~Chapter 6: Return Zero ~
~Gamindustri Plains~
Uni soared rapidly through the sky with Rex, she didn't even know if she could trust this mech, but if Nepgear was in danger, it's not as though she had much of a choice to begin with. In a rush, she contacted Histoire as she fumbled with the flight controls of the mech trying to stabilize it as she flew.
"Histoire! There's been an unauthorized artificial intelligence that's been accessing the remnants of data left in Lastation's old basilicom!" Uni screamed over the roaring sounds of the thrusters below the mech."
"U-Uni!? Where are you? Why is it so loud!? What do you mean there's an artificial intelligence in Lastation? Look, whatever is going on you need to know that Nepgear is-"
"Headed to the graveyard to die? Yeah, I know, I'm giving her an earful when we get back!" Uni seemed to squeeze the controls of the mech ever tighter, throttling the engines to its maximum as she approached the graveyard. "Just do something about that A.I I've got enough bullshit on my plate already!"
"Understood. I'll contact a technical team- ah! Neptune don't grab that! That's not a toy!" Neptune playfully screaming could be heard for a second before the call was hung up.
Uni wanted to smile a little bit when she heard Neptune's voice but immediately focused on the job at hand. "Nepgear you idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"
~ Years Ago, In a Lowee orphanage~
A young Nepgear sat alone in the corner of the playroom, the rest of the children were playing around, ignoring her. Some were playing house, pretending to be a family, others were wrestling for toys for which there were few. As she sat alone, suddenly a ball bounced and landed near her foot, she looked up to see the other children, too afraid to get close to her. She looked nothing like any of them. Many of them had black or brunette hair, and slightly tanned and brown skin, whereas Nepgear was pale like the snow that fell outside, marked as an outcast with her bright pink pair almost acted like a source of light compared to everything else in the room with it's grey and brown interior.
Nepgear stood up, this small action on its own already scared the other children that were nearby, she picked up the ball and looked up at the rest of the children, her hair fell and scattered to the sides of her face, finally revealing her eyes which had been hidden from the others since they started playing. Her striking purple eyes pierced into the hearts of the other children, who ran away in fear. Nepgear sat back into the corner again.
Lunchtime finally started. Just as with the playroom, Nepgear was isolated again, she sat at one edge of the table, while the rest of the students tried to get as far away from her as possible, some sat on each other's laps and others opted to sit on the floor, anything to sit as far away from the pink-haired outcast.
When recess started, Nepgear opted to stay inside and work on drawings, that was until she noticed something, an open maintenance door. Out of curiosity, she opened it to find a cleaning robot, she herself wouldn't have known exactly what it was at the time, but something about it seemed to comfort her as she sat next to the worn-down and inoperable machine. Unlike the other children in the school, this thing couldn't hurt her, it couldn't isolate her, it wouldn't view her as a monster.
It was there next to it she found a dozen robotics magazines, and even a repair instruction manual on the machine. Nepgear, with what little she knew, started to smile, she didn't know exactly what was happening, but she felt happy as she dug through the tools in the maintenance room and started to play around with the machines.
As for the adult supervision in the orphanage, there was little to none, at times just a single maid to make sure the kids weren't too noisy, but there wasn't anyone to check in on Nepgear, who found herself in the maintenance closet more often, and the other children didn't seem to mind, they were too busy to their own devices.
Months passed, after countless tinkering and trial and error, Nepgear finally managed to repair the machine itself, it's metal parts scurried and tumbled in place, and it roared like an animal as it stood up, but it did it's job. The overseer maid was aghast at seeing the worn-down machine finally operable again, but when she finally put together that Nepgear was the one who repaired the machine, a bright idea came to her mind.
Years would pass, and with the help of funds from a mysterious relative, Nepgear found herself working as a roboticist supplying mechanical assistance to both her old orphanage and the high school she would later attend. She didn't care that she was an outcast, that she was alone. All she cared about was that she could finally help people with her creations. As for herself, she never really knew what she wanted herself, she was only concerned with how she could help the young man get home safely, ensure the old lady nearby could cross the street, help the disabled war veteran in getting out of bed.
