"As you can see, it's not exactly turning out well."

Noire nodded, watching as Vert paced around the once grassy area. The drone's camera was of perfect quality, there was no questioning that, so what she was seeing was exactly what they got. Piles and piles of twisted and torn metal spiked from the surrounding earth; a series of unnaturally born stalagmites littering the fields around the ruins.

"And you're sure the local monster population isn't responsible?" She already knew the answer, but prompting a confirmation from her fellow goddess was never a bad thing. In response, the blond below looked up at the camera to answer, with the drone seemingly flying down to her level for the hearing.

"I'd ordered the mechs and war machines for the sole purpose of keeping the local cities as monster-free as I could; in regards to the more violent ones anyway. Had any of the local beasts attacked, there would at least be signs of gunfire everywhere." Her head shifted as a worried expression fell across her face. "But looking around now… I've yet to see a single dent in any of the surrounding areas. I can't even find a stray shell."

"Meaning that whatever did this had taken down your machines without a fight." Noire was somewhat growing uncomfortable the more she thought it over.

Sure, it was bad enough that all the carnage was situated around the very ruins connected to the Lock-On shrine, but coupled with how chaotic everything looked for the mechs, not a single blade of grass was out of place otherwise. Vert had given her the whole tour, seeing as the call was so out of the blue, and followed by the fact the gamer goddess was using a drone camera for more accurate viewing: Noire could only assume it was a sign of something terrible.

Perhaps the new danger to Gamindustri was breaking free.

Why now of all times?!

Restraining any sense of panic before it could even begin to form, Noire shifted her thoughts along a new line of reasoning. Had their foe truly escaped from whatever prison they were trapped in, there would most certainly be a hell of a lot more carnage than one little field. This right here was only small stuff, but given the new information provided by Uni, Noire was all the more uneasy. Getting the key was one thing, and she was sure it had something to do with the prison containing their opponent-to-be, but what her little sister reported finding was worse than anything so far.

A visage of Purple Heart: not just Neptune, but the HDD variant.

Not only was it connected to the Lock-On shrine, and all that junk, but the fact it was specifically Neptune's goddess form put everything out of whack. Had it been her own transformation then everything would have been fine, but Neptune's? What did she have to do with any of this, and why in Lastation's shrine of all places?

"Noire? Noire, can you hear me?" Vert's voice drew the woman back in, and after a quick blink or two, she started up again.

"Sorry, I was going over a few things."

"It's quite alright. With everything being so unusual recently, I don't blame you." After offering an understanding smile, Vert ducked down, brushing some grass out of the way. Stopping there, Noire hummed silently to herself as Vert ran her fingers over the dirt, shifting some of the soil. She then did the same in another spot, and another one, and yet another. After the fifth time, Noire decided to question it; she was missing something, surely.

"Is there anything wrong?"

"Maybe... May I ask you something?" Vert looked up at the drone, and on the screen the image of Noire nodded, to which she turned back down to the dirt. "When someone walks across a field of grass, naturally it presses into the dirt. Over time it will straighten back up, leaving no traces that anyone was there, however for the earth itself, it takes significantly more to do away with the signs of trespassing."

"Did you find anything: footprints; scrapes in the dirt; loose soil or such?"

"In a way, but that's what concerns me." Kneeling down again, Vert pushed aside the grass. "The only signs of such are my own movements from searching. There's no signs of anyone else being here... except for that."

Vert pointed, and Noire leaned in with a squint.

"I can't see it." The view drew closer as the drown flew low, and Noire's confusion only grew as her understanding vanished. "I still don't see anything other than rocks and dirt."

"Are you sure? Is the shape and color of some of those rocks not a little abnormal?"

Now that she pointed it out... the stones laying around looked a bit weird. Yeah, natural rocks came in all sorts of colors, but these ones were almost chip-like, and some of the ends appeared rougher on certain sides: a sign they were most likely broken off. Actually, looking closer Noire began to see something else: the particular tint of the rock matched the ruins surrounding them almost to a t.

"They... kind of look like they were broken off from the shrine."

"Precisely." Vert stood and along with the drone, surveyed the rest of the field. "There are small bits like this all around the wrecked mechs, with not a single other sign of tampering otherwise." Turning to face the shrine, she walked over with the drone, grabbing a section of the wall. "And look at this."

"Pieces of the wall are chipped along the end." Noire began, trying to wrap her head around it. "So are you saying whoever did this came from within the shrine?"

"No, what I'm proposing is a lot more outlandish. Inside the shrine here, I also found myself unable to detect any clues of intruders: nothing at all. However there are breaks in certain sections of the walls, and all the busted machines outside prove to us that something was here."

"Are you about to tell me someone was flying around?"

"No, because if they were flying around there would be no reason for them to hit the walls."

"You've lost me." Noire hated feeling lost, but Vert's intense focus kept her from getting too upset; her friend was clearly irritated as well. "Okay, you were proposing a more 'outlandish' idea, so say it."

