Karen, Katsuo, and Kazuto have volunteered to go to the Gamindustri Graveyard to rescue the CPUs of this world. These three are accompanying IF, Compa, and Falcom. Will these six be able to save the CPUs and Gamindustri afterward?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO universe; credits also to the creators and contributors to the Hyperdimension Neptunia series.

Warning: This chapter is rather gruesome compared to what I usually write in these stories. You've been warned here. It actually will not end here, since the characters will be going through a lot more like this in future chapters, but it won't be as gruesome as this one...hopefully.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [18:00] June 12th 20XX

When we cross the portal Histoire had created, we find ourselves in an area clearly deserving of the title 'Graveyard'; the environment is dark, foreboding, and has a borderline disturbing aura; with it being worse considering how dark it's getting because of the fact that it's getting closer to midnight with every passing minute.

"So this is the Gamindustri Graveyard. Reminds me of the Hill of the Cross on floor 19 of Aincrad...just more creepy and full of trash." I say a little weakly, with this foreboding atmosphere weighing down on me somewhat.

"Come on, let's hurry and find the CPUs. They should be somewhere over there." Falcom says in a composed tone, surprisingly unfazed by this atmosphere.

"This place is scary." Compa says, stuttering in fear, agreeing with me somewhat.

"Compa, you okay?" Katsuo asks worriedly.

"There are so many creepy monsters around here. I can't calm myself down with them around."

"Don't worry, the three of us were brought here to help you rescue these Goddesses. We'll make sure all of you stay safe." Katsuo says proudly.

"Hmm, I know it was our decision, but a tiny part of me wishes Mamoru was here, he was a skilled hunter and tracker, his skills may have been useful here." I say with a small sigh, though I silence the thought, knowing that it's too late to change my mind.

We march through the graveyard, with the six of us fighting some blob like monsters, thankfully, IF, Compa, and Falcom told us the name of these monsters, which are Pixelvaders, and they told us how to best fight them though it's a huge pain for me since I'm using a spear which is making this kind of fighting challenging. These things are not very strong on their own, but they keep grouping up on us, making it tough for us to fight. We march slowly to avoid ambushes or traps, yet fast enough to avoid having us worn down by consistent monster attacks.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [20:00] June 12th 20XX

We've made it quite a ways into the graveyard and we've thankfully kept the number of confrontations to a minimal but we're slowly getting exhausted from the fighting, stealthily traversing the graveyard, and in general, walking through the area. Compa and I have started getting exhausted so we decided to take a short break in a secluded alcove to recover our strength a bit.

"Ugh...these monsters never give up; if this keeps up, I won't have the strength to go on. I haven't been focusing on physical exertion for months." I say with a few light pants, having been fighting rather heavily when I'm not too accustomed to the weight of this spear, since it's far heavier than I originally thought. I'm resting against the wall putting my spear in front of my arm, keeping the blade away from the others

"You okay Karen? I know you never had the physical strength Hikaru, Sylvia, and I had. We need everyone at our best." Katsuo says worriedly.

"I'll be fine. I want to keep this break to a minimal." I say bluntly, not wanting to stay here too long. My resolve will weaken if I do so and it's weak enough as it is already, any more and I would not be able to continue fighting.

"Heh, I see that you're still capable of being as stubborn as when you were in Aincrad as Solaris." Katsuo laughs when he hears my rather blunt declaration. "Very well, if everyone's capable, let's keep going."

"Actually, I'm still feeling a little exhausted, think we could have a little more time?" Compa asks a tiny bit worriedly, being in a similar stance as I am.

"Hm, very well, we'll stay here for five more minutes." Katsuo says calmly, with a tiny hint of anger, as I suspect he wants to get out of here ASAP just like me despite what he had said just now.

"Okay, let's divide our team a little. Katsuo, Kazuto, stay here with Compa and link up with us later. Karen, Falcom, let's march forward and clear a path."

"IF, you sure dividing our forces is wise?" I ask, knowing full well how dangerous such a thing can be from all my time inside Aincrad, having seen at least three to five hundred deaths from making such moves.

