Chapter 3: A Fierce Battle

The all familiar disclaimer of every fanfiction ever: I, writer of this fanfiction does not own the Neptunia franchise and the characters inside it except for the original characters. Neptunia belongs to Idea Factory.

Author's notes: Warning! There may be some out of character moments for the characters as I am not sure how to properly portray them. I wish to apologize if you find it weird. Also if you have any idea on how to improve it, please tell me in the comments section. Thank you.

Italic is as usual for thoughts.

Bold are for attacks (though may be shout out or not)

Underline are for author's notes.

(Third POV)

(A clearing within the depths of Monster Cave)

Ray who had been the tank among the four immediately rushed forward to block the witch's attack.

"Foolish boy." The witch coldly said as her weapon came in contact with Ray's sword. At the moment of contact, Ray was sent flying backwards and flopped on the ground.

"Oopf…" Ray let out a grunt and seem to fell unconscious.

"Ray!" The other 3 girls were worried and took their attention away from the witch for a split second. That split second was the time that the witch required.

"Take this!" The witch merely thrusted at the trio which broke through their defenses and sent them flying as well.

"This was too easy." The witch declared in an icy tone. The difference between their prowess was evident as she took the group out with just one hit per person.

The three girls were still trying to get up and the witch started drifted towards Neptune. As she raised her weapon, she coldly declared "Now, then… I will be taking both your life and the Key Fragment, Neptune." After saying those words, she swung down her four pronged spear at Neptune.

"Shing!!!"

"Hargghhhhh!!!!" Ray who seemed to had regained consciousness after hearing the witch's declaration, roared as he parried the weapon with his katana.

"Oh?" The witch seems surprised that someone who was unable to take a hit before was suddenly able to cross weapons with her. What surprised her even more was the fact that she was slowly pushed back. She observed the silvered hair teen standing in front of her and noticed that his aura seemed stronger than before. "Awakening, huh?" The witch just levitated backwards as to prevent from crossing her blade any longer once she determined that her opponent had just awakened.

"It's not just him!" At that sentence, the witch was barely able to block the attack of someone that her eyes did not capture.

After blocking the attack, only did she realize that the one attacking her was someone that was just lying on the ground as well. "Oh, another awakened scum." She commented as she continued to block IF's flurry of attacks with ease.

IF ignored the comment and continued circling around the witch while not stopping her attacks. Her qatars started glowing red as IF infused both weapons with elemental flames. This caused the temperature around the battlefield to rise gradually and a breeze started forming around her as she continued her circles.

At the same time, Ray retreated back to Neptune and Compa's side and passed some potions to the duo. "Come on girls! This ain't the time to lounge around!" After finishing his sentence, he charged into the battlefield once more.

Neptune and Compa downed the medicine and the effect was immediate. They felt like their stamina had been restored as though they had rested for a long time and their wounds had started to heal.

"Wow! This medicine sure is great! I feel like I could take on the big monster from earlier on my own!" marveled Neptune as she stood up, examining herself.

"Nep-nep, now's not the time to be amazed, we need to help IF and Ray!" Compa stood up and started preparing some magic to buff the others.

"Yeah! You're right Compa, it's time to go all out!" A flash of white light and the more mature-looking version of Neptune floated there. "Now then, I'm going to pay you back!"

Ray and IF were engaging the witch in circles as Neptune suddenly flew in, slashing with a force that the old witch couldn't even defend completely, leaving the first wound on her.

"Why you!!!" The witch was enraged that she was harmed by the same person that she had defeated so effortlessly.

"It's not over yet! Cross Combination!" Neptune continued her assault, forcing the witch to focus on parrying but was still forced back slowly.

At this moment, Ray and IF quickly took a breather. Ray quickly took out some vials and coated his weapon with it while passing some to IF as well. "These are for debuffing the enemy." He quickly explained to IF. Simultaneously, Compa's buff came as well, boosting their recovery speed and magic.

"Thanks Compa!" said IF, as she coated her qatars and starts preparing a magic circle.

Ray rushed in infusing his weapon with electrical mana as he charged. Neptune's last strike forced the witch's weapon away, leaving the witch open. Seizing the opening, Ray placed all his might into his attack and slashed the witch without any mercy.

Unfortunately, the witch was able to react in time by gathering her mana to form a barrier with one hand and blocked his attack. Sparks flew from the point where Ray's weapon had made contact with the shield. Gathering her composure, the witch readied her four pronged spear to impale the male in front of her. Though the witch failed to notice the magic circle that had formed under her feet.

"Ray, now!" IF shouted and Ray reacted instantly by jumping backwards to dodge the spear which caused the witch to stumble after putting her full force into that strike but missing. "Flame Pillar!" At the same time, the magic circle glowed red underneath the witch and a pillar of white flames erupted from her feet, burning and trapping her within the circle.

As the flames continued to erupt in the circle, Ray trains his Desert Eagle directly at the flames and starts to infuse lightning mana into the barrel, causing a magic circle to appear in front of the gun. IF was focusing on channeling her mana to make the flames last as long as possible. At the same time, Neptune readied a stance after regaining her breath back from before.

Suddenly, the flame pillar started to expand as though something was trying to escape from within. "Can't hold it much longer…" IF said while gritting her teeth to hold up the spell. As soon as she said that, the flames were forced apart from within, causing IF some damage due to the destruction of her spell. The flames started to dissipate, revealing the witch who did not fare well within the flames. There are many burnt marks upon her body and her clothes were tattered as well, signifying that IF's effort was not in vain.

Immediately after the flames disappeared, Ray fired the spell from his revolver which formed bolts of lightning that charged through the air. 'Thousand Thunderbolts!' The lightning bolts struck the witch even before she could react. The thunderbolts forced her back into the cavern walls and continued their damage upon her mercilessly, causing the cavern to shake wildly making people wonder whether the cavern will collapse or not.

After the thunderbolts have disappeared, the silhouette of the witch was revealed to show that she seems to have fallen unconscious. At the sight of that, two long sighs can be heard from the group. But the other two more experienced adventurers were not reassured and started closing in onto the figure cautiously to authenticate whether the enemy has really fainted or not.

All right, this is the end of this chapter. Please RR and give any suggestions in the comments. Thanks in advance for reading my fanfiction! Also, if you guys will, please visit my blogspot which I will be updating parts of any chapter weekly on Mondays. The website is : / / blogwithray. blogspot . my / without the spaces within.