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)

53. 53 - Accelerated Altercation! ASIC Feud!

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

---

"I must thank you for finding me amidst all of this rubble."

A polite and genuine expression of gratitude was shown to the person that found the Leanbox Mascot during the ensuing chaos that was happening as it spoke.

"As a citizen, as well as a member of its military force, I feel it's kind of an obligation that I should do that, ma'am." Answered the voice, as the figure of the SMD Member Taleia stood before it after freeing it from a pile of large rocks, a hand on her hilt.

"I sense many battles going on as we speak. Share-based beings are nearby, and locked in fierce combat." Noted the Mascot as Taleia looked around as she said that.

SHOCKWAVE!-

EXPLOSION!-

RUMBLE!-

That was an understatement, considering each onomatopoeia couldn't sustain its existence for a few seconds before being interrupted by another sound effect a couple of seconds later.

"ASIC and the CPU Candidates are fighting as we speak." She informed the floating orb. "You've been trapped for a while if you didn't know that, no offense." She bowed, trying not to seem purposefully offensive to her nation's Oracle.

"It is alright. I was captured by that organization and held within the confine of the cave under their supervision before it was destroyed." It gave exposition to the soldier as she reacted.

"Wait, so you're telling me they got to you first?!... Goddessdamnit! At least we can recover you during this pandemonium." Sighed the swordswoman.

"It is a much better position than what I had to endure." Agreed the floating collection of share energy.

Taleia went to move but then turned around.

How was she going to safely escort the Mascot amidst all of this madness?

THOOM!

BOOM!

CRASH!

"I suggest you use a method of transportation that hides my presence, lest I be shattered or recaptured." Advised the energy sphere.

"I know. Speaking of which..." She looked to her other hand.

"I'll just put you in my Inventory." Decided the elite soldier, before reaching out for the Mascot, and transporting her into hammerspace.

"Huh. That was surprisingly easy." She reflected on the action taken, and how it made life so much easier than expending brainpower in making a mobile share sun discreet.

"Now that's settled..." She had another large problem on her hands right after solving a big one.

"I have to find the others." She narrowed her eyes before looking around.

Although tried as she might, seeing beyond theatrical armageddon was easier said than done from a realistic standpoint.

With all that dust, smoke, and energetic pressure, making out anyone unless you were directly in the confrontation was next to impossible.

Worse yet...

BLAST!

Trained ears picked up the sound of an incoming attack, sounding akin to an energy blast that veered for her location.

EXPLODE!

And struck without hesitation, with a cloud of smoke and flame erupting from the blast zone, the floor around it shaking from the impact.

Flying out of the smoke clouds was a slightly damaged Taleia, her clothes smoldering with some dust on her skin from the blast.

GUST!-

ZOOM!-

But just as she reached the apex of her projectile motion, two incredibly fast-moving blurs zipped by her.

"What was that?!" She droned, before guarding her eyes against the powerful winds that soon followed them. Her eyelids were shut closed, despite the protection that she put up. Cartwheeling was only a second thought as she still struggled to open her eyes.

THUD!

FLIP!-

SLIDE!...

Landing on solid ground with a harsh slam, the recoil allowed Taleia to flip into a sliding crouch with a foot stretched to the side. Stabbing her sword into the ground to reduce her speed was another good way of drastically slowing her velocity.

"Who was that?" Still confused, and frankly spooked, the soldier shifted her eyes to look for the perpetrator of the noises she just heard.

SPRINT!-

BOOM!

With no luck, she immediately moved, to not stagnate in an area that may be at risk, considering that the entire battlefield could be considered such.

FIERY EXPLOSION!

EARTHQUAKE!

"Eek!" An unnaturally feminine shriek escaped the swordswoman's throat, being caught almost completely off-guard had she not been moving away from her previous position.

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

WHOOSH!

The cloud of dust remained until it was spontaneously cleared by an omnidirectional burst of wind as screaming could be heard before any trace of life was devoid.

"...AL?" A side tilt of confusion met with a glance of suspicion before she heard a voice call out for her in the middle of the battlefield.

"Taleia!" Cave's voice reached out to her as her head twisted to see where the familiar redhead was located. As she turned, the collection of Makers was approaching her as they all had hopeful looks on their faces as they shouted in random order, a testament to their excitement in finding another ally.

"Taleia!" Her name was repeated in different pitches and timing, yet they all shared the sole appreciation of seeing her again.

"Do you know where MAGES. is?!" Shouted IF, the group slowly getting closer to her position.

"Yeah! I got the Mascot, too!" Taleia responded, which got her some cheers as she started the close the gap between the two.

"Hooray!" Compa cheered as well. "Come on over so we can-"

SHOCKWAVE!

"KYAA!"

All the girls screamed, the pressure from the collision of power in the space between them before two figures slid from the impact zone.

STEAM!...

"Hah... Hah... Hah..." Breathed out the GPU, slightly out of breath as sweat quickly evaporated off of his body due to his body heat temperature being far above normal caused a phenomenon. Steam shooting out from both his gritted teeth and flaring nostrils was all but a bodily function that became all but frequent ever since he adopted the technique.

"Grr...! Tch!..." Scowled and grumbled the esper in return, his sleeves ripped up to the point his coat had become a tattered short sleeve that revealed his undershirt's worn state. While not many more actual wounds were gathered during their short scuffle, any bruises from the constant unknown force violently acting upon his body over and over again, another hindrance bypassing his shield.

"Urgh... Not again!..." Scrambling to her feet, the Guild Agent stood alongside the redhead SMD operative as the other soldier of the same team rose opposite to the pair.

"Nebula?!" Finally being able to put a face to the pandemonium that was ensuing, the half-elf was quick to see that he had become the human equivalent of a boiler room.

"Tals." Speaking, more steam escaped his mouth as the sound of expiration was exaggerated due to the concentration of gas within his respiratory system. "And IF and Compa. Nisa and the others are here, too!..." He noticed before his opponent spoke next.

"Forget them! You should be focusing on the fact that I'm going to tear you limb from limb!" Accelerator snarled as a mischievous smirk was what he got in return.

"Considering how thin you are, you'll probably pull your muscle before you tear off mine." Mocked the deity, causing a comment to circulate from one of the Makers.

"What a spot-on observation." Complimented Cave, nodding with a small smile on her face, barely noticeable to the others.

"Evil will never lower its arms when justice is afoot!" Nisa was in tandem with the soldier of Leanbox as they were on the same page. "Even when their arms are malnourished with malintent!" She continued.

"Shut the fuck up, you cunts!"

STOMP!-

SPIKES!

DASH!...

With a loud stamp, rock spikes raced toward the two with incredible speed, as Cave's increased perception was the only reason she wasn't completely blind to their speed thanks to her Awakening.

"!"

LUNGE!

She tried to evade but stopped herself as Nisa was still reacting to the spikes' approach and fatigue only made her reaction time worse.

But it seemed the spikes were faster, as Cave was just a moment too soon to reach the only now processing superheroine, who twisted to avoid the attack, but only bought herself a nanosecond due to how close in proximity the girl found herself.

Preparing to tank a hit, her eyes closed.

But the pain never came.

"H-Huh!?" Even the protector of justice was shocked.

Instead, she opened her eyes to Nebula's steaming form before her, with his back turned to reveal the steaming sole scar as his presence alone seemingly diverged the path of the spikes of no harm to him and by association, her.

Even Cave was accounted for, who should've been reasonably caught in the diversion, was soared of injury from the angle that was used to separate the original path via the obtuse angle formed being wide enough to circumvent any harm besides the ground that was being used to make them.

SLIDE...!

"When did you...?!" Even the trained eyes of the seasoned redhead were unaware of his movement until he stopped completely as she slid behind him, alongside the blue-haired heroine.

"He's fast... But not that fast!"

BOOM!

Accel wasn't finished, pointing his finger and using the momentum of thrusting it forward to create a concentrated stream of air, its value magnified to increase its magnitude to a level that should've been just fast enough to outspeed the CPU's perception.

And to make matters even more frantic, the next person he aimed for was none other than the Nurse-In-Training, who was completely unaware of the attack's direction, still recovering from that shockwave.

Or so he thought.

CLUTCH!

"U-Uah!" Squeaked the congo blonde nurse, as she reeled to her friend's sudden appearance, with IF only now noticing what had transpired, despite being next to the girl the entire time.

PSSH...

With a closed hand, the adventurer not only attracted all of the wind to that one closed point but also completely neutralized its offensive capability by letting whatever the attack was go off in his clenched fist, leaving some darker smoke. before it faded back into light steam.

"Neb! How did you move so fast?!" The Guild Agent asked the question that everyone there wanted to know the answer to, helping up he best friend in the process.

"You go swoosh swoosh like it's nobody's business!" She described his incredible dexterity.

"I'll explain later." He told his Guild friend. "You should be on guard, though." He warned. "I might be able to bail you guys out now, but-" His expression went from relatively serious to absolute focus as his eyes darted.

VECTOR DASH!

"DIE!" Roared the sociopath as he moved his hand to make contact with the swordswoman, who could only look on in fear as she unsheathed her sword. Her draw was quick, but not fast enough for the frustrated villain whose palm was upon her.

GRAB!

"!" Both Accelerator and Taleia registered the contact made with the exposed wrist of the ruthless teenager being grabbed as all velocity ceased with him.

Although what the half-elf noticed after starting a moment longer was that Nebula's hand wasn't actually touching the exposed flesh, but rather cupping around it as an invisible force holding it in place.

"-I'd keep hands off the merchandise if I were you." Commented the godly fighter with a sly look, as he turned to see the huff of the swordswoman, before turning back with a confident expression.

"HOW! HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT!? THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPENING! I DON'T GET IT, GODDAMNIT!"

"That's also why you get no bitches." A smug smirk made its way to the blue-haired main character's face as a comical sweat drop formed on the SMD member's head.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!-"

PSSH!-

SLAP!

Thrusting his palm forward, he slapped the goofy out of the esper, steam shooting from his pours just before to blind him to the incoming pain as he guttered in response.

PSSH!

ELBOW!-

"GAK!"

Before continuing with a razor elbow to the top of his skull with the gravity acting as a buffer and filter and the steam being propulsion ranging from the inner region of his bicep to the start of his wrist.

STEAM!

KNEE!-

WHOOSH!

"!-"

Bringing up his knee, he propelled it with steam to smash into the jaw of the opponent, shutting his out for blood to spurt through his nostrils and clenched teeth before moving extremely fast, to the extent that Taleia, Cave, and IF only reacted after he disappeared.

FLIP!-

PSSH!

BOOM!

"FUCK!"

FWOOSH!

Backflipping into a bicycle kick so powerful that it created a ring of expanding steam scattered by the pinpointed area of force was secondary to the extremely loud expletive that was heard as Accelerator's spine looked like it had seen better days from the impact, any breaking of bones drowned out by the thunderous impact.

HISS!...

Using his feet as a base, steam leaked out of his shoes through the fabric as rings of the white vapor spread in rapid succession with the others marveling at the sight.

"Gotta blast!"

PSSH!

Mimicking a certain boy with a comically large head, Nebula took to the skies to steer his friends and friendly associates clear of any more immediate danger.

Flying up, the white-haired boy cringed in pain from the blow before stopping himself and turning around.

Clouds below him, he was struck into the upper troposphere as Accel quickly looked for the position of his enemy to rid him from the world he found himself in.

"WHERE ARE YOU, DIPSHIT!"

"Right here!"

PFF!

PFF!

PFF!

Replied the adventurer as he flew towards him, his soles repeatedly exerting steam. If one were to put it into perspective, it seemed as if he had an infinite double jump mechanic with his ability of his.

"Hyah!"

"That isn't gonna work!"

Sending a steaming dropkick from below, the adventurer became closer in proximity as the esper stuck out his hand, ready to intercept with a hand of reflection.

AFTERIMAGE!

"?!"

Before contact was made, Nebula disappeared after slowing down before passing through the esper as a translucent image, putting him off.

"No... That was a-"

KSST...!

"!" Hearing a sound he did NOT want to hear where he couldn't see it, the scientific accelerator snapped his head around right before-

POW!-

BOOM!

"URGH!"

-It was sledgehammered by the clasped steaming fists of the blue bastard behind him. His cheekbone was shattered on contact, a scream erupting from the skinny boy's lips before he plummeted to the ground.

PSSH!

Bursting with speed with a ring of steam, the male CPU made haste to reach the dropping Accelerator.

GRAB!-

TOSS!

"Repulsion!"

Reaching the edge lord esper, he grabbed him by the jacket before pelting him horizontally to prevent him from landing in the same spot he was spiked, before stretching out his arm to send a concentrated path of repulsive gravity to hurl and hurt him more.

PFF!

PFF!

PFF!

Moving from side to side, Nebula quickly closed the gap in short bursts of speed as he cupped his hands all the while. In the position of his signature protective, his legs kept pushing him forward with nigh-endless steam to set up the maneuver.

"Jūryoku...!"

PSSH!

