Joshua and Fitz were now on their way to another location staying in the car.

  "The Karma system? Now this is interesting. Show me your Special Point System." Joshua did as Fitz suggested, looking at the list of names.

  Black Waltz. White Waltz came in a pair. White Waltz used 100K positive karma while Black Waltz used 50K of the Negative Karma. Lastly in the Gray Karma the Azure Resound was at 900K Karma. There were other names but Fitz ignored them as he highlighted the three names for Joshua.

  "Oh those three? They're part of a group known as the Ensemble. In my world the Ensemble were known to be the most powerful among the ones who work. Fixers if you will. Fixers are paid to do anything, from killing people to finding your dog. The Ensemble, or rather the Ensemble of Colors are known to be at the top of fighters. They took on a dictatorship because the people paid for them. 10 of them were able to topple an entire military regime by themselves. Though understand that they're a bit more different than anything. The Ensemble members died because they chose to take a last stand against the other Fixers that started to allow their town of people to be insane thanks to some mad scientist who wanted to turn people into experimented humans in the name of power. The Black Waltz ended it, being the last one alive but he went to massacre every one who was involved, he died peacefully. Standing over the graves of the other Ensemble members." Joshua had heard of Fitz explanation and he used it.

  Joshua looked at a pair of black gloves that had intricate markings over it.

  Joshua put on the gloves, as Brilliant Ash formed to his hands.

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  "Blade Shift, Ashen Sirius." Joshua said as he drew the katana out, seeing it change into its Ashen Sirius form.

  "This'll work." Joshua said as he let go off the blade, where it vanished then pulling out the XENO IX rifle. Then the Grief pistols, Azure and Crimson. There was no need for a holster, and this made things easier. They arrived at the location, where Joshua then looked at Fitz who put on the same type of Gloves.

  "So what do they call you?"

  "The Caged Crescendo.Funny right?" Fitz pulled out his pair of gunblades. Smiling at them, he must be enjoying the grip. Where Laila stopped the truck in front of the Vermillion Headquarters. A skyscraper of 98 floors. The other Regenerators and humans stepped out loading their weapons. The Freaks took their step to show themselves. Most of them were the things out of a bunch of horror books. Some of them had eyes in their mouths, some had their ribcage opened up. There were hundreds of them coming over to their location.

  "We'll hold the line, here Miss Liala!" A soldier said only to be stopped by Fitz.

  "You guys go in with her.Coffin Dancer's going to have his hands full fighting the Ultimatums. We'll handle it out here." Fitz spoke as he drew his pair of gunblades.

  "You can't possibly hold them off all by yourself?!" Laila asked as three Freaks leaped to their direction, Joshua drew Ashen Sirius, slashing the three in one swing. Watching them turn to glass, falling to the ground. Shattering before turning into ash themselves.

  "Boss told us to protect you. So protecting you is what we're going to do. Go, Laila. Coffin Dancer." Joshua called out looking at Coffin Dancer who turned to him.

  "I hope you find your peace." Coffin Dancer nodded as the others headed inside, much to Laila's protest. The sea of Freaks began their assault trying to overwhlem Joshua and Fitz who were grinning from ear to ear. There were HP bars over all of them.

  '25,000 HP' A slash from Ashen Sirius caused a total of '75,000' slash damage + Piercing. Now this was back to how a game looks. The Sniper Freaks began firing at him, Joshua tapped his feet. Dancing away from the gun shots while cutting the other Freaks. Turning them to powder, The Sniper Freaks continued to fire at Joshua who dodged it. Another shot was incoming and Joshua pulled a Freak where its head was pierced by its own ally's attack. A chuckle as Joshua pulled out the XENO IX, firing off a shot straight at the Sniper Freak.Another Freak swung its scythe arm at him. Joshua tap danced away the attacks, dodging as he drew out Azure Grief with his other hand. Firing a shot that left a gaping hole in the head and chest. One grabbed Joshua's leg, trying to stop Joshua from moving. The rifle vanished from his right hand as he drew out the Crimson Grief, three shots to force the Freak back to dust.

