Chapter 179 - What to do
To describe the overall situation in Lowee as bleak would be a massive understatement.
This thought had been the dominant one in the backs of each of the CPUs' minds as they sat within one of the Meeting Rooms within the Basilicom, talking. Well, most of them were, as Neptune just slouched on over the table, trying not to fall asleep with Noire and Vert making sure that didn't happen. They did so by constantly flaring their mix of Share Energy and Demonic Power, also implicating themselves as just as 'altered' as Neptune was to Blanc all the while, mostly as a means of telling her 'don't fuck with us if you don't want your cheeks to be clapped'.
Just like how Neptune had clapped her cheeks before.
As for the setting, the meeting room itself didn't look anything like what one would expect one to look like, though considering how the resistance hardly had the same resources as a large organization, that's understandable. The meeting room had a cube-like shape to it, with a fluffy white carpet on the ground. In the middle of the room, stood a circular table made from wood, with wooden stools surrounding it making it somewhat similar to the legend of the round table, a myth according to Leanbox's ancient history. Well, with how the Nations had pillaged from one another countless times in the past, perhaps something like this was to be expected, although it did fill Vert with a sense of pride knowing that the Lowee CPU had tried to replicate something from HER Nation. However, she chose to put that aside as soon as she felt it since it wasn't wise to antagonize Blanc at the moment.
Which felt especially true in regards to the things that had been happening, like how the talks between her and the other CPUs about her Nation joining the Alliance the others were in and what they would be able to contribute. So far, little had progressed on that route and not because Blanc wasn't willing as thanks to that little display Neptune had performed, she HAD to swallow her pride so her Nation wouldn't become another forgotten record of history like so many others had before it. But, well, mostly because as of currently most of what she COULD have contributed was in the hands of the enemy, stalling things there.
"Looks like the recent raid was a success…" the Lowee CPU commented as she looked over a report laid out before her on her section of the Table, a report she had received from one of her staff members. Judging from the statistics, she could say that the raid had been a success with reasonable confidence, something which she began to think about how to use to better the Resistance. "Supplies will go to where they're most needed. The children's hospitals have a dire need for funds after the last retrieval raid, soldiers need to recuperate in the Militia facility, training equipment needs to be fixed…"
Blanc's mumblings got cut short by Neptune who stretched her arms up above her head. "Soooo, you're saying to give everything to the soldier Bois and the healing helpers, alright. Got it. Moving on, is there anything else we need to talk about?" she questioned, looking to the others.
Vert rolled her eyes at Neptune's blunt statement, knowing that she was just literally telling them that they should get started with other matters already, something which Blanc looked like she wanted to lash out at the girl for only to hold herself back at the last moment. "Well, Neptune's rudeness aside here, I do believe that it's time we talk less defensive and more offensive." she began to say as a hologram of a 3D Map of the entirety of the Lowee floating Landmass appeared over the Table's center. The hologram circled constantly at a slow enough speed for them to see, with various areas highlighted in different colors in order of the risk assessment provided to them.
Pretty much all of this data had been provided to them by Team RAIL, who had been acting as a scouting force for them by passing throughout the entirety of the Lowee Continent. They'd sneak by the more dangerous areas with Aiden's ability to scout from the air, whilst apparently, Raven's powers had a great effect on Lowee, thus they were able to deal significant damage to their enemies if they ever got attacked… which they did, quite a lot. All the while, they would map everything out and record the data they'd gather before sending it back to their remaining superiors in the Spec Ops Branch.
Looking at the assembled Data, Vert hummed thoughtfully, cupping her chin with one hand whilst the other rested upon her lap, one leg crossed over the other as she spoke her mind. "Hmmm, looks like with our current supplies, we can afford to launch about 3 or so capture attempts on several nearby towns. Perhaps we should start thinking about this option since if we keep our current strategy up, we will only be prolonging the inevitable defeat and destruction of Lowee."
"Oooooooohhhhhhh! That sounds like a GREAT idea, Vert! The Nep's all nepped up about that! All aboard the hype train! Prepare the battlements! Sound the Horn! Let's goooooo!"
BONK!
"GAHEH!"
"What the IDIOT besides me is trying to say…" Noire began, her clenched fist lightly steaming from the hit on the head that she had given the purple-haired preteen who now lay on the ground side first, a comically large bump on her head that occasionally pulsated whilst it steamed. She had multiple tick marks on her person, but she put her indignation aside for the time being in favor of offering her opinion on the subject at hand. "Is that we need to start taking the fight back to Chaos and Conversation, and fast. We can either slowly take everything back or we can focus our efforts on the Barrier itself, finding out how it works and how to shut it down so we can request our Nations to send spare reinforcements."
At this, Blanc nodded her head in agreement as she glanced behind her, out the window and up into the Lowee Skies. Skies that were covered in all sorts of different colors thanks to the work of Tzeentch and his followers. Holding out would be all well and good, however, the way things were going showed Blanc one thing: if they didn't destroy that Barrier soon, then the other Nations will not be able to send in reinforcements nor will there be simply 4 Nations but 3. Plus, there was the fact that the lack of proper communication with the outside world left her ignorant to most of the global affairs taking place, and she likely would have remained that way had Neptune and the others not filled her in. "Yes… that thing needs to go might make for some nice fireworks," she remarked, a dark smile slowly spreading across her lips.
Although Noire continued afterward, ignoring her smile. "But, attempting to seize territories at this point isn't the brightest idea, not with the current amount of troops that we have… we COULD try to recruit who we can and train them to the best of our ability with our current resources, but I doubt that we'd get too many." She remarked, frowning as she cupped her chin with her left hand. "This isn't Lastation after all…"
Blanc nodded her head in agreement there, having made to say something similar to what Noire had said herself before the Lastation CPU had beat her to it. However, she also had to point out another factor that was going to be a relevant pain for them both. "Agreed. There's also the danger of the DPUs, the ones that Spec Ops Agent from Planeptune call Jules and Kafka. They notice anything they'll be on us like bloodhounds." she stated, causing a wave of tension to fill the room to the point where even the prone Neptune looked up with a serious frown on her face. Meanwhile, Blanc herself narrowed her eyes with a scowl forming on her features, her signature pissed off look slowly coming to life at the thought of those two annoyances.
Jules and Kafka, two DPUs who had been a major thorn in Blanc's side since this whole war began. Apparently, according to her, those two were the ones who had wiped out the majority of the Spec Ops Branch here in Lowee, alongside a large portion of civilians, Adventurers, Agents, and Militia. Blanc herself had had many encounters with them ever since most of them being light skirmishes and usually ending with her fleeing with her tail between her legs due to them both being WAY too powerful for her to take on. Heck, even at full power, Blanc had lost to them in a pathetic display when they'd first appeared during Arfoire's uprising. In current times, however, it was thanks to the recent company that Blanc had allowed to join that they had even managed to repel the two powerful DPUs, whom according to the Party had been about MultI-Continent Class in terms of their power system, whenever they had appeared.
Though repelling was NOT the same as defeating them, plus they got the feeling that neither of them had been showing their full strength either since neither transformed before the girls.
Although strangely enough, they never really interfered with one member of their Party no matter how many times they sent him on missions with his little group of Abnormals.
