Peace or War

[Date: 1/26 - Sunday]

[Time: 11:30 AM]

[Location: Sanctuary City - Central Division]

We all made it to Sanctuary Central, parking out cars in front of the Karma Police Station and getting out to go inside and meet up with Phoenix and Ruby. Stepping inside, the other officers led us to Phoenix's office where she and Ruby were.

Naomi knocked on the door and opened it, stepping inside. "Phoenix, Ruby, we are here."

Phoenix looked up from her paperwork and took off her glasses. She looked at Naomi and the others first then looked at me, a smile curling on her face. "Alright, I'm glad you all are here. We have just received mass reports about The Syndicates trying to take down Raymond's Warehouse, but luckily he escaped with all of his weapons intact."

"Apparently, they are trying to get back for what Charlotte and her mafia did to The Syndicates a week ago. In return, Raymond sent us the location of his brother's warehouse since his brother works for the Syndicates," Phoenix said, sliding a report forward toward Naomi.

Naomi picked up the report and began to read over it. She noticed Chloe poke her head over her shoulder and they glanced at each other. Naomi set the report down then crossed her arms. "That's all the way in the North Division, and if I know anything, Axel will be there."

"And this might be your one chance to finally kill him and bring forth the downfall of The Syndicates once and for all," Phoenix said, her gaze meeting Naomi's directly.

"Ehh, it's not gonna be so easy taking them down, not anymore," I interjected.

Everyone turned their gazes toward me, each one wondering what I meant behind my words. Naomi's gaze was the most critical out of everyone's in the room.

"What do you mean by that?" Naomi asked, tilting her head.

I closed my eyes and began to remember yesterday's mission. "You see...The Syndicates have access to newer weapons, equipment, and had I not recruited Rebecca, we would also be playing Resident Evil in real life because she is the descendant of the Dark Lord of Death or something like that."

Ruby gazed at me, tilting her head and crossing her arms. "Wait, so she's got the same type of Philosopher's Stone as me and Eliza?"

I nodded, crossing my arms and glanced at everyone in the room. "I'm sure it's Raymond's brother responsible for those Power Suits and that Golem Passion and Luckie fought. If we don't want to be fighting fifty Iron Mans and a Collosal Titian, we need to either kill Raymond's brother or recruit him."

Dante gave a look of understanding, nodding his head. "Suena legítimo, but if this is true...how the hell are any one of us gonna deal with mech suits and a literal Golem?"

Naomi sighed softly, lowering her head and scratched the back of her head. "I guess it's time to give Raymond another call and go another $250,000 in debt with him."

Mariana, Dante, and Chloe groaned softly, knowing Raymond will double charge for the weapons they need for today's mission. Phoenix and I chuckled lightly, Phoenix shaking her head and fixing the stack of papers on her desk.

"Alright, we should be heading off now. If anything, I don't wanna have to be dealing with mechs and Titans any longer after yesterday's adventures," I said as I walked off, waving my hand as I made my way out of the office.

"Yeah, we should be heading off. Oh yeah, do you know where Raymond's new hideout is?" Naomi asked, placing a hand in her pocket.

Phoenix slid forward a piece of paper with the new address of Raymond's Warehouse. "Here. It's located in the Central Division so it's safe to get to."

Naomi took the paper and nodded, turning on her heels to walk off then stopped at the door, looking back. "Thanks by the way. If you want, you can help with the takeover later after we get everything we need finished."

Phoenix looked at her watch then closed her eyes, smiling and letting out a sigh. "Alright, I'll help out. You'll probably need all the help you can get for this one."

Naomi nodded and smiled, walking out of the office. Ruby bowed toward Phoenix and hurried after the others to join us. Leaving the police station, we decided to make our way to Raymond's new warehouse and to check up on him after The Syndicates tried to attack and take his equipment.

[Date: 1/26 - Sunday]

[Time: 12:00 PM]

[Location: Sanctuary City - Raymond's Warehouse]

We all made it to Raymond's Warehouse, parking our vehicles in front of it and walking inside. Walking inside, we noticed Raymond working on his own power suit. He didn't hear us coming in due to the sounds of power tools going off and the zapping sounds drowning all other noises out.

"Raymond!" Naomi called out, standing behind him and crossing her arms.

Raymond heard Naomi's voice and turned off his tools, taking off his metal safety mask then turned around to see us. "Ahh, Karma. What can I do for you all today?"

"We heard about The Syndicates attacking your old hideout, so we're planning on getting back for you and also taking down the distribution of powerful weaponry around the Northern Division of Sanctuary City," Naomi explained.

