Hey, everyone. Bet you didn't expect this, huh? That'd make two of us. Honestly, I didn't know if this chapter would ever be published or if it were to drown forever in the sea of hiatus, never to see the light of day and closing Hyperdimension Neptunia is Real! all too early. But, thanks to several friends who I owe far more than I can give (you know who you are), I finally finished Chapter 35. Since the 16th of January, this fic has been left to collect dust. Even now, the thought of posting it feels alien and unusual. Are you all still here? Are you all still waiting for me after all this time? I'd understand if you left. Still, if you are here, I thank you very much. I wish I knew how to express so better but I don't.
Well, it's been a long time so a recap is in order. If you recall from the last chapter, the NNCG team (Neptune, Nisa, Compa, Gust) went to visit a dungeon at the Evangelist's recommendation, it caved in, they met the JIR5 team (Jacob, IF, Red, 5pb), met Green Heart but didn't recognise her as such except for Jacob, Green Heart didn't attack them, IF and Neptune got into a bit of a scuff, and Vert confronted the Evangelist but that ended kind of poorly. So now here we are! I hope you enjoy, even though it has been far too long!
Chapter 35: A Violent Darkness
After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the morning finally came (although far too slowly, Jacob and Red believed). The glowing relief trickled down to impatience once more, however, as the afternoon came and they were still not visited by Green Heart. Although it was risky to leave the motel in case she did in fact come around, Jacob decided it would be a better idea to go straight to the Basilicom. Thus, the party traversed a large meadow, hopped in the gondola, and sat patiently while the transport transported them to the Basilicom's floating island. The ride was slow as usual, which wasn't helping the party's rush at all, but they had no choice but to bear it so they begrudgingly did.
"I still don't see why we have to go to the Basilicom," stated IF, sitting between Red and 5pb.
"I want to check up on Vert," Jacob answered from opposite the three girls. "I'm probably just impatient but we haven't been visited by... that woman yet."
Red hummed in thought. "By the by, how would she know where we live?"
The male resisted the urge to groan. "That's not important."
"Is she at least reliable?" asked IF.
"You tell me."
Red sighed. "Boy, we've been busy as hey... All the grinding, all the talking, all the conspiracy-ing, and all the busywork and we haven't had much of a break."
"Sorry 'bout that," Jacob apologised. "Truth be told, I can't wait for all this to be over, either. I am so going to relax and eat something nice when everything's dealt with."
Red smiled as her own imagination got to work, her feet kicking all the while. "I can't wait to have some quiet moments with just Iffy and me."
"Iffy and I," corrected Jacob, even though the red-haired girl was too caught up in her fantasy to care.
"Ooh, I just wanna kickstart my Charisma score already!" Red whined as she rocked in her seat.
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Your what score?"
"Y'know, my Charisma score! If a wifey manages to get my Charisma to a hundred first, they get both a bonus item and a hotel event!"
Jacob glanced at IF. The brunette just shrugged and started playing with her phone. "Um..." began the male, "I don't think this is that kind of game."
"Say what?"
"I think this is just a standard JRPG. Go into dungeons, beat up monsters and bosses, do it over again until we get to the end."
"Well, duh." The red-headed girl crossed her arms. "It's a side mechanic, not a main one."
"Isn't that just for the main character, though?"
Suddenly, Red's skin began to pale. It really made her hair stand out. "... What?"
"Oh dear," said Jacob, even as the smirk beginning to grow on his face contradicted his concerned tone.
"No no no no no!" Red flailed her arms widly. "Every girl in a party can raise their relationship values with each other!"
"Okay then," Jacob muttered before relaxing back into his seat. "I wouldn't be surprised if they went all-out with that sort of thing, though." From the corner of his eye, he saw 5pb glance at IF for just a moment.
Once the gondola finally reached its destination, the party waded through the forest and came to the Basilicom grounds resting in its centre. Walking through a forest was annoying but IF and Jacob silently agreed that it was still better than the snow that Lowee had going for it. However, the party also saw the Evangelist's silhouette walking briskly away from the building.
The party crossed in front of her and Jacob noticed how she nearly jumped in surprise. "Hello," he greeted Jacob.
"Oh, hello," returned the Evangelist, sounding like she was trying very hard to hide a rattled tone. She looked at the trees of the surrounding forest again. "Is there something you need? I'm afraid I am very busy."
"That's alright. We just wanted to talk to Lady Green Heart. Is she in?"
"I do apologise but she is not. She is out in the middle of important business. Now, if you'll excuse me—"
"I'm afraid we won't," IF interrupted. "Did you cave in the dungeon where Neptune and her party were in yesterday?"
Conversation's head snapped towards the Moderatist, potentially with wide eyes. "I, uh... There was a cave in? My word, are they okay?"
"They're perfectly fine. Also, you're a terrible liar."
"And you of all people picked that up..." muttered Jacob.
The Evangelist let out a tired breath. "It seems I can't hide things from you."
The Evangelist thrust her palm onto Jacob's chest so quickly that he didn't even have time to respond as she sent him flying with a burst of magic. Each successive bounce he suffered along the concrete that the Basilicom was built on knocked out more of his breath and his bearings before he fell to a roll that came to an eventual stop. Getting up, all he could do was groan in a daze, oblivious to Conversation charging at him with her hand cackling with energy. IF ran up to her and swiped horizontally with her extended hidden blades but the silhouette jumped back and evaded. IF stepped in to press on her attack but backed away once Conversation reached into the same sort of hammerspace that Neptune kept her swords in and swung a quadruple-edged spear-lance from it.
The same spear-lance that impaled Jacob all the way back in Planeptune.