Moving in an arc with an elongated burst of steam, a pale blue sphere was being created in the palms of his hands as martial art energy concentrated.

Accel himself started to recover, opening his wincing eyes to see the attack charging up.

Once he recognized the similarity to what Vergi attempted to do and failed hilariously at, some confidence was restored in his pride as he belittled the god.

"You think that's gonna work?!" He tilted himself upright to face the GPU. "Don't make me laugh."

"HAHAHADŌKEN!"

BLAST!-

EXPLOSION!

Almost purely to mock the perceived notion of the attack's ineffective nature, he started to laugh before actually finishing the move's incantation once at point-blank range just to rub it in the sociopath's face that he was wrong before blue destruction smacked him right in the noggin.

It instantly exploded, and worse yet for the ASIC affiliate, he was hit with an intense amount of gravitational pressure, despite the actual explosion being nothing but theatrics that did nothing to affect him besides distracting him from the actual threat.

"WAAUGH!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Flailing in the air, he was once again offset from, his opponent rushing his vulnerable state with annoying laughter to piss him off more.

POMF!-

BOOM!

-SMASH!

Expelling a large collection of steam, his pores ended up making a loud burst of propulsion as he boosted forward, before using his speed, and attracting his foot to the side of Accel's ribcage in a swift motion, gravity reinforcing the hitting power as some audible cracks could be heard alongside an echoing boom.

SWING!

LAUNCH!...

VANISH!-

STEAM...!

Using his foot as a pivot, he pushed the esper off of it after spinning him around and hurling him in an incredibly quick action before following the boy as he moved to such an extent, that the steam coming off his body made a perfect copy of his body's position before dissipating shortly after being blown by the wind.

Accelerator took less time to recover this time around, despite his recent injury as blood trailed from the corner of his mouth, holding his side as he clenched his free fist.

"How is he this fast? I should be able to track him down, and yet...!" Red eyes darted to see what was about to strike next before it foresaw some knuckles.

BIFF!

Reappearing, the CPU's fist collided with his opponent's solar plexus as he wheeze in response.

STEAM!-

-SWIPE!...

Before he could reciprocate, only a cloud that resembled the adventurer to a T remained when the esper tried to swing back, scattering white vapor as a result.

"Tch!-"

BASH!

BOOM!

A spinning hook kick to the side of the neck reminded the irritated esper that he was still in battle, the force shifting his head to the side as he winced in pain, but not before a roundhouse heel kick to the other side of his ribs before it incited the villain to twist around to grab his aggressor.

EVADE!-

SWIPE!

"Grr...!" Missing again, smoke of the escaped and mirrors of failure infuriated the number one esper as he prepared himself to be struck, expecting three hits before evasion.

POW!

ELBOW!

BIFF!-

"URAH!"

After withstanding a side punch so potent he felt every bone in his skull vibrate from the hit, and an elbow to his core that nearly winded him completely, he moved his head toward the straight to reduce the amount of time taken to increase the fist's velocity in exchange for a bleeding forehead, before clenching his fist and pushing it forward in a low uppercut.

But before it could connect-

HALT...!

"WHAT THE FUCK!-" Stark results were before the widened and veined eyes of Accelerator, for the first time his vectors being rendered unhelpful as the gravity that surrounded the pseudo-protagonist was adamant in keeping him from progressing further.

PSSSSSSH!

Steam poured from the unaffected deity's body before it covered his vision completely as both fighters were blanketed by the evaporated water that originated from the GPU's body. All that was torn up to that point was his bandages as he was a step closer to being shirtless once more.

With his vision drastically reduced as the byproduct fog made seeing in front of his dick an arduous challenge, he wasn't spared from the continuation of the battle.

WHAM!

SMASH!

POW!

SMACK!

THOOM!

BAM!

Accelerator's body violently convulsed as he was blind to the exact position of Nebula as he wailed on his ignorant form. A flurry of fists ranging from a rising uppercut to a cross punch with all his body weight, to a swiveling back punch into a blitzing hook with a side of an egregious axe handle before pulling him back with gravity and closing his fist for an auto-grab punch to prevent him from leaving the cloud.

On top of that, to keep its condensation from waning due to the amount of movement, every hit was enhanced with steam to boost its speed and keep the cloud's properties constant to maintain its advantage as his adversary suffered from his success.

'I'm stuck in this steaming shithole! How can I get out of this?...-'

BOOM!

"Oof!"

Thought the esper as his train of thought was interrupted by Nebula's knuckles wrecking the inside of his chest, the area being indented from the gravitational pressure.

"That fire in your heart's withering away! I'd be steaming too!" Laughed the adventurer as steam escaped his mouth whilst poking fun at his opponent.

"YOU ARE STEAMING, YOU AIRHEAD!" Barked Accelerator. "ALL OF IT PROBABLY COMES FROM THAT FRIED BRAIN OF YOURS!" He jabbed, tired of the insults and injuries alike.

"Says the loser! If my brain's fried, yours is overheated!"

PSSH!-

SLAM!

"Ghk!"

TWIST!

Cackled the GPU before spin-kicking the strongest esper in his face, the whiplash causing him to spin like a top from sheer velocity.

THOOM!

"ACK!..."

Whilst spinning, he tilted to the side. As this occurred, when he reached a certain degree, Nebula smashed his knee into the liver of the esper as his eyes whited out from the indescribable pain he felt.

With an unnerving will, Accel snapped back to his senses, a plan in his mind.

'F-Fire...! T-That's i-it!' He struggled, persisting against the incoming pain from such an area being struck as the real-life critical point of his body was compromised.

SNAP!

BA-KOOM!

"?!"

Snapping his fingers, he caused a spark by manipulating the wind vectors and compression occurred for a split moment, acting as a fuse in a steamy environment, causing a littoral explosion reenactment to take place, giving him some distance from the deity who guarded against the sudden burst as the vapor was completely scattered.

PEW!

Silently making the same trip twice, he calculated the values necessary for the improvised technique before performing it.

What was it, you may ask?

Sending concentrated plasma in a sphere no bigger than a tennis ball as he shot the construct forward with incredible speed to the guarding adventurer.

SLAP!...

-BANG!

Quickly smacking it aside, the attack detonated to form a large smoke cloud after fighting the area it exploded briefly as a light blue hue covered the two combatants.

PEW!-

PSS!

PEW!-

PSS!

PEW!-

PSSH!

Firing more of these miniaturized blasts of superheated subatomic particles, Nebula worked to suit as he dropped his block to use his steam to push his body out of the way whilst remaining standing as the projectile did all but scattered the steam as he sidestepped twice before lowering his head for the last one.

"Hnn!"

WHOOSH!

BURST!

STEAM!

Powering up to grow accustomed to the new attacks, his aura resurfaced with its orange glory as steam spurted from his pores with a whistle akin to a certain cosmic piece of bubblegum.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

Deciding that his opponent acting like one of those vegetable aliens was a bad sign, he went to the most appropriate option, being to absolutely spam the living shit out of his projectile spec.

VANISH!

EXPLOSIONS!

APPEAR!-

PSSH!

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

Disappearing before he could be hit, reappeared right before he had to fly faster to avoid the explosions behind him as even though the spheres missed, their explosions were only a hop, a skip, and a jump from reaching him.

"Zanku Jūryokuken!"

BLAST BARRAGE!

Utilizing his Ansatsuken mastery with the passive gravitational properties of Under Pressure, he optimized the one-handed Hadōken to sprinkle the fire rate of his Rapid Rapture SP Skill to create this full auto, bullshit bypassing, fused technique.

VECTOR CHANGE!

Pale blue blasts were the return fire as Accelerator himself had to lean, before using his calculating mind to transfer the values to move away at a greater pace to also avoid being struck.

BOOM!

BA-KOOM!

CRASH!

EXPLODE!

Both airborne fighters circled each other, repeatedly firing many projectiles reminiscent of bullet hell as the environment took the fall with clouds being scattered, stray energy blasts causing building-sized explosions on the ground, and general chaos in the form of floating detonations from both sides ensured this skirmish to be all but decisive.

"ENOUGH!"

BLAST!

Charging up a sphere by creating two, concentrating their composition, and combining its size with the action of bringing his hands together before launching his basketball-sized attack.

"HAA!"

BLAST!

Pouring energy into the attack, what would've been a blast transformed into a beam to challenge the new projectile type as the two opposing forces raced to meet one another.

VOOM!

SHOCKWAVE!...

They ended up canceling each other out, with a large explosion that created a loud burst of energetic pressure as a side effect with a massive cloud of smoke blocking the middle area from outside eyes.

WHOOSH!

Or that was what could've been said until it immediately dispersed, Nebula's fist being blocked by Accelerator's forearm as the esper's wrist was clutched by the CPU's personal gravity hand.

"H-How are you keeping up with me!" Struggled the slim antagonist, as he had to balance preventing the deity's strength from overpowering him as well as trying to force his hand to reach him.

"It's not as complicated as you'd believe!..." Responded the blue-haired opponent, grunting to keep his edge. "Quite simple, in retrospect...!" He further spoke, causing a snarl to be heard from the teenager.

SWING!...

"Like fucking hell it is!" Reeling back his head, Accel tried to surprise the empowered enemy by smashing his bloodied forehead into Nebula's.

CLASH!-

SHOCKWAVE!

But as almost as if his intuition was prophetic, the GPU simply borough his head forward as well, causing blood to fly and another shockwave to occur as the two headbutted each other.

"What the hell could be the difference between you and me?!" Screeched Accelerator, determine for an answer with eyes narrower than Neptune's attention span for work and pupils smaller than Blanc's chest on a bad day.

"The difference is... I'm not mid." A shit-eating grin with a mocking gaze grew on the pseudo-protag's face.

"BULLSHIT!"

Offended more than a bird app user, the top esper was on the edge as his opponents could've sworn he saw some froth and heard a bark or two.

"Oh, but it isn't! You're suffering from a condition called skill issue." Explained the CPU as he stared into the teen's soul.

"No idea on how to use your powers, for one. From what I've seen you're only able to do some moves and that's it! I'd say your injuries could excuse that, but even a wounded lion still has its claws! You have nothing!" Taunted the CPU as he continued.

"No skill either, you don't even name your moves. While tactically superior, it proves you just throw shit at a wall and hope it sticks! Talk about amateur hour!"

S-SHAKE!

Buckling and losing ground, Accel's hands were struggling and riveting under the pressure of Under Pressure as his speech continued, to the villain's chargin.

"No bitches? Check. No drip? Double check. No father figure? Probably check. No finesse? Triple check." Insulted the adventurer before he made his point. "If this is your best, then do your worst instead. Might get somewhere." Recommended the GPU as he finished his sentence.

"I'LL-"

"Kill me?" Finishing the sentence with a sly tone, he was once out of sight for the esper, who grew tired of being unable to see where his opponent went every time he did that.

SLAM!

"Urgh!"

His knee made contact with the base of his neck as his eyes were blank from the pain and widened from the surprise, yet maintained his constant unpleasant visage.

"I'll kneed you-"

SLAM!

"Shit!"

This repeated itself, with more pain and anger snapping Accel out of his punch-drunk stupor as he twisted around to intercept the next hit.

But his opponent wasn't there as he darted his eyes to look for his position. Once up was put into the equation, Nebula was brought back after seemingly in the middle of an aerial backflip.

PSSH!-

SPIKE!

Using his steam as a boost, he back flip kicked the dog shit out of Accelerator's chin, sending him flying from the impact as his mouth was struck shut blood could only leave from his nostrils.

HALT!

Stopping himself, the touted esper held his nose and glared at the most hated thing in his vision at the moment, until he say that he was faced behind him, with a hand outstretched above his palm harbored something, that he thought to be scientifically impossible. The mere sight of it should've been everyone's demise, his own included yet it was intrinsically fascinating yet fatally destructive.

URRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...!

A black circle, devoid of all light yet having a pure white glow around it has been formed, to the point that the distortion of color for several inches as it made an incredibly disturbing groaning noise with share energy radiating from its existence.

"Is... Is that a fucking black hole!?" His face going slightly pale, the CPU corrected him.

"No. It's what's at the center of it." Describing his singularity, the sound persisted as he clenched his fist, shrinking its diameter to about the size of a single centimeter as the remaining light was trapped within his hand.

"It's scientifically impossible for you to create a singularity, let alone hold one! The fuck's going on here, asshole!" Starting to lose his grip on physics, Accel interrogated the CPU.

"My kind is known for their ability to manifest miracles. Surely you can consider this a scientific variant of such, no?" Bartered the definition of his circumstance as the sociopath had enough.

"I won't be swayed by your lies!"

VECTOR DASH!

Despite his previous words, ignoring them was the strongest esper's only way to stick it to him as rushing Nebula seemed like the best course of action.

TOSS!-

DISAPPEAR!

"Do you believe in miracles!" Sang the floating god before he pelted the much smaller ball, its speed having transcended even light's grasp as his own perception lost track of it after it left his grasp.

"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!-"

FREEZE!