"Probably not, but I can't stand the fact I left Nep and the others trapped here after so long." IF says emotionlessly, marching forward.

I get up and follow IF with Falcom in tow. After a few minutes pass, I ask the girl a question, wanting to inquire something about this situation here.

"Hey Falcom, how long have these CPUs been trapped here? Also...what's wrong with IF? She seems really out of it since we got here." I ask curiously, wanting a little more exposition on what we're up against.

"Three years. Histoire sent an entire Guild military battalion to rescue them a week after we lost contact, but we lost the entire battalion save three people, who perished two days after they made it back to Planeptune." Falcom says rather nonchalantly as she gives the exposition I asked for "And to answer your second question Karen; IF feels extremely guilty. She feels like she's responsible for the CPUs after we lost contact three years ago. She thinks that if she was with them, they might have succeeded."

I begin freaking out at this update from Falcom about the odds we're facing here

"Uh...Uh...Um...if what I'm hearing is right...You lost an entire battalion of trained soldiers, and Histoire expects a team of six to do what a battalion failed to do?!" I say, panicking a lot...I'm really starting to get scared here. Not even Aincrad was sadistic enough to place such obstacles in front of us, it was always fair as long as you prepared yourself. Sugou was not sadistic enough for this and he forcibly modified my soul! Atleast, that's what I feel like now.

"I won't deny that the battle before was very grave and devastating, but we're far better equipped in terms of knowledge. We have full knowledge of the layout unlike the battalion before, and we know what we're up against this time around." Falcom says, trying to calm me down.

"That...does calm me down a tiny bit; lack of information on a battlefield can lead to devastating casualties." I say, though my tone is still full of anxiety however.

"Besides, we recruited you all specifically because you're far superior to any of our militaries. We know of your accomplishments in Aincrad through our records. According to what the records say, Senryaku was a Special Forces group, with you leading them." Falcom says with a smile.

"Hehe...you're embarrassing me. I initially founded Senryaku out of desperation. We may have been classified as Special Forces, but we're just ordinary civilians, we're not soldiers." I say with an embarrassed laugh, before I realize something Falcom said "...Hang on...if we're far superior to your militaries...this world must be insanely pacifistic if its militaries are weaker than teenagers!"

"Either way, we just need your help to get the CPUs, as soon as that's done, we won't force your hand any further." Falcom says calmly and continues to move ahead, with me utterly paralyzed a little.

"What the hell is wrong with this world? This is defying logic in more ways than one!"

"Hurry up, both of you!" IF shouts slightly angrily, trying to keep quiet.

"R-Right!" Falcom and I both say, panicking lightly, running to where she is.

We get a little further in when IF stops us and covers her mouth with her index finger, telling us to be quiet

"There are three Plaid Dolphins ahead. They're all dangerous monsters. We can't afford to draw too much attention. If we get noticed by the wrong people, we're freaking screwed."

"What do we do IF?" I ask, knowing that this is the only way to get further into the graveyard.

"I'm...not really sure. That's the only way to get to where the battalion reported where they found Nep and the others. We're stuck."

"Maybe we could-" I try to say before I hear a mind-shattering voice go off in my head, making me fall to my knees

"Woah! Karen, you okay?!" IF quietly exclaims, her and Falcom both crouching down to me.

"Do not hesitate to strike young one. I will grant you the necessary strength to accomplish this, but you must find me soon. Find and help me, and your reward will be worth the cost."

"Who...Who are you?"

"It is not important. I am going to give you my power, so destroy the monsters in your way then find me."

"Ugh...why do you want me to find you? I'm trying to rescue the CPUs."

"Listen. Rescuing the CPUs and saving me is tantamount. It's just that no one, even Histoire, is aware of this one missing link. I am a treasure cove of unknown power and I desire to destroy ASIC. I am dying however and I need someone to help me return to civilization."

"Saving you is the same as getting the Console Patron Units? How...Wait, you're one of the Goddesses too?"

