Code: Neptunia

by Silius1

After ASIC's defeat with the assistance of Senryaku, the CPUs, and her allies; Karen and her team have departed to form her new nation: Arcadia with the intention of gathering brilliant scientific minds to discover a way back to their original worlds. The first attempt to perform this ended up failing and making the process even tougher to achieve. The question now is: How long?

19. Chapter 17: Implementation of Order

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [6:30] April 9th 21XX

Location: [Arcadia Undercity]

---

When organized crime began to emerge within Arcadia roughly four days ago, Katsuo had gathered his friends to take a stand since Karen is far too busy keeping the nation from falling apart in terms of safety though ironically, Arcadia's shares, which normally count as a nation's stability, are remarkably stable when Karen created a company: Millennia to produce games for the nation and appointed the president: Ganache to work as a public subsidiary to the Basilicom and has proven to be very efficient and talented at running the company.

The company has specialized in virtual reality PC gaming with their first console: Eclipse, which Miyo made the initial blueprints of with Karen's assistance (though the prototype was given to Millennia) as she drew inspiration from Earth's NerveGear and AmuSphere, with it having a similar frame to the NerveGear but made of lighter materials and incorporated features that the AmuSphere possessed, particularly the low frequency transmitter Miyo designed that, upon analysis, is far more powerful yet still safe just like the AmuSphere the idea came from. In addition to the low frequency transmitter, it also possessed medical advancements that originated from Planeptune hospitals which regularly monitor the wearer's vitals and if anything awry were to happen, it is programmed to immediately force the individual out of virtual reality and dials the nearest medical station to prevent any kind of incident from occurring. However, while Eclipse did indeed keep many people in Arcadia content with unique gaming opportunities not available in any of the nations, happiness and safety are two different things and Katsuo's newly formed team are one of the few interested in safety.

Not long after she formed the nation, there was a faint link of the CPU fast-travel network, which dissolved shortly after she returned and would need assistance from a skilled Oracle to reconstruct it, which she used to return to Planeptune for a meeting to make a ten year deal with the four oracles to have food and raw materials delivered to a warehouse outside Arcadian territory. She only expected it to last two days at the absolute longest, but it took ten with numerous recesses for a decision to be made: In exchange for the food and raw materials that would be delivered to Arcadia and for the CPUs to introduce a law within Gamindustri, with Histoire's aid, to have all foreign visitors end up in the community center in the nation, she would share Arcadia's technological and cultural advancements with the other four nations though one compromise was made on Karen's side. She would provide diverse culture whenever it is fully understood since she hardly cared about this field, but she requested that technology be handled on a case-by-case basis to maintain some sort of edge.

Katsuo's call to action happened late last night and he has left early, wearing a black cloak to hide his appearance, to gather armaments they will need to combat the criminals plaguing the city. He hates that he has to do this, but he knew that he would have to go to the undercity's black market to ensure that he and his team will have a level playing field when fighting against the criminal groups. Along the way to the black market, he bumped into a group of six, whom are also hiding their appearances underneath brown cloaks, that walked out of a nearby street corner, with Katsuo having not noticed them walk in front of him.

"Watch where you're going, nyu." One of the people Katsuo bumped into retorts with a sharp tongue and what utterly surprised him was that this person was oddly floating in the air unlike the girl's comrades.

"Not my problem. I can barely see with this cloak on." Despite his surprise at the floating person in front of him, he still is able to retort rather firmly toward the young sounding girl.

"That's enough young assistant. We were told by a higher power to safeguard this new land so we will do so. After all, she has gone out of her way to recruit every one of us to do this. The least we could do is fulfill her mission to the best of our ability." Although her appearance is largely hidden, parts of her blue hair and eyes shine through the darkness her cloak projects, and her very calm demeanor is rather noticeable.

"She does have a point there. We all were living boring lives before Lady Tenn approached us all and asked for our assistance here. Safeguarding one city is worth it." Because of the cloak, her big red eyes are the only thing that can be seen. Though what slightly irritates him is that her voice sounds like the girl lacks self-confidence far worse than 5pb, whom he has briefly traveled with.

"Er, who is this 'Lady Tenn'?"

"She actually doesn't want us revealing her name yet. She wishes to remain shrouded in shadows until she believes it is the right time to reveal herself. Atleast, that's what she tells us." Like most, the only thing Katsuo could see of the girl is her bright orange eyes which have music notes in lieu of standard pupils.

"That is strange. But look, I don't have the time to chat. I need to get something for my friends like...yesterday."

"Lucky coincidence. We actually need to acquire weapons for our mission. Mind if we accompany you?" Unlike the others, aside from the last girl, the tone from this one is rather upbeat. What can be seen of her facial expression easily proves that. Like every other girl in the group from what he gathered, she has tanned skin, green eyes, short choppy blonde hair, and notices two different tattoos on her face; the right side having a small C inside a bigger C and a 2 on the left side.

"Not going to happen. A part of me tells me that you won't be taking this seriously and I'm not trusting this nation's safety on random whims. I'll trust only rock solid resolve." Katsuo is easily getting irritated with the situation in front of him and wants to hurry and get weapons from the black market dealer even though the thought sickens him.

Although he knows nothing about running a country or nation or whatever the CPUs like to call it, he promised himself that he would do whatever he could to ensure Arcadia's continued existence since he has heard that Miyo and Ophelia would require a substantial amount of scientific expertise in order to successfully deal with the dimensional veil and ensure that everyone trapped in Gamindustri would be able to return home. Since they both have said that they have no idea how long it would take, Karen did something bold for people who are going through this: She offered to halt their biological clocks, effectively making them immortal, until a confirmed way to control the barrier since Miyo wishes to avoid anything drastic; especially when she has said that if she could find a way to control the barrier, she could ensure no one would be drawn into Gamindustri against their will and trapped in this world. The only ones in the immediate group who refused the offer were the former SMD members since they have expressed that they have lived their whole lives in Gamindustri and wouldn't call their 'native' world home. Filia was the sole exception among their ranks since the number of generations between her and the original is singular unlike many others, even though she knew this would mean that she would remain the same age while her squad members would grow old and eventually die.

In addition, a question had been asked at the time about how the subject of aging works in this world and it has been speculated that individuals that are descended from Gamindustri natives age at a slower speed though it only seemed to apply after a number of generations pass which could possibly be tied to bloodlines and what Histoire had said once before 'Time flows much faster in Gamindustri.' While this easily confused over half of the group, Karen and Miyo speculated that perhaps the varied amounts of bloodline through generations gradually switched individual aging processes of Gamindustri's rapid speed with the other worlds' slower speed, but this opinion came from a machinist and a casual gamer strategist so they knew there were gaps of logic in their theory, but that was the best thing they could think of and would need to consult professionals skilled with genetics and various other fields of biology or wait who knows how long from Histoire to get a proper answer.*

"We are taking this serious mister. Lady Tenn wants us protecting this nation. We have the same goal here so let us tag along with you." The girl who said this, from what he can see, has short red hair and big orange eyes.

"Grrr...I give up. Fine. You can come along, but don't get in my way, understood?" Katsuo snarls this since he has crossed the limits of his tolerance at the current moment. He knows what he has to do and he has little qualms killing to achieve it. He has killed people to protect what he holds dear to his heart before and he is willing to do it again if necessary.

"Glad you saw reason nyu. You wouldn't be able to stop us even if you tried nyu."

---

After this, Katsuo walked off to where the black market dealer is with his new 'entourage'. He journeys through the city's figurative underbelly and stops in front of a building with a small falcon crest embedded in the door and turns to the people following him

"Okay, before we enter, I need to warn you all of one thing. This place is the heart of the criminal underworld; every criminal that operates from here will be watching your every move. Piss someone off and you'll likely find yourself in a ditch or something to that effect. This may be neutral ground but it is by no means safe. While fighting is technically off limits, I can easily think of ways I could kill you without even alerting the guards or making a sound. So play it safe."

After getting a nod of acknowledgement, Katsuo pushes the door open with a firm shove and walks across the large, low-class looking, room which was designed with the thought of holding a lot of people with questionable morals and the moment he entered the room, nearly all eyes turned in his direction as he walked toward the counter at the far end of the room and the stares are far from friendly since Katsuo can feel the desire to shed blood in their auras. Despite that, he is keeping a calm face since he can't let weakness be seen as he can easily tell that if he panics, it'll be a cruel invitation for them all to try wiping him and his friends out, and that is the absolute last thing he wants. After traveling through the room, he sits down on a bar stool at the counter, waiting for the individual that has been supplying these criminals with weapons to approach. When the man appears, Katsuo is unable to see his appearance since his face is covered with a black mask of a futuristic design with bright yellow eyepieces which allow him to see with it on, wearing a fancy black suit with a red tie covering his body and shiny black gloves; all hiding who is underneath it all.

"How may I help you?" The man's voice was obviously being hidden with a voice changer since it was rather robotic.

Katsuo calmly pulls a sheet of paper and a medium sized pouch out from within his cloak, slightly moving the paper forward "I need weapons. Roughly fifty. There are a few specifics required here, but for the rest, I'll take anything. And I have enough credits from past jobs to cover the cost. Half a million."

"Fifty eh? That's a lot for one person."

"I'm not claiming them for myself. I'm forming my own gang."

"Now that makes sense. But be aware that you have a lot of competition here in Arcadia."

"I'm aware. I'm taking them all down."

"Ooh, you certainly are bold, but at the same time, stupid."

"Old news pal. Just get me my weapons."

"I'll need to check the stores. I'll hold on to the pouch while I go."

When the man attempts to take the pouch, Katsuo swiftly grabs it and puts it back under his cloak

"I don't think so. I wouldn't trust you criminal lowlifes as far as I can throw you. I'll keep my money until I see the weapons myself."

"You're smarter than I thought. But your attitude here will hardly win any favors with anyone. A lot of people will want you dead. However, I like that moxy you're showing. Let me delve into what I have available."

---

After saying this, the man walks into the back room and Katsuo's 'entourage' walk close and sit down near him

"Mind if we ask for your name mister?" The girl with orange hair and eyes inquires as she sat down right next to Katsuo.

"Not the time girl. I am not giving my name in the devil's den and I don't want you giving yours here. Not unless you're suicidal." Katsuo retorts rather angrily, not wanting the girls revealing their names in this place.

Almost immediately after, the man returns with a futuristic weapon case and presents it to Katsuo

"You're in luck young man. I just received a new shipment of weapons and a number of cases made by the mysterious engineer Mika, whoever she is."

"So he's not making these weapons himself. He's getting these from an outside source. When I finish here I'll send a few of these weapons to Ophelia or Miyo and ask for an analysis to be made. Perhaps they can figure out where this stuff is coming from through the parts it's made of. When we find out where, perhaps we can try asking Blanc and the others to deal with the source." Katsuo then looks at the case and notices a familiar crest on the top: A silver emblem with four gears with a flamberge and carbine overlapping as they connect southwest and southeast respectively "Where have I-? Wait, this is Miyo's signature crest! Why is she…? She does have a record of helping criminal organizations. When I see her, I am going to demand an explanation for this! If she's intentionally helping these damn criminals, I am going to tell Karen to lock her up in prison."

Katsuo opens the case to find a plethora of weapons with it primarily being guns with a few swords and a bow per his request. He looks through them all and takes a fancy toward a well made sword with a tiffany blue colored blade and a guard with a great deal of extravagance and a small statue face emblem. One of the few problems is that the handle is rather small so while it's meant to be a two-handed sword, he'll have to wield it as a one-hander; so he'll need to train with Kazuto since he has experience with such things. He inspects the bow and notices it appears to be made out of a material similar to ebony and enhanced with a great number of mechanical additions; a high-tech scope is the most visible among them. After personally inspecting each weapon, he puts the pouch of credits back on the table.

"There you go. Half a million credits for the weapons."

"Pleasure doing business."

"Same." Katsuo returns with a firm frown as he gets up but stops once he does so, looking toward the five girls that sat around him "Finish your business here and I'll atleast see you to safety."

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [7:30] April 9th 21XX

Location: [Arcadia Basilicom]

After ensuring the group of girls made it to a safe distance from the criminal underworld, who he soon found went by Broccoli, CyberConnect2 (who preferred going by Cybercon or CC2), MAGES., MarvelousAQL (who preferred Marvelous or Marvy), Tekken, and what truly threw him off guard was that the last girl addressed herself as Falcom since he knows her from his adventures against ASIC and this isn't her, however he figures that she must be some parallel duplicate since he has encountered several people from other worlds before, he prepared to leave the area to go to the Basilicom. Though he hid a small chuckle hearing that the girls' names were identical to old game companies and series from his world.

