Chapter 96 - The Aftermath
A groan escaped his lips while his consciousness stirred.
Eyes slowly opened as Nico returned to the land of the living. The teen's vision got blurry at first, so he couldn't tell where he was exactly, but even in this state his mind ran a million miles a second, mostly revolving around the training he had done in his Inner World. Not once did Biko let up on their training, as according to him, his physical body would be carried back to the capital of Leanbox: MICROSOFT, and during that time he would be locked inside his Inner World until then. And considering how the passage of time is different in the Inner world compared to the outside world, 10 hours in there being like 10 seconds in the outside world, that meant he had went through a LOT of training…
And let me tell you, he suffered a whole hell LOT.
His demon persona had NOT been messing about during this session, not even the last ones matched the intensity that he showed this time. To compare, it was like one of those skilled gamers completing a videogame on hardcore mode, only to find that there was a colossal nightmare mode where everything was amplified in difficulty levels by the thousands. They scoff, thinking it's not going to be that hard for gamers of their caliber, only to rage quit on the tutorial levels. Even then, Nico still got the feeling he was drastically understating the intensity of fighting the demon persona in that state. In his eyes, Biko needed to get that tough and harsh on him so he could better learn to control Soul Edge's true form. Out of everything he needed to know, control had been the biggest priority when it came to that demonic sword. The fact that it would be devouring the souls of its victims in the future, increasing it's power further and further, only fueled his desire to teach Nico control.
Though, the teen could hardly disagree with him on something like this. After all, he could agree with him on the control part. If he didn't want to end up destroying a continent accidentally, destroying thousands of innocent lives in the process, then he would HAVE to have control over that blade. It was an imperative decision, without any room for negotiation, it just HAD to happen. Even with this training however, Nico felt like he could control up to 60% of Soul Edge's power in that form right now, and the reason for that aside from the Souls it had devoured was because the energy that sword wielded was like an ever-expanding storm, refusing to be controlled and dictated. It did whatever it wanted whenever it wanted. The result of him controlling 60%, which had been over half it's total power had been a miracle in of itself, though this only fueled his desire to gain full control over that sword. He would not cause the deaths of thousands, not if he could help it.
Still though, despite control being his greatest priority, this 'Warping' Biko had informed him of was something he had to learn, as controlling where he would end up manually would help him master Soul Edge's true form in the long run. Controlling the ability to Warp wherever he wanted within 50 meters, in comparison to Soul Edge, felt like a cakewalk in comparison, it had almost been laughably easy for him. Biko had attributed this to his above average willpower, how he had a powerful drive to get stronger so he could survive in this twisted, wretched existence. So far, he could do the ability, but he had to think hard about where he wanted to go, he wasn't too good at doing it instinctively like Biko could. Still though, the amount of training he had to do with those powers of his had been insane, and in the Inner World the passage of Time had been different too. Which meant they had a LOT of time to improve.
Considering everything else they had to improve on as well, like his other DPU Powers, his 'Fangs'…
They had a LOT of work ahead of them.
'My fangs…' Nico thought, his eyes slowly gaining their vision back. Even so, he couldn't help the solemnness in his gut forming when he thought of his hidden side, his secret side. The secret he had kept to himself for so long, with only a few people learning about it, and even then it was either necessity or them figuring it out. Nico had never WILLINGLY told anyone before, not one soul, even though there were some people whom had so much charisma that it felt right to tell them. Even so, he had held his tongue, biting back the urge to tell SOMEONE what he really was, as in his eyes this world would be even harsher if people knew what he was, the monster that he kept trapped inside…
Using his 'Fangs' the way he did was always a risky move, and not just because of the possibility of being found out. His 'Fangs' were an abnormal case even amongst others who had similar 'Fangs' to his own. His 'Fangs' came in three distinct set of bites. One of them was to strike unseen, undetectable by the five senses. Sound, smell, hearing, touch and sight were useless against it. This was simply due to one thing about it that honestly unnerved even him. He once read that if one vibrates something at a high enough speed then it becomes invisible, and he couldn't help but attribute that to that certain biting style.
The other two didn't have this ability, so he never used those Bites against others unless he was alone, but they too specialised in their own fields. One bite specialised in widespread total annihilation, be it around him or at a distance. The other Bite Specialised in pure combat ability, though that one was the most difficult out of the three to use.
Stealth,
Widespread annihilation,
Close combat.
These were the fields that Nico's three 'Bites' Specialised in, the three styles his 'Fangs' had at their disposal. He had been using only one style of biting for a long time, now, simply because it was the most covert out of the others, and could be used without him being discovered.
Yet, now…
That mental breakdown he had back there, it taught him a valuable lesson, one that he couldn't believe that he'd forgotten all this time. He may be a monster in this world, this world that's all about kill or be killed, but that should not stop him upholding his macho code. He can't afford to keep his secret under wraps if it meant that his comrades lives would be in danger, that was NOT what he did this for. Nico only kept his secret to protect others from his own sick, twisted nature, not condemn them. If he hadn't used his power back then, those guys would have gone after his comrades, proceeding to commit heinous crimes against them like they had so many others.
Those things he'd seen had been eerily reminiscent of other Victims of theirs Nico had been unable to save after all…
Nevertheless, with the way things were going right now, he had to stop hiding himself from the others, re-sharpen his blunted 'Fangs' before he could bare them at his enemy. Nico realised something at that moment much to his hidden shame, that his white-haired copy had been right this whole time, as no matter how much he had tried to deny it, in some form or another those girls had been responsible for him blunting his 'fangs' in the first place, though through no fault of their own. Nico just hadn't had much honest to goodness companionship in so long that he had just wanted to keep it going forever. He hadn't wanted them to figure out his secret, so much so that he refrained from baring his 'Fangs' in situations where he would have done otherwise.
The fault also lay with him, considering how he had made that choice himself. That fact felt like ashes in his mouth, even though there wasn't any in that part of him. They may have unknowingly blunted his 'Fangs' but Nico had made that choice of his own will, the choice to not use his hidden power. There was always a choice, and every choice in this world had consequences. There was no escaping this fact, and those who couldn't make those choices usually had even worse things happen to them. Sometimes death, sometimes humiliation, and others suffered fates even worse than death.
He couldn't allow that to befall his comrades…
No, he WOULDN'T.
'Alright, starting today, I'll double my training! I have to sharpen my 'Fangs' once more, and prepare to lunge into the blood sport like I used to.' Nico thought, his eyes hardening in determination, clearing up his haziness instantly. No longer would he be afraid of showing his 'Fangs' anymore, not when his comrades' lives would be on the line. True comrades were hard to find these days, and Nico would be damned if he let the ones that he had potentially found get put six feet under because of his cowardice. It may take some time, hell he probably wouldn't tell anyone until everything was ready, but for now he felt like he had a good start towards changing. He hadn't any psychological episodes for a while, which meant something to him.
In any case, it was time to get up, throw off the covers greet the humanoid shape beside him…
Hold on a minute…
What?
Like, what?
Similar to a disk in a jukebox screeching to a halt, Nico's eyes widened when he realised that he wasn't the only one in the room. Looking up slowly, the teen met the face of a certain purplette preteen Goddess, whom had this really sassy grin on her lips while leaning forwards so that their faces were inches apart.
"… Heya, Nicky! Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" the preteen greeted with her grin never leaving her lips. She even took advantage of the teen's confusion by kissing him on the lips briefly. Sort of like a peck, but a little longer for it to actually be called that.
…
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Brain: commence the freaking out in 3, 2, 1… and NOW!
"WHOA, WHAT THE HELL?! NEPTUNE?!"
"Ahahahahahaha!" Neptune literally just bust a gut when she saw how Nico's face went into a literal flame, not too much unlike the weaker form of his Hellfire while he scrambled backwards. He almost fell from the bed that he was on when he accidentally reached the edge during his skedaddling back. He flailed his arms about to try and keep his balance up, and eventually he managed to keep himself on the bed.
All the while, Neptune just laughed her backside off, falling backwards onto the bed backfirst while kicking the air with her shoeless stocking-clad feet. Compared to him, who looked like a deer caught in the spotlight, she looked to be having the time of her life
"Gihihihihihihihihi! Ni-Ni's super silly…"
"Well, that's kinda what you would expect, Nep did just give him a bit of a startle there…"
Several more voices, familiar ones, reached Nico's ears to draw the Spec Ops Agent's attention to the hotel room entrance. There, stood both Compa and IF, the two girls sporting identical looks of amusement as they watched the scene happen before them. IF leaned against a wall with her arms folded in front of her chest area, one sock-clad foot on the wall with the other on the ground. As for Compa, she had her woolly boots neatly arranged beside the door, leaving only her stockings covering her feet.
Taking several deep breaths, Nico tried his best to calm his raging heart from the recent jump scare that Neptune just gave him. He placed a hand on his chest with an audible patting sound, his heart pounding away like a jackhammer within the confines of his ribcage. He could sense the agitation within his soul, born from the various Devil Arms within his being, so he calmed them down as well. No need for them to go berserk and destroy Neptune for nearly killing them or something like that. Only when he managed to regain some semblance of composure did Nico begin to notice things, things that he hadn't had a chance to notice earlier.
For one, Neptune and the girls were here, all of them. Her, IF, and Compa. All of them were together in the same room, none of them had been kidnapped by Ghouls, none of them were held captive inside underground torture dungeons, and none of them were at risk of dying by a Demon's hand. They were here, together, laughing merrily at his recent shock from the preteen like nobody's business. It almost seemed too good to be true, like a dream or something similar. If that was the case, then he'd curse his mentally unstable mind for all it was worth for the rest of eternity.
However, several things made themselves clear to him and confirmed that what had happened was NOT a dream.
Neptune, bless her soul, had a much larger presence of demonic power flowing through her from that object he had given her before she went off to fight those demons. That obviously meant that she had used that power he gave her to fight off those demons, and from the looks of things she grew a hell of a lot in power from it. her Share Energy reserves had expanded exponentially since he last saw them, while there was a smaller size of demonic energy reserves within too. Neither of which seemed to be in contest with each other.
