Chapter 21 - Uni gets owned

Silence passed through the area, the only sounds that could possibly be heard were the heavy breathing that Vent and the girls were doing. "Whew… that was tough, tougher than normal." IF remarked as she stood straight, dismissing her Qatars. "That creature definitely was tough; I'll give it that."

Compa wheezed hard, soon losing balance and falling onto her backside. Her forehead sweated profusely, sweat which she wiped from existence with her right arm's detached sleeve. She then let her back fall onto the ground and spread her arms across it, too tired to move them anymore. "Thank goodness…. It's all… over…! I thought we… double over… from fatigue…!" she said in between large gasps of air.

"That guy was hardcore…!" RED exclaimed as she jumped up and down, still as energetic as ever unlike most of the party. "Ca we beat him up again, can we, can we?" she exclaimed further, excitement burning in her eyes. Her enthusiasm was then snuffed out when she remembered one detail she had overlooked in her excitement. "Oh wait, we can't… I'll never forgive it for hurting my wifeys."

Vent rolled his eyes as his 4 Kagune types retracted into his body, deforming into RC Cells he could use later. While he would admit to being mildly winded, he thought that this fight wasn't the hardest they'd fought. Flashbacks to Tatara invaded his mind at that thought, making him scowl. He then shook his head, no point thinking about that right now, not when they had their goal right in front of them. His helmet's faceplate and visor split to the sides of his head with several mechanical whirring sounds, revealing his mildly impatient gaze. "While I'm sure you guys wanna rest right now, we do have to get to the Hematite, remember?"

When he said those words, everyone blinked as they remembered that their objective was right in front of them. IF literally had an 'oh, right¬' face as she made to move towards it. Compa and the others remained silent though, wanting to get some rest and were unable to move.

Back at her hiding place, Underling watched the battle until the end, a frown marring her features when she saw the Gore Megala go down. "Tch, I guess that thing wasn't enough to finish things after all… huh?" something hit the side of the platform close to her position, making Underling curious as to what it might be. Looking down into the water, her eyes widened when she saw what it was.

It was a black and purple disk… a dimly glowing black and purple disk, but the same one that she had thrown into the waters.

"Oh, hello…" she muttered under her breath, reaching down and plucking the Disk out of the water to examine it closely. While the glow was weaker than it was before, the water was easily vaporised by the Disk, keeping it dry and ready to recover. "Boss Tatara said that these things bloom twice, guess this is what he meant…" Underling remarked in amazement, turning the Disk over several times to get a better look at it.

Looking back at the Party, Underling thought about sending the Gore Megala against them again… but decided against it and pocketed the Disk inside her Suit. "I guess I could go a little easy on them today…" she mused before silently exiting the dungeon to where she would be searching for the Lastation Mascot.

Back with the Party, IF smirked as she held a decently sized chunk of Hematite in her hand, a chunk that was easily the size of a basketball. "Great, we have hematite now, too." She announced while placing the Hematite in her Inventory. She then looked over to Nepgear and Uni, her face morphing into one of weariness and firmness. "Have you two kids calmed down yet?"

Both Nepgear and Uni hung their heads in shame, the former now back in human form having transformed back when the Gore Megala was defeated. They looked like a couple of, like IF said, kids scolded by their elders. "Yes… I'm sorry about that…" Nepgear muttered in shame at the memories of how she lost control over herself.

Uni however, remained silent.

Taking that as a sign that things were getting back to normal, Compa stood up, apparently that short rest being enough for her to get her strength back, as she happily quipped. "Then everyone is happy and healthy!" she announced, her cheerfulness rubbing away the irritation rising in Vent's chest, and making a smile form on his lips. She just had that effect on people, making them forget any troubles that plague them with her smiles and aura alone. That Mouse was right about one thing: she truly was an angel, maybe even a seraph. "Let's go back to Miss Kei and…"

"Wait!"

'Oh geez, I already know where this is going.' Vent thought with annoyance, groaning mentally while he could hear Rasen laughing his head off. Seriously, his tenant seemed to enjoy the prospect of a fight even after big ones already happen.