When this was done, he puts the weapon case in his inventory and takes out a special case which quickly unfolds into a high-tech motorcycle, the top half being colored silver with a faint blue to the bottom half. When he starts it up, a transparent energy shield is projected over the exposed top which was designed as a safety feature in the event of crashes and a helmet materializes immediately afterward. When he makes it to the Basilicom after traversing half the town, he gets off his motorcycle, packs it up and enters the massive building, noticing that aside from a single desk full of paperwork, the building is utterly empty aside from Karen, Miyo, and Izumi since they're the only ones who stay here for long periods of time. However, there is little inactivity within the tower since Miyo constructed dozens of small robots to handle maintaining the building since there are no other employees to do such things, powered through electronic panels embedded in the lower end of the walls and the power comes from an underground hydropower generator carefully designed to ensure a perpetual supply of power, since none of them can handle it since they are busy enough with the the daily paperwork and their own duties: Miyo teaches weekly classes about using the technology to the citizens in a local community center. Izumi has been helping at a free clinic when it was established a week after Arcadia's formation though she is only able to truly go and help twice a week; while Izumi is one of the lead healers, she doesn't work on her own since a number of other healers arrived through Garrus' and Wrex's pilgrimages and work there full-time. And Karen vanishes a few times a week with her never telling anyone where she goes, which does inconvenience both Miyo and Izumi since she is the goddess of this nation and that's not including occasion when others wished to talk with her but were unable to since she was gone.

When Katsuo reaches the main desk, a teleporter pad activates as it rapidly rises and falls, with Miyo soon exiting when her presence fully materialized.

"Good to see you Katsuo."

"Where's Karen?" Katsuo snarls rather irritably, knowing that he has a bone to pick with Miyo regardless.

"She went out an hour ago, so I'm here by myself since Izumi had to head to the clinic. Told me not to expect her for the rest of the day. She deactivated her gauntlet's computer systems like usual so you can't track her that way. Do you need to pass a message to her? I can leave a note for you."

"Not needed. It involves you."

"Me? Is there something you need?"

"Yeah. Explain this to me Miyo!" Katsuo exclaims as he pulls the case out of his inventory and shows it to Miyo.

Miyo inspects the case to see what Katsuo is so angry about and recognizes the design "My hammerspace vault invention? Is it broken? I can take a look at it. Er, wait, how did you get one? I don't give those out freely considering how seldom I get to make them."

"That's not the issue here! Considering that I was able to easily acquire this from a criminal black market ring, you must be in cahoots with them; creating all the chaos in the city! I should have suspected considering your history with ASIC."

After Katsuo finished venting this, Miyo simply crossed her arms and glared at him with a tranquil fury when he basically accused her of willingly supporting criminals simply because of her history with ASIC.

"Okay listen Katsuo. Don't even get started with me. You haven't been stranded in this world for eleven years. I was six years old when I found myself here. You had the luxury of having friends with you to soften the blow of separation from your world. I didn't. Although I had Izumi traveling with me for a long time, I have spent an extremely long time traveling all by myself trying to do what Thraaklon had done for so long. It was a responsibility I felt I had to fulfill when he was gone. And don't you damn forget that I had to survive for years on my own! Spark, Driin, Filia, the CPUs...know that I had a lot of trouble trusting people growing up. While I was close to them, I didn't trust them enough to keep me safe at the time. If you want to hate me for everything I did to survive, go ahead. Do I hate past decisions I've made? Yeah I do. Do I regret them? You have no idea. But I swore a long time ago that I would never let those decisions hold me back. Back when I began working with ASIC, trying to find honest work was near impossible and we needed money to keep ourselves alive, so Izumi and I created monikers with clothes made here in Gamindustri hiding our appearance. Remember that despite what you saw of their leaders, a lot of good people were in similar situations like me and joined ASIC since they needed work of some type to pay for food, water, shelter; the like. Though it hardly matters since they're all dead."

"Look Miyo. This speech doesn't explain why this tech is in the hands of criminals!"

"Do you think food magically appears on our tables Katsuo? It's not cheap having food brought here from our food plants or from overseas. We have no money flowing in so I sell what inventions I can make with what little time I have available. I sell them to who is willing to pay for them. And I made a deal with a contact who would pay a lot of money for my inventions. That contact likely being the person you're talking about. For all its worth, he was very professional and upfront with his deals."

After this, Katsuo quickly got fed up hearing anything more from Miyo and angrily walked out of the building

"Wonderful. I was in a relatively good mood and he had to go and ruin it." Miyo groans as she walks toward the desk and inspects the huge stack of paperwork on it "Alright, considering the deadlines we made, all of the paperwork we're accepting today are here. Time to lock the place up. Thankfully, I did upload the clearance codes to the security system to their gauntlets so they can open the doors when they finish their business in town."

When Miyo walks toward the massive doors to lock them, they are unexpectedly opened by a pair that she never expected to see ever again when ASIC was defeated.

"Linda? Pirachu? How? Wait, how in the world did you even find this continent?! Bae'lin hasn't managed to alter the magical barriers yet!"

"Erm...good to see you again Miyo. And to answer your question; Kei Jinguji got me here with a prototype magic negator since she figured that only magic on a massive scale could hide a whole continent. It created a temporary gap in the barrier though it only works for a few minutes at a time. I actually came here for a reason though."

"And what would that be? You're a long way from the mainland you know. And remember that your actions toward me and my friends were far from friendly."

"I know alright. But...remember that I was living on the streets before ASIC brought me into their ranks. And I know that Pirachu and I have done rather...unsettling things, but we want to start over from square one. No crime, no law breaking, none of that this time. None of the Oracles really trust either of us so we had little option here."

"That's right chump. After CFW Magic tried killing us in Gapain Field, we fled to an abandoned safe house north of Haneda City and contemplated our lives. We want to live honestly this time chump."

"Hrm; thing is Linda, Pirachu; we technically don't have the resources to keep staff. Izumi and I work here with the knowledge we won't be getting payed here. We lack the infrastructure of a proper government here."

"I have no problem with not getting paid. I'll be content having honest work for once."

"Well, okay then. Let me lock up the place and we can get to the paperwork."

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:00] April 9th 21XX

Location: [Arcadia Undercity - Hideout]

After storming out of the Basilicom, Katsuo returned to his group's hideout built within the mountains in Arcadia's northern border. While it was designed extensively for strategic purposes as a fortified position in case of attack with the door being made of a material similar to titanium, it does have a number of creature comforts since people live in the fortress full-time and Ophelia has been constantly upgrading both the residential areas and the tunnel network to help in their future operations since they'll need a haven to hide in if things go awry and passageways their group could easily escape through. When he enters the subterranean hideout, he finds only Mamoru in the main living room, sharpening Kazuto's swords with a whetstone.

"Huh. I didn't know you left Katsuo. Where have you been?"

"Shopping. I needed to get things we needed for our upcoming assaults." Katsuo grimly responds, taking his case and puts it on a nearby table with Mamoru leaving his whetstone and Kazuto's swords on a small side table. He then walks toward the case and inspects the contents.

"Weapons? While I can understand the desire to outfit our team with weapons, some of these appear specifically picked for us. Where did you get these anyway?"

"I can't tell you Mamoru. Just know that my goal is the same as ours: Keeping this land safe."

"Look Katsuo, I respect your commitment in this, but remember that power can consume even the purest of souls. It's obvious from the enchantments that these weapons were designed with the intention of murder and if you aren't careful; it'll devour you without you even knowing. Trust me."

"I-I don't get it. What are you talking about?"

"Floor 99 of Aincrad. I was saved by Kayaba with the knowledge I'd have to fight whoever would confront me then. Kayaba encoded a series of codes in my character data when he saved me in that first month which made me like him in a degree. While I could lose HP like anyone else, I would become an immortal object if my HP was close to yellow."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned it once. You wanted to protect Haruka right?"

"Yeah. At the time, she had just lost her foster parents and I was so damn close to dying; any family she had would've been gone. I didn't want her going through hell. So I accepted Kayaba's offer to stay alive."

"Not to offend, but could you get to the point? I'm not in the mood for stories."

"You have no idea how close I was to becoming corrupt with power back then. It took all of the willpower I had not to kill you guys. Realize that if XANA hadn't shown up in Aincrad and if I didn't go with Kazuto to that hidden dungeon underneath the Black Iron Prison when the ALF discovered it per chance, you guys would've been forced to kill me to progress. And considering how strong I was and the weapons I had access to, I may have managed to kill you guys."

"Hidden dungeon? What did you find down there that saved your life?"

"A GM console. When Hector and Amelia were hired by Argus to help oversee security for the game's launch, Kayaba gave them high-clearance access so they could do their job as counter-hackers. I suspected that I would've only had one chance to use that account before Kayaba caught on and locked me out, so I kept it to myself until I truly needed it. And I used that access to force the door to floor 100 open. But to make this story short; keep power at hand yet at shoulder length."

"Duly noted. But I'm not really in the mood for mind games right now. Not when innocent people are being involved in danger."

"Hmm...very well then. Just take my warning at heart."

"Where is everyone else by the way?"

"They're still asleep. I'll wake them up in a half hour and we'll depart in an hour to begin our campaign to secure order."

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [9:00] April 9th 21XX

Location: [Arcadia - Tenn's Sanctuary]

After Katsuo made sure they were brought to a safe distance from the criminal underworld, MAGES. and the others went to their haven where their contact: Lady Tenn has set up shop and before they departed, she created a special barrier with her science magic to protect their main base of operations from outside influences. When they make it to the elaborate barrier, MAGES. rises her staff to dispel the barrier and beckons her comrades to follow inside their private sanctuary and restores it once they all made it inside. When they reach the farthest depths of their haven, a lone individual is sitting in lotus style, wearing a suit of armor colored gray with a barbute helmet with a visor entirely blocking her face from outside eyes. There are white circles with black interiors on the two pauldrons and one colored white and gray on the chestplate. Aside from the oversized chestplate and pauldrons, the rest of the armor was clearly designed to house an individual with a very slim build.

"Lady Tenn, we have returned from our assignment. We bear new weapons of advanced design as per your request." MAGES. says with her perpetually calm tone as she and the others present their new armaments to their patron.

"Excellent. Were you followed?"

"No. Cybercon and I surveyed the entire area before MAGES. dispelled and restored the barrier here. We could tell no one was within a four block radius of this place."

"Good-" The individual known simply as 'Lady Tenn' would've continued speaking but was interrupted by Falcom speaking up yet again.

"But we did meet a rather interesting individual on our way there. Our mission seems to coincide."

"Damn it Falcom; I specifically told you all not to associate yourselves with any of the criminals lurking in this city! But what you claim is intriguing. Who is this person whose mission coincides with ours?" Tenn is obviously rather peeved that Falcom and the others made extended contact with individuals associating themselves with the criminal underworld but is intrigued nonetheless hearing that someone else desires peace as well.

"He called himself Katsuo. Guy had a bit of a temper but he seemed extremely committed toward peace here. We didn't get to see much of his appearance but it seemed like he has brown hair and green eyes." Cybercon quickly jumped in to protect Falcom from Tenn's sudden spout of anger in case she went physical. Even though they've barely known each other more than a week and a half, Cybercon and Marvy have established themselves as parental figures to the group.

"Katsuo? That's one of Karen's friends. So if he's campaigning for order in this nation, those others...what were their names? Ah, right. Mamoru, Kazuto, Haruka, Ophelia, Yuuki, Miyo, and Izumi must be helping in some way. Hmm, if those guys are fighting for peace, perhaps I should inquire into forming an alliance with them. But I will wait on doing so. I need to see if they can handle fighting criminals. Perhaps...when they take down a gang, I'll officially extend an offer of an alliance. Though, for the time being I should be directing Marvy and the others to begin combat operations themselves. We need to prove ourselves so we can bolster our ranks. These five are not enough for large scale battle, but if they can prove themselves in battle, that'll inspire others to join us and give us more combat power." Tenn mutters this as she stares at her orange and white gauntlets which she mounted on the wall when she selected this place as her hideout, though the weapon itself make her think of days past "Damn it Tybalt. When you told me that the spell you helped me make would erase me from the annals of history and memory, I had presumed that my existence would be erased along with it since it's rather expected. But you hide the fact that it would simply force us both into the dimensional abyss? Which I had an innate protection from because of ASIC's spell having an adverse effect? Although I still have my life, I can't exactly reunite with those who care for me. Not when they saw me die. Or...not? Gah, I hate this. Damn those anti-crystals keeping my friends from helping me destroy Arfoire, damn ASIC for reviving her, and goddess damn Arfoire for forcing me to commit such dangerous magic and being the source of all these problems to begin with! And that's not forgetting that she and her followers killed Eris, Corrine, Manila, and all of our people over the years! Gah...this train of thought is pissing me off. It's irritating that I can't access my HDD because of the exposure to the anti-crystals mixed with the spell I used. It destroyed my ability to utilize Hard Drive Divinity through any methods I know of. Aside from my time in the dimensional void outright freezing my ability to age, I'm just an ordinary human. But I know that the longer I put off reintroducing myself to Caelus and Karen, the more painful it'll be to me."

