Lastation Capital, Eastern Border, 9:30pm
It was a simple mission on paper; Suppress the troops assaulting the border. Uni was a goddess, so humans weren't an issue to her.
What she actually got was far beyond human.
A blue wind, striking from all angles with magical attacks that would make Mina shudder. Uni barely had time to raise her rifle before she was thrown across the town like a doll. When she raised her head, she saw the eastern side of Lastation on flames. Bright blue flames, reaching high into the sky.
Footsteps came from behind, but Uni was far too weakened to turn her head and find the source.
A deep, evil voice spoke up. "Good job dear Blue Heart, this one will do nicely as a bargaining chip. Go stir up some more chaos, I have a message to send."
Sounds of an object speeding off at an unnatural pace followed, before Uni's consciousness was silenced by a boot to the head.
Noire's office, 9:35pm
After a week of trying, Kei finally succeeded in breaking down Noire's door. Noire had locked herself in her room ever since Vert had been killed, refusing to communicate with the world outside. Now, however, she had no choice. Blue Heart and Iris Heart were close to the capital, and if they won then this entire thing was over.
"Noire, I know you're incredibly broken over Vert's killing, but we need you to go and fight. Now."
Noire retorted with a weak, forced chuckle. "Nobody needs me Kei, nobody does."
Kei could only answer that with a sigh. She figured Noire would pull this. Time to get right to the nitty gritty then.
"Noire, the enemy forces have captured Uni. They're demanding that you fight them directly, otherwise they'll harm her. They can't kill her permanently, of course, but these are Ultradimension forces, and it's likely they might hide her in that dimension once they realize she can't be permanently killed. Also, we have direct confirmation that-"
"Fetch the Mnemosynes, and the sword" Noire interrupted with a cold, flat statement. The Mnemosyne project was started when the Ultradimension was first encountered, Noire wanted to reverse-engineer their CPU memories to REMOVE someone's CPU powers rather than grant them. It worked; the Ultradimension Neptune was stripped of her powers at her own request. However, one of of the rules dictated by the friendship treaty was that any war related projects were to be disbanded and dismantled. Noire complied with disbanding them, but several of the Mnemosyne crystals were kept in the vault. For Noire to call for their use was warrying, but war was war and victory was all that mattered.
"At once, Noire." Kei nodded and departed for the vault immediately.
There was a strange feeling rising in Noire. It felt like anger and... lust. A lust for violence and conquest. It was a minuscule feeling, but it was present in the back of Noire's mind and silencing it proved difficult. She didn't have time to pay attention to it, Uni required saving.
5 minutes passed, and Kei returned, with a pouch of the Mnemosynes and the sword case. She sat them on Noire's bed, and made for the door. Turning to Noire before she left, Kei had a worried look in her eye.
"I'll set up the Honor Guard for if anyone breaches the Basilicom. We'll be waiting for your return, goddess speed Noire." Kei turned and hurried off out of sight.
Noire pocketed the Mnemosynes and gazed at the sword. The aura of malice and hate it was emitting had intensified in the time between her last usage of it and it's appearance today. It was almost intoxicating, in an unnerving and somewhat uncomfortable manner. This sword caused all of these problems.
This sword would fix them all too.
Noire lifted the sword from the case and admired the blade. As strange as it was, it had definitely been crafted with expertise. The design didn't match any known weapon in Gamindustri, although it's base form resembled a knockoff of one of the popular Beam Sabers used within Gamindustri. After taking two lives, however, the blade had grown in size, looking more like a greatsword than anything else.
Slinging the sword over her back, Noire held a fist to her head and transformed.
Black Heart was going to take her sister back.
Lastation Capital, Eastern Border. 9:50pm
Noire could survey the damage to Lastation as she flew to where Uni was held. Most of the outer towns within Lastation were covered in blue flames and smoke. Thousands of citizens were being evacuated through any safe channel that was available. The main military was trying to hold off the bulk of the invasion force, but stragglers often got inside. Once Uni was back in her care, Noire was going to track down Iris Heart and put an end to this invasion by any means necessary.