She hated idleness, soon, she found herself unable to sit still throughout the day, always finding the next task to accomplish. Nepgear was happy. But the rest of the world would soon drag on her. No matter how many young men she helped, there would always be those drafted into the military, to die in territorial wars against Lastation and Leanbox, no matter how many old women she helped across the street, there would always be a multitude of car-related accidents due to the outdated and poor infrastructure of Lowee. And no matter how many old veterans she helped, the neglect of their nation would leave them with fates worse than death.
Nepgear only had one thought for herself: "Does anything I do matter at all?"
~Gamindustri Graveyard~
Nepgear woke up in a haze, but past her blurred vision, she could see a flash of black with a streak of purple charge at her from the air. The dazed CPU picked herself up and dashed out of the way of the plunging sword just in time, losing a lock of hair in the process.
Falling on her back, she wearily pushed herself back up from off the ground and saw the tall figure with the purple sword slowly and effortlessly walking towards her despite having Excalibur already plunged in it's chest.
"What the hell are you!?"
"Conquest…" The figure spoke.
"That's a shitty name, your parents must've hated your dumbass" Nepgear charged toward Conquest and jumped over her, baiting out her first swing, then, she used her grappling hook to pull herself toward the ground and plunged her foot down into the hilt of Excalibur, launching the sword out of Excalibur chest and leaving a huge gash that healed itself before Excalibur could land back into Nepgears hands.
"I don't know what the hell that sword is…" Nepgear spoke to herself "But it's giving me a goddamn migraine every time I'm near it" The weary goddess charged Excalibur with her own share energy and launched it at Conquest who simply did a single swipe with the purple blade to knock the energy away.
"Give up. Die quickly. Face Reality." Conquest spoke coldly.
"Eat a dick!" Nepgear screamed as she rushed in again with Excalibur and immediately ducked Conquest's wide slash with a sweeping attack that tripped Conquest up into the air. Nepgear swiped up, launching the tall figure further into the air. As conquest was launched away, Nepgear used her grappling hook and pulled conquest back to herself, and then used her shoulder to ram the pulled in Conquest and smashed her against piles of broken-down machines. But despite Nepgears efforts, Conquest got back up effortlessly, simply wringing out her shoulder while walking towards Nepgear briskly.
The two clashed blades again, Nepgear was never the best swordswoman, especially when compared to Neptune. While Neptune swung with finesse and control, Nepgear was wild, overswinging with rage and anger. And conquest took advantage of this weakness, redirected her excess moment and leaving her open for counter attacks that Nepgear tried blocking with manifested share energy, but her guard broke easily, only able to counter Conquest's follow up swipes with Excalibur within milliseconds and millimeters of the attacks hitting her.
Nepgear dashed back wards and pulled out her handgun, firing dozens of volleys that Conquest didn't even bother to deflect, as she simply tanked those shots and moved forward, her mask as well simply causing the bullets to bounce off into the broken-down machines he surrounded them in this graveyard.
With Conquest showing no falter, Nepgear took a more focused and defense stance, holding up guard waiting for Conquest to make the next strike, but Conquest gave her no opening as she simply stomped the ground that launched Nepgear into the air, as the dazed goddess was thrown up, Conquest easily jumped into the air and clashed blades with Nepgear once more, the two swung so fast one could mistake them for fireworks with the amount of sparks generated from the intensity of the two blades smashing against each other.
When gravity finally took hold, Nepgear was at a disadvantage, her guard weakened as she was falling in the air, in a wild desperate move she threw her grappling hook at Conquest's mask and pulled herself closer. The rapidly approaching goddess formed a complete barrier our of all the share energy she could muster, using her raw weight, mass, and acceleration to bash her body into Conquest, who wasted no energy blocking Nepgear barrage and twisted herself right, dodging the entire attack, and then proceeding to grab the grappling hook and swing Nepgear around, slamming her against the ground as the two fell at the same time.
~Gamindustri Graveyard Skies~
Uni only saw Nepgear's bike without a single trace of where her girlfriend could've gone. "Dammit! Surely this thing has some sort of bio-scan." She rapidly looked around the interior of the cockpit, hoping to see anything that could help her find Nepgear.
