Conquest; it is but a word to humans, but CPUs should not use it wantonly or at all, if in any way possible.

There are never more than six nations; with the scarcity of us Candidates taken into account, it is a given that no era will see more than ten CPUs at the same time. Conquest, to us, means to kill one of the very few people that are constants in our life. It means to lose someone we knew for a lifetime measured in eons.

Conquest means to take a beloved ruler from their followers.

What kind of deity would want that? What kind of ruler would want to act by this abhorrent concept?

-Red Sister

War would never change; Purple Heart knew that well.

Indeed, this useless war had been going on for centuries without a victor, without any differences. They all became stronger, they all became smarter, they all devised new means of combat and alternate solutions. Yet none of them managed to gain an edge over the rest. Not one that sufficed.

Until today, apparently. Once more, a battle far out to the sea separating Leanbox and Lowee, where none could see their warring.

Except that this time, Purple Heart did not have to keep an eye on another fight going on nearby; she required all of her speed and agility to weave through the endless barrages of lightning and ice following her anyway, interspersed with mach-speed attack runs from Green Heart. Vert had always been faster than any of them, effortlessly dancing in Blanc's and Noire's spellwork.

Sometimes an axe flew past, chipping away at the tip of her foot, while the occasional hit she took to dodge more powerful strikes weathered away her nearly black armour. Three had banded together to take out one, assuredly the first casualty of the Console War.

Neptune knew it too; this was not a chance encounter, they had met up to fight and thus she could not simply leave. She was under relentless assault by at least two of her fellow deities at all times, her grasp over the weather and the air were constantly disrupted by her attackers, and anytime she made to counterattack, a second or third strike would follow from different directions.

She had begun to bleed soon after they commenced their attack, ignoring any words she might have had. Neptune's indignation did not faze them, and neither did the few successful counterattacks she managed. By this point, her mind ran through faces and voices of people she knew, places she went. Most of it was already swallowed by the abyss known as time.

Despite her best attempts to ward it off, she needed all her concentration, all her focus and more than she even possessed to protect herself from three enemies all as powerful as herself. Within the depths of her mind, eyes opened. First one, then ten, then a hundred thousand more. She could feel Her gaze now, bound to a memory that Purple Heart would never truly be able to forget. A hollow chuckle echoed within the confines of Neptune's mind when Noire carved a gouge into her arm and sent her flying, Vert in hot pursuit to follow up.

"No."

It was but one word, stolen from her lips that had not drawn air for a while and gone unheard. One silent expression of defiance against her fate. The pain, the feeling of betrayal, the laughter, the eyes, and so much more were all washed away by a surge of anger so great it did not overflow. Neptune's mind became deadly calm as she thought back.

All the hardships she had gone through to ensure they all lived; the countless hours of practice and strategising, all the times her thrown weapon 'accidentally' intercepted a killing blow, the subtle maneuvering to prevent either of the other three from overpowering another. Whenever two sided against a third, she immediately took the other side to recreate equilibrium, oftentimes sabotaging even her own temporary ally. She had cried and bled to keep them alive, refusing an outcome where only one remained.

Today, even that refusal, that determination was nearly subsumed by wrath. How could they do this to her? She had made so sure none of them ever noticed her subtle interference, prepared for every eventuality. Well, not every one. This one, she had not expected.

Something deep within her broke, and warmth flowed from it. Neptune's calm expression broke into a sneer and the next time Vert came sailing by to stab her, she deflected the faster CPU's weapon and gave her a headbutt that shattered her nose before pushing her away. Vert reeled for a moment, an opening Neptune did not take; she reverted her momentum to dodge Noire's charge into her trajectory toward Vert, then reverted again to slam into the silver-haired CPU as well.

Sky blue eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected maneuver, as Neptune had fought purely defensive for the entire time. They had believed her unable to counter them, but even the surprise would only offer a momentary respite until they adjusted. Purple Heart kept a hold of Black Heart and whirled around to throw her against White Heart's incoming hammer, taking the chance to distance herself.

Vert was the fastest of them all.

Noire was the strongest.

Blanc was the toughest.

They had believed this to be enough, yet never truly realised that Neptune was second in each category, and the most skilled of them on top of it.

The warmth within Neptune's body spread, flowing from her core and making her brim with power. She came to a stop while her three assailants took up another formation, eyes narrowed. All this war had messed with their heads, forced them to assume a mindset more fitting for it. A mindset that allowed them to kill their friends once they managed it.

She never should have allowed things to escalate.

Her own regrets mixed with the pulsing anger and became silver that sprouted from her back, outshining the sun with its radiance.

In this very moment, the remaining three could feel a crawling sensation on their backs.

White Heart understood that she was to meet a terrible fate.

Green Heart felt as if suffocating in the Red Ring

And Black Heart, lastly, saw the world turn into pain before her mind's eye.

Pure rage had broken bonds thought unbreakable and unleashed power beyond the rest; in this moment, they realised they were in for a bad time.

Silvery wings stretched, made purely of Share Energy and radiating power. In a single moment, the situation reverted; the gap of three goddesses to one had been insurmountable, but now it became one true goddess facing three that were still growing. A gap just as great, if not greater than the one before.

Neptune's expression had returned to calmness; a clarity she scarcely felt guided her actions as she stared down her scared opponents. Friends.