IF could only mouth a 'what' in recognition of the weapon.
With a fair deal of effort, Jacob finally looked up from the ground again and saw the pole arm. His groans died in his throat.
"Uh, am I missing something here again?" Red asked in the silence.
"Ahahahahahahaha!" At once, the blackness of the silhouette thinned and faded like mist parting across her skin and revealed her form to the party. Jacob and IF recognised it all immediately; the pale purple skin. The tight black clothing. The witch's hat. "So we meet again!" Arfoire shouted.
"You were the Evangelist?" IF cried. "But... how?"
"It's one of my many talents, brat." The witch then turned to Jacob, who was too frightened to continue moving off the ground. She sneered. "What a shame that you didn't die after our first encounter. I suppose I'll correct that mistake today."
"Oh no you don't!" shouted Red as she threw a massive yo-yo towards Arfoire. She was deft enough to raise her lance to block but, upon impact with the other weapon, the yo-yo released an explosive burst. Arfoire grunted as she was forced back several feet while the yo-yo wasn't even scratched. The yo-yo then returned to Red, shrinking as it travelled until it was safe in the red-headed girl's grasp once more.
"W-What was that?" Arfoire stammered.
Red, like an overeager hero, thrust her index finger at Arfoire. "I have no idea who you are but I won't let anyone in my party get threatened! Not even the aliens that threaten my wifeys!"
"Your... what?"
"Take this!" Red shot out another yo-yo from her other sleeve. Like the previous yo-yo, it was initially small but it grew until it was even larger than its wielder.
Through the banter, the witch had recovered enough of her wits to fly to the side so that the toy just passed beside her. She then zoomed towards Red as her yo-yo began its journey back, her right arm ready to thrust her spear right at the red-haired girl. A jolt of pain seized Arfoire, thought, from several blue plasma balls that zoomed towards her and caused her to lose her balance mid-dash and just fell right in front of Red. The red-haired girl took her chance to jump away and catch her yo-yo.
Growling, Arfoire shot back up and looked around for the source of the electricity. It only took her a few moments to locate 5pb, her fingers on her guitar. "I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart!" she yelled as she flew towards the idol with her grip tight on her lance.
"5pb!" IF shouted, too far away to intercept. She dashed forward but that only made the image of Arfoire planting her feet right in front of the blunette and lunging with her weapon all the more horribly close and large.
Then the blunette flipped backwards, kicking Arfoire right in the chin with both feet and making the witch bend uncomfortably far back. Arfoire recovered and bent forward again, holding her aching chin and mouth, only to find 5pb swinging her guitar like an axe and slamming its body right in her face and knocking her backwards. The idol quickly twisted the guitar around in her grasp to hold it normally once more and quickly strummed it. Blue electricity grew from the instrument again and shot out as orbs that shocked Arfoire.
"Gnnnngh...!" the witch groaned, doubling over from the shock.
"Take this!" cried 5pb as she slammed her guitar down on Arfoire's head. "And that!" she yelled as she swung her guitar upwards Arfoire's head. "And this again!" She cried as she brought her guitar down aga—
"No!" Arfoire grabbed the guitar midswing and wrenched it out of the idol's hand before tossing it away. The motion was immediately followed through with a punch that knocked 5pb to the ground. Snarling, Arfoire rose her lance-spear once more. "You landed a decent hit, brat, but that is the best you will ever do!"
Jacob then came flying in with his legs outstretched, double-kicking Arfoire in the face and blasting her metres away just like she did to him. With her sufficiently far away, Jacob landed next to 5pb and helped her up with his gauntlet-clad hands. "You alright?"
The idol nodded. "Y-Yes."
"That's good to hear." Annoyed, he turned to look at Red and IF. "What the hell were you two doing just watching?"
"S-Sorry!" stammered IF, running up to the pair with Red. "I was just surprised because that was... That was really cool."
"Heck yeah it was!" Red leaned in closer to 5pb, gazing at her with pink hearts of wanton admiration acting as her irises. "When did you learn how to fight like that? That was awesome! I thought Iffy was the only one who could do movie kicks like that!"
"I-I-I-I-I-I..." 5pb, once again, was reduced to a sweating, stammering wreck.
"Ugh..."
The party immediately got onto the defensive as they heard Arfoire's groaning. The witch shakily pushed herself off the ground and turned to the quartet with a snarl on her face.
She rushed towards them, lance in hand and without a single word of gloating. 5pb dashed away to grab her guitar, Jacob took to the air, and IF charged at Arfoire with Red right behind her. IF sidestepped Arfoire's upwards slash and punched her hidden blade towards the witch's left arm. Arfoire twirled her weapon and deflected the small blade, sending IF lurching to the side. Arfoire sneered as she lunged forward at the opportunity of the helpless victim but Jacob fired his massive red laser from above, engulfing her in its blast. "Nngh...!" she grunted in pain as she withstood the attack for several seconds before it subsided.
Feeling the absence of the massive laser, Arfoire stopped bracing. She was then hit by Red's yo-yo that exploded on impact. IF, hearing Arfoire's cry of pain, saw the opening and rushed to attack at once.
Jacob sighed. "I know it helps a bit but I wish my gigantic killer laser beam did more than just irritate my enemies and my eyes when I use it."
The brunette dashed towards Arfoire and leapt up to kick her head but the witch flipped up her arm to block it and then struck IF with a swing of her lance. "Gah!" The Guild member was sent rolling a short distance away but, with a grunt, she stood back up again just as quickly. Extending both hidden blades, she ran towards the witch once more. Arfoire swung at IF but, ever the agile one, the Moderatist rolled under the swung and ended up behind her. Arfoire twisted her body and spun her cross-lance in a circle to strike IF behind her. The brunette rolled out of the way but one of the lance's edges nicked her hair. She continued to leap and spin as Arfoire continued her own smooth motions, which left IF unable to attack without risking getting torn apart by the jagged edges of her weapon.
