The sun held high over the nation of Leanbox, signalling another bright, sunny day. Another day of productivity and a content life under the guidance of the current ruler, the citizens going on about their business with nothing but happy thoughts. In the center of the capital lay the nation's Basilicom, it's formidable size giving the people below not the sense of danger and insignificance but security and assurance. Across the horizon, lush green hills and the clear blue sky - accompanied by the presence of a singular gold tower that stood tall - made it clear: today was another day of serenity and contentment.

But beneath the heavens, a single young woman walked alone on the sidewalk on the main street, and deep inside, she felt anything but serenity and contentedness. The atmosphere was optimistic and bright, yet she couldn't comprehend it. And although she passed by the occasional pedestrian, she continued to feel alone.

Alone and embittered.

'Ugh. Just what was up with today? How the hell was I supposed to know that it would be another crappy busy day at work?' She kicked aside an empty soda can with the indifference as one would when walking, still fuming.

'And everyone's expecting me to put up with the workload with a smile?! That's the biggest piece of BS I've heard! I swear, someone should make that it a law to make saying that illegal or something...' As she walked, a trio of young schoolgirls passed by across the other side, ogling and gossiping about who knows what.

At the same time, a young boy ran past, laughing and hollering with joy. An ice cream stand attracted people like honey to bees, the owner selling a popsicle once every second. Behind, a cheerful couple. In front, rabid fans as they awaited the next album from 5pb. To the side, a group of children wearing out their thumbs on handheld games. Everywhere one looked, there was always activity; everywhere one looked, people were in smiles and high spirits.

And the woman found all of this annoying.

Just why are so many damn people happy? It didn't make any sense to the woman. Everyone was smiling and filled with joy, so why was she wasn't - why did she have to suffer? Why do other people have to put strain on her, oblivious to how she was feeling? Were those same people kicking back and enjoying the day? Were they smiling because they put someone down beneath them? Were they smiling because she wasn't?

'... I hate people,' she thought, 'I wish I could just get rid of them. At least I won't have to deal with stupid people anymore.'
'... That's not a bad idea...'

The woman shook her head, tired. She fished out her phone and thought about who to call. 'Argh… Must be losing my mind. Maybe I can meet up with someone for drinks. Gamindustri beer tastes like anything but… how about Setag?'
'... She's no different from everyone else...'

The woman hesitated, before pocketing her phone. 'Egh. Maybe not. I'm too pissed off to meet up with anyone right now.'
'... You don't need anyone...'

The woman continued walking. 'Heh. Yeah, I'd rather not deal with other peoples' crap, especially if they're morons. Gah, I wish someone could do something about it.'
'... Of course, something can happen… Something should happen...'

'Yeah, why does it have to be me to put up with this stuff? Bet they're all think they can be happy because I'm not.'
'... Time to make things equal, don't you think?... If you do something, you won't need to suffer… Why not make them suffer?'

The woman walked, but this time she quickened her pace; something drove her inside. 'Damn straight! I'm sick and tired of everyone else being… the way they are! Stupid cheerful people doing stupid cheerful things while I get to slave around all day! It pisses me off! But stupid society would rather want me to deal with this with a big frickin' smile on my face than do something about it.'
'... Then remove that society… Then you won't need to hide your true feelings...'

Something caught the woman's eye, as she stopped to look. Directly to her side were posters of the current ruler, the one who called herself S-Sha. An empowered individual whose badge of royalty and authority came from her powers; powers that the common folk lacked. Power that dictated society the way it is. Power that kept the world the way it is.

It was that power that was the root cause of her anger.

'... Yeah, she's the frickin' problem here. Damn goddess! If someone else was in charge, I bet things'll get interesting!'
'... But here? Why not… the PC Continent?'

'The PC Continent?... Yeah, they've got their own crap goddesses. They're not even leaders, but they're the ones who're gonna keep that world the way it is. People here, people there - what's the difference? There's still society that's gonna need a good wake-up call!'
'... Let's go there… The people there need some chaos to see what they're missing...'

With the idea in her mind, the woman turned and quickly began to make her way to the airport. Intercontinental travel is rare, but she should be able to get a ticket there. It was only a matter of time.

'A world so complacent deserves a catastrophe of equal magnitude, perhaps more. A land that has gained so much deserves to lose just as much, if not more. A deep, deep plunge through pain and despair. So, how about this...'

As she listened, the more the idea elated her - her dark desires, a twisted catharsis. Of course, it all made sense! A world so conceited, lazy, and debauched deserves nothing less.

'... Yeah. I think that can be arranged. I think I know where to start.'

Her pace quickened, her mood actually turning as bright as the day yet black as shadow. 'Oh, the PC Continent won't know what'll hit them! Modern society thinks this is fine but I'm gonna show them how wrong they can be! They think they can build up from breaking my back from pointless work and dealing with people, but I'm going to tear it all down to show them how wrong they are! I'm going to show them how the world works! And I'm totally not a schizophrenic!'

And for once, the woman smiled. A happy smile of her own.

Around the same time, the being smiled as well, watching her new puppet do her bidding. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to accompany her to ensure her compliance but with her convincing, her direct oversight shouldn't be necessary.

The being had waited too long for this, invested too much for her plan to fail. The last thing she wanted was for an outside force to upset her machinations: from what she heard, the Devs of the PC Continent were that land's potent force, being goddesses themselves. With how isolated the two lands are, there was no way for them to catch wind of her plot to destroy this world. But no matter how astronomical the chances are, she felt vexed leaving out unknown variables and thus deemed it necessary to take proper precautions.

And besides, even if she could reach across dimensions, she couldn't travel to the PC Continent in person to address the hypothetical threat it posed. She was too anchored to the land of Gamindustri, her spirit too attached to the land of CPUs. But it was not an attachment of fondness, for she despised the land.
Despised it for how prosperous it was unlike her own.
Despised it enough to seek destruction upon it and the CPUs that ruled below.

Despised it for despising her.

Oh well. Her quest for revenge didn't involve the PC Continent, and once she got what she wanted that land and its inhabitants would be irrelevant. She had already reshaped Hyper Dimension so that the CPUs would be condemned to a life of obscurity - to feel what she had felt. But that was only just the beginning. A taste for what was to come.

The CPU of darkness and delusion from another world smiled again as she turned away to enact the next step of her plot. The destruction of Gamindustri - and all of Hyper Dimension - demanded her undivided attention.

A/N:

HistoricHippos:
And with that, the stage is about to be set for our next story, the sequel to Neptunia PC Chronicles! If you haven't already, I'd suggest checking it out so you'll be up to speed with our world of the PC Continent in Hyper Dimension; the characters, the places, the concepts that make it different from Gamindustri, and all that jazz. And along the way, we'll be throwing in some new stuff!

And as a quick heads-up, this story and the one before takes place during the events of Megadimension Neptunia VII, specifically the second and third story arcs. Expect some spoilers if you haven't beaten the game.

UPDATE: Made a minor modification.