Y'ALL KNOW THE DRILL
I OWN NOTHING IN THIS FANFICTION EXCEPT FOR MY OCs. I DON'T OWN MUCH OF ANYTHING WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT...
[Some Random Hole, Right Now]
While right now the CPU Candidate and Oracle of Planeptune patiently awaited the return of their precious and lazy goddess, they could only work in her absence as if nothing was happening. In the meantime, they were in a constant state of worry and panic on the inside, daring not to show any of it to their peers of the neighbouring countries or citizens of their country.
Despite the several days that have passed since her sudden disappearance. Not to mention a similar happening going down on Lastation's side of things.
Usually, she'd trail off whenever too greatly stressed from actually doing her job (or at least trying since her sister did most of the heavy lifting anyway) and go get a nap or two in between keeping her Nation from dissolving. But that also meant the Goddess would come back around the same day. So where was she for the past couple of days?
Where is she now?
Histoire and Nepgear had not the slightest of clues, this much was shown at the beginning of chapter six.
Their worry wasn't for nought, unfortunately. Because as you read this, Neptune, big sister of Nepgear, Goddess of Planeptune, Main Character of the Neptunia series, was in mortal danger-
"I'm not in mortal danger, Noire's here!" Quickly retorted the now feisty heroine from the deep abyss of eternal darkness, breaking the tension I had worked so hard on building since this chapter's opening, "Now quit dragging on the dang intro, turn on the lights, and start already!" The girl finished, stomping her foot so hard you can hear it in her voice.
Fine! You impatient twelve year old...
"Can you quit with your calling out of the Narrator?" Interjected the ruler of Lastation to come in clutch for my side before the two faded back into where they were before a few seconds ago.
just pretend that little ordeal didn't happen. Please?
As far as the eye can't see, there was darkness here in this hole in the ground. Pitch black enough to prohibit seeing even one's nose if left with only the natural light (or lack thereof) to lead the way. Making navigation all but impossible. And activating fear in even the most fearless of any adventurer if they had the misfortune of landing down here. Especially if all they had was one of those horror game flashlights... Or worse, a candle or small torch.
Actually, if light levels were abundant enough for most to deem as 'comfortable', that wouldn't have changed the gloomy and eerie atmosphere this damned location had going for itself. From the worn down and dry rot stone columns to the long-dead language written all over them and utter lack of chests or mobs, this place wasn't some random monster cave or dungeon meant for exploring.
Even within the deep, creepy darkness and blood-curling silence, there was still light. Just not here. No, the light was in around the same area the true Main Protagonist was situated. In this location of the onyx cave, we get to see just how hard Neptune and Noire were being screwed.
Not the lemon kind. Disappointing, I know.
Surrounded by around five or six tall humanoid figures shrouded in shadows, the Planeptune Goddess had only her sword that just glows a faint purple now I guess to enlighten her of her situation. Being looked down upon by some suspicious humanoid-shaped figures with Porcelain for skin and no clothing.
They also had no genitalia or sex defining features to speak of. In fact, they had no defining features period, outside of what one could call a 'shared face of neutrality' Making it clear they weren't human Or at least not anymore
With the lack of visibility taken into consideration, the sheer height of those porcelain-skinned-people-looking beings was no joke as they towered over Neptune(that was a mouthful). Causing her to sweatdrop at the situation before her. While they're yet to attack or move with hostility, it wasn't too early to play it safe and keep one's weapon drawn.
Not only did they look weird, but their movements were not helping one bit. It was perfectly flawless and smooth how they walked. Without a hint of any useless movements usually seen with anything alive. Were they even alive?
"I don't think these guys are friendly..." Neptune chuckled nervously, taking a step backwards for every step forward the beings took.
In an attempt to better scale her predicament, the lighter haired older sister decided to raise her sword higher up to see their faces. Keeping the blade around the height of her forehead for extra defence in case they tried a surprise overhead. All with a conflicted glint in her eye.
That was when the things decided to switch from a formation closer to scattered rice grains on the ground to a semi-circle with the diety in the middle.
"Yup, definitely not friendly..." She pointed out starting to sweat a little more as a wave of nervousness washed over her more and more with each soundless step back she made. But she still refused to attack even now.
