Chapter 5: Love Is Justice
~Celestian Underground Systems~
Noire felt the rush of the wind envelop her body as darkness encased her vision. It was very unlike her to merely rush into danger without a solid plan in mind, but when Uni was taken, she felt her body move against her will.
"If I remember correctly, when Lastation HQ is propped above ground the distance between the lowest level and the surface of the underground is fifty-seven kilometers. I weigh forty-three kilograms, and I've been falling for forty seconds past the lowest level… the gravitational pull of Gamindustri is eight-point-nine meters a second… if I calculate this correctly…" Noire ran the numbers through her head, she'd have to do this right or she'd end up as paste beneath Lastation HQ.
After a few more seconds, Noire's eyes widened. "NOW!" She screamed, activating Linda's teleportation device which displaced her a few meters above the ground, resetting her velocity as she dropped to the ground with ease. "Uni! Gotta find Uni!" She screamed internally, searching frantically through the darkness, barely catching a glimpse of the machines as they flew away with her younger sister.
Noire did everything in her power to chase after the machines, even jury rigging her revolvers to fire .80 caliber rounds, utilizing the recoil to launch her forward. But as her ammo started to dissipate and her wrist start to melt, she found herself losing track of the machine's flashing lights.
A horrible silence surrounded Noire, who fell to her knees in the dark caves. She failed to protect her sister once more and now she was alone due to her reckless and mindless actions. But she refused to let herself be consumed with despair. "This just might work…" She thought.
Cracking open her left-over ammunition, she scattered the gunpower into the air. With her blade, she planted it into the ground and spun in a full circle, dragging the titanium blade into the air, and creating a whirlwind that scattered the sulfur into the air. In the northeast she saw bits of her gunpower detonate from the heat left behind the machine's thrusters. "There!" she screamed in relief.
"Uni… I know I've been a terrible sister… leaving you behind when you needed me the most. But this time is different I swear!" The raven knight dashed through, following the trails of fire left behind.
~Omega Share Crystal~
Artisan turned her head back, Neptune with her sword unsheathed just entered the corner of her eye. "I'm marveled by your persistence, truly. I can see how you lasted in the military for as long as you did… *hack*" Artisan's cough was deathly and loud, heeling forward as her breathing went awry. "I was always suspicious of those blood test… so I made this school to truly test if those girls were Goddesses. Vert's nobility… Noire's persistence… when I saw your duel with the leader of Leanbox, I knew for certain. You are the daughter of CPU Orange Heart, Uzume Tennouboshi."
"And what about it!?" Neptune screamed. "At the end of the day we're all just fuel for you, aren't we? C'mon, cut the monologue and let's finish this already!" Artisan was still focused on the share crystal, nudging her head at one of her machines to attack Neptune.
The machine on Artisan's left was akin to a grey and red snake with the head of a dragon, its two arms attached by magnets. The machine dropped Uni near the share crystal, and in its empty hands it brought out a mace in one arm and an axe in the other. As it struck its weapon in the ground to intimidate Neptune, she caught a glimpse the machine's name: 'Killachine 07'.
The other machine to Artisan's right was humanoid in shape, one large red wing behind it that formed a half circle that edged and protruded outward. The machine let down Vert, placing her next to Uni. Both its arms formed large green blades that glowed fluorescently against the brown surface of the cave. As it charged toward Neptune one part on its wing was branded with the name 'Epsilon'.
Both machines struck down at Neptune, the Killachine with its axe and Epsilon its blade. Sparks of red, blue, and green flew all around the three combatants as their blades clashed and smashed against each other.
"Hoo boy this really is pushing me…" Neptune whispered to herself. A horrible feeling crept down the back of her neck, the lingering feeling that she just might be able to win this, but she continued to fight on despite her fear, because there was justice that needed to be settled, and that was all the motivation she needed.
~Lastation HQ~
"Did… Did she just jump down there without a parachute!? Without anything!?" Nepgear screamed.
"S-she's done crazy things before but… oh my god!" Kei Jinguji screamed. "I don't even… I'm just…"
"We need to go down with her…" Plutia said calmly, entering the room with a tablet under her arm. "Noire's a smart girl, she probably found a way to land safely. We need to catch up to her."
"Plutia! What happened at Leanbox?" Nepgear said worriedly.
"They took Vert… there were too many of them I just couldn't keep up with them… Luckily, Cave managed to get the coordinates, they're right here" Plutia faced her tablet upward, with a 3D overlay of Celestia's underground system. A red cross was located directly underground underneath where the principal's tower was on the surface.
"Underneath the main auditorium this whole time…" Nepgear grabbed the tablet from Plutia's hand, her arms slightly shivering in both anxiety fear, but oddly enough, she felt a sense of duty pushing her forward, to seek after her sister. "Right… well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Plutia looked back at the armory, a devious smile ran across her face as she saw the myriad of guns and explosives, and then looked down at her large bag. With haste, she quickly dug out everything that was inside scattering a plethora of plushies, furniture, and other confiscated items she took from students at A0. "Don't mind me Kei… I'm just doing my job as Celestia staff and… confiscating some illegal contraband. I'm sure you understand~" Plutia said cheerfully as she pulled a minigun off the wall.
Nepgear and Kei stood still with shock, nodding in agreement without even a thought of a rebuttal.
"Nepgear, Kei, you two go down… I'm going to need some time… making sure these harmful weapons are 'properly disposed of' m'kay?"
Kei Jinguji led Nepgear down to Lastation's lowest level, in the far northeast corner of the building they saw the entry hole left behind by the machines that took Uni.
At the center of the lowest level was an elevator that went directly down, the mechanics that held it up were portioned to the top of the ceiling, a terminal was placed outside the guard rails that traced its perimeter. Kei Jinguji approached the terminal and inserted a black and blue keycard with a golden Lastation symbol on the top left of it, causing the elevator's engine to roar, the sound made Nepgear recoil in shock.
"Sorry, we haven't used this damn thing in a while, when the building is propped underground, we usually just use the mobile transports to explore our part of Celestia's underground."
Nepgear held onto the railing, fearing for her own life. "So why can't we just prop the building downward!?" Nepgear was shaken around as the elevator violently rumbled.
"Looks like the machines damaged the vertical transformation matrix. Sorry but this is the only way you guys are going downward. All the transports are above surface" The elevators roaring dissipated, the lights that surrounded it lit up one by one, each spark of light accompanied by a ripping of electricity screeching, reverberated by the marble walls of Lastation's lower level.
"It'll work." Plutia asserted, as a loud stomping echoed through the halls, Nepgear and Kei turned around to see her usual attire masked beneath layers of titanium-infused Kevlar equipment padded over her torso, knees, elbows, and legs. Over her back was a large hulking bag with magazines and guns almost breaking through the silicon fiber.
"Hey uh… you mind giving me one of those, Plutie?" Nepgear asked cautiously.
"Sorry… as a dorm master it'd be irresponsible of me to simply give weapons to students." Plutia teased as she as she turned around to face Kei, an M4A1 with an M203 mounted grenade launcher fell out onto floor next to Nepgear. Plutia looked back, winking at the confused girl. "Kei, we're ready."
Kei, with both of her arms, used all her might to pull the large lever next to the elevator terminal, a terrible scraping or gears and cogs echoed through the room as Kei just barely managed to pull it down, leaving her exhausted and short of breath.
The elevator slowly descended, Plutia let down her bag and pulled out a bolt action .95 caliber anti-tank rifle. She pulled back the slide and a large bullet bigger than her own hand flew out of the chamber and smashed against the floor. The impact of the bronze round hitting the steel floor echoed through the empty abyss below. Plutia picked the round up, Nepgear could see its immense weight as Plutia slightly struggled to load it into the rifle.
Nepgear looked back at her own measly 5.56 NATO rifle and back at Plutia's, a faint hint of jealousy changing her demeanor.
"The path to the principal's tower is toward the northeast, we don't know how many machines are down here, and since we'll be entering private territory it's likely they'll be authorized to use lethal force unlike when they captured Uni and Vert. If you get injured or feel in danger you run back, understood?" Plutia stared straight into Nepgear's eyes, her motherly and soft demeanor disappeared for a brief moment as an air of intensity took over Nepgear's mind.
Nepgear silently nodded and pulled the slide on her rifle, the pull of the piston and the push of the round echoed through the large empty cave "Got it."
~Celestia Underground Systems~
Noire searched through the depths of her pockets, only a few of her rounds were left and the trails of heat left behind by the machine's were starting to grow fainter and fainter.
It took her a second to realize, but she noticed that her footsteps were not making any noise. She simply believed the rush of adrenaline and stress were playing tricks on her mind, but when she tried to clear her throat there still was no noise, a horrible silence was consuming her senses. She started to panic, but her screams were null.
