Chapter Twelve: Factories of fun

After being gone for a little under two days, Liam finally returns to the hotel room the party was renting, Neptune and Noire following behind him. After a heartwarming reunion and exciting stories, the entire gang falls asleep in there rented beds.

Waking in the asscrack of the morning, IF drags Liam along to get another job from Avenir.

"Remind me why- *yawn* why we are meeting Business Mcbusinessman again?" Liam grumbled, wishing he had some form of caffeine before they left.

"Because we need more information about the expo." IF says in a hushed tone.

"That and, if your Emperor story is true we have someone more dangerous than common thugs and pickpockets."

"Right… I wonder what kind of insults I can come up with on the fly this time." Liam mumbles as he fiddles with the crystal on his staff.

As soon as they arrive at Avenir's headquarters, they find it locked off from the rest of the city with police tape and Avenir officials.

"The hell happened here?" Liam asked aloud to no one in particular, and a familiar businessman perks up from the rest of the crowd.

"Oh, hello again." Ganache walks over to the two, crossing a police tape barrier.

"How unfortunate for you to see our HQ in this state, but that is none of your business, do you need something?" From a distance, the HQ looked about the same as when Liam saw it in passing, but now that he's up close he can see many broken windows and the dead bodies or blood pools on the ground. What ever happened here was resent, and brutal.

[...]

(... Well that's not-)

[That's my line…]

(Ok…)

"Yes. We were looking for another job from you, but from the looks of things we might not get one." Liam scans the building for any pointers to the culprit, but really doesn't care for it.

"Oh no, we have more available jobs now than ever thanks to this… incident. Meet me at... this abandoned factory building in a few hours." Ganache walks away from the pair after marking a building on the map.

"Alright then… that was quick." Liam commented as the duo begin there walk back.

"Yeah, no kidding. That building was fine last I saw it, what happened to it?" IF asks, looking to Liam like he knew.

Liam shrugs in response.

"Whatever it was it must of been gruesome, body's kicked out of windows is likely one of many things that happened…" Liam thinks back on Leo's little... execution is a good word for it.

(Wonder where Leo is now?)

[Let's not think of that now, we have better things to do.]

(I can't help it, I'm curious…)

Liam and IF return to the hotel to retrieve the others and set off to the abandoned factory.

A few hours later…

After buying a metric shit ton of some medical grass using a majority of their credits along with other things, the party arrived at Avenir Factory Number Three. A old, decrepit, piece of shit of a factory building and it show with the density of the weeds and debris.

"And so, Nep and family have arrived to a closed factory for Avenir's work!" Neptune pipes up when she passed through the gate of the facility.

"*sigh* You're happy, as usual." Noire gumbles.

"Hey, when you don't have your memory, you can do whatever you want!" Neptune responds, cheerful smile unwavering.

"I sometimes admire your free nature… in any case, what's this about being called to this kind of place?" Noire glances to the factory in confusion.

"Honestly, I don't have a damn clue…" Liam looks to the entrance of the factory itself and sees Ganache walking towards them.

"It's been a while folks. I'd like to have work done again from you." Ganache says as he arrives.

"Hiya there! You must work a lot. Don't get burned out, you hear." Neptune says.

"Do I look that busy? I have been taking my breaks quite liberally." Ganache replies, itching the back of his head. Liam's eye twitches for a reason unknown to him.

"I wish I could take breaks when I want too." Compa comments.

"Well, most of our work is handled by machines, so things are easy." As Ganache says this, Liam raises his eyebrow.

(Robits you say, now you have my attention.)

[?]

"Now, getting back to business. Let's get right back into the subject. As you can see, it has been years since this facility was in operation." Ganache continues.

"So what are we doing here?" IF asks as Liam digs about in a nearby pile of scrap.

"There is a certain item we have not recovered since it's closure. We want you to find it and bring it back to us." Ganache says, as Liam pops his head out of the scrap pile after hearing "certain item".

"Is that it? Wow, it sounds even easier than before." Neptune comments.

"It does, doesn't it? Well on the contrary, there's monsters there now." Ganache responds as Liam returns to the group.

"Of course there is, it would be boring otherwise." Liam grabs for his staff, not finding it anywhere nearby.

"I see. So you need us to go in and take care of that, too." IF says as Liam jumps back into the scrap pile to look for his staff.

"So, what's this thing we need to recover? It sounds pretty important."

"It is a certain ore. We call it the 'Lastelite'." Ganache explains as Liam's staff wielding hand bursts out of the pile in a heroic manner, and he crawls back to the group.

"Just one gram holds enough energy to power a game console for ten thousand years. The excavation of it is difficult, so we'd like to recover what we have." Ganache explains.

"I've… never heard of such an ore before." IF ponders aloud.

"'Lastelite'...I've never heard of it either." Noire confirms.

"Well, why haven't you recovered it sooner if it's so great?" Liam pipes up, Ganache twitches at the comment.

"That's why I'm sending you folks." Ganache responds, giving Liam a dirty look.

Liam only responded with a raised eyebrow

"If it's so great, I would at least know about it…" IF finished.

"Well, of course, we held monopoly of this ore. We did not disclose it for the sake of holding full control of it." Ganache seemsto explain, but Liam noticed that his heart was beating faster than normal.

(I still can't get used to that whole, "I can feel your heartbeat" thing.)

"Well, if it's that super, do you mind giving us a small wee bit?" Neptune asks innocently.

(How would that even work?)

[Pardon?]

(If we did get this powerful ore, how will we turn it into ten thousand years of power?)

[I have no idea…]

(Exactly!)

"Hey, Nep, no fooling around now." IF stole the words out of Liam's mouth.

"But Iffy! It can run game consoles for ten thousand years! It's like the magic power we gamers were looking for all our lives!" Neptune objects, as Liam wonders what kind of material the crystal on his staff is made out of.