"Oh right, hey Blanny I gotta question." Neptune suddenly chirped up, looking like she hadn't been hit by Noire earlier which made the said blackette question the purplette's recovery speed. Sitting back on her stool, Neptune playfully twirled around on it like she was on a spinning top, before forcefully stopping herself when she got too dizzy (proven by the swirls in her eyes) by grabbing the stool with her hands. She then shook her head repeatedly to get herself back on track. "What's the dealio with the monsters here? I mean, sure a lot of em are joining Nicky's group when he finds them, but shouldn't there be like, well, MORE of them still? They're MEANT to be super strong after all." Neptune questioned.
It didn't take long for Blanc to answer, and the answer was as follows: "Because of the Yoma and Chaos, Neptune. Thanks to those fuckers, most of the recorded Abnormals were either wiped out or completely morphed by Chaos's taint reducing them to twisted and grotesque abominations. No idea where the Yoma came from me, but before my exile…" Blanc had paused to grip her thighs to the point where she left imprints on her legs at the disgraceful memories, something which quickly caught Noire and Vert's attention before she had continued. "I learned that there had been several… shipments, coming into Lowee's ports from Lastation, Planeptune, and Leanbox. To be more specific, a Nobleman and Avenir."
"That would explain the Killachine, then…" Vert commented, frowning to herself whilst Noire gritted her teeth. The blonde CPU could understand her frustrations since she had been fighting Avenir for control over her Nation for quite some time now. Their civil war pretty much stunted them with regards to their Abnormal situation from what she had heard, however, it was her Spec Ops Branch that was mostly responsible for keeping her cities and towns safe from harm. "And what of Planeptune? How do they fit into all of this…?" she queried, noticing that nothing had been said about that yet.
In response, Blanc shook her head. "No clue. Sadly, details of their involvement were sketchy at best, but from what I've managed to gather they sent some kind of prototype technology here through some anonymous investors. No leads could be found to them…" she explained, gripping the sides of the Table whilst she recalled the past examples of her inadequacy.
"... oh Nep, that means there are bad folks in my Nation, too." After a small silence, Neptune blurted the first thing that came to her mind, which had been the sentence that had just come out of her mouth. She honestly hadn't really thought of that what with all the adventuring she had been doing along with fighting monsters, demons, and looking for the Key Fragments.
"Of course there are, Neptune! It' be stupid to assume otherwise! What, you thought that since your Nation is relatively peaceful compared to ours you're automatically better than us?!"
"Not to mention wholly arrogant, you know. Perhaps we should correct that mentality outside… for a few hours."
And of course, both Noire and Vert scolded the preteen with malicious gazes being aimed at her. The former had even begun mimicking Blanc's little 'one red eye of darkness' trick whilst Vert looked like she was smiling sweetly… if one didn't count the shadows over her eyes or the multitude of veins pulsing across her forehead. This caused Neptune to sweat buckets as she tried to diffuse the situation, rather fruitlessly to her dismay since the other two kept aiming bloodlust and KI at her.
Whilst she saw this, Blanc reflected back on what they had told her once during the last month, a summarization of their own Nations' troubles, and one thought presented itself inside the back of her mind. 'Mine may be on the brink of collapse, but it seems that the other Nations are facing difficulties on their own… bet Thunder Tits' will fall after mine if I had to guess.' she thought, glaring at Vert's twin melons on her torso… not like the blonde woman noticed this time since she was too busy admonishing Neptune.
About 10 minutes later, the two CPUs seemed to have calmed down, allowing the discussion to resume.
"What of your Spec Ops Agents?" Vert questioned whilst Neptune sat in mourning silence, a sign hanging from her neck which had the words 'do not speak to' engraved onto it. "Do you think we can rely on them for some assistance with the matter of the Barrier?" In the end, despite what people thought the fact that the Spec Ops Program produced results could not be ignored, and considering their own experiences with it the Leanbox CPU wondered if it could be possible that those that survived the initial attack from Chaos and the Youma to be able to assist them.
At this, Blanc's eyes sparked a bit, catching their attention as she began to explain. "Right now most of them are still rather busy keeping our remaining territories safe from incursions. The Youma are quite aggressive in taking them out from what I heard from the reports, however, I was able to reach out to some of them, and they were able to respond to my summons. Furthermore, these 4 Agents have been reported to have high Youma Kill counts across Lowee, which means that they may have access to different leads and/or information we lack. They shouldn't take more than 4 days or so to return here."
With this positive news for once, a pleased smile formed on Vert's lips as she nodded in satisfaction. "Ah, splendid. That will definitely help us."
"That's all well and good, but we may not have that much time." However, the realist called Noire didn't think that would be enough for their mission which stressed how much importance she placed on finding out more information about the Barrier. "Now having them come here isn't bad in of itself aside from it leaving their previous posts unattended and increasing the risk of danger those places fall into, but depending on who they are we may not have as good a scouting force as we might have liked." the blackette reasoned, and much to her chagrin Blanc couldn't argue with her there.
In her eyes, Noire wasn't someone who had known the Spec Ops Agents as she did, so she had an unbiased opinion here, not to mention that Blanc herself had only requested 'whoever you could spend' to her Spec Ops Subordinates, meaning that the possibility of them being the ones most qualified for this type of mission.
In the end, however, an idea came to the blackette, one which she accompanied with a quick click of her fingers. "How about we have Nico's Tekkadan go and investigate? Not only are they fast in terms of mobility making them able to escape from enemy ambushes easily, but they're easily the most available forces that we have. Also, with them being always on the move they will have the knowledge to move through better than normal militia as well as the ability to cover more of the continent in a quicker amount of time. We can even have Team RAIL assist them in this." She suggested, prompting the other two CPUs who knew the guy to form their own thoughts on the matter in their minds.
Although, the sole member of their race who DIDN'T know them found herself quickly growing irritated with this, not liking how this conversation had gone over to that guy. It was almost all that they talked about for the last few days, and it started to piss her off a bit. The brunette CPU just couldn't grasp what they saw in the guy since he had that sinister, twisted power flowing through his veins. Part of her even wondered if this… devilish feeling she got from them had somehow allowed him to brainwash them into being his damn harem girls or something.
It was annoying as fuck.
Didn't they have any pride as CPUs?!
In this state, she would have just yelled at them or something, but one look at Neptune who seemingly understood what she had thought and briefly flashed a bit of her Demonic Power, quelled such thoughts. Instead, she decided to come at this from a different angle, one which (hopefully) didn't involve her getting her ass handed to her by the preteen again. "There you go again with that guy… just what do you guys see in him? What makes you oh so 'fond' of him?" Yet, when her question came out Blanc immediately tensed up inside in fear of getting bashed again, though she soon sighed mentally (not wanting her nervousness to be shown) when the seconds passed and she didn't feel a fist getting smashed into her noggin. Instead, when she looked to her fellow CPUs, Blanc saw them each begin to ponder the question seriously (even NOIRE of all people much to her shock).
"Hmmm… what do I see in my Nicky...?" Neptune mused, mauling the question over by tapping her chin repeatedly with her index finger… for a few seconds. Then, she just happily beamed at the brunette CPU with a tinge of pink on her cheeks as she gave her response. "He's my Hubby!"
"H-Hubby? You're serious…?"