Instead, they seemed to be feeding off each other, growing like plants at a steady place. The demonic power was stimulating growth within her share energy, making it expand without the need for other people believing in her. Meanwhile, the share energy seemed to be purifying the demonic energy to keep it docile and controllable. Normally, DPUs and CPUs wouldn't be able to mix their energies like this as one is poisonous to the other. Take what happened to Noire for example, but thanks to how him and Biko had inserted the object into her, how they made it and how Neptune received it, there was a near-perfect harmony between the two energies as they co-existed, side by side, within the Goddess's petite frame.
Second, was Compa. The object he had given her, that crystal? Well, it seemed to have merged with her being, cause his senses could detect it within her heart. No, that wasn't quite right, he should say that it was around her heart, absorbing it and remaking it into something else, something stronger. Right now, her entire heart seemed to be made of the same crystalline material, thumping like a regular organ with minor crackling sounds. Sounds that only Nico could hear thanks to his enhanced senses.
That wasn't all, either. It seemed to be pumping some strange energy through her system, completely overwhelming her SP Reserves and converting them into whatever this new energy is. Because of this, Nico doubted she would be able to use SP Skills like COMPA LOVE HEART or FIRST AID again, however when he keyed in on the energy with his demonic energy senses, Nico noticed that the energy still retained SP properties, enough so that her Skills wouldn't be affected. Whatever it had been doing to his childhood friend, Nico didn't know, however it didn't seem like Compa had any idea of the scope of her situation, so he better not say anything just yet. Not when he had so little information. It would just complicate things, plus he'd like to have all the variables in an equation to figure out the answers.
Hell, even IF's body looked to be working in overdrive with mutations, though that wasn't really anything new at this point, she was ALWAYS evolving thanks to both being a BOW now as well as the C Gene in her.
"Um… can someone tell me what exactly happened? How'd we get all the way back here?" Nico finally asked after a moment of silence. He didn't want to seem like a creep with how intently the male had been staring, and if it had been any other girls then they would have reacted way sooner than these ones. They were just used to his bouts of heavy contemplation by this point. "Last thing I recall was becoming Crimson Soul, and…"
Turned out, IF got the hidden message there as she stepped forwards from the wall, hands in her pockets as she gazed over his form. What she had been looking for, Nico didn't know, but he didn't get much chance to think on it as she already got started with her response. "Well, we were hoping to ask you the same thing. You just fell right on top of us after practically blowing up the entire Dungeon. Nep and Compa arrived shortly after, so we brought you back here with us. Though what I'm more concerned about is whatever you did back there. There's nothing left of that place other than a steaming hot crater. Just look…" she explained, before gesturing to the window behind the male. "You can see the smoke from here."
As Nico looked around, his surprise evident on his mental self rather than his physical features, the teen caught the sight of a vague silhouette in the far distance. It was a rather large plume, a plum of smoke now that he was looking at it. Though, from this distance it would be hard to tell, and those who weren't involved in the incident wouldn't think much of it. They'd remain blissfully unaware of wat had really went down. Nevertheless, that thought didn't really register in Nico's mind as he eyed the plume while it rose to the skies above. The more he looked, the more he came to realise just how much smoke had been produced as an after effect of channelling more of Soul Edge's full unrestrained power. He couldn't help but let his jaw go slightly as his eyes almost flew out their sockets. There was after all, quite the distance between the main city of MICROSOFT and the Manor of the Mad King Leoric, after all, so if they could see it from here, then…
Geez, now it made even MORE sense why Biko had trained him so hard while he was unconscious in his Inner World.
If that was just a PORTION of Soul Edge's full power…
Suddenly he felt Biko's statement about it being able to destroy an entire continent all the heavier.
Yet, Nico couldn't help himself.
Part of him couldn't help but imagine a certain orange black wearing warrior with a massive sword going 'Bankai!' for some reason, and it made him mentally chuckle. He could see the similarities between his DPU form and that power the warrior wielded. Both had incredible power, one being subtler than the other but both being capable of releasing large amounts of energy.
Bankai indeed.
"I see…" the teen mused, scratching the side of his jaw nervously. His eyes glanced down at his hand, as a glint appeared in them. The teen had noticed it for a while now, but ever since he became a DPU, Nico hadn't had to shave or anything like that. Hell, his jaw, mouth etc had no shreds of facial hair on it, giving his face a nice, smooth surface. Just one of those small things that came with being what he was now. He tried to think of something to say, when he remembered more and more about the battling he'd temporarily forgotten. "Now that I'm thinking about it, I do recall having fought the Butcher with a bunch of Soul Edge's power. It was quite a destructive blow, but when I amped up the power to about… 20 or 30% or something, I think, I got knocked out by the force of the shockwave. Must have hit my head hard or something." He remarked, frowning thoughtfully while he cupped his chin with his index finger and thumb.
His words did have a set of reactions from the girls though.
"That low?!" They shrieked in unison, surprising the male and making him snap his head in their direction.
Neptune pouted, puffing her cheeks, her fists on the bed in front of her while she sat on her knees. If she hadn't put her hands where they were, then Nico would have gotten an eyeful of the underwear she wore under her hoodie dress, though he would have been too focused on their reactions to notice. "That's just a load of unfairzies!" she whined. "The OC gets the most broken power in the series that even dungeons can't stand up to it. Though, this is fanfiction, so meh."
On another end, Compa looked more worried than annoyed as she stared at Nico with concern, her head slightly tilted with a hand on her cheek. The look in her eyes didn't settle his nerves at all, not one bit, no instead it made him feel even more of a jerk than normal. Not something Nico liked, seriously. "More than that, it feels like your powers are hurting you, Ni-Ni. You sure your okay? As your Nurse, its my job to check on your health." She asked him worriedly.
"I'm fine, Compa, really. It just seems like I have a lot more power now, and that means I have a lot of training to do."
That had to be a MAJOR understatement, and even monologuing that made Nico feel like that didn't even begin to describe the depth of this matter.
"I'll say." IF mused, taking a deep breath to calm down. Unlike the girls, she had been there when she saw the initial explosion, so she could agree with Nico when he said he needed to train more in this power. The amount she sensed from that attack had been staggering, like an all-consuming abyss. Yet, it also felt like a small portion of his full power, even now she could sense his power swirling within him, calm and controlled unlike before. When she and the others saw him reverted to human form after he fell in front of them, IF had almost been blown back with how violent and volatile his energy had been. It had literally formed a shroud over him and wouldn't let any of them get near him, or risk getting horrifically scarred (MAGES. and herself could attest to that when she tried, only she had been able to regenerate from the injury) till it dissipated a good 30 minutes later. Speaking of the Mad Magician, IF quickly remembered something as she began rummaging through her Inventory. "Oh yeah, MAGES. asked me to give you this." She said, before pulling out from her Inventory… Nico's Armour Module.
The male's eyes nearly bulged out their sockets one they laid sight upon one of his most iconic tools. His Armour Module lay there, within IF's hand in an open position like it was waiting for someone to hug it close. Yet, even so, just the sight of it caused many emotions to swirl within his chest. Gingerly, Nico reached out and gently grasped the Spider-like Module, holding it out in front of him like he was reuniting with an old friend. Then, memories of why he parted with it in the first place came back to his mind, sending a torrent of worry through his system. "Wait, what happened to MAGES.? I thought she would-"
"MAGES. already left for Planeptune." This time, Neptune was the one to respond, and just when IF had been about to open her mouth too. She got an annoyed stare from the brunette for that, electing a nervous chuckle from the Goddess while she rubbed the back of her head. "Ahahahaha, sorry there Iffy, I just wanted to go all 'hold it!' for once." She apologised, before turning back to the male party member. "Well yeah, anyways MAGES. left for Planeptune as apparently only they had the technology to help Tekken with her injury. Dunno what that injury was, but it sounded serious."
Just remembering the look of urgency in MAGES. eyes, something that the usually stoic, calm and collected Mad Magician wouldn't usually show, made Compa frown once more as she held a shaking fist over her chest. "I hope Tek-Tek is alright. It sounded as if she was having a really big owwie." She mused with a low tone of voice, remembering how FAST the Mad Magician had blurred out of the hotel room once they had successfully brought the unconscious Nico back here.
'MAGES. you made the perfect call…' Nico thought to himself, mentally frowning as he took in this information. 'The Basilicom here has a tight leash on the Spec Ops division, more so than the other Nations. You'd be under intense scrutiny for even associating with tem here so going to Planeptune which has the most thriving division, and that's NOT me tooting our own horn there, would be the best call for you friend.'
Seriously, out of the Nations they'd visited, so far, the Spec Ops Programme had been either halted or restrained in some way or form. In Lastation, the fact that Avenir kept the funds for itself limited what they could do for the Land as a whole, and in Leanbox they were kept in small numbers thanks to religious superstition. He wasn't so sure about Lowee however, since most of the missions he took there were for various towns and cities scattered across the Land.
So, Tekken being brought to the Spec Ops in Planeptune would be the best call MAGES. could have made.
"Right, that makes sense. Tekken will be fine, though, if what I think is going to happen happens, then she'll be in good hands." Nico told the girls. "Odds are, MAGES. will try to head to the Spec Ops Agents in Planeptune, normal hospitals won't be equipped for the kind of injury Tekken had received, and even if they were they'd simply perform minor surgery to get her face back to normal, not bothering with her eyes since they would be fried to the point of no return. At least with te Spec Ops she has a better chance, we DO have access to some specific set of gear after all." He explained further when he saw their confused looks.
Memories of Ivan and his cybernetic arm appeared in his mind, before he pushed it back.
None of the girls doubted his word, considering how they had see first hand the kind of people in the Spec Ops Community, as well as the tech they used. It wouldn't be a surprise to see if they had something for Tekken's injury they could use for her.
"Alright, enough of the serious stuff for a couple chapters!" Neptune finally exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air and falling backwards onto the bed. A loud exhale escaped her lips as she sighed in content. "I'mma gonna sleep for a century or something, wake me up in an eternity…"
Compa chuckled while IF went and bonked the girl on the head, startling her awake. "Hey, iffy you don't need to do that." She gently chastised the brunette before she continued. "While Nep-Nep's sleep cycle is revisable, she does have a point. There's been too much going on, so we need to wind down and get some good rest. I think we've earned it with what's been cracking, eh guys?"