~A seemingly endless void~
Noire's vision was consumed in a sea of white. She felt numb and heavy, barely able to move her body. Impatience and fear clouded the mind of the raven knight, she didn't have time for whatever nonsense was trying to trap her but no matter how hard she tried to move her body she simply didn't have the strength to push on further.
In the distance, a pair of red eyes emerged from a masquerade of fog. Uni stepped out on her two legs, walking seductively toward her older sister. Noire shook her head in confusion, she tried to yell for her younger sister but felt her throat open for nothing except air.
The spitting image of her younger sister wrapped her arms around her neck, caressing her back as she stuck her head into her nape. As much as Noire wanted to stand still and simply let her sister embrace her more, she knew that this all was nothing more than an illusion playing tricks on her mind.
The image of Uni reached her head up, leaning up with her hand held behind Noire's head. As she leaned up to try and kiss her on the lips, but the image halted, its eyes widened in pain and it looked down to see Noire's revolver emitting smoke, and a hole burning through its chest.
The image of Uni burned to a crisp and Noire faded back into reality.
~Celestian Underground Systems~
Noire fell to her knees, her mind scattered. She took a deep breath, a wave of relief rushed over her body when she finally was able to hear sound again.
"It's one thing to mess with my mind… it's another to use my sister against me. Whoever you are. You've just made the worst mistake of your life!" Noire reach into her pocket, hoping that the heat trails left behind by the machines would still be enough to ignite the gunpowder from her lose rounds. But just as she pulled a round out, she just heard the faint sounds of clashing blades in the distance, the loud roaring of machine thrusters was unmistakably the same as the ones that took Uni, with a steady pace she brisked through the caves as the battle grew louder.
~The void, once more~
Vert opened her eyes, an odd sense of familiarity surrounded her. Her body felt different, it felt slightly younger. She looked down to see a flat chest, she touched her head and realized that her hair was much shorter. She tried to speak but felt only air leave her voice. She looked forward, and saw herself, her real self.
The mirror image of her started to laugh, she stepped up to Vert and grabbed her by the neck. The mirage's knuckle pressed against Vert's Adams apple. The blonde vixen was enraptured with rage but no matter how many time's she tried to fight against the image of herself it only grew stronger.
Vert was slammed to the ground by the mirror image, who then traced her finger around Vert's jawline. The mirror image laughed as she closed in on Vert, bringing her mouth close to Vert's ear. "You'll never be me" The mirror teased. Vert wanted to scream in rage, but no matter how many times she tried to fight back, the mirror overpowered her.
"No matter how much you try to hide your past body, it'll always be there. You'll always be the perverted and depraved mess of a person, and nobody will accept you when they find out the truth!" the mirror taunted.
Vert, closed her eyes, focusing her mind and body. Relying on rage wouldn't get her anywhere, and it wouldn't get her out of this obvious hallucination. With her mind cleared, and her emotions set aside, she reopened her eyes and headbutted the mirror image, who fell back to her knees. Vert looked down at her body to see that it had returned to what she knew so well.
The mirror image changed back, to its past self, his past self. Vert stood pridefully as the mirror image crawled back in fear. "This is who I am, and I won't let you take that from me. No one will take this from me!" Vert stared back down at the mirror, staring sorrowfully at the body she left behind years ago.
~Omega Share Crystal~
The blonde vixen closed her eyes, and felt the world start to form around her. Upon reopening them, she found herself in a dark cave with what seemed to be a loud battle occurring to her right, and what seemed to a massive crystal to her left bursting with energy.
Directly in front of her, lied Uni who seemed to be at death's door, her breathing barely visible. "Noire's sister? What is she doing here? Neptune!"
Neptune was barely holding her own against the two machines that attacked her. When she blocked one attack from the Killachine the Epsilon struck her back. When she parried the shining green blade from the Epsilon, the Killachine blasted her across the cave with her mace.
Vert stood up immediately hoping to rush to Neptune's aid, but the slide of a handgun stopped her in her tracks. To her shock, Artisan sat before her.
"Principal Artisan!? I thought you were dead!"
"If things keep fucking up, I definitely will be, now stand still and sit back down!" Artisan gritted through her dentures.
"What is the meaning of this!? Are you behind the kidnapping of Neptune and Blanc!? How could you?"
"I'm going to die if you idiots don't shut up and sit down for Christ's sake." Artisan turned her wheelchair completely to face Vert. "This conditioning has cut my prime years in half, I'm a rotting mess of a person, the least you worthless CPUs can do is heel over and actually save people for once!" Artisan fired a warning shot into the air, but Vert stood without flinched.
"So, it's true, we're CPUs… we're the next generation of goddesses in Gamindustri." Vert was taken aback by the sudden truth, but she stood firm. Her thoughts of grandeur and pride as a CPU tried to break free but she made sure to put herself back into the situation she was in. "However, If we're CPUs, then surely a simple bullet isn't going to kill me, isn't it?"
Artisan nodded, and she pointed her gun away from Vert and toward Uni. "Even as a goddess, in her condition she won't survive."
"You wouldn't!" Vert screamed, she turned back at Neptune who managed to score a few hits on the Epsilon, cutting off bits of its leg, but the Killachine broke her guard with the axe and slammed her against the wall with its mace. "Artisan! Stop this! Surely we can negotiate and find a way for all of us to make it out alive…"
"That's… that's not enough." Artisan coughed out.
"Why!?" Vert cried.
"You CPUs are going to be the end of our goddamn lives! The destruction of Tari! The orange massacre! Even if you are born as humans, you still have the ability to become tyrants. Gamindustri doesn't need your kind to play around with us like we're your toys. I'm not just doing this for myself you know!"
"So, what!? Kidnapping innocent people!? Wrecking your own school with machines!? What happened to Financier? Your own friend! If you were trying to save lives and maintain your image you did this in the worst way humanly imaginable!" Vert screamed, slowly stepping forward, hoping to be able to disarm Artisan.
"I don't give a damn about how you think I handled things!" Artisan was crying, desperately clinging onto whatever life she had throwing away everything even her own morals she thought had made her a person.
"It's almost sad Artisan…" Vert lamented. "To think that this is what you became. So many students looked up to you as a force for freedom, and to see that image decay into what I see right now. I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry for everything that has happened to you... but all this… your dying state, that doesn't excuse everything that you've done! If you honestly think I'd let someone like you get in the way of our future, you've got another thing coming!"
Artisan's heart dropped to the floor, her mind and body completely turned upside down. The very same line she threw at the chamber she despised was now being thrown back at her all these years later. She had become the very thing she once fought against. The hypocrisy burned at her soul. Her gun fell to her lap as she held her face into her hands. "You're right… you're right…"
Without pause, Artisan brought the gun to her throat and pulled the trigger, the flash of the muzzle blinded Vert for a second, and when her vision returned, she saw the horrifying image of a dead woman, blood pouring from her nose and mouth. The life in her eyes went grey, leaving behind a blood-stained husk.
Vert almost vomited from the image, but she had to set aside her fear, she went up to the wheelchair focusing on the terminal on the left arm rest. She tried to shut off the machines from the terminal, but it appeared as though it required artisan DNA and pulse to operate. As much as she wanted to help Neptune, she didn't have a weapon, she'd end up as deadweight if tried to fight with her bare fist.
Helpless, the blonde vixen turned back to Uni still struggling for life. "Hey… take it easy alright… how are you feeling?" Vert's voiced piqued Uni's interest, she opened her eyes with what little strength she had to see Vert's luscious locks flowing in the wind from the energy emitted by the crystal.
"Vert? What are you doing here? My throat is killing me…" Vert held Uni in her arms, she held her hand over her forehead and brought it back rapidly after feeling how warm Uni had gotten.
"Oh hell… so much going and so little I can do…" Vert never left home without a spear to use but now she was completely disarmed.
"Hey… is that Neptune over there?" Uni muttered with her eyes slowly closing.
"Nonono! Listen to me, keep your eyes open, please." Vert pleaded, but as Uni's eyes started to close against her will. Out of instinct, Vert grabbed Uni's hand and onto the massive share crystal.
Uni's body jolted, as if she had been hit with a defibrillator, her eyes remained wide open and some of her energy was restored. She was able to move the top half of her body, she tried to reach for Vert to stop but the blonde vixen refused.