"Yuppers, as serious as my Pudding is tasty! He's a bit standoffish and broody... ok VERY broody. But, he's at least being more honest about it. He does tend to do things on his own, but with those guys he's leading, I'm betting that'll make him rely on others for help more. All in all, he's kinda edgy, but is more open about it whilst occasionally exposing his inner child inside…" Neptune remarked, listing several qualities she had observed about him whilst holding out a hand and curling a finger for each trait she had listed. Internally though, she did wonder what it would have been like if she could bathe in a bath of pudding with Nico and lick him all over... "Though, I guess the best thing about him... I'd say that would be the fact that he lets me be who I want to be around him, without judging me too harshly, ya know? Even us joke characters need SOME time to wind down, otherwise, we'd become boring and lose our purpose!"
Whilst Blanc tried to process these words and compare them to what she had felt from him when she had first seen him post-invasion, Vert nodded her head in response to Neptune's words, several times actually. "Those are some interesting reasons Neptune, and as for me…" she began, before looking to the side with a soft, nostalgic smile on her face as memories passed through her mind. "Me, I see him as my in-game husband, though I hope to add reality to that scenario one day. He's good enough to rival me in games, he uses interesting philosophies in his daily life, and best of all he has quite the intellect hidden away behind his warrior self. He's someone who I can see myself taking as an eternal companion eventually, although I haven't had the chance to spend as much time with him as I'd like. Hopefully, that'll change in the near future."
'Even Thunder Tits is this enamored…?'
Lastly came Noire, and unlike what everyone had been expecting from her, the blackette looked to be the calmest of the bunch as she elegantly raised a cup of tea to her lips and drank it, having had one brought to her by a servant to help wet her throat from all the talking that she'd been doing. "Well… if I had to say what my deal is with him, I'd say he's an important companion, since he's done a lot not only for my Nation but helped each of us grow in certain ways. Ways which normally I bet we would have shied away from." She couldn't imagine her original self having embraced the powers of a Demon or a Dragon honestly since she had originally coveted the title of True Goddess so fanatically back in the Console Wars. However, thanks to everything that had happened she no longer cared about something so meaningless. In the end, she lowered her cup down to the table and looked Blanc directly into the eyes. "Anyways, we can highlight all the good and bad stuff the guy has done for us, but that's not what you really want, is it? In the end, the best way for you to judge him is by being around him yourself. Maybe then you'll get the answers you seek." she stated, surprising everyone once again at her level-headedness.
Meanwhile in her head….
'Oh thank god, I didn't blow a gasket. Seriously Blanc is this REALLY the time to be asking such questions?! Come on! I mean, I get where you're coming from, but you should at least have phrased your question better!' even though she had been calm as a puddle of water on a silent summer day externally, internally she couldn't help but celebrate the fact that she hadn't lost her composure at that moment like the rest of them had somewhat. That question had VERY NEARLY took her composure by the hair and fucked it over like some kind of hooker, something which Noire likely wouldn't ever live down if Neptune had her say in the matter.
Over on Blanc's side, an uncertain look crossed onto her face as she processed Noire's words. Perhaps asking these girls who have been around him for so long wasn't the best idea, as they likely held some bias in his favor, but still the more she looked at them the more she began to wonder if they were really being mind-controlled or something like that. Still, Blanc wasn't too sure about getting to know a DPU, even if Noire recommended that she do so. Memories of her previous battles with Jules and Kafka constantly replayed themselves, souring both her mood as well as her opinion of DPUs in general… the fact that all she had seen and heard of their race pictured them as truly twisted individuals didn't help. In his case, Nico might just be acting to get her to lower her guard for a quick fatal blow…
But, what if he wasn't?
Fortunately, it seemed as though the guy hadn't sunk his claws into Noire yet, or at least that's what she liked to think, as Blanc pondered on what to do next. Not just about Nico, but also about this whole assignment. The more she thought about it though, the more fruitful the idea of using the Tekkadan sounded, and as much as she didn't like admitting it, her forces alone weren't large enough to mount a full-scale offensive.
Was fighting monsters with monsters of her own all she, Lowee's patron CPU, could feasibly do?
'Well… I'll just have to give it a shot, cause I'm already back into a corner anyways. Might as well try and hold off judgment on him for now… Though one false move and I don't care what I have to do, I WILL force him out of my home.'
The following day, a message arrived on Nico's Bracer during one of his nightly patrols around his Tekkadan's camp, telling him of some new directives given to him by White Heart herself. The redhead found himself quite surprised that she had bothered to contact him at all considering what he'd noticed about her, but when he read the orders given to him the teen put that stuff to the back of his mind in favor of completing his assigned task. According to the new directives, he and the Tekkadan were to 'visit' a couple of areas nearby which were said to be teaming with Youma, one could also call them their strongholds. Apparently, they held various supplies, information on other stronghold locations as well as the enslaved citizenry. His goal was to liberate those assets and bring them to the resistance… at least on the surface, but Nico figured out what they were REALLY after.
Information on the Barrier.
It had been the wording of the directives which had tipped him off since it seemed to put emphasis on obtaining knowledge. Why would she do that other than to find out a way of turning the tides of battle back in her favor? From there it just became a simple task of eliminating possible options until he came to the Barrier conclusion.
Good thing then that he had already been thinking about this since before they had even arrived at Lowee, and as such whilst he and his forces had been fighting and killing Youma, Nico had also been investigating the Barrier on the side, having managed to dig up a couple of possible leads. Leads which the Resistance might not have picked up on since most of the stuff he had found had come from raiding the few chaos Camps that he'd found when scouting in the air with Urthemiel, and their stuff usually had been written in the Demonic Tongue, so even if the Resistance had found them they wouldn't have been able to transcribe them without some poor saps losing their sanity.
Additional supplies came from his Primaltwin, whom he'd sent into the few Hellgates there were on Lowee into the Demon Worlds to fight the residents there to grow its powers alongside finding any information or supplies that the Tekkadan could use to its advantage. Definitely helped the Merc Group gradually develop its weaponry and knowledge, Nico would say.
Thus, for the next few days, Nico investigated these leads with the Tekkadan, all whilst freeing Abnormals and humans alike from any strongholds that they found. A bunch of defeats did happen though, ones which resulted in small to medium-sized losses which the lad couldn't have predicted with his limited leadership experience. Such losses came in the form of surprise ambushes from more experienced commanders, forcing Nico to adapt and quickly respond to the enemy before they could utterly annihilate the Tekkadan. Each time they mourned the losses of their loved ones, with Nico taking it more personal than the rest of them and making sure to show that to the rest, allowing them to see their Leader as not just that, but someone who fought alongside them on the battlefield. Someone who bled the same as them, someone who they could relate to.
On the fourth day, Nico rode back to ALPHADREAM on Cavalier, the redhead teen having been summoned by White Heart to attend a meeting hosted by herself with 4 other Spec Ops Agents said to be in attendance, making about 5 in total. If he were to guess, then Nico would say that these guys would at least be in the upper echelon in terms of power, which meant he had to be careful in what he said/did around them lest they have any ties to higher-ups in the other Nations.
Currently, the redhead finally stopped at the main entrance to the town, dismounting his demonic Skimmer and watching it vanish into black flames. Afterward, Nico began walking into the town with his glove-covered hands pocketed inside his Trench Coat, all while wondering how this meeting would turn out. 'Bet you it's about the results I could have dug up about the Barrier…' the male thought to himself, feeling one of his alternate Personas establish a link and, judging by the maddening feeling he got from it, Nico knew who it would be.
'BAH, IF THOSE BITCHES WHINE, JUST STICK IT TO EM, I'D SAY. THEY AREN'T THE ONES STICKING THEIR NECKS OUT IN THE THICK OF IT, SO THEY HAVEN'T THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN.'
