A/N: Okay guys, while I've tried doing my best keeping this story at a T rating, I realized it may no longer be possible so I'm going to play it safe and bump this story up to M. There will be future chapters that will be remarkably gruesome and I don't want to get in trouble.

Also, let me say that I need to thank Amku for helping me research the subject of Turian and Krogan diets even though the official lore of the ME series is lacking in that regard.

Also, this took me sooooo long to finish. I started this back in early January and I just finished it today.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:00] December 7th 20XX

Location: [Planeptune Basilicom]

It's been nearly six months since my friends and I have entered this world and when we started this journey, it was me, Katsuo, Kazuto, Mamoru, Yuuki, Shino, Nepgear, Compa, IF, and Falcom journeying to find the Mascot Characters and our ranks have swelled quite a bit and although Katsuo, Kazuto, Mamoru, Yuuki, Shino, and Miyo are gone; we've recruited Uni, Rom, Ram, Uzume, Izumi, Filia, Nisa, Gust, RED, Cave, 5pb., and former members of Leanbox's SMD department so we have a sizable force for our battle against ASIC in their base.

While I was on the Perseus, I did ask 5pb, which I quickly learned was her idol stage name and her real name was Lyrica, if she was serious on her decision to help us all rescue the CPUs since she was an idol and not a fighter, and she told me that her music was a special type of magic and she was committed to help no matter what, but she did admit that while she is nervous about facing a den of wolves, she swore she would help. I initially failed to see the impact of how her music magic could help us, but she said it was primarily as a morale booster and it could even suppress enemy strength; and I immediately saw the appeal as it could help keep us fighting no matter what we face in that Graveyard.

And to be truthfully honest, there were so many people helping us, Histoire had to select a different room to open the next portal to the Graveyard for us to use. In addition, Histoire was rather surprised to see Uzume and hear that she survived the ancient war against ASIC like Caelus.

"I am glad to see you all have returned and with more people aiding our cause. I have taken the liberty of creating a brand new Sharicite to revive the CPUs and it is far more powerful than the last one which revived Nepgear. This time we should be able to rescue all of the CPUs, but I must make one thing clear, please exercise extreme caution: ASIC will know you are coming and have likely prepared themselves; please be careful to avoid repeating what happened six months ago."

"Don't worry Histoire. We are far stronger than we were six months ago, and we have a small army supporting us. Let's not forget we have robbed ASIC of a great number of shares, so they should not be as strong as before. But we'll be careful."

After saying this, Histoire passed the new Sharicite crystal to Nepgear and opens a portal for us all to enter the Gamindustri Graveyard "Since our shares are much higher, I can afford to keep this portal open this time. Best of luck, I pray for your victory." Histoire then passes us six walkie-talkies.

We take a quick moment to check all of our gear and brace ourselves for what could be the toughest fight of our entire lives and after we do this, we enter the portal.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:30] December 7th 20XX

Location: [Gamindustri Graveyard]

After entering the graveyard, we quickly notice that the number of monsters has greatly increased and I can tell that they're stronger than the last time we were here; ASIC must have been preparing for our inevitable arrival, just like Histoire and Brave said.

"Okay, this complicates matters. If we keep this portal unguarded, monsters could get through and attack the Basilicom. Filia, I want your men to stay here and guard the entrance."

"Got it Karen. You heard her you guys. You're staying here. Keep this area secure so we have an escape route."

"Understood!" The former SMD members shout in unison as they begin branching out to protect this area.

"Everyone else; let's go. And remember Histoire's words, we have to exercise caution as much as possible, we have no idea what we're up against here."

We then proceed through the area guns blazing as the monsters are rather aggressive and are going out of their way to fight against us but I notice something from the top of a nearby junk fall near me but I ignore it since it seems to be nothing. It was most likely the wind knocking over what fell.

POV: ?

"Dammit, you could've given us away! We're supposed to be hiding out of sight until they reach the end and maximize our strategic advantage!" An individual wearing a rather unique set of blue colored armor quietly snarls when he notices his colleague accidentally knock over some junk off the top of the wall they're walking on toward ground level.

"Don't start with me. This place is full of junk; I can't walk a single step without knocking something over. And stealth is not my expertise, I fight for a living!"

"Well deal with it. Histoire went out of her way to bring us back and we're going to do things as she demands."

"I envy those bastards down there. I'd trade places with them without hesitation."

"Quit complaining. It'll take ages to reach the end going this way and we have to get there before they do. Now just shut up and follow me."

"Huh. So you finally decided to grow a backbone after forty years of living. 'bout time."

After this argument, the individual in blue armor knees his companion in the stomach before the pair continue their trek; sniper rifle and shotgun in hand.

POV: Karen

After fighting over twenty more monsters trying to stop us, I happen to notice a statue not far off the beaten path and when I glance at it, I recognize who it is. If it weren't for the fact I saw her petrified in Gapain Field, I would've said that it's a very well-made statue because of its extremely high human likeness.

"Yuuki!" I exclaim as I dash toward her with the others in tow.

"Goodness. Let's get her out of here." Nepgear mutters in shock at seeing Yuuki's petrified body. She then quickly closes her eyes, places a hand on Yuuki's face and chants an incantation. I see the petrification slowly fade and when the last of it fades, I see Yuuki begin to fall and I hurry to catch her

"Yuuki, you okay?" I worriedly ask the girl as I keep her from falling to the ground.

"Ugh...That voice...Karen? Is that you?" Yuuki's voice is rather coarse and it's easy to tell that trying to get her eyes to open fully is a huge challenge right now.

"Yeah, it's me Yuuki. Can you see?"

"A tiny bit. It's so blurry though."

"We need to get you treatment." I say with maternal instinct in my voice as I pull out a walkie talkie to talk to Histoire "Histoire, I found one of my friends; she needs medical attention."

"Evacuate them with an escape button, and I'll have medical teams treat them."

"Understood." I say to Histoire as I pull out an escape button and give it to Yuuki "Here, just throw this toward the ground. Histoire is gathering medical teams for you all."

"Thanks Karen. I wish I could stay to help you fight, but I know I'd be a burden in my current condition. But good luck trying to convince Katsuo, Kazuto, or Mamoru though. You know them." Yuuki weakly chuckles as she takes the escape button, takes a step back and throws the escape button to the ground.

After seeing Yuuki leave via escape button, I quickly take out the few I have left and distribute them to Falcom, Gust, Lyrica, Compa, and I keep the last one for myself.

"Okay, it's clear that the others are here. We're getting them all out of here no matter what. Nepgear, is it easy using that magic you used?"

"Not exactly. Even though petrification is an enhanced version of paralysis, curing it requires a type of magic only we goddesses can use as far as I know. But events I have seen and heard make me have a degree of doubt when it comes to what we are capable of using."

"Come on Gear, we have to keep moving; we need to conserve our strength as best we can for Nep and the others. They need us." IF says with a firm tone as she points to the left as we see Filia, Nisa, and Cave fighting nearby monsters to keep them away from us.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:30] December 7th 20XX

Location: [Gamindustri Graveyard]

It took a while because of how ASIC had been fortifying this dungeon with strong monsters, but we've finally reached the endpoint of the first half of this dungeon and found Kazuto, Mamoru, and Shino in that order and sent them back to Planeptune even though they all were reluctant to leave but I forced the issue and gave them no choice. Now we just need to find Katsuo, Miyo, and the four CPUs, return and our mission will be truly completed this time. Unfortunately, not long after we got Shino back to the Basilicom, we came across three individuals with a small horde of monsters behind them. I recognize Brave straightaway, an individual wearing yellow armor with red trimming and what's a bit creepy is the huge red tongue that seems to be stuck outside his head and considering I've seen Brave, Judge, and Magic already, this freak must be Trick, and someone I thought was killed during the end of the Guardragon fiasco: CFW Judge.

"You have finally arrived Karen Koizumi. Just like I knew you would."

"That I have CFW Brave. I wish it didn't have to come to this, but it was inevitable. But how is Judge alive? Miyo and Filia told me he was destroyed."

"That was my doing. I hacked into the bomb's controls to project a shield around the user upon detonation. Doing that was incredibly difficult since that blasted girl installed so many subroutines to prevent outside interference. It's just a shame she's too freaking old for my liking. I would've given her my special treatment otherwise."

"Eww! Please tell me we are going to kill this guy! I've been wanting to since I first met him!" Izumi exclaims in horror at Trick's statement regarding Miyo as she draws her staff to start battle.

After I see the others draw their weapons, I see Lyrica give me the escape button I gave her and IF walks next to me afterward

"Karen, I still don't trust you, but Nep needs us now, and we can't let these guys slow us down. We'll try to buy you time, and while we fight these guys, you take Gear and the others further in."

"Thank you IF."

"I'm not doing this for you traitor. I'm doing it for Nep. She's spent nearly four years trapped here, she and the others are leaving today."

"Got it. Got it. But stay alive IF. You're only good as a diversion as long as you're alive." Since IF is rather adamant on calling me a traitor after everything that has happened since Lastation, I decided to take a traitor's route on telling her to stay alive for everyone's sake.

"Naturally."

After I hear IF say this, I pull Uzume, Nepgear, Uni, Rom, and Ram back in preparation for when everyone else engages the CFWs in battle and when it begins in earnest, we take the opportunity to slip through the exposed left side to get further in the dungeon. When the battle begins, the six of us sneak through the chaos the battle is causing.

Because of the battle, we managed to slip past the three CFWs and we quickly find Miyo when we entered the second half of this dungeon and Nepgear quickly used her anti-petrification magic to save her, with Miyo falling to her knees when it faded.

"Who…? Karen? Rom? Ram?" Miyo weakly mutters as she looks toward all of us

"Yeah, we're all here."

"Good. Look, you need to hurry; I heard that they're close to reviving the Deity of Sin."

"How do you know this Miyo?" I frantically ask, as I hear that our time's running out.

"My implant. It apparently gave me minute capability of awareness when I'm petrified. Listen, you don't have time to worry about me; you have to get to the end now!"

"I know Miyo, but I still need to rescue Katsuo."

"Not needed. Someone already freed him. I heard someone fire a sniper rifle at a position underneath him. It instantly released the petrification and even teleported him away with escape button technology."

"Huh? Someone freed him with a modified sniper rifle round? Do you know who it could be?"

"No clue and right now, I don't care. Go!" Miyo shouts as she uses the escape button I gave her and escapes. Wow, even when her body is near crippled from the petrification, she still had the strength to argue with me.

"Okay, you heard the lady. Double time, we're forcing our way through." I say as I begin running toward the end of the dungeon "I thought I was being watched by someone for a while now, and it's likely that person who freed Katsuo. But why is this person hiding in the shadows?"

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [11:30] December 7th 20XX

Location: [Gamindustri Graveyard's Edge]

Oddly, after we got through the three CFWs, we haven't seen any monsters, so maybe they're all with Brave, Trick and Judge? And after we finally made it to where CFW Trick massacred us six months, I see that the place is empty aside from the CPUs trapped here and considering that we haven't seen Magic yet is extremely suspicious and I can easily tell that she's going to try to ambush us again. She may have gotten me the first time, but she failed the second and she will fail again.

"Hurry and rescue the CPUs." I quietly say to the four Candidates as I see them run toward their sisters "Uzume, keep your guard up. There's no way ASIC would let us pass this easily."

After I see the Candidates rush toward their older sisters and Nepgear pulling out the Sharicite to revive them, Uzume and I position ourselves near the center in preparation for battle.

"I know you're there Magic! Quit the shadow game and show yourself!" I proudly shout out to provoke her into showing herself.

"As you wish."

Immediately after I heard this, I see Magic appear in front of Uzume and Magic uses a beam of magic which sends Uzume flying back to a wall far away from us and I'm surprised to see that the moment she hit the wall, she is restrained to it via a special magic circle, and until she manages to break free, I'm going to be on my own since Nepgear and the others need to remain focused on reviving the CPUs.

"And now it's only you."

"I'm not afraid of you Magic! I beat you once, and I can do it again!"

"How arrogant. I am far stronger than last time as I have gotten more power from our deity. Now watch as I take what's dear to you!"

After saying this, Magic dashes toward Nepgear with her scythe drawn and I rush to intercept her before Nepgear gets hit and I try to quickly position my sword to block her strike but she was able to hit me before I got ready and the hit sent me flying a short bit, but the worst of it was not my being sent flying; it was the fact that her strike tore off my entire sword arm and I see it near where I was before Magic struck me, sword released from its grip. It was the worst thing I had ever experienced in my life and I technically died once already so that's saying something. But if anything, now I know how Hikaru felt during the early days when I met him in Aincrad. He lost his arm protecting me from a monster that slipped past us, but unlike him back then, I can't regain my limbs. What utterly horrified me was that apparently her scythe had magic embedded within it because I saw my severed arm burst aflame and dissipate into nothing, though why it only worked on my severed appendage and not my entire body, I pray I don't find out why.

"Karen!" I heard Caelus shout this in my mind, and it was quickly followed with a sound similar to what Hikaru did to hide his pain when he was badly hurt back in Aincrad, since she must be going through a lot of pain herself.

"Sister!" I hear Nepgear shout very fearfully as I see her quickly crouch down to me "Rom, hurry, you need to stop the bleeding! Uni, help me buy a bit of time, Ram keep using the Sharicite!"

"Yes, Miss Nepgear." Rom says with her usual quiet tone as she casts some magic on me. It's also obvious that she's fighting the urge to cry.

I see Rom cast some unknown magic and then a tiny magic circle appears around my shoulder which is blocking any more blood from spreading across the ground. But while that was ongoing, I saw Nepgear and Uni trying to stall Magic but none of their attacks are really working because of how strong that woman is.

