It was a mostly normal day at the Basilicom towering over Planeptune until a message from Lastation was received.
A girl with a boyish face and outfit with her silver hair kept in a ponytail in the back came on a screen, it was the Oracle of Lastation Kei Jinguji. She used to keep her hair short when the CPU and Candidate of Lastation were still around, however she has grown her hair out some since their deaths.
"Lady Nepgear, I have big news about Lastation!" She shouted uncharacteristically.
"What is it?" I ask her, questioning her enthusiasm.
Histoire comes rushing into the room, "I believe I know what it is, a new CPU has been born in Lastation, correct?"
"Yes, which is great news. My only concern is how she was born because it was incredibly sudden compared to what I was told about No- I mean... the previous Goddess of Lastation..."
"If a new CPU has appeared in Lastation, then the people are finally gaining trust in having a new CPU rule over them, although the suddenness you speak of does sound concerning," I say trying to think of a cause of the sudden appearance of a new CPU.
"Kei is correct about the suddenness of this CPU, I felt Shares concentrating in the area inside of Lastation's Basilicom, however they were flowing from you or from Lastation. I couldn't tell exactly where the Shares were coming from, but Planeptune hasn't lost any Shares which could warrant further investigation on your end Kei," Histoire explains, a fearful look on her face. "However, we should prepare this new Goddess to take on her responsibilities while the investigation is underway."
"Understood I will... h-hey not now I'm busy right now," Kei seems to be talking to someone who isn't on the screen.
"But I want to play with you miss Kei," a voice says on Kei's end. A girl then comes on screen, she's taller than Kei, but not by much, she has a white dress on with long golden hair that reaches to her waist as well as red eyes.
"Is this the new Goddess?" I ask, chuckling a little at how she's acting despite her size.
"Yes, she is. She's more childish than I was expecting but she learns quickly, however her appearance is unlike any other Lastation CPU besides her eyes. I wonder how the people will react?"
"Well, a new CPU in over 10 years is a sight to behold regardless of how they look, we just have to have her presentable before we show her to the people. Although I do wonder, Kei, have you named her yet?" Histoire asks Kei.
"Not yet, mostly because I was a bit too excited to get the news to you two, although I did get her some clothes before then."
"What about the name 'Sen'?" I suggest.
"Sen sounds pretty, is that my name?" The new goddess asks, looking at Kei.
"If you want it to be your name it can be since you don't have one," Kei says to her.
"Then Sen is my name," the new goddess says, putting her hands on her hips.
"She certainly acts like a Lastation CPU, that's for sure," Histoire says, before realizing what she said. "Oh Nepgear I mean..."
"No, it's fine, you're right after all. And besides, if I linger in the past for too long, then we can't move forward. A new CPU is going to be a great help once they are trained on how to be a CPU," I say, trying to smile. While a new CPU is what the people wanted and what I wanted on the outside, I wanted those I knew back on the inside.
"I'll have an investigation started before the end of the day to figure out what exactly is going on, but I'll be helping Sen for the most part for a while as well as making her clothes, so I'm going to have my hands full for several days if not weeks just preparing for Sen's reveal. If anything urgent happens or anything comes up in the investigation, I'll contact you. Kei Jinguji si-" she's cut off before she could finish, probably by Sen hitting the button to end the communication.
Night comes and I have trouble sleeping because of the news of such an irregular CPU appearance. I should be happy for the people of Lastation, however this news worries me more than it should. I head into the office to try doing something to get my mind off of it, however Histoire is already in there, a concerned look on her face.
"Nepgear, big trouble," she says, looking at a screen on the desk. I look over and see an image on the screen in a call with Kei, it has a letter directed at me that was left on the door of Sen's room, which could only be opened by Basilicom members.
