Authors Note - I will be posting a Gacha Club series to do with this Fic alongside the Chapters as they release; these will obviously be up first, but keep a lookout.
Channel - Venom Flame23 Youtube
Rebel 1 - Welcome To GameIndustri
(In the Monster Cave)
The sound of a heavy clash between metal against stone echoed out in the depths of a large underground cavern. Dust was kicked up around the environment, digging his feet into the ground; a man with spiky white hair let go of a held-in breath. He was sent sliding back, with his red jacket and black hakama fluttering against the gust kicked up by the swing of his much larger foe.
Known by many different names, The Man of the Blue, Grim Reaper, and The Bloodedge, his real name was Ragna. He scoffed while narrowing his eyes at the Vermin Guard, which released a hellish cry that shook the cave. " , look out!" a voice called out from Ragna's left, prompting him to dodge out of the way of several falling Stalactites.
His Green left eye darted to his two companions if he could really call the two girls that, with him being the only actual combatant at the moment. The first girl was shorter with light purple hair that barely touched her shoulders; her eyes were the same color as her hair and annoyingly zoned out to the problem they were facing. Her upbeat Hoodie dress hybrid was colored white, featuring purple stripes on the cuffs, lining, and a purple hood swaying against the winds from Ragna's battle.
"Compa, hurry up and shake Neptune out of whatever the hell is wrong with her!" Ragna yelled back at the second taller girl. She flinched for a moment, her light creamy hair and matching eyes shaking for a moment before nodding in understanding. He clicked his tongue, looking back at the Vermin Guard, who lunged forward at him.
Ragna flicked his giant sword, Bloodscythe clashing against the monster's spear. The ground cracked and splintered under the Reaper and the towering Vermin Guard. He scowled while musing to himself, "How did I get into this stupid-ass situation?"
(In the Boundary)
"Nnngh...ha." Ragna let out a grunt of pain, falling to one knee on the shadowy ground of the Boundary. Blood seeped from the dozens of wounds covering his body, following the single most brutal fight he'd ever had. Having watched his arch-nemesis, Terumi get swallowed by his own power and dissipate into the darkness of this hellish place.
The Boundary, where timelines, worlds, and even dimensions meet, it's considered the world's end where only oblivion and death await the foolish who would tamper with it. His teeth clenched as the blood dripping from his body landed onto the misty darkness of the Boundry, melding into it.
Darkness crawled up Ragna's body as his vision turned into a haze with each passing second; he clenched his teeth while thinking, "Damn it...urgh..can't hold on much longer..." he closed his eyes, thinking with some regret as he fell down one last time, "Sorry Jin...I can't keep our promise..." The shadows devoured his vision as unconsciousness took him over.
(In the Darkness)
It was strange; he should have been dead by every right, yet it felt like Ragna was falling. A peculiar light came over not his eyes but in his mind, with a whisper touching his ears. "Please...Reaper...Protect Neptune.."
"Who are you...sss...how do you know...I'm the Reaper...What do you mean by protect...ngh...Neptune?" Ragna grumbled his response out to the light. There was a moment of silence, then the light dimmed and, an almost static effect buzzed in the space around Ragna.
"Please...," the weakening light begged, "Please, my time is running short...for this world...protect Neptune...she is the key to saving everything...myself included." Ragna gritted his teeth in hesitance.
He had already waged literal war against a government that made the world his enemy, battled gods, and failed the duty of an older brother, having been forced to claim his own little sister's life. Wasn't he due his final rest...but that's not what they would him to do...Saya, Noel, hell, maybe even Jin would be disappointed if he just refused to help someone this desperate.
Desperate enough to look at him, the Grim Reaper, a man who has claimed enough souls to be synonymous with a death god and believes him to be good enough to put the fate of an entire world in his hands. Releasing a sigh of annoyance, Ragna replied to the light, "Look...I...I'll do what I can, but I can't promise much in the state I'm in now."
"Th...ank..y..o..u." her joyful reply was barely heard over the growing static and added choppiness as the light faded out slowly. Then, before Ragna could even think about being concerned for the voice, he felt his head slam against something wooden, knocking him out.
(With Neptune and Compa)
"Um, you know what, I am a bit hungry. Uh, do you have any food I can eat?" Neptune asked Compa leaning forward's a bit; the large N zipper for her hoodie dress shook slightly. When Compa was going to tell Neptune, she didn't have much to eat with a somewhat embarrassed look when a groan of anguish caught their attention.