On that, the two girls could agree, Neptune with a fist sized bump on her head that pulsated occasionally. Though it looked more like a comical situation than anything major, especially with how she didn't look too bothered with it. IF could sure hit hard after all, since she was indeed a living biological weapon now. Hell, her fist was still steaming from the force she put into the blow. If she'd done that to a normal human, she'd likely have shot her fist right smack dab through their heads and into their bodies. Though, since Neptune was a Goddess, that didn't happen thanks to her enhanced durability. They needed to wind down and relax after all that carnage, or rather that's all they wanted to do.
They DID deserve a break from everything that had happened since IF had gotten kidnapped.
Even Nico agreed with this notion, everything that had happened in the last couple chapters had drained him physically and mentally. Even now, all he wanted to do was just lay back down on his bed and sleep the rest of the day away. He could do his training whenever he wanted, and because of the time difference between the outside world and his Inner World, he could get a LOT done in a short time frame.
Though, he had to admit, he did half-expect Stefan to have remained so he could get some answers. Wonder why he left?
'Allow me to answer that, while you and I were training, I kept your senses connected to my own, allowing me to listen in on our surroundings. It seemed that Stefan received a call from someone, someone important and decided to drop the questions for the time being I am unable to ascertain what this 'person' told him about your powers, however it seemed to have stopped him from asking for the time being.'
... Nico got the feeling that this 'person' was Helen.
His mother always had a way of knowing these things, that protective mother hen her...
She may be codenamed VALKYRIE, but she was a strong mother as well. Probably due to her not being able to have a child of her own.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot."
Bringing everyone's attention back to her, IF quickly rummaged through her Inventory and brought out what looked like a Scroll. It was sealed up with a special tar-like substance, with the Symbol of Leanbox on the centre to signify whom it had been sent from. "While you were out, we got this sent to us from the Basilicom. No idea what it is, but it has to be something important. Kept it on hand so Nep here didn't try to get any spoilers."
"Aw, c'mon Iffy, you know I don't do something like that!"
"You break the fourth wall and you look at Wikis for information, don't talk to me about not getting spoilers."
"Grk! Critical wound delivered by the Tentacle girlie…"
"What was that, Nep…?"
IF glared at the girl for that little nickname, especially with what it implied about her. This glare made Neptune shudder visibly at the venom behind it, her laughter coming out more strained than when someone was constipated.
Nevertheless, Nico quickly defused the situation before the brunette would really try to kill their resident Goddess. That wouldn't do for their party and the story after all. "Hey-hey calm it down you two." He scolded them, patting them on their heads. The two girls blushed faintly at the gesture, the teen probably not realising how his hands moving abut their heads felt rather nice to the touch. "Alright, now that that's out the way, let's see what that letter has to tell us, let's cut it open."
The referral to the letter did it's job, and brought the two out of their dazed stupors before the brunette quickly formed one of her claws' talons. Apparently if she wanted to be discreet, then IF could morph one of her fingers into another form rather than just a whole arm. It made for covert actions much easier, in Nico's opinion, perfect for when she finally joined the ranks of the Spec Ops Agents. With a swift and fluid movement that only years of prratice with short bladed weapons could produce, IF cut the seal apart and opened the scroll.
"You know, methinks Leanbox may be a bit old fashioned with using Scrolls instead of something more modern."
"Hush, Neptune. You're talking about a Nation that still goes with nobility, torture devices and other old fashioned cultural features. Anyways, let's see…"
To Spec Ops DEATHSTROKE
You and your comrades have done us at the Ostermark Order a great service. We will not forget how you dutifully aided our Captain in exercising extreme vengeance against the heretics that slaughtered our brothers and sisters. Many of us are grateful that their spirits will now rest in peace, knowing that their vengeance has been delivered. You did us a great honor, and as such I am extending you an invitation to Leanbox's next Gala in 3 Months. With your actions, there will be many whom will want to know more about you in the nobility, including the CPU herself. She has expressed great interest in meeting you face to face, and as such has authorized us to perform this task.
Below, is a list of everything you will require for the Gala, from clothes to the appropriate mannerisms. We at the Ostermark Order wish you the best of luck.
Yours sincerely, Captain Stefan Von Kessel
PS: You have my condolences, brave soul.
"Huh, a rather ominous ending there…" IF remarked with a confused frown on her lips. She held her chin with her hand as she tried to figure out the meaning behind the Letter's last note to them, or rather to Nico himself. Everything save for that las bit seemed to be directed at the Party as a whole, however that last bit seemed to be directed at Nico specifically. "Wonder what it could mean…"
Nico however, knew EXACTLY what he meant by that. "Out of the frying pan, and into the fire indeed…" the male muttered under his breath, though only IF had heard him as evident by the slight widening of her eyes. Not that the others noticed though. The teen recalled what happened at that for Mott before, and he couldn't help but curse the timing. Seriously, does the deity of fate hate him or something? What this was to him, was practically an invitation to the Lion's den, Nobility were well known for their hate towards the Spec Ops Programme, and any whom were a part of it. He could recall the handful of Nobles whom issued Quests that he took. Generally, they were well… mostly civil, and he used that term LOOSELY to describe them, but behind his back he always heard the insulting comments that Nobles gave him and his brethren. The younger Nobles like the sons and daughters would sneer and openly diss him most of the time, while the older ones would be a bit subtler in their disgust.
To go to a place where there would be a BUNCH of them, all of them likely aware of his status as a Spec Ops Agent, would be similar to entering a hornet's nest.
Yet, he wouldn't be able to deny going to this Gala, mostly because it was his duty as a Spec Ops Agent to answer the summons. One might think to themselves: but you aren't affiliated with any Nation, so how can it be your duty to answer?' He would tell them that not going would only agitate the Basilicom and possibly give them reasons to crack down on the Spec Ops Programme even more, which wouldn't be good for the fight against the Abnormals. Even with his grievances with people, he still had a duty to protect humanity against those extreme threats.
Another reason why he couldn't refuse this would be the mentioning of the personal interest the CPU Green Heart apparently has in speaking to him. Honestly, if he knew Vert like he thought he did (and he sure hoped so, since he'd been unknowingly gaming with her for a while now) then odds were that she would likely try to skip a Gala like his, especially with his suspicions about that 'hole' Biko and him had sensed within her. On their free time in the future, the two would be brainstorming theories about that, but anyways, the fact that it said she had some 'personal interest' in speaking with him meant that he had to appear no matter what. If he didn't, it would likely be taken as an insult not by the CPU (cause he knew her personality) but by the Basilicom. Those guys take extreme faith to a whole new level, and if he didn't meet with their CPU when she wanted to talk to him…
Yeah.
Not to mention there were other variables involved, like Count Mott and his whole mystery quest about the Mojang Village, the Overlord Momus Faction with their Chaos Sub-religion, and multiple others. The Gala would actually, now that he thought about it, be a great place to listen in on the Nobles of the Land, cause even with their apparent distaste for the Spec Ops Community, they were also 'skilled' (he used that term LOOSELY too) at politics, war and strategy, so there might be something interesting to discover about wat they plan to do with these guys.
Plus, this Gala, with all these important people coming about, felt like a magnet for trouble. With Maghda roaming about, something Nico shuddered to think of since she was someone who he had hoped died and stayed dead when he first met her, meant that there would be those who would try to target the Gala as a terrorist attack, throwing the entire place into disarray.
'HONESTLY, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST RIP THEIR SPINES OUT OR SOMETHING, KING? YOU'RE THE TOP DOG IN THIS JUNGLE, NOT THESE ASSHATS. IT'D BE A CINCH, JUST A FEW FLICKS AND ALL THEIR NECKS SPRAY WITH BLOOD! C'MON, DON'T TELL ME YOU CARE ABOUT THOSE STUPID NOBLES!'
There went HIS voice, that annoying white version of him. HIS voice echoed in a distorted manner inside his mind, hollow yet filled with insanity and madness. Thus, the typical stuff from HIM. Though, unlike before, HE had a good point this time, it wasn't like these Nobles were of any worth to him. People like them had no room on the battlefield, they'd just slow the truly skilled soldiers down with their fat, bloated bodies and need for some drastic cardio.
Still, that wasn't his call to make.
"Well, we can worry about this later on, I think now would be a good time for us to pull a Neptune here, and have some RnR." Nico stated, clapping his hands together after disposing the Letter into his Void Storage. No point worrying about I right now, they just survived a freaking deathtrap back there in the Hellverse Dungeon. He himself couldn't be bothered to deal with it right now, he'd wait till tomorrow to form any plans and countermeasures for it.
"Yaaaaaay, Nicky agrees! Alright, let's get gaming! I'll nep you till you're black and blue on c#m#an# and #o#q#e#!"
"I'm sorry Neptune, but whom among us has over 40 wins and whom among us has 40 losses? Just saying."
"Grrr!"
That night, things were all quiet, and honestly Nico couldn't have asked for anything better.
The teen lay on his bed with his arms above his head while hie eyes laid their gaze onto the ceiling, the soft rays of the moon passing through the curtains onto the middle of his male had positioned his arms so that they didn't damage his beloved Bracers, while the faint outlines of his Module could be seen through the black top. Unlike a few times, Nico was alone in his bed, his clothes having been swapped to his PJ's. The cool, Leanbox nighttime air passed gently through the slight opening of the window, filling the air and gently caressing the male's skin. It honestly felt as soothing as a mother's touch, making him remember his adoptive mother and mentor in all but blood. Thinking about it, he should probably call his mother more often, goddess knows that she worries for him. He could only imagine what she felt whenever he went out on a Quest. She may have trained him, but a mother always worries for her children, whether or not they were taking care of themselves or if they were even okay.
Sometimes, he forgot how she was his mom as well, not just his mentor.
He remembered their lessons together, one of them being where she taught him about resolve, how it should be and how he should always keep it close to his heart, no his very being. Resolve was what differentiated the Spec Ops from the Monsters, that was the bread and butter that truly made them what they were. They had the resolve to do what needed to be done, regardless if people think of them as heroes or heretics. It didn't matter to them, because in their eyes, they were all equal on the battlefield. Too bad that there were so many within their ranks who didn't adhere to this belief, though, it really disappointed him and made Nico wonder about the worthiness of humanity. Sometimes.
Whenever he did the faces of Compa and the girls, though back then it was usually just Compa, filled his mind and chased those thoughts away like a fox hunting a rabbit.
