Planet 12: Sublime
Noire took a sip from her cup of tea before flipping up a document. She sighed as she pressed the button at the end of her pen and began to write on said document. After finishing, she placed the document into a small file and tucked it inside a cabinet attached to her desk. She got up, walked past the long array of bookshelves, and stepped outside of the room.
Noire looked down the dark blue hallway and sighed. She flicked up her watch and tapped on the screen.
"I'll tell Kei that I'm going off to patrol." Noire said to herself. "I need some exercise, I can't stay in my study room forever."
Noire tapped her foot on the ground a few times as she heard the dialing sound come out from her watch. Eventually, an automatic voice response came from her watch and Noire looked down at it with a confused expression.
"You have called, "Kei Jinguji." Please leave a message or call again later."
"Kei's not picking up? Odd, usually she picked up right away."
Noire walked down the dark blue hallway and pressed a button on the wall. She stood in front of elevator doors and looked back at the flower vases that sat on various small tables in the hallway. She looked down at the far end of the hallway which had two large red doors and sighed.
"I want to get some rest… geez, why did the others have to disappear like that? At least we'll get Neptune back when Histoire's done with her machine but… still…"
The elevator doors opened up and Noire walked inside. She waited inside the elevator until it stopped and the doors opened again. She walked out and went down a long lime green carpet with lights that emulated a sun roof over her head. She walked out of the empty throne room and went outside.
Large black buildings and skyscrapers could be seen everywhere she looked. She walked down the stone stairs that were attached to her Basilicom and looked around.
"Where is everyone?" Noire asked.
Noire looked behind her and stared up at the tall black tower she walked out of. She looked at a flag pole beside her and noticed that Lastation's flag, a dark blue flag with a small diamond in the middle with the letters L and S printed on it, was fluttering high at the top of it. Noire flicked up her watch again and pulled it up close to her mouth. She tapped on a picture of Uni and waited for a bit.
"Come on Uni… at least you should pick up…"
Noire slowly walked around the empty streets for a while listening to her watch sing the dialing song. Eventually the automatic message came on again and Noire shook her head slightly in disbelief.
"Uni?! You are supposed to-"
Before Noire could continue, the watch rang with Uni's profile picture on it. Noire looked at it strangely, but answered the call.
"Uni, there you are, where are you?" Noire asked. "Lastation's practically a ghost town, have you seen it?"
"Noire, come to the arena." Uni replied.
"What why? We already had our practice matches yesterday."
Uni went silent for a moment. Noire's breath began to quicken as she anticipated a response.
"Well?" Noire asked.
"Nera is about to save the day. Again." Uni replied.
"Nera- what?! I'm on my way, I don't believe it."
Noire turned off her watch and dashed down the empty streets. She ran past stores, trees, street lamps, parking lots, but not a human nor an animal was seen. Noire saw a large colosseum-like structure in the distance and ran towards it.
Once Noire arrived near the entrance, she saw a large crowd of people standing around outside. Noire stared at the large crowd and looked around for an entrance. Next to her she saw a blonde woman wearing a black no-sleeve crop top talking into a mic in front of a camera.
"As you can see from this crowd, nearly all of Lastation is here to see Nera, former Lady Black Heart, back in action. The crowd is so big, I don't think I'll even be able to get in for an interview with her. Oh well, I'm sure someone is streaming the fight already right now."
"Hey! Hey, who's Nera fighting?!" Noire asked.
"Huh? Oh, Lady Noire. Right now Nera is facing off against Iris Heart. Are you-"
"WHAT?! How long has this battle been going on?!"
"For a while… 15 minutes maybe?"
A bright light engulfed Noire and in her place stood a lady wearing a black leotard with neon white lines on it. Her hair was white and no longer tied up as pigtails. Her wings looked like 6 light blue blades hovering right behind her as she flew up into the air. She looked into the center of the area to see the beautiful woman Nera facing off against Iris Heart. She quickly looked for an empty seat but very quickly gave up and simply hovered on the edge of the circle.
"Lady Black Heart!" A person commented looking up at the lady.
Black Heart ignored them and looked down at the fight with binoculars that materialized out of particles and pixels. She saw Nera gracefully dance and dodge around Iris Heart's strikes with relative ease. Nera had a fantastic smile on her perfect face as she dodged and kept it even after.
"Wow, who would have thought Nera would be back in action?" A woman asked. "She retired so long ago but she fights like she never stopped being Black Heart!"
"Honestly, I think she's just acting. I bet after a hit or two she'll be down." A man said beside her. "Okay, sure, I haven't witnessed her myself since I lived in Leanbox while she was ruling, but there's no such thing as perfection. This has all got to be an act, I mean, Iris Heart has rumored to beat White Heart and Green Heart."
"Watch and learn."
Black Heart clenched her binoculars tightly and stared at the battle at the center of the arena. Iris Heart widely swung her chain sword and Nera jumped over it perfectly, landing with grace and dashing towards Iris Heart.
Electricity sparked on Iris Heart's left arm as she reached to grab Nera, but Nera was too fast as she had jumped up and used her strong, powerful knee to slam Iris Heart's face.
Iris Heart staggered backwards and saw Nera pull back her dangerous, yet beautiful fist. Iris Heart raised her sword and pointed it towards Nera in a defensive stance. However Nera elegantly weaved right by Iris Heart's sword and dashed right in front of her. Iris Heart dashed backwards quickly, but Nera dashed forward at the same time.
Nera rose her fist upwards and dramatically uppercutted Iris Heart. The impact caused a ripple that spread out like a ring, and sent Iris Heart into the sky. Iris Heart's processor unit, personal barrier, and her wings shattered as she fell to the ground. Ambience's hat fell onto the floor as Nera gave Iris Heart a wonderful smile.
"That's it, that's it!" A voice announced through loudspeakers. "Iris Heart is down, Lady Nera saved Gamindustri again!"
Black Heart heard the loudest cheering she's ever heard in her life. Armored soldiers ran into the arena and grabbed Iris Heart. They cuffed her and took her away and she saw Uni approaching Nera.
"Not even a single hit? Wow…" Uni marvelled.
Black Heart flew into the arena and transformed. Uni and Nera turned to her and Noire sighed.
"I- what- how? You can't even draw shares right now, how did you do that?!" Noire asked.
"Hard work and dedication to a good cause." Nera said with a pretty smile.
"There's no way that's it, you've got to be hiding some sort of secret! It's not possible, you're a human right now. There has to be more."
"I don't know what to tell you, maybe we should spend more time together. I could teach you my workout routine and how I keep a healthy mind and healthy body."
"What… but… no, no you can't… why is life so perfect for you?!"
"Noire, shush." Uni said. "There's an announcement."
Four large screens surrounding the arena came on and Kei's face appeared on them.
"Good afternoon Lastation. This is Kei, Lastation's Oracle." Kei greeted. "I shouldn't have to remind any of you, but Nera just saved Gamindustri again by defeating Iris Heart, Planeptune's rogue goddess. Now that it's clear Nera is in healthy shape and good form, we have decided to give you all a choice. Nera may return to power as Lastation's goddess Lady Black Heart, or your current goddess Lady Noire may remain in power and continue her rule."
"Wha- now?! No that's not fair, Nera's going to win for sure! I- I didn't get to show off my skills in any way, that's not fair!" Noire shouted.
"Nera almost conquered all of Gamindustri by herself, Lastation was perfect under her rule!" A woman said. "If she didn't retire, Gamindustri would have been a better place!"
"Nera protected us even without her goddess powers, imagine what she could do if she got them back! Get Noire out of here, we need Nera!" A man shouted.
"Noire made so many mistakes, Nera's rule was perfect!"
"All statistics show that Nera is better in every way! Bring Nera back!"
"Nera!"
"Nera!"
"Nera!"
"Nera!"
"Nera!"
Noire looked around the arena and heard cheering from all around her. Her throat began to dry and a tear fell from her eye before she turned to Uni who pointed a taser gun at her.
"All for Lastation Noire." Uni said.
Uni pulled the trigger and Noire was shocked. Electricity paralyzed her as she fell to the floor. She felt herself being dragged by multiple people out of the arena, and into the back of a truck.
Noire laid on the floor in the dark, unable to move and struggling to even breath. She twitched occasionally, but wasn't able to move any parts of her body. After a quick drive, soldiers pulled Noire out of the truck and put a blindfold over her eyes. They dragged Noire across the ground and after a while, threw her into a dark room.
Noire laid on the floor again and lifted her finger. She flexed her body and felt her arms and legs again, but she didn't move. Noire laid down in the room and tears began to soak her blindfold.