"Er...Lady Tenn? You've been staring out into space for a while now. Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing MarvelousAQL. Look, I need to depart to meet an acquaintance of mine here in the city. I want you five to begin fighting the criminal gangs in the criminal underworld. But stay together and ensure this sanctuary remains hidden to all outside eyes." Tenn states rather solemnly as she gets up from her stance and flexes her arms as best she can since she's still wearing her armor which was not designed with precise mobility in mind.

---

After doing this, she calmly walks out of the building and walks around the city to try reaching the giant building that functions as the nation's Basilicom. She ventures through many of the city's streets though many peering eyes are staring in her direction because of her armor though she ignores the stares since she doesn't give a damn what others think of her. Mild misfortune befell her when she walked across a side-street to use as a shortcut to the Basilicom since she happened across a gang of criminals that appeared to be operating in this specific territory. Her quick observation showed that fifteen members were in this gang and were all equipped in falcon themed armor that hid their appearance underneath it.

"You have a lot of guts stepping in Talon territory stranger."

"Get out of my way if you want to live."

"You'll regret saying that to us missy. Get her boys!"

They rapidly draw their swords and charge toward Tenn, with her simply sighing in irritation at their utter stupidity and extends her arm as a staff materializes in her hand. Although the helmet blocks all facial expressions and since the staff holds new form, she is smiling seeing her ancient weapon reappear in her life even though she was far more proficient with her gauntlets. The black and coral colors of the weapon and the wing pattern at the top of the spear are the significant differences of her staff: Trinity. The coral colored gemstone at the heart of the staff was one of the few things that remained the same. All she had to simply wave her staff left to right to execute her first spell to keep the gang members paralyzed in a single location and make them easy pickings for her magic capabilities.

"N-No please! Spare us! We have families to feed!" The gang leader pleaded in pure horror as he sees his comrades paralyzed and ripe to be killed.

"You should have considered that before you jumped me. If you wanted to keep your families fed and safe; you should've took up honest work. But you never have more than one chance at life and you screwed that up big time." Tenn bluntly retorts as she slams the bottom end of her staff toward the ground as the gemstone glowed a crimson red and a magic circle appeared underneath the criminals "Prepare to face justice's wrath. Oh mighty conflagration of purifying flame; neutralize these interlopers who disrupt the balance of society and erase their existence! Distortion Flame!"

After this incantation was chanted, flames began pouring out of the magic circle and it began burning the gang members to death as they shout in utter agony pleading for any kind of mercy that would never arrive. While she knows her methods are rather extreme, she knows that coddling criminals would only encourage more criminals. Even though she hardly wishes it to happen frequently, Tenn knows that a hard line must be established to deter criminals from doing these acts.

"What a damn waste of human lives. But atleast there's one less gang to worry about."

Almost immediately after the spell ended its course and the captive members are no longer even visible in any way, Tenn's stomach began rumbling very heavily and she falls to her knees gripping her stomach. She's just thankful that her armor blocks all sense of smell as the cinders have a very unpleasant smell as blood from the gang members have been mixed in with it.

"Ah damn it. I forgot that using magic makes me extremely hungry to where I'm nearly paralyzed. Screw going to the Basilicom, I need a good meal." Tenn groans as she picks herself up and limps in a random direction away from this unexpected battlefield, though she cleans up the damage and smell her fire magic caused before she departs to make it look pristine like it was before.

---

She walks about town with a slow limp because of her fatigue mixed with hunger and happens across a well-guarded section of town after a half hour of walking about. Amidst the heavy security of this section of the city, she quickly encounters what appears to be a very fancy restaurant called Celestia, making her chuckle inaudibly seeing that apparently the inhabitants of Gamindustri still remember the holy land where the True Goddess once lived. She figures it's either this or a rather far-fetched coincidence.

"Wow. This place looks high-tech. I hope that I have enough money to pay for a meal at this place. My stomach won't let me get anywhere else." Tenn groans as she pushes herself to get through the door to the building and is quickly greeted by a waitress with mid-length orange hair and green eyes but the most noticeable quirk in her appearance is her mechanical right arm; though she is wearing a rather generic black and white maid uniform since it's part of her job uniform at the restaurant.

"Welcome home err...Master or Mistress?" Although she still had challenge adjusting to such formal and peppy speech patterns since she's rather solemn, she still is trying her best, though she obviously was confused at Tenn's gender since she was wearing her armor.

"Hang on...Karen? Why is Arcadia's CPU working here in a...maid cafe?! I don't exactly know how CPUs act in this day and age but their work should be in their Basilicoms, not some...food establishment!" Tenn asks herself out of extreme surprise seeing Karen working at a restaurant instead of the Basilicom. After thinking this in her mind, she presses a button on her helmet which opened the mouthguard which would allow her to eat while wearing her armor which is to hide her identity "I'm female. I can understand your confusion with this armor on though."

"Wait...that voice...it can't be-!"

"Ah okay then. But I do need to ask that you take off the armor in this place however. Common courtesy and all that."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I suffered a number of industrial accidents and I'd prefer to hide them."

"Hmm. I question your desire to eat here if what you say is true, but I'm not one to drive away paying customers...You can pay right?"

"Yeah, I can pay. Lead the way Karen Koizumi."

"Will do." Karen responded with a business smile and begins walking to an open table with Tenn but stops immediately at the mention of her name and is staring forward out of mild paralysis "H-How do you know my name?" Karen asks in mild horror at the thought of someone knowing who she is since has been hiding the fact she has been working at the restaurant from her friends.

While her boss at the restaurant: Chian knows her true name and identity, she helped Karen make a fake moniker: Haruhi Kaibara, since Karen wanted to hide the fact she was working there and none of the customers should've known her name. In fact, Chian is one of Miyo's contacts she has met over the years and relayed that Karen had been working with Miyo for a good while now. While Chian owns the restaurant and is her primary job, her employees from her old factory: Passe followed Chian to the new nation and established a new factory with the same name in the same building as the restaurant but in a different wing.

"Let's just say, I helped you fight against ASIC last year." Tenn whispers with a grin as she walks past Karen to an open table.

"You...Impossible! I would've remembered if you helped me!"

"Karen, she's telling the truth. I...I can't believe it, but it's truly her! It's Uzume."

"Uzume? The girl you were talking about? But didn't you say that she was dead or something?"

"That's...what I thought, but I...I don't know what to make of this."

After this exchange of dialogue between Karen and Caelus, she walks Tenn to an open seat and as soon as she is seated, a floor panel opens and a table with a pure chrome silver color immediately rises which was made by Chian and her workers as they worked as engineers in Lastation but wanted to live a new life elsewhere and she figured that what better place to start a new life than a brand new nation with limitless possibilities.

"So, what can I get you?" Karen inquires as she passes the device used to place orders in the restaurant.

Tenn looks among the list of what's available to order and ultimately goes with some Blanc Manju and Horsebird Sashimi and since the delivery of food is done via technology, that leaves Karen time to do other parts of her job which amounts to either greeting customers when they come or tending to those that are currently in the restaurant like the other employees. And she has decided to 'tend' to Tenn since she wants answers on the things she has heard from her.

"So you claim that you fought alongside me and the others against ASIC; yet I have no memory of you in the slightest. But... now that I think of it, there are a few discrepancies in my memory during the later stages of our involvement in that conflict. I can't truly remember how we defeated ASIC's leader and how I won some battles in Leanbox. All I know was that I knew they were defeated."

"What you say is true. Your memories were slightly modified because of a spell I used to ensure Arfoire's destruction when the tides had turned against us when she employed Anti-Crystals to prevent access to our Hard Drive Divinity in the Gamindustri Graveyard, which was our only means to fight her. As a result of the spell, my presence in everyone's memories was erased, though the way it was made prevented those with deep memories of me from being affected, so it's not surprising you don't remember me. But don't worry, the only memories affected are of my own involvement, everything else is how you remember."

"Deep memories...so that explains why you can remember her Caelus. I think I overheard you say that you created her or something once while I was busy with other affairs. You mutter a lot when you think I'm not paying attention. I even hear you talk while I'm sleeping sometimes."

"I...I er…S-Shut up."

"Nice comeback 'Sensei'. You make yourself seem wise beyond your years with your usual temperament, but in all actuality: you're little more than a little girl."

"Now you really are trying to piss me off! I save your damn life and you act like this to your savior?! You would be dead if it weren't for me!"

"If you were more composed, I wouldn't tease you this much. It's the fact that they get to you this much that compels me to do it."

"Okay, I don't know what exactly you're talking about, but I am a paying customer here, so mind shelving it for now?"

"You know I'm talking to Caelus?" Karen quietly inquires since Tenn seems to know that she's talking to her.

"Painfully obvious since I know the circumstances at hand. If you talk with someone and suddenly go quiet, it can only mean you're talking with Caelus."

Immediately after, one of Karen's coworkers: Celina Netzen glomps her while her back was turned attending to Tenn. Surprisingly, all Karen did was nonchalantly sigh even though the girl's figure was near identical to Vert's, suggesting that she has grown a little accustomed to it.

"Dammit Celina. I have told you repeatedly not to glomp me when I'm working. I don't care if you've only been in this world a month, our society does not encourage this kind of behavior." Karen groans as she pushes Celina off and looks toward the young adult curly redheaded, blue eyed kemonomimi wearing a different kind of uniform than what Karen is wearing. While Karen's wearing a classic black and white maid uniform, Celina's uniform is colored red with white and gold trims and wearing striped yellow leg stockings. What truly distinguishes her from most is her cat ears on the top of her chestnut colored hair and her pure red tail sticking out of her lower back.

"Oh come on. This is how we greet people in my world."

"Like I said, this is not your world. So get off me. I did you a favor and asked the boss to hire you even though you barely know left from right in this world. So show appreciation for such a thing by not assaulting her."

After this was said, Celina backed up and looked in Tenn's direction "So who's this?"

"My customer, duh. Now get back to work!"

"Eeek!" Celina squeals as she is told off by Karen and runs off to do her own work.

"Harsh, but atleast now I can get some food. I am starving. Using magic murders my appetite faster than anything I know." Tenn said this while doing her best to avoid groaning out of hunger and as soon as her ordered food got to the table, she began digging in while also presenting class since this is a high-class restaurant "You know, the food here is a lot cheaper than I expected. Considering that this is is supposedly a high-class place, I expected outrageous prices here." Tenn continues in-between bites of her food.

"They're rather temporary. The economic situation here is rather unstable since not a lot of money is flowing through the nation right now. But the situation will improve over time, I just know it."

Despite Karen's desire to talk to pass time, Tenn had little interest in further conversation since her stomach was rumbling like a starved animal and after she paid the bill with a large tip, she walked to the door and closed her helmet's mouthguard as she departed. When Karen walked toward Tenn for a standard business farewell, Tenn walked to stand right next to her for a more private conversation.

"It'll take a while since I'm busy with my work in the city, but I'll find a way to contact you. You handle running the government side and this...job; and I'll do my best to squash crime. Consider this a promise between sisters."

When Tenn departed the restaurant with a content stomach, Karen went back to work which largely consisted of her talking with her co-workers since there were never many customers to eat there.

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [12:00] May 15th 21XX

Location: [Keisa - Bae'lin's Residence]

When Karen learned that Miyo gave Linda and Pirachu work at the Basilicom, she was not the most amused about letting her former enemies have high-ranking work among her government but she knew that it was very challenging with just her, Miyo, and Izumi around, especially since all three had to leave a couple times a week for other business. But to her extreme surprise, Linda and Pirachu have proven themselves as extremely dedicated workers and loyal to where they can be trusted on their own, though Miyo and or Izumi are always around as both a precautionary safeguard and because the workload is near impossible for two people alone and very challenging for three people. Since Karen knows that both Miyo and Izumi didn't have to work in town and could focus on paperwork this current day; she left the Basilicom to visit Bae'lin for the first time since she helped Karen, Izumi, and Leonard form Arcadia back in December. She decided to take her specially made hoverbike along the normally invisible isthmus to the small island where Keisa's family lives. When she makes it on the island. since Bae'lin took blood from nearly everyone from Karen's group with the understanding that any of them could deny the offer though only Karen's inner circle who helped fight ASIC went through with it so they could visit this closed off sanctuary with the condition that they not alter their home in any way, Karen parked her bike in a small alcove near their residence.

