Into the Light

At first, I thought the light was the after image of my last blast.  It blanketed the entire battlefield with its warm yet intense glow.  There was no further movement around me and the sense of danger had dissipated.  I released my hold on the killer and it withdrew from my body and back into the two open sore-like bumps on the back of my neck.  I started walking towards the light, half expecting it to disappear.  It didn’t.  Instead, it seemed to withdraw and become more pronounced.  The glow that had only moments before covered the battlefield coalesced into a single bright point, about halfway across the field.  As I walked towards it, I tried not to look at the grisly remains of my handiwork strewn all over the field.  Not even the intense power of my last blast could entirely disintegrate all of my foes.  There was the faints sound of sizzling bacon, and again, I kept my eyes focused straight ahead.  I did not need to follow the sounds to know what they were.  I had seen the dead bodies of my enemies dissolve after death too many times in the past.  Was this how it was like for my father?  He who had battled these infernal creatures until his very sanity was destroyed and he took his own life.  It’s funny, I always thought about my father in moments like this.  He had spent his entire adult life fighting these creatures and one by one, all of his friends and family had suffered the ultimate consequence.  I too, have spent my whole life fighting, but at least I was did not have to kill my own father like my own father did.  My war was not without its casualties though.  My thoughts strayed and I had to clamp down on them before they brought me down the path of pain once more.  Instead, I kept my eyes and my thoughts strictly on the light in front of me.

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of it.  It was a lot smaller than I had originally thought.  That was when I realized that it was quickly shrinking.  An intense feeling of cold seemed to emanate from it.  I held my right hand up to it and confirmed that the coldness was coming from the heart of the mysterious light.  I stretched out my hand and reached into the light.  It was almost unbearably cold!  I withdrew my hand and examined it.  A light coat of frost seemed to cover it.  I walked a fast circle around the light.  No matter which way I looked at it, it looked the exact same.  It was like a flat sheet of opaque glass that turned with me, mocking me with its mysteriousness.  In a way, I was glad.  It was preventing me from dwelling on the results of my latest battle.  What was once fertile parkland densely covered with trees and inhabited with semi-domesticated wildlife, was now a barren wasteland.  The energy from my blast had carved a scar in the very earth for as far as the human eye could see.  The local authorities would be here soon.  I had to leave this area and find a place to hole up for a couple of days.  But I couldn’t.  Not yet.  The light, which by now, had shrunk to the size of a house door beckoned to me.  Come, it seemed to say.  Come see!

Could it be?  The very idea seemed preposterous.  The sun was almost at the horizon and already, the distant sounds of sirens were getting closer.  Too close.  In fact, with no cover, it was unlikely that I would be able to get away without being spotted by someone.  Unless I unleashed the killer once more.  No!  Not that!  All my enemies were dead.  The countless dissolving bodies on the field were the last of them.  There was no need for the killer anymore.  I was free at last.  Unless, of course, I let myself get caught.  The normal humans were not part of my war, even though many of them had been caught in the crossfire over the years and had paid the price for their bad luck.  Especially Mi-

I fell to my knees and wretched.  The bitter sour taste of bile coated my throat.  No.  I can’t let myself think of her.  I can’t.  It’s over.  I looked up and the door of light beckoned to me once more.  Preposterous as it may sound, deep down, instinctively, I knew that was what it had to be.  A door.

The sirens grew even louder and the screech of rubber on pavement punctuated the falling dusk.  The door had shrunk to half the size of a house door.  It was just big enough for me if I were to crouch down and waddle.  Before I could think about it some more, and before I could change my mind, I dived into the light.  The light blinded me and bitter ice cold cut me down to my bones.  I’m going to die.  I must be dying.  There’s no way a human could survive the bitter cold I was feeling.  But then, I’m not just a human, am I?

---

I must have passed out.  There could be no other explanation.  The light of earlier was now replaced by darkness.  Not complete darkness though.  The light of a full moon shone down on me.  A soft wet drizzle surrounded me and I realized that I was lying on soft wet grass.  I sat up and looked around.  I was in what appeared to be a clearing in the middle of a deep dark forest.  I definitely didn’t think I was in Kansas anymore!  I shook my head vigorously.  I had a very strange sense of humor.

