This chapter would have come out faster, but I wasted days because I couldn't stop reading MadoHomu doujins.
Well, that and the fact that my life is being shit again.
Chapter 38: Seeking Superiority
"Looks like your measly ally arrived to get in my way." Kurome remarked as she stood before Nepgear, she was partially exhausted, but easily got up and pushed herself back to being able to fight.
"You say that you won't lose against us, but everyone can say things, not everyone can back their claims up." Nepgear pushed forward and immdiately swung her Holy Blade, Kurome immediately blocked the hit with the Gehaburn and immediately knocked her back with her fist.
"Slash Wave!" Nepgear quickly moved and unleashed her attack, but Kurome easily blocked the attack, the resulting shockwave splitting nearby platforms in two.
"How weak." Kurome pushed forward through all resistance and easily pushed through her defenses, but Nepgear continued blocking the attacks while Big Nepgear stood behind her still injured.
"(Why is she only defending, she's guarding me, but she's overly defensive, why?)" Big Nepgear thought as she kept trying to stay safe.
"How feeble, I thought you were a good challenge, but I won't hold back to end you here." Kurome told her. "I honestly wonder what made you think you can beat me."
"..., I know that I don't hold the candle to you in power, but I'm smart enough to know how to stall someone until someone close to here notices the sound and arrives here." Nepgear told her as it became clear to Kurome.
"That Slash Wave was not to hurt you, but to intentionally cause a loud effect with enough mystery for you not to realize my real intent."
"You...!" Kurome charged forward, but immediately turned back as the rest of the CPUs arrived before her out, instantly stepping in the way.
"Looks like we've reached the highlight of this battle for you to be here, Kurome." Uzume responded as she looked at her before Master Heart immediately intervened by flying before her.
"Stay out of our way and give up!" Master Heart charged forward and immediately bashed heads with Uzume and Neptune again, pushing them out of the way.
"Nepgear!" Rom and Ram immediately flew over towards them, but Kurome immdiately jumped forward.
"You can stay out of this, you little runts!" She immediately smacked them over with a punch. Both of them immediately tried defending themselves, but Kurome's strength was too much.
"Both of you go and avoid her, I'll stall her so that you can heal them!" MAGES. charged forward and set up a powerful magical barrier to stall for her allies.
"Annoyance! You should go and perish!" Kurome relentlessly struck, but MAGES's magical barrier held up for more than enough to endure the damage.
"Nepgear! Big Nepgear! Are you two okay?" Uni asked, Rom and Ram picked Big Nepgear up and quickly healed them back up to full health.
"Ah, thanks." Big Nepgear stood up as she felt her wounds fade away.
"So, how have things been on your end of the battle? Can't say we've had a particularly good time." Nepgear responded.
"We're doing well, but Blanc and Vert took big damage and we're all partially exhausted by now. I want to say that everything's good, but it doesn't look like it." Uni informed her. Their health and MP had reached a low point by now. "What happened on your side?"
"We thought that we could handle her, but as it turns out Kurome drained all the power from the Gehaburn and left it emptied and drained of it's precious energy. Without it, the Gehaburn is heavily weakened. At it's current state, it merely retained sparks of my former friend's powers that slowly faded." Big Nepgear figured before she stood up and looked around.
"The only reason I could be so powerful during our fight was because I excessed my own powers here, but they ran out for the most part. This Zero Dimension is locking me out from obtaining more energy. Even with this Holy Sword, it's unlikely that we can be victorious without the Gehaburn's full power aswell. Kurome took Arfoire and Rei's souls and powers into her to grow unstoppable, she's way stronger than before."
"There is a way we can defeat her though, but I'm not sure if we can go through with this." Nepgear figured, but had doubts.
"What is this idea you came up with? It really can't be worse than what we're going through right now." Big Nepgear asked her.
"To get the Gehaburn back at full strength, we'd have to kill the CPUs of your world again. It's a desperate plan, but it's the only way we can win!" Nepgear told her before silence groomed the room.
"Killing them...again..., do you know how much suffering it brought me to kill them back then!?" Big Nepgear grabbed Nepgear at face to face, the iron mask she put over her face having been broken a long time ago.
"I told you I'm not sure if we can go through with this! I'm not sure if this even is the right choice, I only know that it's the best choice we could go for right now!" Nepgear grabbed her other self up and looked her into the eyes, unlike hers they were filled with determination and willingness.
"We need to make a choice and as long as you're this indecisive, we can't accomplish anything! Sometimes, it's inevitable that we make wrong choices, but if you're not even willing to make one anymore...how are we supposed to reach anything?" Nepgear told her.