"Also, mi amor told us about the mechs and golems that The Syndicates have access to and that your brother may be responsible for the distribution," Mariana added, placing a hand on her hip and twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Raymond glanced at me then rubbed the back of his head and let out a soft exhale. "Well, yes. My brother is behind the distribution that The Syndicates have, and as much as I hate to admit...that little bastard is much smarter than me."

"Eh? What do you mean, Ray? You literally make some of the most advanced weaponry for us! You're super smart too and have a lot of military knowledge!" Chloe said, tilting her head and watched Raymond turn back to his power suit.

Raymond looked at his power suit and touched the helm of the suit, exhaling softly. "Yeah, but he is a Prodigy. A natural genius. There's a difference between Tactical IQ and Intellectual IQ. I may have more Battle IQ than Conroy, but when it comes down to raw intellect... Conroy has me beat through and through."

"It's like a game of chess between one player who knows the board well and optimal positions, and the other who can strategize his pieces and play around his opponents. Conroy is a child prodigy as our parents call him.." Raymond continued.

"So does that mean you can't help us take down those mechs or have the proper weaponry to deal with them?" Dante asked, his tone a bit discouraged yet still determined.

Raymond looked back at us once more then looked at the high end military grade weaponry he crafted. "Well, I never said I couldn't help. It would be a hell of a lot of work, but I believe with some help I could make weapons strong enough to take down his mechs."

"I can help with that, Raymond. I have first hand experience with his mech suits and the Golem he could create. Lust-E and Suru have all of my battle data saved so we can use that to whip up effective weaponry against Conroy," I said, stepping forward.

Raymond looked at me then chuckled softly, closing his eyes and crossing his arms. "Heh, I forgot you now have two systems. Alright, I'll let you help out with building weapons and for this once, app weapons made will be free of charge."

Naomi smiled and nodded, glancing at me and gently ran her fingers through my hair. "Nice thinking, babe..~ Now we can avoid going into debt again and get the upperhand once more.."

I smiled at Naomi's words then leaned toward her to kiss her lips before walking toward Raymond. "Alright, you all can wait outside or at home. Either way, we'll let you both know when we're finished."

Naomi nodded and turned around to walk out of the warehouse. Chloe, Dante, and Mariana followed suit and all four of them left the warehouse to wait outside, leaving me and Raymond to work on weapons strong and efficient enough to deal with Conroy's mechs and golems.

[Time: 2:30 PM]

[Location: Sanctuary City - Raymond's Warehouse]

Within two hours and some change, we finally crafted a few weapons we felt were able to finally deal with Conroy's mechs units and golems we anticipated were going to be in play on the battlefield.

"Alright...We have three weapons. The Shotgun, Thunder Cannon. This can fire EMP Slugs strong enough to disrupt his mech suits and render even his Juggernaut Units useless. Next, the Railgun, Destroyer MK II. This one is used to deal with Juggernaut Units and Golems with its powerful and explosive projectiles," Raymond began then looked at the final weapon.

"Finally, something for me to deal with Conroy. The Triple Barrel Pistol, Cerberus MK I. I will deal with Conroy myself and put an end to his time with the Syndicates..." Raymond finished, picking up the black and gold pistol and looking at it.

I stared at Raymond then looked at the shotgun and railgun. "If possible, we could try to recruit Conroy. That way during the final bout against The Syndicates, we can have both your Tactical IQ and his Intellectual IQ."

Raymond lowered his gun and let out a soft exhale. "We can try, but our rivalry runs deep. We are two sides of the same coin...forced into two different lives and gangs now. I wish I could have my brother back, but we will see how it goes when we get there."

I glanced at Raymond, noticing my Crest of Sensitivity faintly glowing on my arm, sensing Raymond's melancholic energy. I looked down and closed my eyes then exhaled softly. "I understand that, but at least try to talk it out with him. I can tell you still care about Conroy. I don't want you to end up hating your blood...I don't want you ending up how I am with Feleti."

Raymond felt the sadness in my tone as I walked off with the Thunder Cannon and Destroyer MK II, watching my figure retreat from his warehouse. He now left alone in his warehouse, thinking about my words and understood my position with Feleti. He stared at his power suit then unhooked it.

'I'll try...but whether he listens is up to him. I don't want to hurt my own brother, but if it comes to it...' Raymond thought, starting at his power suit before condensing it into a suitcase like form and walking out of the warehouse with his Cerberus MK I.

"I will strike him down before he gets the chance to cause any more damage..." Raymond muttered softly, walking outside and seeing the rest of us waiting for him.

With a nod, we all got ready to head out and we got in our vehicles. Naomi rode off first on her motorcycle, leading the rest of us to the Northern Division to take down Conroy and his crew, planning to end the distribution of powerful weaponry around The Syndicates.