While they were human in shape and barely so in height- at least compared to our Main Protagonist, they didn't seem to have faces. Well, defined facial features to be specific. They all had eyes, a nose, lips, the whole shebang, albeit in low-poly levels of detail and all set to neutral. Which arguably made it worse since it was near impossible what they were trying to do outside of creep out the heroine with their stares. But nothing that can really set them apart from each other. Hence, a 'shared face of neutrality'.
"Noire~" Neptune turned around and meekly called out to her favourite of her fellow Goddesses, who had the misfortune of tagging along with the Planeptunian, "I'm starting to think being unable to transform should be worried about now..."
"Geez, ya think!" The blackette shot back over her shoulder, daring not to send those humanoids out of her peripherals for even a second. Even when using her primary response whenever pinned.
It was here Noire makes her first appearance of both the chapter and fanfiction in general with a more ready-to-swing kind of stance with her weapon gripped tightly in her digits. She also wielded a glowing version of her original sword. One which emitted a faint white hue that barely gave her enough visibility to make out the five or so white figures she also had to deal with.
Inch by inch, the two CPUs were losing ground to retreat to. And they hadn't any clue what they were dealing with either. If only they had their Goddess forms... Wait, why can't they use their HDD transformations? If they could, this wouldn't even be a fight with how easily those toilet faces could've been erased by the simplest of finger flicks.
"Well this doesn't seem so bad," Neptune admitted seeing a silver lining somewhere in this murky mess.
They were back to back and surrounded by now, not knowing what these moving statues were planning to do to them, no more room in either direction to shift to. Their possible enemies slowly drew nearer and nearer by the second. Black Heart was not seeing it.
"And what makes this situation 'not so bad?" The human Goddess verbalized with the humanoids less than two feet away at this point.
Noire's ally simply chuckled before giving her a response.
*WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAMME TO CUT AWAY AT AN ANNOYINGLY IMPORTANT POINT IN THIS PART OF THE STORY TO SWITCH OVER TO A DIFFERENT (AND PROBABLY) LESS IMPORTANT ONE!*
[Back then at the Broken Beer Bar]
No time has passed has chapter six! What will our semi-main character do in his current situation now that he has the last five of the original bar patrons? The pieces are all in place! It's all up to them now! What do the thugs have planned now that they're pinned into such a corner by this crackheaded sociopath?! This situation looks to be a complete 180 to what we were viewing only a paragraph earlier!
Only five remaining, all nameless nobodies with no background or drip to speak of. Quite literal copy-pasted clones of each other with no personality to speak of outside of having an extensive understanding of the language of Diarrhea.
"Such confidence in whatever you have planned," GyNeo chuckled to himself and his adversaries, "It must be at least a 100IQ play…" He finished with his voice still sounding like a scary movie voice filter.
The male was standing about three meters away from a small group of cowering bastards. All with skin white as sheets and teeth clattering in anticipation for the swift and near-instant KO the cosplayer before them was surely going to deliver.
Now within his lunge range of a third the gunfight's distance, GyNeo was mentally ready for any form of attack any of these goonies can throw at him. Although by the look on those guys' faces that wasn't what he should be worried about. 'No, Lazlo, there's more to this! It can't just be that they're binding time for more body bags to appear!' The male in all black non verbally communicated much to the delight of the motley crew before him.
And he was right. Not more than a few seconds after his dialogue selection, a loud noise filled the room yet again.
* SHATTER! *
Past experience tagged that sharp sound as glass shattering for the young gunslinger. 'That came from my left!' Gynesis pointed out internally.
On instinct, he snapped his head in said direction and focussed on the cause he had laid eyes on. A massive pack of nothingness. Which was surprising considering how sharp that sound filled the air. And how painfully loud it was.
One of the large window panes got busted in and was shattered completely, but that was all. There was no one there or anything near enough to say that was the cause. Just the dusty empty outside and a conveniently timed tumbleweed.
'Wait.'
The second the tumbleweed made it on screen, it clicked in the semi protag's mind what had just happened, 'Don't tell me-'
"Hiya!"
But it was still too late for the cosplayer even then.
