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We apologize for the wide gap between the release of this chapter and the release of last chapter. We aren't particularly interested in the story of Victory/Re;Birth 3, so we need to take constant breaks to prevent our death from boredom. But we know a lot of people like Plutia and Peashy respectively so we're willing to continue writing this story. We're doing our best to mix it up a bit. As compensation, here's a long ass chapter.
Level 10: Strength
Soaring through the clear blue sky like a high-velocity bullet was CPU Turquoise Heart, her dangerous lust for Blanc growing the closer she got to Lowee. Hearing that her favorite person in the whole wide world needed her physical aid, made her the happiest woman on the planet. Whatever Blanc needed done, Turquoise Heart, or rather Ilesa would get it done in a jiffy. Just hearing Blanc request her assistance in person would drive the girl mad. Turquoise Heart was already planning on how she would have Blanc repay her once the job was completed. Various ideas rushed to her mind and she got so distracted, that she almost flew into the buildings of her own nation a couple of times.
After a few minutes of flying, Lowee's towering Basilicom was in her field of vision.
"HERE I COME, BLANC-BLANC!"
If one were looking at the sky from below, one would only see Turquoise Heart zip by faster than any jet and would hear her disturbingly loud laughter as it echoed throughout The Ileshnian Konigreich.
「NOW LOADING」
"It looks like... we lost him..."
Both Noire and Rouge were visibly out of breath and stopped when they reckoned they got far enough. While traveling to Lowee, they were unfortunate enough to cross paths with a border patroller and were chased for quite some time. It wasn't until they made a cut through a forest of autumn-like trees that they lost the patroller.
"Aye... You must be in serious shape, Noire. I had to bust my chops just to stay in the lead..."
"I could go faster if I wanted to." Noire wore her confident grin as saw this as the perfect opportunity to show off. "I was trying not to leave Plutia... behind..." After catching her breath, Noire straightened her posture and started to scan the vast area. It didn't take her long to notice that something or more specifically someone was missing. "Uh, where is she?"
"Wha? Um..." Rouge shrugged.
"That's strange... I thought I heard her behind us just a second ago," Lastation's CPU said as she turned her head to search the area for Plutia.
Rouge was about to look for the girl until she remembered something. She replayed Noire's exact words in her mind and raised a brow while eyeing the ravenette. "Wait a minute... You said you were trying not to leave Plutes behind... RIGHT...?"
"Y-Yeah, but... Ugh, that girl! I hope she wasn't caught. Come on, let's find her!"
The two goddesses were soon out of sight. Seemingly from the same direction they ran off to, Plutia emerged from a cluster of bushes. She looked more beat than Noire and Rouge combined. Drenched in sweat, the girl sighed and somehow managed to smile, despite her condition.
"I... finally... made it... I've never run that much before..."
Plutia looked around at where she was. The nation called Lowee looked very different from the one in Hyper Dimension. In Hyper Dimension, Lowee was a land known for its cold and snowy weather all year round. Not that Plutia knew that. In this Lowee, there was not an inch of snow in sight. Instead, were tons of towering autumn trees that varied in color, and instead of houses shaped like mushrooms, there were houses similar to those seen in traditional Japanese villages with fusuma and everything.
To Plutia, everything just looked really colorful and it was really distracting.
"So this is Lowee, huh...?"
It took her another whole minute to realize that her friends weren't there with her.
"Where are Rougey and Noire...? Don't tell me those girls got lost..." Plutia hung her head. "I can't believe them... Where could they be...?"
Slightly annoyed by her friends' disappearances, Plutia walked around aimlessly while calling out the names of her party members until she bumped into the well-developed chest of a wandering woman. With her head wedged between the woman's mounds, Plutia looked up and found deep blue eyes looking into her curiously widened ones. This went on for almost five minutes until Planeptune's CPU opened her mouth.
"Huuuuuh?"
"Oh?"
"Hmmmmmm..."
"D-Do you have some business with me?" For the woman, it was awfully rude of this little girl to be so close to her while not saying anything like "excuse me" or "sorry". She tried her best to make light of the situation, however. "Perhaps I have some frozen tea on my face?" The woman said while running her fingers through her long, soft blonde hair, simultaneously brushing off the drips of sweat coming from the back of her neck. Having someone finding her detectable wasn't something she wanted nor needed.
