Omnidimension Neptunia: Infinite Memes

by SuperHuman200

Divergent plot, crispy memes, meta humor & references. In a world where the CPUs are subjected to tentacle hentai at the hands of ASIC, it's not quite up to our... MALE OC to save the day like so many other harem power fantasies, but it beats kicking rocks like an NPC, especially if he became a relevant character because of a weirdly shaped one. (Current: Divine Hunger Arc)

32. 32 - Crusade for the Culprit! The World!

All rights are reserved to their respective owners. I own nothing in this piece of fiction with the exception of my OCs and the story itself.

---

EXPLOSION!

BRIGHTEN!

RUMBLE!

The generator room was engulfed in light as all three participants were swallowed by the explosive light.

"Hmph!"

GUARD!

DIO hummed as The World guarded against the brunt of the force, shielding him.

GRAB!

Gris had to use his body as a shield as he quickly grabbed Linda through the bright light and huddled, her protests rising in her throat, but dying then and there as the heat of the generator's demise reached her.

"!"

SHIELD!

GUARD!

Linda reacted as the assassin created a small dome of Toki, guarding their persons through the room.

BLAST!

THROW!

The light died down as the three were blasted into the larger room by the force of the explosion, smoke coming from the doors of the previous room.

"Shit!"

ROLL!

SMASH!

DENT!

Gris rolled on the ground as he smashed into a pylon, denting it as Underling violently jarred within his arms.

"Urk!" The greenette ASIC grunt guttered as she gritted her teeth in minimal pain.

BFFT!

DIO, however, simply teleported into the room with the same abrupt sound effect, his arms folded.

BFFT!

SUMMON!

"If this is all it takes to get the better of you, then your deaths are rest assured." The vampire sniggered as he brandished his Stand once more.

CLENCH!

The World's emotionless gaze peered down at the two as Gris let go of the ASIC member and got to his feet as he clenched his fists, getting in a stance.

"It would be wise not to underestimate your opponent." Gris narrowed his eyes as he scowled.

"Especially when you're dealing with the likes of me." He continued, pretentious.

"But how could I underestimate scum?" DIO retorted, his condescending tone bleeding through his words.

PUNCH!

BLAST!

SHINE!

The assassin growled before punching a blast of Toki towards the vampire. The room lit up as Underling raised her head to see the action in shocked realization.

BFFT!

SCATTER!

DISSIPATE!

DIO widened his eyes as the same sound effect was made, the assassin's blast of Toki being cast away like it had hit an invisible wall.

"What!?" Gris' voice echoed in confusion as his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from the blast's effect.

DASH!

REEL!

BIFF!

The vampire wasted no time in taking advantage of his opponent's flabbergasted state as he dashed forward as reeled as his body zipped through the air before ramming his fist into the face of the god.

CRASH!

"Kuhak!" Gris gargled as he was shot right into a wall, his nose being bent sideways as his head rattled from the sheer velocity of the punch.

"No way... He was a fraud?!" Underling gulped as she saw the same guy who acted so tough get manhandled so quickly.

"Hmph. Hon! "

"MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!"

KICK BARRAGE!

DUST!

DIO huffed as The World neared the last place Gris was before unloading a barrage of countless kicks as its master screamed its stand cry over and over like a broken record player.

The World's attacks made a submachine gun-like sound as they blasted into the wall, striking the god numerous times as he was seemingly absorbing every blow he was given.

STRONG KICK!

RUMBLE!

ドドドド!

DIO decided to end it with a strong piston kick as The World twirled before ramming its foot into the crater as the room shook with pressure before the ghostly warrior returned to its master.

DIO chuckled to himself as he simply thought that the assassin had been filled by what he assumed to be an adequate exercise of his power.

But when the dust cleared...

It showed a blocking Gris, his as crossed as his forearms were heavily injured as his body was beaten. His arms bled from the many scratches he sustained, as his hat was knocked off his head, and his body indented into the wall.

He breathed heavily into a smile as he saw the face of the vampire turn from contempt to shock.

"You blocked!? But how did you manage to react to-"

PUSH!

DROP!

RUBBLE!

"Your ghost friend?... Let me enlighten you... I foresaw his movements." Gris coughed some more as he put his hands on the sides of the craters as pushed himself off the wall, rubble falling alongside him.

"Foresaw?!"

FAZE!

The immortal vampire repeated as the aura of the assassin returned to him in a glow of white as he landed with an arm stretched forward as his body fazed out from the speed he moved toward the vampire.

ZIG!

ZAG!

ZIG!

ZAG!

ZIG!

ZAG!

Underling blinked as he was gone, the vampire looking around for where he could be, a line of diagonal proportions zooming around them.

But a test of speed was not unknown to the conqueror of men as he pinpointed the coordinates of the hitman, right in time as Gris stretched out his hand towards the face of the man, ready to unleash a fatal skill.

'Found him!' The vampire locked his eyes on the high-speed fighter as the glowing opponent made a beeline for him as his arm stretched out.

ZOOM!

"WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

JET!

The Space Ripper Stingy Eyes made another appearance as they shot out of the vampire's pupils and hit the assassin dead on.

PIERCE!

FADE...!

But to the shadow-controlling creature of the night, he was unpleasantly surprised when the assassin slowly faded, his presence revealed to be an afterimage.

"An afterimage! Holy hell, he's fast!" Underling, seeing the afterimage, looked around for Gris' true position.

"No matter how fast you move, before me it is USELESS!"

TWIRL!

CHOP!

BOOM!

DIO roared as The World veered behind its master before rotating and using a lateral chop to cancel out the actual attempt by the assassin.

SHOCKWAVE!

Gris snarled as his forearm was met with The World as they contested, a shockwave being created from their contact.

FADE...!

ZOOM!

The hitman faded once again, trying to bypass the ghostly guardian as he moved around his fading copy.

GRAB!

Unfortunately for him, the dark stand was not fooled, before it grabbed the leg of Gris, and slammed his body into another underground pylon, completely shattering it.

SLAM!

BREAK!

"How-" The assassin barely sounded out, before being cut short by pain.

SPIN!

The stand didn't stop there, before rapidly spinning around causing a gust of wind from its sheer speed alone as the assassin felt his leg was going to be torn off as he was pulled violently along with it.

THROW!

CRASH!

SMASH!

CRACK!

THUD!...

The World let go of Gris into a wall, the man completely crashing through it and into another, sending spider cracks and a small crater before landing on the ground with a hard thud.

Gris fell onto his hands as he hacked some spit mixed with blood as he wiped his mouth.

"That stand... That's the obstacle. I have to get past it!" Gris said as he pushed himself off the ground.

He then saw that the stand was approaching him as it floated through the holes in the wall, coming in for the kill.

GLOW!

STATIC!

STATIC!

The assassin snarled before he concentrated more of his aura into himself, his body starting to generate static.

PUNCH!

DUST!

He then raised his fist before sending it into the ground, generating a billowing cloud of dust as the room was filled with it.

BLOCK!

FAZE!

The World instinctively guarded as the assassin raised his hand before rushing the phantom.

ROUNDHOUSE!

Gris zipped through the air before twisting around and roundhouse kicking the phantom, causing it to buckle as it jarred to the direction that it was kicked in.

"...!" The expression on the manifestation of fighting spirit became shocked as it wasn't expecting to be damaged, or rather it's master didn't as back with DIO...

"Urak!" The vampire's head was forcibly reeled to the left as he felt swelling pain on his face.

Underling jumped from the sudden exclamation of pain as she backed into a wall.

The assassin continued to take advantage of the opening as he walked on the spirit.

BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK-BAK!

Countless high-speed blows were launched as the fists of the hired killer became many, creating the optical illusion that he had hundreds of arms as he bulldozed The World, the dust being blown back as he yelled accordingly.

"AAAATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!"

"Pulsar Grenades!"

The stand convulsed violently as it was being ragdolled by the silver-haired opponent before placing both of his hands on the chest of the ghost before roaring his SP Skill.

STATIC!

BOOM!

His hands glowed a blinding white static before detonating point-blank on the stand, sending it hurling back from the adjacent room, straight into DIO as he too was suddenly flung after being violently beaten by an invisible force.

"Impossible!"

CRASH!

The vampire yelled before being driven into a wall, right next to the crater that Gris was in, ironically.

REABSORB!

REGENERATE...!

The dark spirit was reabsorbed back into DIO's body as he was awkwardly in the wall from the damage, already healing.

He wouldn't have time to fully heal, however, as Gris closed the distance from the disoriented vampire, sending a kick into his plexus as he was blasted through the wall into another room as the hitman fazed into existence with a contempt look.

REAPPEAR!-

FLYING KICK!

"Blargh!"

BOOM!

DIO yelled as the wall gave in, sending him through like a bullet.

"What's wrong? Can't keep up?" Gris goaded.

"Why you insignificant pest!"

FLIP!

SKID!...

LAND!

DIO barked as he flew through the air before he flipped into a kneeling position as he landed, skidding on the ground before stopping completely.

