A/N: If you all have been reading my previous story: Code Neptunia diligently, you may have seen that I've written that Karen had been suffering occasional bouts of weakness and outright near lethal medical states that I haven't fully shown like when Karen attempted to use her Next Form against CFW Magic in the Gamindustri Graveyard. But now, you're going to learn why Karen felt so weak then.

Also, this prologue chapter has some very dark moments rivaling those I've used in Neptunia so brace yourselves now because you've been warned.

Lastly, while I've tended to ignore the chirper event feature a lot in Neptunia since it just doesn't come to me until too late, I'm going to be making a greater effort on including a minimal of one per chapter here in Code: Divinity. Also, in regards to that 'system', I'm going to adapt it to the version in Victory where 10 is the cap of the lily ranks while the prequel Neptunia used MK2's version of the system had a cap of 5.


Arc 1:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Uzume's Hideout]

With the chaos in the city now gone, the need for a unified combat team was non-existent so she gathered all of her allies: Falcom, Broccoli, MAGES., CyberConnect2, MarvelousAQL, Tekken, Lid, Moru, Estelle, Lee-Fi, Ein Al, Resta, Blossom Aisen, and Generia G, though she noticed that the two corporate leaders she spoke with before: Sango and Ryuka, and a newcomer who joined not too long ago who goes by the name Little Rain, and told them that their service to her is no longer necessary and to serve Aqua Heart with the same fervor they did with her. The response to this action of hers was one she did not expect since she kept herself shrouded in shadow deliberately since this is what she planned to do from the start but they all unanimously said that none of them want to stop working with her even though they will honor her request to work for Aqua Heart.

Although Uzume was very good at keeping herself calm and collected, this development caught her off-guard but she waved it off and asked everyone to return to their prior assignments and continue supporting Arcadia and her leader to the utmost. When she was sure they were gone, she returned to her room, removed her helmet, pressed a hidden button on the wall the door was on to make a small metallic panel slide out and she then pressed a few buttons on her special gauntlet as a holographic display of the man she has been working with: Tybalt appears above the panel

"Agent Ten, what have you to report to me this time?"

Uzume simply smirked as she put her hand on the side of her stomach "Everything is proceeding as we planned Tybalt. I have noticed a deviation in our plan but it may actually serve us better in the long run."

"Explain."

"I asked Karen Koizumi a while back if she knew of Philia and Strea and she has said she has no knowledge of such individuals. We must have attracted the attention of some parallel version of her by either accident or divine providence. That means that entire segment of our plan has been interfered with. Based on what I've seen, she's hesitant to commit extreme acts and could be considered emotionally weak unlike the Karen Koizumi we originally planned on recruiting, who was unafraid to do what she had to do, no matter the cost, but she has begun falling into some level of depravity by forcibly brainwashing Filia, her sister, and her squad. But like I said, this may be better for us. This version of Karen seems to be more drawn to diplomatic negotiation and peaceful resolutions aside from what I said since her hand was forced in both cases. In fact, she has some uncanny gift for drawing others to support her. The Karen we planned on would've never been able to truly gain the loyalty of some of her key supporters: Miyo, Garrus, Wrex, even the CPUs to an extent. Besides, she's actually easier to manipulate so we might be able to accelerate our plan. While it is better to play the waiting game, anything to speed things up, without endangering the plan naturally, should be fully taken advantage of."

"You know I don't like these types of complications, I prefer things staying remaining uniform, but go on."

"Right. Like we predicted Tybalt, Karen Koizumi has departed to find the ancient Parthenian Knight order and gain their assistance to help develop Arcadia's military might. As much as your vehicles will help turn the tide against the monsters' soon-to-be evolution, no war can be won without infantry on the ground and they have the most and best feet to plant on this future warfields. I have to admit, you are quite the evil bastard by actually poisoning their lands all those years ago, making it so gradual that you perfectly hide your involvement and make the Parthenians want to negotiate for food in addition to that warning slash prophecy I gave Selles fifty years ago with that special time warp device I got from my friend in the Zeta Dimension. I told him that salvation would only come through the mercy of a CPU who would one day seek them out. I can only imagine that Evart was sent with this in mind before he got stupid and tried killing us all. But the problem is, he was close to actually killing Karen in the battle. These Parthenians, or their knights at least, have the means to actually greatly harm, or worse even kill, CPUs. Karen Koizumi's holy CPU sword was destroyed like it was nothing."

"Ten, if this is true, what were you thinking letting the CPU go alone?!"

"Evart was an idiot who was corrupt with power when he left the carefully structured lives of the Parthenian Knights. Most of Selles' knights are far more level-headed and willing to negotiate, I freaking hope, particularly when they know that their people are on the brink of utter annihilation. They wouldn't let this vendetta kill them themselves in the process. Besides, she didn't go alone. She has the goddess of Lastation: Black Heart accompanying her. Even if she was alone, Karen has the wisdom to avoid making those stronger than her mad, I trust her in that regard."

"You speak highly of her Uzume. Don't tell me you're suddenly decided to pine for her attention and play for the other team."

"Wha...Wha...WHAT?! I know you're eccentric, but where the hell did that come from?! You honestly expect me to believe I'm into girls, my own sister especially?!"

"If you remember, Caelus is nothing more a spiritual addition and advisor to Karen Koizumi. That should have zero impact on your choices in terms of romance. You know that we immortal beings tend to favor isolation since we can never truly connect with those burdened by the dimensional boundaries so having the chance of romance is a rare and beautiful thing. Besides, you're not even in the position of denying your sexuality Uzume. Remember that you have experimented with both Eris and Manila in your past. With this mind, you have no right to claim familial ties in this matter in addition to any claim you're not bisexual at the minimal."

"You. Sick. Bastard. I cannot believe I actually decided to work along with you."

"How crude. I simply speak the truth, like I always do."

"Like hell. You shroud yourself in darkness more than Thraaklon did. Just keep your damned promises, get me more fighters to boost Arcadia's military chain of command, and STAY THE HELL out of my private life!" Just to show how furious Uzume was at how he was mocking her, she slammed her fist against the panel and deactivated the communication between them, having to fight the urge to kick the wall in her rage "I hate this guy so damn much. But I need to play along since he is right about one thing. As much as I want to believe otherwise, he is right on how I can't bring myself to truly connect with my people, Karen, or even Caelus because of how being forced out of the dimensional void has warped me. I can't perceive time in the same way they do which is one of the worst problems." Uzume simply groaned and shook her head to try clearing her head "I don't have time for this garbage, I need to...wait. Could he have a point? I know how things play out because of my time warping. I didn't need to gather my people to fight the gangs off since I foresaw that Karen achieved victory without them. The same goes with Aufisa since Tybalt already chose to provide his advanced vehicles. So why am I going to these lengths to make her conflicts less arduous? Do I really-?" Uzume was feeling conflicted with this development, particularly when memory of her time among her sisters was brought up in such a manner and felt her cheeks flush a faint red, both of her being forced to remember her past back when everything was more normal and current events at hand.


Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Northwest Plains]

Nine days have passed since Arcadia has finally been secured through the combined efforts of the three groups led by Katsuo, Kazuto, and Mamoru, and Uzume's own task force who merged with Karen's inner circle, and with the gangs disbanded, a formal police force was formed almost immediately afterward which swelled to over four hundred and fifty licensed officers, with Garrus being appointed as executor of the entire force despite his mild disdain because of his memory of C-Sec, primarily the red tape, though the idea of having an entire police police force under his command gave him a mild surge of pride and eagerness with every intention of using his experience and background to make sure Arcadia remains peaceful, and with every intention of keeping her promise with Wil, she had sent out Ophelia, Izumi, and Resta to help with relocating the children and give them a new home in the old outpost Katsuo and the others used in the gang wars, with a great number of refurbishing to account for this and was accepted as caretakers by both sides, as Karen began requesting tasks of her new allies which varied from security patrols for the police, working transmutations with alchemy, doing odd jobs amidst the massive metropolis city for Arcadia's Guild, and requested help from Gaptahl to explore the continent since large swaths of it is still unexplored despite Filia's best efforts, while the Scattered Bones, or their non-combat identity: the Sparrowfeathers, took to their role as merchants and established a small financial firm geared toward advice for start-ups though they also keep secret tabs on the underground as the Scattered Bones to ensure no more gangs pop out of the framework and threaten peace again.

Unfortunately, when the final gang alliance was neutralized, a flash raid, composed of the few members of the previous battle who were still capable of battle, was launched on the compound that acted as a subsidiary to the black market operating in the country but they found that the entire building was abandoned, all of the weapons taken and any sign of the black market even being there is gone but the Scattered Bones and a special team assembled by Histoire both promised to track down the group running the black market and take them down following their own paths. Histoire's team is largely remaining on standby while waiting for her reports, regardless of how long it takes to gather such info, while a squad within the Scattered Bones has been sent out by Rose's request who are prioritizing investigation in the two known compounds the black market used in Lastation and Arcadia since they feel like they could find clues the previous strike teams missed, vowing this because of their skill as assassins and their proud name as the Scattered Bones.

Supplementing the fact Karen's forces were unable to locate the black market, it took precious little effort for Filia's squad and her sister to realize Karen had placed her under mind control and pretending they were unaware, they asked Karen to meet them since this was the last straw they were willing to accept, but she thankfully sensed some unease in their demand and she asked her new allies from Yuidora to provide a small honor guard in Yuela, one of Leguna's golems, and Melodiana. As a result of this preparation, she was able to repulse the attack from the group who was once her royal guard when she met them and force the same ritual on the traitors since they were aiming to kill her. When she was sure they had their minds dominated through the magic she used, she told them to leave and report to Garrus for orders regarding the police force, them doing so after a combined series of bows from them all. After they departed the area, Yuela sheathed her sword and looked toward the CPU.

"Why did you place the woman under mind control Aqua Heart?"

"She made an attempt on my life Yuela. Under normal circumstances, that gives me the authority to execute her and her squad. But their exceptional skills are too valuable to simply toss aside. It's barbaric, but I'm controlling their minds so they'll remain complacent and Arcadia can still use their talents. However, I know I am taking a gamble in this since this magic is still very much unknown to me since I learned it from an old tome. Whether it has time limits, side-effects, things like that; I need to research it further. I was forced to act in the spur of the moment."

"Is this another one of these moments where you have to force yourself to be cruel to be kind to your country?" Yuela asked very solemnly as she stared the CPU down with a very calm air to her posture.

"Unfortunately so. I am sorrowful over this but I had to do what I must for my people. But rest assured Yuela, Melodiana, I have no intention of enslaving any of you. I am forcing obedience in these radicals, but I want yours to be natural, of your own volition."

"Relax Aqua Heart, we've sworn our loyalty to you as long as you keep your promise to return us to Yuidora and to protect the children from our world. We all know it's going to take time to do it, but we will remain loyal. We'd be wrong to fault a woman who is doing the best she can." Melodiana was the one who spoke this time as she gently put her hand on Karen's shoulder and smiled just as gently to try soothing the nerves the CPU is going through since she had to use her mind control magic seven times now: Filia, her sister, Leonard, Reiner, Adelphos, Hamil, and Eldin.

"I would never dream of betraying that promise because it's so deeply ingrained with my own desires. Rose and the Scattered Bones to Glenwood, Bae'lin to Xialara, Garrus and Wrex to their world. Miyo back to the Isnians. Izumi back to her Elbians. So on and so forth. Arcadia's main dream is allowing these foreign dignitaries to return to their homes."

"So we are in agreement then Aqua Heart. Keep to your word about keeping both our promises, and we'll remain by your side. As a warrior of Disnafrody, my word in this regard is my pact."

"Thank you Yuela. Say, considering that I will have to dismiss them as my royal guard since I don't want to risk them being around me anymore, what you would think of becoming the new leader of my royal guard?"

"I'd like a day to think about this. It's a big change from my current position as an enforcer for your guild to the leader of your most elite forces. Regardless of this, I am going to be keeping my eye on that Filia Yuasa woman in case she goes rogue."

"I understand. You know where to find me, but you can always seek out Uzume if it is a challenge to traverse the city and have her inform me of your decision."

"As you wish."


With Arcadia's own infighting having reached its end, Karen was called by Bae'lin to meet with her in her abode, having discovered more knowledge in her tome and wished to reveal a particular piece of it to Karen, with it being ancient records of Bae'lin's family's ancestors and Thraaklon having gifted the near entirety of the continent of Keisa to the ancient order of knights that appeared out of nowhere, stranded from their world and having lost all of their abilities of self-reliance since they were stuck in a foreign world, during the reign of the CPU that ruled Tari which was being ravaged by constant monster attacks and raiders from outside her territory, and in desperation, this one CPU looked toward this mysterious order of warriors as she offered extensive boons and citadels to operate as bases and settlements for the order in exchange for them acting as military might for the nation. Having accepted the offer, the Parthenian Knights, numbering over a million combatants, with nearly double the number of support staff, at that period of time fulfilled their new responsibility protecting their new sovereign, their duty primarily being patrolling and protecting the nation of Tari for over half a century, in that time 'stealing' most faith and reverence from the people for their bravery in fighting the monsters from the people as they were doing more for the nation than their own CPU did regarding defense from outside threats, constructing and maintaining their settlements, and even internal civil protection with the people beginning to look toward them for protection than their CPU, before the CPU went mad from what she declared heresy and exterminated her entire nation when her people no longer worshipped her with very few survivors, them being the Parthenian Knight Order, Thraaklon, the precursor of Bae'lin's family, and a few civilians that managed to reach the citadels owned by the Parthenians during the massacre and were protected by their guardians.

Even though these few peoples survived, the Parthenian Knights feared that this insane CPU would attempt to slaughter everyone in the world so they banded together to fight her but because of how they lacked the ability to properly fight against a CPU, they were unable to truly defeat her but they proceeded to use the knowledge they had assembled living in this world and sealed her away in a pocket dimension they created through the combined effort of what mages they had left as many of them died in the initial attacks. Although they had succeeded in this endeavour, many of the senior Parthenian Knights at the time were slain in battle and the treacherous CPU inflicted the newly appointed leader of the Knights a curse of immortality before she was sealed away, making Karen cringe at the thought: This leader was likely just your average everyday soldier living his life and dedicated himself to aid his fellow knights but he was forced to live the life of immortality when he did the right thing to help his people and avenge the people he was sworn to defend.

It took Bae'lin revealing information of her knowing where the Parthenian Knights had set up their own nation, free of any and all outsiders disrupting their lives, deep within Keisa's territory and live a life with no need to fear others trying to attack them, however Karen knew that their time of isolation was over since they infiltrated and indirectly attacked her nation and she would not have it, though she was wise enough to not depart without asking Miyo to craft a camouflage system to hide her robotic arm, and provoke them into a battle where they would attempt to kill her since she remembers that a single one of their knights could've killed her with only a little more work since that single knight was able to shatter her sacred sword: Benten which was otherwise thought to be indomitable and she departed to meet them with Bae'lin promising to teleport her to the edge of their territory, though to Karen's surprise; Noire, who had arrived in Arcadia earlier that morning and wanted to parley with Karen since she was despising the hatred between her and Karen when Neptune, Vert, and Blanc all liked Karen immensely and Noire wanted to bury the hatchet to forge a better friendship between the pair, requested that Karen bring her along and after a moment's thought, Karen accepted since she would like having both company along the way and a friend backing her up.

After arriving on site with Bae'lin's transportation magic, both Karen and Noire took flight in the direction of the mountain they can just barely see very far to the northwest, suspecting that could be the focal point of civilization for the Parthenian Knights, though they know that even with their flight, it would still take them a couple of weeks to reach it.

"Noire, I'm thankful you came to help me in this matter. I should be hesitant since this is an internal matter that I shouldn't be involving outsiders in, but you have no idea how glad I am to have some company."

"Yeah well, I want to end this pointless little vendetta we have. Neptune, Vert, even Blanc all see you so favorably and I'm the only one who has a grudge. I don't want to be seen as a bickering child whining over how her friends were taken away by a newcomer or anything like that. I'm not all that good with this sort of thing. I'm stuffy, I won't lie about this, so I understand if you hate me."

"Noire, you're letting this blow way out of proportion. If I had any sort of anger or disdain toward you, it's only because you seemed to go out of your way to fight me when I tried being diplomatic. What I say here may seem condescending but if I may be a little blunt, but if you stopped acting like that, I would return kindness in turn. Furthermore, Kei speaks of you very highly and you're the most level-headed CPU out of the four I've seen. Not going to lie, but I find that admirable. Vert's way too obsessed with her gaming, Blanc does have a fiery temper that rivals anything I've ever seen in my, admittedly short, life, and Neptune, goddess I am not going there. You're the most level-headed in general and I need some normalcy when I visit the mainland."

"T-Thanks for that. I appreciate it. Besides, I heard about what you went through when you fought one of these Parthenians, whoever they are anyway. That knight shattered your best sword after all. That sort of thing should be impossible since our holy CPU blades should be indestructible. Speaking of which, here; I had this custom made through my factories. I would use it myself, but it's a piece of garbage compared to mine so you can have it. If I knew it was trash, I wouldn't have given it all the proper enchantments needed for a CPU's weapon. Such a waste of my valuable time." Noire quickly pulled out a rather fancy 'anime' looking sword with a black handle running down the blade and a bronze red colored blade nearly made to resemble lightning as the blade has curves on both sides of the blade carefully refined at perfect 90 degree angles, though the fact it lacks a guard confounds her, and passes it to Karen along with a sheath for it, who fought to hide a frown at how Noire has called it a piece of garbage as she simply inspects the weight of the sword, finding it to be a perfect fit to Benten when she's in human form and after judging the magic embedded within, the power feels nearly equivalent or even stronger than Benten was, though she noticed it lacked the ability that allowed her to have the skill of a master swordsman since all of the training she had been undergoing beforehand is more than enough in this regard. This surprised her quite a bit since she had never let Noire actually hold her sword so she had the sword's weight based off mere sight of Karen's battle style the one time they actually sparred. Karen couldn't help but be surprised at how well Noire can handle analysis.

