Disclaimer: I don't own this, it's owned by Idea Factory, Compile Heart and Sega.
Chapter 34: Two Sides of the Same
"Why does this have to happen? There was another outbreak recently!"
"A lot of people haven't accepted you as a CPU yet. Considering how devoted the nations were to each their goddesses, it will take a long time for them to accept you. Maybe it will take ages, the nations may engage in war, numerous struggles will occur before Gamidustri will be peaceful again."
"Even after resolving the problem, everyone is still so stubborn."
"We will need a solution eventually, none of the nations will stop until you've proven yourself as CPU. I'm confident you can accomplish that, Nepgear."
"Yeah right, proving myself as CPU and accomplishing that...Histoire, you were wrong to put faith in me."
"It's over soon, everything will be over and Gamindustri will be gone." Lilac Heart told them as her eyes glew brightly and her processor was partially overtaken by a strong dark energy.
"You know that I won't let this happen." Nepgear declared as she held the blade towards her and smirked.
"Then let's see whos the stronger one, I always wanted to see how good you are."
"What do you think you are doing?!" From above the Shadow Sisters teleported in with Blanc, Rom and Ram following them.
"Looks like some of the small-fry have arrived." She referred to her "supposed" allies before she snapped her fingers and the two of them were suddenly taken captive by black tentacles.
"What is the meaning of this? We're allies, not enemies, you idiot!" CD yelled loudly.
"Oh, you must have misunderstood not only me, but Kurome aswell." Big Nepgear responded.
"You two were always disposeable tools, only serving to further our plans. Now, begone with you." The black tentacles tore them apart, they turned back into data and flew into the Gehaburn.
"What was the meaning of this? Why did you kill them?" Rom asked the moment they saw that.
"I don't like having measly servants or weaklings mess with my objectives or get in my way, not to mention they were just toys of Kurome anyway, she didn't need them anymore." She told them. "With them gone, I've receive their energy to be even stronger."
"It's time to start." Lilac Heart declared as she lifted her Gehaburn and charged at Nepgear.
"Here I go!" She responded and did the same, charging at her before their blades both collided, creating a massive purple-white shockwave that blew everyone away.
They stood in front of each other, looking at the other's face before they jumped back.
"I can feel it...all that share energy that is radiated and contained by your blade!" Lilac Heart could feel the power of Nepgear's Share Blade, it gave off an energy that was vastly different from the Gehaburn. It was the direct opposite to it.
"Your Gehaburn isn't weak either, that much I already knew!" Purple Sister responded before her allies started helping.
"EX Multi Blaster!" Black Sister fired from behind, chasing Lilac Heart. All of the others jumped forward and started to support Nepgear from the sidelines.
"Ice Buckshot!" Rom and Ram appeared in front of her while she was dodging and peltered her with powerful barrages of ice from their staff.
"So it's all against one? How fair." She dodged out of the attacks with perfect accuracy and threw her Gehaburn right towards Nepgear like a throwing knife in an instant.
"Not so fast!" Purple Heart intercepted and blocked the sword with her own instantly, but the Gehaburn flew back right into her hands.
"I should say the same to you, how about some variety then?" Lilac Heart stood still as her blade shifted through colors and immediately unleashed various Slash Waves from her blade of all kinds of elements.
"Elemental attacks? That won't stop us!" They quickly avoided most of the attacks, but Black Heart charged ahead anyway.
"Violet Execution!" Lilac Heart charged forward and enveloped the Gehaburn in a massive sheath of purple energy, soon after she instanteously appeared behind them.
"Crap! Tornado Swo...!"
"Too late." She increased her speed in an instant and slashed at her, disarming and damaging her with a glowing injury in the process. Black Heart was quickly depowered from the slash and returned to the side-lines.
"Rainy Ratnapura!" Green Heart flew towards her and relentlessly attacked, gradually breaking her guard and pushing her away.
"Nepgear, Neptune, you're up!" From behind Purple Heart and Sister jumped forward, ready to strike without mercy
"Tch, a surprise attack isn't effective enough to land any major damage on me!" She pulled her sword forward as means of defense, but her sword suddenly flew out of her hands.
"Sorry, Nep Jr. But I'm not willing to let you win if it means you destroying the dimension." Big Neptune and MAGES. fired bullets from their gun and staff respectively to prevent her ftom using Gehaburn.
"If that's the case, then I'll rely on my defensive stats!" She pulled her arms together and increased her defenses to block the brunt of the attack.
"Critical Edge!"
"Bit Slash!"
Both of them combined their attacks and unleashed the full brunt of it against Lilac Heart who endured it at full force, being sent against the wall from the sheer power.
"Did that do it?"
"No, it didn't." Big Nepgear appeared from the smoke as her Gehaburn flew back into her hand, she received some damage, but she already started healing it off.