"The one who can't keep up!-"

BFFT!

"!"

DIO paused, or was rather cut off as he teleported, the same sound being emitted as he was now behind the assassin as both Gris and Linda were taken off guard by his instantaneous movement once more.

"IS YOU! SHINEI!"

PUNCH!

IMPALE!-

BOOM!

DIO screeched as he brandished The World once more, and had its fist run straight through the hitman as his eyes widened from the sensation of his spine being destroyed from the blow.

"Hahahahahaha...! What were you saying, just now? I think it's null and void now, considering the hole in your chest cavity."

FIST!

BLEED!

THUD!

SQUELCH!...

DIO gloated as he let his stand forcibly remove his hand, blood exploding from his chest and back as he fell to the ground in a pool of blood.

Underling was thoroughly horrified as the assassin was now face first in a pool of his blood as the vampire laughed heartily.

"And all that struggling to die and uninteresting death. Truly disappointing! Well, that crosses one of the list." He paused.

He looked back to the pool of blood.

Only to see that there was no blood!

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" DIO cursed as he no longer saw the lifeless body of Gris as Underling now didn't know what to believe as she stood there, agape.

"Didn't I tell you I had the ability of prediction?" The voice of the assassin echoed throughout the room as leaned on a wall, only as injured up to the point before he kicked him through the wall.

"But how did you evade The World 's speed?!'' DIO demanded.

"I foresaw being turned into a human donut. So, in turn, I moved from the area long ago, creating a tangible afterimage before letting it dissipate, presenting the illusion that I had died." Gris raised his finger as he explained in a high and mighty tone.

"Damn precognition!" DIO growled as he clenched his fist.

'His ability, however, is still a mystery... It seems like teleportation, but I doubt that's within the repertoire of a vampire. Unless he's that much more above me in speed, but I'd sense his presence move in a direction or some sort of indication that he moved at all...' Gris pondered as he started to put the pieces together.

'It's like he moved instantaneously, akin to teleportation but somehow separate to it. But how could he set himself up so quickly, nigh instantly!... It's as if he stopped the flow of time itself to gain the upper hand!-'

It hit him.

'Time Stop! It's fucking temporal stasis! No wonder he calls the stand The World! It stops all movement within it! Either that or the tarot card, but that's besides the point!' The assassin's smirk became a serious realization as DIO smirked in turn through his annoyance.

"Oh? Your face looks like it has seen a ghost. Oh, wait." He continued as Gris voiced the reason for his apparent distress.

"You're no ordinary vampire, are you." The silver-eyed hitman began. "How could you have such a terrifying ability!" The assassin questioned as he started to slightly sweat as he got back into his former combat stance.

"So you've figured it out?" The long-haired creature of the night raised his defined brow in interest.

"How else could you justify and rationalize your instantaneous movement and abrupt disappearances." The hired killer's eyes narrowed.

"W-What are you talking about? Isn't he just teleporting?" Underling asked as she looked at the vampire.

"No. He's doing something less complex. Or should I say, less time-consuming." Gris hinted as DIO put his hands by his waist.

"So you do know. How surprising. It took the last person dying in a broken water tower with a gaping hole in his chest to figure that one out." The vampire closed his eyes as he reflected.

"So what the hell can he even do!?" Underling, now slightly peeved from still being uninformed yelled at the assassin in a mix of fright and annoyance.

"I'm afraid he can't answer that question. All those who have found out my ability have died! And you'll be no different!"

BFFT!

The vampire regained his resolve as he pointed towards the two of them as The World reappeared in the abrupt sound effect of stopped time.

"Shit!"

"ZA WAAAAAAARUDO!"

DUBSTEP FART!

TIME STOP!

Gris cursed as he grabbed the wrist of Linda before he fazed, alongside the ASIC grunt as DIO shouted the legendary phrase as they were out of sight.

Time stood still as the discolored and faded surroundings became apparent to the night crawling agent of shadows, as he looked around for their paused states.

"My night vision is truly a blessing for situations like these... Now, where did that rotten silver fox run off to." The vampire sank back into the ground as he investigated the basement rooms.

Meanwhile...

'I... I can't move my body...!' The silver-eyed hitman internally took in his predicament as he looked around the altered environment.

They were currently back to the floor level of the Basilicom, the stairwell to the lower levels in front of them. The black and dark lower levels entrance was before them as the menacing aura of DIO being felt from even way up there.

ゴゴゴゴ!

'And he's still down there. Then that must mean one thing. The range of his stoppage of time is larger than I thought. If we go by his stand's name, it should be able to stop the movement of time on the entire planet, if not more.' The hitman deduced as he contemplated the power of the otherworldly vampire.

His eyes shifted over to Underling. She was completely unaware of the position she was in, as silent and lifeless as a statue as she was being yanked in the direction Gris was pulling her in, stuck in one place without fail.

'And the girl's stuck too. I can only assume I'm still conscious because either I know of his ability, or my temporal abilities have given me a slight immunity to his time stop.'

Gris continued as he remained there.

He felt DIO's presence move about below, but never stay in one definitive place within the realm of stopped time. He could only presume that the vampire was still looking for him on the lower levels of the Basilicom, unaware of his successful escape to the upper floor.

The assassin tried his mightiest to move his frozen body, but all he could muster was the movement of his eyes as he was effectively stuck.

The passage of time was unknown to him, unable to accurately measure the duration of time that had passed due to the time stop already being activated.

But what he did know is as soon as linear time resumed, it seemed that this realm of pause was nonexistent to those such as Linda.

TIME RESUMES!

He soon heard a distorting sound as he slowly felt his body moving again.

WOOSH!

SWING OPEN!

Linda was suddenly flung forward from the speed that Gris had moved, dragging the hitman with her as they flew towards the room where Vergo and Chika were in, crashing through the doors.

"Whooooooa!" The ASIC grunt yelled as they crashed through the doors, and ended up back where the group had originally separated.

YANK!

Gris stopped the grunt from flying any further as he yanked her back towards him, with just enough force to cancel out the initial direction and speed that she was moving at.

Vergo immediately turned his head as he heard the sound of the doors open, Chika mirroring him as she was being defrosted via a KI ball bonfire.

"What was that!" Chika snapped her head to the direction it came from, spooked that it was that vampire again, back to finish the job.

"..." Vergo stayed quiet, sensing that the signatures were that of Gris and Underling, but wanted to make sure it wasn't a farce to lure them into a false sense of security. Since he wasn't in the best of conditions for Round 2, so he had to make sure.

"Just stay quiet for now. We don't know who we're dealing with just yet." The injured blonde explained as he closed his eyes and made a telepathic connection with the assassin.

'Oi.' The CPU Candidate's voice pierced through Gris' mindscape.

'Who the hell?... Wait.' The silver eyes of the Lastation hitman narrowed as a brow raised in recollection.

'It's me, you bellend.' Vergo deadpanned through mental communication as Gris growled externally, making Underling turn towards him.

'Fuck off. What the hell do you want? Did you find the vampire?' Gris asked, under the assumption that Vergo had run into DIO as well.

'Yes, we found the iDIOt.' The blonde CPU Candidate answered as Gris found a smirk being formed on his lips from the decent pun.

'And how did that go.' Gris inquired as the smirk faded from his face, replaced with closed eyes and a nonchalant look as he too sensed Vergo's position.

'Two stab wounds, eye laser injury, nearly being ran through by a ghost hand and a 95% frozen Oracle.' The blonde growled within the link.

'Oh. Sounds like fun-' Gris opened back his eyelids upon finding exactly where Vergo was, alongside Chika's motionless form.

'Piss off. Just walk up the steps and rendezvous already.' Vergo cut the connection as the hitman looked towards the confused Underling.

''What was that all about.'' The hooded hoodlum asked the Lastationite.

"CPU confidentiality. Can't have someone who's a normie and a weakling doting in on classified information." Gris responded.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Underling yelled at the silver-haired man.

"You don't make much sense either, Linda, so I'd be careful who I was throwing that phrase at." Gris retorted.

"Even after we almost die, you find a way to piss me off!..." She growled as the two walked up the stairs, and saw the green duo.

"It's a gift. Speaking of gifts, I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't be able to walk with a chunk of your body missing unless you have the gift of desensitization." The assassin brought his eyes to the injured CPU.

"They did say I was a bloody good tank back in all those matches back when I played the 4GO collection." The blokw responded as he opened his eyes as Chika looked towards the two as she was met with familiar faces.

"My, what happened to you two?" Chika asked, morbid curiosity adamant in her tone.

"We got ambushed. DIO didn't notice us escaping, so we're here now. Surprisingly enough, Underling is mostly unscathed." Gris motioned to the grey-skinned member.

"Well running away IS her habit, from what I've heard, so it makes sense." Vergo opted.

"Not even a scratch?" Chika moped.

"Nuh-uh. I'm just too good." Underling rubbed underneath her nose.

"Why do you ask? Is it about the impersonation?..." Vergo questioned.