A yellow orb shot down from the sky and struck Arfoire right in the chest. As the bewildered woman lost her balance, IF pounced on her and knocked her down. She attempted to drive her hidden blades into Arfoire's shoulders but the witch rolled back and kicked her off her person and stood back up in one swift manoeuvre. Another massive yo-yo was thrown her way but she spun out of its path of flight and zoomed towards its wielder.
"Uh oh!" shouted Red just before Arfoire grasped her head and threw her across the concrete ground. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" cried the red-haired girl with each successive bounce.
Three more orbs of electricity flew at Arfoire but she simply raised her lance and fired six magic missiles, three of them colliding with the orbs and the other three impacting the idol and blasting her to the ground.
With three combatants down, Arfoire looked to the sky at Jacob. She saw him holding his gauntlets together and pointed at her with the area between the palms glowing red.
"Wide Roar!" he yelled and fired another wave of crimson energy in Arfoire's direction. This time, the witch flew to the side and kept flying. Jacob rotated in the air, bringing his attack around as he went to try and capture Arfoire in it, but his turning was far too slow and Arfoire flew far too quickly. He stopped his attack and turned around to look behind him, right as Arfoire showed up in his vision and kicked him across the sky. As he tumbled, Arfoire flew towards him again and kicked him down into the ground.
The ground gave way, cracks showing around where Jacob crashed. His arm twitched but refused to move more than that. "Urgh..." he groaned, shuffling his limbs as he slowly tried to get back on his feet.
As if she was waiting for this very situation, Arfoire instantly charged at his prone form. "You're mine now!" she shouted with her weapon at the ready.
Even groggy, Jacob recognised the scenario immediately. The sensations of the past re-emerged in his mind; his stomach tensed as he remembered her lance driving into it and the tearing agony of the impalement. Sheer survival instinct pumping him with adrenaline, he rose his arms up in front of him but both in different ways; his right forearm faced towards Arfoire as if he was going to create a shield but he placed his left palm on the underside of his right forearm like he intended to fire an energy ball. He clenched his eyes shut and turned away, charging up his attacks in both gauntlets without regard for what the results would be and fired.
"What th—" he heard Arfoire blurt out before something impacted her hard and forced the breath out of her. He opened his eyes and saw her flying backwards before she righted herself in the air and landed back on her feet, although she still looked bewildered.
"Jacob, what was that?" IF asked.
"Huh?" Jacob's head snapped towards his friend.
"Hey, do it again! Whatever you did just now!"
"Wh... Okay then!" Jacob raised his arms like before but deliberately this time.
"You are not going to get the better of me again!" Arfoire snarled as she charged at him once more.
"Since when did we ask you?" 5pb strummed her guitar quickly and sent out more shocking orbs in Arfoire's direction. The spheres surrounded the witch, harming her with their static and slowing her down. Arfoire gritted her teeth and flew to the idol instead, damning the pain, but IF and Red dashed into her path.
Jacob watched as a new shield formed in front of him. It was slightly larger than his one-handed shield but, with his palm pressed against the underside of his forearm, it was yellow instead of clear. With one more thought, Jacob fired the vertical disk at Arfoire, who had the presence of mind to jump backwards and dodge.
A fusion of his shield and his energy ball attacks. Jacob looked at the palms of his gauntlets with unfamiliarity, like he was just wearing them again for the first time. "I can combine my abilities...?"
"This is ridiculous!" Arfoire cried. She sidestepped IF and made her way to Red, who was standing in front of 5pb but with an oddly rigid stance and her hand up her sleeve. "Die!"
SLASH!
It was like her breath had been snatched from her. Although it was holding her lance, Arfoire's right hand pushed her up from the ground as she was brought to her knees. She held her stomach with her left arm, trying to contain the pain left by... whatever trick that little girl pulled. It felt like she just got slashed right across the stomach but with what? The girl carried no sword. While thinking about this, her breath returned only slightly and she panted in exertion.
Red, humming with pride, spun her flying disc on her finger before returning it to the inside of her sleeve. "I might just toy with you but you should never toy with me."
"How long have you been waiting to use that?" asked IF.
"Ever since I met Jake. I got bored of waiting for our eventual final battle for your soul, though."
Mustering a groan, Arfoire stood up after a painful attack for the second time that day. Once more, IF, 5pb, and Red readied their weapons and stood with caution.
"I have had it with you..." Arfoire's voice was low and the party could see the slightest of shaking from her. "I cannot lose to you. You... and only four of you, even without a CPU amongst you, have humiliated me without end." The witch then glared at them with dark eyes as full of anger as she could muster. "I swear that, upon this hour's end, I will reduce you all to ashes!"
Before she took even one step forward, another Wide Roar separated Arfoire from the three girls. From the other side, Arfoire could hear the idol strumming her guitar so she flew up just as blue lightning spheres passed through where she just was. She hovered over the fading beam and landed behind 5pb, surprising the idol and swung down her spear-lance on her head but 5pb flipped up her guitar so its underside blocked the polearm. Red brought out her oversized kendama and prepared to swing it but Arfoire spun around and kicked Red in the stomach, making her drop her weapon as she skidded along the ground.