"You managed to land a critical hit, but let me show you the full extent of what I can really do." Her Gehaburn was suddenly covered in darker colors like purple, darkblue and red.
"Am I the only one whos getting a bad feeling right about now?" Uzume figured as she felt like something bad was coming as energy was charging up in the blade.
"Call upon my dread and pain as I unleash unparalelled power to vanquish my enemy..."
"A chant? This can only mean something bad! Defensive Barrier!" MAGES. and Nepgear immediately erected barriers from shares and magic as they prepared for what was coming.
"Here it comes!" Big Nepgear pulled her sword down, unleashing overwhelmingly powerful shockwaves as the entire dimension started jumping up and down.
"Take this! Darklilac Cataclysm!" Big Nepgear slashed towards her other self with a massive excessive purple slash, tearing through the dimension's walls with it's power and leaving them damaged as the attack collided against the barrier, a massive purple explosion occured and everything went white for a moment.
"What was...that...?" Nepgear asked as everything above her suddenly disintegeated into purple bits and the area they were just in was torn and covered in purple ribs and gaps. All of them were still up, but the explosion clearly blew them away and would have dealt even more damage without the barrier.
"Me and the Gehaburn's full power, did you really think what I showed you up until now had been all I could do?" Big Nepgear jumped forward and continued to cause massive raptures by slashing with her blade.
"Enough sheer power to crush any of you in an instant without problem." She muttered.
"That's something that easily counts as lethal, we'd do best to avoid it from here on out." MAGES. informed everyone.
"She's right, you don't exactly have much of an advantage from here on out anymore." Big Nepgear appeared right behind MAGES. in an instant.
"Don't you dare!" Purple Heart charged in and blocked the attack last second before Green Heart charged in to knock her back.
"You really are stubborn to still risk your lifes after I showed you this amount of power, so you'd better be careful and not regret it!" Big Nepgear dodged their rush, avoiding as many of their attacks.
"Zerstorung!" White Heart landed a strong hit and smashed her axe against her arm before Lilac Heart pushed back and quickly retaliated back at White Heart by hitting her in the face before throwing her Gehaburn at the others, fully charged with the purple energy at that.
"Dang it, lay off with the cursed thing!" Uzume and the others dodged to the side, but the sword instantly chased after her as if it had a conciousness of it's own and tried to kill her.
"What the heck?" Uzume tried to respond, but it was faster and inflicted a small cut on her shoulder before returning to it's master in an instant.
"Uzume, are you okay?"
"Dang it, my arm feels weak. Just what is that sword?" Uzume responded, her arm suddenly felt weak and drained of energy.
"Tch, damn it!" White Heart countered and hit her a few times before Big Nepgear tensed up her grip and broke a piece of her processor apart into pieces.
"Come at me." She taunted them all to attack her.
"This is clearly a trick, but how else are we supposed to get the advantage here? Attack and watch your step!" Purple Heart commanded as they all charged in.
"If you could tell, then why even try?" Big Nepgear went on the defensive.
"Thunder Crash!" Black Heart charged forward and even hit her, but she retaliated by interlocking her arm and grabbing her.
"You fell for it." She grasped her and threw her back at MAGES. along with energy waves from her blade, the moment she left her go she instantly created large ice in front of her that blocked powerful gunshots.
"Ice as a defense?" Big Neptune noticed as it blocked her shots.
"As I just said, you FELL." She kicked the ice towards them as a diversion and charged ahead, aiming to get another powerful hit as she closed in on them.
"I won't let you!" Nepgear intervened and kicked her mid-charge against the ground before blocking the attack that was meant for Big Neptune.
"How persistent." Big Nepgear figured as she wiped dust off her face. "You actually made me bleed a bit."
"Neptune, everyone, go!" Nepgear moved away as Black Heart, White Heart and Green Heart charged forward.
"Sylhet Spear!"
"Gefahrlichtern!"
Their combined efforts proved effective as Big Nepgear struggled with repelling all attacks from her enemies, she was able to handle one, but two pressured her heavily.
"Tornado Sword!" Black Heart lunged forward and struck at her with her radiant blade, delivering a full power strike.
"Tch, you managed to even things out a bit. That's worth admiring in it's own right." She responded as her guard significantly weakened from dealing with all those attacks.
"(I knew it wouldn't be enough, I thought everything up until now would be enough to defeat them.)" Big Nepgear felt a notable decrease in her power after all these attacks.
"I'm not done yet!" She drew her blade and started firing Slash Waves from all angles and directions to regain the upper hand.
"Nice try, but you're as good as cornered." Her attacks were instantly frozen or collided from Rom, Ram and Uni's counterattacks while the other CPU were closing in on her.