I got up and walked a small circle, examining my surroundings.  It was almost peaceful here.  Wherever here was, though, was another story.  That door of light must have taken me far, far away.  There was no way the police who had come to investigate my battle could have failed to find me.  My enemies, on the other hand, would have dissolved into liquid puddles by the time they there found.  Judging by the position of the full moon, the time must be just after midnight.  That was strange.  There wasn’t a full moon last night, nor the night before.  In fact, I could’ve sworn that last night, the moon was just a small curved sliver.

A sudden deep howl broke the silence of the night.  I spun around in a full circle, trying to locate the sound.  Another howl followed the first, and then a third.  There were more howls but they seemed further away.  I stopped my spinning as I finally located the direction from which the howling was coming from.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end.  The howling seemed to awaken some sort of primeval fear deep within me.  The two sore-like bumps at the base of my neck throbbed as the killer within responded to the fear I was feeling.  I clenched my hands into tight fists.  No.  I will not let the killer loose.  My war was over for god’s sake!  Whatever was coming my way, I would face it as a man.  Besides, it was not as if I was not without certain martial skills of my own.

A dark shadow seemed to flit back and forth among the trees in front of me.  It was moving unbelievably fast as it darted from tree to tree.  It approached me and I didn’t even have time to brace myself before it was gone.  I had a faint glimpse of a pale face with dark eyes as it flew by.  I started to turn my head to follow the dark figure but a movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention.  I turned back only to come face to face with a nightmare apparition.  So sudden was the image, so unexpected, that I literally froze in my tracks.  It wasn’t fear that I felt…at least not the run for you life kind of fear.  It was the impossibility of what I was seeing.  It was impossible!  All my enemies were dead!  Even if they weren’t, how did they find me so fast?

Like an avalanche of fur, fangs and razor sharp claws, the monster bore down on me.  I had no choice.  I had to unleash the killer.  In my current state, I was vulnerable, and nowhere near strong enough to take on a zoanoid in full charge.  My heart pounded in my chest, pumping a tidal wave of blood through my body.  The thunder of my pulse almost drowned out all other sounds.  I took a deep breath, opened my mouth and prepared to call forth the killer.

A strong arm with a grasp of steel wrapped itself around my chest and suddenly I was airborne.  I had a brief view of the gigantic fur covered monster as it passed beneath me.  The flight was fast and short, and when my feet touched the ground once more, the fur-covered monster was far behind me (or was it in front of me since whoever had a hold of me was dragging me backwards?)  Behind or in front, either way, the monster was coming with incredible speed.  I tried to turn my head to see my mysterious benefactor but in a flash, we were off again.  Trees seemed to flash by impossibly fast as my rescuer dragged me through the air.  It shouldn’t be possible.  I may not be very large or heavy in my current state but the arm that grabbed me was both slender and feminine.

We touched ground again, and this time, I struggled to break the viselike hold on me.  Surprisingly, the arm let go and I got my first good look at my rescuer.  In a word, she was beautiful.  Not in the anorexic bikini supermodel kind of way, but in a classical aristocratic way.  Her skin was so pale as to seem as if it were shaped from ivory.  She had a heart shaped face, lush lips that were currently pulled tight in a grimace, and a cute nose that was flaring in exertion.  The feature that caught my attention the most though, was her eyes.  They were so dark as to appear coal black.  Her shoulder length black hair hung in wet straggly strands.  She wore a black skintight outfit that hugged every curve and line of her body.  Thick black straps hung off her shoulders, indicating a weapon harness of some sort on her back.  She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen – and not just because she had apparently saved my life.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked as soon as I caught my breath.

She gazed at me with her coal black eyes and said simply, “If you want to live, come with me.”

She regarded me as if waiting for an answer.  I gave her a quick nod and she started to reach for me again.  Just before she touched me, she stopped and cocked her head to the side.  She stared down the path and said, “Too late.”

I followed her gaze and could see a huge hulking shape running on all fours.  I opened my mouth to call forth the killer, only to find myself being pushed roughly back and onto the wet ground.  The woman in black charged the running monster.  From my angle, it was difficult to see what happened next, but one moment she was running, the next she was airborne and somersaulting towards the monster.  Something flashed bright in the night and the running monster fell to the ground in two separate pieces.

