair your fate is sealed."

"Um," Yuki interrupted Sharly. "Are those real?"

Sharly ignored Yuki and continued. "You may have bested my Executioner and Juggernaut-"

"So they are real?"

"As I was saying, you may have-"

"And where's the dude on the speaker?"

'Would you shut up!!" Sharly snapped. "I worked hard this routine so the least you can do is shut up and listen to it!"

"So that last room was for show?" Cliff said quietly to himself. "Anyway," Cliff then pointed to Sharly. "You're the one who created the ghouls correctly. Are you responsible for creating the homunculi too?"

Sharly, with a look of annoyance over her careful planned speech ruined, shook her head. "Nope. Mother is the one who created our bodies and gave us life. But I did do some modifications on the ones after me."

"Does that include the ears?" Yuki asked.

"Enough with the Ears!" Both Cliff and Sharly yelled.

"And yes, I put them on myself!" Sharly said to him.

"What's the point in that?" Cliff said to Sharly.

"Cause they make me look cute," Sharly replied, puffing out her chest with pride.

"Must have some jacked-up fashion sense," Yuki commented.

Cliff continued his questions. "So who's this mother you keep referring to? Is she the Alchemist responsible for the killings?"

Sharly glared at Cliff. "And if I tell you, you're not gonna let me go free aren't you?"

"Got that right. If you're creating the ghouls then we're taking you down."

Sharly let out a small chuckle at Cliff. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that." She muttered to herself. "But before that, let me show you my last two masterpieces that are gonna kill you." Sharly walked off into a control box and pressed a button. A loud crack echoed throughout the arena as a massive door at the side of the room opened.

"What now?" Yuki said as he and Cliff turning to the door. Sharly's voice then came from a speaker in the room.

"True I underestimated you against my other two, but these ones are certainly the finest I made. So much so that I wouldn't dream of giving them to those other hooligans."

"Get ready," Cliff said to Yuki as the door finished opening.

From it emerged two creatures. One was tall and had two iron gauntlets attached to its hands. It wore a mask similar to the Executioner. The second was relatively smaller and walked in a crouched position, wore a strange carnival mask and had a sword attached to its right arm.

"The big one is called Iron hands and the other I call Zero," Sharly said. "They're gonna be the ones that will kill you. If not, I have something else to take care of you."

The creatures then began to approach the two slowly.

"Ok, They look like trouble."

"Hey big guy." Yuki couched and readied his sword. "The one with the blade's mine."

"Thought you'd say that." Cliff took a combat stance. "Then I'll take iron hands."

Yuki then charged at the one called Zero and brought his blade to bear at the creature. However, unlike the others, this one jumped back before quickly and leaped up and brought its own blade down on Yuki, who blocked just in time. Cliff meanwhile charged him and swung out a punch and Iron hands, who punched back, blocking Cliff's punch with its own.

****

Yuki pushed back Zero, who somersaulted out of the way, landing in a crouched position.

This one's a lot faster than the other meat bags.

Zero then charged Yuki again. As Yuki prepared to block, Zero unexpectedly cartwheeled to Yuki's left before striking again. Yuki blocked the blow and attempted to follow up with a counterattack. Zero, however, leaped over Yuki's swing and kicked Yuki in the chest, forcing him back. Yuki grunted as a wave of pain came from his still fragile wound.

Son of a....

Either planned or just realized, Zero leaped once again at the staggered Yuki, who just barely blocked the strike. Zero then leaped in the air and somersaulted around Yuki before striking once again.

Shit! This thing's way faster than the others.

Yuki continued to parry as Zero continued a relentless barrage of swift attacks. Coupled with his seemingly unpredictable movements, Yuki found himself forced on the defensive. Every blow resulted in more and more pain coming from his chest.

Then Zero cartwheeled to Yuki's right and struck up. Distracted by the pain Yuki only just managed to block the strike, put the blade managed to leave a small cut on his cheek. Yuki kicked Zero back who somersaulted back.