"OF COURSE it's about the impersonation! She gets a slap on the wrist and I'm turned into an incomplete ice statue?! What the hell!"

BREAK!

Chika complained as she shouted and thrashed in place so hard, that she managed to free her top half from glacier imprisonment.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, she almost starred in a non-con hentai with a bunch of buff shadow vampire tentacles." Gris offered, causing the grunt's face to redden at the reminder.

"Shut up about that!" She turned to the assassin, with a comically angry expression as Chika's face warped into contempt.

"Well, now that attempted paranormal sexual assault is on the table, I say it's time to get to the meat and potatoes of this gathering, mates." Vergo explained after coughing to disguise a laugh.

More so, that his coughs had traces of blood on them, signifying his deterioration of condition.

"Right." Gris snapped back to reality as he walked over to the CPU Candidate.

AURA!

He placed his hand on the wound, earning a pained grunt from Vergo before his aura flared once more.

Slowly, chunks and ripped flesh, among the pints of blood returned to the Leanboxian god as he earned a pained grunt from contact on the wound as he felt a burning sensation.

"Argh!..."

HEAL!

Vergo hissed as he was being temporally rejuvenated by the Lastationite. The burning pain was fading away as he soon saw his muscle strands reform, his blood seeping through before his skin layers were restored to when he first entered the Basilicom.

"Whoa!" Underling marveled at the healing capabilities of the assassin as he removed his hand from Vergo's side.

"You can heal others?" Chika asked as her legs were finally being noticeably thawed from the blonde's KI ball.

"Yes, but I usually heal myself first. Then again, he's a student of mine, so I can afford to make an exception."

GLOW!

HEAL...!

Gris hummed as he then focused on healing himself, focusing on superficial injuries before working up to the internal damage.

"Could you... Heal me, as well please?" Chika asked, surprisingly polite to the man as Vergo raised a brow at her new attitude.

"Well then. Where was this attitude when it came to our synergy, Chika?" Vergo gained a suggestive look in his eyes as his lips slightly curled.

"You annoy me." Was her simple answer.

"You do too, but I don't actively antagonize you for it... Anymore." The time traveler quickly added, causing her to grow slightly suspicious about his add-on.

"Oh, you mean like this-" Gris reached forward and poked Chika on the cheek that had been struck by DIO.

BOOP!

HEAL...!

Only for the injury to be removed by his fingers radiation of Toki as Chika felt some feeling return to her face.

"Thank you. You're too kind." Chika smiled at the hitman.

"I cannot believe this bullocks.'' Vergo grumbled as Underling didn't say a word to her, not wanting to make the situation even more awkward.

"Doesn't he kill people?'' The ASIC grunt deadpanned. Her vision then went to his CPU eyes as she noticed them for the first time.

'He's one of those CPU bastards, too? Ah man, this just isn't my night.' Underling scowled within her mind.

"He does," Vergo responded.

"What?!" Chika's pleasant face was cut out and replaced with ghostly shock as she saw a foreboding expression as Gris now had his features in the shadows as a menacing aura was seen from his neutral expression.

ゴゴゴゴ!

"You'd do well to remember that." Gris smiled as he moved his finger from the shooketh Oracle's face.

'Now, then. Let's find Nebula and Taleia before DIO-"

BFFT!

Gris would be cut off as the person of question made his presence known.

"Before I?"

AURA...!

ゴゴゴゴ!

GLOW!

DIO's voice made its way to the group's ears as they all turned to the vampire at the top of the stairs, his red eyes piercing through their hearts and his shades as his menacing aura in all of its crimson glory emerged.

"Shit, we've been found out!" Gris muttered as he glowed with power, ready for another confrontation.

"Bloody hell, he's just like a massive thorn in our side."

REACH!

GRAB!

Vergo grimaced as he reached for his pole, before grabbing it and getting in an offensive position.

GRIP!...

Underling gripped her pipe as she stared down at the vampire. The weapon was starting to become more of a coping mechanism than an actual item of combat for her at this point, considering all that she learned about the man before her.

"T-This guy, again...!" Underling muttered as she tried her best not to tremble before his oozing aura of fear.

Chika finally felt some feeling in her legs as she stabbed the ice off of her feet with her thawed spear, before kicking off the remaining chunks, facing the vampire once again.

SHATTER!

KICK!

"When I get my hands on you, I'll make you pay for the desecration of Lady Vert's Basilicom!"

POINT!

Chika yelled as she pointed her spear at the tall villain.

"Say what you will, but your bravado has no merit when you've been reduced to a damsel by yours truly." DIO downplayed her announcement and narrowed his eyes as his smile slightly faded.

"Why you...!"

RUSH!

Chika's grip tightened on the spear before she rushed up the stairs to initiate a fight with the bloodsucker.

"Haaaa!" The grenette yelled as she was closing the gap between the two.

"Wait!" Vergo yelled as the Oracle dashed towards the man, who remained unmoved by her charge.

BFFT!

"-!" Chika stopped in her tracks as she was back where she originally was, without recollection of how she got there.

"What?!" Vergo looked beside him with a just as shocked expression as his Oracle.

"Ah!" Underling jumped back from the sudden displacement of Chika as she too was startled by the abrupt movement, even when aware of the vampire's signature ability.

Gris moved his already placed eyes from where Chika was moved back to before focusing back onto their main problem.

"W-What happened?! I know I was just running at him!" The Oracle reminded herself as she looked down, to see that she was back where she started.

STEP...!

Vergo then tried his luck as he slowly walked up the steps, his pole ready for any maneuver the vampire might try.

STEP...!

The pole he had glowed green with KI as the orb went into his staff, the god ascending the flight of stairs.

STEP...!

He felt his heart beating in his throat, expecting some kind of overwhelming feeling or disgustingly powerful e to attack him at any moment.

STEP!-

The CPU Candidate sweated bullets as he took another step, DIO's fanged smile widening as it set the blonde god off for something being amiss.

BFFT!

"OI!" Vergo yelled in shock as he was back with the group, his transition seamless. He looked down, then around his group before back to the man who was still mockingly smiling down at the four.

RUN!

BFFT!

Vergo didn't hesitate to move once more as he ran up the stairs once more, only to be put back in the same position.

But soon found himself back on the staircase as everyone looked at him once more.

"What the hell?!" Underling seeing the ability over and over again yelled, truly basking in how terrifying it could be as it was repeatedly shown.

"How is he doing that?" Chika asked as she started sweating from fright.

"Is it some kind of spatial manipulation, like Nebula? Or are we dealing with some kind of reality-warping? Or is he outright reversing time?!" Vergo asked the assassin, who knew of his abilities.

"No. What he's doing is something much more instant."

BFFT!

SUMMON!

Gris responded as The World was once again revealed, with the same distorting sound effect.

"He can stop time itself."

RUMBLERUMBLERUMBLERUMBLERUMBLE!

ドドドド!

The hitman gravely revealed as the ground rumbled from the outside, which only added to the gravity of the situation as DIO smiled from his power's revelation.

---

.

ZOOM!

Speaking of gravity, the god of such was flying at breakneck speeds towards the battle in the garden as his fist was glowing with power, leaving a line of energy as he pushed the waves aside, rapidly closing in on his target.

WOOSH!

WAVES!

"That shadow knocked me back further than I thought!" Brave Heart scanned the distance as he approached speedily to the island.

"Just give me a few minutes, Taleia! I just need 2 minutes!"

ATTRACT!

SONICBOOM!

ZOOM!

The CPU calculated as he then used his other hand and clenched it, aiming at the shadow from thousands of meters away as he activated his Attraction on his person to increase how fast he was heading towards the target, doubling his speed instantly.

"Mach 2000- Alright, 60 seconds! I'll be there soon!" He corrected himself as he saw the island of Leanbox become larger and larger through the many lights that illuminated from its city.

Elsewhere...

SMASH!

LEAP!

The flames of battle raged on as the RRoD agent and the shadow giant continued to do battle in the garden.

Literally so, since the garden was still ablaze.

SLASH!

ARC OF DARKNESS!

The swordswoman skillfully evaded the massive shadow's powerful blows as she countered with a shadow arc.

JET!

The shadow quickly weaved the attack before its eyes glowed, and fired a powerful blast of Space Ripper Stingy Eyes.

JUMP!

EXPLOSION!

ASCEND!

GRAB!

Taleia immediately sprung into the air, the explosion that resulted from the ground boosting her further up as she grabbed her sword handle with both hands.

SPIN!

GLOW!

ZOOM!

The soldier then spun vertically as her blade glowed a deep purple as she descended, her speed drastically increasing as she created a ring of shadow around her as she closed in on the shadow.

"WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

JET!

DIVIDE!

The giant amalgamation of shadows attempted to use his eyes to cancel the rapidly approaching attack as Taleia approached it, but when he fired his blast, it was split into two smaller beams as the attack was superseded.

"Necrotic Eclipse!"

DARK EXPLOSION!

The blackette then closed the cap as she slashed directly into the head of the shadow, causing it to violently explode after she yelled the name of the SP Skill as she made contact.