IF went for a sweeping kick but the witch levitated upwards, letting the brunette's leg pass harmlessly below her before she let herself down on the ground again. At the same time, 5pb took a swing with her guitar but Arfoire blocked it with her own weapon. She drove her spear-lance down towards IF but the brunette rolled out of the way and quickly stood back up before jumping backwards as Arfoire stabbed her polearm forward.
By this point, 5pb had put some distance between herself and the witch and began playing her guitar. She conjured more electric spheres into existence before flinging them at her enemy. Arfoire danced around the projectiles with little effort and fired half a dozen of magic missiles in retaliation. One struck the guitar but the other five hit the idol on varying points of her body, bursting on impact.
"Kyaaah!" cried 5pb as she was launched off her feet and onto her back. Impressively, the idol still held onto her guitar.
"You bitch!" shouted IF as she rushed at Arfoire.
Arfoire sneered at the Moderatist but noticed another yellow disc zooming towards her, this time horizontal rather than vertical and faster for it. Arfoire quickly blocked the offending attack but her surprise made it a weak defence; she had to twist her body just so that the force wouldn't trip her over. She looked towards the origin of the disc and found Jacob standing with his left arm pointed towards her, its hand tilted down and his other hand holding the underside of his left forearm. Unlike his previous stance, this one was meant for offence.
IF didn't hesitate to take advantage of Arfoire's momentarily shattered balance and pounced on her with her left hidden blade extended. She held onto Arfoire's left shoulder and thrust her blade towards the opposite but the witch caught her left arm by the wrist and, with a strength that could only be described as supernatural, tore IF from her person and swung her around. One of Jacob's smaller lasers was splashing against her back but it was little more than an annoyance; it failed to interrupt her from using her other hand to grab the back of IF's head and driving her face into the ground.
One more horizontal disc was shot at Arfoire but her block was stronger, quicker, and more steadfast this time and she deflected the projectile. She then sped towards Jacob, who had shifted his arms so his wrists were pressed together and his fingers were flayed out. Arfoire recognised this stance as well as the building shimmer of red light in his hands. She protected her face with her left arm and kept her right arm with her spear-lance pointed outwards.
Instead of a Wide Roar, however, what she received was a burning sphere fired right into the arm protecting her face.
"Whargh?!" Arfoire couldn't keep down her yelp of pain. Her arm felt like it had just been punched by a fist of burning ashes. She tripped onto the ground in front of Jacob, keeping her arm tucked to her stomach. Jacob stepped forward and, with all the strength in his right gauntlet-clad hand, slammed it up under Arfoire's face with an uppercut. The tremendous blow forced Arfoire upwards into a loose standing position.
Without waiting for her to fall down, Red swung her kendama and slammed the dazed Arfoire towards IF. "Hey Iffy, catch!"
Upright again, the Moderatist grinned with readiness in spite of her injuries. When the witch reached her, IF jumped into the air, wrapped her legs around Arfoire's head, and twisted her body to bring the witch down into the solid earth.
That was the intention, anyway. Unfortunately for IF, Arfoire managed to keep steady and resist being thrown to the ground. She then grabbed IF's legs, took the brunette off her shoulders and then threw her towards Red.
"Uh o—" was all Red managed to say before IF's flying body knocked her away.
Arfoire faced 5pb, her spear-lance glowing with crimson power before releasing it as a volley of attacks that swarmed towards the idol. Jacob flew in front of her and crossed his arms, generating a large transparent barrier that absorbed Arfoire's magic missiles. Frowning, Arfoire flew towards Jacob and double-kicked his shield. Although the barrier blocked light attacks just fine and protected those behind it from additional damage, Jacob still had to withstand the force behind each assault and any heavy strikes were enough to launch him along with his barrier. His flying body impacted 5pb and she too was blown away, the both of them hitting the ground moments later.
Smirking and twirling her weapon in her hand, Arfoire took a step towards the idol and the male—
BANG!
A gasp exploded from the witch as a bullet was fired into her side. Her face snapped to the left and she saw IF, standing shakily and bleeding from her head but her arm raised all the same. The small barrel on her vambrace breathed fresh smoke. Beside her, Red was even worse for wear but her flying discs were drawn and her fingers danced for the opportune moment to use them.
Jacob groaned as he pushed himself back up. "This really isn't going our way... You alright, 5pb?"
Taking deep and heavy breaths, the idol stood up once more. "I'm fine," she grunted as she rubbed her shoulder. "But we are really at a big disadvantage."
"We're doing everything we can but she's just not staying down... It's going on forever..."
IF, Red, and Arfoire continued to skirmish as Jacob and 5pb caught their breaths. While the witch pushed very aggressively, IF and Red were much more defensive. They dodged and (barely) blocked each of Arfoire's strikes and attacked without causing much damage but stopped her from getting too much momentum. IF threw her hidden blade at Arfoire's right side but she spun away from it. This put her in position to be sliced along the back of her legs by Red's flying discs but she blocked both of them with her lance. IF continued attacking and moving around the witch before Arfoire finally had enough and forced IF away from her. At the same time, Red jumped back.
Now IF, Red and Jacob stood around Arfoire at three points in the shape of a triangle.
"Rush her!"
At Jacob's call, him, IF, and Red dashed towards Arfoire in complete sync. Red traded in her flying discs for her kendama and leapt, holding it behind her head. IF extended her hidden blades and held her arms back with the intent to thrust them forward. Jacob, currently the fastest of the three thanks to his jetpack, extended one hand out and held the other back, one preparing to fire an orb and the other preparing to punch the witch.
Arfoire smirked. "Is that all?"
