-o-o-
-o-o- Fate of Beacon Academy -o-o-
CPUs vs Spirits (Part 1)
Spirits: Extraordinary beings from a different dimension. Through their own will or not, it is unknown, but each time they come through to this world, they create a spacequake that is similar to a bomb explosion which destroys everything that it engulfs. Each individual Spirit is unique in personality, power, and their knowledge of the world...but when pushed in the wrong direction, they all break just as easily.
Plutia yawned sleepily and she unexpectedly used Yoshino's lap as a pillow while murmuring her name, which...almost gave the poor child a heart attack.
Kotori opened a fresh new lollipop and chucked it in her mouth, "Planeptune, was it?"
"Yep!"
Kotori eyes slowly dragged themselves over to Plutia who was practically half asleep, "And she's also-"
"Yep!" Neptune interrupted, "but she's a from a different parallel version of Planeptune."
"But she still owns an entire kingdom called Planeptune." Kotori's statement came out sounding more like a query.
"Yep!" Neptune exclaimed proudly.
"And there are thousands of people who have 'faith' in you."
"Yep!"
She was finding this to be very hard to believe. No matter how she looked at Neptune and Plutia, they both just seemed to be two lazy little girls. Yet they're supposed to be rulers over an entire kingdom of people?!
"Oh God help your people."
"Hey that's mean! And for your information, it's actually Goddess." Neptune said arrogantly.
That's right. Kotori remembered. Apparently their GODDESSES as well?! Kotori knew they were from a completly different world but this was straight up unbelievable.
Yoshinon the puppet began laughing which resulted in Yoshino covering its mouth.
"Wait..." Kotori looked at Neptune with great concern, "But if you're here, who's running your kingdom. Aren't you worried?!"
"Oh don't worry," Neptune crossed her arms proudly, "I'm sure Histy has it under control."
"Histy?"
"Oh she's my fairy guarding. Although she's soooo annoying," Neptune then did her own impression of Histoire and mimic her tone, "She's always nagging like: Neptune! Stop lazing around this! Start doing your work that! Stop playing games 24/7! Why do you sleep so much!?"
Kotori stared at Neptune as she continued her mocking impressions of Histoire. Everything about Neptune's world...was finally starting to make sense. Kotori sighed in relief, "Oh okay, that's good. So there is a sane person running your kingdom. Got it."
"Oi!" Neptune pouted with an annoyed.
"Moving on!" Kotori said, ignoring Neptune's complaints, "You're so called 'CPU' form you used back at the initiation test interested me. Do you mind if you show it to me now."
Neptune grinned. Finally, a chance for Neptune to show Kotori how amazing she was as the main character. She ran to her drawer and pulled out her share cystal.
A bright light blinded both Yoshino and Kotori.
The light faded and standing before Kotori was a much more mature woman who looked nothing like Neptune.
"Well what do you think? impressive isn't it?" Purple Heart asked as she flicked her hair.
Kotori flinched. She had seen it before but seeing up close, it seems her suspicions were true: Neptune's transformation not only changed her overall appearance but also her personality.
"Although it seems both personalities are just as arrogant," Kotori thought to herself as she headed for the door, "Come with me."
Purple Heart titled her head, "Where are we going?"
"Were having a mock battle. If we're going to be on the same team, then I need to have a clear image on where your skills are at."
Purple Heart didn't expect that but felt excited at the idea, "Of course...but if I win, you'll nominate me as the rightful leader of this team."
"Whoa, even her vocabulary improves after transformation," Kotori thought to herself as she opened the door for Purple Heart, "very well then."
Purple Heart vs Kotori Itsuka
...
15 minutes later.
The final blow was dealt.
Yoshino clapped softly.
Plutia was clueless.
Kotori sighed.
Neptune reverted back into her original transformation as her back hit the ground
Winner: Kotori Itsuka
At first, Neptune couldn't tell what happened as imaginary Neptune plushies floated above her head.
As her tongue danced with her lollipop, the official leader of Team KNPY contemplated the battle, "This is going to be a long day."
Yoshinon pointed at Neptune and laughed hence Yoshino had to once again shut its mouth.
Neptune snapped out of her daydream. She sat up and pouted at Kotori, "Hey! No fair! You kept regenerating!"
"Well it's not like I can do anything about that," Kotori argued.
The pair shared a few more scene of pure banter. Plutia got sleepy and fell on Yoshino's shoulder which again...almost petrified the poor child.
"By the way," Kotori pointed at the glowing crystal Neptune used to transform, "what's that and where did you even get it?"
"Oh this is a share crystal!" Neptune answered, "You see I usually can transform by myself but when I go to another world I can't."