"Uni?" Nepgear turned to her with confusion, tilting her head while asking the girl what was wrong. The blackette CPU Candidate had her hair shadowing her eyes, making her expressions difficult to read. That problem was soon fixed however, when she was engulfed in the pillar of light that signalled HDD's activation.

When it lowered, Uni's HDD form took place of her human one, a stone cold expression on her features as she pointed her massive Gun at the Planeptune CPU Candidate. "Nepgear, let's have a duel. If I win, I want you to hand the hematite over to me." She declared, surprising Nepgear as she looked taken aback at the declaration. If she thought that was shocking, then what Uni did next was more so. "That goes for you too, Vent, you'll also be fighting me in this duel." Uni boldly stated while turning the barrel of her Gun towards the male.

...

...

...

...

Eh?

Said male recoiled in shock at the bold statement that the girl had made. "Wait, what?!" he shrieked, nearly jumping at the green eyed girl. Vent quickly regained as much of his composure lost to the sudden development of Uni wanting to duel with him. "Why the hell would you want to duel me?!" he shouted in dismay and confusion, before gesturing to Nepgear. "Nepgear, I understand, but me? Sorry girl, but I don't see the logic…!"

A bout of mad laughter told him that Rasen was enjoying this. 'Ohohohohoho! Wow, this little lass is a brave one, isn't she master?' he shrieked while laughing his ass off. It was only until he regained some of his composure, though chuckles still came from his psychotic tenant, that he spoke again, a clear amount of amusement in his voice. 'Thinking she could try to beat US?! Hehehehehe hahahahahaha!'

Ignoring the crazy voice in his head, plus the indignant 'You know you like it!' that came from deep within his mind, Vent tried to get an answer from Uni once more, but it seemed that she wouldn't be answering his questions.

IF groaned as she face-palmed herself. First it was Nepgear, now Vent was drawn into this? Like him, she too couldn't see the logic in that move, but that opinion was underwhelmed by the stubbornness of this CPU Candidate. "Jeez, you two are still going…?" she shouted in exasperation. "And why the hell are you bringing Vent into this?"

"I need to defeat you two, fair and square, Nepgear, Vent." She stated, and that was all she would say right now. She had to do this, this was the only way for her to properly test her strength, to see how strong she was compared to them. Nepgear and Vent were both strong opponents, so she would have to go all in if she wanted to beat them. When she did beat them, the she wold have proven to herself that she was strong enough to go rescue her older sister, and the other CPUs while she was at it. It wasn't like she cared about Nepgear's safety, nor did she care about Vent at all, nope, not at all.

Nepgear looked into Uni's eyes, searching for the meaning behind those words. While she mostly didn't want to fight against a fellow CPU Candidate, she couldn't afford to lose, not again. IF's words, along with Vent's actions while said girl spoke those words, played in her mind, reaffirming her desires. She looked into Uni's eyes and saw the earnest and determination in them, finding them very familiar. She soon realised why, they were the same as hers, especially after IF's pep talk. A wave of resolve swelled inside her chest as she closed her eyes in preparation. "I see." She whispered under her breath, but Uni heard it, and the determination behind it. When Nepgear opened her eyes again, they were the determined eyes she held when she first transformed after IF's pep talk. "I accept your challenge."

Both girls looked to Vent, earnest and expectant gazes in their eyes. The male frowned, quickly realising the same things Nepgear did when looking into Uni's eyes. This was happening, whether he wanted it to, or not. Thus, with great reluctance, Vent accepted this situation in his mind and heart while stepping forwards, his hands at his sides as his left eye turned into its Kakugan form, his Koukaku and Ukaku Kagune manifesting once more. OVERDRIVE activated on mental command and the Faceplate and Visor slid onto his face, locking together to form his helmet. "Alright then, I'll accept as well, Uni."

"What are you doing, Ge-Ge, Ven-Ven?" Compa asked with shock and confusion. The two had been adamant about getting the hematite to Kei for he info on the Mascot's location, so why were they agreeing to this when it'll just waste time? She didn't understand it at all, and looked to them for answers.

However, the answer came from RED, who placed her hand on Compa's right bare shoulder. "Let em be. This is a battle between star-crossed wifeys and Vent. Do your best, my wifey Goddess and the man." She declared, before trying to jump onto Compa's back. Sadly, IF prevented this by smacking her upside the head.