Speaking of the devil, upon landing Noire quickly discovered Iris Heart was the one holding Uni. Standing atop a pillar of rubble, holding Uni in one hand and a whip-blade in another, Iris Heart staring down icily at Noire.
"You're such an irresponsible big sister, letting your little sis out at night. Did nobody ever tell you bedtime stories when you were younger? There are scary monsters in the dark."
As she said that, a hundred red dots lit up around Noire in a circle formation, all of them originating from humanoid shadows.
Iris Heart beamed at the sight of their arrival. "I'm not dumb like Vert, dear-"
"Don't you dare insult her" Noire spat, dripping with unhinged fury.
Iris Heart groaned out loud. "Fine fine, whatever. Regardless, I'm not dumb. I know you have a powerful army, and strong defences, so I... let's just say I conscripted another Goddess into the fray. Black Heart, meet Blue Heart."
As if waiting for a cue, Blue Heart appeared behind Iris Heart in a gust of blue wind. Iris Heart planted her whip-blade into the rubble, moving her now free hand to Blue Heart's face and patting it gently.
"You're so adorable, my little CPU. Why don't you go say hello to Black Heart?" Iris Heart removed her hand from Blue Heart's face. The imposing blue CPU nodded, and disappeared.
Noire looked around frantically. Where did she go? She was nowhere to be- Wait, was that a gust of wi-THWACK.
A powerful force dislocated one of Noire's knees, forcing her to the ground and electing a loud yelp from the goddess. Turning onto her back, Noire finally had a look at the new CPU.
Long, flowing blue hair, crystalline lightning-bolt wings, and a blue cloak draping most of her torso. Standing at the same height as Green Heart, this CPU was a tall and imposing figure. Half of her face had been drastically scarred, and her right arm was mechanical in nature.
Blue Heart gazed into Noire's eyes, her stare cold and hypnotic in a sense. Blue Heart broke the stare and delivered a boot to Noire's stomach, causing her to cripple into a ball.
"You, Black Heart, are charged with the murder of Nepgear and Vert. How do you plead?" Extending a long blade from her right arm, Blue Heart's voice was low, but vehement.
"Not guilty. Nepgear was an accident, a mistake. Vert... Vert ASKED me to kill her." Noire's defiance was met with a backhanded punch from Blue Heart's organic arm.
"Lies. All total lies. Lastation is a nation founded on deceit, it's currency Lies, and it's people liars. Humanity lives under a regime of falsities and manipulation. We shall free them this mistreatment; either by the bonds of friendship, the chains of slavery, or the fires of war. This world shall know peace, one way or another. I am Blue Heart, leader of Those Who Hate The Sun, and we shall blanket this planet in the protective arms of darkness".
Noire opened her mouth to protest, but was hit once more and forced to her knees. From her position, she could barely see Iris Heart at the top of the pillar.
Looking down on her new captive, Iris Heart spoke only two words: "Punish Her."
Noire had a split second of solace before the beating came.
Thwack. Crack. Thrakk. Krakk. Thudd.
15 minutes. 15 minutes it went on for.
By the end of it, Noire was unrecognisable. She had forcibly de-transformed 10 minutes in, which only worsened the damage. Most of her face had burst open, and much of the skin around her limbs had peeled or even burnt off. Strands of her hair littered the area around her, and blood leaked from her face all over her.
And through all of this, Uni was forced to watch. Every single impact, every strike, every kick, every punch. All of it. Of course, seeing most of it was difficult due to the floods of tears that had overwhelmed her eyes. Letting Uni go, Iris Heart let out a yawn.
"That's it? The mighty CPU Black Heart, of the Land of Black Regality, leader of Gamindustri's strongest military? Pathetic. Blue Heart, finish her off."
The blue CPU nodded, and immediately reached for the Gehaburn at Noire's side. Once more forcing Noire to her knees, Blue Heart readied the Gehaburn and held it up high.
"I, CPU Blue Heart of the people, sentence you, CPU Black Heart, to death"
Attempting to break free from Iris Heart's grip, Uni struggled, cursed and protested.
But it was far too late.