Neptune spoke as if traveling different worlds was a normal thing which baffled Kotori.
"But thanks to this crystal that Jason gave me, I can transform whenever and wherever I want as long as I have it," Neptune explained, "I kid you not, it's like the most useful thing I've ever been given. I might even keep it as a souvenir when I get back home."
Kotori crossed her arms as she observed Neptune as she held the crystal with such gentle care, "Is that so?"
"What? You think I'm going to lose it?"
"Knowing you...probably."
"Oi! I can be responsible when I want to you know?"
"Right...When you want to huh?" Kotori repeated.
Neptune pouted again.
"Geez, you're hopeless."
"Just you wait!" Neptune declared, swinging the crystal in front of Kotori's face, she gestured her hand towards herself proudly, "I'll show you. I'm going to bring this home and show all my friends."
"Yeah, good luck with that."
(FLASHBACK ENDS)
Purple Heart struggled as she grabbed the share crystal that Jason had given her since day one.
She crushed it.
Still remaining in one piece, the crystal cracked. Share energy leaked out and flowed into Purple Hear's body.
Inverse Kotori and Yoshino turned to face Purple Heart who was now flying directly towards them.
Yoshino sent a tornado of snow.
Kotori fired a whirlwind of blue fire.
"Cross Combination!"
Meanwhile, in the library.
The leader of team KNOL steps forward. Her comrades stood behind her, ready to strike at any moment.
Despite the intense eye contact, she remained calm, "Hi there. Nice to meet you. Are you perhaps the woman who was humming just a moment ago?"
"Yes, that would be me."
"I have to say, you have a very beautiful voice."
"Aww, why thank you. I'm flattered. It's been a long time since I've heard someone say that."
"With a voice like that, I'm sure you would've been an adored idol if you were born in my world."
"Haha! Funny you say that, cause I actually was one from where I came from," the white-haired woman replied as she recalled the lovely memories of being an idol, "They cheered for me. Chanted my praise. They practically worshipped. Aahh yes...and they called me...Sing-love."
There was a brief pause in the conversation, just to let that name sink in.
Then the girl asked slowly, "...What happened?"
Another pause. That question was like a hammer that had hit the nail right in the exact spot.
The answer only needed one word.
"Humans..." Sing-love's answer was filled with both disgust and disappointment, "that's what happened."
She remained calm, "Didn't you have a lot of human fans?"
"I did...but I killed them all... along with every other human that ever stood on what is now my planet."
The girl finally flinched and couldn't find anything else to say besides, "...I see..."
"Hmm?" Sing-love looked with a curious expression.
Her teammates and comrades were nowhere to be seen.
"I'm sorry."
Sing-love raised an eyebrow, "For what?"
"You must've been through a lot of suffering..." she drew her blade, "I don't think I can help you."
"A swordsman huh?" Sing-love thought as she replaced her scythe with her blade, "Oh don't say that...there is one thing you can do-"
From above:
White Heart threw her giant hammer.
Sister Heart fired a laser.
From the behind:
Otonashi fired his gun.
From the sides:
Asuna jumped on Tooru's shield and Tooru catapulted Asuna forwards, aiming her blade.
In the centre:
Sing-love disappeared- No. She simply moved so fast that it looked as if she teleported.
Everyone felt the wind rush by them.
Sing-love reappeared behind the leader of Team KNOL and finished her interrupted sentence, "Entertain me. If you can that is."
Sing-love swung her sword so fast that her arm looked blurry.
CLANG!
Sing-love blinked.
First, her attack was blocked despite her incredible speed. Then her sword was knocked out of her hands and before she knew, a purple sword was pointed at her neck.
Jack didn't tell Sing-love about her. Well, there were a lot of things Jack didn't tell her.
She smiled, "What's your name girl?"
"Yuuki-"
Two hooks were fired and impaled Sing-love's back. Using gas to boost speed, Levi flew past Sing-love while slicing her legs and delivering one shotgun shell to her face.
It was the first time any of them had seen magenta blood.
The purple sword began glowing. Within mere seconds, Sing-love got hit with eleven consecutive sword slashes.
"Konno Yuuki."
Covering her face with one hand, Sing-love retreated to where her sword was knocked back. Picking up her white blade, her wounds closed themselves rapidly. Even the blood and all the stains were gone.
Sing-love's right eye ignited brightly in magenta coloured flames.
Her face looked brand new despite being shot by a shotgun at close range.
The white-haired girl faced Team STAB and KNOL with a smile, "Interesting...very interesting."