A flash of... something, passed through his eyes as the male moved. Raising one hand to his face, the male gazed intently at it, his eyes sharper than blades while he had imagery flashbacks of the fighting he'd done. 'So much combat in so short a time... it feels like an eternity since we last had a breather... Neptune was right, we really do need to wind down. Yet, I fear that we may not be able to wind down completely until this mess with the Abnormals, politics, Demons and all that other stuff is resolved for good...' he thought, frowning in concern.
Nico was no fool, they may be winding down, but he could definitely see the world giving them a hard time during these next 3 months. 3 months of relaxation, that sounded nice on the surface, but deep down Nico couldn't help the anxiety in his chest. There would be many, Maghda being one of them, that would hound them till the end of the world or something, maybe even haunt them in the afterlife. Those people likely won't rest until they were dead or worse, therefore he had to keep his guard up... 80% of the time, the rest should be focused on this RnR.
To him, all this stuff... it felt like he was in a battleground, flanked from all sides. All the issues were slowly gaining ground, trapping him within a choke-hold and then...
KNOCK, KNOCK
DOKI, DOKI!
Nico's heart hammered wildly against his chest when he heard the sudden sound of someone knocking on his door. He nearly unleashed his hidden weapon to slam through it and impale whoever was on the other side out of reflex alone, such was how much of a shock it brought him. Seriously, this path he was on, the re-sharpening of his fangs, combined with everything else did horrible effects on his nerves. Man, if this was what it would be like, then he REALLY needed this resting.
"Who is it?!"
Slowly, Nico threw off the covers while yelling that out, though not at the top of his lungs. He didn't want to disturb Compa and Neptune, as while they were deep sleepers (he knew cause of how often they tried to get into his bed - this time being one of those few exceptions) he didn't want to disturb their beauty sleep. Goddess knows the needed it. As a precaution though, something he couldn't really help Nico summoned Ebony from his Void Storage, his fingers like blurs when they did that process. The familiar texture of a weapon did wonders in calming his nerves, the thought of having something to protect himself with in case things went awry relieving him of all his tension.
"It's me, IF."
Hearing the familiar sound of the brunette's voice took away what remained of his tension, Nico exhaling barely while he dismissed his Ebony to his Void Storage. He had no idea that hearing one of his comrades voices, even though they just recently fought together, could be so relieving. It was like they had become an aphrodisiac to him, which sorta worried the teen. Since when the hell did they manage to get this close to him, and how did he let them? Standing up from his bed, the male strode over to the door and gripped the knob in his right hand. He then pulled it open. allowing himself to come face to face with IF in her PJ's.
The male almost lost control over his jaw in surprise when he got an eyeful of THAT peculiar sight.
IF's PJ's consisted of a light green tube top with white colored frills on the rims over the bust, with darker green leafy patterns. She wore a matching pair of frilly shorts as well, which in his mind, made her look all the better in them. She didn't have that bow in her hair, letting it hang loosely behind her back. She even had this verdant breeze-smelling shampoo scent emitting from her hair that felt VERY pleasing to the male's nostrils, and that wasn't something he could smell often considering how often he was around human foods.
The teen mentally cursed himself for thinking these thoughts about his comrade. Seriously, what the hell was up with him lately? He felt like that moment he had with Neptune in her naked HDD form started this trend, then Lucy just HAD to speed up it's development, didn't she? Either way, thanks to those two, he had started to notice something... off with himself. He noticed the bodies of his female companions way more than he used to, sometimes he struggled to pull his gaze away from the girls and focus on the tasks at hand. MAGES. for example, her figure pressing tightly against his had done a LOT on his state of mind. The only reason why he hadn't reacted in any pervy manner had been because he had focused on the fact that they were in a life-or-death situation. Fortunately, Compa's grandfather, combined with his adoptive mother and the horrific things he'd seen as a Spec Ops Agent had given him the ability to focus on the more important things.
For so long, that had been the one thing his mind attached itself to the most, but thanks to Neptune and Lucy, when a female was in close contact with him, his mind started wandering now...
How could he stop that?
Even now, he couldn't believe how goddamn attractive IF was. Not just in her current garments but in every day life too. He liked how she had a sense of snark when they talked or when Neptune did her antics. He liked how she had a strong head on her shoulders even in the toughest of times, where she would keep a sharp eye on the situation to figure out the best course of action. He liked how she kept everyone in a state of composure so they could focus on the task at hand. He liked how she didn't take no shit from anyone, she always had something to say whether it was a compliment or an insult disguised as her usual sneakiness.
Then there was her beauty, too...
By the Goddesses she was freaking beautiful, perhaps even gorgeous. No, that was a CERTAINTY.
She may not have the womanly figure Vert, Lucy, or Neptune in HDD form had, but she did have a figure she could call hers, and that was something he really liked about her. She had the build of a soldier, someone who didn't take any crap on the battlefield. It was like she was in her element when she had that game face on, moving through the area with almost unnatural grace. She had a mix of femininity and tomboy-ism that complimented her well.
Once more, his mind hammered home the fact that this woman had beauty in spades, setting her on even ground against the other womanly people he knew in his life.
So distracted by his thoughts (and the woman's beauty) he was, that Nico didn't notice how nervous and anxious IF looked either. If he did, he probably would have made a fool of himself.
Quickly before he could look like any more of an idiot, Nico stepped aside wordlessly, allowing the brunette entry. IF nodded wordlessly in thanks, stepping inside. The light patting of her feet against the floor seemed all the more audible to the male as she moved to his bed, turning around and sitting on it as he closed the door and walked over, sitting beside her. "So... what's up?"
He had asked that after a moment of silence, silence where he had to fight the urge to tug at his top's collar. He had more awareness of the situation than he would normally have. IF, an immensely beautiful girl, was in his room in the middle of the night. While she didn't show NEARLY as much skin as Neptune did in her Purple Heart form, the amount she did definitely effected him on that level. By the Goddesses he hoped he hadn't been creepy just then, he didn't think he could handle the humiliation and shame THAT would bring.
"Huh? Oh, well..."
Truth be told, even IF didn't know exactly. This kind of was a bit of a first for her, having entered a guys room like this. When she visited the red light district occasionally, the setting would be much simpler than what was happening right now. The setting accompanied what the meetings would be about, just simple sexual pleasure for a couple credits. There was nothing else, no strings attached, and they would part ways shortly after. Even then, the pleasure would be pure carnal, and wouldn't always satisfy her. It usually depended on who was doing it.
But right now? NONE of this was like those times. None of it felt as simple as that, nope, not one bit. Instead of a random stranger, beside her was Nico codename DEATHSTROKE, someone she knew, someone she fought alongside with and got along with pretty well. She had a pretty good opinion of him already compared to other guys she'd had the misfortune of knowing. This wasn't some faceless prostitute to her, this wasn't something as simple as that. Not to mention her rather... uncertain feelings towards the male. Stefan's words and the looks that Helen had given her that she'd noticed hammered away against the forefront of her mind.
Then there was what Nico had been like when he first opened the door...
IF would have been a fool to not notice the way he looked at her. Like, he had been in complete shock and awe, his eyes gazing up and down her frame like they were looking at something amazing for the first time. Thanks to her BOW senses, she had detected how his hormones fluctuated in a way that clearly stated he was checking her out, taking everything in and filing it away. She had ha;f-expected to feel disgusted with that, how he looked at her in the way a man would a woman. Especially with how she'd seen that look directed at women's chests, but with... much more sinister agendas behind it.
But, in that moment the brunette had noticed something different with the way Nico had looked at her. The way he did so, there wasn't much lust as much as there was a mix of lust, awe and amazement. He looked at everything about her, not just one specific body part, he looked at her completely and had been amazed. While he didn't say anything about those thoughts, the way his eyes glimmered in the darkness said everything clearly to her. The answer she found there, didn't disgust her like she thought, instead it made her feel... well, more than a little flattered.
It felt quite great, actually, to be looked at that way. More than she ever thought possible.
Throughout her time knowing him, IF had observed how Nico acted around the girls, how it contrasted to what she knew of other guys. Whenever Neptune and the others were in more trouble than they could handle, Nico had done his damned best to be there for them, to help them in any way he knew. Those dates they went on, IF knew there were more to them than meets the eye, something that she later found out, judging by how happy the girls were when they came back, like huge weights had been lifted off their shoulders, that Nico figured out too.
He had this... way, with people, more so with girls, actually. It seemed to her that the guy had a certain soft spot towards women that wasn't there towards men. Though, with what he'd seen according to his mother, she could understand why. He had a way with getting past people's facades and seeing what the real problem was, like seeing past the cracks in a Mask. Then, once he sussed out the problem, he was all over it, solving the problem and resulting in the girls feeling much better than they did originally. It was a theme the brunette had noticed about him, how the whole 'Masks and Reflections' concept applied to him much more than any other person she'd encountered. It DEFINITELY earned him the affections Neptune and Compa had for him, that was for certain. Girls tend to like guys whom would help them with their issues, being there for them.
Yet, there was also a sense of... loneliness about him. She'd seen it a few times, more so when they began their travels in Leanbox. There were times when it briefly glimmered in his eyes, and only she seemed to notice. It was like he firmly believed that he wouldn't have anyone to sooth him of this deep, dark, and empty void inside, like he believe he would be alone forever despite the qualities he displayed. Then there were the reactions he had to girls getting near him, reactions she'd seen whenever Neptune or any girl interested in him made a move on him. There was this faint sense of shock, disbelief, and most concerning of all fear. Like, fear of what would happen if they got too close to him or something. Fear that they would suffer a fate that only he knew, like the void inside consuming them for all eternity.
It concerned her... and saddened her. Here he was, lonely inside, but not letting anyone get in to wipe away that loneliness, for reasons only he knew.
Though from what she knew of his behavior and what she learned about a certain Abnormal... it more than justified.
The fact that he had asked her a question resonated through her mind, and IF quickly searched for a reasonable answer for it. She didn't want it to sound like an excuse, but so many of the responses that came to her felt like exactly that. It was both maddening and frustrating for the brunette woman. She could kill off a bunch of monsters and Abnormals no problem. She could have sex in the red light district with a lack of care, easy. But talking to a guy she possibly liked more than a friend? A guy that possibly had way more burdens than she could ever imagine? Seriously, she wasn't a damn highschooler with their first crush for crying out loud!