I picked myself off the ground where I was so rudely and unceremoniously pushed and walked over to my benefactress.  She stood over the dead body of the monster, a bright blood covered sword in one hand.  The monster seemed to shift, and before my eyes, it began to shrink and transform.  However, instead of dissolving into a puddle off goo as I had anticipated, the headless body shrank until it looked like a naked headless man.  Not a zoanoid after all.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.  I couldn’t keep a small shiver from my voice.

“That,” said the woman gravely, “is a lycan.”

“A what?”

“A lycan.  Short for lycanthrope.”

My face must have showed my confusion because she looked me straight in the face and said, “A werewolf.”

She grinned then, a wide open mouthed toothy grin, and that was when I noticed that her canines were extra long.  “Oh shit,” I said softly.

There was another long howl and we both snapped our heads to look down the path.  The woman in black grabbed my hand and dragged me into a headlong run in the other direction.  I am an athletic person, even though the killer within couldn’t have cared less if I weren’t.  However, I was hard pressed to keep up with the woman as she half dragged, half carried me in our frantic flight.

Suddenly, she changed her grip so that she was behind me with her hands under my arms.  She heaved upward and we were airborne once again.  My feet barely touched a branch before she leapt again.  Higher and higher she carried me until we were hidden up in the branches of a very large tree.

We stopped on a large branch and the pause in our flight finally allowed me to collect myself enough to ask the most important question my befuddled mind could think of.  “What the hell is going on?”

The woman gave me an icy stare then looked away.  She seemed to make up her mind about something and then turned back to me.  “There is a world, underneath the regular day to day mundane drag, and this…Underworld, is at war.”

“War?”  Great.  I finally finish fighting my own war and then walk right smack into the middle of another one.

She nodded gravely.  “For centuries, the lycans and the vampires have been at each other’s throats.  Literally.”

“So, that thing back there…that was a lycan…a werewolf?”  The woman in black nodded again and I forged ahead.  “And…you’re a vampire?”

She gave me another toothy grin and asked, “What was your first clue?”

Wonderful, a smart assed vampire.  Beautiful, yes.  But smart assed nevertheless.  She had a strange accent.  One that tended to roll the rs and ‘v’ ws.  I found it be strangely appealing.

“My name is Alexandra,” she said.  “My friends call me Lexi, but if you say it’s because I look sexy, I’ll suck you dry!” she finished with a close-mouthed grin.  I was somewhat relieved because those canines can be very disheartening.

“My name is Shoryu,” I said and I held out my right hand.  She shook it firmly.  “Thank you for saving me back there.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Um, I don’t want to seem ungrateful or anything, but why did you?  Save me, that is.”

Lexi looked as if she was expecting that very question…maybe she had been asking herself that too.  She thought for a second and then said playfully, “Well, I am a vampire after all.  Perhaps I wanted to snack on the run!”

I chuckled appreciatively along with her.  Whatever else this beautifully dangerous vampire wanted, sucking me dry was perhaps the last thing on her mind.  “Seriously, I think you had a pretty fair lead on that lycan back there.  If you hadn’t stopped to pick me up, you could have outrun him and his friends.”

At the mention of the dead lycan’s friends, Lexi’s expression turned fearful.  She glanced around the darkness, as if to try to spot the rest of the lycan pack.  Not even her vampire eyes could pierce the densely packed trees though.  She gave herself a visible shake and then turned back to me.  “Perhaps,” she said with a shrug.  “But, most of the Death Dealers are dead along with the Elders.  The coven is destroyed.  The lycans appear to have finally won the centuries old feud.  Perhaps I’m only running to see how many of the bastards I can take with me before my turn to die comes.”

Much of what Lexi said didn’t make much sense to me.  Elders?  Coven?  She had the look of someone who had been running for a long time and was on the verge of giving up.  One thing she said did make sense though.  “Death Dealers?  Is that what you are?”

She shook her head and held her head up proudly.  “Not just a mere Death Dealer.  I am a Kill Master!  My Elder, Amelia, named me herself.”  Her expression turned dark once more.  “She was treacherously struck down by the lycans and their traitorous vampire co-conspirators.”

She must have seen the confused look on my face and decided to explain further. “The Death Dealers are the militant arm of the vampire clan.  No, not just the militant arm.  They specialize in the hunting and killing of lycans.  Their skills and strength are well beyond those of the average vampires – most of whom are weak and decadent.  A Kill Master is one whose skills and strength are beyond even those of the Death Dealers and whose lycan kills number in the thousands.”

