Chapter 44

It happened in an instant.

Underling, in one movement, dashed forwards with lightning trailing behind her form, almost as if sparks were flying from her form like she was the centre of a massive, violent storm. At first, Nepgear had thought that, as Underling approached her, she had been her first target. After all, she had the biggest threat level among the group since she had the most experience fighting strong Ghouls… But that soon turned out to be the very OPPOSITE in a couple milliseconds.

WHOOSH!

The CPU Candidate's hair fluttered in the breeze generated from Underling's movement, momentarily catching her by surprise. 'Huh?! What the Goodness?!' she shrieked mentally, confused on what Underling intended. She was the biggest threat here, why not just attack her first? Soon, realization dawned on her, nearly draining all the blood from her features before she quickly turned around to try and aid her friend whom had been caught by surprise at the instantaneous action. 'Oh no! She's gotten to IF!' that had been her thought process.

IF! The others!

They'd been weakened by the oppressive share energy!

If they were in 100% condition, they could have done something, but not like this!

She had to hurry, otherwise they could get seriously hurt!

Those had been Nepgear's thoughts as she hurried to turn around to try and give chase to the green haired ASIC lackey… though with her current state, Nepgear hesitated to call her that. Underling had massive hatred towards her, true, but it also got directed at the rest of her Party, including the absent Vent. There wasn't anything stopping her from going after them, so why not? But by the time she had managed to turn around towards the green haired woman… her worst fears came true: she had been too late.

At the moment that Underling had approached her, IF quickly summoned her gauntlets, though she had been slower than normal due to not having expected to be fighting so soon. Not to mention how the effects of the energy decreased her overall reaction time, which resulted in Underling doing two things: strapping her Baton to her back… then launching a super-fast roundhouse kick to the woman's head. The resulting impact created thus huge, colossal SMACK sound, IF Screaming in shock as pain EXPLODED from within her skull, sending her spiralling through the air and into one of the cubes surrounding the room, unconsciousness taking her upon impact.

"I-IFFY/IF!" The rest of the party called out, shock and horror filling their beings when they saw the few trails of blood running down the brunette's forehead. Not only that, but the sparks radiating from that Baton caused first and second degree burns all over her body, filling her coat and clothes with various holes in all sorts of shapes, thus filling the air with the WONDERFUL smell of charred flesh. Seeing something like this, pretty much smashed their previous thoughts of Underling into pieces, reducing them into nothing but chunks or remains.

"Huh, so this is what cooked flesh smells like. Huh, reminds me of smoked bacon…"

Uncaring about their opinions right now, Underling's gaze swept across the group to target her next victim. Her mismatched eyes shone brilliantly and terrifically in the lights of the Dungeon, the predatory glint in them sending no small amounts of chills down their spines. The small amount of spilt blood just then would NOT have been enough to satisfy her bloodlust, her Ghoul side demanded that she feast on more flesh belonging to the weak… the weak are to be trampled on, only the strong and the clever come out on top. Strength thus, was the most important thing…

Strength… Strength…

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Deep within her, the madness that came with the Ghoul slowly started seeping into her, a slow trickle for the time being… but that could QUICKLY change at the drop of the hat. Soon, her gaze centred on red, and her mismatched eyes widened with dark, twisted and insanity-fuelled glee. She remembered that bitch, always going on about getting a bunch of fucking whores to satisfy her stupid 'wifey plan' or whatever. Well then, how about she show her JUST how pathetic that dream of hers really was?! With that in mind, Underling bent her legs as two Rinkaku Tentacles emerged, slamming into the ground as she propelled herself through the air at bullet speeds, each Tentacle vanishing soon after.