Neptune forgot her hunger momentarily, remembering that when she woke, she was laid next to a man wrapped in far more bandages than she was. With several grunts, he pushed himself up the blanket falling down to reveal his muscled bandaged up chest. He raised his right arm to his face; it was made of a sleek black metal that seemed to be perfectly fused into his shoulder.
Finally, moving his hand down from his face, the man opened his eyes, revealing that his right eye was red, with the left being green. Unable to contain herself, Neptune leaped up, calling out, " Waah!? No way are you here to try and steal my spotlight as the main character?!"
Ragna looked Neptune, who was accusingly pointing at him before gaining a scowl, and replied to her in a gruff tone, "The hell are you going on about brat?" Compa then decided to step in with a few beads of sweat running down her forehead.
"Um, sir, please excuse Nep-Nep she likes to say random things at times." Compa did a slight bow to the man on the bed while getting in front of Neptune. Ragna looked at her; he made a little noise of acknowledgment before growling out in response, "Tch, whatever, where the hell am I anyway?"
Compa then replied, slightly intimidated at Ragna's imposing figure, "Well, you see uh, sir, your in my home, and uh may I ask do you remember everything just fine?" Ragna blinked for a moment at her. It was a slightly strange question but taking a moment to gather himself, he felt there wasn't anything he'd forgotten.
"Yeah, my head hurts like hell, but I remember who I am," Ragna responded; there was a slight hitch that the girls barely missed; the past wasn't a perfect place for Ragna.
Compa sighed in relief before responding, "Well, that's good you see Neptune here lost her memory and, I didn't think working with two amnesiacs would work out well." Ragna looked at the other girl who was still staring at him with this annoying glare of suspicion. Gritting his teeth, Ragna tried to soften his expression out of some understanding he knew how much of a brain rattler amnesia could be.
"Right, well, the name's Ragna...just Ragna." The Reaper decided to leave out his Bloodedge title to avoid unsettling the girls any further. However, he ultimately shut one eye while adding, "No sir, Mrs or anything like that proper speech shit, I'm just Ragna simple as that."
Compa swallowed some spit, thinking, "I really did bring some interesting people home, huh." she then coughed into her hand before replying hesitantly, " Well. Um anyways, " Compa started as friendly as she could," I'm Compa, a nurse in training. I found you with little...eep!" She let out a small yelp of surprise as Neptune pushed in front of her.
"And I'm Neptune. So Rags, since Compa found you not so far from me, would ya know who I am?" Neptune said that with a hopeful expression and, Ragna returned it with a slightly regretful look, trying to kill off the dryness he wanted to use from hearing his hated pet name given to him by Terumi.
Crushing her hopes, Ragna reproachfully replied, "Yeah, sorry, kiddo but, I don't know you..." Neptune's brought her head down as if to silently answer; oh, and with a slight breath, Ragna attempted to reassure her, "Look, I may not know who you are, but I've had amnesia once myself. So, just give it time and, you'll remember who you were before."
While Neptune's expression gained some light to it from Ragna's comforting, the Reaper himself turned his mind to something else. "Wait a second...is this the Neptune that light wanted me to protect?" It really only crossed his mind because of how to set up this all felt. He was so lost in thought, Ragna didn't even notice the eyes on him.
"You need something?" Ragna commented while finally picking up he was being stared at, and Compa replied with a surprisingly serious tone, " , you've had amnesia before?" Compa's wording of his name made Ragna's eyebrow twitch in annoyance, but, deciding not to comment on it, he only gave a sigh in return.
He failed to realize that made Compa all the more worried for him, wondering if she had accidentally pulled on a sore nerve. Before Compa could apologize for what she assumed she did wrong, Neptune's stomach grumbled and, her disgruntled expression almost did the complaining for her...almost.
"Uooo Compa, Ragna! I'm hungry. Do you seriously have anything I can eat?" Neptune whined out, leaving Compa looking slightly guilty for leaving one of her "patients" unattended and, Ragna looked annoyed being reminded of a particular glutton cat he knew.
Compa gave a nervous look, her eyes aiming down to her feet before responding weakly, "Well, I really don't have much at the moment. But, well, you could have some pudding." Raga blinked for a second; now, he really wasn't the person to talk food with. If he wasn't dine and dashing, he lived off the land catching his meals while running from the NOL. With that in mind, he was also reasonably sure pudding wasn't much to fill up on before doing anything.