"Uni! It would be wise for you to turn back now." A white and black blur seemed to instantly flash in front of Uni as CFW Brave flew high in the sky, with his long sword in hand. "You are still a representative of the Planeptunian federation, any further approach will be seen as an attack on the sovereignty of CFW."
"I'm not here with hostile intent, Brave! My girlfriend is in danger, and I just need to find her!" Uni pleaded.
"Nepgear crossed our sovereignty, and we have the right to return in due force." Brave pointed his sword directly at Uni and Rex. "I will not warn you again Lady Uni. I respect you as an authority, I can only hope that you extend that same respect back to us."
"I'll go away if you can just bring me Nepgear, safely! Please!" Brave eased the grip on his sword, almost willing to hear Uni out.
"Rescind that request, Brave." CFW Magic suddenly appeared and flew up next to Brave. "Nepgear's life was forfeited the moment she entered this very land. Yours will be too if you fail to respect our sovereignty."
"Commander, we can end this conflict without bloodshed, if Nepgear is returned alive, then not only will our public reception improve more than it already has, but the CPUs will be at our mercy, Planeptune will now be obligated to-"
"Alright that's enough Brave." Magic brought out her scythe and pointed it at Uni. "CPU of Lastation, if we are to return Nepgear to you, if she's still alive that is, you must defeat CFW Brave here, I will not accept any negotiations."
"Trial by combat? What kind of savages are you?" Uni slammed down at the controls of Rex in anger. However, the pleas of the CPU went unnoticed as Magic flew away without further interest.
"I'm sorry Uni. I have my orders." Brave brandished his sword and entered a guard stance.
"You had dignity." Uni prepped Rex for aerial combat.
The two dashed and clashed across the sky of the Gamindustri graveyard, like two colliding stars shooting across the night sky. Uni unveiled a plethora of missiles and machine gun runs as she flew away from the ever-aggressive Brave who swung in for devastating swipes with his longsword. While Brave didn't have much to counter in terms of range damage, his immense speed made him a constant threat to Uni even despite her having the constant range advantage.
Uni's eyes were in two places at once, her prosthetic arm acted as an artificial intelligence of her own, which read through her subconscious and converted it into digital commands that controlled the machines, but this very device was limited in its abilities, Uni still had to manually find all of the possible functions of Rex before her subconscious could download them for automatic execution.
"How the hell do I activate the external weapons on this thing!?" Uni screamed angrily as Brave cut at Rex, while the Mech's hard carapace absorbed much of the attack, Uni could tell that she would only be a handful of strikes away from the destruction of the machine. "God damn it!" Uni screamed again, she started to press random buttons near the manual three-dimensional movement level of the mech, one of the functions sprouted a large radar dish that tracked Brave's location even when Uni was turned away from him.
"Not bad… but I can do better!" Uni continued to fly away from Brave, she remembered her encounter with CFW Judge and flew up to the scattered debris in the sky to act as cover and to give her breathing room against Brave. But unlike Judge, Brave was agile and precise. The debris in the sky stood as no obstacle against the ferocious knight, who continued his constant brigade against Lastation's sole goddess, not allowing anything to obscure his pursuit of the goddess.
"Wait!? What's this?" Uni finally found a lever on the top left of the cockpit and the left side of the mech suddenly became heavier as a massive railgun emerged and charged instantly. "Fire!" Uni screamed, as a bolt of electro-charged metal was chucked at Brave with sub-sonic force. However, the knight was steadfast, and clashed against the railgun shot, the mechanical knight's sheer force stopped and then fully redirected the railgun shot back toward the ground.
~7 Years Ago, Iwata High~
Nepgear closed down the robotics garage for the night. That was the most amount of work she had ever done in her life, she was tired, but fulfilled. There was no doubt that the robotics club would win this year's tournament.
"I thought you'd be here babe." A voice spoke behind Nepgear. A rather tall woman in an office suit and blazer walked quickly behind her. Her stiletto heels left audible clicks that felt like fireworks for the exhausted engineer. "You look like you might've just worked yourself to death."
