"Dead? He." Maken didn't finish the sword collector interrupted him, "Yeah. After the last battle, Priest saved his life, and they both turned themselves in. He was waiting for the trial to justify his policy of "the strong live, the weak die" and clear Lord Nekam's name. But he didn’t get anywhere. Nothing he said was made public." Maken spoke up again, "I see whether in the war or any era, Nekam is the dark shadow of the new age. His very existence can never be brought to light."

The Sword collector nodded then talked again."That is why Mr. Trent refused the government’s offer. "Forget Nekam and work for us. We’ll gurantee your safety for life." Under the spell of Lord Nekam's charisma, Mr. Trent brought together an army and even purchased a battleship from an underground arms merchant. The government wants skill like that bad. They offered him some pretty sweet terms. They didn't care about his arguments or principles. All they wanted was power. Trent lost all hope. They couldn’t publicly try him for high treason. A country in an age that had lost all honor, an age so weak they have to ask an enemy to work for them. He slit his throat with a small dagger he had hidden. He used the last of his strength to write his last words in blood and died."

"With no regrets for this world, I go to join Lord Nekam in hell."

Everyone is silent. Finally Swipe spoke up, "Even though we won, it's hard to say who was right." "That’s the way of the world, kid. You would have thought at least Yumi would have come out on top." Vivene came into the talk, "You say she died with NekamOrez?" She told me about herself once when we were out drinking. She was once the best oiran all over, so popular that even a high-ranking official couldn’t get near her. (Oiran--the highest rank of prostitute in the entertainment district.)

(Flashback)

Yumi toying with her drink, "The red-light district looks glamorous, but it’s a world of suffering. I went through a lot to become the best oiran. But life is having to choose, and I made my own choices. At least an oiran had honor. Until the Mary Ruth case."

(Present)

The girls interrupted. "Mary Ruth?" Vivi blinked. "Who is that?" Makenzie pressed on. Linda's grandpa spoke, "In 1872 a coolie (a unskilled laborer) deserted from a ship lying at anchor in a harbor. When it became clear that the ship, the Mary Ruth, was a slave ship and that the coolie had been cruelly treated, the government liberated him at his trial, showing the world that it was a nation that respected human rights. Other countries retorted that this country had prostitutes living as slaves in the pleasure quarters. Faced with this contradiction, the government eventually stated that if prositutes were to be human beings whose freedom had been stolen, then one might as well say it was wrong to demand payment for cattle and release them. Issuing an emancipation proclamation in this spirit, so far strayed from the rest of humanity, would be just as logical."

(Flashback)

Yumi looked awfully wasted and was just talking. "You have to laugh. Slaves are human beings, but prostitutes are no better than horses or cows. We’ve fallen into this world of suffering and we’re doing our best to live our lives. But the governments says we are not women. We are bitches."

(Present)

Swipe rubbed his eyes, "More and more you cannot tell who is right." It’s the way of the world. But she was happy that she’d met Lord Nekam. Maybe that was the only thing." The sword collector put down his cup, finished with it and the meal. "Well, this is getting dull. Time I got going. Oh, almost forgot. There’s still two of them out there they didn’t catch. They’ll never find Nyx the Prodigy. She is probably drinking tea on some mountaintop about now." He laughed.

(Flashback)

"No, the killing begins here." She moved incredible dealing three great slashing blows across Maken's back, appearing in front of him slashing at his face, to end with a stab into his right eye. Maken, bleeding profusely, some how manages to keep on his feet.

(Another moment.) "One step before the Shukuchi." Nyx all but disappears, detectable only by the breaking of the flooring under her feet. Maken thinking, "Left or right?" A similar break hits the ceiling, then a wall. Maken is surrounded on all sides by the crashes that mark Nyx's passing. Still thinking, "An Omni-directional attack, using not only horizontal but vertical space!" "There's no where to run now!" Swipe screamed. "After all, in this world the flesh of the weak is the food of the strong." Maken whips his head around to follow the voice, but there's nothing there. "The strong live, the weak die." Maken turns again--Nyx materializes over his left shoulder, and he puts up his sword to block. A glimpse of the six-year-old Nyx, smiling. "You don't kill? You protect the weak? That's what you say, but you're wrong." She strikes again, and again Maken blocks. Young Nyx, crying out in shock. "Why didn't you protect me then? If what you say is right, why didn't anyone protect me?" She disappears again. Maken does his best to dodge the blitz of rapid movement.

(A later moment)

"I knew it! If she's showing emotion, no matter how fast she is, Maken can read her moves!" Maken dodges very slightly, and Nyx buries her sword in the floor instead. "Now he's got her!" Swipe grinning. "He saw her!" Yumi in shock. Nyx stares at the blade halted inches before her throat. A tense moment. "What are you doing? Do you mean to win without giving the finishing blow?" "You say no one protected you then. No matter how hard I try, I can't think what you're referring to. But, if its not too late, couldn't you make a fresh start now?" Nyx freezes. Nyx screams, clutching her head. "You're interfering. Your very existence is. Fighting with you is making me strange! I don't care who's right! I'll kill you with the next attack!"

