The telepathic pressure on his mind increased exponentially as Alkanphel drew ever closer, and Gyou had to struggle to maintain his sense of self. It would have been so easy to lose himself in Alkanphel’s presence; to become just another mindless, sniveling lackey like Balkus. But Gyou was not one to give up on a struggle so easily, even if his enemy was as powerful as the First Zoalord was proving to be.

Still, Gyou had at least learned that it was best to make himself scarce when Alkanphel was close. He needed to gather his power and his strength before Alkanphel caught up to him if he was ever going to have even a hope of killing the First. However, Gyou was caught off-guard when the wall behind him started exploding, presumably blown open from behind by Alkanphel’s energy attacks. Before Gyou could start running again, he found himself in a chokehold.

-Were you really so foolish as to think that you could escape from me, Reholt?-

-Stranger things have happened,- Gyou just managed to gain enough composure to say.

Alkanphel’s eyes were glowing white, and Gyou could feel the waves of the First Zoalord’s power rippling in the air. It was going to be a hard-fought battle, but then that would just make his victory all the sweeter. Before Gyou could consider his next move, Alkanphel threw him through the wall that he had been standing in front of. The fall itself was more of a minor nuisance than a problem, but Gyou was still determined not to be beaten by Alkanphel. No matter how powerful the First was.

Still, Gyou was at least practical enough to know that he wouldn’t have even a snowball’s chance in hell of fighting off the First Zoalord if he didn’t manage to rest and regain at lest some of his stamina. Either that, or find Sho Fukamachi and use the Remover on him. That was the scenario that Gyou was most hoping for, but right now any scenario where he didn’t die fighting Alkanphel was a good one as far as he was concerned.

Of course, a key part of being able to survive Alkanphel was staying out of his way, especially at this stage when Gyou knew that his own stamina was not quite, okay not at all, up to the level of the First Zoalord. And there was still the matter of the Remover, stored in the basement and just waiting for him to come and claim it. Even if he didn’t manage to find Guyver I, perhaps he could still use the Remover, if only as a bludgeon or some other form of blunt object.

The casing of the Remover did seem very durable, indeed when Gyou had been handling it he had been impressed with the strength of the outer shell. But there was a time to think about such things, and this was most definitely not it. Kicking a hole in the floor, so that he wouldn’t need to use up any more of his now-precious energy reserves, Gyou leapt down to a lower level.

XxXxX

Alkanphel, the Supreme Zoalord of Chronos, was quickly losing the mild amusement that he had had when Reholt had first tried to rebel. It was simply not possible for one of his children to stand against him, hence his earlier amusement at the situation. However, he had initially expected Reholt to realize this fact as well and relinquish these absurd ideas that he had had about taking the Supreme Zoalord’s position from him.

Perhaps the boy Kenji Murakami would make a suitable replacement for his rebellious Twelfth Zoalord. The boy was young, hence easily trainable in the ways of Chronos, and he would not be able to resist Alkanphel’s mental power the way that Reholt had obviously done. Yes, once he had eliminated Reholt, Alkanphel would begin the boy’s conversion into his loyal Twelfth.

XxXxX

Deep in the lowest level of Mt. Minakami, Dr. Halverson was overseeing the first stages of the child’s processing into a Zoalord. He was not going to ask where the Commander had gotten the Control Zoacrystal that he had dropped off sometime earlier. The fact that the Commander wouldn’t answer the question in the first place notwithstanding, Dr. Halverson didn’t want to risk getting on his bad side the way that Dr. Sanderson had.

That could have painful, and potentially fatal, consequences. The boy’s Zoalord body was now at early Stage One. While he still retained most of his human features, the marks of his new body were becoming more readily apparent. The boy’s skin had changed its hue to more of an extremely pale purple than his normal pale tan. The boy’s hair was still in evidence at the moment, and would remain so for some time, but the marks on his face were now those of a Zoalord.

Dr. Halverson wondered for a moment just what those strange explosions could have been, but then he decided that it wasn’t any of his concern right now. What he had to concern himself with was this boy’s development.

XxXxX

Alkanphel hovered above the hole that Reholt had made in the floor. He could tell that Reholt had not used any of his energy attacks to make it, since there was no residual energy for Alkanphel’s senses to detect. The foolish creature probably though that he would have a better chance against the Supreme Lord of Chronos if he conserved his energy. It was amusing enough that Alkanphel was willing to play along with the idea.

If only to see the expression of utter shock on the face of his former Twelfth Zoalord just before he was killed. Yes, that would make this game even more amusing. Even with as powerful as Reholt was, he still had nothing that could even come close to defeating the Supreme Lord of Chronos.

Smirking, Alkanphel descended through the hole that Reholt had made.

Scanning for Reholt with his senses, Alkanphel found him just as his former Twelfth was about to reach the lowest level of Mt. Minakami. Alkanphel knew that this was where he had hidden the boy Kenji Murakami. It would be useful for him to remember where his new Twelfth Zoalord was waiting. Teleporting down to that level, Alkanphel had a momentary thought to look in and see the development of his new Zoalord for himself.

But then, there was time for things such as that later. Now there was still the matter of Reholt to be dealt with.

XxXxX

They were coming, Masaki could sense it. Gyou, and another Zoalord who was far more powerful than Gyou could ever hope to be. It wasn’t a good situation. It hasn’t been a good situation for a long time, but now it’s getting worse, Masaki admitted to himself. Sho had already suggested that they all take shelter inside the Relic, and Masaki was finding that idea more and more appealing.

"Well, what are the rest of you waiting for?" Masaki demanded. "Let’s get in there before this whole place starts coming down on our heads!"

Without any more words being exchanged, Sumio gathered up all of the others and hustled them out to the main area of the basement. Masaki knew that it was dangerous for all of them to be out there at once, especially now that there were three Zoalords inside the base with them. So Masaki quickly transformed, once he saw that all of the others had made it out of the room.

Masaki knew that this was the last transformation he was going to get out of his body, he knew it and he didn’t care. If he was going to die, then he was going to die fighting against Chronos with everything he had left. Running out into the main area of the basement, Masaki saw that all of the others had made it aboard the Relic by now, but the opening in the ship was still there, probably waiting for him to walk through it.

But that wasn’t going to happen, not when Gyou was this close, and not with that other Zoalord tailing him. Masaki knew that he had about a snowball’s chance in hell against two Zoalords, especially one that was so much more powerful than Gyou. But that didn’t matter to him. When the wall on his right, about two-hundred or so feet above his head, exploded inward Masaki could sense the presence of the one Zoalord who he hated above all others: Gyou.