Here's a key for those who are getting lost about the various writing methods I use for certain characters:
'Lol' - Biko speech through link
'LOL' - Byakko Speech through link
'...Lol' - Siegfried speech through Noire/Black Heart's Link
'Lol' - Histoire Speech through link/dreams
"Lol" - Normal speech
'lol' - Normal thoughts
"I will HUNT you!" - Demon/Angry multi voice DPU Speech
{Time to move!} - communication through the Shingan
Chapter 171 - Lowee
Opening his eyes to the sight of a familiar white void covered by a field of flowers had NOT been one of the things on Nico's to-do list today, but then again considering everything that had been going on here the male would have been surprised if he hadn't. The teen, who had found himself on his back with his arms spread out as if pined to a cross, soon grew tired of such and promptly rose to his heet, dusting off his Coat before looking around to see if there were any other people here other than him. It didn't take him log to find someone though, a couple seconds to be precise since standing before him turned out to be a certain childish figure.
"You think what I did was the right thing?"
Unlike normally, this time Nico became the one who spoke first in their conversation, asking the childish version of himself regarding his recent actions to the girls. Of course, the male wasn't a fool, he'd been well aware of just how much his words to them had signified, both to their relationship with one another as well as for his own development. Tosay what he had was something akin to opening up to someone, something which under normal circumstances he found nigh impossible to do, not to mention that it wassomething to do with his own personal feelings and THAT was the key point here. Feelings. Emotions which he had developed and expressed of his own free will. Such a thing would be BOUND to affect him mentally, be it in a good way or otherwise, and that was why he had decided to ask the child him. After all, this him knew their state of mind on an… intimate level.
Honestly that's to be expected, considering what this childish him represented in his psyche.
"What had happened last night… I can safely say its neither right nor wrong, 'me'." The child Nico responded, his lips pursed as he stared at the older Nico, the two redheads coming closer to one another in a few short and quick strides. "It IS definitely a step forwards now… and a rather significant one at that. It sumbolises the proof that 'we' are closer than ever before to finally reaching out 'true self'. Instead of a long walk through a country road that 'we' had originally anticipated, instead its now merely a short stride away…" the child him explained, neither approving nor disapproving of him declaring his feelings towards the girls. What he felt towards them, and what they felt for him… there wasn't any need for just words to describe it, the goup had fought together long enough to understand one another's feelings without having torely on such fickle things as words. The Child Nico understood this, and that would be what he'd focus on for the time being instead of the uncertain future revolving around those female Angels.
At his answer, Nico remained silent as he mulled it over, not particularly likingthat answer since it didn't directly answer his question, and it wasn't like his patience had infinite limits either as paradoxical as it may seem. However, he couldn't say that he particularly disliked it either, since thanks to his own experiences Nico had come to understand just how delicae, complex yet fragile the mind can be, hence answers like these were quite literally the closest thing he could obtain that were close to definite truths. Still, this answer didn't change the overarching fact about his current situation: that he needed to get better SOON, so that he could properly be with the girls without worry. Nico had no illusions that it would be a quick process, someone as fucked up as could could never truly recover that fast, however with the fact that he now had something to strive for outside his own given word, Nico could certainly say that he could work perhaps a little bit harder than before. "I see… then, allow me to ask you this: how much longer will it take for me to finally start getting these answers?" the teen eventually questioned.
Hearing this, caused his child selfs' lips to curve upwards into a smile, one which expressed more emotion than what words could properly convey. It definitely felt that way as well as invoked similar feelings within the redhead himself, of that he felt certain. How long the child had waited to hear those words, Nico himself didn't know, no, rather he did know but didn't want to put too much focus into something currently so trivial. "Look to your right." He simply stated, pointing his right hand in the specified direction which prompted the male to do so.
When he did, Nico noticed a… rather large, foreboding cloud of pure darkness in the distance, a darkness which deeply contrasted against the white void he found himself in. To him, it resembled something similar to a cancer, a blight on the pure land that this place resembled, a knife of reality that stabbed into the protective fantasy that was within his psyche. His eyes narrowed at it, noticing something beneath it… and soon found what it was: the flowers making up the fields in that area, they no longer had the same appearance as the rest of their brethren. The more flowers touched by the darkness, the more the flowers turned into a dark crimson variant, twisting in on themselves and 'shaking off their masks' as if to say this was what they truly looked like from the beginning. "Ah…"
"Your path has already begun. No more stages will be necessary for your recovery, 'me'." The child him explained, as the two of them eyed the dark cloud. Nico couldn't help but shudder at the sight of it, a pit of dread and anxiety forming within his stomach. It felt as though the teen subconsciously recognized what he saw in front of him, and part of him thought that something might happen to show that he wasn't ready for it yet, some kind of reaction or somethinga at least. However, none of that happened, there HAD been the previously described emotions with a small wave of fear, but other than that nothing too drastic happened. Proof of the words that the childish him uttered in the following moment. "It is time, at long last. 'our' mind is prepared, 'we' are indeed ready to start… although the path ahead will be a most perilous one. Such peril that will make what 'we' have gone through prior look like a paradise… yet, that is what must be done, for 'our' true return." The child Nico explained, as all sorts of deformed 'faces' with their own sets of 'eyes' formed within the darkness, eyeing the two of them hungrily like malicious spirits eagerly awaiting the chance to return to the mortal world and wreck as much havok as possible. Some of them Nico even recognized from some of his hallucinations in the past, which only added to the emotions swirling like a chaotic whirlpool within his gut.
Still, his child self ha made his point clear, there wasn't any going back at this stage. Not only had Nico come too far to turn back now, but he had PLENTY of reason to pursue this, he infact had almost too much incentive at this point. To become a better man for the future events, break his trauma and finally become who he should TRULY be for one reason or another, this would HAVE to happen. With these things in mind, Nico glanced towards where his child self had been standing, only to find nothing there that could have indicated his presence, making the teen sigh as he pocketed his coat and proceeded to head on over to the darkness…
Beginning the descent into it.