* Crack! *
Trying to turn his attention back to the five shmucks, he'd already fallen prey to their 1000IQ play. Collecting a swift right hook to the jaw that launches him several feet backwards and driving his stagger bar all the way up to max. Barely saving himself by planting his feet deeper into the hardwood flooring.
"Argh!" He struggled out on his way back by a meter or so, his edge filter nowhere to be heard, "That hurt!" The heterochromatic snapped.
"Of course it did, Gynesis!" Cackled what sounded like a new voice from a familiar direction. "With a weakling like you, I had to hold back quite a lot to avoid killing you with such a simple attack!"
After planting his feet with a warm feeling on his mouth and recovering a little, Gynesis had to resist the urge to gasp dramatically from what he saw. Instead, he wiped the warm red liquid from his burst lip that bothered him so. Before resetting back to a serious mask and taking a defensive pose with his arms up.
'Where did this guy come from?' was the first thing that came to mind when he laid witness on what stood before him.
A martial artist. One that looked like he practised a Chinese art of sort.
"What's with the face? Didn't the narrator already describe me?" First the Main Character, now this extra? Can you all please at least try to remain in character longer than 5 seconds? "My bad, it's just this retard already forgot me!" The surprise hook apologized with an accusatory finger pointed at Gynesis.
Who, from the second the extra broke character up until he was called out, was filing his nails waiting on his 'new' opponent to return to the script. Stopping the second his head rendered what was said about him.
"Hey! It's not my fault you went from looking like some faceless extra in a visual novel to some useless extra in one of those Chinese cultivation works!" GyNeo defended himself with an accusatory point of his own, "Are you even trying with that yee-yee ass bowl cut! At least the others behind you went shopping somewhere outside of Chinese Good Will for their outfits.
Speaking of, the four were still standing there. Doing what? Waiting to get their turn on the ass-beating-go-round. Either that or waiting to see the weakest get manhandled so they can counter whatever gay ass ability Gynesis is capable of.
"No, no, he has a point," One of the four who had been standing around doing fuck all besides their wardrobe change and sudden gaining of identities since the glass shattered earlier, cutting off the one guy who had actually done something as of late besides talking shit.
And since I'm on the topic of wardrobe changes. The first to sign up for his onscreen abuse had quite the basic and plain green fighting robes adorned with a yellow belt. With the aforementioned brown coloured yee-yee ass bowl cut and some wooden sandals that were yet to make a sound despite how hard the owner stepped on the flooring.
That last part... doesn't sound smart.
Hearing his teammates' friendly firing on him only made the discount King Of Gods reject want to curb stomp Gynesis even more than he already had. Well if the scowl on his face was anything to go by. The martial artist wanted his opponent's head over his mantel there and then, and Gynesis knew it.
If looks could kill, this dual haired Tumblr OC would've been burnt to Cinders by now from generica over there.
But that didn't happen.
"Feeling constipated over there?" Instead, the male was fine. In fact, he saw it fit to piss off his enemy further.
"Enough of your blabbering!" Already fed up with Gynesis's shit, there was nothing else the overconfident combatant wanted to say, "风甲{Fēng jiǎ}!"
Before Gynesis could say anything else, a light green aura similar in colour to the one he used in chapter one quickly engulfed his adversary. With only a fist slam no less, a prominent green armour of chaotic and sporadic winds blanketed the castor's entire body. Coating the brunette male in a barrage of kinetic chaos.
'What did he just say?' Gynesis thought a split second before the supposed answer showed itself, 'Why does that look so similar to my Aura Burst mk2?!' Was his head next when the armour did form. Eyes bulged ever so slightly again, 'Guess I'll have to take him seriously from the start then!'
With that much said, the crackhead took one step back and widens his stance. And his enemy took his step forward. He then readied his fists for a wide punch.
"Come on!" The first to attack exclaimed in frustration, "You're wide open!" He then rushed towards Gynesis.
Fist reeled back for a punch of his own, the extra did the dash for his gun slung opposer. He yelled the short half-second it took for him to close up to Gynesis. Seemingly teleporting over to the other enemy male with an attack at the ready. Meanwhile, Gynesis himself still had his attack winding up as a black aura barely danced like flames around his skin and clothes.
* 天降 {Tiān jiàng}! *
"You're done!" The attacker roared with a green fist a mere thought away from descending the wrath of the heavens upon his fellow fighter. "DIE!" And that thought was carried out with great skill and precision.