FALL!

SLICESLICESLICESLICESLICESLICESLICE!

LAND!...

The head of the shadow was dispatched as its Space Ripper Stingy Eyes along with its sight was disabled from the attack as Taleia fell from the air, repeatedly slashing the staggered shadow as she accumulated a hefty amount of damage as she took advantage of the moment.

Her opponent was now severely crippled, missing a head, an arm, and most of its other arm. The RRoD member started to lightly breathe, the sword starting to take a toll on her.

'This sword saps my life energy at a steady rate... If I intend to defeat this monster, I'll have to act quickly!' Taleia internally recognized as her body was starting to suffer from the effects of her blade.

ROLL!

STOMP!

DASH!

The giant then raised its foot as she narrowly dodged a stomp that shook the ground, and got up before dashing towards the foot, swinging for another disabling strike.

SWING!-

KICK!

"Kuh!" Taleia guttered as she was launched.

WOOSH!

But as she swung, the foot suddenly moved, kicking the swordswoman away as she was heading towards the wall of fire that surrounded them.

ARC OF DARKNESS!

SKID!

The swordswoman quickly slashed an arc of darkness to reorient herself as she landed back on her feet.

Talei soon had to sidestep and leap past the shadow's foot trying to stomp her out numerous times, as well as a returning stomp from below that would punt her into the air if it landed, as she moved about the constricted space, slowly being cornered as she slashed through any obstacle that came her way, slowing expending her remaining energy.

DASH!

STOMP!

SIDESTEP!

SHADOW STOMP!

LEAP!

STOMP!

ROLL!

SHADOW STOMP!-

SHADOW SLASH!

Taleia started to sweat more as she cut down each limb, only getting a small chunk instead of the entire body part as she was rapidly becoming more and more fatigued as time went on.

SHADOW STOMP!-

LEAP!

She was tripped up soon after by her energy finally being sapped as she leaped from a shadow stomp, and had to use her two swords to stop herself from sliding right into a wall of fire.

UNSHEATH!

STAB!

STOP...!

"Tch!" Taleia felt her strength be entirely sapped for a moment before she grabbed her other sword and stabbed the ground with both blades, instantly stopping her person right in front of a wall of fire.

STOMP!

CROSS GUARD!

Taleia then felt the urge to cough up some blood before keeping it down as she looked up at the giant. Its headless mass was just about to deliver a gargantuan amount of force in its next stomp to her position, the swordswoman having to cross her blades in an X fashion to try to guard the appendage as it honed in on her at incredible speeds.

She squinted her eyes as she coughed some blood, prepared to guard the attack when-

TWINKLE...!

ZOOM!-

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

The booming and gravelly voice of Brave Heart appeared, a line of glowing energy, before his aura dimmed, allowing Taleia and the headless shadow to register his presence.

"!" The swordswoman woman looked at the stream of energy as she saw the CPU approach.

BLOCK!-

BOOM!

The giant vampiric shadow of darkness raised a dome of shadows around it in an attempt to block the attack, as its body parts were for the most part too dated to provide any extra protection, courtesy to Taleia.

PIERCE!

But due to the god's momentum and speed, as well as the aura being emitted from his person, he shaved right through the dark mass that was the shadow's massive hand.

PUNCH!-

SHOCKWAVE!

The CPU then shoved his fist into the core of the mass of shadows, releasing the gravitational pull of his free hand as he put all the power he had into his calculated move.

LODGE!

DIM...!

Brave Heart then drove his fist further into the darkness as he felt its presence attempt to absorb him as he went deeper into the center of the shadow giant, his fist for a moment being lost in the sea of darkness within the giant as its staggering form remained frozen from the agonizing pain of the antithesis comprised of share energy and divine KI.

UPPERCUT!

SHINE!

SHOCKWAVE!

RUMBLE!...

But before long, he yelled to the heavens as he raised his fist, his hand brightening to almost unbearable degrees as he went for a sky breaking uppercut, his arm vertically bifurcating the giant as his KI instantly put out the fire around them as the massive shockwave did the trick albeit rapidly shaking the ground.

"UREEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!~..."

BREAK DOWN...!

BREAK DOWN...!

The shadow screeched horribly as it was deconstructed from within as the radiation of energy broke it down from the very core, sealing its fate as the CPU's attack made quick work of its physical state.

PILLAR!

BOOM!

EXTEND!

Even worse for the shadow monster apparition, as a pillar of energy was shot both up and down from the epicenter of its creation, being the fist of Brave Heart as his fully extended his Shoryuken fist as he looked up to the pillar of light.

PILLAR!

DISSIPATE...!

The orange pillar of light from the attack shot up into the air, the beam of share energy and KI being visible from even the mainland as it ascended before shrinking and dissipating, returning to the nonexistent state it once was. The clouds were cleared as the night sky was cleared along with the shadow of doubts of victory for Taleia.

And at the center of it all, floated as heavily breathing god, winded from his concentration as he gained a small grin as he let out a pun.

"I did it. Back to the shadow realm with the lot of ya."

DESCEND!

LAND!...

Brave Heart folded his arms as he descended, back onto the ground as he looked up at the parting clouds as he gazed at the stars.

COUGH!

HACK!

He then ran towards Taleia, who gave him a look of pride before coughing up some blood, as she used her sword for support.

The CPU rushed to her side as she was now sweating bullets, the conditions of her sword finally getting to her as she unsheathed them. He also noticed that she looked different as well.

"You good, Tals?..." Brave Heart deduced as he made his hand glow with share energy as it shined a soft blue glow.

SHARE ENERGY!

REGRESS!

He pressed his energy into her body as she started to regress into her precious state, her eyes returning to their natural yellow hue as her body stopped emanating that dark aura she had grown accustomed to.

SHEATH...!

"I should be now... I refrained from using that word because of the adverse effects it has on my body. But because, because the shadow was impervious, I had no choice..." The soldier explained as she sheathed the dark blade, its influence is fully cut off from her.

"Well now that's been taken into account, just avoid using the blade unless necessary." The god reaffirmed as she agreed.

"I've been doing that ever since I got the sword. I don't need you to tell me how not to die, Nebula. But thanks, anyway." Taleia relayed to the CPU as he hoisted her up from the ground.

"Well, would you at least let me give you a hand until you can use your feet properly?" The blue CPU offered as he helped her on her feet.

"That would be nice." She smiled as she began to walk back to the entrance of the Basilicom.

"Good. Don't want you succumbing to a sword. That would be embarrassing." Brave Heart laughed as Taleia pouted.

"Oh, like you didn't let punted into the ocean by the giant shadow vampire." She retorted.

"I bounced back, didn't I? You were gonna get stomped out by the big bad boogeyman." He chortled.

''At least I did all the heavy lifting! You just finished the job!" Taleia defended her prowess.

"And I thank you for that. But just know I came in clutch." He smiled at her as she looked away, a now miniscule smirk on her face.

"Whatever." She sighed. They walked through the somledering grass as the made the rounds to go back to the front of the building.

Meanwhile...

"And that's how I managed to figure out most STDs based on the discoloration of the genitalia." Domio explained to AL as he sage nodded, absorbing the advice being bestowed onto him by the small child.

"But what about the ones that don't show color discoloration?" AL inquired.

"Then you can tell by the smell, or if weird yellow stuff gets expelled from... Look, it's graphic, and I can barely stomach the explanation. AL, syphilis is a sore, you didn't have intercourse with her, you're fine." Domio eased the pyro warrior's woes as the Basilicom staff and Warevhu were listening to the conversation, albeit with slightly unnerved faces with how a young child knew of such graphic topics.

"Thanks, Domio. One question though." The dark skinned martial artist continued.

"What is it, Mister AL?" Domio entertained the question.

"How do you know all this." He asked what everyone in the area was thinking, and the boy didn't hesitate to anwser.

"Before you guys came and picked me up out of of bar, I was raised around strippers and prostitutes, so I picked up a thing or two from them... Actually, I might also know things like why women hide how many people they sleep with, every vanilla sex position, and how to avoid being sucked of all your money via child support. I wish I had a normal childhood." The Loweean explained before looking down in self-pity.

"Domio." AL called.

"Yeah?" The boy anwser

"Divulge your ways." The warrior requested.

''H-Huh...?" Domio was caught off guard.

"How do I avoid child support. Tell me. Tell us." The man gestured to all the onlooking staff members who had amassed because of the informative lecture like explanation that attracted even the most uninterested of staff members.

"Yeah!" Was the collective cheer from the interested staff members.

"Well, I dunno... It's just what I came up with based on what they use to ensnare their boyfriends rather than actual advice from someone who's dealt with it." Domio downplayed his credibility.

"Shoot. We have time. It's not like Nebula is gonna walk back with a wounded Taleia while in his CPU form." AL rolled his eyes.

"Uhm, AL." Domio looked to the side.

"...Don't tell me based on plot points that happened off-page for us that what I said perfectly describes the narrative in an attempt to derail you from spouting subject matter that would make most either really informed or really uncomfortable in a roundabout way to progress the story?" AL's winded explanation caused the others to give him a questioning look as it sounded as if he just rambled.