Pudding...what's a pudding?" Compa looked surprised, and Ragna almost wanted to laugh. He couldn't help but imagine Noel or Amaterasu forbid Rachel hearing such a thing; the blood-sucking Rabbit would be up in arms over someone not knowing their sweets. But, unfortunately, he was a victim to such things all the time, especially if somehow that gate guardian Es was involved.
Ragna gritted his teeth over calling back to some of the better times he had with the Rabbit and the short Gatekeeper. Then, with the Reaper grimacing over his past, Compa asked Neptune with more than a bit of concern in her tone, "You don't know what a pudding is?" her eyes widened in shock, crying out, "Oh no did you forget about foods too?!"
"Hmm," Neptune took a moment to reply, "I mean, I remember cake an' stuff, so I guess I really just don't know what it is." Compa's reply was to rush off to the kitchen to get some puddings, leaving Ragna and Neptune alone.
Ragna then thought for a moment, the wind from the open window of the disgustingly overdecorated and cutesy room, blowing against his bandaged chest, "Wait a second." he looked over at Neptune, wondering what his chances were to get a straight answer from her. Then, swallowing the bitter pill that was asking Neptune anything with how Tao-like she was looking to be, he brought up, "Hey Neptune, where the hell is the top of my hakama and my jacket?"
"Oh, it's over there on the dresser next to the window, with that big as hell sword thingy," Neptune replied, taking Ragna by complete surprise since he expected her to run him through a loop. While getting up, Ragna gave her his thanks and, Neptune returned with a small your welcome while averting her eyes from Ragna, an embarrassed flush on her cheeks from noticing how toned he was.
After slipping on the hakama and, the jacket he could tell it had been worked on since it was slightly tighter than before. However, he didn't really mind it; of course, his fight with Terumi had done a number on his personal treasure, so having it repaired alone was enough for him.
Compa returned moments after he had gotten dressed, puddings in hand. Seeing Ragna with his jacket, she mentioned, "Um, , are you okay with how your jacket feels? Unfortunately, I didn't have much material, so I had to improvise a bit while sewing it up."
"It's a bit tight, honestly, but I can live with it." There was a pause to Ragna's voice before he clutched his right arm, and the look in his eyes softened considerably. Ragna continued by saying, "Thanks for fixing this. It's...really important to me."
Compa gave a small smile to Ragna and replied, "I'm happy that I could preserve something precious to you, , even if the work I did on it was dodgy at best." In response, Ragna let loose the smallest of smiles; it was strange how calm he felt here. Maybe it was from still riding the high of accomplishing his goal and, even though he didn't recreate the world like he wanted, ultimately, with him and Terumi gone, it would be a better place, in his opinion at least.
Ragna also just felt tranquil, even in a disgustingly cute room with two girls he didn't know. Something just felt excellent about it all, really. No death threats, no rushing to bring up his sword or the Azure to eat some slice of a blade or sudden tank-like punch, and, really, despite supposedly being here to stop the end of the world, somehow there wasn't some pressing urgency in his spine to haul ass to get it done and over with. Like he could go with the flow of things and not mind too much at all about the consequences.
Still, his eyes wandered to the Azure that took the form of his right arm; he had it somewhat under control at this point. Still, it wasn't perfect, nor was he certain this place had any seither to power the Azure. He might throw something as simple as Dead Spike and literally shut his arm and right eye down permanently. But, considering the stakes, it could be a fool's bet to use the Azure recklessly or an ace in the hole.
Before Ragna could spend the rest of the day just debating if using the Azure was worth the hassle and answering the questions having such a dark power would raise. Compa interrupted his train of thought, however, raising a pudding to Ragna's face. She continued smiling at Ragna while Neptune chowed down on her pudding; he took it hesitantly, saying," Thanks, but you didn't need to get me one."
"Of course I did silly, it wouldn't be right for me and Nep-Nep to eat in front of you without even offering." Compa said that while puffing out her cheeks out at him cutely. Ragna wasn't aware of it at the moment, but the reason he was so accepting of his current position was simple. These girls were showing him something his long battle-filled life lacked, and that was common human decency.
In his old world, Ragna was treated generally as a criminal and a monster. But, really, the only reason he could chill in a restaurant and be served was that most, MOST sensible people don't try and attack a man who can level city blocks with one-handed sword swings. Here he wasn't facing that pressure. But, of course, he hadn't mentioned his past either.
The Grim Reaper started eating his pudding just as Neptune finished her own, and, with stars in her eyes, she told Compa in an almost squeal, "The tantalizing sweetness melts away on my tongue! This is the best!" Afterward, her look was practically one of pure euphoria.