One twirl of her spear-lance deflected the orb fired by Jacob. She continued moving the spear until it was in Red's way and blocked the powerful swing of her toy hammer. With her left hand, she released a pulse that blasted IF back and away from her. She snapped a kick upwards to catch Jacob right in the chin and drop him like a stone. Red had broken away from Arfoire's block, spun around for momentum and attempted to strike Arfoire horizontally but the witch deflected even that and batted Red away entirely.
"Hey!" Jacob's cry caught the witch's attention and she turned around only to find him rocketing at her as fast as his jetpack would allow. His entire body crashed into her and sent her flying back before he stopped charging and landed on the ground. While she was landing and recovering her balance, Jacob ran towards her while firing a laser from his left palm. The red beam forced her to turn her head away but she evaded it soon enough, right in time to catch a right-handed punch from Jacob.
With him right where she wanted him, she returned by thrusting her weapon at Jacob's eye. In one unreal moment, the jagged blade pierced his flesh.
"AAAH—"
A clang! sounded as a trident flew in and caught Arfoire's spear-lance between its prongs and pushed it away from Jacob's face, making a few drops of blood shake off and fall to the ground. However, Jacob still collapsed on his knees, holding his left eye in his hands.
"Another one? Who's there?!" Arfoire demanded as she looked in the direction of the trident's arrival. Anger quickly became surprise as she saw a tall silhouette coming from the open doors of the Basilicom. The silhouette reached up and adjusted his tall hat. "A... Archbishop?"
"Yvoire?" IF blurted in disbelief.
"I came to investigate all of the commotion. What is going on out here?" he questioned as he surveyed the scene. He knew IF and Jacob well enough, and 5pb was extremely famous, but the red-headed girl was a mystery to him. And that purple witch who, unlike the other four, didn't look anywhere near worn down... "And who are you?"
5pb took it upon herself to rush up to Jacob's side and shake him by his shoulder. "Hey! Jacob! Are you okay?"
"I..." he panted, "I'm... I'm fine..." Steadily, he removed his hand from his eye. The lower-left of the palm was stained with blood. His eye was unharmed but a thin scratch ran along the side of his head. "Sorry, I overreacted a bit... I just thought that could've been a lot worse..."
The idol sighed. "Well..." She smiled at him. "That's true. It's a good thing you're alright."
He chuckled. "Thankfully, yeah." Jacob walked over to the fallen trident and tossed it over to the Archbishop. "Yvoire, catch!"
The weapon fell at his feet. "My thanks!" he called as he ducked down and picked it up, whereupon he spun it around and held it pointed at Arfoire. "There is nowhere left to run. Face your punishment, heretic."
"Ahahahahaha!" Arfoire cackled. "You truly have no idea!"
Arfoire flew backwards to recover her polearm. IF and Red fired their bullets and pachinko balls at her but the attacks, while stinging, failed to deter her and she flicked up the weapon from the ground using her foot. She caught it as it spun in the air and turned around just in time to block a downwards strike from the Archbishop's trident. He pushed as hard as he could but Arfoire was barely exerting herself even with just one hand. Using two, she pushed him away with ease and proceeded to bat away two flying discs thrown by Red and an empty bottle of reflex thrown by IF, who looked a lot healthier.
As Red, IF and Yvoire held off Arfoire once again, 5pb looked at Jacob. "I think I have an idea."
"Hm?" He looked at her curiously.
"Those gauntlets of yours can combine energies to produce different effects, correct?"
"Yeah, seems like it. Why?"
With a slight click, 5pb detached the pick hanging from her choker. "Try firing the Wide Roar."
He realised her plan in that instant. He eagerly extended his arms and began charging up his second largest yet second most ineffectual attack in between his palms.
The idol grinned and began strumming her guitar with her heart-shaped pick. Sparks of blue lightning began shooting around her instrument and gathered towards Jacob's gauntlets. The red glow became blue. The gathering energy became more excited. Jacob's arms began to twitch.
"O-Oh m-my g-god...!" he stammered.
"What's wrong?"
"I-It's t-tickling m-my a-arms!"
5pb had to hold herself back from laughing. "Then this is bound to work! Get ready!"
Arfoire pinned the head of Yvoire's trident to the ground, rammed him with her shoulder, punched him in the stomach, and struck his chin with an uppercut. Red fired more pachinko balls, prompting the witch to turn around and attempt to run Red through with her spear lance but Red dodged, ran forward, and sliced along Arfoire's side with her flying disc. A grunt of pain escaped the witch before she spun around with her lance outstretched. Red jumped back and IF jumped forward, punching out her legs right in the witch's stomach and causing her to double over.
"Everyone out of the way!" called 5pb.
Red, IF and Yvoire looked towards the idol and, eyes widening in record time, ran away from Arfoire as fast as they could. Arfoire, still holding her stomach, looked up at the blue light and froze.
The idol and male shouted at once right before firing, "Discordous Covenant!"
With a shrieking howl, the world suddenly turned sapphire as a gargantuan wave of shining blue energy engulfed Arfoire. Red, IF, and Yvoire covered their ears, turned away, and closed their eyes to avert themselves from the blinding, racing lights and the ear-tearing roar of the attack. Jacob closed his eyes as well but kept his hands firing the attack, while 5pb kept strumming her guitar with all her concentration and relied on her headphones to protect her, no matter how much the combination attack was shaking them and making them buzz with the vibration alone.
One unbearably loud moment followed another, like being tossed around in a tidal wave, then the howl died down. The world of blue receded and reality took its proper place.
Sensing the normality, Red, IF, 5pb, and Yvoire opened their eyes. For twenty metres forward from Jacob, the concrete had been burnt utterly black. Grains of the concrete had been shredded off, fringing the path like a shadow. The legs of IF and Red were slightly blackened from these ashes and their clothes had been similarly dirtied.