"An ancient goddess yes. I saw the goddesses: Purple Heart, Black Heart, White Heart, and Green Heart along with a CPU Candidate: Purple Sister fight here years ago. I wish I could have joined them in battle but I am too weak and I can not materialize a physical form. I have not been able to for a very long time."

"Okay, I have no idea how you've lived such a long time but I can try to help. We were brought here to help the CPUs after all."

"Thank you. I thought I would be dead long before anyone was able to find me. But look, we don't have time to play twenty questions! Get moving!"

After this mystery woman finished speaking with me, I feel a surge of power welling up from deep within me and I then stand up, keeping a firm grip on my spear as I notice it become enveloped in light. I am about to rush out when IF pulls me back

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Clearing the way. Go get the others." I snarl rather stubbornly as I break free from IF's grip and rush ahead. While I may not exactly be in charge of the team, I don't plan on letting IF direct what I do. I don't want to rub the fact that IF and the others are depending on us in her face, but I refuse to act as a pawn. I make my own moves, but I'll also avoid harming this world and our mission as much as possible.

I quickly dash toward the Dolphins and with the strength I can feel coursing through my veins, I stab one before they noticed me. I am not able to comprehend how I was even remotely capable of this since I am not acrobatic in any way, but while I had the monster paralyzed with my spear through it, I was somehow able to acrobatically spin around my spear and repeatedly hit the other two monsters with a series of kicks, temporarily stunning them while I jump back a little, pulling my spear out of the monster, destroying it once I finish and I quickly stab the other two Dolphins with my spear, destroying them just as quickly.

"Holy freaking god! How in the world?!" I exclaim in awe, wondering how in the world I did all this. If this dying Console Patron Unit can only grant miniscule amounts of power to people and they become capable of doing this, I can only imagine what these goddesses can do when they are at full power!

"Hehe. Are you impressed?"

"Hell yeah! I have never been able to do anything like this in my life!"

"We goddesses are immensely powerful, but my time has come and gone. I don't have any followers or shares remaining but listen, my time is running out. I need you to come and find me."

"Got it. But, where are you? I can't really find you if I don't know where you are."

"I'm hidden among the trash. I'm near the CPUs in a wide open space."

"If you're close to the CPUs, we'll get to you quick. We came to save them in the first place."

Almost immediately after I finish speaking with this mystery goddess, I get turned around and slapped by IF

"What the hell were you thinking you idiot?! You could've gotten us killed!"

"I cleared the way so get off my case." I retort angrily as I lightly rub my cheek. IF said that this was the only way to get to the CPUs so I defeated the monsters in our way. Why is she getting so pissed off since I did what we needed?

"You are so lucky that-!" IF tries to say before being stopped by Falcom.

"Take it easy IF. I'm sure that Karen did what was best, right?"

"Yeah, now let's just wait for the others to get here."

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [20:30] June 12th 20XX

We've made it very far into this Graveyard and found nothing but monsters. I'm beginning to lose hope that we'll find these CPUs considering how far we've been going.

"We've been walking for over two hours now, the survivors weren't kidding when they said this place is huge." IF says with quiet surprise. While I barely know this world, I know that the dungeon in the forest was pretty small, since it didn't take us very long to find Falcom, though we were led by the sounds of battle so that may have helped.

"I hope we can find Nep-Nep and the others soon." Compa says worriedly.

"Urgh..." I hear a voice in the distance.

"Did any of you hear something?" I ask curiously.

"Yeah, it came from that way." Kazuto says, pointing to the only way we have access to aside from the path we took.

"Come on everyone, let's go find out what's causing it." IF states calmly, with all of us running in the direction of that sound.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [20:40] June 12th 20XX

We've made it to a large clearing to find five people imprisoned in some sort of wiring. We can see a young girl with long lilac hair, wearing some kind of futuristic white and purple colored armor, who looks a few years younger than us; a woman with long dark purple hair set in twintail braids, wearing similar armor as the young girl but black and purple colored; another with blue hair wearing blue and white colored armor; one with white hair and black colored armor, and the last has long green hair and is wearing a really revealing white colored armor.