Inverse Yoshino wore a black eyepatch with the other eye being diluted with no emotions. Any signs of green that used to be on her clothes were now black and with shades of dark blue. Instead of a hand puppet angel, she controlled a giant rabbit demon lord.
Inverse Kotori's eyes were diluted with no sign of feeling. Kotori's original hair was replaced with hairy, navy flames. She wore an astral dress similar to her usual one only more revealing and dark blackish blue. Instead of a double-headed AXE, Kotori dual wielded two single-headed axes.
The hallway where their battle was taking place was in complete ruin. Windows shattered, craters and holes all over the ground, walls and ceilings; both frozen and burning debris laid everywhere and in the middle of that field of ruin, Purple Heart clashed with her Inverse comrades.
Purple Heart flew upwards to avoid Yoshino from freezing her to death.
Kotori threw one of her axes which lit on fire as it was thrown.
Purple Heart evaded, however, the heat of the flaming axe itself was enough to leave a burn mark on her cheek.
The flame spirit flew above and brought her second axe down on Purple Heart's head.
The desperate goddess blocked the attack with her blade but the knockback sent her crashing towards the ground.
Waiting for her at the ground, Yoshino's rabbit demon lord threatened Purple Heart with it's vicious icy teeth.
From above, Inverse Kotori combined both her axes and began summoning from her inverse demon lord.
The heat of a meteor from above while a death blizzard waited for blow.
Purple Heart regained her balance mid-air and gathered huge amounts of share energy from her cracked leaking share crystal.
The small meteor extended until it was as big as the ceiling. With no hesitation, Kotori launched it directly at Purple Heart.
Purple's Heart sword glowed brighter and she swung her sword, firing a large horizontal blast made of lasers.
The attack went straight through the small meteor, slicing it in half. Purple Heart's attack went further and sliced Kotori, chopping off her lower body.
Purple Heart turned around and faced Yoshino's rabbit demon lord. The giant rabbit jumped towards Purple Heart as she fell towards it.
Already preparing a second one, Purple Heart swung her sword and flew past the rabbit, slicing deep into its skin on the way,
It was so cold that Purple Heart felt like her bones turning to ice but she kept going.
Yoshino fired a blizzard of icicles.
A magical circle appeared behind Purple Heart's back. She stepped on it and used it like a rocket booster.
She flew past the blizzard, swiftly avoiding every sharp icicle and reached where Yoshino stood.
As Purple Heart raised her sword, Yoshino unexpectedly placed a gentle hand on Purple Heart's stomach.
Their eyes met. It was as if time had slowed down just for that moment.
(FLASHBACK)
"Here, try one."
Yoshino took a scoop with her spoon. She had never tried this so-called "pudding" before but Neptune always had a deep desire and passion for it so Yoshino was curious.
She placed the jiggling, sweet substance into her mouth and almost instantly, Yoshino's face brightened like the sun.
Yoshinon, despite being a puppet, almost had a try and made a cute rabbit noise.
Yoshino looked up at Neptune with a thankful smile, "Delicious."
Neptune almost fainted, "OMG my heart, you're so adorable that it should be a crime! I swear you're cuteness will be the death of me one day. HAHA, don't worry, I made sure to buy plenty of pudding today, with Kotori's money, of course, so have as much as you want."
Yoshino and Yoshinon looked up at Neptune, and gratefully bowed their head, "Thank you!"
(FLASHBACK ENDS)
Purple Heart hesitated.
Which was almost the death of her.
She looked at Yoshino emotionless inverse eyes. A medium sized icicle impaled the goddess through the stomach.
Instead of blood, share particles flew out of the wound like petals being blown away by the wind. CPUs like Neptune never bleed, but they do feel pain.
"Y-Yo...Y-Yoshi-"
Without even letting Purple Heart call her name, Yoshino flicked her and a blizzard blew her back as if she had been hit by a powerful baseball bat.
The freezing cold she felt was quickly followed by intense heat.
She looked up.
The lower part of Kotori's body that Purple Heart chopped off...had already regenerated and healed.
"Levi Ackerman... known as humanity's strongest soldier from where you come from, correct?" Sing-love asked.
She dodged White Heart's hammer, ignored Otonashi's bullets, couldn't break Tooru's shield but could still knock him back, blocked every one of Asuna's attacks and deflected Purple Sister's laser.
All while trying to start a casual conversation with Levi and Yuuki.
However, Levi remained silent unless it was to signal, order or warn his teammates. At first, Sing-love thought he was intentionally ignoring her but then she remembered that for humans: too much unnecessary talk during a battle could be the end of you.
