Rousing from my slumber, I noticed a girl I had not seen before. The red-haired individual was someone from Basilicom, as she sported blue as a signature color. She grinned smugly as she noticed I had awoken. I looked up at her. "Who are you?" I asked. She giggled. "Call me Falcom, Kenji." she replied. "Everybody else is still asleep. Wanna take a walk with me?" I nodded. "Sure-" I felt something wrap around my left leg. I noticed Plutia, who was glaring at Falcom. "This is my slave." snapped Plutia. I chuckled. "Slave? What kind of rubbish is that?" I replied. Suddenly I felt the familiar heat that came from being near a CPU when they transformed, and then I realized that Plutia was a CPU. She looked a lot like a dominatrix. She grinned at me. "How about we go into the closet? Seems like someone needs to learn their place."
"Huh?" is all I can get out before Plutia drags me down the hall and into a broom closet. She slammed me against a wall. The wind was knocked from me. "Plutie, what the hell?" I ask. She responds by digging her nails into my shoulders. The way she did it made me hiss in pain. "Agh... Fuck! Ow!" She seems to enjoy my suffering, digging her nails in deeper. "Call. Me. Madam. Goddess." she snarls. I am in agony. She should be breaking skin, but she was not. Giving in, I hiss out. "Yes...Madam...Goddess..." She grinned. "Good. Now, your punishment." I am in shock. I did what I wanted her to! I realized that she had tied me to the ceiling by my arms with a rope. She turned me so that I faced the wall. She tugged the back of my shirt up. I hear the snap of a rope. What the- "For starters, you disrespected your mistress." I felt the snap of the whip against my now bare back, causing me to cry out. "You failed to address her properly." Snap. "And you didn't give her any offerings." She whipped me five times. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. By the end of it, my back is on fire. Satisfied, she pulled down my shirt. "How cute..." I fell into unconsciousness.
"Geez, you really took that head on. That looks painful." Falcom was applying cooling salve to the combination of rope burns and bruises on my back. I am pretty sure my mental stability faltered a little bit. Falcom had rescued me from the closet after Plutia had fallen asleep. I heard a voice split the air. "Hey, could you pipe it down, I've got work...at...noon..." Histoire must have seen the bruises on my back, and it sounded like she nearly fainted. She rushed over to me. I tried to turn my head to face her, but the pain that shot through my neck as I did that made me hiss out another "Fuck!" as I looked forward again. "What happened?!" Falcom sighed. "Seems like Kenji was the center of Plutia's rage. I thought that his screaming would wake everyone in Planeptune." Histoire sighed. "Kenji, you have got to stand up for yourself." I tried to stand up, then I sat back down as pain shot through my femurs. It felt like I went through a mill. "I can't even stand..." I hissed. I heard footsteps and the noticeable peeling of aluminum foil as Neptune entered the room. "Ooooh... Wow. I forgot to tell you." she said. "She declared her ownership to you last night." I groaned. "Yeah... I think she broke bones." Neptune shrugged. "It'll feel like that. I heard from Noire that it turns out that Iris Heart knows exactly where to hit to cause the most pain. She loves hearing her victims scream." she replied. "Speaking of which, Sadie is coming down the hall, and she must have realized that you are not in the closet." Can Neptune read minds? Iris snarled at Falcom. "I told you, he's my slave." Falcom went pale. "N-No... Please no, have mercy..." Sadie grinned at her dominance. She turned to Neptune. "Hey, Sadie, maybe you should tell him why-" Sadie snarled. "Dummy. You were supposed to tell him." She turned to me. "Because of your little friend Falcom, you will be severely punished. I hope you like torture." My fear was replaced by another emotion- Rage. It slowly started to build. Neptune must have had enough, because she said to Sadie, "You are taking this too far." Sadie did not take this too well. "Back off, you wannabe protag. He is my slave." Neptune snapped. "Wannabe protag? Bring it on, freak!" Plutia snapped and drew her weapon, and she swung it down upon Neptune. Catching the blade between my hands with the strength I had, I pushed Neptune away. "This is between me and Plutie." I told her. Neptune looked shocked. "But-"