Then she moved a single muscle, and the wings' power was unleashed. A shockwave ran through the world and made it shudder, parting the cloud cover above. It hit all three with its full force and sent them careening away.

Neptune beheld the sights of Vert's left leg and Noire's right arm falling toward the see, having been ripped off by the sheer force of her attack, as her anger faded. The wings receded and her transformation wore off, sending a petite girl falling to the waters below; tendrils of power caught her gently as Histoire made her entrance, no avatar present as there was no one to interact with either way. Planeptune's CPU had passed out from the strain.

The other three were separated by the wave of silvery might, its center having been Blanc in the middle of their formation; Lowee's ruler was thrown over several hundred kilometres until she impacted the leanboxian coast like a meteor, where she kept lying in a daze.

Noire, missing an arm, did not make it all the way to Lowee; she fell short and landed in the sea on a nearly ballistic arc, creating a small tsunami with her impact. The wave would later roll over a vast part of the loweean shore, though no humans would be affected.

Vert created another such wave, though far enough away from any land to ensure it would never reach the coast. She had been thrown not directly toward land, but out to the open sea in a direction that would almost return her to Leanbox.

Histoire carefully gathered up all of them, one by one.

. .

. .

When Neptune woke, she had been asleep for twenty-seven days; the exhaustion of even just unleashing a single blow with her newfound powers would have only taken a few days to fade, but Histoire kept her in an artificial coma for a thorough checkup. The silver wings manifested far too early, as she soon explained to the four deities.

Blanc, Vert, and Noire were all present when Planeptune's ruler took her first step out of bed; the last two were both lacking a limb, each one having only begun to regrow.

Neptune's first action upon seeing them was a hardening of her expression, which led to flinches and averted gazes. The purplette quickly walked over, noting the instinctual fear-responses CPUs were not even supposed to have.

"I'd slap you now," she said with a grave tone, before sweeping all three into a crushing hug. "But you already got that." The others stiffened for a moment as they were pressed together, but quickly shook it off to put their arms around their friend. No one argued Neptune's declaration: "This war is over. You lost, I won, nobody died, now we go back to being good friends and you will like it!" It became more of a demand toward the end, but her exhaustion and obviously fake cheer told them all what their dear friend felt about the matter.

Thus, the Console War came to an end.

Histoire, knowing that secrecy was no longer possible explained to them the power of the silver wings; she elaborated on the fact Neptune unleashed it far too early in her lifetime, as well as the fact her own survival was a small miracle already. The purplette herself only had blurry memories of those moments, a haze of rage and radiance.

As for her defeated opponents...

. .

. .

Lastation had been calm on the outside, but Noire knew that her people were celebrating the war's end.

Much to her dismay however, she could rarely look out at her capital these days; with the loss of an entire arm, her work speed had been cut in half. Not to mention that her address of the public about the matter required being prerecorded, as well as some careful positioning to make it impossible to tell she was anything but immaculate.

At the same time, Noire's head was a mess and a half. She had not really thought their latest plan through.

Her head was also the other reason for why she did not get to look outside all that often. As just in this very moment, when Noire's eyes turned to the live-feed from the outside on her computer, what she saw was a city in ruins; houses broken down and the people mingling in rags.

She blinked, and it was all back to normal.

Noire suffered from Bad End Syndrome. She had not needed Histoire's diagnosis to know the why or how, especially because Vert and Blanc had the exact same thing. She knew it would take years to work through that, but they spoke about it and the counseling Histoire made mandatory did help.

Then someone stormed into her office, the familiar sight of pink and cheerful greeting drawing a flinch out of Noire. She shuddered in her chair as her mind painted silvery wings on Neptune's back.

Neptune noticed immediately and stopped herself from leaping at her over the desk. Her momentum cut, the purplette cringed as well and slowly walked around to meet her; she gave Noire the time she needed to regain her composure, something which the Lastationite was thankful for.

"Still bad?"

"It is... okay."

Seeing Neptune down like this was a rare sight for all of them, but it had become a common occurence whenever one of them had an episode due to her appearance. She made sure to check on every single one of them every few days. In fact, Noire had considered using Neptune's mood to make a few selfish demands, but could not bring herself to actually go through with it.

She did not blame her old friend for what happened. Neptune could not have known, and it was Noire's fault to begin with; she had the genius idea to ally against Neptune first, the train of thought that lead to it still in her memory but no longer understandable.

When the purplette reached her, she gently ran a hand through Noire's hair and kissed her forehead, a gesture which made her relax; she knew these kisses were only for her. Be it because they might be married if not for their nations, or because they had always been a close pair, Neptune took special care of her. She checked more often, spoke to her, and 'forced' as much physical contact on her as she knew Noire liked; with her pride diminished by recent events, she did not even offer a token protest.

"Can you stay for a while?" She really did not want to be alone, but the only other company she had was her recently appointed Oracle, Ganache. Who was already nearly tearing himself apart keeping up with all the paperwork Noire did not get done because of her missing hand.

"Sure." And just like that, she was lifted out of her seat by the smaller woman; Neptune wore a more fond smile now, though the rest of her expression remained subdued. She carefully slid herself into Noire's chair before placing the Lastationite on her lap and hugging her waist from behind. "I know you've got stuff to do, so don't let me stop you."

It may look comically, but there was no one there to see them. Noire allowed herself a content sigh and leaned back against Neptune, then picked up her pen again.

If anything, they were now closer than they were before the war. Despite everything.