"Ummm, lady? Is this your first time in Lowee?" Plutia asked, unconsciously ignoring the blonde's question.
"Hmm? Um, yes, but..."
Plutia liberated herself from the tall woman's cleavage and vivaciously frollocked around while waving her arms and giggling spiritedly. Nearly thirty seconds passed by when she finished her little celebration and stopped in front of the woman. "Hehehehehe. We're first-timer twins!"
「NOW LOADING」
"Ugh... I feel terrible..." Nessui's eyes were stained red and she was sitting near a street corner in Aurora's capital with her knees hugged to her chest. She had been crying her eyes out all night. Somehow she got sleep, but just by a very small margin. It was still too soon for her to be doing a task that essentialized so much focus. Especially with the emotional stress she had been dealing with for the past three days. She couldn't even think without tears forming in her eyes. "I miss Rougey..."
"Jeez, how long are you going to sulk?" Nessui glanced up and met Uni's impatient yet questioning gaze. "We have work to do. You can't keep blowing us off just because you don't feel happy. Suck it up." Uni had to make herself crystal clear. Nessui was supposed to be the fearless administrator of this Aurora patrolling session. If she just sat down there and moped, there would be no point in doing this.
"Come on, Uni. Don't be so inconsiderate..." Nepgear crouched down beside the red goddess and hugged her close, comforting her a little. "If it was Neptune that went missing, I would probably be in a similar state." She looked up and straight into Uni's red eyes. "What if Noire went missing?"
"Ah! Uh... oh... I..." Now terribly vexed, Uni didn't want such a thought to cross her mind for too long, thus giving the Planeptune Candidate no reply. Instead, she changed the subject which was probably the best thing to do. "Remember what Rouge told us. We have to be on the lookout for that leader-girl of the Citizen Group. Something about a suit orー"
Nepgear shot up like a rocket when she saw someone. "Uni, you said suit, right? Look over there!"
A few meters away was a woman who looked considerably angry. That wasn't what Nepgear and Uni saw, though. They were more focused on her appearance rather than her facial expression. She was wearing a suit, wore glasses, and had blue hair, just like Rouge had described her.
The girls, even Nessui, seemingly shook off all of their problems and ran towards the woman, stopping her from leaving the area. Their original plan was to confront the woman with sharp words and sweat-inducing questions, but seeing her in person understandably gave the Candidates cold feet. This was the woman who single-handedly banished a CPU to another dimension. That sort of thing was unheard of and sounded ridiculous.
Uni was the bravest amongst the three and spoke up first.
"H-Hello, miss. I have... a question..." She took a deep breath and felt a rise in her confidence. "First, I want to know what you are doing here, and then I want to know all about the Citizen Group."
Uni grabbed onto the woman's coat and the woman's right eye twitched as she looked down at the Lastation Candidate. She knew well who the girl was and the fact that she was a CPU Candidate was the sole reason why she didn't have time to fight.
But it was still enough to make a strand of hair on her head stand up.
"Mere CPU Candidates should not touch me so casually!"
WHACK!
Rei struck Uni across the face and knocked the Candidate back. This triggered a response from Nepgear and Nessui who were watching the whole ordeal from a few inches back. Nepgear rushed to Uni's side and Nessui summoned her fighting gloves and lunged at the woman. Once her fist finally connected, Nessui and the others found themselves confused when no one was there anymore. The woman had disappeared somehow.
"Uni! Are you okay?"
"I'm... fine. More importantly, what was that all about? She's a normal human, right?"
Nessui dematerialized her gloves and soon faced the Candidates. From the look on her face and the sound of her voice, she appeared to have activated Red Candidate's personality switch without transforming into her goddess form. "She's human, we know that much." She looked up at the sky and felt her heart ache when she thought about where Rouge could possibly be.
"Although, 'normal' might be the wrong adjective for her..."
「NOW LOADING」
"I'm sorry, but could you repeat that? I was kind of distracting by... something..."