A look of gratitude overcame the Lastation CPU Candidate's features as she held her Gun in position. "Thanks for understanding." She said softly, and Vent could have sworn he saw a small upturning of her lips for a moment, but forgot about it when her face retained that serious expression. "Don't you dare go easy on me! I won't forgive you if you do." She shouted, her instincts as a fighter kicking in plus her own pride.

Both Vent and Nepgear understood this, the former releasing all of his Kagune types to show that he was taking this seriously. "I don't have any intention of holding back." Nepgear began. "I won't…." she then transformed into her HDD state, holding her Gunblade at the ready while Vent jumped to the side, Rinkaku helping him land safely before each Kagune pointed themselves at Uni. "I won't lose ever again!"

That was the start of the battle as Uni floated backwards, aiming her massive Gun and firing several rounds at Nepgear. The CPU Candidate for Planeptune responded by strafing to the side, aiming her Gunblade before firing a series of energy blasts. Uni generated a panel below her to propel her into the air and over the blasts. Aiming her Gun again, Uni made to fire when a shadow looked over her.

Eyes widening when she realised who it was, she quickly strafed to the side, voiding a Koukaku Blade from Vent, who twisted around in the air and sent his Rinkaku at her in a flurry of whipping motions. Uni managed to dodge and block them, until she saw Nepgear closing the distance between them. She quickly broke away from the male's Kagune and opened fire on the other CPU Candidate.

This forced Nepgear to alter her flight course so that she was circling around her, until she saw an opening and aimed her Gunblade at Uni's back, firing several rounds. Uni of course, managed to didge it just in time, but this served to benefit Vent well when he launched his Bikaku at her, wrapping the limb around her right foot before swinging her above his head like a lasso, before sending her to the ground with a crash.

Vent's eyes narrowed at the smoke, putting his Kagune on guard in case of any surprises. 'Where is she… where is she attacking from…?' the male thought, and soon got his answer when several green blasts came out of the smoke… headed for Nepgear. The male quickly dove towards where the blasts came from, intending to spear where he thought Uni was standing with his Rinkaku.

Sadly, he only hit solid ground.

'Tch she dodged me.' He thought, before he quickly felt danger behind him and narrowed his eyes, his Bikaku arching itself over him to block several blasts. His eyes widened however, when he suddenly felt all mobility stripped from him, yellow sparks dancing from his form indicating what had happened. 'Tsk, she used PARALYSIS SHOT!' she realised.

Up above the smoke, Uni smirked at the fact her plan had worked. She knew she wouldn't be able to take Vent on directly, so she had devised a plan to let him get close to her, create that smokescreen by knocking her down to the ground, and then took advantage of it to launch a wordless PARALYSIS SHOT.

Now she had to deal with Nepgear before Vent could recover from that attack. Then, she would be able to deal with him herself. While together they were formidable, apart they were much easier to handle.

She quickly pulled out of her thoughts when Nepgear flew down at her from above Uni realising that she was too close to fire any rounds at her. Uni raised her Gun and blocked the initial attack, but Nepgear wasn't done yet. "SLASH WAVE!" she quickly swung upwards, and Uni's eyes widened in surprise at the activation of a Skill at close range. She barely avoided the direct attack, but a gash opened up on her right shoulder, indicating that she didn't escape unscathed.

"Guh!"

A gasp tore from the lilac haired girl as she quickly became alarmed at what happened. "Ohmygosh, Uni, are you okay?!" Nepgear cried, momentarily breaking her serious composure when she saw the damage done to her by her Skill.

The blackette CPU Candidate gritted her teeth, using her Share energy to close the wound so she wouldn't have to worry about the bleeding as she glared towards the other CPU Candidate. "I'm fine! Don't think this is enough to bring me down, Nepgear, because you're wrong!" she proclaimed boldly, before lifting her Gun and aiming at her. "VENOM SHOT!"

A large bullet, encased with this purplish black smoke, flew out her Gun towards the other girl, who quickly swerved to the side, avoiding it just by the skin of her teeth. She didn't want to know what effects that bullet would have had on her, even though its name gave plenty of implications.