  Joshua held his hand. Whereby a longsword appeared.

  'Donovan's Longsword(Replica)' Joshua raised the blade as he cut down a Freak in half. Pulling the longsword back for a piercing attack.

  'Iacus's Rapier(Replica)'swapping to the rapier, fast piercing strikes to the chest of the Freaks. Leaving tiny little holes in their bodies, a side slash was enough to cause them to crumble. A building that had damages to its structure is much easier to destroy instead of anything else.

  'Ace's Reaver Gear (Replica' the large rifle appeared behind Joshua's back where he grabbed the stock, swinging the rifle down with its blade extended? It was a recipe for pure destruction. Joshua started to see Ace standing beside him, along with the 50 Crimson Reaver division members.

  "If you're going to use my blade, Lord. Then let me give you a bit of my technique."

  "Ace?" Joshua heard Ace's voice, so this was telepathy.

  "Yeah. My blade was resonating with yours. Feel free to go wild with it."

  "Thanks, Ace." Joshua said as he fought, in that moment it felt as if Ace himself had taken over Joshua's body, fighting like a beast that wanted to be satiated. There was the Rose of Slaughter, and this was Ace's path.

  Joshua then fired the rifle, unleashing large bullets into the targets. Then he let go off the rifle, dodging a close attack by a Freak. Drawing out Commander 151's saber, the Rose of Rouge. Slashing through the horde, taking a step back to dodge incoming strikes from the front.Elbowing his sheathe to block a Freak from behind. The strike had stopped the Freak dead in its tracks, a flip of the blade's grip as Joshua pierced its head and his left hand drew the Azure Grief, firing off a shot to the heart.

  The Freak crumbled to dust, Joshua's whole plan was to buy time. He's not the main star of the show, he was another person entirely in this place. This was Coffin Dancer's duty, so its best if Coffin Dancer handled it.

  "Fitz."

  "What's up?"

  "Go and make sure that Laila and the others are safe." Fitz nodded, backing away from the fight as Joshua let go of his weapons. Whereby the Redemption Kai appeared to him. It's weight was something far different than before, Joshua took his stance. Getting ready for the First Movement, Devil's Maw with the blade in hand.

  The Freaks leaped from all directions to attack him, they ignored the entrance which meant that they were here to buy time. This must have been a plan by the Ultimatums that led Vermillion. A single draw as hundreds were cut down, the damage output was at 100 thousand but slowly, Joshua did not bother to think about the damage output anymore. He was going to fight and hold the line. This was his duty, not as the Lord of Thorns but to give Coffin Dancer the closure needed.

  It wasn't just about recruiting a Familiar anymore, but it was about getting payback for the Hatter. He was a Regenerator here, so he will keep fighting. The numbers did strike Joshua bit by bit, he coughed up some blood. His clothes were torn, he felt the cuts oozing out the blood from his body but that didn't change anything.

  Joshua was smirking beneath his mask, he felt pain. The Endurance he had from before was kept to a minimal threshold but that did not bother him. Still standing on his feet as he raised his hand for another weapon to appear. This time it was Brilliant Ash.

  "Blade Shift." Transfiguring to Ashen Sirius as Joshua held the katana and was ready to fight. The Freaks continued their onslaught, trying to whittle Joshua down like ants taking on a giant. Slowly but surely, Joshua felt himself being tired. His eyes could barely keep open, he was being drained by the second but that did not stop him from fighting still. Cutting through the Freaks as their ash got on his face and body. The Freaks froze at the sight of touching his mask to paint it with the white ash that was the remnants of the existence of these Freaks.

  "Keep going." Joshua said as they fought on. The gunfire from above was louder but that was not in Joshua's thoughts. Eyes on the battlefield, he was slowly fading from consciousness but he kept on fighting. When it was over, Joshua fell to his knees. Taking a look around, none of the Freaks were left. The gunfire from above went silent, perhaps they succeeded?

  Joshua fell on his butt, taking off his tie. Unbuttoning his collar, tension and stress slowly leaving him and his tunnel vision was going away. Pondering if Coffin Dancer succeeded.