Rouge narrowed her eyes while whistling a tune. It was obvious what she was distracted by, anyone with a brain like hers or even anyone with a sense of some type of sexuality would be distracted by... that.
It turns out that the woman Plutia was having a somewhat casual somewhat awkward conversation with was the Ultra Dimension's version of Vert. After Noire and Rouge had found Plutia with Vert, Rouge almost revealed Vert's true identity to the two CPUs, but she was stopped and dragged to the side just in time. Now she was face to face with Ultra Vert, but everything she had just said had not been absorbed.
"...Let me start over. First, who are you?"
"OH! I'm Rouge. I'm the CPU of Aurー" Rouge clamped her mouth shut. "I'm one of the CPUs of Planeptune."
"I understand you, then." Vert cleared her throat and this time when she explained, she made sure not to get on eye level with the girl as that proved to be a quote and quote "distraction". "In any event, please keep my true identity a secret. Top secret, if at all possible. Right now, on the other side of their HDTV, they need to be curious about who this lovely new lady is! Forcing them to wait a certain amount of time before revealing my identity is only proper etiquette, you see."
"What are you two whispering...?" Plutia walked over to the pair that excused themselves with Noire. Rouge and Vert didn't properly excuse themselves from the group and they had been going back and forth for about five minutes. Five minutes was too much for Noire to deal with. "We can't waste time right now."
"Oh, you've got a point," Rouge said and looked at Vert. "I'm sorry, but we gotta see Blanc to fix up somethings. Arrivederci."
Noire, Plutia, and Rouge all turned to face the Basilicom of Lowee, their destination. It was the largest structure in the nation and it was one of the few buildings to tower over the seemingly endless abundance of trees. To Rouge, the Basilicom looked a lot more like a elegant palace than a workplace. Not only was it the tallest structure, but the widest too as it was pretty much like a border/building with a gate.
"Alright, let's get moving," Noire smirked as she swung her arm out and pointed to the Basilicom in the distance. "We're going to burst right through the front gates!"
"Yah!"
"Yaaaay!"
"Yay, indeed!"
"I heard one voice too many." Noire spun around as soon as she heard said voice. Standing there was the outwardly excited Vert. She had her hands together and was wearing her usual smile with closed-eyes.
"Vert! You're comin' along?" Rouge asked the taller blonde woman.
"What a terrible response." Vert pouted and lowered her hands. "You were going to kick me out of your party?"
"You were never in it," Noire answered sternly. "I can't let some random person join us."
"You let me join you," Rouge stated as she grabbed onto the shoulders of Lastation's CPU who was thrown off balance by the red goddess's words and actions. "Come on, don't be difficult."
"Who's difficult?! I-I'm not difficult!" The ravenette defended herself with a flushed face.
Even though she was enjoying the little comedy routine between the two friends, if she could even call them that, Vert was in somewhat in a hurry and she needed to put an end to this. As a lady should, she politely but forcefully grabbed the attention of the two rivals and made her opening statement with a clearing of the throat. "Either way, I ought to introduce myself. My name is Vert. I have traveled to Lowee from afar for my own reasons."
"And those reasons are?"
"I believe them to be similar to yours."
Vert was killing it with the "Mysterious Woman" act. She was able to grant her so-called party members information without revealing too much about herself. She had to hold in her proud laughter from how smart she was. Noire was getting different vibes, though. Every sentence that came out of the blonde's mouth made her even more skeptical.
"You're making it hard for me to trust you." She muttered and turned to her actual party members. "You don't actually believe her, do yー"
She found that her party members had no qualms or second thoughts about letting this woman join them on their adventure. They were shaking hands with Vert who was doing her best to maintain a clear head regardless of the confusing personalities of the Planeptune CPUs.
"I'm Plutia it's nice to meet you."
"My name is Rouge. Let's have fun together, 'kay?"
"Why, yes. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
All of Noire's sense of authority just melted away in an instant and she turned her back on the group before sighing. "Dammnit, fine! Just know that if you try anything funny, I'll show you no mercy!"
Despite Noire's skepticism, Vert had already felt more than welcomed. She nodded to show Noire that she understood every word that came out of her mouth as clear as crystal.
"I'll bear that in mind. As the saying goes, if you plan to eat the poison, finish the plate. In other words, I'm all-in."
