Chapter 170 - Feelings come to a head
Whilst the daytime mornings of Leanbox were a thing of beauty, the same could also be held true for its night scenery.
With the setting of the sun in the distance, out came the moon to take its place, rising up to the top of the night sky and dazzling the scenary down below with its brilliant, ethereal moonlight. Accompanying it, would be a whole sheet of billions of dazzling, eye-catching starts as they twinkled like tiny lights within the night skies above, creating a mesmirising display which is usually kept hidden bu the light of the sun. But, when it got hidden, this truly magnificent sight got exposed once more for the eye to see. This was just the scenary for the SKIES, lets not frget abot thecity of MICROSOFT below, then, as the city itself seemed to take on a whole new form when the cover of darkness blanketed it. Not only did nearly ever district save for the more lawless one take on a more silent, borderline deserted atmosphere, but the various lampposts lined up along both sidewalks and roads lit up in response to the darkness dominating the space daytime would, creating a rather… enticing sight for anyone who looked down on the city from a bird's eye view…
Something which One Spec Ops Agent known by many names, but his true name being Nico himself, found himself appreciating more and more as time went on. With the way things have been going recently, he doubted that he would have had much of anything in the way of opportunities to appreciate the environmental scenery like this, nor for very long either since he had to focus on other matters of significantly greater importance. Those moments which he'd shared with his comrades the last few chapters had simply been him taking some much-needed breaks to let his body accommodate its new levels of power, since thanks to his training his physical ability (if he were to let it be re-evaluated by the Spec Ops Community), it would have put him right up there with the best of the Agents in terms of power scaling. Beyond large city class if he struck with full strength, since his DPU Form could destroy multiple continents at once if he struck withits power unrestrained. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that he didn't appreciate those moments, nope far from that, in actuality he'd say it would be quite the opposite in fact. He VERY much appreciated being able to reunite with his comrades and spend some time with them, although he would have liked to see how Vert and Noire were doing under some… better circumstances.
Speaking of those two, after his little music session with the boys (something which they would be recording for the final release of Devil Triggr as another Music Video, since Ivan and Aiden seem really determined to gget his singing voice recognized out there for whatever reason), Nico had managed to locate the two of them separately during the mid to late afternoon-early evening time, then spend a significant portion of time explaining his idea about the potential inclusion of Lowee into this little alliance. Of course, neither of them seemed particularly fond of that idea, since they themselves knew how the CPU of that Nation had been like, but in the end, he had managed to at least get them to think about the idea whilst going over it with their representatives. That had been all that he could have reasonably asked for in the end, so afterwards he had decided to catch up with them on things that they've been doing, the amount of training they've done as well as the adventures they'd been on, and Nico HAD to admit to himself, that these two ladies DEFINITELY managed to draw the 'main protagonist' lot during their time apart, Noire more than Vert though from what he had been able to gather.
Her adventures also confirmed to him even more than he ahd been theorizing with Biko: that the DPUs were far from dead, and that they would soon be returning to Gamindustri, likely to make this place their own once again after 30 trillion years of not being part of its history. In that case, training had been proven to be even MORE necessary for not just himself but also for the other girls too. From what he had gathered from their powers, weapons, armour and energies as well as the past records of their fights, he would say that they were quickly approaching continent Class, though not quite there yet. With the way Lowee was like, it would be better if he were to get them right into that specific level of power, if they wanted to get past that damn barrier and kick some serious DPU booty, something which Neptune showed the MOST fondness for in a cute little bout of shadowboxing (much to his amusement, as even Byakko found it hilarious how the 'chibi bitch' thought she stood a chance against beings of this kind of magnitude). If someone asked him who was the closest to reaching that level of power, then he would say Noire, since she had experience fighting a DPU (albeit a weakened one) herself which would help her be more prepared for when she'd inevitably have to fight one again, but this time a full-powered DPU.
He already had an idea for how they could get even stronger than they were right now, but Nico wanted to put some finishing touches on the idea first, not to mention there were other things too, hence he hadn't brought the subject up with them yet. Then, there was the message he had gotten not too long ago, one which opened up a WORLD of possibilities but more on that later.
Currently, the black-clad teen stood atop one of the buildings of the Basilicom, his long black coat flapping in a light breeze with his arms crossed over his chest. All around his body, one could see the Demonic Aura of his DPU side swirling like a cautious flame, ready to burst out into a raging inferno at any moment. Sparks of electrical energy occasionally branched off him too, anishing into the atmosphere around him whilsthe remained there, motionless. His eyes, or rather his lone crimson coloured glowing eye which belonged to the Kakugan of his Ghoul side, not to mention his mask, which he had taken out and used to conceal his face, cast their gaze over the city like a vicious and yet patient white night owl searching for prey to scoop up in its claws. He remained that way, standing atop one of the cylindrical towers, to be more precise its cone-shaped top, which the Basilicom had possessed with his right leg higher than his left thanks to the cone-shaped top and his own positioning.
If anyone were to look at him, they wouldn't see it at first, but eventually they'd notice how he looked like he had been bothered by something, and what would that be, one might ask?
Whelp, it happened just before he stood atop here…
A continuation of a confrontation which had been LONG overdue.
(Flashback)
"You returned…?"
The moment that he spoke those words, one mildly tired, annoyed, curious and a little surprised Yvoire turned his head slowly towards the entrance to his room upon sensing someone's presence out of the blue, mentally suppressing the urge to draw a weapon where he had noticed the redhead Spec Ops Agent standing beside the door. For a moment, he made to glare at him, but when he noticed the boy's aura, he stopped himself knowing that a beast like him would likely lash out if he did that. Speaking of said 'beast', Nico leaned against the wall with his arms crossed beneath his chest with one foot pressed against the wall behind him, eyes closed. How the heck did he get there? The old man wondered this but didn't see anything which could be a good indicator, something which unsettled his nerves significantly. Since it was late at night, his door had been locked and from his formerly military experience, he identified that the lock hadn't been tampered with nor were there any signs of a breakin. It was as if he had just… appeared. The fact that the brat had a massive black Scythe strapped diagonally onto his back didn't make him any less cautious by the way, especially with the way it almost seemed to behave like it was alive the more that he observed it, giving him a rather foreboding chill, one which ran down his spine.
The moment that he had registered all these facts, Yvoire knew INSTANTLY that this night might very well be one of his most stressful ones yet, and with everything going on through the political landscape finally having calmed down somewhat, this wasn;t something which the man apprectiated… even though, in the backof his mind, Yvoire had expected something like this to happen inevitably. The beast always did keep to his word, that was a fact which had been documented in his file. Before when he had been thinking this to be an ordinary night, Yvoire had been intending to get some extra paperwork done, but now that Nico had appeared here without warning, the idea of calling his Guards seeming quite moot since he'd likely lose a lot of good, hardworking men that way, Yvoire figured those plans had been reduced to burnt ashes. Perhaps a nice drink might soothe his nerves, for he had a VERY good idea as to why the brat was here.
"I have… though you likely knew from the beginning that I would."
"As someone who knows of your record of keeping promises, its no surprise to me."
After countering him with that, Yvoire went to his wine cupboard, opening it up to take a bottle out as well as a glass, all before pouring himself out a drink. The wine flowed downwards as he angled the bottle diagonally, letting the crimson liquid flow down with a nice sizzling sound which filled the room, until the glass was full enough to be considered one. With the Wine poured, Yvoire put the bottle back after putting its lid on again, then closed his cupboard before turning to face the redhead. "… Have you thought about what I spoke of when we met previously, beast?"
"You could say that, yeah." Nico replied, not even fazed at the way which the old man referred to him, since it was true. He'd embraced the monster inside of him recently after all, and he would appily admit to feeling some level of amusement at the brief show of surprise on Yvoire's face at the casual dismissal of his treatment. Like in the end it no longer mattered to him what he had said, but after putting those thoughts aside, Nico stepped away from the wall and walked on over, pocketing his hands in his trench coat as he stood opposite the man which threw his ideals for a loop the last time they had encountered one another.
However, that was then and this was now, the teen thought as he stared towards the man whom had flipped his ideals on their heads, the source of one of the biggest headaches which Nico had in his life so far, since it would be likely that he'd have to deal with even larger ones as he lived his future… if he was still alive at that point, that is. This would be the moment of truth, the moment where he would finally settle this little issue once and for all. It may not DIRECTLY let him go at Count Mott for all the shit he'd pulled either directly or indirectly (the Nature Elves for one example), but he'd at LEAST be able to get to him at some point. Plus, the longer wait to getting his vengeance against that asshole might actually work in his favour, since Nico still had to help Neptune and the others get the Key Fragments for Histoire, and since they had the one from Planeptune and Leanbox, Lowee would be the next to go. Lastation's they didn't have any leads on for the time being, plus things were brewing like a mixture in a frying pan over in the land of White Serenity, things which he doubted their Party Leader would EVER want to let slide.
So for now, Nico would have to hold back the rage inside… but even then, when he FINALLY got a chance to slug that asshole Count Mott in the face, it'd be OH so worth it.
For a moment, silence became the dominating factor within the atmosphere between these two, to the point where one might say sparks could be seen flying between their gazes. In any other circumstance, one might consider these two facing off right now as something akin to a cowboy-style shootout, with the two staring each other in their respective eyes with a level of tension which seemed so thick one could physically TOUCH it. "I thought about what you mentioned to me back then… for a while, actually." Nico eventually said, breaking the silence between them.
"And?"
Once again, the man spoke with a bit of an edge aong with some rudeness in his tone, trying to get a rise out of the male, only for his demeanor to not really change in the slightest. If Yvoire expected Nico to have faltered by his disrespect, then he hadanother thing coming. For one, Nico knew someone who had acted WAY ruder to him in recent memory, and that person came from another dimension, not to mention that he had political experience being a leader and all. But anyways, perhaps it would be time to get down to business, Nico thought with his alternate Personas agreeing within his mind as he opened his mouth to speak. "I'll admit… looking back, what I suggested didn't seem like it would be worthwhile in the long run, not only for this Nation but for its Goddess as well." Nico began. "Not only would it inevitably lead to many difficulties for her but considering how things have been going both on the political front and on the battlefield, my idea could very well have placed Leanbox in a HORRIBLE position."
"That is a fact." Yvoire responded with a confirming nod, although it didn't really change how things stood. For one, the beast may have admitted to his own wrongdoings, but that should have been the end of it. However, looking into his light blue eyes Yvoire managed to see a light in them, a light which spoke of a sense of direction, a sense of purpose and a determination to get something done no matter what. Something like that in the gaze of a mere animal… that was NEVER a good sign, not in his book. Still, with him remaining at least somewhat cordial in this little conversation of there, it felt onlynatural that Yvoire extend the same curtesy… at least until he acts like the rabid dog that he was in which hewould react just as sharply as he did in his prime."Do you now have a solution that would not lead to the total destruction of what little future Leambox has?"
Nico at this, nodded, much to the man's surprise. "As a matter a fact, I do. Here." He replied, raising his right arm to pull back his sleeve, expose his right Bracer, and then pull out a file from his Void Storage. He then tossed it over to Yvoire, who opened it to view the contents. What was inside was pretty much a draft for a solution, one which came as a compromise for their respective ideals. It basically involved a plan working in two stages, the first one being much easier to do than the second one. The first step was to isolate the intentions of each of the Nobles, get a grasp on who they could find trustworthy and have them be put in better positions of power, with a list of recommendations based off scouting and other pieces of supporting evidence presented by Nico himself. Yvoire noticed quite a few names which he had recognized, most of them actually having been quite active in their communities. Whilst a lot of them had… less than desirable personalities with a clear desire for power, they weren't NEARLY as bad as they could be in comparison to some other Nobles, which showed the level of care which Nico had taken to evaluating them. In essence, the first step was merely something of a 'screening process' albeit a bit of a long process since it would involve the individual Nobility being talked to face to face which could take a while.