"I can… I can feel the share energy running through my body. I'm trying to control the amount flowing in… it's just enough to keep you alive temporarily but the moment I let go… you're going to die… Uni please… trust me here… AH!" Vert's left eye burst open with blood as tried to maintain a connection with the share crystal. "So, this is what Artisan tried to do with us… but if this keeps going, I might not make it…"
The blonde vixen looked up back at Neptune, who managed to jump on top of the Killachine. Neptune plunged Miracle edge into its head, but the beastly machine persisted. The Killachine thrashed around its body, Neptune barely managing to hold on to Miracle Edge, but as she held on the noticed Epsilon fly up and swing down at her, she had to let go. Her sword was now embedded into the Killachine which still operated as though Neptune had done nothing to it. Epsilon and the Killachine slowly approached the unarmed Neptune.
"I need to get that damn sword… but how!?" Neptune screamed to herself.
~Celestian Underground System~
Blanc, Mina, and the twins ran across the long caverns under Celestia, Mina held onto Ram while Blanc carried Rom. They could feel the shattering and clashing of blades from Neptune's battle in the distance.
"Is miss Neptune going to be okay?" Rom asked as she dug her face into Blanc's neck.
"She's strong, one of the strongest I know! She's going to be- shit!" Blanc dived away as a machine turned the corner and slammed its blade down at her. Mina recoiled back and hid behind a nearby rock.
"It's after me! Dammit!" Blanc quickly passed Mina and dropped off Rom to her as Mina was still considered an ally in the machine network. Blanc ran away, limping as she held onto her hammer tightly. She had never used such a weapon before, only using it as a walking stick to help her run away.
Rom reached out for her older sister, but Mina held her back. She had to keep the twins safe, but she felt terrible standing by as Blanc was chased down by a hulking mass of metal and blades.
Blanc's leg injury strained to its worst, and she fell to the floor writhing in pain. The machine wasted no time and struck its blade toward her while she was down. Blanc held up the hammer, but the machine persisted. The blade moved closer and closer to her face. A loud roar of machinery echoed through the cave, and a series of saws protruded on the edges of the blade and grinded against Blanc's hammer. The sparks emitted from the clashing of blades singed against Blanc's clothing and skin, already straining her weak body which had trouble holding her hammer up against the sawblade.
As she held the hammer against the approaching sawblade, she looked to her left and saw Rom and Ram crying in fear. "No… not so soon, not after I found my family so soon!" She looked back at her hammer and noticed a trigger just where her right hand was, she looked back up at the hunk of steel attached to the head with what seemed to be the tail end of a thruster. "Alright… let's see if this thing works!"
Blanc turned the hammer upward and clenched the trigger, an explosion of flames erupted from the top. As if the hammer had a mind of its own, it burst through the machine's saw blade, breaking its guard, and launching Blanc high up into the air.
"HOLY SHIT!" Blanc screamed as her two feet hit the top of the ceiling, for a full second of time she was completely upside down facing the machine directly. "Blast!" she screamed as she pulled the trigger once more and smashed in the machine's head, the hammer digging through the machine's body as cogs and oil spilled left and right, fully breaking through, leaving the machine in two distorted halves.
"Wow! That was so friggin cool!" Ram shouted as she ran toward Blanc. "Teach me how to do that! Please! Please!" the exited girl shouted, jumping up and down with glee.
Blanc was still exhausted and tired, she almost couldn't breathe, she didn't even realize what she exactly did. "Ram… please…"
Mina pulled back Ram as she knelt down. "Blanc… thank you so much" she reached her and out and helped Blanc off the ground, carrying her arm over her shoulder. "Rom, Ram, hold hands please."
The twins nodded and Mina held onto Ram. But before they could even relax and continue forward, another ambush of three machine's surrounded them.
"God FUCKING DAMMIT!" Blanc revved the hammer and walked forward despite her pains, but before the machines could even strike her, 3 large blast echoed in the distance and a full second later the machines had gaps burst through their heads and chest, detonating them immediately.
"Was that you… Blanc?" Ram asked with uncertainty.
"Not at all…" Blanc stood dumbfounded.
From the smoke and ashes emerged Plutia carrying her anti-tank rifle.
"Plutia!" Blanc rushed in, falling into Plutia's soft and warm arms.
"Blanny! I'm here! Where's Neppy!?" Plutia rested Blanc on the ground and casted a heal, fixing her leg.
"She's at the end of this system of caves! Just follow the path with red arrows!" Mina shouted.
"Are those… kids?" Plutia knelt down toward the two girls. "What were you two doing down here!?"
"Honestly, I don't really know." Ram said, with Rom hiding behind her back.
"Mina Nishizawa… what is a career politician doing here?" Plutia said, suspicious of the blue-haired secretary.
"There isn't much time, all I can say that I had a hand in this, and I take full responsibility for all that I did here. But please, can we get these two children out of here?"
Plutia nodded, and looked back at Nepgear, who just emerged from the smoke, struggling to carry Plutia's massive bag filled with firearms. "W-what? Blanc? Who are all of you people!?"
"Nepgear, take Blanc and the others-" Plutia hastily took the weapons bag from Nepgear and carried It over her back.
"Wait!" Blanc quickly interrupted Plutia. "If you're going with Neptune, I'm coming with! I couldn't help her before because of my leg but I can go now!" the brunette pleaded.
"Blanny. No. This is too dangerous for all of us. Go with Nepgear, please…"
Blanc wanted to argue but she looked back at her twin sisters, she knew their safety was far more important. But apart of her was screaming to go back, she was a CPU, it was that very fact that was the reason why she was pulled into all this nonsense. To simply walk away without seeing it through didn't sit right with her.
"But Plutie, you promised-" Nepgear was immediately interrupted.
"Gearsy… Blanc… I know both of you really want to help Neppy, but our lives are on the line here… please. I can handle this." Plutia started to walk forward, leaving the rest of the girls behind.
"Let's not argue with her, let's just go, dammit…" Nepgear mumbled frustratingly she led everyone else back to Lastation HQ.
Plutia descended further into the caves, reloading her rifle as the emptied shell and pull of the slide reverberated throughout all the nearby caves.
~Omega Share Crystal~
Neptune was once again launched across the cave system, smashing into the rocky wall, imbedding her as pebbles and gravel fell down her shoulders. Epsilon readied its blade and thrusted it at Neptune who caught it with her hands, blood teared down the sides of the green blade as Neptune pushed against the blade with all her might.
She looked back at Vert next to the share crystal, blood crept down from her missing eye as well as from her nose and mouth, barely clinging to life as she held onto Uni.
Neptune's sapience was completely gone, as much as she tried to re-summon Miracle Edge it stood stuck inside the Killachine. But the girl persisted and refused to die here, she planted her feet into the wall behind her and pushed forward, slowly pushing back Epsilon's blade.
But with cruel fate, the Killachine also struck down at her, both her hands occupied with different blades from different opponents. Epsilon's blade started to tear away at her skin, and Neptune could feel its blade grind against the bones in her hand. The Killachine's axe dug into Neptune's body, its heated blade creating a small flame inside her left shoulder.
Tears billowed from Neptune's eyes as her body was consumed with pain. She didn't want to die, she desperately did not want to die, but she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back the strength of the machines. She thought about the kiss from Blanc, her future with her sister, but no matter how hard she tried to cling to those memoires the harsh reality in front of her broke through and burned away both her mind and body.
But just as she was willing to give away, a flash of black darted across her vision and past the machines, a trail of blue slashes left in the air had cut through the arms and blades holding Neptune against the wall. With a loud snap of two fingers, The machines jolted back across the cave as parts of their arms and blades scattered across the rocky floor.
Neptune fell from the wall, only to find herself in the arms of a tall and strong woman, with two black twin tails donned over her head, and a rapier at her side.
"N… Noire!?" Neptune cried in relief.
The raven knight flicked back her hair and swept her blade across the ground. "C'mon Neptune, this is no time to be lazing about!" Noire charged toward the Killachine, dodging both its and Epsilon's blades, ripping Miracle Edge out of the Killachine and launching is straight back at Neptune.
As Neptune caught the blade, it slightly cut one of her fingers, but instead of it hurting her, the blade seemed to recharge her sapience slightly as it dug into her skin, it was a quaint observation but not one she held onto greatly as she rushed in to aid Noire.
Noire parried Epsilon's blade and cut away a large part of its head, screwing with its visual abilities. She noticed the Killachine striking its mace down at her from behind, but Neptune rushed in with Miracle Edge's carrying case, which she held behind her back and kicked off the ground, using her momentum to parry the Killachine's mace as the case absorbed the momentum and force of the Killachine.
Her eyes flashed and her strength restored, as she sheathed Miracle Edge back into its case as the momentum from the mace coated the sword with energy. Neptune pulled out the blade and a storm of blue energy erupted around her, ripping away at the Killachine's armor, an opening for its central core revealed itself.