****

Cliff pulled back his punch and swing at Iron hands again. And once again, the gauntleted fist intercepted his, hitting hard enough to force Cliff to withdraw again.

"Ok, you're definitely better than other thing."

Cliff punched again, and again. And each time, Iron hands intercepted each punch.

Ok, this is getting nowhere.

Cliff punched again with his right as a faint and then punched for real with his left. This time, however, Iron hands dodged right and punched Cliff back. As he staggered back, Iron hands layed down two more punches, knocking Cliff back.

Oh man, this guy hits hard!

Cliff retaliated by punching back, but once again, Iron hands blocked again with his fist.

"Damn!"

Cliff then leaped back several places.

Every time I attack, this guy just blocks me. His reactions are also no joke, especially compared to the others freaks.

Iron hands stayed its ground while putting its fists up, preparing another attack.

****

Yuki steadied his sword, trying his best to ignore the growing pain in his chest. Despite being healed by Dale, he could still feel a sharp pain from where he had been stabbed earlier. Zero slowly circled around Yuki, poised like a predator about to strike its prey. As he watched, Yuki chuckled slightly to himself.

Guess I'm losing my edge. Probably from all this time spent in this world.

Yuki closed his eyes and slowly moved his blade down and extended his right leg back and started to control his breathing. It was a self-ritual he taught himself. At times in battle, when he felt like he was losing his edge, needed to focus his strength, or even just to calm himself down, Yuki would briefly do a breathing exercise. Zero continued to Circle Yuki, gazing at him behind its mask. Yuki remained motionless as Zero circled behind him. It then got low to the ground and prepared to attack.

Yuki then grinned and opened his eyes. "Losing my edge or not,"

Zero then leaped at Yuki, pulling its blade right back.

"Is still no excuse-"

Yuki then pivoted sharply and slashed upwards as Zero descended on him. The two slashed at the same time and Zero skidded to a halt, keeping low to the ground while Yuki remained where he was.

"- to lose to a soulless monster like you."

Zero's blade shattered a part and a wide gash opened across its torso. It then fell to the ground, forming a large pool of blood beneath it.

****

Cliff kept his guard up as he circled round. Iron hands kept it's fists up, doing the same as Cliff.

I just attack, he's just gonna block again. Got to admit, that things got some serious strength.

Cliff had yet managed to score a single blow, while his opponent landed three consecutive punches. Continually punching his opponent definitely wasn't going to get him anywhere anytime soon. He needed to find a way to catch it off guard. He then came up with an idea.

Not my style, but I guess it could work.

Cliff then charged Iron hands and let out a right punch, which it blocked. Keeping the pressure on his right, he punched again with his left. As before Iron hands blocked. Then, Cliff kicked the creature's leg, hard enough to shatter the bone. As Iron hands staggered down, Cliff quickly pulled back his right fist and punched the creature's chest with all his strength, sending it flying back into a wall, hitting it with enough force to crack it. The broken creature then slumped to the ground.

"That's it?" Cliff sounded slightly disappointed. "May have been different, but they were just as fragile as the others."

"See you're done." Yuki then approached Cliff.

"Wait, you're already done?!" Sharly's voice came on the speakers. "That was quick! Thought for sure I had a few good minutes!"

"Ha, next time make something stronger!" Yuki called out.

"Ok, no more playing around! Show yourself!" Cliff called out.

"Fine. I saved the best for last." A loud sound then flooded the arena as a massive gate creaked itself up. This was then followed by giant footsteps as Sharly entered the room on something colossal.

"What the..." Cliff stood back as gazed as the massive creature approaching them.

"Bunny ears had one more surprise it seems," Yuki said.

"Allow me to introduce you to my greatest creation." Standing before the two was a massive beast far bigger than a troll. It was human by appearance, with the exception of no head. Its bulk was enormous, showing more muscle than anything else, particularly along the arms. In the center was a glass cockpit-like space where Sharly was located. Extending from her was a cord that connected up to a socket above her. She gazed upon her two victims with a big smile on her lips.