'Well, to be fair the few Chaos Armies that DID try to attack this City got dealt with by Neptune, Vert, and Noire. So, they HAVE been doing other stuff aside from just sitting on their backsides all day listening to boring meetings…' Nico responded to Byakko's words, his Ghoul Persona huffing derisively. The redhead honestly didn't expect anything else from him anyways, but he did make one good argument: if any one of them were to badmouth him for his lack of producing results when they themselves haven't been doing nearly as much, he'd be damn well sure to speak about it. Didn't matter who it was, Nico wouldn't let them badmouth not just him, but the Tekkadan's sacrifices throughout this conflict, he'd tear them apart and feed their souls to Soul Edge even if he had to transform into his DPU Self.
'As unwise as that may sound, I do admit that there may be Agents who are like that… Still, do not underestimate these foes, otherwise, they may pull a fast one on us.'
Already Biko, who had just joined the mental chat as Nico neared the faux Basilicom building, was designated the Spec Ops as foes huh? Well, the redhead understood that he wasn't a complete fool. It was always important to balance out logic and instinct depending on the scenario, similar to how people believe there to be links between a human's physical health and their psychological well-being. Right now, his logic was in control, but any insults to his and the Tekkadan's efforts would result in instinct taking over QUITE quickly.
'OH YEAH, FUCK I ALMOST FORGOT BUT SOMETHING'S BEEN BUGGING ME. WHY THE FUCK ARE ALL THE DICKWAD DPUS WE'VE MET SO FREAKING 'PRETTY' IN AN ALMOST FEMININE WAY? LIKE THOSE MANY OTOME GAME SHITS THAT SLUTTY BITCHES WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO DATE LIKE TO HOOK UP WITH?'
Just as Nico reached the Basilicom, entered and told the receptionist of his meeting with the CPU, Financier got called out to bring him to where the brunette Goddess resided currently, Byakko then pointed out something which gave the redhead pause. Now that he thought about it, the vulgar being actually made a sound point there, what the heck? Why did all the DPUs they know look like Otome Game Characters: Mundus, Jules, even Kafka. Heck he himself had styled himself in a way that made him look like one too and didn't really give it much thought outside of it being a representation of his change in ideals. 'Huh, now that you mention it… it's indeed strange. Biko, you know anything from the Lexicanum?'
'Nothing is stated explicitly, but it's implied that its a simple evolutionary change for the DPUs to look like that so they seem desirable to possible mating candidates. I am willing to bet that they just use their looks to their advantage to get their prey to drop their guards before having their way with them to breed monsters and demons from them… it'd work especially well in this age.'
On THAT, Nico could agree as he finally found himself at the door to where White Heart was said to be. He could tell she was though since he could sense her Share Energy within, alongside multiple other powerful energy signatures that confirmed his previous theories, meaning that he would soon be entering what could be called the lion's den… thing was, he was no sheep. Not even a wolf or dragon: but a DEVIL.
'You ready for this, Nico? I sense that these signatures may be in the top levels of the Spec Ops Agency. They may be the bigger threat compared to that White Heart CPU in all honesty.'
'HAH, FUCK OFF NERD! DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY SHITTY FUCKERS THERE ARE, THEY'LL FALL TO MY CLAWS ALL THE SAME!'
'Like how you fall into Erebus's traps often to allow her to have her way with you?'
'... THAT'S IT, I'MMA RIP YOUR BALLS OFF NOW. MAYBE THEN THAT MANWHORE OURANOS WILL FINALLY SHUT HIS TRAP… PREFERABLY AROUND YOUR MANLY PRIDE.'
Cutting off the connection between his Personas in preparation for both his own situation as well as so he could get away from the impending chaos on their side, Nico finally proceeded to push the door open and stroll inside.
Upon stepping inside, Nico shut the door behind him whilst looking forwards, seeing the brown-haired CPU with several others gathered around a table… and once he saw them, Nico's eyes turned as sharp as daggers behind his Shades. 'So… I was RIGHT…' The male thought to himself, exerting his willpower to keep his expression neutral outside of his previously stated reaction.
Within the room, Blanc sat at a table on the opposite side, but that wasn't what had caught his attention. What DID catch his attention, were the figures seated all around the table like they were trying to replicate a certain tale about a king and his 12 knights. There were a total of four figures seated here, each one is equipped with their own distinct appearances and presence throughout the meeting room.
The first figure and arguably the LARGEST of them, even taller than Vert which said a lot considering she had been quite a tall woman for females in Gamindustri. He looked to be at LEAST 16 foot tall, large, and a rather muscular-looking man with short spiky crimson hair and two symmetric scars on both sides of his face. He possessed long legs, with his thighs being equally as long as his lower limbs. He possessed sharp, intense, crimson eyes like those of an animal on high alert, although Nico also attributed them to his own when they became demonic once his Demonic Power began to flow, highly arched eyebrows, and prominent lower eyelashes under each eye.
For an attire, the man wore a massive, light ragged scarf that covered his mouth and reached his shoulders. He also wore a torn leather vest with CHARLOTTE on the back that exposed most of his torso, dark gloves and pants, a belt with a skull-shaped buckle, and spiked boots with spurs. His torso looked QUITE defined and this came from someone who had quite the defined body himself, having prominent abdominal muscles covered in pink tattoos, and he wore spiked bracelets on his arms as well as knee pads with a single spike on them. In essence, one could feel a sense of punkish presence coming from the man, although that was mixed in with the feeling of being potentially ripped a new one if one pissed him off.
Second out of the figures turned out to be a man who Nico had only known by name until this point due to how infamous his reputation truly was: Dracule Mihawk, codename HAWKEYE. A man whose skills with a blade allowed him to slice entire ships and buildings in half with just a single swing of his black sword. Abnormals that towered over cities got their heads decapitated by that man, who didn't even lift his fingers all that much in those times, with only a few select cases where he took things generally seriously. If Nico were to compare him with anyone, then he'd call him a modern-day Okada Izou… and even then he wasn't sure who would win between the two in a direct fight although, as a descendent of the guy, he did feel the desire to go up against him one day.
In terms of appearance, Mihawk took the form of a tall, lean man with black hair, a short beard, mustache, and sideburns that point upwards. His crimson eyes actually resembled those of a hawk, which had been a deciding factor when giving him his Codename back when he first became an Agent. For his outfit, he wore mostly ornate black and red clothes, with a crucifix pendant which resulted in him having the appearance of a Spanish swordsman, the Spanish Nico recalled being something which had once been a culture in Leanbox, actually. His attire consisted of a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume, and a long, open black coat with no shirt underneath, with red, flower-patterned sleeves and collar. He wears white pants over his legs, held up by a decorated belt and tucked inside overly large boots in comparison to his leg size. Around his neck was something Nico recalled being called a Kogatama, a cross-shaped necklace. Lastly, was the black sword which currently leaned on a diagonal angle beside him whilst the man sat with one leg crossed over the other, and his hat tipped over so he couldn't see his eyes (though Nico had recalled them from some images he'd seen on the internet a few times)
Though as intimidating as these two looked, they felt like NOTHING compared to the last two people sitting on opposite sides of one another.