Blue Heart took position, readier her sword and brought it down on Noire's neck.
Only for it to harmlessly bounce off it, as if it were a bouncy ball colliding with a solid steel surface.
A low, steadily rising laugh began to force it's way out of Noire's lips. Both Iris and Blue Heart were stunned, both with shock and confusion. Neither of them noticed, that Uni had ducked under Iris Heart's arm and took to the skies.
"XMB: EMPRESS!"
The two enemy CPUs turned their eyes to the sky, only for it to be blotted out by a large pink plasma strike that obliterated the tower Iris Heart was on.
Blue Heart dodged in time, but the smoke and rubble that had been thrown up obscured her vision. Throwing up her hood, she scanned the immediate area for Noire.
Nothing. The Gehaburn had vanished too.
Blue Heart made the fatal mistake of turning her back to Noire's last known location.
A sudden impact tossed Blue Heart into the air, causing her to collide with the remnants of the border wall. When she re-orientated herself, before her stood the re-transformed Black Heart.
"You know, I'm not quite sure what happened, but surely even a new Goddess would be smart enough not to turn another Goddess' weapon on her. Now that we're on even footing, let's fight evenly, shall we?" Noire raised her blade at Blue Heart, who only responded with a smile and a nod towards the skies.
"It seems your little sister picked a fight too."
Noire looked up into the skies, and caught a glimpse of Uni and Iris Heart locked in combat. For a moment, anyway.
Blue Heart took the opportunity to launch Noire into the skies. Following behind her, Blue Heart launched a swarm of azure crystals in Noire's direction.
The first one almost made contact, spawning a large and boiling blue explosion. With great effort and agility, Noire deflected and blocked many of them. In that time, Blue Heart had reached the same altitude as Noire.
"I'm impressed. Not many people would get up from a beating like that."
"Not many people are like me. Tell me, Blue Heart, what's your human name?"
Blue Heart responded to her question with a heavily sarcastic laugh. "Oh please, monsters like us have no need of human names. Isn't that right, Black Heart? Or should I call you Noire?" Her pronunciation of Noire's name was laced with disgust, leaking with Blue Heart's obvious loathing of her.
Before Noire had an opportunity to respond, Blue Heart started up again. "You knew me once, but no longer. I am Blue Heart, reborn anew. I shall bring Justice to Gamindustri and lead Those Who Hate The Sun to glory."
Blue Heart. Justice. Protecting humans.
Oh Goddess.
This was Nisa.
"Nisa?! How did you meet Iris Heart?"
Her question was met once more by laughter.
"Black Heart, you are ridiculous."
Blue Heart's amused expression snapped back to a serious one, and she lunged towards Noire. Blades clashing in the sky, the heat radiating from the crossed swords would have boiled a mortal alive. Noire pulled away to reposition, but Blue Heart wasted no time in pressuring her. A flurry of quick strikes and jabs followed, putting serious strain on Noire's defensive abilities.
"Enough of this, Blue Heart. LACE RIBBONS!"
Blue Heart smirked at her attempt. "BLACK FLAME FLURRY!"
Noire zoned in on Blue Heart to attack, but the minute she approached, Blue Heart had shifted behind her, assaulting her with a furious dance of fiery daggers. The final hit launched Noire some distance away. Fast and strong, Blue Heart was quickly becoming an equal to Noire, it seemed.
Uni wasn't faring much better versus Iris Heart. Though her speed and rifle kept out of harm's way, every attack of Iris Heart's that connected was agonising, and her movements were quickly becoming misguided and sluggish.
It seemed the black sisters finally found an equal match.
Compa's clinic, 11:20pm
Compa's self-preservation had shut off entirely since IF left her. Eating and drinking only the bare minimum, Compa was quickly becoming a shell of her former self. Living within the clinic, Compa had planned to put up the Closed sign forever.
Had.
As she prepared to doze off for the 12th time today, the door to the clinic clicked open and before Compa stood... Cave? What was she doi-
"Compa, I know it's been three years, but I require your assistance immediately. I will carry you if need be."