She stiffened suddenly when a howl punctuated the night.  However, the howl seemed to be far away and she relaxed her guard somewhat.  As if aware that she hadn’t yet fully answered my question, she looked me in the eyes and said, “The war has been going on for so long…I have been fighting it for over 800 years.  I’m tired.  I’m tired of the constant fighting, tired of losing my comrades one by one to those disgusting animals, and most of all, I’m tired of seeing innocent parties be dragged in against their will.  If that lycan had bitten you, you may have turned into one as well, and I would have had to kill you.”

She looked away again, almost as if an embarrassing thought had occurred to her.  When she turned back, her expression was one of curiosity and wonderment.  “You weren’t scared.  A fully changed lycan was charging at you full bore and you weren’t scared.  By the time I turned around to grab you, you looked as if you were prepared to fight the lycan bare handed.  Not a very smart move, but incredibly brave.”  Her eyes softened and her expression turned into something very much like grudging respect.

I shifted uncomfortably on the branch and tried to change the subject.  How do I tell this beautiful woman that I wasn’t quite bare handed?  “So, that sword of yours, is it made of silver?”

She seemed surprised by the question and then let a soft chuckle.  “Silver?  Where did you get that silly conception?  Never mind.  I know.  Many of the stories concerning the weaknesses of lycans were told by the lycans themselves.  Call it a campaign of disinformation.  Silver will slow down a lycan, whose speed by the way, is incredibly fast, but will not ultimately kill it.  However, I have always found that a lycan without its head has a hard time staying alive.”

I nodded in understanding.  I can well understand the lycan reasoning.  Giving out false weaknesses is a simple yet effective way to weaken your enemies.  “How about vampire weaknesses?  Are they all false too?”

Her face turned grim, as she said quietly, “Not all of them.”

Sensing some sensitive ground, I tried to change the subject once more.  Whatever Lexi implied about lycan speed, vampires were just as fast, if not faster.  The sudden snap of a branch was all the warning we had, and yet she was already up and off our branch when a large dark snarling shape burst through the trees.  As it lunged for her, she planted one foot solidly on its head and then somersaulted into a vertical back flip.  As she came back around to face the lycan, her sword flashed straight and true and bisected the lycan’s head down the middle.  As it fell, Lexi allowed her back flip to carry her off our precarious perch and down towards the ground.

Oh yeah, did I mention what I was doing in the middle of all this?  Yup, sitting on my fat ass.  I was still staring wide eyed at the carnage in front of me when suddenly, the damp musky scent of a wet dog hit me just before the second lycan knocked me off the branch.

Somehow, I managed to get myself above the lycan so that when we hit the ground, I landed on top.  I rolled to my feet and then froze.  The entire base of the tree where Lexi and I were sheltering was surrounded by lycans.  Dozens of them.  Standing in their midst, was a man who by the simple fact that he was not eaten by them, was obviously their leader.  Facing off against this horde, with only a sword in her hand, was Lexi.  Her resolute expression showed no trace of the fear that I was feeling in my own veins.

“Kill Master Alexandra,” said the man.  “We meet at last!”

Lexi spit on the ground and grated, “Dog!  How did you become leader of the pack?”

Rather than be offended, the man whom Lexi just named Dog threw his head back and laughed.  “With Lucien dead, I of course, emerged as the strongest.”

Lexi spat again.  “Lucien was 10 times the lycan that you will ever be.  He, at least, was worthy of my blade!”

“Ah, but he’s dead - killed by his own treacherous vampire co-conspirators.  I, on the other hand, have no intention of placing my trust in vampires!”

Ice-cold fear raced throughout my entire body.  Not fear for my life, though.  I knew, deep down, that no matter how bad the situation was, the killer that had protected me all my life, would continue to protect me now.  No, my fear was for the woman vampire who had paused in her escape long enough to save someone whom she thought was an innocent about to be caught in the crossfire of her war.  I could respect that.  After all, how many times in my own war have I had to not only allow innocent people into the crossfire, but had to kill them myself?  I watched Lexi, defiantly facing off against dozens of fully changed lycans.  No matter what her skills as a Kill Master were, there was no way she could fight all of the lycans with only a sword and survive.  Yet, fight was exactly what she seemed prepared to do.  I watched as she braced herself, taking her long curved sword into a two-handed grip.  So beautiful.  So graceful.  So brave.  Nothing at all like Miyu.