(The Moments of Ultimate Struggle)

Nyx Maemi (Nyx: Daughter of chaos, Greek Goddess of the night/Maemi: Smile of truth.) When she was six, she slaughtered her abusive adoptive parents and their children. Nyx, takes off her shin guards and arm guards. Very viscous and horrible scars were visible now. Some were new and still a bit red. She dropped the guards, which made really heavy noise hitting the floor. She pulls her sword from the floor and walks to the center of the room. "You're interfering." She whips her sword around her in a blinding half-circle, then sheathes it, assuming battou-jutsu stance. "I'm coming. Be ready."

"I'm always serious. If I were not, my opponents would not take my words seriously." Nyx remembering, "But if it's not too late, couldn't you make a fresh start now?" (She said aloud.) "I understand. Then I will throw away my arrogance and meet you seriously." Thinking again. "Full strength against full strength. Any other way, after I won, I still wouldn't know the answer. Is he right? Or is Mr. Orez? My Shuntensatsu will discover the truth!" Nyx is suddenly gone without a sound or trace. Yumi thinking, "She disappeared!" Swipe thinking as well, "That's the Shukuchi! It's too fast, you can't even see it!" Maken ran forward. A flash of feet, brownish-green eyes vs. dark brown eye, sound of drawn swords. The air all over the place seem to scream, you could visibly see the air was being pushed away from where the swordsmen were. "The technique's destructive power!" The swords meet, and a dull edge splinters a sharp one. Nyx is sent flying. Half of Nyx's sword is sticking point-down in the floor.

Yumi cradles Nyx's head in her lap. "So it. Turned out. Exactly the opposite. To be that strong even though he's sworn not to kill… It's almost unfair." "Kid, you're." Yumi tried to say something. "When you believe lie heaped on lie, you have to break them down all at once, Miss Yumi. I was wrong. I got my answer. (Sitting up) Mr. Zero you were the one that was right. Weren't you?" "No. If winning and being strong makes you right, then it's Orez you should believe. If you could find the truth by fighting once or twice, everyone's way of living would be right. The true answer comes not by fighting but by living your life, as you atone for your sins." Nyx's falling back into Yumi's lap, "You're a harsh man, Mr. Zero." Maken smiled a little, "Am I?" "You wouldn't let me have a simple answer. You're much harsher than Mr. Orez."

(Present)

MakenZero shook a bit, to deal with the eleven year old girl. She was far beyond Nekam and him, all she lacked was to deal with emotions and experience. Yet she was right there up there with them, a Prodigy she truly was. Out in a rustic town, Nyx is eating some berries in front of a tea shop. "Well I ought to be on my way Miss." Nyx turned to the tea serving lady who was an old woman. "Where are you headed?" "Where indeed. I don’t have any particular destination. I’ve decided to wander for ten years." "Wow, ten years now, by then you'll be a much more mature and be a woman." Nyx chuckled a bit and smiled brightly, "There were two men--they walked the same road, but after ten years they discovered completely opposite truths. So I think if I wander for ten years, I’ll be able to find my own truth. But let me ask you, grandmother, where does this road go?" "I'm not really sure but it heads north." "North. It's getting warmer, north might be good." Nyx walked off.

The sword collector said another thing, "The other Ten Sword AnQel is so stupid he can't do anything alone. He's gone wild and it's probably best to leave him alone." The man sits alone on a cliff, laughing a goofy laugh that gradually grows more sinister. The sword collector is about to leave when Maken stops him. "Hey. At the funeral of Mr. Trent the patriot, tell his spirit that NekamOrez, Yumi, the rest of the Ten Swords. They are left nothing in the history books, but I keep them in my heart." "I do not know how happy he will be to hear that from his greatest enemy, but yeah I will tell him." he walks off. "Hey Maken. We won. Aren't we right?" Makenzie asked. "If you think might makes right, you’re the same as NekamOrez. Which side was right is up to future generations. What we can do is believe in what we know ourselves to be true. And to fight for it. An age in which the strong live and the weak die, where the flesh of the weak is the food of the strong, is wrong. Very wrong." 

Mr. Trent finds himself in a landscape of heaped bones and skulls. Him thinking Is it a dream? A vision? A hallucination? (aloud) I must have died. So where?" "This is hell," Nekam with standing a little aways from him with Yumi. "Lord Nekam!" "See I told you if we waited Mr. Trent would show up." Yumi smiled. "Well don't just stand there let us get going." "Going? Going where?" "I've made up my mind I want to overthrow the King of Hell." Yumi spoke again, "Usui should be coming this way as well. This time we'll all be on the same side, won't we?" Nekam stopped. "Hm, I'll think about it." Mr. Trent froze with disbelief. "What’s the matter, Trent. Didn’t I tell you you’d taste victory at my side?" "Yes I'll be right there!" "In my fight with MakenZero he had those who feared me to help him. Here there are only devils. It won’t happen this time." Nekam bursts into laughter as Mr. Trent catches up.

The One to Decide the Age--End