The fact that she was so focused on avoiding the VENOM SHOT made it impossible for Nepgear to see the incoming bullet that was glowing with yellow sparks. By the time she did notice it, it was too late and she was hit dead centre in the chest. The Bullet's power quickly took effect, paralysing her and inhibiting her mobility. "Oh no!"

Uni grinned as she aimed her Gun at the immobilised Candidate. "Hah, it worked! Now, you're within my range!" She bellowed with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. 'I did it, I've won! I've grown strong enough to free you, Noire!' she cheered in her mind, the sense of success was strong within her, she could practically taste it on her lips. Finally, all these doubts and emotions warring within her would settle, and then she could convince Kei to let her go save Noire! With these thoughts in mind, Uni began charging up her strongest Skill yet: EX MULTI BLASTER. The barrel of her Gun began to glow as it aimed down at Nepgear, who was struggling to break free from the Skill's effect to dodge and failing epically. "EX: Multi-"

"Didya forget about me?!"

"Eh?" Uni blinked when she heard a masculine voice, and then she cried out a second later when something hard slammed into her from behind, sending her crashing to the ground. Fortunately, there was no smokescreen so Uni could see her attacker, though it was unfortunate since she couldn't hide whichever Skill shot she was going to use on them.

Looking up, she saw that, to her dismay and shock, that it was Vent his Ukaku unfurled ad keeping him in the air while his Rinkaku twitched dangerously, as if it were restraining itself from ripping her a new one. To make things worse, it looked like he was fine, no longer under the effects of her PARALYSIS SHOT. "What the- Vent?! How?!" she shrieked, pointing a finger at him and giving a furious glare at him. However, deep down, Uni knew that she was in trouble. "How the hell did you escape my Sill so quickly?! It should have lasted another 5 minutes!"

Vent smirked behind his helmet, his Koukaku blades crossing in front of him as he did the same with his arms. "You did hit me, that's for sure but look closer, you'll get your answer." He told her, intentionally being vague to see if she would catch on. That Skill shot was indeed powerful, and if it weren't for Rasen's quick thinking then Vent was sure he wouldn't have escaped the way he did.

Uni apparently did catch on, after a moment of examining him that is. She noticed that aside from his Ukaku, Koukaku and his Rinkaku, his Bikaku was shaking and twitching like crazy, yellow sparks erratically flying from it. Her eyes narrowed as she caught onto what he had done. "You… don't tell me you…"

Seeing that she had gotten it, Vent released a chuckle as his Rinkaku held his Bikaku like a cat trying to lick its tail clean, stroking it gently while sparks constantly flew from it. "Yep, got it in one, girlie. What you hit was my Bikaku Kagune, not my main body. Because you hit it, I was able to isolate the Skill within it, keeping myself free and the rest of my Kagune safe. If you'd fired that shot several times and managed to hit me, or hit my main body, I would have been in more trouble."

His eyes narrowed behind his Visor as he let his Bikaku fall to the ground. "But enough chitchat, I gotta pay you back for that stunt you pulled." He held out his right hand and allowed 3 Tentacles to converge around it. Streams of Negatron poured from the tips and began spiralling together in the centre of his palm, forming a Sphere of black energy with a flaming red outline in his hand. The energy spiralled in the centre, like a whirlpool. Lightning sparked occasionally from the sphere, crackling through the atmosphere almost violently, their red lights illuminating the teen's closed visor.

Her danger senses kicked into overdrive when she saw that attack in his hand. Instinctively, Uni realised the threat that attack posed, and while she had no idea how it was used, she didn't want to risk anything. Thus, she spun a canister on the side of her Gun, setting it to rapid fire mode, before lifting it up and aiming at Vent to fire a rapid barrage of bullets his way, trying to take him down before he could finish his attack.

Meanwhile, Vent just sighed as he swooped down towards her like a Falcon, his Rinkaku batting away the shots as he kept the sphere in his hand in shape by spiralling the energy constantly. It was beyond difficult to do, and he was sure as hell going to have a headache after this, but it would be worth it. 'Being an Otaku certainly has its advantages for inspiration for attacks. The Koukaku around the arm holding the Sphere had reformed itself into its gauntlet form for space, and to help keep the Negatron in its current shape.