Noire shot Epsilon with her revolver once more, stunning it as she jumped backward into the air and plunged her rapier into the Killachine's core, she ripped it out and threw it into the air. Without even looking, she pointed her revolver upward and blasted the core, shattering its pieces and creating a rainfall of electricity and steel over her head.
Neptune clashed with Epsilon, their blades bouncing off and launching each other a sizable gap. Each time they swung they bounced further back from each other. Neptune grinned as the machine appeared to be caught in a loop and tricked it into slamming its blade into the ground. Neptune stepped on top of the blade and cut off its arm, she kicked Miracle Edge into its chest and used the detached blade and slammed it in alongside her own sword. She pulled away both blades and completely cut Epsilon in half.
The two girls were silent, and they stood resolute atop the remains of their mechanical foes. "Uni!" Noire screamed as she rushed toward the share crystal. Neptune followed behind but was taken aback by Artisan's corpse. "To think she'd go out like that… ugh…" Neptune had a wave of nausea overrun her body upon seeing the dead husk of a woman.
"Vert! What the hell is happening!?" Noire screamed, a waterfall of blood was seeping through Vert's eye as she maintained the connection between Uni and the share crystal, her hand started to peel away into raw share energy, its flesh and bone were exposed into the open air.
"Please… if you want to save your younger sister then please! Connect your hand to the share crystal and place your other on Uni's body!"
Noire and Neptune followed suit. The placed their hands on Uni and the share crystal, the mass of CPUs connected to the single source created a singularity and the three were consumed into a void of white.
~Lastation HQ~
Nepgear and Blanc stood exhausted as the elevator slowly wound up back to Lastation's lowest level.
"Hey, miss… your D-Pad clip is really cute, just like Neptune's!" Rom gleefully tugged on Nepgear's sleeve "Are you friends with Neptune?" She asked, turning her head sideways.
"Uh well… she's my sister."
"Wow! You're Neptune's older sister?" Ram shouted.
"What? N-no I'm her younger sister."
"But you look older than her?" Rom questioned.
"Yeah, you look like you could be her mom!" Ram joked.
"Me? A mom? That's hilarious." Nepgear said stoically.
"Settle down girls…" Blanc patted them both on the shoulders "She's probably had a stressful day, can you two settle with Mina for a bit? I need to talk with Nepgear…" Rom and Ram nodded cheerfully as they jumped on a tired Mina Nishizawa, shocking her.
"Blanc, You said Artisan was alive? How?"
"I guess she faked her death in order to further cover her tracks. She was planning on connecting me and the other CPUs to the share crystal, Mina said something about the share energy healing her dying body, or some nonsense like that. Honestly, I'm just as confused as you are about the whole thing." Blanc looked in the distance in the direction where Neptune was. "I just hope she's settled everything safely."
The elevator came to a sudden halt just below the lowest level in Lastation. Everyone looked up in surprise to see Arfoire standing at the top of the elevator, Cave and Kei were held hostage next to her with Linda holding them at gunpoint.
"How the hell did you two-" Linda fired her gun and knocked away Nepgear's rifle away.
"It appears the machines disabled Leanbox's sapience disruptor, this idiotic maid never stood a chance against us." Arfoire taunted, admiring her own fingernails as she dug her heel into the back of Cave's head.
"Sorry guys…" Kei lamented.
"Ew! Who is that creepy old lady?" Ram shouted, looking up at Arfoire.
Mina immediately grabbed her and placed her behind her back, confronting Arfoire herself. "Arfoire, why are you doing this? Artisan's plan isn't going to stop the CPUs, not without all four of them."
"You're right." Arfoire exclaimed "I never was on Artisan's side. I come here on behalf of Planeptune."
"What!?" Mina's scream shook the two girls who were holding onto her. "If not, her then why are you here!?"
"The Omega Share Crystal that Artisan was so fond of is not a condensation and consolidation of share energy, it's far greater than that. That crystal, is a CPU… A CPU I am very fond of…" Arfoire looked up sentimentally.
Arfoire threw down Kei and Cave onto the elevator and jumped down with them. "Don't get any funny ideas you five." Arfoire pulled out a thermite detonator and attached it to her chest, two smaller device wrapped around Kei and Cave's necks. "This device will detect my heartbeat, if I die, these two will go along with me. So, I think it would be in your best interest to listen to my instructions, understood!? Keep in mind I can also detonate it whenever I wish…"
"You cowardly son of a bitch!" Blanc screamed.
"Oh, I'm sorry I'm not willing to fight two literal fucking goddesses, excuse me." Arfoire snarked back. "Linda!"
Her subordinate pulled back the lever and hopped down with her. "Hey boss… if that crystal starts to get anymore unstable, the constant release of share energy is gonna start messing with em' plates if ya know what I mean. Earthquakes and all that bizz."
"You didn't need to come along you know."
"Eh, kinda felt bad about leaving you behind with the sigil, it's the least I can do."
Nepgear, Blanc, the twins, and Mina stood at the edge of elevator while Arfoire held them all up by gunpoint.
"Arfoire, you said you liked whatever CPU is in that crystal, I thought you hated CPUs-"
"Shut up flatty!" Linda yelled as she smacked Blanc's leg, almost tripping her over the edge of the elevator. "No one said you could be the one asking questions!"
Arfoire looked at her underling with a bewildered gaze, due to the fact that her chest was no larger than Blanc's at all.
"Easy Linda, I think I'll answer this one." The elevator finally reached the ground floor, and Linda pushed their hostages forward back the route which they came from. "The goddess's name was…"
~The void we all know and hate~
Neptune woke up to an unrelenting ring of silence, with the world around her completely consumed in white. She recognized this place all too well, the place that she visited in her dreams, the place that trapped her when she touched Miracle Edge.
Noire woke up to an unrelenting ring of silence, with the world around her completely consumed in white. She recognized this place all too well, the place that used an image of her sister against her, used an image of her sister to stop her in her tracks when her life was in danger.
Vert woke up to an unrelenting ring of silence, with the world around her completely consumed in white. She recognized this place all too well, the place that reminded her of a past, a person she had no interest in ever remembering.
The three turned around, surprised among meetings each other, Noire and Neptune wanted to shout but seemingly were unable to speak, just as before, but the silence was disrupted somewhat when Vert spoke.
"Are you two okay? This place… I've been here before. But I have no idea what it is. Are you two unable to talk?" Neptune and Noire nodded, signaling with their hands that they couldn't speak at all.
"But why am I the odd one out?" Vert questioned.
Neptune rushed past Vert, as another woman was approaching in the distance. Neptune knew exactly who it was despite all the years it had been since she last saw her. The woman behind Vert was the very reason she was here, the reason she was in Celestia, the reason she was in Lowee, the reason she became the woman she was now.
"Oh Neptune… its quite the surprise, really, you grew up so fast…" the woman in the distance spoke.
Neptune, without thinking, pulled out Miracle edge and silently charged at the woman, jumping into the air, and slamming her blade down onto her, but the woman was faster, and summoned her scythe from thin air, knocking away Neptune's attack with ease as a trail of spikes traced the ground and cut her up as she fell back.
"Who are you!?" Vert screamed worriedly, catching Neptune as she fell back. Noire unsheathed her blade and stepped in front of the two other girls to protect them.
"Hmm you can speak here? Oh… that's right… I set the mute function for this area to only apply to other women, my bad~" She teased, snapping her fingers as the silence broke away and large waves of air and ambience ripped through the void around them.
"You cunt!" Vert's hand bawled into a fist as she got up to approach the woman who had just misgendered her. "You were the one dragged us into this place!" Vert was immediately held back by Noire who was now able to speak.
"Whoever the hell she is, she's trying to put us on edge, don't fall for it." Noire asserted.
Vert pulled her arm away angrily as she stared down at the woman across the void. "Right…"
"CPU Uranus…" Neptune growled as she pushed herself off the ground and wrung out the stress from her arms. "To think you of all people would be here… how!?"
~Celestian Underground Systems~
"She's the goddess that killed Neptune's mother?" Blanc realized that she was caught up in something far greater than herself. The world seemed so much larger and far more threatening now that forces outside of Celestia were at play here.
"She's the reason I grew up alone…" Nepgear reminisced, the very reason she was here stood at the end of these caves.
"Indeed, after her demise in her assassination attempt against CPU Uzume, we managed to find remnants of her share energy scattered around the broken mountainside near Uzume's manor. These remnants formed the Omega Share Crystal and ever since then we have kept her underneath Celestia in the hope that the next generation of goddesses would assemble and be used as vessels in order to return her body back to this very world."
"Why!?" Blanc stopped in her tracks and faced Arfoire, Linda was prepared to smack her with the hammer she stole but Arfoire held her back. "Why do all this just to revive some dead goddess no one remembers!"
