Chapter 168 - RAIL Return
Ahhhh... oh how SWEET that battle had been.
The redhead Spec Ops Agent hummed in satisfaction to himself, lying on his back on his bed as he looked up towards the Ceiling, which got partially illuminated by the pale moonlight shining outside of his window. Nonetheless, the sweet, serene scenery didn't decrease his mood one bit, if the wide and content smile the teen had on his face as he put his hands behind his back was any indication. If anything, it had done the exact opposite, and he had ONLY the girls whom he considered comrades to thank. Nico's mind processed that fact more than once, and likely would do so for a long time, as it replayed the events of the battle that he had with Neptune and the girls. The battle which had taken the rest of the day to complete, since the group had so much fun 'sparring; with one another that they had lost track of time, so by the time the fight ended the skies had already turned dark with the moon shining in its full radiance. Therefore, since Nico had emerged the victor (as expected since he had the most improvement thanks to his vicious training), he had to be the one to carry the exhausted girls back, since whilst some of them (like Neptune for example) could fight for at least a few days on end, fighting Nico had taken a lot out of them… though in reality they had just used that as an excuse to just make him carry them back, and the redhead didn't have the heart in him to deny them… he just wanted to spend more time with the girls too. One could tell from this, that there had been one thing he had been looking forward to when he had come back, it would have been seeing them again after his trip to the Inferno Hell, something which had provided quite the few benefits for him which had been explained in the previous chapter... alongside the chance of fighting them to see how far they themselves had progressed as warriors. Regular sparring with them throughout their journey together so far had allowed Nico to develop a... well, a sense of friendly rivalry with the girls, especially Neptune who tried to catch him by surprise with her pranks... only to fail drastically and fall flat on her face each turn (what, she thought she could outwit HIM of all people! He wouldn't let that slide!)
Still, it wasn't like he let his battle junkie tendencies take over his rationality, no he had far too much professionalism for that. Before the battle had started, Nico had maintained enough semblance of self control to recognize the potential danger one of their members would have had if they stayed too close to the upcoming carnage. As such, he'd mentally ordered Urthemiel to take Cecil out of the fight, since he had sensed right from the beginning that, although she had become more monstrous than the average Agent, compared to him and the girls she would be sorely... lacking. Therefore, he didn't want to get her caught up in the crossfire, and BOY what a fight that had been. It had been a while since he had been able to fight the way he had, where he didn't have to worry about holding back as well as have to worry about accidentally killing his adversaries, there wasn't any murderous intent aimed at him by said 'enemies' either. In essence, that fight had been more akin to a spar than anything else. If he were to try and summarize it, Nico would say that the whole thing was just a little 'playful scuffle' for lack of a better term... a scuffle which turned that entire plain along with some of the surrounding areas into a massive wasteland, utterly barren and devastated in the wake of their various attacks. Ironically, most of the destruction hadn't actually been done by himself, but by either Compa or Neptune whenever they unleashed some big special attack on him, as Nico himself had kept to fighting on the defensive until he had learned the new movement patterns of his comrades then adapted and fought accordingly. He didn't just rush in and tear their defenses apart like he normally would, the rabid beast that Nico had accepted himself as, instead he focused on analyzing them and seeing if he could attain any kind of inspiration for developing his OWN Martial Skills.
'HAHAHAHAHA, YA FINALLY STARTED SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE, KING! THAT WAS SOME GREAT FUN BACK THERE, CRAZY BITCHES GOT THEIR ACTS TOGETHER AFTER BEING SHAT ON BY THAT MANWHORE BITCHTUS! SURE THEY HAVE ROOM TO GROW BUT AT LEAST ITS POSSIBLE THAT THE SLUTS CAN BE FUN LIKE THOSE BITCHES IN THE INFERNO HELL!' Byakko howled with his distorted, hollow voice within the depths of Nico's mind, the psychotic aspect of his Ghoul side filled with mirth over the experience too. What, he personified Nico's own instincts, so if he truly enjoyed that then it reflected their own collective enjoyment of battle as well. Though, if he were asked then the redhead would have done without the insults towards the girls since he saw that as unwarranted... although Nico HAD tried to get him to change that a few times in the Inferno Hell, but so far no dice. He just hoped that if there was ever a scenario (as hypothetical and non-realistic as it sounded) that they ever got to meet, Byakko and the girls, that he didn't call them that in their faces. Nico could only IMAGINE what could happen in that situation, and he didn't like what he found at the end. In the Inferno Hell, Byakko had been his most vocal since nearly every second had been focused on fighting and refining his skills to new levels, with barely any time for him to breathe. Nearly EVERYTHING in there, from the flora, fauna and the dominating populations (there were multiple, all from various places... places not of Gamindustri by the way) had been trying to kill him. It wasn't like they hated him or anything though, although he felt like it became that way more than once, it had mostly been the way the world had worked for so many millennia: the strong survive and the weak are their playthings... the only difference between the Inferno Hell and Gamindustri was that the Inferno Hell was MEANT to be like that, constantly generating all kinds of twisted creatures of varying grotesque appearances whilst having been spawned from one of the most battle loving of all the DPUs. Something like PEACE had never been considered from the get go. As such, to his Ghoul Side it may as well have been a literal paradise for him. Though, was it just Nico himself or did this guy's vulgarity only increase instead of decrease? 'NOW IF THOSE HOEBAGS GET EVEN STRONGER AND STOP THIS SILLINESS THAT IS GETTING ON YOUR D, THINGS WILL BE GOLDEN!'
'Unlikely, and for multiple reasons, wild one.' Thankfully, before Nico could respond to the Ghoul Persona's comments, the manifestation of his Demonic Power and ironically the more 'logical' of his personas, Biko intervened. He spoke with a sense of weariness like he had been contemplating that very same topic of discussion many times before in the past but didn't receive the same conclusion/desire that Byakko had. Back in the Inferno Hell, Biko had been the one to direct Nico all around where they could, visiting all kinds of places and warning him of enemy dangers which he had deduced were a bit too... much for them to handle at that moment in time. One could say that, if Byakko was a bestial instincts, then Biko would have been the brain which directed those instincts to where they could enjoy the most carnage. It DID help that Nico regularly found some isolated places (after liberating them from any surrounding enemies) for him to practice whatever he learned and train in his current abilities, otherwise he would have eventually fallen to the countless monsters in the darkness. Aside from that, whenever Nico managed to find the time to, he'd visit Biko and his Ghoul Persona in the Inner World, although as stated in the last chapter this was quite rare due to all the action he'd gotten, where Nico would then proceed to see if he could learn what he could from the Library made by Biko from the knowledge gleaned from the Lexicanum. 'It is unlikely that Nico will ever stop attracting members of the opposite sex to him, though this does not mean he's doing it intentionally. Throughout my studies of the human mind, I have discovered that, whilst every female has their own wants in a lifelong partner with some even preferring their own sex, females generally tend to go for those with any of these following things: money, power and personality. Money is an easy concept for even you to get, since its basically assurance that the male can provide for an easier life for the females. Power, women like strong males whom can actually stand up for themselves as well as their ideals, not letting their dreams be dreams as like a certain meme says, they just 'DO IT!'. Lastly is Personality, as no female seems to desire someone who is literally a blank boring slate, someone with no interesting characteristics. Hell, people in GENERAL prefer someone who has some form of character to some insert protagonist without a sense of self.'
As he heard this information, Nico couldn't help but frown to himself, pondering on what his Demon Persona had implied whilst Byakko simply dismissed him as the simplistic instinct Personification he was. Based off this opinion, which one can consider it coming from an outsiders opinion since Biko wasn't really human, one might assume he didn't see the 'complexity' around the human mind... though if they truly knew him like Nico himself did then they'd see that wasn't the case. Sure what Biko had said sounded simple, but in the end it wasn't since whilst he did break it down quite well, there was really no telling what any single woman wanted in their life partners without actually asking them first... plus, its quite easy to just assume things about them too, and by extension people in general. Even the redhead himself was guilty of that action despite him using this to... different goals than the average woman seeker, but in essence what it all boiled down to was that whilst Biko may not actually be wrong in his opinion, that didn't mean that was all there was to this. 'Maybe. Also, Biko, i' beginning to wonder what kind of consensus you've reched about humanity? I would have said e as well, but one: I'm no longer anything even REMOTELY close to human. more like a Hybrid of Ghoul and Demon, and two: I WAS once a normal human too...' A flash of sadness overcame him as his eyes briefly darkened, Nico glancing down towards his abdominal region where his Rinkaku Kakuhou had been located. '... even if I can't really remember much about that time.'
'My opinion of humanity, you say? Well... from what I have seen and heard of them, both the good and bad as I do not wish to be too biased towards either side, that would only demean my overall ideals, I would say that my opinion generally coincides with a Leanbox Philosopher, Karl Max. "If a human being is a social creature, then he can develop only in the society." "All history is nothing but a continuous transformation of human nature." I do believe that things like these are the basis of his opinions about humanity itself, that human history shapes its nature, coincide with what I have seen. For example, the Nature Elf Massacre...' Nico mentally grimaced at the mention of it, that one being one of the wounds which still stung at his being a little, especially since he had something ithin him which would ALWAYS be a reminder of that tragedy. '... That incident came about simply due to the notion of 'Abnormals are bad' in humanity's cognition, as their history has been riddled with nothing but bad encounters with them and very few good ones... good ones which likely weren't even recorded in history thus resulting in what we have today. Another, bigger example would be the CPUs themselves. I've been pondering on why they even went to the Console Wars in the first place, but the History books 'say' that they went there for the Title of being the one 'True Goddess' of Gamindustri. If this is indeed true, then the notion of a 'True Goddess' which likely came from humanity itself since originally whilst Odyssey Heart gained her power through comprehending the laws of the primordial light, from then on the faith of the people brought about the Goddesses. What I'm saying, is that the NOTION of a True Goddess CAME from humanity, making it so that the CPUs actions held a hand in shaping humanity's nature in a way.'
'Huh... That's actually an interesting way to look at it...' Nico thought back, sitting up from his bed and letting his covers fall onto his lap, exposing his bare upper body All the while he idly summoned Rebellion into his lap, letting it rest there as he stroked the blade's surface. As he did so, Nico felt its pleasurable purrs through their link, electing a small smile from him as he continued. 'Thinking about it, I can see where your coming from. There have been many things that have happened across human history which shaped our current beliefs, heck on a smaller scale Yvoire is also an example of this, what with his political stance on matters concerning the Nation and the danger surrounding it, not to mention the ways Chaos have influenced us. Human history DOES have an effect on our natures, I'll admit that, though I also think there's more to it than that.' He soon got a humming sound from Biko whom then proceeded to request for clarification Nico continued. 'If you ask me, I'd say hat along with your thoughts, i'd say that my beliefs about what it means to be human are similar to another philosopher called David Hume, a Lastation Native. He mentioned, and I quote: "All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious; and not to admit of any hypothesis, whatsoever; much less, of any which is supported by no appearance of probability." What he meant by that is that all humanity's ideals have their roots in the sense of impressions that they get, meaning that even if something imaginary doesn't exist, its formed in the mind through things people have seen in the real world. Examples of this can be how some people thought the CPUs would look like since they'd hadn't seen them for centuries until recent months.'