"Noire said this was garbage. Yet I can tell it's so strong...is Noire's sword stronger than I thought, or is she acting like a tsundere from one of those cliche anime I watched when I was younger? Hiding compliments behind insults." Karen looked toward Noire after inspecting the sword and noticed the girl looking away, witnessing a tiny blush on her cheeks "Heh, she really is lying about this. When she heard my sword was destroyed, she must have rushed to get a replacement made so I'd have a weapon to use, in addition to how I presume she wanted to gift me something as goodwill. Thank you Noire."


As the pair continued flying, they quickly feel a ripple envelop their bodies, giving both a mild headache and when the sensation passed, they began to feel their power, slowly granted, being drained in this space

"Ugh, this place has all but severed our connection to our sharicites. Karen, for both our sakes, we should shut down our HDD and go on foot. Remember that because of the enchantments our weapons have, they're dependent on share energy too and we've been cut off from it, so let us conserve our power in case we have to fight later on."

"Aside from the whole matter of how long it'd take for us to walk toward the mountains there, good idea Noire."

The pair quickly touch down to the ground and disengage their HDD forms as they begin inspecting the surroundings, noticing that now that they have chosen to not fly to conserve their power, they need to find a settlement to gather information and hopefully a more convenient form of transportation and happen to see what happens to be a farming village within a day's journey from where they are and begin walking in that direction, talking along the way

"There's a village way over there Noire. While we are CPUs that don't need to eat or sleep or anything, I really would like the idea of not having to walk for who knows how long. Besides, we're going to need directions if we're going to find the Parthenian Knights. If I know anything regarding massive orders of this sort, they require a significant base to house all of their members and an equally large city to house their supporters." With this in mind, the two CPUs began walking in the direction of the village.

"I'd honestly want to track these guys down fast so we can return to our countries but your logic is sound. Better to take things slow than end up facing them in battle."

"Yeah, a single knight could've easily wiped out my entire allied force; he actually sent a fair number of my team to Arcadian Central. Horrifying."

"You know, speaking of that. How did you beat that one knight?"

"Not really sure to be honest Noire. I was possessed by someone and he activated some sort of form that resembles our Hard Drive Divinity but the thing is, I had zero control over myself but the power I had was remarkable. Whoever did this somehow managed to seal away the magic the knight had which seemed to render him a regular man."

"Interesting. Does that mean their strength is primarily magical in nature?"

"No idea. An idea that has been going through our heads is that the man was operating through the system of geas. By enforcing some sort of limitation, he was able to overwhelm us all and extend the same power to his followers. Once again, this is just a suspicion of mine."

"If it's true, there's very good reason to be worried. I don't know much about this whole geas thing, but if you're sure this is the case, if the geas is easily attainable with such great benefits, we're going to be in trouble if they prove hostile. Especially if they're able to compound the effect. Imagine the chaos they could-"

"Noire, please stop! You're really starting to terrify me!"

"S-Sorry."


Chirper Events:

Lily Rank 6 - Karen + Noire

During the walk toward the village in the distance, Karen couldn't help but feel apprehension as she and Noire walked further into the territory of what could be the deadliest fighters in the land since the strongest swordsman Karen knew of was taken down so easily at the knight's hand

"You okay Karen? You're shivering more than you were before."

"Not going to lie Noire, I'm really damn terrified entering this place. I fought a single knight from this country and I could've died; same with a lot of my people. I don't like the fact that I'm entering the frying pan of my own volition. I've already been near death three times now. Against CFW Judge when we first tried to save you and the others, the Guardragon that had that deadly venom which was poisoning people, and then against Paraskevas. I feel like I'm making my fourth trip to oblivion, and I seriously don't want to test my luck any more than I have been already. I'm not a cat who has nine lives for crying out loud."

"You won't need to worry this time. You have the best CPU in the land supporting you. Anyway, er, do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Shoot. If I can answer, I'll try." Karen couldn't help but give a gentle smile at Noire's encouragement, especially when she noticed that Noire was trying to hide her own uneasiness in her voice.

"I've heard brief mention of people called Asuna, Keiko, Rika, Sylvia, Amaterasu, and people like that from Haruka off-hand when we were fighting CFW Brave before the Deity of Sin and afterwards before we returned to Planeptune. Are they people from your world?"

"Oh most certainly. They're our closest friends who we were separated from when Histoire drew us here to save you guys. It's been about two years already and I can't help but get a little downcast though I have met a few amazing people by coming here: Miyo, Izumi, Garrus, Bae'lin, Uzume, among many others. Over the last few days, I've gotten a lot closer to the people from Wil's group. In fact, there is one thing I am looking forward to when I return to the capital."

"What exactly would that be?"

"Serawi and Suina have said they want to give me a makeover to look like a fabled mythological goddess from the country of Disnafrody from their world and Yuela wants to do her part by crafting the proper attire for such a country, even if it'd be a recreation with entirely different materials. I can't help but feel eager to bear witness to this."

"I have no idea what this Disnafrody is, but I'm all for rather exotic clothes. You know, I actually used to have a master artist working for me who designed nearly all of my current clothes. I know most of Gamindustri knew little to nothing about the whole extradimensionals thing, but I was very good friends with one of them. Her name was Aufisa."

"Oh yeah, Trifecta told me a little about her. Aufisa apparently was in your employ as a cosplay artist right?" The mention of the words 'cosplay artist' make Noire stiffen in shock as her eyes immediately warp into one of extreme surprise and uneasiness.

"Y-Y-You know...about it…? My hard kept secret...revealed so casually." Noire was whimpering as she spoke this, clearly feeling both betrayed and very much depressed but she quickly looked toward Karen "Please tell me that you have not told anyone about this!"

"I'm not the sort of person who blabs secrets Noire. I know people, I won't give their name because of privacy's sake, all I'll say is that they're people I fought alongside back in Aincrad, who were self-conscious regarding cosplay, especially in public. Don't worry."

"Good. It was actually thirty years ago that I found Aufisa. I was coming back from Lowee since I was visiting Blanc wondering what it was like living with twins and I happened to see her passed out near the mountains along the border. When I touched down and took a look at her, I noticed her clothes were badly battered, she was covered in dirt and her breathing was ragged. I was worried about her condition so I rushed her back to my Basilicom at near mach speed flight and immediately called a doctor to check on her. After she administered some treatment, it was discovered that she was sleep deprived and starving since she said she barely ate in a week when she regained consciousness. When she recovered, I found she was rather...eccentric to put it kindly. She's not one to beat around the bush but I did admire her strong work ethic and her powerful ability to draw anything. In fact, she was even the one who helped in the remodeling of my Basilicom. It used to be very different from what it is now, but Aufisa drew a design which really helped emphasize the streamlined nature my nation was developing at the time. My Basilicom used to be massive and clunky but she really helped give a more modern approach. And to think she drew up the entire concept in a painting when I told her I wanted a building to display my pride as both a CPU and a ruler in addition to my wanting a future proof design."

"Wow, she drew up a painting for such an advanced building by herself? Especially when she was given such vague direction? No wonder Trifecta wanted to recruit her for my country to design military armaments."

"I don't blame her. Aufisa's a real master in terms of her artistry. It's why when the developers of Four Goddesses Online 2 was looking for a talented artist, I urged her to apply for the position since she'd be getting sizable paychecks if she got the job since I wasn't in a position where I could pay her since she was considered a live-in servant. I gave her a roof over her head and enough food and water to keep her alive, but not much else. But what caught me off-guard is that she told me she didn't care about money, only her work as an artist. So look, if you do plan on hiring Aufisa, make sure she brings her attendants with her."

"Why is that a concern Noire?"

"She easily gets obsessed over her paintings and drawings Karen. To the point where she neglects her own needs. I've worked with her for nearly thirty years so I know her very well. In her first year working at my Basilicom, I asked three members of my Sanctuary division of my Basilicom's staff to focus solely on her well being and be forceful when necessary. I insisted on this because I saw her passed out during one of her art crazes. I told her that if she wanted to remain in my Basilicom, she would have to accept their help and she thankfully accepted it with no complaints and things have been very calm since then. Those three tend to her needs and that gives her all the time in the world to draw and paint. Furthermore, If you want to use Aufisa's talents as an artist to the fullest, you're going to want to buy the software she uses."

"Okay then, what is the software and how much does it cost?"

"It's a proprietary system owned by the developers of Four Goddesses Online called Cloud Splice focusing on extremely high-detail 3D drawing techniques meant for professional level work for massive companies or that of a master artist with deep pockets or rich sponsors. They do allow some outside use but they charge a great fee in response. As for the price...you're looking at nearly ten to twenty million credits a year. Renting the source material itself is ten, but with all of the additions she needs for her work, that racks up to double the price."

"T...Twenty million credits a year...Noire...is Aufisa w-worth the price of this?" Karen couldn't help but stutter at the mere thought of having to spend twenty million credits alone on maintaining Aufisa's skill as an artist "Uzume, if you do this, I'm forcing this debt on you! You're the one who wanted to recruit her, not me. Even if she is a skilled artist, I doubt Kei would allow spending this kind of money every year."

"When you consider that one of the best selling points of FGO2 is the amazing art to where it annually takes in billions of credits, largely from Vert, and when Aufisa is one of the only artists working in the team, she makes a minimal of fifty million credits a year. Have Trifecta negotiate a deal with the developers and if she's as skilled with diplomacy as she was back in that war chamber in the game, you probably won't have to pay a single credit. Honestly, she has some freaky gift. She recently was somehow able to convince me to ship a factory's worth of raw materials and machines with no drawback from her and couldn't even fight her proposal. Next time you see her, tell her she'd better pay me something for all the materials I shipped to your country."

"Materials? What did she order?"

"A lot of metals and electronics to be honest. I think she's trying to build some sort of high-tech machine. Has she told you anything about it?"

"Not really no."

"This may just be my being pouty from how she conned me, but keep an eye on that woman. She may be good at keeping it shrouded in darkness, but I just know she's keeping secrets from all of us. She may be helpful, but for your own sake Karen, don't let your guard down around her. She could very well be planning something."

"While I wasn't exactly feeling that way, I do have my suspicions based on how much she was helping me. While I was pushing myself to help everyone back in Aincrad and Alfheim, I did have my own self-interests in the matter alongside everyone else: Escaping those worlds. But Trifecta has said she's been acting solely for my sake and I did call out on it a while ago. But isn't it better to have an enemy you know than one you don't?"

"I guess, but I'd rather have no enemies in situations like this."


Back to Story


Hyperdimension Standard Time: [16:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia - Sharre Village]

After spending hours wandering through the fields, the two CPUs finally arrived at the village surrounded on all sides by a river, finding it to be have a very simple feel with its medieval wooden architecture, though when they tried to enter, a lightly armored militiaman wearing a dark indigo colored platemail and a near fully enclosed helmet blocking all but the man's violet eyes stood in their way as he looked down toward the two girls in front of him

"Welcome to Sharre village. It's rare for us to get outsiders all the way out here. What brings you here girls?" In contrast of the intimidating appearance the man portrays with his armor masking his appearance, his voice was very friendly and welcoming despite him obviously not knowing them since this is their first time visiting the village.

With a brief glance exchanged between Karen and Noire, the latter's expression asking her to take the lead in this explanation, Karen looks toward the soldier and began thinking just what to say in this situation before coming up with a situation that could work in this case "My cousin here and I are traveling the countryside studying plants to see if there are any we could add to our personal gardens. This is our first stop in this little journey of ours."

"That is very admirable. But why did you not ask any of the Parthenian Knights in your community to escort you? They operate all over the country."

This particular revelation of information made them both doubletake in unease as Karen tries thinking a way to talk her way around this current predicament before coming up with something she could use "We're actually not from any of the major cities. We live in a small forest pretty far away."

"Not to be rude sir, but my cousin and I are pretty exhausted from a long journey and we'd like a place to rest for the night. Is there anywhere we can stay?"

"We don't have much in the way of lodgings for outsiders since we're so remote. I can speak with our chief and see if we can arrange shelter for the night though."

With this said, Karen and Noire are led through the village, having noticed that the fields before they arrived in the village were heavily withered since, while there were patches of green in the plains, it had lost a great deal of color, hinting that the land is suffering from soil degradation and when their gazing was noticed by the guard escorting them, he stopped and looked toward them, his eyes showing a good deal of sorrow "I guess this is hard to hide. Ever since I was a child, thirty five years ago, the land has been in a major state of decline. It's been increasingly tough for us to grow crops all over the country, in fact the Parthenian Knights has desperately been trying to find a way for us to get more food to feed our people."

"You hear that Noire? We have a way to negotiate with them now. An incredibly difficult one granted, but a way."

"Be careful not to overextend yourself Karen. Don't make deals you can't keep. I hope you do know that trying to provide food for over a million people at least is, naturally, very difficult."

"Who do you think I am? My nation was designed with the idea of achieving miracles and I have the means to achieve them, even if it takes me time. Besides, my chief engineer has already begun working on the means of exponentially increasing both the size of our food plants and our productivity rates since we're bringing in outsiders from foreign lands and stranded refugees from other worlds. Food production needs to be exceeded."

"Just be careful okay."


After wandering through the village and meeting with the chief with the question of where the two CPUs would be sleeping for the night, and after pondering the idea with his knowledge of everyone in the village, having been leading it since he became an adult and being born in it, and considering that space is a situation that needs to be considered, they were urged to seek out Tume Anamari who has been running a daycare/orphanage in the village for children whose parents work so much to care for them or tend to travel a great deal away from the household. With the decision being made by the chief, Karen and Noire walked through the village and quickly came across the large brick building with a rather noticeable plaque above the door saying 'Anamari Apothecary'

"An apothecary? I thought the chief said this Tume runs a daycare and orphanage center. Why would he say otherwise?" Karen was confused at this turn of events and looked toward Noire to see if she had a thought for this.

"You think this could be Tume's main profession and she looks after the kids as a side job?"

"Maybe." Karen muses with a calm nod as both she and Noire gently knocks on the door with the back of their hands though the moment they touch the door, they are barraged with a great number of near deafening screams from children making them retract their hands as they grip their heads as a result of the scream rattling their sanity for a brief moment, but to their surprise, the noise instantly vanished, to their relief.

"Erm, was whoever in there being loud for just a moment before being quieted?"

"No, the time scale don't match up. Even if they were well-behaved, it's impossible to stop all noise in that short a time. While I'm not well-versed with babysitting like Mamoru, I know that basic fact." To test a theory going on in her head, Karen placed her hand against the door again and was overwhelmed by the sound of screaming yet again, making her repeat the cycle of pushing away from the door to stop the noise and began to fall to her knees "Owwwww."

"You okay Karen?" Noire was quick to catch Karen before she fell to the ground outright and kept her stable until she felt ready to get back up.

"I'm fine, just a bit...off. Thanks Noire. There's some sort of voice suppression built into the walls."

It took a moment for Karen to regain her senses which had been dulled from the two bouts of heavy screaming she suffered and not long after, the door finally opened as a young woman with curly red hair hung down into twintails reaching down to her chest and cerise eyes, wearing what resembles a nun's uniform but with a red frilled jacket with the dual-layered hood being pulled up which covers the upper half of her head and a long staff with a large pink indented crystal at the tip on her back, though Karen quickly noticed the woman wearing a necklace with gold embellishments, carrying the same kind of crystal as a gemstone

"Welcome, are you two here to get your children?" Despite the cheery tone the woman had in her voice, the fact bags could easily be seen below her eyes, showing that she is rather fatigued.

"Erm, we're not parents to any of the children here Miss Anamari. The chief told us to seek you out regarding seeking shelter for the night."

"Oh. I really was hoping you were-" Her cheery disposition faded as she looked downward for a moment before returning her attention to the girls in front of her "The chief said you could find a place to sleep here? Of course he would. At least I'll have adult company for once. Come on in."

Following her request and accepting what seem to be a pair of earbuds for voice suppression, Karen and Noire followed the weary woman through the building, sidestepping young children running through the halls around them though Tume stopped when a child who appears to be around eight with cyan hair ran toward her with tears running down his face, his hands attempting to hide a sizeable bump on his head

"Miss Anamari, Hector hit me again!"

"Don't cry Zane, let me see it." Tume cooed as she gently moved Zane's hand from his head as she began looking over the injury on his person "Yikes, this one is particularly bad. Hector seriously needs to learn to stop his constant fighting. Mami, could you come out here please?"

After Tume called for the girl in question, a girl with silver hair hung in both an intake and a ponytail at her back with a large white ribbon in her hair and amber colored eyes who looks about half the age of the boy, wearing a very simple peach colored one-piece dress, limped over as she kept a firm grip on a rather simple bronze staff to keep herself up and silently began using an exotic form of healing magic which enveloped the boy's head, healing the wound rather quickly but when she noticed Karen and Noire, she let out a mild shriek of fear as she tried to run away in fright but ended up falling to the ground, landing on her stomach in the process and the sight of it all had Tume quickly move to pick up the girl into her arms

"I-I apologize for Mami here. She's not the best around people, she's only really comfortable around myself, Zane, and Hector. Zane, could you please gather everyone into the dining room? Dinner will be ready soon." Tume crouched downward for a brief moment as she spoke to the boy who swiftly nodded and dashed elsewhere.

"It's alright Miss Anamari. But she collapsed so suddenly, is she okay?" Karen obviously had some concern regarding the fact she appeared so weak when she approached and the fact she collapsed when she attempted to run and seemingly knocked herself into unconsciousness in the process amplified this.

"Erm, well, considering how she is normally, she's fine. Though in all fairness, she's suffering from some sort of disease I've never encountered before she contracted a few years ago. She's been staying here ever since a little after her birth, longer than anyone else who has been here in fact, save me and my family."

"Erm, is it okay for her to be around others if she's sick?" Noire was obviously making this vocal since she has seen many children running about the place.

