Chapter 51: The Aftermath – Part 1

The chirping of birds and the bright rays of sunlight was what woke Henderson from his painful slumber, as the ex soldier opened his eyes he tried to move his arms and legs but found himself unable to do so, instead of moving his limbs there was only pain – lots of pain. Henderson then felt a huge sting of pain coming from his insides, it felt as if something had pierced through his stomach, lungs or liver, or perhaps all of them at once. As Henderson yelled out in pain he coughed out some blood that painted the grass next to him, it was a painful ordeal.

"S...Screw that… Wraith guy," Henderson mumbled in pain, his words weak and quiet. "How… how is he… so powerful? And what… is he?"

"That is something we all would like to know," a voice told Henderson, the tone sounded flamboyant and full of life. The ex soldier painfully looked up to his right to see the last person he expected on the remains of a battlefield: Anonydeath. The pinkish, robotic suited man was floating off the ground due to his suit and was looking down at Henderson as he approached him, once Anonydeath reached the soldier he waved at him. "Hi, how's it going?"

"How's it going? How's it going?! Look at the state of me you asshole! Screw you! If I could only just… ack!" The ex soldier of Lastation coughed up some more blood and began to beath I nand out quickly.

"Stay still already, and don't get angry just because I was being nice to you." Anonydeath landed on the ground and knelt next to Henderson, the robotic pervert then began to feel his way around Henderson's body to feel if anything was out of place, as he did this the soldier could hear almost quiet miserable mumbles coming from the robotic suit's voicebox. Eventually after several minutes Anonydeath sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid it isn't good, you've snapped a good deal of your bones."

"Yeah, tell me something that I don't already know about, doc," Henderson asked sarcastically.

Anonydeath, ignoring the sarcasm coming from his companion, continued to deliver his verdict. "You'll have to have surgery as soon as possible."

"Where though? Is… Lastation… safe?"

"No, the battle of there is lost for us. Lothar is dead, the killachines are destroyed, the Dark Followers are either dead or have fled to the far corners of Gamindustri and our headquarters in the south-east area of Lastation has been occupied by the Lastation army."

"So… we're fucked then?"

"Not really, I did manage to get this off Lothar before he got himself killed by the Shadow Walker." Anonydeath then placed a small bag on the ground – which was originally hanging on his left arm – and began to scrounge through, in a matter of seconds he pulled out a small box covered in carvings of monsters that roamed around Gamindustri. It was a Share Energy Container, and it was glowing in a bright blue energy. Henderson's eyes widened and a grin formed on his face.

"Well, at least there's one good piece of news *cough*, so where to next?"

"Haruno Village. We will get you fixed up… hopefully."

"We? Who's we?" Henderson asked as Anonydeath put the Share Energy Container back in the bag, slung it over his left arm and picked Henderson up off the ground as carefully as he could. The ex soldier looked over at the ground near them and saw the bloodied corpses of his fallen comrades, their blood stained the grassy tree lands of the southern Lastation countryside. He looked away and muttered a prayer to their souls.

Anonydeath ignored the dead, bloodied and mutilated bodies near them and chose to answer Henderson's question as he began to walk – or float – in a south-west direction. "We as in me, the surviving Dark Captains, Arfoire and whoever happens to be there. We better get moving, we are not going to be alone here for much longer, not to mention that Lastation is going to get a lot of attention for the next few days, or weeks."


Brian sat on a cushioned, wooden chair next to a bed covered in black and white sheets, lying in the bed was Blanc. The CPU of Lowee was covered in bandages around her head, left arms, waist and parts of her legs, she was wearing her dress while her coat, hat, shoes and other accessories were piled neatly together on a nearby desk. Blanc was asleep and was very still, no one could see her move a single muscle as she slept. Brian sighed and clasped his left hand with Blanc's right hand, he looked relieved that she was alive yet also depressed about what had happened to her, he did see it happen after all. The young man felt someone gently place a hand on his right shoulder, he looked around to see Rom with a worried expression.

