Chapter 102 - Uh Oh

"Wha-?!"

The male gaped, stuttering as he got a licking of a lifetime like that one Abnormal that had a pink round body and a tongue that was twice as long as it was. This licking lasted for a couple seconds until the hatchling nuzzled it's head against his cheeks. Ever the hardened combat veteran, the male tried to stop it, but the hatclhling didn't relent. Heck, his attempts just made the scene take on a rather... cute appearance, like a mother ruffling her young child's hair to the child's dismay.

Hell, he didn't even think of drawing any Devil Arms or other weapons/powers anymore, which was a good thing considering the stare that he got from the Teostra...

A loud laugh made it's way out of Rinjiin's lips as he watched the scene take place before him. Even the Teostra looked mildly amused at the sight as evident by the look in its eyes along with the slight burble it made. "Not to worry, young one. These dragons are completely harmless. They don't venture out of Sky's End and prefer to remain in their Nest, here. Even more importantly, however..." his eyes then took on a serious, darker look which his next sentence's tone matched perfectly, drawing Nico's attention. "They are now defenceless aside from old Teo here."

'Teo… That must be what he named the Teostra…' Nico thought to himself, frowning. Though, that frown soon got replaced with a slight upturning when he felt the hatchling rub itself against his cheek. Already been 4 seconds, and it had determined that he liked that better than the licking. Even for Hatchlings, this one seemed quite intelligent, and he honestly didn't mind it.

Gently placing his hand on it's head, Nico gave it a rub which the Hatching purred softly at. While he did that, the male gave a blank stare towards Rinjiin and… Teo, seriously it would take some getting used to for him to call this Abnormal by a name. You had no idea how hard it was for him to say that even in his monologuing. For someone who was used to killing and butchering Abnormals on a daily basis, Nico couldn't help but feel like he was in completely new and unknown territory right now.

Fondly petting an Abnormal.

Staying within talking distance of an Abnormal known for it's volcanic attitude.

All the while he could sense NOTHING negative to indicate their desire to attack from them.

This just felt weird to him, no, it felt WRONG on so many levels. He was taught from a young age, hell he'd even seen it himself, that the Abnormals kill humans, monsters, pretty much anything that moved these days. Humanity has had countless difficulties with them throughout their history, so how the hell was this possible? Why wasn't he just gunning these down like he did so many others? Nic felt SO out of place right now, that it wasn't even funny anymore.

He had to get some answers before he went mad with doubt, confusion and anxiety. They weren't good for his health after all.

Looking back towards Rinjiin, who was still with Teo rubbing the top of his mane while looking at him with the Hatching, Nico did his best to remain as calm as he possibly could, adopting his professional mask while asking him the question most apparent in his mind. "Would you mind explaining what is happening here?"

"What do you think?" Rinjiin responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I live here with these little ones. They see me as their father, and I see them as my little ones. As such, we're one big family, a family that I protect with my vessel while Teo acts like a last resort defence…" he explained, before he frowned as he looked to the destroyed ship. "Until you came along that is."

Glancing down to the Hatchling, Nico didn't understand why but at that moment something painful exploded within his gut. He almost couldn't believe what it was considering who he was feeling it towards, but indeed… he felt guilt just then. Guilt… for an Abnormal. 'No…' Looking down into the Hatchlings eyes, then watching as it flew back to joining its brethren, Nico quickly changed those thoughts. 'These aren't just the Abnormals I fight every day. This is more like a school/house mix, a place where children grow up and live, all the while learning how to live life. As much as this confuses me, I don't think it would be wise to treat this as any other Abnormal Nest…'

Granted this would take some getting used to, plus he doubted many places like this existed.