The male finally landed in a one legged kneeling positon before Uni, whose eyes were filled with horror at what was to come next. His smirk would have become shark-like if this were any normal enemy, but it wasn't. Fortunately, this was the first time he used this attack, so its maximum power wasn't put into it, and this wasn't a real life-or-death battle. She'd live after this, but her pride maybe another story.

"RASENGAN!"

With a war cry, Vent dashed forth, slamming the Sphere, his RASENGAN, into the girl's gut. Uni screamed in intense agony, feeling the attack twist and contort her insides to do massive damage, until the attack exploded, sending her crashing into the side of the platform.

It was a good thing that her body was able to reinforce her damaged gut with share energy just seconds before impact, otherwise that attack would have ended her instantly.

'Do you think that attack was a bit much? I man, in the Naruto Wiki it said that the RASENGAN in its incomplete form grinds into the target, messing up their insides and propelling them away along its trajectory, before it bursts to cause potentially lethal damage.' Vent thought with worry, it wasn't his idea to add an incomplete RASENGAN to his list of Skills, for it was Rasen's, just after the paralysis took hold on his Bikaku.

His Tenant was slightly sadistic, especially with his lack of concern for Uni's wellbeing.

In addition, Vent was sure that fanboys of the franchise would crucify him alive for using an attack that took a week for the main protagonist Naruto to master, and 3 years for his father to create. Also spoilers for those who haven't watched the anime or read the manga. He'd used it once and got it right the first time, but unlike those two, Vent had lots of anime knowledge to help him, plus he had Rasen who helped him with the control. They'd have to train so Vent could control it better, and then they could see about adding an element to it.

'Pft, don't get your knickers in a bunch, master.' He replied, waving off his concern dismissively. 'That girl's body was able to send Share Energy to her gut at the last moment. She's alright, but I can't say the same for her pride.' Vent could then feel the grin form on the insane voice's non-existent features. 'Also, don't tell me you don't want some of those shounen moves added to our arsenal, master. I'm you so I know you have a secret appreciation for some of them.' The male had nothing to say to that, because it was true, aside from Tokyo Ghoul, Vent did have a love for shounen Anime, and the moves used in them.

Otaku's who use their knowledge to their advantage in battle were dangerous in many forms. Not only could they mould their energy to mimic deadly attacks they'd seen, but they were more open-minded than average warriors. If one gives them, a powerful energy source and the possibilities were nearly endless.

Like Rasen had said though, it wasn't long before Uni stumbled to her feet, getting back to her floating positon with a hand on her stomach, which was covered in severe burns from the attack. Vent winced, he'd have to apologise to her for that when he got the chance. "Uhhhh… for wat its worth, apologies for that, its sorta untested and…" he tried to say, only to stop when Uni glared at him.

"Shut it, don't think I'm down just because you got a good hit in!" she shouted, gripping her Gun tightly as she held it before him while wincing at the pain her gut was in. Thanks to the weight of her weapon, her Gut was burning up in protest, but she couldn't show that right now, it would be weakness and she wouldn't allow that.

She didn't want to be weak, she wanted to be strong… strong…. Strong…

Uni growled as she once again charged a PARALYSIS SHOT and fired at him. However, Vent was able to get out the way by pivoting to the left, the shot sailing past him harmlessly and exploding on some empty space behind them.

He then twisted his side and sent 3 Tentacles towards Uni, intending to impale her. 1 came from above while the other two flanked her from her respective sides. He saw her dodge them by jumping back, so he twisted his hips the other way and sent the other three at her while retracting the first 3 and spinning them together, making a single larger version of one.

This time, Uni fired normal bullets at the Tentacles, deflecting the away from he. A shadow loomed over head, and Uni looked up to see the larger Tentacle about to slam on top of her with its tip twisted around in a circle from overhead. Uni would never admit it even under pain of death, but at that moment she had squeaked like a terrified little girl, before rolling out of the way just as the Tentacle came crashing down, breaking the ground where she had once stood.

Seeing his chance, Vent jumped at her with his Ukaku swinging forwards, propelling him further as he raised his Koukaku blades, the one he had changed for the RASENGAN having returned to its default blade form, and slammed them in an X slash motion down on her. Uni barely raised her Gun in time to block it, cracks spreading slowly from the points where the blades connected to it.