When Karen entered the rustic cabin house, she finds that Bae'lin had finished brewing a brand of tea called Emulloine and brings it to the main dining table in the den

"I have to say Karen, it is good to see you. I haven't seen any of you come this way since we first met months ago."

"Indeed. I wish I could've come sooner, but I've been busy with running Arcadia with Miyo, Izumi, Linda, and Pirachu helping as best they can even though we all have so little experience handling governmental affairs. The only thing we're really capable of is paperwork which means we can't exactly handle anything like tax or anything to truly help my nation. As much as I want to do something since I'm this nation's goddess, I'm good for nothing."

"Don't worry about that Karen. This nation has only existed for five months now and you have a lot of people supporting you to the best of their ability. If it's any condolence, I very much know how difficult running civilization is. Back in our world, my little brother and I both worked as tribe leaders and every one of our decisions laid heavily on us. We built those tribes up from nothing and had to support them with our very being."

"Hmm, I see; wait...you said little brother right now and yet before, both you and Spark addressed yourself as the younger sibling. I'm confused."*

"It's a bit of a peculiarity with our own civilization. Allow me to explain. In our world: Xialara, custom dictates that twins are not classified as either older or younger. Spark and I are twins, even though he's technically older by a few seconds, and while the age difference does not matter whatsoever in our world, Spark is still my elder brother though I tend to look both ways out of habit. He was the same way in fact. Trying to phase out generations of tradition is not exactly easy."

"Oh I see. Looks like every race has their own special quirks." Karen says with a thoughtful nod as she looks at the ebony black color of the Emulloine tea and drinks some of it before shuddering at the taste which can't even be defined as very sour as that is giving it false praise "Urk...I hate to offend Miss Bae'lin but um…I don't think this is something my people can tolerate."

"Oh right. I haven't casted my family spell on this. Please wait a moment."

After Bae'lin realized she forgot to use the spell to alter the taste of the tea for her guest, her right hand glows silver symbolizing her style of magic and stretches her arm over the tea as it briefly glows a sparkly silver color before regaining the natural black color

"There you go. Now it should be fine to drink."

When Bae'lin said that the tea was safe, Karen cautiously took a sip because of what happened mere moments ago and was surprised with the now delicious taste of what made her tongue feel like it was close to death.

"Mmm...it tastes like a finely brewed Darjeeling tea now." Karen mutters in bliss as she gently presses her left hand against her cheek as her mind begins flashing back to Earth since this was one of her favorite beverages but quickly regains a degree of reality in her expression "I have to ask, is there a way we could possibly mass-produce this kind of magic? It would be very useful for species that can't eat anything this world makes; like Garrus for instance."

"I don't really know what to tell you Karen. Thraaklon commissioned this spell's creation a very long time ago and it's been kept within my family for a long time. But what I can tell you is that many of the spells we use depend on a degree of blood." Bae'lin stopped momentarily since she noticed Karen freaking out a great deal when it was mentioned that many of their spells are blood oriented "Let me explain; I was just as terrified as you when I learned of this, but we don't actively take blood from people. We do take small blood samples but we actively use magic to exponentially increase what we have access to without taking it from their original recipients."

"Then...how did you use my blood to alter the taste when you don't have it here?"

"Magical archive retrieval. We have access to a miniature pocket dimension we house our blood samples in. My husband taught me how to use magic to resonate with this pocket dimension and we use it to use such useful magic like food alteration."

"Oh, I see now. That's very useful to have."

"Indeed. As to your question about 'mass-producing' the food alteration spell, it'd be a very difficult challenge to alter its evocation, and we're busy enough trying to alter the barrier that was cast all over Keisa by our ancestors; though why they hid the entire continent when we've lived on this small island only, I will never understand their thinking."

"Well what about water? From what I know, blood is primarily water."

"Erm...that probably won't work Karen. Water is a little too universal and doesn't take the distinctiveness of other species well. Besides, I studied blood samples belonging to my husband, myself, you, Miyo, Izumi, Garrus, Wrex, and Filia; they all have rather unique strands of genetic data in their blood which we use to use this spell. But I truly want to believe that there is a common link that ties every individual race since we all seem to be humanoid in nature. It's why I want to study as many differing blood samples as I can and see if there any similarities between them and use that as a focus."

"Wait, I just remembered that Miyo was able to make this arm record magic and apply it continuously. The spell embedded within this robotic arm is a barrier since I had been bleeding a great deal at the time and it helped save my life. While I don't know if my body has covered the wound naturally, I don't want to test it considering what I saw happen that day. Erm, I'm getting off-topic, but perhaps we could try combining your family's magic with her technology and come up with an answer. If we can't exactly work with the preparation half, maybe we can work with the immediate effect?"

"That...might be possible. I'll look into it when I have the time, but I can't guarantee it'll succeed. Creating magic is very difficult to perform since there are so many angles to consider and modifying magic spells is even more troublesome since the smallest of mistakes could distort the intended effect. If it's possible though, we'll find a way."

"I pray you all do find a way considering all the species that could end up trapped here. I do wish I could stay longer Bae'lin, but this was going to be a very short visit; I need to return to the Basilicom and get back to work."

"Actually wait Karen, I have something I have to give you. It's an ancient relic I found just last night." Bae'lin says in a mild panic as she quickly rises from the table she was sitting at and went to a side-room.

She returns a minute later with a massive book twice the size of her head and gently puts on the table, but even that gentle press to the table sent up a small tornado of dust which makes both women cough and cover their faces until the dust settles

"What in the world is this Bae'lin?" Karen asks once the dust settles and the air is restored to a breathable state.

"This is an ancient tome given to our family's progenitor by an ancient CPU before the nation was destroyed by a very bloody coup d'etat according to the story written in this book after the fact."

"Hold the phone. I do not recognize the name of this CPU in any way. But this nation: Tari. Where have I…? Wait, I remember now! Tari was destroyed over two thousand years before I was born! I had heard very vague fairy tales of Tari from my childhood, but I thought I was the second Console Patron Unit to ever exist. Looks like I was wrong."

"Over two millennia!? Wow...looks like Gamindustri's history is very storied. But I thought it was said that Thraaklon was the first dimensional traveler. Yet this mysterious shaman came over two thousand years before you? Or did Thraaklon come before the shaman and is from an ageless species? Ugh, my head hurts."

"Who knows. Gamindustri underwent a dark age after the destruction of Tari which lasted several centuries and it was presumed that nearly all records were destroyed alongside Tari. What little remained were fractured oral legends. It is entirely possible that Thraaklon could have arrived back when Tari had existed, and if that is the case; he had been alive far longer than I had anticipated."

"No kidding. If you're right, Thraaklon had been alive well over...who knows how long, trapped in Gamindustri. It must have been hell for him. Anyway, what exactly is in here Bae'lin?"

"I haven't had much of an opportunity to read this tome since I only recently found this thing, but it was written by what could very well be the first CPU ever born. I can only imagine what is written in this very book." Bae'lin says as she couldn't help but stare at the ancient tome written by a scholar from a very ancient age.

"Indeed, it's food for thought. But I truly must be going Bae'lin. A goddess' work is never done after all. Working day and night every day is tough enough as it is, even if I never get tired or hungry because of how I tend to stay in this goddess form all the time."

"Day and night? Goodness. I knew you were busy but you're neglecting your own basic needs for the job? Looks like this is as good a time as any."

"Good time? Good time for what?"

"I know first hand how challenging it is running a nation. Because of how she tended to slack off playing games, I was pretty much the sole ruler of Leanbox for a number of years and it was painful to deal with. According to what I heard, my successor is no better at getting the CPU to work which worries a little."

"Wait, you were Chika's predecessor as Leanbox's Oracle? I heard an unsavory rumor about something Chika's predecessor did." Karen inquires before realizing something a little more important about the subject "Erm, I'd actually appreciate having this answered first: What about your daughter?"

"No need to worry. She's officially beginning her shaman training today and will be preoccupied for the next couple of years. And it's not as if I'm leaving for Planeptune or something. If she wants to see me, I can just teleport to the shrine and spend an afternoon with her. However, loneliness shouldn't plague her much since my husband and my family will be with her to oversee her training. Her training frees up much of my time which I can commit to helping you. With that out of the way, I wish to ask: What did you mean by unsavory before?"

"I heard that the previous Oracle arranged for a very special training field to be built within the Basilicom and the creator died the very day it was completed."

"Oh that? Ahahaha. That's a misconception Vert, my husband, and I made up when we completed its construction. Vert feared that others would attempt to recreate the technology so the three of us came up with the story that only one individual had the know-how to make it and died of natural causes. My husband made the training field and we left for Keisa shortly after it was completed."

"Wow. That's...very cunning. Looks like Vert kept a varied circle of 'extradimensionals' in her court. Actually, did you know a person called Driin?"

"Driin? I do actually. He was the de-facto leader of the Leanbox SMD but he left almost immediately after forming the organization. I can remember his exact words 'I have no interest in staying with a militant force.' Ironic that he formed what could be called Gamindustri's strongest, yet most reclusive, military force and he wanted nothing to do with it. In fact, while Vert tended to hide the fact since people hardly knew of us 'extradimensionals' as you call it, she was actually the most accepting of us foreigners since Lowee's policies were a tad rigid even to her own citizens, Lastation has a strong independent streak with Black Heart's leadership, and Planeptune has a strange aversion for most of us. Maybe it's Neptune's attitude? I really don't know."

"Wow, so Filia's father formed the organization she worked with for a time. If I hadn't known her as long as I have, I would say familia favoritism would be a major factor, but she proved herself to deserve her position, albeit her mild ruthlessness. But we're getting too sidetracked. We need to return to the Basilicom."

"Go on ahead of me Karen. I need to leave my husband a note telling him I'll be working as your Oracle."

"Sure. See you at the Basilicom."

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:30] April 17th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia Basilicom]

Over the next year, Arcadia's population underwent a large explosion through native immigration from lands beyond the five nations and foreign visitors from other worlds because of Gamindustri's ability of 'abducting' people from other worlds; the former being because of how Bae'lin's family succeeded in altering the barrier over the continent which allowed anyone to move to the nation without Garrus and Wrex having to bring them in. Their freedom from their job as evangelists allowed them to join Filia and her SMD members in scouting the frontier beyond the mountain at the capital's border, marking locations to establish future villages and the locations of dungeons that have begun springing up in the region. Before, Filia's expeditionary team was told just to search for locations to establish villages, but with the formation of Arcadia's guild with Bae'lin's help as Karen's temporary oracle; they have begun surveying the dungeons and gathering materials to send back to the Basilicom per their contract with Arcadia's new Guild in exchange for monetary rewards.

However, despite the fact that Arcadia has only existed for less than two years, it remarkably holds forty percent of the world's shares with the emergence of the diverse games on the personal computers which is commonplace in the nation in addition to the advanced technology which is slowly being produced by engineers who work in the city; Aqua Heart's recent actions within the city have been seen, with people knowing that she has reached her breaking point and is truly ticked off by what has been plaguing her people and is resolved to stop it no matter what, is living in a golden renaissance on the surface because that is the image Karen has constructed by visiting the most secure zones which are under heavy guard, the harsh fact is that crime has only escalated and even with the efforts from the teams belonging to Katsuo, Kazuto, Mamoru, and Tennouboshi, the number of gangs have exponentially increased and territory wars breaking out in all but a few areas of Arcadia has become commonplace and it has become bad enough that even Karen has left the Basilicom to take up combat against the gangs with her trusted sword: Benten and Miyo providing state of the art armor which was enchanted by Izumi and Bae'lin, which creates a thin transparent shield when she would engage in battle which would help protect her from hostile attacks to a degree. However, since Karen has left the Basilicom to fight, that has left Izumi, Linda, and Pirachu to struggle handling the increased paperwork since Bae'lin had to leave to help modify the magic involving food modification with Miyo helping prepare the technology that would accommodate said magic.

With Miyo, Bae'lin, and Karen out of the Basilicom, Izumi and Linda are the only ones doing any significant work in the building, with Pirachu bringing in the paperwork; with this having been going on for quite a while and while Linda has been working most of the day handling both her initially assigned portions and the extras after Karen left, she has still been taking effort to ensure she has plenty of sleep so she doesn't crash and burn though she has begun seeing signs of it happening to Izumi but presumes it's just her mind playing tricks on her until it crossed a rather thin line during one of their work shifts.