"Sorry honey, this club's been undefeated for three years now, I'm not going to give an ounce of leeway with this performance, not right before I graduate." Nepgear dusted off her hands and turned around to see her girlfriend, at the time.
Artisan Harlacher was leader of many things, the debate club, the Queer Rights club, the anti-car public transportation movement, and most notably as leader of an underground resistance movement against Lowee's traditionalist government. She hated the current administration, and spent no time wasted in her campaign against the Inafune administration and their attempts cut out welfare benefits for the impoverished citizens of Lowee.
"Dinner's on me babe, I'll bring you to that yogurt stand at the mall you really like." Artisan wrapped her arm under and around Nepgear's right and rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulders.
"Oh yeah, I might wanna pass by that retro game store as well. I heard the owner actually plans on closing up shop there someday." Nepgear pulled out her phone and checked the time. "But… before that. There's a place we need to visit."
"Oh?" Artisan raised her eyebrow and gazed and Nepgear's phone. "Is it about that time?"
Every year since she left the orphanage, Nepgear made sure to visit at least once a month to check on the maid that helped raise funds for her to attend school. It was the least she could do to express gratitude for the help she provided.
The two got onto Artisan's motorbike and drove past the school gate. Nepgear hung tightly to Artisan, resting her head on her back, as exhausted as she was, she loved riding on Artisan's bike after school, to her it felt like a warm drift away from work, her body slowly being pulled away from all she had to worry about.
The afternoon seemed fine and serene until an explosion from a couple city blocks away erupted, souring the sky in thick black smoke, a smoke which reigned over a scorching flame that began to spread all around.
"What the hell is going on there!?" Artisan screamed as she drove.
"Shit! That's near the orphanage!" Nepgear cried, her calm and rested daze flared up immediately into relentless panic.
"Hang on babe!" Artisan screamed as she revved her bike as fast as she could and blasted toward the orphanage.
When the two arrived, the entrance to the orphanage was blocked by burning debris, the maid that raised Nepgear and the newer generation of orphans could faintly be heard among the roaring fire.
"Nepgear stay back, the fire department's on their way." Artisan pleaded, still holding onto Nepgear's arm.
"I'm not going to let them die!" Nepgear screamed as she started pulling away at the scorching rubble. Without even realizing, she found herself pulling away at chunks of rock no normal human could ever imagine carrying let alone carry while it was on fire.
"Holy… shit…" Artisan stood back in amazement.
Nepgear removed the last bit of debris and managed to open the door just in time, as a storm of black smoke rushed out of the room, the maid and the children under their care stammered their way out, crying as they barely made it to safety, fumes of the smoke still in their system as they coughed relentlessly. Artisan led the children far away from the building while Nepgear carried the maid far away as well.
Hours after the chaos ended, Nepgear gathered water from a nearby convenience store which she bought with her own money and passed it out to all the children. Many of them were still shaking from the incident as Artisan tried to calm them down by reassuring them this was simply an accident and that they were no longer in danger.
The maid, while glad to see Nepgear, was still breathing heavily, trying to recover her breath. However, her respite ended as her eyes perked up to see law enforcement vehicles ride in from the distance. "Dear… what's that?" The maid pleaded.
The vehicles weren't your average civilian patrol cars, however. These vehicles were carrying dozens of armed and heavily armored military police which formed a perimeter around Nepgear and Artisan, and had their guns pointed directly at them.
"The hell!?" Nepgear screamed "We didn't do anything!"
"Nepgear… I don't think they care…" Artisan grimaced.
"Artisan Harlacher!" The leader of the police with a megaphone shouted. "You are under arrest for inciting and encouraging the very terrorist attack that just occurred here. And you have the audacity to show your face around here."
Nepgear couldn't even respond before Artisan told her to hold back. "Babe, they're lying, but we don't have a choice. They're going to use me as a scapegoat. For what happened here"
"No that's bullshit I-" Nepgear stammered out before being interrupted by the police leader once more.
"Put your hands down and step forward Artisan!" The police leader screamed once more.