"Wow, lookie here, everyone actually came… Why do I get the feeling that I wanna yell out 'A#e#g#r# A#s#m#l#e!' or something."
Late in the morning, one could say that thigs had gotten quite… interesting in regard to the main cast of this particular fanfiction. Each of the main Party (Nico, Neptune, Compa and IF) members plus Team RAIL, Noire, Cecil and Vert had all assembled within a large plain located outside of MICROSOFT, the exact same one which had gotten absolutely wrecked during Nico's little 'spar' with his comrades. Each of them had gotten the chance to do this after everything which had happened to them so far, with the CPUs (Vert and Noire) having given the relevant people notice of their impending activities, whilst Team RAIL managed to empty their quest schedules in order to make time for quite possibly the greatest endeavour of their respective careers so far.
It had been Neptune whom had commented about this as the group of them stood underneath the scorching sun… although Lucy had quickly made amendments to that by clicking her fingers and allowing her power to sprout a tree from beside them, letting it quickly grow till it offered plenty of shade from the sun for them. "…What? It was getting hot out." She remarked, shrugging her shoulders in a 'what else was I supposed to do?' manner when the rest of the group glanced over in her direction with some eyebrows raised. Glancing over to her leader, Lucy saw how Raven did make to say something about the use of her power, however she instead chose to refrain, remaining silent on the matter much to Lucy's internal surprise. Though, she wouldn't be complaining about it, not one bit since she never really DID have too fond a memory of whenever Raven would go on her long lectures to her about how to properly use her abilities.
'Whatever is happening with her must be REAL serious, then…' the Spring Goddess thought to herself whilst hiding away her growing internal worry. Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, Lucy then glanced over to Neptune and addressed the comment she had made, leaning against the tree she'd created with her arms under her bust. "And as for your comment Neppy, of course we'd all come, we prepped WAY too much for this party, so it would be stupid of us to NOT attend." She then glanced across the rest of them after saying this, eyeing Nico a few seconds longer in a discreet manner, though only a few of them (Raven, Nico, Noire, Vert and IF) noticed. "That WAS what the whole of last month was for, after all…"
"Ah, yeah…" Nico remarked thoughtfully as he cupped his chin, memories of the last month passing through his mind as if he were watching a DVD at home with his friends. Over the last month since the whole hot springs event, it had become DRASTICALLY clear thanks to Nico informing the others of what he'd learned from his brief visit to Lowee, that there was a need for some SERIOUS training. Much more so than what the girls had managed to do before, something which Neptune (being the laziest of them all still) had whined and protested about… that is, until Nico described the fact that he could sense powers similar to that of Mundus over in Lowee back then, which QUICKLY got their attention. Of course, at this point it would have been follish of them if they DIDN'T make the connection, that the DPUs, despite their era being over were FAR from extinct.
Noire especially since she'd fought one, albeit severely depowered, back in the Temen-Ni-Gru incident.
As such, Nico had decided to bring them ALL over to the Inferno Hell for such training, since that area would be the prime place for their activities since they coul go as crazy as they'd want in their specific schedules without risk of destroying the entirety of Leanbox. Lets just say each of them had absolutely dumbfounded reactions, with IF and those who took part in the Helverse incident (her and Nico actually) finding themselves going down memory lane to recall said event, whilst Neptune and Compa remembered it as the day they EACH started to change. The former gaining access to Demonic Power and the other finally beginning the catalyst to becoming what she was right now. Since a day in the Inferno Hell indeed was like an hour in Gamindustri, each of them had a LOT of time to develop their strength to the sufficient level… which also gave Nico the chance to use some of the manuals that he'd gotten from Zelretch's trials.
To be more specific, he'd chosen to have the girls study the training methods in the SOLITARY WORLD GOD Training manual in order to improve their physical abilities. At first it hadn't gone as well as it culd have since Neptune had been WAY more difficult to convince to stay still and do the instructions from the book, but one he had offered to stay by her side for the duration (not something he minded after all, and he got the permission of the other girls too), things quickly got back on track. Good thing too, cause Nico REALLY felt that their strength needed to be improved by leaps and bounds, since whilst their power had came forth quite well In their own isolated training routines, it was NOTHING compared to his own due to him having stronger means and resources for training. Thus, why he had brought them to that nightmarish place. It would helpt hem survive longer on the battlefield of course, since they would be able to take additional punishment as well as dish out just as much… not to mention that this manual had methods in it that detailed on how each form would be effected by the changes if one who trained in it had different forms like the CPUs and the Spirit Compa.
At one-point Vert had been a bit cautious about such a place connected to her land but got over it fairly quickly since the entrance to such ouldn;'t be altered in any way whilst so far only herself, Nico and their comrades knew about it. She'd like to keep it that way if she were frank, also the Inferno Hell DID live up to its name as did Nico with him training with them.
As a result, each of the girls now had physical bodies at the 'Zifu' level, basically letting them heal from even a single drop of blood, better multitasking abilities and increased ability to understand complex subjects. Kind of low on the stages, but considering how many there were and the benefits, one can't be too picky since each stage is much harder than the last one. Aiden and Ivan had also reached this stage too, although they were well on their way into entering the 'wanxiang adept' stage, much to the girls' surprise and Nico's pride. Even though they were the 'weaker' members of their group, it still seemed those two could pull fast ones on them… not like any of them would let this stand due to their pride, but hey, competition inspired progress.
Something which Nico had seen when he'd given them access to the Tome for the 'Star God's Broken Shadow' movement Skill, something which Neptune, Noire and Vert took a REAL shining to when learning about it. Girls pretty much caught up to him in record time since he'd pretty much mastered its last stage and had become able to make 8 after images in total. Kind of made sense since this WAS a Divine Skill, and they themselves had divine origins as well. In contrast, Cecil, Lucy, Raven and Compa took to learning the 'Hidden Flowing Lightning' Presence Concealment Skill quite well, mastering that one in record time also whilst Aiden and Ivan managed to get a greater affinity for the 'Extreme Mirage Lightning' Skill (also something which Nico had mastered along with the previous Skill). Now, the reason why he was giving out lessons for these skills was to diversify the girls' arsenal of abilities, as well as a confidence boost since he himself knew the effectiveness these things possessed. As such, he would be able to trust that they could handle themselves a lot better whenever he wasn't around… not to mention that it could let him start using those arrancar techniques more often.