'Hmmm... intriguing...'
Nodding his head at this, Nico threw the covers off his bed and proceeded to start his morning routine, Rebellion being strapped to his back for the time being until he would be getting dressed. Idly, he noticed on his right Bracer that he had a message, so whilst he opened it up to look through it during his routine, Nico also responded to Biko's comment. 'Yeah, but what does this mean about being human one might ask? Simple, in order to make these ideals, humanity tends to use things which Hume believed to be the most fundamental aspects of our mental processes: Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause and Effect. I also think he mentioned something about our own perception of truth for each individual, no matter how different, existing in the world. When humans seek truth, they come into moments of realization. Small moments of realization lead to a sense of happiness of fulfilment, like where one's keys are after looking for them for a while. However BIG moments of realization, one the other hand, are truly what makes humans human...' When he finished reading the message, which came from his friends Aiden and Ivan of Team RAIL, people whom he ALSO wanted to meet with again since he'd been meaning to find them after coming back from the Inferno Hell, Nico quickly made a message of his own to send back to those two. He figured spending the morning with them then the afternoon with the girls (or one of them if the other is busy, and if both are busy then some training/questing would be in order) would be a decent plan for the day. All the while, Biko himself considered the points he made, before proceeding to respond and start one of their MANY conversations about ideals, philosophy all that good shit.
'BAAAAAH, YOU NERDS AND YOUR HARD SHIT, JUST ADMIT THAT HUMANS SUCK AND MONSTERS RULE ALREADY!'
… Well, good for just those two, apparently.
Later…
"Yo boys, been a while hasn't it?"
After making a turning corner along a sidewalk at about 10 in the morning, Nico strode into the view of the two boys Aiden and Ivan, whom waiting for their friend in the middle of a side street which wasn't really that populated for the time being, not to mention that it was close to their house too, so they didn't have that much far to travel. Meanwhile, Nico himself may have had a bit further to travel than they did due to having left the hotel room he and the Party currently stayed in, butthankfully he just had to Warp the rest of the way here, so he just trained for a while before the appointed meetup time. As such, the moment that he made that exclamation with a hand raised above his head whilst the other remained in his coat pocket, both boys looked up towards him after pausing their apparent conversation. The second that this visage entered their gazes, Ivan unleashed a wide grin as his eyes twinkled with happiness, all the while Aiden released a small smirk, though through the years of knowing him Nico knew that to be just how he conveyed his happiness to see him.
"Eeeeeehhhhhh, my man!" Ivan greeted cheerily, stepping forward just as Nico did, quickly wrapping his arms around his fellow man in a hug of manliness. One which got returned with just as much eagerness. "Been a while Nico, ol' buddy ol' pal! How could you, skipping out on your bros like that?" Ivan questioned after the two of them pulled apart with a bout of laughter, showing that he didn't really mind the redhead teen's long absence. Nico himself just chuckled in amusement, a sense of giddiness filling his being at seeing some of the few guy friends he truly had again, all whilst he turned towards Aiden whom had stepped fowards. The teen did the same thing, and when these two got close enough to one another, both boys' suddenly gained macho features, with pronounced masculine ones as well as censored black eyesockets. This then got followed by Nico slamming both open palms down on Aiden's upward ones, the same happening again but from Aiden to Nico this time, the two proceeding to bash each other's forearms together (left to right first then right to left) fist bump on top of each other's right fists, before finaltly stopping by slamming both their forearms into one another. The level of manliness released from these actions would hae served to blow off every bystander's clothes and blow up the planet through macho power if it were possible. Seeing this spectacle ended up causing Ivan to erupt in laughter at seeing this, something whichonly occasionally happened due to both boys being normally so emotionally reserved. "You fantastic bastard, you've been skipping out on us, look at you! Looking all swoll and stuff! What about the bro code? You know, bros before hoes?"
After recovering from that instance (his features returning to nnormal as did his eyes whilst his 'manliness' level returned to normal) Nico returned Ivan's gaze with an amused one, alongside an amused smirk of his own. "Don't let either Lucy or Raven hear you say that, otherwise they might turn you into a woman. Remember the first time you tried to peak at them whilst they were bathing in a hot spring?" he commented, causing the other boy to grow pale as a ghost, horrible memories as well as a phantom pain near his groin flashing through said bodypart causing himto twist his legs inwards in some kind of flimsy defence. Nico's knowing look and the slight grimace from Aiden only made the feelings worse for the poor lad. "You were out of it for a week afterwards, luckily for you things weren't that serious."
"Weren't that serious?! Hey, just because you've got freaking balls of steel doesn't mean you cann rub it in the rest of us normal guys!" Ivan whined, covering his groin with his hands as he aimed an envious glare, causing the redhead teen to sweatdrop alongside Aiden, the latter of the two then shaking his head as he placed a hand over his eyes to try and block out the memories of that painful day… when a poor man's wail sounded and every respectable man's genitals cried out for their lost comrade. Well, for a week anyways, but still the agony that Ivan had went through that day… it scarred him for life. Then, when he commented about Nico's having 'balls of steel', the three teens swore they could feel the phantom stares of envy from countless males across Gamindustri.
Thing was, they weren't wrong when calling Nico a man with that kind of title to him, not wrong at all in fact. Shortly into his Spec Ops Agent career, the redhead had once run into a… rather troublesome Abnormal shaped somewhat like an octopus. The thing had een the target of a Quest which had been sent to by an middle aged fisherman whose wife and two daughters had been dragged into the ocean where it lived, drowned and then eaten by it (Nico knew that fate due to seeing some of their remains, the daughters had only been 8 to 7 years old respectively, so one could imagine the gried that man must have felt). One could say it had been one… brutal Abnormal, but don't let anyone say it wasn't smart, in fact one would call it brutally smart since it SPECIFICALLY targeted areas which were more sensitive than others, areas mostly filled with muscle. As such, it liked to take crotch shots at the men, and make blunt attacks on the women's chest and clitoris areas. This would have distracted them long enough for it to finish its prey off… something which Nico himself almost fell victim too had he not planned ahead and managed to activate his Eject Button in time. Afterwards, he had went into extensive training, repeatedly smashing his crotch area, repairing it and smashing it again with anything he could find till it had been refined to a point where those kinds of cheap shots didn't effect him anymore. Not only did that help im deal with the Abnormal, but it also served to help deal with anyone who dared try the same tactic against him.
Several enemies in the Inferno Hell even tried that trick on him, one of them even launching over 4000 punches in a single second… didn't even flinch, instead just rebounded with a Kagune fist to the face.
Yeah, Nico DEFINITELY earned that title.
'…You know, I should be surprised at this information, but I am not.'
'GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AWWW YEAH, I REMEMBER THAT SHIZ! SHIZ WAS AWESOME NO DOUBT, AH THE FACES SHITHEADS MADE WHEN WE PULLED FAST ONES ON EM THIS WAY, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!'
"Anyways, before we can continue critizing Mr steeled balls over here…" Aiden began, deciding to get the conversation off this topic since he started to feel concerned for his envious colleague Ivan. Well, not envious to try and do it himself since no sane man would ever try to attempt something like that, though then again this was Nico he was talking about, he's not exactly the sanest of individuals now was he? "Perhaps spending the morning together is an option. It has indeed been a significant timeframe since we last regrouped like this, therefore some catching up is preferable." The stoic teen suggested, getting both boys to look at him oddly for a moment, multiple pairs of eyes blinking at him like an owl. Seeing these gazes being directed at him, the the Agent codenamed FALCON Tilted his head to the side before making another point known to them. "That IS why we have agreed on this little randesvous, was it not?"
After a few short seconds, Ivan calmed down as he let out a sigh, mentally putting aside this incident in favour of this idea. "Yeah, you're right. The more time we waste arguin over terminator over here…" He began, gesturing to Nico whose brow twitched and he had to restrain himself from giving the agent Codenamed CYBORG a noogie… mostly due to fear that his greater strength might actually drill a hole inside the guy's noggin. "… Will mean less bro time. Oh yeah, check this out, Nico." Something then just came to him in the form of Ivan suddenly gaining a light bulb atop his head, before he crushed it in his sole human hand as he pulled some kind of rolled up piece of paper out of his Inventory. He then proceeded to unroll it out for the rest of them… showing it to be a map of the Capital of MICROSOFT, with several areas circled in what looked like black pen. "Me and Aiden found some nice little spots where we can go pay a visit, since around this time there are LOTS of hot young babes at the café's waiting to be hit on…" Ivan commented, snickering in excitement.
"Your desire to get a girlfriend still after over several thousand rejections still continues to astound me…" Nico drawled out, having gotten a GOOD idea of where this morning was going, resisting the urge to facepalm. Of COURSE, he should have figured that Ivan would try something like this and rope them into this, the dude loved hitting on the ladies more tha anything in the world. Well, maybe less than stayng loyal to his bros, but still his point about him liking girls still stood regardless. It was a well known fact that the guy definitely had the drive to never give up in his veins similar to a certain blonde knuckleheaded ninja whose a dad in the sequel in a title which is largely hated by its fanbase, though he had to give Ivan some credit, he knew an impossible task when he saw one. For example, trying to hit on Raven and Lucy when he'd first met them… Nico mentally shuddered at how brutal THEIR rejections had been, though this had been when Raven despised men much more than what she had done in recent times, and when Lucy still had some strong doubts about his friendship with her. They'd gotten a lot better working together with the boys over the years, though it didn't diminish those feelings completely. "Whats the 'operation' called this time? Operation get kicked in the nuts again #574?"