Artisan wearily looked back at Nepgear before submitting herself to the police.
"H… help…" Without Nepgear even realizing, the maid of the orphanage was suffering through cardiac arrest. Artisan looked back and screamed but the police dragged her away and ignored the maid reaching out for help.
A mangled string of letters wrang through Nepgear's head as she remembered this memory. "~~~~~!" Nepgear in the memory screamed.
But the maid's body convulsed and soon became unresponsive, the children around Nepgear screamed and cried as they shook ~~~~~'s body.
Nepgear reached out for Artisan, who was no longer visible, and fully under police custody. Nepgear sat there, as if the whole world was fading to black and there was nothing, they could do about it.
"Does anything I do matter at all?" Nepgear thought to herself once more.
~Gamindustri Graveyard~
Piecing together what she had just remembered "That maid…" Nepgear muttered to herself. "That maid raised me… she helped me grow… why can't I remember her name!?" Nepgear's eye fastened wide open to see Conquest swiping down at her neck, the goddess brought her sword up just in time to parry the attack and backflip far away, landing on her knees as Conquest stood unphased.
"I can sense something within you. You weren't like the other versions of me I've slain. You… you've realized something deep in your heart that your mind has refused to accept, yet…" Conquest planted her purple sword into the ground and held it with both her hands. "This dimension may not be as simple as I took it for."
"Eat a dick!" Nepgear threw Excalibur directly at Conquest's head and pulled it back with her grappling hook, swinging the sword down against the purple blade, knocking it out of Conquest's hand. Conquest grabbed Excalibur, which Nepgear had planned as she unlatched her grappling hook and used it to pull the Purple Blade back to her.
When Nepgear held the purple sword, a sudden flash of images ran through her head. She saw other versions of her sister, as well as all the other CPUs, some were younger, some were older, some were married, some were alone, some were happy, some were mad, some were at peace. They were all dead.
"What!? What the hell… are you!?" Nepgear screamed, still holding tightly to the blade, and bleeding from her right eye. "You… you killed them all!" Nepgear was almost about to vomit in fear. Her head pounded and her heart seemed to bash against her own ribcage. "How could you… she was your own sister!" Nepgear began to cry.
"Death is an inevitability. It comes to all of us eventually. Faith, goddesses, share energy, all of it is a lie. A delusion held up by those who cannot accept reality." Conquest brushed off some dust on her suit and wrung out her neck, cracking it as she flexed her hand. "I commend your persistence. None of them lasted as long as you."
"You didn't… you didn't even give them a chance… why did you kill them all?!" Nepgear in a rage ran toward Conquest and struck her head, but her inability to control the sword caused it to bounce off the mask, and away from her hands. Nepgear looked down to see that her hands were scorched with negative share energy.
The mask on Conquest's face began to crack, a small singular crack at the top that began to grow further and further until the mask snapped in half.
"I didn't want to believe it…" Nepgear uttered out in pain.
"Does the truth hurt?" Conquest's face was an exact mirror of Nepgear's. "To know that there was never a single dimension that was able to stop me?" Conquest grabbed Excalibur and held it by the blade and hilt, and in a single swift flex, she broke the sword in half. Neptune's greatest triumph turned into scrap metal.
Nepgear, enraged, charged at Conquest barehanded and tackled her into a pile of debris. Conquest remained mostly uninjured while Nepgear's skin was frayed and bruised by the scraps of metal she landed on. But the CPU was persistent, she got up first and immediately threw a right hook at Conquest, who tried to block a left which Nepgear baited and used her foot to trip up Conquest, but Conquest back dashed the trip up and followed up with an aerial overhead that knocked Nepgear back into more debris.
Nepgear grew even angrier and angrier, Conquest began to realize something. "You have the strength of a CPU, even without an HDD. Perhaps…" Nepgear didn't care for what Conquest had to say as Nepgear ran toward her again and jumped a did a roundhouse kick which Conquest blocked – as Nepgear expected – as she used her other foot to do a scissor kick to launch her further into the air, which she then used her grappling hook to grapple onto the purple blade and launched it back toward Conquest, impaling the blade directly into her chest.