Part of him had already begun noticing it, but he had a HUGE ass arsenal of powers and abilities, cultivated from his own desire to be as prepared as possible for a bunch of situations. However, even that hadn't been enough to prepare him for the Trials Zelretch had thrown him into as well as the 'lessons' he'd learned the hard way from Castiel in and out of their battles against one another. Even so, it still remained a fact that he had so many powers that he had started forgetting about a few of them, case in point the plasma abilities he had developed at the beginning which he had suddenly recalled during his first battle with the Angel/human hybrid. That wasn't good, so in order to try and mitigate this problem teaching some of his skills to others would help him 'remember' what is his alone and what is also used by others.
Speaking of Nico's own powers, his own had expanded GREATLY thanks to the use of the Inferno Hell, starting with the following:
First: The Golden Crow Blood FINALLY becoming PERFECTLY fused with his own blood after countless hours of training in every heated environment that he could find, resulting in him able to use the 'Golden Crow's Record of the Burning World' Tome to start developing the ascosciated techniques. One could only IMAGINE the amount of hooting and hollering the male had done when he had achieved this, since the process itself had been practically mind-numbingly long, tedious and straining for himself. Biko even theorized that his own affinity towards the element of fire helped speed the process up, meaning that it could have taken him potentially YEARS to get the Blood to be on a similar level to the White Tiger Bloodline had with Castiel. Fortunately, it worked out in the end, and Nico soon managed to complete half the Stages (the first 5 with the first 2 being the initial ones) within the Tome. Thus, he managed to gain mastery over 'Burning Sun Rupture', 'Raging Fire Rupture' and 'Golden Annihilation'. Only another 5 stages left, but they had the same thing with the World God Training Manual stages in that they each had more difficulty stacked onto them than the last.
For a quick summary in these three attacks, here:
Burning Sun Rupture – This one took the form of a burning ball of flames, not even three meters big. This would be enough for anyone, even seasoned veterans to see it as less dangerous than it actually was, however much like Nico's human appearance, sinister power lay underneath. Whenever this Fireball came into contact with anything, it would then INSTANTLY expand explosively in order to create an AOE effect. This AOE effect had been recorded to be so vast that it burned everything in a fifty meters radius…
One could guess why Nico liked this one.
Raging Fire Rupture – This technique had a similar effect to the previous one in terms of forming a condensed Fireball and then instant expansion into a large AOE effect, however the flames got even more condensed with this one, and the user can control the radius without losing the power. If this wasn't enough of a pro for using tis Technique since Nico could limit the amount of destruction he could cause, but then there's the fact that both this one and the previous technique were capable of being imbued into weapons for a while to create a powerful burning sword style, much similar to whenever he'd infuse Soul Edge with his Hellfire.
Golden Annihilation – THIS particular Technique turned out to be one where the user concentrates the fire in a single line, creating a 'thrusting' kind of attack. It WAS a rather fast attack, easy to use when mastered, and the penetrative power is amongst the very best out there, though the downside is that it didn't have the same wide area AOE effect the previous two did. That was fine by him though, since Nico felt that this technique was meant more for accuracy and speed than anything else, something which he approved of.
Second, since he wanted to increase his body's ability, he too tookon the Training Manual of the Solitary World God, managing to get to the 'Primal Daoist' Stage, resulting in him gaining the abilities 'Divine Will' which was basically using his Soul for Telekinesis, but since his Soul wasn't that powerful at the moment this ability wouldn't be very useful for him. Then there was the 'Divine Sense' ability which would basically help him disconcert the nature of someone by seeing how much GOOD they have in them through their accomplishments not just their 'sins' like Nico had been accustomed to. There WAS a certain cloning ability that came with this Stage, but Nico didn't see much use in it for the time being so he wasn't all too bothered, though that might change if he were to find some way to train his Soul, something which he would have to do in order to not only strengthen the 'divine' abilities he'd obtained, but also to learn how to better harness that 'Curse' power he now had thanks to aborbing some of Castiel's evil energy.
What, he wanted to get stronger in every way possible, you know!
Third: Speaking of getting stronger, his Primal Twin now had the same level of power as Nico himself thanks to him taking said being with him into the Inferno Hell. Now, not only did it now have the strength of a Multi-Continent Class DPU even though it wasn't a DPU OR a One-Eyed Ghoul like himself, that didn't mean the Primal Twin couldn't imitate him with ts Hellfire Manipulation. That flame would be its primary attack method, and since it couldn't train in the Solitary World God manual like the rest of them Nico had the being focus on training itself and mastering its abilities, of which progress had been running smoothly. However, one thing it DID have thanks to its Demonic Powers, was a Devil Trigger, something which Biko wanted to look into at some point according to him, as he wanted to confirm a hunch he had been having since learning about it.
So yeah, Nico's growth may have advanced much during the training, but there was still MUCH left he had yet to tap into.
Back to the conversation though…
"Yeah, I'd definitely call what you all went through one heck of a training marathon…" Nico commented, smiling fondly as he remembered the times when he'd sometimes have to… 'convince' Neptune to resume her training (having had to set her backside on fire with his Hellfire a few times). There HAD been of course, some more creative means that he'd undertaken, but the usage of his Hellfire had been the main method there. Also, Nico didn't even NEED to glance over to see the accusing glare the preteen currently threw his way, no doubt remembering those same experiences. She had a LOT to pay him back for, regardless of how much it helped her develop her powers.