One of them took the form of a tall, well-built man with snow-white hair and gray eyes. His facial features looked well-chiseled and defined, making one think that the man had quite the Fanclub after him with those looks. For apparel, he wore a pair of thin-framed glasses and a calm, borderline apathetic expression, dressing himself up in business getup: a grey colored overcoat under a white dress shirt ad black tie, with some grey dress pants and black dress shoes. Over this though, he wore a long, white coat with a high collar similar to Nico's own coat, whilst next to him was a large, white suitcase, one which REALLY gave Nico's inner Ghoul large warning signals. Mentally, Nico noted this for future reference.
Finally the other one, and the sole female member of the group. Now, this one Nico wasn't as sure on, but judging from her mannerisms and how she held herself the redhead theorized that she lived a somewhat nomadic lifestyle as IF did. The female in-person looked like a teenage lady although he got the feeling from looking into her eyes that she had much more age to her than she looked. Speaking of looks, she possessed long flowing black hair with a black ribbon as a hair ornament. Her clothing reminded Nico of the Gothic Lolita culture that various otaku Spec Ops Agents (two of them being his bros in Team RAIL) told him about: a black dress with red frills, black stockings supported with garters and a pair of red boots. Leaning beside her, was a huge, purplish Axe-shaped weapon since Nico also saw it as somewhat of a Halberd with its tip and it being double-bladed.
Almost instantly, he, the girl, and the white-haired man glanced at one another, and on the surface, none of them looked particularly unpleasant at the sight of one another. However, the moment they looked at one another a sense of tension-filled the room, one much unlike the kind of tension many people might think. It felt like they were a bunch of cats, eyeing one another as potential threats to their territory with the onlookers being witnesses to this event. Even as Blanc tried to speak just then, she soon found that she couldn't as if her voice had been robbed from her without her noticing, much to her shock.
"I would advise against it, Lady White Heart…"
However, before she could say anything, the giant of a man to her left spoke up before her, looking unaffected by what was happening which turned out to be the same for the Spanish swordsman-looking man. Glancing over to him and knowing that somehow her speech wouldn't make it out of her mouth, Blanc's gaze said everything for her, prompting the man to explain the situation to her.
"It's more of a Spec Ops thing, but you recall that some of us have a Title, two or more to our names, right?" The man questioned, getting a nod from the CPU of Lowee. She did indeed know of Spec Ops Agents with titles to their names alongside their Codenames, but she hadn't paid too much to them since they sounded like just some kind of exaggeration of their abilities and nothing but a source of misguided pride. If the man could tell what the brunette had been thinking, he didn't voice it or show any indication either, instead favoring the option of continuing. "Well, throughout our community, there are some titles held in higher regard than others, one of them being 'Reaper'. The Reaper title comes not from us, but from the assassin world, as one particular assassin who remained anonymous throughout the years, managed to get christened it after his victims reached over a thousand. Those that were strong, this guy killed with knowledge, and those who were wise he killed with power. He killed those who had both with charm, though it's been said that his ultimate fate is unknown. Some say he's still around, plucking heads and taking names as a part of his ever-increasing kill count, others say that if a job is too difficult for normal assassins to handle, the Reaper will handle it."
As she took in this information, Blanc shuddered with a feeling of dread falling onto her shoulders, her skin losing some of its fair complexions at the thought of such a man. Soldiers she could understand since they fought in wars and inevitably took lives. But assassins? They killed without the prey even realizing it, so the thought that someone had that level of skill under their pockets really unnerved her, even if she were a powerful Goddess, since if this guy had that many victims, then what's to say that he wouldn't be able to catch her as well? The only pieces of solace she took from this, were that this Reaper guy seemed to be implied to have vanished without a trace, and the second solace she took turned out to be the way that he glanced towards the others which had ignited her curiosity once more… although it turned out to be quite a morbid one at that. "You say that then why are…?"
"Each of them has been christened as 'Reapers', Lady White Heart." The man answered simply, causing Blanc's stomach to feel like it had dropped, especially since that admission made her see the three Agents as cloaked skeletons with large Scythes, ready to hack her apart at the slightest provocation. "The Reaper Title has gained infamous notoriety as one who has killed so many that there are endless piles of bones in their wake. The boy, Nico I believe: the Black Reaper... Rory Mercury: the Reaper of Darkness, Death, and War… and lastly, Kishou Arima, the Spec Ops Reaper. Ones don't see a gathering of Reapers like this very often, and those who do say that it's like witnessing a potential cataclysm occur with one certainty: countless lives offered to the chopping block."
GULP!
Blanc could only gulp at that.
'Nevermind that DPU… the three of them sound like ticking time bombs…!'
After a while though, Blanc managed to gather her wits about her and start the meeting proper as Nico sat in the last seat available. It didn't look like he had any of his weapons on him at the moment either, Blanc had noticed, but one could never be too careful with people like these Spec Ops especially after what she just heard. "Alright, I'll start by thanking you all for responding to my summons. Now, the reason I've called on you here is concerning the upcoming assignment I have for you all, one which comes from me personally. The paperwork has already been handled, so this should be treated as an Urgent Quest."
BA-BUMP!
'Sh-Shit!'
Her heart almost skipped a beat when Blanc momentarily tensed up, having sensed how all eyes immediately focused on her form when she said those last two words. Like they were some kind of trigger to turn on their serious modes. Nevertheless, she kept on going as she clicked her fingers, a 3D hologram of Lowee appearing at the Table's center. "The goal is something I'm sure you're all familiar with at this point: the Barrier isolating Lowee from the rest of Gamindustri." She began, standing up as the Hologram started displaying the barrier as a full ovular orb-like thing around the entire Landmass. She began to walk from one side of the table, talking as the Agents took in the details. "It is the goal of the next offensive the resistance plans to launch in taking back the Land from the Youma, however, we lack one crucial detail: Information. Preferably on where the barrier's source is located if it even has one."
'I was right again… Looks like that's why we're here…' Nico thought to himself.
Though, he kept silent as Blanc finished up her speech whilst sitting back down on her seat again and putting her hands together. "All of you have been summoned here because you all have one thing in common: exceedingly high Youma kill counts across Lowee's Continent. Out of the available Agents, we have left, you 5 have been designated as the ones with the largest kill counts across all of Lowee, which implies that you've been around all over the place. I would like to hear about any details you might have come across during your trip that could help us in any way. Anything is fine, as long as it pertains to the Barrier."
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For a moment, everything was silent as the Spec Ops Agents remained unresponsive, however, this soon ended when one of them began to speak, that one being the same man who had told her about the reaper Title earlier: Charlotte Katakuri she recalled his name being from one of the dossiers she had received about the man. Apparently, his family had served Lowee for generations, but they did have roots within Leanbox which resulted in them having connections there. "With all due respect, Lady White Heart, finding anything on this barrier has been like finding a needle in a haystack, for everyone involved."
Blanc looked down when he said this, although she then raised it back up when Katakuri continued, his tone slightly increasing in positivity though it still held that apathetic, detached voice. "That said… I DID manage to confirm something recently. It's not exactly about the Barrier, but once when I lead an incursion into a Youma-dominated stronghold after repelling one of their attacks, I managed to obtain some documentation regarding a possible facility that is connected to the possible theory of a Youma Production facility." he explained, pulling those said sheets out of his Inventory and placing them onto the table.
Almost immediately, when the other Agents and Blanc looked them over they could tell that the Documents looked to have been heavily sabotaged, with many places covered in black ink as if one were trying to destroy all the evidence that the documents presented. Whilst some of them even wondered why the Youma didn't just shred these documents to pieces, Nico mentally theorized that these once belonged to the stronghold's previous management, and they had been trying to dispose of the evidence but got attacked before destroying it completely. There was no honor among thieves after all.