"But, aren't the Abnormals supposed to be your enemies? I mean, they've been hunting us since 500 years ago." Nico questioned, making a hand gesture with his right hand before pocketing it again. "It's just baffling to see someone actually co-existing with them like this." If this were really possible (even then, Nico felt like that was stretching it), that Abnormal monsters didn't have to attack humans, then could peace eventually be possible? Could Gamindustri stop treating these creatures as abnormalities and accept them into their lives? Abnormals were hunted much more aggressively than normal monsters after all, just look at the Spec Ops Programme it was designed with the SOLE purpose of fighting them.

Rinjiin nodded in understanding, knowing where the kid was coming from. "Yes…" he began, trailing off as his eyes gained a slightly glazed over look to them, though Nico could still tell he had the man's attention. "In any other circumstance I'd agree with you, however I learned long ago that sometimes the human species can be the worst of Abnormals, worse than the ones we face day by day."

… Well, Nico could see where he was coming from there, as the images of various Nobles hat he'd came across, plus the Basilicoms came to his mind. There were many among humanity whom deserved to die horrific deaths that Abnormals could bring but even so Abnormals were still creatures, animals. They were just doing what their instincts demanded of them. There were no tricks, no epic plans or schemes for power, it was simple kill or be killed rules. Yet, look at people, who do those things and more to their own kind. Nico could understand where the man was coming from, more than he'd ever care to admit. "Lemme guess… you're talking about the Dragonators disappearance… or rather, their probable execution by Abnormals?"

Looking back to him, Rinjiin looked surprised and a little baffled at Nico's words, prompting the Spec Ops to explain. "Its like you said, Abnormals may be bad guys, but there are times where humans are even worse than them. They just follow predatory instinct, and unfortunately for us that comes with a great hatred for humanity leading to an aggressive war against us that we fight daily. But even then, they just attack instinctively, while humans come up with elaborate schemes. Plus, the Spec Ops Programme isn't well liked by the Nobles, and with their fame it wouldn't be a surprise if the Dragonators WEREN'T set up somehow."

Once Nico finished his explanation, Rinjiin stared at him for what felt like an eternity, before shaking his head with a bemused smile on his lips. "It seems that you inherited much from Helena, young man. I almost saw an exact copy of her in you…" he remarked, making the teen's lips twitch upwards slightly before returning to their professional demeanour. "You'd be right, but this old man's sob story will have to wait, rebuilding this ship is the more important task at hand, and luckily I have spare materials for it."

'Yeah, that's right. I almost forgot, but that was me who destroyed that ship with Alastor. I destroyed one of the defences for this land. I've just made it more possible to discover this sanctuary for this man and his Abnormal family.' Nico thought, and the moment he did a bigger flash of guilt passed through him. This felt like he had destroyed the protector of an orphanage filled with young children, leaving them to the wolves that would tear them apart with no mercy.

Nico clenched his fists at that, no way would he let that stand. He may see how the world works, the strong live and the weak die. That was something he knew from the depths of his being, but still he had a sense of honor and justice installed into him by his childhood friend's grandfather. Then there was his mother, how could he face her again if he let these creatures, who have so far remained untainted and pure from this war with humanity, get axed off? Odds were, from his story that his mother knew about this sanctuary and had been helping him keep it on the down low all this time. As her son, it felt like his duty to help her do just that and he would damn himself to hell if he failed.

"I'll help, then." he stated, catching Rinjiin and Teo's attention. The Draconian Abnormal beside the man looked at him questioningly, as if trying to guess any secret motives behind his words. Well then, let's give it those answers, shall we? "I'll not leave until I've helped you with fixing your ship. This has been my mistake, and I'll be damned if I don't atone by helping you." Nico explained.

'I believe I can help with that, Nico.'

'Wha? What do you mean?'

'Your powers have grown considerably since the Hellverse Dungeon, enough for you to use one of the more core abilities for a DPU. But first you may want to deal with our uninvited guests, first.'

The moment Biko said that, Nico became aware of how there were several sources of negative emotions heading their way. No, it was more accurate to say that they were above the group of humans and Abnormals. Quickly looking up, the teen cursed when he saw a set of rotor-powered planes flying overhead. He didn't know who was piloting them, but Nico DID know they weren't the nice sort of people considering the malicious intent he could sense.