'Mou, Nicky's thinking stupid stuff… I'll make sure to bully him whenever I get the chance to pin him in bed…' the purplette thought as raunchy thoughts started assaulting her mind… tough unlike normally she managed to keep them at bay for the time being, instead starting to think of possible ways to tease the ever living crap out of her love interest."Nicky being a sadist drill instructor is all well and expected and all…" the preteen began, glancing over to the side whilst whistling in a fake innocent tone when sensing the gaze directed at her from the male. "But it definitely made mwah feel more like the top dog around here…"
"Nep, if anything Nico's the top dog here, remember? He beat all our asses to the ground when we all group sparred with him before coming back…" IF remarked, causing Neptune to grimace as she recalled that time. Though, her brow twitched in irritation when she sensed the snicker that the redhead pulled her way, knowing for a FACT that he found particular amusement in that. Yet, throughout the last month, Neptune had to admit to herself, as did the rest of the girls, that this had to be the result of the recent changes to things between them…
Changes which had taken place a month ago.
Perhaps it was due to how Nico had put out his feelings for her and the girls back at the Hot Springs, but Neptune had DEFINITELY noted just how much things had changed between them, him and them anyways. For one, none of them considered each other as rivals as much, per say, although there was still a sense of it there. They were warrior maidens, Valkyries after all, so a little friendly rivalry was bound to happen between them. It just wasn't for the love of one man, since that one man had declared his feelings for them in a… much more wholesome way than any woman could have expected from their man. Yet, he couldn't actually BE with any of them at the moment due to not being ready, and before they could think of him being a wimp, revealed some… personal stuff about himself that had Impacted his conclusion.
In her opinion, whilst Neptune had anticipated something like this happening, the whole harem ending thing since this franchise was RIPE for that stuff, there had been a LOT of stuff which had caught her by surprise. One such thing… the mental troubles that their hubby had apparently been having, something which Neptune might not have believed if IF hadn't already confirmed it for herself as she had seen actual examples of it happening. Worse, Compa also confirmed it, although in her case she didn't actually realize what was truly going on until that moment in time, despite her worry about her love interest.
Those revelations had made her frown to herself whenever she found herself alone.
Like…
How the heck could she have not noticed?
In a lot of ways, it made sense. After all, going through what he had, there wasobviously no QUESTION that Nico would have severe mental trauma over them, yet Neptune herself hadn't noticed one bit. Nico had always been hurting inside, and she hadn't realized it, even though he had managed to see through her 'mask' way back when. Whenever she needed him, Nico had been there for her, but whenever he had needed some outside help the guy hadn't had any, not even from someone who proclaimed herself as his future 'wifey'. She had only focused solely on her own desires of making him hers by whatever means she'd seen necessary… just how selfish had that been? It made her feel absolutely revolted by her own actions previously. Throughout the franchise's many interpretations by fans, so few of them revolced around psychological issues, mental trauma and damage, so Neptune herself even with her own meta experiences, couldn't really say she had a lot of experience in this dark, depressing field.
Yet, despite her own repeatedly self-bashing, Neptune had to admit that she had a new level of respect for the man, something which each of the girls felt the same about in an unspoken agreement between them. Thinking back on their past, Neptune had seen for herself how much they meant to the guy, even if he tried to take things on by himself. Nico had seen so much crap, gone THROUGH so much of it personally, in his life that he pretty much viewed each of them as his saviors, his ANGELS. To him, the thought of breaking even one of their hearts wasn't something he could cope with, from what she could interpret from his words, and as such he had been ready to spend his life loving all of them in a one-sided relationship with them should they want nothing to do with him, thinking him a player and all that. In her opinion, Neptune saw that as a life… not really that much worth living, yet Nico had confirmed with his words that that would be what he'd do for them should things go awry, either all of them or none of them.
In that sense, the man they all cherished enough to want to spend their lives with, put his own feelings on the line for THEM, repaying the devotion they gave to him tenfold by confessing to them (albeit indirectly), and showing them utter respect for their future choices.
How… how could they hate a man like that?
Thus, their choices were all too clear, a choice which each of them had unanimously agreed on, to make sure that they, alongside Nico, could walk with each other into whatever awaited them in the future. There was literally no other acceptable choice for the girls, not after everything that had happened.
"In any case, what's next on the Agenda?" IF questioned bringing the preteen out of her thoughts, as well as bringing everyone's attention onto herself. The brunette sprouted some of her Tendrils and had them act like a pseudo 'chair' for her, lumping together behind her and letting her lean her backside against them. Crossing her legs and arms, IF looked out to the rest of them, a dim glow starting to form within her green eyes. "Think we're ready to head out to Lowee at this point?" She questioned them, bringing out a rather tense and uncomfortable atmosphere.
Lowee… the final Nation which they had yet to visit… yet also the one with the least amount of info on.
Not even Nico's temporary visit before could have gleamed them much on the ways of things, which said much about how isolated the place had become. Furthermore, since it was isolated so much, they had no choice but to go in completely blind, any theories or tests that could be attempted would likely not show them the true scale of the situation there. Even so, Nico had the foresight of drawing up a possible plan for them for this very occasion, something which the redhead teen brought to light right now. "Well, hading to Lowee now may be our only option since we've waited for a while now. Odds are, whatever's happening at Lowee will have gone WELL under way, to the point where I'm not sure we'll be able to recognize it as what we all know of the place." Nico began, glancing with concern over to Raven, whose hands gripped her biceps tighter than normal. Other than that, she looked as composed as ever… not something which helped calm his nerves this time, however. "Thus, since we've held it off for so long, heading out now will be the right time." He explained, glancing over to Noire and Vert. "What about you two? I mean, you DO both have Nations and all…"
Vert became the first to reply at that, not missing a beat as she spoke in an equally serious tone, one befitting that of a CPU who had lead countless armies into battle. She may as well have, considering the training trip she had went on. "Well, considering what you had requested of me way back when…" she began, becoming silent for a few seconds before continuing, a slight smirk forming on her lips. "I managed to get it a majority approval, therefore I'll be heading over to Lowee myself in order to meet with Blanc. Although at this point it may as well be just an excuse for me to get there."