The second step was to weed out the truly corrupt officials who would be better off dead then distribute their assets to more worthy as well as manageable officials, and to do this more 'discreet' means were advised. Typically, assassinations since they were quite effective in disposing of such people without it getting traced back to them. "The details of this are a draft prepared by me. It's likely got some holes in it since this was prepared by a 'beast' such as myself, holes you yourself can see with how much political experience you have. However, this is something of a start I believe. Corruption within a society is pretty much guaranteed no matter what, it doesn't matter how its ruled or whose in power, inevitably people of the type I myself despise with a passion WILL appear. Its just in this case, it can be managed so that they don't prevent the Nation itself from reacting to an emergency, as I believe you would LIKE to but are constrainted politically." Nico explained as the man finished going over the draft. "I've been hoping that you can provide some advice on this plan of mine, since your more experienced on this battlefield than me."
"...?! This is," Yvoire was about to dismiss it as foolish like he would have done with anything which this beast sprouted… however, something quickly caught his attention after he idly and randomly glsnced down at one of its contents. As such, the old politician looked at it more and more attently with time, whereas once he got to the end of the report, the man heaved a sigh of disbelief before rubbing his eyes. "Be honest with me, how much of this was you and how much did someone else do it for you? I doubt someone as innocent and innexperienced in the world of politics could even begin to grasp what is written in here by himself. Your type is good to wave sticks about and 'make things to splash', not to think about what happens after or before it, so how?"
The look of disbelief, shock and confusion on Yvoire's face, well, Nico would just mention on how greatly it satisfied the life out of him to see it with his own eyes. Even though it came with the knowledge of how capable that blonde angel/human hybrid had been in the world of Politics, once again out of SO many instances. Its almost like he could see that guy's sillhoutte do a 'I told you so!' pose whilst starting to breakdance at ridding some more 'stupidity' in the world. "... Lets just say, I encountered someone who, despite being a bit of a prick, he had some helpful insight... helped me learn some interesting lessons about politics and being a leader. Guy definitely didn't hold back on his dismay at how bad things were though, which in reality was actually quite a relief if you ask me. Unfortunately, he's somewhere where we can't reach, but thank him for providing me with the advice. So, does it have your attention at least? Any advice for on how to proceed?"
Looking through the draft with an intense now, Yvoire weaved a thoughtful hum out of his closed lips whilst he weighed the pros and cons in his mind, ignoring the redhead for the time being thanks to the vortex of possible scenarios he sorted through should this be passed. This would USUALLY result in Nico getting agitated and potentially launch a Kagune strike to his face had he any less control over his Ghoul side… but the teen remained indifferent thanks to his recent experiences altering a few of his life perspectives.
Meanwhile, in Yvoire's mind he could indeed see the viability in this solution, since it hhad answers for most of the problems going on in Leanbox's political system. He honestly had forgotten that there were some easy answers to these problems which this draft had reminded him of, mostly due to the stress of his job and how much time it took from him making the man forget about certain things. Hey, anyone could eventually slip up on the job, so don't blame him! Still… he had to admit that the draft proposed to him wasn't something an amateur could come up with, not to mention the beast before him had even put up a list of 'corrupt' Nobles with the best possible means of dispatching them via assassination. Whilst the politics of this plan could be thrown into pure chaos, the dirty work seemed to have been planned out with great detail, likely something the beast had more practical experience in. 'Whoever practically made this solution for him must have been someone with a large amount of political expertise… it's a shame I cannot meet him myself, yet also I feel… strangely relieved that I haven't. Like, I've somehow dodged a bullet that I didn't know beforehand…'
(Flashback END)
Opening his previously closed eyes, Nico released a hum from within the depths of his throat, as he looked upwards towards the brilliantly bright moon which illuminated the night skies above. 'In the end, that guy decided that he would have a proper look himself and would give me an answer once he had decided on a course of action. #SIGH# and after I even went to the trouble of researching the current political situation to further explain the need for this draft… Then again, politics usually take a while to get much traction anyways, the fact of Umbrella's disbandment not taking NEARLY as long as I had initially wanted it to when I exposed them is one such example of this…' the teen thought, a long and weary sigh escaping him, a small puff of breath released through the teeth of his Frankenstein-style mask. 'Though, now that I think about it, perhaps that incident can ALSO be attributed to my lack of knowledge about political aftereffects, since I left shortly after Umbrella's destruction so I didn't foresee Avenir having taken over their research from the shadows OR how they would inevitably have become the dominating superpower.' Suddenly thisthought process popped into the redhead's mind like a spark being ignited in the darkness, causing a NEW wave of shame to fall onto his shoulders. "… I was a REAL idiot in the past, wasn't I…?'
'HAH, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, STUPID KING!'
A twitch of his brow escaped his control when Nico heard the boisterous hollow voice belonging to his Ghoul Persona, laughing in his usual broken and distorted manner within the shadows of his mind. Nico would normally have just cut him off since his laugh always annoyed/unnerved the living daylights out of him in the past, but sadly in this case, the redhead was in a pondering mood so it didn't take him very long to understand the logic behind Byakko's words… not something he would NORMALLY have ascosciated with that raving mad lunatic. His words DID cause several faces, faces whom he easily recognized and felt a warmth spring forth within his torso for, flash through his brain, deeply contrasted with the chilly feeling felt by his exterior. 'Tch… can't believe he's bringing Neptune and the others up NOW of all times… he's even been the one whose been wanting to kill them the MOST since he started taking more often.' Nico thought with a mild huff of indiganty before he looked in the direction of the apartment where he knew for a FACT that the girls of his Party would be sleeping in.
Just thinking about them brought back his thoughts on the last major problem which he had prioritized tonight, the problem which the teen redhead found more important than fighting, more than training, more about the Chaos Gods, Lowee, more than anything really: Neptune, Compa, IF, and certain girls whom he had come to know either by fighting alongside them on the battlefield or just spend the a large amount of time around. Mostly… those words brought back the revelation that Nico had unintentionaly done something he'd originally thought impossible… forming something of a harem. Just using that word caused Nico to shudder as chills of unease assaulted the heck out of his spine. 'I really went and did it, didn't I…?' Nico helplessly thought to himself, sighing. 'I went and formed something which could potentially make people link me to those damn Nobles or player Spec Ops Agents.'
Despite thinking it the way he did, Nico wasn't a fool, he had come to terms with his own feelings towards the girls a while back now, feelings which he had finaly figured our during his training trip in the Inferno Hell. He pretty much owed it to the girls to get his shit together, since judging from what he had learned some of them may have had feelings for him for years now, Compa and Lucy being two examples of this. Therefore, it didn't seem right for him to be so indecisive and unknowing about his feelings when they've been trying to get his attention for years now. It had helped that he had spent the last few days with two of them along with the rest of his party, just to ge some additional data on how he reacted whenever he was around them… let it be said that Nico took this relationship stuf ultra seriously. Though, by no means did he find it easy to figure it all out, since for someone like him who grew up with blood, warfare and slaughter as his companion… stuff like feelings and romancemay as well be a foreign language to him. Heck, the best way he could have figured out how he felt towards them, was to measure his fighting abilitywhenever he thought about them, seeng their smiles in his mind, how he felt whenever being around them… then how his fighting style would change whenever he imagined something bad happening around them…
A lot of carnage got wrought at that place, lets just say that.
Now that he had figured out how he felt towards them, came the next hurdle: actually, gathering them together and telling them how he truly felt. This was something Nico wanted to do as soon aspossible ideally, since he wasn't sure when he could potentially gather them together before they all travel to Lowee. He whole issue with Yvopire wasn't one anymore, thankfully, but that would change once he came back to Leanbox. As such, Nico wanted to let the girls know the situation with his own words, to finally give them some sort of answer to their feelings… they deserved that much and more in his eyes. 'Fortunately, mom pretty much has the epic timing skill since she's threw me a bone before…' He thought to himself, raising his right forarm, pulling back its sleeve and activating his Bracer, all in order to bring up the message tab where he had seen the message, she had sent him:
TO DEATHSTROKE:
AS A CO-OPRATING MEMBER OF THE PARTY WITH AGENTS INFERNAL, HERMAES MORA, MAMMON AND VAJRA, YOU HAVE BEEN REQUESTED TO ATTEND THEIR CELEBRATION PARTY LOCATED AT THE SILVER MOON HOT PARTY SHALL BE HELD TOMORROW AFFTERNOON AT 6PM, AND WILL LAST TILL THE FOLLOWING MORNING…
The rest of the message wasn't as important since it was all a bunch of legal stuff which basically explained why this party was being held, but suffice to say that apparently his mother had invited the entire party out to a celebratory party at a rather lavish Hot Spring located within one of the few resort-like areas which hadn't been touched by Chaos yet. Though, this had mostly been due to some Spec Ops Agents having been assigned to be defenders there and them having done their jobs well, just as can be expected from Agents of their calibre. Unfortunately, MAGES. and Tekken had already responded that they couldn't have come with their reasons being that they were too busy, but it could still be used for Celebrating IF and Cecil's admission into the Spec Ops Program. The reason why his mother had to make it all official must have been due to her position making it hard for her to move about as she wanted, he felt. Thinking back, Nico had heard how there had been some rumours about her taking out some officials with high amounts of political power in one night, but there wasn't any kind of definite evidence on that… which just made him wonder if the higher ups just wanted to try tightening their 'leashes' one could say.
Anyways, he wasn't too opposed to the idea himself, especially since it revoved around celebrating IF's admission being successful, not to mention that the message would have been sent to Neptune and the others. He'd even checked in with his mother and asked if Team RAIL could come along, something which she had decided to see if she could try make happen… and apparently, she managed to do so, so they would be coming too. To be honest, he wanted to have Lucy hear what he wanted to say about his feelings towards her as well, since it was quite rare for them to meet up these days…
Though the male did have to wonder if Cecil might be an issue. To be frank, he found himself quite intrigued by her, for multiple reasons. One of those said reasons had been about how she'd been one of his fans for a long time, and yet upon meeting him officially when he'd greeted IF before, she… se honestly didn't flip out like he had thought she would or look at him in any kind of sexual way like most of his fans did. It honestly felt quite… refreshing, yeah that's how he could describe it. Refreshig in that he could actually have a nice talk with someone who earstly supported him in what he did without having to worry about fending her off from his chastity. Not to mention they had a few things in common, not just with their use of Devil Arms but also regarding their ideologies about certain topics, something which REALLY impressed the heck out of him… not to mention that he felt that the other girls (aside from aimimg some wary glances at Cecil, something which he believed had been due to their own feelings towards him) also had been impressed by, since not many would believe in the same things that he did like with the whole 'beig alright with being a monster' thing.
Most people would usually try to overcome or destroy their inner demons, thinking that they are the scum of the earth and want nothing to do with them, you see it a lot in different forms of medium… Nico and his ideals however, spoke a different truth, that monsters and humans really weren't all that different. That it was alright being something considered monstrous since it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for their futures. It was simply just another way of life, at least that was how he saw it. So, could Cecil be an issue if he were to talk to the girls…? After thinking about it for a while, he decided that it likely wouldn't impact things too much, not with the positive relationship going on between them.
Last he head, it appeared that she had quickly begun going on missions, with IF tagging along so she could help the literal 'rookie' get settled. Nico had known this due to having attended some of those missions himself, forming a three man team whom had quickly became quite an effective fighting force with the two off them showing Cecil the ropes on how to act like a Spec Ops Agent. This likely wouldn't last though, since they would be going to head over to Lowee soon, which would mean they'd have to leave Cecil behind since she just wants to make money to help her fellow refugees restore their home.