His voice was cut, no longer being able to produce any sound whatsoever. All muscular motion in his body ceased, sans lung activity. Unable to do anything, he felt all sense of touch leave him.

'What is happening to me...!' Traces of panic were apparent in his mind before the sensation of constant pressure in his plexus was felt.

RIP!

SHRED!

FLOAT!...

Giant boulders were being pulled from the ground as forests, hills, even mountains, and dirt expanses. They gravitated to the esper's position as smaller, more annoying rocks hit him first as he internally flinched from contact.

THOOM!

COLLIDE!

COMBINE!

This persisted as larger, and larger boulders were smashed into his frame, the body of Accelerator was covered in rocks and trees before layers upon layers of solid matter deliberately yet surely created a rough outline of a sphere that easily rivaled the square feet that comprised Leanbox proper. With finishing attraction, a nigh-perfect sphere was left to float as its user was soundly trapped within its core.

"...Sole Crusher." Muttered the GPU, finally lowering his hand, after he was sure of his opponent's sealing to be a success.

"Speaking of which..." Cupping his hands, he prepared his finishing move. "While I've got the jump on him, I should finish this!" He decided.

"It's not like anything BAD is gonna happen-"

We'll
Be
Right
Back!

Below, the Makers who had miraculously been uninjured during the fight watched in awe. Staring at a ball of rock in the sky bigger than anything they've ever seen before was something while not COMPLETELY unheard of, still appeared jarring to most of the onlookers.

"The Gamindustri Graveyard one was DEFINITELY smaller." Shuddered IF, her pores raising from witnessing the sight with shrunken eyes.

"Neb-Neb got a budget increase, yeesh." Shivered Compa, becoming uneasy about the rapid increase of the adventurer's power. "It's a good thing he's on our side!" A cherry smile returned to her features as the redhead spoke next.

"Was he capable of doing that?" Asked Cave.

"It seems outside the realm of possibility he should be able to do anything close to that." Doubted Taleia.

"Never undermine the power of JUSTICE! It'll always find a way, no matter the odds!" Nisa, who chose to look at the situation optimistically rather than analytically, simply cheered for the floating deity's breakthrough.

"We know that much." The Guild Agent looked toward the heroine. "I just didn't know he got so much stronger in such a short amount of time." Explained her suspicion and confusion in terms of the power creep that the pseudo protagonist experienced.

"I think we should just be glad he isn't losing. Don't wanna jinx it, Iffy." Compa advised as she looked at her brunette buddy, sharing a glance.

"She's right." Taleia agreed with the Nurse-In-Training. "Because we could definitely say the same for those two." She pointed, as the ground turned to see what exactly the half-elf soldier was speaking of.

SCWHING!

Pushing the sharp side of her sword, Nepgear kept a firm grip on her hilt as she challenged the might of Underling, who surprisingly didn't immediately buckle.

SPARKS!

Instead, she persisted to the detriment of her weapon, which looked like the only thing besides her inferior strength yet it was superseded by her more aggressive incentive that balanced out the struggle as sparks flew from the contact point of both weapons.

SHOVE!

SLIDE!...

Forcing her weight onto the pole, she successfully staves the CPU Candidate by exploiting another awkward angle as her boots bade the lilac-haired sibling skid a few meters before she came to a stop.

RUSH!-

SWING!

Stomping on the dirt, the green-haired member moved quickly to catch the already disengaged girl to attempt to gain a free hit.

CLANG!

But Nepgear's superior reflexes let her easily guard against her rather slow swing in comparison as the sound of metal slamming against itself was heard.

"Hyah!"

CLING!

Swinging her blade, the sister of Neptune caused their weapons to collide once again, with Underling struggling to keep once her opponent started to put as much effort into returning her swings as she did blocking them from reaching her.

SCHWANG!

THRUST!

SCHWING!

CLANG!

A lateral slash was blocked, before a thrust was barely staved off, next to a counter slash that was dodged, but at the price of some of her ponytail before she finally swung her pipe to clash with the goddess once more, another dent forming in the weapon.

"You'll pay for embarrassing me, you broad!" Seethed Underling, who was dead set on bludgeoning the friendly girl to a bloody pulp.

"We don't have to do this! You can still put down your weapon!" Nepgear tried to de-escalate the situation, still not wanting to go all the way with the opposed option.

"I'LL NEVER SURRENDER!"

BAM!

"Urk!"

Lurching, the purple sister received a front kick to her lower abdomen, coming as a surprise since she was so focused on the weapon she held, the usage of their feet slipped her mind until it entered her stomach.

SWING!

SMACK!

"Augh!" Winced the purple CPU Candidate, her shoulder being smashed by the end of the pipe whilst her guard was temporarily broken from the low move. Being struck there caused her body to slant in the direction of the pain as she went to grip the aching pain.

SMASH!

"Stupid bitch!"

Home Run!

Striking her right across the face, the pipe imitated a metal slugger as the sound effect from a certain sports game played out as Nepgear's face snapped to the right as the piece of metal cracked her on the cheek.

"I'll kill you!"

LUNGE!

STAGGER!

CRASH!

Sidestepping out of the way by leaning in the direction of the pulsing pain she felt in her shoulder, the CPU Candidate clumsily dodged the overhead swing of Underling, at the expense of the ground she once stood on as a sizeable crater was formed with multiple spider cracks to boot.

SHIFT!-

"Hah!"

SWISH!-

SHRED!

"GAK!"

Crying out in pain, the ASIC goon felt a burning pain in her back, her jacket having been sliced open to reveal a slash wound, Underling was knocked forward by the force used to inflict the wound as Nepgear had twisted on her heel and used the momentum to deal the damage with a well-timed swing.

"If you won't listen...!" She fastened her hold on her sword.

"Then I'll have to make you listen!" She decided, before going on the offensive.

SCWHING!

Swing her sword, Nepgear was intercepted by the goon who by off chance managed to parry due to her also wanting to beat the bricks off of the 'transforming baby' as she called her, as the two blades bounced away from each other with the pipe gaining another token (dent) of war.

SWING!-

HOP!

"Slash Wave!"

STAB!

Her blade glowing with energy, she stabbed it into the ground after feinting a forward slash that the ASIC member luckily dodged as she saw her compromise herself with her missed strike.

"You missed, dumbass!"

SPRINT!

REEL!-

She smiled, swinging with both hands to maximize the punisher for such folly. Her steps were loud and deliberate, to the extent with the increased sense of hearing the sister of Planeptune's CPU could easily hear and crudely predict how close she was to her position through the subtle vibrations getting more and more intense as she approached.

"I don't think so!" Shouted the CPU Candidate as she stabbed the sword deeper in the dirt, activating her trap card.

BOOM!

"AGH!"

The immediate area being compromised was the more apt description, as a column of fluorescent energy expanded with enough force to knock the book off her feet into a sprawl as it caused the ground around the purple sword user to fissure, a boisterous boom emitting from the epicenter.

WOOSH!

"Woah!" Uni reacted to the speeding frame of Underling as she passed right by her sight before she fired, startling her due to the goddess not being prepared for such a scenario.

"Where do you think you're looking?!"

PEW!

PEW!

PEW!

PEW!

PEW!

"Ack!"

Asked Linette, firing multiple light projectiles that struck the CPU Candidate head-on, from the drastic speed that even the heightened sight of the Lastation CPU Candidate was not able to perceive until it was inflicted on her body.

BANG!

BANG!

Returning fire, she quickly pulled the trigger to apply pressure back onto her opponent.

PROJECT!

"Refract!"

BOUNCE!-

BOUNCE!-

Deflecting off of the erected shield and being completely rebounded back to the direction of the Lastationite, the ASIC member called out the name of her SP Skill as she observed intently to see her adversary's next move.

WEAVE!-

WEAVE!-

"Paralysis Shot!"

BOOM!

Sending a skill of her own, the twin-tail mini-tsun used her electrifying ability to shoot a bullet enhanced with a serum, on top of being further augmented by her shares as it tore through the air with static trailing from its metal shape as it neared the desired target.

SHATTER!

"?!"

Linette reacted with shock as her shield was broken from the bullet not impacting, but completely destroying her shield, having underestimated the potency of a meager rifle. This, in turn, put her on alert as she decided to make things harder for the gunner girl.

SHINE!-

GRAB!

FLASH!...

FLASH!...

FLASH!...

Materializing a construct of light in the form of a traditional sword, a generic shortsword at that, the elder sister of the ASIC-affiliated siblings approached Uni with quick bursts of speed that was at such a rate that it seemed she disappeared and the only trace of her movement was a blinding flash of light.

This made things complicated for the markswoman since she couldn't ADS nor hip fire at a rapid enough speed to catch her before she moved, being several seconds too slow and finding her right when she was going to seemingly teleport to her next destination after already moving when she had her sight trained on thin air.

THRUST!-

CROUCH!

Jarring her arm forward, the syndicate member attempted to lodge her light blade into the torso of the CPU Candidate, but Uni ducked in the nick of time despite the lack of space between them.

BANG!-

PANG!

Trying to fire point blank, the bullet was miraculously deflected by the light blade as Linette prepared to bring the blade down with a diagonal slash.

ROLL!-

VVM!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Missing again as the blade made an electronic hum as it cut nothing but oxygen, the Lastation CPU Candidate rolled away before being hit and fired several more shots from a slightly farther distance as three shots rang out in the air.

VMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

DEFLECT!

DEFLECT!

DEFLECT!

Twirling her weapon quickly managed to send the incoming projectiles in random directions as they were once again deviated from their target completely, leaving a slight frown on the riflewoman as she was getting annoyed at the same thing happening twice in two different ways now.

SHINE!

GRAB!

Her weapon switched from blade to blunt as her sword became a spiked mace that was larger than her previous weapon, implying that it could be slower in turn. That would be a very logical conclusion, wouldn't it?

JUMP!-

SPIN!

"!"

SMASH!

CRATER!

-GUARD!

With unprecedented agility, the woman suddenly jumped into the air ad did multiple somersaults before grabbing the handle of her bludgeon with both hands before bringing it down right as the sister of Noire recognized and used her gun as a buffer between herself and the glowing weapon as the pressure ran through her body before it exited through the soles of her feet as the ground cratered from such power being exerted despite her otherwise lean frame and relatively small mace.

"How did you-"

FLASH!

"Down here!" She shouted, as the shocked CPU Candidate instinctively looked down to see what danger was coming to her.

BASH!

"UNF!"

The spiked bludgeon crashed into her chest like a freight train, grunting in pain as she felt the wind leave her body as she flinched to the max as the construct brightened on contact before dimming as she was thrown into the air.

"Lighten up, will ya?!"

GLOW...!

A terrible pun escaped the sister's mouth before she raised her hand, making it glow in return as it collected magical energy.

PEW!

Pointing her hand in the shape of a finger pistol, she used her index as the muzzle to release a highly concentrated burst of energy as a pulse of energy was projected and fired from her fingertip.

PULSE!

"Ow!"

Uni was sniped from the ground whilst flailing into a spinning mess as the light beam nicked her in the face as she was further catapulted into the air from the momentum of the attack.

PEW!

"Ack!"

PEW!

"Oof!"

PEW!

"Hnrg!"

Constant wincing from the CPU Candidate could be heard as several more shots were fired to the detriment of her HP, Linette exploiting her power's perceived advantage by keeping her enemy from being able to use her gun from continuous bombardment.

This was something that the Lastationite figured out as she monologued.

'If this keeps up, I'll be a goner!' Realized the airborne deity, as she grabbed her gun through the pain and tried her hardest to derail the oncoming shots with her own once more.

Her bullets glowed from the increased concentration of share energy as shining shells sped from the muzzle and rushed through the sky to reach the hooded member

of the crime syndicate.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

RUMBLE!...

SPLATTER!

Wildly landing on the floor due to a spontaneous pull of the trigger, Uni emptied the rest of her magazine to pressure her opponent with a storm of bullets enhanced by her shares as they hit the floor with such power that it rumbled slightly from the output as several bullet wounds on the arms, shoulders, legs, and torso of the green-haired sister formed, having too many danger zones to properly dodge.

"Argh! You twin-tail twat!" Sputtered the elemental user as she grabbed her wounded arm before trying to use her finger again.

POINT!...

"She's gone...!" Her eyes widened upon registering that her target was no longer in the air but rather on the floor, having landed whilst she was still focused on her wounds.

'She can't tell where I am. Best to use this opportunity to the fullest.' Her eye behind the iron sight, she finished reloading her rifle before pulling the trigger.

BANG!-

FLASH!

Even injured, the pale-skinned elementalist still managed to use her skill to evade the bullet in a flash, having moved a couple of feet in a couple of moments without fail.

"Avoid Support!"

SHINE!...

She yelled before a white column of SP enveloped her form for a short bit before she gained a faint glow as a result.

"HEY!" Yelled the bustier woman, akin to a certain toy commercial as she aimed at her position.

NYOOM!

"WHAT!" Screeched the criminal, after seeing the burst in speed that Uni gained through the usage of her SP Skill.