"I call him... Mr. Hyde!"

Mr. Hyde

Frosh stood still and picked his nose. "So Thatch. How screwed do you think we are?"

Thatch stood dumbfounded. "No way. That's impossible."

Diane looked on at an empty cell which the two were gawking at. "Was something supposed to be in here?"

"WHAT THE HELL!!!" In rage, Thatch grabbed the bars of the cell and exploded them.

"Sure, That's gonna help," Frosh commented.

"Quiet you!" Thatch grabbed Frosh's head and blew it up. "Damn those punks! Rubrik's gonna kill us when he finds out we let them escape!"

Diane approached the cell door and picked up a nail file from the ground.

"What you got there?" Frosh asked as his head finished growing back.

"A nail file." Diane examined the lock of the cell. "One of them must have been good at lock picking."

"Bet it was that big one. He looked like the delinquent type."

"As interesting as this is, it still doesn't solve our problem!" Thatch blurted out.

"There's only one place they could go." Diane got up and walked to the room's only door. She then crouched and brushed her hand on the ground. "I might be able to track where they went."

"You can?" Thatch said with hope.

"I think I did this in my past life. The memories are still hazy, but I know what to do."

"Whatever, just find them!"

Diane crawled out of the door still studying the dirt on the floor. "They went left, not too long ago."

"There, problem solved," Frosh said as Thatch charged down the corridor.

"Wait!" Diane then looked to the right. "They went the other way." Thatch then tripped as he tried to stop.

"That's embarrassing," Frosh said as Thatch got back to his feet. "Charge that way." Frosh pointed down the right corridor.

"You, little..." Thatch cursed as he marched down the right corridor trying to save his dignity.

****

Cliff and Yuki subconsciously took a step back as they examined the monstrosity before them.

"You um... ever fight something like this?" Cliff said to Yuki.

"Yeah... but I usually tend to avoid them."

Sharly laughed inside the cockpit area of the creature she dubbed Mr. Hyde. "Too late to beg for mercy!"

The creature then raised one of its giant hands and punched downwards towards the two, who both leaped out of the way as the giant fist impacted hard on the ground below. Cliff rolled along the ground before getting back to his feet. Yuki did the same. Mr. Hyde withdrew its fist from the ground before leaping up in the air towards Cliff.

"Oh crap!" Cliff leaped out of the way as the creature came crashing down near him. Cliff turned to see the creature sweeping its left hand at him. Unable to dodge Cliff put his arms up to shield himself as the hand slammed into him and launched him towards a wall.

Yuki charged Mr. Hyde. Spotting him coming, the monster took another punch at him, surprisingly faster than the earlier one. Taken off guard by its speed, Yuki only narrowly dodged the blow, retaliating by slashing its bulky arm. However, the skin proved far tougher than he had predicted, and only made a small cut on it.

"Too bad."

A kick then came at Yuki, hitting him and sending tumbling back. When he stopped tumbling he squirmed for a bit, holding a hand over his chest. "Aw, did that hurt?" Sharly mocked. "That's what you get for being human."

Cliff freed himself from the wall, scraped but relatively unharmed. That thing It's a lot faster despite its size. Not to mention is as strong as it looks.

"Oh ho, Looks like the big guy survived?" Mr. Hyde shifted its body to face Cliff. "Looks like you're ready to go another round."

It ran over to Cliff and swung another fist at him. Cliff immediately ducked out of the way as the fist slammed into the already broken wall. It then withdrew the fist and swung at Cliff once more. Unable to dodge, Cliff turned and punched the incoming fist in an attempt to partially block it. They both collided with incredible force. Cliff gritted his teeth as he struggled to hold his ground against the strength of the punch.

Despite that, he managed to fend it off, pushing it back, causing Mr. Hyde to stagger. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cliff rushed forwards and punched up into its torso. His fist impacted with incredible force that would shatter the bones of a normal person. However, nothing happened.

"Wh-What?" Cliff saw that his punch had no effect whatsoever.