[Date: 1/26 - Sunday]

[Time: 4:15 PM]

[Location: Sanctuary City - Northern Division]

A young man laid on the floor looking at the plastic action figures in front of him around that he placed upon a base made from lego pieces. He moved his pieces around, seemingly playing with them with a blank expression.

"Conroy, have you heard from Rebecca? She hasn't been answering any of my calls recently," Axel said, glancing at Conroy while he sat on the sofa.

Conroy only moved his eyes up to glance at Axel before returning his attention back to the lego base. He slowly sat up, his white hair covering his right eye. "She's not with us anymore..."

Axel glanced at Conroy once more and rose an eyebrow, setting his phone down and watched as he moved Rebecca's figure from the Syndicates side to Karma's side. "What do you mean..?"

"Isn't it obvious..?" Conroy asked softly, glancing at Axel with a blank, detached expression. "Shiro has converted her to his side. He has taken our last line of defense and we are only left with you, Sebastian, and Lane until Lotus and Feleti return.."

Axel groaned in exasperation, resting his arm along the back of the couch and looked at his phone. "Of course he finds a way to convert her..."

"Why are you surprised..? It was inevitable...Shiro is one player you can not play around without proper planning. Luckily for us...before my mechas were taken out, I gathered enough data about him...and I've built a power suit and weapon strong enough to deal with him..." Conroy said, looking at his base and slowly took off the top figures on the base one by one.

"What are you doing?" Axel asked, watching him remove the toy figures off the base one by one.

Conroy kept removing the figures until none on the roof remained. He smirked and let out a stoic and apathetic chuckle, glancing up at Axel. "Our sniper units were killed. They are here.."

...

...

...

I lowered my sniper and exhaled softly after picking off the final sniper. "Alright, that's the last of them. Ruby, Raymond, are you in position?"

"We are," Ruby said in her communicator, using her binoculars to scope out the scene. "It looks like we've got some reinforcements coming."

"Huh?" Chloe asked, quickly using her binoculars to scope out the scene. "How? Shiro's weapon didn't make a single sound...and he took out the snipers before any of them could become alert."

Naomi lowered her binoculars then pressed her communicator. "They don't seem to have noticed us yet. Let's just keep watch for now. There's no use in rushing in there right now."

Everyone agreed and continued to lay low until there was a perfect opening for us to charge in. I laid on my stomach and used the scope of my sniper to scope out the area and Lust-E began highlighting the Alchemists for me.

Suddenly, I noticed a figure walk outside the base onto the roof, my gaze focused on them. Naomi and the others noticed the figure as well, all of our attentions on the young man that walked outside.

"Shiro, that guy on the roof...that is my brother, Conroy," Raymond said, his tone sounding melancholic.

"Attention all units! Karma is in the area and they seem to be hiding, so let's draw them out by force! Shiro Moji, I know you're out there! No one else could have such perfect aim and such care to meticulously pick out the snipers with such efficiency! If you are truly unafraid, you'd come out and bring your pawns with you," Conroy called out to his forces and to us.

I slowly stood up and put away my sniper then put on my mask and cloak. I adjusted my mask and walked forward. "They somehow know we are here, so there's no point in hiding anymore. Our target right now is Conroy, so we have a choice to make. The Path of Peace or the Path of War as my tribe calls it..."

Naomi tossed her binoculars by her motorcycle then opened the gun case containing the Thunder Cannon shotgun and put the strap around her shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"He means...we either kill Conroy or recruit him to our side," Raymond said, putting on his Power Suit.

Naomi hummed softly then looked at her watch. "You all go ahead. I'll fall behind to wait for Phoenix. She's bringing a few goons to help with our numbers game. If I die, Karma as a whole falls."

I nodded then walked forward. "Ruby, Mariana, Raymond, you all come with me. Dante and Chloe, stay behind to protect Naomi just in case."

With that, our group split into two teams, the frontlines and the defenders. I stretched then hopped up and down, energizing my body and getting ready to rush down toward the The Syndicates. I got into a running, the glowing lines of my cloak shining White as I awakened my Crest of Ambition.

"Ready..? Go!" I called out, dashing forward at high speeds.

"Let's break em down!" A Syndicate member called out and charged forward, rallying his allies.

The Alchemists charged forward and began to work together to launch a wave of water toward us at once. I palmed the large wave, and with Ambitia's assistance, split the waves in two, allowing Raymond, Ruby, and Mariana to charge forward.

"Hekhal!" Ruby bellowed, her Seraphim Soul shining on her chest then she transformed into her Seraphim Form.