"Plot?"

"What story?"

"We're in a page? I thought this was a fanfiction-"

"I don't feel uncomfortable."

"Heyo!" Brave Heart announced his presence with a Taleia leaning on him for support.

"Oh come on." AL deadpanned. "I was THIS close to learning something!" He seethed at his best friend.

"Nebula!" Domio cheerily waved, as he saw his father figure once more.

"Ack!" Warechu jumped, from seeing the same guy that defeated his Fenrir without issue. To encounter such a fearsome individual so soon put him on immediate edge.

The staff members and awoken Leanbox guards parted to allow the CPU to pass as he and the RRoD member made it to the center of the open circle.

"Oh, looks like the mouse mascot woke up. Dreamt about cheese and world domination?" The CPU poked. "Or was it about Compa?~" Teased the blue adventurer.

"That's none of your business, chu." The floating ASIC mascot responded as he responded in his standard tone.

"You try to defeat us at every confrontation, how is it not? I should be trying to figure out what cheese you favor so I can poison your next meal." The CPU deadpanned with a smirk as the mouse lost some color from the interjection of possible action that could be taken place by the deity.

"Yeek!" The rat cowered, not wanting to instigate an assassination attempt from the not assassin. His death would be too out of place.

"Welp. How did you guys manage with your patrol?" AL raised a brow, interested in why they looked like they just got finished fighting something.

"We got attacked by an army of shadows before they fused into a giant shadow, which then smacked Nebula into the ocean which made me step up and keep it at bay before I started to slip up, just before Nebula came back and finished the job." The soldier summarized as AL, Domio, and Warechu as well as the others present.

"All that happened in the garden?" A staff member asked the two, he appeared to be a gardener by the looks of it.

"Yep. And I think most of the greenery went up in flames because of the shadows." Brave Heart broke it to the gardener. "Green Heart's backyard looks like if a radioactive kaiju took a massive steaming dump on it." He described.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The gardener cried in dismay and grief as his hard work was destroyed by the invasion.

He wept in the arms of a fellow gardener as the consoling party shook her head, trying his best not to break down as well.

"That's tuff." Warechu pitied as he too knew what it was like for even his job to be meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

"So what do we do now?" Domio asked his father figure as Nebula looked towards him.

"We'll have to find a way to break inside of that mansion. The others have been in there for a while now, and I'm getting anxious as to if they're still doing alright in there." Brave Heart explained as he looked at the sealed doors.

"But how? I tried to open the door, and it stayed closed." AL explained back as he recalled his failure to open the door influenced by otherworldly energy.

"Fear energy..." The CPU muttered.

"What about it?" Taleia asked her childhood friend.

"I've observed that it nullifies any energy weaker than it, including share energy, or at least ends in a stalemate that districts the surroundings if comparable." He continued.

"Then how do we get in?" The pyro warrior asked, his flaming pupils brightening with curiosity.

"I have a theory." The CPU brought to light.

"Go on..." Domio encouraged his father to continue.

"If fear energy can nullify and flat out negate any medium of force weaker than it, even to the point whereas energies such as share energy, then what if we overload its nullifying capabilities by using its natural enemy in theory, alongside an auxiliary medium to give it the energy needed to overpower its effects?" Brave Heart theorized as the others intently listened.

Silence ensued...

"You sure you're still Nebula? You spoke intellectual gibberish just now." Taleia incredulously asked as her disbelief was evermore present.

"Oh, fuck off." The adventurer deadpanned.

"So, use share energy AND KI to blow up the door." AL deduced.

"Exactly, my fiery friend." Brave Heart agreed with the simplification of his theory.

"Oh. That's great! Now we can help the others once we bust down that door!" Domio cheered, a ray of hope within the tone of his voice.

"I'm pretty sure that annoying girl probably died in there," Warechu muttered, referring to Underling.

"And leave you alone? I doubt. But if we stay too long out here, that might be the case." AL said as he opened his hand, before he generated a ball of flaming KI, a mix of his fire and spiritual power.

BURST!

"Right." Nebula agreed as he summoned his variation of KI, as it was enhanced by his CPU physiology.

BURST!

"So what are you planning to do?" Taleia asked the blue deity.

"We're gonna punch the door. Really hard." Brave Heart replied with a dumb look on his face.

Taleia sighed before removing her arm from her friend's shoulders.

The two warriors then approached the door.

FEAR ENERGY!...

Its red and dark aura could be felt even from. way back where Warechu and Domio were as it reacted the closer one got to it.

"Alright AL. We're gonna reel back out fists, and hit the door at the exact same time. Any time difference will most likely give the door enough time to recalibrate its defenses, making our attacks meaningless." Brave Heart ran through the plan to his friend, who nodded in understanding.

It wasn't anything truly difficult in practice. Just hit the door at a certain timing, and they would be able to neutralize its effects.

SWIRL...!

RIPPLE!-

BURST!...

The duo eased into a stance, standing side by side as their auras combined, forming into one larger composition of energy that swirled around them, being a reddish orangish aura as they got ready.

CLENCH!

ABSORB!

GLOW!

The fighters then clenched their hands, their energy orbs becoming absorbed into their palms as their fists glowed their respective colors, as they slowly reeled their fists.

"On the count of 3, we're gonna floor that door." Brave Heart told AL, his brother from another mother nodding in response.

"Right-o," AL muttered.

"1..." The CPU began.

FLEX!

WINDWAVE!

Their auras dispersed as a wind wave was expelled from the two as their bodies tensed.

INDENT!

CONSTRICT!

"2..!" AL continued as their back feet indented into the ground, their eyes constricting as they aimed for the doors.

RUSH!

PUNCH!

"3!" The two roared as they dashed forward before throwing their fists towards the doors, the two fists being side by side as they rushed ahead.

"Haaaaah!"

SHOCKWAVE!-

BLOW BACK!

PURIFY!

SWING OPEN!

Brave Heart and AL yelled as their fists connected with the door simultaneously, a shockwave being blasted from the point of contact as everyone was blown back, the fear energy being shredded from the combined effort as the doors swung open.

"Uaaah!"

DISSOLVE!

RUMBLERUMBLERUMBLERUMBLERUMBLE!......

Everyone screamed as they were blown away as the dissolution of fear energy spread across the entire Basilicom as the building's traces of fear energy were being removed from its surface.

"That went better than I expected." Nebula rose to his feet as he dusted himself off.

"What do you mean?" AL grunted as he was given a hand by his gravity god compadre.

"I only expected the door to be released of the fear energy influence. But thinking about how our attacks not only combined, but somehow multiplied DUE to the nature of KI, the entire building must've been freed from whoever in there influenced it in the first place.

"So the power of friendship prevailed?" Domio asked as he got up from the ground.

"More like thr power of punching your problems away."

STAB!

STAND!-

SHEATH!...

Taleia shook her head before using her water katana to pull herself up.

FLOAT!...

"Well, it worked, so it's not like you can be mad about it." Warechu shrugged as he shakily floated back up, dizziness taking ahold of him before shaking it off and looking at the open doors.

The staff members and guards slowly got to their feet, as the doors were finally open.

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ!

A menacing aura, reminiscent of DIO could be felt, from even outside as it blasted all those who weren't exposed to it up to that point.

"Holy shit...!" AL cursed as he felt the blast of malintent as he peered within the doors.

OPEN!

Within said doors, the four that had already contended with the dark vampire turned around, after the sound made them lose their sight on DIO just long enough for the vampire to act.

"!-"

DUBSTEP FART!

TIME STOP!

Vergo, Chika, Underling, and Gris all looked back in surprise with the door being blasted open, giving the creature of the night an opportune moment to strike.

Gris became stuck once more in the world of frozen time as he felt his body stop. He instantly realized that it was DIO's doing as he remained unmoving, feeling the vampire approaching them.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. To turn your backs on the one you're fighting. Such an amateur mistake." The vampire talked down to the quartet as Gris internally scowled, knowing how right the bastard was.

'We've left a giant opening for him and he knows it! If I can just move!-' Gris struggled as he did all that he could to make his body.

"Oh well. If they're so absent-minded as to allow me to take their lives without hesitation, so be it."

APPROACH...!

FLOAT!...

DIO had no woes being able to take out the four so easily as The World neared one of the party members.

'Just an arm...! If I can move ONE ARM!' Gris looked down to his arm, the one nearest to DIO as he used all of his energy to attempt to move that arm as The World was reeling for a monstrous heavy punch towards the back of Underling, a sentence for a fatal blow from what he saw his afterimage go through.

...TWITCH!

Gris' fingers twitched as he felt his hand regain some feeling.'!' The assassin registered as his hand moved.

TWITCH!...

He then tensed his arm again, this time, his entire hand move.

The silver-haired hitman didn't waste any time taking advantage of his apparent temporal resistance as he continued to fidget his hand as his life depended on it.

Which it did.