Being unbeatable, common sense like that were merely trivia things for Sing-love. But for Levi, he was clearly used to battles. His movements, the way he lead the team, how he remained calm despite versing a powerful opponent. He also didn't purely rely on his strength as he was attentively decisive with all of his moves.
For a human with absolutely no supernatural abilities, Levi was truly a man worthy of being called humanity's strongest soldier in Sing-love's eyes. She could tell that Levi, in comparison to his teammates, came from a very different dark background.
Yuuki almost seemed to be Levi's opposite. A girl from a blessed yet somehow tragic background but still just as skilled as Levi.
An online gamer fighting by a sharpened soldier. Certainly an odd pair.
Sing-love went faster. She appeared behind Yuuki and tried swinging her blade faster than before.
Sing-love swung her sword ten times...hence Yuuki deflected and blocked 10 times.
She smiled as she had figured out Yuuki's natural talent. Yuuki wasn't as fast as Sing-love but her reflexes were like nothing Sing-love had seen.
Levi practically appeared from below like a teleporter and once again, landed another blow to Sing-love's legs.
"He's fast!" Sing-love thought as she smiled with excitement, "but I wonder just how far can that speed-"
A bullet hit Sing-love's back like a scrunched piece of paper hitting a brick wall.
Without even looking, she deflected Purple Sister's laser and knocked both Asuna and Tororu back.
White Heart flew down at her and brought her hammer down but Sing-love casually caught it with her hand and threw her out the building.
She sighed. Fighting Yuuki and Levi was surprisingly exhilarating but the rest were so plainly annoying that it just ruined her mood. She had expected more from White Heart who was apparently a goddess. While White Heart's strength was nothing to laugh at, her angry personality made all her moves predictable. There were times where she even went against Levi's warnings and orders.
She summoned her scythe and swung her weapon in Otonashi's direction, firing a slice of air that went straight through bookshelves.
She then summoned her rock cannon and fired at both Tooru and Asuna before they could stop their comrade from being sliced in half.
Nepgear dived in and managed to push Otonashi out of the way but her wings got injured in the process.
Questioning Nepgear's actions, Sing-love fired another slice of air, much faster this time.
There was barely anything to react. Sing-love expected Otonashi, the obvious weak link, to abandon Nepgear and save himself. But to her utter confusion, Otonashi didn't run but instead, stood in front of Nepgear shielding her with her body.
Confusing her even further, Levi dived in from the side and pulled both of them out of their vulnerable position.
Levi survived. His 3D maneuver gear didn't.
There is was again. Sing-love thought to herself. Humans relying on each other as if their life depended on it. She hadn't expected someone who looked as cold as Levi to do something like that. Watching humans doing like that seemed odd to her. She had expected to have at least one of the members to betray their team for their own selfish life yet here they were, willing to die for each other. Not to mention, in terms of battle strategy, it was an extremely foolish move on Levi's part.
"Now why did you do that?" Sing-love asked Levi as the man stood up, "Without your gear, you can barely fight. You should've just let that Otonashi guy die, I heard he's already dead after all."
While still confirming the safety of his injured teammates, Levi gave a very simple answer, "Why wouldn't I? They're my comrades aren't they?"
Sing-love raised an eyebrow, "Don't' flatter them. Without you, your team is doomed to fail. You can't be serious."
Levi turned around and looked Sing-love straight in the eye, unfazed, "Why should I be serious...when you're the one playing around."
Yuuki jumped at Sing-love from behind and swung her sword.
Sing-love blocked without looking, "Again? You know that move is slowly getting ol-"
Asuna appeared from the side while Sing-love's attention was on Yuuki. Asuna's blade started glowing and she landed eleven consecutive blows on Sing-love's back.
Sing-love had assumed that was a sword skill only Yuuki could use, turned out she was wrong.
Both girls jumped back at the exact moment when Tooru jumped straight at her.
Tooru formed a fist that was gathering strange mystical energy. He pulled back his fist and punched Sing-love right in the stomach, sending her flying through two bookshelves.
She almost felt that. Sing-love had certainly not expected an attack like that to come from a man with a shield.
"Wow, today is just full of surprises," Sing-love commented as she resummoned her white blade, she smiled, "But I guess you are from other worlds so I really should stop making assumptions. Don't you agree?"
No answer. The rest of Team STAB and KNOL charged at Sing-love.
Purple Heart opened her eyes.
She was on the opposite side of the hallway. It seemed the heat had completly melted the icicle that was impaled through her stomach however the pain was still there.
She looked at the person standing in front of her.
It seemed Iris Heart had pulled her out right before Kotori was going to burn her to a crisp.
"Can you still fight?" She asked.
Purple Heart wanted to throw that question right back at her, but she only managed to muster enough energy to say, "Yeah..."