She rolled onto her side and slowly slid off her blindfold. More tears dripped from her eyes and onto the cold floor. She then pressed her hands against her eyes and curled up into a ball.
"I'm not useless, I'm not. I'm not a worse Nera, I did a good job, I did so much, does nobody care? Are results all that matter?"
Noire curled up and held her knees against her chest. She pulled her hair away from her face and dried her tears with her sleeves. She pressed her fingers against the places on her body that were tasered and cried some more.
Noire then heard knocking on the door. She ignored it and held her knees tighter. After a moment went by, she heard knocking on the door again.
"What?!" Noire asked. "Why are you even bothering to knock?!"
"Does that mean I can come in?" Nera asked.
"Oh look who it is, it's little miss perfect here to save the day again to make me feel better about myself. Don't even bother, just do whatever you want!"
There was a moment of silence as Noire looked at the two large doors in the dark room.
"Hey, I'm sorry for raising the bar so high Lady Noire. It wasn't intentional, really. But comparing yourself with others isn't really good for you, so let's-"
"Shut up! I don't want to hear it, if you don't need me for anything just go away! I want to be left alone."
"Actually, we do need you right now. It's time we meet Uni and Ambience, but if you're really feeling unwell I can greet them myself. I'll get Uni to have a chat with you, sounds good?"
"Wait… what?"
Noire rose to her feet and grabbed the handle on the two doors. Before opening the door, she looked down and stared at the handles. She couldn't see in the dark, but the small amount of light that poured through the cracks of the door showed that the door was red.
Noire quickly opened both doors and found herself in the dark blue hallway of the Basilicom. She saw Nera standing in front of her wearing a black combat harness that contrasted her white tank top and fitted around her perfectly proportioned body. Her pure white beautiful hair was still in a single ponytail and she wore a short sleeved black leather jacket that seemed to look even better on her than the dress did.
"Hello, good morning! They'll be here in about an hour, I'll wait at the elevator." Nera greeted.
"What- wait- didn't you just- hold on."
Noire turned around and flicked up the light switch. She looked down at the blue checkerboard pattern and the black couches in the center of the room. Computers and files sat on top of a table in the corner of the room and her bed was untouched. She stared at the small puddle of tears on the floor, then looked down at her torn up dress.
"Wha- what happened?! There's no way that was a dream, didn't you just beat up Iris Heart and take over Lastation?! Why was I thrown back into my room, Uni was just here as well!" Noire shouted.
"Me? Beat up Iris Heart? Well I can certainly try, but that's definitely not going to be an easy fight. Also there's no need to worry. As long as you're alive and well I will never take Lastation back from you. Unless you really want me to, but I can't exactly take the goddess powers back. You sure it wasn't a nightmare?"
"Well I mean… yeah I guess if you're here and… stuff… how is my dress torn up then?! Was I drugged? Where are my pajamas?!"
"Honestly, I was about to ask that exact question."
"Ugh, stupid nightmares, I hate them! I bet you don't get any nightmares do you?!"
"Well… yeah, I don't. I haven't had any sort of dreams lately."
"Seriously!? Are you female Jesus?! Whatever, they'll be here in one hour right? I'm getting changed. Do whatever the hell you want, I'm sure you won't do anything dumb anyway cause you never make any mistakes, ever!"
Noire slammed the doors shut and gripped onto her torn dress. She threw her outfit off and stormed into her bathroom where she walked into the shower and began to wash her hair.
"Man, now I feel guilty for yelling at her. She probably didn't mean any harm… unless this is some sort of weird trick. It's just- ugh! Why- how can someone just be perfect?! I thought it was a given that no one could be perfect but there she is, not making any mistakes, always winning every single fight, always purely good and never making a single bad decision ever. How is anyone supposed to compare to her?!"
Noire threw a towel on herself and dried up. She plugged in her blow dryer and dried her long hair, then combed it and tied them into twintails with blue hair ties. She walked to her drawer and wore a grey and white crop top with long detached black sleeves. She put on a black skirt, wore a black belt with a white gem in the center, matching black and blue thigh high socks, and large grey boots with white gems as well.
Noire looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She redid her twintails and strapped on her black watch before heading out the doors and walking down the dark blue hallway again. Once she arrived at the elevator in the corner, Nera looked up from her phone and gave Noire a soft smile.
"You look good, ready?" Nera asked.
"Don't smile at me like we're friends or something." Noire snapped.
Nera stared at Noire for a bit before nodding her head. She entered the elevator with her and they stood as far apart as they could. Nera looked at the elevator mirror and stared into it as the elevator eventually stopped. They stepped out and walked to the right to enter a staircase where they walked up the stairs.
Noire punched a password into a number pad next to the door and opened it to reveal a helicopter platform on the side of the Basilicom. Nera closed the door and they both leaned on the entrance. They stared out at the tall black towers of Lastation and Nera slid her phone back into her pocket.
"You know, I smoked before." Nera said.
"Really?" Noire asked quickly while turning her head to face her.
"Yup, it was pretty alright too. Of course, I stopped after the first time. It was just a test and I was curious."
Noire's eyes narrowed again and she crossed her arms as she turned away. Nera looked at Noire and then shrugged to herself.
"I said this already but I really like your outfit." Nera said. "We can go shopping later and-"
"Will you shut up?! Seriously, your attempts to make me feel better are doing nothing! I only feel worse, you can't help me here when you're the source of the problem!" Noire said.
"Hey, look at that, there's one thing I'm not good at, I can't make someone like me if they hate me like you do."
"Well that's only because you literally never failed at anything! Nothing! Anything you even try you get good at! You're literally bad at failing, how is that even possible?! And because of that everyone expects me to be this, like, God!"
"Hah! I failed at failing, hahaha, sorry that's just a little funny. But seriously, I'm not perfect. I still need time to get good at the things I do. And as I said, it's not healthy to compare yourself with other people. It's easier said than done, but try to see me as a role model. Not an expectation."
"Yeah, you learned how to sing in 6 months! God, I would give anything to sing like you can! And a role model? You mean an idol? Literally my dream job? I've been trying my whole life and you just casually took singing lessons for 6 months and now I bet you could apply anywhere and get an idol job! Ugh, do you know how infuriating that is?!"
"I learned how to sing because I want to, you're learning because you want to. Our goals and motivations are about relatively the same but hey, when you do learn how to sing it will be a much bigger success story than mine. And people love supporting others who put more time and effort and dedication, it shows your will. Even if we achieve the same results, my fans are just after my looks and voice while yours will be after your heart, soul, and passion you put into your work. Keep going Noire, don't let me stop you!"
Noire stared at Nera for a moment, then sighed as she turned to face the other direction.
"Yeah… I guess you're right…" Noire said quietly.
Nera smiled and nodded at Noire, then looked forward at the skyscrapers in front of them.
"Look at that, you didn't even fail at making me feel better. How's that for perfect huh?" Noire whispered quietly.
Noire pressed her palms on her face and groaned as she forced her head up towards the sky.
"Ugh, and because I hate you I'm the bad guy! Since you're like, actually genuinely a good person everyone will think I'm the idiot for hating you!"
"I-"
"Don't- don't even bother saying anything! I don't want to hear it, just shut up. Please, just shut up."
Nera looked at Noire for a moment, then nodded and faced the front again. Noire let out a long sigh and turned away from Nera pressing the side of her head against the wall. After a few minutes, Noire looked up and saw a helicopter slowly landing on the platform they stood on. Noire covered her eyes as the gust caused her ribbons to flutter behind her. Eventually the helicopter blades stopped turning and Uni opened the passenger door. She took off her mask and helped Ambience down, then gave the driver with red headphones a thumbs up as she closed the passenger door again. The helicopter blades began to spin again as it took off leaving the Basilicom.
"Welcome back Uni." Noire greeted.
"Hi Noire." Uni responded. "Did you get any special reports?"
"Actually I just woke up. Now, mind telling me why you two took a day to get here?" Noire asked.
"I thought I smelt a beast so I stayed back to make sure everyone was safe. Turns out, it was Ambi."
"What? Oh come on Ambi, at least wash yourself properly when you-"
"No Noire, I said I smelt a beast. Not a monster."
Noire stared at Uni for a bit, then raised her eyebrow at Ambience who sighed and looked around.
"Well uh, we should probably head inside…" Ambience said. "Oh right, Lady Black Heart, thank you very much for your hospitality."
Ambience bowed and Noire nodded. She turned around and Nera followed closely behind as they walked down the staircase and back into the Basilicom. Noire walked right beside Uni as Ambience and Nera followed closely behind.
