"C-Buster!"

Immediately after she fired her shots, the four flaming orbs sent out a meteor shower of smaller fireballs. They rammed into the shots with an uncanny accuracy, creating a giant smoke cloud between her and Amber Heart.

C-Sha leaped up a nearby tree when she felt the tremor. Seconds later, the spot she had been standing on burst into flames. Amber Heart's gauntlets soon hit the ground again. With a loud "Alpha Wave!" shout, flames snaked across the ground, surging straight towards her.

She glided out of the way. When her heels touched solid earth again, the trees behind her were already a pile of charred splinters. Before she could take a breath, Amber Heart was in front of her, leg slamming towards her face.

"A.M.B.E.R. KicK!"

C-Sha whipped out her great sword for a block, but the impact still sent her sliding backwards, wincing. Darn. That kick hit almost as hard as Blanc's hammer.

Batting the flurry of uppercuts away with multiple wide swings, C-Sha aimed for Amber Heart's wings with the last overhead slam. Can't let her fly off and start hurling fireballs again.

In a split second, Amber Heart turned, one arm raised in front of her face in a defensive stance. The sword connected with her gauntlet, creating a burst of sparks on its metallic surface. She wasn't even pushed back.

"Ooh! Spin to win! I like that!"

Amber Heart gripped one of the teeth on the sword's spine with her free hand, yanking it towards her. C-Sha released her hold on the weapon before she could be dragged along with it, but was still thrown off balance. The sword was soon tossed across the sky, and vanished in their sight. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the four floating flame orbs, zooming down towards Amber Heart—

"I can spin too! Firebird Dance!"

Amber Heart soared into the air with a backflip. In the blink of an eye, she was somersaulting towards C-Sha, flaming orbs spinning around her like a fiery tornado. C-Sha ducked down and dodged the charge, but one of the orbs still grazed her shoulder.

She grimaced at the smell of burnt hair and clothes. This wasn't good. She couldn't match Amber Heart in raw power. Sooner or later, she'd run out of stamina, or get careless.

Amber Heart was in the air again, fists raised overhead. Another one of her flaming shockwave punches.

If she was fast enough, maybe she could...

Right before she touched the ground, C-Sha sprinted towards her in a running leap, propelled by the wings on her hips. Amber Heart didn't even flinch, as she took C-Sha's kick to the stomach. But it interrupted her punch, giving C-Sha the precious few seconds she needed to charge up her own attack.

"Super Combo!"

The energy waves around her swept up a cloud of dirt with each punch and kick she unleashed. Even Amber Heart was looking a little more serious now, as the increasingly intense attacks began to push her back.

After one last arching kick, C-Sha put all her focus on her right fist, and channeled every bit of her available power into the punch. The blinding vortex of energy blast engulfed Amber Heart upon contact.

But this alone wouldn't be enough. She leaped up, the buster on her arm extending and charging up.

There was no need to aim carefully. The giant beam of light pierced into the ground like a spear of heavenly fire, clearing a path through the veil of mist, before exploding in a spectacular firework. When C-Sha landed on the ground, she could see nothing but charred earth and tree trunks within the blast radius.

Except for the smiling, dirt-coated figure at the middle, arms crossed in front of her face—

How how how was she still standing and unscathed?

"Denshi! Dunk!"

Her reflexes kicked in a second too late. Amber Heart's gauntlet broke through her blocking stance and hit her in the stomach, launching her into the air, followed by a cracking punch to the face. Her vision went dark for a brief moment as she slammed into the ground, and someone let out a horrified yell from afar.

She tasted copper on her lips, and her stomach ached with every gasp. Ow. That was going to bruise.

"ARE YOU OKAY?"

Seconds later, C-Sha found herself staring at Amber Heart's concerned face, before the CPU swung a hand over her shoulder and carried her up.

"Did you always ask that question...after punching someone?"

It wasn't too rough, as far as injuries went, and after a few deep breaths and some stretching, she was walking on her own again. But the shortness of breath and the pain served as a good reminder. A second round was unlikely to result in her victory, no matter how much she wanted to keep on fighting.

"Phew, you are one tough cookie! I had to use 61.5% of my total strength for that block!" Amber Heart gave her a thumbs-up. "Which reminds me, I gotta' take a snack break now. Your world sure is full of real hot dogs, but I don't wanna die a second time. Bye-bye! Tell Asa I say hello!"

Before C-Sha could question her on the oddly specific percentage number, Amber Heart disappeared in a flash of light, and Asa slumped to the ground, clutching the shard to her chest.

"Kill me now," she muttered, swinging an arm over her forehead.