"Don't worry, her condition isn't contagious as far as I'm aware. I've had nearly twenty different healers of great and varied skill, even a couple of the experienced mages among the Knights, look her over and they all had the same conclusion: whatever she has can't be transmitted to others in any conventional manner. At least, I sincerely hope so."

"You brought in healers to look over the girl? Couldn't you do it since you have a magic staff there? I can sense it so easily." Noire inquired this since she was able to sense the magic emanating from the staff far easier than Karen could since she's been a CPU far longer and has been trained with magic despite how little she actually uses it.

"I actually don't have the gift of magic in my veins. This staff belonged to my father and he passed it down to me before he died. In this regard, I have to rely on Mami, despite her young age, for anything magical. Before she came, my father created noise suppression magic and embedded it in the walls around their room, my room, and the exterior walls since I told them I wanted to start this daycare and orphanage. Magic users outside the Parthenian Knights are rather rare since they only value and train those within their ranks. Anyone with the power not with the Knights are forced to develop their power on their own."

"May I ask what the symptoms of her disease are Miss Anamari?"

"With what I've noticed, she has difficulty with walking without this staff of hers, rigid postures, very little physical emotion, rather weak stamina, a lot more anxiety than I'd expect from a child her age, and her sleep patterns aren't exactly the best, despite my efforts."


Karen paid attention to what Tume had been saying in regards to the girl's symptoms of her condition, wanting to see if it was something similar she has knowledge of from her world even though the chances were rather remote since they had been living in a secluded environment for millennia, but after hearing of all the symptoms Mami apparently has made Karen recall a list of diseases Earth had compiled and the symptoms reminded her of the condition called Parkinson's Disease.

"No, it can't be the same thing. There's no way the Parthenians could've been exposed to an Earth disease so it must be some sort of mirror image of the disease I know of. Either way, the fact it's happening to a girl this young is horrible."

"Say, could my cousin and I help you with your cooking? I'll feel guilty if I don't help out in some way since we're forcing our presence here." Although Karen knew that Noire was far from heartless, she didn't expect her to go out of her way to volunteer to help a stranger like this.

"You really shouldn't feel that way. It's the chief who put you up to this and I meant what I said before: I'm glad to have other adults here with me, even if briefly. In regard to your offer to help, I would actually very much welcome it as it would give me time to sleep. I left the list of what to make tonight in the kitchen down that way. As soon as I put Mami in her bed, I'm going to try getting to sleep. I don't know how comfortable you are with this, but would you mind sharing my parents' old room over there?"

After hearing Tume's offer, Karen and Noire exchange glances as they wordlessly begin talking with each other and Noire finds herself forced to talk when she was subtly nudged into action by Karen's elbow "It'll be a bit strange having to share a room since we've always slept in different rooms, but we don't want to impose. We'll try to make due."

After seeing Tume walk away with Mami in her hands, Karen and Noire walk in the direction specified by the woman and find the kitchen with no problem and quickly looked through the room looking for the note left by Tume, finding it with ease and both began looking it over, though they both begin to cringe since all of the ingredients are things neither have never heard of, to little surprise since this is a foreign land and quickly look toward each other

"Erm, you know how to make this 'Belembert' Noire?"

"You're asking the wrong person. You know more about these Parthenians than I do. They've been hidden in isolation long before I was born. I doubt even Histoire has any knowledge about these guys. Let me look at the recipe: three pounds of...Rxalia meat as a supplement, three cups of Ammecory juice as coating, a hint of Kacrifron per pound of meat for seasoning, a large bowl of Tashito juice as the base of the meal. Ugh, I don't know any of this!" Noire was getting more and more frustrated the more she read the ingredients and directions in how to prepare this 'Belembert' meal "Karen, could your sleuth ability decipher what we're supposed to do here?"

"Good question actually. I tend to ignore this ability I have since I don't really know what it's really capable of in this world, particularly when I don't get all that many chances to experiment with this power of mine. Back in Aincrad, it focused solely on analyzing statistics of monster's health points, weaknesses, and the like, same with players to an extent. Now, I don't know what it's fully capable of."

After this explanation, Karen tapped the side of her head to trigger the transparent visor that represents the power and looked around the room as dozens of small information packets began pouring into her field of vision, giving her the information she needs in regard to making the meal for the children in the building

"Got it memorized."

With the knowledge being ingrained in her mind, Karen quickly got to work on preparing the meal with help from Noire as they both followed the directions left by Tume and after enough time passed, they finished their cooking and based on the comparison image of what the end result is supposed to be with the actual product, it seems that they succeeded in cooking what appears to be similar to a rather sophisticated type of curry unlike anything Karen has seen prior

"Well, I hope this is to their liking." Noire let out a single discontent sigh as she genuinely hopes that the kids would enjoy the food they had both made.


Even though the children had been given a mild fright at the sight of newcomers, with this being the first time they actually recognized their presence, save Zane, and this unease held most of the mood until Noire explained that Tume accepted her and Karen's offer to help and this surprisingly dispelled most of their hesitation as they began asking a great number of questions from Noire, to her surprise since she presumed they'd be afraid of her, and left Karen by her lonesome during most of the meal until Zane walk toward her

"Thank you for taking over for Miss Anamari. She's been tired like this for a long time now but still worked to take care of us all even though it was hard on her."

"No need to thank us little one. Considering how tired she was, my cousin and I could hardly leave things as they are. We'd feel guilty if we didn't help out in some way." Karen actually had to fight the subconscious instinct of referring to Zane as 'little human', the very idea baffling her since she herself is human.

"I think I know what's happening Karen. If I'm right, your mindset is slowly changing because of how you're a CPU and in some way disassociating yourself as human. Even though you still have your human form, the might of your Hard Drive Divinity is slowly warping your mind. It's very easy to resist this, but this temptation will always try to take control. Look, I know I've been moody lately, but this is cause for concern for us both since this kind of corruption could change us both for the worse. Damn it, I should have taken precautions and removed Aqua Heart's physical and psychological profile to allow for a more seamless transition for her new host but I was so damn wrapped up in my pride that I wanted to return as my own person. That would've hopefully prevented this damage."

"Just like the situation with Wil's group, we couldn't have known. Tell me. Is there any way for this power to be removed? Shouldn't all things that can be given be able to be taken away?"

"Not that simple when it comes to HDD. Wait, erm, it might be possible in theory, but the thing is: It involves the CPU memory that was used to make you a CPU in the first place. Unfortunately, I can't even sense its presence in your body so it must have been stolen when we were both asleep. Without it, there's no purpose in going along with this plan."

"Okay, so outright curing is out, but is there any preventive measures we could take? I can't exactly fight off this sort of thing forever."

"Erm...uh...there is one option, but I'm sure you're not going to like it."

"Try me Caelus. I've been at death's door at least three times now, CFW Judge, that Guardragon, and when I was attacked by Paraskevas, and I feel like I am rapidly approaching my next with my seeking out the Parthenian Knights. I doubt this ritual could scare me more than that."

"It's a CPU ritual. That's all I am going to say and that's final! I-If you really want to know more about this, ask Noire. T-That's even if she's willing to go through with it."


Karen felt confused as to why Caelus felt so rattled regarding the whole matter but when she recognized that her usually stern voice was rather panicked, she felt a degree of unease regarding what this ritual entailed since she had only seen her like this one other time, which was when Wrex mentioned that one spanish word which had rattled them both.

After everyone had finished eating, Noire having broken up two fights that were both started by a boy with bronze red hair and eyes as she quickly learned that he was the one Zane had briefly mentioned: Hector, everyone began to leave the dining room to their bedrooms, with Noire and Karen being the last to leave as they took the time to wash the dishes as they found that this particular chore, alongside cooking, was very similar to how it is done in both their nations, and when they finished, they went to the room being loaned to them for the night as they find the room very simply furnished, noticing that there was only one bed which made sense in Karen's mind but didn't exactly give her much in the way of relief in the matter

"So erm, how is this going to work Noire? Should we do some sort of game or something to decide who gets the bed and the other gets the floor with some extra sheets?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. This floor looks outright uncomfortable. Look, I get you may not be comfortable with this, but we really should try to make due with what we have. It's only one night, so let's just share the bed."

"...Sure."

After this unease was put to rest, Noire walked toward the bed and simply sat on it before looking toward Karen with a relaxed form of seriousness

"So what were you talking with Caelus about when that kid was trying to talk with you? Zane I believe."

"Noire, I think, to some extent, that my CPU form is becoming unstable. I am making decisions I detest and I nearly referred to him as a little human. This is nightmarish for me! I should not be acting like this!"

"Karen, I might know what's wrong. You're using a HDD form used by another CPU and the differing elements of her divinity and your own natural soul are in conflict. I've actually encountered issues like this before when our Sharicites find themselves out of whack, in layman's terms. There is a way to correct this though." Noire was rather calm during most of this explanation but she began to blush heavily near the end.

"Caelus might have mentioned that. Is it this embarrassing Noire?"

"Kinda. See, this happened two or three generations before I was born, there were four CPU sisters in this generation similar to how things were before you showed up. According to what the stories say, one of those four was very frail, even in goddess form and her sisters felt very sorrowful at her condition and wanted to find a way to make her able to live more freely since she couldn't even do the tiniest of things without succumbing to illness or physical injury. If it's true, her condition was worse than even that girl with white hair since she was able to walk around, even if she was using support from that staff. I'm rambling, but the ritual is relatively simple to perform and it allowed this CPU to achieve some things without risk to her health by strengthening her HDD. Before I do this, I have to ask you a single question: Do you trust me?"

"This formality of yours is scaring me Noire, but yeah. I do."

"A part of me questions your sincerity, but it's par for the course in this regard. I'll try to be quick, alright?"


Karen felt even more confused about the whole thing, watching as she watched Noire pull the ribbons out of her hair, letting it flow out of the ponytail style she saw moments and most shocking of all was how the veteran CPU was slowly stripping out of her clothes, eyes closed and cheeks blushed a rosy red, and the sight made Karen's cheeks glow a crimson red at the display

"W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Karen was never more relieved at the fact there was voice suppression in the walls since she imagines that her scream could be heard by over half of the capital city of Arcadia and she felt like she was going to utterly collapse from the embarrassment of seeing her fellow CPU completely nude.

"For one, please don't shout in my ear. I'm as embarrassed as you are, but you don't hear me screaming. Second, this is necessary since the ritual has a bad habit of wrecking clothes."

"Easy for you to say you exhibitionist!" While she didn't mean to throw out this rather rude insult, Karen's mental state just wasn't able to comprehend what the situation at hand was because of how her mind is reeling from shock and is on complete overdrive.

Thankfully, Noire simply let out a single breath in response, clearly not all that offended by Karen's insult "I know you don't mean this, your mind is on the fritz from seeing all this. Karen, I'm going to start and hopefully it'll calm you down."

After she finished muttering an incantation under her breath, Noire walked toward Karen, who was becoming more and more agitated from shock by the second though Karen took note of her floral white skin, her rather modest bust which seemed to be very close to her own compared to Vert's, and her red eyes dewing up in a sorrowful manner close, this caught her by mild surprise since she can only presume that Noire is regretting what she is about to do, cupped Karen's right cheek in her hand and leaned in for a gentle kiss, her tongue very slowly wrapping around the other's, these two acts alone giving Karen the most shock as her eyes widened greatly seeing Noire kiss her so abruptly though the sensation quickly began getting numbed through the spell she casted before as Karen's eyes felt heavy and she soon fell asleep, falling forward into Noire's extended arms and landed on her bosom

"Heh, that certainly did the trick. She does look more at peace now. I just feel bad I had to act in this way and take her first kiss before that boyfriend of hers...Hikaru I think it was did. Especially the fact that I'm not even sure if she likes girls in this way." Noire couldn't help but smile at Karen's more peaceful features which are a huge contrast from how freaked out she was prior even though she had her degree of sadness at how she forced this kind of thing on her "Now, it's time I get to work. I need to straighten out the knots in her connection to her sharicite since it's preventing most of her true power from being accessed. They're twisted and not a natural connection to each other. It should be a natural link but Karen's access to Hard Drive Divinity is artificial, forced upon by your actions CPU Aqua Heart: Caelus." Noire laid Karen out on the bed moments after the sleeping girl fell into her arms, wanting her to have some degree of comfort for the ritual in addition to how she needs the space to do it.

"Don't even start with me Black Heart. The only reason Karen even lives is because of the HDD I gave her. Authentic connection or not, she's alive only because of my machinations. So don't you dare proceed along this conversation."

"Wow, you're quite the bitch aren't you. Makes me wish there was a way to forcibly expunge this particular taint from my friend here. Particularly when this taint is the source of her ailment."


Giving Caelus no chance to speak, Noire gently pulled Karen's clothes off her body and placed her hand on the girl's chest as she let the magic flow out, rapidly soaring through Karen's soul, running through the marks left by Hard Drive Divinity and the connection it possesses with the sharicite created when she became a CPU

"Oh goddess, no wonder her sharicite is so fragmented. These things are supposed to be sheltered but it's been forced to endure a great deal of stress in unsecured locations. Centuries of misuse and lack of maintenance has weakened it. I'm not even sure if this ritual will be able to heal this kind of damage. I'll have to see."

Knowing she has to do everything she can, Noire kept her hand planted on Karen's stomach to keep the magic meant to fix the connection between her and the sharicite going, twice fighting that subconscious urge to remove her hand since Karen's body was overheating as a mild consequence of the ritual, but that hardly meant she didn't flinch in pain from the sensation and as a means of cooling down the heat, Noire casted the incantation for an ice spell and focused it in her other hand as she placed it on Karen's stomach to try lowering her body temperature since it was escalating out of control but it didn't take long for the initial spell to straighten out the knots to erupt, sending Noire flying a short distance and crashing into the wall

"Agh, that was painful." With a small limp, Noire walked over toward the sleeping Karen and put her hand on her chest again to see if she had succeeded, closing her eyes to focus and run a small projection through the lines to see her work first hand. Her expression softens when she sees that while she has succeeded in the plan of straightening out most of the sources of what was causing Karen to act so differently, but the core problem was one Noire was unable to sort out since it was Caelus' own presence and to her surprise, Karen's life is still dependent on Caelus and trying to remove the latter could very well make the former lose her life "How is this possible? You would think that her health would've improved to the point where a separation of these two wouldn't cause Karen to die. I know she's been in near-death situations more times than a regular person should be, but...wait, is it possible that her condition is so bad that she's relying heavily, if not entirely, on Caelus? I might need to discreetly bring this information to Miyo and ask for her to use the same treatment she used on Katsuo."

Noire was stopped in her tracks when she happened to notice Karen quickly recovering from the magic she used to force her asleep as her eyes were fluttering, and considering the panic she went through when she had seen Noire naked, she quickly put on her sleepwear which comprised of a simple blue striped bra and panties and put a simple pair of white lingerie on the quickly awakening Karen, manipulating her arm to move her previous wardrobe back into her gauntlet's hammer-space inventory

"Karen, you okay?"

"Ugh, kinda. I feel numb all over. And it feels like my strength has been drained to some extent."

"That's common with this ritual Karen. You were relying heavily on a largely defunct system that was ultimately causing a form of corruption to you. I've done what I could to fix it, and practically did it, but unfortunately the main source of this can't be fixed through this ritual. Not perfectly anyway."

"What do you mean main source? What is this problem you're speaking of Noire?" To Noire's relief, Karen didn't have any sort of panic attack at Noire's wardrobe even though it's only a minimal upgrade.

Noire froze in her tracks and looked away with disdain since she didn't want to say what the problem was even though it was crucial to do so

"It's Caelus herself. I doubt she's acting intentionally but she's the source of it all. This is painful for me to say, but in a way, she's acting as a necromancer with your life. While I do have the means to cure you, it would only cause your death."

"Caelus, is this true? Have you been keeping me at death's door all this time and making me into a marionette?"

"Okay wow, I cannot believe you of all people would say such things. Look, if you want the truth, I'll give it. I am the only reason you are alive now. Ever since that day when you were in the Gamindustri Graveyard trying to rescue the CPUs at first... Karen this is tough for me to say, but you've practically been a zombie since then."

"Z-Zombie? But how? I'm the picture of health."

"That's because of my own magic protecting you. Listen, your vital organs, even to this very day, are badly injured. Do you remember when Compa said that you had bled out completely? The reason for that is I had created shields around your vital organs to protect them from Judge's attack and this had the side-effect of your body receiving very little blood since my shield prevented nearly any from flowing out. I was only able to let small amounts through controlled routes to keep your body alive but a side-effect of this magic is that it has left your organs in a very bad condition. In theory extensive surgery could save you but I'd have to lift the shield and doing so would only give you an hour's worth of life at the absolute most before you die, so we have to make sure you're put on life support before doing so. Karen, I've known this for the longest time, but I had to keep quiet since ASIC needed to be destroyed before it was too late. If it weren't for Uzume's sacrifice back then, we probably would've lost that war and if you were stuck in a hospital undergoing treatment, Gamindustri would be lost. Remember what Chika said when we were in Leanbox in addition to how the Deity of Sin was actually revived to an extent, we had precious little time to spare and we couldn't afford to waste it in a hospital."

"Then why not tell me after the fact when ASIC was destroyed?"

"Trust me I wanted to, but you were so caught up in forming your country that the timing felt wrong and then there was how you got caught up with the gangs and now the Parthenian Knights. That and I was distraught at how I thought the last of my sisters was dead for good. Trust me though, if I knew you would be in danger from this, I would tell you straightaway, even if I was confident I could keep you from harm."

After this explanation, Karen looked toward Noire and explained what was going on

"Karen, you need to go to Arcadian Central Hospital. That or any decent Planeptune hospital."

"No."

"But-"

"Noire, you weren't there when that lone Parthenian fought my allied force. If he were given the time, he would've killed us all. You may not know this since we're keeping it under wraps, but nearly everyone was badly wounded, more dead than I'd like to swallow, and even Filia was pretty badly hurt because of the battle and even forced out of battle despite putting up a valiant fight."