He brought his fist down like a mighty meteor upon Gynesis's skull. Crashing it down with unparalleled speed, strength, and pure destructive power, a deep green tornado contained in the combatant's fist. With great vengeance and furious anger, knuckles were sent crashing right where the other fighter's face was. Fated to land right on target. A swing that was capable of more than likely blowing the entire building everyone currently stood in up and off the map in the blink of an eye.
* MISS! *
'Too bad all that power and speed meant nothing if it didn't land.' mentally taunted Gynesis when he saw the look of shock he was being given by his fellow fighter.
"How did that move miss?" He mouthed, 'It's my fastest and most powerful. Not even taking in the increase in speed from my wind armour...'
Simple, it didn't.
Gynesis just dodged and went behind him. Doing so by using a very annoying show of dexterity and agility known as Ashura Senkuu, or Ahura Flashing Air. Where the user after a short wind up, can lift his knee to end up standing on one foot and easily "glide" across the ground by some inches to several meters in any direction of their choice. All while elusive to most if not all forms of attack.
It also has the side effect of making the user's eyes glow a menacing red until the glide is over.
It was this technique that Gynesis was charging, not an attack. And his opponent had the misfortune of mistaking it for one.
The still mid-swing assailant was baffled, to say the least. Racking his brain on how in the Heavenly Divine Realm was this spoiled rich kid anywhere near his level.
Far less faster than him.
"No u." His low-budget jigsaw filter conveniently back for round two, Gynesis lifts the same leg he lifted when he used Ashura Senkuu above his head for a devastating axe kick.
This did not look good for cultivator extra #8426 over there. The turns were tabled and he wasn't ready for the Consequences of His Actions.
Or was he?
He was still in the middle of Heaven Descent, and thought of a way out before Gynesis's foot could've begun its own descent. In the spur of the moment decision, the soon-to-be foot therapy recipient spun himself downwards enough to come back around full circle. Inexplicably forming a new move on the spot.
'I've got you this time!' The was-cornered of the two called as they considered themself to be the victor before even parrying his attacker.
* 升天 {Shēngtiān}! *
* Fw- BOOM! *
* SHATTER! *
The two opposing forces conflicted with unwavering might and a massive shockwave. Had there been anything less than a city block between the two enemies' appendages, it would've disintegrated on contact. This is precisely why they were temporarily surrounded by a barrier of glacial ice. Which shattered the instant hand met foot.
If it wasn't for the intervention of the other four, the same would've been said for the surrounding 150 meters. Which would've been razed to the ground otherwise. Due to the sheer destructive force brought out by Heaven's Descent being dispersed by Gynesis's kick.
For once, they decided on doing something. And that something resulted in the entire room being filled with an ice variant of a fragmentation grenade going off. But I digress...
They- well, one of them. saw the incoming destruction as if in slow motion and acted fast. Raising a barrier of pure ice around the duelling duo right when their attacks met. Thankfully for the stage and setting, this resulted in a several meter thick dome busting in its stead.
The other three seemed to have been on the same page when it happened. Seeing as they all took a glance and nodded before the sphere of ice was erected.
"Did that pleb really lose to the weakest of us?" Asked one of the four spectators, sounding disappointed.
With the area a wee bit foggy due to the rapid evaporation of all that ice, it was hard to see who won the clash. But even with that this guy still made no sense with that question.
"As if," Because the moment he did ask, it was answered by the 'pleb' in question, "Crescent East!"
* Fwoosh! *
Followed by a clearing of the front row seats the four bystanders stood on. With another gust of wind, most if not all of the fog and vapour disappeared.
The now clear room revealed a still unarmed Gynesis wearing his tracksuit that was destroyed back in chapter one. Shooting the quadrat a crazed smile of dissatisfaction as he stood before his opponent with his open palm facing them. Their lowest ranker looked tired and drained as he barely kept his balance on one knee with raspy breaths, while the other fighter looked fine. In fact, he seemed completely unaffected if that cracked grin was anything to go by.
