Chapter 4: Showdown (VS Noire)

Nobody said anything about this dungeon being filled with stairs. But then again, I couldn't tell what a "normal" dungeon looked like. I never really got into RPG games.

I've been climbing this flight of stairs since God knows when and there was still no sign of the exit. My only company, aside from my own imagination, was a girl with a gun craze, going on and on through some kind of audio device.

This girl had been blabbering non-stop about gun ammunition for the past few minutes. Incendiary, high piercing, armor piercing, explosive, mild-explosive, blah blah blah.

Oh, and let's also not forget her addiction to that sniper rifle she wouldn't stop talking about the other day.

Then again, nothing has really changed from then. Today was exactly like the other day.

But I have to say, our conversations were interesting. I rarely got bored during my untimely stay here in the dungeon because I always found a way to tease Uni, and she seemed to like it to my dismay.

"Hey, Shawn."

Ok, here goes another conversation with her. Here, I'll show you what I mean.

"Yes, what can your bland, closed mind be wondering about now?"

"Uh, um, um…"

See? 100%, she's gonna say something related to guns.

"When you escape this dungeon and all, do you want to…"

Oh shit! I didn't expect this!

"Can you be my target for target practice after this?"

Uni you fucker... It was related to guns, just not in the way I expected.

"Uhh… let's see. Well, I do want to get out of this rotten world already," I half-heartedly replied.

"Trust me, once you see the outside, you would want to stay in this world for the rest of your life. Lastation is the most advanced nation here anyway, being the Land of Black Regality and all."

"Lastation? Nation? This is interesting…" I then cursed at myself for not fully understanding my situation. What kind of world did I end up in anyway?

Silence followed right after. I couldn't hear anything from Uni anymore. She probably left because she had other more important things to attend to, hopefully nothing regarding me.

Seeing the steps ahead of me get brighter and brighter, I hastened my pace in the hopes of reaching the source of light. After a few more moments, I had finally climbed up the last flight of stairs as I exited the dungeon. At long last, my body was basking in sunlight, something that I had lacked for at least 24 hours.

Don't get me wrong: I was used to not having seen the sun for long periods of time (being a shut-in gamer and all), but still, this was something else.

I soon realized that I was standing atop a plateau in full view of the entire nation of Lastation, the nation ruled by the all-powerful Lady Noire, a metropolis and haven in its own right. Or at least that's what I had inferred with the limited knowledge that I had.

In my mind, I immediately took back my words against this "rotten world". I stood in awe as a firsthand witness to the glory of, as Uni stated, "The Land of Black Regality".

Suddenly...

"Welcome. I am Noire, Goddess Black Heart and Lastation's ruler, and I challenge you to a duel."

A voice rung out from behind me. It was feminine and just like Uni's, but much more mature and graceful. I turned around and saw a beautiful woman in her young adult years. She was wearing a sleek fancy dress which complimented her twin tails and her luscious red eyes. Her long twintails matched her outfit, with additional ribbons here and there giving a graceful effect to her overall charm. She was also wielding a sleek black sword, her weapon of choice.

"I assume that you're the woman whom I talked to when I was locked up. Here's a tip: when you design a communicator, add a camera. If you had, I would've known that the person I was talking to was such a beauty."

Noire, caught unprepared, quickly averted her gaze from Shawn. She was clearly flustered as her cheeks were starting to burn red.

"G-g-get ready for battle!" Noire shouted as she stumbled to pose for battle.

"No use turning back now," was my response as I brought out the weapons Noire gave me.

I hadn't gotten a chance to use these weapons in the dungeon, simply because (in an ironic twist) the dungeon had no monsters. Is Noire's definition of a dungeon a location where you just have to climb a f*ckton of stairs? The only thing that she got right was the objective of making the dungeon victim tired.

"Hey Noire? Before we start, just a quick question: why didn't that dungeon have any monsters?"

"Huh?" Noire glanced at the opening where I had emerged from. "No monsters?"

Noire slowly walked to the exit of the dungeon.

"Ahh, I see. The monster spawner wasn't on." As Noire announced her realization, she pulled down a hidden lever near the exit.

As soon as she pulled the lever down, a dozen or so high-level monsters appeared from inside of the dungeon. They all instantly turned to my direction and started charging towards me.

"Alright! New challenge: whoever kills more monsters wins. I'll give you a headstart," Noire yelled as she wore a sinister smile.

It might have been due to fear, but I couldn't even comprehend what was happening or what she had said. All of the sudden at least 12 monsters the size of… two Noires were rushing at me. I couldn't even point my gun at them.

They were within my range of fire, so I could easily headshot them with my pistols. But I hesitated.

10 meters away.

5 meters.

2 meters.

They were directly in front of me: claws ready to strike, jaws ready to bite.

I was still frozen solid.

"Shawn!" Noire quickly rushed to my direction, parrying a monster who was just about to bite my head off.