"Great, Ambience is depressed. All the hospitals and clinics are really busy at the moment so she's gonna have to wait." Noire whispered to Uni.
"Iris Heart is coming here, we have to better equip our soldiers and heroes." Uni whispered back.
"Well yeah, duh, of course she'd be here next. I bet Vert's disappearance will be on the news any moment now."
"Anything new from Histoire?" Uni asked.
"Not… uhm… not yet." Noire replied while checking her watch.
As they entered into the elevator, Uni turned her head and looked at Ambience. Ambience stared back and forced a smile, but sighed and shook her head. Uni turned her head back and leaned closer to Noire who pressed a button on the wall.
"I'm getting some syringes." Uni whispered.
"Wait what? Why?"
Uni pressed a different button on the elevator and looked at Noire.
"I'll tell you in private." Uni whispered.
Noire stared at Uni, then the doors opened and Uni left. Noire pressed the button to close the elevator doors and the three of them stood in silence.
"You uh, already told Uni what happened in Leanbox right?" Noire asked.
"I mean… yes. Yeah there's no twist or joke, yeah I did." Ambience responded.
"Green Heart disappeared too?" Nera asked. "Do-"
"Nera I- just… don't take this the wrong way, but I'd appreciate it if you'd just stay quiet for now. I… let me do the talking okay? I'm the goddess, let me do my job." Noire said.
"Hmm? Alright, then I'll let ya do your thing."
The elevator doors opened and Noire led them down the hallway. She brought them into her room and they sat down on the black couches in the middle of it.
"I'll get tea, you two… uhm, do whatever I guess." Noire said.
Noire stood up and took the empty kettle sitting on the table. She was about to leave the room, but Ambience rose up and snapped her fingers.
"Uhm, uh… sorry Jack, uhm… can I have coffee instead?" Ambience asked.
Noire turned and raised her eyebrow at Ambience. She stared back at Noire and took a deep breath.
"Sorry for asking, tea is perfectly fine but-"
"No, I don't mind." Noire said. "But you never drink coffee, actually I thought you were against coffee. Are you hiding something from us?"
"Yeah about that uhm… I think it will be better for me to explain when Oni gets here."
"Hmm."
Noire squinted her eyes at Ambience, then shrugged and left her room. She entered into a room close to her's and poured some water from a kitchen faucet.
"I bet Ambience likes Uni and Nera more than she likes me. No, it's not just Ambi, I bet everyone likes Uni and Nera more than me!" Noire said to herself.
She placed the kettle onto a heating plate and tea bags into different fancy cups. She took it out from a black cupboard. She then took a mug and placed it under a red coffee machine. She pressed some buttons on it, then heard the machine activate and walked towards the fridge.
"It's because those two are so much more friendly and patient than I am." Noire said to herself. "Ugh. I bet people think they look better too. I know I shouldn't be worried about stuff like this but why do I have to be the worst?! And that one robot dude who does like me is a total creep."
Noire tapped on a screen above the fridge and a small plate of biscuits materialized. She placed it on a tray along with the cups and the kettle full of boiling water.
"You know what? That's okay. I'll just change my attitude. I'll just be more friendly and cheerful. Yeah, I'll use my idol voice and then we'll see who the people favor more even though tsundere personalities make a killing on the internet…"
Noire shook her head and did her hair while placing the mug of coffee on the tray. She smiled as she walked out of the room and back into her own room.
"So apparently burger crabs have three livers as opposed to four." Nera said. "Hey, Lady Noire, welcome back."
"Thank you!" Noire said with a cheery smile. "Here's the tea and here's your coffee Ambi. Uni should be here very soon."
Nera smiled and watched Noire pour water into her tea cup. Nera took her tea cup and mixed it a little. She then blew on it once before taking a sip. Ambience took the mug of coffee and stared at Noire.
"Uhm, is everything alright?" Ambience asked. "Did something happen?"
Noire clenched her tea cup and pouted at Ambience.
"What, am I not allowed to be happy or something? I'm trying to be nice and smile for my guests for once but you're asking that question like I'm an imposter or something!" Noire said.
"Sorry Jack but I'm already having an episode so uhm… hey if something's actually wrong maybe we can get both of us fixed at once."
"Nothing is wrong with me, I'm fine! I'm just- I'm just trying to brighten up the mood since none of the other goddesses are here to do it that's all."
"Unfortunately the last happy goddess I saw was fondling my brain with knives for nails. I'm sorry Jack, it's been a rough week. Well, I guess it's been a rough week for everyone."
"Right, Iris Heart. Like, I know you killed someone accidentally and all that but… you'll tell us when Uni gets here."
Ambience nodded and Nera placed her teacup back on the table. Uni then came into the room wearing white earphones that went into her purse. She carried a small suitcase and kneeled beside Ambience. She opened the suitcase and took off her earphones.
"You can show them now if you didn't already." Uni said.
Ambience sighed, then carefully placed her halberd on the floor at her feet. She slowly and carefully took off her torn cloak revealing her large ribs that went down from her waist right up to her shoulders.
"I- I'm sorry what?" Noire asked. "How did that happen?"
"Half monster now are we? Must have been a painful transformation since you weren't born that way. Nothing hurts right now right?" Nera asked.
"Still a little bit of aching cause of the sudden weight gain." Ambience sighed. "Apparently some unsafe untested combination of share and steal energy. I think. That's what it looked like."
Uni nodded and took a syringe out from the suitcase. She took Ambience's arm and wiped it down, then placed a cloth on the sofa and took out some blood from her arm.
"This was Iris Heart?" Noire asked.
"Yeah, she uh… it's… I don't think she's responsible for the goddesses disappearing, but I think she has a twisted way of going against who is responsible." Ambience said. "She talked about how… how like people always have to endure pain to secure wins. Uhm, she's basically playing the bad guy to make me a hero so I'd be strong enough to… replace a goddess? No offense."
"I mean… no? Look at Nera, she doesn't even know what pain means and she's never lost a battle before!" Noire said.
'Hey, I may make it look easy but I put in effort." Nera said.
"Right, just like how raising my arm takes effort and breathing takes energy." Noire said. "Whatever, you get my point."
"See but like… I guess it's like taking the idea of training to an extreme." Ambience said. "Uni, you've been in the army, what do you think?"
"Hmm? Oh. Well simplified yeah it's basically the same thing as training." Uni said while taking out another syringe. "But the thing is there's a line between proper effective training, and unnecessary trauma. We don't want any trauma because soldiers could get… what's the word? Whatever, they'd basically perform worse if they were traumatized. Like they could be paralyzed, lose their temper, start crying, stop sleeping, go insane, we don't want any of that happening."
"Would you say you're traumatized Ambi?" Nera asked.
"I… I'm… in a way I guess. I don't want to meet her again and do what she says, but she already hospitalized Ingrid, Hana, and Arc. Seriously, nobody else should get hurt for what I did. That's like if I failed my exam but the professor switched my grades with some other kid."
"Who?" Noire asked.
"IF, Tsunemi, and Cave." Uni replied while putting away a third syringe and bandaging Ambience.
"Ah. Well even if you say that we can't just let you do your thing. We have to catch her and have a real chat with her. If she knows why the goddesses are disappearing then we need to know."
"I'm telling you this right now Jack, the best course of action is to let me do my thing and let her do her thing. I am begging you to not get involved and to trust me and-"
"How am I supposed to trust you, how am I supposed to trust her?!" Noire asked. "Yeah keep doing what she wants, what's going to happen after?! She'll find someone else and-"
"She wants me to kill her!" Ambience shouted. "There won't be an "after" after that! She'll be dead and we'll move on with our lives!"
"Well what if she's lying?! What if she makes some excuse or something and you don't kill her?!"
"Well then I won't stop you from trying to kill her anymore!"
"If I disappear today then nobody will be able to kill her, no one else has the stats to, how are you going to kill her anyway?! We are not playing a gacha game, we will not be relying on luck!"
"This exact same thing happened before in Leanbox and look at what happened! Green Heart disappeared and the heroes were hospitalized!"
"Did Green Heart fight her? Tell me did she?! There wasn't a Candidate in Leanbox anyway, just sit down and let us handle it!"
"Argh, it's not going to work! And she's gonna get pissed and more people will get hurt! One chance, just give me this one chance and I'll fix the Iris Heart problem!"
"No! This is not your call to make, you're not even a hero! Let the professionals handle a professional level threat!"
Ambience threw her cloak back on and gripped onto her halberd.
