Chapter 9: Behind the Scenes with Calavera Candyskulls

...

...

Nepgear, IF, Compa, and Nisa were a little confused to say the least. They had just managed to get the help of the mascot character from Lastation and were headed to Lowee, though on the way there they started shivering and rattling with how cold the weather was. Snow, remember? And apparently they didn't put on a necessary outfit for the cold, because...plot?

Anyhoo...

They looked around the land of white serenity in hopes of finding some warm shelter, only to discover that they were still some ways away from the capital city, thus being a huge distance away from any warm shelter. That was appropriate. Afterall, almost every hotel in Lowee was in the capital city and almost none of them were really in outskirts or fields. What kind of market would they have in those places anyway?

When they turned their attention in front of them to keep trudging towards the lowee capital. A black carriage being pulled by white steeds was parked in front of them. Complete with mystical glow, magical and symmetrical patterned carvings of different colors.

*CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAK*

As if that wasn't creepy enough, the door to the carriage suddenly opened with an audible and lengthy creek. You know, the same kind of sound that the door to haunted mansions make in horror movies, this door even opened automatically just like in the horror movies.

"That's not creepy and suspicious at all" said a sarcastic IF as she had one hand on her waist.

"It certainly does seem very suspicious and ominous" agreed Nepgear with a nod.

"...but it's really warm inside too..." Said Compa with an expression which was torn between relieved and resistant.

"It appears so and it appears really comforting but...this is obviously a trap set by the evil syndicate to truncate our justice" exclaimed Nisa with pretty much the same expression as Compa and a little less conviction.

Can't really blame them, they could feel the warmth emanating from the mystical carriage from just being three feet away from the entrance. Imagine how warm they would be if they were actually in it.

"Greetings, Lady Nepgear, Lady IF, Lady Compa, and Lady Nisa."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

...okay, so when did this scene become so friday the 13th-y? Although, the voice didn't really sound like a psychopath serial killer with a hockey mask and a machete, it sounded more like a pubescent pre-teen middle schooler with 8th grader syndrome.

"The Oracle of Purple has asked me to lend my aid to you in achieving your operations here in the land of white serenity, please do not be reluctant in venturing inside my mystical base of operations." Came the same voice, which sounded pubescent and chuuni-laced. "I'd imagine that you'd want to get out of the biting cold as well, so I have prepared us some steaming essence gathered from mystical leave and smoldered spheres of pulverized wheat and sweetening crystals."

...Yeah, that's just a chuuni way of saying tea and cookies...

The offer was really...tempting...to say the least...but IF was still a bit reluctant, while Nepgear was visibly trying to think better of her desires.

"I'm not so sure about this..." Said the guild agent, while scratching the back of her head, only to shiver in the next moment as the cold wind blew past them.

"it does seem rather too good to be true...but I don't think we can make it to Lowee's capital anytime soon in this weather. We'd need to find shelter sooner or later."

"I guess that's true...but still..."

"It's not nice to reject kind offers, Iffy." Scolded Planeptune's famous nurse with a wagging finger.

"h-huh?"

"Mister Carriage is offering us warm shelter from the storm, as well as, warm food and tea. It'd be rude to decline"

The gang couldn't be sure, but they thought they heard the voice sigh in disappointment and annoyance.

"Plus, this carriage seems to be sent by your oracle, it has to be another ally that was sent in the name of justice" Nisa couldn't really form a pose because she was too busy hugging her body to prevent the shivers from shaking her.

"the supernatural forces also gave me a warning that a severe torrential winter blizzard of powdered mist, cold crystals, and fragmented snow particles will come from the arctic winds of the north and ravage this nation" said the voice with a rather...less-chuuni and more impatient tone.

"Guess, we have no choice, but let's keep our guard up, okay?" Said IF, while everyone else just agreed with a nod, before stepping inside the carriage's open door.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Personally, almost all of them haven't really been inside a carriage before...but I think it's pretty safe to assume that the inside of a carriage isn't supposed to look like this. Why do I say that? Because the place they entered is easily over 15 times bigger than the carriage that was being pulled by steeds in front of them.