He then broke off and did a reverse upward slash with one blade, before using the momentum to spin into a thrust with his opposite blade. Afterwards he thrusted the second blade before swinging both in a double scissor slash, not letting up on his attacks. Uni barely deflected the first slash in time, and she had to pivot to avoid the second one. She bent her back backwards to avoids the third attack, and managed to strafe backwards to get away from his double scissor slash.

But that didn't mean she saw out the range of his Rinkaku, which had dug into the ground to attack her from below. Faint rumbling was her only warning, and Uni had to dodge as if her life was on the line to not get hit by them. She made to raise her Gun to strike at him, but then Vent bent his legs as if he were crouching like a frog, his blades facing the ground as his Ukaku spread its full length. Uni's eyes widened at what that meant. 'Oh shit!'

That was all she could think before she had to fly to the skies above to avoid a Shower of Negatron enhanced shards. 'Tsk, this isn't good…! I'm running low on power thanks to this guy hitting so damn hard.' She thought, wincing at the amount of power she had left after she repaired the cracks on her Gun with her energy. The damage to her gut was mostly a dull ache at this point, but she didn't think that it wouldn't contribute to her defeat. That attack had caught her by surprise completely, since Vent had never used it beforehand. 'I just have to get one good shot, enough to finish him for good.'

With that plan in mind, Uni made to circle around the male, who managed to take to the skies with his Ukaku. He twisted around to launch his Rinkaku, only to abandon that plan when a rain of bullets came his way and instead crunched his Rinkaku in front of him to defend himself.

'Chance!' Uni thought with glee, seeing the Tentacles having protected their master from the attack and thus were unable to attack her for this short moment. She aimed her Gun and prepared her strongest Skill once more, this time aimed at Vent. 'Since Vent is obviously more powerful than Nepgear, I'll just have to beat him if I wanna be strong enough to save Noire!'

That was her thought process on the issue… and it was shattered when Nepgear suddenly came into her vision, her eyes hard and steeled with determination. "Wha-?!" was all Uni could say before she suffered another injury in the form of a diagonal gash from Nepgear's Gunblade.

"This is it, Uni, I'm using my full power! Hyah!" Nepgear cried as she flew forth towards her, her Gunblade shining as she prepped too activate MIRAGE DANCE. The paralysis from Uni's PARALYSIS SHOT had worn off around the time where Vent had used that Skill, the RASENGAN, she believed he called it, and thus she had been waiting for her chance to strike. Uni had been so focus on taking down vent, who was by far the strongest member of the Party, that she didn't notice her attack till it was too late.

Her Skill activated and Nepgear bombarded Uni with her slashes, sliding past her after dealing the last blow that ended her Skill. She then activated another Skill to compliment her previous ne, spinning around with her Gunblade pointed at the air behind her. "SLASH WAVE!" she called out the name of her Skill and sent an energy trail through the air at Uni's back.

The CPU Candidate for Lastation cried out in agony as she was sent spiralling to the ground in a heap, her HDD being the only reason why she was still unconscious. She quickly figured out what had happened and cursed herself for thinking that her Skill would be able to keep Nepgear downed until she dealt with Vent. "Tch, damnit, this isn't…" she began to say until she sensed a build-up of Share Energy above her, and felt all colour drain from her face. 'Oh no…'

Rolling to her side so she could look up at the source, Uni saw that her fears were confirmed, the source of the share energy being Nepgear's Gunblade. The tip of its barrel was glowing a bright lilac colour, and a massive amount of energy had been pulled into it. "This is it, Uni. I apologise that it came down to this, but you were the one who forced me to use this. SHARE CANNON!" She called out the name of her Skill, a Skill she had been developing herself in secret. She hadn't gotten many chances due to their quest for the Mascots and other disturbances. However, Nepgear had found time on their journey to train and learn how to make new Skills, Skills she hadn't thought possible.

Finally, her Gunblade fired a large, and seriously, a LARGE lilac flaming meteor-like bullet in Uni's direction. The white haired CPU Candidate tried to move out of the way, knowing that she would be toast if that attack hit her, but when she tried to move, to her horror Uni found that she couldn't. The reason soon became apparent when she saw a familiar set of Tentacles having erupted out the ground and restrained her, preventing her from escaping.