"It's alright, big brother, Blanc will be fine, the doctors said so," Rom told Brian.

"I know that, I just can't help but worry," responded Brian, the young man then pulled out the small photo he and Blanc took in the photo booth earlier in the day and stared at it, his teeth clenched and his hands began to twitch. "She was so happy, it was as if all our problems just disappeared and left us with pure joy. Then Lothar and his Followers came, and I nearly lost her. A piece of one of my fears could have come true if she hadn't been saved while I was unconscious."

As tears formed in Brian's eyes and began to flow down his cheeks Rom hugged him tightly, the young Candidate's face was pressed up against Brian's, her own tears became one with his. Rom looked down at the photo and noticed how embarrassed yet happy Blanc and Brian were together in the booth. "Everything will be alright, big brother, it has to be," Rom told him.

"Yeah, everything will be fine, big bro, I just know it," Ram reassuringly told Brian and Rom as she walked up to them from her position on the other side of Blanc's bed, Ram had a bandage around her right arm. "What do you say, Wraithy? Is Blanc gonna be ok?"

"Firstly, the name is Wraith, not Wraithy. Secondly, I am fairly sure Blanc will be fine, she just needs to rest for a while, at least a week or two before she returns to full strength," Wraith replied as he continued to lean up against the wall. "Still, it's a miracle that she survived with those wounds, that little goddess of yours is a hardy person indeed, Brian."

Brian chuckled in amusement as he looked at Blanc before turning his gaze at Wraith. "Yeah, I guess so. Hey, just a thought, but did you save her, Wraith?"

Wraith shook his head. "No, I did not. I was still outside of Lastation helping Noire and Uni, I could not have saved her at the same time."

"So who saved her?" Brian gazed around the room, looking at Wraith, Rom and Ram. Eventually Ram walked up next to Brian and looked down at him, her arms were behind her back.

"Me and Rom were in the reception area when Blanc returned, but someone was carrying her," Ram told Brian. Ram then began to explain what happened during that moment earlier in the day.


The Basilicom had been badly damaged, pieces of walls had crumbled, ceilings had fallen apart and the floor was cracked, blood stained the area and a mix of lifeless and wounded bodies of fallen guards and Dark Followers littered the ground. Rom and Ram, both in their HDD forms, had done their best to fight off Lothar and his Dark Followers as well as the killachine that was outside, but to no avail. Lothar and his soldiers fought, and slaughtered, their way through the limited number of guards in the Basilicom and made their way to the Sharicite Room. With Lothar stealing the Share Energy of Lastation it was left to Rom and Ram to fight off the Dark Followers.

"Ice Coffin!" Ram shouted, sending ice shards up from the ground and into a condensed group of Dark Followers, the attack hit them head on and sent them crashing into the wall, one Follower even smashed through it. "Hey, Rom, you alright over there?"

Rom nodded. "Uh huh, I'm alright."

The young CPU Candidate blocked an incoming blow from a Dark Follower who snarled at the Candidate, Rom began to shudder in fear at the sight of a bloodthirsty Dark Follower with the intent to kill her. Ram flew quickly over to her twin sister and attempted to fight the Follower and beat him up. But despite it all Ram was too slow to react to what happened next. The Dark Follower kicked Rom away and slashed his serrated sword at Ram, the sword ran across her right arm and stopped the Candidate in her tracks, giving time for the Follower to kick her away. As he prepared to deal the killer blow a sword ran threw his stomach, blood flowed down his legs and onto the ground. As the sword was removed and the Follower fell to the ground Ram looked up to see Kei holding the bloodied sword with a tired and pained expression on her face, trickles of blood dripped from a head wound.

"Are you two alright?" Kei asked the Candidates of Lowee.

"I-I think so," Ram responded as she got up off the ground while holding her wounded arm as Rom walked up to them.

"Are you alright, Miss Kei?" Rom asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Kei replied as she leaned against a nearby desk. "Lothar is gone, his killachine smashed a hole into the Sharicite Room and got away with the Share Energy, we have survived but I don't know for how long now that Norie and Uni have been separated from their power."