"Fuck you! Anyways, since your dying to know, its back to the classics, Operation: babe hunt!" Ivan admitted with a shameless grin after shouting in mild annoyance at the redhead whose hands now got pocketed inside his Trench Coat. "I know it hasn't worked out before, but dude we get so much more attention when your with us than when we go without you, you're like a freaking chick magnet! Its gotta be the curse of the harem protagonist or something, cause whether you like it or not, you're quite popular with the ladies…!" Ivan proclaimed passionately, before he mumbled a little something under his breath with his eyes sharpening slightly. "…Lucky bastard…"
"…"
Hearing those words being directed at him, they should have made the redhead snap back a retort denying the obvious. However, the exact opposite had happened, as Nico had chosen not to say anything after hearing that, since before he would have always denied the so-called 'popularity' he had with girls, but thanks to the Date with Compa, Nico had thought back on a NUMBER of things regarding the girls, and the majority of the women he'd met in his life… which got him to realize that, to his horror, Ivan had a point. Perhaps Biko had a point about women liking guys who had power, since apparently, he truly DID have it easy with the members of the opposite sex now that he thought about it, something he truly did have mixed feelings about. Most of his conflict stemmed from the fact that he had been thinking HARD about what he should do in regards to the girls whom had already developed strong romantic feelings towards him, therefore going on stuff like this felt like he was betraying them in a sense… and Nico HATED that feeling with a burning passion. In fact, if it were any other person asking him this, then the redhead likely would have refused and left, possibly with a fist to their nuts if they tried to persist. Though, unfortunately it was Ivan whom was asking him to do this, a bro whom he had sworn to stick by. They were colleagues and great companions, perhaps he could even call these two… friends, now that he was starting to use that word more… so it wouldn't be right to ust leave them hanging in the dirt like that, it wasn't something a bro would do. "…Fine, I'll help."
Ugh, maintaining friendships which he had formed through blood, sweat and tears wasn't easy… the things he did for these two… well, Ivan more than Aiden since he rarely asked for anything from him.
'Sticking with your bros is not easy, but it can be just as rewarding as being with your girls, Nico. With the opinion you have of the male gender, true bros are going to be hard to find, as well as difficult to replace, so this is the preferable cause of action.'
'HAH, LIKE THOSE TWO SAY: BROS BEFORE HOES!'
'… Biko, remind me to NEVER let the girls meet Byakko, murder will be the result.'
'Agreed.'
"Hah, I knew I could count on you, buddy!" Ivan exclaimed with a victory cheer, leaping forth and hooking an arm around the back of Nico's neck to pull him in. Ivan then held his other arm up to the air above, a massive grin on his face reflecting the eagerness and slight perversity in his being whilst the redhead looked over to the stoic male of Team RAIL… whom looked like he had just given up and decided to let this play out… likely the same as the rest of these times. The redhead teen sighed as he saw this, though the excited Ivan just didn't notice as he quickly ran off to the 'first' marked spot on the map, having brought it back into his inventory with Aiden and Nico glancing once at each other before nodding in unison and jogging off after the robot armed male.
As a result, opetation: Babe Hunt…
"Ouch! Argh! Ugh!"
"You deserved that last one, so hold still, this will take only but a moment."
"Oh, come on, I was doing well that time! She looked like she was TOTALLY going to give me her number before that other guy showed up and beat my ass!"
"… He WAS her boyfriend, you know."
… went about as well as one might expect.
Throughout the entire morning, Aiden, Ivan and Nico journeyed through various spots across MICROSOFT, looking (well, Ivan was, Aiden and Nico merely baied him out whenever he got in over his head… which happened pretty much every time, sadly) for females to hit on. In the end though, Ivan got the majority of the beatdowns, which had been something the two had expected at this point. They could understand WHY Ivan wanted a girlfriend so badly though, as in their line of work Spec Ops Agents weren't going to be living for very long, not to mention that even if they did they'd make PLENTY of enemies at some point, so having a special someone early on to make happy memories with was something Ivan deeply desired. He wanted a girlfriend not just for sexual reasons, if that had been the case then Nico and Aiden would have lost a lot of respect for the dude, instead he just wanted the complete package, so he had something to live for other than just extending his limited lifespan possibilities.
An innocent enough reason, commendable and relatable even.
The problem that they had seen however, was that the guy seemed just a TAD too desperate to get a girlfriend, one could easily see it in the way he moved and how he acted. As such, he often gave his true feelings away, and thus many women liked to exploit that just to troll and tease him. All before their boyfriends, brothers, or even fiances to beat the everloving crap out of him (some even had the galls to hide their rings just to lure unsuspecting boys like Ivan in for entertainment), some even stealing some of their money for 'compensation' despite their backgrounds being rich in said money departments. Worse still, was that Ivan had bad luck, almost too much bad luck, with women as he seemingly chose only the worst kinds of women to try and ask out. Thus, they had made it a point to intervene and keep Ivan from getting knocked out, healing him up with their own means once things got REAL bad for him (which happened more often than not), or just protect him from any guys who tried going further than necessary just out of some kind of sadistic pleasure. More than once, Nico had the urge to just shoot those hoes in the faces for mocking his bro like they did, but he refrained every time he did so… instead, he promptly shot the sides of their heads, only missing by inches but cutting through their cheeks, nonetheless. Felt rather cathartic if one asked him.
'HAH, THOSE BITCHES CAN REALLY BE CONSIDERED HOEBAGS! SERIOUSLY, I SO WISH I COULD HAVE SHOVED A KAGUNE TENTACLE OR SOMETHING DOWN THEIR THROATS THEN TORE THEM VERTICALLY IN HALF! THEY WERE THE TRUE DEFINITION OF THOTS!'
'Guys aren't the only ones who can do despicable things, Byakko, as much as Nico's experiences may say otherwise. Perhaps its simply due to him having his horizons broadened, but I am truly grateful that we know people like Neptune and the others, they are FAR more preferable company than those… harlots…'
When BOTH of his Personas AGREED on something… that was when one KNEW the severity of that subject.
Thus, by the time the current time came, it turned out to be nearly lunch time, with the three boys having relocated to a small fishing pond located in an isolated part of the Capital with nobody around to disturb them. Nico himself had made SURE of that. Right now, Aiden busied himself by treating some of Ivan's more recent wounds, wounds which the redhead had offered to heal with his Kagune (therefore training his ability to heal others that he'd gotten through He Lin's sacrifice which he still cringed at), but Aiden had declined, reasoning that he was used to doing this for his friend by now which resulted in Nico keeping watch like a loyal guard dog in case some of those females hired any… unsavoury hands to try and get some revenge against them. So far though, nothing had come up, prompting him to question the injured Ivan with a raised eyebrow. "Since your still doing this kind of thing, I can only guess what had happened with that one adventurer girl, the one who actually flirted with YOU first…"
Once he heard about THAT, Ivan's face twisted into a remorseful expression as he looked down towards his lap, due to lying horizontally alonga bench with Aiden tending to his latest wounds. "Yeah, her name's actually FALCOM…" he stated, surprising both of them this time (yes, even Aiden as he continued his work), before he continued with a tone which suggested a whole hell LOT to them. 'She's an adventurer who travels around the world, recording what she goes through then writes about them in books. She hasn't published any yet though, but from what I read of one they'd DEFINITELY be a hit…" the teen explained, chuckling wistfully with a tender sparkling expression in his eyes… a look which then turned downcast when Ivan began frowning before a sad sigh escaped his lips. "But honestly, I think I blew my chances with her."
"Why? What happened?"
"Well, I took some advice Aiden gave me a while back. You guys remembered that time we teased you Nico with that youtube video of you singing?" the teen questioned, getting looks from both Nico and Aiden which ended up making him laugh a little, although this laugh didn't have NEARLY as much life to it compared to its normal version. "Well, I met her shortly after we returned, and it seemed that her interest in me hadn't died down, so… well, I dunno how it happened, but we got to talking a lot about one another. Even hung out inbetween our respective missions although these times were quite rare as in still haven't had the 20th hang out yet, though it had started as friends at first." Ivan explained, sighing wistfuly as nice memories flowed through his mind. "After a while, I seriously thought about asking her out, just like you guys teased me like no tomorrow about doing." Cue several snickers although they didn't last long. "I mean, I really found myself enjoying her company, talking to her felt amazing and for once, I found myself not thinking about getting a girlfriend and just focusing on just chilling with her. I guess this was why I lessened my 'gotta get a girlfriend' shenanigans for a while, though you weren't around for that part, Nico." At this point, Ivan began to sound like a broken man, his eyes darkening until they had lost nearly all the colour that they had. Whilst the mentioned redhead reeled from the fact that this 'FALCOM' character had indeed such an effect on his friend, the resolution only seemed to fill his insides with dread. "Then, one night I'm trying to find her to se if she wants to hang out, though in reality I wanted to get her alone for hopefully an asking out for a date sometime… I find her in an alleyway… and she's being drilled into by another guy almost twice her age."
"WHAT?!"
This time, both Nico AND Aiden cried out in unison when they heard what Ivan told them. Their eyes literally flew out of their sockets as their jaws dropped, their minds slowly trying to process what they had just heard. As it slowly sunk into them though, the memories of this little Operation Babe Hunt as well as the last few times Ivan had tried this (more on Aiden's side here) began to take a WHOLE different tone with them. Both of them felt waves of horror fill their bodies at what their friend had truly been feeling in those moments behind that easy-going smile of his, what kind of pain he had to have been going through alone.
Holy Hell…
Holy fucking shit…
"I… never had the courage to ask her about what had happened that night, I just cut off all communication. I was just so shocked, so horrified to the point where I couldn't feel anything else other than this cold pit in my gut. I guess that's what the feeling of betrayal feels like huh? Now I can somewhat understand what you must have felt like Nico when your supposed 'comrades' betray you." Ivan continued as an empty laugh left his lips, his eyes now completely devoid of life as the memories played out within his mind. Of the man's grunts, the moans and gasps which came from the girl he drilled into, all of it re-entered his mind like a damn annoying nightmare which wouldn't go away no matter how hard he tried. "You can probably guess my response, right? Just go on missions, act like nothing was wrong and go on with my life. Though, I guess this little outing of ours kind of showed the opposite huh?" It didn't look like Ivan would end up shedding tears of heartbreak, but both boys got the impression that he had already shed countless tears about it alone, then made it a point to conceal such things from the rest of the world… though, with someone as emotional and bright as Ivan was it wouldn't have taken long before this 'Mask' of his utterly shattered since not everyone had the innate ability to make one to cover their true feelings.
In one moment, Nico's shock suddenly got replaced with a volcano of fury which erupted from within his core, causing his teeth to clench as his eyes slowly shifted into that of both his DPU Form and his Kakugan. The rage inside of him burned brightly and fiercely to the point where it threatened to overtake his senses, even as he clenched his trembling fists to try and control himself… though it had begun quickly failing the more he saw his friend's depressed state. 'This… this isn't right!' he screamed within his mind, having half one to go out there, track down the one who hurt his friend like this and beat the answers out within an inch of their lives, maybe even just eat them to gain the memories of why that had happened despite his personal experiences offering some… dark but predictable (in his mind) reasons already. 'Why did Ivan have to go through this, when others don't?! He's as genuine as they come, and the world just makes FUN of him for it! How the hell has he not snapped already?! I've half a mind to burn this whole place to the ground to find this bitch, make her pay for hurting him like this!' Inside, he could feel his inner Ghoul raging, as well as the inner Devil demanding to be unleashed for retribution, to avenge his friend's damaged honour just like he had done with the Nature Elves unjust murder. What was even WORSE was that Ivan had pretty much implied that HE was at fault for not asking her out sooner, for not showing any kind of interest in her to where she would go seek it elsewhere, THAT part stung for him the most.