"Well if you would like some, I can certainly spare a small bit." Ganache-

"Really?!" Neptune shouts, somehow interrupting the narrative.

"Yes. We were able to work efficiently because of your work last time. As long as you keep this a secret, I don't see any harm sharing a bit." Ganache says, unaware of how bad of a mistake he made.

"Yay! I thought Avenir was kinda bleh, but Ganache saved the day!" Neptune is fooled by the web of Ganache's lies.

"I'm happy to know that… now, we don't want to waste time here. Please take care of the order." Ganache begins walking to the large metal doors of the factory.

"Okay! Leave it to captain Nep and her friendly crew!" Neptune walks behind Ganache to the door.

"And bring us to the depths of hell? Sure, why the fuck not…" Liam begrudgingly follows the rest into the factory. Letting his guard down, the door slams shut from behind them as Ganache hid behind it.

"What?!" "Shit!" Noire and Liam shout respectively.

"Why did the entrance close behind us?! Ganache, what's going on!?" IF asks as Liam closes his eyes, and breathes deeply.

"Oh, my bad. I must have pressed something by mistake… well that's not true, I Shut it for my convenience. I'd like you to satisfy the hunger of the monsters there." Ganache says.

"Wh-What do you mean?!" Compa asks.

"Hey! What?! Why!? I'm not gonna get you precious ore if you do this!" Neptune shouts, still believing the malarkey.

"I'm surprised you've actually believed what I said… of course there's no such thing as an ore that can house that much energy." Ganache tries to hold back laughter.

"What? You tricked us?! But why!?" Noire asks.

"I already know you are assisting Chian of Passé. I assume you were trying to get information on our exhibit plans, no?" Ganache asks, like someone is going to-

"Iffy! They knew all along!" Neptune says in a panic.

(Why would you let them know their right?)

[Because Neptune.]

([*sigh*])

"I can't believe they knew about this…" IF says.

"We would win regardless, but I'm the careful type, you know." Ganache brags and for the first time, Liam had some respect for the guy.

"Now then, I don't have much time, so I need to go. Farewell." Ganache begins to walk away.

"Wait, Ganache!" IF shouts, expecting a reply.

"Tch!"

"Well, looks like the way out is sealed tight." Noire says calmly.

"Iffy… what's gonna happen to us?" Compa asks.

"Um, well…" IF stammered as Liam had an idea.

"I have a plan!" Everyone perked up, as Liam threw his staff at the door, it bounced off harmlessly.

"I'm out of ideas!" Liam tried to lighten the mood, failing exponentially.

A few moments of awkward silence

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If I didn't suggest taking Avenir's work, this wouldn't have…" Noire paused, bringing Compa to the brink of tears.

"Oh, c'mon, gals! What's the matter? This isn't like us! It's not like we can't get out. Let's find another way." Neptune succeeds were Liam had failed.

"Damn it, I was about to say that." Liam grumbles next to the door.

"Nep is right… this is a large area, so there has to be a way out. I'm not one to become monster food! Let's go!" IF leads the party deeper into the facility.

A quick round of combat later

Group walk down a hallway after defeating a small group of monsters, and looked into a large room full of them.

"Aaah… there's so many monsters here…" Compa comments.

"They just keep on spawning like some military game!" Neptune adds on.

"Odd… even if this was a monster's nest, this is way too many." IF says, as Liam's vision fades, and through a shroud of purple clouds, he sees two different enemy discs in the factory, one area looked strikingly familiar…

"Could it be possible Avenir gathered them here to finish us?" Noire asks, as Liam's vision returns and gives him a killer headache.

"Even if that was the case, how? How can you herd monsters of this number?" IF ponders.

"Well, I guess so…" Noire rubs her chin as Liam looks for, and finds the disk.

"Well here's your problem, there are two of these things around!" Liam shouts as the group turns to see him holding the disc.

"That is… an enemy disc! Where did you get it!?" IF asks.

"I found it in the wall over there, my vision went cloudy for a bit and showed me locations of two of these things, then I got a headache." Liam explains.

"Well, where is the other one?!" IF continues.

"I don't know, I only got a glimpse of them…"

"What are you two talking about? What's this about a disc?" Noire asks.

"This looks like a normal disc, right? Well, it's a monster generator." IF explained faster than Liam could.

"What?! Really?! If so, that's an amazing discovery!" Noire says, expectedly blown away by the discovery.

"I know right?!" Liam agrees, with only a bit of sarcasm.

"Is it really that amazing?" Compa asks.

"Yes. It's been three years since the monsters started to appear. Each land is trying to find the source, but none found one as of yet." Noire says.

"You're saying a bunch of random adventures manage to find the source of evil before the governments does? Why does that make sense!?" Liam rambles to himself.

"If we disclose this, then could we be famous?!" Neptune asks, stars in her eyes.

This greatly concerned Liam.

"Can you imagine all the paparazzi storming in for picture shots and stuff?! We'll be rich! I'll make a pool full of pudding! Mmm… pudding…"

"Nep-Nep, you might want to wipe that drool from you mouth…" Compa advices.

"Did you let Lastation's CPU… no, the Basilacom know?" Noire asks, as Liam mentally kicks himself.

"I was going to do that, but I got distracted with cat-ears and other shit…" Liam mumbles justloud enough for the others to hear.

"I see…" Noire's cheeks reddened when reminded of Liam's distraction in chapter six.

However they were interrupted by the disc flashing, spawning more monsters.

"Oh boy…" Liam grabbed his staff, readying for battle.

A squad of robotic enemies surrounded the group, numbering in at about twenty to twenty five. The majority of which were little balls with an exposed "trench" called Bit Customs, while the rest were a flouting model of droid with six spears which were likely their main weapon called R4s. An obvious reference.

"So, Anyone have a pla-" A flash of light and Purple Heart charged into the thick of it.