"What should we do then?" Rom asked as she began to wipe away the blood off from Kei's head as Ram searched for medical supplies.

"We will have to hold out here and tend to the wounded as best we can, let's hope that Blanc, Brian and the army can deal with the battle at hand until we get information concerning the others."

And so they waited in the reception area of the Basilicom, Kei cleared up the dead bodies while Rom and Ram did their best to heal up the wounded guards, those who were able to resume fighting were told by the Lastation Oracle to venture out in the city and round up the civilians who were caught up in the battle and take them to the Basilicom. Eventually citizens who had failed to find refuge in the western and northern districts of Lastation city made their way to the Basilicom where they were treated for any wounds before being sent up to the higher levels of the tall building to recuperate, wounded soldiers also started to arrive once they received word that the Basilicom was secure from the enemy. Those who were badly wounded were taken up to the medical facility of the Basilicom while those who could be healed quickly by Rom's and Ram's healing magic were sent back into the fray. However, whenever people were asked about Noire and Uni they all responded with the same answer: no one had seen them. It was the same with Brian and Blanc, they were last reported to have been fighting against Lothar the Bloodthirsty and his killachine but soon afterwards there was no sign of them.

As the reception area was cleared out of the wounded and those seeking refuge Kei sighed and looked outside, she noticed how the sky was much darker and bright blue lights were converging around one sight, it did not seem like a good omen to the troubled Oracle. Shards of bright blue energy appeared to roam around the place and destroy the area, at least that is what Kei was thinking. Not long afterwards Rom and Ram returned, still in their HDD forms, and saw Kei looking outside, a troubled expression on her face. Before either of the Lowean Candidates could talk to Kei all three of them could sense something, something unnatural. The stench of death flew into their nostrils, it did not smell like dead bodies but it still smelled like death, it was as if all life would die if exposed to the deathly aura for too long.

"What is this feeling?" Kei asked herself. "It feels as if there's someone, or something, out there that is death incarnate."

Her question was shortly answered by the unexpected arrival of a strange man, the deathly aura seemed to flow around him and kill off any living plant life that was around the Basilicom, the man approached the Basilicom and entered the building, he was carrying someone familiar over his right shoulder. The man was wearing steel and leather plate armour over his chest, shoulders, steel armguards, gauntlets, pieces of steel on his legs and steel armoured boots, his right eye was red while his left eye was brown and three long scars ran down the right side of his face, the pupil in his right eye was odd as it was shaped like a cat's, he also wore a grey hood and cloak. The person he was carrying over his right shoulder was none other than Blanc, her clothes were dirty and ragged.

"Big sis!" Ram yelled as she ran over to the armoured man, but the deathly aura stopped her from getting close to him.

The stranger glanced at Blanc and then back at Ram before grunting in a different language - so it seemed - before moving the little goddess off his shoulder and onto his right arm, he then swung his arm forward and let Blanc crash onto the ground and roll towards Rom, Ram and Kei. The twin sister looked in horror as Blanc lied on the ground before them in a limbless state, Kei glanced at the CPU of Lowee before looking back at the stranger, who now happened to be walking out of the Basilicom without a care in the world. The Oracle stopped herself from trying to get answers out of him and did her best to prevent either Rom or Ram to go after him, although Kei did notice one thing that made her question who the man was. On the back of the grey cloak was an emblem in the shape of a phoenix.


As soon as Ram had finished explaining the story Brian patted the Candidate on the head gently before turning his attention towards Wraith, the hooded man seemed to be pondering what he had just heard. "Wraith, does this guy sound familiar to you?" Brian asked him.

Unfortunately for the young man Wraith shook his head. "No, it doesn't strike a bell at all I'm afraid. Although, the way that Ram described him is rather odd."

"How so?"

"Well, for a start, the pupil in his right eye is not normal, it isn't human-like at all, it's more daemon-like. Secondly, the three scars on the right side of his face do not ring a ball. Thirdly, why does he have a phoenix for a symbol on his cloak? It doesn't make sense to me."

