Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.
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Chapter 45
Letting out a yell, Affimojas, known as Azna=Leb and Enzo, swung out with his sword, only to find it blocked by Steamax's ninja star. "You are indeed worthy. If you were to join me, we could..." He grabbed his cape and pulled it in front of him to block Steamax's throwing knives.
"As if I would join a traitor!" Steamax protested as he rushed Affimojas and pulled out a short sword to parry Affimojas's large sword. "If you would betray Lady Noire, you would gladly throw me to the side!"
Affimojas chuckled as his sword lit up with flames and he swung at Steamax rapidly, who, just as rapidly, parried and blocked the attacks. "And what makes you think that your Lady Noire," he spat Noire's name out with so much contempt that it was palatable, "won't just use you and throw you away when you've stopped being useful to her?"
"If you knew Lady Noire like I do, you would know that she doesn't throw people who are loyal to her away." Steamax countered as he rolled under a swipe from Affimojas and kicked upwards into the jaw of his opponent, sending him up into the air. "But you're short-sighted, shallow, and worst of all, untrustworthy."
Steamax watched and was rather impressed that the power suit his opponent was using was equipped with some anti-gravity measures to slow his descent.
"And what makes you think that you're right?" Affimojas asked him. "Black Void cares for only Order and Power. She refuses to show even her own sister any sort of affection or kindness. It would do us all some good if she were removed from the picture."
Steamax narrowed his eyes as he crouched down low. "If she openly showed that she cared for Lady Uni, I have no doubt that you and your cabal would use it against her." He launched himself at Affimojas, who held his cape in front of him to block the diving attack. The large man grunted as he was blasted away, even if the damage he took was minimal. "Did any of you stop to think that your actions are the reason that Lady Noire acts the way she does?!"
"Pathetic." Affimojas muttered as he landed on the rooftop and slid away. "She's nothing more than a child, crying about how the world is unfair and that no one gives her special treatment."
"Lady Noire knows better than anyone that life is unfair!" Steamax yelled as his large ninja star detached from his side and he threw it with all his might at Affimojas, who attempted to block it, but was surprised when it seemingly split into pieces and got behind him before shredding his armor from behind and forcing him to his knees.
"NNNGH!" Affimojas grunted and pushed himself up. Even with his cape destroyed, he still cut an imposing figure as he stood tall while Steamax grabbed his split throwing star and recombined it before reattaching it to his arm. "Interesting, I'm rather impressed." He lunged at Steamax, who blocked his attack with his combined ninja star. "It's too bad that a robot like you is a waste of programming."
"You're wrong about one thing, traitor." Steamax told Affimojas. "I'm not loyal to Lady Noire or Lady Uni because of my programming. I am programmed to protect Lady Uni. However," his eyes seemed to gleam as he pushed Affimojas up and away from him, "my loyalty to them is all on me! I do not need programming to be loyal to those who deserve it!"
"That loyalty will get you nothing but an early grave!" Affimojas proclaimed.
"If I die because I am loyal, then at least I will not die with regrets, unlike you." Steamax intoned. "However, I will not die today against you." He took a stance as he looked at Affimojas. "And when we are done, you will die a death fitting a traitorous mutt such as yourself."
(-)
Meanwhile...
Black Void parried another strike by Purple Heart. "Get away from me!" She yelled and drove her foot into Purple Heart's stomach, sending her flying away. She fired another blast at Purple Heart, who countered with an energy blade.
Hovering some distance away, Purple Heart resisted the urge to rub her stomach. 'I hate to admit it, but she's better than either of the Noires I know.' Her Noire had never been able to keep up with her for this long and the one from Plutia's world, while strong, lacked the experience to fight her like this.
Purple Heart wasn't sure if it was because Black Void was able to focus more on the fight or if the other Noires took it easy on her, but she knew one thing...
It was rather exhilarating to fight like this.
Black Void just glared at Purple Heart. 'So this is what a fully realized CPU is like, huh?' She hated to admit it, but she knew that if the fight continued on that she would lose. Already her body was starting to wear out and no matter what she did it didn't seem to be enough to beat this weird CPU.
When the sky turned red, both CPUs stopped to look at the C.I.D. as one of the satellites pointed down while glowing.
"That's..." Purple Heart's pupils shrank as she could feel the utter cold and wrongness that was Fearicite energy coming from the satellite. "Fearicite?" She asked as the beam narrowed for a brief moment.
"That doesn't make sense, there's so..." Black Void's eyes widened and she spun to look down. "UNI!" She screamed and launched herself down towards her sister.
Purple Heart turned and saw Uni thrashing and crackling with energy around her. "Oh no!" Purple Heart gasped and launched herself down towards Uni. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew one thing...
She wouldn't fail like she did in Eden.
As they raced towards Uni, Purple Heart and Black Void both glanced at each other. Black Void's look of distrust, hate and anger slowly melted away as Purple Heart smiled at her. "What are you doing?!" Black Void yelled at her. "You won't stop me from saving her!"
