The road back home was filled with broken corpses, black blood and broken debris, Alexanders steps were slow, avoiding any contact or bumps that might affect Samantha's body. Her limp arm hung low, slowly rotting into a dark, slimy limb, barrage after barrage of blood lances shot from his back, like a warship shooting missile salvo's into an enemy fleet.

'Not enough... there's no link!'

With his eyes bloodshot, he closed them trying to feel the sensations around him, the arrows flowing across his back, killing the zombies close and far, the white stream filling his body, replenishing his lost willpower. Alexander's usage was anything but logical, sending his entire pool to obliterate groups of the zombies, but now the street that seemed deadly to pass was empty, filled with silence.

'What can I do?' He thought to himself.

No matter how much white light filled him, restoring his lost vitality and willpower, blood continued to ooze from his eyes, nose and mouth from the overused magic. Alex felt stabbing paints in his mind, while it constantly felt as if it were on fire, despite having all the mana in his body able to be used.

'Merely an itch!' He complained, flicking another set of pointed lances at two distant corpses, popping their bodies like balloons filled with putrid gunk.

Ba-dump!

"Eh?"

Suddenly, he felt a heartbeat, weak, but it was there the moment the white glow flooded his body; a slither entered hers! The next moment a loud crack sounded, followed by the tearing of flesh, as her right arm dropped off, the black sludge pouring onto the ground as it was replaced, by a long crystalline red arm, solid, with a claw shape. Nevertheless, it was new and fully grown; under the blood crystal was a human hand, fair skin like a fairy.

Alex noticed as Mildred killed more, that the rest of her body would slowly fill with a filthy black ooze; it seemed to devour her former self and then replace it with the strange crystal; the scent was like sweet blood to his nose, and aroma that drove his tired, burning mind crazy with adrenaline, his feet began to move faster, a spring in his step as his face became more distorted the wide smile filled with jagged and sharp teeth, his tongue dancing as he seemed half berserk.historical

"Where!"

His eyes glowed with blue light, using Eagle Eyes not to see the information of a target, blood now pouring down his cheeks, along his black tattoo, turning them red and seeping down onto the maiden's face.

'Whatever you become, no matter what monster, zombie, demon, devil! I will accept you entirely! That's why, live on!'

Alex screamed through his link; his link to her was insignificant, yet fluctuated as if the small fairy light was overwhelmed, glowing with bright pulses as if delighted, jubilated!

'Where!'

Brilliant blue eyes, like predators searching around the entire area, looking for the unknown, unseen, what others would dread. He wanted to find all of them, crush them!

He knew where they were; he could smell and taste their fear. His eyes burned with the desire to kill again, and even though his body was exhausted, he still moved forward, feeling a sense of urgency.

'I'm coming for you!' He promised as he ran towards the source of the sound, which was faint and distant, but growing louder with every step.

Ahead, the sky was clear, the sun shining brightly, mocking him as if saying, "You're going to die here." But he didn't care; he had to finish this task before it consumed him too.

"Mildred."

Alex spoke with a cold voice, void of all emotion. Yet, a sensation caused her spine to tingle and her body to shudder as she felt a sense of pleasure from his current aura, the force and magnetism that oozed from his body, as he stood over 6ft 6 inches tall, now far above her. Regardless, his body was perfectly balanced and grew thicker in muscle to match it.

Her feet came close, looking at him standing before an enormous shopping mall; there were thousands, if not more, zombies just shambling around through the glass windows; this was a place marked as dangerous by the other girls before Alexander returned, marked with a massive cross on the map.

"Mildred!"

She rushed closer, nervous, her body now taller and more beautiful thanks to reaching stage two. However, her body became more monstrous as her hard skin and muscles formed into something flexible but inhumane; even her pupils were now made of cross signs.

"Alexander..."

He didn't bother with pleasantries, his body suddenly filled with countless bloodlines, hovering around him as the entire 36 willpower was emptied, leaving his vision dull, but the blue glow of his eyes was locked on the targets he needed.