'So… tomorrow afternoon… looks like things will finally start progressing with them… eh?' The teen questioned inside his mind, looking up to the moon and the starry skies above. If anyone were to ask him if he felt anything regarding nervousness and anxieties towards the upcoming events… he'd responde with a 'hell to the fuck yes' within a heartbeat, and really who wouldn't? The first time for a guy to confess to ONE girl alone was considered a daunting task enough, but in HIS case, he wasn't just confessing to one, but to MULTIPLE girls… the amount of fear and dread inside his chest could potentially crumble an entire mountain, Nico felt. 'Shit… look at me, trembling about a confession to the girls who have become this important to me…' the teen thought as he looked at his right hand, watching it tremble so violently that one might mistake it for the result of an earthquake. Sweat rolled down his brow as his throat felt absurdly dry, as if all liquid had been drained out of his body by some kind of suction or something. 'No, Nico… calm yourself down, you have to calm down…' Nico thought as he closed his eyes, doing whatever he could to regain his pervious composure. Slowly, his hand proceeded to stop trembling and eventually returned to a clam state… after about half an hour's worth of effort, allowing Nico to open his eyes once again with a clear gaze. Though, one could still see the conflict within his ligh blue pupils.
To him, being so agitated over this would be hardly something he should be doing right about now. It wasn't like he wanted to avoid this situation, far from it he absolutely REFUSED to do so, since that would hurt the girls whom he'd come to treasure. This was something that he HAD to do no matter what, after all, as otherwise the others would likely lower their opinion of him and see him as like the majority of players out there. Even so, his emotions still worked against his logical thinking, as wild and predictable as they always have been for any normal person. Nothing unexpected about that, just a little bit annoying. No, what Nico wanted to do was to be able to get some comfort in his mind so that he could speak his feelings to the girls with a clear conscience when the time came. After all, he didn't want ANY misunderstandings about his intentions, he wanted to be as frank with them as possible, for that would be the answer he would give to their own feelings.
'Don't leet these emotions get to you, Nico, for they will inevitably drag you down and hamper your ability in the future. Perhaps spending some time in DPU Form in the morning might be of benefit for you, for not only will you be able to fly across the continent battling greater demons, but the fighting will help you keep calm alongside the DPU Mentality.'
Biko's presence soon connected to his brain after hearing his internal monologue, as his Deon Persona proceeded to offer a solution to his dilemma which would prove beneficial tp him. Yet again, Biko proved his worth as a companion and his first mentor to him… to the point where Nico could hardly imagine a world where he didn't have him by his sode. 'I see… maybe I'll do that as part of my preparations. However, there's something else that's been bothering me that you just reminded me of. Whats Okada been doing recently? I haven't seen him for a while in my Inner World…'
'Ah, he's been keeping himself busy by either sparring with Ouranos, Erebus, or perhaps sometimes the two of them at the same time. Though he does sometimes train Byakko, who right now is in the middle of one of his 'many' chases instigated by that woman, so do not worry about him. He is doing alright… though he does want me to tell you to 'hurry up and wake the other fellas up', which I believe he is referring to the other Devil Arms yet to approach Archdevilification.'
Right… there WAS something like that to consider, wasn't there? Putting aside his impending confession to the girls, one other thing which Nico had kept in the back of his mind since his return from the Inferno Hell was the inevitable transformation of his Devil Arms into their stronger forms: the Archdevil Arms. He'd been training with ALL of his weapons, harnessing the souls of his enemies to empower and 'feed' the Archdevil Arms that he already had whilst the Devil Arms he still possessed were slowly but surely inching closer to that state. The closest ones turned to be, according to Biko's calculations… Ebony and Ivory actually.
Yeah, THOSE two guns… and there was actually an interesting story there. For you see, since these two Devil Arms apparently had a strong bond with one another, one which showed whenever they were used together (something which Nico had always done so he hadn't really noticed), it had been theorized by his Demon Persona, that they would take about 2 times as much effort to take to the Archdevilification process than an ordinary Devi l Arm, and in the past this theory had been proven true since he had recorded just how 'slow' their development turned out to be in regards to Devil Arms like the formerly known Alastor and Harvester. Heck, even Absolution could be an example, so when it had been shown that these two Guns had somehow surpassed the rest of them in terms of approaching that stage, Biko had quickly looked into why, soon finding it out and relaying it to him.
The reason why these two were quickly approaching the Archdevilification stage was due to a variety of factors: the biggest one being how much he had been using them consecutively recently. For example, in the Trials of Zelretch he had been using them multiple times to clear out whole hoards of enemies in the Water Trial, as well as the excessive use of them in is two fights with Castiel. Then, there were the fights he had in the Inferno Hell where he'd used them to deal with the majority of large crowds whenever they tried to isolate him, only to switch over to another weapon (either Ouranos or Erebus) to finish them off. With so much use, repeated use at that, it became much easier to understand its rapid development. Then there's how much of his Demonic Power he'd been funnelling into them, but that linked in with the other reasons so yeah.
To simplify things, those two would soon transform into Archdevil Arms, with Absolution following afterwards and Rebellion… well, that one was a strange case, one which will be elaborated on at another date.
'Heh, those things really are some bratty little fuckers… in any case, lets get some rest, since tomorrow EVERYTHING will be going down.'
'I concur.'
The following morning passed with little incident, what with the morning being mostly revolving around fighting for Nico, who had quickly left after writing and leaving behind a Note detailing what he had been planning on doing so the girls didn't have to worry about him. He didn't mention anything regarding the previous night though, as that might make them suspicious about what he may be intending to do in the future, so the entire moring Nico spent it as Crimson Soul, slaughtering Demons in massa and shredding entire Camps to pieces. Of course, this attracted a whole LOAD of Demons to him, both lesser and Greater Demons, Ground and Sky Classes, ones who swore to the service of Khorne since those guys got off on fighting so the thought of fighting someone as powerful as Crimson Soul himself practically became an alluring seductive light in the darkness for them. Of course, Crimson Soul lleft no survivors in ANY of these encounters, but it still puzzled him that no matter how many he killed, many more seemed to appear from outta nowhere (well, nor really out of nowhere since there were loads of Hellgates around) to take their places. Heck, even destroying the Hellgates themselves only seemed to serve little purpose beyond temporarily halting the Khornate forces of Chaos.
By the time the male's mental kill count had reached over a couple million, Biko had finally offered a conclusion since he had been knee deep in research on why this had been the case. Apparently, according to his research into the Lexicanum the Chaos Gods constantly generated their own Demons through their own excess energies, similar to the monster generation ability DPUs had. As such, combined with the other methods for Demon production like coitus with a DPU, forming from natural negative emotions etc, and their numbers could potentially be nigh infinite, a thought which would have brought a troubled expression onto Crimson Soul's face if he were his human self, but the Demonic Power influencing his mind helped him keep calm and analyse the situation he foud himself in... since at the time he had still been locked in a battle between him and several Bloodthirsters, picking up one with one hand and tossing it into the air.
Which could be considered one of his feets of strength in his Crimson Soul form, though Nico had repeated this one trick again in human form with the same results. The distance just became further in his DPU Form. For anyone's info, that thing he'd tossed in both forms weighed over 1000 tons, and he just tossed it through the battlefield (which was knee deep in Chaos Territory so nobody from the Leanbox Military, or anyone else for that matter, would have known about it) like a ragdoll.
All this, equalled one heck of a morning…
"My, how lovely it is all to see you all have gathered here." Proclaimed a certain Leanbox CPU, said woman having stood before the rest of them in a proud, dignified manner (with some of them realizing she had worn something else other than her dresses), spreading her arms wide with a massive smile on her face, her blue eyes practically twinkling with life. "I welcome you all, to one of Leanbox's best Hot Spring Resorts: the Silver Moon Hot Springs!" she proudly declared, standing before a square-shaped, Tavern kind of building, one which had a small series of solar panels on the side of its roof. The building itself stood at least at two stories tall, with a single wooden door serving as its entrance inside, which lead the group to believe that the hot springs would be indoors.
Compa leaned to the side and proceeded to whisper into Nico's ear, having taken to standing beside the redhead Spec Ops Agent. "Um, does Lady Vert not know? Wasn't it Hel-Hel who invited us on over...?" she questioned, glancing over to the positively sparkling Goddess of the Land of Green Pastures. She had also whispered in a voice which practically shouted out to the world 'is this woman okay?' or something along those lines.
Leaning in her direction, Nico responded to her whispered question by whispering back to her ear, tilting his head and controlling the volume of his voice so only the two of them could hear each other. "Just let her have this moment, Compa. Seems that Vert's been looking forward to this more than anyone... given how stressful things up top must be." he explained, causing the Spirit girl to go wide eyed slightly with a look of comprehension forming in those creamy orbs. What Nico had countered with wasn't exactly wrong, either, since Vert likely had to be at the centre of a LOT of political debates since she'd returned from her apparent training trip, something which she had informed the redhead of when they had first reunited...
Though he wouldn't tell anyone this, but Vert had tried to literally JUMP his BONES the moment that they had met again, since he'd been in his Blackened Form at the time due to having used it to intimidate some Agents not to mess with his comrades when he'd overheard their plans revolving around IF and Cecil. Apparently the tall, dark and handsome men were what Vert got off to, something along those lines anyways, to the point where Nico reflexively puled out one of his Devil Arms since he had almost felt like he had been ambushed by a sex demon or something when she'd seen him. Even now, Nico felt himself wary about being around her in that form ever since... not to mention that she still wanted to seduce him even in his regular form as her in-game husband candidate. To her, it had been far too long since they had last met and spent time together, so upon their reunion the redhead and her had spent a large portion of time just chilling together, even doing some gaming whilst talking about their experiences.
One could SORT OF call that a date, but then again Vert didn't even NEED to say anything about her feelings towards him, he could literally FEEL the romantic intentions she had ever since the Compa confession.
Now, regarding the others...
A low shudder of excitement ran up her spine as Neptune repeatedly restrained herself from hopping up and down on the spot she stood, the two groups having mixed together before coming here. "Hehehehe, this feels so exciting! I've never really been to a hot springs before, at least not in this story anyways." She remarked thoughtfully, putting an index finger on her jaw. "You bet Nicky's fine booty that my canon self can say otherwise." she added with a small giggle, getting several eye rolls from the rest of them... and a certain Spec Ops Agent's wary and stern gaze for her comments about his behind. Seeing that look, Neptune just grinned shamelessly. "A, come on Nicky, ya know ya gotta nice behind, so don't be afraid to show it off!"
IF had been one of those said people whilst, beside her, stood Cecil with a slight sweat drop and a bit of a confused, exasperated and yet forced smile forming on her lips. Kind of reminded her of Compa in a way, now that the brunette thought about it. "Tone down the perversion-o-meter, Nep, we're not here to make people feel uncomfortable." the brunette stated, gesturing to Cecil who shuffled awkwardly on the spot.
"What, the kiddies need their education on the birds and the bees or something? Well, this IS meant for adults, so I guess..."
"Um, I already know what you're talking about Miss Neptune!"
"Miss, eh? A polite little one, aren't you?" From Team RAIL, in strolled Lucy who had her arms crossed under her bust, something which Cecil TRIED to stop herself from looking at in envy, she really did, upon hearing her approaching. Although judging by the knowing smirk on Lucy's face she may as well have not even bothered. A small giggle then escaped her lips after she looked the younger blonde up and down. "Aw, aren't you the lovely little lady? So, you're the new Spec Ops in town, I've been hearing about, I see..." she commented, before offering a hand to her. "I'm VERONICA of Team RAIL, but please, just call me Lucy, dear." she introduced, prompting the others to do the same after an awkward greeting from Cecil... though, Raven's icy introduction left her with the desire to be as wary of her as humanly possible. Something which was natural according to the rest of the Party since Raven usually wasn't very fond of strangers to begin with.