Quickly, he reacted by drawing Ebony from his thigh. The Teostra got up to growl, when Nico pointed the gun upwards towards the planes. Thing is, not only the Teostra but the Hatchlings noticed too, and their instincts told them that they were NOT like the nice people that they played with. Growls escaped their lips as they all began flying upwards, making a beeline for the planes.

Said pilots paled when they saw one big mass of teeth, claws and snarling grunts flying towards them like anti air missiles, and quickly hightailed it outta there so they could inform the boss on what they had found. Dozens of fireballs flew by them like a meteor shower, many of them missing their marks due to them being launched by hatching wyverns and them using evasive manoeuvres, but a few of them hit causing the Planes to spiral into the cloudy depths below. Whatever their fate would be, would end u0p as an unknown.

This fate claimed the planes and their pilots… except for one.

It escaped into the clouds and forced the Teostra to halt with the Hatchlings, their enemy gone for the time being, so they unanimously returned to the two humans.

While the Hatchlings resumed their playing and the Teostra landed beside Rinjiin, Nico scowled to himself as he let out a tch of frustration. "Shit looks like the Dragons have been found. Those guys were probably mercenaries or bandits, neither of which is good. Now there's probably going to be a swarm of them upon us soon enough." Nico snarled, furious. It looked like there would be little time to spare.

"Yes, we should focus on getting the ship back into operation, we'll talk strategy while we work."

"Right."


The lone plane pilot returned to the mainland, landing his plane with the other members of their little group located within a secret camp along the south eastern borders of the land of Green Pastures, before reporting what he saw to the Recon Drone. It was meant to be their messenger to the boss of their group who was still allowed within the main city while the rest of them were outlaws. That was how they got so many successful raids, they had their leader inside the main city feeding them information, information that they used to their advantage. They didn't care who their target was either, be it peasant or noble, it was all the same to them as well as their leader.

Nobody was any the wiser, either.

When the man gave the report to the Recon Drone, it made it's way back to MICROSOFT and went into the Red-Light District. It would have no trouble with any criminals, as it was well known to be the messenger of one of the… more notoriously well-known people within the district, and if it were destroyed his gear would let him know… what followed would NOT be a pretty one.

Entire families have disappeared when this man got angry.

In addition, many would probably just ignore it's presence as they would be either too into their own problems, embroiled in the sexually pleasing atmospheres of the houses of sin, or too freaking intoxicated to care. There were many in the Red-Light District whom were like that, after all. Many just came here to relieve stress by drinking or frolicking about with the female workers (whether it was in their job description or not). Even those who have… pre-marital status AKA were engaged in wedlock came here, without the missus knowing of course.

After a while, the Recon Drone returned to the Tavern where it had been earlier. It could detect th presence of it's master in there, and judging from the loud outcries coming from it the Tavern was no less lively than it had been before when it came here last. None of this registered to the machine though, it's orders were to bring the intel to the master and that was it… unless it was told to do something else, which if it was then it would do so without question.

Entering the Tavern, the Recon Drone made its way through the chaotic atmosphere, floating over to it's master's side. The cloaked man still sat at his table, still looking at the same bounty that he had been looking at before with the same tankard of mead. He almost looked like a corpse with the way he looked slouched over, if it weren't for the malice-fuelled aura emanating from him.

Once it reached him, the man finally made a move, his neck cracking like it hadn't been able to move for a long time. This movement finally allowed the lights from the Tavern to illuminate his face… or what was left of it, anyways. Half of it looked like a regular human: A man in his mid to late 40's similar in age to Rinjiin, the man he had been looking at the wanted poster of. His eyes and hair were greying, a sign of age and weariness yet with a fiery blaze still within them. The OTHER half? Pure machine. Greyish Plates made up the facial structure with a slight scope and a crimson magnifying lense for an eye that looked about while making mechanical whirring sounds. This robot half even extended to his lips, covering half of his mouth in metal which made his mouth harder to move.