"No? Ok then." Compa and IF ready themselves for the coming slog.

"Let's do this."

-BATTLE BEGIN-

The robits slowly advanced in mass as sparks flew from Liam's staff to his fingers, roughly forming a ball.

"Here, catch!" The ball of lightning moved like a normal object affected by gravity, that exploded on impact with the ground, destroying the Customs in the center of it, and damaging the rest nearby.

(Didn't expect that to work.)

[Then why did… never mind.]

A Custom hit Liam in the back, and out of reflex he spun around and split it in two with the blade on his staff.

(Nailed it!)

Liam looked at a solitary R-4 unit, as the spikes open up into cannons and fired a barrage of blue lasers all directed at him.

GILDED CAGE

"Oh holy fuck!" Liam shouts as he forms the cage around himself. The cage takes a beating but it holds firm, however it temporarily drained Liam of his power.

"Oh boy, this'll be fun." Liam mumbled to himself as the cage collapses and the unit charged at him at high speeds as Liam thinks of his options. Going against his better judgment, he engaged in close combat with the unit and in an anime like style, deflected the spikes with his staff. Slowly but surly gaining the advantage.

"Here… we… go!" Liam's staff splits a spike in two, leaving five left.

"Again, this time with style!" One after the next Liam removes the units spear, leaving just the unit defenseless.

"Any last words Crome Dome?"

*Beep*

"Thought so." Liam's magic returned to him and in a shower of sparks fried the electronics in the unit, turning it to data.

Liam looked back at just the right moment to see a number of Customs go flying in all directions, as IF looks at her explosive handy work.

A R-4 unit nearly impaled Purple Heart, yet she parried the attack, leaving an opening for Noire to strike in retaliation.

(This is unexpectedly awesome to watch.)

Liam took a few steps back and charged a Gilded Lance finish the R4 off, as Noire and Purple Heart retreated after seeing the intense purple glow from Liam's staff.

"Ima firin mah lazer!" Liam leveled his staff and fired a beam that not only disintegrated the R-4 unit, but every other robot around it. Leaving nothing left but the walls and scorched ground.

(...)

Liam was amazed by his own power, but was knocked out of his little fantasy by a pair of R-4 units.

"Oh no." The others were busy dealing with other foes, leaving Liam alone to deal with two on top of him.

"Can we call it a draw?" The only responds was a beep.

"No? Ok th-Oh dear god!" Liam only narrowly avoided being impaled.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuck…" Liam's body was having a hell of a hard time keeping up with two of the machines and was tiring quickly.

"IDEA!"

Liam stopped and let all twelve arms tear into him at once sending blood everywhere, and caught the attention of the others. He grinned as his blood seeped between the robots plating and with a flourish of his hands, the blood shot into the robots like bullets. Instantly destroying them, but somehow leaving their spikes in him.

"Ah, that's a- OH GOD WHY?!" The pain hits him like a flaming semi-truck falling on his face as Compa comes racing to help.

Meanwhile, a certain God-Emperor is laughing his ass off at the spectacle.

(Why did I think this was a good idea?!)

[I was about to ask that myself.]

"Liam, are you ok?!" Compa asks worried.

"I'VE BEEN IMPALED, OH GOD THE PAIN!" Liam responded.

"Ok, hold still…" Compa grabs onto a spike and pulls.

It was a long and bloody process, but Compa with the assistance of IF managed to pull all of the spikes out of Liam just as Purple Heart and Noire finish the last remaining Customs.

-BATTLE END-

"Whew… Fighting in this form is really tiring." Purple Heart reverts back into a tired, sweaty, and somewhat bloody Neptune.

"Haaaah… I'm beat…"

"Good work, Nep-Nep. You were really great back there." The blood soaked Compa praised Neptune.

"Heh heh, really? Well, now I have another reason to transform." Neptune smiles, and rubs the back of her head.

"Compa, don't flatter her too much. It'll get out of hand." IF warns, throwing a spike she pulled from Liam.

"Oh, come on. I was MVP back there, so go ahead, praise me… or you could pamper me if you don't want to praise me. I can take either."

"You better stop while you're ahead…" IF threatens and Neptune backs down immediately, not wanting to anger the bloody girl.

"Joking aside, Nep, you did great. Thank you."

"Heh heh heh. I got praised by Iffy!" Neptune giggles.

"You're just like a kid in the most strangest of places." IF says.

Liam would make a horrible joke here but he is currently recovering his lost blood, cleaning IF and Compa in the process.

"Come now, we might be able to find a key fragment in this place if we're lucky." Liam speaks up, trying not to fall over.

"Key Fragment? What's that?" Noire asks.

"That's right, we didn't tell you yet, Noire. So sorry." Neptune pulls out the key fragment fragments, still broken.

(Oh, Foreshadowing.)

[Shush!]

"It looks like this… Noire, have you seen one before?"

"Never have… why? Are you collecting these?" Noire asks.

"Hahaha..! Glad you asked! It's to revive Histy and save the world!"

{Awkward Silence.}

"Ah…um… IF? Is she okay?" Noire asks.

"A little too late at birth, I suspect." IF says.

"Good to know I'm not the only insane one in this group." Liam mumbles, eyebrows raised.

"Hey! How rude! Even the docile me is angry now!" Neptune shouts.

"I'm just joking, Nep. We need them to release a tome named Histoire…" IF explains, as Noire mumbles something under her breath.

"Hm? What was that?" Liam asks picking earwax out of his ears.

"Huh? Ah, no, I'm just mumbling to myself. Don't let it bother you." Noire responds, obviously bothe

"Well, I'd believe that if I wasn't a paranoid, insane, genius." Liam says, hushed so that only Noire can hear.

"Go on, spill it, I'm great at keeping secrets." Liam's face was only about an inch from Noire's, as she goes red as a tomato letting out a huff in response.