"If this is the basement, I can't wait to see the ceiling," Gynesis cryptically snared, "Because that was just sad!" He then finished off the extra with a swift and merciless jawbreaking kick to the neck. Which instantly KO'd the recipient. As well as launched the now downed male into and through the remains of what Gynesis once used as cover, and left behind a human-shaped hole with a patch of dust.
That did not stand well with the remainders.
They viewed it as unsavoury and barbaric to attack an already downed or severely weakened opponent that can no longer defend themselves. One's eye twitched, while the others' eyes widened in surprise, they all grit their teeth. And they all became livid at that moment.
"That was uncalled for!" The same person to use the ice barrier shouted in anger at the dishonourable act.
The next one to speak up was in all light blue with some white accents here and there. A step up from the deep blue of his predecessor. Other than that he was generally the same as the first one, save for his hair being held back into a neck length ponytail and its colour being a more vibrant hue of red.
"Oh?" Gynesis perked up as his attention shifted back to the four stooges, "And when I got sucker-punched by that coward doesn't count, why?"
Hearing the victor's voice, and the way it violently boomed from nowhere yet everywhere at once, sent a collective shiver down the veteran fighters' spines. 'There's something wrong here...' Was the gist of the thoughts they simultaneously carried out in their heads. "This man isn't human... or at least not a normal one.' The ice castor mentally noted as he took a step forward.
"What my brother did was indeed dishonourable," He admitted almost the instant he made that first step,with a glint of rage in his eye and a hint of annoyance in his voice, "Even so, attacking an opponent when he cannot defend himsel-"
"Would he have done the same for me?"
Rudely interrupted, the ice cultivator couldn't help but freeze up. Hearing those words mid-speech visually filled him with hesitation as he made it clear what the answer was. Even without the use of words.
"Didn't think so," Gynesis simply nodded, "Who's next? I'm hoping for better than a one-trick pony this time. That was a nice stretch though."
"Xiang Ye," The full redhead replied without emotion, switching to a more serious stare as he locked eyes with his opposer. Shooting an icy glare of solid crystal blue into a maelstrom of firey red swirls, "Ready your weapon!"
Returning a sharp gaze of his own, Gynesis wasted no time in grabbing where a hilt would've been had he kept his sharpened ordnance on his person. Taking a short second to materialize his sheathed katana on the left side of his hip then drew the blade from its wooden prison. 'This guy must be more cracked than the one before, I can't take any chances,' Gynesis mused internally with narrowed eyes, 'Then again, that bar was sitting under Hell's Mariana Trench...' He proceeded to then hold the blade at a diagonal angle over his face, separating it with a line of silver(Damn, that grip looks uncomfortable as hell).
"A non-force user wielding their blade in such a manner? Much heresy," Xiang noted, taking his turn to materialize his own form of attack.
With the loud sound of palms slamming into each other, the ginger clapped his hands together. A momentary Blue hue soon encased his fingers to forearms. And slowly, the cultivator separated his limbs from each other all the way, revealing a two-meter long staff of blue and white glacial ice.
As soon as the item began its existence at full mast, it began to obey gravity's laws. But before the cold stick could even begin to descend, a quick flick of Xiang's wrists set the blunt beater's trajectory in reverse. It ended up flying into the air by a few inches before getting yanked by its dead centre and twirled around its owner a time or two then slammed into the floor. Coming to rest on the wooden ground with a hollow *THUD!* as suddenly as it was spawned into existence.
Dawning a glint of blazing determination to defeat his foe, both males slowly began to walk towards the other. Both daring the other to say something. Only for silence to fill the air for the next few steps.
Walking quickly turned to jogging, jogging to sprinting. In a deathly silence, both beings frantically dashed to their enemy, disappearing into speed lines as they moved too fast for most B-class adventurers to keep track of. Nearly instantly closing the already minuscule distance they had in the bar.
ALRIGHT!
I know this whole cliffhanger-blue-ball-fuckery kinda getting annoying by now, but I got just a bit behind schedule so I had to shave this chapter in half for the sake of consistency.
But don't worry. In the next two weeks, you'll get a rather pleasant surprise!
Hope the sudden drop-in at the opening didn't feel too forced. It is gonna be very plot important soon enough...
Also, leave a review if you enjoyed (or don't enjoy) what I'm doing so far, would you kindly?
That'd be nice.
Anyways.
Ciao~