"Why is that, Mr Wraith?" Rom asked as she looked at him, her arms still wrapped around Brian.

"Because the phoenix is a symbol of the Ancients, a sign of their power and the legends that surround the magical beasts and the Royal Bloodline of the Ancients. Ram, was there anything else about this stranger you can tell me?"

As Brian pondered Wraith's words about the Royal Bloodline of the Ancients Ram shook her head in response to Wraith's question. "No, 'fraid that's it."

"I thought so," Wraith sighed. "Anyway, it will be something that I'll keep an eye out for."

With the conversation concluded Rom turned her full attention back to Brian, her expression filled with wonder. "Hey, big brother, why does your left eye have a power symbol? Are you a CPU?"

Brian shook his head. "Nah, just a side effect from the battle, that's all." It wasn't the truth but the young man could not just expose to Rom and Ram that he had merged with the former CPU of Lowee, she had wanted to keep herself a secret from everyone else, and Brian was just doing his part.

Brian looked over at Wraith and caught his attention, the hooded man nodded and walked over to the young man and the Candidate who was hugging him."Mind if I borrow your big bro for a moment?" Wraith asked Rom.

"Um, alright then," Rom replied as she let go of Brian and watched as he stood up.

"Don't worry about me, Room, I'll be back soon," Brian told Rom before patting her gently on the head, causing her to beam in a bright smile. As Wraith and Brian headed towards the door Rom ran up to them and looked at the Ancient with an embarrassed look.

"Can you bend down please?" Rom asked with her puppy dog eyes in full effect, with a shrug the young man bent down with his face near Rom. What happened next stunned everyone in the room except Wraith – he had a hard time trying to keep himself from chuckling. Rom quickly leaned towards Brian and her soft lips touched his right cheek, the kiss lasted only a second and Rom withdrew back into Brian's viewing, both of their faces were completely red while Ram was flabbergasted - not to mention also jealous. "People kiss when they love each other, right?" Rom reasoned.

"Hey! No fair! I wanna do that! I wanna do that!" Ram yelled in frustration as she waved her arms around.

"Come on, Brian, we better get moving before those two start having a contest of some sorts where you are the prize," Wraith told Brian.

The young man nodded and, as Rom and Ram argued with each other, the two men sneaked out of Blanc's room and out into the hallway. Once they made it into a nearby storage room Brian sat down on an old, dusty desk and sighed deeply. "Phew, thanks for getting me out of there, Wraith," Brian thanked the hooded man.

"No problem, I could tell that there was something you wanted to talk to me about, but did you want to ask me questions before or after I split you and Bellona back into two separate minds and bodies?"

"Hmm, I figured you would have guessed it by now. I'm sure that Bellona would want to become separate, as do I."

"Good, good, then I better get stared." Wraith raised his right hand and placed it onto Brian's forehead, closed his eyes and began to channel his energy into the young man's mind. Brian could feel Wraith searching through his mind, and it was painful. Wraith looked at him sternly. "Stay still would ya? I'm trying to do something that could very well blow your brain into smithereens."

"S-Sorry, its just that I'm not good with pain… ow!" Brian explained as a tinge of pain erupted in his head.

"Just stay focused, and don't do anything else."

The pain that came afterwards was excruciating for Brian. Wraith's energy surged into the Ancient's mind and began the process of separating Brian and Bellona, but it felt as if the young man's mind was being tortured and in the process of being torn to shreds from within. He would have yelled out if his words were not stuck in his throat – such was the painful sensation that vibrated not only though his head but also his entire body. The left side of Brian's body glowed in a blue light and an image of Bellona appeared for a few seconds, she too appeared to be in abject pain. Brian's eyes flared up with Share Energy before his entire body was lit up like a blue candle fire, as the painful ordeal reached its climax the strange, bright blue markings formed on Brian's flesh, Wraith stared at them and smirked.