"L-Like I'd share anything with you." Noire walks off as Liam smirks to himself.

[Fucking hell, just like that?]

(Trust me, I've seen enough anime to tip off a tsundere on que.)

[A what?]

(...)

[...]

(You… you're serious… right?)

[What do you mean?]

(Aren't you supposed to be my 'dark self' or something of the sort.)

[I suppose…]

(And you don't know what anime is?)

[No…]

(...)

[...]

(You have much to learn my friend.)

[I do, but not right now, I think Neptune is being a lesbian.]

(What! Where?!)

"You know, I'm a girl, you're a girl… you know what I mean…" Neptune says, nervously.

"But, If you really want me, I guess I can… accept you."

There was a moment of silence, until Noire's response shattered it like glass.

"BLEH!" And the moment of possible romance has been lost.

"Are you stupid?! Love?! I don't even likeyou!"

"Oh, come now. No need to be shy. You're so 'tsundere' and all." Neptune says with her characteristic undying smile.

"Read. My. Lips. I don't like you! In fact, I think I hate you now! *sigh* Why am I even arguing with you?!"

([A question for the ages.])

Noire looks to the rest.

"You three! Some help here?!"

"Oh now, you really do like Nep-Nep after all." Compa smiles.

"It's almost as if you two were meant for each other. Yin and Yang." IF says.

"Well, let's find a way out. You girls can do whatever at the hotel."

"Do I need to say any-

"H-H-H-HOTEL?!" "I-Iffy?!" Noire and Neptune shout as Compa looks around confused.

"Hm? What's the matter?" It takes Iffy a moment to realize her fault.

"Bloody hell, I'm supposed to be the pervert here, don't take my shtick." Liam puts his arms behind his head and walks slowly away.

"Oh… no… No! Don't misunderstand me!" IF says in a panic.

[(Too late.)]

"I didn't say 'do' whatever at the hotel in that sense! No, not at all! Y-You all have you mind in the gutter!"

"Oh, Iffy. You're so C-U-T-E, blushing and all." Neptune retorts.

Yes, you really are C-U-T-E." Noire joins, happy the flak is off of her for a change.

"Yes, C-U-T-E." Compa joins because why the hell not.

"Et tu, Compa?! S-Stop teasing me already!" IF snaps the disc.

"Th-The di-disc is already broken! Le-Let's go!"

"Oh boy, this is going to be a longday…" Liam looks to the horde of monsters patiently waiting for them to finish.

"Sorry folks, give us a minute, we'll kill you after these quick messages."

Meanwhile...

The quiet of one of the few forests outside of Lastation was disturbed by the sound of Leo landing on the branch of one of the larger trees, not to far from Strike Team Titan, Who were waiting patiently for his return.

"Sorry about that, getting supplies is harder than expected here, but here you go Slicer." Leo hands over a laptop of Lastation's design, and hands off food to the rest.

"Thanks boss! Now the decryption will be done muchfaster with their computing language." Slicer eagerly opens the laptop and begins digging.

"While he's enjoying himself, what do you guys got for intel?" Leo looks to the other members sitting on nearby branches.

"Well, according to what the hostage said, the CPUs are godlike beings powered by the faith of the people, the more people believing in them, the more powerful they are…" Boss reads off of her data log.

"How powerful are we talking here? Divine powerful or God powerful?" Scorch asks.

"From my experience with CPUs, their more like the Starbreaker Incident powerful." Leo says, laying back on the branch.

"Oh, that's not as bad as I expected." Scorch relaxes when he heard the news.

"Keep in mind they have been battling with each other for over a century so their not near their full strength." Boss intervenes.

"So, does it say anything about how one can become a CPU?" Leo asks.

"No, they know about the same as we do about that."

"Damn… what about the share energy that they use?"

"Well they don't know much, but from our observation it interacts with different energy's differently." Slicer speaks up from his new toy.

"From the data I picked together, Psionic Energy is significantlyweakened by being in Share Dimensions, as I've been calling it. However, Soulonic Energy is significantly increasedby this. It's similar to the old Enderan game of Fightolt, Stelot, and Arcon." Slicer closes his laptop for now.

"Yeah! Fightolt kills Arcon, Wizard Smites Thief, and Thief assassinates Fighter!" Scorch yells, putting it together bless him.

"So… If one was to combine the three energies into a single being, they would be the most powerful being in existence!" Leo exclaims, creating a plan on how to do this however… will be more tricky.

"So… how the hell do we get a steady supply of Share energy?" Leo looks to the now setting sun.

Liam and the party finished up a four-legged robot with two massive cannons on the flanks, with IF landing the killing blow.

"Th... *pant* that's the... *pant* rest of them... *pant* in this room… *pant*" A beaten and battered Liam wobbles from side to side trying not to pass out from exhaustion.

"Yeah… I'll close the door." Noire slams a garage door down, locking them off from the rest of the factory. The group waits a moment to see if any monsters appear but none arrive to their relief.

The room itself was really just an empty storage room, cleared out of anything remotely useful long ago.

"Haa… in any other situation, I'd be disappointed with an empty room, but now I'm just grateful there isn't anything trying to kill us." Liam sits himself onto the dirt.

He and the other stay silent until they caught their breath. Darkness was the only thing visible from the windows that ran on top of the perimeter of the room

"If only we had a ladder…" Liam says, partly joking.

"Well at least I have a plan." Liam reached for his recently purchased bag and pulled out four bedrolls, he would've bought more if he had room in his bag or the ability to attach it to the bag itself.

"The only problem is that one of use is going to have to ether sleep in the dirt, or keep watch. I volunteer to be first on watch." Liam tosses the girls their beds.

"When did you buy these?" IF asks.

"Well, I may of ran off when you guys were trying to keep Neptune away from the pudding stand…" Liam says as he leans against a wall.

"Who is taking the other watches?" Noire and Neptune surprisingly enough volunteered to be second and third watch respectively.