"Because she helped bring an end to Uzume's treacherous end, and once Neptune is fully absorbed into the share crystal any remnant of Uzume's legacy will be destroyed. The Tennouboshi name, and any future CPUs by extension will be tarnished, people's faith in goddesses are growing weak, look at yourselves! No longer are goddesses being born from share energy, they're now being born among us! Mortal and pathetic."
Blanc wanted grab back her hammer from Linda, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was responsible for the deaths of two other innocents who were caught in the battle. She grudgingly turned back around and followed with everyone else.
Nepgear's breathing started to grow unstable, she could feel her body trying to rampage again but with Kei and Cave hostage she had to do everything in her power to hold herself back. Her thoughts were scattering, suddenly the prospect of Kei and Cave's safety started to drift away, her moral compass leaving her body. She fell to her knees, the conflict between the peace she wanted and the vengeance she desired ripped through her soul, every fiber of her being telling her to let go and simply destroy the two mercenaries behind her.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!? Get up!" Linda kicked Nepgear in the chest, knocking her to her side with her back to the floor, when she saw the state of Nepgear's eyes she recoiled back and held onto Arfoire in fear. "Boss! That girl! She's doing the same damn thing she did back in the library!"
Arfoire held Cave tightly with the gun up to her neck. "Nepgear! Stay back unless you're willing to let this woman die!"
But Nepgear stood silent, and simply walked toward Arfoire, her posture, her demeanor, were that of an entirely different person.
"Stay back! I swear I'll do it-"
"I remember you…" A voice left Nepgears mouth that was not her own. "You were that child I spared when I killed those worthless senators all those years ago… to think we'd meet again like this…" The woman controlling Nepgear's body spoke.
"U-Uzume!?" Arfoire cried. "You… you are…"
CPU Uzume, controlling Nepgears body, simply raised her hand in the air, pulling away Arfoire's firearm. Cave kicked her captor away and immediately ran toward Mina, Kei did as well. Uzume used an indescribable force to lift Arfoire into the air and rip away two of her limbs through pure telekinesis.
Mina did her best to cover Rom and Ram's eyes from the bloody mess that was left alive, but Arfoire's ghastly screams echoed loudly, piercing into the twin's minds.
"Nepgear! What the hell are you doing?" Blanc shouted as she marched forward to grab the woman by the shoulder but Uzume swept her arm effortlessly and launched Blanc into the rocky wall of the cave they were in.
"This is none of your concern, woman, in fact, this whole fiasco is nobody's concern, nobody in the room around us that is. Leave, return to whenever you mortals came from. I have unsettled business with a certain goddess…" Uzume growled as she simply flew into the air and soared through the caves, leaving the rest of the group behind.
As this happened, Rom and Ram used their elemental magic to break the devices Arfoire had put on Kei and Cave. Linda was dumbstruck at what she had just saw, paralyzed in fear that she didn't notice Blanc come up from behind her and grab her leg, slamming her into ground as she grabbed her hammer back.
"W… what the hell just happened!?" Mina screamed. "I… I didn't know anything about Uzume, or Uranus I thought it was just a large part of the…" Mina couldn't find the words to say anything.
"Mina don't worry about any of this. Look… Cave, Kei, take these three and run back okay? I'm going to chase after Nepgear… or Uzume… whatever the hell is happening…"
"Understood, Lady Blanc" Cave lent out her hands to Rom and Ram and rushed back to the elevator, Mina and Kei following suit.
"Neptune, Nepgear… I'm coming for you! Just hang in there for me!" Blanc shouted as she ran after the fleeing goddess.
~The white void, soon to be revealed~
Noire and Neptune were completely outmatched by Uranus. Even though they started the battle with full sapience the two were now at flashing red.
"This is no time to falter you two! Assam!" Vert casted a support buff for her two allies, increasing their speed, the to dashed at CPU Uranus, each striking in juxtaposing positions. When Noire swung downward from the right Neptune would swint upward from the left, but Uranus was to fast for both of them, parrying and blocking each attack.
Noire and Neptune's swings sped up rapidly until the two ended their combo with a heavy and fast swing in unison that Uranus simply waved away with her scythe. Knocking both their weapons away from their hands leaving them open and disarmed.
Uranus grinned deviously as she propped her scythe in the air and swung down at Noire, but Neptune dashed in front of her and took the brunt of the slice. The two fell to the floor as blood leaked from Neptune's back and down onto the front of Noire's clothes.
"These are supposed to be the goddesses to continue Gamindustri's legacy? How boring." Uranus smirked. "You know, I was hoping Artisan would restore her body with the crystal and allow me to possess her body, but… I can end this battle right now, if one of you are willing to give up your bodies in her place and become a vessel for me. How does that sound?"
Neptune didn't have the strength to even conjure a witty remark she simply raised up her hand and her middle finger right back at Uranus. Noire spit at the goddess's boot and Vert completely ignored her proposal as she picked up both Neptune and Noire's blades from the airy ground below them.
"Not even going to think about it? Well, you're a persistent bunch so I guess that grants you girls some favors."
Noire and Neptune each casted a support buff over Vert, the Blonde vixen breathed in deeply as she felt her muscles relax and her reflexes increase.
Vert raised both swords in the air prepared to swing down at Uranus, but as Uranus raised her scythe to block the attack, Vert feinted her swing and instead pulled back to attack with a sideways slash, cutting at Uranus's abdomen.
"Woah fuck me! You seem a lot smarter than those other two broads, aint that sad!? I was expecting more from Uzume's daughter, yet here some tranny-"
Vert, now even more furious rushed in for a stinger attack, as Uranus tried to block it, Vert instead feinted it again by dropping low and tripping up Uranus with a sweeping kick that launched her in the air, which Vert followed through with a downward slash, knocking her across the void.
Uranus slammed her scythe into the ground, kicking up waves of dust as she slowed her knockback. "Alright… ALRIGHT!" An aura of white and purple started to cloud Uranus, and after she was fully covered, a flash of white beamed through the void, and from the aura emerged a much taller and stronger woman, Uranus's shot blue hair extended vastly into long flowing locks that extended past her feet. A second scythe formed in her left hand as her main scythe grew a larger purple aura around itself.
"Neptune… what the hell did she just do?" Noire uttered hopelessly as she held up a heavily injured Neptune.
"If I'm to guess, that's a true goddess form, that's… Cyan Heart."
~Omega Share Crystal~
Plutia slowly approached the massive crystal at the center of the cave, she stared blankly at Artisan's corpse, a horrible chill went down her spine as she saw the bloody mess staining the corpse of her former employer. "What… what happened here?" She dropped her rifle and bag and fell to her knees in confusion.
She turned back to the crystal to see Vert, Noire, and Neptune channeling share energy from the main crystal into Uni. Parts of the crystal were forming around their hand, covering their skin that was partly peeled away.
"Girls… are you three okay?" But the three stared blankly down at Uni, their eyes seemed to be consumed in white. Plutia went in to reach for one of them, but a voice held her back.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you… geez, did all the brains get sent to my half?"
"You again!" Plutia exclaimed, before her was the same woman who comforted her after Vert was taken in Leanbox HQ.
"Yeah, we seem to be stuck together like annoying roommates, and this constantly echoing share crystal seems to be increasing our bond together… not that I exactly hate it though, being able to actually exist for a moment isn't completely awful" The woman walked past Plutia, brushing her hand across the pulsating crystal.
"Who are you?" Plutia questioned.
"Me? I'm you, silly. But enough about me, what I want to know is what you want." The woman asserted, stepping toward Plutia as her heels clacked against the ground below.
Plutia badly wanted to question just who this woman was but left her questions aside as her concern for Neptune and the other girls triumphed whatever curiosities that she had. "I want us all to come home safely! Nothing else!"
"That's adorable, yet so utterly useless. Fine. Wish granted. Allow me to help these idiots for a little bit." The woman stepped into the crystal and seemingly vanished into thin air.
Plutia stood dumbfounded but set aside her fears as she casted a heal onto the girls. "Hopefully, wherever else you girls are… this will help you at least a little bit…" Plutia's vision started to fade, a vignette of darkness raged at the corner of her eyes and slowly seeped inward until everything was black.
At the end of the room where the lab was stationed, a women flew just right above it. Uzume, under control of Nepgear's body steadily descended to the crystal. "Plutia!?" She exclaimed.
The CPU candidate she knew so many years ago was lying at her hands just in reach, it would be so easy to kill her, but she held back, her real murderer was there inside the crystal before her. At Plutia's side was a face she knew all too well, her own daughter all grown up. She lamented over all the years she missed with her, but her time was limited. The share crystal's resonance was the only thing that allowed her to take over Nepgears body and return to the physical world but just as she reached to touch it, she noticed another woman enter the lab.