'Nico, calm yourself!'
However, coming in clutch was Biko himself, shouting through their link so he could get through to him despite the flames of pure anger nearly consuming the redhead completely. The Demon Persona knew full well what Nico would do in this state, for he had seen it multiple times before... never with any clean results though. In any other time though, Biko likely would have surely been all for him going to get some payback, but several key differences could be noted in this situation which separated it from their past encounters, heck this could very well mark the first time Nico had EVER encountered someone grieving in such a way as this. Something which the Demon Persona realized following the redhead's retort. 'You can't expect me to remain calm after hearing this, can you?! My friend, someone whom I've shed blood and tears with, has just been hurt in a horrible way by some damn BITCH who likes to get it on with older guys! Worse, he's been getting it rough ever since like she's cursed his ability to get a girlfriend forever with this stunt! You CAN'T just expect me to let this slide, can you?!'
'Of course not, but please, try to think about this rationally! This isn't the same as previous cases as there's no KILLED victim here. Sure young CYBORG is grieving, but we can tell just from his words alone that he's truly sad about this. What's the point of us killing this supposed 'wench' if it will only make him feel worse? A girl whom Ivan genuinely likes and wanted to spend time with, after so long of trying to find a girlfriend so he won't have nothing to live for later down the line... do you REALLY think killing her will solve this right now?'
Biko's words rang through the redhead's brain, cycling through it like a spinning stream of water which slowly but surely doused the fires of rage inside of him, forcing Nico to calm down as his Demonic Aura faded away and his eyes returned to their normal states... although the immense irritation he felt inside still persisted. Now, before anyone were to judge him for quickly calming down after getting so angry, if it were anyone else then Nico likely wouldn't have listened and it would have taken a LOT more to convince him NOT to go and track down, then devour the souls of the wench who betrayed his friend's heart like she did. As much as he wanted to do that, Biko's trust and his desire to be a better person won out in the end. He may be a monster, a Demon of destruction which only served to destroy, however if he didn't have the ability to CHOOSE what to destroy and only let his instincts guide him, then what chances were there for him to improve? to grow as a person and finally escape the shackles which bound him for so long? That, and what Biko had told him pretty much helped him stay true to what he personified: logic. Biko's words caused him to realize that A: there really WAS no dead victim like in the majority of injustices he had seen throughout his lifetime, and B: there were key differences here like the fact that he could still hear the other side of the story. If he just blindly went with his gut and killed FALCOM for hurting his friend when in reality the situation isn't so simple, then what's to say he wouldn't end up being like those bastard Abyssal Black Swords?
He did NOT want to do that, no way in hell.
But... then what else could he do? Even touching FALCOM would be out of the question since Ivan wouldn't approve due to truthfully still caring about her judging by his tone and reactions, not to mention that he wanted to keep his bro's trust more than anything in this situation. Once more, the Spec Ops Agent with the Codename DEATHSTROKE found himself outside of his comfort zone, he'd never comforted a fellow guy about their failed dreams of romance before, nope not one bit. Usually it was girls whom he had to console whenever he saved them from some of the most horrific fates imaginable, and in those case Nico had figured out on his own what he needed to say to get them feeling better. It wasn't like Aiden had much of an idea either, something which Nico found out after a quick glance towards him with a questioning look got a negative shake of the head in return. After a short time, the teen's face hardened as he figured out what he needed to do, since it was so simple really. All he had to do was give some advice, and although it wasn't a girl whom he was advising at the moment, it shouldn't really change things all that much. Nico cared deeply for his two friends, he cared for them a lot since they had done much to help him with keeping his Ghoul Side a secret from the world. 'Hope this advice works, cause if not I can honestly say I suck at giving advice in these situations...' he thought to himself worriedly, before stepping forth and kneeling down beside his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Well, if you know me as well as I think you do, you can imagine what I want to say right now, huh?"
"Heh... yeah, I can somewhat guess. You want her to pay for hurting my feelings, right?"
"Yup, but upon revising my opinion... a different option may be better since its obvious you still like her." Nico replied, much to Ivan and Aiden's surprise, so much so that the male simply sat up despite the sharp eruptions of pain from his recently treated wounds. "... Well... #SIGH# look, as much as it irritates me to say this, and I know this may sound hypocritical of me, but perhaps talking to her will straighten things out between you two. Communication is a must-have in any form of relationship, be it romantic, friendship or otherwise, plus if I know anything about girls, its that they mostly hide what they truly feel. Since you never gave her the chance to explain her side of the story, you're filled with all these what-ifs and hypothetical scenarios, which isn't a good thing for your mental health. You don't want to end up as fucked in the head as me, do you?" At this, Ivan shook his head quickly, to which Nico smirked in amusement since he basically just admitted to him thinking Nico himself fucked up mentally... he wasn't wrong, though. "Exactly, so I'll reiterate something I was told to a while back: be a fucking man and grow some damn balls already. The Ivan I know wouldn't so easily give up on this sort of thing just when he finally seems to have a chance to grasp it. If you truly want to have a shot with this girl, then go for it, nobody's going to stop you. If it turns out she's taken now its not the end of the world, plus me and Aiden here will help you out as much as we can." Nico explained, smirking as he stifled a chuckle. Who would have thought he'd be telling stuff stated to him by someone WAY better than him at leadership and motivating people, to one of his few guy friends? Though he should REALLY think about taking his own advice.
For a moment, silence reigned supreme as both boys stared at the grinning Nico like he had grown a second head, unable to believe what they had been haring from him. For once, they had become completely baffled that their friend had said something which DIDN'T involve a mass slaughter of anything that got in his way or particularly edgy too. Sure he could crack a joke when needed, but this seemed on a whole different level. Just what had happened to their bro, for someone like him to be trying to give out LOVE advice to someone? When he himself has absolutely no experience in it whatsoever? In that one moment, something clicked inside Ivan's mind, as if he needed to hear what Nico had said this whole time which resulted in him cracking a laugh, this time one with a bit more mirth to it. "Hehehehe… hahahahaha…! Wow, dude, that's so contradictory and hypocritical that its ACTUALLY kind of motivating..." The formerly downtrodden boy commented with some cackles escaping his lips. He honestly couldn't believe what he had heard from his friend, but even so it still did its job in giving him a ray of hope when he needed it the most. Regardless though, this didn't mean that he didn't feel nervous about re-establishing Contact with FALCOM, the crush he had practically given up on before. No, he felt goddamn terrified, but like Nico had told him before, being a man meant facing these things with some BALLS!
Perhaps Nico may also have the honor of being given the title 'balls of steel' in another sense too?
"Yeah, hypocrite right here, saying hi there, how's it going?"
"Well, i'd say that I'm doing well Hypocrite, my name's Mr darkness, how about we catch up on past times my old friend?"
"Hmph, how about we do so over some fishing? If I remember correctly, Aiden here likes fishing as a hobby."
"Hah, your on!"
In the end, things gradually increased to a more positive note. After all that depressing stuff with Ivan's girl problems, (with some thought provoking stuff). As such, it resulted in the three boys deciding to 'stop' the Operation Babe Hunt for the time being, at least until Ivan found a way to resolve his girl issues. Issues which still moderately pissed Nico off, and who wouldn't be when one of their friends got their heart apparently torn to pieces right in front of them. However, it wasn't really his place to do anything about it, save for offering what little advice he had been able but enough about that. Their fishing formed a moment of peaceful tranquility for the trio, something which each of them appreciated in their own unique ways, even if they somewhat engaged in a competition to see who could catch the biggest fish pile. Nico himself didn't really need the fishes since he couldn't eat human food, so he instead had to place them within a container which had a large body of water in it, allowing them to live on whilst occasionally sprinkling some food into it. If anyone tried to ask him how he got that stuff, well he'd simply answer with 'Abnormal Nests have nearly everything in them'. One could even say from that, that Nico quite often had a lot of... bizarre experiences with those creatures and their nests, even possibly making a book called 'Nico's Bizarre Adventures!' or something like that.
For the following hour, the trio of boys did some Fishing until they realized that they weren't going to catch much else at the pond (mostly due to the pond having a small fish population in the first place) so instead they just legged it back to Team Rail's home base of operations and then proceeded to jam it out together. At first they had devised some cheesy love song to help vent Ivan's remaining stressed emotions, but once they got into the swing of things... well, lets just say they managed to jam out several new songs Nico had developed during the time which he hadn't seen the two of them. Songs which he had took inspiration from his days in the Inferno Hell to create, days which he got convinced by the other two to regal to them about.
If he weren't a Spec Ops Agent, then perhaps the teen could have become a celebrity singer...
By the time the early afternoon came a rolling, Nico had parted ways with his bros, having decided to spend some alone time before he would eventually check in with Lucy and Raven. The teem had walked through the streets, headed out of the City itself, and back to the field in which he had fought with the girls to see how far they had come... though, by the time that he had arrived, one might not be able to tell anymore since the entire place looked to be as good as new. There weren't any craters, there weren't any desolated barren areas, not even a TRACE of destruction caused by that battle looked to be visible anymore. 'Hmph, looks like Lucy's been here... she usually repairs everything on Leanbox after big battles have been concluded and away from prying eyes, so nobody knows of her Goddess status...' the teen thought to himself, reflecting upon Lucy's true race which had been revealed a fair amount of chapters ago. Of course, Nico had known the truth since the very start, Lucy had told him about her status a LONG time ago, when she had found herself able to trust in him deep enough to share such secrets. Though, as embarrassing as it had been to admit it, Nico hadn't really been able to believe her at the time, so she instead just SHOWED him... by abruptly transforming in front of him. They had been alone in an isolated space (something which normally she would have had a LOT of trouble from Raven to do if it concerned him), so... yeah, he ended up believing her.
As such, Nico had learned a LOT about the Spring Goddess as well as how the Season Goddesses actually worked, knowledge that had been granted to him with the promise that he had to give his word (which he had) that he wouldn't tell a single soul about it unless he had their permission. Like there being four CPUs in Gamindustri, since there were four Seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) there are also four Goddesses that personify those Seasons. The four Season Goddesses one might say, and each of their powers tend to signify the Season they represent. Furthermore, since a Season Goddess represents said Season, they are at their most powerful whenever they were either close to or within the Landmass where their Season has the dominating factor over, meaning that Lucy's powers are much stronger in Leanbox than they'd be in lets say Lastation or something. With Lowee being the home of Winter, Leanbox the home of Spring, Summer went to Planeptune and Lastation had Autumn.