Sharly's laughter could be heard behind the glass of the cockpit. "You didn't think Mr. Hyde was like the others that you bested so easily!"

Anxious, Cliff took a step back as Mr. Hyde regained its composure.

"Unlike the others, I'm feeding my own Mana into it which makes it about 10x stronger than the others!" The best then pulled back a fist and prepared to strike down. "Time to die, you wretched Human!"

Crap!

Suddenly the beast staggered once again. "What the!!"

Cliff looked down as the creature tumbled and saw that a large cut was made in the left Achilles tendon.

"You seem to be forgetting someone." Yuki walked up beside Cliff, swinging his sword to leave an arc of blood below.

"But how?!" Shalry snarled. "The skins tougher than steel! There's no way you could have cut that deep with just a sword!"

Yuki chuckled. "I cut through the armor of one of a knight not too long ago, and that was made of something stronger. Just hand to swing a bit harder to cut something like that."

Cliff recalled that the others had dealings with two Rosarian Knights a few weeks before arriving in Terra. He also knew that he had no mana abilities whatsoever. He was able to cut that thing without any kind of trick, Taking a quick glance at him he saw that a small red patch was starting to form on his bandages. Looks like he's opened his wound after that kick just now.

Yuki showed no signs that he was in pain. In the end, Cliff wasn't sure if he should be grateful to have him as an ally, or worried about his well-being given his annoyingly stubborn nature.

"Hehehehe," Sharly began to chuckle behind the glass of the cot pit. Steam then started to come from the wound Yuki had inflicted and had begun to rapidly heal.

"What!" Cliff broke from his train of thought and braced himself. Yuki did the same, holding his sword up. He glanced a quick look at the creature's arm to inspect the cut he had made earlier. It was also emitting slight steam as the cut disappeared.

"It can heal that fast?"

"That's right." Sharly boasted as Mr. Hyde then picked itself up from the ground and once again loomed over the two again. "Along with enhancing his strength, I can also heal any and all wounds you inflict."

Mr. Hyde then raised its arms aiming to smash the two to a pulp. Both men quickly leaped out of the way as the arms came down and destroyed the ground with massive destructive force. "Keep squirming you worthless humans! There is no way you can defeat me!"

A large amount of dust obscured the men's view of the creature. As they were about to catch their breath, It suddenly burst through the dust towards the two. Both immediately dodged a second punch jumping either side. Yuki, who jumped to his right, rushed forwards and cut into Mr. Hyde's chest. At the same time, Cliff rushed towards the fist embedded in the ground and grabbed hold of it. With all his might he lifted the giant creature of the ground, over his head and smashed it into the ground.

That glass in its chest, It might be its weak point. Cliff rushed to the middle of the shoulders where the neck would be and leaped up into the air, pulled back a fist and prepared to slam down on the glass area.

"Oh no you don't!" A giant fist then quickly launched up and grabbed Cliff in mid air. It then shot up and threw him across the arena, smashing into a second wall hard

"BIG GUY!!"

"You're next!"

Yuki turned to see Mr. Hyde launching a swiping attack at him. Yuki leaped back. Pain was starting to build in his chest, which almost made him lose his balance. Shit! Mr. Hyde then swung a fist down at Yuki, who leaped out of the way before it impacted, rolling out of the way before regaining his balance.

"Quit struggling!" Sharly said from behind the glass. "Just accept your fate and die like your friend, human!"

Yuki struggled back to his feet. "You know..." he struggled between breaths as he slowly regained his balance. "The way you've been talking, it kinda sounds like you have it out for us humans."

"And why wouldn't I?" Mr. Hyde turned around to face Yuki once more. "After all, all Humans are vile, selfish creatures by nature."

"Well, I've met my fair share of bastards so I can't really argue with that viewpoint." Yuki stared up at Sharly with a grin. "That murdering bitch you call mother being one of them."

Mr. Hyde then quickly grabbed Yuki with its right hand before he could react and lifted him in the air towards the cockpit. "I'd think cheerfully about what you say next about Mother." Sharly snarled.