"And if you don't mind..." Iris Heart slashed her whip while wearing a very angry yet somehow still sadistic face, "I'm going to go serious on them now. Both of them."
"...O-okay."
"Get up. Here they come."
Emerging from the flaming blizzard, Inverse Kotori and Yoshino's demon lord charged forward.
Iris Heart flew forward with Purple Heart behind her.
The giant rabbit demon lord roared and a blizzard ripped through the middle of the hallway.
To evade, Purple Heart flew left while Iris Heart flew right.
Kotori threw both her axes. One to the left and one to the right side, both axes were followed by a trail of blue flaming- tornadoes.
The burning heat with the freezing cold made a harsh combo.
It was too hot to fly in the sides and it was too cold to fly through the middle.
So Purple and Iris Heart flew upwards.
The hallway was no more at this point.
It was then that Purple Heart had completly forgotten that spirits could also fly as both Kotori pursued them to the air with Yoshino riding the giant rabbit.
An axe was thrown.
Iris swung her whip and caught it before throwing back at her.
Kotori simply caught it and summoned another flamming miny meteor with her fire demon gob.
A blizzard full of icicles were fired at both CPUs.
Purple Heart deflected some, evade most however got hit in some places such as hips and shoulders.
She kept pushing as the giant rabbit attempted to freeze her with another one of it's roar attacks.
Iris rapidly swung her whip so fast that it created a blurry shield around which even managed to deflect the blizzard of icicles.
Kotori's meteor brook into many pieces and before Iris and Purple knew it, they were right beneath a mini meteor shower.
Both Iris and Purple Heart swiftly flew in zigzags and straight lines to evade.
Kotori pulled back her weap-
A Share circle appeared beneath Iris' and Purple's heart which acted as boasters that increased their speed.
They flew past Kotori, slicing her in the process.
A blizzard was thrown at them but the CPUs evaded and dived.
Yoshino pulled back her bow and fired a single arrow made of ice. That single ice arrow, magically multiplied into hundreds of ice arrows.
Purple Heart flew behind Iris who once again, swung her whip so fast that a blurry shield formed around them, deflecting every arrow.
The giant rabbit demon Lord jumped towards the two CPUs, bringing an icy whirlwind behind it.
"Throw me!"
Grabbing Iris' hand, Purple Heart pulled back her arm and threw her comrade towards Yoshino.
Iris flew straight through the giant white rabbit while Purple Heart took the icy whirlwind head on.
Her wings felt so cold that Purple thought they were going to fall off at any moment like twigs but she kept pushing.
The giant rabbit opened it's the mouth and bit Purple Heart's lower body.
She let out a brief scream of pain before gathering energy into her sword. She sliced the rabbit's eyes and it let go of her.
Not wasting a single moment, Purple Heart swung her blade again, "CROSS COMBINATION!"
The rabbit fell limp as it fell towards the ground.
Just when Purple was going to relax, she remembered what Iris said earlier, "IRIS HEART WA-"
Too late.
Iris Heart wrapped her whip around Inverse Yoshino's neck and lifted her into the air before smashing the little girl onto the ground. It was creepy that the little girl didn't even express signs of pain such as screaming.
Purple Heart winced. Inverse or not, Yoshino was still a child.
Kotori flew towards Iris Heart.
"WATCH OU-"
Iris Heart's whip retracted and turned into a sword.
Just when Kotori raised her axe to strike, Iris stabbed her sword through her chest.
The field went silent for a moment.
The spirit's body twitched as Iris looked down at Kotori's sad state.
"I'm sorry."
(FLASHBACK)
"That ribbon, the one you wear."
At this point, Kotori didn't even flinch to find that Plutia had randomly transformed. She found that Plutia liked to do that every now and then.
"What about it?" Kotori asked.
"At first, Neptune and I thought your personality actually changed depending on the colour of the ribbon you wear as if you're a completly different person..." Iris Heart grinned as if she was amused at what she had discovered, "But it all just an act. Isn't it?"
Kotori crossed her arms, "And what if I am?"
Iris Heart smiled sadistically, "Hehehe, I know your kind. Always putting up a tough act. Breaking people like you never get old."
Kotori stared, unfazed, "...You know...I could almost say the same about you."
Iris Heart raised an eyebrow, "Hmm?"
"You proudly boast about enjoying people suffer but you also deeply care about-"
"Do not misunderstand me Kotori Itsuka," Iris Heart interrupted, "if you are talking about my other personality then-"
"No, I'm talking about you," Kotori interrupted, "cause I feel like you wouldn't be complete with either of your personalities.