"Eek!" RED squeaked as she saw how fast Underling approached her, only having a second or two to raise her Gunhammer. Turned out that had been the best she could have done, since Underling raised a fist and threw it towards her head, intending to smash it inwards for her weapon's shaft to block it… although, the recoil from the impact sent RED flying. Underling wasn't done however, as from below RED a single Kagune Tentacle burst out of the ground, its tip having morphed into this twisted, deformed mouth with nothing but jagged teeth. The Tentacle lunged towards RED with the intent to bite into her waist and utterly rip her in two… only for RED to move herself just in time for her left leg to be clamped down on instead. "KYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

RED's frenzied shrieks filled the Dungeon, rivalling that of Banshees as a white hot burning feeling filled up every spot imaginable within her leg. It made her numb to anything else, including the mortified looks of her comrades as she desperately tried to slam the Gunhammer into the Tentacle in a bid to free herself. It definitely contained the desperate attempts of an animal caught in the grips of its predators' jaws… something which showed on her pain-ridden face as her leg ever so slowly became numb. A sign that she would be losing her leg in the next few seconds if things stayed the way they were.

Fortunately, her attempt managed to garner her freedom, as her Gunhammer smashed into the Tentacle just below its head which caused its eruption ability to activate. The ensuing fiery eruption which escaped from the Gunhammer shook the entire organic structure, as well as caused it to lose its tip along with a good portion of his body which allowed RED to escape further harm…

Though, that didn't mean the multitude of 3 Tentacles emerging after the first one didn't have anything to say as they lunged towards her.

'Not good! I just used up what little wifey power I could muster in that last strike! Please, wifeys your beloved needs you-!'

"RED!"

FWOOSH!

Fortunately, aid came to RED in the form of Nepgear, the sole immune one as she flew right by the Tentacles, slicing through them with her Gunblade before grabbing RED and carrying her to safety. However, it hadn't been a clean escape attempt, as Nepgear noticed when she cringed, feeling one of the Tentacles rip a gash through her right thigh, similar to that guy in the white suit which Vent had held off before. Underling howled as she ripped her Kagune out of the ground, growling like a feral beast. "UGGGGHHHHH…. THAT SLUTTY HOE-FACED BITCH… WHY I OUTTA-" She muttered under her breath, making to launch her Kagune at her once more when suddenly she froze. "WH-WHA?!" She exclaimed, trying to move her body but to no avail. Before she could freak out however, Underling noticed that her body had a small aura of Share Energy covering her, something she realized had been Nepgear's doing. "DAMNIT!"

Lowering herself to the ground close to the entrance to the seal room, as well as a few meters away from the berserk-like Underling, Nepgear groaned as pain burned through her wounded thigh, blood dripping from it whilst she still remained mentally focused enough to apply her SHARE FORCE. 'Underling will likely break out of it soon enough… I can feel her straining against my will already…' The CPU Candidate thought as she grimaced, placing a hand on her thigh to try and relieve the pain by putting pressure on it. That move had not been something she'd expected, but if she were frank, the it had been a good thing she had lessened the damage by moving slightly when she had, otherwise she would have bled out from the bloodloss. Not like her current situation was like sunshine and rainbows, but it could have been worse… much, MUCH worse.

Something which RED quickly noticed when Nepgear managed to lower her form to the ground, her face twisting in a pained frown when she saw the blood oozing down Nepgear's thigh despite her attempts to quell it. "Nepgear… you're hurt…" she muttered, shock filling her system behind her facial expressions. That shock soon got mixed in with guilt, as the revelation that she had been the one who caused Nepgear to sustain such an injury. The numbness in her leg however, soon resurfaced to remind her of its presence, something which Nepgear quickly noticed as well.

"D-Don't worry… I can still fight, RED… you on the other hand… need to stay away, Underling is… a bit much for you in your current state… same with the others…" IRONICALLY, Compa had been the one to direct the rest of the surviving party members out of the room, just barely evading the same fate of falling unconscious which befell their brunette Guild Agent. The Mascot Disk, Broccoli, all of them including the unconscious IF had been dragged out of there, leaving only herself inside the seal room. That would just have to be the case for now, since this oppressive Share Energy would limit their effectiveness immensely.

Fighting in these conditions would make them a liability.