At any rate, comically and somewhat impossible dimensions of the carriage aside, the inside of the carriage looked like a cross between a magic shop, an antique shop, and a library. The whole area was practically overflowing with various doodads and seemingly normal-looking artifacts; from antique looking urns to a green orb that was shaped like a dragon. On the sides were shelves filled with numerous books, pieces of paper and scrolls; some looked brand new, while others looked ancient. There was even a countertop that had various artifacts as well.

In other words, they had no idea where to even start looking for their gracious and generous host.

"Not really what I was expecting..." Though IF out loud.

"Maybe our host is using some new illusion magic that allows him to make the inside of his carriage bigger than the outside" Nepgear said with an awkward laugh, while looking around in awe. She wasn't really the magic type, but she does find this place really interesting even if there wasn't a single machine in sight.

"Let's try our best to look for the owner, maybe he can help us out" suggested Compa before looking every which was for any sort of human life, but there were only mystic artifacts and books as far as her eye could see.

"Remember to keep your guard up as well" Said Nisa while taking a defensive pose. "We can't be certain whether or not our benefactor is an ally of justice"

On that note, Nisa turned sharply to demonstrate her being alert and in the process, tipped over a large black urn with multiple carvings over. Everyone's eyes widened before the sight, expecting an impact of sorts followed by glass shattering sounds.

"This urn was once made by a sorcerer of ancient times for a certain foolish teenage youth." Came the same chuuni-laced tone from before, which prompted everyone to open their eyes.

Sure enough, a purple trench coat wearing, cross-dressing, headphone wearing and chuuni-syndromed middle-schooler was holding the urn upright and preventing it from falling. Calavera was also wearing her headphones on and her floating skulls were glowing continously instead of glowing and fading from time to time.

"The teenager used this very urn to imprison his girlfriend's mother for ten years, so that he may runaway with her daughter. Legend has it that if you opened this urn, the same thing will happen to you" No, the voice was not coming from Calavera because she kept staring at her visitors with her purple eyes, her voice was coming from her glowing candy skulls. That's a thing apparently.

Now the supposed legend of this seemingly normal-looking urn sounded more like the plot of an RPG horror game and that the story was most likely one of the girl's delusions, the gang still chose to take the person's word for it. Real or not, they didn't want to risk getting imprisoned for ten years.

"So you must be our host then?" Asked IF. Calavera only frowned somewhat, but eventually nodded.

"Thank you for having us, mister..." Nepgear said in her usual cheerful tone, which only prompted a sigh from the middle-schooler.

Nisa's eyes widened in realization as the truth behind the person's gender finally dawned on her. Why was she the only one who realized this? Because she was a fellow flatty that's why. Now, Nisa looked pissed off for a second, before cooling down in the next moment.

"The heroines of justice thank you for your hospitality Miss..." Said Nisa with a bright smile, which was somewhat mirrored by the little girl, albeit smaller and more relieved.

"Calavera. Tell me, heroine. How did you manage to deduce my gender, without my telling you?" Asked Calavera with a confused, yet appreciative tone.

"I have my share of experience" was all the heroine said, albeit looking crestfallen.

"I see..." Calavera only nodded in understanding and sympathy.

Nepgear, Compa, and IF also apologized, but Calavera only brushed "such a trivial and common matter" off like it was nothing. She didn't really take such a common mistake, personally, because it is kind of her fault. What with her cross-dressing and whatnot.

Calavera then started leading them further into the carriage(?) while casually explaining some of the books and artifacts that were scattered on the tables with her chuuni-grandeur-tone of voice. Weirdly enough, she sounded very convincing with the tone of voice, instead of sounding crazy and delusions, like how regular chuunis usually sound.

"That is the Moon Shard, a meteorite which is said to be fragment that fell from the moon itself" Calavera pointed to a gray-blue meteorite of sorts with slightly uneven and jagged edges, which was placed inside a glass display. "It is said that it grants the wielder 120 attack speed and if you eat it you will gain the same buff permanently"

Calavera saw Compa looking at a soft-bound book with a purple leather cover.