"Damn it...how did I not see how strong she was?"

"Kyaaah!" After I heard that scream, I saw Nepgear flung in the air which ended up tackling Uni and sending them both near us.

"There has to be some way to fight her." I grimace as I see how bad the situation has escalated: Uzume is restrained and can't join our fight, I lost my sword arm, and Nepgear and Uni both took a bad hit. We're in real trouble since Rom and Ram are the only ones left. It's becoming a damn repeat of six months ago.

Immediately afterward though, I see someone who looks like a giant lizard humanoid in a manner different from Driin, wearing a dark crimson red armor, jump down from the top of one of the trash walls with a proud battle-hardened shout before he jumped down to ground level.

"Finally, I get a chance to fight for the first time in months! Get ready for a Krogan air-drop!"

After this shout, that person rapidly charged toward Magic and managed to ensure she hit a wall. Afterward, I see what appeared to be an avian humanoid wearing blue and white armor slide down the wall wielding a sniper rifle that appears far more exotic than anything I've seen before and he made it to where he made it to where he made it to where we are within seconds.

"No way...Garrus?! Wrex?!" I'm surprised to hear a sense of nostalgia from Nepgear of all people, and now I know the people Miyo met when she first came to this world, but wow, they are not what I was expecting.

"Good to see you after ten years Nepgear. I would've planned a more intricate reunion but business comes first." Garrus had a rather composed tone in his voice but it still had quite a bit of nostalgia in it.

"Why are you here?"

"Histoire passed us a message when we were in Lastation picking up the custom orders we requested a decade ago, and she asked us to help fight ASIC since she said that there was a group in here. I'll explain the rest when we finish our mission, get your team back in top shape. We'll buy you some time." Garrus explains as he straightens his sniper rifle and aims in Uzume's direction and perfectly shoots the restraint holding her right arm without any collateral damage and that freedom gave Uzume the chance to use some magic to shatter the others and help Wrex to stall Magic "Perfect." I think Garrus actually grinned when he said that and after he freed Uzume, he crouched down to pick up my sword and walked back to me "Do you think you can still fight?"

"I doubt it. This sword was enchanted to let me like a master, but I'm not ambidextrous, so I don't know if my senses can handle it."

"There's no time like the present. As strong as he is, I doubt Wrex can last against a Criminal of the Free World when she's getting so much power somehow." Garrus responds as he sheathes my sword and hands me the sheath, which I try to put around my belt.

"Rom, do you think this magic will hold?"

"I believe so. But please be careful Miss Karen." Rom says with a sad, quiet frown as she walks over to Ram to help with reviving the CPUs.

When Rom leaves, I quickly lose the willpower I had been using to hold back the urge to scream in agony and I grip what little remains of my right shoulder and cringe a good deal. After that scream, I see Nepgear and Uni crouch down next to me. And immediately after, I see that Wrex and Uzume were forced back when Magic unleashed some sort of electrical output attack which is stopping them from getting close. After seeing this, Garrus puts his sniper rifle on his back and climbs his way back up the trash wall to set up a perch to handle his sniping.

"Karen, why did you protect me there? After everything I've done to you!"

"Nepgear...I've done so many questionable things since I got here and I hurt people who care for me and people I care for. I'm putting an end to that, no matter what happens; even if I have to lose my arm for good. I have been a leader for five years, and sometimes we make sacrifices that last a whole lifetime. My sacrificing my arm saved my sister's life. I deem that as a satisfactory exchange."

"Sister…" I hear Nepgear whimper with quite a bit of sniffling.

"Nepgear, Uni, just focus on saving your sisters; let Uzume, Wrex, Garrus, and I handle this." I weakly groan as I try to activate HDD so I can contribute atleast a little to this fight and while it succeeds, it feels like my heart is collapsing upon itself trying to sustain this form "I can't let myself stop here. I need to go all the way."

"Karen, no! You can barely sustain normal HDD right now! You could end up killing yourself if you force your body to endure Next Form!"

"Maybe so." I weakly say in my head before remembering a skill Miyo made for me a while back and I look toward Nepgear "Nepgear, this might be a bit strange to ask, but can I ask for your help?"

"Name it."

"I need to use one of my own skills on you: Energy Drain. It's not powerful, but it drains strength from a target and gives me that strength. I need as much as strength as I can right now."

"I understand, hurry and do it before Magic recovers."

After getting the rather rushed confirmation from Nepgear, I scramble my head for how to use the skill and after remembering, I activate the skill to drain energy from her and transfer it to myself which succeeds as I feel better from the influx of energy though Nepgear slightly swayed from side to side since I took quite a bit of strength from her.

"Sorry for doing this Nepgear, but there isn't any other option right now."

"Don't worry about it. Just...go." Nepgear weakly says as she walks, with Uni's help, toward Neptune and the others.

After getting some of Nepgear's excess energy, I feel my heart beginning to ease up on the pain somewhat and I link up with Uzume and Wrex so we can coordinate our attacks to stall Magic and buy Nepgear's group time to revive the CPUs with the Sharicite.

"You ready Wrex? Uzume? We need to buy time for the Candidates to revive their sisters."

"I've spent a thousand years in battle, I can handle delaying one single enemy." Wrex grins as he pulls out an assault rifle colored silver and blue that was on his back and it got quite bigger when he drew it and pushed a few buttons. The design is rather exotic but generic of what I've seen of rifles, but instead of a single barrel to fire shrapnel, there are six on a rotating frame.

"Er, what in the world is that?"

"This is one of my favorites: the M-84 Revenant. Hard to believe it was created by a Geth of all things, but I'm not complaining one bit. It's a significant upgrade over the M-76; while it's not as powerful, it has far less recoil and it holds far more thermal clips. That's a suitable compromise in my eyes. You two handle melee, I'll give you cover."

Wrex quickly unleashes a barrage of shrapnel in Magic's direction though she projects some kind of circular shield which turns each and every bullet into dust and while he had her distracted, Uzume and I dash to attack her from the rear though she unleashes another electrical attack which forces us to withdraw and hover back to Wrex.

"We can't get close to her if she keeps using that attack and her barrier prevents ranged attacks."

"Says you. Nothing can stop a krogan when he enters blood rage." Wrex retorts as he prepares himself to charge and dashes off toward Magic.

What surprises me is that he got hit by lightning twice and he completely shrugged it off as if it didn't even hurt him. Because of how indomitable the guy seemed to be, he managed to grab Magic and ram her against the wall again.

"Let go of me you insect!" After shouting this, Magic used the same beam she used against Uzume which sent him back toward us.

"Okay, this is starting to make me mad, so I'm going to go all out!" Uzume declares with a decree of irritation before transforming into Next Form.

After the transformation, Uzume dashed toward Magic and unleashes a rather large barrage of punches even though she's being hit by lightning and although it's taking its toll on Uzume, I can't see Magic get any weaker; which makes no sense since she was defeated with far less back in Leanbox. However, I happen to notice some sort of orb hidden in a wall near Magic which is glowing a very shadowy black color and I can see the faintest of beams hit Magic

"That's it! That's how she's so much stronger here! She must be tapping into magic which rejuvenates her strength!" I exclaim in my mind as I understand the situation now "Wrex, Magic is having her strength augmented through that orb in the wall! Fire some shrapnel at it."

Wrex looks at where I was pointing and swiftly fires at it with his Revenant which quickly destroys it and I see Magic show a mild expression of fear which must mean that my suspicion was right and that orb was important to her. Immediately after, I shout out to Uzume and throw Benten toward her as best I can. She swiftly grabs it after making a few backflips and she glides back toward Magic and impales her with my sword. The result ended in Magic losing her life and fades into nothingness. With this battle over, we've interrupted the ritual of Arfoire's resurrection. I take a deep breath of relief at how the battle is concluded when the four revived Goddesses walk over to me but their expressions are hardly welcoming.

"Explain yourselves. There shouldn't be any CPUs aside from me, Neptune, Blanc, Vert, and our sisters." Noire demands rather seriously.

"To put it in small words, I am an ancient goddess given new life. I am Console Patron Unit Aqua Heart. My companion here is my younger sister: Console Patron Unit Orange Heart."

"Impossible. Orange and Aqua Heart led Astrocade and Magnavox which were destroyed a very long time ago. History says that all five CPUs lost their lives during the old war." Blanc says with a quiet tone.

"Well believe it, as it is the truth. But let's not play twenty questions here."

"I most heartily agree with her statement. We should make our way out of this place and return to civilization. We can ask our questions when we recover our strength." Vert proudly nods as her HDD disengages and her human form is revealed, with her having long blonde hair and blue eyes. Immediately after, she lightly grips her forehead "Ugh, being imprisoned in place for nearly four years certainly was taxing. I could use your help Aqua Heart."

"Certainly Lady Green Heart." I say as I support her with my only available arm, though I immediately run out of time for HDD and I revert to my human form and it becomes much tougher to support Vert as we both walk.

"Please, we're all kindred spirits here, just call me Vert. I apologize that rescuing us cost you your right arm."

"Don't worry about it Vert." I somberly respond to her bringing up my wounds.

Immediately after I helped Vert, I see Neptune, Noire, and Blanc revert to human form and are quickly helped by Wrex, Garrus, and Uzume.

"Huh. This reminds me of ten years ago. You're just as tiny as ever I see." Wrex chuckles as he puts Neptune on his shoulder.

"Don't call me tiny!" Neptune weakly exclaims as she kicks Wrex, though considering how little force she put into it, it likely didn't even tickle him, especially since I heard him laugh when that 'kick' hit him.

"Nepgear, Uni, Rom, Ram, we'll have to depend on you until we regroup with the others."

When we begin to walk toward the exit, I hear a cacophonous voice ring out in my mind

"DON'T THINK YOU'VE WON CAELUS! YOU'VE ONLY DELAYED THE INEVITABLE! MY RESURRECTION WILL HAPPEN AND I WILL DESTROY YOUR WORLD AGAIN! I WILL NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN. YOUR DESTRUCTION IS ENSURED! I WILL KILL YOU CAELUS!"

After hearing this person shout in my mind, I close my eyes to try refocusing my mind and undo the damage that raucous voice did to me.

"Caelus?"

"That was the Deity of Sin: Arfoire. I'd recognize her voice anywhere. Looks like we have no time to celebrate if she's going to return. We need to regain our strength quickly and confront her, wherever she'll be. It's obvious she holds a vendetta because of how I sealed her away so long ago."

"Is something the matter Aqua Heart?" Vert asks since I had abruptly stopped when Arfoire talked with me.

"Uh. It's nothing, I just had a small pain spasm. And please, just call me Karen. If you want me to call you by your name, I would like you to do the same." I lie since I don't want to worry the CPUs right now since we just freed them. Right now, they need recuperation, not increased anxiety.

We slowly proceed through the area and make it to where we left the others during their battle with the CFWs and I can see them trying to lick their wounds though IF quickly got up and dashed toward us

"Nep! You're free and...what happened to you?" IF exclaims as she sees us supporting the Goddesses and she apparently noticed my missing appendage.

"Glad to see you Iffy." Neptune's voice was rather weak but it's obvious that she's trying to appear energetic in front of her.

"She lost her arm protecting me IF."

"Oh..."

"Listen, I hate to interrupt this heart-warming reunion, but we have to leave now. We can have our discussions in the Basilicom." I say with an irritable tone as I know that Arfoire's returning; we need to prepare ourselves.

"Fair enough, but who are you two?" IF shrugs but looks toward Garrus and Wrex.

"This is Urdnot Wrex and I'm Garrus Vakarian. We used to work for Histoire a little over ten years ago but we left her employ to travel. But she contacted us a while back asking us to help defeat the enemy Thraaklon was preparing for. So we came to fight. But come along, we need to get these girls rest."

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [15:30] December 7th 20XX

Location: [Planeptune Basilicom]

After spending over seven hours fighting ASIC, we reached the entrance of the Graveyard with Rom having to reapply the barrier magic over my shoulder twice since it apparently has a rather low life span and entered the portal to return to Planeptune. The first sight we see after passing through is Histoire wearing a big smile when she glances at the four CPUs.

"Excellent, you've rescued all four CPUs and we can truly begin undoing the damage inflicted onto our nations. Karen, I see you have suffered yet again trying to rescue our CPUs; first you nearly lost your life fighting CFW Judge and now you have lost your arm. I am deeply sorry."

"Don't worry about it Histoire. It was my own decision to protect Nepgear that caused me to lose my arm. Everyone, I need to talk with Histoire privately, so could you please leave? Most of you need medical attention." I say with a grave tone at the talk of my arm and I am rather serious when I speak to the others, not wanting them around when I talk about what I heard before.

After saying this to the group; Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, IF, Nisa, Gust, RED, Falcom, Cave, and Lyrica leave immediately, though it took a bit of force on both my part and Histoire's to get Nepgear, Uni, Rom, Ram, Izumi, Filia, and Compa to leave but Garrus, Wrex, and Uzume refuse to leave no matter what. Considering Uzume's status in this situation, I can let her stay since she must have first-hand knowledge about the Deity of Sin, but no matter what I tried, neither Garrus or Wrex would even budge either so I just gave up.

"Histoire. The situation here is about to get worse: ASIC has succeeded in creating the ritual which will revive their deity. Although we interrupted their ritual with the destruction of all four CFWs, we can't stop Arfoire from being revived."

"That is concerning. Do you know how long we have until Arfoire returns? We need time for our CPUs to recover from their ordeal."

"No idea. We will need to maintain a vigil and keep alert."