"J-Just think...." Yuki struggled to speak under the crushing pressure but still retained a smirk on his face. "It's a little hypercritical.... You claimed to hate us humans... Yet you kiss up to this mother... even though she's no different from the other maniacs I've met."

Sharly's face lit serious rage at Yuki's comment. "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MOTHER!!!"

Suddenly, something pounded Mr. Hyde in the gut, hard enough to lose his grip on Yuki. With his sword he managed to cut off one of its fingers, causing it to drop him. As he fell, something caught him and put some distance between him and the beast before setting him down.

"You?!"

Yuki looked up and saw Cliff crouched near him. "Still alive big guy?"

Cliff was bruised from the two impacts. His right knuckles were bleeding lightly from the punch he performed on the creature. "More than you." Cliff gestured to the red patch on Yuki's chest which was growing at an alarming rate.

"I'll live," Yuki said as he sat upright.

"Damn you!" Sharly turned Mr. Hyde to face the two once more. "You're right! I hate Humans! I hate everything about Humans! I even hated being human in my past life!" She gritted her teeth hard as she spat out her hate-filled words. "Humans are horrible creatures by nature. They fear what they unknown and persecute what they don't understand." She then unconsciously clenched her fists. "You're gonna exterminate us just because we're different! That's what all you humans do!"

Sharly then raised a clenched fist. "Mother's different. She hates humans as much as me because they failed to save something precious to her." she then pointed at the two men. "You're the ones who are gonna die here. You and those others who came in with you! We'll exterminate every last one of you!"

"She's got some serious anger issues," Yuki commented, mostly to himself. Cliff kept his eyes on the creature before them. "Got a plan?"

"I think that glass is a weak point. If I can get to it, I can smash it and drag out bunny ears."

"Problem being that it's fast to react and you'll get thrown across the room again." Yuki summarised.

"Wouldn't put it exactly that way," Cliff muttered. I could try a 'Level Up.' Though I would rather avoid using that.

"Hey big guy." Yuki got back up to his feet and sheathed his sword. "Gimme a boost."

"Huh?"

Before he could ask, Yuki ran away from Cliff, and the creature.

"Where are you going?!"

"Have a falling out?" Mr. Hyde then ran towards Cliff.

"Oh Crap!"

"Big guy!!" Yuki had skidded to a stop and pulled his scabbard from his belt. "Now!!" He then charged at Cliff as fast as he could.

"Aw hell," Cliff then turned and crouched down while cupping his hands together. I hope he knows what he's doing. Yuki then reached Cliff and put one foot in his cupped palms. Cliff then heaved with all his might launching Yuki in the air towards Mr. Hyde.

"You got a death wish." Sharly stopped Mr. Hyde and looked up at the airborne Yuki, who held back the sword scabbard and gently rested his right hand on the sword's grip.

"Are you insane?" Sharly reached Mr. Hyde's right hand out to grab him.

Is he actually planning on cutting the arm off? No way he can pull off something like that. Even if he does, it'll just grow back like... Cliff then noticed Mr. Hyde's hand, which Yuki had cut to escape. Its ring finger was trailing steam from the cut where Yuki had cut. It's pinky, which Yuki cut off to escape its grip, wasn't healing. It was then when Cliff realized, while it can heal cuts Yuki makes, it can't grow back limbs which were cut off, or at least not at the speed of which its other wounds could. He spotted that before he charged.

Yuki then shifted his body weight forwards to spin in mid air towards the incoming hand and drew his sword.

He's gonna make an opening.

Yuki moved like a buzz saw through the arm, leaving large gashes in the arm and on the right of the beast's torso. As he landed behind, blood and gore sprayed from the arm as it fell in two parts.

"Impossible!!" Sharly turned to face Yuki, who rushed forwards before slicing through the left hand, cutting it off from the arm. "Why you-" The second Shalry turned back around, she realized too late that she had made a fatal error, which cost her the fight. When she turned round, Cliff was already in the air, pulling back a fist to smash through the glass, a large satisfactory grin on his face. "Oh crap!"