BANG!-

FLASH!

PHASE!-

PEW!

Another bullet was shot from a different position, yet the woman still dodged only to turn around and see her opponent get out of the way with agility that allowed her image to literally dematerialize before she could fire her finger, the beam only racing into the distance.

BANG!

FLASH!-

BANG!

STUMBLE!

"Urgh?!"

When Linette heard the bullet incoming, she initially sidestepped the first oncoming projectile but upon slow8ng down from her light-induced movement, she was immediately shot on sight with a followed-up bullet as the girl predicted the distance she'd move, and what direction from the last few times she did it.

"Bullseye." Muttered the mini-tsundere as she then took it to the next level, not wanting to pass up a slight in her adversary's defenses.

VANISH!-

AFTERIMAGES!

AFTERIMAGES!

AFTERIMAGES!

AFTERIMAGES!

AFTERIMAGES!

Stepping on the ground, the CPU Candidate of Lastation disappeared for a brief instant before returning as multiple afterimages from her dexterity appeared around the light user.

Dozens of blurry images of Uni appeared as some were dashing on the ground while others were aiming in the air, never staying in the same position for more than a second at most before disappearing and reappearing somewhere else in a circle around the elder sister.

"Bullet Hell!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

She roared before all of the afterimages pulled their triggers as hundreds of glowing bullets were now approaching the ASIC member.

Her perception slowed down, as the sister of Underling saw how fucked she was before moving to make sure that she wasn't going to become a human honeycomb anytime soon.

SHINE!

SOLIDIFY!

"Lumen Shield!"

Just before the first bullet did into her skin, a spherical shield expanded from her body as it repelled it, alongside all of the other shells as it took shape and stabilized

which ultimately rendered the attack completely mitigated.

"Crap!"

WHOOSH!

ZIP!

Before it hit her, Uni saw the deflection of her bullets and dipped, one of them which would've struck her in the skull being avoided completely with her stat in speed being increased to the appropriate extent.

"I'm gonna turn you into paste!" Roared Underling as she used her leg muscles to throw herself at the lilac goddess with aggressive speed.

"No, you won't...!"

But despite her tenacity, the CPU Candidate of Planeptune heard the sound of a rapidly approaching object.

SWING!-

STEP!...

GRAZE!

"Argh!" Winced the younger sister, as she not only missed the CPU Candidate as she dodged her attack but also got shot in the face as the bullet scraped past her cheek as it caused a burn that made her flinch.

"Mirage Dance!"

SLASH!

SLICE!

SLASH!

SLICE...!

"Haa!"

SLASH!...

"Unff!"

THUD!-

Using her SP Skill, the Planeptune CPU Candidate approaches the startled enemy before spinning around and using the momentum to land a slice, before finishing the twirl to land another as she brought the blade up for a diagonal swing and back down again for another diagonal and finally ended the skill with a dashing slice that sent the mook on her ass.

"Damnit!" The green-haired girl cursed, having been damaged by an attack outside her battle. "Keep it down over there!" She waved her fist angrily with matching

comical eyes.

"This is battle, Linda!" Replied Linette, who maintained her shield as her hands were on her hips, standing tall. "Surely you don't think some stray bullets won't go your way? It's thinking like that keeps your nickname alive!"

PANG!

DINK!

PING!

RICOCHET!

She laughed before more bullets from the gun-toting goddess were reflected.

"Wait, your name is Linda?" Nepgear paused combat to ask the unhooded girl the question that she should've known the answer to long ago.

"Wait... What?" Taken aback by the question, she stopped whatever counter she had planned to look at her right in the eyes, confusion inbound.

"Uh, this is awkward. I didn't really know you had an actual name, Underling." She sheepishly smiled, to the ire of her enemy.

"I told you my name the first time I met you!" She clarified with an annoyed expression as she shouted, her grudge against the CPU only deepening.

"You did?" Innocently asked the goddess.

"YES! Dumb broad!" She bleated, tired of the act.

"Well, stop this Linda!" Pleaded the sister of Neptune, hoping a more personal term would get to the criminal.

"NO!" But all it ended up doing was further angering the underling as she came at her once more, pipe in hand and murder on her mind.

SWING!

WHOOSH!

SWIPE!

Flailing her pipe wildly, her anger affected her fighting style which consisted of nothing more than wild swings devoid of technique or precision and focused solely on blind strength.

CLANG!

CLING!-

SCREECH!

SLICE!

Nepgear despite her reluctance to hurt her opponent too much, saw this and took advantage of this detail as she deflected her sword with one slash before clashing her sword and sliding it down the side of the pipe before slicing her side once more, gaining another advantage as a wound appeared in the side of her stomach.

"Urgk!" Guttered the underling as she grabbed her side before seeing that blood dripped through her palm and fingers once she put it out and looked down at it.

"You BITCH!"

SWIPE!

"Huh?-"

SPLATTER!

"Kyaa!"

In a fit of agitation, the grunt swiped her hand at just the right angle towards the CPU Candidate, who was still hesitant to dole any more damage to her foe in the attempt to calm her, before being stuck in the eyes with her opponent's blood which blinded her vision completely due to the nature of the substance.

THWACK!

A brutal smack to the temple was followed through once Underling recovered enough stamina to attack as she sent the goddess stumbling as she winced in pain.

"You're gonna pay for that!"

SMACK!

"Ugh!" She grunted, another swing to the midsection that successfully winded her, using all of her strength to keep herself from falling over as she tried with all her might to use her coat sleeve to wipe the blood off of her face.

"Power Bash!"

BOOM!

"Urgh!"

ZOOM!

Uttering her skill, Linda put all of her strength into her SP Skill, the pipe being bent out of shape upon contact as she flew from the impact.

Feeling the air carrying her, she quickly continued to clean her face of the red liquid until she put her hand to her eyes.

"Heal...!"

SHINE!

A green pillar of rejuvenating SP surrounded her form as she felt her injuries fade away bit by bit. While it wasn't as good as Compa's, she was able to heal most of the damage that she received in the first few minutes of the altercation and restore her sight.

SLIDE!...

"Defensive Cheer!" Yelled Nepgear as she did a pose with a determined look after sliding to a halt before several rings of energy, lime green in color rose from her feet with her defense increasing in proportion to the ability, her SP Skill granting her a fifty percent increase.

"Get back here!"

DASH!

Shouted the green-haired girl as she rushed in, her mostly bent pipe barely clinging on to rigidity as its user swung with murderous intent.

SWING!-

SLASH!

SNAP!

Nepgear put up her blade and waited until the last moment to strike the exact point of the pipe that was bending the most before it was severed completely, as her hand was thrown back by the recoil.

"Panzer Blade!"

SLICE!...

SLICE!-

SLASH!-

SLICE!-

SLASH!

"DAMNIIIIIT!"

Rushing to her opponent, the CPU Candidate of Planeptune jumped into the air before slamming her sword into the ground and onto Underling, and slicing laterally followed by an upward slash before a diagonal one soon followed, ultimately finishing the SP Skill with a double-handed downward slash.

CRASH!

ROLL...!

Hitting the ground with a hard thud, multiple rocks flew as she rolled to a stop, unarmed and unable to put up any meaningful resistance in the face one of her most disliked opponents.

Nepgear walked up to her position, pointing her sword at the head of her downed opponent as she spoke.

"It's over. Surrender!" She told the pale criminal, her hand steady with a gaze that was locked in place.

"You won't get anything out of me!" Refused Linda, staying true to her conviction as her pride as a crook refused to let her admit defeat in front of the CPUs, especially one that had been the cause of her loss before and at the present moment.

"Why do you care so much about beating me? I haven't done anything against you besides stopping you!" Curious about her reasons, the CPU Candidate inquired.

"You're my enemy!" Shouted the ASIC mook, a heated expression on her face. "I got nothing else to lose, so that's why I fight with everything I've got!" Justified Underling as she looked the sister of Neptune in the eyes.

"Goodness..." The lilac goddess responded, unsure of how to answer.

"You probably live it up in some prissy mansion or something, so how the hell would you know how it feels that every day might be your last?!" Continued the book as she growled.

"Expecting you to know or even care is a bunch of fairy tale bullshit!"

TOSS!

She swore before grabbing some dirt and throwing it to the face of Nepgear.

GUARD!-

"H-Hey!" Prepared to guard the incoming grains, before she lowered her sword to see the underling charging at max speed when she was already several tens of meters away from her.

"NIGERUNDAYO!" She blurted as she bolted, not wasting any time getting the hell out of dodge.

"Hey, get back here!" The kind-hearted CPU Candidate chased after her, not letting her get away this time.

"We should help her." IF suggested. "She's unreal when it comes to getting away." Even though the Guild Agent disliked the ASIC member's guts, she had to commend her for her annoying evasiveness.

"Underling's known for being able to run away from all her problems. This one included." Beamed Compa, not realizing the nature of the words she said.

"That's depressing." Sweatdropped the half-elf.

"Let's move," Cave told the others as she prepared to engage in pursuit.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" Pointed Nisa, on the verge of scrambling to chase after her.

"...?!"

SKID!...

They started to chase after her until the redhead sensed the increase in temperature, which got her to stop in her tracks.

"Everyone, stop!"

HALT!

She wasn't the only one, however, as IF due to her fire affinity also sensed the oncoming heat before she put her arm in front of Compa and stopped her in her tracks.

"What for!-"

RUMBLE!...

EXPLOSIONS!

"Aaaaah!"

Nisa's inquiry was cut off as rumbling was felt which made her and the half-elf cease before multiple explosive rounds that traveled in a straight line could be heard soon after.

And they detonated right where they would've run into had they not been stopped moments before.

"That was close!" The superheroine breathed out, still shaken by the brush with serious injury.

"We really dodged a bullet there." Taleia sighed with relief in her voice before another was heard.

"Or the entire chamber."

BOOST!-

"AL?!"

"Bombs away!"

Everyone screamed in surprise ad the voice belonging to their ally despite not seeing him before they heard another one initiating an attack.

"Split!"

JUMP!-

DASH!-

LEAP!-

HOP!-

SPRING!-

But before it could actually make contact with the ground...

KICK!...

EXPLODE!

An invisible force of energy high kicked the magical round of fire before it detonated mid-air, causing a large explosion to occur in the sky.

"Waugh!" Flinched the Nurse-In-Training, still not used to the loud explosions like before.

"Hey, guys!"

WOOSH!

Ram shouted before speeding past them, her legs carrying her as fast as they could, a brazen tone and a mischievous grin to boot which was a telltale trait that she was beginning to enjoy the moment.

"Hi..!"

WOOSH!

Rom close behind, she followed the fight alongside her sister while trailing behind closely with a docile smile as she was just happy to be with he sister to help.

"We should probably go get- And she's gone." Taleia turned back to see that Underling had left no traces of her escape.

"Damn it! Every time!" Complained IF, another one of her gripes slapped her in the face.

"Think we should just watch them go at it? We've done it for a while and nothing bad happened." Suggested the half-elf. "I hate to say it, but we're gonna be getting in the way for the majority of these fights." She admitted, despite her pride in her competence.

"Tell me about it." Nisa agreed. "Even if I want to maintain peace and justice, this chaos will make the deed that much more difficult."She looked at it from an outside perspective as the current battle movement's slowed enough for them to see.

"Look, it's slowing down!" Pointed out Compa as the others quieted down.

And with that being said, the two combatants could be seen at a standstill as they conversed.

LAND!

CRASH!...

"You should've been reloading instead of firing, don't cha think...?" The martial artist pointed out as he observed the smoke coming to of the muzzle, after landing in a dramatic fashion as the ground shook from his feet touching the ground.

"Unless you're gonna start shooting blanks." He guessed.

"No need." WESSON waved off. "This next part's gonna rock your socks off. Well, if you can see it, that is." Sniggered the ASIC cowboy as he spun his magnums.

SKID!...

"What is he talking about, PAL?" Ram questioned the dark-skinned man as she skidded next to his position, before pulling out her staff for a confrontation in combat. If hanging around with the taller man taught her anything, is that the fight wasn't over yet.

"...I'm not going to waste energy trying to correct you." Muttered the martial artist before hearing the incoming sound of the other twin, sensing her presence not too far behind.

SKID...!

"I'm here too, Mister AL...!" The older sister made herself known as she skidded to a stop on the other side of the fire user.

"How could I forgor. Rom, you little angel." Head patting the child, a tender smile grew on her features.

"Why don't I get head pats." Pouted the youngest Lowee CPU sibling.

"Is that a serious question?" Smirked the fighter, giving her a snide look with curled lips.

"PAL, stop being a dummy!"

Oi, chica." The gunslinger called out. This caused her, alongside her sister to look toward him as AL narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Since you like to run that mouth of yours so much, I've got a present."

CLUTCH!

GLOW!...

He gripped his handle, the firearm glowing with energy.

"Blanc told us not to take anything from strangers!" She replied, not wanting to indulge in anything a bad guy had in store.