Speaking of the Team RAIL Leader, she glanced over at the two male members of her group, her brow arched as she spoke whilst crossing her arms in front of her stomach. "I heard that the two of you have been co=operating with DEATHSTROKE recently, quite often if my intelligence is correct..." she began, her tone getting rather dangerously cold by the end which caused the two boys to feel chills crawl up their spines... and NOT the type which Neptune had felt just before. "You two weren't planning on anything... untoward with him, were you?" she questioned, her usual protectiveness towards him on full blast. She even eyed some of the other girls assembled here, but only briefly and not for very long.
"O-O-"
"We just hung out together, nothing more nothing less. You've no reason for concern, leader."
Before Ivan could respond with a rather heated tone and potentially screw the two of them over, Aiden promptly acted by covering his mouth and offering a reply of his own. The way Ivan was. he doubted that he wouldn't mention the Operation Babe Hunt thing, and THAT would be the worse move he could have made. One mention of that and not just Raven, but EVERY girl here would likely get triggered and beat the ever loving crap out of them for trying to 'corrupt' Nico in that way. Its plenty unreasonable for their side since it was mostly so Ivan could get a girlfriend, although later it turned out to be much more than that, however there were stereotypical reasons regarding this which were harder to bring up than normal due to a lot of them having had bad experiences with men... not to mention their preconceptions based around all the horrific things they had learned about Nico's past. Its really dakened their opinion of men in general... and the worst part is, they aren't completely wrong in their bias.
Truly, people were complicated creatures to understand... yet, that was what made them unique and interesting individuals. Why else do people like Nico and his Demon Persona discuss the philosophies surrounding them?
Idly, although nobody noticed, but Noire had also joined them, but had yet to say anything in relation to what was going on... for the following thought process to be hr reasoning. 'Wow.. there's so many people here, so many... should I say something to divert the conversation back on course? But, what should I see when i'm surrounded by so many people with some I know more than others...? Now that I think about it, why do I get the feeling that the author just put my thoughts in here just because heor she forgot about my presence when writing this scene?' At the end, a wave of irritation swept over her being, something which luckily for the Author (who did NOT want to get an earful from the blackette in the future) her inner tenants remained silent about, just simply viewing things in the outside world through her eyes as if looking through a telescope.
"Heavens, may I please have everyone's attention, again? We seem to have drifted off topic..."
Fortunately for the two boys and Noire, things didn't go down any darker path for them since Vert had then chosen this time to speak up, directing everyone's attention back to her (and away from the boys, thankfully). Upon seeing her however, each of them sweat dropped with slightly guilty expressions since the woman looked like she had been pouting, an extremely unsatisfied expression on her features. After a small, tense and uncomfortable silence passed by them, Neptune became the one to speak whilst awkwardly chuckling and scratching her left jaw. "Eeeeh, sorry-dory, Vertie-poo. Kinda got lost in the moment there, as we kinda do that sometimes." She spoke with an apologetic gaze.
"... Yes, I am actually able to believe that, considering the 'colourful#' cast we have outside..." Vert eventually replied as she cast a dry gaze over the group, ironically being the first to notice the silent Noire's presence in the group. 'I might tease her a bit about that later, but lets put that aside for now...' the blonde woman thought,kicking the soles of her black heels against the ground beneath her feet before turning around to face the entrance. "Anyways, since we're here, allow me to fill you in on a few things: one, unfortunately due to some personal issues, Mrs Dawson won't be able to participate in this little 'celebration' of ours, and as such she has designated myself as the chaperone instead." Vert explained, causing Nico's brow to arch whilst a bout of worry for his mother exploded in his chest, although he suppressed it since he had to be confident in his mother's ability to make sure she would be okay. Still, it would only be natural for a loving son to be worried for his mother, right? In any case, he still listened to Vert's talk as she lead them inside. "The Hot Spring staff have been informed of this when I arrived by yours truly, so there is no need to be concerned for that part. We'll be staying over night too, since the Silver Moon Hot Springs also functions as an Inn as well."
A low whistle escaped from IF as she heard this, all the while the group moved towards the receptionist counter. From the moment that they had entered, the group had found themselves within the reception room, which looked like a rectangle with a long desk on the opposite side of the room. Behind that desk sat the receptionist, a woman in her thirties with her hair styled into a bun whilst wearing a formal uniform: dress shirt, tie, skirt and likely some heels. The lower clothing only got exposed by the slight ole in the desk's front, something which Ivan 'discreetly' glanced at. Meanwhile, the brunette had to hand it to the blonde. Vert liked to work fast. "Seems like you had everything under control since the last-minute-seeming change, Lady Vert." she stated, although she quickly changed her tune by adding another point with a slight stammer when she got looked at by Leanbox's CPU. "O-Of course, that's only to be expected of you, I believe."
"Thank you, my dear Iffy. I'll make a note to 'reward' you later."
Whilst IF blushed even further at what that 'reward' could be, Vert herself approached the Receptionist desk, a polite smile on her face. "Hello, Miss…" she began as she proceeded to get them the rooms that they would be staying in. Judging from the conversation that the group heard, it seemed that the boys would have one room and the girls their own, mostly so that changing wasn't much of an issue. Not something which the group really had much of a problem with aside from some muffled complaints from Ivan which both Nico AND Aiden made sure not to let reach the girls' ears, but then Neptune DID comment though that she wished that Nico could have joined them in their room, only for he said redhead to blush crimson and vehemently disagree with that statement. Worse still, Lucy practically supported the idea along with, much to Nico's shock, Compa who had a... strangely determined look on her beet red face. In the end, it took a combined effort of Raven, Noire (whom had a slightly red face at the thought of him sleeping in the same room as them) and IF (who had calmed down from what Vert only to get a bit flustered again with perverted thoughts and desires filling her mind) to settle things back to normal levels. Thus, things got decided.
Just as Vert finished things up with the Receptionist, whom before had simply been lazing about, now spoke with as much politeness sand reverence that a fanatical devotee to the CPU would usually inhibit. "Ah, Lady Green Heart, may I trouble you for a moment? According to my files..." she began, opening a file on her desk and skimming through the contents. "It would seem that the Hot Springs are available for use right now. Just like your room setup there is one for boys and one for girls, so if you would like, I can call for a staff member to show you to your rooms and let you and your friends use them." she offered, to which the blonde woman turned her head back to her in mild surprise, before her polite smile broadened slightly.
"My, that would be quite wonderful! Please, do so."
"Very well, Lady Green Heart."
Back with the group, each of them gave a collective look of surprise as they glanced towards one another, varying levels of excitement shining in their eyes at the thought fo being able to use the Hot Springs so soon after their arrival. "You guys hear that? We can get to use these babies so soon! Ahhhh, I feel blessed...!" Neptune proclaimed happily, throwing her arms up into the air whilst hopping up and down to try and regulate the adrenaline flowing through her system.
"Ah, it must be because we have paid for a reservation, well, Mrs Hel-Hel did. She must have thought this ahead of time and fully rented this entire place for us..." Compa mused after pondering for a moment. It wouldn't surprise her if this turned out to be the case, if one asked her, since her opinion of Nico's adoptive mother proclaimed that if there was something that she wanted accomplished, she'd do it herself and wouldn't let anything get in her way until it was done. One could call this a rather... dangerous mentality, especially with Helen's cynical view on things outside of her son, but luckily for Gamindustri things hadn't happened that would cause her to retaliate by trying to bring them all down into a smouldering pile of ash. What's more, was that Compa could actually SEE that happening should the world push the mother-son duo too far, as Nico wasn't the only Spec Ops Agents with great influence over his comrades.
… Wow, that took a rather dark turn pretty fast. Though, to Compa's slight surprise, she didn't find herself anything close to unnerved about it, just... accepting, like she'd just stated a fact or a rule of life.
IF, upon hearing the Spirit's words, got her meaning as well as understood her thought process. After all, she could see it quite clearly in said girl's eyes, as she spoke her own piece on the subject. "Yeah, I hear you. That woman's definitely got a large influence across the board. Kind of reminds me of another certain someone we know." she commented, glancing over to the redhead whom had begun chatting with Ivan and Aiden, likely to distract himself from the potential of being dragged into any awkward conversation about the room arrangements. She bet that Neptune would have tried convincing him to join her in their room should she get a chance, actually. Back to the boys though, judging from what she had managed to overhear their convo topic had something to do with their 'singing' hobby. She'd already guessed on what that was a long while ago, so she wasn't surprised upon hearing this.
'Haaaaa… A hot spring bath DEFINITELY sounds like something I could use right about now...' Noire thought to herself, a longing smile forming on her lips as she closed her eyes, imagining the image of herself sitting in a Hot Spring with a nice cold drink in hand, Either wine or some kind of healthy drink since she wanted to keep her body in tip top condition. 'Although, now that I think about it... I can't actually remember the last time I had one, it must have been... well, centuries even. Probably during a time... when the Console War wasn't even a thing...' Strange, to her Noire could vaguely recall a time period where there hadn't been a Console War, a time which was filled with chaos and without order as she and the four CPUs set up their own Nations, laying the foundations for the four landmasses of current generations. Though, if she were honest... Noire actually couldn't recall what first triggered the Console War in the first place, something which her fellow CPU Vert shared as well.
Part of her wondered about that, but another simply stated that it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. The war had happened, and the world paid the price for it.
Whilst everyone thought and had their own opinions on the matter...
"Oh by the way girls, I've got an idea..."
"Hm? What is it, Lucy?"
The mentioned female redhead sweetly smiled at the innocent reply from her student, someone whom she could not be any more proud of for how far she'd come in so short a time. However, that stuff wasn't important right now, what was important had been the fact that she had drawn everyone's attention towards her. Even the boys had cast their gazes at her with curious expressions on their faces, although Raven and Cecil had slightly wary looks, the former having known her long enough to tell whenever she was up to something and the latter... just out of instinct really. Still, it was a fact that all eyes had fallen onto her, so with that out of the way Lucy decided to drop the bombshell which she had devised the moment she had heard about the Hot Springs idea from Nico's mother. "Since the Hot Springs are split between genders... why not leave Aidy and Ivy in the boys side, and bring Nicky-Dear into the girls bath with us?" she suggested with her smile not twisting and morphing into a devious, downright satanic smile like a devil having caught its prey hook like and sinker.
...
...
...
...
...
POOF!
After a long, tense silence where one could hear even the crickets outside of the building, a huge collection of blushing faces, either out of embarrassment or anger, rocked through the whole Party. The order went as follows:
Embarrassed: Nico, Compa, Cecil
Anger: Raven, Aiden, Ivan, Noire (well, hers had more of a mixed baggage, but you get the idea).
The rest... well, each of them had their own thoughts on the matter.
"Hmmmmmmm…! Nice idea, Lucy! Good thinking!"
"... Huh. Should have guessed you'd suggest that, you. Then again though, now that I think about it, seeing Nico's form up close could be an interesting experience."
"Ufufufufufufu, what an interesting idea, Lucy. Yes, I do believe this could be an... enlightening sight to burn into my retinas. To see the naked body of my in-game husband candidate... up close this time... ahhh, that would be as sweet as seeing my naked butlers in the flesh!"