"Your rambling is very cute, but we need to cut this short. I have worlds to ruin and nations to set ablaze." Kurome told them as she increased her power and broke down MAGES.'s barrier with ease.
"Impossible!"
"And then there were less." Kurome extended her fist forward and punched into MAGES.'s stomach.
"MAGES.!" Nepgear charged ahead and struck Kurome in the arm to make her retreat.
"This...pain...is...unbearable!" MAGES. stepped back as she tried to recover.
"You were too occupied to think to the point that you left your guard down by far too much." Kurome told them and laughed as she blocked all of Nepgear's attacks.
"Such indesiciveness, such foolery, you have no idea of how to be a CPU in situations like this." She continued to tell them.
"Big Nepgear, what do we do now? MAGES. was injured and she's starting to bleed too." Rom asked her as she had to make a decision now as Kurome slowly closed in on them.
"(A decision. I have to make one, if I don't then I'll lose all of them too!)"
"We have no choice, we need to go and eliminate all the enemies first. We will have to face and kill my own versions of all of you again, but having to kill all of you by myself is already hard enough again." Big Nepgear told them since she was certain they wouldn't be able to accomplish that.
"If you need them, then odds are in our favor. We managed to deal with both your Blanc and Vert already, if we can find them, then we can quickly rack up some power." Ram responded, giving her some faith back as it seemed possible.
"Me and Nepgear will deal with Kurome aswell as we can, remember that we heard about the Uzume in this world?" Uni told her as she took the front.
"We'll free her and stall Kurome while you bundle up all the Dark CPUs, but make it quick!" Uni told her as a massive spike was lunged torwards her by Kurome, she quickly shot it away.
"You damn pests!" Kurome stomped on the ground and summoned a wave of spikes out of it, aiming at Big Nepgear.
"Hurry, hurry!" Uni told them as she reloaded her rifle and fired against it.
"Right, we'll do our best!" Big Nepgear, Ram and Rom quickly escaped with MAGES. to another more safe area in the dimension.
"It's just you and us, Kurome." Uni looked forward and immediately aimed at Kurome, instantly shooting through the second wave she shot after them.
"Pay attention to your opponent." Nepgear appeared from behind and attacked with the Holy Sword in an attempt to injure her.
"If you insist, then I'll prematurely send both of you to the chopping block!"
Somewhere else...
"We need to hurry and find them as fast as we can!" Big Nepgear and the others did their best at traversing and exploring the Zero Dimension in search for the corrupted CPUs, Rom and Ram carrying MAGES. with them. "The sooner, the better."
"Do you hear something?" They immediately moved to the side as powerful magical projectiles crossed their way.
"Looks like we found some other things." Ram pointed out as she saw her and Rom's alternate counterpart flying above them and shooting from above.
"There are our evilized counterparts, we know what to do." Rom and Ram immediately started their assault and fired a barrage of magical missiles after them.
The evil Rom and Ram referred to as Shadow Whites created a powerful shield was formed in front of them and nullified the attack easily. A sword slash immediately flew down and cut through the ground in one hit.
"Found the third contestor." Big Nepgear pointed out as Dark Black flew before them with an intimidating and ruling gaze in her eyes. At the same time, they were joined by Black Heart who arrived in time to aid them.
"I overheard you guys, so the plan is to...kill them?" Noire asked.
"That is the choice we've...I just chose to save us all." Big Nepgear responded with a somber tone.
"Very well, then let's start with this." Black Heart charged ahead and immediately attacked her other self, striking from the side before the Shadow Sisters quickly froze her weapon up.
"Violet Crusher!" Big Nepgear charged forward with her empowered Gehaburn in hand, she jumped up and swung her blade, crashing with it against the ice Noire's weapon was trapped in.
"Watch out!" Black Heart charged forward as the Shadow Whites started firing magical bullets at Big Nepgear. She quickly turned the situation around and reflected all of the attacks back against them in the blink of an eye.
"Thanks, Noire." She thanked her before she and Dark Black continued to battle it out, matching each other's power and speed perfectly.
"We picked a tough foe for our first opponent, but we will prevail and emerge victorious. For Gamindustri's sake!" Rom and Ram flew forward and encased themselves in a magical barrier to protect MAGES. whos gone unconcious from her injuries.
"Tornado Sword!" Noire powered her sword up and attacked the two Shadow Versions of Rom and Ram, but they countered with magic missiles.
"Slash Wave!" Big Nepgear unleashed a massive energy wave from her blade, blasting and breaking through the Shadow Whites's counter. The attack broke through and gave Noire the perfect chance to strike.