"Mhm!..." Agreeing, Rom also strongly agreed with the teachings of their big sister, as she never led them astray.

"You don't really have much of a choice here, hermana. Open wide."

AIM!

GRIP!-

"Whuhh!"

Seeing the gun being drawn, AL's instinct was to pull the girl away from danger as he grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

BLAM!

But what happened in actuality, is that the gunman shifted his aim at the last second, targeting the long-haired blonde's sister instead.

'Rom!' Internally screamed AL, realizing what was going on.

Making matters even worse, the projectile was invisible, not being able to see its direction, speed, and hitbox was something that made the action of stopping it infinitely more difficult.

All that he could decipher from its path was the angle that whatever WESSON fired from the muzzle to the blue Loweean's position. Anything else was a variable he could afford to have at the present moment.

Letting go of Ram would only free her up as a potential target for the ASIC gun user, and trying to reach out to Rom made him vulnerable to anything that the invisible projectile was capable of inflicting.

'I can't save one sister without jeopardizing the other! I can't stand it...!' Growled AL, wanting no one to get hurt. He had milliseconds until the projectile connected with Rom's body.

'Wait... That's it!'

BOOM!...

"EEK!" Flinching with intense emotion, the middle child of the Loweean CPUs let out a terrified yelp before staying still for a few more moments.

Until she realized that no harm came her way.

"How the hell...?!" WESSON was agape, still not understanding what just happened as his shot should've bored a bullet-sized hole into the little girl's skull like it was no one's business.

"Finally using 11% of your brain, eh?" Fighting Fire With Fire goaded, blocking the shot as his forearm was smoking.

"You could say that, but I wouldn't be talking if I were you since skeletons don't have brains." Deadpanned the fighter as his arm gained a burn as smoke came off of the injury.

"Touché." Admitting the fair point, he continued. "That just goes to show you display even less intelligence than a being without cognitive brain function." Without even looking, its stand master could FEEL the smugness radiating from the ethereal apparition.

"You can smack talk later. We've got work to do." He censored himself, looking at the ASIC operative before him.

"It's that weird force again..." Spoke the cowboy under his breath. "I gotta find a way to take it down if I wanna beat this pendejo." Grumbled the dual wielder as he aimed his other pistol.

GLOW!

"Think you can do that again?" He asked his stand.

"You putting it in a way like if I have a choice." A dull tone escaped the teeth of the invisible skeleton.

"Just do it." Groaned the fighter.

"STOP TALKING TO YOUR FUCKING IMAGINARY FRIEND!"

BLAM!

Shooting another round at the fighter himself, he reacted almost instantly.

IGNITE!

SMACK!...

MELT!

Releasing Ram right before coating his now free hand in fire, he swung the appendage forward and slapped the goofy out of the projectile. It soon melted a random rock nearby as it was reduced to a pool of lava as its structural stability was reduced to a pathetic sludge from the inside out.

"Fireball!"

VOOSH!

Sending a fireball from his hand with a flexing motion, the hot projectile went flying to the position of the cowboy.

BLAM!

EXPLOSION!

Upon firing another shot, WESSON's round exacerbated AL's flame to create a fiery expulsion of energy, technically canceling the attack out as all of its power had no momentum left to go, henceforth burning and dissipating in the middle of the two.

"Tch!"

STEP!-

DISAPPEAR!

In a burst of speed, the ASIC operative stomped on the ground before the sole of his shoe ignited, vanishing with a burning footprint as his only travel of evidence.

BURN!

"Huh?!"

Ram wasn't completely oblivious to his movement, however, as she still had a trace of where he was according to her godly eyesight.

BURN!

"...!"

Her eyes loosely followed where he went, as her pupils looked at the burning footprint that was left with each time her opponent made contact with the ground.

BURN!

"There!"

SPELL!

A nameless wind spell from the youngest CPU Candidate of Lowee to where she saw the footprint surface rushed to its location as AL, F2WF, and Rom all looked in the direction that she fired her magic.

FWOOSH!

SKID...!

"Damn brat...!"

Skidding out of his increased speed, half of his body was now on fire from the pink goddess' spell clipping him and causing the gunslinger to reduce his speed to prevent the entire mass of fire from completely encompassing him.

"I got him!" Cheered the sister, jumping in a show of satisfaction.

"And he's on fire!" Pointed Rom, with a shocked look on her features. She always saw people on fire in cartoons and stuff that Blanc would often switch out for more lighter media, but seeing in action was rather unnerving.

"Looks like this is the perfect opportunity to showcase my ability." F2WF cracked his bony knuckles before pointing to the flames.

"You never told me what it was." AL deadpanned.

"Then allow me to demonstrate. Remember the words as I do, and you'll be privy to victory." It instructed, dropping the rough act for a moment.

"Heat Death!"

!

SNUFF!...

An unnerving sound was emitted, akin to the reverbed stifling of fire before every flame on the man's body was erased from his person, the last piece of smoke leaving his body as he flinched from the lack of painful heat on his body, although the burns remained.

"It disappeared!" Ram called out, stating the obvious.

"Q-Que?" Stumbling for words, all the ASIC cowboy could do in the spur of the moment was to blurt out something in his mysterious tongue.

"How did that happen, Mister AL?" Being slightly more perceptive, the older sister looked at the stand user as he watched her curious eyes.

"A secret." He smiled, folding his arms as he looked to his stand.

'Got anything else than making fire disappear?' Snorted the stand master, communicating with the phantom menace mentally due to their bond being between souls, hence not needing to use words to convey their ideas.

"If you think that's all to my ability, you got a lot to learn, AL." Cackled the skeletal superpower as he approached the ASIC operative, at his user's will.

'Show me what you got.' A small grin was seen on the afro warrior as he put his hands in his pockets.

"STOP PLAYING JUEGOS!"

AIM!

His glowing gun pointing at the pink Lowee CPU, moments away from pulling the trigger.

GRAB!

SNUFF!-

"!?"

His bone crusher was cooled down to room temperature instantly from the grip of the stand meeting the metal touch of the .500 handgun.

Stuck in place, WESSON struggled to move the gun from its current location as he heaved and pulled as he might, only to see that his trusty gun remained in place.

BLAM!

SMOKE...!

So to escape his current predicament, the cowboy shot the ground and created an area of billowing smoke that covered his presence.

"He's hiding himself in the smoke!" AL shouted.

"Let's get him out of his hole, Rom!" Ram decided.

"Yeah, Ram!" Being on board with this idea, the older twin agreed to the plan.

SPELLS!

SPELLS!

Ice spells in combination with each other were cast and flew into the mass of dark clouds that made up the visual blockade for the evil cowboy.

...

...

...

Yet no sounds of contact were made as the frigid projectiles harmlessly passed through the wall of smoke to no danger to the gunslinger.

"You couldn't hit the wide broad side of a barn door with that aim, niñitas." Chuckled the operative as he stood completely still, still trying to wrestle his firearm from the seemingly invisible force.

"That half-burnt dummy!" Fumed a frustrated Ram, unable to hit the guy who was making fun of them now.

"But he's right there...!" Sniffled the child, unable to understand how none of their shots hit.

"..." AL narrowed his eyes as he saw what the gun user really did.

"He's just standing sideways!" Pointed out the martial artist, using his KI sense.

"WHAT?!" Both sisters yelled simultaneously, stupor consuming their brain activity as they were juked by a man who stayed completely still for the entire attack.

"Jajajaja!" Hee-hawed WESSON before speaking. "You putas are gonna have to do better than that." Insulted the firey firearm user before he aimed his other gun, as it continued to glow within the smoke.

"He's good..." AL admitted competence, although his stand begged to differ.

"Good?! Are you fucking kidding me? This motherfucker's as good as DEAD!-"

POW!-

SCATTER!...

The sound of a heavy machine gun echoed as the cowboy's face twisted with no warning, clearing the clouds with a single blow as blood flew from the wrenched open teeth of the operative.

"Uaahk!"

ZOOM!

Guttered the flame gunner, as he flew from the impact to the trio.

"Let's get him!" Finally seeing opportunity knocking on their doorstep, the boisterous twin was ready to take immediate action.

"On your mark, sis...!" Also gripping her staff, they waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

"Ice Coffin!"

FLASH FREEZE!

Pointing their staves and yelling out the name of their SP Skill, the cowboy was instantly encapsulated in a thick coating of ice as his speed only slightly decreased as he neared them.

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

FWOOSH!

Vomiting out flames after conjuring the element from his lungs, igniting the space within after isolating the actual organ with a sheet of KI, down to the esophagus and mouth with flames that flew forward and expanded several tens of feet with boasted temperatures of over 2,000 Celsius.

"OH SHIT!"

Feeling the burn as his confines melted, WESSON's clothes caught ablaze as he was propelled forward by the torque the fires of AL possessed, his body being consumed by the flames of battle.

"Goofy ahh."

SNUFF!

GLOW...!

Appearing behind the predicted path of the cowboy with insane speed, using his stand physiology to float there at a moment's notice, F2WF clenched his fist before throwing his entire arm forward, killing the flames' presence instantly vanishing as his fist glowed with intense heat.

"Hiken!" It screamed in an angry, voracious tone.

FWAAASH!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"!" Stunned by his stand's ability, he marcelled at the namesake of the move being taken from a certain pirate commander, as his fist became non-physical (despite his already astral composition) and drowned the opponent in a slew of unbearable heat, lighting up the area in an orange hue as the air around the attack rippled with fury.

SHIELD...!

"Here." Spoke the stand user as he provided something for the twins.

"A shield!" Ram instantly picked up.

"Thank you... It was getting hot in here, Mister AL." Rom gave her gratitude to the man.

Putting up a fortified shelter for the twins despite his seeming unaffected by the sweltering heat that his stand produced, unseen by the twins.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

FWOOM!

Scraping at every option to get himself out of that mess, he fired his gun that heated back up thanks to the mass of heat that was sent his way, redirecting its direction back to the ground as his entire body was now on even MORE fire with the attempt to free himself from the damage he was being subjected to.

"I feel the sudden urge to make a noise."

bad to the bone gear stick meme-

SNUFF!

After hearing the guitar riff to a certain song, the flames that were augmented by the heat were absorbed into his hand as it siphoned the entirety of the technique into his hand before it glowed brightly, absorbing every last ember.

...SHINE!

"Enjomu!"

BOOM!-

FWISH!...

Stamping on the ground after spreading the heat to his feet, Fighting Fire with Fire created a large ring of clockwise moving flame around the area of the battle, the walls being hundreds of meters in height as the distance between any two points being only half its height at two hundred meters.

"If this continues, there won't be a place for us to stand." Worried the pink CPU Candidate as she looked around to see the ground starting to become liquid.

"I'm kind of scared..." The same could be said for Rom as she shivered in fright for their footing to succumb to the same fate.

"Not to worry kiddos, we'll be safe here." He beamed, satisfied with their current precaution. "The heat can't get past my shield, and even if it could, trust me." He looked between the two as he sent them a reassuring glance.

"You promise...?" Asked the older sister.

"Letting kids get hurt is far from my style. Even if they make me want it to happen-" He made a face that reminded them of the face of a man from a 3D block game on Blanc's PC. "Letting CPUs, let alone any get hurt children is not cool. That's no good." Mimicking a certain speedster hedgehog, he waved his finger.

"Exactly! This Chuck Norris rip-off is still alive!" F2WF screamed in freelance before rushing ahead.

FLOAT!-

THUD!

Landing with embers flying out from under him, the operative scrambled to his feet before getting up, realizing thay he was no less on fire as he screamed bloody murder.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

FLOAT!-

MACHINEGUN BLOWS!

"SORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORA!-"

Pummeling the man senseless as he roared his signature stand cry, his body violently convulsed over and over again with seemingly no sign as of why to the twin's perception.

"He's just moving really crazy! And on fire!" Screamed the louder girl as she watched with awe, eyes widened with mirth.

"Woah...!" Looking at the way his body moved, the older sister shared this motif as she couldn't take her eyes off of the sizzling spectacle.

"SORA!"

BIFF!-

SNUFF!

"Kuh!"

Hitting him a bloe to the chest, F2WF absorbed the heat from him after knocking him in the direction of the flame wall as he approached it at frightening speeds.

BLAM!

Shooting into the barricade only made it burn brighter, but it did save him from his face kissing the hottest side of agonizing pain as he propelled back to the stand's position.

"How am I losing?! Imposible!"

BLAM!

BLAM!

BOOM!

Frustrated at his current place in the battle, he fired several more shots. After the first two, he placed his guns on top of each other as the barrels rested atop one another with the muzzles in such proximity that the last shot was considerably louder than every other one he sent.

"Tiro Caliente!" Shouting the name of his SP skill, he squinted his eyes to clearly see what would be hit once he fired his skill in the general direction of the shield.

SNUFF!

SNUFF!

"Nesshabyō."

SWIPE!

After absorbing the first two shots, the phantom imitated his stand master's Overheated Assault, he brought down his hand as his fingers left five trails of visible and concentrated lines of fire that let off ember particles as they were constructed.