Looks like he has truly reached his full potential, I'll have to thank Bellona for lending some of her power to him, and I would thank Lothar for pissing Brian off thus enabling him to use his power but that would piss me off. Ah, good, nearly done with the extraction process, just need a little more force… sorry about this, Brian.

Wraith applied a large amount of force into the extraction process and his energy shot through every system in Brian's body, the pain was unbearable for him. Eventually Brian felt something leave him and the pain began to subside. The young man collapsed to the ground and looked over to his left to see Bellona lying next to him in an exhausted state, her eyes were closed and her breathing pattern was all over the place. "There, you feeling better, Brian and Bellona?" Wraith asked as he breathed in and out deeply.

"Y-Yeah, I think so," Brian replied as sat up, to his amazement he saw Bellona starting to disappear in a bright, blue mist, similar to Share Energy in a mist form. The CPU ghost opened her eyes and winked at the young man with a seductive expression on her face.

"I'll be seeing you later tonight, kiddo," Bellona informed the Ancient as she disappeared into thin air, leaving Brian blushing in response.

"Um, Wraith, was she just hitting on me?" Brian asked the former Oracle.

"Hard to say really, I've known her for a long time and all that I know about that CPU is that she's a pervert, she can be sarcastic at times as well as having a serious personality too, although she his kind as well. You should be fine though, Bellona is rather supportive in your relationship with Blanc. I think all she wants to talk about will refer to what happened today, just be careful though."

Brian raised an eyebrow as he stood up and stretched his back. "Thanks for the advice. Anyway, thanks for that, wasn't sure you could pull it off."

"You had a lot to worry about, it was my first time doing something like that before."

Brian stared at Wraith and sighed. "Should be glad I'm alive then."

"Indeed you should, but I knew you could get through it alive." Wraith walked towards the door before looking back at the Ancient. "Come on, we better get back before they start to look for us. I know you have some questions that you want answered but leave that for later, at least for tomorrow anyway, I've still got to rest and restore what energy I have left."

Brian nodded and together the two men walked out of the room and back into the hallway, as they returned to Blanc's room the sounds of raised voices entered their ears, it sounded like Rom, Ram and Uni. When Brian and Wraith poked their heads into the room they saw a depressed Rom, a grumpy Ram and an annoyed Uni. Once the two men entered the dimly lit room Uni turned around and sighed.

"About time you two showed up, where the hell did you two go anyway?" the tsundere Candidate asked them with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Just clearing some things up," Wraith replied as he leaned up against the wall while Rom and Ram attached themselves to Brian. "Why does it matter to you?"

"It matters because there's a lot of people outside the Basilicom, they're reporters and are trying to gather information for the news, both TV and radio."

Wraith appeared tense and glance3d away from the CPU Candidate. "I don't care what you tell them, just leave me out of it, I don't want people to know that I am around."

"What? But people saw you in Lowee..."

"That was different, just leave me out of this."

The hooded man got off the wall and walked out of the room, leaving Uni by herself with Brian, Rom and Ram. She sighed and looked over at the brown haired trio to see Brian sitting down on a chair next to Blanc's bed wit ha book in his right hand, his left arm was around Ram, who was sitting on his lap, while Rom was leaning over his right shoulder. Uni hated to do it bur she had to interrupt the reading session and tell Brian the news. The tsundere Candidate approached the small group and looked down at them.

"Sorry to interrupt this but you should know that there are some reporters outside talking with Noire and Kei about the events that occurred today," Uni informed Brian as he looked up at her. They will no doubt start to pressure my sister into letting them talk with you and Blanc – if she ever wakes up soon that is."

Brian growled and closed the book after putting a piece of paper in between the pages as a bookmark. "Is that so? Then I better take the initiative and talk top them myself."

"Are you sure about that? Their questions may not be the nicest."

"I know that, but I just want to have some piece and quiet so I'll talk to them and make them go away." As Ram got off the young man's lap and took his book the twins and Uni looked at Brian as he left the room with an annoyed expression, all three Candidates were worried about him – even though Uni would not admit it.