"Iffy? Compa?" The woman with long purple hair weakly asks when she looks up toward us.

"Nep-Nep! They even imprisoned Ge-Ge and the other CPUs!" Compa exclaims in shock at this sight.

"What the hell is this? It reminds me of Alfheim." I say in utter shock, remembering how Sugou used chains on Asuna and the others the day we escaped that world.

We exchange glances between this dark purple haired woman and the other four people. All five of these girls are bound in the same kind of wires.

"They've been like this for three years? They've gone through more torture than any Sword Art Online player. At least we were given free will during Aincrad, these girls were kept bound for that long." Kazuto says in mild agape at the sight of the imprisoned CPUs.

"Let's just get them out of here. Compa, you have the Sharicite, so do your thing and get them out of here. Falcom, go and protect her. Everyone else, spread out and stay on guard." IF says seriously.

When Compa and Falcom rushed to help the CPUs, we began spreading out through the wide open area with me looking around the trash trying to find this mystery CPU since she said she was buried around here. Almost immediately however, we hear a loud voice not too far away from us.

"I will not let you free those CPUs!"

We all look around frantically, and when I look above, I notice a huge creature descending toward us

"Break off! It's above us!" I shout, being sent to the south by the shockwave sent by this creature's axe when it crashes into the ground. I see Kazuto, Katsuo, Falcom, Compa, and IF being sent to the east, closer to the CPUs.

I take a glance at this creature to see it's dark gray with cyan trims all over its body, with a giant axe with a skull on one side, it also has giant wings, with a D-Pad on both wings.

"Hahahahaha! You fools have come rushing to your graves. I'd be more than willing to fulfill your death wish. I've been stuck in this place for three years with nothing to do, you had better amuse me!" The creature says in a hostile tone, though apparently, it's happy that it has something to occupy its time, even if for a moment.

"Damn it...I was hoping we wouldn't run into one of these guys." IF says with a growl.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Katsuo shouts in shock.

"That's Criminal of the Free World or CFW Judge. He was responsible for annihilating the Guild battalion three years ago. Compa, go get the CPUs, Falcom, keep her safe! We'll stall this guy." IF says, rushing toward Judge alongside myself, Katsuo, and Kazuto.

We try to attack this creature, but its rock hard armor is preventing us from doing any damage to this thing, and even our strongest attacks are barely making a dent in this creature's Guard Gauge. After ten minutes of near fruitless combat, Judge then retaliates with four slashes with his axe which throws all four of us flying, with me being sent to the west while Kazuto, Katsuo, and IF get sent toward Compa and Falcom.

POV: Compa, Falcom

Compa has made it to one of the CPUs: Nepgear and is using the Sharicite to restore her energy. Nepgear opens her eyes somewhat, but is still feeling faint.

"Ge-Ge! Please wake up! Iffy and the others need you!" Compa says very worriedly, fearing for the safety of IF, Karen, Katsuo, and Kazuto, as she and Falcom are seeing that the four of them are fighting a losing battle and are quickly getting their asses kicked by Judge.

"Compa...? I think I'm..." Nepgear says weakly, before getting interrupted by a loud scream.

"GAHHH!"

POV: General

While I was trying to distract Judge and try opening a chance for IF, Kazuto, and Katsuo to attack; Judge attacked me with his axe in an uppercut strike, sending me flying against the trash wall, making me scream in pain as I'm sent. The fall down is rather painful since I can feel the walls scratching through my clothing to my skin. While most of the cuts from the wall were done to my back, the axe strike alone cut me open really badly and I feel a little blood pouring down my face. Getting out of this without scars, or even alive considering the size of these wounds, will be a miracle. While I shouldn't be putting this high on my priorities, but my new clothes are pretty torn up based on what I see from a piece of glass and the enchantment on these clothes must have been destroyed as my hair color reverted from the snow white color to my natural amber, but thankfully it must still be intact enough to keep the size the same, to my extreme relief.