As the night went by Liam's watch ended and Noire's began, and Liam quickly fell asleep atop his bedroll. The day was far more exhausting than his night out with Noire and Neptune.

….

Another dream, this one is of him when he was about ten, he was walking into an unfamiliar room filled with extremelyhigh tech equipment that he couldn't even begin to understand. He continued walking until he met the very familiar face of Leo, talking with was presumably the head scientist of wherever he was. A few silent words were spoken until young Liam spoke up. The Emperor turned to him and smiled, grabbing a large white object in his slender hands. He described it as a highly experimental shotgun like weapon that was made custom for him, and needed a test run on a dummy. Liam was led to the target in question and fired the weapon like an expert, sending a wave of the same green energy that was used in most of the Ender Empires ground weapons at the dummy, destroying it completely.

The Emperor was pleased with the results and wanted him to be "modded" to improve his ability to kill. Many month went by as scientists changed his body, starting with his brain, giving him what they called "Neural Damping." He would likely never be able to use Psionic energy anyway because he wasn't gifted like some of the others, but this made sure that other beings able of such cannot control his mind as his new brain had a new gland, paralyzing him if control was lost unless the being knew of its existence,then did something about it.

Next, his eyes were carefully made to adapt quickly should he miss a shot, or deal with sudden and extreme changes in light, like a flashbang or strobe lights.

After that they made a secondary heart for him should he fall on the field, he won't immediately die but instead fall unconscious until a new heart was made or current Heart was repaired. The problem was that he would be behind enemy lines for weeks, so they modded his bone marrow somehow and gave him a minor healing factor. Given time, he can recover from any wound short of decapitation.

After that the strengthened his skin cells bonds so he would be harder to kill in battle, and increased the density of the muscle fibers in his legs and arms so he can move quickly around the battlefield and hit harder in a melee.

Proud of his "best work" the Emperor put him on the battlefield as one of the best soldiers he had.

Liam had these sort of dreams before, but they were quickly forgotten.

This one however, in engraved in his mind with great detail.

Liam wakes to the quiet rambling of Neptune above him.

"Why did he let himself be hit like that?" Liam felt his shirt lifted up and it took all his willpower to not yell out immediately, as Neptune examined his chest.

(*Mental screaming*)

"Huh, not as buff as I expected." Liam blushes in embarrassment at the comment.

"How did he heal that so fast?" Neptune ran her hand over Liam's stomach, as Liam tries not to laugh at how ridiculous this is.

"I know he has the blood stuff but…"

"He's kinda… squishy. Squish squish. Huh?" Neptune noticed an odd scar on Liam's chest while she played with his belly fat, it looked vaguely like a sword with wings.

(*SCREAMING INTENSIFIES*)

"What is that?" She poked and prodded at the scar.

[Are you going to do anything about her?]

(I'M SO CONFUSED RIGHT NOW!)

[Oh for fuck sake, Why?]

(AHHH! *Screaming continues*)

"Wow, what a nest looking scar. I wonder if I keep looking I can find another one?" Liam had to cleared his head. He did so and sat up.

"Ok." "AH!" Neptune jumped back as Liam shot up.

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Liam straightens his shirt.

"I-Uh, was um…" Neptune turned a deep shade of red.

"C-Checking to see if you were ok! Yeah, because you took a beating in the last fight! I was checking to see if you were still hurt!" Nep smiled and rubbed the back of her head. It would've been more convincing if she wasn't red as an apple.

"Then what's this about me being squishy?" Liam sat up to eye level to Nep, as she hung her head in defeat.

"And poking me in the chest." Liam had an unexplainable warmth in his chest.

"I… may have been… curious about how… you looked like." Neptune explained.

[That's what-(Hush you!)

Liam pats her on the head, earning a small jump of surprise from a confused Nep.

"If you wanted to know if I was still hurt, you can ask. And… if you want me to take a better look at me, please ask instead of doing it when I'm sleeping." Liam blushed quite a lot harder.

"

{AWKWARD SILENCE!}

"Welp, I'm going back to sleep. Night Neptune." Liam fell back onto his bedroll.

Liam closed his eyes, but never went to sleep as the burning feeling in his chest never subsided.

...

...

In the morning…

...

Day broke through the windows as the party packed up camp and continued on their way. IF took the lead with Compa and Neptune following close behind, Liam and Noire a few meters behind.

"So… if we do get out of this in one piece, what are you going to do about Avenir?" Liam asks in a hushed tone.

"I… I don't know." Noire mumbles, almost inaudible. Liam felt a twang of guilt in his heart.

(What is with me today?)

[Maybe you're falling in love with the two but you can't decide which one to pick?]

(Well… ok, maybe that but something else is there too.)

A cluster of gray pixels charges the two, and Liam removes it from existence using a whip of blood.

(If we leave Lastation in the near future, what is Noire going to do? Hide from her own government?)

[Well, if we stay, we're only going to attract more attention to ourselves and Noire. If we stay with the group we can save the world.]

(I suppose you have a valid point, but I can't bloody help myself.)

Most humans can only generate share energy for the goddesses to use. Yet somehow you're absorbing share energy from the air around you and from the goddesses themselves whenever you're nearby. It's not harmful but it will weaken them in the long run.

(Oh..!)

[Right…]

(Well, I have an idea.)

[Alright, go on.]

(If we go to Leanbox or Lowee before the rest of the group, I think we can one, Scout the land for the key fragments, and two, Identify any extra threats.)

[Right, we can do that, but I think we may need to-]

(Raid Avenue headquarters?)

[Yes, if necessary.]

(If? I thought it needed to be necessary at this point.)

Liam spots a familiar disc from the corner of his eye.

"Hey, an enemy disc... Shit! An enemy disc!"

"Everybody, can you come here for a bit?" Noire shouts for the others as Liam took a cautionary stance.

