DISCLAIMER: Hyperdimension Neptunia belongs to Compile Heart and Idea Factory.

I hope everyone stay safe in this epidemic. Remember to wash your hands properly, do physical distancing, pray, and eat nutritious foods

WE ARE GOING TO LOWEE.

Also...

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY HYPERDIMEMSION NEPTUNIA! YOU WILL ALWAYS BE INSIDE MY HEART!

A-Anyway... please enjoy!

Chapter 24

Lowee, the Land of White Serenity. Protected by Console Patron Unit, CPU White Heart.

In this land, cold white snow are all over the places, with dark-grey sky covered the land from above, and a cold temperature that prevent the snow from ever melting, with only a little bit of spaces that didn't covered by snow.

After a few hours connected to it's felow landmass, Lastation, the land slowly drift away from it and disconnected the connection between the two of the floating land.

~o~0~o~

"Man, that sure is one hell out of cold out there!" Neptune muttered aloud, crossing her arms as she shivers in cold. "Who would've thought a snow rain could be happening this time of day."

"I-I agree." Compa nodded. "My hands are freezing, I never experience this such of an extreme temperature." she muttered softly.

"You two are surprisingly weak." IF said, crossing her arms and closed eyes. "Since I was an experienced Adventurer, this kind of cold are piece of cake."

Neptune only puffed her cheeks in annoyance as a reply.

The party was currently inside a stagecoach, heading to a nearby city. Originally, they intended to walk as they usually does, however, just after a couple of minutes they began walking, a snow rain fall upon them, and so after some constant complain from both Neptune and Compa of being cold, IF was forced to order a stagecoach to take them to the city.

"Hey, Nep." IF began, looking at Neptune.

"What is it?" Neptune asked, looking back at IF.

"Just asking, but... you don't have any kind of special relationship with the CPU of Lastation, didn't you?" IF asked with a quizzical look.

Neptune's face instantly goes red. "Wh-What a-are you t-talking about? O-Of course I don't have that sort of thing... kinda." Neptune said, scratching her cheek. "I mean... we're really just friend."

"Really?" IF asked, tilting her head.

"Mmnn..." Neptune groaned, rubbing the spot where the said Lastation's CPU just bite, a few hours ago. It took Neptune several minutes in the bathroom to clean up the bite mark.

As she glanced down, she noticed there's something odd under her parka dress.

"Wait a minute..." she unzipped her dress a little, and slip her hand inside it.

"What is it, Nep-Nep?" Compa asked in confusion as Neptune pulls out the Key Fragments necklace that she concealed behind her parka dress all the time.

"I just noticed, look at this!" Neptune grabbed the Lastation's Key Fragment and shows it to her companions who looked at the item closely.

The Key Fragment looked exactly the same, except...

"The gem...?" IF asked.

Neptune nodded as a reply. "Yes, when we recieved this from lady Black Heart, the black gem in here is glowing." she said while pointing at the said black gem located in the center of the fragment. "But now that we leaved Lastation, and arrived in Lowee, the gem stopped glowing for some reason." she explained.

"This is just a theory. But, I think the fragment are reacting to their respective landmass somehow." IF muttered putting her hand on her chin.

"I think that's not what happening." Neptune said, causing her two friend to look at her in confusion.

She put the Lastation fragment away, and then shows the Planeptune one who has a purple gem.

"Back in Planeptune, when we get this fragment from beating that weird gothic lady. This gem didn't glow like when recieved this one from lady Black Heart. Which means..."

"They didn't react to the landmass they were in?" IF asked, and Neptune nodded.

"The most logical explanation that I could think of is that I think instead of react to the Landmass they came from, it was the CPU who they react to." Neptune explained with a serious expression.

"Why would the fragments reacted to the Goddesses?" Compa asked in confusion.

"I dunno." Neptune shrugged, putting the necklace back under her parka dress before zipped it up.

As the time continues, the stagecoach eventually stopped once they reach their destination.

The stagecoach driver opened the door on the side, and let the girls out of the vehicle.

After they came out of the stagecoach, the party was greeted by the beautiful sight of Lowee's city.

Unlike the dark industrial Lastation, Lowee is far less advanced compared to the land of Black Regality. However, it's snowy and magical theme makes life in here looked exciting.

"So this is the city of Lowee?" Neptune asked as she looked at the city in front of her with excitement. "It's so cool!" she exclaimed.

"Indeed it is." IF nodded in agreement.

"Ooo, I can't wait to explore! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Before her friends could say anything, Neptune already ran towards the city in front of her.

"Nep-Nep wait!" After yelling that, Compa then chased after her purple-haired friend, leaving IF alone.

Face palming, IF sighed in annoyance before surrendered and decide to follow her two energetic friends.

"Whoa look at that!" Neptune said while pointing at a sign on top of a food store. "What are those?" she asked Compa beside her.

"That's called a crepe." Compa answered with a smile. "It was a very thin pancake filled with sweets, it was very delicious! You wanna try it Nep-Nep?" she asked.

"Yes! Yes! Let's try one!" grabbing Compa's arm, the two approached the crepe shop.

As she saw the two, IF only sighed, pulling out her phone. "I think I should gather information while those two busy with themselves." she said before walking away.

"You're right Compa." Neptune said before taking another bite on her crepe. "It is very delicious. Not as delicious as pudding, but it's still very tasty!" she said before taking another bite again.