"I suppose we have little other option. But please let me offer compensation for the injury you suffered on our behalf." Histoire says as she hovers a short distance away to a wall and presses a button nearby and shows two holographic displays "Ophelia, Miyo, I want to talk to you both in person. Could you please come to the meeting room?"

"Got it Histoire." They say in unison as they disappear from the screen.

"Miyo? Histoire, is that the same girl we met ten years ago?" Garrus inquires as his mouth opens a tiny bit out of what I can only presume is surprise.

"It is. Miyo has grown up a great deal since you both left on your travels. She has actually been traveling with Izumi, the girl with wings, for six years so she wasn't exactly alone much."

I can see Garrus's mouth open a tiny bit to talk but he's interrupted by the door to the room open and both Ophelia and Miyo enter

"You called for us Histoire? What did-Karen!" Ophelia asks before exclaiming in horror.

"Karen, how did this happen to you?! And-...hold on." Miyo demands rather rapidly before stopping in her tracks as she blinks a few times and looks Wrex and Garrus over a little "No way...Wrex? Garrus?"

"It really is you. Histoire was not kidding when she said you have grown up."

"I...damn it; I truly wish that the situation was better here, especially since I haven't seen either of you in ten years! But I have priorities to deal with. We need to get Karen a new arm. Robotic is my speciality."

"Miyo, I do respect your skill with tech, but a bare robotic arm? I know Karen and it'd be baring in her eyes. Let's focus on an advanced plastic material for the frame. Inside and out."

"Ophelia, I'm a tech expect from a civilization famous for science. Your gauntlet technology is impressive yes, but it is still amateurish. I upgraded its software and hardware significantly and I even crafted the mechanical side of a neutron bomb. You can't beat that."

"Well-" Ophelia tries to speak up before I step in to stop it here. I knew that these two would end up becoming rivals, but I sincerely hope that these two are able to keep it friendly.

"Enough. Injured patient here needs new arm. Instead of competing to treat your patient, why don't you combine your knowledge?" I say with a bitter frown as I basically scold Ophelia and Miyo and tell them to work together.

"Hmm. Maybe she has a point. We need to get this dealt with fast. Miyo, I think we can both agree that Karen needs an arm she can fully use. What if we combine advanced technology for the frame with materials that can mimic skin tissue forming the cover if that's possible?"

"Yeah, I think that could work as a final project, but let's focus on the bare essentials for now. Let's get to work on this immediately." Miyo grins as she quickly takes off though Ophelia stops her just as quickly.

"Actually Miyo, wait a bit. I want to show you all something. I had been working on a new invention and I'm about to run tests. Come with me." After hearing this from Ophelia; Miyo, Garrus, Wrex, Uzume, and I follow her to see what she has been working on in our absence.

Ophelia leads us through the Basilicom and beckons inside one of the labs. When we walk in, we see Shino sitting down on a chair wearing some sort of headpiece blocking her sight which is hooked up to some massive machine.

"Er, what is this thing Ophelia?"

"A while back, I asked Histoire to show me how she was able to form a connection to our world and I think I've managed to replicate the procedure. I just don't know what will happen and Shino volunteered to go through this. I have a suspicion that if we can somehow break through the dimensional veil, we might be able to find a way home. Now let's start the test."

After this speech, Ophelia pulls a lever on the machine and presses a few buttons and begins speaking in sequence almost like a machine "Okay. We're at twenty percent power. Forty. Sixty five. Eighty. One hundred. Need to maintain a stable power balance. Okay, we're almost there. Piercing the dimensional boundary." After this, I see Ophelia rapidly press buttons at the keyboard to the machine "Oh no no no no. Not good. Not good. Get clear!" Ophelia shouts in a very flustered manner which is instantly followed by an explosion which blasted us all out.

"Wow, it's hard to believe an explosion of all things is what makes me feel most nostalgic." Garrus states with a tone that truly shows his surprise about the matter.

"Explain what happened. I don't like things exploding in front of me." Wrex demands rather indignantly.

"The machine overloaded after we pierced the barrier. There was too much energy for the capacitors to handle." Ophelia explains with a mild frown as she goes back into the room for some reason with Miyo following after her "Huh?! It-It worked?!"

Ophelia quickly walked back out supporting a girl with purple hair and eyes who is coughing a great deal from all of the smoke that was in the room

"Geez, what in the world happened in there?" After saying this, she rubs her eyes from how she was in a room full of smoke "Huh? Karen? Ophelia? Where am I?"

"Haruka? Ophelia, what gives? Why is she here?" I demand rather angrily. We were supposed to find a way for us all to return to our world, not do an exchange system.

"Well, it appears that singular bursts exchange people between our two worlds. If we want to return and not trap anyone here, we'll need to refine the process."

"Er, please tell me what in the world is happening here. And...what happened to your arm Karen?"

"That's too long a story to explain here Haruka. I have a room here, I'll explain it there."

"If you don't mind me, I'm going to head to the infirmary here, I've been running out of medicine and paste for a while now. I need to get more. Come along Wrex, I don't want a repeat of Uslin." Garrus says with a groan as he talks of what I presume to be a place they have gone to in their journey.

"Oh come on, that was their fault."

"Er, what happened at this Uslin?" I curiously ask, as my mind is wondering what in the world happened.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Garrus says with a grave tone as he walks away with Wrex.

After those two left, Uzume reapplies the barrier magic Rom has been using since it was beginning to fade. Immediately afterward, Miyo walks out of the smoke filled room with a mild frown

"That machine is fried and according to what my implant tells me, it somehow significantly strengthened the dimensional veil between your world and this one. It must have been a defensive mechanism or something. But you've impressed me Ophelia, you've gotten closer than I was able to."

"Thank you for the compliment Miyo. My sole desire is to get us all home and while this technically failed, I still succeeded since I got one of us out of this world. I just need to "

"I suppose so, though your goal is much more difficult now. But if you'd allow it, I'd like to help with this project. I've been wanting to do something like this for so long now."

"I'd like that, but let's first focus on constructing Karen's new arm."

"Yeah, let's go."

"Uzume, I want you to help Miyo and Ophelia. Find a way to integrate that barrier magic with my new arm."

"So you want to have the arm's mechanical underbelly to have a spell caster feature? Maybe if we program it to only use that one spell and keep it active at all times, it's certainly possible. Let's get going, we need to get finished fast." The conclusion to this statement had Ophelia, Miyo, and Uzume leaving to a different part of the Basilicom to begin work on my arm and I guide Haruka to the room that Ophelia made for me here.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [17:00] December 7th 20XX

Location: [Planeptune Basilicom - Karen's Room]

After I brought Haruka to my room, I explained the situation to her which took longer than I thought but I suppose that when you try to explain six months worth of events, it becomes complicated, but her reaction to it all was not what I was expecting.

"Ah. I see. Makes sense."

"You're not shocked by this at all Haruka?"

"After everything I've been through and seen over the last four years, I guess I'm just hard to scare when it comes to new events. I just didn't know what the heck was happening. But your arm?"

"I got wrapped in a very deadly battle. I had to move quickly to protect a friend and it made me lose my arm."

"Ehehe, that does sound like you. You're just like Hikaru when it comes to protecting people. He lost his limbs so many times in Aincrad it's crazy and aside from that one time when we tested him, he never let us see him in pain. But um; if you and Ophelia are here, are Mamoru, Katsuo, Kazuto, and Yuuki here too?"

"Yeah, they're all here, but they're undergoing treatment right now. They'll be fine though."

"Glad to hear. But I feel compelled to ask. What is my role in all this?"

"Your role" I simply mutter since that response caught me off guard "Weeelll; we already did most of the work, but we just need to fight someone akin to a god. And we already dethroned and killed two, so what's one more?"

"Haha, true. Akihiko Kayaba fell against our combined efforts and our unity with XANA led to Sugou dying. While I feel sympathy toward Kayaba since he's the reason we all met, I hate Sugou with a fiery passion. His experiments pissed me off when I figured out what he was doing."

"Don't remind me; I hate that sick freak, especially since he practically turned me into a drooling monkey. He deserved to die."

"Anyway uh; is there any food nearby? I could use a bite to eat, my stomach is rumbling like mad."

"Sure, I could use a little food myself. I haven't ate since this morning." I heartily chuckle in response before I walk over to the wall intercom and ask Histoire if she could have food brought for us and she quickly obliged. She even said she'd pass word to the others and have them join me here since most of the bedrooms can function as makeshift dining rooms.

After a few minutes pass of us preparing this room to work as a dining room, the others enter the room and they thankfully don't freak about the matter of my arm, though their expressions do it well enough as they all look rather uneasy

"We overheard what happened from Miyo and Ophelia. We'll keep quiet so you can have some peace of mind." Mamoru says with a mildly perturbed tone as he explains that they all know that I lost my arm.

"Thanks Mamoru; I really do need that kind of thing right now."

"I can only imagine. And it's good to see you again Haruka. A part of me just hates that you're stuck here like us. But there's no point crying over spilt milk."

"Yeah. It's quite a surprise being here, but I'm not going to complain. I just hate that I couldn't help more in your battle."

"Speaking of that, Karen; you were at the heart of all this, are we finished?" Kazuto inquires with an inquisitive glance.

I visibly grimace at the mention of the question and I exchange glances between everyone before I lightly grip my forehead with my left arm though it feels very weird not doing it with my right since it's gone "No. We still have to fight ASIC's deity since the four CFWs started the ritual which brings about her revival. Even though we interrupted the ritual, we still have to fight her."

"Damn it. These ASIC bastards are tenacious, I'll give them that. You want us to help you?" Katsuo lightly snarls when he hears of ASIC's continued irritance before speaking rather sincerely about offering his help.

"I appreciate it, but I feel like that part should be left to us Goddesses. I'm just avoiding telling them all this right now since they need to recuperate."

"Goddess?"

"This world has a small group of individuals with powers beyond belief. Let me show you what I'm talking about." I say as I close my eyes and activate HDD but as soon as my transformation was concluded, I cringe somewhat in pain since my body isn't in top shape right now.

"What in the world?! You...Karen...how…?" Despite what she said earlier, Haruka utterly freaked out when she saw me transform.

"I recently gained the abilities of the Console Patron Units or Goddesses as the public like to call them, and I've been able to utilize their abilities though I can only maintain it for a few minutes at best. In addition, my personality changes a great deal when I'm in this form; which I'm not exactly amused about, but I can't change it."

"And that new voice of yours...that's going to take some getting used to. I'm having trouble matching such an elegant voice with you; considering how you act usually."

"I know Haruka; it surprises me as well sometimes. I've never really told anyone this, but I feel very awkward in this form. I have full awareness of what I say and do, but they're not mine; not truly. Even when I fight, it's...urg..." When I explained this to everyone, it did feel like I wasn't the one talking as my voice and personality is so different from how I usually sound and act. The only thing that is truly mine here are my words, and even then, I don't feel like I'm in control.

"If you feel awkward being a Console Patron Unit, can't you stop being one?"

"Not likely Haruka. While I still possess my human form, I'm not purely human anymore." I say as I revert back to my human form.

"Let's not talk about this anymore; let's focus on getting food in our guts, we've all been through a lot lately." Mamoru interjects as he steers the conversation in a different direction to my relief.

"I very much agree. I haven't ate since I got petrified back in Gapain Field." Kazuto nods in affirmation about the subject.

When Nepgear and Uni came with our food and left; we began eating though it seemed like all of our appetites, save Haruka, were hardly in peak condition and I presume it's because of how we're far from finished right now.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [18:00] December 7th 20XX

After we ate our food, I went to Histoire and told her of the situation; and naturally, she was hardly amused that the CPUs are being forced to go into battle so soon after we got them out of the Graveyard but she knew the score. What did catch me off-guard a little were two things I heard from both Caelus and Histoire: What I heard from Caelus was that all of Arfoire's vassals would be reincarnated prior to her revival and they would have to be defeated in order to truly slay Arfoire; and Arfoire's four vassals are CFW Magic, Brave, Judge, and Trick. We'll have to fight them again.

Histoire's part in the news was that she prepared two special rooms for all of us and she led us all there. When we all got there, we discovered that Histoire brought us all to an outdoor hot spring that she added two sides for: one for the girls and one for the guys.

When we entered our individual sides, we find that the spring has been divided into different sections makes a degree of privacy between us all if we want to be in different parts. RED immediately leapt into action to try claiming 'wifeys' and I told her to cut it out or I'd paralyze her and throw her over the wall which did a good job of shutting her up. Once that was over with, we all sat down in different areas of the spring since this spring is rather massive in size. We actually began spreading out with Noire, Neptune, and Blanc in one small section; Nepgear, Uni, Rom, Ram, IF, Compa, Falcom, Nisa, Gust, RED, Cave, and Lyrica sitting in a few different sections very close to each other; Filia, Izumi, Haruka, and Yuuki are sitting down together, and then there's me, Vert, and Uzume. Even though there are dividers in the water creating these sections, we're still close enough to hear each other talk.

"What is wrong with that girl? Although it's not as bad as Neptune, her mind clearly must be damaged."

"I take offence to that Noire! My cute noggin is not damaged in any way!"

"Noire, you're too merciful. Everything about Neptune is damaged, not just her mind." Blanc interjects with a quiet tone, with her greatly insulting Neptune by saying that.

Their conversation continues in this way, which appears to be slowing escalating into an brawl that I hope someone will prevent before that happens, and is keeping everyone else focused on them though the three of us take that opportunity to speak more privately.

"Say Karen, now that we're back in safe hands, I'd like to ask about how you two are goddesses. I thought it was only us four and our younger sisters."

"I guess I should explain. It began when I tried saving you all six months ago. CFW Judge practically killed me but I was saved by an ancient goddess. She merged her life with mine to save both our lives."