Compa nodded hesitantly., and Cave in turn picked up the tiny nurse and placed her on her back.
"It's the new CPU that's attacking Lastation. We-I mean I need you to snap her out of it. Compa, it's IF."
Compa whispered a weak acknowledgement into Cave's back, which went completely unheard by the tall bodyguard. As she picked up pace, Cave eventually left the ground and took to the skies.
Lastation Capital, outskirts
The battle between the two duelling pairs of CPUs had stretched outside of the border. Though she resisted well, Noire was nothing in the face of the combination of sword skills and arcane knowledge that Blue Heart held. Having lost a wing and some armour already, Blue Heart's attacks were slowly beginning to leave their mark on the retainer.
Uni's battle was going far, far worse. Taking several hits from Iris Heart, she was bleeding in 4 different places, and her vision had become blurry.
Which proved to be her undoing. Completely miscalculating a shot, Iris Heart was able get up close and grab Uni's head like it was another doll. She took a moment to look into Black Sister's eyes, before tossing her to the ground like dead weight.
Crashing to the ground, the heat of the impact fried both of Uni's wings off, completely disabling her flight. Noire attempted to rush to her aid, but Blue Heart took the opportunity to disarm her and pin her to the ground.
Iris Heart landed a short distance from Uni, as if to savour the approach on land.
"My oh my, dearest little Black Sister. If I was in the mood for fun, you definitely would've satisfied. But unfortunately for you, nothing but victory matters now." Iris Heart drew closer and closer with each word, until her shadow was covering the entirety of Uni.
Iris Heart clicked her fingers. "Blue Heart, my dear? Make Black Heart watch." Blue Heart complied, grabbing Noire's head and forcing her gaze towards her sister and Iris Heart.
With a sick, almost satisfied smile, Iris Heart lifted Uni from the ground by her head with one hand, and with the other delivered a gentle caress to her face.
Then it came.
Pushing a thumb into Uni's eye and the rest of her fingers into the side of her face, Iris Heart scalded the left side of her face with electricity. Her screams were long, drawn out and agonised, stopping only when the electricity did.
With each shock, Noire's rage boiled and festered. With each shock, Noire changed. With each shock, the Gehaburn called to her.
With the third shock, all hell broke loose.
Reaching for the Gehaburn, Noire vacated Blue Heart's grip by slicing across her chest., and immediately ignored the blue CPU to charge towards Iris Heart. Not even bothering to aim, the moment she was in reach, Noire brought the sword down hard on Iris Heart, completely dismembering her left arm at the elbow. Iris Heart hastily attempted to defend herself with a burst of lightning, but it did little to slow the enraged CPU. Ignoring the sword, Noire instead used the momentum of her flight to deliver a brutal punch to Iris Heart's shocked face.
The damage it did to her deeply, INCREDIBLY satisfying to Noire. Iris Heart was launched across the field, much like Noire and Uni had been doing since this fight began.
Wishing to finish Iris Heart off, Noire was instead interrupted by a powerful blast of gravity magic, strong enough to immobilise her for a minute. Running to Iris Heart's side, Blue Heart's attempts to support her were mostly ignored.
"Blue Heart, remember; You'd do anything for me". She was, of course, referring to the True Black Flame. Essentially, a powerful suicide attack that would ignite the oxygen of this nation and fry everyone inside it. Blue Heart solemnly nodded, and flew towards the city, carving through buildings to reach a center.
Recovering from Blue Heart's attack, Noire slowly stood up and recovered feelings in her limbs. As she turned towards the still crippled Iris Heart, who had now bled out enough to turn into Plutia, she spied Cave landing nearby, with a familiar face on her back; Compa.
The two wasted no time in sprinting towards Noire. Compa had barely stopped moving when she spoke.
"Miss Noire, CPU Blue Heart is IF! Please don't kill her!" she pleaded, with Cave similarly following suite.
"Indeed, if you preserve her we can likely gain more insight on how to stop this happening again. However, if she has to die, please try to preserve her human form at least." Cave was unusually cold and analytical, almost like Kei, in a way.