"Filia was taken out?! Aside from myself and the other CPUs, she was the strongest fighter in all known history! Thraaklon was stronger granted, but he preferred to stay out of the history books and travel incognito."

"Exactly. It is important that I get treatment yes, but not now. I have no idea how long it'll take and I cannot risk being indisposed while the threat of utter annihilation is at my Arcadia's door. I must ensure that this threat is dealt with before I give myself to the doctors. Besides, Caelus has kept me alive two years with no problems. Surely she can last long enough for me to negotiate an NAP at the very least."

"A NAP? I don't think I know that acronym."

"It stands for non-aggression pact. It essentially means that if I can get them to agree to it, neither Arcadia or Parthenia will engage in warfare against each other. The problem is that I actually have to find a way to get them to agree since the odds are slanted against me. Like I mentioned before, food transport would probably be the most ideal option considering how barren the land looks from out here. I can only imagine how bad it looks the further we go."

"Oh yeah. That's a bit of a foreign concept for us since we've largely been at peace between each other. We bicker granted, but all-out conflict has never been reached."

"Noted. Anyway uh" Karen nervously scratched her growing rosy cheek with her left hand as a particular memory forced its way back into her chain of thought "Was that...kiss necessary for the ritual?"

"Y-Yeah, it was. The ritual can only be done when the other is in a unconscious state and I used a spell to induce such a state on you though it was only possible through the course I used. It's unorthodox I admit, but it was the quickest option I had available."

"And was that deeper part necessary?" The rosy coloring in Karen's cheeks only grew when this question was asked.

"A-Admittedly no, but I kind of got caught in the act and acted subconsciously. I'm guessing you utterly despise me for that?"

"I wouldn't go that far...exactly. You just uh...made me potentially question my sexuality is all."

"I...see. A tiny part of me is relieved, but I understand why you would feel that way nonetheless."

A period of silence followed which felt like it lasted an eternity as Karen and Noire try to ponder just what to say before Noire worked up the will to speak.

"Anyway, we need to be a little serious here. Is our plan the same as before?"

"Indeed. We need to gather more information on this foreign land. Noire, would you mind staying here helping Tume here in this orphanage and talk with the villagers about this country's history, customs, and anything else possible. Try to bring up the knights in conversation when you can, but act with discretion and avoid the idea we know nothing even though we truly don't know anything. Besides, the kids genuinely seem to adore your presence here."

"Okay, but are you going to do?"

"Considering that we learned of the capital's direction during the conversation during dinner, I am going to continue with my mission and head over there. Unless the knights have some sort of hive mind magic, they shouldn't know of my existence so I should be able to move forward without the risk of getting drawn into battle against them. In fact, if I'm lucky, I might be able to encounter one of their outposts or a patrol group and request their protection and escort to the capital." Karen spoke rather fluently as she lifts the illusion on her robotic arm for a moment as she pressed one of the buttons embedded within as a panel opened, revealing a small earpiece as she lightly tosses it toward Noire "Keep that covered over your ear. Use this BLX-15 camouflage communicator to keep in contact with me and keep me informed on anything you believe is vital. It'll allow us to speak in a way similar to telepathy even from long distances. Feel free to gather anything you want but when it comes to contacting me, focus heavily on culture and history."

"Got it. I'll do what I can."

"Thanks. Anyway, it's time we try to rest for tomorrow. We're going to need it."

"Agreed."

The pair were brought out of their thoughts when they heard a knock against their door

"Who could be knocking at this time of night?"


Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia - Southeast Plains]

Ever since the morning rose, a single knight mage wearing white and gold colored plate armor similar to the enemy knight: Evart yet heavily slimmed down to allow for more precise mobility, and like Evart, the helmet on the individual's head hid everything underneath but was styled in a style resembling an anime mecha with an insectoid theme, had been watching the edge of the country's border from quite a far distance when two people were seen entering, flying through the air though the knight was mildly baffled when the pair touched down to the ground and began walking in the direction of Sharre Village

"How is that possible? How are they capable of flying without our dragons? Hold on. Where have I seen that symbol in their eyes?" A moment's pause followed this question when the knight happened to see the unique power symbols in Karen and Noire's eyes before coming to a realization "Console Patron Units. None of us have seen one, but they had a hand in cursing Grand Master Selles and murdered so many of our predecessors. Our history says they are extraordinarily fierce fighters. They could kill millions with little issue. And with two of them here...I need to warn the others." The knight slowly waved their right hand left to right over the helmet as it dissipated, revealing the individual being a young woman with long blonde hair kept in a tight braid and gold eyes, and with the helmet no longer in the way, the woman put her hand to her ear "Exarch Tirlin, you're not going to believe this sir, but I've just seen two Console Patron Units entering our territory."

"Console Patron Units? Oh blessed gods! Where are you Vizier Lisalon?"

"I'm at the edge of our territory, not far from Sharre Village."

"Lisalon, for your own good, maintain observation from afar. Do NOT engage without our vanguards. I will bring this piece of information to Grand Master Selles and have him deploy Obsidian squad and ten thousand knights as reinforcements. Remember that only Obsidian is capable of fighting off the might of Console Patron Units. Also remember our records, written by Grand Master Selles by the way, say that a single one of them slaughtered hundreds if not thousands of our predecessors."

"Yes sir." Despite her choice of words, Lisalon had a bubbling desire of meeting the pair straightforward and prove her own strength despite only being a Vizier and fresh out of training. Although she knows that it would be better to wait and gradually earn it, she has a strong desire to become a Strateon as quickly as she possibly could and against the orders of the Exarch she was assigned to, she set out to Sharre village since she wanted to find a way to draw the pair away so the villagers wouldn't be harmed in the battle.


After Lisalon arrived in Sharre near dusk, she immediately went to the village chief's house and inquired as to the location of the two newcomers who entered the village and easily learned they had taken up residence in the orphanage for the night because of how enamored the man was because she was a member of the Parthenian Knights

"Oh right. Anamari Orphanage. I had heard a bit about this from one of the Centuras in the capital during my training. The Anamaris had been running an apothecary for generations but the daughter: Tume has converted the place into a orphanage to tend to children from destitute households. Heart of a saint this one has. If those Console Patron Units dare lay a finger on any of those children and try to harm them, I don't care what my leader says, hell, what Grand Master Selles says. I will murder them both. Even if I find myself killed, I would drag myself up from the pits of Liariam time and time again to ensure they fall." Lisalon spoke to herself with feelings of calm serenity that quickly morphed into unbridled rage at the idea of the children being harmed by the pair that arrived in the village. Regardless, she knew she had to hold back until she learned the facts and importantly: pull the CPUs away from the orphanage.

When she arrived at the building's front door, she knocked against it with the back of her armored hand and waited ten minutes with no answer when one of the village's children gently tugged at her leg, making her turn around and look downward toward the child

"Miss Parthenian Knight, it's a bit of a common practice for us to just enter when we have business with Miss Anamari. She's rarely able to reach the front door."

"Isn't that incredibly rude? Barging in without giving a lady of all things ample notice?"

"It's custom here."

Lisalon sighed in disbelief at how much Tume seemingly cared little for privacy based on this new information and after prying the child off her leg, she opened the door to the building and looked around the interior and couldn't help but wonder which room the two CPUs were staying in and simply guessed as she knocked on the first door she noticed and was met with the sight of a girl with her black hair flowing out wearing rather simple lingerie revealing most of her figure. The sight of this made Lisalon truly glad that she is wearing her helmet since her cheeks are flaring a crimson red from embarrassment, best shown in her slow lumbering movements inside the room.

"Uh, any reason you're nearly naked miss?" Despite the helmet blocking all visible signs of her distress, her voice did well enough to reveal her emotions "This is a Console Patron Unit? A girl who eschews the concept of modest attire? Showing this much skin when one is not cleaning her body is disgraceful."

"This is what I wear when I sleep. Who are you anyway?"

"I am Vizier Lisalon of the Parthenian Knights. You will give me the respect my station deserves Console Patron Unit."


The revelation of the woman's connection to the Parthenian Knights made both Karen and Noire jump in shock as they faced the knight with a tranquil fury

"Now listen. If you want to fight us, we'll fight you. But not here and not now. We're exhausted from a long journey and looking after all the children here, and we refuse to endanger the lives of the people here. We can fight out in the fields away from town where no one else will be harmed by our attacks."

"You're surprisingly civil for a murderous goddess who killed many of our knights and the people we swore to protect way back then."

"Lisalon, the CPU of Tari existed in an era long before any of us. Black Heart here was born long after the fact and I'm not even native to this world, so neither of us could've been involved in the slaughter of both your fellow knights and the people you were dedicated to protect."

"How are you aware of Tari's existence? It was destroyed over thirty to fifty millennia ago."

"H-Huh? How is that possible? How was it that long ago? I thought Tari existed only a few millennia ago, not thirty to fifty! My main source of information said that Tari was destroyed two thousand years before her birth and I very much doubt she's that old. As to how I know of Tari, I got the information from the descendant of the scholar who gifted this continent to your order, who incidentally was an ally of Warlord Thraaklon." Karen had difficulty comprehending this piece of information. While she did know she didn't know just how much time passed between Caelus' fight against ASIC's deity in the past and the present, there was a two thousand time span she was aware of between the Caelus' birth and the fall of Tari, but considering that Caelus has said she was in a dying state and had reverted to a disc form to conserve energy, there's no way she could've survived up to forty eight millennia at the minimal. That also brings up the question of how old Thraaklon truly was and how long they had been living off this land before it began to decay. This was not making sense to her.

"Thraaklon?! You know Warlord Thraaklon? The man who helped secure our position as guardians during the era of Tari and our status here on Keisa? Where is the man? Grand Master Selles would be overjoyed to see him after so long."

"He lost his life a decade ago."

"Unfortunate. Regardless of whether you know him, you invaded our land CPUs and we will not allow you to attack our people."

"Talk about hypocrisy much. Your knights attacked my friend's nation and killed her people! For guardians of the innocent, you certainly have zero qualm killing those who didn't deserve it."

"What are you talking about? We Parthenian Knights would never kill the innocent!"

"Don't give me that crap. Evart infiltrated my country, allied himself with a gang of criminals, and committed crime throughout my capital. He fought with all intent to kill me and my people."

"Evart? Strateon Evart? Impossible. He wouldn't...he would. He always has been corrupt with power and driven to do anything to expand and maintain his station. Damn it Evart. Listen, the way things are, you're likely to die. I present an offer to you Console Patron Units that will allow you to live."

"Why the sudden change of heart Lisalon? Why would you suddenly want to help us when your organization showed hostility toward my nation?"

"Our empire exists because of Thraaklon's intervention and this is our fault to begin with. I'm a lowly Vizier but Grand Master Selles values every one of his knights so he will at least hear me out. Here's my plan of action. When morning breaks, allow me to place you under a sleep spell and I'll bring you to the capital to speak with Grand Master Selles. I caught a glimpse of how you look in your Console Patron Unit form and you are not the one who cursed our grand master so you should not be punished for the crimes of another."

"You buy this garbage Aqua Heart?"

"It is a little tough to swallow I won't lie Black Heart. I'm all for seeking friendships with foreign nations but when considering they killed a fair number of my people, I don't know if I should trust them."

"Now you're just trying to freaking spite me. I'm different from Evart. Realize that I want to achieve some cooperative symbiosis between us. If I were truly hostile, I would simply knock you both out and transport you to the capital for punishment. Instead, I am giving you the option of saving your life. I would not be negotiating like I am now."

"Allow me to ask you a question then Lisalon. Are you the only know who knows of our presence?" Recalling the deadly battle she fought against Evart prior, Karen had to ask this question she had on her mind.

"I have kept the information of your appearance to myself for now but I did inform my superiors of your presence, and they have responded by deploying our most elite knights and ten thousand more of varying skill as reinforcements. In our eyes, they are necessary for dealing with a Console Patron Unit."

"I see. Black Heart, I want you to stay here and help Tume here at this orphanage. Keep a low profile. In the morning, I'll go with Lisalon here. Our plan has always been reaching the capital and having a member of the Parthenian Knights escorting me will certainly be a nice plus."

"I don't like the idea of you being thrown to these Knights Aqua Heart. But I'm not in a position where I can stop you."

"Get some sleep. We'll leave tomorrow morning Console Patron Unit. I'll go to the village stables and request a horse and cart for then."


After seeing the knight walk out of their room, the pair quickly felt fatigue take over their bodies and let themselves fall into sleep to prepare for tomorrow's events; Noire's being her involvement in helping Tume in the orphanage and Karen's own plan to follow Lisalon to the Parthenian Knights' capital though both girls found it difficult to sleep once the knight returned since she remained in a single spot lumbering like a human statue watching them at all times though that quickly fades much like their own consciousness as sleep got the better of them.

When Karen awoke from her sleep from the sensation of bumps shaking her body, she found that she was in a covered cart being pulled by a large white horse with bright fiery red and gold colored fur on its head, tail, and feet, and when she looked down at herself, she found herself wearing a simple white dress and lying on piles of hay arranged to keep her comfortable despite the constant bumps. When she took a look at the outside, she found that the sun was rising as the landscapes were cloaked in a faint red and orange color and on the other side, Lisalon is seeing diligently leading this cart across the fields though she tilted her head to the side as she heard Karen's awakening

"Ugh, I would've liked a more peaceful awakening if the option existed. How long have we been on the road Lisalon?"

"You recovered from my magic remarkably fast Console Patron Unit. Remarkable. To answer your question, about an hour. I was able to request an Aqua Burmese horse which is one of the absolute fastest horses available to our people. They have near limitless stamina and they hardly need food or water because of how much magical alterations we've made to the species over time to make them more durable and capable of survival in less than ideal conditions. And to think they were just your average breed when we first encountered them here in this land. Based on how fast this one is going, we'll reach the capital in seven days."

"I see." Karen looked back toward the field and noticed very few green patches of nature mixed in with a large amount of brown dead grass "This is horrific. The further we seem to get, the less beauty I see in the fields around us."

"That's the world we Parthenians have been born into. Even this far out into our territory, nature is dying. Nothing we do has been able to restore it despite the frantic efforts of our magic users. Many Parthenians are becoming extremely pessimistic and are believing it is our ultimate fate to simply die out. Even the knights are succumbing to this and it is so very disheartening to see, seeing my proud comrades-in-arms letting themselves fall into this depression. We are allowing ourselves to fall into a self-destructive downward spiral and it needs to stop somehow. I want to become a Strateon to inspire people to keep searching for a way to break this cycle."

"Say, what you say if I wanted the same thing for your people? To save them from destruction and give your great combat capabilities a noble purpose."

"You think the Parthenian Knights would willingly swear themselves to a Console Patron Unit's rule when our last 'master' murdered nearly all of our protectees and many of our knights?"

"I'm not asking your order to swear themselves to obey me. I am not big on forcing unique cultures to dismantle themselves. One of my greatest prides in my country's existence is the blending of all the cultures we are acquiring. I ask you not to join as a vassal to my country. I ask you to become allies with me where we give and take assistance. I'll provide food, you provide soldiers when the need arises."

"And what situation would require use of an army Console Patron Unit? This world is peaceful."

"At present, yes, but soon. Very soon; this world is going to become one of death unless proper steps are taken. It will be a world where no one will be spared. Arcadia, Parthenia, Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee, Leanbox. Any other countries or settlements in the great ocean. They would all be destroyed given enough time no matter their resistance. My allies all say this will happen within ten years time and like hell I'd let it happen. I'll scratch your back by providing food to keep your people fed with our food plants."

"Let me guess. You'll do this in exchange for some of our troops to support your country. Seems like a reasonable trade in my honest opinion. A military deployment in exchange for food to feed our people. I'll need to bring this up when we speak with the Grand Mas-" Lisalon stopped as she quickly took off her helmet and tossed it backwards as she moved her free right hand to her ear.

"Vizier Lisalon, Obsidian and the support squads have reached Kulbate Village. What is your status?"

"Inquisitor Glerrok, you probably won't believe me, but I drove away one of the Console Patron Units and placed the other in a deep sleep with my magic. I'm bringing the prisoner to Selsmire." Lisalon was saying one thing and acting another as she give a small nod toward Karen regarding the status of the two CPUs since she is acting independently from the orders she was given.

"Y-You defeated the Console Patron Unit Vizier Lisalon? T-That's extraordinary! I'll bring the information to Grand Master Selles! If this is true, a promotion to Exarch or Inquisitor will not be unforeseeable. Regardless, we should remain on guard. I'll have the knights maintain a tight watch on our border in case the enemy returns with a larger force."

"Yes sir, I'm on route to Selsmire with an Aqua Burmese and are due to arrive within seven days. I don't plan on stopping at any of the other towns since I don't want to risk this Console Patron Unit awakening before I can reach our capital. I will make a few stops for food, but nothing else."

"Understandable. Be safe Vizier Lisalon."


Because of how Karen had been staring at the countryside while Lisalon was speaking with her superiors, she didn't notice Lisalon remove her helmet, quickly seeing that instead of what she presumed would be a regular human face based on the armor, Lisalon's looked almost similar to a giant beetle but with dark green and black reptilian scales

"WAH!" Saying that Karen was shocked by the appearance of the knight was an understatement, particularly when Lisalon turned around revealing her near dead looking black eyes shaded by the green scales on her head

"You must be shocked by my appearance Console Patron Unit. It is a side-effect of one of our experimental magicks that merged with our genetic magic network several generations ago. You see, every Parthenian Knight, aside from our grand master, is capable of magic to some extent and while our warriors are largely unaffected, those of us who are especially fluent in magic are prone to succumbing to a mutation that gives us these 'enhancements' because of that magic corrupting our hive mind magic network. We were able to contain the damage quickly but it's impossible to remove without consequence. Because of this, we tend to willingly trap ourselves in these armors since they are enchanted to allow us to fit the image of human beings. It's easy to disguise this insectoid appearance, but it's always temporary and a challenge to recast the spell, so we tend to prefer staying within our armor."