After a couple of moments involving everyone taking a look at the documentation, the one to speak next turned out to be Kishou Arima, who spoke with an equally detached and impassive kind of voice. "I concur. I overheard some of the Chaos Cultists during an undercover recon op in a particularly fortified stronghold that this facility is indeed real. They did not know the location exactly, which implies that only those with fair amounts of rank in their organization are privy to its' whereabouts." he reported, keeping his hands locked together over his lap whilst one leg remained crossed onto the other.
The fact that they couldn't question anyone from that stronghold got left unsaid, though everyone knew this to be the case. Mostly since they all knew that stronghold no longer existed thanks to Arima, and the fact that even if Arima hadn't destroyed it someone else likely would have eventually.
Showing himself as not finished yet by quietly clearing his throat, Arima then uncrossed and recrossed his legs. "Additionally, it's suspicious that the day this barrier came up and covered Lowee was the EXACT same day the Youma first appeared out of nowhere. The possible implication that they are connected cannot be ignored."
'Those words may hold more truth than the man may realize, Nico. According to my research on Wardcraft, there may yet be a connection to the Barrier and this unknown can be possible since Wards, the bigger they were and the more range they had, the more energy that would be expended to cast them. In order to keep something like this up, the barrier would have had to have a constant supply of Demonic Power to do so. The connection between the two could be that, due to how these creatures are primarily displaying powerful negative emotions like bloodlust, normal lust, rage, and hatred, if the caster learned how to possibly convert that into power then maintaining a barrier like this one with the facility as the source would be quite possible. In addition, this Barrier seems to have been of the University level, which adds credit to there being a facility meant for it since there one would have the resources gathered to maintain it.'
'Then there's the Caster themselves if they can maintain a barrier like this for so long then their power must be considerable. Though, depending on how its inner workings work the methods may not actually require the caster to do much. If we could have more information about it, then we can conclude more concretely.'
Unaware of Nico and Biko's internal conversation and theory crafting, a feminine giggle sounded throughout the room. "Ufufufu, an interesting idea, young man…" The amused words that escaped the lips of the female 'Reaper' of the Group, Rory Mercury, shone with how she considered Arima's words. She leaned back on her seat, looking like she didn't mind anything that was going on right now. "Your words do have some merit to them, and I can add on to them. For as long as I've lived, I have led a nomadic lifestyle which means I've been all around the continent before, which is why I had been out in the mountains in the northwest region when I started seeing the Barrier begin to form," she told the rest of the Agents, who quickly began paying EXTRA attention to that tidbit of information.
The revelation that the Barrier began to form from the northwestern part of Lowee was actually a significant piece of information since, thanks to the machinations of Arfoire/Conversation, nobody had been able to notice when exactly the Barrier had been erected since they had been too preoccupied with the early waves of Youma at the time. Therefore, Rory's testimony indicated that if there was such a facility, the northwestern region would be the best place for them to go.
"Oh, and in case any of you fine gentlemen were wondering, I haven't been able to explain this to anyone since I was thrown into the thick of combat before I got the chance," Rory added on at the end there, stopping anyone from asking her why she hadn't told this to anyone before now. Though, Blanc looked like she wanted to explode since Rory's words implied that she saw her as a man and not a woman… something which a certain area on her body didn't help with.
Finally, after being silent for the majority of this meeting, Hawkeye Mihawk, the Spanish-dressed swordsman, opened his formerly closed eyes and bore his gaze upon the rest of them. "Be that as it may, there's still the problem of transport and troops." He stated something which the rest of them soon agreed on. It had been an indisputable fact that it would be hard to get to that area, since it's on the opposite side of the Nation, with the Resistance being on the southeastern side of things. In addition to this, with the amount of Youma present on the Continent combined with the Chaos Tainted monsters, any force they send would be slaughtered like cattle before ever reaching its target, since normal militia were unable to combat Youma effectively due to their superior physical skills. Furthermore, it's likely that the closer they get to the Facility's location, the greater and Stronger the Youma will become since there have been records of 'Awakened' type of Youma, beasts similar to the wolf-like one that IF had taken on or that one with the bone Tentacles, so if they tried to go to this facility, odds were that they would be swarmed with such beings.
Finally, Nico managed to find an opportunity to jump into the conversation since he hadn't been able to voice his opinion on this meeting. "If you would, I'd like to propose a possible solution." he began to say, getting everyone's attention. He noticed the way that they looked at him right away though, with their looks of contempt like they were looking down on him, although the two 'Reapers' still had slight judging in their eyes… something which the lad had expected this time. After all, compared to them he may as well be a fly on the wall, which means they would know next to nothing about him like his record, his skills, or his competency as an Agent. Nico bet that the only reason why they were giving him any face at all was because of his title as the Black Reaper, something which he became grateful for since otherwise, Nico bet they would have just ignored him and seen him as just some mob character in an anime. "I propose that we have my Tekkadan perform this task. From what has been shown, it seems that the Militia is too stretched thin defending the remaining territories as it is, therefore forming an offensive force and sending them out would be too dangerous to civilians. Furthermore, since we've got high mobility, we'll be able to get there faster, avoid ambushes by enemy Youma and, if we encounter them, we can quickly escape from the 'Awakened' Youma variants." He explained, ignoring those stares and staring straight into Blanc's eyes, the one who had the final say in the matter.
Internally, Nico hoped this would end up being the case everyone decides to go for, for multiple reasons. He would have added on that they could all do it since they were all assembled here, but one: his Tekkadan didn't trust Spec Ops Agents other than him so he bet that there would be some unrest and distrust between them, which wouldn't bode well for combat efficiency, and two: these guys likely wouldn't want to work with someone whom they didn't know anything about not to mention they didn't hold him in too high a regard aside from his Title. They'd likely try to do this mission in their own ways since each of them seemed to have their own unique… personalities, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Blanc herself stared right back into Nico's gaze, externally looking as composed as a stone statue, not giving away anything that could imply what went on inside.
'Hmmm… he's keeping calm and taking the criticizing looks rather decently…' the brunette CPU remarked in her mind, making notes and observations about the boy's minute movements in an attempt to disconcert his behavior. She had read from one of her books that a significant percentage of communication is actually body language, so scrutinizing how individuals physically react to oneself when engaging with them will give out important clues. Heck, it was quoted that 'Verbal and nonverbal activity is a unified whole, and theory and methodology should be organized or created to treat it as such'. The way someone reacts, verbally and non-verbally, and their behavior when participating in a conversation, sends powerful messages about them and how they feel. For example, when asking someone if they are in pain, they may say 'no' but a wrinkled brow, uncomfortable facial expression or body movement may say otherwise.
Essentially, what Blanc had been doing this whole time had simply been analyzing the DPU before her, looking for any telltale signs that could indicate him being like how she perceived DPUs to usually be.
In her mind, they were wild, savage, and brutal twisted asshats who saw everyone as below them, with no regard for others. Some of those traits she, admittingly, had seen in humans as well, but they were even MORE apparent in DPUs than in humans, almost shamelessly so like they're not concerned with hiding their scumbag nature. Maybe it was a bit biased of her to have this opinion since she'd only seen two others of that race, but so far that was what she had seen from them, and with everything that had happened Blanc didn't have a lot of patience or trusting ability right now. Thus, she had been trying to see how this one measured up to them and, so far, it seemed as though he had much more 'control' over himself than the rest of them.
