Brandon's axe crashed into Zach's crossed claws. With their weapons grinding against each other, Brandon launched a knee at Zach, only to slam it onto the superior's incoming knee. The collision broke their struggle.

Regaining his composure, Brandon charged again. Zach's claws came, and he went defensive. Zach struck the flat side of Bonehacker, with so much force that the axe smacked Brandon in the face instead. Blood gushed out of his nostrils.

Keep your cool. Focus on the fight.

Brandon's body and arm moved in accordance with Zach's incoming claws. He didn't even know how the hell he could dodge and block most of the rapid, nigh-invisible slashes, but as long as he could live, so be it!

But how could he go on the offensive then? Zach's attacks came relentlessly, carving more and more gashes on his torso as the seconds passed. The bandage around his old wounds had peeled away and disappeared as well. Sooner or later, the blood loss would overwhelm him.

"Coward," Zach spat, still swinging his claws wildly. "Hit me already."

Brandon remained defensive. After a few more clashes, Zach vanished from his sight. Brandon's eye widened in shock as his heart pounded even faster.

Guided by his gut, Brandon looked up. Zach descended from the ceiling, his arms and claws fully extended.

Brandon dived out of harm's way, readying Bonehacker once he stood at a safe distance. As soon as Zach's blades plunged into the ground, Brandon brought his axe down.

"Nice try." Like a professional yoga practitioner, Zach clamped his feet on the blade of Bonehacker. A swing of his legs sent Brandon crashing into the wall.

Brandon's vision stabilized, and he saw Zach running at him. He prepared himself for defense, only to find out that he had lost Bonehacker. With a gulp and a shaky hand, he drew one of the Cerberus guns and fired at Zach.

The bullets plinked off the superior's claws. Screaming in fear, Brandon fired again and again and watched Zach deflect all the projectiles. His ammo ran out in a few seconds, and he threw the gun at Zach. The superior deflected it with a swipe.

His primal instinct told him to run. He should save this fight for later, when he had grown stronger and smarter.

Brandon got up and fled, silently praying for William or even Albert to help him. During his run, though, something struck his lower back, pierced through his abs, and numbed his legs. As he collapsed, he heard a sickening squish as three bloody blades retracted from his belly.

"Hold it!"

Brandon sat up to see William wrap his arm around Zach's neck. He couldn't help but smile at his friend's interference.

"Shoot him!"

Just as Brandon drew the other Cerberus, Zach elbowed William in the gut and hurled him away. Before he turned, Brandon gave him a few headshots. Bullets popped out of the wounds as new flesh grew to seal them shut.

"You two..." Zach leaped into the air to dodge William's advance. "Get lost, William!" He landed a few meters away from them. As William rushed to him again, he jumped up high and raised his clawed arms. He spun rapidly like a talented ballerina before diving towards Brandon, a drill head ready to destroy the crippled necrolyzer.

Brandon fired his Cerberus at Zach, whose spinning form went through the barrage of bullets. He tossed the gun at him, but it ricocheted off the drill head. Brandon closed his eye in desperation and focused on his legs, hoping to regain control of them so that he could run, but it didn't work.

"Brandon."

He opened his eye, which widened instantly when he found William standing in front of him. Reaching out his hand, he shouted, "Don't!"

"You must live." With a smile, William turned to face the incoming Zach. "Remember, my friend. Many people still need your protection." And he jumped.

"William!" Brandon screamed, tears streaming out of his eye.

His old friend's agonized cry resounded across the warehouse as the drill head struck him.

With a gaping mouth, Brandon looked at William's slowly disintegrating body. This couldn't be! He had promised to bring William back to Millennion, so that they could continue living together. Since the first time they met last year, he had always loved William's gentleness whenever the doctor visited him, treated his wounds and provided him with transfusions.

But now, William was gone. Brandon hadn't settled the issue about Nancy with him either.

"Blame nobody but your pathetic self," Norton's voice echoed in his head.

All of a sudden, everything flashed before his eye. The dead Nancy and Nina, the slaughtered Millennion agents and scientists, the injured Mika and Norton and-

"Enough!" Brandon clenched his fist and stood up. "Dr. Zach Reinhardt!" His roar - loud and bestial as though it came from the Hell Guardian Cerberus himself - blew off Zach's spinning form and the entire warehouse. The cratered ground beneath him rumbled and cracked.