In the middle of it all, Arfoire miraculously remained intact. Her clothes were only slightly torn yet they were irreparably black. Blue sparks of electricity jumped and coursed along her body. Her legs apart, she stood hunched and twitching.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Jacob grunted before falling to his knees and covering his ears. "Frig, that hurts...!"
"I will... admit..." She coughed slightly, "that... was... good... But... I am... not... down just yet..."
Yvoire growled. "Even after such a brilliant assault, she still stands."
"Not for long!" Red pulled out two yo-yos and threw them at Arfoire. "Hasta la vista, witchy!" she shouted, her confidence growing like her yo-yos did mid-flight.
Snarling, the witch deflected both of the yo-yos with one swing of her spear-lance. However, her balance was sacrificed and she had to use her weapon to support herself so that she wouldn't collapse.
"Oh come on!" whined Red.
"Okay, screw this..." Jacob stood up once more and pulled out a bottle of reflex. "5pb, I'm going to go get some help. I'll fly down and be back before you know it. "
The idol nodded at him firmly. "We can hold her back if she's like this and you need to recover anyway. Drink plenty of reflex as you go. Hopefully, we'll be able to finish her off before you return."
"Sounds good to me." Jacob rose into the air again, high above the trees surrounding the Basilicom. "IF, Red! I'll be back soon! Hold on!"
"Huh?" IF turned around just in time to see Jacob flying off towards the main landmass, too far away for him to hear her if she called out. "Oh. Well, okay then."
"Hm. We're one ally short," Yvoire commented. "No matter. You, witch, are on your last legs. Surrender yourself or prepare for execution at my hand."
Arfoire chuckled. "Oh, my poor fool. You couldn't execute me if I was a mule. But, if you're so confident... I'll correct that." Arfoire stood a bit straighter. She closed her eyes and relaxed her posture. Her relaxation unsettled Red, IF, 5pb, and Yvoire but they stood wary regardless.
Then a sudden purple pulse burst around Arfoire like an aura. The electricity that charged her had been entirely vanquished. Smirking, the witch rolled her shoulders without any of the paralysis that had afflicted her. "Well now, that is much better."
"No... No way..." 5pb could hardly speak.
"Don't be mistaken; you have indeed damaged me significantly." Arfoire cradled the back of her neck with her hand and twisted it around. "But I am no wooden duck that will go down with one good shot."
Knock, knockknockknock knock. Knock knock.
"Huh?" Neptune looked away from the TV to look at the door. Just as her attention was taken, a large 'BOOM!' sounded from the TV. Neptune snapped her gaze back to it but, to her horror, she lost her last life in a fighting game. "Crackers!"
"Neptune lost," Gust pointed out, holding a Wii mote horizontally like Compa and Nisa also did. "Loser answers door."
"Your face answers the door..." Neptune mumbled as she stood up.
Knockknockknockknockknockknockknockknockk—
"I'm coming! Jeez!" The CPU made her way to the room's door. She reached out towards the handle—
"NEPTUNE!" shouted Jacob as he forced the door open so quickly that Neptune's clothes rustled. He looked oddly frantic and rattled. Also, his clothes were very dirty like he had been rolling on the ground. "How would you like to actually get into a good fight again after who knows how long?"
Neptune blinked. "When did you get here?"
"Splendid! Let's go!" With that, Jacob seized the CPU's wrist and dragged her down the hallway.
Compa, Nisa and Gust blinked as they looked at the now vacant portal.
"Did Jake just kidnep Nep-Nep?" asked Compa.
They all blinked again.
"Should we follow them?" asked Nisa.
"I think so," answered the nurse.
"Hngh!" grunted Yvoire as he blocked a powerful horizontal swipe of Arfoire's lance with his trident. The attack had such force behind it that it left him momentarily shaken, long enough for her to punch him in the chest and send him flying back.
Arfoire then quickly spun around and fired a volley of magic missiles at an equally numerous volley of plasma spheres that 5pb launched at her. "Aha ha ha!" she cackled. "You fought well! Very well, in fact!"
IF and Red closed in on Arfoire with their hidden blades and flying discs but Arfoire deflected each of their strikes and returned with her own. Despite this, the two of them continued pressing on and Arfoire, weakened tremendously, was pushed back further and further. "I will reign triumphant in the end!" she shouted. "All you are doing is delaying your demise!"
"ARFOIRE!"
All of the combatants looked up at the furious call. Two individuals were flying to the battle zone; one left behind a purple glow with her sword and butterfly-esque wings while the other trailed along behind her. Purple Heart descended furiously with her sword and would have skewered Arfoire had the witch not dodged to the side so that the blade impaled the ground instead. The CPU removed her weapon from the ground as Jacob landed behind her. "Hello, Arfoire. I was waiting for you to strike. You threaten my friends, you lie to all of us... I'm going to enjoy this fight, even if you're not at full power."
Arfoire gritted her teeth. Her left hand kept reaching to her right side almost reflexively. Her grip on her spear-lance was slackening. Her posture was loose and unbalanced. She had taken far too much damage. If it was only those three girls and the Archbishop, she might have won but now she had a CPU to contend with.
"This isn't over!" she declared as she turned around and flew away.
"You're not getting away from me this time!" Purple Heart gave chase with fervour. "I have a score to settle with you!"
Jacob flew to the side so he wasn't behind Purple Heart and fired a Wide Roar in front of Arfoire. The witch, however, charged through Jacob's laser without any sense of hesitation. At the very least, the attack slowed her down so Purple Heart and Jacob could catch up. The male reached her first and attempted to strike her down with a punch but she caught his arm and pulled him in front of Purple Heart. As the CPU stopped in her tracks and ceased her attack, Arfoire then threw Jacob at her. Purple Heart, anticipating such a move, flew up and out of Jacob's path of flight so that he could be thrown and beaten on the concrete rather than her.