Pain stabbed through my heart as my uncontrolled thoughts led me down the path of pain.  When was the last time I even thought of that name?  Miyu…my first love.  I could still remember the terrified look on her face as she came face to face with the killer within me.  She could not reconcile with my dual nature.  Her panicked flight away from me led her directly into the arms of my enemies.  They toyed with her.  They toyed with me – taunting me with the threat of violence against her.  I could do nothing as they beat me into a pile of quivering jelly.  Then, just before they delivered the coup de grace to end my miserable torment, they made their fatal mistake.  They killed Miyu.  Right before my eyes.  Slowly and painfully, they twisted her head off and held it in front of my face as a grisly trophy of my own inadequateness.  For the first time in my life, I gratefully unleashed the killer.  My rage was so great, the fire burned so hot, that there was not even enough organic matter left of my enemies to dissolve.

Huge tree trunk-like arms grabbed me from behind.  The musky scent of wet dog filled my nose and made me gag.  The arms dragged me upright from where I had fallen to my knees as the memories overcame me.  My vision blurred and the grisly memory of Miyu’s dismembered head was replaced by the sight of Lexi dancing the dance of death with her lycan foes.  There were already two dead lycans on the ground in four separate pieces.  Their still forms were already beginning to change back into their once human shapes.

A strident authoritative voice called out, “Hold!”

As one, the lycans held their ground.  Lexi stayed in her fighting stance, awaiting the next lycan attack with her sword at the ready.

“Kill Master Alexandra, I’m sure we can pull you down eventually,” said Dog in a haughty tone.  “But, allow me to entertain you with one last game before your death!”

Lexi followed Dog’s gaze and looked back at me.  Her eyes widened as she took in the scene.  I could well imagine what she was seeing.  Me, helpless in the arms of a lycan, whose gnashing teeth were inches from my throat.

“No!  Leave him alone!” cried Lexi.  “He’s not part of this!”

“Ah, but he is my dear,” crooned Dog.  “He became a part of this the minute we saw him.  We can always use more cannon fodder for our ranks.”

The jaws by my throat snapped shut like an iron trap.  I was still too stunned and confused by my own emotions to feel much fear.  What fear I felt was still, unexpectedly, directed at Lexi.  I knew what the lycans were planning.  I had been down this same path myself.  What would Lexi do?  She didn’t even know me.  She had no reason to sacrifice herself for me.  She could still get away.  Her greater agility and speed would give her a fair chance at escaping.  She had to run.  It was her only hope.

Apparently, Lexi drew the same conclusions as I did, at the same time.  What was it they said about great minds thinking alike?  She held her sword at the ready for another second, then straightened out of her fighting crouch and dropped her sword to the ground.

What the hell!  What was she thinking of?

“Please,” she said softly, “let him go.”

The surrounding lycans all bayed their laughter at the full moon.  Dog grinned evilly as he gestured to someone behind Lexi.  Two brutish lycans sauntered up and each grabbed one of Lexi’s arms.  When she was safely immobilized, Dog wandered up, picked up Lexi’s discarded sword and stood in front of her.

“You surprise me, Kill Master.  I didn’t realize vampires had hearts.  You make this all too easy!”  As if to punctuate his last word, Dog drove Lexi’s sword into her right shoulder.  If possible, her pale ivory face turned even paler.  She clenched her teeth, but refused to cry out in pain.  Dog arched an eyebrow and said, “Impressive, Kill Master.  The night is young though.  I wonder if we can make you scream before the sun comes up!”

At the mention of the sun, the first signs of fear crossed Lexi’s face.  Damn, it was still many hours before the dawn.  Dog and the rest of the lycans intended to play their sick cruel game for as long as they could.

Dog held up his right hand in front of Lexi’s face.  In the moonlight, I could see it change into a large fur covered hand with long razor sharp talons.  Slowly and with agonizing precision, he drew the talon of his index finger down the front of Lexi’s outfit.  She bared her teeth again, and again refused to cry out.  I could barely see her dark blood against the background of her black outfit.  Dog grabbed the cut ends of the outfit and pulled them to the sides, exposing Lexi’s pale breasts to the moonlight.  The lycans howled their anticipation to the moon.

“It zips from the back, you moron!” said Lexi through grated teeth.

“I know it does,” responded Dog with an evil grin.  “But, this is much more fun!”