How a Season Goddess comes into being... well, that one is a bit of a long story, so buckle up kiddos! Now then, whilst a CPU was primarily born from the Shares of the people gathering together, forming a consciousness and then becoming sentient with their pwn personalities, their genders predominantly being female thanks to the nature of the Shares used and where they came from, a Season Goddess wasn't like that. For a Season Goddess to be born, they have to have a physical body beforehand, as in they are human or another being originally. The Natural energy born from their Seasons creates something which Lucy had called a 'Season Core' like for example since Spring is HER season, she has a Spring Core inside of her which serves as the source of her power and divinity. Its the same with the other Season Goddesses too, so this Season Core, when its formed from the natural energies belonging to the specific Season in question, its first task is to seek out a potential 'host body' for it to nest inside and turn said host into a deity which is permanently connected to that Season. They can never return to a normal human life ever again, and the only way to pass on into the afterlife (part of Nico even wondered if there WAS a Goddess personifying the afterlife, he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case) would be to pass down the Season Core to a new host, one who fit the criteria to be transformed.
Now, according to Lucy each of the Season Cores had their own 'criteria', their own rules for picking someone with potential, rules which directly correlate to the Seasons they belong to. In Lucy's case, Spring itself was considered by her to be a 'love of life and nature'. Whilst Winter's the 'end of life and the cold grip of death', Spring is the new beginning, the giver of new life. Any who don't meet these rules aren't considered viable candidates, but those who DO are then quickly transformed into immortal, eternal Season Goddesses. Lucy didn't go into the specifics of what happens during the transformation though, and as such Nico had respected her decision enough not to ask, but he guessed it was similar to a rebirth: the whole body is infused and completely rewritten down to the cellular level with this energy by the Core, which then nests itself inside the user permanently.
'Interesting pieces of lore, I will indeed admit.' Biko admitted, humming thoughtfully as he too went over the memories of that particular moment and learned what Nico had. 'Though I am unsure as to where they could be placed on the power scaling system, but considering how Lucy was able to defeat a Greater Demon, albeit it had been slightly weakened by three other Goddesses, I would say that would place her around their level. If the others share her level of power, then perhaps...'
'Actually, Lucy once told me that in a serious fight between her and Raven, she herself would be the loser by a landslide... meaning Raven is MUCH stronger than her.' Nico chirped as he sat down on a nearby rock, humming thoughtfully as he just let himself relax in the warm grasp of nature, not a single enemy nearby. He wasn't joking either, Lucy and Raven HAVE actually battled one another seriously before, he'd seen it himself, and when Raven unleashed her power seriously... well lets just say Lucy definitely didn't want to incur her wrath. Nico himself had a similar opinion to her, although that had been when he had been a simple One-Eyed Ghoul, and NOT the massively OP kind of character whom he had become now. If he were to fight against Raven in his current state... who would win? The redhead honestly wasn't so sure about the answer to THAT one. 'Speaking of abilities...'
Just then, the redhead glanced behind him as something sparked within his mind, allowing him to recall something which he had forgotten about previously. His Kakugan eye activated automatically, crimson veins spreading across the side of his face as his Rinkaku Kagune emerged from behind him, bursting through his coat and allowing its 6 Tentacles to circle around so they could point their tips in his torso's direction. They'd emerged uncloaked though, so Nico and anyone who'd pass by could see them as clear as the afternoon day around him... though that wasn't something Nico found himself concerned with at the moment. 'My Ghoul side... it really did evolve quite a bit, didn't it?' the teen mentally remarked, chuckling behind a closed fist whilst his Kagune shook like it was laughing alongside him, all the while he remembered every battle which this thing had been used in since his training trip in the Inferno Hell.
His Ghoul side... yeah, having that Gourmet Flesh back in Zelretch's Trials really did a number of benefits for it, Nico had come to that realization a LONG time ago. The evolution may have taken a while, but now he could safely say that his Ghoul Side no longer had the same level of power that it had before. The evolution not only upgraded its specs to an insane degree (back in the Inferno Hell it had sliced through a Sky Class Demon with no issue, one whose deference had been stated by Biko to equal that of a mountain that would have overshadows half of Leanbox), but now it had a much more RAVENOUS side to it, since now whatever the damn thing touched it would be devoured near instantly, from solid objects to every single atom they touched, even air and space themselves thus leaving vacuums in their wake. Nico had known this since he'd tested it, his Kagune devoured many things back in that place, from physical to magic-based attacks, even pure energy. Practically NOTHING could escape its monstrous appetite now, plus it still retained its abilities from before the evolution, so it could still turn invisible through vibrations as well as retained its high striking. This applied to EVERY aspect of his Ghoul Side's Kagune, so he could only imagine what it'd be like if he unleashed a Kakuja incomplete or not onto a battlefield.
Goddamn twisted, he'd say.
"Ah, Nicky-Dear! Didn't expect to see you out here when I JUST finished the finishing touches..."
"?!"
A look of surprise crossed onto Nico's face as he heard a familiar female voice, one which got accompanied by e soft amused chuckle. When he heard it, the teen couldn't help but question the odds of meeting the voice's owner like this, as a sweatdrop formed over the side of his head. 'Seriously, people seem to love announcing their presence behind or beside me...' the redhead teen thought, refusing the urge to sigh in dismay. He REALLY had a bad habit of getting lost in thought when there was no danger around him. Perhaps his sense of danger had begun getting dull with the more power being amassed by his person... Nico mentally made a note to fix that as soon as he could, especially since that could mean danger could unexpectedly sneak up on him in the future. Shifting his head so he could gaze behind himself, the redhead noticed the source, Lucy the Spring Goddess, walking confidently towards him, strutting her stuff like a model on a walkway with a hand on her left hip. The way her eyes glimmered at seeing him, alongside the half-smirk on her lips with one corner twitching upwards, sort of made Nico's heart skip a beat, something which he repressed knowing that she would, correctly, tease him about it like all hell. Hey, even if he had finally realized that there were girls whom had romantic feelings for him, it still didn't mean he was immune to their flirtatious advances!
'That girl... geez, if she weren't a Spec Ops Agent, then I don't doubt she would have gotten on just fine as a supermodel or someone in the fashion industry...' Nico thought to himself, mentally chuckling as Biko gave an agreeing hum, whilst Byakko had to not look for fear of Erebus (whom in the inner world stood behind him with a Hanya Mask floating above her alongside a sickly sweet smile) and what she would do to him. Yeah, Byakko may have been traumatized by Mundus... but its not like Erebus was any better in his mind. "Yeah, sorry bout that, destroying this place, I mean." Nico responded with an apologetic smile on his lips as he looked into her ruby coloured orbs. "Me and the Party may have went... a bit far in our little 'celebration' regarding our reunion. If you have anything against us, feel free to do what you wish." he stated, to which the crimson haired Goddess shook her head negatively, her bloody red hair swishing about behind her. 'Damn, has Lucy always been-No, shut it Nico! Bad thoughts! Don't think that! Lucy has always been this beautiful, you've just been a stupid idiot not to notice!'
"Not to worry dear, I understand what it must have been like. Though to be fair, I actually managed to watch the battle myself through some flora of mine that I'd planted here previously for observation purposes." she replied in a placating manner, giggling a bit afterwards at the look on the boy's face. "I had originally intended to spy on any unsavoury individuals who thought to use that plain to set up any camps or strongholds, but to think I got to witness something so spectacular..." she then shuddered on the spot she stood at... before she appeared right at Nico's side with her face inches away from his own, her eyes gaining a deep, dark and seductive enchanting gaze to them. "It really was a... wonderful sight to behold." she whispered in an almost sinfully sultry manner,
A shrill gasp escaped the redhead male at the closeness that suddenly happened to him, to the point where he literally jumped back with a face full of red instead of his usual skin complexion. Heck, if this were anyone like an Assassin then his currently out Kagune (which had cloaked itself again out of Nico's own reflexive trait to hide it) would have ripped into her by now... although, idly Nico wondered if she would have been able to deflect or avoid his improved Kagune at this point. He soon pushed that train of thought aside though when an amused bout of laughter erupted from Lucy's mouth which she tried to cover with her hand, but ended up snickering instead, "Hahahaha, you're so easy to tease, Nicky-Dear. Even when you've been around girls for so long, your heart still remains like that of a maiden..." she remarked, giving him that look any girl gives when she wants to take her man into the bedroom and give him the ride of his life. "Its almost too... IRRESISTABLE to me."
"Please stop, you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days..." From here on out Nico would deny the hell out of it, but at this moment he practically whined at her with his eyes pleading with Lucy to stop teasing him, all the while he had his hand over his heart to stem the rapid beating that it went through due to the teasing she had inflicted upon him. "A-Anyways, moving on from that..." deciding to move things along with a sigh as is heart rate finally returned to acceptable levels, Nico shifted on the roc he sat on to make some space on it, offering it to his companion, to which Lucy eagerly accepted. "Great to see you again, Lucy. Its been a long time, and sorry for disappearing on you, you could say its been one heck of a journey where I went to." he began whilst Lucy sat on the space he had offered her, placing her hands on her lap whilst positioning herself with her stocking-clad legs pressed together and angled sideways.
The said female redhead nodded in response to his words. "You could say that again, dear." she began, looking away from him as she gazed out into the field. "You have NO idea how worried I got when I discovered you had vanished. I literally teleported across the entire Continent and back just to see if I could find out where you had gone to, whilst Ravey made sure not to show her worry... even though whenever we fought enemies in the last few weeks she would turn the entire area into a frozen tundra." Hearing her words, Nico grimaced as a pang of guilt erupted within his heart, knowing just how much Lucy and Raven actually valued him. Perhaps words themselves wouldn't do it justice on how he could express his apology to them for worrying them like that, but maybe sharing information on what he had been doing would help alleviate it somewhat?
"Well..."
From there on, Nico explained to her about Zelretch's Trials (something which he had long since realized she didn't know about) and what he had been doing in the Inferno Hell, explaining the dimension itself like how Biko had explained it to him whilst telling her of the many battles he had fought in there. To say Lucy got the surprise of her life would be an understatement as he regaled to her these tales, tales which she listened to intently all the while she expanded her senses to feel the energy inside of Nico's body. True to his words, it indeed felt much greater, more focused and controlled, without a doubt its power must have dramatically increased. The more she heard about the Inferno Hell, the more curious she became regarding it, since for all her time on this world not once had she ever discovered something like this in her home Nation. 'It makes me want to pay a visit to this place myself... although from what Nicky-Dear tells me, I'll likely have to bring my A game with me when I go there, since the enemies seem like they could give Nicky-Dear a run for his money.' she thought to herself.