Cliff impacted hard on the glass with all his might. It quickly cracked and shattered. Cliff's fist carried on through the glass and punched Sharly straight in the face. After a brief silence, Mr. Hyde collapsed backward, smashing into the ground with a loud sound. Cliff then emerged from the cockpit, lifting the unconscious Sharly out by her ears.

"Finally caught the rabbit."

Crawling in the darkness

The dimly lit corridors didn't make navigating this dungeon any easier. Going from corridor to corridor, winding staircases that seemed to go nowhere, as far as the three were concerned, they may as well be fumbling around in the dark. Despite freeing themselves from their cells, Tristan, Francesca and Bill found making it out next to impossible. Around every corner lay the possibility of running into the monsters that had imprisoned them.

Tristan, who tried to put on a brave face, took point with the obviously terrified Francesca and Bill following. Bill was still unable to talk, given the overall trauma he had experienced. Francesca was no better. She was supposed to be going out with friends at a party with most of the popular people at school, the kind of normal thing any teenage girl would do (With some exceptions she had in mind). Instead, she was in a life and death situation with monsters. What baffled her most was what happened earlier that day.

She had known Allisa for some time. True, she didn't like her, and didn't even know her that well. But seeing her standing up to the monster with the sword arm, pulling out a sword from thin air, changing into a strange outfit like magic, even cutting the arm of the sword arm of the monster. To her, all that seemed like something straight out of a movie.

"Keep up or I leave you behind," Tristan said from the front.

"Do you even know where going? We've been walking for ages."

"Just shut up. I know where I'm going."

Francesca looked back to Bill. Normally she would barely cast a glance at him due to social conventions. The fact that he wasn't speaking was starting to concern her. Bill was well known as one of the geekiest looking kids in school, as well as well known for not being able to put together a sentence without stuttering. But here, in this predicament, Francesca found herself concerned whether he would be able to speak again.

"How are you holding up?" she asked him.

Bill simply put a thumbs up in response.

Before long, the group soon arrived at a junction with two ways to go, right or left. Tristan walked up to the right. "Ok this way." He said.

Bill walked towards him as the two set off down the left. "Wait," Francesca stayed waddled towards the right. "It might be this way."

"No it's this way." Tristan pressed.

"How can you be so sure?"

"How are you sure it's that way?"

Francesca looked to the right. "Well... It looks less scary."

"Less scary?" Tristan snorted. "What are you five?"

"I'm just saying-"

"And I'm trying to keep us alive."

Bill then pointed at the ceiling desperately trying to get the other's attention, a look of absolute terror written all over his face.

"What is it?" Francesca then slowly looked up and froze in place. "Oh.. God..."

Tristan then looked up as well. "Oh Shit..."

Above then, attached to the ceiling was a horrible creature. It seemed human in appearance, but its body was distorted in a grouse fusion. Four arms with sharp blades stuck out and clung to the ceiling like a spider.

As Tristan and Bill slowly backed back into the left corridor, the creature dropped down from the ceiling and faced Francesca. The boys then broke into a sprint away from the creature, leaving Francesca alone with it. Francesca struggled to move her feet, gazing in horror at the monster in front of her. The creature remained where it was, studying Francesca with its cold black eyes. Only when it let out a horrific, inhuman scream did Francesca sum up the courage required to turn and run down the right corridor as fast as she could, the creature tumbling along behind her on all six limbs.

****

"Rise and shine."

Sharly eyes snapped open in pain like someone was pulling her hair out. In reality, it was Yuki picking her up by her ears. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"She's awake," Yuki announced.

"Put me down this instant!"

Yuki released his grip, which dropped Sharly to the ground.

"Ow..." She picked herself up and pummeled Yuki like a small child throwing a tantrum. "I said put me down not drop me!"

Yuki tugged on her ears once again. "Be happy that you're still alive given what you put us through." He said in a threatening voice.

Sharly noticed that the two men had dragged her into the workshop area while she was unconscious. Her cheek was swollen from the punch she took. "Why didn't you kill me?" she asked.