"That is the 1st edition of my Rubick, which is a personal collection of spells that I managed to scribe into a piece of paper for repeated use in the future. My memory is quite fickle when it comes to magic spells, so I write them down in those set of books" explained Calavera with a small smile.

She saw Nisa looking at a frosted dagger in a glass chamber, which had a cerulean snake eye on the hilt. You know, the type of eye that's only a narrowed vertical slant? The one that usually signals that 'shit just got real'.

"That is the eye of Skadi" explained Calavera. "it is said that with each strike, its wielder's opponent will have their movements become slower and sloppier as their body is slowly frosted by the blade's mystical enchantment."

She saw IF looking at a crossbow? Pickaxe? Well whatever it was it was shaped like an anchor and had a ruby in the center of the curved end. It was also colored gold.

"That is the Daedalus, a mystical weapon that I discovered in the ruins of the Loweean labyrinth. It is said to grant its wielders with an immense increase in perception; enabling the wielder to constantly make fatal and precise attacks"

In other words, it gives you a boost in critical strike chance and damage.

Anyhoo, we can't go on and on about the mystical artifacts in Calavera's carriage(?)...er...base of operations(?)...antique shop(?). Well, the first name sounded catchier so let's go with that.

Calavera eventually led them to a...very fancy looking living room; complete with velvet chairs, a fire place and a velvet carpet. As promised there was a tray of cookies, a pot of tea, and several cups on a coffee table.

They took a seat on the fancy chairs, while Calavera poured them all some green tea, which they were thankful for. It was nice to get out of the biting cold. At this point, Calavera took off her headphones and the candy skulls stopped glowing continously. What's with those headphones anyway? If you ask me it seems rather out of place and what's the connection with Cala...ohhh...nevermind.

"So, am I correct in assuming that you are headed to the Lowee capital?" Asked the chuuni-syndromed magician.

"Yes, that's correct, we were planning to ask the help of their mascot character, but we don't know where it is so were going to head over to the basilicom to ask" Nepgear explained their agenda to which Calavera only nodded, while the others added their own piece to the story.

"I see, so the mage of the machines is currently conducting operations in the land of black regality. He could be a while, considering the fact that the supernatural and mystic forces warned me that ASIC is currently applying new tricks to deceive and threaten people" Calavera said thoughtfully, while hanging her Fantoccini on a nearby rack and resting her staff against the back of her chair.

While the silence seemed to be filled with throughtfulness and contemplation, Compa noticed something that she deemed to be urgent enough to break the it.

"Hey Calavera, aren't you supposed to be in school?" Asked the kind nurse, while pointedly looking at the school uniform that the girl was wearing, which made Calavera blink at her in confusion once. Twice.

Calavera averted her gaze with a slight blush on her face.

"Well...technically yes, since I am an 8th grade student in Planeptune Junior High Academy" confessed Calavera with closed eyes in embarassment, which turned into a sigh. "However, I have no interest nor do I see any point in continuuing to attend my classes, if all our lecturers are going to instruct us is to worship a deity whose name I do not wish to escape my lips." Said Calavera with finality.

That sure was a mouthful, I hope I didn't write any grammatical errors by mistake.

Anyhoo, the gang seemed to share their sympathies with the chuuni, well they are kind and noble heroines, right? So, this should be expected 😉.

"So ASIC is even trying to corrupt students, huh?" IF said with a bit of annoyance.

"It appears so. they must be trying to rush their plans before they can derail too quickly" agreed Nepgear.

"That's so evil of them, forcing children to worship a bad goddess" said a saddened Compa.

"Corrupting the minds of young heros and heroines...how low" said the heroine of justice while clenching her fist in frustration.

"There is no need to worry, however." Calavera said with a slight giggle. "For the students have chosen to drown out our instructors' lectures in favor of partaking in a particular social networking site and game that was established by a close personal friend of mine" Said Calavera with a smile gracing her lips, which made everyone sigh in some relief.