By the end of the story, Lucy took a moment to take in what she had heard, summarizing it with her words after abut 2 minutes or so of looking at the ground in contemplation. "Huh... you know something, I get the feeling that you LOVE to head into danger, Nicky-Dear." she couldn't help but say with a half amused, half concerned smile on her red lipstick-covered lips. With the way things were, Nico may not be the only one who attracted trouble to him like any MC in any form of fictional media ever, but he sure as hell attracted it more than other people knew to the point where concerns grew within her regarding his safety. "Should I be worried about you turning into a masochist?"
"Yeah, no." Nico bluntly responded with a blank look on his face. He stared at her with this gaze, internally affronted at how she could even SUGGEST such a thing... though if he reflected on his past actions, one might think he DID have a thing for pain or something. "I'm no masochist, and I will never be one till the day I die, which thanks to this body I have, will likely never come to pass." he remarked, and he wasn't wrong either. With how his current DPU/Ghoul status effected his body, Nico essentially had gained something which nearly every man or woman would desire in one form or another: eternal life. It'd likely cause him problems later down the line... though less in quantity now that pretty much most if not all of his trusted precious people had somewhat gotten the same thing themselves. "Speaking of immortality, have Aiden and Ivan finally learned about you being, well..."
Knowing what he wanted to refer to, Lucy nodded her head whilst smiling, crossing her arms under her chest and her left leg over her right. "Yup, Ravey finally caved in and allowed me to tell them. Heh, you should have seen their reactions when I told them they've been travelling with someone who may LOOK like a girl in their late teens in the traditional physical sense, but is actually over 3000 years old." she remarked, almost breaking into another fit of laughter at the memory of the absolutely gobsmacked reaction faces those two had. Yeah, even Aiden had lost all of his usual composure when that had happened, showing just how great the revelation affected him alongside his buddy Ivan.
"Yeah, I can relate." Nico replied, remembering how HE had reacted himself when he had found out about that little titbit of information. Well, Lucy had revealed it so nonchalantly like she had done so just now since, to her, the age thing really didn't matter to her, whom had become an eternal deity. Thing was, it caused her to not reaize just how that might impact the relations she had with those around her. Must have been an age thing, he guessed, though Nico still had to worry about what HE would be like at that age. 'Well... I guess the best thing I can do is take it when it comes...' the male thought, all the while responding to her with the following. "It WOULD be a bit of a nasty shock to find that stuff out. Though if you ask me, I'd be more focused on the fact that you're... well, a Goddess for one. Even to the point of wanting to know HOW you even became one..." just then, the teen flinched when he trailed off, remembering when Lucy had told him about HER experiences before becoming a Goddess of Spring. They... weren't for the faint of heart, he'll just say that, and they were also the reason why Lucy had so little ability to trust in others, coupled with the fact that she was multiple thousands of years old... yeah.
Lucy, sensing the thoughts inside Nico's head, suppressed the memories that got dragged up to the surface thanks to his words, knowing that the male redhead wouldn't go further and had no intentions of bringing those back. "Don't worry, I'm not going to snap." she lightly stated, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder which served to help calm the teen down. "I'd be a pretty bad sport if I did... knowing what I know now about you." she began, before gradually getting softer and fainter in volume as she looked down to the ground, her hand slipping from his shoulder and back onto her lap, though it just laid there on its behind with the palm facing upwards instead of mangling with its partner again. Hearing how she said it made Nico mentally frown, the teen having an idea what she had been referring to with her words just now. After all, many of Nico's secrets had been dragged out into the limelight thanks to the situations at the time forcing his mother Helen to spill the beans, not to mention having to actually explain his side of things from his own perspective which Nico wasn't used to doing, and not because he didn't WANT to, but more like nobody bothered to even ASK him before. Finding out what she had about him must have been a shock for Lucy, especially considering her backstory...
"Hey, don't sweat it Lucy." he stated, this time it had to be him to be the one to console her as he wrapped an arm around her neck from behind and placed his hand on her shoulder, pulling her in close. "In my experience, I can definitely say that we're all just a little broken inside. Its just that some of us are more broken than others... and also, come on, did you really think someone like me wasn't fucked up beyond belief?"
"Well... I sorta had a feeling that was the case, but I just didn't know how much, honestly."
"Then there you go, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm still here, alive and kicking. Anyways, enough of that depressing stuff, can I ask how Raven's handling everything? You mentioned her being worried..."
"Oh!" As if she had completely forgotten about that fact, Lucy seemed to jump slightly on her sitting spot, kind of like a rabbit being alerted about the killing intent of a predator nearby. She then looked to her crush, a rather sheepish smile. "Well... she's been doing okay I'd say, but she's been a bit agitated recently, and not just from what we learned about you either." She explained, before looking up at the skies as Nico tried to retract his arm from her... only for Lucy to grab it and hug it close to her chest, much to the shock of her crush as his body heated up from the soft touches that enveloped his limb. Pretending not to be aware of how easily she could affect him, Lucy continued her words with a foreboding expression taking over her features, her eyes darkening as seriousness dripped from her tone. "She's mentioned that there are rising problems within Lowee itself, but she's never said what they were..."
'Looks like we were correct, Nico...'
Biko's words reverberated within his mind, carrying just a grave a tone to them as Lucy's did, maybe even greater. Nico furrowed his brows at the information he had heard, something which caused his eyes to flash with a bright red glint in them from his Demonic Power reserves. "I see... well, considering that its Lowee… it makes sense somewhat." he remarked, getting Lucy to look at him with her eyes practically CARRYING the unasked question of how he knew this to be so, all while looking like he knew something about the situation. "You see, I think Raven's worried about Lowee's potential problems, and I think this is the case thanks to two facts: One, me and Biko actually tried to visit Lowee before we returned to the Capital yesterday."
"?!"
"Yeah, I know. I haven't had the chance to tell anyone about it for the time being, but I've been waiting for the right time." Nico hurriedly mentioned when he'd noticed the look which Luct sported at the moment. "#CLEARING THROAT COUGH# Anyways, I'm telling you now cause you brought it up, but yeah, me and Biko tried to see what's their deal, since if the other Nations have been experiencing problems then why has Lowee been isolating itself? Was it something internal? Well, we couldn't really get too far in because we encountered a barrier... and a pretty strong one made out of Wardcraft." he explained, all whilst giving Lucy a brief explanation about Wardcraft being the DPU's version of a magic system, and then extending towards the DPU Power levelling system in general. "Judging from its complexity, its quite high up there on the tiering scale and it covers the entire Landmass, which kind of worries me since some real big baddies must have been responsible for erecting it. The barrrier itself seems to be some kind of restriction, as it seems only those below a certain power level may be able to pass through it, and from what I was able to gather, it seems that the power level requirementis a high one: at least at or above Multi-Continent Class if we go by the DPU Tiering System. I myself have the criteria of passing due to me being exactly at the Multi-Continent Class level, but considering that only DPUs and Demons have that kind of potential power, its likely that the CPUs and any citizen from outside the Barrier won't be able to pass. You and Raven might, but i'm not so sure."
After hearing his explanation, Lucy furrowed her brows as she took in what he had told her, comparing what he had said to what she had seen from her leader. Now that she thought about it, this actually answered some of the MANY Questions that they had been harbouring about Lowee's siuation,, why it had isolated itself and cut off all communications with the outside world. Why Raven hadn't tried to go there herself, Lucy wasn't sure on, possibly due to worrying on whether or not she would be able to bring her Team along? Its possible, since Raven may have a survival of the fittest mentality, she DID have strong leadership traits as well. She knew the value of having proper comrades beside her, so the possibility of them not being able to enter Lowee through the barrier with her could potentially make her stay in Leanbox. Then there was the stuff Raven had heard from Nico... and now her levels of worry made a whole new level of disturbingly accurate sense. "If that's the case, then no wonder Ravey is so agitated... but you said two facts before Nicky-Dear, so what's the second?"
"Ah, that's simple." Nico replied, before holding up his right Bracer. "Apparently not all communication was blocked off, cause I have been keeping in touch with a Lowee resident on a Discord server for a while now, and as such I'm able to ask her what's up there." the redhead male explained, looking back down at the piece of equipment with a thoughtful look on his face. "I guess that since DPUs have been gone for a long time, millennia even, they don't know EVERYTHING about modern communication technologies. Not sure, but that's the best I could come up with. Anyways, I've tried asking in all sorts of ways, direct, indirect etc but it seems that this person doesn't wish to talk about it, although from what I can tell from their responses it seems that there IS something going on over there, something BIG... and potentially even more dangerous than what's happening here in Leanbox. Mostly I just offer this person words of advice, encouragement and just generally listen to whatever complaints come my way from them, which makes me believe that this person must be someone whose in a high position of power, or at least very aware of the overall situation but is too 'powerless' to actually change anything about it."
THAT proved to be a worrying thought, both the redheads felt this as they looked out towards the direction of the final Landmass, the final Landmass with its own Key Fragment still out there, yet necessary to collect so the party could continue with their ultimate objective of freeing Histoire from wherever her seal was located. Now that he thought about it, wasn't it quite often that Nico and the girls found themselves swept up with Gamindustri's problems to the point that they forgot what they had originally intended in the first place? It... kind of was, and boy did that worry the heck out of the male. He knew that Histoire had been trapped for a long while, but if they had seemingly focused solely on their original objective, could they have found and freed her already? Nico wasn't sure,, but considering all the hellish and dangerous entities that they've crossed in their journey, the redhead bet that if Neptune and the others had gone on this journey WITHOUT taking the time to train... yeah, he could see Compa's concerns back in Planeptune becoming reality.
"Well then... do you have any ideas? Aside from going in alone since you KNOW the girls. me and Ravey included, will stoop at nothing to try and break through to follow you. It'd be kind of a dick move to just leave us behind after all." Lucy questioned after a moment of pondering, although she DID have a few ideas of her own that could work, she wasn't some dumb bimbo who only relied on her body to seduce her men! "If you ask me, I'd say that preparing for the eventual trip to Lowee would be your best option, most likely with means to help the others to reach the same level as you, that way everyone whom you trust will be able to go with you to Lowee and will stand a chance against whatever we may face in there." she explained, and her words didn't have much flaw in them. In fact it was quite the opposite, what she mentioned carried a strong sense of logic behind it, since it carried a fundamental understanding of the DPU Culture. In essence, its power that determines one's place in the DPU Culture, as well as Demons but they were seemingly created by the DPUs from what Nico had told her, so they could be considered part of their culture anyways.