"Erm...hiya Linda." Izumi weakly pulls up her head from her worktable as she hears Linda enter the room.

"Are you okay Izumi? You look really pale. And this is coming from someone who has ash gray skin."

"I'm...fine. Let's just...focus on our work." Izumi says with a tone rather full of irritation though it lacks her usual energy. And what further signifies that is that when she got up to get her next batch of paperwork, she slumped down to her knees with a small blush on her face and faint breathing.

"Woah! Izumi!" Linda exclaims as she rushes to Izumi's side and puts her hand on Izumi's forehead "Goddess. She's burning up!" Linda continues as she lifts the sick girl in a fireman's carry and rapidly looks toward Pirachu, who had followed her inside to begin his own work for the day "Hold down the fort Pirachu; I need to get her to the clinic."

"I would hurry-chump. She looks like she'll keel over any second-chump."

"I know that!" Linda snarls as she rushes out of the room with Izumi's limp body and heads toward the converted underground garage which houses the vehicles which Chian gave Karen during her work at the restaurant.

---

Her mad dash through the Basilicom to reach the garage involved going through three teleport gates. The entire trek was choked full of Izumi's remarkably course breathing as Linda could only stare in horror as she ran since the girl is in rather bad shape. Unfortunately, events got quite worse when Linda finally made it to the garage as she finds that Karen's bike is the only one there and is unusable in a rather unique way

"Damn it, this bike is DNA-locked! And this is the only one here since I tend to stay here all the time, Miyo's gone, and Izumi's bike is at Passe being repaired. There has to be a way to get this scrap pile moving!" Linda snarls very irritably as she slams her left fist into the bike, with a mechanized voice immediately following her assault on the vehicle in her anger

"Forced system reboot recognized. Erasing all onboard data. Automated shield systems disabled."

"Wonderful. While I can get us there now since the security system is offline, but if we get attacked by any of those gangs out there, we won't have any shields to protect us."

"I can...handle it. Let me...project the shields."

"Not a chance Izumi. You're far too weak to use magic right now with your sickness. Just leave this to me."

After this was said, Linda placed Izumi in the bike's sidecar and revved up the bike as she proceeded to bring her to the clinic for treatment while also attempting to avoid gang territory but is quickly stopped by a wall of fire rising out of the ground

"Ah shit!" Linda shouts as she tries to brake by tilting the bike to the side and is quickly thrown out of it along with Izumi and the bike is immediately incinerated since the shielding system was disabled "Damn, Karen is going to kill me for destroying her ride." Linda despondently says to no one in particular as she glances around the area to see what caused the wall of fire to appear in the first place and is rewarded with forty armed gang members, whom appear to be working within an alliance considering the different emblems on their armors, walking out of nearby alleys and began to surround Linda and the ill Izumi "Oh no...not now! Not when I need to get Izumi to the clinic! She's depending on me!" Linda snarls as she glances in the direction of the unconscious Izumi after she was thrown from the bike and gravely frowns as she feels utterly helpless at the current moment.

Fortunately, salvation swiftly came in the form of a single individual wearing bright silver falcon themed armor with a familiar set of mechanical angelic wings which vanish as soon as the person landed and simply stares at the gang members as the individual draws a crimson red sword out of its sheath and grips it with both hands.

"Woah...thank the goddess. I thought I was done for, but now I'm safe. But that truly depends on her reaction of me destroying her ride."

"T-That's the Silver Demon!" The gang leader couldn't help but mildly freak out upon the individual arriving on the scene and taking up arms against them, though he quickly regains his composure and rallies his gang to fight.

The individual tilts her head looks toward Linda while keeping her sword toward the enemies in the area

"I don't know why you left the office, but you need to get out of here. Now. She needs your help."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me. Just go. This is my responsibility since I have been neglecting to do anything until recently."

"R-Right!" Linda quickly nodded in confirmation as she rushed toward Izumi to lift her on her shoulder and rushed in the direction closest to the clinic before momentarily stopping to see Karen engage in battle to help her and Izumi "I'll pay you back for the bike; I swear."

"Go!" Karen snarls very angrily as she lunges into battle to defeat this gang.

Linda lightly shivers at Karen's shown anger and dashes away from this battlefield, reluctantly leaving Karen on her own against the gang members to buy her time to get Izumi to the clinic for treatment.

---

After seeing Linda exit the area safely, Karen turned her gaze back to the gang members she is up against

"You guys have been pissing me off for a week now. Constantly changing your hideouts and throwing mooks at me to buy time. But that ends now. I'm going to ensure your destruction. I initially just planned on imprisoning you and make you go through rehabilitation, but you've gone and pissed me off; so that is no longer an option."

"We're not afraid of you! We outnumber you forty to one."

"Perhaps so. But I'm not alone here!"

Immediately after Karen said this, a girl with sea foam colored eyes and short spiked pale blonde hair, with a long ponytail addition and orange highlights on the lower end of her hair around her cheeks, calmly dashes out of one of the alleys the gang members had used, wielding a single sword in a reverse grip and swiftly slashes against the backs of three of the gang members and raises her head as she struck like a trained ninja

"As my noble mistress requested, I have brought myself from the darkest of shadows to strike against her most wicked of enemies who disrupt her ideals of peace. Let even the dark pits of oblivion deny solace for their pitiful souls."

"Thanks for the help Ein Al." Karen gratefully says as she slashes her sword upward to send the nearest gang members into the air, crashing into nearby building walls as they fall to the ground in pain.

While she is remarkably calm since she needs to maintain awareness in the battle, she can't help but feel a little flustered at Ein's wardrobe since her clothes are rather revealing; her dull red bikini with silver lining does very little to hide her bust and there is a dusty rose rabbit emblem keeping her bikini top tied to the gorget around her neck, though a small cyan diamond blocks most of the rabbit from sight. This style of wardrobe is something Karen has come to expect of Vert but even she kept a degree of modesty compared to this newcomer which says a lot in her eyes.

Soon after, a girl with navy blue eyes and long light brown hair kept in braided pigtails held by white orb ornaments with royal blue and gold accenting, wearing an asian style dress colored bright red dashed into the clearing and swiftly launched three roundhouse kicks which send their targets flying even faster than Karen's sword slash with Benten.

"Man, these guys are weaker than I thought. I thought these villainous gangs would be presenting more of a challenge to us, but if they're threatening our Lady, I will not give them any mercy." The girl mockingly declares as she rushes toward Karen in a back-to-back manner "Lady Aqua Heart, I need to give you a report."

"What happened Lee-Fi? When will we be expecting Resta, Estelle, Blossom, and Moru to arrive to help us rout the enemy here?"

"Unfortunately, the enemy somehow caught on to our expected rendezvous and they intercepted them in Sector 15. They're fine for now. We sent CC2 and Marvy to help fortify their position, but MAGES. told us that they'll need us if they're to survive. The enemy force has a lot of firepower. In fact, Ein-Al and I came to get you since we were with them for a short time. They're begging for your aid."

"Shit! These gangs are getting far too powerful. I should've squashed them when they were weak!" Karen quietly snarls as she sees that the enemy here has regained composure from the sneak attack "We need to fall back and get to the others. If Tennouboshi is found, we'll be in trouble; she's the one helping most of our efforts here."

"That's why we're here Lady Aqua Heart. We need your aid."

"Alright you two, fall back!" Karen shouts as she summons her wings and flies in the direction of Sector 15, which are temporary name designations since combat ops are becoming increasingly common throughout the city, where Uzume has been staying and leading her team initially consisting of: MAGES., MarvelousAQL, Broccoli, Falcom, CyberConnect2, and Tekken; with Blossom Aisen, Ein Al, Estelle, Lee-Fi, Moru, and Resta joining later on as Uzume's team won victories against the gangs and proved their strength. After Karen fled through her flight, she can see Ein Al and Lee-Fi running through the alleys toward Sector 15 where the others are pinned down in.

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:30] April 17th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia Undercity - Uzume's Sanctuary]

After a year of existing and operating to take down the gangs, Uzume's sanctuary has been discovered by the second largest gang coalition in Arcadia through the use of stolen versions of Kei's prototype magic negator and an all-out attack has been executed and everyone in Uzume's team, save Ein Al and Lee-Fi, has been pushed back within the building complex guarding the sole entrance against the immense number of gang members and the mecha they have brought to fight and Falcom fled within the complex at Cybercon's request to request help from their patron.

"Lady Tenn, we really need your help here! These gang members have us pinned to the wall!" Falcom exclaims as she dashed into Uzume's room, begging for help from their patron.

"I know." Uzume snarls as she is pouring magic into what appears to be four golems made of pure shiny mithril even though she's shaking a great deal out of exhaustion and sharply gripped her stomach as she falls to her knees and her helmet falls off in the process "Damn it...I need to...keep going." Uzume weakly mutters as she pick herself up and continues pouring magic into the golems and she doesn't even see that her helmet fell to the ground.

"Lady Tenn! You need to stop! There's no way you can handle using this much magic!" Falcom pleads as she sees Uzume use enough magic that would kill any normal magic user.

"Not...happening. I will fight...to the very end! Grrraaaah!" Uzume sternly retorts as she gathers all of her willpower and pours enough magic to activate the golems she brought into existence, with her heavily panting out of exhaustion but somehow manages to force herself up to give her first command to her golems "Golems! Obey the will of your master and defend this place! Defend the inhabitants who carry the residue of the Console Patron Units and drive out those who do not!" Uzume states this command to the golems, with her voice being very weak since she has expended all of the magic she had been gathering through her daily meditations over the course of eight months, and even that was insufficient since she had to tap into her own energy which would have severely wounded any regular magic user. However, because of how she was created by Caelus via a CPU memory, she wouldn't have to worry about potentially having her life end by overextending herself by using too much magic in such short bursts, but it leaves her wide open to attacks as she wouldn't have the strength to move a single muscle without greatly pushing herself.

The golems simply walk away with loud footsteps after hearing her command, each wielding a different weapon: claymore, sword and shield, spear and shield, and a katana as they proceed to the entrance to defeat the invading enemies. Uzume is just relieved that the exposure her team has accumulated by being around her passive magic will allow them to be spared from the golems' wrath. It was something she had been carefully planning ever since she began formulating the golems' creation since she doesn't want her allies being attacked by her armored automata, and magically made them not attack anyone that carries the aura held by either her or Lady Aqua Heart since CPUs passively emit a special energy which can be identified by people who have maintained close affiliation with CPUs.

"Woah...what are those things Lady Tenn?" Falcom inquires in shock as she sees the armored juggernauts walk past her.

"Golems. They are the perfect fighting machines: They are nigh indestructible, they don't age, and they don't need food, water, or sleep. The only con is that they are unable to go beyond a certain distance since they depend on my magic, but even that is a pro: They can guard this place day and night."

"Wow, incredible. Are you going to be okay though Lady Tenn?"

"I'll be...fine. I just need food and sleep. Don't worry about me Falcom; focus on keeping those bastards out of this place. If even one enemy gets to me, I'm as good as dead. I can't defend myself in my condition."

"Understood. Lee-Fi, Ein Al, and Aqua Heart are on their way here to reinforce us. If we can keep them at bay until they arrive, victory will surely be ours." Despite what she had said, Falcom appeared very unwilling to leave Uzume's side because of her extreme fatigue because of all the magic she had used animating those four golems.

"Go Falcom...the others need you." Uzume groans rather weakly as she limps toward her bed very slowly and takes off her armor piece by piece along the way as the various pieces litter her floor, revealing her wardrobe underneath it, with this being the first time anyone among Uzume's team has seen her not wearing her armor: a white jacket with a bright orange, black, and white tie and gray pleated shorts.

Falcom reluctantly nods and rushes toward the front entrance to aid the others but finds that the battle has already turned in favor of the defenders as the golems have already arrived on the battlefield and are wreaking havoc on the robotic mechs brought in by the gang members. And with the reinforcements that arrived in form of the golems, Resta was quickly able to utilize her healing magic without fear of getting attacked and Moru took advantage of the situation by propping her huge hammer over her shoulder as she charges through the ranks and slams it against the ground which sends a great number of enemies back through a powerful shockwave

"Now you're in trouble! Get ready to pay for everything you've done to us!"