Noire huffed, placing her hands on her hips, "Really, that's what you think…?" the blackette woman remarked, putting more weight on her right hip and jutting it out, although she soon continued due to the looks garnered by her comrades. "Well, its not exactly wrong, and its not like I'm in the same boat myself, nor is it that I'm curious as to what's happening in Lowee either." Alright, some of her Tsundere side came out just then, much to the internal amusement that it brought the rest of them. Still, they could understand her intentions clear enough since they'd known her for so long, no matter how much she tried to hide it the blackette wanted to see if the people of the Land of White Serenity were alright, even if they weren't her own people. Neither of the two CPUs mentioned it, but they wouldn't be sending any of their own military or politicians in just yet, whatever was happening on that Landmass made them feel like making THAT problem take more of a priority. Unwittingly sending lives into mortal peril, especially when they themselves were much more suited to this task, WASN'T something a proper Goddess should do after all.
"We will be joining you as well."
For the first time in what could ave been a while, Raven became the one to speak up to represent her team, drawing their attention as the woman made the following declaration. "We'll be going under the pretense of being hired for a Spec Ops Quest, requested by Mrs Dawson herself. We're to accompany the party members Neptune, Compa and IF not Lowee and protect them for an unspecified duration." She explained, ignoring the slightly uncomfortable and tense look that Cecil had sported when mentioning the mother of her idol. Although she didn't say much about it, knowing that there were some things which weren't needed to be said until the specified time. Not to mention that secrecy… kind of went alongside Spec Ops Agents like a companion traveller, something which Raven, her team and Nico had firsthand experience with.
Furthermore, before coming here Nico had already informed the rest of the Party about a little something regarding the blonde Spec Ops Agent, that in exchange for a steady flow of cash to her fellow regugees that would go to restoring her Village, Cecil was to join them on their Adventres in Lowee… although Neptune had to admit she felt a bit jealous that someone else was allowed entry into their ranks so easily, she did admit that it felt nice to have someone who actually saw the true self that Nico possessed, instead of some rabid fangirl who would only slow them down. It had been requested by the WDD Head herself too, so that was something. Plus, they'd spent a month training together, so each of them had warmed up to the blonde by now.
"Alright then, so our plan is set…" Nico began as he closed his eyes, activating his DDD then ascending upwards into the air about 20 meters above them. The moment he did so, Neptune activated her HDD along with Noire and Vert, whilst Lucy did the same (to which the previous girls had to stop her from trying to hump Crimson Soul as if he were a piece of man meat that they themselves would have liked to do the same to). Then, Compa donned her Astral Dress whilst summoning METATRON, IF sprouting her Wings so the two could ascend up after their companions. Raven herself conjured a set of wings shaped like that of an Angel's made from Ice and a vapour-like aura to fly herself As for Ivan and Cecil, Crimson Soul released 2 uncloaked Tentacles from his Kakuhou which grabbed onto the two each, wrapping around their waists and lifting them up into the air after them. Several more joined the Tentacles in order to comfortably tighten their grasp on the two as to not lose them. "Alright, lets go."
With that said, Crimson Soul pulled his 'cargo' close to his position whilst flaring his large Wings, giving them a single flap. As a result, the male burst forth like a rocket, leaving two crimson coloured streaks in his wake, prompting the rest of them to glance at one another with a silent confirmation happening between them. By the time the next second passed, several multi coloured streaks shot through the air like bullets, their destination: therather mysterious and concerning Land of White Serenity:
Lowee.
It wasn't long until the Party caught up with Crimson Soul, the first one being Black Heart herself since her power over light afforded her the greatest speed amongst them. "Well, well…" the white-haired CPU mused as she flew up to the male's right side, mindful to avoid the movement space his wings took up since they themselves held quite the size. Though, she also had to account for her own too since they didn't lose out in that department. "Look at this, someone's been changing things up here." She remarked, smirking slightly as she eyed the male's current form up and down.
"What is the meaning behind your words?"
"I think she's talking 'bout your current look, dude!" A shout through the winds generated by their fast motion caught Crimson Soul's attention, the DPU having to shift his gaze downwards in order to meet that of Ivan's. Cecil looked to be too busy trying to see to properly hear things, but the DPU made sure to use his power to block the wind so she could hear the conversation better. Meanwhile, Ivan continued when he felt the winds lowering their inhibition of his vocals. "Which now that I think about it, what the heck's up with this change? I thought you wanted to save this form for combat only due to how destructive it is."
Hearing his words and glancing over to Black Heart for confirmation, the DPU spoke after hegot a nod of agreement from her. "It's a precuautionary measure. With what happened the time I tried to visit before, it was decided by myself and Biko that going in with my top tier tricks ready will best prepare us for any ambush tactics, not to mention that it'll help us bypass the Barrier around Lowee easier. My human form may be at Continent Class with or without my Ghoul Side at the moment, but the extra power will quicken the process." He explained his reasonings, and when she thought about it, she realized that Crimson Soul had a decent argument backing up his actions. After all, she had learned herself that the greater the destructive potency of Demonic Power, the quicker it will be to destroy things made through Wardcraft.
"Whatever the case may be…"
Another voice sounded out, this time from his rear prompting Crimson Soul to look towards that said direction. When doing so, he saw how the rest of the group had finally caught up to them, flying above, below or beside him in some kind of bll-like formation with the DPU at te centre. It had been Purple Heart who spoke, as she looked up ar him from her position beneath with an appreciative look on her face. "Its nice to see that form come out more often, Nicky. This Nep approves." She remarked with a slightly sultry tone underneath.
Rolling her eyes from her spot above the male, Green Heart nodded her head in agreement regardless. "I concur…" the greenette stated, eyeing the male's form up and down. Thinking about it, this was her first time seeing the male in his DPU Form in a while, the last time being before Mundus literally went to town on their asses… it hadn't taken very long for her to note th changes that Crimson Soul had went through, attributing them to some sort of evolution that had occurred similar to what her, Purple and Black Heart's had gone through as well. "By the way, how do we go about passing through this barrier protecting Lowee? From reports gained from some scuting parties sent to investigate, they could not get even REMOTELY close to the Landmass to land."