"A fair warning before something dumb happens," Ambience said while walking to the door. "I will fight back if you try to stop me. I don't care what the odds are anymore, it's not important anymore, let me do what's right!"
Ambience turned to face the door. Uni took out a pistol from her purse and aimed it at the back of Ambience's head.
"Ambi, I have a gun pointed at the back of your head. Don't move." Uni threatened.
Ambience slowly turned around and looked at the gun. She looked down at it, then looked at Uni, then quickly grabbed Uni's wrist and forced it upwards pointing the gun barrel at the ceiling. Ambience twisted her own wrist to make the flat part of the halberd blade face Uni, then she thrusted her halberd up and forced Uni's gun out of her hands.
Uni then kicked off Ambience's rib chest and stepped backwards. As Noire was summoning her sword and dagger into her hands, Uni took out a taser from her purse and turned it on.
"Hey! Hey, let's not blow this out of proportion." Nera said in between Ambience and Uni with her arms facing towards them. "Lady Uni, Lady Noire, let me have a chat with Ambi here."
"Are you seriously taking her side?" Noire asked.
"Not necessarily, but we're all a bit heated up right now so if we take the time to calm down, we can make a decision that will make everyone happy."
"We don't have a lot of time."
"I know, you got a meeting with the generals, I'll bring her to ya then."
Noire looked down at her watch and sighed.
"You've got 30 minutes." Noire said.
"Ha! More than enough time! Come on Ambi, we've got some talking to do."
Nera walked towards the exit and Ambience began to follow her.
"Before you go," Uni started. "I want the halberd."
Ambience turned and looked at Uni. She looked at Nera, then sighed and handed the halberd to Uni.
"Don't take this personally Ambi." Uni said.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I'd join your side in a heartbeat under normal circumstances. When this is all over… we'll uh, I'll buy you a coffee or something." Ambience said.
Uni stared at Ambience, then turned to Noire. Ambience sighed and walked out the door as Nera held the door open for her. They walked down the hallway and towards the elevator where they pressed a button leading down and waited.
"I… you want me to open up… like, everything right?" Ambience asked.
"We'll go for a walk together, but yeah basically. Think of it like a date, I'll buy you a drink or something too."
Ambience looked at Nera who's sparklingly pure white eyes looked at Ambience as her perfectly proportionate shaped head didn't move but she looked at Ambience while facing the elevator doors with a pretty smile. Ambience relaxed a little bit and looked down at the bottom of the elevator door.
"Thank you, like I'm not saying this just to be polite. Thank you so much."
The doors opened and they both walked inside. They stood there in silence as Ambience stared at her own reflection at the elevator wall. Her hair was messier than she's ever seen before and her face was a little scratched up. Her large torn messy coat made her look bigger than she really was.
The doors opened again and they walked through the throne room and saw Kei at the front desk of the Basilicom.
"Hey Knock." Ambience said reluctantly.
"Good morning Ambience." Kei greeted. "Where are you going with Nera?"
"Taking her out for a walk." Nera explained. "Don't worry, Lady Noire knows what's up."
"Alright. Well, I'm sure you know the meeting that's happening soon. Just don't be late."
Nera gave Kei a pretty smile and left the Basilicom. Ambience followed out and saw the tall black skyscrapers she saw when in the helicopter. Nera gestured to Ambience to follow her and she did.
"Soo, this Iris Heart-"
"I shouldn't have yelled at-"
Nera and Ambience looked at each other. Nera let out a hearty laugh while Ambience sighed.
"Eh, I think it's best if ya start from the beginning." Nera said.
"Well… from the beginning huh… do you mean the beginning of my life or when all this shit said hello?"
"If something important happened at the beginning of your life then maybe it might explain something."
"Okay… uhm, well nothing much interesting happened in my childhood. Nice mom, good dad, did well in school, no bullies or anything, graduated, got hired as a Basilicom royal guard." Ambience said while looking away. "That's… my lore. All of it."
"Hahaha, you're a bad liar Ambi but keep going." Nera said.
"Well uhm… you don't mind if I skip a thing or two do you?"
"Just tell me whatever you're comfortable with."
"Okay… yeah that, I can do that. Probably."
Nera and Ambience walked into a coffee shop where they waited in line.
"This all started with a nightmare about… well, I can't confirm nor deny that it was Iris Heart, but it felt like Iris Heart. That sounds weird, I mean that I got the same sense of fear in my nightmare and when I met Iris Heart." Ambience said.
"Mhmm, you want lemonade or another coffee?" Nera asked.
"Huh? Oh uhm… yeah lemonade no sugar." Ambience said.
"Alright."
"So she did some weird dark magic I guess to terrorize Evangelist- I mean Planeptune's Oracle, then she started hurting me. Whipped me twice, once inside and once outside. Kept talking about me having to take more action against her."
"So that's the whole "training to be a hero" thing, right?" Nera asked. "Hey, two small lemonades, one without sugar."
The cashier nodded and Nera took out her wallet. The cashier shook her head and gestured to Nera to put her wallet away.
"On the house, for everything you've done for us." The cashier said with a wink.
"Hey thanks, I appreciate it." Nera said with a smile.
The two of them walked to the waiting line as Nera gave the cashier a thumbs up.
"I… I can't really prove whether she broke her promise or not, considering how I can't prove whether she was the reason for all the rain in Planeptune." Ambience said. "But… she did whip some witch lady who was friends with Megami."
"Who?" Nera asked.
"Oh uhm, the leader of the Seven Sages I think. Weird group of people, I didn't know who they were until Ingrid told me."
"Oh yeah those guys, those guys hate the goddesses or something right?" Nera asked.
"Yeah. So I dunno if she was attacked first or not. Ugh, anyways we got to Lowee and I made a dumb mistake, yelled at my party members, and went off and turned myself into… rib girl."
"Hah, I dunno, aside from how painful the process must have been that seems like a crazy good defensive ability."
"It uhm. Well it does raise my defense pretty high and does get rid of a few weak points. Also got a passive ability of a small amount of stamina regeneration so that's another bonus. But yeah, it hurt like hell."
Nera took the lemonades from another worker and smiled at them.
"Thanks pal." Nera said. "Let's go outside."
The two of them walked out of the shop and Ambience drank her lemonade.
"Ugh… yeah, another ability I got was that I can parry with my ribs to repel attacks, but if I miss my insides are much more exposed than ever. Also I have to raise my arms or pull them back if I want to use that ability." Ambience said.
"Fitting for a royal guard to be a tank." Nera said. "So aside from everything you've listed so far, has she done like, anything wrong?"
"Not really, but at the same time I don't watch her 24/7. She's the highest suspect of why all the goddesses are gone, even though I believe she's not responsible. Too bad all I have is a gut feeling because I have no proof on who else would have done it."
"Anything else?"
"Well, she scared a few scientists, fought White Heart once, tore apart the Basilicom, we still have to catch her even if she's not responsible."
"Do you want to kill her?"
"Yeah, of course I do! She- she- she hurt me really badly, like torture badly. Do you know what it's like being tortured? Helplessness, constant pain, the doubt that all of it may have been your fault?"
"It's not, it's her fault."
"Yeah I know but, I could have prevented so much if I just listened to her, or something, ugh. I don't want to prove her point, but at the same time what choice do I have? It's either kill her and prove her point, or don't kill her and watch her wreck more havoc and probably hurt me again."
Ambience sat down on a bench and sighed.
"Where did I go wrong?" Ambience asked. "All I've ever wanted was to do the right thing, but she just had to just come along and make everything so complicated. Why couldn't it be as simple as beating the bad guy?"
"Sorry Ambi, but we don't have the option of switching to the easiest difficulty. I mean, actually you could by just walking away and abandoning your responsibilities. But you wouldn't do that."
"No, no I won't do that. No screw that, you know what I am going to kill Iris Heart. Even if she has some sort of plan and is lying to me, I will track her down and I will kill her no matter what. I'm going to- I have to do what's right."
"Wasn't Lady Neptune all about sparing people and giving them second chances?" Nera asked.
"I- well, you can't- I'm not as strong as her."
A car smashed into a street lamp close by. Nera and Ambience both looked over to see a man rush out of the driver seat carrying a pistol with a large barrel and a glowing battery on it. He pulled a young boy who was tied up in the back seat out and stuck the barrel of the pistol on the side of his head. He looked around and saw Nera. His breaths became quicker and his eyes widened as police sirens blared in the background.
"Speaking of." Nera said.
Ambience placed the drink on the bench and rose to her feet, but Nera stopped her with her arm.
"I have higher defense, I should-"
"Get away- stop! Don't move from where you are!" The man shouted.