Hearing her opinion actually caused an impressed look to form on Nico's eyes, impressed at the fact that he had been thinking of the exact same thing, just with a few more details. "Actually, I was thinking about doing just that, but there's more to it. I'd really like to wait till I can meet with Vert, whose likely still dealing with politics right now or just gaming it out in her room, and Noire whose said to be returning to Leanbox soon, as I'd like to convince them to possibly set it up so that eventually Lowee will be able to join the alliance that they've got going on with their Nations and Planeptune. Not only will this grant access to Lowee's resources once their problems are taken care of, but it can unify the Nations against their common enemies: the forces of Chaos, their Gods etc. All the while, they themselves come with me alongside the rest of you to the Inferno Hell, that way we can spend an... well, at most I'd like to say a couple weeks up till a month tops there, training them till they're considered to be at Multi-Continent Class in the DPU System. For the whole alliance thing, they'd start it off and by the time they return they can look over what has been decided upon, suggest some amendments as well as use the training time to consider what they would like to add to the final draft once training has been completed. Pretty much strikes two birds with one stone, as they say."
'HEY, WHAT THE HELL, KING?! SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE ACTING JUST LIKE BEFORE! WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THAT OTHER TALK YOU DID BEFORE KILLING THOSE SWORD FUCKERS?!"
'Interesting... and what' your intentions behind this, Nico? Didn't you mention that you wouldn't live under anyone's rules but your own? That you would be your own master for once?'
'Yes, I indeed mentioned this. Moreover, if I'm honest I'm not suggesting this for anything cliché like the good of the world or protecting everyone like some damned hero, no way. If I'm frank, I couldn't care less about Gamindustri as a whole, whether it burns to ashes or is taken over by Chaos, its nothing which concerns me. However, some precious comrades of mine whom I've come to trust, something which I never thought even possible in the past, live here and call it their home. They're going to be going into this to protect their home, placing themselves in harms way. How can I stand by and just do nothing whilst they're out here being the heroines I know they can be? I don't want to lose my comrades/friends... so, I'll just do what I want to in order to prevent that from happening. Enemies are strong, then I'll ether become stronger myself, make my comrades stronger or both. If it means stepping into battlefields I'm inexperienced with, then so be it. I'll make sure to guarantee their survival in my own way adhering to only MY rules, not theirs.'
'Ahhhh, I see where you're coming from... 'Instead of fighting for someone whom I cannot see with my own eyes, I will protect those close to me' in essence. Since your close to people whom will be indeed putting themselves in harms way, you don't want to lose them, and as such your stepping out of your comfort zone. It just so happened that those people turned out to be leaders and deities, along with non-human beings... One might consider that a rather weak motive, but then again they don't know you, they don't know what you have gone through...'
A small, bitter laugh escaped Nico's mouth when he heard the response Biko gave to his declaration, whilst sounds of approval formed from his Ghoul Persona, as if his words had satisfied his earlier emotions. 'I guess so... Don't think its anything spectacular, nor is it anything leaderlike, but then again those guys continue to stay with me regardless... whose to say that people won't see me as something like that in the future? Even though I'm not someone whose cut out to be a leader in the first place...' the male thought, a forlorn expression on his face in the real world.
"Oh yeah, hey Nicky-Dear, do you remember at the Gala? When we talked?"
All of a sudden, his thoughts became halted when Nico heard Lucy's voice and for a split second his brain had become immobile, no strain of thought flowing through it as he looked towards her. Apparently, Lucy now stood in front of him whilst leaning forwards, her hands on her stocking covered knees as she eyed him with a knowing, sultry look. Her features quickly succeeded in making his brain reboot itself, and soon Nico processed those words just as quickly. His eyes widened when he recalled the words which she had mentioned to him in a whisper back then, causing him to stand up as well which prompted Lucy to take a step back from him, her lips curved into a wide, excited looking grin. "Wait, you mean back then when you wanted..." he began, only to stop himself and give a sigh. He then looked back up to her with a determined look in his eyes, a nod following suit which expressed that determination as well. "Alright then, shall we get ready?"
"He-hee, yup! I got it ready right here!" Lucy proclaimed, pulling something out of her inventory... which turned out to be a portable radio CD Player, one with a predominantly red colour scheme with pick lipstick patterns over its frame. What had Lucy requested, one might have asked since the moment she had whispered it in his ear back at the Gala? Simple really, it was something which Lucy had not gotten a chance to do whilst several girls had managed to get one out of him back in the ballroom, something which honestly kind of made her a little jelly hence her request to him back them. "I still have my outfit from back then, been saving it JUST for this occasion." she stated as she pulled out a familiar outfit from her Inventory, neatly piled up in a nice bundle. Putting it down alongside the radio CD player, Lucy aimed a playful yet seductive smirk in Nico's direction, all the while winking at him. "If you want, you can watch me, since eventually you'll be getting THIS..." she teased... before proceeding to take off her clothes right in front of him.
'WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-?!' Shock and dismay erupted within his chest as Nico did more the TEN double takes within his mind, his face literally turning cherry red as steam rolled off his head, his eyes becoming nothing but white circles alongside his mouth falling open to further express his shock. Holy shit, Lucy was freaking starting to change her clothes RIGHT THE FUCK IN FRONT OF HIM whilst giving him an unobstructed view the whole time! What the hell?! He knew the woman could be quite bold when she wanted to be, but this was next level shit right there?! The lustful monsters within his mind tried to convince him to keep staring at the 'glorious' sight before him in their opinion, but Nico's gentlemanly side won out quite quickly, causing him to turn around after a split second had passed since Lucy started changing. All the while, his own clothes began to... change, and by change he meant their forms literally turned into a liquid-like form which clung to his skin, before their colours changed and the liquid became solid once more... revealing him to be wearing the same suit he had worn at the Gala. 'Whew, thank GODDESS for my Ghoul Side allowing my clothes to be made from RC Cells for practical use, letting me train more intensely in them all the while being able to morph into different clothes at will. Who says being a Hybrid with one half that of a Ghoul didn't have its perks?' the teen wondered, doing his best to ignore the sounds of moving clothing coming from behind him.
After a short while had passed though...
"I'm done, Nicky-Dear, you can turn around."
Lucy's voice called out to him, and whilst he didn't turn back around immediately (since a few times Lucy had duped him into thinking she had finished changing when in reality she actually wasn't and instead had strutted different poses just to tease the living hell out of him), Nico eventually did so after counting up to thirty in his mind, allowing his gaze to fall on Lucy... in the same outfit she wore at the Gala, causing his breath to once again be stolen away from him by her beauty without him ever having a chance to get it back. The woman, seeing his expression of pure, honest and unadulterated awe and amazement whilst staring at her form filled her with a sense of womanly pride, pride which had replaced the slight feeling of hurt she had felt at him not taking a good look at her body when she had given EXPRESS permission for him to do so. 'Seriously, what are those girls doing? Why aren't they getting him used to this sort of thing already, I mean they ALL want to ride that Nicky-Dear Jr, so why aren't they taking advantage of every opportunity provided?' the female redhead wondered, though less so on Compa's side since she knew her student quite well, about how shy and meek she was along with her struggles to be more open with how she felt. That date thing had been a GREAT start for her, and Lucy could admit to herself that she had nothing but pride for her young student when she'd heard the result. "Like what you see my dear? You could have seen MORE if you'd peaked, you know..." she questioned with a slight smile that had a LOAD of seductive intent behind it.
"W-Well, that may be... but I'd rather not do that to you." Nico stammered in response after he had managed to regain his mental faculties. Seriously, what ucy had done pretty much summarized his opnion on why he didn't try to peep on girls in the first place: one, he didn't think he could handle the overflow of strange feelings he got whenever girls tried to strip like the Spring Goddess had, and two: Nico felt like he preferred the... more old fashioned means of courtship. When he realized what he had said as well as the possibilities that could be interpreted from it though, especially for someone with so much confidence in her adult beauty like Lucy, he hurriedly provided clarification to her. "I-I mean, I'd rather only see that kind of stuff after I've been at least on a d-d-d-d-d-d-date or something." That one, Nico stammered even more, as he turned his head to look away from her and hopefully hide just how red his face had become. Hey, the dude wasn't used to dating yet despite going on one with Compa, and going on one with Lucy invited a whole NEW level of embarrassed emotions alongside nervousness, anxiety and other things in greater quantities. This mostly had to do with how much experience Lucy had in this particular department, so he feared that he wouldn't be able to live up to her standards. If Compa was just like him, a young teenager who'd never been on a date before, then Lucy would be an adult, experienced and older woman to him.
Upon hearing his words, at first Lucy had felt a bit insulted that he wouldn't want to look at her, even if he would have done the same thing to any girl that tried going as far as she did. She was an adult woman with over 3000 years of experiences after all, so she had plenty of confidence in this department! To her, someone who didn't want to look at her body in a certain way could e considered a mortal, if not grave insult, but then her feelings pulled a complete 180 when Nico had mentioned going on a 'date' with her, as it implied that he would want to go on one if he were asked to. "My, now THAT's an interesting statement." She began as she sauntered over to him, much to the teen's embarrassment until she was within talking distance which allowed her to lean forwards and whisper into his right ear. "So then, if I say that the request of mine that we're doing now could be considered a date... would you agree?" she whispered in her usual spicy manner, but with an undertone of seriousness... and a bit of hesitation too, since this could be the crucial moment she needed to break through some more of Nico's defences.
Meanwhile, the teen mentally pondered on that statement of hers whilst ignoring the close proximity due to how much he had to take this matter seriously, as well as the embarrassment in his chest for similar reasons. Thanks to his date with Compa, whilst he still hadn't gotten used to the idea, it did tell him that 'when a girl wants to go on a date with you, saying yes would DEFINITELY be a way to make her happy'. In essence, since he had eluded to wanting to go on a date with her, and Lucy had flat out called him on it, wouldn't it be the manly thing to do to just agree? Nico refused to let Lucy own on this, after all that was something which Nico had figured out on his date with Compa, that he didn't want to let down any of the girls whom he travelled and fought with. There was no desire to take back what he had said to her, so in the end Nico suppressed his embarrassment to the best of his ability and looked deep into Lucy's crimson eyes. "... yeah, I'd say so." he stated firmly. From what he had researched, dates were when two people interested in one another hung out together to have a fun time so in that case, yeah he'd see this as a date between them. Its not like Nico would hide away from it now, unlike how he would have reacted in the past. Swallowing some of his saliva whilst Lucy's eyes widened in sheer SHOCK, he took her hand in his (mentally recording just how nice it felt in his own), Nico proclaimed the following with as much confidence as he could, since in his eyes Lucy deserved it 100%. "If you want, we can make this a date, I wouldn't mind... would you?"
Now, don't get him wrong, Nico hadn't fully arrived at an answer yet, much to his inner frustration. The teen still didn't have his answer to each of the girls' feelings towards him unfortunately, cause he still had a lot of research on the subject to do, but he DID have a strong conclusion forming inside his mind still. Plus, if going on a date with Lucy meant that he could see her smile so happily... yeah, not to mention he didn't want to see her sad and wanted to hold her close to him all the damn time.