Dust and debris rose into the air along with his tears and blood as jagged, flame-like aura of crimson radiated from his body. His wounds regenerated. Veins bulged across his swelling muscles. A moment later, silver extensions grew out of the stumps of his lost limbs before taking the form of an arm and a leg.

Something whirred behind him. Brandon whirled and punched, his silver fist colliding with Zach's spinning form. The superior stopped in his tracks, and Brandon kicked him up into the air.

With a big leap, Brandon caught up with Zach. As he cupped his hands together and reeled back, the superior regained composure and drove his claws into Brandon's unprotected chest. Brandon merely stared down at his foe before hammering his fists into Zach's head. The force ripped the superior's arms off his shoulders and sent the body crashing to the ground.

What was this oddly nice feeling? He took a closer look at the severed arms as he dropped down, and the weird pleasuring sensation traveled across his body once more.

A wicked grin crept into Brandon's face. His wounds regenerated in a blink of an eye once he pulled the clawed arms out of his torso and discarded them. Although he knew that a gush of his overflowing energy - his newfound power - would roast Zach with ease, he wanted to play with the superior first.

Approaching Zach's sprawled figure, Brandon assumed a poker face and punched down. His knuckles hung just a few centimeters away from Zach's eyes as his stomach landed on the superior's soles. Zach's outstretched legs flexed with the recoil before they flung Brandon away.

Brandon flipped to his feet and charged at the rising Zach. Their knuckles met, and the bones within Zach's arm rattled. Within a split second, Brandon punched the superior in the gut, grabbed him by his broken arm, and slammed him to the ground. Then he stomped down.

Zach caught his silver foot before it landed on his face. A roar - filled with fear and desperation more than anything else - escaped from his mouth as he threw Brandon away.

Hmm, fear and desperation formed a nice music that gave the same pleasant feeling as well. Why not make it more? Brandon nearly grinned at the idea, but he resisted the urge; after all, a hidden plan would surprise and scare Zach even more.

Brandon flipped to his feet and wagged a finger at the superior.

"Damn you!" Zach stood up and charged, a furious storm of blades ripping through the air. "You cocky bastard! William would never like the monster he created with his sacrifice!"

"Like I care." Brandon ducked and swayed, dodging every slash and stab Zach launched at him. Bored with his puny foe, Brandon let Zach cut off his silver arm before giving the superior a jaw-shattering uppercut with his good hand.

As Zach tumbled with a bloody mouth, Brandon reached out the stump of his silver arm. A hand with a thumbs-down grew out of it.

Brows furrowed and broken jaw restored, Zach yelled, "Your pride will bite you in the butt very soon!" He got up and sprang at Brandon again.

Staring down at Zach, Brandon sidestepped and beheaded the superior with a chop to the back of his neck. He kicked the body away before it struck the ground.

As he slowly walked towards the recuperating Zach, he could hear the superior say, "I give up."

Brandon kept walking.

Zach stood up and raised his hands, his eyes teary. "Let's just end this peacefully. Let me go and I'll stop bothering you and Millennion."

Brandon pressed on. As genuine as Zach sounded and looked, Brandon didn't feel like ending the fun so soon.

"Brandon, I know you're a good man in your heart. Please, all I want is just restoring my-"

Brandon cut him off with a punch to the gut. "To hell with that!" He hunched a bit and readied his fists.

Left, right, left, right. Blood, saliva, and teeth flew out of Zach's mouth each time a hook landed. When Brandon had grown bored with thrashing Zach this way, he kicked Zach in the chest and sent the superior flying. He would never forget the lovely tune coming from Zach's shattering ribs when his blow landed.

Time for more!

He ran after Zach, only to lose control of his right leg and fall a few meters later. His aura dimmed. The bulging veins across his body vanished as his muscles slowly shrank.

Closing his eye, Brandon focused on his right leg. A few seconds later, he regained control and got up. He opened his eye, which widened at the cracks spreading across his silver limbs. Terror filled his heart again. And regret. He shouldn't have spent so much time toying with Zach.