"Wow, that's incredible. What is the name of this goddess you speak of? I know you go by Aqua Heart, but history of the old days is vague at best."

"I am Console Patron Unit: Caelus. Former ruler of Magnavox. Karen has been acting as my avatar though I have elected to act as an advisor as of late. This is my younger sister: Uzume Tennoboshi. Former ruler of Astrocade."

"Fascinating. According to what we know of the old CPUs, all five nations were destroyed by ASIC. I had presumed that the CPUs died with them."

"While my younger sisters did indeed die, I faked my death since I was in bad shape; I didn't have the strength to return to my people so I reverted to a disc form to draw out my life and hope someone would find me before that day came. I won't say how Uzume survived however. She deserves to have some secrets." After Caelus said this, I saw Uzume leave to a different section after reapplying the barrier magic over my shoulder.

"Understandable. I don't wish to intrude. But I must say; your skin is surprisingly soft Karen, though it certainly has gone through wear and tear."

"Thanks for the compliment Vert but-kya!" I was a bit embarrassed when someone complimented my skin of all things since I'm akin to a tomboy when I suddenly felt something touch my back making me yelp out in surprise and I heavily blushed when I saw what was touching me.

"Do you not like massages?" Vert asks with her head tilted in mild confusion to my yelp.

"Er, I do, but this is an extremely awkward kind Vert. When is it considered acceptable to use your chest as a massage tool and not your hands?!"

"Huh?" Vert sincerely sounds confused for a moment before looking down and lightly gasps "Oh, I'm very sorry. My senses aren't at their absolute best right now. I never intended to make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's...well...if it was an accident, I guess I can let it slide." It felt like I was squealing like a mouse out of how embarrassed Vert made me feel over what was happening here.

"Let me try again. I'm more aware of my senses and I'll avoid making that mistake again."

"Er...sure. If you're sure that won't happen, then go ahead." I weakly mutter as my embarrassment is preventing me from speaking with my usual confidence level.

After saying this, I feel Vert's fingers on my back massaging it rather gently. Now that I'm assured that she's using her hands to massage my back, I can actually relax a little.

"Oh, that is heavenly. The last time I've had something like this done was when I was eleven, nearly six years ago. And that was before my life practically went to hell and I met all my friends." I can quickly feel this massage erasing all of the tension my body has been going through lately and my muscles are relaxing a great deal "Thanks Vert."

"You're quite welcome. But there is one thing I wish to ask. You appeared rather frantic back when we were in the Graveyard. You can claim it was just because it was dangerous, and while that may be an actual factor, I feel like there's something else on your mind."

"You're just being silly. Who in their right mind would want to stay in a dungeon to talk?"

"You're doing an even worse job of lying now. Just tell me, I know you're hiding something."

"I-I er…" I mumble before deeply sighing since the frustration of everything that's been happening lately is testing my patience "Okay, I didn't want to tell you guys this since you need to recover, but our fight against ASIC is not over yet. The Deity of Sin will be returning."

"Ah. So that explains your desire to keep quiet, and while I appreciate you took our condition into consideration, it was still wrong of you to do that. We can't afford to become complacent when we still haven't won yet." Even though Vert had a rather gentle tone in her voice, she hit me on the head rather strongly "I'll tell Noire, Blanc, and Neptune this after our soak here is finished."

"Fair enough. Anyway, I'm not exactly good with my hands, or rather: hand, but do you want me to wash your back?"

"If you think you can handle it Karen, I certainly wouldn't mind. But don't overexert yourself for my sake."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I lightly sigh as I grab a nearby rag and try to wash Vert's back with my left arm "Let me know if it hurts at all, I rarely used this arm for anything. The only time I used it are when I'm using two handed objects."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll do fine."

POV: Male side

When the girls entered their side of the onsen, the ten of us entered our side and aside from Garrus and Wrex, who are still wearing their armor for some reason, we all reduced ourselves to towels. In fact, those two refuse to even get in the water.

"Garrus, Wrex, why aren't you two taking it easy and let loose? After the graveyard, we all need to unwind." I inquire since we're all in the water relaxing except for those two. I happened to learn their names when Ophelia and Miyo passed by us earlier.

"Trust me Viperia, you don't want to see either of us underneath our armor. You'd have trouble sleeping at night. I'm doing you a favor, besides, we have different ways to unwind."

I immediately go wide-eyed at the mention of that last comment and gulp rather uncomfortably "Well; okay then. I'll drop the matter. But if you don't my asking, who are you five? All I really know is that you were helping Karen." I nervously gulped before I looked toward the five people that were in the Graveyard.

"We're former members of Leanbox's Special Missions Department. We left to join our leader, who serves Lady Aqua Heart. But I should introduce myself, I am Hamil Tayama, I work as Lady Filia's second in command after she reorganized our ranks, though Leonard once held that position. My comrades here are Adelphos Furukawa, Eldin Sakue, Leonard Anami, and Reiner Nakata."

"Pleased to meet you all. I'll be upfront and say that as long as you're loyal to Karen, I'll treat you as a comrade-in-arm. I'm Mamoru Nakasone."

"You won't need to worry about that. We have been suffering from issues of faith and fate proceeded to place us in the presence of not one, but two divine goddesses. And the fact that our leader swore her service to her means that we follow her even if she left the SMD."

"So you follow your leader even when she leaves the organization. That certainly is very admirable, if not hasty Leonard."

"Indeed Sir Nakasone, but Green Heart has been missing for three years and her absence was creating fractures in the SMD which will take a great deal of restoration. But I know that Lady Green Heart can handle such a task. We just won't be around to help, we're sworn to aid our squad leader through thick and thin."

"Makes sense Reiner, I guess. But you all look rather old, you sure you can handle battle?" The moment I finished voicing that last part, I can just picture myself getting my rear end kicked yet again.

Which does happen since Leonard used magic which sent me backward some and the impact made me hit my head on the edge which really damn stung.

"OW! Was that truly necessary for one comment?!"

"It's what you get for insulting members of Leanbox's elite forces. We all trained for years to earn our place. Even though Lady Filia is much younger than us, she has earned her place because of her strength and discipline. Although her lack of inhibitions is offsetting to those who don't know her, she is a model soldier and officer. However, she seldom takes direct involvement in our assignments. She trusts us to succeed without her assistance and we respect her dedication to her ideal of preserving peace in the realm, no matter what." Eldin was the one who spoke up and his voice certainly did befit that of an old man. However, he spoke of Filia in a rather proud way, almost as if she's like a surrogate daughter to him.

"Impressive. So she uses the Laissez-faire leadership style. Karen would never use such a style since she went to great lengths to oversee every operation she was involved with even though it was dangerous. I suppose you would call it a paternalistic style."

"What is this Laiso-fairy you speak of?" Adelphos inquires with a curious tone at what Mamoru said in regard to history we lived through in Aincrad.

"It's Laissez-faire Adelphos, it's a term from my world; it's a style of leadership where the leader rarely get involved in the activities of their group yet is available for feedback when asked. However, the style generally requires independent action from everyone involved, knowledge of the field, and the fact that they must be able to solve problems on their own. It's rather controversial and seldom used in my world."

"Ah. I see now. Lady Filia indeed works in that way, but she always did accompany us on missions that required us to assemble our full ranks. However, even then, she always worked independently from us. But when we weren't in such situations, she worked alone."

"I'd like to ask you all something though. Do you know why Filia left the SMD if she was so dedicated to the organization?" Mamoru asks with a degree of curiosity and I'm a little interested as well.

"Filia is committed and passionate when it comes to enacting justice. While she tries to avoid it as much as possible, she has little qualm ending the lives of the few to save many. And all of Gamindustri was at risk with ASIC active. Atleast, I imagine that's what she'd tell others, but a reason was that her father got infected by that Guardragon's attack. She didn't want to let that stand so she left and save him, even though it was in vain at the end."

"Ouch. That must have been unpleasant for her to deal with."

"I think we should stop talking about this, Filia hates it when we talk about her. Besides, we all need to unwind from what time has done to us all."

"I won't complain about that. We could all use some R&R." Mamoru agrees rather wholeheartedly about the matter of unwinding.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [20:00] December 7th 20XX

After I got out of the hot spring with the other girls, I saw Garrus and Wrex standing around a corner and beckon me to walk toward them both.

"Good timing Aqua Heart, there's actually something I want to show you. It's a place that holds a lot of precious nostalgia for me, Wrex, Miyo, and a lot of other people."

"Please, just call me Karen, It's a little strange being called that."

"Duly noted. Anyway, come on."

We walk through the Basilicom and we eventually come across a rather fancy pair of doors that appear to be made of stainless steel and we walk inside though the aura of the place immediately makes me feel uneasy for some reason.

"What is this place Garrus?" I ask as I look around the room which appears to have a good number of what appear to be capsules embedded in the walls.

"This is an indoor cemetery; Histoire uses it to house people who had very close relations to the goddesses in this nation when they die. The last person who earned the honor of being kept here was Warlord Thraaklon, our mentor in this world."

"I've heard about this guy quite a few times but I barely know anything. All I really know is that he died about a decade ago, and he came from some other world."

"Yeah, that's the extent of what we know ourselves. Thraaklon kept an absolute ton of stuff from everyone he worked with since he'd be delving into who knows how long of memory, but he taught us what we needed to know. If anything, Miyo was the one who needed his training the most because of how young she was. I would've stayed to raise her, but Thraaklon left a message for us to find a shaman he was acquainted with. He wanted to meet Thraaklon, but since he was dead, we went instead. It took us several years deciphering dozens of clues to find him and get the information he had."

"What information did the shaman have for Thraaklon?"

"To little surprise, the shaman who was close with Thraaklon died an extremely long time ago and we met with one of his descendants. Although she's rather young, she's a prodigy with the shamanic arts. She and her family had been gathering tomes and creating magic for generations for a singular purpose: To leave this world. She was extremely determined to do this even though no one in her family would know what to do outside this world because of how many generations have passed in their family."

"So does she have a way to open the dimensional veil?"

"Not exactly. Based on what she said, all they've been doing is developing theory and they've never tested any of their spells because Thraaklon said there was a requirement to handle the matter which no one really knows about. Thraaklon claims that in order to do this, it requires an extremely strong magic spell and very advanced technology to stabilize it. Of course, he likely theorized this so long ago that it may not be necessary. But if it's true, I think we'd need something akin to Miyo's skill to create the necessary tech, but that's only if she has access to the full extent of her people's technology. To be honest, while I wouldn't want to keep her trapped here, I'd kill to have Tali with us."

"Who's this Tali?"

"She's a very close friend of mine; we fought side by side for a number of years with humanity's strongest soldier: Commander Shepard. Now, what name did she have after settling on Rannoch...?" Garrus has a rather firm smile before apparently trying to recall her name; why he forgot, I don't really know "Oh yeah. she and every other Quarian abandoned their ship names since they got their homeworld back. Her name's Tali'Zorah. When we met her, she went by Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and when we reunited two years later, she went by Tali'Zorah vas Neema. Her people, the quarians, are extremely good at technological feats and Tali is one of their best. It's why a part of me wishes she was here even though I really don't." After saying that he stopped for a moment "This sounds way more confusing than it should be."

"Interesting, but I noticed you say one title with 'nar', and another with 'vas'; is there a meaning for that?"

"Yeah, there is. I don't know their language well, but apparently nar means 'child of' which was made for the fact that the Quarians were living in ships for three centuries, and vas means 'crew of'. In small words, Tali was born on a ship called the Rayya and she joined the crew of the ship: Neema to keep genetic diversity among her people."

"Genetic diversity? Ya know what, ignore that question. I don't want to know, right now atleast."

"Fair enough. Anyway, come on, let's give our blessings to the old fool."

We walk through the morgue and I quickly hear someone sniffling around the corner and when we get close, I see Miyo standing in front of an intricately designed capsule and I quickly see her fighting back the desire to cry. I'm a little surprised to see her here since she said she was going to work on my new arm with Ophelia and Uzume.

"Miyo, what are you doing here?"

"Huh?" Miyo mumbles as she looks in my direction and lightly gasps, followed by her rubbing her eyes and cheeks to hide the tears that were flowing "I could ask you the same." Although she obviously tried to sound rather detached, her emotions betrayed her as her voice is rather drowning in unease.

"I asked first, and besides, you said you were going to commit your time to help Ophelia and Uzume."

"I...I needed a-; no, I shouldn't lie about it." Miyo obviously considered making a white lie about why she's here but she shaked her head and looked at me rather seriously "Karen, I haven't been here in nearly a decade and I atleast need to visit Thraaklon's burial place, besides, Ophelia has a good grasp on what we need to do in the project so I trust her with this. Anyway, he saved my life when I first entered this world and although it ended rather prematurely because of his own death, he did his utmost to teach me how to survive here when it comes to battle. And when Thraaklon died, Nepgear did her best teaching me more conventional skills like cooking before the memory of this became too much for me to bear back when I was a child. That was my main reason for leaving, but I also wanted to do what he had done for so long: Traveling and saving people who get stranded here."

After explaining this, Miyo presses her hand against the plaque and deeply inhales and exhales "It's hard to believe ten years have passed sometimes. I'll be frank, I think that I'll be staying here in Gamindustri even if a way to leave is made."

"You're not going to return to your family in your world?"

"I...It's unlikely Karen. I was only six when I was forced out of my world and I've aged ten years. I'd likely horrify my family if I return as I am. I feel it's better if I stay here."

"Miyo, do you truly think taking the option to see their daughter away from them is better?" Garrus interjects rather solemnly.

