Mina sighed and shook her head. "Shachor, I may not allow that yet. There is only one way to ensure that Lowee can handle any particular threats from ASIC and monsters. It is them, and you just cannot give away your queens in a game can you?" Mina asked, and Shachor nodded.
Shachor was quiet for a minute. He needed the candidates for power, which was necessary to even compete with the CFWs at this point. "What is this ultimate threat that endangers Lowee to the point of it's military being obsolete?" Shachor questioned after a quick nod.
"According to what your mother has told me, you know very much about monster and myth, correct?" Shachor nodded once more. "Okay then, what do you know about the 'Killachine'?" Shachor narrowed his eyes. He had read much on the eldest nation, and the two biggest things that he remembered were the Deity of Sin and Killachine.
"The myth, yes. They supposedly paraded over Lowee for years until the first CPUs and Mascot appeared and sealed them away." Shachor answered, recalling the story with a slight tinge of apprehension. "Legend has it that only a descendant of the goddesses that sealed them away could destroy the portal that the monstrous machines were forced through."
"Hm... Kei wasn't kidding." Mina smiled. "I suppose you know the truth however?"
Shachor tapped his chin. "By simple deduction one can assume that the legend is fact, and it was kept legend to the public so the mortals wouldn't get any interesting ideas." Shachor gears were turning. "Mascots can be destroyed, but by all other definitions they are eternal, being able to go on forever. The same Mascot that held the portal seal for millennia could still be there today for all I know." Shachor turned his striking flames to the blue haired woman. "You know more however?"
"I am the Oracle of Lowee after all. Could you heal the girls while I make breakfast and explain our predicament?" Shachor nodded and went off to where he could find fire. Mina watched in horror as he lit the fireplace and stuck his hand in. The flames he grabbed were quickly turned to oily platinum as he rubbed their heads, and the skin closed quickly. Mina let out a quiet sigh. She knew that Kei had learned some ancient alchemy, but she had no idea that Shachor learned to do the same. "Shachor... Where did you learn that? I thought Kei said that you were not to learn those ways."
"Kei wasn't careful enough when she explained how to do it to Lastation's healers and army men." Shachor said calmly, shrugging with slight difficulty. "I learn by watching, and once she showed them I mastered it on my own." Shachro held out his hands. "The flames are supposed to stay red through. It's probably my untraditional fashion that made them change color."
Mina flinched. Kei didn't explain the color changing? The more metallic the fire appeared usually dictates the elevation among race, but Mina decided to stay quiet and make breakfast.
Rom woke up with Shachor standing over her with worried red eyes. "You won?" Shachor nodded and helped her up. Rom could smell Mina making breakfast in the kitchen and could sense her twin up in their room. This left the two candidates simply staring at each other, with mutual interest. Rom wanted to understand why he looked so tired despite having it be morning, Shachor wanting to know how this little girl was a goddess. The silence got too tense and Shachor began to hum a soft melody that Noire used to sing when he was first found. Rom smiled and summoned her flute and began to play the same song that Blanc played when she and Ram were younger.
Shachor stopped. "You can play an instrument?" Rom nodded. "So can I! Wait a second!" Shachor had started to open a portal, yet it took a minute. He was about to run through when he paused. "I haven't gotten used to Lowee enough to be able to warp here off memory. Could you spike your energy for a minute after I'm gone?" Rom nodded happily, and Shachor vanished through the dark warp.
"Finally, that dummy is gone!" Rom's shoulders dropped at her sister's arrival.
"Ram... Why don't you like Mr. Shachor?" Rom asked her sister with pleading eyes.
"Cause he beat me up for no reason!" Ram whined, and Rom shook her head.
"No... You attacked him first..." Rom said quietly. "He defended himself..."
Ram scrunched up her face. "No fair! I came in to save you and he comes in from another land! He's our enemy!"
Rom shook her head again. "Enemy never saves hero... We read that... In a book." Ram was getting more and more frustrated, and her power was growing.
"I DON'T..." Shachor appeared through a portal, playing the tune on his shadow black, star speckled brass trombone, the slide soundless as the god played the low tones. "Wha..." Ram was calmed by both her sister and Shachor playing a gentle lullaby.
"Kids, breakfast!" Mina called from the kitchen, and Rom and Ram both ran in while Shachor placed his instrument down gently and walked into the kitchen. He found a bit of pancakes and eggs, with bacon bits sprinkled over the top lying on the counter. He picked up his plate, and sat down at the only empty chair. "Oh..." Shachor looked up. Was he breaking the chair with his weights?