The CPU crossed her arms.
"I won't lie," Kotori continued, "your sadistic nature did throw me off and I would be lying if I said I was never afraid of you. But I think..." she stopped.
"Think what?"
"..." Kotori looked Iris Heart straight in the eye as if the words in her throat wanted to remain hidden, "nevermind."
Iris Heart didn't expect much in the first place, "Hmph, as I thought, you don't really know me."
"and neither do you," Kotori replied, not denying it what Iris had said, "but I guess we are from different worlds."
Somewhat disappointed with the outcome of the conversation, Iris Heart turned around to walk awa-
"Then again..."
She stopped.
"Everyone starts off that way don't they? Especially a team."
"..."
Kotori offered her hand to Iris, "I look forward to working with you Iris, I really do. So let's get to know each other more okay?"
Iris Heart...reverted back to her human form: Plutia.
Plutia yawned and took Kotori's hand, "I'm sleepy."
"Come on," Still wearing her black ribbon, Kotori picked up Plutia, giving her a piggyback just like any older sister would, "the others are probably worried about us."
All Plutia could do was sleepily hum in response as her mind was already on it's way to the dream word.
The pair returned to the dorm.
(FLASHBACK ENDS)
Inverse Kotori grabbed Iris Hear's with an unexpected iron grip.
"Iris!" Purple Heart flew forward and swung her sword.
A force field blocked her.
It was that moment, both goddesses realized their ignorance.
They had both completly forgotten a crucial detail about spirits like Yoshino and Kotori: they could all use a defensive force field at will. Usually, it's automatic but they must've intentionally chosen not to use it until now.
Iris struggled to escape Kotori's grip on her neck. She tried grabbing Kotori's arm but got burned in the process as Kotori's skin began steaming. She attempted to kick the blue flaming spirit but her legs suddenly turned to ice. Iris looked down and saw Inverse Yoshino beneath her, glaring.
Purple Heart's lower body also turned to ice so now both CPUs were helplessly immobilized right in front of Kotori.
(FLASHBACK)
During one of their missions (Chapter 31), Team KNPY regrouped.
Before Neptune and Plutia arrived, Kotori and Yoshino got ambushed by several skilled fighters. Kotori dealt with them but did get injured in the process.
Yoshino didn't like hurting people. Therefore, she just stood there when Kotori got hurt.
Even if Kotori had the ability to regenerate her injuries, Yoshino couldn't help but blame herself for doing nothing, "I-I'm..s-so... s...s-sorry."
Kotori placed a hand on Yoshino's head, "Sshh, it's okay. I know how you feel. If there's anyone to blame it's me," Kotori admitted as she felt like an idiot, "I should've never let you come on that mission, no matter what you are, you're still a child."
Despite her words, Yoshino still felt guilty, "B-but, I-I want to help."
Kotori smiled as she gently rubbed the child's head just like how her stepbrother, Shido, would do it, "You have a kind heart Yoshino. Unfortunately, it's hard to maintain that kindness in a world like this. So please promise, until we get back home, leave everything to me and Shido. Okay? I'm counting on you."
Yoshino cheered up, especially at the last bit. She raised her hand puppet, Yoshinon.
"How about me?" Yoshinon the puppet asked
"Your job is to make sure Yoshino's heart stays in check."
The hand puppet saluted the leader, "Yes Ma'am!"
"Hey! Don't forget about us!"
Yoshino looked to see Neptune and Plutia smiling at her.
"Leave any bad guys to me!" Neptune grinned proudly, "Were a team after all!"
Yoshino bowed her head, "Thank you!"
(FLASHBACK ENDS)
Two large icicles impaled both Purple Heart and Iris Heart through the stomach. Both CPUs got fully covered in ice and as a final finisher:
"Come! My Demon Lord!" Kotori commanded.
While a force field protected Yoshino, a giant pillar of blue fire engulfed both CPUs.
"Before...y-you mentioned Natsu and Naruto...What did you do to them?"
Sing-love looked at Asuna, "Are you really in a position to ask me questions?"
Asuna tried to get up...but couldn't since her legs seemed to be broken.
Blanc hasen't been seen since Sing-love threw her out of the building.
Nepgear and Tooru couldn't stand.
Otonashi's lower body was missing.
Levi's gear was broken and he was occupied with carrying his injured comrades.
Yuuki sat on the ground, arms and legs crossed. With her chin leaning on her hand, she seemed to be thinking deeply about something. Her HP bar was on red.
Winner: White Rock Shooter
Asuna felt frustrated but oddly enough, she didn't feel scared at all.
Sing-love giggled before explaining, "Relax, we just had a friendly braw, that's all."