Nothing protected Arfoire now. Purple Heart moved in and slashed down only to come into contact with Arfoire's impeccably-timed spear-lance summon. The two weapons pressed and pushed against each other but Purple Heart was gradually gaining more of an edge. With a cry, she tore Arfoire's block apart and then kicked her back.
Arfoire kneeled and gasped for breath. Purple Heart marched towards her nemesis, her black sword waiting eagerly at her side. "I knew you were going to be a pest but I never expected you to reach this level of villainy." She took hold of her blade with both hands. "With you gone, Momus will be next. If you of all people boast of his power, then I have no reason to be afraid."
The witch chuckled and sneered. "Oh, my little thick-headed goddess... Momus isn't the sort of thing you can kill."
Clank...!
The CPU stopped. Her head snapped to the right, beyond the trees and towards the distant noise. The others did the same.
"Was that the carrier?" Yvoire asked.
"W-Whatever!" Refocusing on Arfoire, the CPU realised that she made use of the distraction to fly away. She didn't get too far, though, and Purple Heart could easily catch up if she hurried. "Don't you dare run away from—"
"—aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" screamed Nisa as she was pulled along via a string of bandages by a carriage car that was flying over the trees, falling right in front of Purple Heart with a deafening CRASH that blasted the pavement as a fine powder against her, while Nisa was launched onto the Basilicom's outer wall.
Purple Heart transformed back into Neptune, possibly not by choice. She was just as still from shock as she was in her HDD form and her mouth was frozen into an 'o' that never said a word.
No one else made a sound as the battered heroine slid down the wall like an old fridge magnet. Flakes of the wall fell out from the indent that Nisa left upon impact. Some broke apart into fine dust on her exhausted body.
Groaning, the gondola doors were eventually opened by Gust. Without the door supporting her, the alchemist fell to the ground quickly, gasping for breath and her eyes open wide yet strangely dead.
Compa, with a great deal of hesitation, rested her shaking fingers on the door frame and peeked out. It was silent. Purple Heart, Jacob, Red, IF, and 5pb only looked at her without a word. "N...Nep-Nep...?" Compa asked tentatively as she stepped out of the gondola.
Neptune blinked twice. "C-Compa?" she uttered.
"Gnnnnngh..." Nisa's bones were cricking loud enough for everyone to hear as she pushed herself up from the ground. She rolled her shoulders, producing a blender-like sound, and rolled her neck to produce the same results. "I came as quickly as I could..." she said, fixing her goggles. "What's going on?"
"I should be asking that." Jacob responded. "What did you do?"
Nisa and Compa looked back at the gondola. The windows were shattered and the impact flattened the entire frame. No one was going to be riding on that unless they were absolutely insane or the person in charge of maintaining the transports was absolutely lacking in funds and/or ethics.
"Um..." Nisa nervously patted her hair, causing loose dust to fall from it. "I just wanted to get here quickly..."
Nisa, Compa and Gust, being unable to fly, had to run as fast as they could if they were to make it to the brawl. Unfortunately, while Nisa was a well-trained heroine of justice with strong and durable legs, Compa and Gust were a ditzy nurse-in-training and a diminutive alchemist respectively. Hence, once they arrived at the cable car, Compa and Gust collapsed onto the ground as they panted hard enough to propel a ship.
"Not... worth... it..." Gust wheezed. "Couldn't... pay me... enough..."
Inspecting the inter-island transport, Nisa clenched her fists. "This won't do at all! My dearest sister and my diligent student are fighting for their lives! This piece of garbage is far too slow to reach them in time!"
"At... least..." Compa reached to open the door and collapsed against the side, "we... can catch... our breath..."
While the nurse and alchemist crawled limply into the cable car without even a pretence of urgency, Nisa stood a few steps away, looking at the ship while holding her chin and tapping her foot. "Hm..."
She did this for a few seconds longer than Gust liked, prompting the alchemist to poke her head out and glare at the vigilante. "Hurry...! Don't have all day...!"
"Aha!" Shooting out of her thinking pose, Nisa ran to the door and looked at Compa. "Compa! I need as much length of bandage as you can spare!"
The nurse, while still glassy-eyed and not entirely healed from expending all her energy, managed to reach into her disk and pull out a roll of bandages that she passed to Nisa. "Sure... Why...?"
"Using my justice and your instruments of healing, I shall accelerate us towards the battle! We shall save our comrades in the nick of time! Now make sure you're seated comfortably and securely!"
With that, the heroine slammed the door shut with enough force to make Gust and Compa wince and cover their ears. With a tight grip on the bandages, she then jumped up onto the roof of the car. Sharing a glance and blinking at each other, Compa and Gust looked out the window and waited for Nisa to come down. She did after a few seconds, and with a trail of bandages tied around her waist and leading up to the roof of the car. The heroine dusted her hands and jogged to a fair distance away, the line of bandages getting longer and tauter as more distance was put between Nisa and the cable car. With a confident grin, the heroine leaned back and twisted her body.
By the time Compa and Gust realised what she was up to, it was far too late but panic makes you desperate. "NISA, NO!"
"JUSTICE KICK!"
Nisa's mighty leg flew through the air and punched right into the back of the cable car, launching it hazardously fast along its cable with Compa's bandages taking Nisa along with a sharp intake of air on her part.
"Well, okay then." Jacob rubbed the back of his neck.