"The mechs are destroyed, and there aren't any signs of anyone here at all. What if we're going about this all wrong. All around the shrine are the markings of myself and the mechs, but within the shrine I see no tracks, so the mechs didn't come in either."

"Can you just get to the point, please?"

"Very well." Vert stepped back, summoning her spear...

And jabbed it towards the wall.

Within a second she was flying back out, flipping in the air and landing on the grass. The drone had flown a little ways out the moment she took hold of her weapon, so Noire got a perfect view of everything. The spot Vert was standing in had a slash marking dug into the stone. That had the observer's heart racing, but not as much as seeing Vert leap away again, this time with a wound on her arm: a slash right across it, although only skin deep.

Vert landed again, and another wound appeared, and another, and so the pattern repeated.

"VERT!" Noire wanted to transform and rush out right then, she paused when the woman's spear vanished, and upon raising her hands, the wounds stopped appearing.

"It seems I was right." This understanding was followed by her attempt to take a step, only to trip and fall. Landing on the ground didn't stop her though, as she sat up anyways, locking her eyes to the image of a panicked Noire. "Did you see it?"

"What the hell?! What did you do?!" Noire's panic was seemingly ignored by the blonde in favor of looking towards the shrine, all the while possessing a satisfied grin. Vert then obliged her friend with the answers she desired.

"The one who destroyed the mechs was the shrine itself… or to be more specific: the power housed within."

"Huh?!" Noire was twitching as she spoke. "T-that doesn't make any sense! It's just a pile of ruins..." Her eyes widened. "Woah woah woah: are you meaning to tell me that the place is alive!?"

"Maybe..." Vert stood this time. "But maybe not."

"Can you start making sense please?"

"Do you remember Kurome?"

"Uzume's alter-ego?"

"Yes, her. Recall how she went about her evils back then, and how she couldn't actively influence the world outside of Heart Dimension. While she couldn't interact directly, she could extend her power to an extent. Now, note how we have a similar situation here: a foe who's sealed away somewhere and an area apparently abundant with power."

"Okay, so you're suggesting she can extend her power, but what does that have to do with this? Isn't our enemy sealed in another shrine?"

"Yes, but remember: all these shrines are connected. Like a spider's web, they're acting as one to seal away our enemy; a system of locks to keep closed a safe. Perhaps that shared unity allows our opponent's power to swim between all the shrines, at which point it can lash out."

"Then why didn't it do anything before? We've been inside all of them, haven't we?" A valid question from her friend, but even here Vert had a theory.

"I don't believe the enemy can see outside their prison, but if they're connected in the way I believe, then they should be able to feel if parts of the shrines are broken or so."

That had Noire pause, and then she recalled something herself.

"When we went to investigate the place where Uzume took the relics, we were attacked by monsters using the shrine as camouflage... although if what you're saying is true, then would it be possible to chalk that up as being related to here? It wasn't so severe, and we did more damage to the shrine, but they weren't monsters we'd faced anywhere before."

"I don't know, but now that you've mentioned it... How long had it been by that point, since the relics were taken I mean?"

"According to Uzume... I think about three days."

"I have one more theory then. What if the relics were what sealed the opponent's powers away, and by removing it, they were able to start stretching their limbs again so to speak? It might be a long shot, but I believe that - if we're correct so far - our enemy is slowly warming up to using their powers once more. Those monsters initially, they might have been just the early defenses set by the enemy, and now that they've had some time to breathe, this new defense is in place."

The worry in Noire's mind intensified greatly as she began to fully process what Vert was implying.

"Their skills and power are growing. Before, they had to summon monsters, but now..."

"Now they can lash out directly, yes." Vert glared at the shrine. "However, it seems they only react if any of the shrines are damaged, and once they sense the threat is gone, the power vanishes. Did any of you ever once think of damaging the shrines?"

"No... at least, I don't believe so. Maybe one of the others thought of doing something back when we were exploring the relic site, but other than that, I don't think anyone has directly attacked any of the shrines themselves." Noire wasn't sure what the others thought, but she hadn't even considered breaking anything... at least not intentionally.

"Then it must be fair to assume the safety of the shrines is paramount to our enemy."

"Why though? Aren't they what keeps our foe sealed away?"

"Yes, but what if binding their power with the shrines also has some other purpose?"

"So... does that mean we can just destroy the shrines to ruin that purpose?"

"That will no doubt free them: potentially causing calamity. We can't risk breaking them." Vert bit back some irritation. "But if we're right, leaving them alone will also be contributing to our opponent's goals as well."

"It's a lose lose scenario." Noire sighed. "Is there anything we can do?"

Vert turned away from the shrine, leaving it alone as she answered.

"No, not right now. We need more information before we jump into anything."

"Of course we do." Grumbling low, Noire hummed in agreement. "I'll keep searching. With any luck, one of my more 'promising' staff will come up with something soon."

.

.

"Guys." Looking through the fridge, Linda had almost instantaneously come to the conclusion that something was very much indeed wrong with what she was looking at, and her poor bowl of dry cereal, which was sitting patiently on the table, would agree. "We're out of milk."