It didn't take long for a response from Crimson Soul yet again, his tone that of a cold, detached military General explaining his strategy to his subordinates. "From my brief look at the arrier's structure prior, I would say that it is either a College or a University Class and am going under the assumption of the latter just in case. Its complexity is no joke, for I sensed all kinds of different Wards making up the Barrier's structure, therefore Icannot give a 100% guarantee that we will make it through smoothly… odds are, that we will likely experience some sort of hiccup in our tbreak through attempt." He explained, taking a moment to pause his speech and glance at them all, before continuing once again. "My plan for our breakthrough is similar to toppling a pile of bricks: a full on divebomb similar to trounds fired from catapaults or mortars, each of us slamming into the same spot on the Barrier at once. We'll have to raise our power to the maximum output to do this, and even a FRACTION of a mistake could become fatal."
Each of the girls (and Aiden and Ivan) glanced at one another with complex looks on their faces, before looking back at the male with determined expressions, showing him that they understood. Although it likely wasn't the ideal way of entering, not only did they have time working against them due to the uinknown situation's potential lethality, but with the complexity that the Barrier possessed, their most effective option that seemed plausible was to just force their way through. Something which DPUs and Demons in general seemed to specialize, using lethal force to get their way all the damn freaking time, albeit through different forms and paths.
Glancing forwards, Raven noticed something in the distance, and upon narrowing her eyes she soon figured out what it was. "Barrier immediately approaching, everyone best be on guard." She reported to the others over the whipping winds blowing through her hair. The barrier up ahead of them formed as a series of symbols, written in an alien languageUpon her reporting this, everyone else lost their previously chill demeanor, replacing it with serious and stern expressions. With that, each of the group headed towards the Barrier, each of them hoping that things would be working out.
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'...co...ico...NICO! Wake up! Wake up, quickly!'
Groans escaped the teen's lips as his closed eyes tightened, all before they slowly proceeded to lift themselves upwards, the heaviness he felt on them similar to that of training weights at a gym. However, the redhead Spec Ops Agent managed to pull his task off regardless, though the fact that he heard someone yelling at him so much that it seemed to almost be right beside his ear helped. At first his vision wasn't exactly 100% neither was his mental faculties, but a couple seconds later these two tings cleared up, allowing him to realize the identity of the person contacting him. 'B...Biko?' The male questioned, groaning a bit more audibly as he proceeded to get to his feet from his previous prone position on what he could only have assumed was to be a bed of... something white. No doubt it was snow, which DID mean that he had successfully arrived at the Land of White Serenity. However, before he could engage in observing his surroundings, the first question he had upon arrival formed in his mind. What the heck happened...?'
'As we both feared, complications arose with the Barrier's breaching, that's all I can say for the moment as I am still analysing it. However, you must make sure to regroup with the others, you all were separated into three groups upon entry.'
Now THAT got the redhead's attention faster than a drunkard being insulted. Just as Biko had mentioned, the moment that Nico looked around as he heard his Demon Persona speak, the teen did indeed notice that he wasn't with the rest of the group... well, most of them, beside the male he saw Raven and Lucy lying sprawled out unceremoniously on the snow just like he had been. His eyes widened as he saw this, even as his shock got mollified slightly by the fact that the two girls had started coming too already, so he didn't need to do anything for them, not to mention that a quick look at himself showed that he had been reduced to his human form instead of his DPU one. 'Tch, looks like Biko was right... not to mention something must have went wrong during entry... I KNEW that my idea wasn't full proof, damnit. Should have focused more on analysing the barrier, even if there were deadly risks involved...' The male thought, all whilst glancing around his surroundings.
The first thing that came to Nico's mind when he did so, was the fact that he had almost mistook this place for a field of flowers similar to that space where he met his child self in, however that soon vanished when he noticed some... stark differences, one of which being that he was with company only found outside his own hallucinations. Instead, where he found himself along with the girls turned out to be a massive, snowy plain, filled to the brim with said substance. The teen could see little else around their general vicinity, although he COULD make out a few silhouettes around them which likely were some mountains or similar constructs in the far distance. He'd likely have to download another map of the Continent once they got to a big City, but before that Nico had to prioritize getting the rest of them back together. 'Alright, I think its time I put this Shingan Ring to good use...' The male thought as he glanced down at his right hand, where the said Satanic Treasure remained concealed by his Glove, as he raised it to his eye level then closed said bodyparts. 'Everyone, you all alright? Nobody's too seriously injured right?'
To be fair, that last part was more out of reflexive, instinctual worry than anything since their bodies had potent healing capabilities, thanks to training with the Solitary World God manual. However, this wasn't considered as important on his list of priorities as the Shingan reacted to his wishes, glowing briefly under his glove as his thoughts transmitted out to his surroundings. Fortunately, after a quick scan with his various sensing abilities, Nico had found his comrades to be within a radius similar to a large city, meaning that they were still within the Shingan's communication range. Whilst not so reliable for gathering information due to the randomness effect it has when reading thoughts, to be used as a communication device akin to a walkie talkie or an earpiece, this thing definitely had a better use in. This had been something he'd discovered back during Zelretch's second Trial.
Looking upwards, Nico noticed something that caused him to stiffen, a surge of shock taking over his being whilst dread mixed itself in like some kind of toxic concoction. Several thoughts then came back to him that distracted him though, carried through the Shingan then directly 'imprinted' into his mind... although they came off to be sluggish and disoriented at first, which through his limited use of the Ring in this manner told Nico that the others had likely just started regaining consciousness themselves as well. The most disoriented turned out to be, to few people's surprise, Neptune's as her thoughts sounded similar to the slurring of someone who's had WAY more alcohol than they could handle.