"Dear CPU of Planeptune," I started to read the letter. "We have taken our Goddess back, however she will be returned with us leading her instead of you and the Oracle of Lastation. We recommend that the Oracle peacefully step down if they wish to not have any bloodshed, we are ready for war and we doubt you are. We are giving the Oracle of Lastation one week to step down from their position before we resort to violence. No shots shall be fired until then, so decide carefully on what you want to do. - Gold Third Head, K-Sha."
"Lady Nepgear... what should we do..." Kei gets out, clearly shaken.
"Histoire, start looking up what you can about the Gold Third, it should take about three days to do so, so we have time to get the research on them and still have time to decide on what to do from there. Kei, just try to handle things like normal over in Lastation if you can while we work on our end, we'll contact you in three days once we figure out what's going on exactly," I say, trying to take lead. My mind is racing on what all is happening right now that I don't even know how I managed to get out that comprehensive of an order that actually is helpful here. "And keep this a secret from Chika and Mina, they might take things the wrong way if we get them involved now."
"Right," the two Oracles say together, before Histoire begins her search for the next three days.
"I'll call again if these Gold Third people make another move here in Lastation, hopefully they'll keep true to their word and won't act until next week," Kei says, trying to regain her composure still.
"Ok, we should rest while Histoire keeps her search up," I say, trying to calm her down. "It would do us both good right now, even if it's going to be a bit difficult for the both of us."
"Right..."
Three days pass and Histoire has finished her research. She found out that the Gold Third is the name of a reformist organization that exists all over Gamindustri, with the branch in Lastation, lead by K-Sha, being the most extremist, however their actions had remained under the radar of the Basilicom until now due to most of it happening behind closed doors. The Leanbox branch, which is lead by two people named S-Sha and E-Sha apparently, have been working with the Citizen's Party and have slowly been trying to push their goals there, however Rei has been against their goals for the most part as she thinks it would lead to power being taken away from the people. The Lowee branch is lead by the group's leader, C-Sha, who is the most moderate out of the five heads of the Gold Third with S-Sha and E-Sha being the next moderate, and has been the one trying to rally the people of Lowee into wanting another CPU and keeping nobles from taking power away from the Basilicom. In Planeptune's branch, lead by B-Sha, they have been mostly inactive besides a few rallies to get the economy going the way it once did and also investing in various public projects that the Basilicom was also funding. Overall, the Gold Third isn't much of a threat besides their extremist Lastation branch and the other branches have actually been trying to return the people's trust in CPUs leading the nations.
"We know who they are, but what are we going to do now?" Histoire asks.
"We could try contacting miss Rei in Leanbox to see if she can do anything, although I doubt it considering the message K-Sha left for us, and the fact K-Sha's letter was more than just some petty threat as we've learnt," I say trying to come up with a plan on the spot, not very confident in it myself.
"Well, it'll be a start considering Rei and the Leanbox branch of the Gold Third work together on some stuff over there," Kei says over the call.
"Alright then, I'll connect us to Rei then..." Histoire says before closing her eyes to concentrate.
A minute passes and nothing happens, then Histoire opens her eyes and shakes her head as if she got no response. Then suddenly,
"Ababa baba ababa ba," Histoire makes this noise while vibrating, then Rei is put up on the screen.
"A-apologies for not picking up before Lady Nepgear, I-I had to get more appropriately dressed since I wasn't sure why you were calling me so late at night for," she's dressed in her usual black and blue suit.
"Sorry for calling you so late, but we needed to ask you something and we didn't have much time to do so. Three days ago, Lastation received a threat from one of the Heads of the Gold Third, a-" I was cut off by Rei.
"Oh, you mean the group S-Sha works for? They don't seem to be extreme enough to resort to threats against a country, in fact S-Sha and her branch are actively against violence to achieve their goals. Although S-Sha does enjoy swordplay quite a bit, she wouldn't resort to violence to get what she wants."
"Hmm... it seems that what you looked up was true then Histoire, which means the Lastation branch is exactly what you said too. Miss Rei, this might be a bit too much to ask of you, but could you ask S-Sha and E-Sha if they could talk K-Sha out of preparing for a war on the Lastation Basilicom."