Nera gave Ambience a soft smile. She handed Ambience her drink, then sighed and raised her eyebrow at the man.
"Think about it, I'm in your shoes right now, let me do my thing." Nera whispered.
Ambience stared at Nera, then saw police cars stop by at their location. The man held the young boy tightly by the neck with his arm and backed off into an alleyway. Police officers rushed out of their cars carrying batons and taking out large shields from their trunks.
"Release the boy now!" A police officer demanded. "You are under arrest for-"
"Hey, officer." Nera said. "Let me talk to him. I got this."
"Who- Lady Nera? Please do not take this the wrong way, but you're no longer a goddess. You can not take a shot like that, technology has changed and-"
Nera stared at the police officer with a serious expression. The police officer looked at Nera, then looked at the man and sighed.
"Dear Black Heart, I hope the stories are true. Alright everyone, make some room! Lady Nera is here!"
The other police officers looked at Nera, then at each other as they backed away from the alleyway. Nera walked forward as the man held the pistol against the boy's head. His breaths sharpened again as he jolted his arm forward and pointed the gun at Nera.
"Don't! Don't come any closer! I'll kill you, I don't care who you are! Get away from me!" The man demanded.
Nera stopped, then sighed as she looked at the man, and the boy who struggled to get the gag out of his mouth.
"Hey, consider this a dumb question but you know who I am right?" Nera asked.
"Of course, who doesn't? You're Nera! Lastation's previous CPU Lady Black Heart! I don't care what you did, you're a human just like I am! Just like he is! I'll shoot you! Let me go and nobody gets hurt!"
"Do you want to kill me?"
"What kind of question is that!? Of course I don't want to kill you! But you're in my way, let me out!"
"Listen, I-"
The man fired his gun. The laser went right by Nera's head and hit a police officer's shield behind her. The officer shook the shield as smoke came off it and another police officer gestured for them to not move.
"What do you really want?" Nera asked.
"I- I'm not telling you, I'm serious I won't miss this time! Once it recharges, you're dead!"
Nera looked at the pistol, then looked at the walls around her. She looked back at the man whose arm began to shake as Nera took one more step forward.
"So it does have a recharge." Nera whispered to herself.
Nera took a step backwards again as the man looked at her with confusion, and still with shaking arms and legs.
"Hey, I won't hurt you." Nera said. "I want to help, but I can only help you if you let me."
"You want to help me?! You know how many times I heard that?! Nobody wants to help me, why would you care?! Forget it, you can help me by letting me take a car and go!"
"You're a reasonable person, you know I'm not a police officer. You can talk to me."
"You're- you're just going to throw me in jail anyway! No matter what I say, I'm going to jail! I'll kill you! I'll kill him!"
"Maybe you will, I can't make that call. But you've never killed anyone before, right? Do you want to make me your first?"
"No, but I will if you won't do as I say!"
"You have a family right? Do they know?"
"My family needs me! I can't go to jail!"
"Your family needs you to work. If you serve your sentence with honesty, you'll find a job again. But if you shoot anybody here you'll never get your old life back."
The man started to take deeper breaths. He looked down at his pistol and saw the battery glowing bright blue with a full bar on a small screen. He pointed the pistol at the boy's head and a single tear went down his eye.
"This is a trick!" The man yelled. "You're playing mind games I- I- I don't want to suffer anymore! I don't want my family to go hungry anymore! I'll do anything to see them again!"
"Let's say it all goes your way. You kill me, then drive off in a cop car and see your family. Will you be able to see them properly? Can you be happy knowing you still have a sentence to serve? If I was your wife, I would be so happy to know that you're safe, and that you haven't lost yourself. Not a world of money and food would make me happier."
The man took more deep breaths, then loosened his grip on the boy. The boy quickly ran out and hid behind Nera hugging her legs. The man reached for the boy, but then stared at Nera again and aimed his gun at her with a shaky hand.
"I- I- It's a trick! It's all a trick! The world sucks! It all sucks, I don't want to be so hungry anymore! It's not fair, you're just a pretty face! You were told to say this weren't you?! You were sent here to get me!"
"Tell me honestly, even if I was, would you still kill me? Would you kill your wife to stop her from feeling sad?"
The man trembled, then dropped his gun on the floor and fell onto his knees. He began to cry as Nera pushed the young boy lightly towards the police, then went on her knees and hugged the man. He cried onto her shoulder as he hugged Nera back.
"She- she doesn't deserve me, she deserves so much better."
"No. The fact that you didn't kill anybody here today proves she's got a great husband."
The man held Nera tighter and cried for a bit more. Ambience stared at them, then looked down at the two lemonades she carried. Eventually Nera stood up and helped the man up to his feet.
"I- my wife, will she be okay?"
"I'll send somebody to help out. And if nobody's gonna do it, I'll help ya myself, alright? I'm proud of you man."
"Thank you… thank you…"
A police officer walked over and escorted the man to a police car. Another police officer sighed as they walked over to Nera.
"Wish you were with us all the time." The officer said.
Nera nodded as the police picked up the gun and helped the boy get untied. Nera walked over to Ambience and smiled at her.
"You know that doesn't work all the time, right?" Ambience asked.
"Oh I know. But hey, it worked that time."
"It could have gone so many different ways, there are so many possibilities, he could have murdered a lot of people beforehand."
"Well he would have shot me if he was really willing to kill. He missed on purpose."
"How could you be so sure?"
"I'm not, but no risk no reward eh?"
Ambience sighed and looked down at the ground while they walked down the street.
"I envy you." Ambience said. "I wish more people were like you. If everyone could spend a day with you, the world would be so much nicer."
"Hah, maybe. But that's why I'm spending my day with you so that you'll learn from me, then you'll spend your days with others. Double the people already, basically passing it on yeah?"
Ambience looked at Nera, then looked down at the lemonades she was carrying. Nera's phone rang and she held it up to her ear.
"It's Nera." Nera said with a smile.
"Time's up." Uni's voice said through the phone. "You okay?"
"I'm actually doing great! Thanks. Alright, I'll meet ya there."
Nera hung up and placed her phone back in her pocket. She smiled at Ambience and pointed at the Basilicom.
"Let's get going, ya know what to do?" Nera asked.
"I… Well no, but I'll figure it out. Thank you."
"No problem."
Ambience offered Nera her lemonade back but Nera smiled and shook her head.
"Nah I gotta run ahead. I know we were supposed to stick together, but I think Lady Noire's gonna need me right now. You can have it, I really don't want to drop it on my way there."
Nera smiled as she ran back to the Basilicom. Ambience looked down at the two drinks, then blushed with a small smile as she threw her own drink out and sipped out of Nera's.
"I want this one." Ambience said quietly.
An hour passed and Ambience was in a large room full of wooden brown tables in a stadium like structure where a row of them were placed higher than the other in a stair-like fashion. In the center she stood behind a smaller table and behind her was Noire, Uni, and Nera.
The doors opened and people filed into the room. All sorts of different outfits were worn by different people as they took their seats in the room. As more people came in, Ambience noticed that some of the people who came in didn't look like they were even over 18. Eventually, the last person to come in was Tsunemi who had an eyepatch and a cast on her right arm, but she still gave Ambience a soft smile. Ambience stared back at her, then looked down at the stand she was on.
The doors closed and everyone was talking amongst themselves. Ambience turned around and saw Noire and Uni whispering to each other, then Noire rang a bell on the table that caused everyone to be quiet.
"Is everyone here? All seats are taken so I'll assume we're all ready." Noire said.
"You practically placed Lastation in a lock down, none of us have anything better to do." A woman pointed out.
"Well you'll find out why soon enough. Any questions before we start?"
Another woman rang her bell and everyone looked at her.
"The accused is a Planeptunian correct? It wouldn't be fair for us to make a judgement without her knowing how Lastation's court system works." She suggested.
"Right… well let's make it quick." Noire said. "So Ambience, these are Lastation's generals. They are the judges that run the law but during serious matters like these, we all come together to make an agreement. I state what I know, you say what you want, and they make a judgement. Normally we'd have you call a lawyer but Lowee is in a state of panic and this isn't a criminal case, it's a potential crisis. If there are no more questions, we should start."
"Can I ask a question?" Ambience asked.
"Fine."
"Why is Hana- I mean Tsunemi here? She's not forced despite her injuries is she?"
"We sped up her healing to determine what's true. She was with you for most of the journey wasn't she?" Uni asked.
"Yeah. Okay yeah that makes sense."
"Finally. Kei, show the clips." Noire said.