It… it was eerily quiet as the other three jogged over.

"Kept you waiting there. What's up?" IF asks.

"Enemy disc, break now question mark?" Liam uses redundant question marks in his question. Mark.

"Why are you… Yeah go ahead." IF says as Liam shatters t-

"Oh! Wait! If we're going to break it, can I do it?" Neptune shouts, stopping Liam's blood tendril in its tracks.

"I always wanted to break a disc, but I never wanted to break on of my CDs, so if I break this one it's fine."

([Oh dear god this is happening.])

"This isn't supposed to be fun you know." IF scoulds.

"Yeah, but all work and no play makes Nep a dull girl. So c'mon, I can have fun breaking it, right?"

"Sometimes I have to doubt your actions…" Liam retracts his tendril, wondering why no one questioned it.

"Quit with the talking and just break it! Something may come out again!" Noire yells, understandably frustrated.

"Wait, what do you mean again?!" Liam entered a temporary state of confusion as the disc flashes in preparation to spawn something.

"Um, well there's a face-looking thingy coming out…" Neptune nonchalantly points to the disc with her thumb.

"Why are you so relaxed like that?!" Noire unsheathed her sword.

"You're… praising me, right?" Neptune grabbed her prototype-katana.

"For the love of the bloody blood gods, just decide already!" Liam shouts as a quadrupedal tank with two massive cannons spawns.

"Nep, transform! Let's just get rid of the monster and the disc!" IF's quatars revival themselves from her overly baggy sleeves.

"Roger that!" Nep transforms in a flash of light.

"Listen to me, Iffy…"

(Are we really going to have a heart to heart now of all times?!)

[Lesbian CPUs?]

(OH MY GODDESS, SHUT UP!)

"I'll take care of the monsters, so break the disc before more come out." Purple Heart says, readying herself for the battle to come.

"Wait, you said YOU wanted to break it!"

"The transformation cooled me down a bit. I don't care about that anymore."

"Can you be any more random?!"

"Nep-Nep is so fun, even after she transforms." Compa responds to the chaos with a smile, syringe at the ready.

"Oh dear god, this is…"

"This is just painful to watch…" Noire stole the words from Liam's mouth.

"I really need to play more guitar, I need the stress relief." Liam's mumbles as his blood lines the shaft of his staff, ready for use.

-HARD BATTLE START-

Liam opens with an ice spear lined with blood in an attempt to pierce the tanks armor, and end it quickly, but was immediately disappointed when is ricocheted off in another direction. Leaving Noire and Purple Heart the chance to flank both sides to wear it down, doing little to it.

"Beep."

"Pardon?" The tanks fires one of its cannons at Liam, who was blasted back by the force.

"Ok, beep means doom." Liam looks down to access the damage as Compa works her magic to fix it.

The other two were joined by IF as the tank tried to crush one of them under its massive legs before its armor can crack.

"Beep." The cannons turn themselves to the sky and fire wildly, the shots ark towards Compa and Liam.

"Stay close to me!" Liam grabs Compa as his staff flashes pink-purple.

GILDED CAGE

The familiar cage formed around the pair, just large enough for the two, the shots that hit the cage were sent flying into the wall or the ground. Heating up Liam's staff every time they hit.

"Hot hot hot hot…" The cage persisted longer than Liam expected, holding Compa close, it left him with no choice.

GILDED STORM

Liam fired a number of weaker bursts of energy through the cage, more annoying the tank and giving the other three another thing to avoid until the cage faded.

"Phew, finally." Liam released Compa, who was incredibly red-faced.

"Now…" Liam took no notice to the embarrassed girl behind him and took position for another attack.

(What works well against armor?)

[An armor piercing round, electricity, incredible heat.]

(! Two out of three? Good plan!)

Sparks and embers of various colors fly as Liam charged his attack. A combination of fire and lightning formed a beam of blinding white light that scorched the ground around it and warped the metal of the tank's armor, leaving part of it melted and dark.

"I… can't tell if I fired a solar beam… or a variation of the Death Star's superlaser…"

[Well if you-]

(Shut up.)

The gaps in the armor make it far easier for Noire, IF and Purple Heart to strike at it's vital components, yet Liam seemed to have argrovated it with his last attack.

"BEEP!" The mechanical menace charges with incredible speed.

"Oh… dear." Liam's eyes widen and he lowers himself to one knee.

"Get out of the way!"

"Liam! Move!"

"Look out!"

The other three try to keep up with the tank as it runs towards the Wizard. Who said what? Liam doesn't know, but he made an estimate on how long to wait before striking.

"One… two…" Liam counted.

"BEEP!"

"Five… six…" Liam continues, the tank was a few meters away.

"Nine… Ten!" Liam formed ten blood tendrils that shot out of his back and plunged into the weak spots he identified.

"Away with you!" Liam used the strength of the tendrils to throw the tank like a rag-doll to the other side of the hall.

-HARD BATTLE END-

"This is the end!" Purple Heart sliced the tank in two on it's way by. It dissolved into data as it hit the ground.

"Looks like it was merely a grunt that should've come in large numbers." Purple Heart stood proud, even though or possibly because of, her being unscathed.

"Well that doesn't bode well." Liam rubs the spot the tank shot.

"Yay, Nep-Nep! You were really cool!" Compa shouts as she runs up the the four.

Purple Heart powers down.

"Well, nothing that I can't handle, you know?" Neptune says.

"Okay, let's break the disc already." IF walks over to the disc.

"Wait!" Neptune shouts.

([Oh no…])

"I thought I said I wanted to break it. No fair!" Neptune objects vividly to IF's plan.

"You just told me to break it a while ago." IF calmly says.

"Well, but that's me transformed. Different persona, right?" Neptune shrugs.

"Not this again…" Liam placed his hand on his forehead.

"So now that I'm my old self again, I wanna break the disc!" Neptune

Liam has had enough.