"Who says I'd stop you?" Purple Heart asked as she fired several swords off, slamming them into progbots on the way down. "I am CPU Purple Heart, the Guardian Goddess of Planeptune." She smirked at Black Void's look of shock. "Even if this isn't my world, nor my nation, it's still my job to protect the people!"
"Even if they don't deserve it?" Black Void asked as the two rushed down at Uni.
Purple Heart gave her a stern look. "Even if they're criminals, scum or worse, it's my job, my duty to protect them if I can."
Black Void gave Purple Heart a calculating look before turning back to look at Uni. "...You're a good person, Purple Heart."
Purple Heart smiled at hearing that. "There's still..." Whatever she was about to say was cut off as a loud crackling sound was heard and the satellite fired a large red beam towards Uni. Even with their speed and head start on the attack, it was quickly out speeding them and didn't take long to pass them.
"Dammit!" Black Void screamed, "I won't..." She cried out, tears escaping her eyes as she pushed herself as fast as she could go, "I won't make it!"
Purple Heart pursed her lips as she raced towards Uni. 'Even with a boost sigil, I can't either.' There was a way to do it, but it was risky and she might end up accidentally killing herself in the process. 'I hope I don't end up breaking something like I did when Marvy taught this to me.' She thought to herself as she focused on the technique to massively increase her speed, if even for a moment.
"What the hell?" Black Void stared as Purple Heart got ahead of the beam in an instant. "Is that some sort of Flash Step move?"
Appearing right above Uni, Purple Heart lashed out with a punch to knock Uni away just as the blast hit and engulfed Purple Heart with raw Fearicite energy.
Purple Heart screamed as it felt like her very being was being torn apart. "NO! AAAAAAAH!" She fell to the ground and struggled to stay on her knees. "This is... AAAAAAH!" She cried out as horrible, foreign energy flooded her body. "I can't..." Her eyes widened as she lifted her left arm and her processor on that arm started to tear itself apart. "NO! I won't... I WON'T SUBMIT TO YOU!" She screamed as she crawled forward, through the red energy. "STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!" She could feel negative thoughts, horrible thoughts, flooding her mind at that moment.
Even as she crawled, Purple Heart could feel her body changing. "I won't..." She began, her eyes glowing black while she crawled forward before collapsing to the ground.
Meanwhile, Black Void landed on the ground and grabbed her twitching sister, who was crying out in pain. "Uni!"
"N...Noire!" Uni gasped out. "It... It hurts, it..." She gasped as Black Void suddenly grabbed her neck and tore the collar off of her, causing the pain to stop. Uni gasped as she took in deep breaths while Black Void set her down gently.
"Just relax," Black Void told her while looking at the collar. "This feels like..."
"Aww!" K-Sha suddenly cried out while pointing a gun at Black Void. "I was hoping that she would turn into a Void. Oh well, I guess I can just kill you."
Black Void stood up and turned around to walk towards the red beam.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" K-Sha called out. "If you're worried about that other CPU, she's probably a Void by now. All dead inside except for hatred."
Black Void stopped and turned to look at K-Sha. "...Yeah, she probably is."
The next thing any of them knew, a beam was launched from Black Void's hip blasters right through where K-Sha's head was, bisecting the cyborg and causing her to fall to the ground in a headless heap.
Uni looked at K-Sha and sneered. "Good riddance."
Black Void turned back to the beam and narrowed her eyes before rushing to it and reaching into the beam. Grimacing at the raw amount of Fearicite flooding her body, she grabbed onto Purple Heart and pulled her out of the beam before tossing her like a rag doll to land by Uni.
Purple Heart landed on her back and let out shallow gasps like she was out of shape and had just run a marathon as her body was crackling with black, red and white energies. "NNNNGH!" Her shallow gasps made it sound like she was drowning in water even as her eyes were wide and unseeing while she jerked and twitched on the ground.
"BIG SIS!" Rom yelled as she saw the state Purple Heart was in. "YOU!" She glared at Black Void. "YOU MONSTER! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"
"HEY!" Uni yelled at Rom as she got to her feet. "Don't yell at Noire like that! She saved your sister!" Rom looked at her in confusion and back at Black Void as the CPU walked over to Purple Heart, idly blasting any cyborgs or progbots that got in front of her before kneeling down in front of Purple Heart.
"In so many ways I should enjoy seeing you suffer like this." Black Void said softly. "You came to my nation, caused chaos, broke the law and fought against me." She looked at Uni for several moments while her younger sister had a confused, uncertain look on her face before turning back to Purple Heart. "You saved my sister from becoming a Void though. For that, I'll end your suffering."
She raised her hand up and thrust it straight into Purple Heart's chest, just above her breasts.
To be continued...
Purple Heart... NOOO!
Man, what a place to end it for the week, huh? XD