His forearm was next to follow, as his veins were appearing on his appendage from trying to gain control. Soon enough, that feeling extended onto his upper arm and shoulder as he felt the ability to move his entire arm as The World was about to unleash the spine destroying blow to Underling.

"And for it, you'll face your end! MUDA!" DIO roared as The World moments away from blasting a hole through Underlings back narrowed its eyes.

'I have to act now! Hokuto Shinken: Kyōsatsu Shitotsu Ken!'

HEAVY PUNCH!-

PUNCH!

STAGGER!...

Gris internally called as he clenched his fist and indented it into the chest of the dark Stand, its ghostly fist just millimeters away from the back of the ASIC grunt.

DIO suddenly felt a sharp pain in the center of his gut, which caused his eyes to vein somewhat as he gritted his teeth, expelling some saliva through his fangs as he didn't expect to be feeling any variation of pain right before his first kill of the group.

"Hnrk!..."

TREMBLE...!

The vampire staggered back, the pain coming from his abdomen becoming increasingly unbearable as The World faded back into its stand master, the vampire becoming even more confused as he didn't understand what could have conceivably occurred that would cause him to react in such an adverse manner.

DIO looked down to his feet, slightly wobbling before he looked back to where his stand had occupied, to see that Gris' hand had moved from its original position!

'He... He moved! He moved through my world of stopped time!' The vampire reacted with shock and utter disbelief as he could not accept that he had gotten his ability invaded not once, but twice.

''But how-'' DIO wouldn't even have tike to question or rebuke such a conclusion, since his body started to violently react and ripple before he exploded into a gory mess.

''Urgh! URAAAH!-"

GORY EXPLOSION!

SPLATTER!...

SUSPEND!

The bloodsucker cried in abject internal torment before from his abdominal muscles, his body was destroyed in a bloody boom as his blood was suspended in the air of stopped time as a result as Gris observed with marveling eyes.

TIME RESUMES!

SPLATTER!

And because of his body being damaged to such an extent, the resumption of the flow of time was apparent as the assassin, alongside everyone else in the room, and outside of it, began to move once more.

Due to time resuming, the blood of DIO was caught on all fours group members as they flinched, sans the assassin who was aware the entire time as they registered the fact the blood of the vampire was on their bodies.

"What the- EWWWWW!" Chika squealed as she visibly cringed to the point her face could be compared to a crinkled piece of paper.

"Ugh, that's gross!" Underling grimaced as she then smelled what was in her and visibly paled from shock, realizing that it was the blood of the vampire that tried to kill them.

"Is this...?!" Vergo looked upon his clothes as he saw that the blood which was not his own had been spread across the entire back and right side of his person.

"Yes. That is the blood of DIO." Gris said as he wiped some of the substance off of his face.

"But how did he just... Abruptly die like that?!" Vergo questioned the conditions of his uncharacteristically instant and incomprehensible death.

"Hokuto Shinken." The assassin curtly stated.

"Elaborate." The time traveler deadpanned and the ASIC member stressed as they looked at the hitman in bloodstained clothes as the Oracle was still in extreme discomfort and discomfort as she wiped off the blood of the bloodsucker as best as she could.

"His stand- the ghost-like figure lurks beside him for those uninformed even though I learned this less than half an hour ago, was gonna give Underling a fisting right through her spinal cord." The assassin began, the ASIC grunt becoming silent and wary from the description of her unconscious situation.

"WHAT?!" The grey-skinned grunt yelled as she took in the information, grabbing her back.

"Right. But then what happened?" The CPU Candidate moved along the explanation, feeling uneasy about having the remains of the vampire on himself.

"I managed to move my hand through his stopped time and use an instant kill ability on him. His death must have been linked to the early resumption of time." The assassin theorized as the others walked inside from hearing the explosion of guts and blood.

"What happened in here?!" Brave Heart asked as he saw the bloody physiques of the group within as he floated within the premises before landing on his feet.

"We killed a vampire." Gris gave another short explanation.

"You WHAT?!" AL let his jaw drop at the incredulous claim from the silver-eyed assassin as he entered the building as well.

"T-Those are real?" Domio questioned the validity of such a claim, about the creature's fictitious reputation.

"Well I have blood on me, do I not?!'' Chika finally responded as she wiped the remaining amount of the fluid off of her person, her disgruntled gaze well-remaining as she looked towards the boy.

"Hah, you did get tangled up with them!" Warechu poked fun at Underling's position as she angrily retorted to the floating mouse.

"At least I wasn't unconscious the whole damn time!" The greenette ASIC member responded as she had her eyebrows furrowed and her expression hardened.

"Shut it, chu!" The fluffy mascot of ASIC snapped back as the two glared at each other.

"Alright people, shut up!" Gris yelled as Taleia slowly walked into the room, using the door for some support.

"So what does this mean? Is the threat neutralized for good?" The swordswoman asked, unsure as to if they should lower their guard so quickly after all the trials they had to endure.

"Concerning the nature of vampires, and some having regenerative capabilities, including DIO from what I've seen after battling him? I cannot with absolute certainty say that this is the end of him."

RIPPLE...!

Gris stated as he then felt the blood of the deceased start to become volatile and squirm on his body.

COLLECT!

COLLECT!

COLLECT!

This effect was mirrored on all those who had the blood of the bloodsucker on their clothes and bodies, as well as the blood that got on the floor, all started to pool together in one area, in the center of the room as it quickly floated and accumulated within the circle of characters.

"What in tarnation...!" Brave Heart muttered as he looked at the mass of blood compose in front of him.

"As I said, healing factor. Everyone, attack the mass of blood and vaporize it before he comes back!"

"Hah!"

STATIC BLAST!

Gris yelled before he fired a blast of electrified Toki as he yelled.

"Bakuhatsu!"

BLAST!

Brave Heart roared as he fired the blast out of his palm towards the blast.

"Yah!"

LARGE FIREBALL!

AL yelled as he too blasted a large KI-infused fireball at the orb of blood as it escaped his hand.

Domio put everything he could muster into a Cold Bolt as he outright summoned the SP Skill instead of reinforcing its attack power with Frigid Boxing because of the time constraints.

"Cold Bolt!"

ICE BOLT!

The pubescent boy yelled as ice magic escaped his hands and went towards the blood orb.

UNSHEATH!

THRUST!

Taleia unsheathed her sword and did her water variant of her dark blade's Necrotic Eclipse, as a high-pressure stream of water burst forth from her blue blade as she thrust forward with her katana.

"Aquatic Geyser!"

STREAM!

The swordswoman yelled as she stabbed her blade forward as a powerful stream of water rushed to the blood orb.

And Chika grabbed her spear before using an SP Skill she had to release a large thrust of wind as she aimed at the blood orb.

''Zephyr!"

WIND PRESSURE!

The Oracle yelled as she let out a powerful thrust, a large pressure of wind approaching the object.

Finally, Vergo grabbed his staff and made it extend as he channeled his KI into it, the weapon elongating at high speeds towards the blood orb in an attempt to evaporate it.

EXTEND!-

GLOW!

All the attacks that were heading towards the orb of blood closed in on its target as mere moments remained until contact with the object of interest.

...!

APPEAR!

FEAR SHOCKWAVE!

SNUFF OUT!

But right before any technique or weapon could land a solid hit on the collection of vampiric blood, a body exploded from the orb into existence alongside a tremendous shockwave of fear energy alongside it, causing the attacks to be quelled as all nearby fighters were blasted back from the event.

SLAM!

All present yelled in surprise and pain as they were pushed back into the walls.

And the body that had sprouted forth from the mass of blood was none other than the vampiric menace, DIO.

His clothes had also somehow managed to regenerate with him, but that was an ability he had since back in the days of Egypt, and even back in England. So it wasn't a shock to the grey-haired vampire.

But as he looked around, all who opposed him were on the ground, as they got back to their senses.

"W-What the heck was that?" Nebula said, forcibly reverting to his human form.

'Wait?! I'm human!?' Nebula realized as he looked at his hands, no longer wearing the gloves or feeling the shares coursing through him like he usually did.

"This smarts like a university student..." Vergo said as he opened his now admiral blue eyes, no longer possessing adamant share energy.

'My... My power? It's dwarfed!' The blonde realized as he too raided in shock and confusion.

"My connection to my share energy seem... Muffled..." Gris muttered as he propped himself from the ground, seeing the vampire menacingly standing, his face covered by thr darkness, the lights of Vergo's creation creating the perfect lighting for it being mixed with natural light from outside just at the right angle to lighten his back and darken his face.

The others rose from the ground as they saw the vampire standing tall once more.

"He-He-He's alive!" Domio yelled in abject horror.

"Hahahaha..." DIO began to chuckle at the fear he was creating from his mere presence.

"No fucking way...!" AL grabbed the wall, his fingers digging into the foundation as he didn't dare take his gaze off of the regenerated mastermind.

"Ahahahaha!" The suspension of disbelief was everywhere but within the room as the vampire cackled at the shocked reactions of the colorful characters before him.