"Watch this!"

Noire then leapt into the air. As she was above the head of the monster she was fighting, she shouted:

"Transform!"

In that instant, she was surrounded by a dazzling light, attracting and at the same time blinding all of the dungeon monsters.

Her clothes suddenly vanished, leaving her shining skin and her naked body exposed for me to see (God, those were some great breasts, just the right size even!)

I could only look at her pure, naked body for just a split second though as a black, metallic layer quickly covered her entire body, almost like a battle suit.

Her jet black hair also changed to become a shade of holy-white. Truly, her grace, beauty and strength were multiplied tenfold in this form.

She did all of this with form and style, with a pinch of majestic grace.

I was awestruck by her new form and body. Her petite and curvy body. This form highlighted my respect for her as all of her stats skyrocketed.

"Black Heart: transformation complete." Her voice echoed throughout her surroundings.

Within the next few moments, Noire, no, Black Heart began to completely shred her opponents. She leapt from one monster to another, slicing them the moment they were within striking range. Immediately after a monster was decimated, it started to fade and dissolve into cube-like substances, shining for a bit before completely disappearing.

Noire continued to slice 'n dice each and every monster, and for a second, I swore I saw her body get engulfed by a thin light, before that light disappeared as well.

"Was that a… level up?" I asked, dumbfounded by the entire situation. My very limited experience in RPGs had taught me to infer this much.

"Yes it was." A new voice came from behind me, from a person who was away from the fighting. This voice sounded a lot like Noire's, but a bit squeakier and perky.

I looked behind me to see another girl climbing up a different flight of stairs to reach this plateau, these stairs being directly connected to Lastation's Basilicom which looked a lot like a medieval metallic dragon… but building-ized.

She was a petite figure in a black dress, complete with ribbons and a strap holding a device (possibly for mobile gaming). She had black hair just like her sister, only this girl's was much curlier. Her eyes were also red like her sister's, but almost a shade of maroon instead of her sister's more lustful shade.

"I assume that you are Uni, her younger sister, and the one who kept on pestering me in the dungeon?"

"Yep!" Uni cheerfully replied.

I sighed.

"Your sister seems fired up… Almost too fired up."

"Well, she hasn't had this much fun in a while. She's been busy with her paperwork and… other hobbies. I guess that you crashing into her performance sparked the fire in her heart."

"You sound weirdly formal." I tried to joke, but I still kept my eyes on the monsters Noire was single-handedly dealing with.

"I'm trying to sound like a non-introvert."

"Gah, those words hurt my heart."

Just as I finished speaking, Noire unintentionally kicked one of the few remaining monsters towards me. The monster collided with me at mach-speed and with otherworldly-force, slamming me into a nearby tree.

"Ahh, that actually hurts." I stumbled, trying my darn best to regain my footing. The impact reduced the monster to EXP though.

At the bottom left of my vision, I saw a green bar. The contents of it had already been reduced to about 20%.

"FUCK IS THAT MY HEALTH BAR!?" Panic was very clear in my voice. I was afraid of what would happen if I were to get that to 0%.

"If you're referring to the almost empty bar, then yes: that's your health bar. Good luck ." Uni teased as her sister was wrapping up the fight by eliminating the last 4 monsters at once.

"Lace Ribbon Dance!" Noire shouted as she leapt out and slashed the monsters in a circular motion, taking all of them out at once.

Once the final group of monsters was taken down, Black Heart began to stylishly walk to where I was, her sword resting comfortably on her shoulder.

Halfway through the walk, she transformed back to her human form of Noire.

"Whoo, that was one tough battle. I feel so worked up!"

Seeing that she was now in front of me, I suddenly remembered how I had crashed into her the other day. I gulped as my respect for her had turned into fear, knowing that she could very well stick her sword up my spine given how I was on her "bad side".

"Uhhhh...H-Hi. I th-think that I forgot to introduce m-myself. Th-The name's Shawn. N-Nice to meet you! I am forever in your debt for saving my life." I then prostrated myself in front of Noire.

"No need to sweat it," she replied, clearly not knowing what I was getting so worked up about.

"Anyways, welcome to Lastation," she said cheerfully. "After today, you will now be working as my secretary."

"Wait wha-"

"Because you lost to me in the duel… or rather, you lost to all of the monsters." As she spoke, I could tell that she was sneaking glances towards my health bar.

My body immediately froze up upon realizing this, my throat struggling to swallow the saliva in my mouth. Uni was snickering behind my back, obviously delighted by what was unfolding before her.

"Well?" Noire asked, her demeanor expecting a reply. No, sorry, not a reply, but the reply she would expect in situations like these. The appealing-to-the-ears type of reply.

"P-Pleasure to work for you, L-Lady Noire."

Author's Note:

Hello again, it's been a looong time since I uploaded anything. :( Anyway, to keep me motivated, please keep up the reviews and follows. :)

With Love

SoT