"Call it a whim." Cliff sat on one of the operating tables, his hands clenched together. "Might be good to get a little information out of you about the other homunculi, as well as this 'mother.'"

"I'm not saying anything to you humans."

Yuki tugged on her ears again.

"Ok-ok-ok..."

He then released her.

"Guess It's not gonna make any difference. Since you had that much trouble against Mr. Hyde, you won't beat the others."

"Let's start with that," Cliff said. "How many Homunculi are we dealing with?" Glanced a look at Yuki. "So far we know about the three you guy's fought earlier today."

Yuki nodded. "The exploding guy the pyro fought, this kid who could heal instantly that Nel and Melvin went up against," he then placed a hand on the bandages on his gut, which was stained red with his blood. "and then the sword arm bastard."

Cliff continued the list. "There's also the white guy Allisa fought when you guys were knocked out. Then there's this Gas mask guy that Nel went up against two days ago. That makes five you guy's encountered before we came here." He then pointed at Sharly. "We didn't know anything about her. Meaning there might be other homunculi we have yet to encounter." Cliff then looked at Sharly again. "So how much of you are there?"

Sharly took in a deep breath before answering. "Eight." She stated. "I'm the 3rd Homunculi."

"3rd?" Yuki repeatedly puzzled.

"3rd created stupid." She said to him. "And I'm actually the weakest of all of them."

"Kinda figured that," Cliff said. "So what about the other's we mentioned?"

Sharly thought for a bit as she pieced together the nicknames they gave her brother's. "'Exploding guy' would likely mean Thatch, the 4th. The one who can restore his wounds quickly would be the 5th, Frosh." She then took a look at Yuki. "The 'sword arm bastard' as you put it, is the 7th, and is crazier than you. His name’s Gamba."

Yuki clutched his sword hard upon hearing his name.

"The gas mask guy is Weedree, the 6th. And the 'white guy' is the strongest out of all of us. The 1st, Rubrik." She then grinned at Cliff. "If you're looking for mother, he is rarely apart from her. And if you're unlucky to encounter him, he will kill all of yo-"

Yuki then tugged on her ears again. "We didn't ask for your opinion."

"That leaves two more." Cliff held up two fingers. "The 2nd and 8th, the ones we haven't seen yet."

Sharly fell back to the ground holding her head as the pain passed. "T-the 8th is new, Diane. And the 2nd is Edasa. And he is the second strongest out of all of us."

Cliff rubbed his chin as he took in all that Sharly had said about the others. "That's all? They're no others you haven't mentioned?"

Sharly shook her head. "That's all of us."

A rather concerned look came over Cliff. "This could be a whole lot harder than we first thought."

****

Following Diane, the Homunculi reached a split in the path. Diane couched to the ground as she examined the ground. She wasn't sure how she could do this, but she seemed to have s skill for tracking, increasable ones at that. Tracking a wild beast outside simply through sound, footprints, disturbance to the natural order, like squashed grass, broken branches, and such were one thing. Underground, in a claustrophobic labyrinth with straight paths, the occasional stairwell and rooms spread out over a wide area, to track someone though this required tracking skills that were nothing short of superhuman. Her memories of her past life were hazy, but some images of hunting beasts came to her at times.

"They split up here." Diane slowly looked to her left. "Two ran that way," She then looked to her right. "The other ran that way."

"Ok." Thatch clicked his knuckles as he faced down the left passage. "They hadn't gotten that far then. We may just get out of this alive."

"Why would they split up?" Frosh looked to the right corridor. "Given their situation, they probably should have stuck together."

"Who cares? We'll catch them either way."

"They were chased."

Frosh and Thatch looked at Diane, who was investigating some cracks in the ground before looking up at the ceiling. Something came after them, probably the reason why the split up." She looked to the right corridor once again. "One chased whoever ran that way," she then crouched near Thatch and looked to the left passage. "Four others came through here recently."