「NOW LOADING」
Lowee's Basilicom was something special. From the inside it looked exactly like a traditional Japanese home. It could have been something Blanc whipped up straight out of one of her novels. There were ranma and on the floor was beige-colored tatami. Sitting at a flat-topped desk that appeared to be too large for her was Blanc. She did her best to maintain an emotionless face and if one could comment, she was doing an outstanding job. However, deep down inside she knew that there was some sort of emotion she hadn't felt in a long time. Fear. There was a lot going on right now and the fear of the outcome of it all just added to her stress.
What's going to happen? She had been asking that question to herself all day.
"Lady Blanc." A heavy set older man with glasses and a suit knocked before entering the room. "Reports indicate that the CPUs have entered our Basilicom."
Blanc got up slowly after hearing the man's words and dropped her hands to her sides. Her dark blue eyes closed as she sighed and then looked at the ceiling. "...They've finally come."
"You intend to go through with it? You'll fight all three CPUs by yourself?"
Leveling a glare on him, Blanc was slightly offended. "What, you think I'll lose?"
The man almost choked when he met eyes with her. "No, no! Of course not. But eliminating three rivals does seem like a heavy burden to bear..."
"I'm not going to kill them," Blanc said sharply. "I'll just teach them a lesson with my fists... a lesson that'll tell them to never even think about defying Lowee again."
"Aren't you letting them off easy? As long as they live, they can become a threat to Lowee again..."
Blanc looked down and saw her own clenched fists trembling. "They won't, as long as I'm strong enough." Blanc soon became lost in thought once again. Her words echoed in her head multiple times until they made complete sense to her. As long as I'm strong enough...
"This invasion happening because you lack strength."
That was able to snap Blanc out of it. "The hell'd you just say?" A vein pulsed on her forehead and her growl was similar to a beast's.
The man put his hands up as if that was enough to defend himself. "L-Lady Blanc, it wasn't I who said that!"
"Then who did?!" Blanc was slowly getting angrier. Not only did her minister have the audacity to say she lacks strength, but also to lie straight to her face. It made her boil with rage. Everything seemed to be falling apart.
"I did."
The Minister and Blanc looked at the direction in where the voice came from and saw the person standing by the door. All of Blanc's anger had melted away and had transformed into... irritation. Standing there was the CPU of one of the few nations that had managed to come close to Lowee's grand status. She wore her silver hair in twintails with the rest of it flowing down. Her clothes seemed to follow a grey color scheme with various ribbons and bows placed at various placed like behind her skirt and on the shoulders of her long sleeved shirt. However, there was one strange thing about her. She had toy birds on her shoulders...
"...You're late." Blanc said as she turned away and went back to her desk.
"Lady Blanc, do you know this woman?"
She nodded. "This is the CPU of the The Ileshnian Konigreich, Ilesa Von Römmel. I guess you can call her a friend. She's a strange personality."
Ilesa bowed in front of the Minister. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
The Minister, who had out his hand, quickly corrected himself and did the same thing as he bowed. "S-Same here. Well... I have various things to prepare, so if you two will kindly excuse me..."
The Minister hurriedly left the room, leaving just Ilesa and an expectant Blanc. The turquoise goddess looked over to the white goddess. "You summoned me?"
"Yes. Thank you for coming. I need you to do something for me."
"For a reward, I'll kill anyone you want me to, Blanc-sama," Ilesa said, her lips trying to suppress a smile her eyes couldn't hide. It made her heart flutter whenever she would state her allegiance to her crush in person.
Blanc tilted her head. "What?"
"T-The CPUs that are on their way here. I'll kill them if that's what you ask of me, B...Blanc-sama..."
"What? No way. I don't want you fighting the CPUs with me. I just need you here for damage control."
Ilesa jaw dropped. "...Huh?"
Lowee's goddess pinched the space between her eyes and groaned. "Look. I want you to use your healing abilities to keep me in the game. Nothing less. Nothing more. Got it?"
"I guess." Even if it was questionable, Ilesa could never refuse the orders of her precious Blanc. "Okay. I won't get involved. But on one condition."