The wall flipped behind Noire and Uni and a large screen showed video footage of Ambience and Iris Heart speaking in the Planeptune Basilicom, then Iris Heart closing the door shut. Afterwards the screen showed Ambience and Iris Heart talking to each other while walking down the lab hallways in Lowee. Everyone in the room watched the clip as it cut when Iris Heart pulled the lever closing the doors on Ambience. Then another clip played of Ambience first being chased by Tsunemi, 5pb., and Famitsu, then her talking to IF, Green Heart, and Cave.
Finally a picture of Ambience without her cloak was present on the screen showing her ribs going down her torso and her stats before the transformation and afterwards. Some of the generals looked at each other and stared at the picture while others wrote down notes on a piece of paper.
"So, what do you all think?" Noire asked.
"What do I think? I think her sentence is death, we should send a team to execute Iris Heart!" A woman announced.
"I'll find her and beat her myself!" Another woman announced. "We'll see how she likes it!"
"Don't even bother, I saw her tear her own mouth open once!" Ambience shouted.
"When? Tsunemi?" A girl asked.
"I didn't see that…" Tsunemi said. "Did she do it… off camera?"
"Yeah, I saw her do it outside of LAN Castle, it was… disgusting."
"Doesn't matter, she needs to die. We won't tolerate-"
"Hold on, what about Ambience?!" Noire asked after ringing her bell. "She insists that she goes on to deal with Iris Heart alone and listen to her demands, as seen in the video. But we can't just do that can we? We have to deal with this properly and professionally with me and a team of experts."
"A situation like this never came up before." A woman replied. "If it's true that she won't damage anything else as long as Ambience does what she wants, perhaps that would be best to minimize damage. Also, we've never had a rogue goddess before. Not during our lifetime at least."
"Excuse me, but that's not true!" A girl exclaimed. "This situation is actually very common in highschools, we call them yanderes. And we don't expect the victims to be forced to love them, right?"
"Well… the difference is that I'm going to kill her, she wants me to." Ambience said. "It's not going to be a lifelong commitment or anything like that."
"That's where you're wrong." A woman said. "It's already a lifelong commitment, you turned into a half monster half woman being. And killing someone, no matter how justified it might be, is still a lifelong burden no one outside of the law should be forced to make. You're a guard, now Planeptune's captain. You are bound by their laws which have specifically stated that no citizens should ever kill another human being."
"Yeah and I… I've already broken that rule…"
"Besides, the basic premise is still the same." The girl said. "Send one person to suffer against a psycho or send a group of people to deal with it. Despite what you may or may not have done the solution is obvious."
"Leanbox did the same thing, it didn't work out." Ambience argued.
"Someone separated Green Heart from the others, didn't she Tsunemi?" A woman asked.
Tsunemi nodded.
"We will be aware, protecting Black Heart will be our top priority."
"At least let me go with you, let me fight her alone and then you all can fight afterwards if it doesn't work. Can we do that?" Ambience asked.
The generals, Noire, Uni, and Nera looked at Ambience, then looked at each other.
"That's not a terrible idea." Uni said. "It'll be like catching an animal, we'll use bait and I'll tranq her."
"Wait a minute, doesn't she talk to you in your head? Can't she hear what you say or something?" Noire asked.
"I… uhm…"
Ambience stared at Noire, then groaned and pressed her palm on her forehead.
"Shit. Okay then we won't do that, but at least still let me fight her. Alone, please."
"What makes you think you can kill her?" A woman asked. "Your physical attack and defense has increased, but it's still nothing compared to a goddess's."
"Histoire sent her stats, she's has an anti-magic build. It's a bit strange, but she counters projectile users. Ambi stands a chance." Uni said.
"Who's side are you on?" Noire whispered.
"Nobody's. I'm following orders." Uni replied.
A bell rang from the speakers in the corners of the room and everybody looked up.
"*Ahem* I figured it would be important to tell you all that another case came up. We need at least one of you to attend it." Kei's voice said from the speakers.
Ambience sighed and looked at Tsunemi. Ambience squinted her eyes and saw that Tsunemi was shaking a little. Her eyes were wide and a bit of sweat dropped down to her chin, but she kept her monotone smile.
"She's gonna volunteer." Iris Heart's voice said.
Ambience's heart skipped a beat as she quickly looked around the room, but couldn't see Iris Heart. She looked back at Tsunemi and saw her standing up while ringing her bell.
"I will go… attend the other case…" Tsunemi said.
"Are you sure?" A woman asked. "Don't overwork yourself, we have enough people doing that in Lastation already."
"I want to… please…" Tsunemi said.
Some generals looked at each other, then back at Tsunemi.
"We might still need you to-"
"Let her go!" Noire announced. "I've already made a judgement for Ambience."
The generals looked at Noire, then nodded as Tsunemi bowed and left the room.
"She's… going to go find you isn't she?" Ambience asked quietly.
"Hmhmhm, you know her well don't you? She knows how people are feeling, just from my voice alone she could tell my absolute joy."
"You're going to kill her, aren't you?" Ambience asked. "Why? What did I do? I'm doing exactly what you ask."
"You're taking too long Ambi. Hmm, should you follow her? Or do you trust that she can do things alone?"
"Don't touch her, this is between you and me only. Tell me where you are, and I'll do everything you want."
"Perfect. The door to your right, run down the hallway and run through the Basilicom. Pick up a weapon on your way here, I'll be waiting."
"Right now? Where's here?"
Ambience waited for a moment, then couldn't hear anything. She looked behind her and looked up at Noire and Uni staring at her with confused looks. Ambience looked down at the wooden table she stood behind, then took a deep breath.
Ambience ran to her right and shoulder bashed the door open, breaking the lock causing small pieces of metal to drop to the ground.
"Ambi!" Noire exclaimed.
Noire transformed, but her white hair was tied into twin tails and her black suit was replaced with a grey one. Uni dropped down to the floor below and saw Black Heart fly towards the door. They ran into the hallway Ambience ran into and saw Nera closing the door.
"What are you doing?!" Black Heart asked. "We can not just let her run off, we can not trust Iris Heart."
"I don't trust Iris Heart either, but I trust Ambi." Nera said. "Come on, let the girl breath. Freedom's important right? If Iris Heart was deceiving us, what could she possibly gain out of Ambi? And if she was using her to get us to not hunt her, she would have already done what she wanted by now. I say we let this one play out on it's own."
"And I say we put her behind bars! Which one of us is Black Heart here, you or me?"
"Hey, the rules are made by you and the generals collectively. Get their permission and I won't be stopping anyone."
Black Heart glared at Nera, then looked back at Uni.
"Use the other exit Uni." Black Heart whispered.
Uni nodded, then ran out the door. Black Heart unsummoned her mechanical saber and dagger and summoned a simple metal straight sword in her right hand and a small dagger in her left.
"You're promoting independence, but you're standing by and watching Ambience get tortured by Iris Heart. Who's side are you on?!"
"I'm not promoting bullying, but killing her isn't gonna be very epic."
"I wasn't going to kill her, I was going to jail her, did you lose your hearing already?"
"Haha! Not yet, but seriously you would have killed her. I know you well enough, it would have ended in a fight, or she would have ran away."
"Oh, so what do you want me to do? Talk her out of it? Cause that worked soooo well in the past for me, wake up from your dream world!"
"Maybe you should leave stuff like this to Lady Neptune then. She's better at talking, just be her sword. Isn't that one of your combo attacks with her?"
"I am not just a sword to be used by that idiot! I am CPU Black Heart! Now enough talk, if you win this fight I'll let you go, even for treason against a goddess. But if I win, you'll follow my orders and my orders only from now on!"
"You're brave enough to fight me but not brave enough to use your words when it matters the most? I was right, you do work well with Lady Neptune…"
Nera summoned a share crystal and two boxing gloves and slid them on her fists. She crushed the share crystal on her head, then tied her gloves up using her free hand and teeth and stood in a defensive stance as Black Heart stepped forward. Black Heart then leaped forward at Nera who quickly dropped her head to the floor and spun her legs around like a top.
Black Heart stopped in front of Nera and she pushed herself up back to her feet with her gloves. Black Heart poked her dagger at Nera who dodged backwards, then Black Heart stabbed at Nera with her straight sword.
Nera dropped backwards onto her back and rolled to the side avoiding Black Heart's kick. She jumped back to her feet and kicked Black Heart's hand that was coming towards her in a slashing motion with the straight sword.
Black Heart dashed to Nera's right while poking at her with her dagger to which Nera punched upwards with her glove knocking the dagger out of her hand. Black Heart thrusted her straight sword at Nera, to which Nera dashed diagonally dodging the sword and appearing in front of Black Heart.