"Volcano Dive!" Noire charged down and struck her opponent at full force, crashing her down into the ground with a firey burning slash that slowly burned her opponent.
"Noire is giving my old friend quite the beating, in the meantime we can prioritize your evil counterparts first." Big Nepgear figured as she redirected her focus onto her Rom and Ram.
"Alright, we'll aim for them as well as we can." Rom and Ram took some distance and started attacking and Big Nepgear immediately started by sending Slash Waves at them.
"Measly counter-measures." Shadow Rom and Ram immediately flew down and charged at her, despite their opponent's counter-measures they easily avoided any atatcks and struck at Big Nepgear with their staffs, encasing the tips of them with sharp ice.
"Damn it, that ice hurts!" Every strike from them left not just pain, but they left a freezing sensation that lowered her speed significantly. She tried to hit her opponents, but she was far too slow to hit them in any way.
"It's a good thing that I have a high defense stat." She lifted her Gehaburn and waited for a short while until she started her counter-attack, she quickly focused on their attacks before striking when she saw an opening.
"(They can try as much as they can, but in a long-term battle...strategy is key.) You've put up a good fight, but this is where it ends!" She made a quick movement and quickly stunned them for a short moment before slashing their staffs apart and holding them at knife-point.
"Ice Coffin!" She quickly imprisoned them in ice to prevent any counter-attacks and dashed back to the others.
"Rom! Ram! This is the perfect chance! Attack at full force!"
"Time for the strongest of our magic to hit!" Rom and Ram moved to the side and readied yet another powerful attack, concentrating.
"Northern..." Rom raised her staff and manifested a large magical circle around her as she charged up massive amounts of energy and four magical spheres surrounded the Shadow Whites.
"Absolute...Zero!" Ram started her attack first and froze her opponents in an instant into a massive ice crystals, sealing and locking them in place as Rom and Big Nepgear followed up with their respective EXE Drives.
"...Cross!" Massive nergy blasted from the spheres right into her opponents, overwhelming them in a massive stream of pain before the energy started to explode.
"Darklilac Impact!" Big Nepgear overcharged her Gehaburn with purple energy again before she stepped forward and slashed with a powerful cut of her blade, causing a massive colorful explosion as they finished their attacks.
The fog set itself before they saw again and they were met with little to see.
"Their bodies are gone..." Big Nepgear noticed their disappearance, but she saw something else float across the dimension.
"I see a bunch of floating orbs. Nepgear, what are these?" Ram asked.
"Those must be their souls. Their bodies were created by Kurome and even then, she only intended to use their souls to power those Dark CPUs. Three in total, so Noire must have gotten the upper hand." Nepgear placed the Gehaburn forward as the orbs gravitated towards it and slowly entered the blade.
"You can do it, Nepgear."
"What the?" Big Nepgear looked around as she looked for the one talking, only to see no one.
"Big Nepgear, are you alright?" Rom asked.
"It's nothing, I just misheard something. Let's just keep looking." Big Nepgear answered.
"Alright, let's go."
"Come on, you weaklings! Show me what you've got!" Master Heart flew across the dimension, launching massive energy balls across the dimension like a shower of asteroids at Purple Heart.
"Fighting her won't be easy, Nepsy. She's going to be one tough foe to take down once and for all." Uzume warned her as they kept an eye on her during their flight.
"We need to defeat her nonetheless, no matter if she lied to piss me off or is telling the truth." Purple Heart told her before she charged at her full speed ahead, aiming for a strong strike.
"Critical Edge!" Purple Heart charged forward and attacked her relentlessly, but Master Heart easily blocked the attacks with her superior speed and struck back.
"Give up! My speed, my power, my abillities, I was created to outclass you in every single way you could fight me!" Master Heart sped up and easily countered every attack from Purple Heart before effortlessly striking back in a cruel manner.
"Binding Slash!" Master Heart jumped up and cut Purple Heart across the back before multiple dark tentacles sprung out from her blade and binded her in a very tight lock.
"Give up! Compared to you, I am a true god!" Master Heart declared out loud. Uzume charged forward and tried to attack, but her punch was easily blocked by her.
"And you're not much better. It's no surprise that my master got rid of you long ago."
"And you're a cocky ass who doesn't know any better." Big Neptune jumped up from behind and stabbed her in the back with her blades instantly.
"Damn it!"
"Eat this!" Uzume dashed forward and punched Master Heart straight in the face at full force, unleashing as many punches as possible before she tired out.