{Uuuuuughhhhhhhhh… my head... this sucks, this little nep's been kicked by a meanie horsie poo... made me barf out all my Pudding...}
{Owwie… my bum-bum hurtsie... i'll take a look at it real quick... when my heads not spinning anymore...}
{Okay... guess things didn't go QUITE according to plan just now, huh...? I'll bring that up with Nico after this when I get my hands on that idiot...}
{Tch, should have tried to be more convincing... whatever that Barrier was, someone deeply rooted in Wardcraft must have created it since our attack likely triggered something with it. I'll make sure to ring Nico's neck when I see him next...}
{My, what a perilous experience that was... I almost saw my centuries of life before my eyes. A rather interesting little thing... }
{… Looks like we're here, then. This cold, this feeling, yup I'm in Lowee with the others... although we could have picked a better landing spot than tis barren wasteland...}
{Whelp, looks like someone messed up during the entry way, I guess. Since Aiden's with me I guess the others made it through, too. Kind of dtupid to think otherwise after all I've seen of them...}
{This is... Objective, enter Lowee: Accomplished. Confirming surroundings.}
By the time these thoughts ingrained themselves into him, Nico stumbled slightly with a mild headache assaulting his brain, electing a hiss out of him. Though, it also got mixed in with the sensation of him going to be getting his ass beat by a couple of them for what had happened, not like he'd blame them. Fortunately, these thoughts also confirmed to him that the rest of them had already made it through that previous ordeal alive... although judging by his senses, they had each gone and fallen particularly far from one another. Judging by what his senses told him, Nico felt that whilst he was with Raven and Cecil, there were two other groups of their original Party:
Group 1: Lucy herself, along with Aiden and Ivan.
Group 2: well that's Neptune, Compa, IF, Noire and Vert.
Group 3: himself, Raven and Cecil.
'The important fact now, is that we need to regroup together, so I should start sending out thoughts to them through the Shingan. They know of it, so they should recognize m sending my thoughts to them in a bit, then we can go to any nearby city in order to gather more information... Huh? What the heck?'
Although the headache didn't last very long thanks to his healing prowess, afterwards the male looked around once again just in case they were about to have company... soon finding a silhouette rapidly heading towards him. 'Hmmm... that silhouette does NOT look like a mountain...' the male thought, narrowing his eyes so he could see the silhouette better. The more he looked at it, the more that Nico got the impression that something wasn't right... not to mention the fact that there was bloodlust in the air helped too.
As it came closer, thanks to his Gene Seed Implants improving his vision Nico found himself being able to see EXACTLY what was approaching him at high speeds. It took on the form of a large creature covered by a white outer shell, with a giant horn on its head and rows of sharp teeth. Not to mention that it had the shape of a Mammal like a Turtle, what with it possessing front flippers, tail fins and an air hole on its back. If he were to guess on its size, then he'd say that it would be the size of a small island or something.
However, something about it quickly caught his attention wen he narrowed his senses down on its energy, something which caused him to temporarily stiffen. 'This... This is...!'
"E-EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH?!"
Over with group 1, as Nico had coined it in his mind, it would seem that the redhead wasn't the ONLY one to have an unexpected 'visitor' either, for it hadn't even been a couple SECONDS after the trio (Lucy, Aiden and Ivan) had regained consciousness that they sensed something approaching them. It came from another direction compared to the creature Nico had seen (not like either of them had become aware of this), and yet it also advanced with a surprising amount of speed for its gargantuan size.
Lucy had been the one to notice first, as she quickly activated her HDD and summoned her Staff, twirling it in one hand before settling on a two handed grip. "Heads up, you two!" she bellowed out sternly, lacking her usual seductive personality as the aura of a battle-hardened commander took its place. Her staff released a faint 'pulse' as the woman bit back the urge to flinch, knowing that this would not be an easy fight for her. As a Season Goddess, her power wasn't amplified by her home Domain right now which was Leanbox, therefore she would have to fight much harder than she normally would in this form. Fortunately she had trained herself in this for a while now, so se wouldn't be going down without a fight. "Looks like we got company!"
The closer the creature became, the more that the Season Goddess managed to make out the creature's appearance, which soon allowed her to describe it accurately. The creature took on the form of a... giant Kraken Squid, for lack of a batter word, wreathed in darkness whilst radiating a violet aura from its body. Since she and her companions were in its path, all they could see was the many long, large Tentacles that swerved about in eagerness as well as the large mouth which lay within their centre. Though, since she couldn't see any eyes or anything of the sort on its person, it made her wonder how it was tracking them... maybe through smell or sound?
Meh, not like she cared. She had more important matters to deal with after all, like finding out where her future mate was so she could hump his brains out!
"That... does NOT look like something friendly."
"I concur."
Ivan had been the one to say that after he too noticed the approaching creature, having morphed his Bionic Arm into Gun Mode and aimed it at the enemy, ready to fire at a moment's notice. His words had then earned an agreeing comment from his fellow male Spec Ops Agent, whom deployed his Wings from his Jetpack whilst drawing his twin Handguns as he quickly took to the skies similar to what Lucy had done the moment that she'd transformed. Glancing over to the green clad version of Team RAIL's second in command, Aiden became the one to speak. "Vice Leader, your orders?" he questioned, since Lucy would be the one to take control over the situation thanks to there being no sign of their Leader Raven. However, none of them thought something bad had happened to her, it didn't even enter their minds, after all this had been RAVEN here, and they'd seen enough of her skill to know that something like this wouldn't be putting HER down.
"Start with defensive tactics, we need to analyse this adversary to ascertain its characteristics. That's the plan for the time being."
"Roger!"
With group 3...
IF groaned as her headache subsided, allowing her to look around and notice the surroundings that she had fallen into. 'Huh... so this is Lowee,... the land of White Serenity...' the brunette mused in her mind as she slowly got to her feet, patting her coat down to wipe off the excess snow. Looking down at herself, the brunette couldn't help but frown when she mentally checked her reserves of Biomass. '40% of my Biomass Levels have vanished... guess that Barrier's at fault then, with whatever it used to zap us like that...' IF thought in mild annoyance, knowing that not being able to fight at full power was always an inconvenience. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to severely hamper her abilities, since a quick 'snack' would recover her reserves just fine.