With Moru now seen returning to the front, Blossom calmly walks with a very dignified disposition out of where she has been staying with her rapier in front of her chest and stares her enemies down with no hint of fear whatsoever "We have now regained control of this stage and I am eager to ensure that we keep it no matter what happens to us. That is my solemn pledge as an actor. Once our last three participants arrive, our enemies will have no choice but to bow out." Blossom calmly says as she swiftly slashes her rapier with unparalleled accuracy against her enemies. However, she was caught off-guard when an enemy slipped through her blind spot and would've struck a major blow if it weren't for Estelle deflecting the blow with her Dogoo shield and slashing with her sword

"Careful comrade. If it weren't for my legendary defensive skills, you would be in a bad situation right now."

"Quite. You have my gratitude Estelle."

---

Things quickly proceeded to go well for Uzume's team until four stone gray mechas jump down from the building tops and surround the whole group and one of the pilots grins as he faces down Moru and the others. Each one of the mechs towered over everyone at roughly 5'6, equipped with dual cannons which possess runes in the interiors resembling the enchantment done on the weapons sold by the black market in the undercity which means that its ammunition is automatically designed to be extremely lethal against human targets.

"This is the perfect time to field test the brand new X-34 Shredder mech. The anti-personnel enchantments we used to have on our weapons are now programmable for the weapons on this puppy and they're even stronger with this mech."

"Oh crap! The anti-organic enchantment is now electronic and on a stronger level?!" Falcom exclaims in pure, unbridled terror seeing armored mecha suits carrying weapons more deadly to unprotected civilians than ever before.

Fortunately, before the mecha had begun charging their weapons, a number of individuals appear in the area and unleash a barrage of attacks which collapses all but one of them. When the chaos calms down, the group reveal themselves to be Filia, Garrus, Wrex, and Karen.

"No way am I letting such dangerous weapons exist in this nation unless they are used by my goddess: Aqua Heart." Filia gravely states as she grips her sword with both of her hands as she strikes against the enemies in her way, showing that the blade is magically enchanted with pure fire which melted the legs and arms of the mech she attacked.

"Agreed. We return for a casual vacation for the first time in four months and we have to fight mechs that resemble tiny YMIRs? Glad I could come for the show." Garrus remarks with a laidback grin as he pulls out his Phaeston assault rifle and begins to open fire on the mechs brought to the fight.

Like his usual self, Wrex did not take a rather safe approach in taking down his target since while Filia and Garrus attacked the legs with their own specialized weaponry, Wrex attacked from the top of the mech through an air drop and made the mech collapse through brute impact, and Karen did something similar but only destroyed the glass cover on the top of the mech, threw out the pilot, and took control of the mech for her own personal use.

"Oooh yeah. This is awesome." Karen grins very amusedly as she crouched forward and gripped the dual control joysticks to operate the X-34 in battle.

"R-Retreat!"

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [13:00] April 17th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia Undercity - Uzume's Sanctuary]

Despite the call for all of the attackers to retreat, the chaos of the battlefield heavily deterred an organized retreat as over half of the force and all of their combat mecha fell in battle with minimal injuries to the defenders because of their strong cohesion and skill in battle. With the battle concluded, Karen jumped out of her mech which was walked over to where the golem wielding the claymore, with the blade pointing down, had decided to stay and the group had convened in front of the building.

"Thank you Lady Aqua Heart. I don't think we would've survived if you hadn't arrived when you did. But where is Lee-Fi and Ein Al? And who are these three?"

"Lee-Fi and Ein Al will come soon, they can't exactly get here as fast I can since I can fly. And to answer your question Falcom; everyone, meet Filia, Garrus, and Wrex. They helped me destroy ASIC two years ago and I consider them as close allies. They have been away for a long time now, but they have answered my summons and have returned to help me defeat these gangs. You see, I am no longer going to look the other way and let these criminals terrorize my city. Filia, Garrus, Wrex, are you with me?"

"Naturally. I wouldn't have left the SMD if I didn't place my trust in you. Besides, Miyo trusts you and you have impressed me as well."

"You can depend on me and Wrex helping you Aqua Heart; partly because of the fact that you hold our best chance of returning home. But the main reason why I'm so compelled to do this is because we turians are very regimented and are against chaos like this. Even a poor excuse of a turian like me wants to keep things orderly. And then there is the fact that the two of us consider you and the others as close friends." Over the course of all the years the pair spent in Gamindustri, Garrus has certainly become far more controlling when it comes to saying what he and Wrex would do; and Wrex simply lets it happen since he enjoys seeing the image of the rigid Turian ideology twisted into something similar to the ones belonging to the Krogan.

"Thanks guys, I knew I could count on you." Karen sincerely smiled when she heard that the trio would help her fight to defend her nation and she then looks toward Falcom and the others "Now that we have a common interest; we should combine our forces and strike against the gang's leader and scatter them to where they can be easily dispersed in future assaults with a proper police force. I presume that Lid has been sent to ascertain their hideouts?"

"Erm...Lady Aqua Heart, we don't have the strength to fight right now. We need time to recuperate from this grueling skirmish. Could we postpone the assault to tomorrow? In fact, we actually need to get Lady Tenn some food. She exerted a lot of strength energizing these golems to help protect us. And your assumption is correct. In fact, Lid was lucky to escape the battle; she was sent ten minutes before we got ambushed here. She should return by tonight with the location of their hideouts."

"Perfect. Very well then, we'll commence the assault tomorrow. I'll contact a friend of mine and ask her to bring food out here for Tenn. Garrus, Wrex, Filia, I want you three to get acquainted with Tenn's team since we'll be working with them to neutralize the gangs for good. They started out as fractured groups, but their nervousness has driven them to form two huge alliances, and that will be their undoing. Instead of random safehouses, only two places hold their chain of command."

"Perfect. We can work in tandem with Viperia's group and take them all down in one fell swoop. While we can't compare in terms of numbers since they have roughly eighty people in their ranks; we all have extensive combat experience which is our advantage. It reminds me of my people's stance on military. We used to focus on overwhelming numbers until the enemy would submit; but after the Genophage, we slowly converted from overwhelming numbers to maximal individual effectiveness. Each Krogan Battlemaster is a match for atleast ten soldiers of any other species. Even the Turians or Humans."

"I should go. Hold down the fort everyone." Karen says with a firm expression as she flies off in the direction of the restaurant she works at to ask Chian for food to be brought to Uzume since she's in rather bad shape.

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [12:00] April 17th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Central Clinic]

After Linda dashed off from the sudden battlefield with Izumi propped over her shoulder, she rushed to the clinic where Izumi works to get her heavy fever treated, though even she knew that her condition has likely only worsened because of everything that has transpired to get to this location. When she finally got there, she herself was heavily panting because of the great distance she has ran in addition to carrying Izumi

"I...I need a doctor, fast!"

It didn't take long for one of the nurses to rush to Izumi's side since she is one of the lead healers among the staff and well-liked among them "Is she okay?!"

"She passed out in the office doing some work. She has a huge fever."

After hearing this, she puts her hand on Izumi's forehead to check her temperature and is immediately forced to lift her hand "Youch! It feels like she's been kept in an oven for a day atleast!"

"Can you do anything for her?"

"We'll bring her to one of our beds and start treating her. Thankfully business has become quieter since Arcadia Central Hospital handles all of the serious situations now, so the worst we have to deal with are an occasional cut or gun wound. We'll make sure she gets better; she's our best healer and employee here after all. Aside from the occasional flirting she does, got no idea why she does it, she is easily one of the most well-loved healers here. We'll make sure she is brought back to top shape." The nurse had said this after taking Izumi from Linda's grasp and rushed to one of the rooms with Linda following out of concern for the girl's wellbeing "If you don't mind my asking, how did she get in this condition?" The nurse inquired as she placed Izumi on a bed in the room closest to the main lobby.

"Based on what I think, she has been overexerting herself for the last couple of days with little sleep."

"If this is true, we'll have to keep her here until she recovers. We'll keep an eye on her, so you can go back to your job."

"Erm, I don't think I can right now. I won't be able to focus on work while knowing Izumi's sick like this. I want to stay here until I'm sure she's better."

"I certainly won't turn well-wishers away right now. Considering what you've gone through for Izumi, you must be a close friend of hers?"

"Well...I like to assume so. Our recent history has been a little rough though I'm trying to repent. I want to live a honest life, one where I don't have to commit crime to get by."

"Hmm. I can feel the emotions behind your words and considering that I have worked with psychology before, I can tell it's very difficult to fake this type of emotion and the actions you have done is irrefutable. Only the noble would go to such great lengths to help those who are ill like this."

"Ehehe...please, I am far from noble. My heart is still black as night, even though I'm trying to change. I won't feel like I'm noble until I feel compelled to die for someone else's sake. And that likely won't happen for years now. Nonetheless, I need to try proving myself to the goddess here and show my conviction to repent."

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:30] April 17th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia Undercity - Hideout]

Katsuo, Kazuto, and Mamoru have been extremely busy over the last year as they continuously went into combat against the growing number of gangs. In a recent operation the day before, Mamoru's team suffered extensive injuries and he was forced to discharge his entire squad because of injury. In response to him not having the ability to go out into battle with his team backing him up, Mamoru had been staying at the hideout, while Katsuo and Kazuto having continued fighting against the alliance, helping the others with developing and maintaining the hideout and its armaments. After seeing Katsuo walk into the main lobby fully armored and wielding his large heater shield and gladius which was embedded with magical runes to strengthen its durability to near indomitable levels, and seeing that he was going to be going out into the field with his squad, he got up from his seat using his whetstone as it's become something of a habit for him.

"Heading out Katsuo?" Mamoru casually asks as he looks up to the armored fighter heading out.

"What do you think?"

"Is the temper necessary Katsuo? I just asked a question. Honestly, all of these battles have been turning you into a monster."

"I'm trying to protect this nation damn it. There are so many gangs out there committing crime and we're the only ones trying to maintain peace. Look, I can't stay. I need to meet the others; we'll be striking against a gang meeting to join one of the alliances that Akio informed me of. We're going to cut it short." Katsuo states rather irritably as he storms off to do what he feels like he has to do.

Mamoru couldn't help but simply huff in mild irritation at the fact Katsuo left with so few words considering all of the experiences they have gone through together and happens to notice Kazuto walk into the room wearing a similar get-up like Katsuo

"Perfect timing Kazuto. I'd like to ask you to shadow Katsuo. He went out following one of Akio's intel reports and I feel like Katsuo is going to be in danger."

"Hmm, I sort of share your disdain of Akio even though I don't understand why yet. And considering that these gang members all seem to be affiliating with those two alliances, it will be a risk for us to fight against unified foes. I'll go hurry after Katsuo."

After Kazuto dashed after Katsuo to keep an eye on him, Mamoru went back to his chair but quickly noticed Yuuki walking into the room, looking very faint as she walked toward the kitchen area of the room and collapses near the counter.

"Yuuki!" Mamoru exclaims as he dashes toward Yuuki to help her up.

"M-Mamoru? That you?"

"Yeah. Is your condition flaring up?"

"Mhm. I'm almost out of my medicine and I can't get any more right now because of the chaos. We're too far from Planeptune and they can't get any here in a punctual manner. And without the fast-travel network, we can't head out there."

"That certainly is problematic, ain't it? But we actually got a few Planeptune immigrants who began working as doctors at Arcadia Central Hospital last week. You think they know how to produce your medicine locally?"

"Huh. I didn't know we got any immigrants from the mainland. I thought they all came from terra incognito."

"That's usually the case; but lately there has been a few people from Planeptune and Lastation coming bringing their medical and technological expertise. To be honest, there's a wild rumor that someone important is coming to this nation. But c'mon, let's get you to the hospital. I won't let you drop dead on us here; not when the others will want to see you back on Earth. For real."

"Right. I need to live and one day reunite with your friends and mine. But I need to ask you Mamoru; have you and Miyo kept my secret about all this?"

"Yeah. Miyo admitted she has so little knowledge about the subject and wouldn't spread it around out of ignorance. And I know very much how personal the situation is so I won't tell a soul. Not unless you want me to."

"Thanks Mamoru. I usually don't like people figuring this out about me since I don't want them worrying for me all the time. I want us all to enjoy our lives to the fullest."

"Well, I appreciate that you trust the two of us with this information. I know you mentioned it since you heard of the connections I have, which means absolute squat in this foreign world, and Miyo's advanced technology, which she hardly has access to...I'm making this situation worse the more I talk aren't I? I'm stopping here before I lose all my hard-earned luck. It's one of the few things that has kept me alive all these years. Let's...Let's just get to the hospital." While this was going on with Mamoru's stuttering as the conversation continued, Yuuki couldn't help but inaudibly chuckle at the awkwardness happening on his behalf.