"I'm afraid that's all I can say for now, please just leave us to our business for the day," Noire told the reporters at the entrance of the Basilicom, but to no avail as the large group continued to ask question after question.

As Noire sighed internally she pitied herself, the CPU had never had to put up with something like this before. The CPU of Lastation was wearing her usual attire but her left ankle was bandaged up thanks to Hiroshi, a tired expression was on her face as she was bombarded by question after question. Noire looked over at Kei and saw the Oracle shrug her shoulders, even she was oblivious at what to do with the large number of reporters.

The questions that they kept asking concerned about what will happen to Lastation now that the battle was over, how will this affect the future of Gamindustri as a whole, what happened to her and Uni when the Dark Captain and the Dark Followers attacked, when the repairs will occur and where is Brian the Shadow Walker. For some reason the one who was asking that question the most was a little blonde girl in a pink, frilly dress which made her look like a magical girl. It was Abnes and she was on a mission: to use the battle in Lastation as proof that the CPUs have no right to rule and that Brian was a major villain that needed to stand trial for his crimes.

"Can everyone just please leave for the day and come back another time, this isn't a good time to be interviewed," Noire told the reporters.

"And why is that? Trying to hide the real villain are you?" Abnes asked with a wicked grin.

"No, I'm not hiding anything, this just isn't a good time to talk at the moment. Besides, aren't you a bit too young to be a reporter anyway?" Noire retorted.

"Hey, I'm older than I look!"

"Clearly. Just get moving already, there are some things that need to be cleared up."

"Grrrr, being disrespected by a CPU is bad enough, but trying to hide that damn Shadow Walker in your Basilicom and praise him as a hero while he dates that little CPU from Lowee is the last straw!" Abnes forced her way past Noire and marched down the corridor towards the elevator, she ignored the angry protests from Noire who alled for her guards to escort the little girl out. Just as Abnes reached the elevator the doors opened and the target of her verbal attacks appeared, Brian had arrived and he was not in a good mood, especially when he spotted Abnes.

"Well ain't this annoying, what do you want you little brat?" Brian demanded in a rude tone.

"To reveal the truth about you of course," came the reply. "Whether you like it or not the people will know what you really are: an evildoer."

"Is that so? Well, you could say that I am an evildoer, but only to those who annoy the shit out of me!" As Brian's temper increased his eyes flared with Share Energy and his body was encased with the blue energy, the markings began to appear slowly as he glared at his opponent. "Get out of here and never come back, or you will know why I am a death bringer."

That was enough for Abnes to back off in fear, her face started to sweat and her fingers trembled, it was as if he was burning through her very soul, finally the 'little girl' ran for her life and bolted out the entrance back into the streets of Lastation city. Everyone's gaze were laid upon Brian as he approached Noire, Kei and the large group of reporters, his eyes flared brightly at them as he stood next to the Lastation CPU and gazed at the crowd before them. Much to everyone's surprise, and delight, Brian seemed to calm down as his eyes returned to normal and the Share Energy around his body disappeared.

"Now then, is there anything else you reporters want to ask?" Brian asked the group, his arms crossed before him and his eyes glaring at them.

"Um, just one thing," a reporter replied weakly. "What are you?"

"I am Brian the Shadow Walker, the last of the Ancients, foretold by a prophecy from a bygone era, hate me if you wish but do not hate the Goddesses. Now, is there anything else?" The looks and shaking of heads pleased the young man, a small smile broke out across his face in response to this. "Well, if that's everything then leave. Lady Black Heart over here will be busy with rebuilding Lastation city tomorrow, she and her sister have done everything they can do already to help every single citizen of this nation."

With that over and done with the reporters dispersed and the entrance of the Basilicom was empty once more, Noire sighed with relief as the last of the reporters disappeared out of view and looked over at Brian, a smile was on her face. "Thanks for that, Brian. B-B-But don't get me wrong, i-it's not like I'm grateful or anything!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say, just remember to start rebuilding the city tomorrow."

"Hey, you have to help as well since you destroyed a part of it as well you know."