RED wanted to protest at this, especially since her words pretty much stated that Nepgear would be fighting this Underling herself. How could she, RED the Wifey Hunter, stand it when she would let her own wifeys fight for her like this? It stung at her pride like a thousand wasps, but it wasn't like her injury would let her do that. Thus, no matter how frustrated she felt inside, she could only nod in understanding as she looked towards the young Planeptune CPU Candidate.

Said Candidate merely pressed a hand against her wounded thigh, her face twisting into one of cringing when she felt the sharp spike of pain accompanying this action. 'Ouch! This stings…!' Still, she pressed on and applied some of her limited healing abilities to the wound to stop the bleeding, but though the hole closed up thanks to this, bloodloss had already happened. She felt a mild sense of dizziness thanks to it, her vision slowly starting to spin had she not shook her head and forced everything into a stillness…

Just in time for her to perceive a strike from a lunging Tentacle straight towards her face.

"Oh no!" Nepgear shrieked, quickly responding to the approaching threat by bending backwards and ducking under it. She then shot away from her previous position, something which turned out to be exactly the right thing to do since more Tentacles burst out the ground from beneath her former position. If she hadn't then Nepgear would have been impaled through both her upper back and her right thigh. 'Something's not right here! Mrs Underling seems like she's acting different than usual…' She thought to herself in worry, especially as she ascended higher to get some distance between them. According to her previous battles, Underling could only strike with her Kagune and didn't have any air superiority to contend with her, so she SHOULD be okay…

Only, these thoughts soon got dashed when her surroundings darkened, the cause being the shadow that suddenly appeared behind her with its multiple limbs stretched out wide. Nepgear found herself INSTANTLY hit with a wave of wild, UNIMAGINABLE bloodlust like an explosion from a nuclear volcano, bloodlust which slammed onto her back like a massive mountain. Dread erupted within her chest as, with her senses heightened by these emotions, she felt like time had slowed down in this moment. Slowly, she glanced behind her, eyes nothing more than dots to see the equally small-eyed, wildly grinning lips of the green haired One-Eyed Ghoul. Not only that though, but when she saw what appeared BEHIND Underling, her heart felt like it had frozen itself in a block of ice as a sharp gasp escaped her lips.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! SURPRISE, BI-ATCH!"

WHAM!

"GYAH!"

A sharp intake of breath within a gasp of pain erupted from Nepgear's throat when Underling rammed her right leg into her in the form of an axe kick, sending her spiralling down to the ground below with the force needed to make a single-story house-sized crater. Alongside the searing pain, Blood spewed forth from Nepgear's lips with her eyes shooting open wide, her form bouncing lightly back into the air before Underling SMASHED into her from above, making another explosion.

From the generated smoke, Nepgear flew out with a few trails of Blood dripping down her chin, her body looking like it had gone through a grinder as she raised her Gunblade and fired within the smoke. From its tip which briefly shined as a warning sign, a shower of blasts erupted forth, peppering the smoke from where she had flown out from in an attempt to hit her opponent. She didn't want to wait a single SECOND before the smoke could disperse, since that previous incident taught her that Underling wouldn't wait for her to recover like she normally did. "This… This is way different from before…!" she cried to herself,, not really expecting any kind of answer.

Still, her movements seemed to be in vain when Underling simply charged out of the smoke, her blue Tentacles now being replaced with 2 MASSIVE wings, each of them shaped like the skeleton of a bird's whilst the remaining 2 had reformed themselves into… well, what could only be described as gorilla-like, muscular arms with large fists and matching forearms. Her Baton remained strapped to her back for the time being, even as crimson electricity crackled along its frame. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! WHAT, YA LITTLE SLUTS THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ONLY ONES TRAINING?! GET REAL, ONLY THE STRONG AND CLEVER GET TO ENJOY LIFE, YA LITTLE SHIT! NOBODY ELSE!"