With his left hand, he fondled Lexi’s exposed breasts with a tauntingly gentle caress.  “You know,” he said conversationally, “rumor has it that vampires are great lays.  In fact, I hear they rutted on Amelia like animals before they ripped her throat out!”

Lexi hissed in anger at the mention of her dead Elder’s name.  Dog threw his head back and laughed.  He had finally gotten a reaction out of the ice queen!

As for myself, my blood had just about reached its boiling point.  The scene in front of me was agonizingly familiar.  Was this how Miyu felt as she watched my enemies beat me to a bloody pulp?  Or was her entire being too infused with fear?  A dim memory answered all my questions.  Gentle, whimsical and shy, Miyu had cursed her captors and vowed to kill each and every one of them for what they were doing to me.  In fact, it was her defiance that had prompted them to kill her.  If she had remained the terrified little creature, they probably would have had their laugh and let her go.  Miyu…she did love me after all.  Love, however, did not always conquer and she had been powerless to do anything.

But I, on the other hand, am anything but powerless.  Once more, my pulse thundered in my veins.  My heart beat with all the fury of a steel drum.  The killer on the back of my neck throbbed with every beat of my heart.  No, I definitely am not powerless!  I opened my mouth but could not resist one final barb to the animals that I was about to kill.  “Dog!”  Every eye turned to look at me.  “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

Dog turned to look at me incredulously.  Lexi looked at me with fear in her eyes.  Not fear for herself, but fear for me and for what she thought I was about to do.  Dog’s mouth quirked up into a gleeful smirk.  The scene froze; everybody was in their assigned places for the grand finale.  Dog started to open his mouth to mock me.  Lexi started to open her mouth to stop me.  I beat them both to the punch.

“GUYVER!!”

Like an eager bloodhound unleashed to the hunt, the killer burst free from its confines and wrapped long silky tentacles around my body.  The tentacles reached every part of me and bonded with me.  The usual pain of my transformation was not there.  Or maybe it was buried by the deep sense of satisfaction I felt in the knowledge that I was about to dispense some good old-fashioned whoop ass.  Inside my body, the killer merged with my internal systems, changing them into something else…something powerful.  On the outside, the tentacles flattened and hardened and smoothed themselves out into almost impenetrable armor.  I am Shoryu Fukomachi.  Son of the original Guyver.  The only surviving Guyver unit of the great Kronos war.  Unlike previous Guyvers, I did not bond with the killer by accident or by design.  I was born with the killer within my system.  I am Omega Guyver!

The force of my transformation threw the lycan holding me back.  Just before I transformed, I had grabbed hold of his arms and held on tight throughout my transformation.  I exhaled, and compressed air hissed out of my mouthpiece.  I held up my hands and dropped two bloody, dismembered lycan arms onto the ground.

I took one step forward and Dog drew back, fear was etched all across his face as he beheld something that was totally beyond his simple understanding.  “K-kill it!” he cried.  Terror infused his quivering voice.

There was a slight pause and then the lycan horde surged forward.  I remembered Lexi’s words from earlier and activated my swords.  Other, older Guyver units had their swords extend down from their forearms into great curved sweeping blades.  Mine extended straight out from above my wrist.  With a soft schink I extended two three-foot long straight blades.  They hummed quietly at a hypersonic frequency.

Large jaws clamped shut on the back of my neck.  However, they could not get past the high armored collar back there.  I dove forward, rolled, and then leapt straight up into the air.  As I came down, my left blade swept through the neck of the lycan who thought to get an early taste of Guyver flesh.

Another lycan charged me.  I ducked under its sweeping talons and cut him in half with my right hand blade.  I have to give the lycans credit.  They are fast.  A hammer blow hit me in the back.  I rode the force of the blow and allowed it to carry me out of immediate range.  The back of my mind judged the strength of the blow and compared it to my former enemies, the zoanoids.  It seems that the typical lycan is not quite as strong as the rhino-like Gregore, but definitely stronger than the mutated monkey-like Marmon.  Definitely faster and more agile than Marmon and twice as vicious and full of rage as both combined.