From the top to the bottom, Neptune, IF and Vert each expressed their own opinions on the matter... rather positively too, I might add. Each of them had rather pleased expressions on their features as the thought of being able to not just see, but to also TOUCH Nico's body in the bath. Mostly as a form of intimacy since they hadn't gotten a chance to do something like that yet, but... they wouldn't deny the chance that it could give them some... reference material for all the dirty fantasies they had in their equally dirty minds regarding certain activities. Out of the three, Neptune and Vert had been tied for the most drool coming out of their mouths, with similar looking nosebleeds dripping out from the thoughts processed by their brains.
IF on the other hand, whilst she didn't show the same things as the rest of the rather... excited girls (with Lucy actually grinning like a Cheshire cat at the sight), she still had a... plenty interested look on her face. Out of all the females here, she felt like she was the only one who hadn't yet had an exclusive peak at what lay beneath the Spec Ops Agent's clothes... and goddess darnit she just couldn't help but be curious! Whilst she'd seen quite a few naked males in the past, the thought of Nico's bare birthday suit rally piqued her interest. 'Wonder if he's hung down there, too... Oh god, just imagining it making me unabe to walk by the end of itis making me all hot and bothered!' The brunette screamed in her mind as her inner beast howled with desire to make her fantasies a reality. To utterly dominate the mate she had chosen.
'Uwawawawawawawawawaaaa?!' Poor Compa, such thoughts running through her mind along with the tantalizing imagery they created... she just couldn't handl it as of yet. She'd just gotten used to becoming a monster like her childhood friend, not to mention the recent leaps forward she'd made... the young innocent maiden found herself woefully underprepared for the sheer lewdness assaulting her mind right now.
She wasn't the only one either, as Noire had similar thoughts circulating through her little tsundere noggin that she fought to suppress, seeing them as spawns of Slaanesh trying to corrupt her and turn her into one of those lewd sluts called Demonettes that she'd fought in the Temen-Ni-Gru.
"H-Hey, Miss Lucy!" Cecil finally became the one to break the silence as she cried out, her face beet red as an absolutely scandalized look formed on her face. "You can't suggest something like that... its indecent! Its too lewd! Way too lewd! The lewd limits have been broken by your words! Uwawawawawawa…!" She exclaimed, all the while the receptionist gave a small giggle which went unnoticed. She had seen something like this coming from the moment that Vert had made her presence known, since it had become common knowledge that Leanbox's CPU had a... healthy interest in the male body. Not to mention the spectacle before her just looked too funny to mess up for now, mentally making her hope the staff member took his time getting here.
Turning towards the younger blonde, Lucy tilted her head in faux curiosity. "Whys it so lewd? I mean, plentyof us here want to see it, even if some of us are in denial right now." Lucy countered easily, before noticing the red look on Cecil's face and a teasing grin reminiscent of a gremlin formed on her lips. Slowly striding sensually towards the girl whom shirked back under her presence, Lucy downright GRINNED like a predator as she leaned down and whispered into her ear, just loud enough for the rest to also hear as well. "Heck, I bet you've been thinking about it more than once, haven't you naughty girl?"
… "#SIGH#"
Unable to take this anymore, Cecil's brain shut itself off as she fell to the ground, a beat red Nico quickly scooping her up in his arms and then retreating right back to his fellow males. Yeah, someone like her who wasn't used to this sort of thing at all, let alone the sensual nature of a mature woman like Lucy, thus fainting would be the only reasonable response here.
'Fuck, shit, shit, shit! This is bad guys, this is well and truly bad! Shit storm incoming!' Nico screamed in his mind, utterly appalled and panicked right now as similar emotions flooded his system without him being able to counter them in time. Part of him wanted to just transform and get his thoughts together that way, but that wouldn't be very good in the long run, so he had to refrain from that option. Damnit, he should have seen something like this coming when he'd invited Team RAIL along. Of course Lucy would try something like this, it would have been weird if she freaking didn't! Its become the norm that she'd try to seduce him or tempt him into taking her, since that woman had PLENTY of experience under her belt. He'd been so caught up with his own plans for this celebration that he'd forgotten this fact... and now, he would be paying the price. Worse still, was that he majority of the girls here likely would end up agreeing with her idea and the receptionist didn't look like she would be any help either, not when it came to something which her patron CPU approved of.
Yeah, even with what he'd known, this had both completely caught him off guard, and sent him into an unintelligent, blabbering mess.
'FUCK IT, BRING IT OUT! WHERE IS IT, WHERE'S MY BELOVED KATANA THAT I NAMED THE THOT SLAYER?!'
'Nico, calm yourself! You too Byakko, we cannot act rashly!'
'FUCK YOU, BOOK NERD! I'M PART OF THE THOT PATROL, YOUR WORDS WILL HAVE NO EFFECT ON ME JUST LIKE WITH ANY THOT WHO TRIES TO PUT HERSELF ON THE QUEEN THRONE!'
… Even his alternate Personas went wild and chaotic inside his Inner World, that's when one KNOWS shit has hit the fan.
"Request denied."
Fortunately, things calmed down both figuratively AND literally when a low, cool and frosty denial escaped from Raven's mouth, said woman narrowing her crimson eyes in a beady glare towards the female redhead whom just pouted at her fun being ruined by the 'boring lady' in her mind. Her disappointment got felt by the rest of the girls whom wanted to see Nico naked too, though they tried to hide it from Raven's knowing glares she sent their ways. "I will not have you try to corrupt him like this, VERONICA. We will have our Hot Spring baths separate and I will NOT be budging on the matter." she declared in a no nonsense tone, one which caused Lucy to deflate since whenever Raven had that tone of voice, she would likely respond to any objections with an ice prison that could cause hypothermia with the temperatures it'd dive down to. Seriously, this woman could win the biggest reward for 'buzzkiller' in the world, if one asked Lucy. Not only that, but since she had been making so many strides with Nico as of recently she had forgotten that he had a special 'shield' in this literally frozen Samurai warrior.
"Awwww, man, total let down... Someone needs to have some fun every once in a while-NEPU!"
After whispering her complaints under her breath (with the three boys giving her prayers for some reason she didn't know at the time), a series of icicles shot out the ground around her, pointing at not just her face but also her various vital areas. Looking towards their creator, Neptune's skin tone lost all colour when she saw the tundra-like cold glare Raven had launched her way, her hand outstretched towards her with the temperature in the room PLUMMETING faster than a pile of delicious Pudding whenever the preteen was nearby. "You say something? I'm sorry, I thought I misheard."
"N-Nothing!"
"Good."
Upon seeing how Raven pretty much took control like a drill instructor, Nico heaved a heavy sigh of relief a she aimed a look of gratitude towards her, getting an understanding nod from her in return. 'Thank GODDESS for Raven... she's managed to pull Lucy back in line.' he thought to himself, glancing down at Cecil who still hadn't regained consciousness as he held her bridal style. Nico figured nobody was glaring at him or making any insinuations due to the chilly nature that the leader of Team RAIL still emitted to keep everyone from forgetting what she'd done here. 'Sometimes, its GREAT to have someone like her around...'
'True, but how will she react to your decision regarding their feelings, Nico? She might end up resenting you and think your a player...'
'That's the same for each of the girls, you know...'
'...Fair point...'
Later...
"Ahhh… now THIS is bliss..."
The young speaker Compa, sighed in happiness to herself as she, naked as the day she was born, sat along the edge of a square shaped hot pool of water: the Hot springs. The water itself held a calm, motionless surface to it whilst the room itself seemed to be filled to the brim with steam, sort of inhibiting vision though the cream haired Spirit still could make things like the entrance out clear enough. Furthermore, the room itself had a cube-shape design, with tiles making up the walls and roof. What was interesting about this though, was that one of the walls didn't connect to the ceiling above them, one which ran down the room's centre which made Compa assume it to be the divider for the boys snd girls hot springs. The young Spirit girl didn't mind this though as she exhaled lowly, leaning backwards with her eyes closed as she allowed her mind to wander. Yeah, one could say that she currently found herself within something close to eternal paradise.
Of course, she wasn't the only one who thought this about the Hot Spring.
"Well, since us two were the first to arrive here, we get to enjoy it first before the obvious chaos starts." Spoke a certain brunette, the said brunette having sat opposite the young Nurse-In-Training with her arms crossed over her chest and one leg over the other. A satisfied hum escaped IF's lips afterwards as she looked towards the ceiling, her eyes slightly lidded from the pleasant sensations running up and down her body. "Though, this is especially relieving for me."
"Hm? Whys that, Iffy?"
It took a few seconds of silent thinking before the young BOW chose to answer her, and when she did she spoke in a relaxed, almost detached tone like what she would soon say didn't have that much meaning to her. "Well, in the beginning my powers made it so that I had some... difficulty with large water bodies. For example, stepping into something like a lake would cause my skin to feel like it was on fire and melt off my very body." IF explained, sighing when those particular memories returned to the forefront of her mind. All the while she ignored the gasp which came out of Compa's mouth as she continued her explanation. "As you might imagine, it wasn't a very pleasant time for me, but instead of whining about it like a little bitch, I instead chose to repeatedly expose myself so that my body could strengthen itself against the water. An evolution which conquered its weakness, sort to speak. Took a LONG ass time, but I managed to pull it off, so now I can bathe normally. Fortunately during that time I'd noticed how my body always remained squeaky clean, which I had deduced was due to my body constantly assimilating the bacteria which would be put on my body from everyday life."
Hearing about this for the first time, Compa straightened herself in the watter, a few small waves erupting from her bout of motion as she eyed her friend with a look of mild amazement. "Ooooh, that sounds quite amazing Iffy..." she commented, the brunette waving a hand dismissively like it wasn't any big deal. Then, Compa proceeded to look down at her own chest, her eyes gaining a distant look. "Back when I was training with Lucy, she always told me something during each session... that my Spirit Powers are great right now, but they still have room to develop. I never asked her why even though I wanted to, cause whenever she told me this she always had this concerned look in her eyes, which I soon figured out was just her worry for me."
When Compa had said this, IF looked towards her with her gaze that of intrigue. "Oh? Whys that?" she questioned, partially worried. Did having these abilities have some sort of side effect? She hoped not, IF found herself lucky that her ascension into a BOW didn't have too great of a side effect on her life, so she could live on just like normal... except with some things which would ALWAYS remind her of the monster that she had become.
"Lucy mentioned briefly, but she said how my powers are very much tied to my emotions, and that I should always keep them positive. If not, then the more negative that I become, the harder it is to control them. My training mainly consisted of simulating scenarios which would make me feel bad, so that I could practice keeping them in control enough to still use them effectively. Helps that my Angels helped me out on that front..." Compa replied, chuckling to herself. Back then, she remembered the first time that Lucy had told her that after one particular sparring lesson where she had to use a combination of METATRON and SANDALPHON to even the odds against her. She could still recall just how nervous she had felt when learning about how her abilities worked, since it made her think of them like a ticking time bomb. Of course, it wasn't like that now but back then it had added a whole different layer to the conflict inside of her about losing her Humanity in exchange for this power. "I honestly don't want to even THINK about what could happen if I slip too deep though."
it only took a second or two before IF rolled her eyes after that last admission, though. "Yeah, don't count on that happening any time soon, Compa." she stated, getting her friend's attention. "I mean, unless we face Mundus again, in which case we will DEFINITELY need to bring our A game if we don't want to die horribly." Both of them shuddered in unison of the VERY real threat of that happening should they lose to that guy again, memories of what had almost happened to Vert and IF herself returning without consent. "We will likely be able to at least fight back against future challenges. I say 'fight back' instead of 'win' since automatically assuming the latter will just be arrogant and will eventually somehow get us killed."
"Aw, man! here I am, walking into a NICE ol' Hot Spring and I hear Iffy dropping the serious bombs. Seriously girl, no need to be so uptight y'know."