"Oh dear, that sounds overly excessive, a war on someone who can't easily fight back sounds like it could end in a lot of lost lives... I'll try seeing what I can do in the morning since it's late now," she says looking at her watch. "Hopefully I can get S-Sha and E-Sha to talk to K-Sha to prevent this bloodshed."
"Thank you, Miss Rei, your help is welcomed," Histoire replied.
Rei attempts to hang up and instead mutes herself with video still going. Histoire quickly tells her about that and she apologizes a few times while still muted before hanging up.
"Well, now we have some plan in place," I say. "However, we cannot do much for now besides wait, so hopefully these last four days aren't wasted."
"Agreed, now Kei have they made any other movements since last we communicated?"
"None worth mentioning that has been discovered, although they did send out their propaganda to most residents of Lastation which makes them sound like a cult rather than a reformist party. They were praising some crystal as if it would bring salvation to Gamindustri. It did mention that their leader has gained control over the crystal, which brings some worry to me."
"That crystal deal does bring up some worry, it's possible that a Share Crystal , which could mean that Sen was created by them, but only Oracles know how to create Share Crystals and it also would require great amounts of time in order to create one even if they did have an Oracle working for them..." Histoire begins to think of possibilities.
"Histoire, you're going to break if you keep thinking that much in such little time, besides if it is a Share Crystal and an artificial CPU we are dealing with then things are a lot more complicated than they would first seem. Although the possibility of a traitor amongst the Oracles is possible, we shouldn't cast doubt until we gather all of the Oracles together. At noon, we shall hold a meeting with all Oracles present in person so we don't risk the possibility of the communications being hacked and someone listening in."
"Alright, I'll clear my schedule for a meeting," Kei says, pulling out a small notebook and writing some things down in it. "Although it might also be a good idea to invite the other four Heads of the Gold Third to the meeting to see if they know what is going on with K-Sha's extreme actions."
"Hmm... you raise a good point, I shall extend the invitation of the meeting to the other Heads of the Gold Third and hopefully we can figure out what is happening and why a new Goddess suddenly appeared."
"Alright then. Kei, signing off," she says as she disconnects from the call.
"Histoire, send out the invitation to the Oracles and Gold Third Heads minus K-Sha."
"Alright, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this," Histoire says with a face she rarely posses now, one filled with fear.
Noon comes and all the invited parties have arrived except for S-Sha, E-Sha, and Rei.
"Where could Rei be? She's a nervous mess when it comes to stuff like this, but at least she waits until after the meeting to turn into one," Leanbox's Oracle, Chika Hakozaki, asks. She looks relatively unchanged from how she looked ten years ago, however at some point she started to dye her hair blonde. She says it's to try out a new look, however it's more likely that she did it in some vain attempt that Leanbox's CPU would finally come back and accept her.
"It's possible that they had a prior meeting together," Lowee's Oracle, Mina Nishizawa, replies. Besides some age to her face, she hasn't changed much. Lowee suffered the loss of their CPUs the hardest as its economy crashed first and civil unrest started rising and nearly broke out into a civil war until the Gold Third's leader C-Sha stepped in and promised reforms, to which Mina obliged in performing in order to keep things peaceful.
"S-Sha isn't one to be late either, she has left meetings before because she made arrangements that overlapped with the meeting, so it's more likely that outside force is stopping them," the Gold Third's leader, C-Sha, theorized. She's wearing a suit consisting of blue, black, and white pieces as well as a blue hat with a golden "C" clip on it as well as blue boots that nearly reach to her knees.
"She probably stopped somewhere to grab a snack, better yet she tried to teleport here and didn't have the SP for it and is having to walk over to Rei for a ride," a young looking girl snickered. This was B-Sha, despite her young appearance, she was quite knowledgeable in the economy and market. She has helped Planeptune to return to economic stability, even if it was a bit shaky at first with her investments being all over the place. She wore a primarily orange outfit and kept her hair in pigtails which didn't particularly fit for this type of situation, however formal wear was not required for this meeting since it was called on emergency.