"If that blade is really a goddess killer… I need to see how much you bleed!" Nepgear gritted out as she landed back down and grabbed the purple blade, plunging it further into Conquest's chest, who was visibly injured by the attack and attempting to pull the blade back out against Nepgear's strength. Nepgear screamed in fury as her hands burned. But the pain of wielding the blade was nothing compared to the adrenaline she felt ramming it further into Conquest.
Conquest, in pain, summoned a hidden blade from her gauntlet and cut out Nepgear's right eye, the CPU screamed in pain blood splattered all over conquest and the rusted metal that surrounded the two combatants.
"FUCK!" Nepgear screamed, she shot her grappling hook at the purple blade and took it back out, tossing it far away from the both of them. Nepgear scurried away, clutching the open bleeding wound where her right eye once was.
"Keep running. No one escapes fate." Conquest spoke.
"No one asked for your opinion shithead!" Nepgear screamed back angrily as she ran coughing up blood.
As she ran, Nepgear suddenly found her left ear ringing as a sudden piece of electromagnetically charged metal from the sky crashed down near to her, she was dragging Conquest' sword away with her grappling hook, while it was undoubtedly better than holding it with her own hands, she saw the purple sword start to slowly burn away at the claw on her mechanical grappling hook. In desperation she chucked the sword far away with the hook and retracted it back, it wasn't in the best state, but it had a couple more uses in itself.
"You keep running away, delaying the inevitable for futile purposes."
Nepgear grinned under the flood of blood that coated her face, even as she held the wound where her right eye was, she couldn't help but continue to be her every-cocky self. "My bad, I was having so much fun I just felt like dragging this out for the hell of it. Wasn't aware you wanted your neck folded into your ass so quickly!" Nepgear desperately joked.
The dying goddess stomped the ground and launched some debris into the air and kicked it with the speed of a bullet. The debris, however, merely shattered when it came into contact with Conquest's fist. But Nepgear took no pause and immediately rushed toward Conquest again, forming the share energy field she used before, Conquest simply rammed her fist through the shield however, and grabbed Nepgear by the neck.
"I can feel it… you aren't like the other versions of me… of us. Every Nepgear I've met spouted the same thing. They all cried about friendship, of faith. The power of a goddess, they shouted every time. They all died the same way though, with my blade through their chest, surrounded by their dead friends as their dimension crumbled to bits…" Conquest still held up Nepgear in a chokehold as she walked toward the Purple Blade. "You however, you're angry. Not angry in the way they were though… you're angry at yourself, and the world. You want to crush it, to break apart anything and everything that stands in your way."
"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Nepgear screamed as she kicked and punched Conquest to no effect.
"You see…" Conquest approached the Purple Blade and picked it up with her free hand. "This blade here… it's the opposite of faith. It's action. Do you know why all those other goddesses died? They tried to rely on everything except themselves. Shares… friendship… nonsense. This blade isn't powered by faith, it's powered by reality. And I can see that same energy in you… you hate this world and you're tired of having to rely on the faith of others. Am I wrong?"
"The people here prayed for me… I became a goddess!" Nepgear cried, still struggling to breathe under Conquest's chokehold.
"And what did their prayer amount to? Leanbox is nonexistent anymore, a country that once housed millions was gone in an instant. Lowee and Lastation are still political nightmares that despise your very presence. Your sister, is gone!"
"FUCK YOU!" Nepgear screamed as she raised her fist, and negative share energy emitted from it without her even realizing it. She bashed her fist against Conquest's head, breaking her own hand in the process, blood seeped down Conquest's face as she stood silent with a smile, something Nepgear didn't think she was capable of."
"Just as I thought, you can feel it can't you? The true power of reality? Isn't it far more powerful than your so-called faith!?" Conquest smiled with morbid glee.
"Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!" Nepgear was screaming, her eyes wide open as her body flailed about sporadically, all her strength was focused on her right arm with the broken hand slamming against Conquest.