SPLASH!
A light startled cry escaped Compa's lips when a small petite person jumped into the bath like a cannon ball, creating an eruption upon impact which sent waves through the liquid to every inch of the Hot Springs. It didn't remain like this for long though, as a certain familiar set of purple liliac hair popped out followed by a face with a gasp of air, revealing itself to be Neptune. Said preteen grinned after shaking her head, letting her long liliac hair flutter about behind her before she sat on the spot she had chosen. The Hot Spring couldn't be said to be deep, but nor was it shallow... not to mention she'd taken WAY worse beatings before so jumping into a Hot Spring like she had done wouldn't really hurt her. "Whew, geez! Its been so longs sinc ehtere was a scene where we get to relax for once! Ever since e got into Leanbox its been one serious topic after another with this story."
"Nep!"
"?"
Looking towards the one whom called out her name, Neptune aimed a puzzled look over to an irritated, trembling IF who had just recovered from a coughing fit, one which had happened mostly due to getting doused with a lot of water which she hadn't expected, thus didn't react in time. Upon seeing her, Neptune instantly perked up as she raised a arm in greeting. "Heya, iffy! Sorry I took so long, just managed to get my stretches done before coming out. That and well, the newbie's just going through some embarrassment spells, y'know what I mean?" she explained, remembering how Cecil, the newest member of the main cast, had been struggling to cope with the fact that she would be getting naked in front of strangers. There wasn't really a problem with it in Neptune's eyes honestly, since they were all girls and it wasn't like any of the guys would try peaking at them. A: Nico was far too much of a prude to try that, in addition to being VERY inexperienced in the ways of women. Then there's B: if the other boys tried anything, Nico would NOT hesitate to stop them, she knew this just from hearing how overprotective he is for Compa.
"Yeah, whatever. I don't care about that right now, what I wanna know is was that little stunt of yours REALLY that necessary? This is a Hot Spring you know!"
"Meh, doing things in the extra way is much more fun, donchya think? You could do that too with that bod you have, y'know, no need to be so stingy about this. We've been through worse after all..."
"That's not the point here, you little brat!"
As IF and Neptune descended into yet another argument, Compa watched on whilst trying not to get involved. She would if it got too heated, but at the moment she couldn't really detect much killing intent in the air so things would be fine for the moment. 'Hehehe, its been a while since I last saw this scene...' Though, if things got too heated between them THEN she'd step in... probably with a light 'tap' (read, bash like a Warhammer) from one of her Angels... probably either CAMAEL or SANDALPHON though maybe transforming them into something else with Hanael might be a favourable option. Her teacher DID tell her to make sure she could think of ways to use her Angels effectively, since her power as a Spirit was much greater than ordinary ones due to the... unique properties of the Sephira Crystal she'd fused with.
"Ufufufufu, looks like you weren't kidding when you mentioned how these two tend to get..."
"Why yes, this does seem like the Neptune I've come to know. Heavens..."
"Ugh, that midget...! I might seriously have to consider teaching her some manners at this rate. We're in a public place after all..."
"Um, I don't think that will make much of a difference for her, Miss Noire."
"Those two could use some military discipline. Perhaps I should sneak them into some boot camp."
Turning towards the entrance, Compa noticed the rest of the girls having finally finished their own changing attempts: those being Lucy, Vert, Noire, Cecil (who hid behind Vert with a bout of nervousness on her face) and finally Raven. The girls each took their turns getting into the Hot Spring, quickly proceeding to relax as the warm waters began soothing their bodies upn entry.
Naturally, it didn't take long for Lucy to comment about something as she stretched her arms above her head... whilst doing so in a sensual manner as normal. "Though, then again its just how those two are. IF and Neptune seem like they're complete opposite in terms of personalities, so its only expected." She remarked, watching the two mentioned females. When she spoke this though, did both of them notice their presence and turn their heads to face them, making a slightly teasing smirk appear on the older woman's lips. "Hey there kids, had enough of your little squabble?"
"Ah, Lucy! Guys! Hey there!" Neptune chirped happily, waving an arm towards them, totally ignoring what Lucy had mentioned about her and IF. Speaking of the brunette BOW, she had several twitching veins on her forehead, so she lashed out with her right arm from behind. Now, this strike of hers, it contained high levels of speed, so much so that it couldn't be traced by any human untrained eye, hell even a trained eye would have some difficulty tracking it down. However, like she had predicted it from the very beginning, Neptune simply tilted her head to the side, avoiding the blow by a hair. Not something the brunette appreciated, but she didn't try again knowing that Neptune would just repeat her actions.
'Somehow, this brat's gotten quite good at dodging...'
"Guess we're the first ones here, then? and here I thought Nico and the boys would have gotten changed first. You'd think so since guys seem to change clothes much faster than girls for some reason." Noire remarked, looking over towards the wall which separated the male and the female hot springs. She held her arms beneath her chest wither hands grasping her elbows, crimson eyes gleaming with confusion. Though, she couldn't really be considered wrong, since she herself usually took between half an hour to a full hour to get her appearance just right in the mornings. Maintaining her body's appearance had to at least take THAT much in order to keep up her perfect, pristine image in front of her people.
Good thing that Raven had an answer to the situation revolving the boys as she sat cross legged at the edge of the pool. "DEATHSTROKE contacted me before, mentioned that the three of them would be taking a littlle longer than necessary. Turns out that he wishes to make some quick equipment maintenance for his Bracers." She explained. By the way, for those who were interested, Raven was one of the few who sat atop the edge of the pool which allowed her to gaze towards the wall seperating the two hot springs. Noire, IF and Vert did the same thing, with Neptune and Compa along with Cecil sitting on the opposite ledge.
"Huh... interesting. But, aren't they meant to be water proof, leader?"
"Nothing is wrong with being cautious, not to mention he's keeping an eye out on our surroundings in case of a surprise attack."
Upon hearing that, a slightly frustrated groan escaped IF's mouth as she exhaled lowly. "Geez, can't that guy relax just a LITTLE? If Helen got us this little outing to celebrate, then she'll have prepared for any intrusions." she commented, and she wasn;t exactly wromng, either. Since Helen wanted to make sure they had a nice relaxing stay here, she would have made preparations for any unwanted viitors, Yet, even so, Nico still had to make some precuationary measures. "This is supposed to be our time of relaxing after all..."
"Well, to be honest..." Compa began, getting the brunette's attention as she glanced behind her at the wall. "No disrespect or offence to Hel-Hel, but if OI were to chose who i'd trust with my safety, I would chose Ni-Ni ion a heartbeat, so him being this cautious kinda makes me one relieved Compa." she admitted, chuckling sheepishly. "I guess its because I'm just that used to him being cautious when its about us or me... since he's always been like that, even when we were kids." she explained, thinking back tot he past when she had still hidden behind her 'mask'. Back then, Nico would have literally been the epitome of the 'black knight', protecting her by any means necessary against those whom would seek to harm her. It had been one of the things which had led to her relying on him as deeply as she had, almost to the point of being considered a secret yandere… as chilling as that thought sounded.
Though, if any hussy she didn't approve of tried making moves on him, THAT's when the gloves come off.
A short silence passed where the girls henceforth proceeded to contemplate these words, and their own preferences on the matter. Although, they didn't get a chance to speak of these since Lucy (much to everyone's surprise when it had happened) switched the topic away from Nico as she glanced over towards Vert. "Say Vert, is it just me, or do your bazongas look like they've grown?" she questioned, glancing down towards the said CPU's chest. At hearing this, multiple women twitched their brows irritably, mostly because upon further inspection, with Neptune pulling out a spyglass from apparently nowhere, the female redhead had a point, Vert's chest may look the same but in reality it had grown slightly bigger than before.
In response, Vert gave a rather bewitching yet triumphant smile as she held her breasts like they were two sacks, her smile widening into a grin all the while. "My, i'm surprised that you were able to notice, Lucy my dear." she said, glancing at her breasts before looking back towards the girls. "You could say this is a side effect o finally gaining the full control over my Demonic Power, it seems as though my body has been adapting to its usage ever since the first moment I awakened it." she explained, proceeding to give a rough summary of the events which had lead to her Devil Trigger transformation.
"Huh, wowzers. Those melons look big enough to pull someone's head in!" Neptune proclaimed in disbelief, all the while Raven trebled as she looked like she began to struggle on whether or not to draw any kind of weapon and tear those damn sacks apart right then and there. "Though i'm proud of my hot bod, especially when I go all edge mode and all that, seriously Vert that's impressive!"
Vert nodded her head in agreement as she let her boobs bob up and down on the Hot Spring waters again. "I do have to agree with you, Neptune. By the way, speaking of Devil Triggers... I assume then that the three CPUs here have one too?" she questioned, looking towards the purplette and blackette CPUs in the group. A silence followed suit after she had asked this, but looking into their eyes, although Vert had already confirmed it with Noire in their fight beforehand, had all but given Vert her answer. "I see... you all do realize what this entails with our positions as CPUs, right?"
"Eh? What does Lady Vert mean, Iffy?"
"She means the fact that their Devil Triggers can potentially ruin their Nations, Compa. If people were to find out they've become monsters, forget riots, it could cause pandemonium amongst the citizens. The CPUs are meant to protect us, that's the human widespread belief. So, imagine how you' react if your sworn protectors turned out to be just like the monsters they fight against daily? You'd panic, you'd wonder if they would turn on you some day, you'd want countermeasures against them, you'd want to make sure that they NEVER try anything against you. At least, that's how I see it. You've got to understand, that fighting evil with evil... isn't really the best strategy hence why there's so many tales about the fantastical heroes fighting off the dastardly evil monsters to protect humanity." IF replied to Compa's question, narrowing her eyes slightly whilst already having figured out her patron CPU's motives. Not to mention Lucy and Raven had figured it out too judging from the complex expressions on their faces, whilst the silent Cecil looked downcast at the reality of the situation.
However, a response came from Noire which completely knocked away the growing tension in the atmosphere. "Pft, please Vert, I don't really think this is much of an issue. We do what we can to protect our Nation the best we can, if we don't then how can we call ourselves CPUs? I don't know about the rest of you, but it doesn't matter to me what kind of power I use, as long as its for protecting Lastation against any threat, it doesn't matter where it came from." she declared, her voice strong and her eyes burning with resolve.
"Yuppers, what lonely heart says!" Neptune declared whilst nodding in agreement... and tilting herself to the side to dodge a strike aimed her way by curtesy of a certain irritated Lastation Goddess. "Its not about what we are, its about WHO we are! Believe in the me that believes in you!"
"Nep-Nep, I'm not really sure that reference is appropriate here."
"What you meant to say was to believe in your own resolve, right Nep?"
Two comments emerged from IF and Compa's mouths, causing the preteen to grin broadly at them and give a thumbs up. "Yep, couldn't have spoken it better myself, guys!"
"Hmph, a bold claim..." Raven declared, placing her hands on her thighs as she eyed the three CPUs of the group intently. "Though in the end, it remains as such until you can prove it with your actions. I'm curious to see how this will turn out: will you three surrender to the darkness inside of you, or will you emerge victorious?"
"Probably neither, and instead option number three, Raven dear."
"?"
To respond to her words, Vert made the following declaration. This served to make the stoic Team RAIL Leader arch a brow in her direction, prompting her to explain. "Its not about who is going to win or us being inevitably taken over or all that cliché nonsense. In the end, its simply another power like HDD, nothing more to it than that. I highly doubt any of us will be so foolish as to do anything stupid with this power since we know the consequences should our people find out." Vert explained raising a hand and holding up an index finger beside her head.