"Oh...I-I see. I'm sorry to hear that. Say, considering we're going to be on the road for a week, particularly since you're not going to be stopping at any major towns during that time, you mind if I pass the time with a few games?" Karen tested this theory of her by seeing if she could still access her nation's networks within this barrier, and found that she could, but just barely.

"Are you seriously expecting me to waste time playing games with you?"

"Oh no, I wouldn't demand that of you considering you're the driver here. I just want to connect to my nation's network and play some of our games."

"And how do I know you won't call for help?"

"Cause I'm not stupid. Evart could've easily wiped my entire group out if he were given the chance and that was a single fighter. I'm not endangering my friends and people in a futile effort to fight your order. Besides, I was using a sword that was enchanted to be unbreakable under any circumstance but the man was able to do just that."

"Very well. As long as it'll keep your attention off me. Say, will you need food or anything similar during the trip Console Patron Unit?"

"Thanks for the concern, but even in human form now, I have no need for food, water, or sleep. They feel good since I wasn't always a CPU but it's not necessary."

"Got it. Enjoy your gaming I guess."


With this, Karen reconnected her gauntlet's network with Arcadia's own but the fact her connection is so frail means that her access is very limited so she wouldn't be able to do much, and with this in mind, she opened a telepathic line with Miyo since she was the one who created nearly all of her technology

"Miyo, could I ask you for a-" Not long after Karen started her telepathic connection with her chief engineer even though she knew the likelihood of her being awake at this hour was slightly remote, but then again her sleeping and work schedules were always on the erratic side, best shown by how she was actually awake, she was met with a mild shout from the engineer.

"K-Karen, this is not a good time okay!" Karen felt a degree of confusion since Miyo's voice was stifled as if she's wearing some sort of mask.

"What's wrong Miyo? I've rarely heard you this flustered."

"I'm working on a new project that desperately needs my foresight in all stages of the development. What do you need?"

"I need a signal booster for my gauntlet's computer systems. I'm being escorted to the capital of these Parthenian Knights but it's going to take a week and I want to acquire some means of passing the time with things my country has to offer."

"Fine." Karen noticed that Miyo's voice was one completely full of irritation and contained rage toward her at the time but Karen accepted the belief that she is interrupting Miyo's project and that would cause Miyo to harbor some momentary anger toward her, especially with how seriously she takes her science and noticed her gauntlet's systems receive a brand new upgrade "There. I included the same kind of signal booster Tenn uses along with all of the upgrades I wanted to add. Now leave me alone for now." Just to show how annoyed she was, the moment she finished speaking, Miyo shut down the line between them and even shut down her communication systems so she can't be contacted again until she turns it back on.

But with her needs now fulfilled, Karen decided to open a line to the Basilicom to see how Kei is arranging interviews and applications since they came to an agreement to let Kei handle hiring the regular staff like custodians, greeters, security, and the like without Karen's seal of approval, but when it came to the positions of ministers for energy, foreign relations, military in both defense and offensive affairs, education, and other such fields, Kei would be allowed to let her interview anyone she believes to be qualified for such positions, they both know the subject of military would be difficult to achieve since Gamindustri at large has been a pacifistic world for a long time but came to the agreement that if no one they both support is found for the role, they would appoint Garrus for the position, but Karen and Kei would have to come to an agreement regarding their skills and background.

"Good morning my Oracle. How is the search for our ministers and staff?"

"Good morning as well Lady Aqua Heart. In the last two days, I have employed five hundred new staff members to handle maintaining this Basilicom and I have compiled resumes from twenty candidates for each minister position save military affairs. Like we feared my lady, none of our applicants are qualified to act as a general of your future armies so we will have to ask Garrus to consider taking up the position. Those that applied are skilled fighters yes, but leading the military is out of the question. That or possibly consider Mamoru Nakasone. Despite his young age, I've been told he was the one who led the charge against CFW Judge in the Junk Box dungeon even though Neptune was the team leader in addition to what I've heard of your campaigns against the gangs."

"Let's cross that bridge when we reach it Kei. I'll look over the applicants today and we can arrange follow-up interviews in due time. I have a lot of free time since I have nothing much to do for a week. Let us not forget we might get lucky and have a military leader appear through the gate."


Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:00] May 7th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia - Selsmire]

After this exchange between CPU and Oracle, Karen spent the week in her travels with Lisalon either playing a number of games or working on political affairs though she was cut off guard by how, shortly after her first communication with Kei, Celina contacted her and told her she managed to bypass security without them even knowing three times now and escaped the Arcadian Panopticon outside her designated shore leave times to work at Celestia through means she refused to reveal, even though was it designed to be impossible though she teased that she was an expert thief and even reminded her that no one could keep her imprisoned longer than she wished but to a mixture of relief and weird unease, Celina has said she's keeping her promise to live out her sentence since she does eventually want the freedom to walk through the city without having to disguise herself. After Karen ended this communication with Celina, she secretly asked Rose to inspect the Panopticon herself but was frustrated with the report that she couldn't find out just how anyone was able to escape, though Rose returned some irritation in turn since she was already spread thin by maintaining her business, watching over the underground in case more gangs pop up, and having sent nearly half her team to investigate the black markets in Lastation and Arcadia.

During the journey, Noire gave Karen a plethora of information regarding the country of Parthenia which was primarily cultural in nature though she was unable to learn anything about the Knights directly since she was met with the expectation that she should know about anything she asked and had no means of working around it so both are in the dark in this regard, but she did learn from Tume that the children themselves were all orphaned in some way or another so the group were raised as a rather mix-mash rambunctious family, none not even having memory of any family outside their 'siblings' and their parent in Tume, learning that what the village chief had said to them was a lie, but learned it was a white lie of convenience since they prefer the children not knowing this.

When the week ended and Karen and Lisalon found themselves outside Selsmire's dusk black tinted stone walls, the former seeing that what passes as nature in the region was colored which seems like frail dust posing as soil showing that whatever the Parthenians have been doing has been destroying their land though when she considers they've apparently been living on this land longer than human civilization in her world even existed since human civilization on Earth only began forming roughly six thousand years prior while Lisalon has said they've been here anywhere between thirty to fifty thousand years. She wonders if this was inevitable but she feels surprised they lasted this long since Lisalon mentioned that they are a warrior culture and they only had support staff like blacksmiths and the like when they first arrived in Gamindustri, but after the uprising in Tari's era, they had the few native survivors of the nation as ancillaries teach them about food preparation before sending them off to other settlements in the world, since, according to what little history of their old world has survived to this day, they were simply an order of knights meant to protect those under their charge and fight off invaders with steel swords, bow and arrows, and what little they had in the way of magic and were protected by nothing more than flimsy robes and minimal armor.

That description of what the Parthenian Knights paled in comparison to what they are now: An extremely well trained order of fighters with powerful magic under their command but it unfortunately seems that because they don't have the means to perform science, they never had the means to advance their society and prevent problems like this from happening. Karen silently muses that there's probably no way such a deeply ingrained warrior culture can handle something like this so it would be preferable to seek out an outside party and have them create technology for you. This is something Karen feels she should bring up with this Grand Master of theirs and attempt to negotiate with. She feels like that if she applies some reverse psychology, she might be able to secure the NAP she desires but that depends heavily on how well she can work around the Grand Master since he has been alive for thousands of years.

Moments later, Lisalon beckons Karen to exit the cart and almost immediately after, the horse began to run back in the direction they came from

"That's one of the best things about the Aqua Burmese. Their sense of direction and memory are the best. She's on her way back to Sharre Village now. But it's time to enter the city. Let's go C-Karen." Lisalon felt awkward for the first time in a while since she has to avoid calling Karen by the title of CPU while in Selsmire since this is the main stomping grounds for the Knights and letting it slip only once would most likely cause both of them to be detained, likely indefinitely.


After Lisalon signaled to have the gate opened, the pair entered the city to see the main road filled with merchant tents and people browsing their wares though they cowered in mild terror as Lisalon walks with Karen in tow though many remarks of awe came from the people despite the fear in their expressions and postures but not long after the pair entered the main square as a young girl with sky blue hair and glazed eyes wearing what could only be called rags barely covering her chest and lower torso, but little else, walking around but moments after her presence was made clear, a man with white hair and black eyes wearing a black robe stomped forward with an angry glare toward the girl

"You worthless slave! I have told you repeatedly you are not to leave my sight or else you will be punished." The man quickly proceeded to slap the girl because of her 'disobedience' but he was mildly surprised that instead of the girl he intended, he was met with the sight of Karen taking the brunt of it and being forced to her back since there was a lot of force behind his hit and it left a deep red mark on her cheek.

"You dare interfere in my-!" Whatever the man was going to say, he was stopped in his tracks as Lisalon drove her fist into the man's stomach, making him crash to the ground.

"Valco, you have been warned about your hostility! If you remember, your violent attitude toward your slaves violates our laws on how you can treat them and you just burned your last chance." Lisalon was clearly ticked off based on her death glare voice as she propped the unconscious man onto her shoulder and crouched downward toward Karen "You okay?" Despite her asking this, Lisalon quickly moved her free hand as it began to glow silver and hovered it over her cheek as it began healing the injury.

"I'm okay...I've had worse. I've been in three situations where I've nearly died. A single slap is nothing." Karen genuinely felt conflicted on whether she would call this injury better or worse since it's not life-threatening but it feels like the time she got attacked by the Guardragon so strongly she got sent flying even with her armor on, but she looked toward the girl she saved from this situation "Are you okay?"

"Why did you protect this lowly slave? I'm unworthy of such protection."

"Don't speak down on yourself like this okay? There is not a single person in the world unworthy of being protected. Do you have a name?"

"A name?" The question had her look downward for a moment and shook her head, showing that she doesn't seem to possess one "I have always simply been called slave."

"Erg, Caelus, are you awake?" After hearing that the girl looking at her is lacking a name, her record of horrible people names is coming back to her and she does not want to give this girl a bad name.

"Are you certain you want me to come up with a name? She's looking to you for this." Caelus certainly had no hesitation as Karen could hear her silently laughing at her predicament.

"Okay. Fine. Witch." Karen scowled inaudibly as she racked her brain desperately trying to break her bad streak of names in the past "Okay, based on the names I've heard, these Knights seem to have similarities to our old Arthurian legends, so go with that theme Karen." Karen really took her time trying to come up with a good name based off Arthurian themes "Say, would the name...Elizalla Clarad work with you since you said you don't have a name?"

"Elizalla Clarad." The girl took a moment to think over the name and weakly nodded in acknowledgement "So this is to be my new name Master?"

"About that-" Karen was about to speak against the matter but was stopped by Lisalon as she walked forward and began to whisper in her ear

"Just play along Karen. The girl has no idea how to live not being a slave. She was born a slave and has zero knowledge on the subject of free will. Honestly, considering that Valco is to be executed, his slaves are going to be either freed or moved to a more appropriate household, depending on their ages. He was so violent we Knights were forced to intervene in this matter a few weeks ago. But of course, as the injured party, you have first right to his slaves. If you play your cards right, you may be able to claim them all and bring them to your country where they can live as free men and women. Trust me when I say I utterly abhor the idea of slavery."

"But I don't-"

"Just play along alright?"


With a hidden groan from Karen, mostly from how she detests the idea of owning a slave but forces herself to accept it as cultural tolerance, at the planned action from Lisalon, the knight rose her arm to calm the panicked crowd, though the arrival of a couple dozen more knights from every direction only served to rattle the crowd even further

"I-Inquisitor Glerrok sir!" Lisalon quickly made a salute with her free arm as a knight with massive ivory black and silver armor similar to Evart's approached them though Karen felt a hint of confusion as to how Lisalon was able to distinguish anyone from the other since they always seem to be wearing their armor.

"What is the meaning of- Is that person over your shoulder that filthy bastard Valco?"

"I'm afraid so Inquisitor. He was about to beat this girl here to a pulp again but my companion here protected her at the cost of slight injury."

"Damn him. He's been warned." Glerrok simply groaned and sighed as he grabbed the unconscious Valco from Lisalon's arm and moves him to his own as he looks toward Karen "Young lass, as the injured party because of Valco's actions, his fate is in your hands. Do you wish to be his executioner?"

"I...I er. I really don't want to soak my hands with blood. Even if he does deserve it."

"Very well. Lisalon, this responsibility falls to you as her honor guard."

"I'm honored Inquisitor. I would never dream of giving commands to my superiors when I do not possess the rank, but in this situation, punishing this man requires superseding our chain of command because of his repeated violation of our laws. Bring this man to the holding chambers in the citadel."


After giving this request to the nearby knights, Lisalon urged Karen to follow her to the stone castle towering over the entire city in the direction of the mountainside, Elizalla following and pass through the exterior gates as they enter the main complex, wandering through the hallways as the sight of hundreds, heck possibly even thousands, of sets of armors are displayed though Karen was amazed at how not a single one of them had any noticeable similarities aside from height as the colors and design each differed from the last

"All of these armors were worn by knights from generations past. In our lives, we undergo degrees of competition amongst each other for the right to have our armor stored in Grand Master Selles' personal armory where he places the armor of Knights he truly honors when they die."

"That sounds similar to what one of my fellow CPUs does in her Basilicom. She keeps people she and her Oracle were very close to buried in a special mausoleum within the building, and Warlord Thraaklon was the last person, to my knowledge, to be buried there when he died. I never truly met the man, but I heard he carried a large amount of history and experiences."

"Aside from Grand Master Selles, none of our Knights have met him either. What little most of us have knowledge of is that, like I've said before, he's a major reason we still live to this day."

Lisalon continued to speak as she escorted her companions through the halls, passing by one of their training rooms, finding it utterly massive in its interior and housing nearly a thousand armored knights training amongst each other, but one single individual stands out like a sore thumb as he is the lone figure not suited in the armor commonplace among the Knights, sporting black hair going down to his ears but to her surprise, the lone individual appears to be about as old as the children back among the orphanage and in lieu of the armor, he is wearing a simple red shirt with white lines along the collar, top center, and the hem fighting a wooden dummy with a katana of the same material by himself

"Say, why is this that one boy training by himself?" Karen would've also asked why he is training at such a young age too but she knows that warrior cultures from her world like say Sparta would train their young from the age of seven and decided to keep silent about this factor.

"That is Medoc Shirahata. It's something of a shame that he's forbidden from receiving the Parthenian armor and the rights bestowed upon us Knights because of his 'tainted' bloodline since he's as dedicated as any of us even though he lacks our powers. Hell, he's forbidden from even marrying any of his fellow Knights since he's a 'halfbreed', being the son of a knight and a courtesan. They don't want that 'taint' infecting the rest of us."

"That's horrible. Such a dedicated fighter, even if he's this young, should be treated with some level of respect. Especially when he's pushing himself this much to be as strong as he can even though he is incapable of reaching the level of strength of his colleagues. I'm guessing that rank of Medoc is bad?"

"Bad is putting it mildly. The rank of Medoc is the worst punishment we can receive among us Parthenian Knights and it is all but irreversible. It's reserved for those who have dishonored the proud name of our order and they usually are treated as criminals. Normally they'd be exiled outright and banished from our lands, never to return, but there are some exceptions. Charis' there is among them since his father is a Strateon. It's allowed Charis to still serve but even rising to the rank of Herald is impossible for him. And that's the rank all knight trainees start at."

"I see." Karen morosely responded as she continued to bare witness to Charis' solo training but notices four individuals, three girls and a boy, approaching her from the hallway out of the corner of her eye, one having bright crimson hair going down to her shoulders and bright green eyes wearing a full uniform colored black and gold with a very elegant twin blade sword on her back, a girl with blonde twin tails going past her waist wearing a similar uniform colored yellow and black that shows a good amount of her midriff, but Karen was caught off-guard by the laughably large battleaxe, the axe itself being larger than her head and torso combined, the sole male in the group having dark blue hair and cyan eyes, sporting a gray and white colored bracer and gauntlet on his right side, matching his white and dark blue uniform, and is using a large bow as his weapon of choice, and the last among them is wearing an outfit similar to one worn by mikos with a navy blue and white color scheme and a V shaped pendant on her forehead wielding a naginata as her weapon of choice with the same colored hair as the male next to her.* However, the lack of the signature armors of the knights caught her a little off-guard, though she mused that perhaps their young age prevented them from achieving them at this time.

"Lisalon!" Although it was the girl with red hair who let this ecstatic shrill escape her, all four dashed toward her and locked her in a bear hug.

"Good to see you guys; especially you Lilica." Although Lisalon spoke fondly toward all four of the children, she ruffled the hair of the redhead who spoke next.

"Who's this person next to you Miss Lisalon? I don't recognize her."


After taking a single moment to inspect the surroundings to make sure no one is overhearing their conversation, Lisalon quickly spoke back up "If you've been keeping up with your studies, then you'll know the capabilities of Console Patron Units, whom this woman is. Karen, meet my prodigies: Lilica Teken, Lilon and Ginham Teivale and Astona Lalat." Lisalon gestured toward the girl with red hair first, the miko second, the archer third, and the blonde last.

Karen was rather absorbed into the friendly atmosphere the sextet had created and didn't pick up what Lisalon stated until her mind processed this turn of events and quickly went wide-eyed since Lisalon just casually revealed her status as a CPU to a number of Parthenian Knights.

"W-WHAT?! Lisalon, I thought you said we had to keep that secret!"

"Oh relax. These four have a different stance regarding the Console Patron Units. Most of us Parthenian Knights have some amount of fear toward people like you but there are some of us who genuinely rever your power. It's barbaric certainly, but the goddess of Tari was able to eradicate a country's near entire population and many of our ancestor knights with little effort. By itself, that kind of power is something to be admired. These four are rather fervent toward the legends."

