"Ci...ens!..."

(What?)

"Be..ld! Th...nt...r....am...st....y...r....k...nd!"

(That...voice....Dar...ius?)

I slowly come to, and raise my head. My limbs are tied in a position that reminds me of, what was it again, the crucifixion of the Son of God during the First Age? I keep raising my head, but my sight is still a blur.

"What are you doing with Oren!?" a voice that sounds like Tony's asks.

"How dare you talk to me like that! Have you no shame for harboring a criminal!?"

"Oren is not a criminal! How dare you ruin our festival with such a display!!!"

My eyesight begins to clear and comes into focus. I see all the Terraz citizens lining the streets, their faces wrung with horror and disgust. Many turn to me with sympathy in their eyes as they see me slowly recovering.

"Oren!" Sakura yells somewhere in the back of the group, "I don't know what you did, but we believe you!"

I turn my head to look around. To my left are two individuals I do not know very well, but I know I saw Mydrea-sama look back at them earlier on in the festival. Turning my head again towards the right, I see Mydrea-sama. She looks up at me and turns her head away. What was it I saw in her eyes at that very moment? Guilt? Sympathy? ...No. A tool of war like her could not possibly express such things.

And lastly, I look closer at the person with his back to me. Darius. Lifting his arms high, as if speaking to some higher being, he continues to raise his obnoxious voice as he belittles the people of Terraz. My friends. My...family.

"Do you expect me to believe your kind?" he demands with a mixture of both disgust and triumph. "Your kind spends your entire lives slaving for your betters! People who actually do the thinking! Anybody could have snuck into this place and you wouldn't question it! You live off instinct! You cannot consider consequences! Have you no sympathy for the people of New Vegas, my people, that are lying in near-eternal slumber because of this criminal's actions!?"

"Leave...them..." I growl. The sound of my voice causes Darius to turn around.

"So, you're awake. Have anything to say about your crimes?"

"Leave my friends alone!"

"Electric Drive: !"

Darius's right hand gets enveloped in electricity and...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yell, shocked in the chest.

"STOP THIS AT ONCE!!!!" screams one of the locals.

"SILENCE!" Darius retorts as he retracts his hand.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you! You follow the rules of 'survival of the fittest'. Well, if the strong are criminals, does nature justify their actions!? You're mindless, repetitive, easily-enticed beasts put in this world to serve the rest of Angelia! You don't even know the meaning of justice! How can you provide food for this continent parading around claiming to make it a better place with what you give it, and yet take away the lives and freedom of other cities by harboring their oppressors!?"

"What would you know!?" I retort.

"Excuse me?"

"We know your type, parasite! You claim to be righteous when you've never done anything for anyone else in your life! Have you ever done any honest day's work!?"

"Why you...!"

"Tell me, is this for New Vegas, or your own inflated ego!?"

After that remark, Darius punches me in the face across my right cheek.

"ENOUGH!" I hear a voice cry out. Wait...that was...

"Are you finished...Darius?" says Mydrea-sama.

....

"Yes, I believe I've made my point. Do what you must."

"Before the punishment is carried out, it would be best to..."

"Phoenix, finish him now," the androgynous figure says.

"What?" Mydrea-sama utters, surprised.

"WHAT!?" yell some of the locals.

"HE'S INNOCENT!"

"You can't kill him without proof!"

"He's not the monster here. You are! The lot of you!"

"Why should I? That's not our way!" she retorts.

"You seem to know little of Selot's reputation. Would you risk the lives of others while he still draws breath? I know that, at least in what you do, unnecessary risks are not your way."

At this, Mydrea-sama goes silent, and slowly walks up towards me.

Bachi... Bachi...

I lift my head and meet her gaze. There's little point in using Soul Conversion when I cannot move my body. There's not much I can do. Any yet, my dream... Oh, why does my mind keep jumping back to that nightmare? That damn vision is the whole reason I'm in this mess! I'm innocent! And yet... I set myself up. Perhaps, I did change my fate after all. Just not for the better.

"So," I mutter, "You don't know much about Selot."

She continues to look at me with guilt in her eyes.

"And...what will you do when you realize your mistake? Your unjustified murder?"

She slowly raises her hand towards my chest.

"I'm...," she begins to say.

"I'm...sorry."

The orb in her hand starts to increase in radius.

"STOP THIS!!!" yell some of the locals. I can see beyond Mydrea-sama and notice many of them moving towards the quartet. They are emitting what little rhime they have from the Rebirth ceremony to transform parts of their bodies and summon plants. Maybe...if I cannot change my fate...maybe they can change...

HYOI!

Before they can reach me, a giant pelican plant rises from the ground and creates a thick barrier between me and the locals.

"And so," says the androgynous person, "This is how it begins."

(What? Begins!?)

"GGGRRROOOWWWWRRRR!!!!!!"

At the sound of a familiar animal cry, the pelican plant is cut through by the claws of a giant First Age Siberian tiger.

"GO!" Tony yells.

As soon as he finishes, another familiar figure jumps through the opening of the plant with cat-like reflexes and yells out...

"GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!!!"

Mydrea-sama moves to block Sueka's leap, misses her chance and jumps back.

"Stop her!" Darius yells.

Before anyone can shorten the gap between us, Sueka lands right in front of me, transforms into her cat form, and rips the ropes that bind me to shreds.

'No! NonononononononononoNO!!!!" Darius yells in a fit. "Alright, that's it!"

"Electric Drive: !!!"

The dark hum of an orb of electricity fills the air. However...

GASHIN!!!

For whatever reason, he throws it at the pelican plant, bringing down the barricade it has created.

"You ungrateful peasants! To stoop so low as to aid a killer! Is death what you want!? Is death what you wish to bring to Angelia!? Is death what you animals desire!? ... Very well then. May you reap what you...!!!!"

AGU!!!!!

."..sow!?!?!?"

Petrified by fear and astonishment, we see as Darius Dives, now skewered through the chest by a giant fang, is raised up...

...in the mouth of a giant snake coming from the androgynous figure's right arm.

"You're exactly right, Darius..." the figure says.

"Hunter...why?"

"You reap what you sow."

With that, the snake bites down even harder, the sound of breaking bones resounding throughout the street. When Darius breathes his final breath, the snake tosses him into the now horrified audience.

"Hunter!" Mydrea-sama yells. "Why did!?..."

"SSSSHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The snake head turns and rushes towards Sueka and me.

(Soul Conversion 5...BEAT!!!)

With this energy, I scoop up Sueka and jump with her in my arms to reach the top of the nearest building.

"HUNTER!!! STOP!!!" Mydrea-sama screams.

"Remember the mission!"

"Remember the code!"

The snake again rushes towards me. Now, with good footing, I run across the rooftops towards the village exit, away from the locals.

"Don't let them escape, Togo!" Hunter shouts.

Togo, not looking pleased at the spectacle, does as he is ordered and creates a pelican plant bigger than the street, to block me in.

(I don't think so! Soul Conversion 5...BEAT!!!)

I manage to escape the city with Sueka in my arms.

"After th...!" Hunter begins to yell.

"GGGRRROOOWWWWRRRR!!!!!!"

Hunter quickly jumps out of the way, bending his torso at a seemingly impossible angle. Almost as if their spine is non-existent. Almost snake-like.

"WE'LL TEACH YOU TO MESS WITH TERRAZ!!!" Tony thunders in his tiger voice.

By this time, the majority of the locals are ready for combat, using their sprouted plants and animal transformations. Still, in spite of the vast numbers against them....

"HmHmHm," Hunter chuckles, "Très bien..." and adds...

"All is fair in the name of revolution!!!"