"Guess all we really needed to win over the citizens was a good game to get them back on our side" said IF with a close-eyed smile.

"Speaking of which, I wonder what's keeping him in Lastation for so long" wondered Compa outloud.

"That is simply because ASIC refuses to fall for the same trick twice and has been applying a different approach to gather faith for their deity. Amadeus is thinking up of a new method of approach for countering ASIC's ploy in the land of black regality." Explained Calavera as she walked to a nearby table to grab one of her rubicks; a leather soft-bound book which held a collection of spells that she managed to get. She flipped through the pages until she stopped on one page in particular and proceeded to read it over and over again. "Ah, now I remember" she mumbled quietly, before closing the bool and placing it on her coffee table.

Wonder what that was all about?

She held up her teaspoon near the glowing mass up of energy of her staff before proceeding to stir her cup of tea.

"What are you doing?" Asked a curious IF.

"Using one of the spells that I collected, in order to inform you of our mechanical mages' current situation and whereabouts." Was what she said before her tea began glowing purple. "it's almost done, I can feel it" she took a sniff before nodding in approval and blowing the steam coming from her tea cup into the open air.

The steam took on a golden tint and eventually formed a small...projection with a scene playing before it; a scene of Amadeus enjoying a plate of cookies, while Kei was asking him questions. For those yet unconvinced, Calavera actually possesses mystical powers.

"It feels nice to use this spell again"

Don't know what she means by that at all. They turned their attention to the current show unfolding before them.

...

"I must ask you something" Kei said in a strangely puzzled tone. She looked like she had been thinking about something really hard.

"hmm? What is it?" Asked the mad inventor who was happily munching on a plate of cookies, which was given to him by one of the basilicom's staff.

"How did you manage such an event in just one night?" Asked Kei with raised eyebrow. "your little stunt last night has been the talk of the citizens both in Chirper, Raptor, and Neptube. Granted, ASIC members are trying to subdue the riots and rebellions, but the neighborhood you managed to free seem to have rid themselves of anything pertaining to ASIC, as well as, are seemingly devoting themselves to you.

"Correction, to Lastation." Said Amadeus with a kind smile.

"Why is that?" Was what Kei wanted to know. Amadeus looked at her with a slightly blank expression, visibly contemplating something.

"Are you aware of the basic tactics used in the game London Syndicate 1867?" Was what Amadeus asked. Kei was confused as to where he was going with this conversation, but the oracle nodded. "Are you aware of the game's mechanics?" Another nod.

"The game was set in a city which was separated in districts with each district having several neighborhoods, which were being controlled by individual gang leaders that were a part of the same syndicate that controlled the district" answered Kei in a rather confused tone.

"Correct, and in that game your main objective is to extend your territory and control over the district by going after the neighborhoods first. In order to win over the neighborhood, you simply need to eliminate the gang leader's activity and replace it with your own" Said Amadeus with a serious tone and a small smile. "once you win over the neighborhood, you get access to any resources and utilities that neighborhood may have, as well as, supporters for you. Does any of that sound familiar?" Asked Amadeus with a grin on his face.

"So, you're whole strategy for eliminating ASIC here in Lastation is based on a game that we released three years ago?" Kei deadpanned.

"Yes."

"..."

You know, this sounds a lot more ridiculous than it sounds. As an analogy, imagine going against a country at war and using strategies that you got from war games.

"It's not as ridiculous as it sounds" was all Amadeus said. He's right, because it's even more ridiculous than it sounds, not to mention ironic.

"because you are experiencing a similar situation here. Taking things one neighborhood at a time will extend our territory and influence throughout Lastation and eventually trump ASIC."

"I understand that and I can't really argue with the results" said Kei with a small amused smile on her face. "However, you still haven't answered my original question. How did you accomplish that stunt last night?"

...

"What stunt last night?" IF asked with curiosity, which was mirrored by the rest of the gang, which only prompted Calavera to raise her teaspoon again to the glowing mass of energy and stir her tea until it started glowing purple. She blew the steam away and opened another...projection right next to the one they already had.