But he couldn't help it; whenever Zach bled or screamed, whenever the superior's bones rattled like shaken maracas, some kind of pleasing sensation just surged across his body... Damn, what had gotten into him earlier? Poor, poor William. His old friend had wasted his life for a foolish, selfish guy like him!

Tap, tap, tap... Swish!

Brandon blocked Zach's incoming claws in the nick of time. His silver arm disintegrated on impact, and it never grew back. His eye widened in horror, but he shrugged off his fright upon seeing Zach's flurry of strikes. Reflexes and instinct guided his footwork.

Then Zach startled him with a spit to the face and slashed down. Brandon's silver leg broke off, bringing tears into his eye as he realized the danger he was in.

William, please forgive me.

As he dropped to his knees, Zach crouched and plunged his claws into his chest. "Feeling scared? Stupid? Serves you right!"

Darkness crept into Brandon's vision as he struggled to breathe. He punched in desperation, which - much to his relief - sent Zach hurtling away and freed his lungs from the superior's blades.

With his vision regaining some light and color, Brandon flexed his fingers and pulled back his hand. His dim aura gradually faded as glowing threads of red energy swirled before his palm. The radiant strands merged into an orb that grew bigger and bigger with each passing second.

I'm giving my all!

Hearing an incoming whoosh, Brandon roared and thrust his hand. A huge wave of crimson energy gushed forth and engulfed Zach's spinning form.

"No!" Zach screamed as he crumbled to dust. "My family...needs...me..."

The surge died out, and Brandon collapsed with a smile.

Fluid rushed into his body as he lay on a flat, yet cold and comfortable surface. His eye fluttered open, only to close again a few seconds later.

"He's waking up?"

His eye snapped open at the hoarse voice. It belonged to Biscoe, who stood between Albert and Douglas.

"Welcome back!" Albert greeted with a grin.

Brandon sat up and inspected the surroundings. Metallic walls. Computers. An IV line that connected his hand to a blood bag on the IV stand.

He had arrived at home. Safely.

"You were out cold for a few hours, Sir," Douglas told him, giving him a concerned look. "Uh, actually, you looked like you were about to die earlier. You didn't have even a drop of blood in your body."

"Was it because of my transformation?"

Douglas nodded. "Unlike standard superiors, this hybrid can't produce its own blood. You were relying only on your blood-saving system, which activated later than expected."

"That was one of my reasons why I commanded the scientists to never do any research on the blood-saving system," Biscoe commented. "Last year, your stunted regeneration sparked William's interest. He then brought up the topics about blood-saving system and necrolyzer's emotional state in the lab and caused a buzz. People there also started discussing Dr. Tokioka's hypothetical necrolyzer-superior hybrid."

William...

Suddenly, the image of the disintegrating William flashed across his mind's eye. Something flared up and exploded within him, and he seized Biscoe by his collar. "Why didn't you support this research?" Tears welled in his eye. "If you had done so, I'd have learned how to transform into a necrolyzer-superior hybrid before this fight!" He shook Biscoe; not even Albert's and Douglas' interfering hands bothered him. "And William wouldn't have died!"

"Okay, I admit it." Biscoe looked down. "It was my fault. Considering the danger of this form, I thought it wouldn't be worth the risk. I kept wondering, 'How would the unstable nature of superior affect Brandon's psyche? What if he wouldn't revert? What if he ran out of blood?'"

"Why did you think so?" Brandon snapped, shaking Biscoe again. "Look at me! I reverted! And I lived!"

"Because..." Biscoe took a deep breath. "I was afraid that Miss Mika might lose her beloved daddy."

Brandon's grip loosened. Mika... He brushed away his tears with a finger. It was all for her sake.

"I'm not Norton, a man who cares more about the organization than the people in it," Biscoe added with a long face. "Even when I have to be strict for Millennion's sake, I'll end up bringing the members into consideration more often than not." He turned to leave the trailer. "Anyway, I suggest that you rest up today, Brandon. Tomorrow will be a tough day."

Brandon knew what Biscoe meant with that. Whatever the Gatou boss would do to him tomorrow, he wouldn't care.