"Karen!" Katsuo shouts in fear, seeing Judge slash a deep cut near my heart, making me lose quite a lot of blood as I fall to the ground, with me bleeding out as well from all of the cuts to my skin "Damn it...she won't make it if we don't do something! Kazuto, IF, stall for time! I need to get Karen to safety!" Katsuo shouts, waiting for the duo to attack Judge to stall time.

After I see Kazuto and IF attack Judge, Katsuo runs toward me and picks me up before carrying me to Compa.

"Compa, Karen needs medical attention, fast!"

"Leave her to me, go help Iffy and Kazuto!" Compa says seriously, pulling out some wrap bandages for the exposed wound near my heart.

Although my vision is becoming blurred from blood loss, I can see that Katsuo does not look eager to leave my side. "Katsuo...go help the others...I'll be fine..." I say weakly, coughing up some blood as I say this.

"Karen, don't talk right now! Your condition will deteriorate if you keep this up!" Compa says solemnly, continuing to treat my injuries.

Katsuo reluctantly goes to help IF and Kazuto, and shortly after my injuries are covered up by the bandages; I see IF, Kazuto, and Katsuo thrown back by Judge's axe, causing three different screams. Oddly, before Katsuo rushed to my side, I felt some sort of presence figuratively wrap me in a warm shield of some kind and while I don't exactly know what it's doing, it seems to be reassuring me. But despite how Compa quickly treated my injuries, I'm still bleeding out, albeit much slower thanks to it, and I'm going to need professional medical care quickly.

"You all are pathetic! You're hardly worth the effort of my axe. Put some effort into this, I don't want to fight rats that don't have the audacity to fight for their lives!" Judge growls angrily.

"My god...this CFW Judge is kicking our asses so easily." I say in rather strong pain and in dismay, seeing Kazuto and Katsuo being thrown into the air by a shockwave made by Judge.

"That's why we were hoping not to encounter one of the CFWs. They're unstoppable because ASIC controls over 80 percent of the world's shares. We can't defeat or even harm a single CFW because of how powerful their faith is." Falcom says to me.

"Damn it...we can't let it end here." I say, trying to get up, but a very sharp pain starts up near my heart when I try.

"Don't get up! You'll reopen your wounds if you do so!" Compa says seriously, and angrily toward me.

"Are you okay?" The young girl: Nepgear asks me in concern, with me slightly seeing her staring at the wrap bandage around my left arm and my stomach.

I glance at the young girl with bright purplish-pink hair flowing straight out, blue eyes, wearing a white one piece with long white metallic socks of some kind, and purple wings of an exotic design, who is floating somewhat. I see that she has a worried look on her face.

"Ugh...I'll be fine...I've gone through worse." I say in pain, lying quite a bit, as I cough up even more blood.

"This isn't good...Judge's power is too much for us." IF says in mild pain, having been struck by Judge's axe, but not to the extent I went through.

"Then let me fight on your behalf." Nepgear says seriously, approaching Judge. "All of you, fall back." Nepgear says to Kazuto, Katsuo, and IF.

She summons some sort of exotic weapon, which looks like some sort of advanced and elegant gunblade, and she takes up combat against Judge, while IF, Kazuto, and Katsuo retreat to where Compa, Falcom, and I are.

"It's time for my Celestial Severance! Multiple Beam Launcher Overdrive!" Nepgear shouts, activating a skill which shoots Judge before applying two shocks of electricity before jumping back and focusing a beam of energy toward Judge before executing an explosion which should finish off Judge for good.

...Except that Judge hardly seemed injured from the power of what Nepgear pulled off...

"Is that all you have? That's the power of a high and mighty CPU?" Judge growls in anger and arrogance, facing all seven of us; with us all being heavily exhausted from all the fighting we've been going through against Judge, aside from Compa and Falcom.

"Compa, how are Nep and the others faring? We could really use their help right now!" IF says, with mild exhaustion.

"They aren't reviving! The Sharicite's not helping!" Compa says, freaked out.