GUST

Liam blew the disc out of IF's hand with enough force to shatter it upon hitting the wall.

"Neppu?!"

"Ah…"

"I'm not going to waste anymore time fighting scrap heaps like that one, two is two too many for me." Liam in his irritated state of mind says.

"Duunn…" Neptune gives Liam a look he can't quite put into words.

"What?"

"Wow, Liam… way to break the disc and the mood there." Neptune was probably the most angry Liam has seen in a while. A surprisingly quiet sort of angry.

"Yeah, That was… not cool."

"How the hell am I the bad guy? I broke the disc so we didn't have to fight anymore of those fuckers." Liam points his thumb at where the tank landed before dissolving.

"Yeah, but…" IF looked at a loss for words.

"Still, That wasn't cool, Liam. Maybe that's why you don't have friends." Neptune turns on Liam.

"Hold on a minute! I thought that was a gag we were using against Noire, why me all of a sudden?!"

"Oh, Iffy, you're so horrible." Compa says to IF as Liam and Neptune argues, creepily enough, still smiling.

"Heh, I kind of wanted to see how this played out, so I just went with it." IF smiled back.

Eventually, the party exits the factory. Filled with a renewed vigor.

"Yay! We're outside!" Neptune shouts to the sky.

"Being under the warm sun feels so good." Compa practically glows with relief.

"Perfect for taking a nap!" Neptune stretches her back, cracking it many times over.

"Yes. It would be nice to relax under the sun." Compa agrees, as Liam looks to the unexpectedly clear sky.

"It is quite nice isn't it." Liam swears he can see the silhouette of something far far away, but can't really put it into words.

"Hmmm…" IF's audible pondering brings Liam back to Lastation.

"What's the matter? You've been quiet." Noire asks the meditating girl.

"I was wondering what Ganache was trying to accomplish." IF says with a curious but concerned look shaping her face.

"You mean about trapping us there?" Noire cocks her head to the side slightly.

"Yeah. Was it really to get rid of us? With the Enemy discs there, maybe there was another motive…" IF rests her head on her fist.

"Another motive…" Noire does the same with her hand.

"Hm…" Liam, does the same… with his staff.

[Shit… I think I know why now.]

(...)

[...]

(Well go on, spill it!)

[This was a delaying tactic.]

(For…?)

[No clue…]

(...)

[...]

([Damn it…])

"Oh, Iffy, you're such a worrywart. You're thinking too much. We came out in one piece, so all is good! Let's just go back to Chian." Neptune chirps in with a smile.

"Wha..?! That's right, Chian! She's in danger!" IF, Noire, and Liam come to the same conclusion as the same time but only IF got it out in words.

"What do you mean, Iffy?" Compa asks.

"Remember what Ganache said when he trapped us?" IF cues the flashback...

*What…? oh yeah, sorry. Cue flashback*

"I already know you are assisting Chian of Passé. I assume you were trying to get information on our exhibit plans, no?"

"Iffy! They knew all along!"

"I can't believe they knew about this…"

"We would win regardless, but I'm the careful type, you know."

"Now then, I don't have much time, so I need to go. Farewell."

*Flashback End*

"He knew we were helping Chian. That means she's the next target!"

"What?!" Noire shouts as Liam smiles dark like.

"Ok. I'm going to brutalize that clever, underhanded, greedy cur." Liam mumbles as silent rage warms his insides.

"Then we need to get back to her pronto!" Neptune shouts jumping back into action.

"What's he thinking, targeting civilians just for the expo?! Now I'm really mad! I won't let Ganache or Avenir get away with this!" Noire shouts over Neptune, becoming the center of attention.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Now Noire is REALLY mad!" Neptune, like the others, was taken by surprise by Noire fierce anger.

"Noire… you're scaring me…" Compa whimpers.

"O-Ok then…" Liam's burning rage was instantly replaced by cold fear, and a hint of respect.

"You three, stop with the jibber-jabber! Let's hurry and save Chian!"

"Y-Yes..!" All three obeyed Noire's command and rushed off to the heart of the city.

"The city… it's in ruins…" Compa says as the party goes deeper into the city.

"Wow, this is way too hardcore for me…" Neptune looks to the rubble of buildings nearby.

"I am both equal parts angry, fearful, and amused… I am so confused right now!" Liam shouts, unable to tell how he feels about the destruction.

"Ganache is going to pay for this!" Noire shouts, well and truly vexed by Avenir's actions.

"You girls! You're safe!" Chian calls from a nearby building.

"Chian?! Are you okay?!" Neptune hollors over the sirens of the city.

"Yeah, somehow. Anyways, get out of here! It's dangerous!" Chian points to a burning pile of debris.

"I am the danger!" Liam bellows, his heart nearly bursting out of his chest at the opportunity.

"What do you mean get out? What about you?!" Neptune asks as Liam begins to shake with excitement.

"I'm going to the Basilicom to ask for Lady Black Heart's help. The Lady should help us, so you guys get to a safe place." Chian passes the team.

"Too bad, but we're not going anywhere." Noire holds fast and continues on.

"I AM THE HYPE!" Liam roars before charging away like the madman he is.

"That's right! We have a little agenda to take care of with Ganache." Neptune shouts in Chian's general direction as she chases Liam deeper into the chaos.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of Avenir and anything in our way!" Noire joins Liam in his charge and the rest follow.

meanwhile...

Leo and ST Titan watch as a large dragonoid machine tears through building after building.

"By the Gods… it's disgusting." Boss says, breaking the silence.

"I wanna make it go boom…" Scorch looks in awe of the adorable attempt at destruction, mentally comparing it to his own.

"Calm yourselves. The first real battle is about to begin, I can sense his anger… and excitement." Leo, with intentions only understood by him burning behind his calm exterior.