Shifting her gaze upwards, Uni looked into the flaming meteor… before closing her eyes and bracing herself for what was to come.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The following eruption of energy was like a sky-tall supernova, limited in space to the area where Uni was of course, Nepgear didn't want to get Vent or her friends caught in the shockwave of the last so she had aimed it that way. She watched the massive lilac supernova-like explosion with a mix of awe and sadness. She felt sad that she had to use a Skill she had been making to save her sister on someone who had the same goal as her, despite the methods she employed.

However, she felt awe because of the power she could feel from the explosion, power that signified how far she had gotten in her training. A surge of pride overcame her, and she smiled brightly. This was proof that she was getting stronger, and while she was nowhere near strong enough to fight against ASIC directly, yet, she could feel her strength increasing, something that felt… grand… to her.

Unfortunately, there was a downside. Because of the explosive power this Skill had, it took a lot of power from her reserves to use. At full power, she guessed she could only use this skill 3 to 4 times. Because she wasn't at full power when the fight first began anyways, thanks to that Gore Megala, she felt like she had only one shot left before she would run out of energy and fall unconscious. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to this time, as her attack had indeed connected.

Soon, the power began to dissipate, revealing an entirely battered section of the platform. The ground looked more like a junkyard, the platform's safety railing was in tatters, and a beaten and bruised Uni, back in human form, lay twitching on the ground. The twitching relieved Nepgear, as it proved to her that Uni was still alive from that attack. Nevertheless, Nepgear slowly descended until she was hovering above the ground, then transformed back into her human form.

The light from her reversion had roused the weakened Uni, whose eyes slowly opened with a pained grimace. It twisted into a distraught expression as Uni slowly got to her knees, looking down at the ground as defeated thoughts swirled around her mind. "I lost…" she mumbled in depression, clenching her fists on her lap. "I'm still too weak…"

"I win!" Nepgear exclaimed, shamelessly as all hell, as she slowly walked towards the defeated Uni, stopping 10 paces away from her. She then turned her attention to Vent, who was walking towards them from another side with his Kagune in bad shape. His Tentacles looked like they lost a portion of their flesh, his blades were vaporised down to the armour around his arm, and his Wings were in tatters. "Are you alright Vent? Did the energy hit you, too?!" she asked in a panic, fearing the worst.

The male shook it off however, already feeling his RC Cells beginning to repair the damage. "Nah, I'm good Nepgear, this is nothing. I have enough power left to repair what was damaged." He told her in a placating manner, getting an assured sigh of relief from the CPU Candidate of Planeptune. His brows furrowed when he glanced to Uni, seeing her battered state and feeling a pang of guilt about his part in that. "Still though… that was a rough battle."

Nepgear nodded her head in agreement, a sombre look falling onto her face as she held her hand over her chest. "It was… I lost more power than I expected too… but it had to be done. I bet Uni would say the same thing." She then looked back to their defeated opponent who was glaring heatedly at them. "Right, Uni?"

Said girl just huffed and looked away, crossing her arms in typical Tsundere fashion. "H-Hmph, I let you win, of course." She boasted, and while Vent and Nepgear frowned in unison, they could tell she was just trying to salvage what pride she could. Thus, they didn't say anything in response to that remark. She then pointed her finger at them with a toughened look in her eyes, a look that promised that she'd be back for a rematch. "But I'm only gonna do that once, you get me?!"

Afterwards, she managed to gather what little power she had left for one last transition into HDD, although she couldn't manifest her Gun anymore thanks to her lack of energy, so fighting in that state was impossible for her. While trying not to show her true feelings, Uni took to the skies and headed back to Lastation, away from the ones who had thoroughly beaten her.

Compa walked up to the two from behind, with IF following suit. Both had concerned looks on their faces at the outcome and the atmosphere that the battle generated. "Is this really what you wanted to do, Ge-Ge?" Compa asked with concern, concern shared by Vent.

Turning to her, Nepgear aimed a look that was a mix of sadness and confusion at her. "I… don't know…" she replied, before shaking her head and looking back to their adversary. "… Uni."

Chapter end

Well... Uni got owned, hence the title.

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