"Wait! W-w…wait!" Blanc exhausted to her absolute limit was barely managing to breathe after chasing Uzume for what seemed to be an eternity. "What the hell are you!? Are you really Neptune's mother?"
Uzume looked closely back at Blanc, and it suddenly hit her. "CPUs? You girls are CPUs!?" She looked down at the two girls beside Neptune both channeling share energy into another girl who was lied down in shock and in fear.
"That's what they told me… hey, isn't that your own daughter! Why are you taking over her body like that!? That's fucked up!" Blanc screamed as she walked toward Uzume, her energy was regaining at lot faster than it used to.
"I have a matter to attend to, I'm not proud of what I'm doing right now but it's my best chance at getting revenge for the bastard that split apart my family…" Uzume reached for the share crystal ignoring Blanc completely. Nepgear's body fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Goddamit!" Blanc walked up to the crystal and placed her hand on it as well, the rush of share energy ripped at her sanity and strength, but the girl persisted, she looked back at the other three who were seemingly locked in place as they held onto both Uni and the share crystal. "Here goes I guess…" Blanc reached out for Uni's paralyzed body, and she found herself in a void of white alongside Uzume's true form.
"Uzume! Where the hell are, we?" Blanc harshly shrieked. It took her a second to fully grasp the situation she was in. She was standing next to one of the worst women in Gamindustri's history, the mother of one of her best friends.
"This place? It has several names… but the one I know well is ~Infinite Requiem~" Uzume placed her hand over her heart and closed her eyes, letting out a deep exhale before reopening. "This place is located at the border between life and death, conscious and unconscious, reality and delusion. Where mental concepts of the world are physically actualized, everything from people to laws of nature and physics, all of them physically represented in this realm. This crystal is only one of many entrances and it seems to be locked only to this pocket of actualized time and space."
Blanc was just shaking her head in confusion. She couldn't comprehend everything Uzume was throwing at her, but she had to try her best and listen if this woman were truly her best bet at saving Neptune.
"While both CPU Uranus's and my physical bodies were destroyed, our abilities as goddesses allowed us to persist within the infinite requiem as a manifestation of the collective consciousness's perception of us."
Blanc was still shaking her head. She was just about to scream at Uzume until she put her hand up.
"Put it this way, you know the saying that people have two deaths? That one is when their body dies and the other is when the name is uttered for the last time? This is where that second death takes place, God and Man persisting at the border between life and death for as long as humanity is willing to remember them."
Blanc was still confused but the explanation was something she could grasp for more easily. "So, CPU Uranus is using this crystal to transport us to this infinite requiem?"
"No, the share crystal is causing a reaction in your bodies and minds tricking it into thinking it's about to die, placing you in a state of well… life and death. Your minds don't know whether or not you're dead, so instead it places you here. Me however… my physical body is gone, only through Nepgear's own personal infinite requiem was able to come back, and now we've entered CPU Uranus's infinite requiem, which will soon break down if she breaks free from this crystal and acquires a possible vessel to return to the physical world."
"So… we each have our own infinite's requiems?" Blanc asked. "And wait! If that's the case, how were you able to exist within Nepgear's requiem if she barely ever knew you!"
"Every living thing can have a requiem, something as small as a baby or an entire continent can form one. However, Nepgear is my daughter… my blood daughter. Not a CPU candidate but a child born from my own flesh. And because of that, there's an intrinsic bond between us that allows me to exist in her requiem… it's all so… perplexing. I'll be honest and admit there is much more about this realm that I don't know and possibly will never know, what matters now is that we find Neptune and those other girls."
Blanc and Uzume noticed a clashing of blades far off in the distance, almost miles away, and ran straight for them.
~Elsewhere in CPU Uranus's infinite requiem~
Noire fell to the floor with bruises and scars scattered across her body, her clothing and gear torn and ripped in various place. Vert fell alongside her with a broken arm which Cyan Heart had snapped.
Neptune was doing her best to fight against Cyan Heart but no matter how many time she swung both of her blades Cyan Heart seemingly blocked it instantaneously are dodged passed it and took advantage of Neptune's vulnerability. Neptune tried to use the same tactic she used against the Killachine and absorb Cyan Heart's force with Miracle Edge's carrying case, but the immense power of her scythe simply broke through and cut the carrying case in half, destroying Neptune's options greatly.
"You absolutely worthless garbage, to think about how many people died because of your mother's unwillingness to let an abomination like you die… it's repulsive…" Uranus picked Neptune and threw her into the air, she stretched out her scythe and cut off Neptune's leg, the CPU screaming horribly as she fell back to the floor with a pounding thud, blood sprayed all over the floor of the infinite requiem as Noire and Vert recoiled back in horror.
Neptune was mortified seeing the eruption of blood leaking from where her leg should've been. Cyan Heart grabbed Neptune's detached leg and started beating her to death with it. Neptune's own heel slammed against her face and chest as Noire and Vert hopelessly watched.
"Hurting an already beaten girl with her own limb? How pathetic… to think I ever actually looked up to you at one point…" Neptune used what little energy have to turn around and see the last person she'd ever thought she would encounter here.
"Iris Heart!?" Neptune cried as blood poured from her mouth.
The dominatrix steadied forward, with one foot after the other, her heels clacking against the airy surface of Cyan Heart's infinite requiem.
"Plutia… why are you here!? What's the meaning of this!? Are you betraying me?" Cyan Heart demanded an answer.
Iris Heart let out a sadistic laughter as she should charged Cyan Heart, knocking her back as the Cyan's feet dug into the ground. Iris Heart managed to grab back Neptune's leg and tossed it back to her, as Neptune placed the detached limb where it was supposed to be, Iris Heart casted a heal that reattached it.
"I'm not betraying you Cyan heart. I'm betraying the country that abused a girl, one sweet innocent girl who wanted nothing more to see others smile and be happy. I'm betraying the country that looked at this girl's sweet smile and tossed it aside in their infinite pursuit of power. I'm granting that girl's wish and ending this nonsense myself." Iris Heart charged toward Cyan with her bare fist, landing a devastating punch that clashed with Cyan's scythe.
Iris Heart's body was like steel, and her fist slightly cracked through Cyan's left scythe, but her right one cut her arm and forced her back. Iris Heart reveled in the pain though, screaming in excitement every time Cyan Heart's blades cut open parts of her skin.
"Are you enjoying the view Cyan!?" Iris Heart screamed as blood poured down all across her body. "This is what our country created, isn't it a beautiful sight!?" Iris Heart's excited screams were trailed with despair and agony.
"I don't care about whatever nonsense you're spewing right now." Cyan Heart slid under Iris Heart and wrapped her scythes under Iris Heart's neck who barely held back the magic blades from cutting her throat up. Concentrating her strength, Iris Heart pushed against the scythes up on her neck, lifting Cyan Heart into the air slamming her to the ground, but when she went to slam her fist down on Cyan's face, the Goddess dodged just in time and swiped upward, creating a devastating cut across Iris Heart's abdomen and chest. Cyan was entranced by Iris Heart and lifted her scythe in the air, everything around her seemed to disappear as she charged her strike for a killing blow, but before she could swing downward a blue blade spiked through her heart.
Cyan Heart turned around slowly to see Neptune pushing the sword deep into Cyan Heart's back. But Cyan Heart laughed as she lunged her body and shook Neptune off her back. Cyan Heart pulled out the blade from her own chest and threw it straight back into Neptune's.
"Neptune!" Both Noire and Vert yelled as they ran up to the impaled girl.
Iris Heart's rage grew endlessly, and she rushed toward Cyan Heart with all her weight pushed forward, but Cyan Heart simply grabbed her and threw her into the ground, impaling her scythe into Iris Heart's stomach, pinning her to the ground.
Neptune tried to pull the blade from her chest, but the felt her strength fade away quickly. Her entire body seemed to go limp, her hands slowly drifted off the sides of the blade and onto the white floor, splashing against the puddle of blood that formed underneath her.
Noire held Neptune's hand tightly, but upon seeing her lifeless eyes she simply lost all hope. Vert tried to pull her back up, but everything seemed to fade away for Noire.
Cyan Heart approached the two unarmed girls and pointed her scythe at them "If you don't wont to end up like your friend over there… it would be in your best interest to lend one of your bodies to me… or would you rather I take Uni's instead?"
Noire slammed her fist against the ground, Vert stood hopeless.
"Fine… I'll do it…" Noire stood back up and faced Cyan Heart "Uni will survive at least… right?"