Instantly, Underling had closed the distance between them, swinging her right Kagune fist towards Nepgear in the form of a right hook. Nepgear, knowing that blocking such an attack wouldn't be the best option out there, resorted to parrying it then ascending in one big motion, avoiding the following left hook. She made to aim her Gunblade and fire at Underling from point blank, however the green haired woman cackled evilly as she kicked the weapon away from her, hooking her leg around Nepger's arm and, using the momentum from her twisting motions, sent Nepgear flying away from her.

Once again, she closed the distance between them, but instead of her initiating the first attack, Nepgear took her chance and boosted forwards, launching a MIRAGE DANCE at her with the intent of slicing off her large Kagune fists. She swung, swung and swung with practiced speed and force, but sadly… she didn't manage to sever either of them. After all, Underling managed to block each slash with one fist each, twisting around her opponent when she made the final strike and smashing a fist into her back, sending Nepgear crashing into the ground.

"HAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHA! AAAHHHHH, THIS FEELS FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC! GUESS THIS IS WHAT VICTORY TASTES LIKE, HUH YA DUMB BROAD!"

When Underling yelled that out, sounds of flesh being shifted about resonated within her Kagune, as its massive fists seemed to… well, dissolve for lack of a better word, into these two formless masses, masses which mixed, mangled and spiralled together into one larger form. A form easily surpassing 10 feet in diameter, which soon completed itself to become what looked like a single long bulky Tentacle, complete with a massive rectangular cannon barrel instead of a tip that was as long as Underling was tall. "HERE, BITCH! TAKE SOME OF MY 'STRABERRY LOVE' JUICE AS A REWARD! SEE YA IN HELL!"

The Cannon took only a split second to charge, but when it did it fired a massive boulder made from hardened RC Cells, covered in long and deadly spikes that constantly sparked with electricity.

All Nepgear could do at this point, was hold out for her life as it slammed into her…

BOOM!


"Ugh… man, this blows…"

Upon regaining consciousness, IF groaned as she placed a hand on her head, cringing when she felt a throbbing pain within the depths of her skull. A pain which originated from where she'd been hit by Underling then tossed aside like yesterday's garbage. That comparison got followed by a sting towards her pride, though she pushed that aside to shift herself into a sitting position. This allowed her to just barely witness the approaching boulder fired from Underling's cannon before it slammed into Nepgear's position, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping at the ensuing explosion. "Holy shit…!"

"Mrs Underling looks like she's gone cray-cray…!" Compa exclaimed, fear and panic shining in her eyes as her body shivered uncontrollably. Especially when she saw how battered Nepgear appeared when the explosion vanished, barely restraining herself from going over to help knowing she'd just get in the way. Compa wasn't a fighter after all, so in a battle like this she wouldn't last even a SECOND. She didn't get much of a chance to heal herself, only managed a couple seconds before Underling slammed into her with her Kagune now consisting of one long Tentacle with a large claw on the end, smashing her into the ground with brutal force. "Yep, she's REALLY gone cray-cray! This Compa can't even look anymore, Iffy!" Unable to stomach any of this carnage anymore, Compa moved like a blur behind her brunette friend, who didn't look too good either.

Watching this for the first time, Broccoli couldn't help but shiver in horror and fear, her mind replaying images of that little 'cat and mouse' chase she had with those white suit Ghouls. True they'd been cruel as all hell, but seeing Underling like this… "Broccoli recalls you saying she was nothing but an Underling, Nyu…" she commented, doing her best to sound as chill as she normally did. But with some of the moves that he green haired Hybrid pulled like making her Kagune form as a lasso rope and pull Nepgear in when she tried to fire on her from a distance, only to perform a power bomb on her ass, kick her into the air, reform her Kagune into a set of arms like the ones she used before only to repeat the process… yeah, she couldn't see it. "But it looks to be the exact opposite, Nyu."

"Well, back then she wasn't so bonkers like this!" RED protested as she lay there, slowly recovering from her wounds. As much as she wanted to help, she had been stopped several times by Compa (and later by Broccoli as well), especially with some of the more 'painful' takedowns Underling did. "Something must have changed real majorly for her to become this way, otherwise this Wifey seeker would have never even considered her to be on my 'to tap' list!" she added, flailing her arms about wildly to express how frustrated and helpless she felt inside.