"Back when I was a child, my grandpa often to visit the other landmasses." Compa began, before taking a bite on her crepe. "Whenever he visit Lowee, he would always brings crepes as souvenirs for me." she explained with a small smile on her face.

"Your grandpa sounded like a good guy." Neptune commented, remembering what Compa said to her back in Planeptune. "Too bad I could never meet him." she sighd, before taking another bite.

"Yeah." Compa replied softly, along with a nod.

After finishing up their crapes, the two girls spend some times exploring the city, until IF called out to them, and tell them what information she found.

"After talking with some people in here, they said the Basilicom should be located in a woods not far from here." IF said, showing her friends the location of the Basilicom on her phone.

"Are we seriously have to walk again?" Neptune whinned, and IF just nodded for confirmation. "Can we at least wait for the rain to stop first?"

"It's just a few meters away, stop whining and start moving." IF said in annoyance, turned around and walked away.

"Looks like we didn't have a choice." Compa muttered softly, sighing.

"If you two didn't want to come, then I'll leave you behind." IF called out.

Sighing in defeat, Neptune reluctantly followed IF. "Fine... wait for me!" Compa then followed her shortly afterwards

~o~0~o~

Somewhere else unknown...

There was a dark and empty room, with the only thing that exist in the room was just a single dim lamp on the ceiling as the source of light, and a certain brown-haired girl shackled to the wall.

"Blanc..."

A mysterious voice called out from the darkness.

"Blanc..."

The voice called out again, this time it was much more louder than before.

"Blanc..."

As the voice called out for the third time in a very loud tone, the pinned brunette stirred, she opened her eyes slowly, and the first thing she saw was the stone grey colored floor.

"Where... where am I?" she asked to no one in particular.

As she looked around the room, she was a bit surprised when she found the condition she was in, she tried to use her power to break free from the restrain, but for some reason she couldn't call upon her power.

"What... the hell is going on?"

Imediately after she asked that, she heard a distant footsteps sounds approaching her, and imediately, she realized that she was having yet another nightmare, a nightmares that haunt her for hundreds of years, driving her insane.

"Oh no, not this shit again!"

The sound of footsteps become louder and louder, until eventually, a figure emerged from the darkness.

The mysterious figure was a woman with long purple hair, most of her body was covered in shadows, except for her mouth and her glowing eyes.

"Hello, Blanc. It's nice to see that you still enjoy being in this room with me."

The woman said with a small smile, slowly stepped forward and approached the brunette.

"Go to hell!" the brunette yelled in anger. "You're dead! You're not here! Leave me alone!"

The woman only chuckled at those words, shaking her head, she stared directly at the brunette's eyes.

"Are you sure about that? How do you know? What's the proof that I was really dead?"

Blanc was speechless, she didn't know how to answer those question.

"I thought so."

Two glowing blades appear, and each of them stabbed Blanc on both of her palms, provoking her to loudly screamed out in pain and agony.

The woman smirked sadistically, she moved her fingers, and the blades followed it's movement, drilling Blanc's hand until the blades eventually pierce through her palms and into the wall behind her.

"I want more!"

Two more blades appeared, and this time, they stabbed both of Blanc's legs, splitting the foots from the ankles, blood flowing out from it.

"I want more of your screams, Blanc. Give me more!"

The woman snapped her fingers, and more blades appeared, each of them stabbed different parts of Blanc's body. Her screams echoed through the entire room.

The woman snapped her fingers again, and all of the blades instantly disappears. Her smile widened with satisfaction as she take a good look at the mutilated body of Blanc.

However, it didn't last long before her body regenerate back until it was good as new. Blanc gasped as her consciousness returned, she glared sharply at the purple-haired woman in front of her.

"You bitch! What would get from doing this? Torturing me would never bring you back to life!" Blanc yelled in anger.

She tilted her head in confusion when the woman suddenly chuckled.

"Are you sure?"

The purple-haired woman reached forward and cupped the brunette's chin, and lifted her head to looked at her glowing eyes directly. Blanc shivered in both fear and cold as she looked at the woman's face who smirked evilly.

"Let me tell you something..."

Her grip on the girl's chin become tighter.

"I have a living self, she was currently in here, in Lowee. Soon you'll meet her, and when the time comes, you'll change, either if it was for bad or for good, I don't know, we'll find out soon. For now..."

Using all of her might, the woman crushed Blanc's jaw with a loud crack sound, provoking Blanc to let out yet another scream. A second later, her jaw regenerate again.

Chuckling evily, the woman snapped her fingers, and more glowing blades appeared, ready to cut Blanc into tiny pieces.

"Shall we continue?"

And so, for the next few hours, screams of terror, pain, and agony would be the only thing that filled the room.

Until...

~o~0~o~

Gasping loudly, a short brown-haired girl sat up on her bed. Her entire body is covered in sweat, her breathing are very heavy, and her heart was beating fast, so fast that she felt it's gonna burst out of her chest.

She looked around the room she found herself in, and was relieved when she realized that she was in her room.

Sighing, she looked down and saw there's many books scatered on her bed.

'I fell asleep... while reading this...' She thought to herself as she looked at the open red book that she incidentally used as a pillow.

As she recalled the dream she was having when she was asleep, she gritted her teeth, grab the book and throw it away in frustration.

To be Continued...

I am very very sorry for the wait, I was ill.

You all will probably know, but from this chapter forward there will be a lot of swearing and bad language.

Oh, and before I forget. I just want to say thank you for AmethystPone for his/her support and reviews, I really appreciate it.