Kitsune Nine

Night One Hundred And Eighty Seven

Age 1991

Gladious City...

The Arena...

There was silence in the Box Six Bracket...

Hero had finished telling them everything a while ago...

They all took it differently.

Hero was simply playing around with the small drone on his hair. His finger coming out and running along it slowly as he pet the girl disguised as a drone. Ken was silent and bit her lip again and again. Every now and then her silver eyes would glance up to the black sky above. Kitsune was seated. A hiss of pain would escape his lips every now and then. Shelly stood behind him. Her hands were out and on his back healing him from his wounds. Light was silent like everyone else. His gun was out and he was cleaning it and fixing it up as if getting ready to go to war. And Irene... She was recreating her lost fingers out of ice. Each digit coming out with razor sharp edges a small frown on her face.

"So..." Hero said slowly. "That was a cool fight right Kitsune."

"Hell yeah it was!" Kitsune said him and Hero giving each other a high five. "It's been a while since we spared like that!"

'How are they so casual after everything Hero said!' Ken, Shelly, Light, and Irene, all thought as they stared at Hero and Kitsune who had large grins.

"Oh yeah Hero." Kitsune said his smile fading as he gave a serious look.

"Yeah?"

"There's something I wanted to try with you..." Kitsune frowned folding his arms. "Master Storm told me about something... Merging Bond as he called it... I don't really get it but it made me think of that cool attack we do. Where I become your bullet for your rage canon... So I thought why not try to do his version."

"Okay?"

"Are you two really not concerned about what we learned?" Ken asked with wide eyes.

"Nah!" They both said throwing their arms behind their head.

Ken sighed folding her arms. "Well... At least Hero's back to normal..."

"Still..." Shelly frowned. "Everything we just learned... Is it all true... If so... We got a lot to fear..."

"Geez..." Sera said from her box staring into the Squad Six Box. "What do you think happened to them? They looked like they're gonna go to some battle, or are trying to consider something."

"Not Hero." Lucy hummed. "He looks calm..."

"Yeah he-"

"I don't remember asking for you input." Lucy said in her normally blank tone making Emma go silent.

"L... Lucy..."

The roaring of the crowd got louder... In a few moments the break would end and the next match would begin...

Up above the Enforcers all rested.

"So... Squad Seven Versus Five..." Katrina hummed slowly turning to look at Sif who was on her right. Her eyes then slowly turned to look at Neil, the Squad Five Captain. A green haired woman in a full set of knight armor with her snow cloak thrown over it. She had a blank look on her face staring ahead. "Who do you think will win."

"Who's to say." Dawson hummed. "It could be anyone of them... Squad Seven Emma, and Lucy, were both so strong... And yet Squad Five... They look strange... All of their members... And I've noticed that Hero seems to dislike all three of them."

"Hero's weird." Jackson sighed throwing his arms behind his head. "Still... Looking down at them all... They seem... Weird now..."

"Kitsune, and Hero, both came badly beat up..." Katrina hummed. "They were fighting right..." Her look slowly turned to stare up higher in the stands. There she saw seven people. The four sacred beasts, Zane, Ward, Alpha, and Angel, sitting around Master Storm, and Aka, the Empress of the Red Nation, as well as Mr. Aka, the Master of Hero, and Kitsune... "I wonder if that robed man knows something..." She frowned staring at Master Aka...

Up above the Empress allowed a sigh to escape her lips. "Old man. Most of these fights haven't been that good... The one with that Seraphin was okay... But when are we getting a good one... When's Hero, or Max, going up... I heard some people think they have the heart."

"Hmm... They don't." Master Storm hummed. "But soon I feel... Or at least Hero..."

"More importantly." Alpha said cutting in. "Your sister is up next right."

"I suppose she is." Aka shrugged.

"Are you worried about her?" Ward questioned.

"No."

"Really?" Angel asked raising her eyebrow.

"I could care less what happens to Sera."

"Ouch..." Zane said giving a grin. "Oh well..."

"So old man..." Aka said turning to look at her grandfather. "Where did you go earlier..."

"Hmm... Nothing..." Master Aka hummed. "I just had to over see something involving my two idiot students..."

"I see... Hero, and the Fox right..." Aka hummed. Her eyes slowly trailed down to the Squad Six box staring at the boy with ruby red eyes, and snow white hair. "Hmm..." Her hand rubbed her stomach for a moment a frown on her face. "I suppose he would do."

"What?" Alpha asked.

"Nothing... It'll be talked about more once these silly games are over with." Aka sighed. "I'm still thinking about it..."

Meanwhile...

"You look a little tense. Want me to give you a back rub little one?" Serenity giggled.