In the meantime however, those thoughts vanished when Lucy's shocked face finally got replaced with a sparkling happy one instead, her eyes practically GLOWING like the rays of the sun as immense happiness shot through them from her very being. A delighted squeal erupted from her which seemed to carry YEARS worth of emotion in it as Lucy grabbed him, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug, one which he easily returned with one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head. "Yes, yes, YES! I'd LOVE it if this were a date, Nicky-Dear! You've NO idea how happy this makes me!"
"Heh, yeah, you're right. I probably don't, having been as dense as a brick all these years..." Nico replied, chuckling as he felt Lucy start crying tears of happiness on his chest as her shoulders visibly trembled against him. Seeing this caused him to mentally grimace as an arrow of guilt stabbed into his heart, Just... how long had it been since Lucy had developed these romantic feelings for him? Thinking back on it, she had started trying real hard to get him interested in her not long after that hospital incident, so it was safe to assume it had been a few years at least. Not to mention that whilst Compa may have been the one to have known him the longest, he got the feeling that Lucy had been the one who tried the hardest to make him notice her like a junior and their senpai. Just... just how stupid had he been not to realize this? And with the other girls too? Neptune, Compa, IF, Vert, possibly Raven and Noire but he wasn't so sure about them with one being cold most the time and the other being a tsundere personified. He wasn't even that sure about anyone else like MAGES. or Tekken, but the first few girls... he should have seen this coming! Why the FUCK did he not?! 'All this time I had been trying not to be like the standard harem protagonist, and yet here I am with one forming around me and I hadn't noticed ONCE. The signs are SO obvious now, that its sickening... well then, this just motivates me to finish my research even more!' he vowed in his mind.
Then, as he held her like this, Nico felt the urge to say something from his chest, something which he did so a moment later. "Look, since I'm on the honesty train right now, can I say this: I'm aware that there's several girls who like me... you being one of them, right?" he questioned, and her silence save for her sniffling sounds became the answer he needed. "Well, I'm still not 100% sure on how to answer you all, and I've been thinking hard about it ever since my date with Compa…" he paused, tightening his hold on her slightly before continuing, his eyes as sharp as blades right now. "But, know this: don't think I'll not take this seriously, I'd be a pretty big asshole if I didn't after all this time I've spent practically leading you on and making you suffer. I should have seen it, I should have been able to spare you from that, but I can't change the past..." At this point, Nico separated himself from her but placed his hands on her cheeks to look into her tear-stained eyes. "Since I made you cry, that makes me less than even SCUM... but even so, for the time being... can I have your permission... to focus on you just this once?" he asked her, no it felt more like pleading judging from the tone he used, making him think that he had sounded like a right bastard just then.
However...
"...You don't have to ask that you know." Lucy began, gazing into his eyes whilst smiling amidst her tears. Her eyes looked bloodshot from the tears she had generated, but other than that she looked alright. She didn't look like she would kill him by tearing into him or anything, something which Nico thought she might have done considering how indecisive he had sounded. "Whilst its a bit frustrating, I can't really blame you... not after everything that's happened. In the end, its just like you said, we're all a little broken inside, some more than others. You and me... I think we're WAY more broken than we let on..." Well, she wasn't wrong about that, Nico felt as he recalled just how unstable his mentality currently was. However, the look of joy in her eyes still shone bright, giving him the courage to do what he did next.
"Doesn't mean that we can't confide in one another, eh?"
"Of course not..."
Holding her face in his gloved hands, Nico tenderly wiped away the tears falling down her cheeks till her eyelids dried up, the girl leaning in to his gentle and smooth touch like a cat with catnip. He then brought his face close to hers... and locked his lips together with Lucy's own, entering a slow, soft yet heavenly kiss with her that both closed their eyes to enjoy. If the eruption of joy in her heart had been intense before, well it practically SKYROCKETED once Nico initiated this act of affection for her, just so he could express his determination to make this moment be all about them for once, a moment which she could remember fondly. Lucy wouldn't forget this moment either, since it marked an important milestone in her life in several different ways. The female redhead kissed back almost immediately, pressing herself forwards whilst wrapping her arms around his neck, trying to make him feel every inch of her and express just how much she enjoyed this moment. Throughout their immediate vicinity, the soft sounds of lips connecting and disconnecting filled the air as the two fully expressed just how much they valued one another, sharing this absolutely beautiful and tender moment with each other. Deep inside, part of her wanted to wrap her legs around him or pull him down to the ground on top of her so she could have her way with him, but in an effort not to ruin the moment Lucy repressed those desires.
After all, as much as she wanted to complete her request of him, as well as to take the one thing which nobody else had been able to take from the Spec Ops Agent, the female redhead Goddess had just now gotten something even better from the object of her affections: him WILLINGLY spending time with her, considering this their first date AND even escalated this to KISSING her. To her, this could be considered one of the highest moments of her lifetime, and as someone whom had lived for over 3000 years, someone who was older than her crush's great grandparents, that said something.
As brilliant, romantic and joyful this moment was, it may as well have ended too soon for these two since, despite using a large portion of their energy to make oxygen to extend the session, both of them had to separate from one another with a trail of saliva connecting their lips together. At some point Both Nico's arms had fallen to her waist with Lucy's still wrapped around her neck... though neither of them cared at the moment with their current priorities being to look into one another's gazes whilst still retaining as much physical contact as possible. "Now THAT... was something well worth waiting for..." Lucy whispered breathlessly, yet she couldn't stop the grin from forming on her face, one which had been countered by a smile from the equally breathless redhead Spec Ops Agent. "Anyways, since we're practically in position already..." she begun, tapping her right shoe's front tip onto the ground which sprouted a single vine close to her CD Player. It then proceeded to manipulate it by pressing a button, all before some ballroom music began to play. "What's say we get this little dance of ours started, eh?"
"Your wish is my command, mistress."
… Yeah, she could SO get used to him calling her that.
And so, the duo danced together, and longer than any dance Nico had ever had in the Gala, right into the night.
Chapter end!
WHOOOO HOOOOOOO!
Finally, Nico! My man, actually laying out some of the feelings he's got in store for his girls! Ahem, well, as you can see, Nico has indeed started formulating a response to the feelings of his harem, even if no confessions were actually made tough there really wasn't much need to. After all, a big thing about this story is that actions speak louder than words, and right now Nico is aware of a lot of girls having crushes on him. He's going to be taking this VERY seriously, due to past experiences telling him what NOT to do with girls. Whilst he's being a bit of an indecisive bitch right now, bear with him cause its not going to last very long, not if he has anything to say about it. He's also reflecting on past chapters when he'd been trying not to be like the typical harem protagonist, but now realizes that he's actually been doing EXACTLY what he didn't want to do, something which I can see a lot of people being frustrated over, especially those who think themselves observant as all hell. Its kind of like a kick to the balls or the boobs for girls, really, but even then Nico's using this to further his determination to get a response ready for them: he has ZERO intentions of leading them on any longer, after all. If one wants to guess how I'm going to go with the harem stuff from here, leave a review or a PM, though the chapters themselves will be the ones that'll provide the final answer.
Then there was the stuff at the beginning of the Chapter, what with Ivan having his girl troubles whilst the three of them broed it out with a Persona inspired activity: operation babe hunt. Though, as you all saw this didn't turn out too well for the boys, especially Ivan since it exposed him to a LOT of the worst kind of women imaginable. Boys, you know what I mean. I decided to make this cause I wanted to show a bit more concern to how guys can be when they just want to find a girlfriend and expose the fact that girls can be just as cruel as guys can... maybe even worse. Though, for anyone whose worried about FALCOM, don't worry I'll inevitably get to that. Maybe I could even make a side story in the future focusing on her and Ivan, showcase how their relationship grew better since right now, its sorta been developing in the background. Oh yeah, I also got inspired by Jojo for this, if you didn't notice by the manly hugs and the handshake Nico did with Aiden. Potentially I could have even added in some scenes from How Many Kilograms is that Dumbbell your Lifting? like the Machio god posing which blew away everyone's clothes just from how manly he looked.
As for the whole Philosophy thing regarding Nico and Biko's talk about human nature, I just put that in just so it could be an interesting topic to discuss, and add a layer of intelligence to this story, make it even less like a standard harem story and a bit more of a seinen one, you know? I mean, I've done this before, pulling from real life philosophies in my work, so this shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone. OEG is NOT going to be a dumb fic, whatever lore I include shall be explained in the best way I can provide in a manner which ties together with the fic as a whole. By the end of this fic, which will also lead to sequels with the rebirth 2 and 3 games, I'll be creating a powerful fic which has its own lore and universe, maybe it can provide inspiration for writers to do the same thing as me. It holds the potential for numerous side stories after all, and the more side stories I write the more expansive this universe becomes, don't you all think?
Also, another thing is the LORE side of things, and boy what a doozy that has been in this chapter. So for those of you worried about the plot these last few chapters, don't worry I've been preparing it in the shadows, as proven with this chapter. Not only is Lowee isolated from the outside world due to a Barrier which restricts access to only those above a certain power threshold, but also whatever is going on there is likely going to be even WORSE than what's happening on Leanbox. This is something which I have been leading up to since before the Gala and the Demonic Invasion Arc, so I wonder if anyone actually predicted this to be where the Story was going to be headed, or if they even have an idea of where I'm taking this. One thing's for sure though, and that's the Lowee Arc will be... an eye-opener to say the least. Its definitely got Raven agitated alright, and speaking of Raven I hope you all enjoyed the lore which has been given regarding the Season Goddesses, its something I had to think about how I'd like to expand on it for a while now. See, since end of the Gala, I've felt that there was much more which could be said about these Goddesses, as from what I mentioned back then I opened up the possibility of there being all kinds of different Goddesses, each with their own abilities but aren't as well known as the four CPUs. Not to mention their powers come from different sources too, which further splits them apart from the Goddesses we all know and love. This is something I haven't seen done much on the Neptunia fandom, and its kind of confusing: why do people not do this when its been stated that these Superdimension/Hyperdimension Goddesses were born from something as abstract as faith? I mean, it opens up SO many possibilities, since if Goddesses can come from faith, then why not come from and personify something else? In multiple religions there ARE more than four deities after all, Greek and Roman especially. Therefore, I decided to make it like this and even refer it to something similar to the Four Maidens from RWBY, them being my primary source of inspiration for them after all. Wonder how I could use the four Relics from RWBY too... well, I'll just have to wait to see what each one can do first, before I can decide on anything.
Anyways, that's pretty much it this chapter, oh yeah and Nico's improved Kagune works similar to that one character's tongue abilities from Toriko, Midora I think his name was. If you've all read the manga or watched the Toriko anime, you'll be aware of just how ferocious this guy's appetite was, so if you translate that into Nico's Kagune… yeah, its kind of scary to think about, huh?
Hope you all enjoyed,
Peace Out!