ZOOM!

CLASH!-

Expanding as they left their point of origin, the centermost swipe made contact with the heat blast, before it triggered a chain reaction that accentuated the destructive capacity of the stand's attack significantly.

SHOCKWAVE!-

FWOOSH!

The flame wall was spread out from the internal pressure being expanded due to the collision as it triggered a detonation. The ground was being covered in melting flames that reduced any solid platform into liquid rock.

"Aah!" Both Ram and Rom shrieked as their peripheral was covered in the ethereal flames from Fighting Fire with Fire.

"Might wanna cool it!" Warned AL as he watched the ferocious nature of the fires spread across the protective barrier, still fine from the effects of his stand on the girls but the environment could only hope for the luxury of being unscathed.

"That's really hot!" Shouted Compa, sweat covering her as she felt the heat as the air rippled around them from their proximity as the flames approached them.

"Such intense heat! Not even Leanbox's summers compare...!" Noted Cave as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"We should back up a bit... Like right now!" Warned the Guild Agent, as she pointed to the incoming flames.

"Feet, don't fail me now! Justice must stand!" Miss yelled as she high-tailed it.

"AL's not holding back, is he... I hope Ram and Rom are okay in there." Taleia muttered before sprinting with the rest of the cast.

HALT!-

SNUFF!

But just as the flames encroached onto their ground, they immediately paused, before being completely dissipated as the waves of heat disappeared completely.

This was felt by the fire user of the group as IF stopped to turn around.

"The heat vanished...!" A surprised look on her face was prevalent as the others followed her lead.

"What?! But it was behind us to lick our boots mere moments ago!" The superheroine mentioned as she couldn't believe it.

"The air's considerably cooler than it was before. IF is correct." Agreed with the SMD agent as a nod of freelance came from the redhead.

"Should we go back?" Questioned the Nurse-In-Training.

"What kind of question is that? Of course, we should! The power of friendship never fails when it's aided by just intentions!" Called the heroine as she pointed to the place where the fire came from.

"You say that, but I see something on fire, and he does not look like our friend." Sweat collected from the infernal individual that floated as the others looked, even from such a distance was still able to tell that it was unknown.

"Your KDR is stained with the aim percentile of the shitter." His bones glowing from the heat absorbed, Fighting Fire with Fire became more anatomically correct as his bones were white, but with the byproduct of rippling the air around him from sheer temperature.

Also that the entire area was nothing more than a massive expanse of molten rock and rising smoke from the explosion.

"I see something...!"

BLAM!

Spotting the disturbance before him, he aimed and fired at the rippling area.

SNATCH!-

SNUFF!

"Feel their ping."

THOOM!

"AI CARAMBA!-"

Feeling the burn of a single punch lighting his body on fire, as well as sending a fiery wave of flame in every direction, WESSON was far from alright as his eyes disappeared for a split moment before they returned as dots to scream in agonizing pain as the stand continued his torrid torment.

"SORA!"

POW!-

SNUFF!

A hook silenced the fire as the jaw of the operative reeled in response to the attack.

"SORA!"

SMASH!-

IGNITE!

And a cross punch set his body ablaze, not even garnering the chance to scream from the change of such conditions being so blitzing.

"SORA!"

SNUFF!

"SORA!"

IGNITE!

"SORA!"

SNUFF!-

"SORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORASORA!-"

SNUFF!

IGNITE!

SNUFF!

IGNITE!

SNUFF!-

IGNITE!-

STAND BARRAGE!

To call it torture was an understatement. Repeatedly being lit and unlit like a lighter whilst receiving the perpetual smackdown of an invisible foe was indeed a confusing yet injurious existence for the operative, especially when retaliation seemed all but a fairytale to his current condition.

"SORAAAA!"

ABLAZE!

"MIERDAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A straight sent the cowboy for the hills, his cursing being the only indignation that could be shown with his burdensome situation.

CRASH!...

"AYE YAI YAI!"

Springing back up from his back making contact with magma wasn't in his plans either, so a quick recovery was the prerogative in getting back to his feet, which only did so much before he felt the heat reach his soles.

"Hot water doesn't begin to describe your situation, does it!" Eluded the stand before he went to his next move.

Sticking out his hand, he glared at the singed specialist, his clothes burnt off his back as smoldering rags remained with all those burns decorating his flash as commemorative the ass-whooping he received in the short time F2WF humored him.

Kagero: Ryū no Iki!"

FWAAAAAAAAAASH!

"...GROOOAR!"

Opening his teeth slightly before blowing some of his pent-up energy out of his mouth, a fiery dragon was projected from the flames that were spewed with his index and middle finger curled around the epicenter to direct the construct. A terrifying roar came from the fire salamander's maw as it approached the ASIC operative with burning haste.

"A dragon?! Where did that come from?" Ram, still out of the loop couldn't help but question the bizarre events unfolding before her. It was almost like I made a reference just now, as well.

"How bizarre... I hope it doesn't come for us next...! " Even Rom was in on it.

"If you think I'm just going to stand here and accept defeat, I'll shove my foot up your culo, instead!"

"Estampida!"

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BARRAGE!

Firing countless shots, WESSON hoped to neutralize the incoming threat as the mass of invisible projectiles went to intercept the large dragon head that wanted nothing more than to see him as a pile of ash.

"GROAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

But it only seemed to strengthen the ferocious fire that made up the attack as the head grew to be about the size of the average house before letting out a throaty roar to establish its dominance over the gunslinger.

"Ight imma head out."

SPRINT!-

BURN!

Hauling ass, the ASIC member went with plan B. Running as fast as he fucking could.

"Hotarubi."

BLIP!-

ZOOM!

Extending his arms, several green dots of light the size of golf balls parted from the glowing skeletal hands of the stand as he stretched them out in front of him before they disappeared in bursts of speed.

'Getting beaten negro y azul by nothing is something I never thought could happen to me in my entire vida! This can't be real...!-'

SKID!...

While the cowboy desperately fled the scene, his eyes were privy to the blips of hallowed green energy that passed by him before he instinctively came to a stop, preventing himself from running right into them in a mad dash.

"Hidaruma!"

EXPLOSIONS!

"Every single blip quickly turned orange before detonating, with the combined force hurling the gun user into the air through a large cloud of smoke.

"GROAAAAAAAR!..."

FWOOOSH!...

Seemingly missing the cowboy, the dragon continued on its path.

"¡Se perdió!/It missed?!" Both WESSON and Ram shouted as AL and Rom kept silent yet shocked expressions.

FWAASH!

RIVET!-

"GROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

But turning up into the air and twisting around before descending into the flank that the cowboy was yet to account for.

BOOM!

SMOKE!-

"ARGH!"

"It got him!" Pointed the loud twin, with the quiet one watching closely.

"Well, I'll be..." AL muttered under his breath in response to seeing such a play unfold.

"It's time for the moment we've all been waiting for!" Shouted F2WF as he raised his hand to the air, exactly where the cowboy had been struck.

'Which is?' Questioned his stand master.

"What else, numbnuts? The finisher." He concluded.

"Dai Enjō-Zai..."

CLENCH!...

...SHINE!

He started, clenching his fist as it gave off a bright glow that was visible to even non-stand users.

It was relatively small, yet its bright light was something that couldn't be missed, not even to the observing party that lied beyond the immediate battlefield.

"Is AL doing something?" Asked the superheroine, unsure of the light's purpose.

"Most likely, yet I am not completely sure of its use," Cave responded.

"We'll have to wait and see." IF told the redhead as the rest silently watched the battle at hand.

"That luz! This is my chance!" Seeing a target that was not difficult to distinguish, the gunslinger was all but ready to use everything he had to bring it down.

FWOOSH!

A ring of fire was erected around the battlefield from the generation of heat in the stand's fist, making everyone take a moment to observe the phenomenon before returning to the impending fight.

"I'll scorch you until you're nothing more than an overcooked corpse!"

GLOW...!

He threatened, before channeling the SP reserves he had left into his guns.

STEP!-

BURN!

Jumping from his flailing position, he pulled himself out of the freefall he was in and strapped in for a final confrontation, his guns aimed to the light.

"Santa Pólvora!" WESSON roared, his eyes glowing with trails being emitted from their path in the air, even his cowboy hat glowing from the power he possessed. It was an intimidating yet strangely darn tootin' sight to behold.

"This shield is not gonna survive this." Spoke the martial artist as he turned to the twins.

"Transform. Now. Like, right now." Warned the fire user as he stressed the instruction over and over to get the point into their heads.

"Why? We're safe here, right?" Asked the pink Lowee CPU Candidate.

"What's wrong, Mister AL?" Worry made itself known in the blue CPU Candidate's eyes.

"YOU DARE QUESTION THE WORDS OF THE MIGHTY LEGAL GUARDIAN!"

PILLAR!

TRANSFORM!

In moments, both sisters immediately transformed into their goddess counterparts, White Sister Rom and White Sister Ram making an appearance at the request (command) of AL.

"What the heck, PAL!" Shouted the younger sister as she was taken aback by the sudden tone shift.

"The shield's not gonna hold up for long! Get out of here!" Opening a hole within the back of his shield, the fighter made a small exit for them.

"But what about you! We can't just leave you here!..." The elder sibling showed concern for their friend's safety, not wanting him to put his life in danger for theirs.

"I'll be ALright." An insufferable expression was branded on the warrior's face as a thumbs up in collaboration with the god-awful pun. Ram visibly cringed whilst Rom had giggled, albeit with a noticeable sweat drop on her face.

FLY!

FLY!...

"Now go before I say something cringe!" He warned them as they flew out the hole as he closed it.

"You already did!" Ram laughed at the man before flying away.

"I hate it when she's right." Moped the martial artist before looking back to the fight.

"Madre de Todas las Balas!"

"Mother of All B-... Oh no." Translating the name of the move in his mind, the afro warrior soon figured out that things getting dicey was no longer a likely possibility, developing into a dreadful given.

BLAM!...

SHATTER!

BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!-

The first shot shattered the shield that AL put up, to his shock. The other one hundred sent up magma and ate away at the earth as F2WF did all but stand still.

"Blazing Inferno!"

ABLAZE!

His hair rose on its ends before the orange hue of energy made its way to cover it entirety before his irises burned bright with the markings for his pupils returning.

BOOST!-

BOOM!

BOOST!-

BOOM!

BOOST!-

BOOM!

BOOST!-

Using his flames, he weaved and flew to the danger zone, his body moving into random positions to be struck by the rounds that pierced into his body.

"OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Despite the increase in stats from the damage he took, AL couldn't help but yelp in pain from the army of invisible rounds that struck him for his betterment.

"BWAAAAAAAAAH!-"

FWAASH!

Screaming fire into existence from his mouth, it fell back onto his face before consuming his entire body with his clothes and muscles being covered in the esoteric flames.

SWOOSH!...

The embers peeling off of his body, he revealed a new set of armor, Instead of a mass of fire that clung onto his body, it gained a shape that resembled a more rigid yet free-flowing structure, as it resembles a suit of armor yet still flowed like a bright bonfire.

"What are you doing!?" Yelled the fighter to his stand, as he stood in place, only waiting.

"..." Saying nothing, the skeletal phantom continued to look up with no sign of movement as its expression remained full of glee.

"Have you finally accepted muerte? Or do you like the sufrimiento, señor?" WESSON rolled the r, a sign of him enjoying himself as the attack persisted.

"Speaking Taco Nep isn't gonna make me any less afraid of kicking your ass, bastardo!" Returning the linguistic touch despite insulting it moments before, this caught the cowboy off-guard for not expecting his opponent to know his tongue.

"?!"

"Becoming one with your inner Taco Tuesday?" Poked F2WF as he looked to his master.

"Like the restaurant's toilet bowl I ate it at is becoming one with your mouth." A flat tone to the imaginary friend made him laugh.

"You could have just said potty mouth. Less effort, same weight." Snorted the stand.

"Yeah, yeah. Gonna do that move you've been saving?" Having a conversation in the midst of being bombarded by geat stroke seemed like a daily occurrence to these two, despite them being in unordinary conditions in every sense of the word.

"Just wait... Trust me." Urged the glowing stand as they waited for the rounds to end.

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!...

Firing his last round, the ASIC member was adamant about using everything to finish off his opponent. Smoke covered the position of his target as he stared into the dark clouds below.

"...You done?" AL's voice pierced through the clouds.

"HOW THE ACTUAL-"

"Because all you've been doing is throwing coal in a furnace and expecting it to go out."

BLAM...!

Feeling the condescendance, the gunslinger shot into the clouds, clearing them with haste.

"Miss me? The laws of thermodynamics say you should've stayed up more in class." Pointing at him, his stand raised his fist.

"If that stung, then this is gonna burn." Floating to the dual-wielder's position, the stand reeled back what could only be described as a knockout punch having an affair with a lighter in a gas station.

"Kogeta Seishin!"

"NO! NO! NO! FUCK! FUCK! FUUUUUUU-"

BA-KOOM!