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [12:30] April 17th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia Undercity - Sector 19 Warehouse]

After Katsuo departed with his team following Akio's intel, he finds himself heading inside a large warehouse where the gangs will be meeting according to what he has been told and has mobilized his team in a firm square formation

"Okay guys, get into position. The gang members will be here any second." Katsuo orders as his team begins spreading throughout the building.

After seeing his team set up in their ambush positions, Katsuo and Akio hide behind a small crate waiting for the gangs to show up but wait five minutes; then ten with no sign of anyone entering and the moment Katsuo shifted his glance toward Akio, to demand he explain why they're not coming like he said, he heard several blood-curdling screams from his team in different areas and hears the whirring of gears rapidly proceeding throughout the building in addition to the sound of shrapnel tearing through human flesh.

"What the hell is going on?!" Katsuo snarls as he dashes toward his team but suddenly finds himself being shot in both the leg and his right arm which held his gauntlet, which destroyed it since Miyo's special teleport system wasn't embedded in Katsuo's yet, and he falls on one knee as he finds that he has been shot in the back. He quickly looks toward Akio who is carrying a remarkably evil grin on his face, showing that he was the one who shot Katsuo "What the hell Akio?!"

"You're an idiot. I cannot believe you trusted a double agent who wormed his way into your forces to ultimately destroy you. I brought your team here so my boys could ambush you and erase you from the face of the earth entirely. You will now face retribution for everyone you all have killed."

"You...bastard!" Katsuo severely snarls as he clenches his teeth, dashes toward Akio to knock him to the ground with a sweep and pulls a handgun he always keep on his person after fighting so long and aims it straight at Akio "Suffer and burn, you son of a bitch." Katsuo growls as he repeatedly shoots shrapnel at his heart in his rage at this betrayal from the person who had been helping him for over six months as he discovered he has been a mole from day one, with it immediately killing him.

After killing Akio, Katsuo dashed to try saving what members of his team he presumes are still alive, but is quickly intercepted by one of the mechs; with the turret arm swiftly pressed against Katsuo's upper chest and fires immediately with the blast sending a cluster effect tearing into his skin and even disintegrated his right eye, sending him over a canister and falls down to the ground. When he hits the ground, he weakly looks down at the part of his body that got hit and notices several large holes as wherever the mech fire tore right through his body and exposed it to the world. After noticing that his gauntlet was destroyed, the grim realization clicks in that he can't call for his friends for help.

"Ah shit...looks like this is where I'm going to die. After all these years, I die in a bloody warehouse? God damn it." Katsuo snarls in his mind as he sees himself bleed out across the concrete floor of this building, with his sight being incredibly weak since he only has one eye right now.

"Katsuo! Oh goddess!" Katsuo heard this shout from an individual garbed in onyx scale armor wearing two swords on his back crouching to his level.

"Kazuto? Why are you here?" Although he was caught off-guard because of the onslaught he had enduring; seeing the black swordsman here did quite a lot to raise his dismal morale.

"Thank Mamoru. He told me to keep an eye on you in case trouble brewed. Which did happen."

"Ugh...I should. But those mechs…They're killing everyone here."

"Don't worry about it. One of Chian's associates came and is dealing with them with her own custom made mecha. She called herself Generia G. She told me she'd stall the enemy and try to rescue as many people as she can. But we don't have time to worry about this. We need to escape and get you medical attention before you end up dead." Kazuto responds very sternly, as he props Katsuo on his left side as he dashes out of the building and activates his gauntlet's communicator remotely which is set in what she calls Telepath mode "Miyo, it's Kazuto! I need you to get to Arcadia Central Hospital immediately! Katsuo is badly wounded. We need your mechanical expertise here!"

"Mechanical expertise for a medical operation? I'll hurry, but I need exposition here. I need to know what exactly is happening so I know what I'll have to make."

"I understand. Katsuo was attacked by some anti-organic mech round and he is bad shape from it. He erm...he's missing an eye and some of his organs were hit."

"Oh goddess. You guys truly are making me work for my money here. Entire mechanical organ replacement? That's a nightmare and a half for me. It was tough enough making Karen's arm and using magic to create that barrier over her arm. Uh...wait, who in the world used that spell at the time? Ugh...I'll worry about it later. Just get to Arcadia Central, I'm on my way."

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [14:00] April 17th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Arcadia Central Hospital]

Mamoru and Yuuki got to the hospital literally minutes before Katsuo and Kazuto did to get information on if Yuuki's medicine could be manufactured at this location and while learning that while it can be done, it would take time for them to officially begin production but swore that they'd begin producing Yuuki's medicine as soon as they can since they have Yuuki's records from when they left the hospital she went to in Planeptune. Although the doctors said that they would contact her when the medicine is ready, Mamoru asked if Yuuki could stay in a sterile environment under palliative care since he doesn't want her to get sick while waiting for her new batch of immunoboosters. And although it'd be a challenge for them since they're still acclimating to this new nation, they eagerly accepted it nonetheless. With Yuuki being cared of, Mamoru left to return to their hideout and help the others with whatever they need doing.

When Mamoru exited the building and turned a corner to get back to the hideout, Kazuto came out of an opposite corner running to the best of his ability while also supporting the wounded Katsuo. When he gets inside the building, he heavily pants since he ran the entire way from the warehouse where Katsuo was caught in the ambush to Arcadia Central Hospital, which fittingly is the heart of the city in both importance and location.

"Ugh, this was more painful than I anticipated. But we finally got here. I need a doctor, fast!"

Thankfully, one of the doctors quickly arrived with a stretcher after noticing his injuries and Katsuo is quickly put on it with help from the doctor and rushes to the emergency room. When he is brought to his room and hooked up to a futuristic life support system from Planeptune after having wrap bandages applied all over his exposed wounds.

"What happened to this young man sir? Never in my life have I seen injuries like this."

"He got attacked by a new type of weapon which tore him to shreds...literally. Is he going to be okay doc?"

"That's tough to say, but considering the size and number of injuries, it's likely he will perish. However, the next twenty four hours will be very critical. But we'll do everything we can to get him through this."

After this was said, Miyo forced herself into the room with a nurse panting outside the door

"Sorry sir. But she forced her way in."

"Miss, I must ask that you leave. I'm about to-"

"Doctor, I actually asked that she come help. She's very skilled with machines and I figured she could be helpful to you."

"Yeah. Despite our recent arguments, he's still one of my friends and I want to help him."

"Very well. We need to work fast. I need to hurry and get the appropriate tools to begin cleaning his wounds." The doctor says in mild defeat knowing that he won't exactly turn away help considering how bad a shape Katsuo is in.

"Miyo, do you think you can help him?"

"I don't know Kazuto. I just don't know. But I am going to try, no matter what. Even if he outright hates me, I'm not going to just let him die. I need to end this vendetta we have." Miyo grimly states as she walks over to Katsuo's injured body and works the machine that he is hooked up to and frowns very despondently immediately after "I don't have the technology. Nothing I have can save him. And nothing Planeptune has could treat something like this. No goddess could do anything either."

"There must be something Miyo! After everything we've been through, I am not letting him die here!" Kazuto demands as he grabs Miyo's shoulder very tightly.

"I know that!" Miyo shouts out of frustration as she looks down to hide her own anger and sadness "I…Wait, there is only one thing I can think of that can save him at this point, but I swore I would never use the technology again! Not after...Amber."

"Miyo, Katsuo needs to get better!"

"I...I...I just can't Kazuto! My nanotechnology research took away the closest thing to a parent Izumi and I had in this world! I swore...I swore I would never use it after I had to...please don't make me..." Miyo was utterly and completely morose as her mind begins drifting back to the day when she was forced to kill Amber when her experiment went awry.

"Miyo, listen. I know this is a traumatizing experience for you, but we need to face facts. I understand that you lost someone important to you attempting nanotechnology, but I truly do think think Katsuo needs this to survive. Didn't you say before that Amber wanted to help your experiment? I imagine she wouldn't go through with it if she didn't trust you would do your best."

"I…"

"And look at Katsuo, Miyo." Kazuto grimly continues as the pair shift their eyes toward the severely injured Katsuo, whom nearly resembles a mummy with the number of bandages wrapped over his body to cover the gaping holes through his body and the sounds of the life support machines ring out to both individuals watching him "Even you said that conventional medical treatment won't work. He needs unconventional treatment. He needs your nanotechnology. And remember what you would always say? 'I swore never to let past decisions hold me back.' Were you lying when you made this credo?"

"But if I do this...Katsuo will become something...obscene. If I actually manage to pull this off, he'll be more machine than man; if I fail, he'll either become a monster or die. I shouldn't...we shouldn't be making this decision while he's unconscious like this."

"If we don't do this, he won't be able to make a decision. And if you truly want to end this vendetta you two have, saving him will do that. He's not the kind of person who lets old wounds fester when he knows that someone went out of their way to help him."

"I...very well. I'll try." After muttering this, Miyo went to sit on one of the chairs in the room and almost immediately afterward, a number of notebooks appeared in her lap, which she puts on a nearby table, which made Kazuto blink in mild surprise as he notices that all of them are her nanotechnology research "You think I'm an idiot? Even if I was horrified by what happened, I wouldn't exactly destroy every shred of work I poured into it. I'd like to say it's standard practice for scientists to keep records of their work in case the project is restarted in the unforeseen future. It bypasses months or even years of restoration effort which could even fail. If I'm going to face my fear, I might as well minimize the risks by reanalyzing my old notes and correcting what went wrong last time."

"Thank you Miyo. I know this can't be easy for you since I'm forcing you to fear a deep fear, but when a life is at stake, I don't like letting indecision run rampant."

"I know. And...sorry for all this trouble Kazuto. I suppose that eventually, I would've had to face this when I began researching such dangerous fields of science."

"Well; I need to return to my team and recommence my work to secure this nation. But if you need anything, tell me and I'll do my best to do it."

"Heh, thanks. I'll keep that in mind, but for now...I need a little peace and quiet alright? I need to look through a lot of notes and write down what clicked and especially what flopped so I can find alternatives or ignore it."

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:00] April 21st 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Arcadia Central Hospital]

Four days have passed since Katsuo was admitted into the hospital and Miyo restarted her nanotechnology research since it was one of the only things that could save him even though she tended to cringe since her mind kept flashing back to her disastrous experiments prior though she did her best to ignore it. As a response, Miyo had spending all of her time purusing all of her notes with very little sleep or sustenance and after finally coming to a breakthrough and a solution that could work on the third day of her research side, she immediately got to work developing the device and worked as quickly as she did back when she designed the computer systems of ASIC's neutron bomb two years prior since she knew that Katsuo's life was depending on her completing it. What surprised her was that her old notes were surprisingly full of details that she had forgotten about and those notes have helped significantly. What had perplexed her during most of the analysis period was finding a way to control the nanites that would be difficult but recalled that Millennia recently upgraded Eclipse's built-in medical systems to better maintain the wearer's vitals out of concern considering the dangerous environs preventing rapid and safe transportation because of the gangs plaguing the streets. Therefore, she contacted the president: Ganache and asked him to send a copy of the upgraded model. And because of how Miyo provided the initial prototype of their console, Ganache proudly sent one of the new prototypes since he owed her a lot for their success.

However, despite the danger, many areas have been secured by the four, or rather two at the current time since Katsuo's team was entirely wiped out because of Akio's betrayal despite Generia G's best efforts as the mechs had torn into his men like ribbons though she did avenge them, as she disabled all those mechs and sent them to the underground garage in the Basilicom for research purposes, by slaughtering everyone in the warehouse and Mamoru's team is still recovering from recent injury and fatigue, teams belonging to Kazuto and Tennouboshi managed to entirely neutralize the gang alliance that attacked Uzume's hideout after learning of their base's location from Lid. With only one gang alliance remaining, Kazuto and Mamoru began coordinating surveillance efforts alongside Moru, Lid, Ein Al, and Generia G as they're all working together to find the hideout belonging to this last conglomeration that's causing such chaos in the huge city so they can take it out once Katsuo and Mamoru's team recovers.

After constructing the device to help Katsuo, Miyo began to limp back to Katsuo's room carrying a new robotic arm model which heavily resembles the one she made for Karen, which she chose as the frame for her newest, if not controversial in her mind, technology.

"Four days of work with no food, water, or sleep. Thankfully, my cybernetics allow such things to happen. But I'm finally done. Now I just need to…" Miyo immediately slumped to her knees after hearing her cybernetics shutting down again like what happened back when she had helped carry Karen up to the Lowee Basilicom "Shit...not again. I knew the repairs were slapdash, but I thought I'd get more than a year and a half's worth of use with this thing. I may need to decommission them for good. Then again, there was a permanent notice embedded in its records saying that it should've replaced at this point. And since I don't have access to my people's technology in its entirety, I'll need to go without from now on."