"B-Sha, hold your comments if they are going to be like that," C-Sha said to her.
"Hopefully they are just running late and nothing bad has happened to th-" I tried saying before getting cut off by the door slamming open. Rei walked in with someone else whom I assumed was S-Sha or E-Sha. They were both visibly exhausted and seemed to have been attacked as the other person had on a pair of sunglasses with one of the frames broken to the point you could see the eye underneath revealing a red eye.
"S-Sha, Rei!" Chika called out. "What happened to you two?"
"It seems my lines were hacked since when S-Sha and I set up our meeting before this one, we were attacked even though nobody else had been told about it," Rei says, her face full of rage right now and she's trying to calm herself down.
"We were able to defeat them and come here, making sure we weren't followed, we even split up at a point to try and throw off anyone who managed to follow us that far," S-Sha replied, now leaning against a wall to try catching her breath.
"It's possible that K-Sha really has gone off the deep end then, I thought better of her, but it seems she let personal feelings get the better of her..." C-Sha begins to say before cutting herself off. "Nevermind, we're all here now, we can begin now, correct?"
"Yes, we shall now begin. This was going to be a meeting involving just the Oracles of each nation as well as myself, however the situation became one that would concern the Gold Third as well as the Citizen's Party. According to Kei, K-Sha has obtained a crystal that she has control over and has turned her section into an effective cult with her as it's leader. Add to it, three days ago a new Lastation CPU had been born, but was kidnapped by K-Sha's faction from a room that could only be opened by a high ranking member of a Basilicom as no signs of forced entry were present. We believe this crystal to be a Share Crystal, however we aren't certain as Histoire did not detect an influx of Shares in Lastation until the birth of the new CPU."
"Hmm... that is worrisome, especially since K-Sha has gone radio silent since last week," C-Sha begins to ponder, worry in her normally calm and collected voice.
"Wait, a new Goddess was born and we weren't informed!" Chika and Mina both said at roughly the same time.
"We were going to inform you two the day after she was born, however she was taken the night she was born, which caused those plans to halt and I decided to not share this news with you two at lady Nepgear's request, sorry," Kei apologizes
"Add to our problems, K-Sha has issued a declaration of war against the Lastation Basilicom if Kei doesn't step down from her position. We were given a one week notice when it happened and this is the fourth day since then, so we need to act fast or else lives will be lost."
"If you are asking us to ready our armies, we aren't much better than Lastation in that regard. Lowee lowered their army as part of the reforms put up by C-Sha and Leanbox's army has become a volunteer army. Only Planeptune and Lastation still have standing armies, even if they aren't much," Chika responds.
"Hopefully it doesn't come to that," C-Sha says. "However, if worse comes to worst I will try to rally Lowee to support Lastation in their time of need as Lastation is where most of Lowee's income is coming from now from exports of what we make."
"Heh, I knew that K-Sha was trouble, but I didn't think she would go as far as to basically create a cult to bear arms against the government," B-Sha tries to lighten the mood but ends up depressing even herself with her own statement.
"B-Sha, we don't have time for your comments if you are going to be like that, this is a serious matter," S-Sha says, standing up now. "I may prefer the pacifist option if I'm given it, but if not I will take up arms myself if need be. This is likely going to turn into larger scale conflict than K-Sha is expecting even if this meeting didn't happen, which might be why she wanted to have a Goddess on her side just in case things go south for her. This new Goddess is the biggest unknown in this whole situation, we don't even know if she'll be able to master transforming by the time K-Sha's war begins and if she does we don't know what she is capable of."