"Even Underling is afraid!" Nebula pointed, seeing the spooked visage of the hooded ASIC grunt.

The girl didn't even have any rebuttals, too shaken up by DIO's spontaneous revival, or rather acute regeneration to even speak.

"T-That's the vampire?! He's really scary looking for me, chu!" Warechu instinctively felt afraid after seeing the man laugh as he continued his manic laughter.

COLLAPSE!

Chika took one look at the man's form before fainting from fright alone from his bloody and revolting revival.

"Bloody hell!..." Vergo face paled as DIO laughed like a mad man, hence how much he was laughing at their unique reactions.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!... Heheheheheh... Hm..." The vampire finally calmed down as he looked around his surroundings, seeing that he no longer could manifest shadow within such a bright room, his neutral face becoming visible as his smile faded.

'I'm at a disadvantage. I must regain my upper hand if I wish to defeat these humorous hooligans.'

BFFT!

DIO noted as he suddenly distorted before reappearing at the top of the stairs, retreating deeper into the upstairs of the Basilicom.

"After him!"

CHASE!

Taleia yelled as she scrambled, whilst in moderate pain before the conscious fighters pursued the vampire.

All except Underling and Linda, who waited until all 6 of the protagonists went up the stairs before slipping away, not wanting to confront that menace for the rest of their lives.

"Screw that! I'm outta here! He's already tried to kill me twice!" Underling yelled as she booked it.

"I'm already ahead of ya! Screw this place!" Warechu followed as the villainous duo escaped the building, pushing past the guards and staff into the darkness, retreating to ASIC headquarters.

Chika simply laid on the ground, paralyzed with fear to the point of unconsciousness as she was left in a catatonic state.

But with the group...

"He's gotta be nearby!" AL looked around as he had his flames ready to fire.

"Beware of any shadows he might have lurking up here. Light can destabilize them, but ultimately spiritual energy of any kind can take them down." Gris paraphrased a key explanation of their defeat as they trekked the upper levels of the Basilicom.

"I can't use my dark katana, so someone's gonna have to cover for me." Taleia alerted, wincing from the slightly subsiding pain.

"Me too. I only have magic, not really anything that can deal with boogeymen." Domio told the group as they listened, trying into a corridor.

"Right. Talea and Domio, stay in the middle. Nebula, Gris, AL and I will stay on the outer circle to take out any- THERE, LADS!" Vergo pointed as he saw some shadows with glowing eyes in the corridor that they were in appeared from the ground.

DOUBLE BLAST!

COMBINE!

BOOM!

Vergo and AL who were in the front, fired a combined blast of KI, resulting in the vaporization of the shadows as the green and red ball of KI became a yellow swirling mass that ate away at the shadows.

"WRYYYYYYYYYYY!~..." The shadows cried in pain as they were killed off very easily, now that their weaknesses were discovered.

But as those died, more from the party's flank appeared, and due to Domio looking back upon feeling something cold on the back of his neck, he turned around.

"?!" The child looked back to witness the changing of Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, about to fire.

"We got eyes on our behinds!" The brown-haired was alerted as Nebula and Gris, the rear guard turned to see the attacks almost charged as they immediately got to setting up a defense.

"Baro Barrier!"

JET!

REPULSION!

Nebula yelled as he set up a partial gravity shield, vertically rectangular as Gris then extended some Toki from his arm as two combined forces to create a shield that repelled the eye beams upon getting to the shield.

The eye beams went into the walls as they doomed pierced through thr entire upper floor as they exploded near the walls of the Basilicom as Gris initiated the finishing move.

PUSH!

DISINTEGRATE!...

"UREEEEEY!~..."

He pushed the barrier forward, having it act as a bulldozer as it steamrolled the shadow clones, causing them to be destroyed by thr effects of the shield as it cleared out their blindside.

The group continue to cover ground as they then had to dodge shadow hands that stretched from the side of the corridor walls, the doors on the side of them, and even the ceiling and the floor as they had to dodge each hand and leg.

"Whoa!"

SIDESTEP!

Nebula stumbled, barely sidestepping a hand that tried to grab his leg.

SLIDE!

ROLL!

RUN!

Vergo stayed silent as he slid under a hand that tried to grab min from his left as he then rolled back into a running position, looking ahead for any more attempts to impede his movement.

FLAME ARMOR!

BURN!

EXTINGUISH!

AL burned his entire body, entering his flame armor for a brief second to burn the hand that tried to grab him from the ceiling, only for it to burn and be destroyed due to the properties of his fire being based on his KI.

Gris let out a discharge of Toki from his body as he cleared to put the entire area of appendages as the dark limbs were vaporized by his attack, clearing the path once more as they continued forward and this apparently long hallway.

AURA!

BRIGHTEN!

VAPORIZE!

"Hnn!" Gris flexed his body as the nearly blinding about of light spread across the entire hallway, decommissioning all the shadow arms and legs that were either exposed or rising from a wall, door, ceiling, or the floor as they returned to progression.

"Nice job, Mr. Gris!" Domio congratulated as he skated on the ground.

"The assassin has some killer moves. Who'd have guessed?" Taleia smirked as Nebula chuckled at the pun.

"I can see you two being a thing at one point." Gris grimaced as the 6 continued to move.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" AL asked.

"What do you think?" The hitman spat.

"If it was a compliment, I'd assume he was one of the shadows in disguise." Vergo laughed as AL joined in.

"I hate you people." The neutral tone of the silver-eyed assassin was lost on the laughing duo.

The group finally reached the end of the corridor, and back into an open room.

They were now in front of the room that housed Vert's quarters.

"He's definitely in there," Vergo said as he felt the dark energy of fear from within the room.

"And it feels like he's not alone." Gris also sensed some dark energies within the room.

"Who's gonna open the door?" AL asked as he had a bad feeling about haphazardly waltzing into the boss room without caution.

"No one." Nebula answered. The party turned to the blue-haired adventurer.

"No one?" Taleia raised a confused brow.

"Everyone step to the side of the door. I'm going to try something." The CPU notified as the others moved out of the door's vicinity.

Nebula raised his hand to the door from where ever was standing, the door handle vibrating from the influence of gravity on its being.

"What's he doing?..." Domio asked as he looked at the one next to him, being AL.

"If I had to take a guess..." AL began.

PULL...!

TWIST!...

OPEN!

The god then slightly clenched his hand and twisted it, making the doorknob pull and twist, the latch easing out of the strike plate as the mechanisms within the door reacted as it slowly opened.

"He's using his gravity to open the door from afar to prevent the risk of being ambushed at point-blank." AL narrowed his eyes as he kept his gaze on the doorknob, ready to react to anything that came out of the door.

ドドドド!

He slowly pushed the door forward by flexing his hand, the door moving into the room as suspense rose dramatically.

And as he got to see what was in the room-

JET!'

'!''

DODGE!

SLICE!

Nebula managed to rear his head to the side to dodge an almost point-blank Space Ripper Stingy Eyes a mere meter in front of him, narrowly missing his head as he now had a searing wound on his face as he looked ahead.

DIO stood within, his own eyes dimming from the use of his Space Ripper Stingy Eyes as he and some other shadows beside him were ready to confront the group.

"You've found me once again. But unfortunately, it seems you've put yourself into a disadvantageous position." DIO confidently stated.

"What makes you so sure about that one, mate? We have you surrounded!" Vergo snarled as the vampire let out a laugh.

"Oh please. You do realize your folly?" The vampire asked.

"What? No. We have you cornered!" AL disagreed.

RISE!

RISE!

RISE!

RISE!

RISE!

RISE!

ゴゴゴゴ!!

RIGHT after he said that, 6 shadow clones rose from the ground, all towering as they were muscular and brawny, dwarfing those in the room, even DIO as he got back to the statement.

"Do you? Do you really? " The bloodsucker questioned, taunting the fire user.

"You bloodsucking bitch!" AL raged as DIO cackled as his reaction.

"Hmph. What will you do now? You are as much as ants as my shadows are gods." The overconfident vampire condescendingly asked, his cockiness reaching its peak.

"Well, if you put it that way..." Nebula sniggered, knowing that the vampire was unaware of his actual race.

"It's unfortunate for you that we are gods." Gris finished as DIO stared blankly at the group.

"Don't disrespect my ears with such scandalous lies. You? Gods? What drivel." DIO utterly dismissed.

"You'll regret not taking our words with genuine caution," Vergo replied as the shadows closed in on the sextet.

"Likewise, for choosing such blasphemy as your last words." The vampire smirked as he put his hands on his hips.

"Shall we, gentlemen?" Gris looked to his fellow CPUs before looking back at DIO.

"We shall." Nebula and Vergo nodded as they stood side by side as Domio was lost.

"What are they implying?" Domio asked, looking at the giant shadow vampire that towered over his small frame.

"Just wait and see."

STANCE!

BURST!!

AURA!!

CHI!!

The pyro warrior replied, staring down the shadow as the thre CPUs got into the standard powering up position.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

SHINE!

RADIATE!