"I-Damn it Garrus; what am I supposed to say to that? I should be feeling nothing but extreme joy seeing you and Wrex after ten long years, but what I'm feeling is nothing like that!" Miyo groans a good deal when she lets all this out and runs out of the room. The expression on her face was hardly that of her usual composed demeanor, and it truly looked like that of a scared little girl separated from her parents.

"Miyo!" Garrus exclaims as he chases after the girl.

"Huh. You would think that I'd feel relief at that stiff busybody not looking over my shoulder right now, but for the strangest reason, it feels strange. I guess spending ten years with that mutant made me whipped atleast a little."

"That's a horrible thing to call a friend!"

"Trust me; it's not. Bakara constantly called me a mutant when I was reforming Krogan society and break the cycle of destruction with the Genophage killing us. And Bakara is my wife."

"I…" I was literally lost for words hearing this from Wrex about this subject.

"Don't worry 'bout it." Wrex explains as he begins to walk away but stops and looks toward me "You're quite impressive for a human. No one I know would be able to stay this calm when she had her arm torn off in battle. Now, what would that one human say? Oh yeah. As he would say: You have some real cojones."

Hearing Wrex say this made me strongly blush out of embarrassment because of the words he used "Erm, I'll assume you mean I was rather bold in my decision and not the other meaning."

"Believe what you want. I'm getting some grub." Wrex huffs as he walks off elsewhere.

"What exactly does that word mean Karen? I'm lacking context."

When I explain the word's meanings, I hear her voice a rather loud gasp "Oh my. I certainly hope that he meant the courage definition, unless...Karen, do you really have-?"

"Caelus, I'm going to stop you right there. Use some common sense since you have been a part of me for six months."

"Sorry, but remember that even goddesses can get flustered. You really caught me off-guard with this one."

"Same here."

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:00] December 10th 20XX

Location: [Leanbox Basilicom - Training Room]

After the next couple of days passed, we saw all four CPUs: Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert, recover from their ordeal and their strength is steadily increasing which should hopefully mean that when we have to fight Arfoire, we should stand a chance. It also helps that those four have been given their own custom set of next generation Processor Units which gives them their own Next Form transformation ability and they all have a special ability which was a modification Chika made: They can synchronize with other nearby CPUs and allow any CPU to maintain transformation as long as they can, which helps reduce the penalties Uzume and I have because of our circumstances, though it's designed to work within a specific radius so we can't stray too far from one another if we want to maintain that power.

Thankfully; Miyo, Ophelia, and Uzume finished a robotic arm colored gold and blue and transplanted it to my wounded shoulder a day after we returned from the Graveyard and I quickly discovered that this new arm has become the default for my HDD form. But to be honest, I still can't get used to using this thing as I find myself constantly opening and closing my metallic hand subconsciously with it making mechanical whirring sounds every time I do it, but I can use a sword without my senses instinctively fighting me, so I am glad about that. In fact, something Miyo did truly surprised me is that she tore apart my gauntlet and incorporated many of its features into it, thereby making my new arm my new gauntlet. Furthermore, Miyo even managed to repair her broken cybernetics back when I got attacked by the Guardragon and restored her capability to use massive weapons like her flamberge and carbine. I even noticed that Haruka seems to have developed a talent in magic and she has been outfitted with a staff and she even keeps a small spatha sword in case enemies get close to her so she has both fields covered.

When we all recovered our strength, Histoire informed everyone about the fact that ASIC is not yet defeated and we've spread ourselves across other nations to undergo training to prepare for the revival of Arfoire's vassals. Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, Uzume, and I have gone to Leanbox to train our CPU forms in the training hall here. Katsuo, Kazuto, Yuuki, Nepgear, IF, Nisa, Falcom, RED, Filia, Eldin, Hamil, and Reiner elected to remain in Planeptune to train their melee combat skills. Mamoru, Miyo, Adelphos, Uni, Compa, Cave, Garrus, and Wrex have gone to Lastation to practice their ranged combat. And Izumi, Leonard, 5pb., Rom, Ram, and Haruka went to Lowee to train their magical capabilities. We need all of these elements as strong as possible for the upcoming battle.

Since the other CPUs want to adjust to their new power, they asked me and Uzume to use our own Next Form transformations so they don't have to worry about holding back. In fact, I didn't know this until Vert brought it up, but the technology and magic built into this room allows this field to expand as much as the user desires so we're not trapped in the tiny room Uzume and I used to test our new processors.

"So Aqua Heart, you ready to start this brawl?" Noire asks me as she draws her longsword to prepare for battle.

"Yes I am. My body has gotten better after getting this arm transplanted since it's not freaking out in response to my wound. Though it feels rather unnatural, I will admit that."

"You'll get used to it after a while Karen, I just know it."

"Thank you Vert." I sincerely smile at the friendly comment and when I calm myself, I pull Benten from her sheath and grip her with both of my hands as I see Blanc rapidly charge toward me with her axe.

"I'm first rookie!" Blanc declares with a great deal of aggression, but I stop her axe with my sword with a loud clang being the result, though it was a very strong strike.

"You'll have to do better than that Blanc!" I proudly respond, throwing her back a short distance with my sword since she was trying to get through my guard.

Immediately after I threw Blanc back, Vert stepped up to the plate and repeatedly used her spear in a thrust manner but none of her attacks can even hit me since I'm strafing left and right. She attempts this four times before I go on the offensive and rapidly strike against Vert but I am intercepted by Neptune and Noire combining their skills with their swords to block my own assault.

"I'll show you the power of Lastation's CPU!" After proclaiming this, Noire attacks me with a speed that could easily surpass Kazuto's or Yuuki's dual blade skill and she flew into the air as I am enveloped by a beam of light and when I see her land, she snapped her finger and I am immediately assaulted with a large number of red colored laser beams.

This assault is immediately followed by Neptune's attack which resembles what I saw of Noire's attack but with a purple color scheme at the finale. When those two barrage of attacks end, I notice fractures in my armor from the impact of all the attacks done to me.

"Impressive work. But you'll have to do better than that." After I say this to the four CPUs, I close my eyes to repair the damage since I saw the image flash in my mind; the image being me directing my access to Shares to do this. The images I see tell me that I would not be able to do this outside this room, atleast, for the time being.

"You have quite an irritating ability there. You seem to be able to heal any damage we inflict on you within seconds." Blanc scowls as she regroups with the other CPUs aside from Uzume "Makes me glad you're on our side though."

"Agreed. It is a very useful ability to possess." Vert nods in agreement about the nature of the regeneration, pro and con.

"Okay Uzume, let's show these CPUs how strong we can be!" I say with a great deal of pride, but when I look at her, she's not moving an inch or even blinking "Er...Uzume?" I worriedly ask as I walk toward her.

I see her mutter something under her breath and then she swiftly uppercuts me in the stomach and I cough out of utter surprise since that was a truly cheap move. And as if that wasn't enough, she swiftly kicks me in the stomach which sends me back toward Neptune and the others

"Uzume! What are you doing?!"

I see Uzume about to charge toward us all, but she stops dead in her tracks and is noticeably cringing

"Everyone...you need to make me disengage Next Form! I can't control myself!" After Uzume weakly said this to us, she resumed her charge and her attack scattered us with her repeating 'kill', as if she has lost all control like she said.

"Guys, I'll keep Uzume's attention, you focus on forcing her to revert to her conventional CPU form!"

We engage in battle to free Uzume since she apparently doesn't have control over herself in her Next Form anymore. Thankfully Neptune, Vert, and Blanc are able to help me keep Uzume's attention and are doing a very good job of it, but I'm relieved when Noire struck Uzume with the pommel of her sword which knocked her to the ground and her Next Form disengages and she returns to her normal CPU form. It was extremely taxing trying to block all of her attacks even when I'm in Next Form.

"You okay Uzume?" I ask though I'm rather perturbed by what she did earlier.

"Yeah...I hope." Uzume frowned a great deal and looked down as she said this.

"What happened to you? You went ballistic on us all." Noire demands as she keeps her sword close to Uzume's back as she's behind her.

"I just...I couldn't handle all this power and it took control of me. When I transformed, there was something like a message that appeared for half a second; something called EXE 103 was disabled. I don't know why I went ballistic like that."

"Either something went wrong or this power is too much for you to handle Uzume. Karen, you should be careful too. If it's the unit causing all this, I sincerely doubt you'll be exempt."

"We should go see Chika. She was the one who made these new units for us and if that's the problem, we need to make sure we don't go into murderous rampages after only a few dives. Especially since the other Oracles just gave you these things not too long ago."

Chirper Events:

Lily Rank 3 - Karen, Uzume

"You okay Uzume? You look uneasy."

"I...I um. Karen, you must be ashamed of how I lost control of myself back there."

"It's not your fault Uzume. We're working with experimental gear here and you came from a much earlier era so it must have been really tough for you to acclimate to it."

"But you were able to keep control of yourself! I was born as a goddess and I should have been able to handle anything in my way!" My attempt to try consoling her clearly backfired since she was rather peeved when she said this.

"Uzume, everyone is different, and remember that you spent so much time in-between dimensions. That may have caused a level of atrophy in your capabilities."

"Still..."

"Uzume, stop. You don't need to worry about this. We'll find the problem and stop it in its tracks. Trust me." I say as I gently keep my left arm on her shoulder to try calming her down.

"Thank you Karen. Anyway, I've been trying to recall details about my time outside Gamindustri. I need to ask, do you recall the names: Philia and Strea?"

"Philia and Strea? Not really. Why?"

"Odd. I remember Philia helping you in Aincrad a great deal and the person I helped: Tybalt; he created one of those AI thingies as a follower or something of the main one he made and placed it in that game. He made some sort of application that let me control her from a distance, though I did act far more carefree and giddy than I usually do. Anyway, the two of us both helped you a lot."

"That doesn't make sense. I don't recall anyone called Philia or Strea helping us. We kept our numbers within Senryaku small. By the time we finished Aincrad, it was just me, Katsuo, Amaterasu, Sylvia, Hikaru, Rika, and Keiko. And Mamoru, Haruka, Asuna, and Kazuto were informal affiliates. If those two were working in the background or in units I wasn't aware of, that could explain it, yet Uzume is claiming that she and this other individual helped Senryaku a good deal. But how is that possible?" I truly am trying to comprehend how a situation like this is possible when I have no memory of such a thing "Well, I've definitely encountered the matter of different dimensions, so maybe there is a far deeper expanse involving spacetime? Did Uzume perhaps find some alternate timeline during her time in the dimensional void? But that doesn't explain much. I need to find this Tybalt and get answers. I owe Hikaru and XANA that much atleast. But wait, she said this Tybalt guy made a powerful AI and made this Strea as a weaker AI follower? So...Tybalt made Cardinal? But...I thought Kayaba made Cardinal? Ugh, I'm getting a damn migraine just thinking about this. For every answer I get, I get forty questions. It's annoying me."

Back to story

Because of how this incident soured our desire to train for the time being, we revert to our regular forms and head out to find Chika and when we find her in her office, we explained how Uzume tried to kill us. After hearing it, she gripped her forehead with her hand and shakes her head. She then pulls some sort of tool and walks toward Uzume.

"Let me inspect your gear and see if that's the problem here" After a minute passes of Chika scanning Uzume's entire body, there is a rather loud 'Bzt' "There's the problem: The control system is fried. I'm guessing the electrical attacks you were heavily subjected to must have destroyed them." So it looks like all of the electricity that Uzume was being attacked with before Wrex destroyed that orb destroyed the unit's ability to regulate its power.

"Can you fix it Chika?"

"Certainly, it'll just take a few days. And I'll want to modify your set too Karen. Your set may need repairing as well, and I imagine you don't want that control system so fragile huh?"

"But what about ASIC? They've been been rather resistant to most of my attacks and Uzume barely fazed Magic with her old processor. We need the power of these new sets. I hate to be hypocritical since we shouldn't risk our lives like this, but we're already in danger as it is."

"That certainly is...problematic. Wait, I think I know something that could work, but it'll still take time. I heard rumors that a friend of yours had been working on theories regarding something called nanotechnology. If her theories are true, we may be able to develop a system to recreate and strengthen your power control systems."

"A friend; who- Let me guess. You're talking about Miyo right? While Ophelia is good with tech, she's nowhere close to nanotech."

"Correct. Miyo is considered a technological savant here in Gamindustri. While she doesn't create much in the way of technology because of how her so-called responsibility to that individual: Thraaklon takes up so much of her time, she has made things far more advanced than anything in this world. Not even Lastation can rival her skill because of her history. What I find a little odd is that despite her skill, she refused every offer to work as a professional technician. It'd be a rather stable position with her skill."

"That's her decision you know. I don't know her life, but based on what I know, she must have felt obligated to help people like Thraaklon did because of how he saved her life. But she told me that she wanted to find a way to leave this world and ensure everyone else does. But I'll contact her nonetheless." After saying this, I press a few buttons on my gauntlet to open a telepathic communication with Miyo "Miyo, you there?"

"I'm in the middle of gun practice here, what do you want?"

"Do you think you could make something for me and Uzume? Our control units are in bad shape. Chika said she heard talk of your nanotechnology theories and she wants to put it to the test." The moment I mentioned nanotechnology, it was as if she did a spit take out of utter surprise.

"Karen-! I…Dammit Karen. Look, I don't want anything to do with nanotechnology. It's too damn dangerous."

"You must be exaggerating here Miyo. What's the problem?"

"Don't you start with me Karen! I ran three tests on nanotechnology with drastically different angles. They all ended with- Look, I am not using nanotech! Nothing you say will change my mind! I...After what I did to Amber..."