Looking at the brutal display in front of her, IF winced at each pounding Nepgear received, feeling just like she had when she had been unable to help the CPUs in their time of need. Not something she ever wanted to feel again, but apparently fate liked to make her its bitch, didn't it? As she watched though, an eerie discovery soon became apparent to her. "Hold on… is it just me or… do those movements of hers look like someone else we know and hate?" she questioned, fear seeping into her tone by the end of it as a horrific realization dawned on her. When she saw NONE of the others answering her but coming to that same realization themselves, she groaned as she face palmed herself. "That's what I feared, looks like that crazy guy Seidou got his claws on her. Guess this is the result…"

"I see…" The Lowee Mascot remarked, thoughtfully. "As brutal as this may be, this is not something unexpected if that is the case. I apologize, but while I know you all wish to help Planeptune's CPU Candidate, I fear that will likely only lead to our downfall. Putting aside the debilitating energy leaking from the Seal, odds are that you all wouldn't be able to put a SCRATCH on this Underling person with the way she is now."


Outside the Dungeon…

"Looks like a fierce one's raging up in this bitch…"

Several figures could be seen standing at the base of the tree-like Dungeon, each of them concealed by hooded cloaks. Cloaks which fluttered in the cool, calm breeze which contrasted to what they could sense within the Dungeon itself. Their numbers reached about 4, with one of them commenting on the situation inside which made this figure's masculine gender known whilst the other three remained unknown.

Though, that soon changed when another one of them spoke towards the masculine speaker. "Judging from what I'm hearing, looks like this is happening down within the depths. Hmph, reminds me of Cochlea somewhat…" the Speaker mused, revealing its gender to be female as the female sounded almost nostalgic when gazing at the Dungeon. "Also…" She then gave a glare to the speaker. "I should really apply some soap for that mouth of yours. I would have thought you'd outgrown that teenage rebellious phase by now, guess not."

"Shut it, sis…"

"Focus you two." The third cloaked person spoke three simple words, which seemed to be enough to calm them down before an argument could break out. This revealed a masculine gender, one belonging to a middle-aged man at least. "We have a job to do. 'THAT' guy is with them, and 'he' seems preoccupied with Noro. Whilst 'he' distracts him, we'll go do our own objectives, and if we encounter resistance, we terminate them, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Remaining silent until now, the fourth figure soon entered the fray, stepping forwards and, though the cloak concealed them, the figure's arms raised themselves up as if doing some dramatic acting as he spoke in a posh, refined yet flamboyant masculine voice. "Tout le monde (French to English: everyone), we must make haste. Monsieur Leader gave us this task, did you forget? Let's educate these barbaric youths on what REFINED dining is like, shall we?"

"Shut up, classy gay."


Back with the battling Underling and Nepgear…

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

Explosions like ones one would find in a war zone echoed all around the area as Nepgear and Underling collided like two titans, smashing into one another with all kinds of attacks. After the initial combat where Underling totally wrecked her ass, Nepgear eventually active her empowering skill LILIAC OVERDRIVE to even the playing field between them. The skill concealed her within the familiar aura of the said colour mixed with white electricity, empowering her as she constantly traded blow after blow with the bloodthirsty, crazy One-Eyed Ghoul.

The young CPU Candidate, under the influence of her LILIAC OVERDRIVE, collided with two Tentacles belonging to Underling, constantly hurling out SHARE KINETIC BLAST attacks at any extra limbs trying to impale her, before she would retreat and unleash a SHARE STORM on her opponent. Underling, whose Kagune now formed her Wings from before, merely avoided it by flying out of the blast radius before it could harm her, exercising practiced aerial acrobatics to close the distance between them again to slam a barrage of Tentacle slashes on Nepgear's defences.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG-BANG-BANG!