"And that is...?" Blanc could already feel the regret coming to surface.
Ilesa equipped one of her beam daggers and grinned conspiratorially. "I want to hear your orgasmic screams... So... can I stab you a couple of times? Pretty please? I promise I'll heal you afterwards~❤"
Ilesa's healing skills were phenomenal. She could relieve anyone from any type of wound or injury. The only drawback of her ability is while the pain completely disappeared, the effects didn't. Blanc has been healed by her before and it was entirely true that after the healing, she felt no pain. However, she was oblivious to the drawbacks.
"...Sure..." She said through clenched teeth with a look of distaste.
Ilesa didn't waste a second and sharp raised the dagger above her head.
"Here we go~❤"
「NOW LOADING」
After about an hour of running and fighting monsters that got in their path, Rouge's party made it to the outside of Lowee's Basilicom. The door was wide open and there were no guards. Shrugging to each other, the party stepped in and they were amazed by how large the room was.
"This is insane. The room is ginormous." Rouge said as she looked around at the traditional Japanese designs that have, for some reason, piqued her interest.
Plutia nodded in agreement. "It sure is... Um, this could be...?"
"You're so frickin' slow." The girls turned their heads and saw Blanc who was already in her goddess form. She wore a conceited smirk as she spoke. "I thought you might've bit the dust on your way here or something."
Noire returned the comment with a contemptuous grin of her own. "Sounds like you really have been sitting here and waiting for us."
"Hm?" Rouge looked over to White Heart's left and found a woman cleaning tomato juice off of a dagger... or at least she thought it was tomato juice. "The girl with the blue hair is Blanc... and that girl is..."
"Is this a new face?" Vert asked Rouge who was continuously staring at the girl with the silver hair in twintails.
White Heart had to have worn the smuggest grin when she introduced her "friend". "This right here is Ilesa Von Römmel, the CPU of the Ileshnian Konigreich."
Rouge clapped her hands on her cheeks and gasped. "WHOA! That name is LEAGUES harder than Rouge!"
"'Harder'?" Plutia frowned at the CPU's words. "Your name's not hard to say, Rougey~"
"Eh? Oh yeah?" Rouge looked at Plutia with confidence flashing in her eyes. "Then I challenge you! Pronounce my name! If you can..."
"R... Roage...?" Shaking her head, Plutia tried again. "Roooooooー"
"Enough of the useless natter!" Noire scowled and pointed sharply at White Heart. "I have a mountain of complaints to direct into that angry face of yours!"
Noire was surprised when she saw that White Heart wasn't focused on her somewhat intimidating words. Instead, she was much more concentrated on the casual heart-to-heart conversation going on between Planeptune's CPUs. Those two looked like they were having the bestest field day.
"...Come on, you two..." Noire muttered.
Rouge glanced at White Heart and then rubbed the top of her head, messing up her already wild hair in the process. "Sorry about that. I'm just so used to being around this many CPUs that this doesn't really strike me as a dangerous situation... That Ilesa girl is new though."
Rouge looked at Ilesa again and there was nothing but silence between the two. "Hey, Blanc. You gonna fight us with this girl?"
"I don't need Ilesa to fight your dumbasses!" White Heart roared and made Rouge shiver. "This world's one and only CPU is gonna kick all your unfunny asses!"
Rouge and Plutia weren't listening to a thing White Heart said. Instead, they were studying Ilesa. This obviously pissed off the white goddess, but Noire and Vert kept her in check.
"Excuse me, Ilesa... Why are you working with Blanc?"
Ilesa looked up at the seemingly incessant Rouge, then Blanc, and then down at her dagger again. "I don't have to talk to these fools... Just hurry up and beat them, Blanc-sama."
Noire's eyes widened and she covered her mouth at her brief giggle. "...'B-Blanc-sama?'" Her voice did a poor job at hiding her high spirits.
"SHUT IT!" White Heart yelled and turned to Ilesa. "Don't call me that when we're in public!"
White Heart flinched once she had said those very words. The way she worded it made it sound like they were, in fact, a...couple.
"Bahn! This is your girlfriend?!" Rouge's eyes widened as she put two and two together.