"S-Sha's right," I say reluctantly. "The goddess that K-Sha possesses has too many unknowns for us to willingly put the lives of what army we have combined at risk. We need to come up with a plan to prevent K-Sha from taking Lastation and having it's people start to worship her Goddess, because the people would be too blinded by the fact a new Goddess finally appeared that they would ignore any misdeeds K-Sha and her cult do in Lastation."
"We should have a plan in case things reach the worst case scenario," Mina says.
"I have an idea," Histoire speaks up. "However it's incredibly risky since it could be a danger to Nepgear as well. There was a technique used to remove a CPU from power by force if they did not willingly leave by choice or if they are performing disastrous acts and the people are too afraid to stop them. It's the Anti-Crystal, a crystal capable of cutting a Goddess off from the flow of Shares as well as it is near them, however it causes great mental and physical pain once the Shares in their body begin to run low. To a normal human, it's harmless, but to a Goddess it could be a death sentence if left near them for long enough as they can't touch it to get rid of it or it causes an increased drain of Shares from their body."
"Histoire... are you planning to kill them?" I barely manage to ask.
"Nepgear, I know a new Goddess must have you feeling a lot of things, and hearing that they might need to be killed is bringing back some dark memories, however we must resolve ourselves in case things come to the worst and we must be ready to do what we can to protect the people and their faith in the Goddesses. Even if we do get the Anti-Crystal, we won't know if we will need to use it until K-Sha begins her war and reveals her Goddess."
"Alright then. Our plan is going to be as follows: Planeptune and Lastation shall ready their armies in order to fight against's K-Sha's forces, if K-Sha's forces prove to be too much, we will call for Lowee and Leanbox to help in a unified front. If K-Sha brings out the Goddess and she transforms, we shall use the anti-crystal in an attempt to subdue her and then restrain her once the fight is over if she survives," C-Sha calls out.
"Nepgear," Histoire says to me. "If this is going to be too rough for you, you can stay out of the fighting."
"No, I will join the fight to preserve peace in Gamindustri, it's... it's what they would have done..."
"Alright, we have decided on what we shall do, if we can we'll also enlist the help of what remains of the Guilds," Chika says.
The remaining days have passed. K-Sha's forces began to march through the streets of Lastation; they have yet to fire on civilians. The army of Lastation stands guard around the Basilicom, their weapons readied for combat, Kei leading them. Tekken, a Maker from Lastation, was also present as was leading the members of the Lastation Guild. The Planeptune army had marched near the border of Lastation without crossing over, leading them was Histoire and myself. IF, a close friend of mine, had convinced the Planeptune Guild to join our cause. Lowee had already raised the Guild for an international defense cause led by Mina, Marvelous, and Tamsoft. C-Sha was already rallying to have an army to be formed due to the size of K-Sha's army and is getting moderate success. Rei, S-Sha, and Chika got the Leanbox volunteer army to raise arms alongside the Leanbox Guild being commanded by Maker and former RRoD commander Cave. The four nations had rallied the people to protect Lastation from an internal threat that could spread to them, and the results were better than what any of the Oracles had expected.
Hours passed and no shots were fired by either the Lastation army or K-Sha's forces, in that time most civilians of Lastation had been evacuated by the non-combatant members of Lastation's Guild. Suddenly K-Sha walked to the front of her forces, Sen with her. Sen looked different, she was wearing a golden dress and her eyes appeared blank. In one hand was a rapier with a golden hilt. K-Sha wore a red uniform and kept her black hair in twin tails held at the sides. She held a machine gun in one hand and held it up at Kei.
"So, you are so desperate to keep things the way they are that you are willing to throw your life away? Who knew the CPUs trained their slaves to be that way only to train the next CPU to treat them the same way. I was going to kill you myself, but, now that I look at you like this, I see you are too pathetic for me to waste ammo on. However since I have an audience, I shall show you all the power I have," she declares as a golden crystal materializes in her hand. "NOW, BEHOLD MY POWER!"