They went, slamming into one another with the force and intensity of two mountains, one utilizing FORCE EDGE on her Gunblade whilst the other simply strengthened her Kagune to compensate for the power difference. Every clash that happened released these huge, powerful shockwaves which caused every aspect of their surroundings to tremble, as if they were quivering children before their arguing parents, yet neither of them took much notice of this since they solely focused on one another. Not even their comrades registered on their minds right now, their battle having reached such a scale where they couldn't afford to think about anything else other than their next plays.

Nepgear herself however, had a pickle on her mind, one which refused to abide by this mindset and constantly nagged her about its existence, Underling's form also helping it out. No matter how much she tried to deny it, the truth gradually became impossible for her to deny, and that was that she had to come up with a plan quickly, since things weren't looking very favourable for her, the proof being on Underling's back. Throughout their entire bout, Underling had not ONCE used that Baton of hers, merely sticking to her Kagune or close quarters martial arts. She relied more on the Ghoul side of her than anything else, though considering it was allowing her to go toe to toe with a Goddess Candidate like herself pretty much meant that was perfectly alright… for Underling, anyways. Not so much herself, though.

'This isn't good… Slowly but surely, I can feel Underling pushing me back. If we were on the ground, it'd be losing it faster than I can take it, not to mention that Underling seems to have gotten a lot better with using her Ghoul side now. I would dare to say that she could rival Vent with her skill… and it's not like I've been able to beat HIM when he goes Ghoully either…' She thought to herself, quickly raising her Gunblade and blocking an overhead slam from a Tentacle, then pushing it back to parry several fast and vicious CQC moves from Underling. She quickly unloaded a few blasts on her, but Underling merely vanished in a blur of speed, and Nepgear's instincts screamed at her to move so she did, which resulted in her pivoting around a thrust from behind from one of Underling's Tentacles. 'None of my attacks are even hitting her main body, and those that do hardly seem like they have any effect either…! At this rate, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this up…!'

Underling seemed to notice this dilemma that her opponent had found herself in, and a sick smile formed on her lips. It sorta helped that, unlike Nepgear, she didn't look like she lost as much stamina, if any at all, which did NOT bode well for her trashy opponent. "HEH, WELL WOULD YA LOOK AT THAT: LITTLE MRS DOORSTEP SEEMS LIKE SHE'S FINALLY RUNNING LOW ON FUMES, AM I RIGHT?" she sneered, cackling at the brief look of shock that showed on the CPU Candidate's features for a moment. "HAHAHAHA, ITS SO OBVIOUS, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE 2500TH STRIKE WE'VE EXCHANGED THAT YOU'RE FINALLY BITING THE DUST, SO JUST TO DO THE WORLD A FAVOR AND ALL THAT SHIT, I'LL FINISH YOU OFF RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" She proclaimed, raising her right arm as if to reach for something…

And promptly grasping the hilt of her Baton.

The moment she did, Nepgear quickly mustered her strength and got into her Defensive stance, holding her Gunblade at the ready for any instantaneous attacks. Just from looking at that Baton, Nepgear instantly realized that blocking such a weapon, heck even TOUCHING something like it, was a bad idea. She'd read in some manga's how some Batons used by the law enforcement forces in them could be electrified, used mainly to incapacitate opponents. She figured such a thing was at work here… only amplified to WAY beyond safe levels and into the lethal territory. 'Whatever you do Nepgear, don't EVER let that thing touch you…' she chastised herself, not wanting to test whether or not her previous thoughts rang true.

In a second though, Underling had already appeared before her in a burst of speed, swinging her Baton at Nepgear's head in an upward motion. A sharp gasp escaped her lips as Nepgear reflexively strafed backwards… but sadly for her, that ended up being a bad move since a clawed Tentacle lunged at her from below, the first strike proving to be a distraction for Underling to restrain her. The Tentacle grabbed onto her back, digging its claw into her and holding her in place as much as Nepgear tried to struggle free. "Wh-What the Goodness?! Why did it suddenly…?!" Nepgear tried to shriek, the pressure on her body however making that limited. This strength she felt from it, it felt WAY stronger than previous times, so what gives?!"