Moments later, Miyo felt some of her fatigue vanish and notices Resta and Uzume crouched next to her. It was brief, but Miyo saw a silver glow on Resta's hands which was a common sign of healing magic, and Uzume passed what appears to be a melon yet made of flour and a small glass of water to Miyo afterward. The two gestures obviously confused her in part of how she has never encountered either of them before.

"Why are you helping a random stranger?"

"You're hardly 'random' Miyo Hanari. We both know of your ties to Aqua Heart and we've heard of your commitment to saving Katsuo Viperia's life. We've come to help you with our magic." Uzume kept a calm face, even though it was hidden by her helmet, when she talked about her knowledge of her friendship to Karen and the work she has fervently done to help Katsuo when he is at his weakest "Considering that we've never truly met before now, let us get introductions dealt with. I am Uzume Tennouboshi. I go by Tenn. This is Resta."

"You have my thanks. I suppose." Miyo responds with a hidden nervous chuckle, though the individual's knowledge of both her bond with Karen and Katsuo was a tad unsettling to her, as she takes a bite of the mysterious food Uzume gave her "Hmm, what is this?"

"It's some sort of culinary confection native to a small yet densely populated island near continent six in Karen's homeworld. Let's just say I attempted to recreate it to the best of my ability despite my low skill in cooking. I think it was called Melonpan."

"I uh...It's an Earth recipe? How did you learn such a thing?"

"One of Karen Koizumi's friends told me. Shino Asada specifically." Uzume says rather bluntly to hide all of the experiences she has gone through and has used a brilliant scapegoat that cannot be questioned since she recalls that Shino had gone back to their own world and Haruka came in her stead.

"Shino? That's unexpected. Anyway thanks. I need to get to Katsuo's room and begin treatment. Let's go."

"As soon as he gets better, you need to rest. If you wish, I'll grant you solace in my sanctuary."

"I appreciate it. Having a safe place to rest will be very nice."

The trio then walk toward Katsuo's hospital room and inspect his battered body laid out on his bed with one of the doctors looking over him while he was comatose

"He okay Doctor?" Miyo inquires with a degree of despondence at Katsuo's current condition even though she still remembers the fangs of his malice toward her.

"He's stable but not recovering. I presume you have come up with something?"

"Mhm. Is he still under anesthesia?"

"He is, but he hasn't responded to any outside stimuli ever since he was brought here. While it's only conjecture, my theory is that his mind is fighting the call of death even though his body is passively calling because of its weakened state."

"Thank goodness. Could you leave this to us Doc? I imagine you have other patients to treat."

Miyo was answered with a simple nod and with him gone, she then looks toward Resta and Uzume after hearing of Katsuo's status "Do either of you have any offensive magic? Wind magic preferably?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Several of his limbs are beyond saving, same with his organs. Once we remove his right arm, I'll begin the process of repairing the damage. But there is an ulterior reason: If this fails, I need you to help me put him down."

"Put him down? What do you mean?" Resta innocently inquires at the rather bleak possibility.

"You'll know it when you see it Resta." Miyo says with a small frown as she recalls what happened last time she worked with nanotechnology.

---

After the warning was given, Uzume and Resta used magic to create sharp blades made out of wind and followed Miyo's directions as they began severing the limbs too badly damaged by the mech's anti-personnel weapon and they swiftly use the barrier magic Uzume has used to help Karen when she lost her arm against CFW Magic. The sight of the dismembered Katsuo, though they're saving the arm for last since Miyo needs to apply the new arm and the magic would block it from working the way she needs it to, truly disturbed all three individuals though Uzume and Miyo did their best to swallow the disgust as they needed to remain at top mental shape for their work though Resta needed quite a bit of encouragement from them to keep working. When she sees the magic applied and his arm severed, Miyo swiftly applies the robotic arm to replace the old and grips the controller to activate the nanites.

Within minutes after their activation, metallic appendages began materializing over the right side of his face with a gray eyepiece with several teal blue layers and underneath it all, there is an electronic yellow eye immediately reacting with the sound resembling gears opening and closing in rapid sequence as it looks around which differs from his normal forest green eye on his left side, the various holes throughout his torso, and his leg. After seeing his new limbs materialize through the crystallization of the nanites, she presses a few buttons on her controller as she hovered it over Katsuo's body.*

"Damaged vital organs...replaced and at 92% compatibility. Heart...replaced and stable. I just need to determine which blood type he is so I can direct the heart to truly synchronize with his body and pump out the blood he needs. Vitals are rising. Tenn, Resta, stay alert. He may need healing magic to stabilize his pulse while his body attempts to adjust to its new enhancements. The last four days, in terms of importance, is nothing compared to this."

After handling the nanite regulation with the controller from her last experiment and the duo using healing magic when his heart rate rising beyond critical levels which brought the heart rate to normal levels, she proudly grins when she finds that the nanites have been deactivated once his damaged organs have been reconstructed with synthetic replacements "I've done it. It had been years since I have done anything within this field but I've succeeded. My last three attempts failed horrifically, but I've succeeded. I no longer need to feel so traumatized when I know I can succeed." Miyo felt immense feelings of relief knowing that she has finally succeeded and knows that the field can be performed without endangering whoever undergoes it. She quickly writes down what she has done in this experiment so she can ensure further success if she is forced to do this again "Amber, my nanotechnology project has finally succeeded. My selfishness led to your own undoing years ago, but I have learned the error of my ways here: I must remain looking toward the future for my friends and never let fear consume me. As long as I have my friends and family with me, I will never fail. Everyone who is depending on me to use my technological expertise."

Within minutes after his limbs fully crystallized, his left eye slowly opened and he turned his head toward Miyo and the others

"Miyo? Where are-? Why does my body feel so heavy?"

"I've had to commit rather extreme levels of surgery to you Katsuo. The injuries done to you demanded it. You might want to see the specifics yourself." Miyo lost her prior optimism when Katsuo had actually questioned about his condition and gave him a small hand mirror so he can see what he has become. She, in every way, expected the horror he would show moments later.

"I-I-I-What have you done to me?!"

"I had no other option Katsuo. If you wished to live, which your friends say you would want, I would have to use my nanotechnology concept and remake you into a cyborg. You have no idea how terrified I was while I was trying this. But I did it to both save your life and to end this feud you have with me."

Katsuo deeply sighed and simply shifted his gaze from Miyo to the window for a moment, even though it felt like hours for him, and returned it to the trio that helped him "While I appreciate the fact you saved me, I'm not even human anymore; so the gratitude is rather mixed."

"You're just exaggerating a little Katsuo. But I understand your irritations. But the fact is that I saved your life and have given you brand new powers."

"New powers? What do you mean: new powers?"

"For one, your arm carries a feature I was planning on installing in Karen's arm but this situation has given me an opportunity to field test it properly. I'll take it one step at the time, but the one I wish to give notice of is one I am sure you will enjoy. Get up from your bed and I'll tell you it."

Katsuo simply nodded in acknowledgement at Miyo's request, got up from his bed and stared in her direction "Alright then, spill it."

"Patience Katsuo." Miyo urges rather solemnly as she looks toward Resta and Uzume "I'd step back a little bit you guys, just in case." Miyo continues as she backs to the other end of the room with the other two at her side "Katsuo, picture a sword, any sword, in your mind."

"Erm, sure." Katsuo answered in a very confused manner and followed her request as he pictured the first sword he could think of, which was one of Kazuto's signature weapons from Aincrad: Elucidator, and moments later, he could see the sword begin to materialize from his robotic hand with it automatically gripping the hilt as it is created "Holy! How in the world was I able to create this sword!?"

"It's a copy created through mental images directed by the nanites within your arm. While it is restricted by your own memory, this new feature will allow you to create weapons freely. But I'd urge you to exercise caution with this one. There could be dire repercussions I know nothing about."

"Got it, got it. Now, I want to ask. Can I get out there and fight? I want to avenge my men after they died in that ambush." After this, Katsuo felt the sword begin to dissolve and remerge with his hand with it confusing him a tad bit.

"You're psychotic. You just spent the last four days being reconstructed and you want to go out there and get killed again? Don't ever change. And that's one of its features: It stays longer when you are in battle." Miyo truly was confounded when hearing of his desire to go out fighting yet again though she chuckled amusedly since she has gotten accustomed to that mindset of his "I would hold off on it though. Kazuto and Mamoru have been concerned about you. Ophelia and the others are too."

"Noted. But it's high time I get back into action however. I need to take those gangs down and secure order in this nation."

"I need to warn you of one more thing Katsuo. Keep the nanite thing quiet as much as you can."

"Why? Is there a reason?"

"Mhm. If people learn of the nanites you possess in your new arm and learn I was its creator, people may try stealing my technology to reverse engineer it for their own purposes. It's happened to me in the past before and I had to go to quite a few lengths tracking them down and erm...silencing them permanently."

"Wha?! Did you kill them to keep a monopoly on your creations?!"

"Do you think I'm that freaking petty to kill people for such a reason!? No. I killed them to ensure my technology is kept from inexperienced hands. What I can build of my people's technology is far too dangerous for any random joe to use. I keep my most dangerous and controversial technology in my exclusive hands so no one else is harmed. This is one exception that I overlooked since I had never truly perfected this field until now. What I sell to people are harmless knicknacks. I'm getting off track but do not let anyone you do not trust witness the nanite project. Keep it secret no matter what."

"I understand. I'll safeguard this secret until the day I die."

After this, Katsuo walked out of the hospital room with a proud step to reunite with his friends to recommence his duty to fight for justice, with Miyo, Resta, and Uzume leaving almost immediately after, but in the direction of Uzume's sanctuary so Miyo could rest from her own technical escapades.

---

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [12:00] April 21st 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Basilicom]

After Karen reunited with some of her old colleagues: Filia, Garrus, and Wrex, she laid down a foundation with Uzume's authorization to have the trio act as leaders for her team since they all have years of combat experience and they have been working alongside Kazuto's and Mamoru's teams directly as one unified alliance similar to the two alliances the gangs hold. Their combined teamwork allowed them to destroy the smaller gang alliance and liberate a great deal of territory and place it under their watch. Karen however hasn't been able to focus much on this front as she is busy enough with her status as Aqua Heart in the Basilicom and her waitress job as Haruhi Kaibara. What had caught her off-guard was that Linda told her that she had a visitor who wished to meet with her at the Basilicom and with that piece of news being relayed, Karen expressed the desire to leave work so she could meet with the client and knowing the urgency of the true self of her double life, Chian authorized the early leave.

What worried Karen after the day's battles were concluded was that it was reported that Izumi had pushed herself far too much with the daily office work and would need a full week's rest in the clinic to recover from the physical exhaustion, in addition to the fact that with Miyo out of the Basilicom, and working with Bae'lin in her family's shrine before the fact, she has had to leave Linda and Pirachu doing all the work.

After she arrived in the underground garage riding her new bike she got from Chian after Linda accidentally destroyed it helping Izumi, Karen transformed into her goddess form and calmly walks toward the teleporter to get to the lobby to meet with her guest. When she gets to the lobby, she is rather surprised seeing the individual here in Arcadia considering her immense loyalty to her nation.

"What are you doing here in Arcadia?"

---

*Okay, I admit, that was completely my fault; I missed the tiny error of last chapter's mess-up since I didn't notice it in my walls of text when Garrus, Wrex, and Karen went to talk with Bae'lin. It was a slight oversight on my part, but the meaning now has a deeper meaning now. Also, I'd like you guys to guess at who the mysterious individual who arrived in Arcadia is.

If you want an idea of what the armored carapace on Katsuo's face looks like, refer to what Jeremiah has on his face in season 2 of Code Geass.

And if you hadn't noticed, I have been including many characters from Neptunia Victory and Hyperdevotion Noire and even a couple from the original Neptunia game.

Also, the way I attempted to describe the aging process is similar to the Milletians from the MMO: Mabinogi. Minus the natural immortality and reincarnation process via the Soul Stream. The way this works is erm...look it is complicated to explain, but I'll try my best. The basic premise goes like this: All of the worlds connected follow this time scheme: Every ten years in Gamindustri is a day in the other worlds (please for dear god, do not fact check me with the comparison I made in Shiro, I am not that meticulous.) yet the individuals from other worlds genetically carry the perspective of time from their world and even applies to a few following generations though it is capable of being phased out through enough generations with Gamindustri natives. It's tough to explain and is better witnessed than told.

Putting it more simply, you can compare the newcomers to Gamindustri to the Milletians, but after a few generations of Gamindustri natives with no foreign blood added, they become similar to the Tuatha de Danan.