"You fucking slugs! Who you you think you are?!" Master Heart complained as her eyes started glowing in a strong purple and her face took a more inhuman form as she only sought to kill.
"You're not all that omnipotent as you made yourself out to be if we managed to land a scratch on you. And I am definitely joking with just a scratch." Big Neptune told her as she pulled her gun and strated firing at her, the bullets reflecting from her blade everytime as Uzume and Purple Heart got ready.
"And what are you!? Some weakass version of a powerful CPU who actually gave me a run for my money!" Master Heart moved quickly and snatched all of the bullets out of the air and threw them into the air before her, covering them in a dark energy before sending them back at her with a mere snap of her hand.
"You can perish in my eyes." Big Neptune drew her swords as Master Heart sent all bullets back.
"Crap!" Big Neptune immediately tried to block as many as possible, but the bullets were too fast and quickly shot through her body like a razor, tearing her swords to pieces and leaving her with multiple dripping injuries. She quickly dropped to the ground, Purple Heart and Uzume could only stare with disbelief.
"You were insufferable opponents, what a joy it will be that you will finally die." Master Heart continued her assault at her weakened opponents.
"Tornado Sword!" From out of nowhere, a rainbow-colored sword appeared and hit Master Heart from the side, weakening her for a short moment.
"Air Slice!" A powerful wind burst followed, she immediately created a barrier and blocked the attack.
"Looks like we weren't that outmatched after all." The other CPU arrived in time and joined Purple Heart and Uzume in their battle while Master Heart recovered from her damage.
"We haven't had the best time with everything up until now." Black Heart responded as she picked up Big Neptune and placed her in a Barrier. Both Blanc and Vert were pretty weak, due to the ambush and the battle with their alternate selfs, but they remained strong.
"Do you really think I'm going to be afraid of you just because you increased your numbers?" Master Heart quickly stomped on the ground and summoned multiple swords aimed towards them.
"We'll beat you no matter what!" Purple Heart charged forward and easily reflected and blocked every one of the swords with ease before sending them right back at her.
"Delta Slash!" Purple Heart fired a powerful slash at her while the others gradually cornered her, but their efforts weren't enough as she dodged it last minute and dashed right behind her.
"You are a ridiculous fool to think you can defeat me!" Master Heart sped up and flew behind her before she sharpened her blade and drew it towards Purple Heart.
"You're done for!"
"Not so fast!" Vert charged in between and took the full brunt of the attack head-on, reducing as much damage as possible with her spear before her injuries made her retreat to the side.
"Zerstorung!" Blanc charged in between and unleashed a powerful strike from her axe, breaking the ground in two.
"You will inevitably fail, I wasn't created for failing against you. I won't." Master Heart told them.
"We're gravely outmatched again, and this time we have no MAGES. to back us up." Blanc figured as she tended to Vert.
"This time we don't have the NEXT Forms either, we used them up last time which gave us a good chance to beat her last time." Uzume remarked.
"If that's the case, then we need to get one big strike to end all this. Keep her at bay, I'll prepare an opening for us." Uzume informed them as she quickly disappeared from sight and left the rest up to them.
"Can we really rely on this? We are too outmatched here." Blanc asked.
"Trust in Uzume, she won't betray our trust." Noire told her, trusting in her.
"Alright, let's do this." Purple Heart charged up her sword and dashed forward at her, holding her at bay. She and Master Heart stood face to face, both looked each other in the face fiercely.
"How stubborn, why aren't you going to snap? I killed your friend and I'll kill you too!"
"You had my anger, but now you only have my doubt." Purple Heart responded as they continued to trade blows several times. "Do you really speak the truth or are you just a dirty liar like your face suggests?"
"Who knows?" Master Heart quickly gained the upper hand and flung Purple Heart's sword out of her hand with a quick swipe. "But you can have a treat of her, here a delicious treat from her!"
Master Heart jumped up and charged up a massive purple energy ball from her foot and before firing it down towards Purple Heart.
"Master Blade Kick!" She yelled out before kicking the massive energy ball down towards them.
"And since that's already not enough..." Master Heart snapped her fingers and summoned hundreds of swords above her to attack, all lined up.
"You can have all these aswell." The swords started to fall from sky without any delay in a perfect line aimed at Purple Heart.
"We've got to keep the upper hand here. Alright, everyone go on the defensive!"
"Got it." White Heart raised her axe and with all of her strength blocked the massive energy ball with it, pushing it away for as long as possible.
"We need to keep our ground." Black Heart charged forward and used her sword to block as many of the attacks as possible, knocking many od them astray, but she wasn't able to dodge them all and some of them cut her.