Now his lack of speech previously made more sense, huh?

The Recon Drone projected a much smaller projection this time, this information would best be shared only with him and nobody else. It had not done this the last time when the dragon was slain because it was programmed not to. Instead, it's programming dictated that it project THAT scene with as much size as it could without distorting the frames. THIS information however, would be much more classified, classified due to it's contents the man noticed.

Looking at the feed that the plane rider received, the man saw Rinjiin, the man he had been searching for, for a long ass freaking time, finally. At long last. He looked much older than he remembered, but then again that would be expected. It has been a long time since they last met after all, 20 years to be exact. The man grimaced when he felt the itching his robot half made, raising his right hand to cover the robot half of his face.

This would be good… this would be GOOD indeed!

Now, at long last he could finally get his revenge on the man who ruined his life! The man who stole everything from him on that fateful day the Dragonators became no more. The day that he came to see as his greatest error. He had been a fool to underestimate that man, and that mistake cost him everything. Nothing he could do now would get his life back, not with this robot half, and even if he somehow could it just wouldn't be the same as it was back then. There were too many differences that would remind him of that accursed night. The only thing that could satisfy him now, was revenge.

But for now, he should probably rely some orders to his men. With that in mind, the man reached into his cloak and pulled out some more paper and the same quill as before. Putting them onto the desk beside his mead, the man began writing more orders for those idiots to follow. He called them idiots due to the sole fact that without him, they never would have gained the stuff that they had now. They had a secure camp, they had strong security provided by himself, as well as various technologies that separated them from other Bandits. Speaking of other bandits, those fools wouldn't have the notoriety that they do if it weren't for him. They also had whores to entertain them at night, to use as servants and sexual relieving tools.

Nevertheless, the man had to contend with them for the time being, as they will be necessary to the next part of his plan for revenge, though it did not matter if they died or not. None of them will matter in the grand scheme of things, they were nothing but bandits after all. Nobody would give a rat's ass if they bit the dust in what amounts to a suicide mission, even with all the technology they have 'borrowed' from the Leanbox military. It's like the saying goes, even if you teach a beast how to act like a human, give it human clothes and bestow upon it other traits, in the end they are still just beasts in the end.

And beasts would be best put down in the end.


'Hmmm… it looks like things will be getting intense in the near future… and not because of anything DPU related this time…'

Biko mused to himself this while he floated above the Coliseum, examining the surrounding deserts. His form constantly emitted an aura of demonic power, power which constantly swayed side to side as if it were alive. His eyes gave a dull red shine from the power he radiated. It may look like he wasn't doing anything, but that could not be further from the truth. Nope, Biko had MANY things to occupy himself with aside from looking through Nico's senses every now and then, such as monitoring various parts of the inner world like the Fragmented Memories or their power levels. There was also him monitoring the Devil Arms, observing how they fed off their energy reserves, keeping HIM in check, as well as watching out for any other unforeseen abnormalities.

Turning around, Biko jumped into the air, flipping through it multiple times with the same level of grace, mobility and skill that the main aspect used in the real world. He soon began falling to the centre of the coliseum head first, spiralling about like a sausage spinning through the air, before flipping forwards and landing just above the ground. It was almost like there was an invisible surface that he just touched on, when really it was just his wings releasing a large and strong enough lift to keep him hovering after such a fall. Slowly, Biko stood tall from his previous kneeling position, like a boss.

Nico wasn't the only one with excellent parkour skills.

Looking down at his right arm, Biko raised it to his stomach level then closed the hand into a fist, feeling power thrumming through every pore. In the past, this wasn't what he usually could do, but ever since Nico has begun to develop his powers through their training, as well as devour demon souls, these have resulted in him, the manifestation of his demonic power, to swell as well. In essence, as Nico grew stronger, he would do the same to show an accurate measure of his power.