"Miyo, just tell me why you're so adamant about this. I won't force you to make nanotech, but I want to know why you hate it so much."

"Okay, look. Like I said, I did three tests with nanotechnology and they all went awry. The last test I did traumatized me and I abandoned it. It happened a little after I met Izumi; I actually brought another person into my group. It was a woman called Amber, she was the closest thing I had to a mother figure in this world. She said the two of us reminded of her daughters and although she said it was strange living in this world, she didn't want to leave children on their own so she stuck around to help and raise us. Thing is; it was a few months before Izumi and I associated ourselves with ASIC. Amber volunteered to help with a nanotech experiment, she was transformed into a monster and I was forced to kill her to protect myself and Izumi. I've had to live with the burden of the fact I killed the woman who Izumi and I considered a mother. I've killed too many people with my nanotechnology project. I'm sick of all that Karen."

"I see. You've been carrying trauma because of past mistakes. Atleast it's more concrete than Sachiko's hatred of me. But look, I do need you to help repair the control units."

"I...I'll come and see what I can do. I can't promise anything more than that. Those things are incredibly complex because of their design. And don't forget that you two are using prototypes so I likely won't be able to do squat. Even with my skill."

After ending this call, I give the information to the others, but I am interrupted by a loud alarm ringing out all throughout the Basilicom.

"That's the high priority emergency signal" Chika mutters rather rapidly before dashing toward her computer and is pressing buttons faster than a hedgehog "It's source is from Planeptune. You all had better get over there fast. I'll be preparing the SMD in case the situation escalates."

"Got it Chika. Everyone, let's go."

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [12:00] December 10th 20XX

Location: [Planeptune Basilicom]

After hearing the emergency signal from the Basilicom, we rushed to Planeptune to find out what was happening. To my surprise, we had all gathered here and apparently my group were the last ones to arrive

"About time you guys get here. We've got a major crisis here. As I was saying: My colleagues in the Guild reported that they've found all four CFWs. We've found Judge in a very dangerous dungeon here in Planeptune: Junk Box. Trick is in the Icicle Pathway dungeon over in Lowee. Brave is in Lastation, Infinite Corridor. Magic is in Gapain Field. They've given us reports that ASIC is mobilizing all of their forces and will attack all of our nations in six hours."

"That's not much time. We'll need to defeat them all to save these nations and it'll be near impossible to fight in such confined quarters with all of us together when so few of us have official military training which would allow such things to happen."

"I agree Garrus. Since there are so many of us here, we should split into teams and strike ASIC's leaders in concert. That'll allow us to fight our enemy without getting our ranks tied in confusion. We have to fight four enemies so we should split into four teams. Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert; you four are the main goddesses here. You should be the ones to decide the teams. However, Filia; I want your SMD members to stay behind. If the worst happens and we fail, I want them as the last line of defense."

"I don't share your fears Karen, but in terms of logic, I see your concern. I am more than sure that the SMD can handle defending Leanbox, so divide yourselves among the other nations and strengthen their defenses. If we do fall, we'll atleast greatly weaken their offensive power so your job will be easier."

"Lady Filia, I do not approve of this plan. This is far too dangerous."

"That's not your decision Eldin. I am your leader and you swore yourselves in body and soul to my command. Are you questioning my decisions?"

"No, Lady Filia. That was not our intention. We are worried for your well being in this mission."

"Worry for yourselves in this one. I am strong enough to fight anything in my way and you all know it. Now prove you have committed your very being in its entirety to my command and follow my orders."

"Okay, let's stop this endless bickering circle and get this out of the way before it's too late. Uni, Miyo, Izumi, Cave, Nisa, Haruka; I want you six coming with me to Infinite Corridor." Noire speaks up with a calm demeanor, making her group primarily out of a stable balance of melee and ranged combatants.

"I guess I'll take Nep Jr., Iffy, Compa, Falcom, Mamori, and Yu." Like Noire's group, there's a balance of melee and ranged combatants, but it favors melee.

"It's Mamoru!" "It's Yuuki!" They shouted this in unison, making it clear that they hate those nicknames.

"Rom, Ram, Gust, RED, Katsuo, Kazuto; you're with me. I want to kill that damn bastard."

"Okay then; Karen, Uzume, 5pb, Filia, Garrus, Wrex, I want you all to return to Leanbox with me. We'll be up against Magic, who is the strongest of the four, so we need the strongest of us all fighting on this front while also making sure all fronts have the required amounts."

"Makes sense Vert. We need to make sure our strength is as equal as possible. Sorry Karen, Uzume, I won't be able to work on your units because of this rapid deployment. When I get a couple of days, I'll check into it atleast." Miyo says as she walks away with her group, leaving Neptune's, Blanc's, and Vert's.

"We should deploy quickly, but be careful Karen. You died in front of us and you lost your arm fighting in the Graveyard for the second time. If you get hurt again, I will never forgive you." Katsuo says rather solemnly as he takes off with his group and I can't help but close my eyes in mild disdain as the matter is brought up again and I then stare at my robotic arm with a good deal of unease.

"Focus Karen, we're up against CFW Magic so we need you at your best."

"I know Vert." I despondently say as I fast-travel with the others to Gapain Field.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [12:30] December 10th 20XX

Location: [Leanbox - Gapain Field]

When we entered the dungeon here, we see that a great deal of the ground here is charred and even blood soaked. Almost immediately after we walked a short distance, we heard blood curdling screams from further in and two armored figures bearing ASIC identification ran toward us immediately after; with us drawing our weapons in case they plan to attack

"Hold your fire! We're not here to fight you!"

"Why are you here if you're not here to fight?" Vert demands as she keeps her spear pointed toward them in case they are lying.

"We're getting the hell out of here! ASIC demanded that everyone gather at four dungeons in the various nations, but when we had all gathered to rendezvous with our leaders, they began killing us all! We thought we were doing something good for the people because of the fact ASIC was providing games for free for everyone, but this is wrong!" After shouting this, the two individuals run out of the dungeon with all the strength they could muster.

"What the hell? Why is ASIC killing all of their people?! It...it makes no sense!"

"I don't know Karen. But what matters right now is that we hurry and save as many people as we can."

"Yeah, you're right Vert. Everyone, let's go." I solemnly nod in acknowledgement as I rush forward with the others.

Unfortunately for my stomach, the further we got into this dungeon, the more I was forced to smell a nasty combination of blood and cinders and it took everything I had to not vomit on the spot and my fast run slowed down big time as the smell is preventing me from focusing. And as if the smell wasn't bad enough, we've seen what seems to be dozens of corpses spewed all over the place; most on the ground, and some floating in the water either on their backs or stomach.

"This is a nightmare. Seeing all of these dead people is giving me war flashbacks. It's as if I'm fighting in the Reaper War again." Garrus mumbles as he crouches down near the water's edge and stares at all of the bodies littered in the water.

"How pathetic. Seeing such a small number of dead bodies makes you think of the worst war in history that killed billions?"

"Good lord! Billions?! Er...never mind. I don't want to know right now, I'm having trouble moving as it is and it's easy to tell Lyrica's having trouble with this."

"We don't have time to stop here. I can tell there are people still alive there. We need to save as many of them as possible. Karen, Lyrica; it's easy to tell you need a moment to adjust. Lady Vert, stay with these two. Uzume, Garrus, Wrex; help me scout further ahead."

"No. I'm not letting our group divide themselves, not against Magic. We're staying together."

"Don't worry about me everyone. I'll be fine."

"Well, let's go then. Every second we spend chatting, people are senselessly losing their lives." Filia speaks with an extreme sense of urgency as she proceeds to lead.

When we get to the end of the dungeon, we find a few armored figures get cut down by Magic's scythe with loud screams of pain immediately following it and the fact that they weren't moving at all means that they were utterly petrified by either magic or extreme fear at the sight of their dead comrades. In addition to Magic and the huge pile of corpses around her, I can see Linda and Pirachu shaking in their boots.

"C-CFW Magic, ma'am, why are you doing this?! I thought we were going to attack the CPUs, not kill each other in cold blood!"

"She's right, chump! We already accomplished our mission: Reviving Arfoire, so why are you killing us all?!"

"The Deity of Sin demands complete and utter annihilation of all. There is no exception. It matters not if they die today or tomorrow; we will all be absorbed into the Deity of Sin's will."

"W-WHAT?! But; if Arfoire is going to kill us all, I...Why did I go to all that effort?!"

"We need to get out of here, chump. We need to leave before Magic kills us too!"

"If you defy our orders, you will die." Magic proclaims as she charges a beam of magic and fires it toward Linda and Pirachu.

They barely dodge the attack and weakly pick themselves up "CFW Magic; you'd use your full power against your most loyal follower?" Linda asks with her voice clearly horrified because of what happened.

"Why do you resist your own death? Your mere existence is superfluous. All of your existences are superfluous." Magic says with a cruel unflappable tone to Linda and Pirachu at first before diverting her focus to the few living ASIC members left.

"This isn't the CFW Magic I swore my loyalty to. She wouldn't kill her followers like this!" Linda proclaims as she runs off and notices us "Karen Koizumi?! I…" I could see that Linda's eyes were bawling with tears.

"You people truly are sick! Why the hell would you sacrifice your own people?!" I shout this at Magic and it thankfully diverted her focus toward us and it saved the few survivors' lives.

"Their sole purpose was to ensure that the ritual to revive the Deity of Sin is made possible. Since that is now complete, their lives are forfeit."

"You monster! You're willing to sacrifice your followers for this?! You...You...You are the worst kind of leader! They are supposed to lead and protect their followers; not sacrifice them for some sick ritual!" After I said this, with my teeth clenching in anger before outright shouting, I can't help but feel so incredibly pissed off and that rage apparently forced my HDD to activate "CFW Magic, I will not let this stand. This time I will ensure you are destroyed. Vert, I need you to synchronize your unit with me." After saying this, my anger triggered my Next Form and like what Uzume mentioned before, I saw a notice flash in front of me saying 'EXE 103 Disabled'. Because of what I've experienced, I know that I won't have perfect control over my unit's power. Whether that means I'll go berserk like Uzume did or whether I'll be able to control myself will be decided soon enough. Soon enough, Vert synchronized her unit with mine and Uzume which will allow us to maintain our HDD for as long as Vert can.

"Karen, be careful. If your control system is damaged like mine, you may not be able to control yourself." Uzume says to me with a heavy heart as she talks about the incident earlier.

"Don't worry about it Uzume. Rage seems to be a hell of a kicker to keeping myself sane."

"I wholeheartedly agree. there are times when I was at my sanest when I was in my blood rage."

"Enough talk. You will all die. Prepare for your annihilation!"

When Magic charged at us, it made us scatter but we quickly reorganize our formation with Uzume, Vert, and I taking lead in this battle. Uzume is the one inflicting most of the damage with her rapid bracer attacks followed by my sword being a strong factor in damage and Vert seems to be a master with destroying these guard gauges and fighting three CPUs in Next Form is a true nightmare considering how powerful all of our attacks are. Of course, now that I have experienced it firsthand, I know how Uzume felt earlier when she lost control: This power is trying to assume full control and I wouldn't be able to maintain control while also fighting but Caelus is fighting that front which I'm thankful for since it allows me to go all out with fighting. However, we quickly find that Magic is somehow even stronger than before since her new body's combat capabilities are just as strong as ours. Although we're able to match Magic in terms of strength, it's taking us three combined to do that; and it's made worse when we fell back to regroup for the next attack when Magic created an octagonal wall around us which is preventing us from escaping.

"Damn!" I scowl as I try destroying the wall with my sword and I see Uzume and Vert trying the same with their bracers and spear to no avail.

With the three of us indisposed, I decide to simply watch the others take up battle. I see Lyrica using her music magic to boost our capabilities and to my surprise, the few ASIC members that are still alive have reorganized themselves to keep her from harm since she's not much of a fighter. That leaves the other three fighters of our group: Filia with her durandal, Wrex wielding the same assault rifle he used back in the graveyard, and I never noticed because of the chaos before, I saw that the sniper rifle that Garrus is using has an emblem on the side which appears to be a simple N7 with white text. However, they aren't lasting long against her power and they're being pushed back.

"I can't let this stand!" I snarl as I see Benten being covered with what appears to be blinding holy light and immediately afterward, I see Uzume vanish as well. I quickly notice that Benten appears to have been converted from a sword form to small cannons on my shoulders. But almost immediately, I heard Uzume's voice scream out from somewhere

"What the?! Where am I?!"

"Uzume? Wait...I don't understand. What's going on?!"

"That's another ability we CPUs have from birth: We are able to convert ourselves into weapons for others to utilize. Just hurry and use the skill."

I close my eyes as I feel power resonating within the cannons and I open them when I feel the energy about to release and I see an image of me needing to state the name of the skill to activate it "Face the wrath of CPU Aqua Heart! Nebula Sun Burst!" I strongly proclaim as the cannons fire the energy they were building up and it pierces the barrier which instantly destroys it and the beam of energy hits Magic even though she blocks it with her scythe.

I then dash toward Magic as I repeatedly hit her with short-range bursts from my cannons to help buy time for Vert to get here and back me up. It appears that my merge with Uzume gave me her agility since I'm much faster like this. Though I could account that to how I'm not using a massive sword and shoulder mounted cannons that are surprisingly light. However, Magic quickly composed herself and is fighting me in earnest and I'm using Uzume's supplemental agility to fight and dodge her attacks though hand-to-hand combat is not something I can do in this high-stake battle but that quickly fades as Filia throws her sword at me, indirectly telling me to use it for this battle as she pulls out another sword from her inventory

"You are becoming an utter and complete thorn in my side. I can not comprehend how you are able to fight against us with such vigor with what you suffered!"