"That must mean the Sharicite is insufficient to revive the other CPUs." Histoire says through our walkie-talkies.

"We've...thrown too much on the line for us to fall here...we can't let this happen!" Kazuto shouts in anger, also exhausted from this battle.

"You all are far too troublesome. It's time I end your lives once and for all!" Judge states angrily.

"I can't...I'm not strong enough to fight Judge. Wait, maybe if we use the power of the Sharicite, perhaps we could pull through." Nepgear says weakly, before coming up with an idea.

"DIE!" Judge shouts, drawing his axe toward us.

Nepgear takes the Sharicite from Compa, and uses it to emit a bright light, blinding all of us briefly.

"Argh! This bright light! My eyes! My eyes! My eyes!" Judge growls in anger, swinging his axe in the air, thankfully, far from us.

"Nice going Gear! He's off his game!" IF says proudly.

"Did it...work...ugh." Nepgear says, weakly before collapsing.

"Nepgear!" Katsuo says in concern as he sees her fall.

"Gear, if you pass out now!" IF shouts worriedly, starting to fear the worst now.

"How dare you! Once my optical system reboots, I will tear you apart one by one!" Judge growls angrily, keeping a hand over his eyes.

"Everyone, get out of there. We don't have the power to fight ASIC anymore today." Histoire says seriously, and fearful as well.

"Damn it...understood, everyone, we're getting out of here. Falcom, help Gear." IF says in anger over being forced to leave Nep and the other three CPUs.

"I'll help Karen." Katsuo says, supporting me with one shoulder.

The seven of us run as best we can away from that clearing and we find ourselves at the entrance after an hour of running. The reason why we're able to move so quickly is how we know the environment far more than before and adrenaline certainly has a gift of ignoring pain and boost stamina.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [22:00] June 12th 20XX

"We made it to safety...thank goodness." IF says with a few pants, what with her being exhausted from being the only fighter left available aside from Compa.

"Ugh...I-I feel faint..." I say weakly, I think I lost too much blood before I got this emergency treatment. Even when Compa had covered my wounds with bandages, I was still bleeding out really badly and it's beginning to show as I'm feeling incredibly light headed and my vision is starting to get dark.

"This is a mess; we were supposed to get all of the CPUs; but we were only able to get Gear, and what's worse is that..." IF says with her eyes closed, clearly disappointed in herself.

"We lost the Sharicite when Ge-Ge used it. Rescuing the other CPUs is just not possible now." Compa says sadly.

"Great, so we came all this way to rescue the five CPUs, and we only managed to get one. Gah...and after all these injuries; we're not going to be able to fight for a few days." Katsuo says sadly, and goes through a minor pain spasm, with him dropping me as a result, making me yelp in pain from the sudden movement. He picks me back up rather quickly though thankfully.

"Don't be discouraged. Saving Nepgear is highly worthy of praise. She will be very helpful in our plan to defeat ASIC." Histoire says compassionately, trying to ease our pain.

"What do we do now Histoire? We're all in bad shape." IF asks worriedly.

"I'm opening a new portal, return to Planeptune. I imagine you all need rest and medical attention. And I am certain that Nepgear will want to sleep in her own bed for the first time in years. I also want to know what happened three years ago between the CPUs and ASIC."

We see a portal with a purple tint open, and we all walk through it slowly, to find ourselves in the room where we found Histoire in the first place.

"Welcome back, I see you did manage to get Nepgear, well done." Histoire says quietly, noticing all of the injuries we have.

"Was not easy...I..." I weakly say before collapsing, with my eyes outright closing as I fall, though I'm forcing myself to keep them open as much as I possibly can.

"Karen!" Katsuo and Kazuto both shout in surprise.

"She needs proper medical attention. I need you to bring Karen to the medical wing immediately and treat her wounds! Hurry!" Histoire says seriously to three people from the medical team that was called, who leave with me being put on a stretcher, but before I'm taken away, I overhear Histoire say "Look over IF and the others, they are injured as well."