Perhaps in the future, he may not have a physical human form anymore…

Aside from that, the Demon Persona couldn't help but feel changes coming, changes to not only him but to Nico's energy. The amount of power he was generating at this point thanks to the events at Mojang Village and everywhere else filled with demonic power, it had been staggering even with how much the various Devil Arms and THAT had been absorbing for their own purposes. Biko theorized that thanks to Nico consuming so much, as well as a demonic soul consisting of many other souls fused together, that his DPU form's power had swelled from it's last use. It had already surpassed those CPUs by leaps and bounds, though considering the fragment of Soul Edge that the CPU of Planeptune obtained from them, her power will eventually be an equal to theirs in time. Hopefully that would help Nico in some way in the future.

In addition, there was the fight with the draconian Abnormal, or rather that vessel shaped like one. A flash of emotion passed through Biko's DPU eyes as he Warped out of the Stadium and into another part of Nico's mind: the Armoury.


The Armoury was located in another section of the large, desert-like landscape of Nico's Inner World, taking on the form of a simple, greyish blocky building with little to no features to speak of. It didn't look even like a building but more like a slob of stone. Nothing special, which was why it fulfilled it's function as the Armoury quite well. Nobody would think THIS to be the place that housed his Devil Arms and other weapons. Appearances are ALWAYS deceiving, just like how people wear Masks.

Entering, Biko found himself walking into the interior of the stone building, before he looked to the left. This allowed him to see various weapon carvings engraved into the walls like the drawings cavemen used to do when humanity was young, weapon carvings of each Devil Arm that is. Ebony, Ivory, Alastor, Rebellion the works. The moment that he entered, each carving lit up with a red light, as if they recognized their wielder's demonic aspect, their 'warden' one could say.

Biko then thought back to the fight with the Vessel Nico had, his eyes flashing with emotion once more. That fight had Biko concerned, for more than one reason. First of all, he had advised the male to keep the usage of that bone to a minimum before they even knew of the battle taking place, during their flight to Skies End. He wanted to get some information on it from the Fragmented memories before they got to training with it. The second was that Nico had been pushed further than he had in a long time in regards to energy consumption. He had never fed his Devil Arms that much before, and it had caused something to… begin changing within the Alastor Devil Arm. It was small, barely noticeable, but the moment Biko did he INSTANTLY felt like he should run for the hills and pray for whatever soul he possessed. It was like he was within the centre of an electronic vortex, or a storm of some kind, a powerful one. That had been an eye-opening experience just like how Nico's mom gave him 'the talk' in her own way.

That had been… something that Biko would rather not remember. Even the Devil Arms, despite their near-lack of conscience, shuddered at that memory.

Best not to mention it.

Back to the Devil Arms though…

Ever since then he had been devoting time to monitor that Devil arm more closely than the others. He had no clue what that change was, or what caused it, but he could see several effects that were starting to crop up in the Devil Arm. For one, it was sucking up more and more power than it usually did, which would have been a problem if Nico's reserves hadn't swelled the way they did. If one were to compare, instead of steadily drinking a glass of water the Devil Arm was now guzzling it down without any intent to stop. Not only that, but it was also doing something else… something that could have SEVERE negative impacts on his mind:

Digging through Nico's memories.

Biko had tried to stop this permanently, however something had hindered his attempts, making them useless so he could only limit the damage. Fortunately, Nico's mind remained largely unaffected by the sucking, and it wasn't like the memories themselves were being drastically altered or tampered with in any way. No, upon closer examination it seemed more like it was looking at big memories for the male, the ones that held great sources of strong negative emotions before simulating them and absorbing those emotions into itself. In essence, it was artificially producing and absorbing negative emotions before the brain could even realise it was generating the chemicals needed for those emotions.