"I told you Magic. Humanity never surrenders and we always fight to our last dying breath to change our destinies if that becomes necessary. If you attempt to wipe us out, we will retaliate with the force of an avalanche. No matter how much you or your organization tries to break me, I will rise stronger than before. You killed me once and I came back from the dead with an even stronger desire to destroy you all. You severed my arm and only cemented my commitment to the cause. No matter what you do to me, I will never stop. I will destroy ASIC and your damnable Deity of Sin. Now...DIE!" I proudly proclaim humanity's philosophies before I strongly grip Filia's sword and slash Magic to oblivion.

"This is for everyone you have killed!" What surprised me is that my voice wasn't the only one who shouted this as I can feel my voice somehow merged with that of Uzume and Caelus and I feel the rage of ancient goddesses desiring to shed blood in vengeance over the millions of innocent people killed by this organization.

"Ehehe...You are doomed no matter what you do. The final step to the Deity of Sin's revival is the absorption of her loyal vassals' souls. Prepare for the destruction of all." Magic sneers as body suddenly explodes into blinding light and I cover my eyes in response.

"Not going to happen Magic. ASIC is doomed. I will destroy Arfoire and avenge everyone who has died because of her." After I say this out loud, I deactivate my HDD form and Uzume appears right next to me, wiping her shoulders as if she was covered with dirt.

"Impressive Karen. If you keep this degree of strength constant, I can confidently state that you won't need my instructions."

"Thanks Filia. Well, let's return to Leanbox and await orders. We should also prepare for the possibility of us needing to reinforce the others."

"Agreed. We need to remain on guard. But what do we do with you all?"

"Please leave us to our devices here. We are not assisting a genocidal organization, but we wish to gather our dead and bury them all. We lost many friends, family, comrades-in-arms...Too many good people have died here."

"Very well. Let's go everyone." Vert solemnly responds as she walks away with the others following her.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [17:30] December 10th 20XX

Location: [Leanbox - Basilicom]

After we returned to the Basilicom here in Leanbox, we stayed there for a response from the others though I was extremely anxious during every passing second since my friends are in danger, but thankfully, reports came in saying that there were no casualties among us, but all of ASIC's members that had assembled in the dungeons were exterminated; which I find extremely distasteful since hundreds of people lost their lives for no damn reason. We barely saved half a dozen people in Gapain Field and hearing this...This is wrong on so many levels. Anyway, we've been given orders to return to Planeptune though we're staying put for a short time.

"This is a nightmare. I can't believe ASIC would kill their own people like that! I'm thankful now that I left my group earlier. I feel like I saved Miyo and Izumi from this nightmare and possibly even you Filia."

"I severely doubt that Karen. I'm far too strong for ASIC to defeat. But I digress. Let's get back to Planeptune and plan out our next move."

When we return to Planeptune, we find the others gathered in the lobby getting treated since it looks like some of them got injured during the assault

"Ow. Can't you be any gentler treating this?" Mamoru groans rather irritably as I see a medic treating his injuries; with me noticing a scar across the right side of his face mostly focused around his eye, though it obviously only hit the skin and not his eye which I imagine he's thankful about.

"Trust me when I say I'm being as gentle as I can."

"I...I know. It's just painful going through this."

After hearing this, my group begins spreading to different parts of the room to check on the others since it looks like everyone got injured to some degree. Looks my team got off easy even though we faced the strongest member of the Four Felons. I walk over toward Kazuto and Katsuo, and I quickly notice that they're both wearing casts on their right arm.

"Hey Karen. We both got a bit unlucky out there." Katsuo groans as he looks toward me, with a frown on his face as he does so.

"No kidding. Did you succeed?"

"Hell ya. Though it wasn't easy and we saw so many people dead around us that I felt extremely nauseous. Blanc, I owe you for helping me stay in the fight."

"You don't need to thank me. Gust was the one who gave you the medicine you needed."

"Perhaps so, but you helped me ingest the thing when I needed it. I wouldn't be able to fight if you didn't help."

"Stop before you make me inflict even more injuries onto you." Blanc responds with a tranquil fury which abruptly made Katsuo keep quiet, though I think I saw the tiniest of blushes on her face.

"Huh. I have never seen you act so nice to someone Blanc. I thought you were incapable of such a feeling."

"Shut your damn mouth Neptune." Blanc snarls very aggressively at Neptune's joke.

"Stop it all of you. Remember that we're hardly finished here!" Noire shouts out which breaks up this fight before it gets worse.

"Noire has a point. We still have to fight Arfoire since she's going to be revived soon. The time for unity is now."

"Okay then Caelus. I want to ask you questions about the battle you had with ASIC in the past, I want to form strategies to use in the battle."

"I have a room here in the Basilicom, we can talk there."

"Lead the way Aqua Heart."

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [9:00] December 12th 20XX

Location: [Planeptune - Basilicom]

After we destroyed the Four Felons, we began our final preparations against Arfoire since we're up against an individual that managed to kill three goddesses in their prime. Saying that is making us a little uneasy is putting it rather mildly. We're training our Next Form capabilities since we've all reached the consensus that it may very well be one of the few things giving us an edge against ASIC and we need to ensure we know everything that these things can do. Thankfully, this respite from battle gave us time to repair and reinforce our control units since Uzume lacked the ability to resist this power and I was dependent on Caelus keeping me from attacking my friends back in Gapain Field. When I was talking with Noire for our strategy meeting, I actually talked about a battle I was in but what was truly bizarre was that I had never even heard of that area. The response I got from Caelus was beyond horrified since I somehow was able to experience some of her memories on pure instinct and she said she was going to work more to keep me from having access to them. Looks like Caelus truly has some skeletons in her closet and is desperate to keep it private.

In fact, in order to prepare for the inevitable battle, we've spent all of our time training and purusing what little remains of ancient records since Caelus and Uzume are unusually hesitant to talk about their battle with ASIC in the past and we need info on what Arfoire is capable of while waiting for reports from Guild agents assigned to monitor the situation and they've been joined by the few ASIC members that survived the liquidation as they want to repent for their actions. Reports quickly came in and we learned that magic circles have appearing throughout the Gamindustri Graveyard which we can only presume is what's allowing Arfoire to revive. Thankfully, we do have a number of magic users in this group and they combined their respective expertise and we learned something based on the design described by the agents.

"Okay, if the agents are correct; we should be able to greatly interrupt Arfoire's official resurrection, but there's a catch with the design. We'll need to block the magic flow with our own strength, though we need mages to oversee the process. And considering the people in our group, we barely have any. Izumi, Haruka, Rom, Ram, 5pb, and I will have to do this since we are the only magi here. Also, depending on how many of these circles exist, we will need to work separately."

"Makes sense. But how do we pull this off?"

"Like Leonard said, we need to block the flow of magic that is being directed toward Arfoire. ASIC is using a type of magic circle that can be easily manipulated with life energy from differing sources, but to successfully pull it off, both the mage and the people undergoing the ritual must not be interrupted, so we'll need guards. We'd need to see the magic circles in person, but I can foresee two possibilities by us doing this: One, doing this ensures we actually manage to prevent Arfoire from returning to this plane of existence entirely. The other would cause Arfoire to return in a weaker state which would make our fight easier. In smaller words, doing this will mean we'll either prevent this fight entirely or make it easier." Izumi explains rather calmly as she talks about the plan we'll need to follow.

"This could work, but how many people are we going to send against Arfoire directly? The Graveyard will likely be swarming with monsters and like you said Izumi; we can't afford to leave anyone unprotected."

"This is my opinion, but I think we goddesses should handle that fight. Our poor decisions allowed ASIC to flourish so strongly, we need to be the ones who ends it." Vert speaks up with her stance on the battle.

"Fair enough. Let's hurry and end all this. I'm sick of ASIC already." Katsuo groans with a degree of irritation as he takes his sword sheath out of his inventory and puts it around his belt.

"I agree. Histoire, we're going to depart now. Can you open a portal for us to go to the Graveyard? We're ending this here and now." Blanc quietly inquires as she pulls out her hammer and keeps the top near the back of her head.

"As you wish, but please be careful. Like every other time, I am uneasy sending you all into enemy hands, but we have no other option."

"Don't fret the details Histy. We'll go out there, kick some butt, and come back to play games like usual." Neptune remarks with a proud grin as she runs through the portal.

After we see Neptune enter the portal to the Graveyard, we followed her through to execute the final operation against ASIC and we see a set of four magic circles around us and we see Leonard walk forward to inspect one of the magic circles

"Okay, let me see here." Leonard mutters as he walks toward a nearby magic circle and inspects it "Wow, this is truly pathetic. I learned how to work around this kind of magic circle through basic training. Here's the spell incantation you need." Leonard continues, with him passing copies of the incantation to Haruka, Izumi, and 5pb. "I'll take this first set of magic circles. Hamil, Eldin, Reiner, I want you three to help defend this area."

"Well then, the superheroine of justice and her sidekick will volunteer to handle what is necessary."

"Why must Gust be sidekick to incompetent 'heroine'?"

"Knock it off. Our mission is too damn important for bickering."

"Blanc's right. Compa, you and I will stay here with them to block the magic flow."

After this exchange finishes, IF, Compa, Nisa, Gust, Leonard, Hamil, Reiner, and Eldin split from our group and we proceed through the dungeon. The lack of monsters trying to impede our progress is, while welcome, unsettling since we're up against ASIC's guardian deity. I can't bring myself to believe that we're not walking into a trap. It's especially unnerving when we're rapidly reaching the end and the fact we not only have spotted no monsters and only two sets of magic circles bringing about Arfoire's revival.

"This is too suspicious. We're supposed to be fighting against the heart of the lion yet we've met no opposition. I have a bad feeling about this...Adelphos, Lyrica, double back to Leonard's group. We need to account the possibility of Arfoire trying to block our escape route." I muse as I ponder the situation and I want to ensure we have people keeping our rear flank clear. When I see the pair rush back, I look toward the others "The rest of you, stay here and guard this area. We goddesses will handle it from here."

"Actually Karen; Wrex and I want to accompany you on this one."

"Absolutely not. Look, I don't exactly want to say how I know this, but Arfoire has special magic that makes her all but immune to conventional attacks. Only we goddesses will be able to do this." The reason I'm able to say this so confidently is because of how, while she is keeping me from seeing most, Caelus has let me indulge in memories involving ASIC and I can see images of what I need to know through her own memories.

"I suppose that makes sense. Okay, let's set up a defensive perimeter around this area." Garrus says with a tiny frown of unease as he directs everyone to set up defensive positions while the goddesses and I proceed onward.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [11:00] December 12th 20XX

Location: [Gamindustri Graveyard - Graveyard's Edge]

When we reached the far end of the area where I fought CFW Trick six months ago and Magic two days ago, I can't help but dread this one area because during both confrontations, I suffered greatly fighting this criminal organization.

"Everyone, keep your guard up. We're at the apex of ASIC's evil." I grimly say to the others as we all activate our HDD forms.

Immediately after we engaged our HDD, we see several bolts of lightning hit the ground a short ways in front of us and an individual that appears to resemble some sort of humanoid rabbit or something shows itself in front of us

"So you had the courage to come and fight me after all Caelus."

"I won't surrender to you Arfoire! I was able to seal you away within a pocket dimension once before and I have grown even more powerful since then! Your destruction is assured!"

"Meaningless chatter. Especially when you can't even use your goddess powers." Arfoire sneers rather evilly when she said this.

"What are you-" I try to say before I see her straighten out an arm and a large wave of dark magic flows out and I felt an extreme amount of pain course through my body when it hit me and I look around and see our HDD forms shatter. I look about a little and I see a number of Anti-Crystals scattered around the area which likely helped disable our Goddess forms.

However, that wasn't it since that magic apparently the ability to blind its victims. I also feel it rapidly slashing against me and I can feel myself flung back to an unknown degree. It takes a few minutes for that blinding effect to be undone by Rom and Ram and when I regain my sight, I see that Uzume is within the circular radius of the graveyard's edge but everyone else is around me and there's a barrier keeping us from reaching her. Although she's still in her goddess form, it's likely because of how she said her human form was disconnected during her time in the dimensional void so her conventional goddess form is her standard. I attempted to destroy the barrier with everyone's help but none of our attacks can even faze it and we can't transform because of the residual Anti-Crystals in the area, however, we were quickly told off by Uzume when we tried this.

"Guys, stop it! The only way we can harm Arfoire is through a goddess' power and you don't have the ability to transform here. Not with these anti-crystals here. I made this barrier with my power to protect you. Just leave this to me." Uzume says with irritation at our attempts to take down the barrier.

After saying this, Uzume gives us a rather uneasy expression before she turns away and walks toward Arfoire

"You're a fool; going to fight against the very enemy that killed three of your sisters."

"Indeed, but I'm not giving up. Eri, Rin, Ila, all our people. I am going to make sure they all can rest easy wherever they are. Cae...I'm sorry." Uzume said this with a great deal with pride though she sounded rather distraught at the end.

I quickly see Uzume's hands glow with a bright silver light and she slams the ground with a massive magic circle appearing underneath her and Arfoire

"W-What are you doing?" Arfoire demands angrily as she dashes toward Uzume and impales her with her spear through her torso.

Uzume weakly coughs up blood and nearly plummeted toward the ground as the only thing keeping her up was Arfoire's spear "This is a special kind of magic Tybalt helped me make. I realize that I can't beat you conventionally so I have no choice but to use this. I prayed I wouldn't have to since I wanted to stay with Cae and everyone. You see...I'm going to ensure you never return so I'm going to remove you from the fabric of reality entirely! And I'll make sure of that by sacrificing myself. No one will remember you or your actions though the world will recall the memory of the evil inflicted by ASIC. I myself...will be erased from both history and memory."