Black Heart swung her sword at Nera and Nera jabbed Black Heart in the arm while ducking under the swing. Black Heart's invisible barrier shined as she grinded her teeth and kicked at Nera.
Nera matched the kick with a punch and dashed by it punching Black Heart in the face. Black Heart dashed backwards and Nera dashed forward punching Black Heart again. Black Heart swung her sword horizontally and Nera ducked under it. Nera threw her fist upwards in an uppercut motion but Black Heart dodged to the side while picking up her dagger, Black Heart threw a punch at Nera while still holding her straight sword and Nera kicked it while backflipping away.
Black Heart gripped onto her weapons tightly as she took a few deep breaths. Nera aimlessly jabbed at Black Heart while in a defensive stance as Black Heart stared with her sword in front of her, but pointing at the ground.
Nera jabbed forward while taking a small quick step forward and moved her arm slightly to the left. Black Heart slashed her sword upwards cutting the glove and Nera quickly shook it off her hand as she dashed forward towards Black Heart.
Black Heart slashed her dagger at Nera as she was closing in, but Nera leaned backwards, then grabbed Black Heart's wrist and sweeped her legs with one of her's. Black Heart levitated back to her feet and raised her straight sword up above her head. Nera dashed to the side, but Black Heart's eyes tracked her movement and she brought her sword down on Nera.
Nera quickly punched the sword away from her and she shoulder bashed Black Heart into the wall behind her. Black Heart stabbed her dagger into Nera, then tried to stab Nera with her straight sword, but Nera hooked her boxing glove onto the side of Black Heart's head, shattering the invisible barrier.
Black Heart tried to stab Nera with her straight sword again, but Nera stepped backwards a little bit and weaved her body to avoid the sword, and gripped onto Black Heart's wrist. Black Heart tried to punch Nera, but Nera swung her boxing glove arm and deflected Black Heart's fist, then stabbed the straight sword into the wall behind Black Heart.
Black Heart released her grip on the sword and pressed forward to push Nera away, but Nera shoved back pressing Black Heart against the wall again and Nera punched Black Heart in the torso repeatedly with her boxing glove only. Nera's other arm was pressed against Black Heart's neck as she was doing so.
Black Heart grunted as she felt air being forced out of her body, then Nera punched Black Heart in the face knocking her head into the wall. Nera took a deep breath as Black Heart raised her hands weakly, then drop to her knees on the floor. Nera tore off her boxing glove and saw her health bar on her watch.
"Phew, good game." Nera said with a smile. "One more hit would have gotten me down to zero for sure."
Nera tapped on her watch and summoned a can of Nep bull. She drank it, then kneeled down and offered Black Heart a can who smacked it away, then transformed back and gripped onto her face.
"AAUUGGGGHHHH! COME OOOOOONNNNNNNNNN!" Noire yelled. "HOW DID I LOSE?!"
"Come on, we can still make it. Hey, we can train together later and-"
"NO! HOW!? What are you doing?! Are you actually cheating?! What secret are you hiding?! How are you so strong?! You're not a goddess anymore, how can you still compete with me?!"
"Hey, look, come on, it could have gone either way. Today was just my day, and I had the field advantage. Besides, goddesses are made to kill monsters, not people."
"Maybe other goddesses but not me! I spent years perfecting my build to be perfect against other humanoids but you just come along all "Oh LoOk At Me I'm MiSs PeRfEcT! I cAn Do AnYtHiNg JuSt By ThInKiNg AbOuT iT! WhO cArEs HoW mUcH tImE aNd EfFoRt OtHeR iDiOtS sPeNt On GeTtInG sTrOnGeR, I'm StIlL bEtTeR tHaN tHeM! oH gIt GuD, iT's JuSt ThAt EaSy! JuSt SpEnD mOrE tImE aNd TrY hArDeR lMaO!" Even though I've been doing exactly that for the last 5 GOD DAMN YEARS!"
"Pffftt HAhahaha! Oh, sorry for laughing Lady Noire but you're really funny sometimes. Listen, I'm sorry, really, but I'm going to be completely honest I got really lucky there. In an open field you probably would have won. Now let's go, I don't want you to kill her of course but your presence would definitely help."
Noire unsummoned her weapons and turned around making it so her back was facing Nera. She placed her hand over her eyes and her other hand clenched into a fist tightly.
"You just go, I need time for myself. And don't say anything I don't want to hear it!" Noire yelled.
Nera opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. She smiled sadly at Noire, then turned around and walked out the exit. As she walked down Lastation's streets, she took out her phone and tapped on a profile with a default purple person as the profile picture.
"Hey, Kei, you saw all that right?" Nera asked.
"I saw everything. Thanks for that, she wouldn't stop bragging and singing when she beat Neptune for the first time." Kei replied.
"Hahahaha, really? Well keep an eye on her anyway yeah? Gotta go."
"Good luck."
Nera turned off her phone and ran down the street. As she did, Noire slowly opened the door and walked out with her head down. She grumbled as she held her arms close to her body and walked towards the Basilicom.
"Staggered by shoulder bash… sacrifice defense for stronger armor frames… dagger does only 87%... about 8000 something damage… increase speed, what am I thinking just INCREASE SPEED!"
Noire held her head and leaned against the wall as she slammed the underside of her arm against it.
"Damn it! I should have just summoned a slightly stronger dagger, I would have one shotted her. Stupid adaptability, why does she get such an OP skill?! UGH."
Noire made her way into the Basilicom and into the elevator. She tapped on the floor with her room and waited until the doors opened again. She went out and saw Kei standing in the hallway writing down notes on sheets of paper.
"Good afternoon Lady Noire." Kei greeted.
"I don't want to hear it Kei." Noire said.
"I've listened to your last recording. You're getting better, the lyrics are a bit too much but you're sounding better by the day."
Noire stared at Kei, then sighed as she looked down at her hands.
"I… just let me have a temper tantrum in peace okay?"
"I'll stay right here. I would normally leave you alone, but precautions have to be made due to the goddesses disappearing."
Noire sighed and nodded slightly, then went into her room and dropped herself onto her bed. She remained in that same position for a while only moving her arms around for comfort. Eventually she groaned and flipped, then stared at the ceiling and sighed.
"What am I even doing here? Ambience is in danger. I should go help her and-"
Noire's phone began to ring. She picked it up and saw Histoire's face as the profile picture.
"Noire, I have good news." Histoire said. "We found Neptune and Nepgear."
"Really?! I'm coming right now, expect me in-"
"However, we could only get Neptune out of the portal as it was interrupted by an unknown enemy. Not only that, but Neptune was hit directly with a very powerful fireball. She has been revived and is feeling well now, but she's not ready to fight just yet."
"Tch, figures. Of course Neptune wouldn't level herself up even in an alternate dimension."
"That is another odd factor. Neptune is now at level 1. All of her stats are back down to when she first became the goddess. Not only that, but she refuses to kill any monsters and is in fact, actively trying to stop the action of dungeon grinding."
"What?! Did Neptune hit her head on the way back?! Ugh, lemme talk some sense into her."
"Noire, how is the Iris Heart situation?"
"Right… fine, send her over here. We'll take care of Iris Heart together, although I don't know how useful she'll be at level 1."
"When she's ready, she'll be there to help. Until then, stall if you can. I know you and Uni are very powerful, but please do not underestimate her. Expect Neptune to be there soon."
"Got it."
Noire turned off her phone and looked at the time. She got up and was about to leave, but a computer monitor attached to her wall shined, and Anonydeath's face appeared on it.
"Heeeellloooo!" Anonydeath greeted. "My, Noire, you dug up your old outfit! What a surprise, I didn't expect you to be the one to crave for nostalgia."
"Well it's all ruined now, get lost!" Noire yelled.
"Oh but sweetie, I just came! Is that any way for Gamindustri's mind to treat her guest?"
"You're not my guest until I've invited you in and you're not even at the bottom of the list!"
"So mean! I don't understand how you could be so rude to someone who loves you so much. Oh, on an unrelated note, I disabled the Basilicom's teleportation system."
"What? Why?!"
"Hmm, no reason. Why? Are you expecting a guest?"
Noire glared at Anonydeath and sighed as she grumbled to herself quietly.
"What do you want?" Noire asked.
"Aside from you dear? Just a talk. How do you feel about… alternate dimensions?"
"They're dumb and I don't care, I don't have time for this I have to go now!"
"There's always time to chat though! Isn't talking considered free action? I'm sure everyone will understand."