And with a strike to the core, the pent-up energy that was collected within the phantom's fist and boosted by the rain of bullets was finally released on his opponent's chest.

His body was devoured by the fire as a huge sphere of energy was created from within his core before it exploded, sending dust and ash everywhere as even the party of Makers has to brace themselves to prevent being blown away.

"Kyaaaaa!" The group of girls yelled as the winds were violent and the roaring explosion did all it could to defean.

After a prolonged period, the winds finally calmed down, leaving nothing but a space of magma and a sole individual standing there.

"Who won?..." Asked the Nurse-In-Training, not able to distinguish who the victor was.

"Whoever it is set themselves on fire." IF squinted, scouting to see who it was exactly.

"It's AL! That's him!" White Sister Ram floated next to the group before telling them the victor, having been floating above and watching the entire time.

"He did it!..." White Sister Rom cheered, which raised the morale of the party altogether.

"Justice has triumphed! Evil has fallen!" Raved Nisa, who was enthusiastic about the recent news.

THUD!...

And to take her words literally, the scorched body of an unconscious WESSON landed on the ground, eyes whitened out from exhaustion.

"I'll make sure to take him to the interrogation room." Cave duly noted as she heeded the place that he landed, and to come back for his body. "His information can be valuable." She accounted.

"Then that man on fire is..." It clicked in the half-elf's brain as the figure turned to their direction before moving toward their location.

STAND JUMP!...

STOMP!-

"You can't fire me, I quit!" He shouted, pointing at the knocked opponent, after using F2WF to make a bound of several hundred meters to meet them at their undisclosed location.

"But you're ON FIRE." Ram pointed back at him.

"...Who's this sassy, lost child?" Pointing his thumb at the floating goddess with a snide look to the Makers, he incited a tick mark from the youngest Lowee CPU Candidate.

"HEY!" Screamed the pink deity as she gripped her hammer, ready to smite the human.

"Calm down, Ram." Rom put a hand by her sister's side.

"But-"

"But nothing. Learn to take some teasing." Rolling his eyes, the fire user turned to the Guild Agent.

SNUFF!...

"Iffy! Boy, am I glad to see you again..." A cheeky smile beamed from his face. "Didn't know you were blonde, but I guess you could rock the look." Shrugged the fighter.

"That's... Not important right now." Brushed aside the now blonde agent as she raised a finger before it curled in thought and waved away her next few words.

"I didn't know you were a ginger, AL." Pointed out Compa.

"Ah, frick. Well, there goes my soul. Lucky I don't have freckles, or else I'd embody the trope." A comical sweat drop made its way to his forehead.

"Was that really necessary?" Cave, with a flat tone and straight face, wasn't impressed with the stereotype being brought up. "I'm in that category too, for your information." She put her hands on her hips.

"Uh..." All eyes were on the martial artist awaiting his response.

...WOO...!

THUNDER...!

"Look, it's an important fight scene!" Directing the attention away from himself, they heard the sound of the wind picking up deliberately and dramatically before rolling thunder boomed in the background. This caught the attention of all the girls present.

"Over here, blondie!" Yelled an ASIC goon as he held a G U N, and planned to use it, aiming in the direction of the only male CPU Candidate.

BANG!-

"?!"

SIDESTEP!-

"AUGH! You capped me!" Yelled a goon as he held his knee like a certain family guy, bleeding from the bullet wound.

Not even looking in the gun mook's direction, Vergo jerked his fist in his general direction before-

WHOOPH!

BAK!

"Urk!-..." Receiving a ranged punch from the air pressure, the enemy fell back, a bloody nose and unconscious form before the boy from the future moved on.

"RAH!"

WHOOSH!

His head turned to face an ASIC lackey with a... Much too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough. It was more like a large hunk of iron attached to a hilt.

And it threatened to fall right on top of him!

GRIP!

"WHAT THE!-"

"Boop."

vine boom sound effect #3-

"roblox screaming meme-"

Until he grabbed the structurally impractical weapon by the flat side, stopping all swinging power behind it, and proceeded to poke its owner with the tip of his lance as it made an obnoxious release of energy before the underling screamed as he was flung.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!-"

"GO STUPID!-"

LIGHTING BOLT!

"WAHBFXMNVHKLEYTRIPQWASFZRYJKZ-"

What should've been an ambush was cut short as the victim of a stray lightning bolt had been zapped out of the fight, their body scorched and eyes swirled with unconsciousness.

"Got nowhere to run now, greenie!"

"KEEMSTAR SCREAM MEME!-"

BOOM!

A Hellish Holler did the trick in incapacitating the opponent as their eyes rolled into the back of their heads right as their body tumbled away and into another group, before the sound of bowling pins was heard.

Strike!

"Roll for dexterity!"

YEET!

Throwing an icosahedron dice at the Leanbox CPU Candidate, the ASIC wizard hoped for him to be scorned by RNGesus and receive the worst luck one could get when rolling.

Nat 1.

SNATCH!

"NAT 20, NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD!"

His dreams were as broken as his pockets.

"Aero!"

WHOOSH!

"YOU HAVE FAILED ME, RNG! FAILED MEEEEEEEEE!"

Oh, to be unlucky. As his dice was caught, the god held the item with his thumb before using his other four fingers to blast away the wizard with his spell before pocketing the item as he'd been rightfully given the souvenir by his enemy.

"One scorched scrub comin' right up!" Yelled a pyrotechnic with a flamethrower as he had on a mask and protective gear. "I'll cook his bones and all!"

FWOOSH!

"Don't bet on that." Looking at the fire, he swiped his hand.

"Ignition Incision."

SWISH!

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Screamed a large group of lackeys, the collateral for such diversion. What would've been a normal redirection of fire became exponentially more dangerous when he ignited his hand just before the fire came into contact to act not as just insulation against the foreign flames but also act as a base for the collection of the combustion of oxygen with his palm dragging it to a random direction as he twisted the movement of the flames to the same side after using his own fire as a boost.

It was safe to say those who were on the receiving end were lucky to be alive from the fire's wrath.

SWIVEL!-

"Blazaga!"

"Guess I'll die-"

THOOM!...

Pointing his craned, burning hand at the vulnerable pyro, he projected the composition of reactive air molecules to his opponent with the help of his magical capability to create a hybrid spell that utilized the combination of fire's reaction with a malleable fuel source being his air. And the rushing direction mixed with inadvertently adding more fuel meant that a big boom was a guarantee.

"... So has this been what's going on for the past..." SMITH, who was watching the chaos unfurl, was awestruck not by the competency of his enemy, but rather by the incompetence of his allies, and subordinates as far as the criminal organization was concerned.

"45 minutes." A goon finished the operative sentence as they observed the fight.

"I thought of using you guys to wear him down so that he'd make more mistakes, and be easier to fight, but this is just... Depressing." The operative gave his honest opinion.

"Is this what you want...! Strike me down, Zoos!" Yelled an ASIC member with a shovel that reacted with static upon that statement.

"You don't have the balls-"

SNAP!-

BOOM!...

Stylish!

The two personnel witnessed Future Heart has his blackened hand make an echoing snap, summoning a bolt of lightning to smite the taunting toolbox in a single strike.

"Oh muh guod, he on X games mode." A random goon that happened to be nearby uttered his words in shock.

"Is this going to change anytime soon? I don't feel like giving up my lifespan for five seconds of screen time and a shitty meme." The mook turned to the swordsman.

"Perhaps." A half-smug, half-composed face accompanied a neutral response as the goon was not pleased.

"Perhaps deez nuts in your mouth, I'm out this bitch."

bonk meme!-

"Ooh he need some milk!-" A goon yelled after seeing the skull of an unfortunate goon be rendered a substitute coconut.

SWING!

"...I would like to apologize." After feeling the cold steel of his knife forcing its way to breaking the skin of the lackey's jugular.

"Mama raised a soldier, not a bitch. Now you wear that shit in your pants proudly, like a badge of honor!"

BOK!-

"What did he saaaaaay!-" The sound of exclamation escaped the peon's lips as he was roundhoused into the fray as the next opponent was in the ring o' pain.

"He said you shat yourself, bruv." Vert's brother clarified.

SKID!...

"Bruv? What are you, twelve?" He insulted his speech, hoping to buy himself some time.

"Twelve inches deep in your nan." Spat the deity, vibrating his hand at super speed

"EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!"

"Shut up, Tom!"

SMACK!

BZZT!-

A silent Static Strike to the back of the head made the victim's brain short circuit and immediately lose consciousness as his body was electrocuted and sent flying amid their comical spat.

"Enough fooling around." Decided the green god as he raised his lance to the heavens.

"Aero: Fulgur!"

BOLT!

STATIC!...

A powerful bolt of lightning struck his lance and coated it in a green sheet of static, influenced by his share energy before he executed his attack.

CRASH!

"Bomb has been planted."

"YOU WHAT-"

grenade explosion meme-!

The tremendous pressure within the long ranged blade was driven into the ground, before erupting with power as the ground for several meters fissured before being blasted into kingdom come as bodies flew from the AOE that was released on their unsuspecting numbers.

BZZZZT!

CRACKLE!

"I CAN FEEL A STROKE IN MY RECTUM!"

"I'M INVOLUNTARILY DOING THE PELVIC WOO!"

"This is almost as bad as that one time I-"

ZAP!

"If I die from this, I guess you could say it was a shocking-"

CRACK!

kirby screaming meme-

JUMP!

Geppo spared the swordsman from being swallowed by the cracks or stung by the sparks below him as he floated above it all. He couldn't say the same for the rest of his acolytes, due to them succumbing to the nature of the attack.

"Feeling warmed up?!" Shouted SMITH as he looked down both fundamentally and literally from his vantage point.

"Why don't you come down here and find out, eh? Standing on a sole pillar that was kept stable and whole by the air surrounding it constantly maintaining resistance mimicking a rubber band, the fractured platform served the purpose of keeping the conversing CPU Candidate on level footing.

"Who says I haven't done so?"

"OI!" Reacted the greenette, turning to the right as he couldn't even feel him move through the air for the moment he was focused on him.

SWIPE!...

The CPU Candidate's cheek started to bleed after his passive air shield pushed away the blade despite its speed, yet it still managed to inflict a shallow injury as it stung the face of the divine warrior.

"Do you bleed?" The ASIC operative asked the godling.

"...!"

BOOM!

"Tch!"

CLANG!-

Glaring at his enemy, a blast of wind rushed in the swordsman's direction, it caused him to guard the attack with his knife which left him open for just a moment.

"Zephyr!"

THRUST!

"Not so fast!"

JAB!

Both combatants jarred their weapons ahead which caused the wind surrounding both weapons to be thrown at the other fighter as they collided.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

SHATTER!

SUMMON!...

The area that Future Heart stood on crumbled instantly before he resorted to the use of his processors as they glowed to signify their usage.

Future Heart's lance and SMITH's knife were too far apart to make any physical contact, yet the wind in front of their weapons did all the talking, and by talking, was in actuality unholy screeching from the way the winds acted in the epicenter of their contact point.

Two cones of compressed wind energy that expanded further away from the center they were, clashed for superiority in barely distinguishable colors being green and grey respectively.

WHAP!-

SHOCKWAVE!

"!"

Raising the tip of his blade, the dagger wielder flicked his hilt to disrupt the exchange of power, unevening the direction and causing a shockwave that blew both of them back as the greener fighter reacted.

BLAST! BLAST! BLAST!

WEAVE!...

BLAST! BLAST! BLAST!

WEAVE!...

BLAST! BLAST! BLAST!

WEAVE!...

BLAST! BLAST! BLAST!

WEAVE!...

BLAST!

SWISH!-

BLAST!

SLICE!-

BLAST!

SLASH!...

Relentlessly applying pressure on his adversary, firing multiple KI blasts infused with share energy was the next step for the righteous time traveler.

Unfortunately, the attempts of offense were lazily evaded as it seemed a sit his body moved before even he did, a half-lidded smirk as he did so to rub it in the god's face.

The last three attacks were cut into and perfectly severed, almost as if he parted the very matter that constituted the source.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!...

SONIC BOOM!-

"Stormy Ratnapura!"

Rushing to the floating swordsman, yelling his personalized version of Vert's moves, he closed the gap and began his assault.

STAB!-

CLING!

His lance point was flicked to the side, ruining the momentum of the strike and completely missing the mark.

STAB!-

CLANG!

Slamming the sharp side of the dagger into the underside of the godly weapon, it missed his head by mere centimeters, earning a grunt from the man as he tried his hand again.

STAB!-

CLONG!

Using the flat side of his knife to block the lance made a dull sound that echoed as another aggravated expression made its way onto the divine mug of the brother of Vert.

STAB!-

CLINK!

Even nudging the tip of the lance with enough force did the trick to mess up the warrior's aim, and it infuriated him with a very visible look of anger on his features as opposed to the calm and collected demeanor of his opponent.

STAB!-

SCHWING!