Befitting the response given by Lisalon, the quartet indeed began to swarm her, asking her questions in a hushed tone to avoid anyone overhearing the subject but questions quickly shifted toward Elizalla since they all seemed to know her or at least her experiences with Valco since that man seemed to be an utter arch-enemy of the Knights based on the actions he took particularly when they all seemed glad that she has a new 'Master' even though they knew nothing about Karen period, aside from how she is a CPU, and it showed that Valco truly must have been a cruel man to the point where they'd trust an absolute stranger and a foreigner to be a slave owner.

After they managed to dismiss the quartet, Karen promising that she would answer their questions in a more private setting, away from the ever-present presence of the Knights, the trio quickly reached a large ornate door made of a metal resembling steel based on the color but embedded with gold and bronze red trims "We've arrived. For your own good, remain silent unless the Grand Master speaks to you in person and go along with what I say, okay?"


Karen simply nodded as Lisalon moved forward as she pushed it open, requiring all of her might because of the massive size of the doors and is met with the sight of a wide open meeting chamber, on the far side being a dark violet tinted cloth screen hung on the entire side, though the silhouette of a truly massive individual, likely three or even four times the size of Gaptahl is seen sitting in seiza style. When the trio get within five feet of the screen, Lisalon crouches down on one knee, her right arm on her legs as she bows, beckoning Karen and Elizalla to do the same

"Grand Master Selles, I am eternally honored to be in your presence."

An awkward silence came forth from the greeting Lisalon gave him but what broke the silence was the deep baritone voice the man possessed

"You have quite some guts showing your presence in front of me Medoc Lisalon."

"M-M...Medoc…?" Although Lisalon had her helmet covering her face, the fact she immediately stiffened herself at the mention of the word, alongside what Karen had been told of it, she knew that Selles was ticked about whatever Lisalon just did "W-What have I done to be disgraced to this extent Grand Master?!"

"Do you even have to ask Lisalon? You brought a Console Patron Unit of all things to my inner sanctum! Remember that they were the ones who cursed me and slaughtered so many of our fellow knights! CPU, I will not tolerate this course of action." After this fierce growl, Selles pushed aside the curtain, revealing his own unique armor being primarily layered, colored black as shadows and having patterns making Karen think of the mythological Oni alongside a massive brown cape at the back and at his side, an equally massive battleaxe is seen in a single hand and a heater shield in the other "Draw your weapon CPU and I'll see that your death is swift."

"But Grand Master! She's not-!" Although she was genuinely surprised at this development, Lisalon drew her staff since she can tell that Karen was genuine when it came to wanting to help Parthenia and she wasn't going to let that chance escape her grasp, even if it meant fighting her Grand Master.

"Silence!" In response to Lisalon's remark, he swiftly struck her with his shield, sending her flying against the wall, leaving Karen on her own as Elizalla quickly fled to a far corner to get away from the fighting, and although she's genuinely shivering in fear, she's refusing to summon her new weapon in face of Selles' hostility, particularly when it is inches away from her face "Why are you not bringing your weapon into battle?"

"I'm not stupid Selles. The very second I draw my weapon, I'd get myself killed, and if you're as chivalrous as Evart was, you wouldn't attack someone who is unarmed unless he or she provokes you. So I'm going to sit here thank you very much. Sometimes it is better to fold your cards when you know you're outmatched."

"You're choosing to remain unarmed in a den of thieves that would kill to have the opportunity to end your life? Either you are brave or incredibly stupid. Tell me. Fifty years ago, a mysterious armored seer told me that a CPU would be the key to saving us from an unknown catastrophe. Are you this CPU?"

"I wouldn't know. There are many catastrophes happening in this world of Gamindustri, present and future. But know this. I am not going to hold your people's hands and bail you out of these troubles. You will have to meet me halfway. I'll provide whatever assistance I can, but you must offer something in turn. Helping individuals is one thing, but providing care for an entire country is on a whole other level."

"Hmm. Let me make a counteroffer CPU."

"A counteroffer? Let's hear it."

"I refuse to enter into an alliance with CPUs until I can ascertain your motives and personality but I will entertain a limited pact of assistance between us. However, if you want to jump start an alliance between your nation and my country of Parthenia, you will want to find the CPU who cursed me with immortality and bring her to me. I can sense she has escaped from the pocket dimension our ancient mages created but I cannot tell where she is."

Karen felt her eyebrow rise up at this piece of news and let it sink in "You're awfully quick to pledge the idea of forming an alliance with a CPU Grand Master. I know the goddess of Tari was quick to turn on your knights when she killed her people. I don't want a clash of ideals forcing us into a status of master and vassal. I do want your people to help us in future trials, but I have no desire to have you surrender your sovereignty. I want to-"

Karen was forced to stop in her tracks as she witnessed a large number of bubbles condensing in the corner of her eye and from it, a surge of water magic burst forward, striking against Selles' shield making him flinch in shock and Karen in turn double took in surprise as the bubbles began to manifest into a young girl with gold hair going down to her neck, tanned ribbons neatly tied onto two of the thicker strands on her sides, forming three patterns of Xs but what caught her attention the most was the blue and gold bodysuit on her person which has a design very similar to the ones used by Rom and Ram, the wings on her back side resembling her own in HDD, overall she largely resembled Aqua Heart although she lacks the hagoromo and the wings being a smaller size compared to Karen's, and the special power symbol in her eyes which was a clear-cut sign that she was a CPU like her, Noire, and the others wielding a shiny silver and gold staff with three tiny crystal balls, one at the bottom and two at the top, and a large one above the two and a curved spike pattern, though the sight of the girl caused Selles to glare at Karen, who was feeling a death glare aimed toward her

"Is this your idea of a trap CPU?"

"N-No! I seriously don't know who this is!" To prevent a battle, Karen dashed toward the mysterious girl, urging Selles to stand down for the time being until she can sort things out, and gently gripped the mysterious girl's shoulders "I'm trying to handle a diplomatic meeting and you attack my client...who in the world are you anyway?!"

"I'm your little sister onee-sama: Aqua Sister."

Karen could only repeatedly blink as she struggled to comprehend what she is hearing from the girl even though she was able to quickly figure out that this girl was a CPU like she is based on her appearance "Little sister? Aqua Sister?" Karen had to push this out of her person as she quickly began to consult her 'spiritual advisor' for answers

"Caelus, what is this?"

"You are asking the wrong person here Karen. Remember that I know nothing of CPU Candidates. You're better off asking Kei."

"Good idea." Karen lifted her arms from the girl's shoulders and moved one toward her ear to contact Kei "Kei, I need to ask you something important. Are you busy right now?"

"I'm just doing some paperwork to finalize the necessary funding for the Arcadian police force. Sango and Ryuka are being particularly generous to fund our forces and are even planning to provide a part of their own internal company security teams with help from Chian providing their arms and armor. Is there something amiss?"

"Can you inspect my Sharicite and see if there's a secondary drawer of Share energy from it?"

"A secondary drawer? I'm not following."

"I'm talking about a CPU Candidate Kei. Does Arcadia have one?"

"A CPU Candidate already? In a nation only two years old? Let me check." A few moments of silence passed, the girl blinking with a friendly smile, and is met with a response from Kei "I have no idea how Arcadia achieved it, but there is indeed a CPU Candidate who was just born. Is she with you?"

"I can only presume so. This CPU in front of me resembles me when I use my HDD a little. In addition to how she called herself Aqua Sister and called me onee-sama, a rather formal title for sister back among my people. Actually, now that I think about it Kei, I might have an idea on why she was born."

"Would you mind disclosing this theory of yours?"

"Considering that I'm in the land of the Parthenian Knights and how they somehow have the ability to negate our divine protection which prevents most people from harming us, perhaps the Sharicite sensed that I was about to be attacked by their Grand Master and created her as a means of protecting me?"

"That is possible, anyway, I'd say protecting you is worthy of having a name bestowed upon her human form Lady Aqua Heart. If I may offer my own opinion, I would recommend the name: Yukihana. In an ancient language after the first sealing of ASIC's Deity of Sin, the characters for Karen and Aqua are interpreted as Yuki and Hana. Combine that for Yukihana."

"That's a good name, I like it. Thanks for the help Kei; I'll let you get back to your work." Karen ended the call with Kei and returned her attention toward the newfound CPU Candidate in front of her "Listen Yukihana, I get you were trying to help me, but this is a bit much. You put me in more danger than you did trying to prevent it from happening."

"I-I'm sorry onee-sama. I was just trying to save you from danger." Yukihana truly felt sorrowful regarding the situation based on how tears began to wellow from her eyes.

"I know okay. Don't cry. Please, just keep quiet and let me work through this negotiation." Karen cooed as she gently wiped the tears rolling down from her eyes, silently urging Yukihana to sit next to her, before shifting her gaze back toward Selles "This is just a misunderstanding Selles, let's return to the negotiations."

"Who is that girl CPU?"

"She is my country's brand new CPU Candidate. She was created through my country's Sharicite at the response of when you threatened me with your weapon. I can only presume it could bypass the natural protections we CPUs have since I've been in situations like this a few times now and this is the first time I've had a CPU Candidate show up."

"Interesting. Anyway, your remark about the CPU of Tari is slightly incorrect. While she did indeed kill many of my ancient Knights and many people we Parthenians swore to defend, it was not random or out of spite, not entirely anyway."

"I-I don't understand. The records I read said she went ballistic when your Knights were being praised more than her." The more Karen learned about these Parthenians, the more confused she was becoming since she is missing vital context in history between this faction and Tari. The only things she knows about this is that there was a two thousand year gap between Caelus' birth and Tari's fall and little else.

"That might have been a factor in her mind young goddess, but it is ultimately wrong nonetheless. I know this one truth since I was one of Parthenia's twelve elite knights at the time, but it was a truth we erased, at the time both to preserve both our honor and our lady's own in addition to her history. We wished to prevent this sort of incident from repeating itself by writing her as a heartless tyrant, when she was far from it since she was such a kind hearted woman, even if she was weak-willed, when she was tragically corrupted by dark energy by our own hands. It is a memory that was so horrific it has been permanently engraved in my mind. The CPU of Tari felt useless since she was unable to defend her lands without our might so she wanted us to find a source of power for her so she could rise and fight alongside us. We twelve knights were asked by her to seek a power source and return it to her. Had we exercised proper caution and studied the artifact we found in one of the dungeons more thoroughly, we might have been able to prevent the tragedy of mass genocide. We should've began to suspect something was wrong when four of our members suddenly went mad to the point where we had to kill them but we simply ignored it and brought it to the CPU. We simply thought of them as greedy. Moments later, we fell from eight to two because of her sudden malicious power taking control of her as they forced us to run while they tried to stall her for us to contact the rest of the knights, though she was able to maintain control for a brief moment with this warning 'RUN! This power is overwhelming me! It's filling me with the desire to destroy everything. I can only hold myself back for a short time.' What followed was a four month conflict which led to the death of millions. Horrible."

"Wait, something still doesn't make sense. If you're actually civil toward CPUs like this, why did you knock Lisalon unconscious like that? Particularly when she's trying to encourage an alliance between our two factions."

"To save face. My knights largely think of the Console Patron Units as evil, as we desired. Both our ancient history in this world of Gamindustri and the natural history of this world has been altered through the shaman's machinations and it's not a truth I want them knowing since it goes against everything we stand for. We're a militant force dedicated on defending the helpless from the corrupted leaders who abuse their station to torture those under their heel. So that is the true story of Tari. It was not destroyed through the malice of her CPU, well not entirely anyway, no, it was destroyed because of the carelessness of her own knights and the very land itself lies abandoned far beyond Nightmare Valley behind this temple which acts as a barrier from this land and Tari."

"And an immortal leader lording over the personal cadre of knights he warped as a dictator is incapable of said corruption? That's rather high and mighty of you."

This response quickly had Selles confront Karen, his presence only inches away from her face and a truly vicious aura emanating from his stance, though to Karen's surprise she didn't even blink a single eyelash at this display of violence from the massive knight towering over her, though the fact she feels utterly detached in term of emotion can only suggest that her previous forays with near death has crippled her fight or flight defensive mechanism.

"You dare insult me in this manner?"

"It's only insulting when it's true Selles."

"I don't know whether to call you brave or stupid. Intentionally provoking an individual who is massive, heavily armed, and having the power to kill you with minimal effort."

"I'm leaning toward stupid believe it or not. I've been at death's door four times now and I feel like that has damaged my sense of logic so I'm making stupid decisions." Despite this choice of words, Karen carried both a smug grin and tone of voice as she spoke to Selles.

"I'd say your sense of humor is what's damaged CPU. Heh. I find myself wanting to ally with you to prevent another genocide of a goddess' country. Send a small honor guard to monitor your activity to prevent a massacre from breaking out. Hell, even prevent you from gaining any sort of dark power that corrupts you to the core or find a way to change your sense of what is funny to something more fitting." Showing how his venom in his aura has faded, Selles stepped back a few feet and sat himself back in seiza style in front of the pair.

"If you think that's necessary to guide this broken goddess Grand Master Selles, I will abide by your decision." Karen simply laughed as she made her voice clear.

"I worry for the sake of your people CPU. Perhaps it is for the best that we come out of hiding, let the world know the might of the Parthenian Knights once again. Normally I would send out Obsidian squad for this mission, but I have half of them sent to patrol the border, three of them are leading another scouting mission beyond Nightmare Valley, and the other three are scattered throughout this country. So I leave the choice of who to send in this special mission to you."

"I must give you my thanks Grand Master Selles. Getting the honor of getting to choose my honor guard among a foreign country's warriors is one must take seriously, but I have a few candidates already."

"Name them."

"I'd like to vouch for Lisalon, Lilica Teken, Lilon Teivale, Ginham Teivale, Astona Lalat, Charis Shirahata, and while they're not Knights per say, I'd like to bring a number of others with me back to my country."

"While I can understand you wanting to recruit Lilica, Lilon, Ginham, and Astona since they are fine knights-in-training, but why would you want to recruit two lowly Medocs? And who else is it that you want to bring with you?"

"When I look at people, I do not judge them by their ranks. I judge their skills and character. Where you see Lisalon and Charis as criminals or rejects, I see them as warriors who are so loyal to their country that they are even willing to stand against their leader to protect it and fighters having the drive to push them to the utmost to prove himself even though he lacks both the powers and the rights of his comrades. That kind of resolve is extremely admirable. As to the others I want to bring with me, it's the children from Anamari Orphanage. They're living a pretty bad life out there and I want to change that."

"Ah, that family. Descendents of Medoc Wulfric Anamari, indirectly or not. If you want to take them, go ahead. I had already banished them."

"You have no qualms in me taking your own citizens Selles?"

"They're descended and related to a Medoc. By our laws, they are far from citizens and with the condition of our lands, they are a waste of our ever limited resources. Take them as good-will gifts from Parthenia."

"That's...I accept your generous offer. I'll contact one of my allies and have her speak with you to formally arrange all of the terms in our trade agreement. I may be Arcadia's ruler, but I'm far from skilled in trade deals."

"I expect this person promptly CPU. I understand travel across this vast continent is difficult so I'll allow a month's delay."

"Thank you Grand Master Selles. I'll begin work on getting this set up straightaway and have my associate meet you as soon as possible, and as I requested, I'll go find the people I asked for and have them come with me back to Arcadia." To start things off, Karen pulled herself up and walked toward the still unconscious Lisalon, noticing that she is beginning to reawaken from the injury she was dealt "You okay Lisalon?"


Hearing Karen speak had Lisalon give a weak groan in response as she pushed herself up, supporting herself with her staff

"Ugh, kinda. You try getting smacked in the face with a massive shield, getting sent flying into a wall in the process, and try to shrug it off."

"Trust me Lisalon, I know that experience. Only about a week and a half ago, I got hit by a HAMMER that size which sent me crashing against several trees. Come on, Grand Master Selles has given you the mission of coming to my country to monitor my activities."

"Indeed Medoc Lisalon. Because of this mission, I revoke that drop of rank and grant you the rank of Quisar. Go find Medoc Shirahata and get him out of this place. In addition to Herald Teken, Teivale, and Lalat."

"Y-Yes Grand Master." Lisalon weakly mumbled as she limped out of the room, Karen, Yukihana, and Elizalla following, the latter following after Karen beckoned her to come to her side.

Moments after the quartet left the room, leaving Selles to ponder his thoughts when a newcomer suddenly materializes, wearing a stone gray set of armor, the same kind worn by Uzume during the Arcadia gang war.

"Long time no see Selles. I trust your meeting with CPU Aqua Heart went through well?"

"You dare show yourself before me witch?!" If Selles had any serenity, it vanished since, while he genuinely wished to display pure unbridled rage, it was far too intermixed with a level of fear since the woman terrified him when she first met him.

"How rude Selles. I am not a witch in any way." Whether Uzume felt insulted or not, she hid it behind a rather cold manipulative tone. While she usually preferred keeping this secret side of hers hidden, she has little qualm letting it freed when her usual diplomatic capabilities fail.

"What the hell do you want now? I'm working with the CPU like you wanted, so leave my people alone. Trust me, I'm not stupid enough to believe the poison in our lands was natural. I know you had a hand in it all."

"Glad to know you're not completely stupid and helpless Selles. If your knights are as competent as you are, Arcadia and the rest of Gamindustri will be able to see the light of day. Of course, the fact that Strateon Evart defied your orders and attempted to kill CPU Aqua Heart and her royal guard worries me."

"Evart defied us? How dare he! Bring him to me and I will see that he is punished for his actions."

"Evart is already dead Selles. Dead by Aqua Heart's hand. Of course, I'm generous enough to return his body here regardless." Uzume snapped her fingers as the fully armored figure lands in front of them both. With a moment's pause as Selles inspected the body, Uzume continued to speak "Now that I've given my peace offering, it's time for the negotiations to begin. I'm going to be thorough in ensuring Arcadia benefits heavily while also ensuring the survival of your Parthenian Knights."