K-Sha and Sen both begin to be enveloped in a golden light that begins to swirl with a purple light. This was a large enough build up of power that even IF could feel it and she began to feel her hands shake in fear from it. K-Sha and Sen are uncovered by the lights surrounding them, both have taken on a new appearance. K-Sha now wore a golden outfit with a jet black hat and what appeared to be an artificial Processor behind her that was also jet black and her gun had become two and both were a shining gold, a purple mark was on the back of her hand. Sen became more mature looking with a gold bodysuit and her hair flowing with nothing holding it back, her rapier had become a sword that was at least twice as large as she was and in her right eye was the same mark that was on K-Sha's hand while her left eye remained the blank form it had before.
"We... have surpassed the goddesses and humanity of old, and w-we will... become the rulers of this new age... with this power... now we... will... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH," K-Sha let out a scream before going limp where she stood. She stayed like this for an entire minute before one of her soldiers tried to touch her in which before they could she shot them without hesitation. She finally looks up, her eyes now blank as well and her face covered in purple lines that appeared almost like cracks. "We will destroy... all who aren't worthy..." she says before she and the transformed Sen turn to her own army and slaughter them while they did nothing to stop her, either out of loyalty, fear, or a combination of both. The Lastation forces stood in horror as this happened in front of them, many of their men ran for their lives before K-Sha and Sen faced what little remained of Lastation's forces.
"Calling all other nations, we need immediate back up. There's been a development none of us could have predicted, K-Sha and Sen slaughtered their own forces... Lastation's forces are retreating towards the Planeptune border, converge there and we'll attempt a counterattack, what little remains of our forces will be devoted to the escape plan," called out an emergency broadcast by Kei that was heard by even the citizens in each nation, revealing how much she had been panicking during this moment.
"S-she slaughtered her own forces?" C-Sha let out in shock.
"It looks like the Anti-Crystal in Leanbox will have to be used... as unfortunate as that may be..." I say before feeling a ringing in my head that turns into a voice.
It says "Come to me" repeatedly before saying "I am the only one able to stop this...". I began searching for the source of the voice which led me to a sealed off part of the Planeptune Basilicom, a place I hadn't been to in ten years when I...
"Who's there... what do you want?" I call out, despite knowing nobody is down there.
"I am salvation... I am hope... I am peace... I am the tool that shall answer your desires..." the voice called out in my head. I followed it deeper in and I saw it, the demonic sword... Gehaburn.
"No... No... I won't be tempted by you again... not after what happened ten years ago... I don't want that to happen again..."
"N-p-r..." a familiar voice called out. "I- al-g-t..."
"That voice... i-it can't be... y-you're... you can't be talking to me now..."
"W-e -t-l- -e-e..." another familiar voice called out.
"-e w- t- -el- -o-..." two more familiar voices call out together.
"No... nononono... I won't be tempted by your power again... you only bring ruin whenever you are drawn..."
"The sword only brings ruins if that is what the user wishes," a mysterious voice called out from in the room.
"Who's there... show yourself!"
A woman in a cloak that made them nearly blend in with the darkness stepped into view, the cloak opened around the stomach and revealed they had a crowned eye tattoo on their stomach. They spoke again, "I am merely a harbinger of my cause, if you do not wish to take up Gehaburn to defend your nation, I have an alternative, although it's something that could end up making you be the one to bring ruin to this world yourself if you can't control yourself. Do you accept my offer?" She held a crystal out to me, it radiated a purple energy that appeared evil but didn't feel evil.
"O-ok... I'll take your offer," I took the crystal from her and I could feel it's power. I attempted to use it like a Share Crystal, however it entered my body on it's own. I let out a scream as my vision blacked out and my body went numb, however my mind was racing with too many thoughts to keep track of, many of which were about the thing I have devoted the past ten years to... protecting Gamindustri.
"Let your desire run free, let it consume your body and when it does you shall consume it or it shall also consume your mind," the mysterious woman called out, even though I couldn't hear her at the time.