"OH YEAH, I WAS HOLDING BACK CAUSE I WANTED TO HAVE SOME FUN BEATING YOU UP, LITTLE PRINCESS…" Underling sneered, cackling evilly as she pointed her Baton towards her. All the while, electricity began to gather around its, increasing in quantity as the seconds passed till one could hardly make out the weapon at all with how much electricity there was. Sparks flew from the Weapon's shaft, striking at their surroundings and leaving hand-sized burn marks wherever they touched. "NOW THEN, TIME TO FINISH UP THIS LITTLE PARTY!"

With that yell, Underling gave a mighty war cry, and to Nepgear's horror, she then appeared before her and SLAMMED the Baton into her right shoulder blade, instantly engulfing her with the electricity stored within the weapon itself.

What followed…

"KYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Could only be described as nightmare fuel.

A screech, an unholy screech EXPLODED out of Nepgear's mouth like a damn breaking. Dozens of electrical charges coursed through her body in quantities which would have killed any normal human. Flashes occurred over her body where one could see her Skeleton screaming in tormented agony. Electric sparks covered her skin, leaving heavy and lethal burns wherever they touched whilst her body felt like it was being ripped apart molecule by molecule.

All the while, Underling just howled like a crazed Banshee, almost looking like she would have an orgasm at the screams her unfortunate victim made thanks to her little strike. The Physical pain from her strike was bad enough considering how her swing contained her Ghoul-enhanced strength, her HDD Form merely helped her bear the brunt of it. If she'd been in human form, then Underling would have EASILY smashed her shoulder to bits just from that strike alone. But to have over 6000 Volts of pure electricity coursing through her on top of all that?! Yeah, the pain could only be imagined by those who were lucky enough not to experience it.

Sadly, Nepgear WASN'T one of those lucky ones.

Fortunately it only lasted a few seconds, but to the victim it felt like an eternity of mind numbing torment. Bringing the Baton away from her, Underling grinned in a sickly, disgusting manner as she eyed her handiwork with appreciation. Nepgear practically slumped over in the Kagune's grip, her form spasming constantly like she was still being electrocuted with dozens of sparks flying off her form. The calls of her friends, filled with horror and fear unmatched by what they've done so far, remained unheard by the young maiden since she soon lost consciousness, her HDD Form cancelling out to reveal her human one. The Transformation back to human DID manage to heal some of her wounds, the external ones so that her body could still somewhat function, but the damage dealt to her would need MUCH more than just that to heal.

Seeing this, Underling laughed insanely like a hyena, gripping her forehead with her hand to cover her eyes and rearing her head backwards whilst letting her tongue hang out. Raising the Kagune claw gripping the unconscious girl, Underling then set about smashing her into the ground below headfirst with immense force, uncaring for her state of being. The Kagune claw didn't hold anything back as it continued rubbing Nepgear's unconscious form into the ground like she were a cloth wiping dirt off it, gaining dirt all the while. The claw then raised her back up, flipped her so she was held by it through only her left leg, and begun repeatedly smacking Nepgear around like a ragdoll.

SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-

SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-

SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-

SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-

SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK- SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK!

By the time that Underling had finished her little bashing fest, she had her Kagune hold the limp-looking Nepgear up by the leg, letting her hang upside down… and BOY did her state look absolutely HORRENDOUS. Nepgear's body had deep, DEEP Lacerations all over, with numerous bone fragments sticking out of her while even more internal injuries wracked her body. Her limbs looked to be bent into unnatural angles, including her facial features which looked like they had gone through a paper shredder. It would be a miracle if she were even alive at this point, but the faint movements at her chest indicated this. Blood trails dripped from the lacerations, dripping down the body and falling down to the ground below.