Their pleas would have been heard, were it not for the fact that a mass of blue gas was accelerating towards Blue Heart's current location at a worrying speed.
"She's charging up the flame, hrm." Cave muttered under her breath, just quiet enough so that neither of the two present would hear it.
A weak voice spoke up from behind them.
"Do it, Noire. Take... take this." It was Uni, barely clinging to life, holding up her rifle to Noire.
Noire took a long sigh, and grabbed the rifle from Uni's hands.
Holding another Goddess' weapon always felt unnatural, but this had to be done.
Compa, however, was having none of it.
"Miss Noire? Please, please don't kill my Iffy. She didn't want this, she didn't choose this. Please, please don't kill my Iffy. Please."
Her protests sadly fell on deaf ears. As she continued protesting, Noire continued charging up the shot.
Ding.
The shot was ready.
With Blue Heart in her sights, Compa's protests in her ears, and doubt in her heart, Noire pulled the trigger.
The shot connected with Blue Heart's leg, rending it clean off.
It wasn't enough. It was too late to stop the true flame fully.
The flame burst outwards in a conal shape. Noire dived to cover Uni, and Cave shielded Compa with her body.
For 5 minutes, all they saw and felt was fire.
Eventually, it faded.
The entire Eastern district had been wiped out, but the rest of Lastation had not taken any damage from it. Sorrow filled Noire's heart as she surveyed the damage. This was her Lastation, ruined by Iris Heart's machinations.
Compa immediately ran towards the center of the blast, with Cave in tow. Noire slung Uni over her shoulder and followed suite. There was nothing between them and Compa's destination; everything had been flattened.
What the trio found would haunt them until the end.
Blue Heart was still alive. In some sense of the word. Both of her legs were rended off, and her arm was still missing. Burns and cuts coated her body, with only her face left mostly untouched. To everyone's added horror, Blue Heart could still speak.
"Mom? Compa? Where are you? I'm scared. I don't wanna die. Please don't let me die. I don't want to die." She was talking to nobody in particular; the mad movements of her eyes implied she was blind.
Compa fell down beside her, holding her hand and gently reassuring what was left of her girlfriend. As Noire looked on, and idea struck her.
De-transforming, Noire felt her pockets. They were still there; the Mnemosynes!
Slowly setting Uni down and double-checking to ensure she was still breathing, Noire hovered over to IF side and held her upright.
"I... I will allow you to die as IF." Forcing IF's mouth open, Noire inserted a Mnemosyne into her mouth. With another blue flame covering her, Blue Heart's form shifted. IF was back, for the moment, her vision restored.
Looking to her lover, IF let out a pained smile. In spite of great pain, IF leaned up to her face and kissed Compa with burnt lips.
Their moment was interrupted by Noire drawing the Gehaburn.
"Forgive me Compa, but her death must not be in vain." Before Compa could even process her words, Noire thrust the sword into IF's midsection, putting the half-dead woman out of her misery.
Compa collapsed over her girlfriend's body, cradling it into her chest. "I'm so sorry IF, I let you take that memory, I let you die. I'm so sorry." Amidst sobs, the rest of her words came out of naught but gargles and noises.
Noire had already vacated the scene, there was one thread left to cut loose; Plutia.
Huddled against a tree, the once intimidating CPU was almost laughable now. With one arm left, and tears coating her face, one could be forgiven for forgetting that this was the most powerful person in the Ultradimension.
"Noire? You're such a meanie. Everyone here hates you. I hate you. I hope something bad comes for you soon, cause nobody deserves it more than you." Plutia's words were bitter and her phrases were uncharacteristic for the usually dopey CPU.
Noire raised her sword to strike and take Plutia's life, but another idea entered her head. Noire brought the sword down on Plutia's thigh, electing a cry and a scream from her.
"I'm not going to kill you. As much as I want to, you deserve worse than that. I want you to go back to the Ultradimension with your armies. I want you to live through the humiliation of defeat. I want your legacy to be CPU Iris Heart, the failure." Noire holstered the sword, and mockingly offered a hand to Plutia.
Her left one.
Plutia could only laugh at the gesture.