Shaking his head, Biko pushed back those thoughts from his mind for the time being. There was no need to ponder on that for now, as he had to focus on something else, something of much greater importance. Closing his eyes, Biko focused on the area that he wanted to visit and activated his warping power. In a red flash, the older version of Nico vanished out of existence.


Reappearing, Biko found himself where the Library was. This was probably the one place he spent the most time at, monitoring the Fragmented Memories as well as the state of Nico's own mind. This place was probably the most important to the main aspect of the existence known as Nico, henceforth he spent most of his time here. He frowned as he looked at the object that had his attention the moment he appeared. That object: The Egg, the egg that he had shown his main aspect when he was with those two, Aiden and Ivan, of Team RAIL. Well, it could hardly be called an egg anymore, not with the form it was taking right now.

The Egg floated before him, hovering above the ground and constantly pulsating like a living heart. It no longer looked like a complete egg, but a series of fragmented pieces held closely together by a circular crimson core. Almost like they were caught in a gravitational field like the many plates that made up the surface of the world. Like him, the sheer power that this thing emitted was as extreme as that large pillar of fire that destroyed the Hellverse dungeon. There was also a strong heat source originating from it, keeping any and all organisms from getting near it. Biko himself did not even dare venture close for fear that it would burn him alive, and he was simply a personification. Even with that knowledge, Biko felt like this thing could still kill him completely, which concerned him more than a little.

However, there was something else about this Egg, something he detected beneath all this: Life.

The Egg felt like it would hatch soon…

By his estimates, according to the real world it would hatch later into the night, hatch into what he wasn't certain. However, Biko had been monitoring this Egg when the older Nico hadn't been training the main aspect. He monitored it's energy absorption rates and various habits regarding the other prospects of Nico's mind. What he had found out was both interesting… and concerning at the same time.

Once this… thing hatched, Biko would be hard pressed to find much else in the Fragmented Memories that would be able to hold a candle to this thing. It's power would not be just physically based, but also mentally too. The power this thing will command will rival the freaking DEMON PRINCES at first, but as it matures in te real world, it will definitely be a match for the Chaos Gods as well. It would likely have an elemental ability as well, but what that was Biko was far from certain/ What he WAS certain about however, was that it was going to be POWERFUL. He could not stress enough how OP this thing would end up becoming once it was born. It's mind would likely be it's greatest weapon however, aside from one power that honestly Biko would rather hesitate to inform the main aspect of:

it's power of creation.

That's right, this thing would be able to create monsters that would serve both it, and Nico as he would be seen as their 'grandfather' since they would see it as their 'father'. It's power of creation was fortunately limited to only minions, but even sop those minions would be a bitch to any whom their 'parents' see as enemies no doubt about it. If one wanted a comparison, then it would be like unleashing a tidal wave of blood, guts and gore onto the world of Gamindustri. Yet, with what was probably coming, that may be what Gamindustri would need to prevent an age of ruin.

"SO… YOU STARING AT THIS BUG AGAIN?"

The hollow, distorted voice of the white Nico reached Biko's ears, making the Demon Persona shift about in his floating position to face the said copy. The white copy stood there, by the edge of a steep crater in the dunes with his arms crossed and his signature cocky smirk on his lips. His eyes, as black and red as always, bore into Biko's own with nothing but bloodlust and insanity.

Wait, arms?

"So… it appears that your arm has filly regrown, then." Biko commented, gesturing to the white copy's left arm. Now that he had his attention on it, Biko noticed that there was a slight difference in skin tone between the two limbs, the left one being slightly darker than the right. He could sense that it was still healing, but other than skin tone it looked fine. "I assume that you have earned your lesson about going near that egg?"

The Copy change his tone rather quickly at the mention of his arm, and scowled at the egg with pure malice and hate in his eyes.