"You mean that stupid project of yours that you not only stole from a protectedplanet, illegally moddedto make stronger, and sent it to a new, barely understood dimension that you're weakerin! Sir, with all due respect, but this is against everythingwe as a team fight for! There're civilians dying out there! Do something about it" Boss yells using telepathy to stay quiet.

"If… you knew… how it feels to be so powerful, nothing could hurt you… and had the same resources as I… you would do the same." Leo's mind faded. He never heard the response.

"Good! Good! Killachine! Destroy! Destroy! Destroy! With the performance here, this will be sure to sell well to our client. Now, let me add a bit more juice here. Let's see your power, Killachine!" Ganache sits on the shoulder of the poorly named robot and lowered the safety's to allow more destruction.

"Ok, going to say now. Killachine is a stupid name for a mech. Oh? Z is coming, get down!" Leo shouted as he cloaked the team with psionic energy.

"Stop! I won't let you get away with this!" Noire yells as the group enters the arena like building.

"Oh my… one, two, three, four… Well, it looks like you're short one." Ganache notes Liam's disappearance.

"SUPRISE YOU SON OF A BIT-!" Liam, in a poor attempt to sneak up on Ganache, jumps off of the top of the walls surrounding the robot, and was batted out of the way with its tail. Sending him into a pile of debris near the rest of the party.

"Five. Well it looks like all of you made it out." Ganache's disappointment is poorly hidden

"Did you seriously think those monsters would beat us?" Noire taunted.

"Oh, of course not. But, they did buy some time, didn't they?" Ganache gives the team a cocky smirk.

"IMMA KILL 'EM!" Liam sends fallen concrete flying as he recovers.

"See? With that time, I was able to demonstrate our new weapon." Ganache silences Liam for a moment by throwing more debris at him. Liam didn't care much for it but it worked.

{It's like tennis but with concrete.}

""You… fiend…!" Noire shouts.

"Hold on, she called him a devil, but me, no! I'm a mindless demon! The hell!" Leo was outraged by the misclassification.

"Shush!" Sniper silenced the Emperor before their cover was blown.

"Fiend? Well now, even if that is so, what are you going to do about it?" Ganache tries to hold back laughter.

"You've lost your power to Aviner. You're weak now."

"That's not true!" Noire's voice objected but her eyes told the truth.

"Oh, but you are well aware of your lack of power, aren't you? You were away for too long. If anything, you should blame yourself. Hardly anyone reveres you in Lastation anymore, but I do appreciate you. You did make it easy to take over the Land."

(*Twitch*)

"Hm? Nothing to say against my logic?" Ganache's use of logic offended Liam, but that was the best part.

(*BURST BLOOD VESSEL SOUND*)

Liam started bleeding from his ears and nose.

{I think he's going to snap!}

"So what..?" Noire rises defiantly.

"What…?"

"Who cares about power and control? If you think I'm here just to meet vengeance, you dead wrong. I'm here for the people who believe in me!" Noire stands and delivers her short speech, before Neptune spoke up...

"Iffy..? Can I speak now? I really don't like the seriousness right now."

"Just be patient and let them finish what they're saying." IF tried in vain to stop Nep from interrupting further.

"Aw, I'm at my limit already. I need to talk to breathe, you know? And our readers don't want to read a wall of text no more…" Neptune with as little effort as always, shatters the dramatic mood.

"It's all text Neptune, there's nothing else butt this. It's been just this for twelve chapters now." Liam pointed out Neppys mistake, catching her completely off guard.

"B-but…"

"Nep-Nep, If you don't be quiet, you won't get your pudding snack." Compa threatens with her creepy smile.

"N-No! I'll do my best to keep my mouth shut!" Neptune cowers at Compa's threat.

"I can hear everything!" Noire shouts, knuckles going white in frustration.

"It defeats the purpose if you're making noise on the subject of being quiet. And now look at what you've done! Now the mood is gone!"

"Love, the moods been gone for a while. I'm just bleeding for the sake of bleeding now..." Liam gives her a sad smile as he whips the blood out of his ears.

"Nep-Nep's pudding scores a triple whammy! Gone!" With a flourish, Neptune's pudding -figuratively- evaporates

"Aaah?! M-My pudding! Nooo..." Neptune drops onto her knees in defeat.

"We're finally on the end of chapter twelve, and at the climax so just be QUIET!" Noire screams back to the rest.

"Ha, climax… god-damn it I'm a child at heart." Liam shakes his head at himself, smile unabating.

"Are you done? I'm a busy person you know." Ganache was patiently waiting for them to finish.

"You have to enjoy the little things in this short lives of ours. Enjoy it." Liam waves him off like he was a fly.

"Let me save you time then by sending that machine to the scrap heap!" Noire draws her sword and points it at the Killachine.

"Nep-Nep, transform!" Compa commands, and Neptune obeys.

"Transform!" Neptune transforms into Purple Heart once more.

"Ganache, you went way too far. Feel the pain Chian and her people endured!" Purple Heart yells as her katana flies from nowhere, into her hands

"Oh boy, here I go killing." Liam begrudgingly sends sparks flying from his staff, his anger induced enthusiasm vanishing.

"What?! That form… but why are you here?!" Ganache was taken aback with the appearance of another CPU.

"You're supposed to be her enemy! Why!?" Ganache looks to Noire in confusion.

"For those who believe in me, I'll do anything for them. Anything!" Noire closes her eyes and focuses.

"Access!" Noire transforms into Black Heart, immediately confusing Compa and Purple Heart.

"Noire?! That form?!" Purple Heart looks to her ally in suspicion

"Oh yeah, that's a thing." Liam mumbles, knowing he was lucky enough to not be around for that conversation.

Although he would like to be a fly on the wall for it...

"Details later! First, let's get rid of that contraption!" Black Heart takes the lead in the rapid unexpected disassembly of the Killachine.

-BOSS BATTLE BEGIN!-