"Damn it, this hurts like hell!" Noire took damage and was quickly overwhelmed by the swords, burying her in a literal swordyard.
"No, she's too strong!" Blanc resisted the pressure of the attack, but over time she wasn't able to keep fighting and the massive energy ball pressed down on her, slowly crushing and burning her underneath it.
"I didn't expect this to be so easy, I guess I shouldn't have expected so much from worthless ones like you." Master Heart mocked them, acting like she's perfect, but she felt a few long-term injuries that didn't recover just yet.
"You're too confident!" Master Heart turned around to see Purple Heart charged at her with full force, giving her a strong tackle right in the gut before stabbing her with her sword.
"You little...!" Purple Heart quickly vanished to avoid Master Heart's assault in time. She suddenly felt her movements restrained.
"Uzume got you now." Orange Heart appeared behind her and locked her into place, restraining her arms and keeping her wide open.
"Neptune, all of you attack now!" She yelled towards them as she continued to restrain her at full power.
"This is it. This is our opening!" Neptune and the others got ready and used powerful skills.
"You can't contain me! I am far more powerful than any of you!" Master Heart slowly regained control and gained the upper hand, trying to free herself.
"Damnit, she's too strong...!" Uzume struggled to keep her in place, her arms were slowly being pushed away, but she had enough power to keep her in hold.
"You'll never defeat me, I won't ever be stopped by...!"
Suddenly a blade flung forward and pierced Master Heart right in the neck, disorienting her and weakening her.
"What...the?"
"You forgot...my last word." Big Neptune responded, standing still with major injuries and blood after having thrown one of her blades at her.
"This is our chance!" Purple Heart readied herself and summoned a massive blade next to her to defeat Master Heart.
"Let me go! Let...me go!" Master Heart continously yelled, but the blade stuck in her body made it hard to move without dying or excessively taking damage.
"Thirty-two Bit Mega Blade!" Purple Heart yelled out as she sent it forward at full force, the blade charging through the dimension towards Master Heart.
"NOOO!" Master Heart yelled before Orange Heart released her lock and escaped, leaving her to the full brunt of the attack. The blade cleanly piercing through her entire body, slowly glowing in the process.
"Damn you, you damn CPUS...!" Master Heart's body was slowly falling apart as she yelled at the CPUs. Her fake skin slowly chipping off and her body melting.
"It's going to explode soon."
"Damn you..., Neptune...! DAMN YOU!" She yelled out before the blade glew brightly and a massive explosion formed.
"Burn in hell." A massive explosion followed, ripping Master Heart's body apart in the explosion and completely wiping her out in an earth-shattering impact that caused the dimension to quake. All platforms being torn apart in the explosions.
"I won't let it end like this, I can't lose against you! I will never lose!" Master Heart yelled as her body was being disintegrated, forming a black slime-like hand she reached for her, trying to take her down.
"NEEEEEEEPTUNEEEEEEEEE!" She yelled before her entire body was completely vaporized in the explosion, leaving nothing behind as she slowly melted away.
...
"She's dead. With this, Kurome's last servant has fallen." Uzume figured as she laid on the ground, having used an excessive amount of strength. "But we aren't done just yet."
"We're in a bad state, that battle took everything out of me and the others." Neptune remarked as she was treating the wounds of the others.
"We need to get going..." Neptune walked forward, but she was exhausted and nearly collapsed.
"You've gone through a hard fight, Neptune. It'll be fine." Uzume patted her on the back.
"Do you think she actually killed Plutie?"
"...I can't tell you for sure, but I'm sure that you've done well to avenge her or to let Master Heart know what happens when you lie about that." Uzume responded in a calm tone.
"You guys have definitely been doing your best." Neptune heard someone say as she turned around.
Big Nepgear, Ram and Rom stood next to them, carrying a severely injured MAGES. in their hands.
"What's been happening on your side?"
"Kurome's too strong, we were forced to retreat and come up with a plan. Nepgear and Uni are trying to reach the sealed Uzume while we...have to collect power for the Gehaburn."
"Does that mean you're killing to fuel it again? I'm warning you that our victory won't be assured by that." Neptune responded with a notable lack of energy.
"And we won't have chance either if we keep wavering. Look." Big Nepgear held the Gehaburn out to her. A large crack was running through, purple color was vibrantly oozing.
"It's going to crack and I have no idea what will happen if it actually breaks, we need all the power we can get. And for that, there are two CPUs left to perfect the sword again for sure."
The last CPUs that stood before them as more enemies arrived before them.
"Hello...Neptune and Uni."