I rushed forward and awakened my Crest of Charm, activating my Angelic Source then tagged with Ruby. The first wave of Syndicates rushed toward us and began to throw strikes and fire waves of bullets toward us. I summoned my Cross weapon and deployed it as a shield while Ruby rushed forward, swinging her sword in a wide arc, launching a massive fiery cutting wave at the Syndicates.

The cutting wave began to slice through the members with ease, but more kept arriving from the base. Raymond deployed the shoulder cannons of his power suit and fired multiple energy blasts at the rushing Syndicate members while Mariana rushed down the remaining members with her metal bat and her pistol.

Conroy watched as we made quick work of the first wave then let out a cold laugh, clapping his hands then began to roll a strand of his hair between his fingers. "You're all something else. Such coordination, but this is just the beginning for you all. I am only just getting started.."

I looked up at Conroy and dashed toward the base, grunting as I ran into a forcefield and placed my hands on it. "What..?"

"You see...I had a feeling after our recent attack on Raymond, you all would try to spin back upon us. I had a feeling that after Shiro successfully raided Verdant Temple that information about my creations would come out between your people..." Conroy began, holding his arms out with a cold, detached smile.

"So I prepared a very special toy during that time...only two units for you all to deal with before you can even fathom challenging me and Axel," He continued, letting out a chilling giggle then his blank gray eyes began to glow.

"What is this perra loca estúpida talking about?" Mariana asked, her grip upon her bat tightening.

"Because I'm such a nice guy, I'll let you deal with these two special units one by one..." Conroy said, his tone chilling and ominous. He held his hand out and tilted his head up with a wicked smirk. "Alchemical Dragon, Aermyth! It's time for you to come out and call checkmate!"

Suddenly, a powerful roar echoed out then an armored white dragon flew up into the sky then landed in front of us. The dragon growled loudly at us, lowering her head and her eyes glowed brightly menacingly with intimidation. Six cores glowed upon her armor, one on her forehead, one on her chest, and one in each limb.

"What the hell?!" Mariana exclaimed in shock, slowly taking a step backwards and her legs slightly trembling.

Ruby also took an instinctive step backwards, her eyes widening in awe and fright as she met Aermyth's gaze. "No way...what the heck...is this...?"

Raymond looked up at Conroy, who had a chilling smile displayed on his face. He looked back at Aermyth, seeing the cores upon her armor. 'He created the Dragon and also gave it a Power Suit...but this power suit looks like an inhibitor. It seems not even he could control the raw might of a literal beast of this caliber...'

'Who knew he was also this skilled in Alchemy..? We may be at a huge disadvantage here, and we could not have prepared for this. Luckily those cores look like weak spots so we may have a chance,' Raymond thought, bracing himself for a tough battle.

I glanced at Lust-E, Suru, and my Love Demons. 'What do we do? Do we retreat or keep going?'

"Retreating doesn't seem all that bad, but who's to say he won't send that dragon out on us. If we do run, we will risk not only getting Naomi killed but also the citizens of Sanctuary City will be put in jeopardy," Lustie said, looking at the dragon.

Passion stared at Aermyth and smirked at her, growling lowly. "If we aren't retreating then I have no issues taking down such a beat! Ambitia, you, me, and Shiro! Let's make that Relic for Shiro and show him what a true Dragon Soul feels like!"

Ambitia's elven ears wiggled and she giggled softly. "Look who's all riled up in the presence of a dragon. Alright, let's do this. The rest of you, protect the others. We do not want any casualties!"

Lustie and the others went of to protect Mariana and the others, leaving me, Passion, and Ambitia to deal with the armored dragon. Conroy noticed Mariana, Ruby, and Raymond temporarily retreating then his gaze turned toward me and he noticed Passion appearing in her Dragon Form.

"Let's do this! Ambitia, now!" Passion called out, her energy surging around her body.

Ambitia added her own energy to Passion's, an orb forming between them then began to take the shape of a Draconic Ring with a multicolored dragon stone displayed upon it. The ring floated toward me and slid right onto my finger.

"Say hello to your new Relic! The Draconic Relic called The Dragon's Will. With that relic, you're not only granted access to your Ryushen Form, but you gain all the powers of each type of dragon, like you're granted every Talent with the Monarch Index!" Passion explained, looking back at me.

"Like the Mystic State, The Dragon's Will is the strongest version of Dragon Soul. Hopefully, with that power, you're able to combat Aermyth and defeat her with us," Ambitia said, hopping on Passion's back and smiled at me.

I looked at the ring then smiled behind my mask, chuckling softly, I looked at Aermyth then adjusted my mask. "We will defeat Aermyth. Now let us begin..."