Furthermore, with the way he was looking at her right now with such intensity, disregarding the contemptuous gazes of the other Agents… either he saw her as the main priority or he didn't see them as worth acknowledging. Something which Blanc… didn't know which one to consider true since from the very start of this meeting she could hardly get a read on the guy's emotional state or anything else for that matter. He looked kind of like a stone wall, unmoving like a blank slate, which sort of built a pile of frustration inside the Lowee CPU since she didn't get the results that she had wanted. Still, there was stuff that she could do still that would help unveil this DPU's true nature, she just had to be patient and bide her time, only that will be truly effective in telling what this being's nature truly was:
A beast…
Or a man.
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… why did she suddenly hear a voice sounding like a certain pink starfish guy saying 'what's the difference' in her head?
Blanc mentally sighed, she guessed Financier and Theta were right, she really needed some time off. Shame that the situation didn't allow her to do that, so to deal with the issue at hand…
"...I will take it into consideration…"
Yep, this meeting confirmed it.
Something was DEFINITELY up with Lowe's CPU.
That was what Biko thought to himself within Nico's inner world, floating within a twister made from dust whilst sitting in the lotus position, his wings widely unfurled behind him.
The theories he and Nico had been sharing between one another about her situation lead the Demonic Persona to investigate via the Lexicanum for advice, and as such he had formed multiple ideas as to what was wrong with her. Ideas which he planned to inform the main persona about in due time if Byakko didn't try his patience every time he opened his gob.
Any thoughts of Biko's own origins had been put on the backburner, for now, he'd put them there since this whole lowee mess had started since he didn't have too much of a care for his backstory at the moment. He wanted to be useful to the main persona after all, and more than that he wanted to validate his own existence in this way by learning and storing as much knowledge as he could from the Lexicanum.
Maybe he might develop reading as a hobby aside from training, sparring, and developing fighting techniques...
He hoped that thought didn't do anything to Tzeentch.
In any case, Biko believed that there were a couple of areas they could investigate in the near future, and if they had the chance he bet Nico would have liked to as well. Not to mention that he could sense that his fellow redhead had come to a similar conclusion to him in the depths of his mind.
Hopefully though it wasn't too serious...
However, Biko got the feeling that it may be worse than he feared.
2 days later, the outcome of the meeting presented itself in the form of a message, one which got sent onto Nico's bracer as a Text message whilst the redhead believed that the other Spec Ops Agents got it too.
'... #SIGH# I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this. Of course, that CPU wouldn't trust me and a bunch of Abnormals to do what her forces SHOULD be doing…' The boy thought to himself as he sat by a cafe, having taken a rest after another day's worth of fighting Youma across multiple battlefields. It was something which pretty much all the Party members had been doing actually, so the amount of time that they had been able to spend together in Lowee had been rather limited, to say the least, something which sort of annoyed the redhead since he wanted to spend as much time with them as possible.
In any case, the message had contained the results of that meeting, AKA White Heart's decision. Now, there were SOME parts that he had agreed with, and there were those which he didn't, the first being that the CPU's idea of a combination idea being the best plan of action, THAT he could see her logic behind. She would indeed send Nico with the Tekkadan to that part of Lowee to try and find any clues to the Barrier's location, as well as that of the Youma Production facility. The boy would have to discuss with the rest of the administration about how to handle this assignment and the various factors that would have to be considered for it, but Nico believed that it could be doable. THIS stuff the redhead could agree with due to already stated reasons, plus whilst he didn't want to sound arrogant, but to be frank, Nico may as well be one of her strongest assets at the moment, his DPU Powers putting him on a similar level to the other top-ranking Agents. He'd be able to contest with the other DPUs should they try to raid him or his troops, not to mention that if he went all out he probably could destroy entire hordes of Youma with ease, memories of that time when a single swing of Soul Edge in its true form wiped out over 200 Demons back at Skies End returning to his mind.
Then the stuff that he DIDN'T agree with followed: She would also send, in addition to him and the Tekkadan, the Spec Ops Agents whom she had gathered for the meeting as well, designating the offensive which would be taking place in about 2 weeks from the meeting day, meaning that there were 12 days of prep left, as a joint mission. He could understand WHY she would do this since she couldn't afford for her people to see her as someone who wasn't doing anything and always relying on outside forces to solve her problems. It was alright to ACCEPT help sometimes, but if one didn't showcase that they could handle things individually then people wouldn't take them as seriously as they would otherwise. In terms of a leader's perspective, Blanc had been thinking about the future of her Nation and people, thanks to his lessons at Zelretch's trials combined with some research on the subject and him leading his Tekkadan, Nico SORT of began to understand.
However, Nico also feared that this would be something which would prove more problematic on his end than anything else since Spec Ops and Abnormals may as well be mortal enemies. They've been so for over 500 years now, so suddenly expecting them to work together wasn't something one could really see possible. Nico would have to discuss this topic with the rest of the administration so they could plan for contingencies as best as they can, cause nobody can EVER be truly prepared for anything, there was always going to be an unknown risk factor involved. The best thing they could reasonably do would have backup plans as last resort to fall back on.
'Guess I should head over to camp, then. At least I can tell them that they can finally stick it to the enemy proper as they wanted…' Nico remarked, mentally as he stood up from the table he'd occupied and made to head out after depositing some Credits for the coffee he'd drank already.
However…
"Ufufufufu, I found you, Nicky..."
"?"
Suddenly, the redhead heard a familiar feminine, mature-sounding yet slightly teasing voice from the entrance to the cafe. One which he quickly looked to see the source of and found that it belonged to Vert, who was currently occupying that space he would need to pass in order to do his job. The way she smiled at him though, Nico got the feeling that he wouldn't be getting back to his merc troop as soon as he'd thought. "Yo, Vert, how's it going?" he asked her with a bright smile whilst mentally telling Urthemiel to inform the Tekkadan administration that he may be late in returning and that they should prepare for a surprise topic he would be discussing with them upon his return.
Though, if he were honest, seeing a familiar face right now DEFINITELY elevated his mood considerably, hence why his eyes literally brightened up when he had seen her.
Walking over to him, Vert beamed as well as she held her arms out, the redhead quickly realizing what she had wanted and thus promptly embraced her in a warm hug. Something which the two moaned behind closed mouths in delight at the comfort the gesture provided before they broke away with the blonde CPU opening her mouth to speak. "Do you have some time on your hands right now? I'd like to spend some of mine with you if you don't mind…" she asked him, though she trailed off at the end with a tad hint of shyness.
Shyness which then turned into joy when he promptly accepted her request.
After their embrace in the Cafe, Vert took the chance she'd attained for herself and lead Nico to a quiet spot in the city, going to a small park that had very few people in it. The park's size looked to be only about enough to fit a single cottage's worth of space in it, so calling it small would be accurate. Furthermore, since there were very few people there, mostly some couples hanging out there with only the cool weather as a companion, it made for a nice meeting spot for the two.
Noticing a section which seemed out of the way, Vert grabbed Nico by the hand again (having done so before whilst pretending not to notice and grin at the blush the guy sported at the hand holding) and lead the redhead towards a small bench there. Once they were at their destination, the pair sat down with Vert crossing one jean-covered leg over the other.
Meanwhile, Nico decided to get the ball rolling as he spoke the following question that had been on his mind. "So, what's up? Why did you bring me all the way out here?" he asked her, prompting Vert to look back at him.