"Rouge! Plutia! Focus!" Noire shouted. "I see there's no complaining to you. If it's a fight you want, then I'm all-in."
A door at the far east corner suddenly slammed open. A little girl dressed in pink with blonde hair stood there with a pissed off expression. "Ga-thunk! ...Hey! Don't start fighting yet!"
"Huuuuuh? Abnes?"
"'Abnes'?" Rouge was lost. "Who in Red's name is that?" And was there always a door there?
"Hm? Someone doesn't know who I am?" Abnes shrugged. "Oh well. You'll know soon enough... Hey! Stop slacking and get the camera ready!"
A rather large, grey mouse squeezed himself passed Abnes and groaned while holding a camera that looked to be his size. He appeared to be having the worst day of his life. "Ugh, why do I keep getting recruited as the underling, chu...?
Pirachu is here, too? Rouge cogitated. What kind of circus is this?
"Why are you two here?" Rouge finally said out loud.
"It's not that complicated," Noire answered. "I already knew that Lowee and the Seven Sages are in cahoots."
That little girl is in the Seven Sages?!
Abnes caught Rouge deeply staring at her. "Why are you so focused on me?!" She was well aware of the red goddess's "extra member" and made it a priority not to be wrapped up by it. She was far to innocent to become the prey of this... person.
"Sorry." Rouge quickly looked away and gazed at the wall. Well, it shouldn't be that much of surprise. I mean, they have a rat on their team for fuck's sake.
"You say that like it's shady." White Heart's cold glare at Noire got even colder. "They just lend me a hand every now and then."
"And we're the ones who are not suited to be CPUs..." Noire sucked her teeth.
"Now listen here you little, bitch. I've been protecting this nation all by myself for ages! I'll do whatever it takes to keep it safe!" White Heart's teeth clenched as he thought about what Noire said. "There's no way in hell I'm gonna be bitched into submission by some newborn CPUs!"
"Gee, aren't you just SO important? Remind us, who's feeling threatened by us 'newborn' CPUs again?" Noire seemed to have a comeback for everything White Heart said. She gave everyone in the room who didn't know her the impression that she was quite the witty young lass.
"The hell'd you just say?!" White Heart's anger was only being pushed to new limits. Limits that she herself didn't even know were possible. It was truly amazing how she was able to stay composed this whole time.
"I just said not to start!" Abnes looked down at Pirachu who was still setting up the camera. "C'mon rat, aren't you ready yet? You're such a dullard."
"Shut up, ya little broad! I ain't used to this kind of thing, so... Okay, all set, chu!"
Pirachu picked up the camera and instinctively, Abnes got in front of it. "Alright, roll camera! A-A-Ahem!"
Rouge was left speechless when she heard the next few words come out of Abnes's mouth. "Hiya, Gamindustri friends! This is the lovely and popular idol of the Seven Sages, Abnes!"
"Yuck. It's creepy how two-faced this kid can be..." Pirachu and Rouge were thinking the same thing.
"Can it, rat! Your stupid comments are gonna get picked up by the mic!" Abnes covered her mouth at her words. "Err, um...I...I mean..." Now transitioning back into her bubbly attitude, Abnes forced herself to blush as she spoke. "Ehehehe! Golly, I'm soooo sorry! I'm sure you're all surprised by our sudden broadcast, but this is must-see TV! Right here, in front of my adorable and impressionable eyes, an all-out brawl between CPUs is occurring!"
Noire's conceited smirk soon died and was replaced by a frantic appearance. "Huh? Wh-What the heck?! Are we on TV right now?!"
"Yeah." White Heart cracked her knuckles. "I thought it would be good for the world to see me beat the crap outta your asses."
"N-No way!"
White Heart grinned. "Yes way! Now Iー"
"Crap! My big television debut and I'm in my everyday clothes?! Ugh, how's my hair? Bring me a mirror!" Noire incomprehensibly said.
"We're live?! Awesome!" Rouge stepped in front of the camera, waved, and then looked at her fellow CPU. "Hey, Plutes, do you think that this is broadcasting in my dimension, too?"
"Hmmm... Maaaybe. Ooooh. Is this the thingy that records us? Hey, lemme seeeeee...!" With that in mind, both Plutia and Rouge grabbed the camera.