I could feel my body getting heavier as if something was pushing down on me. I let my body succumb to the feeling while I focused on my thoughts of wanting to protect Gamindustri. And then... It happened. I could feel my body becoming lighter and my mind becoming more clear while still focusing on my desire to protect Gamindustri. When I regained my senses the woman was nowhere to be found and my body felt like I had achieved a form beyond Hard Drive Divinity. I possessed a horn on the left side of my head and my processors became jet black and lilac and to my sides were two mouth-like mechanical beings that I could control. My outfit became a lot more revealing and above the bottom piece that covers very little was a crowned eye mark similar to what the woman had.
I remembered what was going on when Histoire appeared on a screen in front of me. "Nepgear, wherever you are, we need your help wherever you went off to. We are barely holding them back with all of our forces combined. The Leanbox forces can't get to us quickly due to destruction of the terrain that had happened suddenly, blocking all land routes into and out of Leanbox."
"I'll be there shortly," I say, even though Histoire's image had already vanished and it was likely a message sent a while ago. I quickly hurry to where the battlefield was going to take place.
When I arrive, I see too many bodies laying on the ground, either too wounded to move or already dead. This went from a battle for control of Lastation's Basilicom to one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history... I shall be the one to stop this!
"I... will... destroy... unworthy..." K-Sha says, her mind seemingly gone at this point. Sen hasn't said a word, but she would likely be in a similar state of mind right now due to K-Sha's influence.
"I didn't want this to get this far you two... I wanted a peaceful world. You both threaten this world I strive for, and for that, I shall deal with you myself!"
K-Sha doesn't even look at me, she merely aims a gun up at me and fires it repeatedly. One of the mouth like machines moved to block the bullets and then flew at K-Sha and grabbed her in it's mouth. She screams out in pain as she struggles to free herself before she stops moving and is returned to normal and a streak of gold and purple leaves her body. I turn my attention over to Sen who has been blindly attacking anything that gets near her as she drags her giant sword behind her. She caught sight of me and leaped at me, carrying the sword with her into a swing. The mouth holding K-Sha let go of her and flew towards me while the one still with me grabbed Sen's sword by it's blade, crushing it in it's jaws. This didn't stop Sen from her swing, however, as she seemingly leaped off the air to reach me with her now broken sword. She was too close and fast for the mechanical mouths to fly towards me, so I had to block it with my arms. The broken blade struck me and her immense power sent me flying, however both the mouths were able to crush the rest of her blade soon after she hit me, so at least I won't have to take another hit like that. This didn't stop her as she dropped her now bladeless sword and lunged at me for a punch, but I managed to catch her fist, which was enough time to grab her with one of the mouths. She attempted to break free and it seemed like she was going to until she fell unconscious like what happened with K-Sha, purple and gold streaming out of her just the same.
The fight was over... but at what cost was it gained?
A week has passed since that bloody day. Many people lost family members to K-Sha and Sen. Both have remained unconscious the entire time, lying in a state of living dead effectively as they are still alive but are effectively dead as according to Histoire their minds were suppressed so hard that they effectively were destroyed. C-Sha had insisted that K-Sha should be spared because she was not acting like herself even before she took on that golden form with Sen. The anti-crystal wasn't used thankfully, although that's mostly because the Leanbox forces couldn't arrive with it. Many people who were helping to fight off Sen and K-Sha viewed me as a hero, although I was given the power that was needed to defeat them by someone else, a power that felt like it was trying to consume me. The citizens of Gamindustri have developed a fear of new CPUs showing up now, which makes me doubt that this generation will be seeing another CPU, which means I must continue to rule alone...
"Nepgear?" A voice calls from the other side of the door.