Everyone felt relieved and shocked at the same time. Natsu and Naruto may not have been the smartest, but everyone knew them for their destructive power. To think that Sing-love manage to beat them without a single scratch on her body,
Sing-love turned to look at Yuuki, "Thank you Yuuki. Your sword skills made our battle quite entertaining."
Yuuki looked up at Sing-love...and smiled, "Yeah, it was fun. To be honest... you're incredible."
"It's a shame that you're too soft. You should've aimed at my neck or head more."
"You think?"
Levi eyed his teammate, questioning yet not surprised at her response.
"Hmph, I suppose you're not sorry anymore after-"
"Nope, in fact, I noticed something when crossing blades with you...so I kinda feel sorrier for you now."
Sing-love raised an eyebrow. The type of humans she was familiar with would usually beg for mercy, panic or show their true evil intent during situations like this. Yet Yuuki remained so calm.
Without warning, she sat down in front of the purple-haired girl until they were within the same eye level.
Copying Yuuki's posture, Sing-love asked, "Now what exactly do you mean by that, Konno Yuuki?"
Plutia and Neptune laid motionlessly on the floor.
Winner: Inverse Kotori and Inverse Yoshino
The two spirits glared down at the two CPUs. They could've finished them off right there and then...but they didn't. For some reason, the two spirits just stood there as if something inside them was making them hesitate.
Suddenly, Neptune twitched which was followed but she stretching her hand towards her partner, "P-P-Plutia!"
Despite being very sleepy, Plutia replied, "Hmm?"
"Y-your cystal...GIVE IT TO ME!" Neptune demanded.
With all her remaining strength, Plutia reached into her pocket.
Noticing their movements, Inverse Kotori raised one of her axes.
"Now that I think about it, someone told me quite a lot about your story...and how you died," Sing-love remembered, "something about you having an incurable disease which led to your inevitable death."
Yuuki nodded, "There are a few other details but yeah, that was practically the gist of it."
Sing-love just couldn't understand how she could be so casual in a situation like this, "Must've been hard."
Without even hesitating, she answered, "Nope. I am proud to say that I died with no regrets."
"Hmm?"
"You see...I had precious friends who cared for me."
Asuna's face lit up as she listened.
"Friends. Looking back at my life, I was and still am blessed with them. People I could laugh with. People who would be there when at your moments of despairs. People you could promise with. Honestly, I can't imagine what would've happened if I didn't have such good friends."
Sing-love flinched at the word 'promise'. She cringed at the idea of human trust.
Yuuki looked Sing-love straight in the eye when she said, "But it seems you didn't have someone like that...or perhaps..."
The alien's eyes were covered by the shadow on her white fringe.
"You used to have someone like that."
Sing-love summoned her giant curved scythe and swung it at Yuuki's neck but stopped until the tip of her weapon was just a cm away from piercing the skin.
"YUUKI!" Asuna tried to get up but Levi restrained her.
"Humans are all selfish leaches! Nothing but greedy animals who lust for betrayal. The people you see as "friends" are probably nothing but naive delusions!"
The leader of team KNOL didn't even flinch, "That's where you're wrong."
Sing-love glared, "Excuse me?"
"You must've felt been lonely for all this time, in that sense, I can almost relate with you...but you're wrong!" The last bit was spoken with more resolve and confidence.
"Look around you." Sing-love tested referring to all of Yuuki's injured and helpless teammates, "You trust you're teammates correct? Tell me, Konno Yuuki. Where exactly has that gotten you?"
"Pretty far," Yuuki replied as if the question was a simple equation, "and I know they will keep pushing me forward as long as I lead them."
Yuuki was so close to death, yet she still managed to say those words with no hint of fear.
Finally, as if she has been dying to know, Sing-love asked, "How are you so calm?"
"Before I said that "I had precious friends who cared for me' well,...I actually still do."
Yuuki looked to the right.
Out of curiosity, Sing-love also looked to the right.
A giant hammer then hit her in the face.
Sing-love was sent crashing through at least 50 bookshelves until she was on the other side of the library.
"Levi. Yuuki. I deeply apologized for being late. Thank you for waiting." A calm composed voice spoke, "Leave the rest to me."
Yuuki looked and smiled. It was Blanc in her HDD form but she looked and acted very, very different.
CPUs are powered by share energy or in other words, the amount of faith that their people have in them. On one of their adventures, four CPUs discovered a new HDD form when absorbing a "Hyper Share Crystal" which allows them to access the faith from many different worlds. It is an upgraded version of their classic HDD form and the power possessed is said to have been surely obtained by a miracle. This form was known as Next Form.
