In the meantime, right at the ruins of NightCity, Xankaria was struggling to defeat that man. After all the attacks she had launched upon him so far, he was still standing, barely scratched. She was also tired and she was hurt. The man walked towards her. He was smiling evilly.

“You will never win! Why are you even struggling? I proved it to you many times! You are too weak to measure me!” he said. He sounded so proud of himself, so selfish…

Xankaria growled in anger. She pointed her hands at him and a laser of reddish flames came from out of nowhere and hit him. Since he was too busy chatting, she was capable to perform her attack. Next, she flapped her wings and a powerful gust of wind cut him badly. She flew towards him fast and used her explosions to knock him out. The shockwaves were so powerful that even Xankaria was pushed back.

She stepped back slowly and exhaled in relief. But, as the smoke cleared, she distinguished his shadow, standing up, like nothing had ever happened… He had been surrounded by a coat of dark matter that was now vanishing slowly. He was almost intact, he was only scratched badly around his waist…

He walked towards Xankaria, smirking. She could see the blood dripping fast from his wound. She grunted. She flashed a smile. She was proud of the fact that she landed such a blow on him.

Yet he didn’t seem to care. His wound was slowly regenerating and it didn’t seem to be so painful to him.

“You thought you caught me off guard?! Well, to be honest, I have a lot of strong defense abilities.” He laughed hysterically. Then, he touched the ground and a laser of green flames emerged from underneath Xankaria and hit her. Her wings were half burnt and she fell to the ground. She grunted in pain and performed the same attack. The man evaded and fought back. He spread his arms widely and the whole area was filled with a thin layer of stardust. Then, huge, starry chains emerged from the earth and wrapped around Xankaria’s body, immobilizing her. They hardened and became sharp, crystal weapons. As the grip grew tighter, the small blades pierced through Xankaria’s flesh. She screamed loudly and spit blood. Her wings were almost cut off too, it was no use. She couldn’t even struggle to escape or she’d make things worse…

Suddenly, the earth began to shake brutally and lasers of stardust emerged from underground. They formed a sort of web above Xankaria. The net lowered towards her. It was so close to touch her and end her, but she used her flames to evade. She broke the chains and surrounded herself with crimson fire. Then, she touched the ground and dozens of reddish lasers came out, shattering the net of stardust. That caused a powerful explosion. The shockwave was so strong that it pushed the two people away from each other. Xankaria took advantage of the thick layer of smoke and performed her final attack:

“Wings of Inferno: Hellflame purge!”

All the fire around rose in mid-air and formed into a huge sphere. Xankaria shot a tiny orb at it and, as soon as they touched, the massive sphere exploded. The shockwave burnt everything in its way and sent lots of gigantic fireballs to the ground. The atmosphere became so hot, so intense. The chaos took over and it wouldn’t stop.

Xankaria was almost done for. She was unable to make another move. Her wounds were bleeding so much worse than before and that attack seemed to have consumed her energy. Yet that man was fine. He stood covered by his coat of darkness that whole time.

He walked through the raging fire with that creepy smile on his face. He looked entertained.

“Well, that was an impressive attack! Still, you are too weak to break through my defense! Admit defeat and I will spare you.” he said. He giggled evilly.

Xankaria flashed a smirk. “You and your childish words…! I would rather die and go to Hell than admit defeat against you!” she growled.

Suddenly, a huge, fiery dragon silhouette appeared behind Xankaria. It had huge wings made entirely out of hell fire and its long, slim body was covered by a strong, black armor. Those big, yellow eyes met the man’s and he began to feel very strange. He was burning on the inside and he wanted to scream. The fiery creature didn’t break the eye contact. Yet the man endured that feeling and shot a laser of lightning at Xankaria. The dragon’s wings served as her shield and she escaped unharmed. But the rest was yet to come. The man had more to show.

He surrounded himself with a coat of stardust. Then, many lightnings shot from it. They were so powerful that Xankaria’s shield was torn apart. She was hit and her body was severely burnt. That was it for her. She lost the battle. The dragon was slowly vanishing.

The man walked towards her, still surrounded by stardust. He bent over and gripped her long, fiery hair. Xankaria was half unconscious and so numb. Her whole body was covered in blood. Her wings had been completely destroyed. The man was smiling hysterically. He loved seeing her like that.

“You said you’d rather die and go to Hell! There! How does it feel?! Is Hell looking good?! I’ll shake the last bit of life you have in you and let the Devil consume your soul!” he shouted, laughing hysterically. His voice was shaky.

He brutally shook Xankaria’s head just like she was a puppet.

Back at the mansion, Kanae was struggling to escape Xanii. She was all bloody and she could barely move. She was crawling away from her opponent. The fight consumed every bit of energy she had. And Xanii was no joke. She was clearly very fierce and very powerful. She possessed an immense amount of neon energy and her power nature allowed her to control green flames and toxic matter. Not only that, but she could control the Darkness as well. She only used it by the end of their fight, bored of having to deal with Kanae. Truth be told, they knew each other since Night Raid, though not very well. Xanii had only watched Kanae help the enemy destroy the Government Divisions while she was trying to find an escape route. That battle had been no joke, not even someone like her could hope to do much against those villains... 

She didn't do much but stare at how pathetically Kanae was while trying to escape...

Also, KQO was now waiting in a corner, watching Xanii. After all, the woman handled Kanae and he was the one who slaughtered six of the men that came along with her. Reiji, who used to be there too, escaped, unharmed. He was just lucky. Even if he was born in such a society, like many of the people, he didn't possess any great Power Nature but just an Ability: that of Transformation. After the First Galactic War, the number of people with Powers had decreased significantly because most of them were in service of the Government and were sent to battle against NEON's Destroyer or some even ended up joining her. It was awful and it seemed that the society had not recovered at all, especially after Night Raid... A battle he was forced to fight in along with those other six men who, just like him, possessed no great Abilities... It was strange how Kanae chose to save them after being the one they had to fight against. She just allowed them to join her and her brother like that under the condition that they would not contact any Government institution to reveal their identity... How could they not accept when they had a chance to live...? Well... Just one year after the nightmare, they finally got to rest in peace...