This little projection was showing Amadeus' little stunt last night in one of the neighborhoods in ASIC's territory. Needless to say, it was definitely a jawdropper that's for sure.

"Well that was..." IF couldn't really form any words.

"Was all that really needed?" Asked Compa with scratch of her head and close-eyed smile.

"Why of course" was Calavera's respond to that, albeit looking slightly defensive and taken aback. "He was clearly aiming to make an event that will raise the citizen's points significantly with the least amount of effort, as well as, provide a distraction for the citizens"

"That really did look amazing, but I wonder how her managed to do all of that" Nepgear wondered aloud, which prompted Calavera to bring up a third smoke projection. This one was showing Amadeus after he just knocked out the guard in the ASIC factory dungeon.

Coupled with the "real" Amadeus' explanation, it was like watching a gameplay walkthrough of a stealth game franchise or something.

"Did any of you hear that?" Asked Calavera while looking left and right in confusion.

"Hear what?" Asked the rest of them while looking at that chuuni magician in confusion.

"Nothing, perhaps it was just the supernatural spirits trying to come into contact with me" wondered Calavera outloud, while using her candy skulls to fetch a fresh plate of cookies and crepes. "I must scout the etherium to confirm if that is indeed the case, please do not disrupt me and pay your attention to the events that are being projected through my spell"

On that note, Calavera placed her headphones over her ears again with eyes closed in deep concentration...er...is actual contact with the fourth wall really possible? Well, I suppose it is, afterall some unfortunate narrator even got punched by a certain tsundere...so, i guess, it's...

Okay were going off topic...

Anyway, the gang did as they were told and paid their attention to the third projection, which was nicely complemented by the fact Amadeus was also explaining what he did to Kei.

...

Amadeus had just finished knocking out the guard and had decided to take out his laptop from his suitcase. It should be noted that Amadeus's narrations will be indicated by italicized text while text with quotation marks are actual lines being said in the flashback.

Once I knocked out the guard, I hacked into their video feed to determine where the other guards were. Now if I still had my system of bugs, I would be able to hack into the factory dungeon's server with no problem, but since they removed all of them, the best I could do was to hack into their video feed, avoid the camera's line of sight and attack from blindspots. Eventually, I ended up with a somewhat accurate idea of where the other guards were, but I had to keep double checking to avoid running into anyone.

Amadeus was then seen carefully creeping through the halls of the factory dungeon, which were seemingly empty at first glance, but Amadeus knew that there were at least two guards on this particular floor. His goal was to knock them out without getting seen by either another guard or the surveillance crew.

He creeped closer and closer to the corner of the hallway. According to his trusty laptop, the heretic should be about a meter from the same corner. He made a subtle noise, which seemed to catch the attention of the specific heretic. The heretic rounded the corner.

(Ga-prick)

Only to get a tranqulizer dart to his neck the very next second, before the heretic could fall back into the camera's line of sight in the hallway, Amadeus grabbed the heretic and pulled him foward, while lying him down softly. He set up a portal carpet on the floor and placed the heretic on the portal. You know, if it weren't for the fact that he needed to be quiet, he'd probably just slam the heretic on the floor...just saying.

Let's just skip all his stealth take-downs, okay? Because were rapidly approaching the 5500 word mark and how he did what he did isn't really of plot relevance, just combine normal RPG neptunia dungeon exploring with stealthy assassin-like takedowns and you'll be able to imagine what he did just fine, so I'll just show you the more important events that happened that night. One thing's for sure though, he used the video feed as a guide to whether he'll be seen taking down the guards or not.

I used a wide variety of tools from my arsenal, from throwing knives glazed with tranquilizers and my own cane sword, but there were more than a few close calls though.

Amadeus was seen slowly letting the unconscious guard drop down on the portal carpet when...

"Hey!"