"Tch, can you quiet down? It's just some pudding," Ragna grumbled while picking at his ear from the girl's loudmouth. Honestly, he had better pudding in his life, having been forced to sit through lunch with Rachel and her little sweets time.
Neptune looked at Ragna in pure shock before exclaiming, "
Just some pudding, Rags. This stuff tastes unique way better than anything I've had before." She then turned to Compa, saying, "Gosh, it just tastes so amazing. It must have been made by a world-class chef."
"I made it myself, actually." There was a slight swell of pride in Compa's tone, along with a bit of hesitance as she replied. Ragna wondered if it was just store-bought, but being homemade gave it a bit more flavor overall.
Neptune responded with a smile, telling Compa, "Well, I think Compa is a genius." Compa grinned at the compliment as Ragna finished his own pudding off. The nurse turned her eyes to Ragna, looking at him for his opinion.
"I think it was pretty good," He told her with a more casual tone, though Compa responded by hopping up and skipping off to get more enjoying the appreciation she was receiving.
(A small-time later)
"Man, your homemade pudding is amazing, Compa." Compa giggled at Neptune's satisfaction while Ragna was slightly off-put by her seemingly sultry tone.
Compa then asked, " So, what are you gonna do now, Nep-Nep?" That question reminded Ragna of his actual goal of being here and made him wonder what should be done.
"Well, I wanna know what's going on so, I'm going to go back to where I was found." Neptune gave an actually reasonable response overall, which made Ragna snicker. Something told him that if Neptune was the first one to shoot up a good idea, he was in for a hell of a ride.
Compa told her while going to stand up, "Ooh! Then, I can take you there, Nep-Nep." clapping her hands together as Neptune hopped up in a happy cheer, both turned to Ragna next.
Neptune asked, glowing with happiness, "So, you coming along to Rags?" Compa followed it up with, "It would be nice to have you along with us, ."
"I've got nowhere else to be right now, so why the hell not." He answered while coming to a stand; he moved back over to the dresser. Leaning on the dresser's side was his weapon Bloodscythe; it was an odd-looking sword for sure(I can't adequately describe it, sorry). Ragna picked the large weapon with an expert spin, locking it onto his back by the belts crossed slightly above his waist.
Compa then muttered, "So that's what they are for." Ragna held in a slight chuckle since the statement reminded him of something Noel would say. The nurse then continued to do a little bow, "Thank you for coming along, ."
"Heh, alright, our party's lookin good from the get-go, Compa lead the way." Neptune cried out with excitement shining in her eyes. Compa was the first out of the house, walking calmly alongside Neptune, who was bouncing around like a puppy, and Ragna following behind in stride, taking in the scenery of this new world.
Fresh, clean air, a beautiful shining sky and, nature just thriving. No twisted shadows of what once was before Seither consumed everything below sea level.
(In Virtua Forest)
"So," Neptune started with a look of wonder, "Is this where I was eloquently lodged into the ground?" After saying that, Ragna's head turned to Compa's with an eyebrow raised, looking for an answer.
Said nurse sweatdropped in reply before continuing on to say, "You see, I saw Nep-Nep come shooting down from the sky and get lodged into the ground like soul sword."
"Hmph," Neptune made a noise of disapproval; she went on to correct Compa with, " It was Excalibur Compa, not Soul..(mumbling noises).."
Compa nodded in agreement, replying, "Yeah, it was Excalibur, not Soul...(mumbling noises)...I always get the two confused" Ragna's eyebrow twitched as he thought, "Of all the bits to keep in this one, really?"
"Anyways, I found you both further in, but..." Compa's tone became more serious suddenly, catching Neptune off-guard and made Ragna's eyes narrow, "Monsters are crawling all over the place now. So we'll have to make our way there carefully." Ragna snickered. He faced a god of destruction, a time-slicing hero and, the monster that was Azreal; nothing this world had could make him budge.
Neptune gave a questioning look while asking, "Monster?" she then pointed at the two dog-like blue jellies, "Like those blue, jelly dog things over there." Ragna scoffed at the four creatures flopping their way over to pick a fight with the party.
Compa gave an affirmative before beginning a discussion with Neptune, as Ragna seemingly took in the enemies. "Small fry like this is barely worth drawing Bloodscythe for, whatever I'll end this quickly." In the small moment Ragna had taken, Compa brought up detail of interest.