Meanwhile, Vert had heard everything and was able to make her near the exit without being detected by anyone. If this is being broadcasted across the world, this isn't where I need to be... Farewell. She ran out of the door and presumably made her escape from Lowee.
"Don't touch the tech! You'll get your grubby prints on the lens! Move outta frame, you're blocking me!" Abnes yelled furiously before squeezing herself passed Rouge and Plutia.
"You dumbasses have no idea how to create an air of tension." Blanc sighed. "Do you understand the situation you're in?"
"W-Well, of course I do! I just lost my composure for a fraction of a second, that's all! Besides..." Noire said before placing her hand on her chest and activating HDD. Once the pillar of energy the enveloped her had disappeared, CPU Black Heart emerged with her usual smirk. "I came to fight and now I get to show the world how fast Lowee's CPU falls in battle." Black Heart looked over to Rouge and Plutia who were still in awe from the camera. "Hey, you two. Hurry up and transform."
"Are you suuuure? Okay..." Plutia was enveloped by the same pillar and the woman of fear herself, CPU Iris Heart had appeared.
"H-Holy cheese! She's here! Gotta run, gotta hide, chu..."
"Hey, this isn't a shaky-cam movie! Record it properly, like we rehearsed!" Abnes yelled at the pitifully frightened Pirachu.
"Hahaha... Lowee's CPU must be quite the masochist to expose her uncouth behavior to the entire world." Iris Heart summoned her katana. "In fact, the two of us may make the perfect couple...!"
"Huh?" Hearing this took Ilesa's interest away from her dagger.
"Come on, Rougey. Transform!"
"Y-Yikes! Yes, ma'am!" Rouge raised her hand to her chest and the HDD light surrounded her. After transforming, CPU Red Heart emerged and shook in her boots as soon as she saw Iris Heart, her master. Their last encounter wasn't so... pleasant. Her fear was soon replaced by a romantic passion and desire when she laid her eyes on White Heart. "We meet again, Blanc. It's a shame that I have to put you in your place, but I'll play your game. I just love it when you play hard to get, baby."
"'Baby'?" Ilesa was at full attention now.
"I won't show you any mercy." White Heart summoned her ax. "I'll use all my strength to crush your bones to dust!"
"There's just so much I admire about you, Blanc." Red Heart squirmed around in her own feelings of love. "I feel like I have sinned from meeting your gaze with my nefarious eyes."
"To all our loyal viewers, we're sorry for the delay. The big CPU showdown is about to begin!" Abnes cheered before getting closer to the camera. "It's a no-holds-barred match! Don't you dare change the channel! Staaaay tuned!"
Red Heart quickly summoned sword for defense as she saw White Heart coming at her with her ax at hand.
SHING!
What had just happened had confused the both of them to the point of speechlessness. Ilesa, now transformed as Turquoise Heart had protected White Heart by attacking Red Heart who was protected by Iris Heart from Turquoise Heart's attack on Red Heart. Basically, Red Heart's chainblade which was aiming for White Heart's stomach was being blocked by Turquoise Heart's claymore and Turquoise Heart's claymore which was aiming for Red Heart's throat was been blocked and misdirected by Iris Heart's katana.
"Ilesa! What the hell are you doing?! I freakin' told you not to get involved!" White Heart yelled.
"Shut it, Blanc." Turquoise Heart coldly responded. It shocked Blanc because she didn't put the "-sama" at the end of her name. "These girls have declared their love for you and I refuse to sit back and do nothing as they do so. I and only I am fit to be your bride. That is why I must kill the red one."
Iris Heart laughed devilishly yet joyously as a response to Turquoise Heart's words. "And I cannot let you kill her, for she is my concubine and my slave..." In that moment, Turquoise Heart saw something unordinary shine in Iris Heart's eyes ー devotion. "She has become someone quite precious to me and I will not let anyone or anything take her away from me."
At the exact same time, Red Heart's and White Heart's hearts began to throb and beat faster as they felt their desire to fight notably grow. However, only the person who's heart throbbed sincerely would be suitable as the victor.
Now the only thing left to do is to find that victor.
「LEVEL CLEARED」