Finally, she got an answer that didn't seem like an half-assed excuse, though she didn't feel too satisfied with it. "I just... I wanted to thank you." she told him, trying her best to sound as she normally did. Her heart hammered away almost painfully within her chest, but she pressed through regardless. "For you know... coming to find me." That answer had a strong sense of truth to it, and IF refused to hide how thankful she was for that.
He had come for her,
IF had had multiple scenarios in her mind when she was back in that cell. One of which was that she would fall to either a stray Demon attack while her guard was down, or a Cultist managing to get the drop on her when she would be trying to recover. There had been many times in those battles where she had felt like she was dangerously low on power, with how much she had used her BOW abilities. Those times, she had felt more vulnerable than she had in most of her life, the only moment that could have topped it was that moment when she felt like she would die when she got infected in the first place. That moment had been scarier cause if it weren't for the intervention of the guy siting next to her, then she WOULD have died. It would have been so easy to just accidentally use too much Biomass for an attack that would leave her weakened, and then a stray blast would hit her from above or behind ad end her days forever. She didn't want to think of that, not one bit.
Then, there was a scenario where Stefan, when he saw her in that state of mind, deciding to go by himself and abandon her, leaving her to the mercy of the Demons (mercy, hah, those fuckers didn't know the meaning of the word) or the Cultists whom would probably use her for their satanic rituals towards the Chaos Gods. She hadn't known him nearly as long as she had Nico, so even if he seemed like a good guy, she still had that part of her that sent those thoughts into her brain. She had tried to ignore them back then, but part of her couldn't help but worry through their time together. Fortunately, that had not been the case, but it just as easily could have.
But then, Nico came for her.
He came BACK for her.
Nobody had ever done that for her before. Before she met Neptune and the others, IF had been pretty much a loner living a rather nomadic lifestyle. She didn't have that many friends, and the few she did have were either civilians with their own lives to live, or fellow Agents she worked with that got themselves killed on the battlefield. Either against a Monster attack, or the stray Abnormal. It was more the latter though, considering the difference in danger levels between the two types of Monster plaguing Gamindustri. She had those times in the red light district sure enough, but they were more for self satisfaction than anything, and she didn't form any close attachments there.
So, the fact that someone whom she potentially formed a stronger attachment than one of friends/comrades in arms, someone whom she felt so confused about, decided that she was worth helping even though it could pose a dangerous risk to their health, felt... like she said before, it felt more than a little touching, in fact it warmed her normally cold heart. She hadn;t experienced that before, so it had been more than a little foreign to her, especially when that person pulled her into an embrace where she could just FEEL the relief in that she was alright oozing from it. The raw emotion she felt from that embrace, the influx of emotions she got from that moment, it overwhelmed her and made her more than a little embarrassed.
Still, the gesture alone hit her hard. The emotions afterwards had merely been the icing on the cake.
On his end, Nico smiled in a comforting manner, crossing his arms over his stomach when he realized what IF had been implying. "No need to thank me, you're a comrade so it's only natural that I go above and beyond for you..." he replied, though his tone betrayed the amount of emotion he felt about that particular issue. "if anything, I'm the one who should apologize for not getting there sooner. I mean, I know you're no damsel in distress character and you would kick anyone in the neither regions for assuming otherwise." To punctuate this, he made a kicking motion with his right foot, electing a small amused chuckle from the woman at how true that was. "Still, I wanted to get to you sooner, cause well..." at this point, the male scratched the side of his cheek awkwardly, a light tinge of pink on his cheeks as he looked away from her. "I was honestly worried for you. I couldn't help it. The thought of you suffering at those asshole's hands does more than piss me off a little." His eyes then hardened, his cheeks returning to normal as he gripped the bed sheets tightly. He could have just shredded them with how much strength his sudden rage put into his hand. "Then, there's Maghda."
"Oh yeah, her." IF did a mix between a frown and a scowl at the mention of the Khorne Cult's leader. She remembered what she was like, how she looked towards Nico like men do towards women: like a sack of meat that she couldn't wait to sink her fangs into. IF didn't expect to feel as furious as she did, but she did. "Actually, while we're on that subject, could you explain why the heck that old hag seems so fixated on you it borderlines pedophilia?" she questioned. While IF knew that Nico had an unusual ability to attract girls to him like a magnet, the way Maghda looked at him was more than a little disturbing. And creepy.
Hearing her question at the end, Nico couldn't help but exhale. His eyes gained a far-off look to them while he held up his right Bracer. "Well, that one's a bit of a long story. Before I go into it, do you know anything about New Tristram?" he asked her, looking back into IF's green orbs.
The brunette frowned as she tried to recall that name. Something about it just seemed very familiar to her, like she'd heard it before from somewhere but no matter what she just couldn't put her finger on it. It was a solid minute before something sparked, and she suddenly snapped her fingers in remembrance. "Oh yeah, there was something that happened 4 years ago. That's a Leanbox town, if i'm not mistaken." Back then, she had been surfing the web during her break, when she had come across some forums detailing about New Tristram. They had been quite vague though, so she hadn't put too much stock in them due to lack of proper information.
"Well, that was just putting it mildly." Nico remarked with heavy sarcasm, his eyes reflecting his current mood as he fiddled with his accessory. For a moment, the teen looked conflicted as memories passed through his mind, before he sighed once more and began to explain. "4 Years ago, Leanbox requested some help from Planeptune's Spec Ops Branch since theirs had their hands full with other matters. Not to mention they had already sent an Agent to investigate but they hadn't heard back from him. We could only send 1 Agent though, and that Agent was me. Apparently, New Tristram's communications to the central City of MICROSOFT stopped suddenly, and they wanted to know why. I packed what I usually took for long missions, my instincts telling me as such, and hauled ass over there. I expected tit to be just an Abnormal causing interference at the time, but what I did not expect..." at this point, the male's eyes shook as the memories flashed through his head like PTSD. He forced himself to keep going however, it would be the best way to deal with this. "Was for a near repeat event of Raccoon City to happen and see the dead walking amongst the living once more."
The teen didn't let IF speak, though by the sudden inhaling, he could tell this surprised her. Sadly enough, the shocks wouldn't stop there. "Turns out there was a Necromancer on the loose, they had infiltrated Old Tristram, which had fallen long before New Tristram was built, and had released a horde of undead there. The undead being those that died during the village's destruction. By the time I arrived, the first few waves had been dealt with by the Village' guards, but many of them had already fallen and joined the undead horde's ranks. Some of them had been the ones responsible for communications, explaining why the village had gone dark."
He didn't bother with the fiddling anymore, and just continued the story. "I helped them fight off the first wave, then had a talk with the Village elder. Turned out the undead were being spawned in by these creatures called 'Wretched Mothers' whom were once handmaidens to the former Queen Asylla of King Leoric's time. They all responded to the word of the Wretched Queen, the first of the handmaidens, so I had to fight through legions of undead to reach the Old Tristram ruins, where I had to slay her once more and put the undead to rest once again."
"Geez, people just love to mess with the dead, it's disgusting..." IF couldn't help the scowling remark that escaped her lips, fury coursing through her like blood. It was one thing to see it in a game, but to see it in real life was another. She thought Umbrella and Avenir were bad with what they did, but Necromancy seemed just as bad as artificial bio weapons. With how she fought in the attack on Lastation's capital SONY, the brunette had an inkling as to what that may have been like.
Her remark got an agreeing nod from the red haired teen. "Yeah, but if that were it, then this would be a short tale. I got rid of the undead, but I had to go after the Necromancer, and to do that the village Elder told me I had to go into the old Cathedral, for that was where the Necromancer had been last sighted. So, off I go, making sure to keep my wits about me. Good thing I did too, cause just as soon as I set foot in that place, i'm attacked by more Undead than the Raccoon City Outbreak had to offer, and way more varieties. Turned out that this Necromancer had been busy while I dealt with the Wretched Queen. Seriously, some of the things I saw there would make seasoned killers want to quit their ways for good."
"Fighting through levels filled with Undead, I came across another Spec Ops Agent, much to my surprise. Turned out that he had been pinned by Undead hordes, so he couldn't get any word back to his superiors. Thus, we teamed up to stop the Necromancer from whatever it was they were doing. While we fought, I questioned my companion on what they had learned, and I learned only one name: Maghda. That had been my first time hearing about her so I didn't know much, but I couldn't help but be suspicious about the way the Agent spoke. There was a LARGE amount of hate, fear and caution when they said that name, way more than any other time I've fought beside Leanbox Spec Ops."
Taking a small break, Nico inhaled and exhaled. He could sense that Biko was listening in too, something he noted while continuing. "We fought through the multi-levels of the ruined Cathedral, and we soon came to this large area which looked to once have been a throne room. Though back then, it looked more like a sea of bones with a single Armored Skeleton slumped on the throne. That was when she first appeared, marking my first encounter with the being called Maghda. You wouldn't believe it, IF, but Maghda's aura had felt WAY worse than when we met her before. It had felt more twisted, cursed and unholy. Like she had become an abomination of life, something I honestly can see considering her backstory. Maghda took one look at me, and I KNEW she had taken a rather... disturbing fixation on me, even offered me a position as her sex slave right off the bat. Blunt, with no fucks given."
IF's eyes widened at this. Talk about forthright aggressiveness. "I guess she didn't take the refusal too well?"
"Nope, she did not, IF. I'd enraged her, and she soon revealed her plan to raise the black King Leoric into the mortal world to destroy New Tristram, and by extension Leanbox. Though, that had been only a secondary goal for her, though I couldn't ask why since she vanished seconds later, and remember that Skeleton I mentioned? Well, it came to life, and thus we had to fight an undead King with a legion of Skeleton warriors. Trust me, they were stronger than they sounded. I had to resort to using a mix of Ebony, Ivory and Rebellion to take them down quickly so we could hunt Maghda down. Unfortunately, the battle rendered my companion incapacitated, their leg had been horribly messed up by a stray attack during the final stretch so I urged the Agent to use the Eject Button to get help. Didn't take much convincing, and thus it came down to me to stop Maghda from whatever it was she wanted to do."