In any other circumstance she would have begun gloating about her newfound weapon and powers, especially with how she hadn't even used that many of them and instead just relied on her Kagune to beat Nepgear. It would have been well within her right to brag about her recent, downright EUPHORIC glee-filled victory concerning her newfound ideology, but right now wasn't one of those circumstances. No, that mentality had been pounded out of her by her Mentor, replaced with his own thought processes. One wouldn't be exactly wrong with calling her a miniature version of Seidou at this moment. It was a good thing that her Kagune had immunity to lightning and electricity though, since it would have acted like a conductor if it hadn't when she'd done that strike, which wouldn't have ended well for her.

"STOP IT ALREADY!"

"Haaaah?"

Just when she was about to orgasm from the sheer bliss flowing through her system, someone screamed out in defiance, pretty much ruining her mood. Underling glanced to the side with her mismatched eyes, lowering her head and losing her insanity-riddled expression. Instead, she glanced towards the entrance to this place, where she saw a teary eyed, fearful yet furious look on Compa's face. The young Nurse had stepped into the room, despite the protests of the rest, unable to take the abuse she had seen her unconscious friend continuously suffer. Every slam had practically ripped a piece of her heart off and ruthlessly shredded it into nothingness. "Just stop it, Mrs Underling!" Compa shrieked, tears streaming down her face as she glared angrily towards the green haired Hybrid. "That's enough, Ge-Ge's out cold! You don't have to go so far!"

"Yeah, you better stop abusing my wifeys or else you'll face RED's wrath!"

"Hush RED, don't give the psycho Underling any ideas! Compa, get back here, ifyou et to close, you'll-!"

Compa didn't listen to what IF had fiercely and urgently whispered towards her, hoping that Underling wouldn't give her any attention for the time being. With the way things were, should Underling go on a rampage like she feared she would, then IF feared that things would go from bad to worse for them here. Unlike Nepgear, they had very little ways of defending themselves against Underling's attacks, since it looked like aside from Nepgear, their enemy appeared to be immune to this negative Share Energy.

"Hah, what kind of drugs have you been smoking, harlot?!" Underling snapped viciously, yet not so insane as she had been earlier. Her mismatched eyes narrowed at Compa, a single Tentacle from her Kagune lunging forth and… spearing Compa right in the gut, MUCH to the girls' horror. "There's only two things important here: the winner and the loser! The loser has no rights so the winners can do whatever they want with them!" she sneered whilst lifting the Nurse up into the air, pulling her in close so that their faces remained inches apart. "An now, since all of you are losers in this little game, how about I…?"

"Mademoiselle, I do believe that will not be a wise decision."

THWACK!

"Guh?!" A surprised underling gasped when, all of a sudden, several blurs INSTANTLY shot through the entrance, nearly knocking down the other girls as well. These blurs cut through Underling's Kagune like paper mache, one of them catching the fallen from of the CPU Candidate, the blur which caught her moving to the opposite end of the room. None of them looked too affected by the oppressive energies either, which absolutely flabbergasted Underling. "Who the fuck are all of you fucktards?!" she yelled, seeing the blurs stop moving after regrouping around the CPU Candidate. Underling also reformed her Tentacle, glaring heartedly with her mismatched eyes.

"Haah? Wow, a youngling attempting to be rude to their seniors, eh? Reminds me of a certain greenhorn…"

"Shut it, you, that 'greenhorn' as we call him can kick your ass from here to across this world."

"In any case you two, we have an opponent here on THEIR side, do not forget that."

"Qui! I never thought i'd get another délicieux meal like this in my lifetime! Magnifique!"

Each of the four blurs stared at Underling, making their comments known whilst they lowered the hoods of their cloaks. This allowed Underling, alongside the rest of the Party who remained conscious, to see their faces: Two of them were a blue haired man and woman with similar facial features, siblings maybe? The third looked to be a middle aged man with a bit of a beard on his chin, whilst the fourth looked… well, flamboyant would be the best way to describe him. No matter however…

"Why, we're just a bunch of coffee drinkers, don't you know?"

Since everyone focused on the Black and Red eyes they had, identifying them as one race: Ghouls.