"Hey, that's not a happy victory quote," C-Sha said, before letting out a sigh. "Well, can't believe I lost. Guess I've gotten a little rusty. Buuuut, as promised, I won't pry. Your HDD's pretty rad, and she said hello—"

"That," Asa's expression darkened as she sat up. For a second, there was murder in her eyes, "is not me. And the deal she struck meant jack shit to me."

"So you are still telling us everything?"

Asa nodded grudgingly, without a word.

"...I guess Asa isn't your real name, either?"

Both of them turned at the inquiry. Mr. Esaka was still standing behind the magical barrier, barely visible on the horizon. C-Sha winced at the hurt in his voice, before she even moved close enough to see his slumped back and dejected expression.

"Yeah, old chap. Having two of your closest buddies turned out to be Goddesses-in-disguise must've been pretty rough." C-Sha gave Asa a slightly pointed look, "But I'm sure once she told us the reasons, she'd make a proper apology."

"That's not it. Though really, Asa girl, you shouldn't have done that." He shook his head, "I saw your moves. Even if you weren't a Goddess, the speed, the stances...and I thought I'd have anything worthwhile to teach you! You've honed your arts of fighting to perfection! No wonder you've been barely tolerating me, every time I start promoting the monkey tricks I call a martial arts style—"

"Your style ain't monkey tricks, and you know it. No bumbling monkeys can beat me, even back when I was a kid."

C-Sha's attempt at lightening the mood only resulted in a bigger frown. "That's all in the past. I quitted the business, just 'cause I'm a lovestruck fool, and you saw how it all goes downhill. Lousy at choosing girlfriends, lousy at settling divorce lawsuits, couldn't stop Aruza from taking away our baby, only good at drowning myself in drinks and pachinko tokens..."

"C'mon, you've been making up for it!"

"I mean, yeah. But I'm not so cool anymore, no matter how much I miss the old days," He took a deep breath, "So when some grumpy girl with her eyes walked into the arcade, the first thing I thought was, wow, if my little Tommoka was still out there somewhere, she'd be as rowdy and tomboyish as her, and equally pissed at me. For leaving her to that drunken gambler woman."

"If I looked just a little closer, I'd know I was kidding myself. But I wanted to be a hero my own kid never had while growing up, let the cocky kickass fighter in me live on through someone else, so much so that it blinded me to the obvious..." He untied the pink cape, and it fell to the ground in a heap. "Guess I really am the worst detective ever."

"Darn, old chap, don't talk about yourself like that—"

Mr. Esaka didn't even look back, as he started walking away. "I'll be on my way back. To the big camp. Time to end this silly adventure. Lord Okada must've been hella' lonely in his boarding home, and I'd hate to trouble that kind ol' couple any longer."

"Wait!" C-Sha shouted after him, before realizing that Asa had yelled out the same thing, in unison with her.

"Sorry for pestering you, C-gal. Don't be too harsh on Asa. I'm sure she has her reasons."

After uttering one last sentence, he was gone. Rubis, who had been watching the conversation quietly from the side, picked up the discarded cape before turning in their directions.

"Don't worry. I'll be going with him," she said. "I assume you'll catch up with us later?"

Upon receiving a nod, she vanished at an even faster speed, leaving the two of them alone in the midst of the wreckage. Asa's face scrunched up, before she shifted her gaze back to the shard. She didn't even seem to notice C-Sha, as she sat down next to her.

"Yeah. That's not how I expected to start my day." C-Sha brushed the burnt hair out of her face, and winced a little at the burn on her shoulder. "It's fine if you've changed your mind about telling us everything, just so you know. But we should really get going. That other CPU from your world had shown up a while ago, and Blanny could really use some help—"

"I haven't changed my mind." Asa looked up. "For starters, my full name is Minerva Asayama. I'm the Goddess of Shin-Nikin, and I hated every fucking second I spent under that title."

"Your people wanted a Goddess more powerful than Planeptune and Lowee's CPUs combined?" C-Sha tilted her head. "Wow, they sure got their wish."

"They'd die otherwise."

"Why?"

"Planeptune's CPU wanted to build a navy base on the island across the strait. Lowee didn't want that." Asa let out a bitter chuckle. "None of them gave a crap about some nationless heretics that were in the way. So the heretics created their own CPU, to beat the shit out of anyone who tried to set foot on their island again."

"Planeptune's CPU tried to crush the nation in its infancy. She got her ass kicked. Lowee's retired CPU sailed to the island to ask for an alliance against Planeptune. She also got her ass kicked. That pissed off her sister, who tried to get even, and, surprise surprise, got her ass kicked. No CPUs came to Shin-Nikin after that."