"Uzume! No!"

"Cae, I am truly sorry, but we have no other option. It's a fact that only goddesses could defeat a being like Arfoire and I'm the only one who can access goddess form because of these anti-crystals. And I'm not strong enough on my own. My sacrifice will save nations. So...please forgive me." Uzume did her utmost to fight back tears as she keeps a firm grip on an arm that Arfoire is keeping on her spear to keep her stationary.

The duo slowly fall into the magic circle though Arfoire is frantically attacking Uzume with a sword made of pure darkness to try freeing herself from Uzume's grasp but she's incredibly persistent and even though she is receiving devastating injuries, she is not letting go of Arfoire until they have fallen to where only their heads are visible and Uzume simply stares at the sky

"Cae, everyone...this is where I give my farewell. I truly do wish I could have stayed at your side but looks like fate wasn't kind. Goodbye..." I can truly hear Uzume's tone become incredibly distraught and become overshadowed with sniffles of tears when she said this and when she completely falls into the magic circle, a small beam of light appears and it is dispersing its effects in all directions.

"UZUME!" This utterly horrified scream was the last thing I heard as that beam of light seemingly exploded which blasted us to our backs and knocked us into unconsciousness. I can't even begin imaging how much pain Caelus is going through since she just lost the last of her sisters to Arfoire.

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [13:00] December 12th 20XX

Location: [Gamindustri Graveyard - Graveyard's Edge]

When I came to, I found everyone looking over us with concerned expressions but what's a little bizarre is that for some reason, I remember that we were supposed to defeat ASIC's leader but the details are fuzzy for some reason. I strongly feel like we've succeeded in defeating ASIC, but I don't know why I have this thought.

"Karen, are you okay?" I see Katsuo helping me up from how I was on my back and I see IF and Compa helping Nepgear and Neptune respectively, Miyo and Izumi helping Noire and Uni; Nisa, Gust, and Filia helping Rom, Ram, and Blanc' and I see Cave helping Vert up.

"Katsuo? Yeah, but I have a mild headache for some reason."

"Yeah, we have some ourselves. But what about ASIC? Do we have to fight still?"

"I'm not certain. My mind is running blank yet my heart is telling me that although we are victorious, something is amiss. I cannot understand it." Blanc says with an uneasy expression on her face as she talks about this strange feeling and I'm feeling something similar as well.

"Uzume...why did you…? Dammit Uzume!"

"Caelus, what's wrong? You sound utterly dismal."

"I'm not going to bother explaining this one Karen. You won't remember even if I explain it to you. I...I'm going to sleep. I'm never going to be able to live this down." For the first time in our relationship, I'm actually at a loss for words since I don't know what Caelus is irritated about and since she isn't telling me, I don't know what to say to her here "Come on guys, let's get out of here." I say with a calm expression as I pull out the walkie-talkie I kept with me the last time I fought against CFW Magic and I ask Histoire to open a portal near our position and we all walk through it to leave the Gamindustri Graveyard for good this time.

When we return to Planeptune, we find all of the Oracles gathered in the room and they give different levels of affection toward their individual CPUs and Candidates, when applicable, which certainly is rather heartwarming to see when we had just finished fighting an entire criminal syndicate for the last couple of months. It started with just me, Katsuo, Kazuto, Mamoru, Yuuki, Shino, IF, Compa, and Falcom and we then recruited so many people to help us in our fight. We were then asked to gather in the garden for a celebration feast because of our victory against ASIC since the four nations have been fighting them for years now and we have now achieved victory. When we get there, we are put in a mildly uncomfortable situation since this area was never meant for such a huge group but we quickly adjust by having some of us sit down on the low walls surrounding this indoor garden while the rest of us are scattered elsewhere enjoying ourselves

"Say Garrus, are you going to have trouble eating any of this food? I can still remember what happened here ten years ago."

"Believe it or not Nepgear, I'll be fine. The shamaness we met per Thraaklon's request had a really interesting spell that one of her ancestors made a long time ago. It had the ability to alter a food's genetic structure. It was something Thraaklon requested early on since he apparently realized that not everyone would be able to eat the same types of food. Now I don't need that medicine which paralyzes me anymore. I went twelve years eating food which came with the risk of poisoning myself in the process. It's an amazing feeling to be honest. For so long now, I had to eat food that is classified as levo-amino which was bad no matter what; and although it took quite a while explaining the differences since I'm hardly a biologist, but she was able to ensure both Wrex and I had access to food that was truly meant for us while keeping its appearance unchanged."

"I can imagine. And I'm glad of that Garrus. But Nepgear, I'm surprised you didn't tell everyone that you knew me back when I was a child."

"You caught me off-guard at the time Miyo. I hadn't seen you in years and then I learned you were helping ASIC. I just didn't know what to say. That little girl Thraaklon brought to our Basilicom, whom I considered a very close friend, was helping our enemy. How do you respond to that?"

"I-I see your point. Well, if it's any consolation, it was just a job. I can imagine Thraaklon would've been rather annoyed at my decision though, but I have the right to live my own life. Besides, I did it to help the CPUs in the long run."

"I suppose so. But what do you plan to do now Miyo?"

"I'm going to go help Karen establish her own nation. While I can't ask him directly, I feel like this is something Thraaklon would want. Never before has there been a goddess who had the same background of people like me. We'll have a place we can call home."

"Well, I saw this coming the second I saw you in goddess form Aqua Heart. I knew you'd end up making a nation and competing with us all."

"Well that's the way the cookie crumbles Noire. But relax, I'm not interested in starting arguments and confrontation between us all."

"Karen does have a point here Noire. Let's not provoke any hostility between us when she has no inclination toward it."

"Thank you Vert. I don't want to ruin this ceremonial feast with us bickering."

"There is something I do want to ask. I heard talk of a monster that was somehow able to use our fast-travel network. Is that true?"

"Yeah, it's true Blanc. In fact, not only was it able to use that network to travel to other dungeons with your system, it was able to severely poison its victims. It only faded when the host was blown to smithereens with a neutron bomb that Miyo helped build."

After I said this, I see nearly everyone's eyes turn to Miyo and she nervously chuckles and scratches the back of her head

"Ehehe. I really didn't have a choice in the matter; that monster was a mutant and had become too powerful for conventional battle. And believe it or not; ASIC went out of their way to recruit me for the job. But I don't want to talk about this."

"Why are you embarrassed Miyo? That's quite an achievement into your technological capabilities, even though the background is unsettling." Uni says with a proud smile though it faded at the talk of the reason for it all.

"I don't really like making weapons of mass destruction; If I make weapons, it'll be on a more individual case like guns, swords, bows, staves; things like that. But trust me when I say that I'd rather focus on non-combat technology. It doesn't matter how many weapons I make; it wouldn't get us any closer to home."

"Do you think you'll be able to pull it off Miyo?" I see Garrus ask with a mild frown though I think I see an emotion of hope since I imagine he misses his world just like the rest of us.

"I'll certainly try. Although the obstacle is much tougher since the dimensional veil is likely so much stronger, Ophelia was able to create tech to pierce the veil and send someone who was trapped here back; even though it imprisoned another. I have no idea if I'll live to see it, but I'll be archiving every single step I make and ensure that someone will be able to make it a reality."

"There is a question I have to ask though. Where would I even go to form a nation? There's no room on this continent."

"I have a suggestion. During our decade long journey, we've seen a fair number of foreign lands and one comes to mind. The lost island of Keisa and despite the name, it's actually a continent, but it sounds better as 'lost island' and not 'lost continent' but I digress. The shamaness: Raesa lives on a small island near the continent."

"How far away is this island?"

"Hmm, if we leave tomorrow, we would reach it by the time this month ends. We've had our blood tagged with the magic that hides the continent so we shouldn't be deterred as long as you all stay close to me and Wrex."

"Perfect; we'll depart tomorrow morning." After saying this, I immediately realize the date on when we'd arrive at the island and the day it overlaps with and although it will utterly kill my wallet trying to deal with all thirty three of us, I want to do something nice to everybody for everything they've done for us "Actually guys, before we leave, there is something I want to ask. Is there anything you all would want?" After I said this, all eyes turned to me.

"That's a random question to ask. Why are you asking Karen?" I see Uni is the one to ask me this.

"No real reason. Just curious mostly." I say as I hide the fact I'm trying to scout out gifts to get them for Christmas Eve before I leave the continent to establish my nation.

I see rather confident smirks from Katsuo, Kazuto, Mamoru, Yuuki, Haruka, and Ophelia since I imagine they caught on to what I'm planning as they are helping me cover the true intention of my actions right now. Since the others have no knowledge of Earth holidays, I was able to able to get information about what they want without arousing any suspicion. However, I repeatedly had to hold back the instinct of loudly gasping out of surprise as I hear some of the items voiced out by the group since they're things that I've either never heard of in all my time here or are so expensive I'd have to find ways to get these things without slaughtering my wallet.

"Thanks for all of the input. I actually remembered that Histoire wanted to talk with me about something. I should go and meet her." I get up from where I was sitting and I walk away with a smirk of victory on my face at all this though I know very well that information is merely the first phase of any battle and in order for me to win, I need to overcome near impossible odds and gather all these items.

When I find Histoire and explain the situation about me wanting to give gifts to the CPUs and the people who fought with everything they had to secure victory against ASIC; I am answered with a short hymn and a nod of acknowledgement

"I agree that they all deserve rewards for their service. I'll speak with the other Oracles and try to arrange this deliverance of rewards. For the individuals traveling with you, I will have the items sent to your inventory remotely."

"Thank you very much Histoire. The date for this event is the twenty-fifth. While you have time to get it done, I imagine you'd want to hurry."

"Of course. Here, you will find these books most helpful with your future endeavours. Normally I would have Neptune try learning from them but she is utterly incapable of learning. They were gathering dust before now."

"What are these for?"

"They are CPU guidebooks that I wrote a very long time ago. They detail all of the magic rituals necessary for creating a nation's initial infrastructure. However, I imagine Caelus knows far more than I do since she has run her own nation before."

"I'll keep it in mind; but Caelus seemed rather irate for some reason so I may have to fall back on those books."

"Irate? What has happened to anger Caelus?"

"She said something about an 'Uzume' before she said she was going to sleep. She was very upset when she talked about it."

"Uzume...Uzume; that name doesn't ring any bells for me. But I'll look through my records and see if anyone related to the goddesses has that name."

"Thank you once again Histoire. You've given me so much help since I've gotten here."

A/N: First, I have to say; I have a particular fondness of this chapter's title; while it is said in a different way; I had inspiration from Dragon Age's Grey Wardens. Where I say: In Sacrifice, Victory; the Grey Wardens have this motto: In Peace, Vigilance. In War, Victory. In Death, Sacrifice. Here, Uzume's sacrifice brought about victory for the CPUs in this four year long war against ASIC.

I did my best to describe Wrex's M-84 Revenant, but if you want a visual representation of what it'd look like, it'd practically look like the M-76 from ME 2 or 3 with the color scheme and barrel of the Geth Spitfire from 3.

I imagine you may ask why I didn't provide descriptions on what Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert look like in Next Form, but if you go to the Neptunia wikia, you can find images of their next forms. So if you want to see how they look, go there.

Anyway; when it comes to relations between my Earthling characters and the Hyperdimension CPUs, at the minimal, they'll be close enough to call each other friend but some will be far stronger in terms of connection. Karen will be the closest with Vert because of how they both are considered the parental figure of their respective groups, Katsuo will be closest to Blanc because of their similar personalities, Yuuki's is Neptune because they're both rather genki, and for Noire, it'd likely be Kazuto or perhaps Mamoru.

Next up, new character descriptions for the SMD members. But trust me when I say that none of these five will be involved in this series after this story. While a select few of my extras, namely Morita, Cobert, and Chomei have become something like ascended extras, these five will be staying only in Neptunia. In terms of age, it goes like this: Adelphos, Hamil, Leonard, Reiner, and Eldin. I'll leave the specifics vague but I will confirm one thing: they're all older than Filia.

Adelphos Furukawa - Not counting Filia, Adelphos is the youngest member of the team. His appearance is identical to Leonard but his eyes are green. His weapon of choice is a bow & arrow.

Eldin Sakue - Eldin is the oldest of the team which is shown by his graying hair, but he is still a force to be reckoned with, especially since he was able to beat Filia in battle several times with his massive claymore.

Hamil Tayama - Hamil has short silver hair and gray eyes. Although he has been dismissed from the organization, he still wears his blue and white colored armor that he earned when he worked in the SMD, which was the armor of Filia's section. In addition to his gender proving he has links to someone not native to Gamindustri, he hosts a number of tattoos all over his body which were enchanted by magic, their purpose being to boost his capabilities in battle. But despite the magic boosting his strength, he was never able to beat Filia in any combat spar. Hamil's choice of weapon is a double-bladed sword.

Leonard Anami - Like his comrades in Filia's team, he keeps his brown hair short which helps them wear their armor. Although it irritates him a good deal, Reiner has joked that his eyes make people think they are looking into an endless desert. Leonard is a magic user and uses a staff in battle which allows him to materialize small energy bursts for low-cost ranged projectiles and he uses his staff as a focus for his more powerful spells. Unlike the others, Leonard is the only one speaks casually toward Filia since the others use the honorific: 'Lady'.

Reiner Nakata - Reiner's hair color is akin to the midnight sky and his dark crimson eye color matches the theme of sky color pigments. His weapon of choice is a glaive made from bones of a Guardragon.