Meanwhile, of to the side Cecil made sure to be as small as possible so that nobody would pay her much mind. Not to say she was scared shitless by them, though she would admit to being a little nervous, but it was just that she didn't feel it right to barge into their conversation at the moment. Plus, Cecil figured that their words also had some weight on her OWN situation as well, the blonde thought as she glanced down at her right arm, the arm which transformed into her Devil Bringer. Not even looking at it and she could feel the raw Demonic Power circulating throughout the limb, something which both amazed and unnerved her about her powers. 'If I be reckless... could I lose control, too...?'
"Penny for your thoughts, kiddo?"
"?!"
A low eep sound escaped her lips when she heard a familiar voice from beside her. Looking to the source, she saw that it was IF who'd spoke, the woman having sat beside her after noticing the complex look on her face, then having swam over to her with the stealth levels of an expert ninja. "O-Oh, its you, I-If...!" Cecil stuttered as she tried to calm her racing heart. Seriously, if there was one thing she'd like to complain about it would be these jump scares that she'd get whenever these girls appeared beside her out of freaking nowhere! I t just went to remind her that as strong as she was right now, it was NOTHING compared to these maidens whom have had way more battle experience than her, AND had fought against a wider variety of enemies. "I-Its nothing, really... well, maybe its not nothing..." she began to try and act tough in an effort to make herself look better, but son she gave up after noticing the 'I'm not buying your bullshit' look IF shot her way. In the end, she decided to come clean about her worries, telling her what she felt from the talk the others seemed to be having.
In the end, IF sighed as she reached forth and patted Cecil on the head, much tot he blonde's surprise. "No need to be so afraid, kid. If you DO end up slipping into that zone, I'll pull you out myself, alright? No buddy of mine's losing to Demons under my watch, you know." she said, aiming a confident smirk which got an uneasy smile from the blonde in return. IF may not have shown it in that moment, but she could understand why Cecil acted like that, since she herself had once been there too regarding her own BOW powers. Sometimes on occasion she herself wondered if se would slip up and lose control over herself like many Umbrella-recorded cases of BOW's going on berserk rampages, but in the end she just had to push forward and live her life as best she could. That's pretty much the best thing she could do at the moment... plus its not like she HATED herself or anything, since these powers helped her survive some pretty tough scrapes.
Back with the four girls, before Raven could respond to Vert's declaration...
"Whew, finally here! Gonna have a NICE long fucking soak in a Hot Spring... Awesome!"
"Your happiness with coming here is almost unnerving, CYBORG... however, I can understand your excitement."
"Yeah, sorry for the wait you guys, just wanted to check my Bracers for anything wrong. Good thing that there wasn't... you didn't have to wait for me though, you could have just went ahead you know."
"Hey, us bros stick together! If we're going into this, we're doing it as a trio, no questions asked young'un!"
"Pretty sure we're all the same age here..."
The comments of the boisterous trio Nico, Ivan and Aiden rang out, following the splashing sounds which signified them entering the Hot Springs. The moment these were heard, the girls side fell silent, each of the glancing towards one another, as if they were silently communicating on something. In the end, it was Compa who spoke first, her smile wide. "Looks like they're in the baths now."
"Yup, agreed Compa-dompa." Neptune added, nodding her head in agreement. "As lively as ever, those three. Is it just me though, or is Nicky actually getting a lot happier whenever he's with them? Is he... #GASP# is he a Homo?! Does he like, play hide the sausage with them?! Do they enact kinky roleplay or any kind of unmentionable stuff even with the fanfic's M rating?! No, I can't let that happen, no way, not unless its this Nep!"
IF sighed as she appeared behind her friend and made to whack her upside the head. Though it failed due to her expertly avoiding it, she instead chose to continue her speech as if she HAD hit her. "Okay girl, cool your jets. No need to get all crazy in the imagination land." she stated sternly, before glancing over to the wall where the three dudes seemed to have started talking to one another about some random topics. "In any case, sounds like they're having a fun time."
"Exactly." Vert chirped, clapping her hands together as if making a prayer... with a large dose of red on her face and a trail of blood running down her nose. One could guess what she had been thinking and how it had come to be. In unison, everyone but her and Neptune ended up thinking 'damnit, Neptune!' in their minds. "Which is also what we should be doing. So come on girls, lets get some chatting going on!"
Thus, began what could only be described as, in the eyes of any otaku, a 'fanservice' moment that was LONG overdue... though in the eyes of the main cast it would be seen as a chance to unwind. To heal and recover, both in the body as well as in the mind... something which they all DESPERATELY needed after going through this constant hell. Of course each of he girls and guys knew deep down in the cages that were their minds that this moment of peace would be a fleeting one, as thanks to the recent events Gamindustri had become a literal nightmare, A walking hell... and itd only get worse, so they'd enjoy this while they could.
Loud, boisterous laughs and feminine giggles echoed through the girls side of the room, the forms of the said girls obscured by the smoke generated by the hot springs as they both talked as well as played around like toddlers in a playground. Neptune herself swam about like a professional swimmer... all while acting out parts of an anime she had seen where three boys swam in a swim club... most of the time acting like the one who loved water more than anything in the world. Sometimes she'd get scolded by IF or any of the more serious members if the group, but she'd continue doing whatever she pleased, pretty much being true to her own nature: a swift wind which blew wherever it wanted, whenever it wanted. Sometimes Neptune would stop to have a chat with Compa or Cecil, usually teasing the life out of the latter and sharing jokes with the former during her mad swimming routines.
Aside from them, IF regularly talked with Vert about how she had been doing these last few weeks, with the older buxom CPU doing the same in kind. Once, IF made a brief implication towards Nico who stayed on the opposite side of the hot springs with his bros, and Vert gave her some... juicy details regarding her stumbling upon them bare chested in a forest after sparring with Noire, something which the brunette outwardly showed exasperation towards... but internally cursed in jealousy, wishing she could have seen such a sight herself. Though, she couldn't really hide this from Vert, who just grinned as she whispered something into IF's ears, and by the time she'd pulled back the brunette had gone red in the face... with a bloody nose to suit. Its quite easy to imagine what she had been told by the CPU she admired.
On the other hand, Raven remained mostly silent as she leaned back and constantly stared at the ceiling, only conversing when needed with her looking like she was in a whole different world making such attempts quite difficult. Of course, Lucy had to go and convince any who tried to do so not to mind this with an awkward expression, since Raven naturally did this whenever she had a lot on her mind, and she'd been doing this a lot recently. As for Lucy herself, aside from bailing Raven out of this since she knew her Leader had less social expertise than even Nico did, she spent her time relaxing in the Hot Spring water, kind of like sun bathing in a way. Though, she didn't remain like this all the time, for every now and then she would open a single eye and glance over at Noire's direction, throwing a few off handed teases her way since the blackette looked like she didn't know what she should be doing here, being the uptight person that she was. Of course, Noire would always react to these in typical tsundere fashion, prompting amused giggles from the female redhead who'd continue her teasing efforts, almost like Noire was ASKING her to do so. It was actually kind of cute, teasing her and getting those flushed reactions, she could understand why so many people found teasing tsunderes so appealing.
As such, this entire scene continued for a long while...
"Say, i'm curious Nico, have you done what you said you would?"
Until something from the boys side, spoken by Ivan himself, caught everyone's attention. Each of the girls stopped the activities that they were doing in order to listen to the conversation that the three boys Nico, Aiden and Ivan had on the other side, though they made sure to make a few noises just to keep up the illusion that they weren't paying attention.
Several splash sounds occurred from the other side, indicating a surprised reaction from the male redhead. "Wait, your asking me that NOW of all times? You do realize they're RIGHT there, right?"
"Is this about us?"
"Shhh, quiet Neptune."
When Neptune questioned that, Compa quickly shushed her so that they could hear what the boys were saying. At this point, instead of Ivan answering as they had expected, it seemed Aiden took the chance to enter the conversation... either that, or he had been in it since the beginning since the girls didn't know when this conversation had started from. "Think about it this way, DEATHSTROKE. This could be practice for when you finally tell them face to face, and if they do decide to listen in it'll make things easier for you in the long run. Its not like you have much to lose at this point. You DID have the intention of finally saying your response to them after all." he explained.
"?!"
A collectively surprised expression formed on each of the girls' faces, as they looked to one another in stunned disbelief. Was this... what they thought it was? Did Nico have an answer to their feelings? Lucy HAD mentioned briefly about what the teen had told her about not too long ago, that he had almost reached a 'conclusion' in his words. They may not have said their feelings verbally, but a running theme in this story of theirs is that actions speak louder than words, not to mention that Nico had finally started wising up to their romantic interests thanks to Compa, according to what she had told them. Now that these words had been spoken, a wave of unease and nervousness swept across them, making their hearts go all 'DOKI, DOKI' within their torsos. A few of the girls, namely Compa, Noire and Cecil, questioned on whether or not they should be eavesdropping on this, only for the majority to vote against their concerns. Thus, the eavesdropping continued.
"... #SIGH# Yeah, you're right guys. I HAVE reached a conclusion, I found an answer within me to the girls feelings. Believe me, it wasn't easy, not y a long shot. You guys know me, these things... romance, friendships, social things... its not my forte, not by a long shot. Send me onto a battlefield, I'll tear apart everything on it that needs killing. Send me on a rescue mission, I'll bring back the target and make sure there's no survivors in my wake. I'm a killer... so his romance stuff wasn't natural for me." Nico explained, a heavy and exasperated sigh escaping from the other side which likely came from the male redhead himself. "But in the end... my answer is just like me: its got multiple layers to it, I can't be a simple guy it seems."
After mentioning that, a brief, bittersweet, low and self-mocking chuckle escaped Nico's lips. "Well, let me tell you this: if you were to ask me whether or not I love those girls... I'd say... yeah. I love them." There, a confession. A confession was made from Nico's own mouths, causing the girls on the other side to gasp under their breaths. Of course, Cecil was the exception since she figured this to be directed to the others rather than herself, so she had kept quiet... though she still had some form of surprise in her system at the guy's admission. "I love them a whole hell lot, to the point where I'm afraid I might burst. " Nico admitted, and if they could see him right now they'd see him looking down with his eyes glimmering with nostalgia, his lips curving on the left side into a slight smile.
"I love Neptune for being around her makes me feel all happy and giddy inside, like a young child whose innocence hasn't been tainted by reality. She makes me, well, feel better than I ever have in a long time, and that's saying something. I love Compa for how she's a combination of sugary sweetness, strong bravery for entering this world of monsters, to me she's so much like a potential Valkyrie that I just can't help but be drawn in by her. IF, heh, unlike Nep and Compa, she's someone whose a form of realism to me, where Neptune and Compa make me feel the previous stuff, she keeps me grounded and level, not to mention she's a GREAT conversation partner, quite easy to talk to as well. Then there's Lucy, and by the Goddess not only is she like a dangerously alluring rose, underneath her twisted, savage-looking thorns is a sweetness and tenderness of someone who just wants someone to love... and I want to be that someone. I want to give her the love she deserves in my eyes. Its similar with Vert as well, both of them have this alluring charm to them, and I enjoy spending time with them to the point where I lose interest in other things when I'm around them... one just happens to be in the real world and the other in the gaming world as well. You could say that Vert wasn't the only one who'd wanted to meet her so-called 'husband candidate', though change husband to wife and you get the idea. I feel like there's something there for Raven too, but I get the feeling she's got a lot on her mind right now, so I'll hold back on that one. Noire, I... I can definitely say that I'm attracted to her and have some romantic interest in her, but I'll hold back with her too. She's got her Nation to worry about, and I can see its her main priority at the moment. Thus, I'll help her out however way I can, that's a vow I made to myself when I figured out my feelings towards her."