"Then go get some, chu." Not the answer she was looking for, and she made sure everybody knew that... in her head that is; all she really did was pop another question.

"What happened to all the milk anyway? Didn't we have, like, a full carton just yesterday?"

"You used it all in that stupid pudding of yours." Kurome touched a nerve there, and as expected Linda - yet again - wasn't too pleased.

Oh hell nah!

"Hey, don't go dissing the snacks! It ain't like you could do better!" Warechu always made it look easy, so nobody could blame her if she thought it was just a little bit simpler than what it ended up being; nobody told her those measurements on the recipe were exact.

"Why do you think we always let Warechu handle the kitchen?" The nonchalance in her voice had Linda sucking in a heavy breath. That was it, the final straw: not only was she picking up that damn milk, but she was going to show that uppity bitch what true mastery of the culinary arts really was. So yeah, it was a little bit more complicated than what she'd previously believed, but she knew that now, and such basic principles wouldn't spin her compass anymore.

"I'll be back later then."

"You're going out?" And there came Sonya, in all his perverse glory. His mere presence was tolerable enough, but the proximity of which his voice crept into her ears had the poor woman hanging from the ceiling, right below her own bedroom above. Mister butler plainly watched as she hung from the small grip in the tile above.

"W-when did you get here!?" The accusation was quite loud, but Sonya retained his usual middling tone.

"You're quite loud, so I figured you'd dropped something again and came down." Barebones were his words, posh and partyless as always. In the calming atmosphere of such a contradictory fellow, Linda forgot she was holding herself up with all her strength, and came tumbling down. Their servant's head smoothly followed the fall, and yet his body didn't budge an inch. Crossing his arms, he watched as she stood; somewhat slanted from the fall.

"D-dammit man, don't sneak up on people like that; creeping's my thing."

"I wasn't 'creeping', you merely weren't paying mind to your surroundings, what with your opera performance towards the others."

"And now the hooker's roasting me."

"Pardon, but I'm right here, and I'm not 'roasting' you, mistress: I'm explaining the reasons for my concern."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Brushing everything he said off, Linda stretched. "Look, I'm just headed out to get some milk - there's no major concern or anything."

"As I've heard. Would you perhaps permit me to come along with you?"

"Uh, sure. Any particular reason?" Linda wasn't used to people actively wanting to go shopping with her: mainly because it's never anything major. Sonya, though, his request was atypical. Sure, they didn't have him for all that long yet, but for the past couple days he'd never once gone further than downstairs to collect the mail - nothing but ads and scams so far, and the occasional supermarket sales listing. She didn't mind him tagging along, but she wanted to know what changed.

His apparent response was to thumb the front of his thong.

"I wish to restock on razorblades. My current supply is… rather poor in terms of quality, and I chafe easily around my ge-" A pair of hands sealed his mouth shut, covering over the lips as Linda restrained her own gagging.

"Not another word. Just say you need cleaning stuff: I don't need to, nor want to, know the details."

"Head down to Steel Spring Solid's, chu. Their general store carries all kinds of things, but mostly they keep stock of Fluid Snake's shaving butter; real good on skin, chu."

"They got milk?" Only the essential questions from Linda.

"Yep, chu."

"Then we're cool." Linda began her trek towards the front door. "Come on, let's get this over with - my breakfast is on the line."

It was nearly 5pm, but none of them were keen on questioning the girl, so Linda got away scot free without pause: Start of the weekend and she was already sleeping it away. Kurome did perk her eyebrow however, and turned to look at Warechu on the other end of the couch.

"I didn't know you shaved."

"I don't: I trim, chu." He lifted the remote, clicking through a few channels with all the energy of a beached whale. "Fluid Snake also just so happens to have a line of bleaches for taking out general surface stains, and the guy at the counter was talking to this other guy in line about the shaving butter."

"And you just listened in?"

"Yeah... what about it, chu?"

"Nothing..."

Warechu continued to surf channels, all the while Kurome just sat there in contemplation. The rat never seemed the type to listen in on casual things like shaving... then again, with how he spoke she didn't think him the type to do standardized shopping either: both him and Linda seemed so... underground - at first anyway, but she knew better now.

Stealthily, Kurome slipped her outer hand - the one situated on the side away from Warechu - cautiously into her shorts, and slowly moved the fingers around to the front. Nodding internally at the feeling, she pulled her hand out. Later on she needed to check up on whether they carried variations of that butter for women, because she definitely needed to take care of the mess between her legs.

Wait... how do I shave again? Eh... I'll get Linda to remind me later.

Ah yes: the downsides of never having to do anything yourself - Backseating in someone's head will do that to you. Then again, Uzume usually waxed.

Author's note

…

A bit laid back for our crew of misfits, yeah, but I felt like giving Vert some time in the spotlight. Nep is… well, Nep; Noire got to join in with the Nep crew; Blanc had her own little moment with the old guy; it's only fair that Vert gets her moment… by getting the shit beat out of her for all of a minute or so.

Be honest here, have I ever given anyone in this story a stupid easy win - don't answer that.

Until next time.