Noire groaned, then looked at a small grey device on her desk with an orange swirl on it. She picked it up and raised her eyebrow at Anonydeath.
"What's this?" Noire asked.
"Oh that it uhm… it's… Ah! It's a portal machine! It teleports you to another dimension! A bad one though, I would not recommend pressing that button. Like ever."
Noire stared at Anonydeath who stared right back.
"Listen, Noire, I know we've had our differences and arguments in the past but please, just think about it before pressing that button-"
"This is a remote to something, isn't it?" Noire asked.
"Uh… no. I told you, it's a dimension travelling device. Why- how could you think I would be so stupid as to leave such a valuable remote control just lying in your room? Haha! Haha. Ha… On a side note while you leave, could you just place that on your desk over there? Untouched too, it would mean so much to me."
"Will you leave me alone if I don't touch it?"
"Well I wouldn't go that far- I mean yes! Of course darling, why would I not? Sounds like a fair deal, and you know me I would never ever lie to you."
Noire narrowed her eyes at Anonydeath who continued to stare at the device. Noire raised it towards Anonydeath and hovered her finger over the button.
"Wait! No, just- just think about it Noire! I uhm- it- it'll be really bad for you if you press that button. I'll- I'll be coming over right now to pick it up! I- we can negotiate when we meet in person! Uni found one of those just now, oh my it took so long to fix all of my- I mean… she was sucked into a portal and she disappeared. That was uh… tragic."
Noire squinted her eyes more.
"Why would I ever want to meet you in person again? Whatever, give me one good reason why I shouldn't press this button."
"Uhm…"
Anonydeath stared at Noire, then Noire saw Anonydeath's mechanical arms slowly raise up into a shrugging motion.
"I love you?" Anonydeath asked.
Noire pressed the button aimed at Anonydeath, then a portal formed in front of her and sucked her into it. She screamed as pillows, a blanket, and a stool was sucked into the portal too, then the portal closed and Anonydeath stared into the empty room.
"And when the gods lose their way and faith in them is lost, the towers of gold will guide you across." Anonydeath whispered.
Meanwhile Ambience smashed the doors to a warehouse and broke them down with a black poleaxe. She looked around at the large empty building. Lights hung on the ceiling which was about two stories above the ground. She looked forward and saw Iris Heart standing with her right heel over Tsunemi's torso.
"Alright I'm here!" Ambience yelled. "Hey! Bitch!"
"Welcome Ambi, I have a question for you." Iris Heart said.
"What a surprise I do as well. Why the hell is your heel still remotely close to Tsunemi?"
"Ambi… do not fight her… do not kill her…" Tsunemi said.
"Ambi, I know you like the back of my hand… no, more like… my entire left hand." Iris Heart said with a smile. "I know your secrets, because you're the only one that believes in me. But with so little shares, how am I so powerful? Aren't I not a goddess, how am I drawing power from shares?"
"You're probably drawing power from steal energy. Come on, we can help you. Just let her go."
"You have everything you need now Ambi. You're physically strong enough, you have your morals back, you've almost become the hero I want. All you need now is a little… motivation."
Ambience saw Iris Heart dig her heel into Tsunemi. Ambience ran towards her with her axe raised up.
"I am motivated, what do you mean?!" Ambience asked.
"Ambi… help…" Tsunemi called out.
Iris Heart raised her heel a little, then stabbed it through Tsunemi. Ambience flinched and her eyes widened, then she quickly gripped the poleaxe and ran up to Iris Heart, then swung it horizontally forcing her to backstep.
"I got you Tsunemi!" Ambience yelled.
Ambience summoned a yellow crystal from her watch, but Iris Heart whipped her forcing Ambience to back off a little. Ambience held the crystal in one hand and thrusted her halberd at Iris Heart. Iris Heart dodged it to Ambience's right, then Ambience dashed forward and bashed Iris Heart with her shoulder. Ambience raised her poleaxe up and dropped it down on Iris Heart, but she deflected with her sword and thrusted it at Ambience's torso.
Her ribs tore out from inside her cloak and deflected the sword away. Iris Heart went to punch Ambience, but she swung her halberd downward and deflected Iris Heart's fist as her invisible barrier flashed from the impact.
Iris Heart smiled as Ambience tossed the crystal behind her to Tsunemi, but Iris Heart whipped at it. Ambience instinctively moved to the right to dodge, but then heard the crystal shattering.
"We made a promise, what happened to that?!" Ambience asked.
"You haven't been keeping your promise either. But I'm kind of glad, you wouldn't be this strong normally."
Ambience quickly looked behind her and saw Tsunemi's body with a shattered crystal on top of it. She breathed heavily, then charged at Iris Heart and held her poleaxe with both hands before thrusting the butt of the weapon at Iris Heart. Iris Heart dodged backwards which Ambience responded by running forward and smashing the poleaxe down. Iris Heart dodged to the left of it slashing at Ambience at the same time.
Ambience dodged the slash, then swung her poleaxe horizontally forcing Iris Heart to step backwards. Ambience looked at Tsunemi again and her arms started to twitch.
"Let her live! Please, let me revive her!" Ambience begged.
"FIGHT FOR IT!" Iris Heart yelled with a smile. "ARE YOU GOING TO BEG TO THE DEITY OF SIN TO SPARE YOUR LIVES?! WIN OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!"
A tear went down Ambience's eye as she grunted and thrusted her poleaxe at Iris Heart. Iris Heart dodged backwards, then Ambience quickly ran back and summoned another crystal. She turned her back on Iris Heart anticipating a whip on her back, but the chain sword wrapped itself around Tsunemi's ankle.
"NO! GIVE HER BACK!" Ambience yelled.
Iris Heart smiled as she grabbed Tsunemi's neck and tossed the body aside. Ambience's breath grew heavier as a few more tears came from her eyes. Her head twitched as she looked at Tsunemi's body, then grinded her teeth at Iris Heart.
"AAAAUUUUGGGHH! IRIS HEART!" Ambience screamed. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU! I DON'T CARE ABOUT NEPTUNE'S JUDGEMENT ANYMORE! BLEED FOR YOUR CREATION!"
Ambience ran at Iris Heart and stopped as Iris Heart hovered towards her with her sword. Ambience then smashed downwards before Iris Heart got close, but she dodged to the right. Ambience then swung her halberd up diagonally and watched Iris Heart step backwards. The momentum caused the poleaxe's handle to land on Ambience's shoulder.
She regripped her halberd and thrusted the edge at Iris Heart. Iris Heart deflected with her sword but Ambience used that momentum and spun around swinging the hammer side at Iris Heart. Iris Heart blocked it with her sword and was forced to the side from the impact as Ambience dashed towards Iris Heart. She dropped her poleaxe and swung her fist at Iris Heart. Iris Heart's head was forced to the side from the punch and Ambience swung with her left arm, but Iris Heart ducked with her sword up and sliced Ambi's arm off from the elbow.
"GAH! Arrrgggghh! I don't care! I don't care!"
Ambi attempted to grab Iris Heart, but saw Iris Heart dash away. She pounded her exposed ribbed chest with her right arm as more tears came from her eyes. Ambi picked her poleaxe up but saw Iris Heart smile at her as she walked out a different door. Ambi gripped the poleaxe tightly and rushed towards the door.
"Ambience!" A woman's voice called out.
Ambi jolted, then quickly looked back at Tsunemi's corpse. Ambi resummoned her crystal and kneeled down to Tsunemi to place the crystal gently on her chest.
"I've got you! Come on, I've got you!" Ambi said.
Tsunemi's corpse didn't move as a few generals rushed over to her.
"She ran out that door! Don't let her get away!" A woman yelled.
"Tsunemi!" A girl called out.
Ambi shook Tsunemi's corpse as the crystal rocked along with the shake. Ambi gripped the crystal and pressed it onto Tsunemi again.
"Why isn't it working?! It's a dud, get me another one!"
Nera walked over and looked down at them. She handed Ambi another crystal just as a woman pushed Nera's shoulder to make them face each other.
"This is all your fault! The goddess would have gotten here much quicker, Tsunemi wouldn't have-"
"It's not Nera's fault you insightless moon slug!" Ambi yelled. "Iris Heart had her heel on her already she would have died anyway now hurry up and help me revive her!"
The woman glared at Ambi, then looked at Nera. Nera sighed and kneeled down next to Ambi.
"Let's take her to the hospital. They have better items. If we hurry, she might make it."
Ambi took a few deep breaths before gripping onto her left upper arm and raising both of them up to her head. She leaned back and her ribbed torso opened up letting her scream come from both of her mouths.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGH!"