Nico honestly had gone onto a rollercoaster of emotions right now, as like a damn finally erupting everything he felt inside towards the absolutely dumbstruck girls just FLOWED out, uncontrollable and unrelenting, with no signs of stopping any time soon. "I don't know when it was that I began to feel this way, maybe it as love at first sight, maybe it developed over time. The second answer seems more likely, considering what I'm like... and the best answer to the 'when' would likely be once they accepted me despite knowing of my Ghoul side... yeah, that does seem right. Those girls... no, 'girls' is too little of a word, those freaking ANGELS, they embraced me for what I am: a Killer, a Monster, a Demon. They did stuff for me very few have ever done guys, so me falling for them... its pretty much like a natural chemical reaction." he admitted, and on the boys side of things they could see the redhead male struggling to keep himself composed with the cherry red face he currently sported.
"Okay, so the bottom line is that you love them all, right? So what's the problem here? I'm sure they wouldn't mind being yours in a harem, since the idea isn't really that uncommon. You MIGHT get a few glares sent your way by jealous guys, but sucks to be them, right?" Ivan questioned, and for a moment, Nico remained silent on the matter.
Which gave the girls a chance to collect their thoughts on the matter.
Now, the fact that Nico liked them back blew their minds away, especially with the amount of passion and earnest intent that his words oozed. Furthermore, the harem thing which Ivan stated did indeed have a common practice element to it, especially in Leanbox with it being the most affected by the constant Abnormal attacks as well as the more recent Chaos invasion. As for how they felt about it themselves... well, they'd have to think about it, but honestly they couldn't see this ending in anything else but a harem thing anyways, since they've all lost their humanity in some way or form, with a few never having it from the beginning. Therefore, since they were all monsters in their own unique ways, why should they be tied down by such human customs? Why should they follow what other people tell them what's right? Shouldn't they instead try to live life how they want it, wasn't that something which they wanted for themselves?
Well, Neptune and Vert certainly didn't mind, and upon thinking about it, neither did Lucy. Compa and the rest? They'd have to think a bit on that one... but then, what does Nico think about the idea? What was his thought process on the whole thing? Not one of them thought that Nico would have the same view on it as most guys did, Harems anyways, they just couldn't picture Nico liking that sort of thing. If anything, they'd say that the guy was just too damn innocent for that sort of scenario or any perverted mentality.
They soon got their answer however, when Nico finally spoke, and when he did it... sort of surprised them, and it didn't at the same time. "The problem? Well, aside from the fact that what I said about them implies I want a harem.. I'll get to that part later, but the thing I want to tell them most is... right now, I can't be with them officially, at least not yet."
"Huh? Why not?"
"...?! Wait, DEATHSTROKE, did you by any chance, have one of THOSE before...?"
"You mean, hallucinations? Yeah Aiden, I have... and the more I kept thinking about this romance stuff, the more hallucinations I kept having. As of recent they've been happening too, off chapter by the way. They aren't the same as before my acceptance of my Ghoul side, in fact they feel like twisted versions of things I should know but I don't... but in the end, I had one such hallucination before all the Hellverse business, and I NEARLY killed Compa when under it. If she hadn't snapped me back to my senses... worse, there was a time when an innocent child nearly got speared by my Kagune, which suggests to me that my mental state isn't exactly 'up to par' you could say. Now tell me you two, does being partially insane, with a nice side of hallucinations and twisted tendencies sound like a good thing to bring into a relationship period, let alone a polyamorous one? I sure as hell don't think so, in fact I think that's the WORST thing I can bring to this if it were allowed to form now. I could easily lose control over myself when not even using my Ghoul side and potentially end up killing them, that spar we had? I pretty much confirmed that out of the group I'm still the most powerful, so they MIGHT be able to last a little longer than normal against me, and that's stretching it a bit."
Then, a surge of anger started seeping into his voice as Nico's words gradually started becoming venomous, plus ty could feel agitation in his aura as it slowly seeped out of him. "Then there's that whole harem bullshit, and believe you me I have something to say about that. Before, I only agreed with the practical side of the idea since having multiple partners can help keep humanity's numbers up so they can continue fighting against the Abnormals, though I looked down on those who ignore the whole emotional aspect of the idea. But since I myself am in this situation, I've done some research one the subject, and concluded that the idea of harems in current society is distorted. To the world, its just a idea for men to stroke their freaking egos and engage in perverse actions whenever they please with whomever, stealing partners to other men for their own just so they can relieve their primitive instincts. I've seen plenty of Nobles who've done such acts, and it pisses me off. Therefore, that is NOT what I'd like for those angels to go through, no way no how. If, and I mean IF, the whole harem thing comes about, I'm going to do my damned hardest to make sure those angels live long, happy lives without fear of having their trust so easily shattered. They deserve MUCH better than that in my eyes. But right now, I'm not that capable of it due to my current state of being, so if I tried anything I'd likely just crash and burn, hurting those angels in the process. Thus, until I can gain somewhat of a stable mind, I don't think ill be able to start anything official with them."
"B-But dude...! You've been like this for YEARS now! How long will they have to wait before you achieve something like that?!"
Upon hearing his friend's opinion, Nico's eyes darkened on their side of the hot spring, not like the others could see that though. Several splashes happened before he gave his response. "Ivan... I haven't made much progress in the past because I haven't had a reason to. Back then... I guess you could say I refused to move forwards, refused to acknowledge that I needed to sort myself out mentally. My mind kept telling me that I shouldn't try to recover what I lost, seeing my past as some kind of monster which I needed to get away from. Yet, now things have changed. I've gone way deep into my mental recovery, enough to have embraced both the Ghoul and the Demon inside of me, so I'm definitely going to regain my memories before long, that's the feeling I'm getting. So it likely won't be as long as like years before everything falls back into place for me... even if what's awaiting me is something I can only dream of in my worse nightmares, I HAVE to recover it... I personally don't care about my memories, but if its to be a better man that the girls can rely on, then I'd be willing to tread that path. I guess that's what love is, doing your best for those whom your attracted to and showing them that they can rely on you."
Hearing those words come out of Nico's mouth, in addition to the sheer emotional conviction and resolve seeping forth from them, it caused not only the guys, but the girls also to become absolutely breathless, his words having stolen that ability to breathe all living beings had away from them. In a sense, each of the girls had been right on the money in that Nico didn't see harems the same way as other men did, he had just admitted as such. But still, knowing about it and actually hearing it come out of him like that were two totally different things. You know the feeling of having one's heart skip a beat? Well thanks to the sheer DEVOTION in his words, Nico unknowingly did this very thing to the eavesdropping girls... multiple times, even. Each of them had so many thoughts running through their mind about his words, all of them, to the point where they couldn't even speak at the moment.
Cecil meanwhile, couldn't help but feel a surge of pride swell up in her chest, knowing that despite being in a situation most Spec Ops Agents have been known to enter, as well as one any guy would kill to be in, he still remained the Agent that she had imagined him to be. She inwardly cheered like a cheerleader whilst clenching a fist victoriously, happy at this development despite not knowing Nico personally for very long.
"Though, I will admit that you made a good point about the whole time thing, Ivan, good thing I also thought about that before this here. Thus, I'll tell this to them: should those angels get bored of waiting for me, I take too goddamn long, or they find some other potential boyfriend candidates... I'll encourage them to pursue them." Nico declared, having paused to take a gulp, yet that didn't stop the stunned gasps from his two bros. Yet even so, Nico continued on, his passion roaring within him like the Hellfire he commanded. "I'll be blunt, some of them have been waiting for me to get my ass in gear and notice them for YEARS now, and that alone makes me feel utterly disgusted with myself. Its like I've been leading them on unknowingly, and that makes me want to puke and do all sorts of things to myself as a form of punishment, but instead I'll love them to the point of letting them go if that's what they want. I will NOT try and stop them from finding their happiness in their case, heck I'll support them to the best of my ability, since they've waited too damn long enough already. Nevertheless, whether they decide to stay friends with me or continue what we have right now, I'll always love them like this, I'll always support them, and n the whole 'lets be friends still' scenario, I'll… I'll be willing to swear an oath to remain single for eternity, never to pursue anyone ever again. I'll love only them and defend them to the best of my ability, even if they wouldn't ever return them."
"?!"
Along with the guys gasping again, this time it got accompanied by a collective gasp from the girls as well, though thanks to it happening alongside theirs the three boys didn't notice. Among the girls, Compa, Lucy and even Neptune started to develop tears in the corners of their eyes, with IF doing so as well but suppressing it heavily at such a declaration that the redhead male made. Not only that, but they could FEEL that he would do so as well, since Nico has always made it a point to keep his word whenever he gave it out, which wasn't that often. Hearing him stake these claims like this though, proved just how much that he had put his own heart on the line here, spilling out everything he feels for the girls whom he cherished deeply. There was going to be a LOT for them to take in after this scene is done, sure, but right now none of them cared for the moment, since right now they were too busty reeling from Nico's declaration.
A declaration strong enough to rival multiple confessions of love, by the way.
After the Hot Spring bathing, the girls and guys would then go on to heading back to their rooms for bed, with the girls literally DRAGGING a helpless Nico into their shared room and starting their changing. Ever the gentlemen, Nico would quickly cover his face with his Kagune and hide in his futon, until they told him they were finished and thus, Nico told them a shortened version of what he said in the Hot Springs, refusing to leave them hanging in an attempt to show them his growth as a man. The girls would then tell them that they heard his declarations before, and before the guy could faint out of sheer embarrassment, they'd told him that they'd be fine with waiting for now... but that he'd better hurry up with the whole mental thing cause they wanted him for themselves already, confessing their feelings towards him (save for Noire, Cecil and Raven) all the while. It wouldn't be like they'd change much about their relationship either, just the usual stuff but without the cluelessness from one party involved.
Thus, did the day come to an end for this Party...
One could say this day was a storm all its own, too, though the REAL storm wouldn't be too far off either.
Chapter end!
For what its worth, I'm SO SORRY for the long wait. This chapter was a lot harder to write than I had anticipated. I mean, I had some things planned out, but a combination of difficulty putting it into proper words made this thing take WAY longer than necessary. Any who, after this Ill be starting the Symphogear fic's next arc, then when that ones done i'll be back in this fic to start the LONG anticipated Lowee Arc.
As for this chapter... I'll admit, Nico is a MAN with BALLS for declaring what he did this chapter. In a short summary, what he's done is declare his own feelings towards the girls, then again face-to-face, but also that he can't be with them right now for a variety of reasons and that if they want they could pursue other guys. I know some might say he's an asshole for doing this, since those girls OBVIOUSLY love him alone, but lets face it, he's made them wait for SO FUCKING LONG already and he knows it, so he's taking that into account, and even if that happens he'll vow to not pursue any other girl in order to pull the biggest bro move ever and support them himself. Not going to lie, I got MAD respect for him when I wrote that. Heck he even took into account his own mental instability as a reason, along with how he views harems as distorted in current society... something which I myself also believe.
I'll not say more on the subject since its my opinion and I might get flak off others by writing about it, but if you want me to tell you PM me, I'll explain there, cause my opinion came to being after I did some interesting research about the subject.
Hopefully in the eyes of many this splits him off from other harem protagonists, cause in a lot of anime and manga I rarely see the men declaring their love for the girls in this way, its mostly done on the girls side. I get that's due to this being something of a male fantasy thing, but COME ON, there has to be SOME guys who are more wholesome than that. A relationship's a two way thing after all, or even a multi way if one's from a culture which practices this sort of thing (I know there's a few out there), so some affection from both parties can be wholly appreciated!
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, Fav, follow, review etc.
Peace Out!