"I should have figured I'd have the disadvantage here, but you haven't won just yet!" Big Nepgear responded.
"Mirage Dance!" Nepgear charged in and relentlessly attacked without mercy, pushing her back.
"You're a really persistent one, how about you experience that power at full front yourself aswell?" Big Nepgear charged Gehaburn up again and prepared to use Darklilac Cataclysm again.
"If that's the case, then I'll match your attack!" Nepgear drew the Share Blade and imbued it with all her power before striking first.
"(Darn it, I won't be able to get enough time to charge another one!)" Big Nepgear realized and retracted the energy for her skill to increase her defense with a dark purple veil.
"Holy Crash!" Nepgear's blade shone brightly and without any trace of darkness before pressing the blade against her, inflicting a heavy cut on her and sending her down.
"It burns, so much share energy!" Big Nepgear flailed in pain as she felt like she was just set ablaze, in her situation she instinctivly struck and dealt her the same cut, but her own attack was lacking in power.
"Nepgear!" Neptune charged forward, but Big Nepgear released a dark energy wave and blasted them all back.
"Don't you get in my way!"
"Ugh, gotta keep going!" Nepgear ignored the pain and continued to charge down, pushing Big Nepgear deep into the depths of the dimension until they hit a platform near the ground and crashed on it.
"That sword, the hell is up with it? It burns and hurts more than Magic's attacks!" Big Nepgear tried using her healing magic, but she still felt pain.
"I could say the same, that cut is making me feel weak. My resources and stats feel lowered considerably, more so than when I normally I get hit." Nepgear responded, feeling her stats slowly lowering themselves as a effect of the Gehaburn. "I didn't expect your Gehaburn to debuff me mid-battle whenever you land a hit."
"But if the power of my weapon is damaging you, doesn't that mean you've become weak against shares like the Deity of Sin?"
"Talk all you like, maybe I really am the one doomed to destroy my world or maybe I simply no longer rely on shares and view them as nothing but negative influences!" Big Nepgear responded as she cut a hole into the platform underneath her and revealed a strange dark abyss, abnormal purple energy that pulsated in the ground. The sky above them was closed by a strange purple barrier to prevent anyone from interfering.
"I've seen it before...that's the negative energy Kurome gave you, no?" Nepgear assumed, remembering it.
"Wrong, this is my negative energy. Hatred, delusion, despair all in one abyss to draw power from." Big Nepgear pointed the Gehaburn towards it and slowly absorbed energy into her Gehaburn. "You'd do best to try the same because I'll hit you at full force without mercy. This is everything I have."
"I get it, then I'll do the same for me." Nepgear said as she lifted the Share Blade and massive amounts of share energy started building up inside it, shining equally to how much the Gehaburn darkened at the same time. In the blade's edge, everyone could be seen in it as they gave their power to her.
"It's about time we end this, other me. And no one will interfere." Big Nepgear told her as she finished charging Gehaburn and put herself into a stance to strike, her weapon was like a beacon of pure darkness.
"Then let's end this!" Nepgear charged forward, her Share Blade shining bright like the sun as she charged forward.
"Darklilac Cataclysm!"
"Celestial Severance!"
Both yelled out as their weapons became the embodiment of darkness and shares respetively. Their blades collided, immense shockwaves and blasts surging and shooting through the dimension. The entirety of it divided into black and white.
"Show me if you have the strength and willpower to overcome me!" Big Nepgear yelled out, face to face as she was getting the upper hand. Step for step, she moved forward as she overcome her energy.
Nepgear felt immense malice and negative energy before her, dread and despair flowing across her face and making her fearful and weak. All of the negativity overflowing from the Gehaburn and slowly overtaking Nepgear's body.
"Give up."
"Stop trying."
"The world will end."
The darkness whispered to her, wrapping itself around Nepgear's thoughts and slowly twisting her.
"Don't give up!"
"I can't lose...! I won't!" Nepgear declared as she refused to surrender and stood strong, the Share Blade shone brighter than before, overwhelming the Gehaburn's influence and unleashing immense energy.
"What the?! What is this?! Where do you have all this power from?" Big Nepgear felt immense energy emerging and pushing against her.
"I have this power and strength from me, from my friends and from all the inhabitants of your world!" The Holy Blade pierced forward until Nepgear gained the advantage and pushed Big Nepgear back, slowly walking up to her with the blade until she broke forward and flung the Gehaburn out of her hands.
"So this is the power that could have defeated the Deity of Sin, the power that could have saved my world."
A giant pillar of light streamed forth and through the sky with bright light.
"Is it over?" The others asked as both Nepgears had thrown themselves too deep into the dimension for them to keep an eye on.
"I hope so, I felt intensity down there as if the entire world is rumbling." Uni figured when they looked around the destroyed dimension.