"Correct, she's already absorbed enough share energy to heal her dying body, but now… kneel."
"Noire, don't tell me you're going to-"
Cyan Heart placed her scythe up to Vert's neck "I don't suppose you'd rather take her place? Actually no, don't bother… I'd rather have a real woman's body." The goddess taunted. Vert was too mortified by Neptune's death to even be insulted.
"Over… my dead… fucking… body!" Neptune's eyes shot back open, her left eye flashing an extremely bright light of purple.
Cyan Heart jumped back, her own legs now rapidly trembling as Neptune pulled herself off the ground with her legs. Miracle Edge absorbed itself into Neptune's body, pure, raw sapience surrounded the girl. Her right eye flashed into a power symbol. The same kind of symbol Uranus had in her eye.
"My left eye represents will…" Neptune's voice changed drastically, far deeper, and more mature. "my human half's faith for a brighter future…" the aura of sapience subsided, and Neptune's wound healed completely. "My right eye represents justice…" Neptune clenched her fist and held her chest up high "my goddess half, making sure that future comes true!"
A familiar flash of white enveloped the girl and once it dissipated another woman appeared, much taller, muscular, and stronger. Her hair was no longer pink but a deep purple and split into two long twin tails that reached down to her feet. Her eyes became two beacons of blue and her clothing tightened around her creating a black plug suit with flairs of blue and purple detailing various sides of it. The woman resummoned Miracle Edge from thin air and prepared her guard stance against Cyan Heart. Purple Heart was born.
"Megami No Chikara… Misete ageru wa!" Purple Heart screamed as two large purple wings formed behind her back.
"The fuck!?" Cyan Heart prepared to strike with her scythe, but Purple Heart knocked it away and launched her into the air with a high time swing, following up with an aerial rave of slashes, kicking and stepping off of Cyan Heart in the air as her swings kept them both in the air through her pure strength.
Purple Heart kicked Cyan into the air as she launched herself back to the ground, as Cyan Heart fell back down Purple Heart raised her sword and spun it vertically, capturing Cyan Heart into a prop shredder combo. The purple devil swung her sword around with an overhead swing and followed up her attack what seemed like a million stabs. "Breakdown!" she screamed as her final stab launched Cyan Heart across the void.
Iris Heart laughed as she saw her former mentor fly across the room, she unlatched the scythe from her stomach limping toward Purple heart. "Well would you look at that! A true goddess…"
"How… is this even possible!?" Cyan Heart cried. "You aren't even a full Console Patron Unit!"
"That only makes her stronger…" Vert exclaimed. "She doesn't need the faith of citizens to power herself! She's already got her human half to do so!"
Noire pushed herself back up with her blade pointed at Cyan Heart and stood next to Purple Heart. "Neptune… you really are a goddess. Thank you… I thought it was over, but you saved us."
Cyan Heart formed a crystal in her hand as she held her other hand toward Purple Heart begging her to stop. "If you destroy me… I'll destroy this very crystal we're in, our spiritual forms will be trapped in this infinite requiem for all of eternity!"
"She's right, my love… it would be wise to hold back for now…" Uzume and Blanc walked into the fray, Purple Heart almost dropped her blade in disbelief.
"M-mother!?" Purple Heart flew up to her mother, wrapping her arms around her. Uzume was surprised seeing her daughter as an even older woman.
"A Planeptune reunion… how lovely" Iris Heart joked as she closed in on Cyan Heart with her own scythe. Noire closed in on her with her blade as Vert also approached her with the scythe Purple Heart had knocked away.
"Yes honey… it's me…" Uzume kissed Purple Heart on the cheek as held her hand softly against her face, "Seeing you like this… as a goddess… it so lovely you know?" Uzume looked back down at Blanc and toward Cyan Heart. "Honey, I know we have a lot of catching up to do… but let me handle this" Uzume flew toward Cyan Heart who was still panicking as she was held at bladepoint by three other girls.
Purple Heart looked down to see Blanc with wide eyes and a confused stare. The goddess flew down to Blanc who slowly started walking toward her.
"Neptune… is that really you?" Blanc brought her hand to Purple Heart's face. "You're… beautiful, oh my god…" Blanc was dumbstruck with love as she witnessed Purple Heart's beauty emanating through the white void.
"Yeah… I know" Purple Heart giggled. "Blanc why are you here, how did my mother get here as well?" Purple Heart still couldn't believe everything she was seeing, it almost felt like a dream to her.
Blanc went on and explained Uzume and Nepgear's connection and did the best she could to explain the infinite requiem.
"So, the us in here is separate from who we are outside the infinite Requiem… I see…" Purple Heart muttered to herself, Blanc rushed up and readied her blast hammer against Cyan Heart, Purple Heart followed behind and flew up next to her mother in the air.
Cyan Heart was completely surrounded, her only defense being able to destroy any way of exiting her infinite requiem. She stood shakily as the girls surrounding her inched closer and closer. "Stay back!" she screamed her hair scattering into a mess as she fell onto her back, crawling away backwards as the girls closed in on her.
"Is that really your plan Uranus? Trap yourself with us for the foreseeable future? No wonder you got yourself killed so easily." Uzume taunted.
"Mother… what are we going to do now?" Purple Heart asked.
"If Cyan Heart is cooperative, we can all leave this cursed requiem. All we need is for her to give up and open a connection back to-"
"Never! I-" Cyan Heart was quickly interrupted by Uzume.
"What do you possibly hope to gain by persisting!? You've lost!" Uzume flew down to Cyan. "Let us go and I promise you won't even feel a thing when I destroy this crystal.
But Cyan was stubborn, she was willing to be trapped with these girls for all of eternity if it meant taking away whatever they could consider a victory. She raised her hand in the air ready to crush the crystal representation of her infinite requiem, but just before she could do it, Iris Heart grabbed it and took the crystal for herself.
Cyan Heart jolted back in fear, Uzume cracked her knuckles and rammed her fist through the goddess's chest, coating her arm with blood as it pierced through and ripped out of Cyan's back. Cyan Heart transformed back into Uranus as her eyes went lifeless.
"Your requiem… ends here!" Uzume ripped away her fist and Cyan Heart fell to the floor.
The white void turned grey, and the sky above started to crack and fall apart like glass shards.
Iris Heart looked down at the crystal, she remembered Plutia's wish, for everyone to come home safely. "Well, a promise is a promise… I'm going to stay behind and maintain this crystal… I'll open a path for the rest you, and you better take care of Plutia when you get back out there" Iris Heart wrapped her hand around the crystal, and the broken pieces of the sky returned to their spot. The white void grew tinged with a hint of Iris and a portal opened back to the physical world.
"Iris Heart! Wait!" Purple Heart marched toward her old nemesis. "Tell me the truth! Does Plutia not remember anything? Nothing?"
"Of course not. After her defeat, Planeptune split apart her human form and goddess form. All she knows is that she one day woke up in Lowee without any memory of who she was. You better make sure her smile never goes away or I'll crawl out of this crystal a rip you a new one myself, understood?" Iris Heart smiled deviously.
Noire, Blanc and Vert shuddered but Purple Heart was used to Iris Hearts threats. "Plutia comforted us after Blanc and I first got here… of course I will. Not just her, I'll protect everyone!" Purple Heart proudly declared.
Uzume stepped next to Iris Heart and placed her hand over Cyan's crystal, her deep purple combined with the Iris shade and the void around the changed to match the color once more.
"Mom?" Purple heart questioned.
"Look, I know you want to see me again, tell me all about what you've endured. But remember, I'm still a murderer… I tarnished the image of CPUs for the rest of Gamindustri's history. I need to lock myself down here, it's the only justice I deserve…"
"But mom! You can do better! Fix-"
"No darling, we're far past that. That'll be a future for you to cut out. You wanted justice, right? Go through that portal and hurry out. There's not much time until the large amount of share energy creates an earthquakes and traps us down here. Neptune… no. Purple Heart! Go! Get everyone else out of here, now!" Uzume waved her hand, creating a slight gust of wind that knocked everyone back toward the portal.
Purple Heart wanted to reach for her mother, but Blanc held her back, with one last look, she waved away and flew out, Blanc, Noire, and Vert following after her, leaving Iris Heart and Uzume alone in void.
"So… I hope you've got some stories, right?" Iris Heart joked with a slight giggle, that slowly faded away once she realized the situation she was in.
Uzume stood silently, she stared back up at the endless void around her and closed her eyes. Resolute, all she ever wanted was for her children to live on, and she was happy she was able to do that once more.
~Collapsing Omega Share Crystal~
Noire, Blanc, Vert, Plutia, Nepgear, and Neptune woke up gasping for air as they ripped their hands away from the crystal, whose color changed to a mixture of Iris and Purple.