"Do you know how creepy it is to see you acting like that, in a female body, when I know who you really are?" Vil said in a flat tone making the same face Hero typically would. Both him and Hero looked identical though different hair styles and Hero was taller and more filled out since he was older. "Why do you even wear a maids outfit?"

"Don't be mean." Serenity sighed. "I'm not really William... And I'm not Serenity... I'm someone new. Both of them merged into one. It's true the William bits were stronger and so I'm more him than anyone else... But still... And so what if I dress like a maid? Is it wrong to want to feel cute..."

"You're weird."

"Do you know why the Second Generation program, also known as project rebirth was made?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Of course I do." Vil said rolling his eyes. "They made it to try and bring back dead Enforcers. Equations are rare, and when one reaches level two, it can no longer be used by others... So they made a way to bring the user back. They'd store a portion of their soul in the body than place that Equation in someone. The soul in it would enter the new body and they'd merge into something new... However it was canceled due to the fact that most people went insane from having two broke souls smashed together into a fixed soul..."

"You aren't fully wrong." Serenity hummed. "That's what it turned into. But Master Storm asked Mr. Hyde to start it for another reason."

"He did?"

"Yes... Mantra... That aura around people. Allowing them to bond their power and boost themselves... He was studying it... You see he discovered a fourth type of an Equation. A rare one that only one of the Twenty Sacred Branches could use. Something powerful... It would fuse with not the body, but rather the soul itself going beyond a Transformation, or Caster type, on its bond. The body would be broken down and would either explode or be rebuilt stronger than before. However only three people were said to reach this level. The first was Master Storm himself. The second was Okami Otoko. And the third was the current first Captain. Reo Hope... 'He' reached the form as well... Though he's some what of a special case."

"So you're saying that the Rebirth project was actually a way to try and make others get this fourth type?"

"No."

"Really?"

"It wasn't." Serenity giggled. "Master Storm wanted something else... You see he studied the souls and the fact the body is broken down... Should a person fail their power their body explodes, but should they pass, their body evolves and they gain the fourth type. What he was interested in though was the merging of souls... He wanted to see if it was possible to break two bodies down, and then merge the souls of those body, than rebuild both bodies back together around the new soul... He wanted to see if it was possible to get two people to combine..."

"He wanted people to merge together?"

"Yes... Studying Mantra he came a little close with the help of Mr. Hyde... You see he learned how to merge the souls... This is what led to Project Rebirth. But merging the souls, and bodies... That was something he couldn't figure out. Or rather not the way he wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"He did discover how to do it but he disliked its results... You see he discovered two people who are bonded together either through the friendship bond, the rival bond, or the lovers bond, could merge. Friend ship being the white aura, rival being the green, and Lovers being pink... Those people could merge however it wouldn't last... Only a few minuets at most and would break down."

"Why did he care so much about this?" Vil asked frowning.

"He was looking for a way to merge his body with God's body so they could stay fused. However the only way a combination merge could be done is if both users were bonded, and both users wanted to do it. And even then it lasted for a short amount of time meaning he'd sadly never be able to merge with God... He eventually decided to not mention this information to anyone for fear of it being misused by others... Its one of the reasons they don't tell people about the Bond power either."

"I see..." Vil frowned. "So a way to merge bodies does exist but only for a little while... I'm guessing thats what led to me being created right?"

"Yes. He figured he couldn't merge with God normally so he started the God Slayer Project with Piero, and Mr. Hyde... Using Hero Law's DNA, as well as his own, and Gods, he made you."

"What about my other two brothers? Reaper and Row?"

"Reaper was made with just Master Storm's DNA, and God's so he came out unstable... They discovered for some reason Hero's DNA had a way to keep you and little Row sane... As for Row... He had a fourth strand fused into him..."

"Who?"

"That's a good question... Not even I know who his fourth strand is... Though I do know God hates it." She giggled.

Vil frowned for a moment eyeing the girl up. "Okay... Last question... How do you know all of this..." He asked staring at her.

She cocked her head to the side. "Hmm?"

"Serenity wouldn't know this and I doubt William did as well... You aren't the souls of William, and Serenity merged are you... Or rather... You are them, but a third soul was merged wasn't it... When that asshole Mystery touched Williams Equation he put something else inside of it... Who are you..."

The girl stared at him for a moment but then gave a small bow touching her skirt and lifting it slightly. "I am three souls yes... The third soul... The one that made me up... Honestly I'm shocked. That man... I have no idea how he pulled me out of nothingness. After all most of my body was gone. Having been used to help rebuild 'her' still... Still Nightmare managed to save me while I was floating around... Just like 'her' when Nightmare rebuilt some of my broken body I gained a part of her Crest..."

"Just tell me who you are."

The girl gave the smallest hint of a smile. For a moment a small spark of flame seemed to come off of her. "Well... In my other life... I was named Kitsune Nine. Friend of Hero Otoko."