"Maybe I will forgive a little." Sadie chuckled. I turned to Sadie. "Seven o'clock PM. Balcony. Whoever wins has the loser become their servant for eternity." I offered. "May the best swordsperson win." The dominatrix cackled. "How cute. You have no hope of defeating me in a fair duel." she answered. "But I accept." She walked off to her room as I heard her transform back into a human again. Neptune looked at me like I was already dead. "What the hell's up with that look?!" She looked at me. "The thing is, Plutia's right. With your current power, you have no chance of defeating Plutia in a fair duel." she explained. "If she were to lose, she would become a servant to you. She will fight with all her strength to keep herself in control." I shrugged. "Is there anything we can do?" Neptune snapped her fingers. "I got it. Noire has developed the Gear Drive for someone of high importance in Basilicom." she explained. 'If I can convince Iffy to give up the GD, you could use it against Plutia! It would catch her off-guard, giving you an advantage." I nodded. "Great." Neptune shook her head. "The problem is convincing one of the Makers into giving up a 1-million-dollar gadget." she groaned. "IF has been dreaming of getting her hands on it. Once somebody wears it, unless you perform a hundred thousand dollar reset, only that person can use it." I huffed. "I can convince her. She does not need some high-tech equipment to fight. I know she is already pretty strong." Neptune shrugged. "That's the point. She is already strong, so she is a good candidate for it. Unless you outmatch her in strength, too bad, so sad." I ripped off my shirt. "I think I'm pretty strong." Neptune staggered backwards. "Holey shit!" Blood gushed from her nose as she saw my eight-pack. "You could say that. "You are ripped!" she gawked as I put my shirt back on. She grinned as she grabbed my arm. "Perfect!" She dragged me into the elevator. Pressing the Balcony button, she laid back onto the railing as we went up. When we reached the balcony, she quickly transformed. She looked back. She took my hand as she took off from the balcony. Going into flight mode, she flew me to the Basilicom building. We touched down onto the balcony of the building. We were at once greeted by the CEOs daughter. Neptune, ahem, Purple Heart asked the daughter, "Requesting clearance to enter." The daughter looked at Neptune as if she asked for pudding. "But of course. Right this way." We went to the elevator. Purple Heart transformed again into her human form. She looked at me, grinning. I at once asked her, "How'd you know I was trapped in the closet?" Neptune shrugged. "It's my protag ruleset." Neptune pressed the 5th floor button, and we began to descend. As soon as we hit the 5th floor and the doors opened, we heard the angry voice of IF. "What the hell?! Fifteen thousand dollars?! I am not made of money!" I walked down the hall to where IF was and opened the door. IF looked at me in shock. "How'd he get in?" she asked. Neptune appeared in the doorway. I began to say something.
"I don't want it." IF stated firmly.
I looked at her in shock. IF tossed the Gear Drive to me. Putting it on, the gear glowed with green energy. IF grinned. "Perfect fit." She said. Neptune smirked. "Activate it. I'm going to come at you with everything I have." I grinned as I said, "Gear Two!" Instantly I felt my muscles firm up as my muscle mass doubled. Neptune started swinging her sword at me. In a matter of minutes, I had my sword near her neck. She sighed. "Touché." She put away her sword, and I said quietly, "Deactivate." My muscle mass returned to normal. IF gave a thumbs-up. "Half second reaction time!" she said. I nodded. I was ready for the duel. I checked my clock. 6:55!? I looked at Neptune. "We have five minutes to make it back to the HQ!" Neptune looked panicked. "Let's go!" Quickly we made it to the balcony. 6:57. Neptune jumped off the balcony and turned into a purple jet. I jumped in quickly and we sped towards the HQ. We got there and I landed on the balcony with Neptune. 7:00. Just in time. Plutia came out, looking at me in satisfaction. "Let's just get this over with." She said in a bored tone. She transformed into Iris Heart, and then she launched herself at me.
"Gear Two!" I shout as I block Iris' sword with my own. It activated as I attempt to break her defenses down again with a strike. Iris blocks it with ease. I equalized my own defense and offense as we exchanged strikes. Neither of us took damage as we fought. Iris must be realizing that I am not a joke in her eyes. She gets serious as she attacks with everything that she has. I continue to block blows as I try to find an opening in her defense. I return to wearing down her defense by launching a flurry of my own well-planned blows. She seemed to have trouble keeping her defense up, as she was wearing under my assault. She suddenly seemed to boost in strength, getting desperate as she attempted to land a hit. This was a mistake. Within seconds, I find an opening and put my blade right there. Iris froze as she found my blade right against her neck. She collapsed, defeated, as she took in her loss. Dueling rules state that if someone places their sword against their opponent's neck, then the duel is over.
Iris seemed to look impressed. 'Seems like your little gamble paid off." She commented. I helped her up. She seemed to ponder something. "I was expecting to be upset that I lost… but I feel happy. I found a human who can match my power. Let's improve, then we can duel again…"
I decided to hang out with Plutia for a bit after that….