"We'll see what happens. Anyway, I've got stuff to do, see you later." As Brian walked towards the elevator he was interrupted by Noire who caught up with him.

"I forgot to mention something. We will be having some guests coming tomorrow, it's only just Neptune and company, even Histoire will be coming over."

"Alright then, thanks for the heads up. I'll be with Blanc if you need me." Brian entered the elevator and disappeared onto the upper levels of the Basilicom, leaving Noire alone with Kei, both had smiles stretched across their faces. Things would be interesting when the next day dawned.


The sun had disappeared over the horizon and gave way for the moon to make its appearance in the dark sky, the city of Lastation was in an all-time quiet state, a far cry to the days that have passed before the battle. Watching the city from above on a white stone balcony was Brian, his hands were in his pants' pockets while the wind gently blew his coat around, the moonlight was shining through the holes in his white, Lowean styled coat. As Brian continued to gaze at the city he felt something in the air, it was heavy and full of energy. He turned around to his left to see Bellona materialising out of thin air, the moonlight made her already ghostly appearance more abnormal. The former goddess looked at Brian and gave hi ma cheeky grin.

"How ya doing, kiddo?" she asked him.

"I've been better, but why call me kiddo?" responded Brian.

"You're younger than me, age wise anyway, so I can call you that if I want to." Bellona leaned up against the edge of the balcony and continued to gaze at Brian, her backed turned towards the city below them. "So, I guess you have a few questions that you want to ask me. I'll let you ask away but I have some questions as well, if you don't mind answering them."

Brian nodded. "Alright then. Well, for a start, why are you interested in watching over me? Wraith explained that you're interested in my relationship with Blanc so I'm just wondering is all."

Bellona smiled and sighed, her arms rested on the balcony and she clenched the rails. "You're an interesting person, I've been watching over you ever since you arrived in Lowee from Planeptune and I took a great interest in how my dear Blanc was falling for you."

"'Dear Blanc'? Oh right, I remember that you said that she was a daughter to you or something. Is Blanc your daughter?"

Bellona shook her head. "No, she isn't really my daughter. If I had lived longer till the moment she was born by the people's faith then she would have been my little sister, but I call her my daughter anyway."

Brian had taken his hands out of his pockets and his arms were now behind his back, the young man's full attention was on the CPU ghost. "Do you mind that I'm dating Blanc? Since you call yourself her daughter I though I'd have to ask this."

Bellona stared at Brian for a short moment before breaking out in a chuckle. "Of course I'm fine with it, in fact I got very excited when I saw the two of you make out a few days ago, it was a rather… touching moment. A pity you didn't go any further with that."

Brian's cheeks burned with a bright red colour as he blushed his gaze turned away from Bellona and back towards the city around them. "Y-Y-You saw that?"

The former CPU nodded enthusiastically. "Sure did, kiddo, sure did. Although, now I'm wonderign what would've happened if I had revealed myself to you earlier, maybe I could have stolen your heart instead."

As Brian became confused at what Bellona was mumbling about he was soon startled by the fact that the founder of Lowee had quickly pressed her body up against his, her right hand rubbed his left leg and her expression became seductive. "Blanc isn't here at the moment, so we've got some time to ourselves. Wanna have some fun?"

As Brian tried to protest as best he could an arm appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Bellona by the neck, the arm threw her off the young man and back to the railing of the balcony. When the Ancient looked back at the arm he saw another woman, this one was taller than Bellona and had long silver hair, green eyes, a black dress with black padded armour and boots, her armoured black gloves were on her hips and a disgusted expression adorned her face. The strange woman looked over at Bellona and sighed in annoyance.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing, Bellona?" the woman chastised. "You could have frightened the young man to death with your perverted thoughts of 'fun'."

"Oh grow a pair already, Minerva," grumbled Bellona in response. "I was only teasing him."

Minerva sighed once more before turning her attention to Brian. "I apologise for Bellona's behaviour, she is a pervert after all."