"Let's just see for ourselves and go down there." Uzume suggested before the dimension was suddenly fixing itself and putting itself back together.
"This dimension is weird, now it's putting itself back together." They noticed as the disemassembled parts and platforms reconnected, both Nepgears were on one of them. Big Nepgear was laying on the ground with injuries and notable damage from zhe attack while Nepgear stood before her victorious.
"Is it over?"
"Yes, I've defeated her and now all we will have to face is Kurome and what she has left in store for us." Nepgear explained. "But she needs to recover too, she turned on us, but she went through a lot."
"Let me handle this." Rom stepped forward and cast a healing spell on Big Nepgear, slowly removing her wounds. She opened her eyes.
"...thanks for the heal, Rom." Big Nepgear said as she stood up, everyone entered a defensive stance.
"You've shown me just how strong you are, perhaps you can defeat Kurome with it...but I wouldn't count on it." Big Nepgear responded with a somewhat somber tone.
"Can't you try thinking of yourself for once, but not let yourself be influenced by anyone else like Kurome?!" Big Neptune enraged and grabbed her.
"Causing chaos, wrecking havoc, murdering innocents? What the hell were you doing?"
"You're your own master, you're a CPU! If you really don't wanna be a slave to Gamindustri, then stop acting like it!"
"If you're really not able to keep going as the CPU anymore, then perhaps you should just freely choose your fate whichever way you want. Being a CPU isn't about being controlled or being a slave to the citizen, it's your free choice and nobody can change that."
"Neptune, that's enough!"
"No, she's right." Big Nepgear told them. "I kept going on and on about how I don't want to be a CPU, how I didn't want to keep going and yet I never truly did something about it. I just kept acting like everything is fine, ignoring anyone else."
"My Neptune told me the same, they all did when I crossed a path of no return for myself. And here I am again with a similar point, but this time I will finally make my decision." Big Nepgear pointed out, she remembered from underneath all the pain what she was told once.
"I followed Kurome's opinion and ideals at first, believing her to be my only benefactor, but that was only because I kept ruining my connections to everyone. Driving everyone away, and being an ideal puppet for Kurome's plan."
"Magic was right, deep down...I'm not all that different from you. I'm still the indecisive girl who can't make decisions, the only difference is that I kept making the wrong one and everyone payed for it."
"Don't beat yourself up, we've seen enough of that by now. We will need answers first and then we can be done with the mistakes we all made, mistakes exist to learn from and to improve on them." Uni explained to her and put her hand on her shoulders. "None of us is a seemingly perfect CPU or human, but we do our best despite that no matter what."
"It's not like any of us never made mistakes that might have ruined the world, we can't call ourselves innocent for that." Uzume told her.
"You've done a lot wrong, but so did we in the past. You can't beat yourself up about every mistake you make, they are just small problems that can be overcome to become stronger. We're with you." Nepgear replied to her, speaking clearly to her.
"You needed a proper wake-up call to fix your insecurity. Things aren't perfect, but we can at least fix our mistakes once and for all." Big Neptune told her with a big smile.
"You're right, there is no reason to stop now. We should go and end this, I'll get my punishment for this eventually." Big Nepgear figured as she stood up and got back up.
"I assume you'll finally want the full history that Histoire wasn't able to uncover, the part that was removed." Big Nepgear figured.
"That would be much needed, dear." Vert responded.
"I understand, then let's go somewhere more safe first. This is my dimension, so I know where we can stay safe for now." Big Nepgear suggested to them before they all agreed and left to go to a deeper area.
"Hey." Nepgear stopped her for a moment before they left.
"What is it?"
"Don't feel bad over failing before, you've even managed to beat me. You're q very strong and capable CPU." Big Nepgear told her, this made Nepgear grew a satisfied smile on her face.
"Thanks, but all this wouldn't be possible without others and the shares of your world. They deserve a thanks too. But we should get a move on, let's go." Nepgear told her.
"Something still feels off, I don't know what it is. During my battle with you, I felt someone else's presence." Big Nepgear wondered and looked at her Gehaburn with her purple eyes, feeling someone's presence. "Kurome always kept talking about it, but what purpose or importance does it serve to her in the end?"
Suddenly the sky behind her shone brightly and started displaying something.
"This is it, the time has come to confront that ancient CPU and end her life." A familiar voice played and made everyone turn around.
"Wait a minute, was that...?" They looked behind Big Nepgear.
The sky had shaped into a giant screen of sorts, showing an old moment of Big Nepgear and Kurome standing next to each other and scheming like in a movie on screen, showing past events.
"That's it! Like with Uzume we can see the your memories by looking at the sky of the Heart Dimension when you remember them." Neptune pointed out as she saw it. "Man, this is a really convenient plot device."
"Well, then let's see the truth."