"Sis..." Rom muttered sadly, her eyes misting.
"Get out of that chair, dummy! You're making Rom cry!" Ram snapped, slamming her fist on the table.
"Ram!" Mina scolded. "That was very rude!" Despite this comment Mina still gave Shachor a look that told him to stand. "Girls, eat. I need to talk to Shachor in peace, okay?" The girls nodded and dug in. The two walked out of the room after Shachor slurped down his whole plate. The two were in the hall when Mina sighed with a weary smile. "My apologies. The girls are very sentimental, and what you just sat in was Blanc's chair. It's the only thing the two have left of her that isn't locked away in her room."
Shachor flinched, and sighed in a knowing tone. "I understand. In our Basilicom we have this trisector of chairs were our family used to sit. I did throw a temper tantrum at their age..." Shachor paused. "Supposed age when a regular mortal sat in Noire's chair, and I nearly killed him for it." Shachor laughed nervously. "I'm not surprised at their sentimental value extremes." Shachor cleared his throat and got serious again. "Either way, how do I stop the Killachines?"
Mina nodded, focusing again. "Well... You would have to destroy the portal that holds them, which is where our Mascot is now." Shachor nodded with a slight grin. "I wouldn't be so enthusiastic. The 'legend' says that you will have to fight some before you destroy the nexus of the portal, and the Killachines are supposed to be on your level." Mina gazed downward at Shachor's weights. "Maybe even a bit stronger now. So, those are what are holding you back?" She asked, gaining a solemn nod.
"They cut my Share ties and constantly drain my stamina. My normal weights slowed me down, but these actually eat away at my existence." Shachor explained, rubbing his aching wrists. "Nothing I can do about it either. I'm not even sure if transforming would help me out right now."
Mina flinched. She was still traumatized from when the first time the girls had transformed. It took all of Blanc's energy to force them to revert, and she knew about Shachor not transforming himself for the longest time. "Um... Please don't transform in Lowee. I fear the results." Shachor nodded, not so oblivious to her asserting tone or reasoning why. "Here, I'll..."
"Shachor! Are you here?" A familiar voice rang out, and Shachor sighed. It was Cyber who had found him. How come Nepgear couldn't? Cyber appeared around the corner with a smile. "Hey, what happened to you? You weren't in the room when we woke up and I had to use my blood hound part of me to hunt you down." I raised an eyebrow. "Just kidding, your phone. It's still on you right?" Shachor reached into his pocket and found the device, somehow unscathed. "By the way, here." Cyber gave Shachor his coat back, much to the god's surprise. "I got some pants and a upper battle suit prepped for winter on the way here." Cyber turned around to show off the CC2-S. "There it is!"
"S?" Shachor asked, rubbing the top of his head in confusion.
Cyber giggled. "CyberConnect2 Shachor, dummy! I thought you were intelligent!" Cyber slapped him on the back with force because she figured he could handle it, but when he stumbled and fell to his knees is when she got concerned. "Did you get weaker?"
"Around fifty percent to be exact." Shachor explained his case, and Cyber sighed.
"So that's why you were gone. You challenged them all and you didn't even transform?!" Cyber demanded, and Shachor nodded. "All because of your sister?! It seems like your sister is trying to get you killed if you are facing the final boss of the game on hard mode when you're only level twenty!" Cyber demanded, angry as the Oracle and god allowed her to rant. Her red eyes went back to a cooled down green and she sighed. "Sorry about that, but why? You may have won if your ability is all it's cracked up to be! You would have been at 160% percent shares in a state where'd you'd be as strong as a god! If your stamina held up it be done, end of story!"
Shachor agreed. "I'll be forced to transform soon enough I suppose. I'm just delaying my ascension." The young god admitted. Mina while this was happening was observing the two converse as if they had know each other for years. Shachor must have a strange affect on people all around him, or he was so dangerous and volatile in the first place that you had to stay happy around him in fear of what he might do. That was always the issue with the CPUs. What they might do is always a dangerous underlying factor in what they should do. The rest of Shachor's party appeared through the door when the timing was perfect, and Shachor decided to explain his plan.
It's been something. I don't know, fifteen days? I lost count. Either way, have fun guessing what Shachor's plan is!