"THAT FUCKER WILL GET WHAT'S COMING TO IT, YOU MARK MY WORDS. EVEN IF IT INCINERATED MY ARM BACK THEN WHEN I TRIED TO PUNCH IT…"

Yep, that was correct, this guy tried to destroy the Egg when he sensed abnormalities within it. He probably feared the power that it displayed, and if he were honest Biko wouldn't blame him. He had been more than a little startled himself when he first sensed them, but unlike the white copy Biko had the common sense to not rush in and formed calculations first. A fact that had saved his life, as the White Copy had been instantly blown back across the Inner World when he tried to punch it, returning with a left arm destroyed down to the shoulder.

That was JUST AFTER Nico had known about the egg.

By the time the White Copy had returned, he had reformed his arm to a point where Nico, in his chaotic mental state, wouldn't have noticed.

"It was your own fault for not taking into account the volatile nature of this being."

"TCH, KNOW IT ALL…"

Their relationship was a… complex one, to say the least. As aspects, they directly opposed one another. They came from different aspects of Nico's power after all, Biko being from the demonic side and this White Copy from the… other side that Nico was now trying to reconnect with. The one he had the most connection to and the one that he had the longest. One could say that this Inner World, even while it rejected him for so many years, was the White Copy's home turf, it's playground, it's jungle. He didn't even mind the fact that the defences attacked him to symbolise Nico's rejection of him (despite his contradictory actions in using his power when alone on solo missions), hell he had fun ripping them to shreds.

Then, Biko came along and messed everything up.

Like a foreign animal intruding on another environment. That was what the White Copy had attributed his arrival as.

Yet, unlike him, Biko and the demonic powers he embodied weren't rejected by Nico's inner world one bit, in fact they were warmly received with welcome arms. He once commented sarcastically that they would have gotten a red carpet with how little of a resistance they got when merging with the 'king' and being permanent aspects of him like himself. How annoying that had been…

One could tell this explained a lot of the White Copy's animosity towards Biko, huh?

Yet, even so, both aspects agreed on one thing despite their relationship, and that was that they would have to be there for Nico when he needed it. They were part of him after all, and even if Biko was used more often than the White Copy, the latter still held the 'centre seat of power' between them. The reason this was so, was because Biko for all intents and purposes was an outsider, and the White Copy had been here the longest. It was this fact that allowed them to find some common ground and forge a temporary truce between them during the 'Berserker Incident' as they now coined it.

Though, it did forge the basis for an uneasy neutrality towards each other.

No, neutrality didn't fit their relationship, instead it felt more like 'you don't mess with me and I won't mess with you'. It was why Biko hadn't really interfered much with the white copy's activities like that battle with the two Ghouls J Greil and Hol Horse, only when Nico asked him to. That generally meant suppressing him a much as he could with his demonic power, though that instead had some… other side effects Nico probably wouldn't be aware of until he actually manifested the White Copy's power.

Though if it came down to it… Biko wasn't sure who would win between them. Biko knew his strength was growing by leaps and bounds thanks to Nico's training, and his Soul Edge had the same abilities as the main aspect's. He had the same demonic powers, and arguably his were stronger than Nico's due to him embodying them within the Inner World. However, that didn't mean he would be able to dominate the White Copy, no not one bit. In fact, Biko had much cause to think that if he were to fight against him, he would be hard pressed to win… and eventually he would lose.

The other side to Nico… stronger skin, rejecting human food, physical ability improvement, high speed regeneration and heightened senses weren't the only powers that the other side offered. Oh no, not by a long shot. Hell, it's full power was one of the most terrifying things Biko had ever encountered, yes he had seen a glimpse of it in the past and he found it worse than any demon out there. Not only was it strong, strong enough to, at full strength, smash through large buildings like they were nothing but mere Jenga blocks, but speed was well within it's domain. The 'fangs' each had high speed on their side, for example the one that Nico had used so far, the invisible one, was so fast that when Nico is under a rainstorm, this fang moved so fast that none of the raindrops would land on him as this fang would just bat them away. None of those raindrops would land on him.

Not.

One.

Drop.