"No, the monsters only started popping up out of nowhere about a year ago." She seemed slightly exasperated at this detail, not that Ragna really paid it too much attention because he began thinking, "So, this monster problem might be part of the saving the world thing, still don't see how Neptune can help solve it, though."
While spouting something about XP, Neptune pulled a wooden sword out of nowhere, flicking it into a point toward's the monsters. Compa showed some concern, of course, saying, "Um, Nep-Nep, are you sure you can fight?"
"Et Tu Compa, do you not believe in me?!" Neptune cried out in an exaggerated tone that made Ragna roll his eyes. Compa puffed out her cheeks in response before saying, "It's not that Neptune, it's just looks formidable but, um, you on the other hand."
Neptune waved off her concern while swinging her wooden sword haphazardly as Ragna's eyes looked at how the monsters just stood in place. He didn't really acknowledge what Neptune was saying while thinking, "Tch, wish someone would give me that type of courtesy before a fight."
"Okay, If you really think so, I can leave it up to you and to protect me. I'll fight with you both!" Compa gained a confident grin and, she then mumbled, "Um, just let me get this out real quick." she turned around, fumbling with something before revealing her weapon.
Ragna gave swallowed some spit and, Neptune froze with a bit of fear in her expression. The Reaper had seen some real special weapons in his life, from swords more giant than his bloodscythe, a staff that could grow legs and arms, and even explosive fire gauntlets, but this was something else. In Compa's arms was a syringe nearly as tall as her with a needle that would go from his elbow to his wrist, filled with some strange liquid.
Neptune immediately tried to question where the syringe came from as Ragna, with a sweatdrop, decided to use Bloodscythe if only to limit the number of monsters having to suffer a wound from that. He shook his head before scowling out, "Forget where it came from, and let's get this over with already."
"Eh, quit rushing dialog, Rags, it's not cool, ya..." Before Neptune could finish complaining at the Reaper, suddenly...
( Neptunia Battle theme start!)
Neptune's eyes widened while she exclaimed, "Don't you dare cut me off with battle music!" Though the short, noisy girl wanted to continue barking at Ragna, she was once again stopped, though this time by Compa, who called out, "Me and Nep-Nep will take the two over here, okay, ?"
Ragna nodded, slowly walking toward his opponents, which both shivered at the menacing aura that Ragna held. The two dogoos were hesitant and only leaped to headbutt Ragna when he drew too close. He made a slight noise before, with a swift swipe of Bloodscythe, split the two dogoos in half, leaving them to burst into data mid-air, catching Ragna off-guard.
Nearly a few seconds after, both the girls defeated their enemies as well.
(Music end)
"Woohoo, we won," Neptune cheered before looking to Ragna, asking, "That was a good workout, huh Rags." Ragna looked at her, slightly disappointed, replying, "Workout, please, these guys barely are worth grunt status."
Compa then told the both of them, " , Nep-Nep were almost there just a bit further." Ragna nodded while Neptune rushed over to Compa, still brimming with energy. The Reaper decided to take a moment through and scowl, thinking, "Tch, I'm getting too comfortable with this already, we've got shit to do...but annoyingly enough, something tells me this is more complicated than what was going on in my world."
(Minutes Later)
"Here is where I found you guys," Compa told them, presenting the two with a sight that made Ragna whistle. It was a massive hole in the ground, making him believe Neptune was a little than a bit lodged. But, in fact, the Reaper couldn't help but consider the girl came down like Tager using an Astral.
Neptune just muttered out in amazement, "Woah, that's a huge hole right there." Compa nodded and, Ragna couldn't help but comment, "Just damn, how hard is head your Neptune?"
"Oh, don't bully her, , and Nep-Nep, do you feel like your remembering anything." Compa intervened before Neptune could retort at Ragna's poking fun of her and tried to change the subject to something more relevant.
It took Neptune a moment; she tried thinking really hard, making Ragna grumble out, "Don't go overheating yourself." she snapped to looking at Ragna and hissed out, " Oh, because your advice is so helpful, Rags."
Compa would reprimand the two of them with a motherly tone and get things back on track. Then there was a mighty earthquake that shook the ground, and Compa gained a frightened look when the earth she was standing on shattered under her sending her into a fall. Neptune was closest to her and dived to grab Compa's hand; Ragna barely managing to catch Neptune's leg in time as Neptune held Compa.
"Damnit, you two need to think more before you, ac...shit!" Just as Ragna's footing was stable enough for him to toss Compa and Neptune to safety. More of the ground gave way, sending them all hurtling into the pit.
Chapter 1 end