The sensors on top of my head noted that Lexi had not frozen in shock as I had half expected her to.  She broke free from the shocked grasp of her captors, and with her left hand, she dragged her sword out of her right shoulder.  With a quick reverse cut, she parted Dog’s head from his shoulders.  Before the two lycans to either side of her could react to the sudden fountain of blood that used to be their leader, she backward somersaulted away and landed behind her former captors.  The lycan on her left fell forward and its head rolled away from its body.  The lycan on her right finally realized what was going on and lashed out with a taloned hand.  Lexi ducked underneath and the battle was fully joined.

More lycans joined the melee and I danced the dance of death with them.  My hypersonic blades wreaked havoc among their ranks, but they got in a few good licks of their own.  My chest and back were lacerated with numerous scratches, but that’s all they were to me...scratches.  Apparently, these lycans had nothing that could make even the smallest dent in my tough hide.  They were hopelessly outclassed and they didn’t even know it.

Of course, eventually, they did figure it out.  As suddenly as the battle had started, it was over.  The remaining lycans in the pack were in full retreat with their tails literally between their legs.  In moments, the only people left were Lexi and I (as if the word ‘people’ could accurately describe us!)  We regarded each other silently.  I was glad that my helmet covered my face.  I didn’t want her to see me cringe as I awaited her reaction to my transformed state.  My heart was still beating fast, and it wasn’t from the exertion of slaughtering lycans.  She was covered in numerous cuts and slashes.  Most of which were already starting to heal.  Even the deep stab wound in her right shoulder had closed.  In the pale moonlight, with our enemies in retreat, I suddenly realized that Lexi was still half naked.  Her chest heaved with her deep breaths, and she was splattered with blood – most of which was not hers.  I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful woman in the entire world.  She didn’t react to her own nakedness – as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

She looked at me appraisingly.  I could almost see the wheels turning behind her eyes.  She reached out and touched me with her right hand.  I was surprised at the warmth and gentleness of her touch.  Her hand traveled from my shoulder, up over my armored collar, and rested against my cheek.  “So soft,” she said softly, almost as if to herself.  Her left hand brought up her sword and tapped my chest with it.  The sword and my armored chest made a high-pitched metal on metal chink sound.  “Yet hard,” her eyes widened in astonishment.  Her eyes met mine then, and in them, I did not see the fear or panic that I had seen in Miyu’s eyes.  Instead, I saw respect, admiration and maybe even a little bit of awe.  She gave me a nod of approval and said almost conversationally, “I like the look.  Your sword work on the other hand, is positively atrocious.  We need to work on that!”

Incredible!  The woman had just seen me change from what she thought was a helpless man and into a raging killing machine and all she could say was that I needed to work on my swordsmanship?  Of course, I never needed to in the past.  My hypersonic blades could cut through just about anything.  I never needed to learn the subtleties and intricacies of swordsmanship.  I gave myself a quick internal shake.  Why was I on the defensive?

“I like your look too,” I said in a bantering tone.  My voice, however, came out metallic sounding.  “You look just as sexy as your name implies!”

To my surprise, Lexi actually blushed.  Then, as if remembering her earlier promise, she flashed her fangs and leaned in towards me.  I felt her gently caressing her canines along my cheek and then felt the warm flush of her lips.  She kissed me!

She pulled back and our eyes met again.  I don’t know what she could have seen through my bug-like lenses, but in hers, I saw some sort of connection.  Like warriors who fought back to back against incredible odds, we now shared a bond.  I thought I might have seen something else, but brushed it off as wishful thinking.

A mad chorus of howls interrupted our ‘moment’.  I reluctantly pulled my gaze from her and looked down the path to where the lycans had retreated.  With my telescopic and light amplifying abilities, I could see a swarm of lycans charging towards us.  I tried to estimate their numbers but lost count after fifty.  Numbers and math were never among my strengths.  Lexi looked in the same direction, and her face turned hard and stone-like in determination.

The fear that I had felt over her had not fully dissipated.  Looking at the charging horde, I had no doubts of my ability to survive that tidal wave.  I may get a little hurt but there were no bio-weapons like the laser toting Vamore, or the acid rocket launching Zebeluth.  These were just dumb animals who had no conception of how truly outclassed they were.  However, so sure in the knowledge of my own survivability, I wasn’t sure about Lexi’s.  As capable as Lexi was in a fight, I could not guarantee her surviving the mad raging horde that was bearing down on us.  However, she faced the wave of madness with the same stoic calm as she had faced her imminent torture at the hands of the now headless Dog.