A guard suddenly rounded the corner with an alert and hostile tone. Quickly, garbbing his cane sword, Amadeus started thwacking the guard repeatedly, without unsheathing the blade of course, since nobody really wants to see any blood and because Amadeus is only trying to arrest them.

(Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack) (Ga-Thwack)

"ow- will you (Ga-Thwack), cut that (Ga-Thwack) ow, sto- (Ga-Thwack)" unfortunately for Amadeus, his attacks did little damage to the heretic and only caused slight and quick sharp pains, not lethal blows that would incapacitate anyone, granted he was very strategic with his strikes and looked like an expert (aiming for the hands, knees and abdomen) but his physical strength didn't really amount to powerful force. I did say that he was an INT type, didn't I?

Amadeus sighed. Fed up, he activated the smartwatch on his hand, it opened up or rather splayed in it's inner workings and parts. He grabbed the opened parts and seemingly draped it over his hand with on swift action in that same manner that one would put on a hood.

Well, now his hand had a more robotic exoskeleton of sorts, which should give him a bit more strength, but the ASIC heretic had pulled a hand gun and aimed it at his the boy's head. He managed to successfully stop it with his robot hand, but before he could divert it from his face.

(Ga-Bang) (Ga-Deflect)

"..."

The heretic shot the gun and the bullet bounced off of his sunglasses like a ball on a concrete sidewalk, much to the confusion of the heretic.

(Ga-thwack)

...One significantly more powerful swinging of a sword cane later...the heretic was on the ground and slowly disappearing on the other side of the portal carpet...

"haaah...haaah...haaah" did I mention that Amadeus isn't really all that physically fit?...at all? It's really a surprise that he even got this far without even keeling over...but then again, this was the only fight where he had to actually exert physical effort...so...

"h-hey, I'll have you know...(pant)...that it isn't easy lugging all these guards around into these portals and I haven't had a proper dinner" wow, so even a flashback Amadeus breaks the fourth wall. Realizing that he was talking to no one, Amadeus shook his head in confusion as he leaned his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

Once I took care of the guards, albeit with a lot of consumed time, I then started searching for any means to disable their communication, which was made significantly harder by the fact that they changed the layout of the dungeon and that I no longer have access to their servers to get a general idea of where the communication lines were, as well as, a copy of the dungeon's floor planning. So I did the only option I could think of, which was to explore the factory dungeon carefully and search the most likely places that would house such sensitive wiring.

Amadeus can now be seen creeping all over the factory and checking the video feed from the surveillance cameras to get a general clue as to where the communication lines were. Eventually after some careful searching, Amadeus did find several black wires hidden in a corner of the factory dungeon. Sticking to the shadows, he approached the black wires and used his laptop to determine whether or not cutting them would trigger an alarm.

When I DID find it, however, it was rigged so that if anyone cut it or tampered with it, an alarm will be raised. So I had to disable the mechanism first, which was surprisingly sensitive might I add. There was no room for error, no matter how small it may be.

"Typical" muttered Amadeus before he checked the nearest device that could most likely be the alarm. He spotted a black bell further up the wall and a mechanism right below it.

"Gotta hand it to them, they're really pulling out all the stops" said Amadeus with a nod of grudging approval. "it's not going to be easy to disable this thing, but it's not like I have much of a choice in the matter" he said with a shrug before picking out a few tools from his suitcase. He then started tinkering with the alarm mechanism with precise and calculated movements.

"It's kind of necessary since this mechanism is very sensitive; one wrong move by a millimeter can raise the alarm in a second. Not that there are any guards left, but I'm sure that the other ASIC heretics in the other factory dungeons will..." Amadeus trailed off as he realized that he was talking to no one in particular.

He managed to disable the mechanism without triggering it. Afterwards, he proceeded to cut the communication lines without much trouble.

When I finally disabled the alarm and cut their communication lines, I was about to make my way to the control room to finish the deed, when all of a sudden...one of ASIC's guard dogs decided to pass by that specific place.