Nico glanced over to IF, the first time he did so since this story began, before he continued his tale. "Tracking her down hadn't been hard, all I had to do was fight though large legions of undead. The closer I got, the greater the strength and numbers the undead possessed. Eventually, I tracked her down to a deep cave, hidden beneath the old Cathedral where... there lay this huge block of Ice, a large monster inside it in suspended animation. Even so, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was looking at me while it looked so dead. Maghda soon appeared, and she told me that this was what she was really after, the Abnormal called the Teufel,the Abnormal responsible for King Leoric's madness. She wanted to awaken this creature, and have it spread it's madness across the Nation. You can guess what that meant, right?"
"Sounds like mass genocide..." IF whispered, stunned. She didn't want to imagine what that would have been like, as dark as this world was the thought of genocide on that scale scared her too much to even think about. Never mind how this took place in the Nation of the CPU she worshiped.
"That's putting it mildly. We fought afterwards, and I destroyed her with a good Plasma attack to her chest. I then set about destroying the Abnormal while it was still in it's prison, by rigging the entire cave to collapse in on itself. I had enough C4 Charges to do this, and in the end I was able to destroy the Cave so that this Teufel would never again see the light of day. Afterwards, I returned to New Tristram, to inform the Elders of what happened. They told me that the other Agent I found had been transported back to the Capital, and would receive a portion of the payment for his troubles. Though I would get the bigger payment due to my contributions being larger than his. Though, like with him, I got the same reaction the moment I mentioned Maghda's name. Hell, it arguably seemed worse with them, so before I returned to Planeptune I did some intense research into Maghda. There were almost no records of her, something which I found suspicious. It was almost like she was intentionally erased from the history books."
'Yeah, that DOES sound suspicious...' the BOW thought, frowning as she cupped her chin. To go so far to erase someone from history like that, it was clear that Maghda had some strong connections to Leanbox. Especially if the reactions to her name from the citizens in that village were any indication, so something really bad must have happened for her to warrant such actions. "But why would they do that? It doesn't really make much sense."
"Yeah, if it weren't for the fact that Maghda had been once a member of the Basilicom, a high ranking one several centuries ago."
"?!"
"Yep, shocked me, too. Apparently, she's over 400 years old. Back then, she had been recruited for a high position within the Basilicom staff, her predecessor 'mysteriously vanishing' for some reason..." Nico made quotation marks with his hands, both of them sharing a glance that showed they BOTH had an idea of what that really meant. "At the time she had gone under an alias called Adria. She had been, on paper, researching medicines to cure some of the most disastrous plagues around Leanbox at the time, and had been making remarkable progress. Thus, her promotion seemed perfectly reasonable."
Thinking of Leanbox's lifestyle, IF had to admit that Maghda's cover was a convincing one. Leanbox didn't have as much in the way of technology, so plagues would naturally be a big cause for concern amongst the populace. Though that could be said for Lastation as well considering the heavy pollution in the air. "Ever since her employment, Maghda ensured that our medicines were able to counteract any plague that came our way. Whenever a patient was sick or needed to have vaccines prematurely, hers were always the best out there. Her medicines were top notch, and many lives were saved. For a time, all was well, until things started to get strange."
"Weird things started happening, rumors about new monsters that had never been seen before started surfacing. Considering how Abnormals were a thing, people just thought of them as new Abnormals, until one Spec Ops Agent at the time decided to investigate himself. Soon enough, he found one such beast inside a family home, and the records say that he almost pissed himself from fear. At the time, he'd been so horrified that such beasts existed, and told the Guild about them. They quickly ordered that any monsters like them seen within the city confines be annihilated without hesitation. Meanwhile, this Agent whose name has been lost to history, investigated what the circumstances were that surrounded these happenings, and it took me weeks before this Agent made a conclusion. These monsters all had something to do with the most recent of medicines that Maghda had been supplying to the local pharmacies." he explained, shaking in anger.
Trying to quell his rage, Nico continued while clenching his fists. "The Agent confronted her about it after he was sure she had a connection, never can be too careful, you know? And that's when he learned she had been experimenting with dark magic, creating potions that not only healed the sick, but progressively turned them into demonic monsters in the most painful, agonizing and slow manners possible. It would happen so slow that nobody would suspect it, and when it was complete the air would disperse the residue so there was no trace. They had a big fight that leveled half of Leanbox, which was when Maghda exposed her true colors to the Agent, and thus got banished from Leanbox after the Agent barely emerged victorious. She disappeared afterwards, and ti was assumed she had been killed somewhere... turns out, that's not the case at all."
There, that was the end of the tale of Maghda. Seriously, he needed a drink to wet his mouth. Summoning one from his Void Storage, Nico drank the entire water bottle, before putting the now empty bottle in his Void Storage again.
Meanwhile, IF found herself reeling from what she had learned. All this stuff in the middle of the night, it just barely processed itself in her brain, and that was thanks to her BOW powers helping. So, to recount, Maghda was a possibly immortal witch whom got banished from Leanbox for misdeeds, had once tried to awaken an Abnormal that was responsible for destroying an entire kingdom but Nico supposedly 'axed her', only for her to return today with new powers. Odds were, that she was still alive even now, waiting for her opportunity to strike. That thought did NOT sit well with her, not one bit.
"Well, I know where i'm going to put my claws the next time I see her."
"Yeah? Well, get in line, cause I'm going to shove Soul Edge down her throat first. So yeah, that's what I know and have experienced about Maghda."
IF nodded, knowing that would be the best thing for the world. Nico had more history with her, so she would let him get the first shot at the bitch for what she did. Maybe it was her new feelings for him, but part of her wondered what it would be like to rip out her entrails while she assimilated her. The thought of hearing her cry for mercy filled her with a sense of sadistic glee that made her understand sadists a bit better.
After that tale, Nico and IF descended into thoughtful; silence. The awkward atmosphere before had all but vanished thanks to the male's story about the Witch. As well as the ominous implications for future encounters with her. The teen glanced towards his Bracer and used it to check the time. 'Looks like it's getting late... we should really be getting back to bed...' the male thought, glancing over to the brunette.
Now that he wasn't distracted by the story no more, his thoughts of how beautiful she was came back with a vengeance, making him once more feel quite hot under the collar. The male refused to let them sink in though, no, he absolutely refused to. Not only was it wrong to think of a comrade like that, but she deserved better than some wretched piece of shit like him.
What he didn't realize, was that IF had noticed his gaze, as well as his change.
The brunette, once she saw the change in the male Spec Ops Agent, remembered the ORIGINAL reason why she came here. To his room in the middle of the night while risking being caught by Neptune and Compa. She wanted... she wanted to see what these feelings were, exactly. She wanted to know if these feelings were what people said they were, or if they were just temporary gratitude. It honestly made her feel really nervous inside, this almost felt like a massive weight on her shoulders. What if she was right? What if the others were wrong? She didn't know if she could keep herself calm around him ever again after this.
Yet, deep down, one thing was for certain, after this night, things between them would change...
Radically.
"Say, Nico..."
"Hm?"
'Whelp, time to get this on...' IF thought herself, steadying her breathing and steeling her nerves. Turning her head, the brunette became distinctly aware of how close they were sitting together. Just an inch and her leg would brush against his. She ignored that for the time being. "Can I ask you... if it's alright if I um..." C'mon girl, get a grip! IF mentally scolded herself, she had to ask this, she had to make a step forward. Nico wouldn't likely considering his mental state, but she wanted to know, dammit. "Could I stay here the night? I'd rather not risk waking Nep and Compa, then have to deal with the fallout. It'd probably wake the other residents of the Hotel."
There, that seemed plausible, and it looked like Nico was buying it, for now at least. No doubt he' figure her motives out soon enough.
"Well..." Nico began, trying to come up with a response... while looking composed externally. He sure as hell wasn't internally, for his mind raced with chaotic panic like blood overflowing from a wound. His heart hammered away within his chest while he struggled within himself like he was in an all-out war for survival. The mind was a fragile thing, and right now his mind was no exception to that rule. He could feel his fears creeping back to the forefront of his head, attempting to regain their lost dominance.
Quickly, he sought out guidance from the one person he who he could trust in this situation, and it certainly wasn't IF.
'Biko, what do I do? She's asking if she can do the same as Neptune and Compa! What do I-?'
'Nico... let her in.'
'...#GULP# if you say so...'
"... Alright..."
Mentally, IF did a fist pump. 'Yes! It worked!' she cheered mentally. So far, so good. Goddamn this felt much different from those times in the Red Light District, that much felt for certain. The two then shuffled about on the bed, slipping beneath the covers while Nico put the covers over them. They reached to just below their shoulders, but unfortunately the bed was only a single one, so the two had to be quite close to each other to fit. Heck, their faces were practically an inch away from touching, that was how close their faces were. They could feel each other's body-heat emitting from them, Nico's being enhanced by his DPU powers and IF's adapting to it thanks to her being a BOW.
Time passed, and neither of them could find it in themselves to fall asleep. Their fatigue from the previous events, from IF's kidnapping to the while multi-chapter long rescue, all of the accumulated fatigue had seemingly decided to pack bags and run off to ago on vacation, or something as ridiculous as that. Still, whatever the case may be, neither of them felt like they would be getting to sleep anytime soon. Neither of them said a thing to each other either, both of them lost within their own thoughts.
'Shit, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad!' The male teen's eyes ran abuzz with frantic panic-filled thoughts. he could feel his emotions and hormones running rampant trough his body like a parade going horribly wild, his senses being stimulated by the scene of the woman before him. He didn't move, not even a muscle for fear of what his body might make him do once he did. Nevertheless, it did not decrease his restlessness in the least, something that resulted in an uncomfortable sensation in every bone in his body. It was all he could do to remain calm like this, his mind distracting itself by imagining every gory scene he had ever witnessed in his life. Every Abnormal and human he has killed, anything to distract himself from the very gorgeous woman before from Neptune, Compa and Lucy, Nico hadn't ever slept in the same bed as a woman before, hell he usually tried to keep away from scenes like this. Mostly due to his secret, but it also had to do with his lacking sense of self-worth. There was a reason why he wasn't so good with others after all.
Even with Biko's encouragement, the teen struggled within himself in an all out war, a furious struggle within where both sides fought for the opposite thing:
One fought to open the doors of his heart, to let someone else in at last.