"I want you to rush back to base; use your utmost speed. Grab everyone who is living in our base and drag them here; I don't care what they are doing, who they are, no matter the task I have given them, we are going to crush this shopping mall completely, the entire thing and make it our new base within the next 10 hours."

He stepped forward; the shopping mall was more than 2 miles long and half a mile wide; there must have been over 10,000 zombies at the least; who knows if there were humans locked away, hiding in the sealed stores? Alex's face became darker, his step almost failing due to his empty willpower, biting down on his tongue as flesh and blood oozed from his mouth.

"Anyone who doesn't come, kill them. They can be replaced."

"Ah....!?"

Mildred was shocked; the words and feelings she felt from her link and the mere presence were so intense his evolution seemed to amplify those feelings, but most of all. She could feel his thoughts towards Samantha, not just her but all the Vesta; his mind was almost an open book for anyone linked to him in this state, and he wouldn't be surprised if they were not on their way already.

"Go."

"I'm going!"

Alex secretly watched her rushing off, with her new legs able to run faster than a slow motorbike despite wearing new shoes, her tough skin crushing the stones and metal beneath her feet. His spare hand now gently stroked the now putrid hair of Samantha while taking long, slow breaths as his willpower finally restored to 6/36 while the blood lances still rotated around his head.

"Can you hear me, little fairy?" He decided to call her a soft name, her current figure to revolting to say Samantha's name.

The light flickered faintly as if trying with all its might to send words, but only the light flickered.

"Please don't blame Mildred... her heart was much too far gone to save. I am not asking you to forgive her; let her show repentance to you with their actions... She could finally face those problems thanks to you, even if out of mourning... So, instead, blame me. I am the one who underestimated those people, the dogs and wasn't beside you both when you needed me."

The little fairy light didn't respond, staying quiet, causing Alex to worry about her condition as his blood began to ooze profusely onto her crystalline arm, as the light flickered wildly, as if concerned.

"Don't worry; I'll soon recover... will you accept my plea? I hope all of you can place your troubles, worries and fears... pile them onto my back; I will take half, two-thirds... if that's not enough. I will carry everything for every one of you. Even if my back should be crushed under pressure, I will not stop."

Her fairy light was now constantly flickering as if she noticed his plan, the lances suddenly doubling in number as the left eye of Alexander popped, now blood red, his body visibly shaking from the mental pressure, before his brain was burning, now it was melted, drowning in molten lava if he weren't already dead, he would die!

"Okay?"

Alex felt stupid for speaking to such small light, unaware his words, feelings, and desires were still being shared like an open radio to all Vesta.

"Good..... Yo....you accepted! Haha!"

His face darkened, placing the fairy onto a soft piece of cloth, lifting her and placing her onto a stone ruin. To the outside, it was like a fairy queen's throat, as the putrid figure was sitting, only the red arm still reaching towards him.

"Don't worry... Just watch me."

As Alex said that, his own body changed dramatically, as well as his surroundings; his clothing was ripped apart, revealing the bare torso and arms of his muscular physique, countless slice marks, bleeding down his muscular flesh, forming even more blood lances, almost 100 floated in the sky as he stepped forward, with unsteady steps, stumbling grasping Eien tightly, feeling the warm feelings and affection oozing through the blade, as if it was embracing him tightly, just like the vision with Sarah.

"So even you are worried... stupid girl... I never lost to you in a fight once, even if you beat me until bloody and half dead... I never surrendered!"

He leaned forward, the blood lances cascading floating out in a wide net, each aiming at zombies in the distant windows of the mall, some clawing and staring towards his direction with lifeless eyes.

'That's why Sarah...' Alex tightly held the handle of Eien, stroking the black and red blade with the words of love deeply ingrained. 'I want you to know.'

Snap!

He pulled the nodachi, standing tall, ignoring the horrible pain like his body would be torn apart at any moment, slowly blinking as a particular song began playing through his mind; it was from a game about devils crying, and the title was to cover the light.

Jangle!

The blade sounded with a light hum as he let out a whisper remembering her state, the moment he died, and those memories of her eating his heart; everything came back to him, but the fear she was something he couldn't turn terrified him at first. But now, he would dominate any race that stood in his way and make her his!

"I love you too."