"N-N-No problem," was all Brian could say, although he was secretly interested in seeing how far Bellona would have gone. "So you're Minerva, founder and former CPU of Lastation?"

The ghostly CPU nodded. "That is correct, glad to know that someone remembers my name around here. It is good to meet you in person, I have heard a lot about you."

"Likewise. So why are you here?"

"I am here to keep a close eye on Bellona since I knew that she was seeing you tonight, plus I wanted to see you. B-B-But it isn't because I was that interested in meeting you or anything."

Brian face palmed and sighed. "Another tsundere? Well, you don't sound as bad as Noire when she goes full tsun so I can excuse it."

Minerva blushed and looked away while Bellona chuckled. "I-I know that I'm a damn tsundere, it isn't something that I can get rid off, but I'm trying my best," Minerva pouted as she crossed her arms.

"Don't worry about it," Brian reassuringly told her before looking at Bellona. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

Bellona's expression turned fro ma cheery look into a saddened one. "Um, there was one more thing. Do you remember anything about your past?"

This was a question that Brian was not expecting. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when we were merged we shared the same memories and had access to our past memories. I took the liberty of looking through your memories and found some distorted images, they didn't make much sense to me but it looked similar to those vision you told Blanny about back in Lowee. When I looked for any childhood memories I barely found any."

Brian shrugged his shoulders in response. "I don't really know either, plus I don't really care." Before he could say anything more a familiar voice could be heard coming from inside the Basilicom. Brian, Bellona and Minerva turned their attention to the voice and recognised who it belonged to: it was Blanc. Brian's face lit up with excitement as he heard her mumbles. "Sorry, Bellona and Minerva, we'll have to continue this another… eh? They already legged it?"

Brian had turned around to resume talking with the two former goddesses only to find that they had disappeared and no trace of them could be seen, it did acquire Blanc's attention however. "Huh? Is someone out there?" Blanc asked as she opened the glass door, the first thing she was was Brian standing on the balcony, his attention directed to her.

"B-B-Brian? Y-You're alive?" Blanc asked as her eyes widened and her hands trembled, she approached the young man and rubbed his left cheek, her expression filled with astonishment.

"Yep, I'm still alive, and I'm glad to see you up and about," replied Brian as he smiled at her.

A tear escaped from Blanc before she leapt at the young man and tackled him to the ground in a tight hug, the CPU of Lowee could no longer contain her tears and she wept, her tears staining his shirt. Brian smiled and patted Blanc on the head affectionately while his other arm wrapped itself around the petite person on top of him. She looked up at his face and tried to hold back the tears while speaking. "I… I thought I lost you, I thought you died out there, I was so worried when I woke up and couldn't see anyone around. I'm glad you're safe."

"Same here, Blanc, same here. Don't try and do that sort of heroic stuff again, please, I thought you died and I went on a rampage through Lastation because of that."

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to worry about that, I just… I don't really know."

"Well, it doesn't matter, everything is going to be fine from now on." The young man smiled and gently kissed Blanc on the lips, the Lowean CPU leaned in and the kiss became more passionate as both of them wrapped their arms and hands around each other. The two of them stayed like that for a while in each others arms, watching the moon head west until it began to set over the horizon. It was a romantic moment for the two of them Brian thought as he leaned up against the wall with a sleeping Blanc resting her head against his chest, and he wouldn't have it any other way.


A/N: Finally got it done, took me a while but I did it. I've definitely come far from where I've started, 52 chapters (actually 51 since the prologue doesn't count) and I think I have done quite well. I decided to split this chapter into two halves which has made this a lot easier for me, if I had done it as one whole chapter then it would've taken me several more days plus another 6000 words, definitely better to be two chapters. The next dozen chapters are going to be a lot more peaceful so don't expect much action – unless you're including lemons in which case there will be action, just some different action. I'm getting pretty excited for what's to come with this story and the characters, relationships, heroes, anti-heroes and villains, not to mention the new arrival of the armoured man who can speak a different language. Have a good day readers and may your grades forever be high.