Hyperdimension Standard Time: [16:00] May 7th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia: Selsmire]

With her business now concluded, Karen, Yukihana (who was quickly told to disengage HDD before leaving Selles' chamber, showing her azure blue hair and eyes in this human form and is sporting a sailor's uniform colored dark blue with a tan colored color and skirt and a large red ribbon at the bottom end of the collar), Lisalon, and Elizalla gathered the members of their specially picked group: Charis Shirahata, Lilica Teken, Astona Lalat, Lilon, and Ginham Teivale and proceeded to leave the temple that served as the primary HQ for the Knights. Along the way, because of their new mission, Lisalon used her telepathy magic to contact Inqusitior Glerrok and pass the responsibility of executing Valco to him in addition to the matter of relocating his slaves to owners who are not brutal to them, though out of his fifteen slaves, six are being freed because they are of adult age and the other nine would be moved to other slave owners, the Knights intending to spend a great deal of effort ensuring they would be put in good households that can sustain them since Karen has said she does not wish to become a slave owner, already feeling uneasy owning one as it is.

"So you hand picked the five of us to help serve your duties as Quisar Lisalon?"

"That I have Lilica. None of you are going to be able to continue your training as a Knight, but you all have a higher calling now. Even you Medoc Charis Shirahata."

"Can we please save the talking for a different time? I want to get to our destination as soon as possible." Charis spoke very bluntly as he walked toward the outer gates to exit the city ahead of the others.

"While I'm not as blunt as that Medoc, he does have a bit of a point there. How long a journey are we going to have to reach our destination?" Astona was far from amused at his sudden departure from the group but did share in his sentiment.

"That's the thing, I don't really know how far we'll have to go. I was transported to the edge of your territory by the shaman who was descended from Thraaklon's old ally. I have a means of contacting her, but we have to go to Sharre Village first to get my friend and the rest of our group before we can leave. Of course, we're looking at a week's journey if we can find an Aqua Burmese here. I dread to imagine how long we have to go if we're to walk."

"If you don't mind, I have a friend who can give us a ride. But I don't want to call him while we're in the city, it'll cause a panic. Let's exit the city and we'll be able to reach Sharre in a few hours." Lilica smiled as she followed after Charis, soon to be followed by the rest of the group as they wander through the city streets, quickly finding themselves outside the walls, Lilica quickly making distance from everyone as she pulls a hand-crafted wood ocarina, using only four of the twelve holes on it to play a rather nice sounding melody and only a few minutes later, a large dragon with white colored scales, webbed feet and sporting a special harness connected to a saddle on its back, is quickly seen flying from the direction of the mountains and lands in front of them all, terrifying Karen, Yukihana, and Elizalla in the process since they have no idea of the dragon's personality though Lilica seemed rather friendly since she quickly leapt to hug the creature's head "Good to see you Sorventh!" A thorough nuzzling immediately followed this energetic greeting, though she stopped just as quickly as she gently grabbed a large horn on its head "I need to ask you for a favor my friend. We need transportation to Sharre Village, can you please bring all of us there?" A moment's silence passed after this earnest plea as the horn glowed a bright green, mixed in with a little red, and Lilica turned around with an expression of both joy and unease "He's willing to bring us to Sharre, but he knows I'm leaving and he's not exactly pleased about it. Parthenian Dragon Riders tend to stick together for life." After saying this to the group, she shifted her gaze back toward her dragon partner, crouching for a moment before jumping several feet in the air and landing perfectly on the saddle on his back, soon followed by Lisalon, Astona, Ginham, and Lilon; the mere act utterly startling Karen and Yukihana since they never expected the Parthenian Knights to be capable of this level of physical exertion. Of course, when the dragon lowered its head, Karen, Yukihana, Charis, and Elizalla slowly climbed upward and situated themselves next to the other knights.

"Better hold on tight everyone, We're gonna be going at supersonic speed." After Lilica made this warning clear and ensured everyone is in stable positions, Sorventh quickly flapped his wings to soar into the air and once he was airborne, his wings folded inward to slightly cover his passengers and flew at supersonic speed like Lilica said though the sensation instantly made Karen, Yukihana, Elizalla, and Charis nauseous, the latter two being the worst off since they're just regular human beings with no benefit of the Knights' magic genetic enhancements or the power of the CPUs, who felt forced to activate their HDDs that moment to simply survive.


Hyperdimension Standard Time: [17:00] May 7th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia: Selsmire]

After a half hour's flight, the group arrive outside the village and disembark from Sorventh's saddle, the knights feeling perfectly fine, if slightly disoriented from the extremely fast speed, Karen and Yukihana nearly fell into unconsciousness when their feet touched the ground, their HDD deactivating as the need for it was long gone, but Charis began to heavily vomit on the ground when he fell off and hit the ground, and because of Elizalla's young age in addition to her lack of protective abilities, the trauma of the flight completely knocked all consciousness out of her as she fell to the ground and the sight made Karen rush to her side and check her pulse, finding it incredibly weak.

"Lilon, Lisalon, I need you two to help me use healing magic on her." The trio quickly gathered together and used their magic to revitalize Elizalla's condition; the combined magic taking effect quickly as Elizalla repeatedly coughed, her sight quickly shifting toward Karen.

"You saved this lowly slave again Master. I'm unworthy of this sort of healing from you all."

Karen was about to speak again about how she shouldn't speak like this but Astona put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head before walking toward Elizalla and crouching down to her level

"Look Elizalla, this is something a proper slave owner should do. You spent your life owned by a cruel man so you don't know that these sorts of acts are par for the course for owners who actually care for their slaves. Normally a slave owner should be able to tend to her slaves without help from others, though there's no shame in asking for help naturally, and their core responsibility should be ensuring their charges grow into proper adults. So look, you were feeling very weak because of this little adventure here so your owner saw the need to heal you. Just accept this as one of her responsibilities."

"You surprise me Astona. I've never heard you give good advice before. It's always been pretty crappy before now." Ginham laughed at how Astona was doing what she could to comfort Elizalla but he nervously chuckled and fought the urge to gasp when he saw Astona steady her grip on her hammer.

"Ginham. I'm giving you a ten second head start before I hunt you down like a good for nothing beast. Start running." Astona made it clear that she was clearly infuriated by Ginham's remark over her kindness and he did not hesitate to start running, quickly followed by Astona with her hammer over her head in a blind rage, though Lilica ignored the proceedings as she patted Sorventh's head rather gently, with him flying off moments after she removed her hand.

"Oh blessed freaking creators. Even if they are children, this is inappropriate considering the mission we're on. At least some of you have decency." Lisalon sighed with a great deal of disbelief, her gaze first shifting toward Lilica and Lilon before looking toward Karen "Okay CPU, where's your friend?"


The sight of the pair arguing in this way made Karen smile as she subconsciously recalled an old memory of the Ragnarok tournament in Alfheim Online when Katsuo and Kana had that silly fight, though at the same time she knew the implications were graver this time around since Alfheim was a game while this is reality, but she knew she had to focus on the task at hand "Let me see." Karen pressed a few buttons on her gauntlet to activate the communication system to contact Noire "Noire, I'm back in Sharre Village. Where are you at?"

"Making dinner for the kids. I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but I'm surprisingly good with these foreign Parthenian palates. I've been a big help to Tume so she's be able to get plenty of sleep this week. I even tried using a little bit of my magic to try getting more information on Mami's condition but came up with nothing. Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been able to get that much intel on the Knights during your trek to the capital."

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, tell the kids to start packing their stuff. I talked with the Parthenian leader and he pretty much said he wants everyone directly associated with the Anamaris gone. He's more reasonable than I originally thought, but he is not someone I want to cross in any way. I imagine that even Filia or Wrex would be afraid to act rebellious in his presence. I fortunately was able to agree to a limited peace and trade treaty but any hope of an official alliance is being blocked. Noire, from what I was told, we need to inform Neptune, Blanc, and Vert that the ancient CPU of Tari is alive and free. In order to gain their full support, we need to capture this woman and bring her to them."

"I don't know Karen, I don't think crossing one of the first known CPUs is a good idea. I'd rather put my stock in her than these mysterious Parthenians despite their power. But I'll hold a council with the others and get their opinions."

"Noire, trust me, you're going to want to help me. If I can secure an alliance with the Parthenians, I'll make sure Parthenian boots find themselves in your nations to maintain a defensive wall between your civilians and the monsters. I won't keep them exclusive to my nation."

"Karen, if the situation was different, I'd call this a horrible deal. Having foreign fighters explicitly loyal to a different nation would make their rulers suspect you're planting agents for assassination. But I know you're not the sort. But at the same time, it's a pretty good idea, having skilled fighters around to help train our future soldiers. If we're going to leave, I want you guys to have a good meal before we leave."

"Good idea."


After quickly breaking up the conflict between Ginham and Astona, the group walked to Anamari Orphanage, entering the premises and is met with the surprise of quiet ambience differing from Karen's last visit, hinting that Noire has really taken charge with things, quickly finding everyone in the dining room eating what resembled an exotic form of fish and found Noire wearing a pink chef's apron over her normal attire, though the arrival of the knights caused a mild panic among the children though it was far from chaotic since they were enamored with their presence, though Lilica, Ginham, and Astona were quick to start conversations to soothe their spirits though Lisalon (who used illusion magic to hide her insectoid face to avoid outright terrifying them), Lilon, and Charis kept to themselves as they ate, though Noire pulled Karen aside to the kitchen where Tume stood waiting, a sad frown on her face

"Okay Karen, there's something a little major I learned during your absence. Apparently Tume's grandfather's brother used to be one of these knights but got exiled for some crime. Furthermore, I did a little walking around town during this week and overheard people talking rather poorly of Tume, though they did keep it shadowy. They hide it well, but they really don't like her."

"Indeed. My family is rather disliked since the legacy of Medoc Wulfric Anamari was created and widespread. Putting it very simply: Medocs are not liked, even by civilians. But if there's anything good about being a knight, it teaches us to be resilient. Even if we're despised, we'll find some way to survive."

"Karen, look, if you're going to give these kids a more prosperous life in Arcadia, let Tume come with you."

"And yes, I am aware of your status, Lady Aqua Heart; Lady Black Heart told me enough two nights ago. About how you're both not from this country and are these beings called Console Patron Units, whatever that means."

"They're basically something like kings or queens Tume. They receive power from the faith of their citizens in exchange for protection. It's a lot more complicated but this is the basic description of what we are. And if you genuinely don't mind, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. Besides, you know these kids best and I don't want to split you all up."

"Thank you. Would you mind if we departed tomorrow? I want to give everyone one last day in this place."

"That's just fine Tume. I need to set things up for this to happen anyway. Bae'lin to teleport us all back to Arcadia; Ophelia, Izumi, and Resta to rearrange their abode for all of these kids. I'll spend my time until morning working everything out. But Tume, could I ask you for a favor?"

"What do you need of me Lady Aqua Heart?"

"It's regarding the young girl that came with me. Elizalla. She uh, she's a slave that I apparently own now-" Karen tried to speak but quickly found herself interrupted by Noire who utterly panicked at the mention of slave.

"WHAT?! Isn't slavery utterly immoral?!"

"Noire, please let me finish. Look, Elizalla is a slave I own, but her previous owner treated her so poorly she has next to no hint of free will. Look Tume, I want you to take her in and try giving her a proper life alongside the other kids. I'm a goddess and I can't exactly commit all that much time trying to raise a kid her age. I have to try with Yukihana, but she's Arcadia's CPU Candidate after all; Elizalla needs a chance to live life normally and I want you to do that Tume."

"Hmm...it's going to be challenging trying to rehabilitate an abused slave, but I'll do what I can to help her."

"Thank you."

With her determination crystallized, Karen kept to her word and spent all of her free time in this evening and night talking with Ophelia, Izumi, and Resta to arrange everything in their abode for the arrival of the children here.


Arc 2:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [14:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Lastation - Midgard Exterior]

Uzume wasted little time and effort after her transmission with Tybalt when she warped to the easternmost city in Lastation's territory: Midgard, knowing that Aufisa would likely be in her abode a little ways outside the city limits, the 'house' being a miniature white walled mansion with metallic gray tiling for the rooftoops, built on-top a steel foundation surrounded by nature both outside and inside the territory, though the fact it's connected by a paved road leading between Midgard and Lastation City shows its close proximity to the non-magical travel routes. Within the walls, the residential building has a japanese aesthetic in the design's seven floors, though only two are visible since the other five are underground.

Even though Uzume could've warped directly within the building, she chose to warp outside and walk up the stone gray steps as a display of modesty and turned to the dark chocolate brown doors and knocked on it with the back of her hand, quickly met with one of Uzume's attendants, who all wear the same sort of double layered robes colored white with blue trims, coupled with the special facemasks that covers all of their faces aside from their eyes and parts of their hair which flows out from segments of the mask.

"Ah, it's nice to see you again Lady Tennouboshi. To what do we owe this honor?"

"Nice to see you too Ruby. And considering that Aufisa lives here and this place is fairly remote, it's obvious why I'm here. Mind telling me where she is?" Even though her appearance was largely hidden, Uzume recognized her curly pink hair and yellow eyes, alongside her young cutesy voice since she's one of the younger attendants employed by Aufisa.

"She's on the veranda working on a new dungeon map for Four Goddesses Online 2. She's been fine-tuning it over the last two days, amplifying the little details. But I doubt she'd mind you visiting. Come on in." Ruby was her rather usual energetic self when speaking to Uzume, which gave her some relief since she hasn't been able to act like her usual self in quite some time.

Walking through the small garden like atmosphere, she noticed a new statue of Aqua Heart neighboring the waterside with an extreme level of quality to it, making it incredibly life-like to the point where it looked like it was the real thing, though for whatever reason, it empathized her chest underneath the robe she uses as clothing in that form and made it larger than it normally should be

"What the hell?!" Uzume was glad she was wearing her helmet since she is blushing rather heavily and even though she knew she had to, she couldn't help but stare at the statue "S-Say, when did Aufisa add this statue here?"

"Just about an hour ago actually. Some man in a masked cloak gave us this as a gift for Lady Aufisa. He wanted to give her some inspiration for character designs if the need arose, at least, that's what he said."

"You goddess damn son of a bitch! You just KNEW I was going to visit Aufisa and deliberately planted this statue here just to embarrass the hell out of me! Tybalt, when I actually get the chance, I am going to MURDER YOU!" Uzume snarled very angrily when she connected the dots and realized Tybalt did this solely to taunt her even further "Well, good for Aufisa I guess. Though I don't think she'd be able to get away with designing characters like that outside freaking eroge games or something." Despite her anger, Uzume had difficulty pulling herself away as her heart was starting to feel aflutter and her mind racing elsewhere.


After doing her best to ignore the statue, she walked through the covered hallway leading to the verdana, quickly witnessing the red haired, bluish green eyed nekomimi girl working a personalized laptop rather fervently, wearing three layers of clothes, the bottom being a very light black t-shirt with a number of red and pink striped hearts throughout, the second layer being a pink overshirt, and a large jacket colored black on the outside, with a white color on the hem, and layered violet on the inside, with a layered frilled skirt and stocking the same color as her jacket though Uzume quickly noticed the headphones covering where human ears would be, Uzume just barely hearing some of 5pb.'s music from them and the thin pink tail at her backside, with a very small amount of white at the tip. Aside from the cat ears on the top of her head, Aufisa would be utterly indistinguishable from the average human being.

"Hm, you again. I see you have returned Uzume Tennouboshi. Tell me, how is the armor faring you? It's one of my best designs." Aufisa spoke with an utter lack of emotion befitting her character of being utterly stoic.

"It's worked wonderfully Aufisa. It's not really meant for combat, I won't lie, but I did want it for ceremonial sorts of purposes. A shadowy enigma working in the background, her identity hidden from all. That's what I wanted."

"So what do you want? I doubt you'd come all this way for a casual visit."

"Quick to the point as ever I see Aufisa. Yeah, I did come with a goal in mind. I want to ask, how is your job faring; mostly: what are your thoughts on it?"

"It's a job. I get paid to draw all day and night. Aside from the idea of money giving me an odd taste since my people don't use this sort of currency, it's going marvelously. That distaste mostly comes from how I feel like art shouldn't be ransomed behind the curse of money. It should be shared with everyone without having to fork over money. But there's no way you came all this way just to ask how my job is treating me. Get to the point already."

"Ugh, brutal. Okay look, I came on behalf of the goddess of Arcadia: Aqua Heart with a proposition. She's trying to assemble a proper army to counter the fact monsters are evolving. Unfortunately, while she has secured a number of officers to lead the frontline, her back-rank support is weak to non-existent right now. The idea of research & development needs a major boost to support the army with weapons, armor, and vehicles. While Aqua Heart does have engineers who can assemble these things, they lack that certain who can create schematics for these things. You're one of the best artists in the world Aufisa. I believe you're the best candidate for this."

Aufisa kept silent as she pondered the request while also focusing on her current art project for 4GO2 for several minutes before shifting her gaze away from her laptop

"Not interested."

"Huh why? I thought art was your passion and challenges drive you?"

"Four Goddesses Online 2 is enough challenge for me thank you very much. This is one that changes frequently but it keeps to a theme. I very much prefer this sort of consistent challenge compared to a flimsy weapon design challenge."

"You call it flimsy when I haven't shown you examples of what I'm asking for Aufisa?"

"Show me what you're working with then."

"Gladly." Uzume smirked as she pulled two holo viewers out of her inventory and showed her the schematics for the Monolith and the Plasmyr hover tank designs provided by Tybalt "Although the names are likely to change when they become produced by Arcadia, this behemoth here is the M192A6 Monolith which is meant to operate as a mobile command center while this smaller one is the P55M8 Plasmyr. It's main expertise is hit and run guerilla tactics since, ideally, each one would operate on a miniature nuclear powered generator giving it a speed of nearly fifty to a hundred miles every ten minutes and this behemoth in the Monolith would have a larger one at the heart of the beast."