My heart seemed to freeze in my chest and I knew that I could not let her die.  This time, it was my turn as I stepped out in front of her and pushed her roughly behind me.  The ice covering my heart melted in the sudden raging inferno deep within my chest.  I let the rage I had felt all night fuel my internal fire and stoke it to a blazing intensity.  I reached up with both hands and my fingers dug into the center of my chest, between my two chest plates.  With the sound of a wet ripping cloth, I pulled the chest plates up and out and swiveled them to either side – exposing my most potent weapon to the night air.  The rounded globe-like lenses of my mega-smasher glowed with an unnatural light.  As the fire within me grew hotter, the globe-like lenses grew brighter and brighter.  In that exact moment, I could feel an almost bizarre sense of kinship to the animals that I was about to kill.  The rage that I felt was so strong as to verge on the border of madness.  However, unlike the poor soon to be dead lycans, my rage was controlled and centered on a single point.

When the lead elements of the lycan horde were about fifty feet away, I unleashed my pent up volcanic rage in a single blaze bright enough to challenge the midday sun.  The lycans immediately in the path of my mega-smasher simply ceased to be.  The blazing double beam blasted a line down the centre of the horde.  The wings of the horde suddenly braked, but it was far too late for them.  I swiveled my waist and panned the destructive beam from left to right.

As the river of light ended, the sudden darkness seemed almost blinding.  I gazed out over the results of my handiwork and for a moment, felt the familiar bitter taste of waste.  It looked as if a hundred foot wide swath of destruction had raged over the forest.  The many blackened lumps of organic matter that were left over could have been the remains of trees or lycans.  At this point, did it really matter?

I closed my chest plates over my mega-smasher and felt a warm hand touch my shoulder.  I turned to look at Lexi and this time, I felt a warm sense of satisfaction at the lack of fear in her face.  Her face shone with exultation and the thrill of being alive when all seemed lost, but held no fear.

I released my hold on the killer and it withdrew back into my body – drained of energy yet satiated at the same time.  It always felt happy whenever it had a chance to unleash its full potential.

I regarded Lexi calmly, and she touched my human cheek with her hand.  The same hand curled around the back of my head and pulled me close to her face.  Her lips touched mine, and I could feel my blood rush to my head.  My arms naturally fit around her bare torso - her outfit did indeed zip in the back - and my blood rushed to fill other extremities that cannot be mentioned in polite company.  She must have felt my reaction because she pulled away slightly, glanced downward and then looked back into my face.  Her lips were quirked into an impish grin of delight.

“Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket or are you glad to see me?” she asked tartly.

My hands stroked down her back and came to rest piously at her waist.  “Definitely glad to see you…alive that is.”  My hands stroked up her arms and onto her shoulders.  I gently pushed her back a bit so that I had a clearer view.  “And I’m definitely glad to see so much of you!”

She blushed again and I gently grabbed the cut edges of her outfit and pulled them together to cover her breasts.  Now her outfit looked as if it had a cleavage all the way down to her waist.  She flashed me a brilliant smile and leaned into my neck.  Her fangs caressed my skin before she moved her mouth up to mine and gave me another full-blooded kiss.

The kiss ended slowly as both of us came to realize that the night was no longer as dark as it once seemed.  As we broke the kiss, we both turned as one to look at the door of light that had appeared as if by magic about twenty feet away.  I took her hand and led her towards the light.

When we stood before it, I could see that it looked exactly the same as the first door that had led me to this place.  I glanced over at Lexi and I could see my own sense of wonderment and curiosity mirrored in her face.  I could tell too, that instinctively, she knew the light was actually a doorway.  A doorway to what, was the question that could only be answered by stepping through it.  I took a step towards the door and was pleasantly surprised when Lexi took that step with me.  I started to take another step but felt resistance from where our hands were joined.  I looked into her face and her previous expression of wonderment was replaced by anxiety.  She glanced around her, and her unspoken message was clear.  If she took that next step with me, she would be leaving her world behind – possibly forever.  I gave her a small smile and a lopsided shrug and again without words, my unspoken message was crystal clear.  I myself had walked into the light once already and had unknowingly left my world behind.  But what did I leave behind anyway?  Nothing but war, endless battles, and terrible memories of loss and pain.  Her time upon this world may have been longer than my time upon mine, but what did she have to leave behind?  Pretty much the same as me.