BRIGHTEN!

All three gods yelled, their spiritual auras brightening to their maximum as they forced out as much energy as they could, engulfing the room in light as all who were present basked in its glory.

GUARD!

Even DIO had to shield his supernatural eyes from the combined might of his opponents, his nearby shadows instantly being defeated by the intensity of such light.

FADE...!

"This light!" The vampire blocked his eyes as he winced in discomfort.

When the light subsided, to the vampire's disbelief and the group's joy, the larger more intimidating variations of DIO's shadows had been wiped out through sheer energy projection.

"Impossible!" The vampire yelled. He then looked to his sides to see that his two shadows on the side were also gone. He even looked back to the one in the chair, that one had succumbed to the blinding light as well.

"It seems that you've been overconfident in the ability of your peons. There's a reason underlings never succeed in eliminating their targets." Gris goaded as DIO snarled.

"Why, you lowly gnat!" The ascended vampire roared as he kept his distance from the assassin, knowing of his fatal fighting style.

"It seems that you've been definitively cornered, DIO." Taleia gripped her sword handle as she got ready to engage with the mastermind behind the Basilicom's takeover.

'I have to separate them. If I engage, especially with that silver-haired one, I'll be doled a fatal blow once more.'

BFFT!

SUMMON!

DIO strategized as he brandished his stand.

"The World!" Gris yelled.

"Is he going to stop time?" Vergo asked, concerned.

"He can stop time?!" Nebula's eyes almost bulged out of his eyes as Taleia, Domio and AL all mirrored his reaction, gaining awareness of such a powerful ability.

"And this is where you all will PERISH! ZA WAAAAAAARUDO! " The vampire yelled as the group moved ahead to try and intercept the ability, to no avail.

TIME STOP!

DUBSTEP FART!

The World T posed as time came to a crashing halt, with alternating colors and dubstep sound effects.

THROW!

SUSPEND...!

The vampire took out some knives, before throwing them at the group, each member receiving a knife aimed directly at their head as it stopped inches away.

CROUCH!

SHOOT UP!

SMASH!

SUSPEND...!

DIO quickly jumped through the roof of the building, into the night sky as he flew into the overlying city of Leanbox.

The only person conscious within this state of time, being Gris, tried to move and give chase to the man, but all that he could do after trying with everything he had to move has managed to get a leg to move forward with his hand, before stopping after 3 seconds.

KICK!

BLAST!

BLAST!

DISPLACE!

DISPLACE!

But within those 3 seconds, he managed to kick away the knife aimed at Domio and sent a blast at the one aimed for Taleia and AL before being stuck in place.

Time began to resume, with the knifes moving forward as the group regained conscious thought.

"He's- YIKES!"

WEAVE!

STAB!...

Nebula hollered as he dodged an incredibly sharp knife aimed at his face.

"FUCKIN' 'ELL!"

DUCK!

STAB!...

Vergo cursed abhorrently as he ducked the same knife, only this time aimed for his head.

"He just vanished!" AL said as he looked around for him.

"He stopped time!" Taleia expertly deduced to the fire user.

"And he's getting away! Access!" The assassin yelled.

"You can't transform?" Domio asked as he looked at the assassin with shock.

"His revival must have numbed our connection to our shares. Persistent bastard." Vergo gave a rendition of what could have possibly halted Gris' transformation, as well as kicked him and Nebula out of theirs.

"It would explain how we're no longer in our transformations." Nebula agreed as AL ran into the room and looked through the busted hole in the roof.

"He escaped through here!" AL pointed as the others flooded into the room, seeing the hole.

"Well, what are we waiting for? After 'im!"

FLY!

Vergo yelled as he flew through the hole with his aerokinesis, shooting after the vampire with frantic speed.

"Right!"

GRAVITATE!

Nebula followed, using his gravity to ascend the air as he ignored the planet's gravitational pull, allowing him to fly.

BOOST!

AL dipped after the two as he boosted into the sky immediately after as he leaped into the air, using his flames to propel his body.

"Give chase to him on the ground! We can't let him have any room within Leanbox that's unaccounted for!"

AURA!

JUMP!

Gris yelled as he glowed, before jumping into the air, accelerating the rate of ascension as he leaped into the air.

"Understood. Come, Domio!" Taleia said as they ran back through the corridor as Taleia dug into her inventory and pulled out her phone, after sheathing her blade.

She then pressed on a certain number, speed dialing it as she and the boy ran down the halls.

DASH!

SKATE!

"Hello?" The voice responded, asking for who was on the opposite line.

"It's RRoD Member, Taleia Elfenlied. We have an individual on the loose that is a threat to the entirety of Gamindustri on the loose in Leanbox. I need you to connect me to the Commanders! We have a Demon-level threat! I repeat, we have a Demon level threat!" The soldier requested as she sternly yelled at the operator.

"Do you have any visual description I can use to describe such an immensely powerful threat to our intelligence division?" The voice asked, their tone immediately becoming serious.

"The individual appears to resemble the physiology of the average human, but in actuality is a vampire. And yes, a real vampire." The elite soldier cut off the predicted question the army operator was going to ask.

"The threat has shown his ability to summon shadow avatars of himself, shoot lasers from his eyes, conjure an otherworldly warrior to fight for him, as well as presumably the normal abilities of a vampire. And on top of all the aforementioned abilities, he possesses the ability to stop time." Taleia stressed as typing could be heard from the other side of the line as the duo returned to the stairs.

"Noted. Engage pursuit on the individual to relay more information. Reinforcements will be sent once a position is located and confirmed. Protect as many civilians as you feasibly can. I'll contact Lady Wac, Mora, and Poona immediately." The voice explained as Taleia picked up the paralyzed body of Chika as the two exited the building.

Upon returning outside, the Basilcom staff gasped at the state of their Oracle.

"My word!"

"How could this have happened?!"

"Who could have done such a thing to our Oracle!"

"We don't have time to worry!" Taleia cut off the filler first of the crowd. "Does anyone here have experience in the medical field?" The soldier asked as Domio thought back to the absent Nurse-In-Training.

'What a time to leave Compa behind...' The blonde thought to himself as a staff member emerged. She looked to be a maid, but had medical equipment with her.

"Excellent. Tend to Chika until she recovers. Guards! I need you to stay here and guard these staff members! This place is the safest place that they can possibly be right at this moment. If DIO returns, and we can't reach you in time, then lay down your life for your country. If Lady Vert is unable to protect our nation, then we will do it in her steed, for it is her will!" The soldier rallied the Guards as they shouted in agreement.

"Yes, ma'am!" The group yelled as the woman turned to Domio.

"You can stay here, Domio. I saw how you were reacting in the Basilicom-"

"I have to help my dad- I mean, Nebula!" Domio corrected. "I owe it to them for saving me, and I've already stood aside once! I know I can't do much, but there's something I can do!" Domio to the woman.

"So will you help me, to help them?" She asked.

"Of course!" For the first time, Domio didn't stutter as he yelled with determination.

"Then let's move out!" Taleia said as she ran to the gates, with the ice magic lad beside her as the two of them slammed open the gates as they went into the city, to follow after the vampire and their friends, as impeding danger was ready to strike the ignorant masses.

---

A/N:

Heya there, reader!

If you're seeing this, this is a rewrite of the chapter, just to correct some repetition, fix some spelling errors, and improve the spelling quality, especially in the earlier chapters.

So remember, italics and bold is going for gold.

It is done. I have finally finished this chapter after over HALF A MONTH!

I blame my procrastination due to a lesser scale of writer's block. But since I'm back, I'm ready to write some more.

Speaking of writing, this chapter really expanded on how Stands interact with the cast's abilities, as well as the abundance of shadow clones.

Not those shadow clones, the ones that look like metrosexual high fashion 80s antagonists that jumped headfirst into tar. MY shadow clones.

I had to pull the reigns on The World, to make sure he didn't just speed blitz the entire cast, and mixed with the fact that DIO is an overconfident and blatantly cocky bastard once in an advantageous position, that was easy to conjure.

And then there was the giant boss fight outside and the underground rumble, I also had to split the POV for a while. I'm also glad that all the characters are basically in one spot again (Somewhat) to keep thr focus more centered.

Also, DIO has yet to use the extent of his time stop to the fullest. the longest he used it for was 20 seconds while looking for Gris and Underling in the basement levels.

Also the Commanders from Hyperdevotion Noire! I just felt like putting them in there as a military fiction Leanbox might have in case of a situation like this, as ASIC is something more suited for persons such as 5bp. and the government withing Leanbox to regain the belief of the population.

Whereas the Commanders are more combat centered and are more armed to deal with threats to Leanbox as a whole, not to mention Gamindustri. Even though their existence hasn't been stated anywhere in the fic up until this point, which will probably lead to continuity errors I'll have to solve-

Look, at least the military isn't completely useless. We get to see them get modernized by DIO next chapter!

...

...

...

Damn, I guess they're MUDA after all.

Well, anyways, sorry for the wait!

Arrivederci.

Read and Review!