The other fought to keep their heart closed off, so they didn't get hurt in the end.
On the other end, IF also hadn't the calmest head on her shoulders. The nervousness she felt before had intensified by a thousand, swirling within her chest like a violent whirlpool of horrible emotions. Her heart thumped so wildly within the confines of her rib-cage with explosive-level volumes that she swore even a deaf person could hear it. Honestly, she could see why Nico would attract girls like a Casanova right now, she didn't bother paying it much heed before but his physique definitely had an appeal that only it could possess. It felt unique to him thanks to him having trained to gain it. What kind of training, she didn't know, but nonetheless it DEFINITELY showed. Especially with how far they've come. Yet, compared to Nico's state of mind, hers was on the calmer end of the spectrum. 'This nervousness, this anxiety... it looks like...'
Since there was little chance that either of them would get to sleep at this point, at least without anything happening, IF decided to think of something to talk about. There was one thing she did want to know, though, and it had to do with the Party itself. Slowly, she formulated the question in her mind, checked it over, before opening her mouth to speak. "Say, Nico...?" she began, getting his attention. The way he slightly jerked beneath the covers showed her he had been lost in thought earlier. "I'm honestly curious, but um, what kind of girl do you find attractive?"
THUMP,
THUMP,
THUMP,
IF thought that was he sound of her own erratic heart rate, however when she noticed subtle differences she realized that it was actually Nico's own. The teen's eyes looked like they had seen a ghost, his mouth slightly open with his lips in an 'O' shape. His skin tone had paled slightly, and through his eyes she could definitely see every ounce of fear that question brought upon him. "Wha-wha-what do you mean by that, IF? what brought this on?" he questioned, scratching his cheek as he turned his head to look up at the ceiling. He did this so that she didn't see the red blush spreading across his cheeks. Though part of him felt it was futile thanks to her BOW powers giving her enhanced eyesight.
Slowly, IF edged ever closer to him, her body heat becoming all the more noticeable under the blankets. She could feel the body heat of the male beside her like a raging furnace, yet it oddly felt subdued like it knew it wasn't needed. Her skin got hit with a noticeable heat wave though as when he got embarrassed, his body heat flared in temperature before settling back down. IF could feel her body adapting to this, proving once more that high speed evolution was her body's specialty. "It's really quite straightforward, dude." she smoothly replied, making sure to hide her own nervousness. If she appeared calm, then it would help Nico in keeping calm himself. "No matter what you say, the bottom line is you've got a it of a following going on, one step away from gaining a harem. You have to have some preferences to girls, quite varied ones considering how you react. What, you like girls with womanly bodies? big boobs?"
On his end, Nico did not even try to pretend he didn't notice her slight twitch at the mention of big boobs. His eyes temporarily flashed with suspicion before he pushed it to the back off his mind in favor of deciding on what to answer with. He knew that IF wasn't someone who took any bullshit, so it would be best of he just came out and be honest. Though, that would be easier said than done. Still, Nico may be many things, but a coward wasn't one of them. He just had to play it calmly and then they could move on past this awkward conversation. "Well... I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you, cause I literally have no idea." he admitted, truthfully.
THIS, the brunette found herself having trouble believing. "Really? You seem to be effected greatly by Nep's HDD form, and Lucy..." she remarked coolly, her eyes set in a deadpan.
Nico flushed when he remembered those times when the said girls came on to him, though he didn't think they were. He just couldn't find it in himself to believe they wanted to do... that stuff with him, even with what he knew about Lucy's past. "It's true, I have no idea what my preferences are, since I don't try to... well, be with a girl." he explained, his voice lowering to below a whisper at the end.
"Why's that?"
When she asked that peculiar question, Nico made to answer but then he hesitated, his breath catching itself in his throat. Should he say this? This wasn't something he just told anyone after all, and it could be used against him in the future should anyone bad learn of it. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but paranoia had helped hims survive all these years, so why not now? In a world like this one, one had to learn to be on their best guard all too quickly. A lot of Rookie Agents fell to this mistake.
'Remember, Nico, this is IF we're talking about. If it were anyone else other than her, Lucy, Neptune or Compa then I would agree, however these girls have proven themselves trustworthy. Remember what Helen told you, during your training? About resolve? Well then, how about I add on to that? Abandon your fear. Turn and face her. Don't back an inch. Now, Nico, advance! Never stop! If you retreat, you will age. Be afraid, and you'll die. Move forward, and never stop trying!'
... Honestly, Biko could be a great leader if he so chose, that speech motivated him more than a lot of the politicians these days. Heh, he felt like he could follow that guy into the depths of hell itself with that speech.
Though, he was right. Both Biko and Helen were right. He had to have resolve to do what needed to be done. Nico refused to allow his fears to blind him to that fact ever again. The time for being a fraidy cat was over, IF wanted an answer to her question, then he would give her one. "It's honestly simple..." he began, nervously scratching his head. Even if he resolved to do this, he still felt nervous about saying it. Just proclaiming an action and actually doing it were two different things, after all. Though, Nico finally got the words out and he never felt so good when he did. "I just never found myself worthwhile enough for a girl, I mean come on, who would want someone like me?" A sad sigh escaped his lips, his eyes losing their light as he glanced down at the covers."Then there's my work, A Spec Ops Agent tends to die when they were young, so it doesn't give them a lot of time to enjoy life. More so than other military professionals. Most tend to do things that make them look like perverts, and believe me they do like tat stuff, but some refuse to get too close to people so that they don't cause any heartache when they finally die. I honestly have no chance."
...
...
...
'Did he REALLY just say that? Really? After everything that's happened?' IF couldn't help but blink to herself, momentarily dumbfounded by what Nico has said to her. Did he really not see what the signs were telling him? Was he really as dense as he made himself out to be? No, she would call bullshit on that one, that last thing seemed more believable cause it was true that those in the military could die at any time either out in the wilderness or during monster attacks on the settlements. If he had just stuck with that, then IF wouldn't be as dumbfounded as she was right now. instead., she refused to believe what he just said to her. it had to be about how his mind wasn't exactly the best of the tools in the shad in terms of stability. Hell, she had already pegged him as someone who suffered from psychological repression and other mental problems, so an answer like this shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did. Nico's mind must be damaged in ways worse than she'd initially expected. That was the only explanation she could think of for, in her eyes, such a (mostly) stupid answer. Still though, judging by the significant decrease in tension she noticed from his shoulders, it looked like he had been waiting to say that for a long time.
"But, hypothetically, what if a girl, or hell even multiple girls, showed you they were interested in you?"
Now THAT question sent Nico down a downward spiral of emotions. Surprise, confusion, hesitation, nervousness and sadness. Yet, there were also emotions like eagerness, joy, and want. Nico may not be too much of a fan of harems, but the male could see the practical side of it. Having a harem made for a bigger family, which in turn kept humanity's numbers up. In this world, the strong survive and the weak die. If they banded together into groups, they would obviously last longer. Though he'd be a fool to say that was all that there was to a Harem, there was the emotional attachments that the members had to have. A Harem wouldn't work if those in it didn't care for each other, that was something Nico firmly believed.
Unfortunately, many don't see it the way he does, they only saw it for the sexual pleasures that it offered. The chance to have a lot of femiine flesh meshing with their own in a dance under their sheets. It sickened him beyond the point of vomiting, yet he could do noting to change their minds, to make them see what a Harem should be like.
Call him a corny bastard, but he found the emotional aspects of a Harem all the more important than just the sexual side. Seriously, wouldn't it hurt like hell to see one of the girls in said harem hurt? That sounded like hell to the male, and felt like when he had Neptune and Compa face those Demons when he went to assist IF. Sexual stuff was more of a secondary thing to him, why else would he focus more on helping with the girls' issues? Aside from seeing them smile again, of course. To him, someone who considered himself a monster in every way possible, it made him value people he could trust more than a normal person.
In the end, Nico doubted he'd be able to use words alone to describe his opinion, but he could sure as hell try. "Well... if there was even a minuscule chance that a woman actually wanted to be near me... if she could accept me for what I am..." the male began, his lower lip trembling as he clutched his fists. At this point, the male was sitting up on the bed, covers at his waist so IF could see his black top. "Then I'd treasure them more than anything of value in this world." There, he said it. The only way he'd be able to fully show his thoughts and beliefs would be to create some emotional link or something, but he doubted that something like that existed. "Angels like those hypothetical girls would DEFINITELY be worth living for, especially for someone like me whom considers himself unappealing as all hell."
...
...
... Wow.
IF couldn't help but e in awe for what Nico just told her right now. While it sounded corny as all hell, the pure honesty and truth shining like searchlights in his eyes more than made up for it. Hell, that look spoke more to her than a thousand words could about his true feelings. While some may consider that to be along with the 'super gentlemen' trope, it still felt like a Nico-type answer for her. She knew this thanks to recalling how there had been moments where, instead of being lewd, Nico would focus more on helping girls with their problems.
She'd likely take this to the grave, but those words flattered her more than she'd care to admit.
"W-Well, what would happen if those girls turned out to be in the Party we're in? That they found someone they were willing to spend their life with?"
"Those girls are freaking gorgeous, so anyone whom earns their affections would be a goddamn freaking lucky prick."
The quick reaction, combined with the firmness in his words, threw her for a loop once more. It impressed her, the more this conversation went, the more resolution and comfort Nico began to display. It was like he was finally starting to come out his shell, to conquer the psychological damage done to his mind. By no means did she think she could get all of it instantly, but the fact that he was starting to change was a great plus. Though, she couldn't help but snicker to him. "Yeah, that's true, those two definitely have the whole angel vibe going on for them. If they did find someone, that person would be one lucky SOB."
That little piece of information quickly caught Nico's attention, and was enough for him to push back those hormones plaguing his mind. Hell, his embarrassment had quickly been pushed aside by grim determination, similar to how he began consoling Lucy so long ago. He knew Masks when he saw them, and right then IF had tried to mask something, and the teen had a good feeling as to what it was. "Okay hold up, why mention only Neptune and Compa? There's you in our party too, you know." Maybe it was because she didn't see herself getting into a relationship, but something in his gt told him that wasn't actually the case. Plus given the context of their little talk...