"You're not surprised?" asked Compa.
"I just wasn't expecting a bloody cable car to just drop in front of us like that. That actually does sound like something you would do, Sensei."
Nisa probably would've folded her arms if they weren't so tired.
"You..." Yvoire paused, trying to reach the words so close yet so nonsensical as to be so far away. "You... kicked the gondola...?"
The heroine and nurse-in-training looked at the new speaker. Nisa's face contorted into an expression of rage so abruptly that it was hard to believe she was fatigued to begin with. "YOU..." she snarled as she drew her Prinny Gun and marched towards him.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Jacob was quick to place a hand on Nisa's shoulder, stilling her for a moment. "Hold on, now."
Nisa was still furious beyond all reckoning but at least she kept herself from lunging at Yvoire.
Jacob sighed. He walked over to the Archbishop, who held his trident closer to him. Jacob extended his hand to him. "Can you stand?"
"I..." Yvoire lowered his guard. He took Jacob's hand in his own and, with Jacob's assistance, stood up. "I can. Thank you."
"That's good to hear."
And then Jacob punched him in the face hard enough to knock him down onto the concrete.
"That wouldn't have been so satisfying, otherwise."
The Archbishop coughed as he pushed himself off the ground once more. His head turned to Jacob and Jacob found himself wondering if silhouettes bled red or black blood. Or if they even bled at all. "What..." Yvoire coughed, "What... is the idea...?"
"Sorry 'bout that. It's just that, after you tried to convince IF to poison her own teammate, did it yourself anyway, drove a wedge into our group, acted like a massive bigot, and broke our dog, I'm a tad incensed and you just happened along as the perfect stress relief."
Something in the Archbishop's face showed surprised. Jacob didn't know what it was—maybe it was in the corners of the silhouette's face—but Yvoire wasn't expecting him to say that. "How did you know...?"
"I was there. I heard all..." The word was spoken as if through a fire in his throat that he kept deliberately small yet healthy enough to let big if he wanted to, "... of it. Every word, every action. I prefer to advocate forgiveness but... Well, Yvoire, you've made me angry. I'm... I'm not ready to forgive you just yet."
Yvoire turned his head down. Jacob kept looking down at Yvoire in turn.
"Hey!" Nisa called. "I wanted to deck him! Why did you stop me?"
"Because I wanted to do it first—"
Before he could finish, Neptune rushed to the Archbishop, forcefully grabbed his collar and hosted him off the ground. "What is your deal?!" she shouted as she shook him more roughly than the party thought she would. "We were a team! Iffy, Compa, Nisa, Gust, Sparky and me! We went on adventures and we did everything together and we were best buddies! Then you came along and tried to make Iffy the broody bad guy! She was my friend, you jerk! One of my first! What is wrong with you?! You're evil!"
As Neptune bombarded Yvoire with her tirade, Jacob and IF noticed that she was crying all the while. The Archbishop's face never moved away from the CPU's, though; even while confronted with her emotions, he remained staunch and unchanging.
"H-Hey, Neptune..." IF mumbled too quietly for the CPU to hear as she inched her hand towards her.
"Yvoire," Jacob cut in. "We're looking for Vert. Where is she?"
"And why..." Yvoire spat a black glob of saliva onto the ground. Even if he was bleeding, Jacob couldn't tell. "Why... do you think I would tell you...?"
Jacob took a breath. "Your goddess favours us. You have caused a lot of damage. You did this to us. Now take us to Vert or we'll do something we won't care to regret until later when it'll be too late to fix it. I can guarantee you, we're tempted."
Yvoire turned his eyes from Jacob to look at the other six girls with Jacob and the CPU. 5pb and Red looked at him with confusion but Compa, Nisa, Gust, and IF were livid. He didn't know how precisely angry they were but he knew that was dangerous territory to tread.
The Archbishop growled to himself.
"Fine. Screw it. We'll find her inside." Jacob roughly turned and began walking towards the Basilicom doors.
"No, that will not be necessary..." Groaning, the Archbishop pushed himself to his feet. "I will take you to her... After that witch character just left, I have to confess that I am slightly worried... Do you know what she was doing here?"
"She was the Evangelist," IF answered.
"What?" Yvoire's head quickly snapped to the brunette. "But... What?"
"She was in disguise. She orchestrated the cave-in of the dungeon Neptune was taken to and there's a lot more to her than you know. Too long didn't listen, she's a lying bad guy."
"But..." Panicked, Yvoire turned towards the Basilicom. "But the Evangelist was just in a meeting with Lady Greet Heart!"
Everyone froze. "Wait, so Lady Green Heart..." IF began.
"Then she is in danger!" The Archbishop was fatigued and heavily injured from his brief involvement in the fight against Arfoire but that didn't stop him from charging right back into the Basilicom.
"First Arfoire, now this! C'mon, everyone!" Neptune dashed into the Basilicom with the rest of the two parties trailing behind her.
"So when is someone gonna tell me what's going on?!" Red shouted.
You know... It really is good to be back. I missed you guys. I missed this place and I missed enjoying writing. I'm happy to be putting out another chapter for you people who read and enjoy this self-insert adventure of mine. How this fic is so popular, I'll never know... but things are as they are, I guess. :D
I'd like to give credit to ghostdominion6. He has been a dedicated beta-reader of mine for an absurd amount of time who has been a great source of inspiration as I bounce my narrative off him. He is also writing his own Neptunia fiction, including As You Like It and its ongoing sequels. Give him a read; he's entertaining and thorough.
Next chapter? Well, I have something I want to prepare for Christmas so it'll have to be after that, I'm afraid. In the meantime, I hope this suffices.