"Yes, come in," I reply
The person comes through the door, it's IF. She, along with many others, had been wounded in the battle, although she seems to be mostly fine now despite having some bandages wrapped around her arm still. "Compa's probably going to scold me for walking out on my own, but I'm mostly fine besides some soreness in my arm still. I was worried about how you were doing considering... you know"
"I'm... I'm fine, I promise," I say, trying to hide my sadness.
"The world really has become different compared to thirteen years ago," IF sits down in a chair on the other side of the desk. "I was a lot more inexperienced and emotional back then, but things have changed so much that I had to face reality, it's harsher than I was expecting it to be. I had helped Histoire create what little Sharicite we could to save at least one of the Goddesses who went missing, and that happened to be you. It took us three years to finish saving one of you, and it seemed that the odds were finally in our favor. I was in denial for months after you had said the other Goddesses sacrificed themselves so you could save Gamindustri, I spent months looking for them and when I couldn't find them, I just lost most of my hope in having a world where people can be happy. I learnt the hard way that people can only be happy through the sacrifices of others, and even then that not everyone will be happy with the results that become reality."
"IF..."
"Nepgear, I want you to promise me something, alright? Never lose your hope, even if things become incredibly bleak, always know there will always be someone who will do the right thing needed to save the world, even if that needs to be you. Promise me this."
"Alright, I promise..."
"Ok then, I'll head back to the infirmary before Compa gets back, so see yeah," IF says with a wave before wincing from the pain in her arm.
"IF, I don't want people close to me suffering any more... I need the power... to protect Gamindustri..." I pull out the crystal I had received before fighting K-Sha and Sen, it's power seems to have grown yet it seems nobody but me can sense it. It's power is overwhelming, but I must learn to master it if I want to protect this world...
A group of hooded figures stand in the middle of Gamindustri Graveyard, one of them is holding a device that has an article detailing the events that happened a week ago.
"It seems things have become so different that events are happening in unintended ways, even with little influence from us," one of them says. "It's possible this world will end up being consumed."
"Although, there was someone who used our power and gained control, the Goddess of Planeptune."
"I thought they were dead here, oh well, it seems this place has become more interesting."
"I wonder if Gehaburn was destroyed afterwards? They did seem to greatly dislike that sword even though it is one of our finest craftsmanship. Ah, a sword that's capable of absorbing the faith of the people and storing it, allowing it to be a weapon against gods and grows stronger with each one it slays, what a beautiful weapon."
"No, Gehaburn lives, however it seems its will has been overpowered despite the fact it still possesses the same power."
"Oh my, Gehaburn's power to suppress the user's will and make them into a weapon has been suppressed by those inside of it? They must have some strong willpower to overcome that while being without a body."
"No, it's more like it's user had a strong enough bond with those they slayed that Gehaburn's will was broken, a development none could have expected."
"This place isn't like what we saw in the other world, it's all bloody and dark here. Closest we saw before was a world where the revival process of another Goddess had been successful, but this is a world brought about by human nature rather than a single person causing it. It causes things to become more interesting because then we don't know what's going to happen next, unlike when the so-called villains succeed, because this ruined world was caused by a so-called hero winning."
"This world's fate is up to those in it, not us. If they decide to destroy this world, then we shall merely speed up the process, we will not be the ones to start the process."
"Grrr... yes ma'am, as you say."
[TMK (Author): A World Beyond Conquest is a fan fiction that takes place after the Conquest ending of Neptunia mk2/Re;birth 2. I'll have a post-script explaining some things that happened in the chapters for those who don't fully understand what happened exactly.
A new goddess appeared in the world after 10 years, she is named Sen. She is going to be staying around for a while, so don't worry about that.
Next up is K-Sha possessing a Gold Crystal. This is something that will be explained next chapter
Lastly, Nepgear, along with Sen and K-Sha, achieved a form that possessed an eye shaped mark on their body somewhere. This will be explained, however it is going to be a while until then.
Closing this note with a potential schedule that I will try to follow: I will attempt to upload once a month at least, however I will upload every 15-16 days at the fastest]