 Xanii was right behind Kanae. She was about to penetrate her frail body with her huge sword, but before she could do so, she heard footsteps coming from the forest. She looked that way and saw the man dragging Xankaria by her hair all the way to the mansion… She froze for a few moments. She dropped her weapon. She made a few steps back. There was no way to describe what she felt, but fear and horror were showing off most... She hadn't expected that. Not for her leader to fall like that in the hands of someone like him. She felt like she knew him from somewhere, but couldn't remember that clearly where she had even seen him... Those hateful eyes like those of the God of Destruction, described in the legend... The strings of dark matter surrounding him... That evil aura... 

When he got close enough to the mansion, the man dropped Xankaria to the ground and pressed on her back with his foot.

“Whoever came along with her will have the same fate! Xankaria is dead! May the Devil and the Goddess of Hell herself feast on her soul and let her rot in eternal Hell!”

Xanii didn’t dare to move a muscle. She was shaking. For a minute, she was left breathless. She fell to her knees. She couldn’t believe that Xankaria had fallen like that. With all her power, with all her strength, she found it impossible to believe that she died by his hand. But it wasn’t just that… The thought of where she had seen him before was begining to torment her... 

“How…?! How is this possible…?!” she mumbled.

Upon seeing Xanii, the man laughed. He looked at her face. Truly, his gaze revealed that he had that same thought. Yet unlike Xanii, he knew exactly that he had seen her before; he had in mind exactly when and where. And judging by the fearful glare she threw at him, he could read all her thoughts... 

“Oh, would you look at that! You admit your fucking defeat! What a pity, your leader was too stubborn. I will spare you this one last time!” he said. “Oh, and make sure to dig a nice grave for her!”

He laughed. Then, he gripped Xankaria’s hair and lifted her up. He threw her at Xanii brutally. Then, he turned his attention to Kanae, who managed to crawl her way to the entrance of the house. He lifted her up, letting her crimson blood spread all over his clothes. There was no way to tell if he even cared about her, but truly, he had no regrets whatsoever about anything he had done that night. 

He walked inside, shutting the massive door behind him. For a few moments, the whole yard remained plunged into a terrible silence…

Xanii gently carried Xankaria away from that place, farther into the dead forest.

Close to the Dead Woods, the place where Xankaria’s mansion was settled, Xena was patiently waiting. She was looking at the dark, night sky. She was somehow dreaming and she lost track of time. She was disconnected from reality…

[It was that empty room again. The atmosphere was cold and it smelled like fresh blood. It was so quiet. Too quiet. She felt like she was floating in an endless space. She was numb. Suddenly, she heard a loud scream coming from out the door, followed by the sound of blood splashing around. She got scared. She tried to avoid it and somehow run away from it. She felt just like in a horrifying dream.

She even heard a male voice shouting her name:

“Jia! Jia! You must get out of there! Now! Can you hear me?! Get out of there!”

She tried to move and run away, but she was paralyzed. She closed her eyes and all the noises began to fade away. Everything around dissolved into nothingness.]

Xena was suddenly woken by the Xanii’s loud voice that was coming from the woods. Apparently, she managed to reach the mansion. She was very mad and she was running out of time; Xankaria was still alive and she didn’t want to risk losing her. She called Xena again.

Xena transformed quickly and rushed to Xanii. She saw Xankaria laying half dead in her arms and KQO behind her. Xanii was looking at Xena with a rude gaze. She had her eyes narrowed.

“May I ask where in the bloody Seven Hells have you been?! What were you thinking?! Disobeying the orders again! You are nothing more but a burden! Even this little kid did more than you!” she shouted.

Xena scoffed. “So, you are basically trying to blame me for Xankaria’s fate?! Was I secretly assigned to watch her back? Pardon me, if you and your dumb friend were just too reckless, you both have to bare the risks! I warned you, didn’t I?! That man is not who she thinks he is!”

“Like you know who he is! Just what do you even want to prove with that?!” replied Xanii. Xena turned with her back at Xanii and slowly walked away. She knew Xanii was too impatient to listen to her. And after all, she didn’t want to argue about that man either. She seemed to know something more about him and she just didn’t want to spit it out.

Xanii struggled to carry Xankaria to the mansion and treat her. KQO gave her a hand of help. He was very young, but he got used to that new lifestyle. Yet Xena was not even struggling to accommodate. She liked being herself all the time. That made Xanii dislike her so much. They were so different that they couldn’t accept each other.

Now, Xanii was resting on the couch in a dark chamber known as the Meeting Room. She was laying there, almost asleep. She was quite concerned about Xankaria. She just hoped she would stay alive. KQO was sitting next to her, petting her head.

“I’m sorry that you have to endure this. It must be hard…” he whispered.

“It really is… But you don’t make it seem that painful… Thank you, KQO…” muttered Xanii. She never felt any kind of affection towards anybody and anything and she was never a soft-hearted person, but for some reason, after her and Xankaria 'adopted' this child, she began to feel some sympathy... She knew he was innocent, like she had once been before becoming what she was now. And just like her, KQO suffered a lot. They both knew the pain of being alone, the pain of being beaten constantly... The pain of being abandoned by your family and sent in horrible places... 

In her room, Xankaria was laying on the bed. She had her whole body covered in bandages and she was still in a deep coma. But she was somehow conscious… Many terrible images of the past were swirling in her head and she was aware of it. She just couldn’t wake up to escape them…