IF mentally cursed Nico's perceptiveness under her breath, a wave of irritation flowing down her like a river. It always seemed to occur at the most annoying of times. No, it happened nearly every time, he constantly kept a vigil. Even when it looked like he wasn't. Part of her just wanted to move on from this topic, but she knew that look in his eyes, Nico wouldn't drop it until the topic was resolved. "What, it's true. Nep and Compa have way more chances than me, they're cute girls. Guys like cute girls and not ones that can morph their body into weapons that can slice off their manhoods."
...
...
...
...
Yeah, he was going to call bullshit on this one. "Okay, stop those thoughts right now, young Missy." In a completely ironic role reversal, Nico took the rails of the conversation, any chance that his hormones and embarrassment had at resurfacing had been snuffed out at this point. There were more important things that needed to be done for him to be embarrassed like a timid school kid. This was something he had to nip in the bud right fucking now, his pride demanded it. It honestly seemed like an offence just to hear something like that come out of this woman's mouth.
Twisting around so that he leaned on his side and faced her, Nico caught IF by surprise when he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him, his other hand cupping her cheek as he stared intently into her eyes. If it were possible, his eyes would be literal flames at that moment. "Do not EVER assume that you are not attractive, IF, never think that. You are definitely up there with the likes of any woman, not just in body. Your personality makes you fun to be around, and if you're worried about your looks then don't. If anything, girls should be jealous of how you're both freaking gorgeous as well as a total badass. Who else can you think of who can shrug off being kidnapped like it was no big deal, and then dish out some well deserved ass kicking? Very few, I can assure you. You say your not attractive? I say you're insanely beautiful and devilishly attractive, anyone who doesn't see that in you is blinder than a bat. You're freaking gorgeous, IF, and if anyone says otherwise I'll tear them apart myself." he told her in deadly seriousness, his voice soft but firm while his eyes burned with his resolve. She swore that they were beginning to sine the red that indicated their transformation into their DPU state.
This all but cemented how resolute Nico would be in delivering that promise. After all, one thing that everyone knew about him was that he kept true to his word.
What he didn't realize was just how much those words would impact on the normally composed IF's heart, not even when her face, darkened by the lack of light in the room, burned bright red while her heart felt like it was mimicking machine gun fire with how fast it was beating. his had been the first time someone complimented her like that, and the rather... no, VERY extreme little bit at the end only served to make it all the more endearing, somehow. She had come to associate Nico's rather extreme mannerisms regarding violence as a part of his nature at this point, knowing just how he became that way with what Helen had told them. Anyone would likely develop a taste for violence after seeing the amount of shit he'd seen. It just felt like his way of showing someone how earnest e was about something, this case being her.
That thought only sent her heart even more into overdrive.
After a moment of silence, IF finally found her voice, and it came out a lot more meekly than she would have liked. "You... really mean that?" she asked him, getting a fierce nod from the male.
"Hell yeah, you know me, IF. Seriously, it baffles me why you would think that when you're clearly freaking beautiful. I'd go on a tangent and list the things that make you as beautiful as you are, but i'm pretty sure that would take all night, and-MMPH!"
Nothing more could escape his lips thanks to IF lunging forward and clashing her lips hotly against his, a hand on his cheek to muffle his startled sounds. Her eyes closed upon contact, as opposed to how Nico's flew open so wide they almost fell out of their sockets if they weren't still connected to his head. The brunette moved over so that her body lay on top of his, her hair cascading down over both sides of her face till she had straddled him. It didn't take long this time compared to Lucy and Neptune, for the male to close his and respond, a hand on the side of her head while the other arm rested on her center back.
'This guy...' IF thought to herself as she utterly dominated the kiss, clutching his sides with her thighs for balance as she utterly ravished his mouth with hers. 'He really has no idea how much of a Casanova he really is, does he...? It honestly makes the thought of dominating him... goddamn EXCITING!' she thought, and if she wasn't kissing the guy under her right now she would be grinning in a manner that wouldn't be too unfitting on Lucy whenever she targeted a Noblemen for her conquests.
Something about her that a lot of people didn't realize, IF had a hidden side to her, a side that usually came out only during intercourse. She had an aggressive, controlling side whenever she danced under the sheets with someone. Essentially she just ADORED it when her partner was putty in her hands, allowing her to have her with them as she saw fit. The power that she got from that was a rush, like she was constantly on high. It only got even stronger now that she was a BOW, since her instincts desired a suitable 'mate' to breed with, someone strong enough to be worthy of her urges.
This, among other things, had been what the brunette BOW realized about herself the moment this session started.
Hot, very audible smooching sounds echoed through the room that indicated the steamy make pout session IF had initiated, the woman layering herself onto him so every piece of their forms were connected to each other. Fortune favored her tonight, cause beforehand she had injected some of her Biomass into the walls that made up Nico's room, not only keeping all sounds from escaping but also informing her of anyone whom were getting too close for comfort (IE Neptune or Compa). Right now, Nico was all hers, putty in her hands so she could have her way with him, and he wouldn't even resist. Hell, he'd probably enjoy it if the way his body was reacting to her touch was any indication, something that made her grin internally. The thought that her usual high from dominating her partner, to the fact that she actually had feelings for said partner, felt HEAVENLY to her.
Yep, she confirmed it for herself. she definitely had romantic interest in the guy, which was practically what she wanted from this session anyways.
With that in mind, IF pulled back, her hands moving so they were beside Nico's head. The two opened their eyes slowly, and the male nearly gulped when he saw the animalistic, predatory gleam in IF's eyes. He got that look, that look a girl got when they were going to rock your world and he would be liking it. Neptune in HDD form gave him that look too, and on IF it looked so goddamn arousing considering the confidence oozing from her being.
"Heh, and you say you're not a Casanova..." she remarked with a playful smirk on her lips. The way she felt him harden exponentially against her just then made her smirk widen all the more, her inner dominatrix squealing at the cute bashfulness on the face of the boy beneath her. She even playfully flicked his nose, making his face redden even further in embarrassment.
His face super flushed, Nico turned his head to look at the bed's headdress, anything to not look at the playfully seductive grin on the brunette's lips. That kiss, combined with how he was reacting, felt much like what Neptune did before, and yet he could only think about the smoking hot woman above him. She had him spellbound, in a trance even with how she handled herself. He was trapped in her web, and he knew it. Even when he answered back against that comment about him seemed too feeble and weak for his liking. "I-I'm not..." he stammered, his face redder than the weaker form of his Hellfire.
This only served to make IF chuckle above him, only making a minor effort to hide it much to his embarrassment. He could feel the minor shaking her actions made her body do around his waist, nearly making him groan in pleasure. Had he been a weaker willed man, then he probably would have. "Oh, i'm pretty sure you can't argue with me at this point. Just look at you, surrounded by so many cute girls, and you've seen several of them naked. Nico the Casanova, seems like an apt description of you, huh?" she asked with a playfully teasing undertone.
"W-Well, w-wouldn't a Casanova be like..." Nico began, trying to control his stuttering. It failed mostly, though that had been because of how spellbound he was of the woman above him right now. Seriously, was he this weak-willed around women? Nevertheless, he continued. "Constantly having s-sex with women ten l-leaving them...?" he asked her, his blush momentarily fading as he frowned, not liking that scenario one bit. "Doesn't sound like an appealing title."
On that, the brunette could agree, but that wasn't what she was referring to when she called him a Casanova. "Nah, that's only one definition. It can also mean how a man can be very charming around members of the opposite gender. Considering your track record, that seems much more accurate, don't you think?"
He would have responded to that, but if he was being honest, Nico couldn't help but find that logic irrefutable as he recalled his past interaction with the girls in the Party, not to mention Team RAIL, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. Lot of good it did him, considering how 'I got you figured out' looking IF's smirk was.
Eventually, the brunette yawned as she lowered herself back onto his chest. "Well, that has been one enlightening discussion..." she mused, placing her head just beneath his neck. "But that little kiss I gave you kind of wore me out. So let's get some sleep, no doubt Nep and the others will have stuff planned for you in the days ahead." What she said was a lie, she wasn't as tired as she made herself out to be. In fact, if things were different she would have taken him right here and now. His V Card would have been all hers, and while she would relish that possibility, it wasn't the right time yet. Nico still had whatever emotional baggage he had, and she had already confirmed what she wanted to confirm.
Once all that got dealt with though...
Let's just say that V Card of his wouldn't be lasting long.
"Y-Yeah... lets..." Fatigue slammed into his mind much greater than before. Nico honestly couldn't believe how such a hot make out session could tire him out like this. He also felt tired emotionally, probably thanks to all that heartfelt confessing he did before. Even now, the teen felt like he could fall asleep for weeks, his eyelids slowly closing of their own accord. Using what remained of his strength, Nico pulled the covers onto them once more, his arms then wrapping around the woman in a soft, caring embrace. In her 'sleep', IF let a small smile form on her lips before she fell into slumber for real, the male under her following suit seconds later.
In the end, they slept soundly through the night, coiled together like twin serpents.
Whew! That took a while!
Anywho, yeah things got a little steamy for our MC there. IF I see is someone who, when she gets the opportunity, goes for what she wants, as well as has a hidden dominant side to her. But like I said in another chapter, she was held back because Nico has other girls whom are a lot more 'womanly' than her, so she didn't make much of a move till now. Though, thanks to our resident Casanova, those doubts have been sponged and now her true, confident self has come out.
Also, noticed the parallels between IF and Vert? Both of them have had the theme of 'sexual frustration' between them, but Vert hasn't done anything about it while IF has had various visits to the red light district to deal with those urges. I wanted it to be this way because let's face it, Vert's been involved with combat too much for her to have had any chances in that area, plus with her situation in canon she couldn't visit anyways. IF on the other hand has had ample freedom to go on missions, thus building up stress. It is perfectly normal for her to go there to 'deal' with it all.
Now, the next few chapters will be significantly less dark and more light hearted. There may be a few serious moments, but there will be a greater focus on humor (even though my humor isn't exactly the best). It will also be featuring different training scenes for the different characters, as I have ways of them getting stronger than they really are. Let's face it, with the approach of the various threats: the Demons, Cultists, Maghda, the Chaos Gods and Arfoire, they need to be as strong as possible.
Now then, let's end the chapter here so I can get to work on the next one! See ya guys!