"Geez, I wonder why."

"Not just CPUs. Regular visitors got a free beating from the people, too," Asa said. "This went on for...most of my life. Till the Shift Period came. Great. More wars on the mainland they didn't care about. Some brats were saying we couldn't keep to ourselves forever, that we needed progress. Whatever. I'm a simple-minded brute. Not a visionary."

"One day, they saw flames from across the strait. Weeks later, some jets landed on the island, after dodging all the cannon fires. They were ready to pump the jets full of bullets. Even after they saw the white flag, and the injured people inside. I told them to put the weapons down, shut the fuck up, and listen."

"The pilots said they were from Tari. A nation named Panason had risen in the east, and attacked Tari after their CPU refused to hand over a criminal to one of its major cities. They weren't asking me to fight their battles for them, and only wanted us to shelter the refugees. So I let them stay. The news came through after a month of delay. Their kid CPU was dead, to no one's surprise."

"A year later, Panason attacked us too. Talking about some 'uniting the entire continent' bullshit, nothing new here. We fought. This time, we lost. No matter how strong I was, it was the fucking Shift Period, and there were only so many people on this tiny island, no matter how tightly-knit they were."

"Finally, I faced Ryll, that chain-wielding brat. I went down, but not before beating her to within an inch of her life." Asa closed her eyes. "That balmy, brain-dead HDD of mine had put up a good fight, I'd give her that."

"Aww. I felt so sorry for Amber. She sure likes you a lot, and maybe you can show a little more love for her—?"

"Being nice will kill me. Literally." Asa grumbled, and held up her shard. "Not exaggerating. Every time I transformed, I used up some of the Shares inside this shard. Since I had zero believers here, when it runs out, I'll be dead. Again."

"Hmm. You have any idea how you were brought back?"

"Not a clue."

There was a long silence after that, punctuated only by the howling wind.

"Yeah. Losing your people, your nation, and waking up in the middle of nowhere..." C-Sha gave her a concerned look. "Is that why you hadn't told us? Because how terrible it feels?"

"I didn't tell you because it didn't matter." Asa's voice suddenly got a lot quieter. "A Goddess is just a tool of war, nothing more. No matter how much I hated it, hated them, I couldn't leave my people for dead. I've fulfilled my duty when I died with them, and my war is over...until some assholes dragged me back into another dimension, that is. Because why the fuck not."

"Still, this might be my chance at having a normal life. A real normal life. Not some stupid fantasy I pieced out of cheesy..." Asa grimaced, "She sure is a good reminder. About how much I suck at the whole 'normal' thing."

"Eh, honestly, you've been pretty well-adjusted?" C-Sha smiled. "Not saying you don't have a few issues to work out. But you'd made friends and found a job like, what, a week after your revival?"

Asa lowered her head, scowling. "You are giving me too much fucking credit. I'm not over it."

"And that's okay! No one's expecting you to get over everything in such a short time—"

"I ran into Ryll before the break-in at the archive." Asa interrupted her. "I told her to go say her apology to that other kid she killed, and don't ever bother me again. Did you really think that wouldn't have given her ideas? Or not see how petty I was? How I just kept my mouth shut like a wuss afterwards, hoping it wouldn't come back and bite me?"

"Now that I've told you everything," Asa stood up, while C-Sha was still stunned, trying her best to digest the sudden revelation. "Whatever punishments you've decided on, I'll take it. It's only fair, after all the lies and bad attitude."

"You know, I've been in a place where lying seemed like the best choice, too." C-Sha put a hand on her shoulder, after catching up with her. "When I thought I could just keep everything to myself, no matter how much it tired and terrified me, and if I kept this up long enough, the problems would go away on their own. They didn't, and I ended up all alone and trapped. I almost gave up and chose to watch the nation burn."

"Blanny didn't punish me for it. She came to save me, and in turn, we saved Lowee together." The memories of her fellow Hunters, gathered behind the twins, ready to charge towards the horde of delusionary monsters—it still gave her warm fuzzy feelings. "I doubt she'll give you anything other than a light scolding, after she heard the whole story."

"You...can't be serious."

"I absolutely am." C-Sha reached out her other hand, and looked into Asa's eyes. "Let's go face the past together, and stop these two CPUs. And cheer up the poor old chap, too, once it's all over. I dunno how much faith I can give, but maybe it'll recharge your shard enough for a flight?"

Asa's hand was shaking when she reached out to C-Sha, and placed the shard in C-Sha's palm. Their hands clasped together in a tight grip, and C-Sha saw the briefest flash of a smile on her face, before the white light filled her vision.