"Suffering is our most powerful weapon. Only through suffering can we truly experience reality." Conquest swiped her sword up effortlessly and cleanly cut off Nepgear's right arm. Blood coated everything, just everything. Nepgear screamed in pain even louder as her stump flailed about spraying blood like a biological geyser. Conquest threw her to the floor and then cut off her left leg. Nepgear cried out once again.
"FINE! DO IT YOU FUCK! JUST KILL ME ALREADY!" Nepgear screamed at the top of her lungs, as she writhed around in a pool of her own blood, she tried to reach out to Conquest with her left hand.
"Now why would I do that? You're the most interesting person in… I don't even know how time works across dimensions, a decade? A century?" Conquest looked up, the blood from Nepgear's punch fully poured down below her mouth and on the sides of her face. "If you make it back to your basilicom, I wonder what you'll do next. I do look forward to seeing you again. I hope you use this newfound energy of yours to good use."
Before Conquest could fully leave however, a giant blue and black mech crashed and bounced just beside her. "What-"
The next thing Conquest knew, a giant shard of electromagnetically charged metal impaled her, and threw her at the very least a couple dozen kilometers away from Nepgear.
"Nepgear!" Uni cried, as she landed Rex next to her, and jumped out, horrified at the bloody mess her girlfriend turned into.
"What was her name…" Nepgear muttered as she stared blankly into the sky. "What was her name… what was her name." She repeated it over and over.
"Nepgear it's me! I'm getting you out of here okay!? We're leaving now!" Uni trembled through the pool of blood below.
"I'm afraid it may be too late for her. She's been cursed by that blade." CFW Brave pushed himself up, kneeling in defeat. "But I am defeated. Take her far away from this land."
Uni had no words, but a contemptible stare, as she picked up Nepgear with both arms, and laid her on her own lap as she flew towards Planeptune's basilicom.
"You let her win on purpose, didn't you?" CFW Magic flew down next to Brave, tracing her long lilac nails against Brave's carapace.
"Of course not, we both fought valiantly without hesitation." Brave stood up straight, he had taken very little internal or external damage.
"Don't lie to me Brave, I thought you were supposed to be an honorable man." Magic gripped onto Brave's arm, digging her claws deep into his metal exterior.
Brave sighed deeply before speaking again. "You're correct, master. I let her get away. It was the honest thing to do." Brave stood unphased by Magic's piercing claws.
"As much as I'd like to turn you into scrap metal right now, it seems Conquest has been badly injured, and I'd rather not have to be left with that long tongue freak. Get yourself together, the plan in Lowee is still in motion."
"Of course, ma'am."
~Leanbox, One year and three months ago~
Nepgear looked at the red sea that had consumed Leanbox. She looked at her own HDD memory, part of her wanted to crush that very device in front of her. Her bare hands gripped the memory as it slightly singed her palm.
"I don't deserve this thing." She thought to herself. "I was given this power out of necessity. People died no matter what I did. Blanc died because I couldn't save her…" She looked at the red ocean ahead, she could chuck this memory into the sea and never see it ever again. "Why shouldn't I… why can't I just throw you away!" Nepgear fell to her knees, her one hand still holding the memory as the other fell and enwrapped itself in the sand. Tears fell down the side of her cheek, staining the grey sand below her.
"Does anything I do matter!?" Nepgear cried, screaming at the top of her lungs, her face clenched, and her eyes closed as tears flooded their way down her cheek.
"Does anything I do matter!?" She screamed once more, but zero response was returned.
~Lastation, remains of the original basilicom~
The Planeptune technological team searched around the remains, they picked up signs of technological interference, but didn't know where or how it was accessed. Thus, they began their excavation into the remnants of the original basilicom.
Deep below, in the abandoned labs of Lastation. The spirit of Uzume stands there with a grin on her face. "I can sense it now… can't you too, my daughter?" She grinned and raised her hands up in rejoice. "The Requiem is beginning! My daughter! You will soon learn the beauty of Requiem energy!"
Uzume turned around, "and to think I'd find a use for you at all…" She turned and held her hands against a vat tube containing Plutia's body, "If there's a hell that Yuri is in. I hope they give her the chance to see this."
To Be Continued