True to the real Amadeus' words, a fenrir wolf could be seen in the video feed, sniffing and roaming around the dungeon, specifically near the hallway that he was in. Realizing that he didn't have prayer against this monster, he took out a portal carpet and proceeded to reprogram it so that he would end up in one of the other portal carpets that he set up earlier.

The main problem was that the fenrir was starting sniff about its surroundings; it was starting to check if there were any intruders and Amadeus was still in the midst of reprogramming the portals.

The fenrir was just about to turn it's head towards his direction when he had managed to disappear onti the glowing hole on the floor; ending up in the same place that he had begun. He breathed out a sigh of relief before deactivating the portal he just used. If the fenrir managed to disappear into the glowing hole, then he would be in big trouble.

"That was a little too close for comfort"

After I managed to escape the fenrir, the only thing left for me to do was to disable the control room, so that the broadcast wouldn't go on.

Amadeus was seen sitting by the side of a closed door, which had somesort of purple gas coming out of it, as well as, the sound of panicking courtesy of the ASIC heretics. He simply threw a cannister of sleeping gas inside the control room and locked the door from the outside. Did I mention that he was munching on a McDomalts cheese burger, while doing something on his laptop?

While all of that was happenning, I started plotting out and programming when and where my probes will fly to for the whole presentation, I simply had to put on a show with gestures and grandeur. Granted, I failed to anticipate the fact that they would have an automatic disable function for the control room, which is why I had to look for a more complex way of deactivating the broadcast.

That's when Amadeus was seen cutting out a piece of the wall with his laser scapel.

...

"Well, that explains the precision of the probes that you seemingly commanded through gestures, but what about the blackhole?" Asked Kei with a raised eyebrow.

"It was just a projection, which makes use of several film screens" explained Amadeus.

"and the fact that the whole ASIC factory dungeon collapsed in on itself?"

"Explosive devices planted in strategic locations of the dungeon."

"I see..." Was what Kei said with a nod of approval. "I'd never imagine that using one of our game's mechanics as a basis for a strategy would be this efficient"

"well...I did have to modify the approach a teensy bit..." Confessed Amadeus with a sheepish expression. "If you want some further enlightenment, you can take a look at my book of tactics"

Amadeus then took out a soft bound book with a brown paper cover entitled "Routes, Flags and Events" out of his bottomless suitcase. When Kei flipped through it, she was indeed greeted by several tactics and strategies that were really just game mechanics modified to suit real situations/events. It even included tactics for specific encounters. Like what you should do when you encounter a sadomasochist.

"...This is...quite impressive"

"While were on the topic of my books, I'd like to ask for your aid in constructing a few inventions of mine that could potentially benefit us in the long run" Said Amadeus before taking out two more soft bound books, which were entitled "Conceptual Designs" and "Prototype Designs", as well as, several rolled up brown parchments, which could only be blueprints.

...

That's when the projections faded from existence, much to the confusion of Nepgear, IF, Compa, and Nisa. Coincidentally, Calavera had awoken from her trance and looked at the absence of her projections without the least bit of shock.

"I apologize, the organization has tampered with my short term memory, making it so that I can only use a collected spell from my Rubick for a fixed amount of time, before it automatically fades away from my mind, which is why I must write down a newly learned spell within the fixed timeframe" Calavera explained in her Chuuni tone.

Translation: She's a tad forgetful when it comes to magic spells, which is why she can only use a collected spell from her Rubick for 5 minutes.

They were brought out of their musings when they heard the cry of a small girl from outside the carriage.

...

...

You know, I feel that my brain has a really slow download speed because it took me this long to realize that Compa and IF actually represent Compile Heart and Idea Factory XD seriously, how did I miss that for such a long time?

At any rate, what did you think of this chapter, everyone? Please tell me what you think in a review and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send a PM or if you prefer leave a review.

Next time we'll shed a bit more light on Calavera's abilities as well as give her a bit more screen time as we temporarily change the perspective to Nepgear and her friends in Lowee. We also might get a glimpse on Raptor's progress and activities in Planeptune.

Don't fret though, because Lastation is still gonna go through some serious events and maybe even a few arcs

See you in the next update.