Sing-love stood back up and pasted all over her face, was a smile of pure adrenaline, "I see...so she was stalling."
The moment Sing-love received that hit, she was reminded of why she agreed to come here.
"First Natsu and Naruto. Then Yuuki and now her." Sing-love thought to herself. She looked at her new opponent.
Compared to several moments ago, her anger management issue was gone and was replaced with a much more calm mood. She knew at first glance that this was going to fun.
The giant hammer returned to its owner, "White Rock Shooter."
"That's me." Sing-love whistled, "Wow, I must say, this is quite the honour. I certainly misjudged you."
"You could've finished my comrades at any given moment. Yet you didn't? Why? What exactly is your goal?"
"To have lots of fun of course! What else? You would probably do the same if you were as bored as me."
"Do you have no shame?"
"Why would I? I already wiped out humanity once."
"Then allow me to show you the power of humanity at it's best for I have the faith of my people on my shoulders."
"Oh please do! I look forward to it!" Sing-love couldn't contain her excitement.
"Enough chit chat. This ends now. I shall be your opponent."
"That's funny, that was exactly what I was thinking,"
Sing-love eagerly accepted the invitation, "Well then, CPU of Lowee, show me the power of your people."
With her giant scythe over her shoulder, Sing-love charged forward.
The CPU calmly prepared her giant hammer.
NEXT White vs White Rock Shooter
A bright light blinded Kotori before she could strike. It was quickly followed by a sudden attack to the stomach sending the fire spirit to the other side fo the hallway. Yoshino flew back, alarmed.
Plutia looked up as she felt someone carrying her to safety, "N-Neppy...p-please save..."
"Don't worry Plutia, you can rest now. Everything's going to be alright... I promise."
With that, Plutia gently went to sleep.
Kotori summoned a meteor of blue fire. Yoshino's giant demon rabbit appeared once more behind her.
A blizzard and a meteor were sent their way.
The newly formed CPU turned around. She pulled out her sword and with one swing...she extinguish both attacks with enormous amounts of share energy.
Kotori and Yoshino stared for a moment. Before charging at their opponent, ready to launch another attack.
(FLASHBACK)
The pudding was gladly shared amoung team KNPY.
Plutia yawned with a relaxed smile.
Kotori grinned happily.
Yoshino and Yoshinon both marveled at the taste of their desert.
Neptune laughed at their reactions.
For Team KNPY, it was truly a moment where their friendship shined even brighter.
(FLASHBACK ENDS)
"Yoshino. Kotori...I'm so sorry."
NEXT Purple vs Inverse Kotori & Inverse Yoshino
Meanwhile, outside in one of the many craters made from their previous battle.
He crawled forward. His body aching.
He could barely move but he pushed himself.
His stomach growled and he began to mumble, "Flames...fire...I need to eat f-"
A giant alien robot spotted him and aimed its weapons at him.
What followed was a series of loud noises and explosions.
A/N END!
Once again, that took way longer than I thought.
I finally added Neptune's and Blanc's NEXT forms which was something I was planning to do for a while now. If you don't know what those forms look like, please google them since it's hard to describe. For the battle next chapter, I might make up names for the CPUs special attacks similar to "Cross Combination" and all that stuff. Or I could try researching more, I haven't actually played any of the hyperdimention games (I've seen gameplay though).
Anyways, responding to some reviews.
Girl's Dark Imagination: That's a pretty accurate summary which I really do appreciate so thank you for that. As for Sing-love's pun, I am going to be 100 percent honest, I seriously didn't intend that to be a pun, I actually didn't notice until you pointed that out. Althought I thought that was funny. I decided to just leave it since in a way, it does suit her current personality or at least I think so.
Eannis: Aww thank you so much. You can call me 'cross' or just Jason, I don't know, up to you. Mr AuthorThatImToLazyToWriteYourName, honestly I can totally relate to that, usually, I always copy and paste if the author's name is too long. BACCANO looks interesting, so I might check it out if I get the chance.
someonestupED, XP4Universe and damnlastwords: I really do feel blessed having patient viewers like you. Even though I haven't been reading your stories, you guys still check out mine even though you don't have to. And I am grateful for that so thank you. So I promise that I will check out all of your stories one day. Since I'm so late, I'm not sure what order to read it in now but I can always ask you guys later on in the PMs when I actually get to reading them.
Anyways, Apologies for any typos and thank you, everyone. I do hope you enjoyed and sorry for the wait. I keep saying that chapters will come faster but I never live up to my word huh? But I am determined to finish this story and as you can see, I still have a long way to go.
So yeah...bye!
This chapter was finished on 07/04/2019