A flick of the wrist proved useful to derail the next attempt at his head, enough to graze the polearm slightly and casually move the lance point away, much to the youth's ire.

STAB!-

SCHWANG!

Throwing the hilt to his teeth, chomping down, and tilting his head to knock the blade into the lance to deflect a thrust was nothing short of utter skill that was completely unheard of in the deity's mind.

STAB!-

SORRY!

Shoving the lance's side as sparks flew from the constant grinding until the extension of his opponent ceased, which gave him time to stare into his angry eyes with a famous rage comic troll expression.

STAB!-

DINK!

Okay, maybe he fucked with Future Heart's mental just a tad bit by using the butt of his dagger to bonk the trajectory out of whack, accompanied by a snort that had his opposing combatant nearing his wit's end.

STAB!

EVADE!

And to put the final grain of salt on the portion of fries that Leanbox's future successor ordered, he stayed still before right when it seemed he should be skewered without room for argument, then immediately jerked his neck and completely dodged the strike.

"HOW ARE YOU DODGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"

STAB!-

WEAVE!

THRUST!-

WEAVE!

JAB!-

WEAVE!

"Skill gap." Answered the ASIC member before he released an ability of his own.

GRIP!-

"Machibuse!"

BOOM!

"I'VE BEEN SAVED!"

Blood leaking from multiple stab wounds in his body, eyelids widened from sheer shock and seeping pain as he recoiled with his blood coming into view from the wounds inflicted.

"Hnng!..."

His body flew laterally from the force as for the first time since his inception, the floating depth had to struggle against the wind to stop his velocity from SMITH's technique.

GLOW!...

His wings glowed as he chose to use a different method than directly manipulating the air around him.

BURST!-

SWIRL!

The back of his wings after being charged with share energy released as two twisters were rotating around the winged processors as roaring winds decreased his speed by a dramatic amount.

HALT!

"Auh!"

So much so, that his abrupt stop came as a surprise to even him.

"It seems you still have some tricks up your sleeve. Yet you struggle to inflict pain upon anyone but yourself." The member of the crime syndicate observed the swirling wings of his opponent, before locking eyes as he continuously jumped to keep his altitude with a single foot, boasting his proficiency.

"What's it to you? If anything, you should be happy I'm shite." Future Heart responded, not loosening up for a second as his body ached all over, burning sensations from his newest set of wounds coming in full effect.

"Perhaps I may just be bored, toying with you for a reaction to decrease your chance of victory? Or maybe it's genuine intrigue to see if you can learn a thing or two to make this battle interesting?" Multiple questions in the form of a roundabout answer were given to the holding as he remained in confusion.

FWOOSH...

"Getting into my head... Won't do you any good..." He deactivated the twisters, the maneuver costing him some of his precious remaining SP. It made staying in the form much more arduous as a result, and his previous battle with Accelerator did him no favors.

"But getting under your skin is no problem at all since my blade has rendered you a human pin cushion." Smirked the swordsman.

"Tch! Why you...!" Almost as if he received foresight of the CPU Candidate's next emote, Leanbox's junior god snarled from the comment as he got ready to charge.

"Come on, then. Receive another set of stab wounds, why don't you? It'll teach you some common sense." Taunted the operative.

"I'LL-"

REVERT!

"Oh?" SMITH's brow arched from the unsuspected turn of events as a light covered Future Heart's entire body, as he fell from godly grace.

"...Fuck off." Muttered the blonde, as Vergo returned in the future CPU Candidate's steed, as he had a wrenched facial expression from losing the one definitive edge that was his transformation.

"At this point, I think losing the form may help you all things considered." Both of his eyes closed as he raised a hand in a thoughtful gesture.

"I'm many things, but daft is not one of them." Snapped the aggressive blonde, sure of the disadvantage he found himself in.

"I'm being serious. I'm sure you rely on that transformation of yours to do just about everything once in a tough situation. Now that it's gone..." He paused.

"You will have to find a different means of victory."

JUMP!-

RUSH!

His voice dropped as he used Geppo to close the gap.

"So it's time you prepare yourself to be schooled."

SWING!

"?!"

The time traveler's head turned right into the blade's line of action, catching a glimpse of the impending danger that was heading for him as he had no way of dosing from such a distance, especially from a foe superior in speed.

So he improvised.

SLASH!

"AUGH!"

A line of blood spurted from the blonde's fave as he screamed in pain.

His body also moved back, allowing him to hold his face in distress and bend over from the wound with his pain tolerance decreasing from when he was in HDD.

"Good, you're doing it already. That last slice should've blinded you." Commented the powerful foe.

Looking at his hands, he saw blood staining them, and not a small amount either, meaning that he was still bleeding as he floated there.

"Your purple eyes would be lost to the cruelty of battle no less. See the importance of this lesson, scrub?" A slightly mocking tone sat beside the sentence it came with as the bladist shuffled between feet in an act of idle finesse.

'I used the proximity of the blade, and it's the generation of wind pressure to push my fave away... But I got lucky. A second later and being blind would be the least of my concerns.' Vergo concluded that he was indeed smiled upon by the lady of luck.

SWIPE!-

"Ow."

Using his finger, he performed a quick Ignition Incision on the bridge of his nose, cauterizing the wound and stopping the bleeding, with a meek mutter of pain alongside the act.

'Wait... He said purple. I'm still a demigod...!' Realization flashed across his power signal pupils as he clenched his bloodied fists before looking to the opposing warrior.

"But let's see if you're able to adapt to this!"

チン!

"The 'ell?!"

Leanbox's CPU Candidate reeled from the jarring process he witnessed, as the skin on the swordsman's hand darkened to a reflective black after glowing the color of molten iron before fading.

"Chōten!"

THRUST!

His dagger was swirled with black ethereal energy with a purple luster before the blade became blackened with a purple shine. He bent his elbow and brought back his shoulder before throwing it forward.

GRIP!

BLOCK-

BONG!

Grabbing his now reverted pole, he managed to bring the center of his weapon to where the til of the reinforced dagger was going to strike, causing it to be shoved into the spot where his bronchus was located, just barely avoiding being stabbed as the metal from both weapons made a shrill reverberation.

"What is this sorcery?!" Questioned the blunt weapon user as he struggled to keep the knife tip balanced on the center of his staff, any deviation costing him dearly.

"Survive this and all will be revealed."

...CLUTCH!

Cryptically responded the swordsman as he applied a double-handed grip to his blade.

CRACK!

"?!" The staff was starting to crack under the pressure. For the years the youth had the staff, this was something that he never saw before. It almost made him loosen his grip from shock.

"What will you do, rookie? Or will you endure and go the way of the cookie?" After fitting a cheesy rhyme, the dagger wielder continued to cut into the metallic weapon.

"Shut up!" His accent as thick as his ire provoked, he ignored the shite attempt at entertainment and persisted in resisting the concentrated force that was pushing against him.

From a physical perspective, he couldn't overpower the man before him. And speed was out of the question as he'd be impaled long before his body was out of the danger zone. Enduring only delayed his patriotic piercing as people of his linguistic lineage tended to do these things.

No, that was not a bri'ish joke.

Certainly not.

So he once again, improvised.

GLOW!...

PULL!

WHOOOSH!

Imprintinghis share of energy into his damaged pole, it turned green before he pulled one side of his staff down and the other up sending it into a spin cycle, adding the wind to increase its speed. Once that was done, he had let go to stay, just so that if he moved that SMITH wouldn't immediately disengage.

"!"

TURN!

This caused the ASIC operative to be carried for an incredibly fast rotation several hundred times over as he invested too much body weight to yank himself out, not expecting his opponent to do that.

CHARGE...!

Using the perceived slight that he put the enemy in, the blonde time traveler stuck out his hand before combining his share energy and KI, light green and dark green energy swirling into his hand as it was accumulated.

"Limelight!"

BLAST!-

THUNDER!

From his hand, a swirling pattern of light and dark green energy exploded into a large beam of energy as it spun and sped to SMITH's position, ready to engulf him in martial destruction. The immediate area darkened as the light from the attack became the central source of light as the clouds rolled with thunder, lighting striking the outskirts of the cumulonimbus.

SNAP!

"NO!"

The pole gave under the tremendous power, breaking in two as the brother of Vert exclaimed in despair having seen his weapon be broken right in front of him.

J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-JUMP!

"Geppō: Jidō!"

Kicking off the ground with each foot consecutively caused his speed to dramatically increase as he spun, creating a cone of compressed swirly air around him as the swordsman accelerated at a ludicrous rate.

SLICE!

His rotation was counterclockwise, as opposed to the clockwise spin of the SP attack he headed towards, which in turn caused it to disperse as he tore through its composition with ease.

"He's breaking through the attack! But how?!" Observed Vergo, as he saw the maneuver approach him.

His perception slowed in the heat of battle, peering through his attack to see the spinning catastrophe that was aiming to run him through.

'From what I'm sensing, that black coating has traces of spiritual energy imbued into its very fiber, going beyond even advanced KI coating for constructs.' Noticed the CPU Candidate as he narrowed his eyes.

'Almost as if...' He tensed his arm and concentrated his willpower on the appendage.

"Here goes!"

SWING!

Yelled the golding, throwing a cross as he disengaged with the blast to conserve energy to pull off his speculated theory.

...チン!

His skin hardened in response to physical trauma- I mean, his arm blackened after administering the will necessary to mimic such a feat just before contact was made.

PING!-

CRACKLE!

It seemed almost incredulous how he was able to grasp the concept so easily, yet the contact of the blade didn't instantly impale his hand on contact, and instead produced black lightning with a red outline to spark around the contact point as the struggled.

'What?! The Color of Arms I expected, but... The Supreme King was something I never believed could be found again!' For the first time since he obtained the ability to harden, he never encountered one user who was capable of creating such a reaction from contesting.

Especially from a first-timer.

"FOCK OFF!"

THOOM!

Using the wind behind his shoulder as propulsion, his fist gained enough momentum to overwhelm the knife and send back the swordsman as he was ejected from the clash with a mighty boom.

Vergo's blackened arm reverted to its... BURNT blackened state from when he fought Accel, before looking at it in suspicion.

"I know my hand was always black since my last battle, but somehow it felt... More black." Stating something that totally couldn't be taken out of context, the future fighter was captivated by the phenomenon.

"That was what I was talking about just now," SMITH revealed as his opponent turned to him.

"What was?"

"The Color of Arms. I thought it farfetched that someone else had it, but you felt different. And now I understand why." Starting at the burnt appendage, the eyes of the dagger wielder narrowed.

"...Busoshoku..." A name he uttered, which made the ASIC member's eyes widen in comical shock.

"How did you-"

"I read Two Piece." It was Vergo's turn to smile as he clenched his fist.

チン!...

...チン!

"And I think I'm starting to get the hang of this thing."

Both arms blackened by the spiritual armor, he smiled as an impressed harrumph of acknowledgment was given by the syndicate operative.

"The gap between our knowledge may not be so far, then! But our mastery in Haki is as far as heaven and earth!" SMITH reminded.

"Then it's a lucky thing I'm a CPU, otherwise that statement would mean something!"

ZOOM!

Slingshot by the wind, the boy reeled as he got ready to slug his adversary with an infused ARMament.

Terrible pun, I know.

"WE'LL JUST HAVE TO SEE ABOUT THAT!" Getting ready to lunge in the approaching deity's direction, the bladist roared in response with his knife close to him.

JUMP!-

WHOOSH!

---

A/N:

Chapter complete!

I know you guys probably saw a hell of a lot of references in this chapter, so feel free to comment on the ones you caught on to! I'd be thrilled to see which ones you found the funniest out of them.

I also had fun writing these fights, from magical espers, to friendly and familial duos, to stand users, and even potential conquerors having a bout. All with necessary commentary by the Makers without a doubt.

Wouldn't be the same without them. Now to the post-chapter narration.

Without a hitch, the battle continues, with many fronts being assaulted and even some falling into the jaws of defeat... Or a very large crevice. Only time will tell how this truly concludes, with the strongest on ASIC's side still in the game, although down for the count.

With Nebula finally sealing the powerful esper in a floating mini-planetoid, it is safe to say that even the mighty Accelerator is on a tight spot, both figuratively and literally. But who knows? Maybe the touted member has something on his sleeve. Or should I say on his back? But lest he is a fool, he shouldn't forget that his adversary isn't the average shmuck he's faced.

And Nepgear and Uni continue their struggle against the sinister sisters, Linda and Linette. Their abilities clash and neither gives much headway before the other claws their way back into deadlock. With how the battle goes, however, this won't last long with both CPU Candidates still having their trump card on deck. But might the enemy have one as well?

And Vergo has his hands tied, or should I say dyed in the darkness under his opponent's roundabout tutelage as he begins the training of the mysterious force of nature known as Haki. Although a beginner, he already shows potential in two categories, noted by his enemy. But even with such unknown proficiency and prior knowledge in the power system, will he learn enough to win this battle?

Well leave a fav, a follow, and maybe even a review, and you'll find out in the next chapter.

Arrivederci.

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