Afterwards, she looked around to see whether or not she was alone, and found multiple of her party members having just recovered from their fall. Judging by the fact that each of them were in their human forms, it seemed that their entry into Lowee had taken a fair bit out of them, forcing them out their various transformations. It looked like they had landed pretty close together too, judging by how each of the girls (the three CPUs, and Spirit), had landed in one big pile with their resident Pudding lover on the bottom.
Geez, that had to be a KILLER on the lungs, huh...?
Meh, no time like the present to get things moving along, again.
"Alright, since we're here, we should probably regroup with the others." She declared whilst walking up to them, grasping each of the CPUs with her newly sprouted Tendrils. Compa simply rolled off once she got some breathing room again, allowing her to get to her feet as well as help Neptune up by grabbing her arm and hoisting it over her shoulder.
Glancing down at her friend, whom seemed to still be in her coughing and wheezing phase, the young Spirit aimed a concerned question towards her. "Nep-Nep... you ok?" she questioned, tilting her head as the preteen looked up to her, her eyes slightly less focused than normal although that didn't stop the preteen from half-smirking in her direction.
"Heh-Heh... I'm good, Compa-dear. Gonna take much more than this to keep this Nep down, y'know…" She replied, before glancing over to Noire and Vert whom had used this time to get to their feet and pat themselves down. "Guess we had a bit of a crashed landing, huh...?"
A look towards her got directed by the Lastation CPU, Noire huffing with n small amount of irritation seeping from her words. "I'll say. I'd say I told you so, but reality spoke for itself before." she stated, scoffing. "I had TOLD you all we should have waited till we could identify the barrier proper, and WHAT happens? Geez..." she complained, causing the rest of them to sweat drop even as Neptune tried (and failed, epically, as you know she usually did when it came to Noire) to calm her down.
Meanwhile, Vert looked around as she distanced herself from the conversation taking place behind her. "So... this is Lowee, then?" she mumbled under her breath, a feeling of unease sweeping through her being especially when she looked up and noticed the way the skies were. "Looks like things around here may in fact be potentially worse than in Leanbox…" she whispered ominously under her breath, all before she glanced over to her companions. Seeing as how Noire looked to be one step away from strangling the Planeptune CPU (Vert figured she had said something silly again) with IF and Compa trying to hold her back, Vert strolled on over. "Now, now, I'm sure that we can all just calm down and think rationally about this." she began, about to try to say something... when in that moment her eyes steeled. "Especially since it seems some... hefty EXP and Credits are close by."
"Eh?"
Her words caused a unified sound of confusion to ring out from the girls, each of them ceasing their squabbling as they wondered what the woman had been talking about. However, they soon got their answer when they unleashed their various sensing abilities like the Divine Sense from the Solitary World God Manual, sensing a presence slowly approaching them. Not only did they sense it, but just sensing the presence seemed to enlighten the girls to a surge of killing intent as well as... lust, aimed towards them. It... disturbed them more than slightly, as each of them turned to the direction where the presence came from.
In the distance, they saw some sort of... creature, approaching them at a slow speed... although that slow speed got compensated by the HUGE ass size that the creature sported. It took on the form of what looked to be some sort of giant lizard, one which had a strong resemblance to an armadillo. The Armadillo-like creature looked to be covered in red-tinted scales of diamond, whilst around its neck and on its back were these giant crystals shaped like stone pillars. The creature gazed at their direction with its eyes shining in unrepentant lust, its movements slow yet... oddly sensual for a creature it's size, prompting disgusted shivers from the girls.
"Ugh, creepy... my Nep-instincts are telling mwah to get my 'manwhore' repellent out and spray it..." Neptune couldn't help but comment, all whilst transforming into Purple Heart once again. She held Soul Calibur in her hands in her default battle stance, although her eyes burned with a wild fire to them. "In any case, let us slay this creature before it tries to defile what makes us fair maidens, shall we?" she suggested whilst glancing to the rest of her comrades… all of them, save for IF, having transformed into their CPU/Spirit Forms. IF meanwhile, simply sprouted various appendages from her body, her Tendrils, Axammers and her Wings.
A simple nod got given by Planeptune's CPU, all other thoughts about their situation leaving her mind as she focused on one sole fact: an enemy was coming their way, judging by the intentions she could feel from it, and what enemies stood in her way of reuniting with her hubby would get ANNIHILATED... with extreme prejudice.
Chapter end!
Hey all, I'm back!
Sorry that I've been inactive a bit recently, real life's been kicking me to the curb and leaving me too tired to write as much as I'd like to, but anyways this Chapter's finally out! Actually, this chapter WOULD have been longer, but since the next part is going to be a 3-team battle against 3 different enemies, enemies which I'll give people shout outs for guessing their identities/origins in the reviews, I decided that this would be a nice stopping point. That, and I got tired by this point.
Anyways, now we have FINALLY begun a highly anticipated arc in this fanfic: the LOWEE Arc! A bit of a slow start sure, but I wanted the characters to be able to at least fight against Continent Class opponents. Also, not only did their entry into the Land of White Serenity get fucked up, but they're also immediately attacked! But by what, you might be thinking? Also, what's happening on Lowee? What did Nico and Vert notice about the place? What's going on with Lowee's CPU? So many unknowns are now present in this chapter, something that people can think over...
Whelp, hopefully the answers will come in time.
Also, for anyone who is wondering, I actually have an outline for this Lowee Arc planned, one which takes inspiration from the canon arc but with my own twists and spins on it. This is so that I can avoid the Leanbox Arc's tendency to drag on, as I feel like it had for a while. Although I'll still try to get some interesting Lore about the world through Lowee, including its History, Culture etc in there so no worries there. I've actually been thinking about that for a while, not to mention that stuff for Lastation too. Hopefully you all will like the direction I'm going to take this, hehehehehehe…
Hope you all liked this chapter, and look forward to more!
Peace Out!