"Recently?" Frosh looked at the cracks that Diane was examining earlier. "These don't look like human tracks to me."

"Crap!" Thatch smacked his hand on his forehead and leaned against the wall. "Edasa told Sharly to release the dolls to deal with the intruders."

"Oh.... well, we're still screwed."

Diane looked at Thatch and Frosh in confusion.

Frosh sensed her immediate question. "Basically, Sharly would have told the dolls to eliminate the intruders, which is everyone who isn't us, or in the cells. Since they don't know the ones in the cell escaped, the dolls probably encountered the sacrifices and mistook them for intruders."

"Ah, that's quite the dilemma."

"Screw that!!" Thatch yelled. "We're in deep shit if those freaks kill one of them! Even if it was a doll that killed them, it's still gonna be our fault!" Thatch turned and raced down the left corridor scheming "Damn it!!!" at the top of his lungs.

"I'll go with him." Frosh then set off after Thatch. "Remember, it's a black-haired girl, a large kid, and a scrawny kid we're looking for, anyone else is an intruder. Good luck." he then disappeared down the corridor.

Diane took a glance at the right corridor and then ran down it.

****

Gamba sat in his seceded cell, slowly taking a rock to sharpen his blade. He was always locked up at the labyrinth whenever nothing was happening due to his violent nature. He had some kind of a thrust for blood, and an overwhelming desire to kill, main and mutilate anyone and everyone.

The minute he was born, right after he was given his name he lashed out at Luvia with the intention of squeezing the life out of her, an attempt that was flaunted by Rubrik who knocked him unconscious and nearly killed him, all with very little effort. When Sharly, rather reluctantly, attached a blade in place of his right hand, he lunged at Frosh, cutting him down multiple times while wounding Thatch. He also tore through seven ghouls Sharly sent after him until Edasa finally subdued him.

After that, Rubrik had him placed in an isolation cell in the labyrinth, and only released him when they needed him to do something. So he wouldn't go board, Frosh secretly sent ghouls into his cell for him to kill, which did well to satisfy his blood lust for a short while. The first time he went out, he was with Edasa and about fifteen ghouls, going out to gather materials from the nearby town.

On the way, he slaughtered all the ghouls, and then attacked a family in a car, killing all, the husband and wife. The two kids, barely a decade old, and a baby, he killed them all, and he smiled, watching the faces of terror and despair. He wasn't sure why, but he got incredible pleasure in seeing their faces. As he thought of those faces, the faces of those he killed, his mind was drawn immediately to that man. All people who he killed, in this life and his past life, all people experienced the same reaction as they died.

Terror. Despair. Rage. Sorrow. Fear.

These were all the emotions he came to expect and love. But that man didn't do any of those. As his life was leaving him, at the verge of death, he smiled. He didn't fear death. He still fought for his life, a futile effort everyone in his situation would do. But he smiled while doing it. He held his blade in place so he wouldn't bleed out, and he smiled.

"RRRRRRAAAAAA!!!!!"

Gamba got up and slashed the ground around him. The smile, he couldn't get it out of his head. That smile Haunted him. That smile.... It wasn't out of anger he struck out. It was out of impatience. He knew the man lived. He could feel it. Even if it took his whole life, he would find that man and fight him one more time. A battle to the death. Gamba stopped lashing out and sat down on the block he was on. A massive grin lit up his face at the thought of the battle.

"We will fight again." He muttered to himself. "And I will kill you, and see if you smile when you die." He raised his new blade to the air. It was far lighter than his last one. Unlike his last one, the blade had rectangles cut into it, a design he wanted for his last blade. "I just can't wait to find you again!"

The door to his cell then opened. "Gamba." Edasa's voice came from behind him.

"This is unexpected," Gamba said to him. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"We have intruders. Six of them."

Gamba lowered his blade. "Really?"

"The ones from earlier be believed."

Gamba then got up from his block, his back still turned to Edasa.

"I take it you're interested."

"No," Gamba turned to face Edasa, a massive grin on his face. "I'M ECSTATIC!!"