All that was possible due to how it was built. That power was influenced by the imagination, and it's size depended on the amount of energy put into it. For a long time, Nico had used a mix of Plasma and High Frequency Blade technology for his combat prowess. If one didn't remember, then HF technology involved a powerful alternating current and resonating at extremely high vibration frequencies. This oscillation weakened the molecular bonds of anything it cuts, thereby increasing its cutting ability. That got the strength part down pat, and as for the speed that just came from his high-risk missions from when he was surrounded on all sides by powerful Abnormals. Any second wasted would have meant death so he learned to make use of that to strike as fast as possible in so little time. In the end, it resulted in his other side having INSANELY high speeds that reached up to mach 1.

As for the invisibility, it was Nico's mental desire to hide his other side away from prying eyes for so long. It created an ideal in his mind, something unbeknownst to him at the time was an assignation method: An Assassin always slips through the cracks and strikes with the hidden blade. If one misses, then out comes the equally crucial second blade. This mental attitude influenced his other side, and gave this particular 'Fang' the ability to use those high speed vibrations to make itself invisible. This was done by vibrating at frequencies much higher than that of their surroundings, making them appear to not be there when they were. This applies to eyes as well, if they vibrate at high enough frequencies then the eyes wouldn't be able to perceive them.

That was the secret behind one 'Fang'…

And the other two, while not having the same powers, were just as lethal in their fields.

Wherever that power came from, it was meant to KILL, and it was freaking good at it…

Something that Nico had a hand in.

"In any case, I must make my leave, I must check the Fragmented Memories as per my routine."

"PFT, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, OUTSIDER."

The White Copy scoffed as he vanished out of existence, leaving Biko to Warp away himself.


Warping back into existence, Biko found himself within one of the many rooms within the tower-like Library. A room that only he had access too for the time being. If he tried to ring Nico here, then the Tower would just reject him, a symbol of his subconscious desire to reject the memories of his past. Until he learned and accepted those memories, something Biko's intuition told him would be easier said than done, then Nico wouldn't be able to view what he was seeing right now.

Biko floated just before a circular projection device, one that had a black and red color scheme similar to his Hellfire in DPU Form. It had a wicked-looking spiked-crown appearance, with rather futuristic and dark textures. It actually looked like a wicked crown a tyrant would wear or something similar, a sight that would make many flinch in dread at the thought of who would wear such a crown. But this, this was no accessory, no this was just a projector, a projector of memories...

Fragmented Memories.

This was the source of Biko's knowledge of the DPU Era, or what little he knew anyways. They had been filling themselves in like a book being written, but depending on whether or not the main aspect was near anything demonic, the writing speed varied. Not to mention that it proved immensely stressful even for him to understand single words in the sentences these things showed him. Every time he tried to look into it, he would wind up with serious migraines at the end. This was coming from a being specialized and born for the task, so if Nico were to try it... well, he doubted it would be pretty eve if he could regenerate.

He'd used this many times, either to figure out new abilities, the causes of abnormalities within Nico's body, or to get some insight into the DPU Era. So far, he hadn;t made much progress on that front though, while on the powers front he had recently discovered several core abilities he had been intending to share with Nico for some time, however recent events have been distracting as of late. These abilities would likely appear more in the future, as while this thing was a source of information for him and Nico, it didn't have ALL the answers... yet. That would take time...

Time Biko feared they didn't have.

Also, for those who didn't realize it yet, Biko had been about to inform Nico off those powers when those Planes appeared. Perhaps he could explain tonight before the Egg hatched...

Right now, Biko wanted to see if there was anything he could glean on that Bone for the time being. Because it didn't have as much usage as his Devil Arms, it hadn't appeared in the Armoury as a Carving yet. But once the usage was upped a bit, then it would appear as such and Biko would be able to monitor it like every other sentient item that he possesses. The Demon Persona held out a hand and placed it onto the Projector, closing his eyes and beginning to work.

It would be a long process...