Aufisa diligently stared at the rotating images on the two holo viewers before looking back up toward Uzume

"Astounding. This is the pinnacle of artistic creations. I think it even surpasses my capabilities. If these are the designs you are using as a base for military development, I may have to take your proposal seriously. But know that I am not going to stop my work with 4GO2 even if I accept your offer."

"That's fair. I wouldn't expect the decision of leaving the life of comfort to one of uncertainty to be made on a whim."

"Besides, to even create drawings like this, I'd need access to Cloud Splice and this copy I have access to is exclusive to this game, I'm not allowed to make anything not related to the game with this one. I'll consider your offer and contact you later."

"Oh don't worry. I plan on talking with your bosses soon about it. I'm very good with diplomacy. And you have my thanks for at least considering my offer Aufisa."

"You do that. If your business is concluded, Ruby will see you out."

In face of Aufisa's dismissal of her, she pressed a button on her chestplate which dispensed a small phone that goes around a person's ear and gives it to Ruby "Fine, fine. But contacting me is challenging so I'll give you one of my special communicators. Use it to keep in touch with me."

"Got it."

Following Ruby as she led her outside the building and with her plan at least close to success since she's instilled a sense of compulsion for Aufisa to take up the job for Arcadia's military since she appealed to her strong favoritism for art. With this step done, she decided to visit one of Gamindustri's parallel dimensions code named Zeta since she has to do her part to recruit more generals, though she knew trying to recruit Segamin and her four SeHa Girl commanders would be difficult but was unafraid of the challenge, particularly when she is already acquainted with the five of them.

"Alright Segamin, we both owe each other favors, and I imagine we're both eager to cash them in." With a proud smirk, she closed her eyes and looked upward to concentrate and felt her presence within the physical realm fading as she is using her connection to the void between worlds to allow her to warp through dimensions, making herself fade from the Hyper dimension to the Zeta dimension.


Arc 3:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [6:00] May 1st 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Central Hospital]

With the Arcadian gang wars finally over, Karen's friends were able to lay down their weapons since the need for fighting was unnecessary and they were able to live normal lives doing what they wished. Katsuo would've spent this morning sleeping, but he felt his synthetic organs and limbs suffering from a lack of optimal synchronization yet again, learning from Miyo early on that he requires regular maintenance from a specialist at the hospital two or three times a week.

When he arrived at the hospital, he was asked to walk to the room where his specialist will meet him: 2N-186, and along the way he happened to notice someone who he thought was in Planeptune meeting some of her friends exit one of the nearby rooms: Yuuki Konno.

"Yuuki, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Planeptune visiting some friends." Considering that Katsuo has never liked it when people lie to him unless they have a very good reason, the fact Yuuki is here and not Planeptune is filling him with a degree of rage toward Mamoru since he was the one who said this in the first place.

"Eh? Katsuo, why are you here and- What happened to you?!" Yuuki was utterly spooked by Katsuo suddenly calling her out but noticed the metallic eyepiece covering the right side of his face and the metallic coverings from the damage of the mech attack over a week prior and was understandably freaked out by it.

"It's natural I'd look disfigured like this when you get blasted with an anti-personnel burst round from a mech out to kill me. You turn into a half-machine freak like I am now. Beats being dead I guess."

"Katsuo." Yuuki looked utterly downcast as she approached him and gently stroked the left side of his face "This must have been a miserable experience for you."

"That's putting it mildly. I'm more machine than human at this point since my organs are synthetic and half my body is mechanical."

"It doesn't matter if your body is mechanical, your heart and soul is still human isn't it? The fact you can still feel emotion like sorrow is proof enough."

"I suppose." Katsuo stopped here as his right eye begins to whirr rapidly and begins giving him information because of the new upgrades Miyo installed over the last couple of days, a medical scanner being one of them "So you're hiding the fact you have HIV from us Yuuki?"

"H-How do you know that?! Did Mamoru or Miyo tell you?!"

"Neither. Not directly anyway. Miyo installed some new tech and it can tell if people have diseases. So those two know and you had them keep it from us."

"Look Katsuo, it's not that I didn't want to tell you guys! If I did, you'd all spend your time worrying about me and less time enjoying our lives and living them to the fullest. You know what, no more lies." Yuuki sighed as she moves one hand to her hair and another to her eyes, and pulls them off, revealing her barely kept straight styled brown hair going only to her ears and bluish black eyes "Yeah, my purple hair and red eyes? A well-done wig and colored contacts I asked my doctors for back in the hospital I was in back on Earth. If you're brave enough to walk around with such mechanical enhancements and not care, I may as well show my own real appearance."

"Yeah, doesn't exactly faze me much Yuuki. Being subjected to near death and being reconstructed as a cyborg does wonders on dulling your psychological profile." Katsuo was interrupted by his gauntlet arm ringing out showing that someone is trying to contact him "Yeah?"

"Katsuo, it's Miyo. Report to the my lab underneath the Basilicom immediately. I can tell Yuuki is with you so bring her too."

"Got it." After responding to this, Katsuo returned his attention to Yuuki "You heard her. Let's go Yuuki."

"Sure. But let me get clearance from my doctor first."


Hyperdimension Standard Time: [7:30] May 1st 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Miyo's Lab]

After the pair arrived in Miyo's lab like requested, they would find eighteen other people, all survivors of the gang war who fought alongside them to secure peace for the nation, standing around in the admittedly large room which lies underneath the Basilicom.

"Perfect. Everyone I called for is here. Now, before I start, I must make a single point clear. If any of you are not willing to commit the ultimate sacrifice for this country, you have one minute to leave. But for those of you who decide to leave, you must not tell a single living soul I told you to come here." Miyo did not waste any time making this remark vocal to the people she gathered, and despite them knowing the ultimate sacrifice is death, only two of the people left leaving eighteen of them in the lab alongside Miyo, cementing their determination in doing whatever it took to keep Arcadia safe, which actually made her give a sad frown as she looked over everyone "I actually expected everyone to leave when I made that point clear. It's rare to find people willing to die for their country. You guys are either the bravest souls in this entire world or the most foolish. You made your choice."

Miyo nervously paced about the room as she walked to a wall panel and pressed a few buttons on it which both sealed the door, this alone beginning to introduce some unease from the people she had called here and had several rows of armor emerge from within the wall, all having the same design and red, gray, black, and cyan colors throughout the frame though they all seem incapable of being compatible with human anatomy, especially the blue eye sockets which hardly seem compatible with human eyesight, let alone even attempting to get within the armor to begin with. (If you guys are wondering what kind of design for this armor I am using this time, it is created by another awesome DeviantArt artist called mestophales that he labeled as Power Armor for M4 - WIP2. If you want to see what it looks like in person, check the guy out alongside his other creations on the site.) "I'd like you to bare witness to the Altherian Autonomous War Droid created by my mentor many years ago. They were designed to be the ultimate fighting machines, but they possess several flaws. One, they are not truly autonomous despite the name since they have rather horrible software underneath their armor. Two, I have witnessed their fighting prowess in the past and while they are powerful, they cannot match a human's full capability on its own. Lastly, they are far too frail despite their powerful defenses. I've fixed the third problem with my own technology to give them a perfect self-repair system that prevents them from being destroyed in any way, but the first and second problem is one I have not been able to achieve conventionally, but I have discovered a way to make them the ultimate warriors like my mentor dreamed of. It is why I called you twenty, or rather eighteen of you. Before we do this, I need you all to give me some of your blood. I'm going to store it in a special vault for later."

Although there was confusion to her words, all of them obliged in letting Miyo draw vials of their blood as she stored them in a small hidden vault like she said and with it done, she returned her attention to the people in the room

"Now is the time for judgement. Come with me to the side room."

Miyo accepted no complaints as she used the controls on a pulley to move the armors with her to the side room she walked to, it being about as large as Karen's office on the higher floors of the building and after seeing everyone enter, she proceeded to seal the door yet again to the confusion and worry of the others, particularly when Miyo put on a gas mask "This room has a completely sealed ventilation system and I've loaded it with a combination of sleeping gas and a weak electronic magnetic pulse. I apologize for all of this secrecy, but here and now...you've given me the authority to destroy your frail human forms and have your souls transferred to this indomitable shells designed for ever-lasting evolution. When next you wake, you will no longer be the frail humans you are now, but the ultimate warriors." Wasting no time, Miyo immediately unleashed the trap she described on everyone in the room.

"H-Hold on! We didn't sign up for this!"

"I gave you a chance to leave. You didn't. You followed me here. Your lives were forfeit the second you did it." This is the last thing any of them heard before they fell unconscious from the gases in the room and Miyo was about to begin the procedure of transplanting their brains to the Altherian armor but was interrupted by her gauntlet's comm system going off, Miyo quickly seeing it's Karen calling her

"Miyo, could I ask you for a-"

Because of the procedure going on and the urgency of doing this, she had to end the call fast "K-Karen, this is not a good time okay!"

"What's wrong Miyo? I've rarely heard you this flustered."

"I'm working on a new project that desperately needs my foresight in all stages of the development. What do you need?" While she had no need to lie or reveal what she was doing, what she did need was quiet to work and immediately so.

"I need a signal booster for my gauntlet's computer systems. I'm being escorted to the capital of these Parthenian Knights but it's going to take a week and I want to acquire some means of passing the time with things my country has to offer."

"Fine." Miyo had to work fast to make Karen content and end the call quickly before she began to suspect something was off "There. I included the same kind of signal booster Tenn uses along with all of the upgrades I wanted to add. Now leave me alone for now." Miyo quickly shut down the line between them and even shut down her communication systems to prevent this from happening again.


With some well-earned peace, Miyo quickly witnessed Anonydeath appearing from a hidden wall panel entrance she designed solely for him

"Good timing Anonydeath. I'm about to begin Project Synthesis. Wait, are you going to be okay in here?"

"Oh relax. My suit has anti-EMP countermeasures. And you do remember our agreement of how, in exchange for me getting you this armor from Thraaklon's vault, I'd have free reign over everything there."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. But can I ask what you chose to do with it all Anonydeath?"

"Quite simple really." Anonydeath gave a simple laugh as he opened his inventory and some of Thraaklon's old technology that he created and stored in the vault he hid in the snowy mountains north of Planeptune appeared in front of him "We're partners so why keep things from each other? Besides, we'd get the most of out of this stuff as a pair than me keeping them for myself."

"Anonydeath" Miyo began feeling her eyes welling up at Anonydeath's surprising generosity as she looks toward all the people unconscious in the room "Help me move these people to the operating tables will ya? We need to hurry along with Project Synthesis. I have their blood samples so I can use them to create clones later. I plan on sending those samples to Bae'lin soon since I already asked her if I could store these in the same pocket dimension her family uses."

"Miyo, if I may ask, what material are these machines made of? I don't recognize it."

"It's a magically created alloy used by Bae'lin's family and the Parthenian Knights. Of course, since Thraaklon was a close ally of them both, he had the ability to request its creation for his use. See, even though he was fond of the CPUs, he didn't like that they were practically unkillable because of their special powers so he secretly arranged for this metal: Hacril to be created with the same attributes as anti-crystals, but solely to counteract a goddess' protection. He refused to allow a goddess like the CPU of Tari be given free reign to slaughter people with no chance of retaliation so he cooperated with that ancient shaman and the Parthenian Knights to make sure this worked. He planned on this cycle being established: The shaman's family would provide the Hacril material, he would create weapons for the Parthenians, and the Parthenians would be the one to wage war against the corrupted CPU. A perfect trinity that no longer exists, but I am going to recreate it as a singular give and take form. I am going to be the one who creates the perfect warrior combining the best of synthetic and organic life: The resilience and everlasting nature of the machine combined with the drive only organics can reach. No matter how hard you try, you cannot inspire a machine to protect its country. Sure you can program them to do so, but it's nothing more than lifeless commands. But a human being. They have the ability to exceed their limits when they must. That is what I am seeking."

"You truly are very driven Miyo. But I must ask, why are you taking these steps? It's oozing with desperation."

"I'm dying Anonydeath and I need to be around to complete my ultimate project: the dimensional warp portal. Project Slipstream is an advanced cloning device of Thraaklon's own design and I'm rushing to get it finished. To prevent this from happening again, I've already digitized my own genetic code and thoroughly scanned it to discover the source of ailment and erased it from her own. My clone won't suffer the same fate as me."

"I don't understand. If you know the source of your ailing condition, why can you not heal yourself?"

"Once it starts, it cannot be reversed. The very moment I felt my internal implants begin going haywire and I vomited blood, I knew I was close to death. Even after I subjected myself to my own nanotechnology, I knew that was only delaying the inevitable. But the problem is, I have no idea how my clone will act once I officially breathe life into her so I need a safe-guard to keep her safe from enemies. A personal army to protect her from harm, and to do so, I've installed a mind-control chip tailored to my own genetic code. Of course, I intend to take a further step to act as an advisor for my clone and more importantly: keep you in line. I have a supercomputer with an enhanced thirty petabyte hard-drive with a secret program designed to automatically encrypt and organize my memories and allow me to interact with the world to an extent once I make the needed adjustments. Low priority compared to the clone naturally and this project right now. Help me."


With Miyo's order given, the two of them began moving all of the unconscious bodies to the various operating tables and placed a set of armor next to each of them as she placed modified versions of the Eclipse headset onto them all, quickly connecting them to the armor and further connecting them to the same controller she used to create the nanotechnology she used on Katsuo

"It's time for your lives as humans to end. Be reborn as the perfect mechanized army!" As she activated the controller, she would bare witness to the nanomachines slowly but surely eating away at all of their bodies as they melt into nothingness, their essence being sent to the armors, though the sight of it disturbed Miyo immensely "Ugh, this is brutal to witness. I may have been the one to start this nightmare but it's painful. Seeing these brave fighters getting dissolved by my own nanomachines."

"Miyo, are you going to be okay?"

"Likely no. But my mission must be achieved and I have to commit to these harsh methods to do it. While I'm not an extremist, I've always seen the logic of the end justifying the means. I've helped build a freaking neutron bomb so I should be able to handle my own technology eating away at the bodies of these people, my own friends in particular. I'm not being cruel, this is a necessary step for everyone to return home. Yeah..." Miyo genuinely struggled to make this vocal, especially when she was clearly trying to reassure herself this is right when she knows she is committing a very morally questionable act, as she continued to watch Katsuo, Yuuki, and the others losing their bodies "I'm a Scylorian, a race genetically created with warfare and violence in mind. I should be able to handle this no problem."

Despite her response suggesting she is able to handle the gruesome sight in front of her, it is obvious that she is close to breaking but felt something akin to relief as the bodies vanished completely. With the procedure completed, she deactivated the 'traps' and repressurized the room to clear out the gases, taking her gas mask off afterward, she unleashed as the machines began to whir with motion, their eyepieces glowing an even brighter blue and began to assemble into a solid formation but one of them stepped forward and crouched down to one knee and bowed in front of Miyo

"We have been reawakened master. What are your orders?" Although Miyo was unable to tell them apart based on sight, she was able to recognize Katsuo's voice from the mech in front of her, pledging his loyalty so nonchalantly.

"All of you, kneel and address your new master." This unfortunately has caused Miyo to begin succumbing to a minor power trip as the fact the control chips in the mechs are working, especially when she sees them doing as she instructed with a combined 'We hear and obey Master.' coming from them all in unison "Now for your mission. It is necessary for you to maintain your identities from before this transformation. Use your nanotechnology to create both an optical camouflage and a synthetic skin casing and maintain it at all times." After giving her second command, they all rose and shifted their heads downward as beams of light appeared from their legs and moved upward as machine vanished and human form seemingly replaced in their appearance "Now, I want you all to resume your normal lives and act like you have before but avoid giving anyone suspicions about your transformation here. Act as if you are still genuinely human. But remain on standby for any orders from me if the need arises. Lastly, do not refer to me as master in any way if there is anyone even remotely nearby aside from Anonydeath here. It goes hand in hand with the need for complete secrecy."

"Understood." With this last order given, the transformed mecha soldiers left the room, Miyo having unsealed the doors after it was repressurized, leaving Miyo and Anonydeath alone.

"Project Synthesis is complete so we must move on to Slipstream. I'll handle constructing the hardware so I want you programming the software Anonydeath. The steps are recorded in Thraaklon's files so follow them to a T and we'll be able to complete this project promptly and ensure both my survival and your ability to work here undetected."


A/N: For the uniforms I tried to describe for the Parthenian Knight trainees, refer to the black and red uniforms used by the Exorcists in the anime D-Gray Man for a basic concept for the design.

Furthermore, this chapter only cemented how I have a certain fondness for Miyo. Underneath it all, she's still a nice person but she has a rather warped mindset because of the life she lived in Gamindustri and if you combine that with this certain fact: her race: the Scylorians was created with warfare in mind so violence and cruelty is something she's going to feel drawn towards even if she tries to fight it, her being half Isnian and half Scylorian certainly helping suppress those urges yes, but because of that mixed bloodline, she has a good number of insecurities about her competency when it comes to producing technology since she knows she is incapable of being as good as those from her society, though she would never let that show. But the moment she realized that her body began breaking down, she knew she had to act fast and do whatever she deemed necessary to secure both her dimensional travel project and the life of her successor, even if she has to commit morally questionable acts in the process.

In layman's terms, I like her since she's the first of my original characters to be a tad unpredictable in the morality chart. All of my prior characters were pretty cemented into good alignments but Miyo is the first whose morality is all over the place. Like I said, she is a good person deep down but she is not afraid to commit evil intentions like killing if the need demands it, and even does it if people steal her technology since what she makes is leagues ahead of what Gamindustri is capable of and she doesn't have all that great a trust in a population that can't handle it so even her evil acts have some morally gray intention. Good or evil, she's unafraid to do anything necessary in her objectives but that doesn't mean she's completely immune to herself breaking down if she goes too far.