"Ugh… what the hell just happened? how did I get here!?" Nepgear woke up brushing the top of her head.
"Hoo boy…" Blanc kneeled down to Nepgear and explained to her everything.
"Sis…" Neptune knelt down alongside Blanc and pulled her sister up from the ground. "This nonsense is over now, let's get out of here…"
"Noire…" Uni pulled herself off the ground, now able to stand on her two legs. "Noire? What's happening? I feel… fine? I can walk now? I just…"
Noire was at a loss of words and fell to tears.
"H-hey sis!?" Uni stood confused as Noire ran up and wrapped her arms around Uni tightly.
"I thought I'd lose you… I really did you know?" Noire's word choked through her tears. She looked back at Neptune and Vert "You guys… how the hell am I ever going to make this all up to you? I tried to…"
Neptune stepped into comfort Noire, who fell into her arms. "Noire… just take care of Uni alright? Cherish the time you have with her, I have a lot of catching up to do with my own sister, okay?"
Noire nodded with her face dug into Neptune chest.
"Uh guys… this is nice and all but…" Plutia stared up at the crumbling ceiling. Roars of tectonic plates shifting against each other echoed through the large cave. The whole group jumped in panic as a large chunk of rock fell from the ceiling and their exit collapsed inward, crushing the lab nearby.
"Oh hell… not after all this" Vert wailed. "Is there any other way we can get out?"
Plutia duel wielded rocket launchers she pulled from her weapons bag and unloaded all her ammunition trying to blast away the rocks that fell down, but her attempt was null as the cave closed in further in further.
Vert held onto Nepgear, Noire held onto Uni, Plutia held onto Blanc and clutched Neptune tightly.
"Neptune! This isn't going to end this way! Right!? How the hell are we going to get out of here!?" Blanc pleaded.
Neptune smirked and closed her eyes as she looked up. "C'mon Blanc, remember what I said when we first got to this place?"
"That you'd protect me no matter what…" Blanc said nervously as another massive hunk of rock fell from the ceiling.
"How can I say I care about justice if I can't even fulfill a simple promise? I'll protect you, and everyone else here!" Neptune clenched her fist as an aura of white consumed her with a ring of power circling around her, Purple Heart returned, and she held her hand toward the ceiling. "This… is for all of us!"
Purple Heart summoned Miracle Edge and charged it with her energy. Three times, the blade extended, increasing its length drastically each time. "With this… the old-world ends, and ours BEGINS!" Purple Heart dashed toward the ceiling and unleashed a dimensional cut that opened a path to the surface of Celestia, she flew back down to Plutia and grabbed onto her, everyone connected hands and the goddess flew them to safety as the cave collapsed in behind them. Purple Heart looked back and caught one last glimpse of the crystal below, two transparent images of Iris Heart and Uzume waved her away as the cave fully collapsed inward, blocking them from Neptune's vision.
"Goodbye mom…" Purple Heart shed a single tear as she looked away and faced the sunlight ahead of her.
Act 1: Epilogue
~Two Days Later, A0 Forest~
The whole crew were relaxing at the great oak tree Plutia had brought them to before. It was a peaceful and serene view for Neptune, who was relaxing at the base of the tree, her shoulder acting as a rest for Blanc who was sitting to her right. Nepgear was at her left, also sleeping on her shoulder. She still was curious about the many things that happened in that cave days ago, but she brushed aside her curiosity. The chaos was over and that was all she really cared about.
She looked down at Plutia who was playing with Rom and Ram, the two chasing each other playing tag as they dashed across the field kicking up grass and dirt.
Vert was sitting down on a stool she brought, playing her cello as she harmonized with nature around her. The song she played reminded Neptune of a childhood she lost all those years ago.
Noire and Uni were sitting near a bush of roses, flowers donned each other's hair and the two were examining each other's firearms on a plaid sheet. Noire tried reassembling her revolver faster than Uni, but fumbled as the spring and hammer flew off, Noire pouted as Uni teased her.
They were all still shaken by the events that occurred two days ago, but with the company of each other, they slowly healed.
Neptune reopened her eyes, everyone in the field stopped as Mina Nishizawa entered the field and slowly approached Neptune.
"You all seem to be relaxing here… how peaceful." Mina looked up at the great oak tree Nepgear, Blanc, and Neptune were resting on. "Arfoire and Linda were taken into custody by Lowee's basilicom, they've been locked up in some old maximum-security solitary-confinement hellhole. A fitting place if you ask me."
"Good." Blanc spoke, rubbing her eyes as the sunlight breached through the leaves above her. "What about Artisan? Does the rest of the school know about what she did?"
"There's been rumors thrown about but overall, the common consensus still remains, Artisan died of cancer, and passed away as a hero. Financier's disappearance was covered up alongside the machine outbreak. The story among the populous is that Financier was sent to investigate some suspicious noises that were echoing in the distance from the underground areas beneath Lastation and Leanbox HQ, everyone believes that the machines went haywire after Financier discovered them. The Celestian council is paying for the damages done to both Faction's HQs."
"Does any of them know that we're all CPUs?" Nepgear asked, as she woke up as well.
"No, as of right now everyone views you all as normal students just like the rest. And… well I owe you Neptune for everything, so I'm going to make sure that secret stays a such for as long as I can." Mina kneeled down and faced Blanc. "I'm sorry for being so distant Blanc… for never treating you as I should've."
"Don't worry about it…" Blanc dismissively waved away Mina's apology. "If you needed to protect those twins… so be it, just let me have some more time with them… okay?"
Mina nodded and turned to face Neptune.
"You know Neptune… you don't have to stay here anymore… the whole protection job was a lie. You can go back to your normal life now."
Neptune let out a heartfelt laugh, she looked back at all her friends, her heart jolting as she saw each one smile. "Mina… all things created will eventually be destroyed… so let me hold onto this and protect this… these friendships I've made for as long as I can. Alright?"
"Right… I guess your tuition and rent is on me." Mina lamented as she looked down at her credit card, the digital display on it lit up red for a brief moment as an automatic transaction took place. "By the way, this place, this field, it's kinda weird isn't it? Seems a lot larger on the inside than it is on the outside, also everyone having to enter one at a time is also pretty weird, ain't it?" Mina said nervously, hoping to continue the conversation.
"I've been thinking about a name for the place" Blanc pondered as she scanned through her diary. "I've been thinking of many names, not even Plutia made a name for it despite knowing it was here for this long. I know it doesn't really need one but… man I could just relax here for the rest of my like, you know?"
"What about… Miracle?" Neptune stood up and summoned Miracle Edge, its blue blade had recently turned purple, reflecting her new goddess form.
"Miracle… yeah…" Blanc stood up next to Neptune, the two were looking at the sun slowly setting in the distance. "The fact that we made it through all that alive, is kinda a miracle aint it?"
"Not all of us…" Neptune looked solemnly at the sunset in the distance. "Don't mind me… just… I…" Neptune thought deeply about her mother. She realized that her mother, in truth, were two different people. Or rather, that she had two different mothers, one that destroyed the image of CPUs for the rest of Gamindustri's history, and another that saved her from Uranus's assassination attempt all those years ago. "I know she did terrible things…" Neptune placed her hand over her heart, as much as she wanted to be comforted by her new friends, she knew there was a void inside that her mother left behind.
"Neptune… even a goddess must die when her time in the world has passed." Mina lamented. "But if Artisan can be remembered as a hero despite all that she's done, then you can preserve the memory of the woman who saved you all those years ago, even if the rest of the world won't."
Neptune remembered how Uzume lived on in Nepgear's infinite requiem, and wondered if she was there inside her own, but she brushed away the naïve thought immediately. The last she saw of her mother's spiritual form was in that crystal that was buried deep below Celestia to possibly never be seen again.
"So… Blanc. Have we decided on naming this place Miracle?"
"Yeah! The more I think about it, I really like it!" Blanc excitingly shouted.
"I wonder…" Neptune transformed into Purple Heart and held her hand out to Blanc. "Would you like to get a better view of the sunset? These large walls of bushes do kinda get in the way of the view."
"Umm… sure? I don't know- AH!" Blanc shrieked as Purple Heart lifted her into her arms, carrying her damsel style as she slowly floated up high in the sky. Blanc was frightened looking down at the massive distance she had from the ground, but when she looked back up at Purple Heart's shining eyes under the sun-settled sky, all her fears washed away immediately.
The two gazed at the sunset and could feel the warmth from each other break into the other's soul. Blanc inched her face closer to Purple Heart's, the goddess closed in as well, and they kissed each other on the lips passionately as the sun fully set in the horizon.
End of Act 1