"What, I can't spend some quality time with my potential husband in the future?" she replied with a slight smirk, causing the redhead to roll his eyes in slight exasperation, although the tinge of pink on his cheeks showed how he really felt about that. The sight made her smirk grow even wider. "Aw, don't be shy now. I already know how you feel about me, as well as the other girls in your growing Harem. Its nothing to be shy about..." she remarked, raising an index finger in a factly manner.
At that, Nico chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess. Though I wish you wouldn't call it a harem thing, honestly..." he admitted, and he meant it. Nico hadn't gotten used to the fact that even after all this time had passed since the confession at the hot springs, that he had been one step away from officially forming his own harem of quality ladies. He hadn't even intended to do so... oh god, was that what a lot of harem protags say in this situation? Nico wanted to facepalm and cringe so hard right now. However, something else became apparent to him that simply 'sparked' into existence within his broken mind. "By the way, since we're just spending time together, can I ask how you've been?"
So began the long talk between the two of them, Nico and Vert: CPU of Leanbox and DPU/Spec Ops Agent. They talked for a good long while, mostly discussing things like how Vert had been since Nico had last seen her. They talked about how she, aside from participating in meetings, occasionally helped the militia with anything they needed or went on mass Youma killings with her Devil Trigger. Nico had even asked her about that, prompting her to explain in great detail about how she'd gotten it through killing and fighting in countless battles against all kinds of foes other than Youma. She'd killed countless chaos-tainted monsters, Demons, members of the Thousand Sons, even got occasionally trapped within various Demon Worlds only to go on mass killing sprees there. One could say she had built up a... sizeable body count, and all her motivation for this carnage (no pun intended) amounted to satisfying her building bloodlust.
According to her, similar situations could be applied to the rest of the Party, not just the CPUs.
... Looked like Nico wasn't the only one quite active here, something which he soon voiced. "You've definitely been quite active, huh Vert?" he remarked, Vert nodding in agreement. Glancing ahead of him, Nico's eyes grew nostalgic, a slight smile spreading onto his lips. "Well, I'm glad everyone's doing alright... though, with my recent assignment, I may not see them for a while," he remarked, frowning sadly.
This caused the blonde CPU to look at him, noticing how sad and defeated he looked at that moment. For a moment, she wallowed in surprise that Nico would feel this way regarding them since she had known for a while that the girls understood Nico's side of things just as much as he understood theirs, but even so, he still felt like this. 'Looks like someone's slowly letting his feelings out there...' she thought to herself, before closing her eyes and looking upwards. "It's okay, we get it you know. We may not be able to act as a group for a while, but hey that's something we got used to ack in Leanbox. Our party may be separated but we're always together in here." she stated, placing a hand over the heart area on Nico's torso. She did so with a comforting expression, though deep down she also wanted an excuse to feel her man's chiseled abs. The previous reason was her primary one though, and it seemed to work since Nico looked like he had perked up from her words. "And besides, you never know if any changes in the plan may happen," she commented thoughtfully, winking at the redhead with a rather mischievous look in her eyes.
Nico mentally caught a hidden meaning to those words, and couldn't help but chuckle to himself, suddenly looking forward to this mission a whole hell lot more. "Well, good luck with that, you minx," he commented teasingly, getting a sheepish chuckle from the blonde CPU in return before they continued idly talking with one another, with Nico attempting to crack jokes, humiliate himself but found it worth it for the smile he put on Vert's face.
After a while, both of them noticed the sun beginning to set, realizing that nightfall would soon be upon them. Looking around again and noticing that the last of the people here had left already, Nico then stood up and offered a hand to the blonde CPU. "It's getting late. Want me to walk you back home?" he offered.
In return, Vert gave a coy smile. "My, what a gentleman. But what might you be doing, may I ask? It's a bit late for returning to your little group, isn't it?" Vert replied as she took his offered hand in hers and allowed him to help her stand up.
"The Tekkadan have been notified that I'll be later than normal, so don't worry there," Nico replied as the two proceeded to walk towards the park's exit. "Maybe afterward I'll probably be going on some Youma killing sprees like you've been doing. Can't let you get ahead of me in the kill count stuff," he replied with a faintly competitive gaze entering his eyes, briefly flashing his Kakugan at her to let her know just what kind of beast she had woken up.
Something which drew another smirk from Vert whose grip on his hand tightened slightly. "I see... but I have other ideas." She began, sliding herself closer to the boy with a plan in mind. "Why don't we spend the night together? Nothing sexual, just some time together. Watching TV, cuddling stuff like that..." she offered, mentally adding on her mind. 'Well, as soon as he's more comfortable, I'll be pouncing on him to perform some 'wifely duties' on him...'
When he heard this, briefly Nico tensed up, his face turning a bit pinker until he calmed down afterward from what she'd said. 'Whew, I was worried that she would have tried to seduce me there... still not completely okay up here, after all..' the redhead thought as internally he began having a struggle on what to do. Fight monsters or spend time with one of the girls? In the end, the latter option won out since he'd be able to do the former any time he wanted, plus he hadn't spent some quality time with Vert in a while, the last time being when she... when she had first gotten Gungnir. 'Holy shit, it been that long...? Wow, just wow...' the boy internally mused, before gently squeezing her hand. "Sure, let's do that."
Nico almost got crushed by the squealing woman as she hugged the life out of him (giving his chest a good feel of her sizeable bosom) along their way back, a hug he promptly returned, as well as used the opportunity to fluster her by pecking her on the cheek. Though, she did get back at him by cupping his right cheek and placing a chaste kiss on his lips, breaking Nico into a flustered mess that Vert laughed at.
Thus, they spent the rest of the time together...
Something which prompted each of the girls in the party to try their hand for the duration of his prep time before the assignment.
Chapter end!
Hey guys, welcome to a new OEG Chapter. In this bad boy, we have a bunch of details to go through: not only a bit of hesitation on Blanc's side of things to accept Nico due to her past experiences with DPUs, but also quite the bit of story setup. There's quite a bit more baggage surrounding Blanc right now, which I have hopefully hinted at well enough. Also, I hope you like how the other CPUs reacted to how Blanc had asked them about Nico in an attempt to see if he was trustworthy enough, as well as how she kept trying to read him throughout the entire meeting. Of course, she wouldn't have succeeded though, we're talking about someone who's had YEARS worth of keeping things to himself.
Basically, the next few chapters will focus 'primarily' on the Youma threat and wiping them out, all while putting the spotlight on characters I haven't done much for throughout the story. Take Vert, for example, I mean whilst IF and Lucy have gotten ample screentime as well as the other girls, I feel as though I neglected Vert on the romance aspect for a while which I have to apologize for. That was what the final scene at the end was, a bit of a calming down/wholesome moment to offset all the seriousness that's been going on.
Oh, and as for the Spec Ops Agents stuff, I hinted at it in the previous chapter, but it was actually inspired by an older anime I liked called Assassination Classroom. Truly a gem if one asks me. Plus, there are characters from different animes in the top ranks here, and with powerful players like them on the board, I hope I can show off just how powerful they truly are. Only time will tell on that front, I guess.
Furthermore, this is a way that will allow me to focus on specific characters for each arc as, whilst the overall plot will likely be connected to Blanc's character development, other characters will have their time to shine too. Who those are will still be kept a secret by myself though, so look forward to the next couple chapters.
PEACE OUT!
