Hyperdimension Neptunia Third Sister: Darkness

by Somedudeonline

WARNING: This a direct sequel to 'Light', read that first if you don't want to be confused. After having died, Bios is reborn with the energy of Despair running through her, now the opposite of a Goddess. In spite of what fate demands of her, she gathers a group of vigilantes to save Lowee from a sinister group of organisations known as, SCJP

20. Chapter 17-2: The Conspiracy

Hyperdimension Neptunia

Third Sister; Darkness

Chapter 17.2-Side Silicon Knight

The Conspiracy

It is 4 A.M, the sun hasn't gotten up yet, but summer only ended a week ago, it won't be long before we are greeted by its light. As Phantom Crusaders, we have spread out. Me and Acclaim over here have infiltrated Lastation very quickly. It's pretty easy to do, since you can easily get up the large dividing mountain from Lowee and then jump down to Lastation with the right tools. I think they have countermeasures for that, but my string can manipulate almost anything.

Me and Acclaim had slept for a bit, but seeing as we arrived here pretty quickly, we both agreed to wake up way earlier. Now, I love sleeping, but even I understand how much easier it is to sneak around at 4 AM. Now, Acclaim has my skills as well, but with his large frame, he may not hide himself so good, then again, he also has Dragonette's ninja skills. The skills he gets fades away in three days, but if he touches someone he got those skills from he gets all of them back for three more days. I am certain we are not spending more than that. So, we are comfortably sneaking around. He uses things like Stealth Speed to get around and hide in shadows.

Most people are asleep, but there are actually quite a few adventurers roaming around and talking to each other. From what we overheard, many adventurers have already gone to various places the day of the announcement. Unprepared as they are, they got wrecked, even by the mobs of the Golden Tower areas. I am kind of happy we didn't go without a plan, feels like we'd be guinea pigs for other adventurers, can you imagine?

Anyway, a few adventurers are night owls, and they take advantage of that and prepare themselves or have been prepared and are heading out. Well, I doubt they can get to those monsters, even I don't think we can beat them without Bios. This actually helps us out, we got some useful information. Like uh…Um…No one knows who Lastation's monster is, or what it even is. There are hints in Planeptune and Leanbox, but no sign of Lastation. When I worried about us having the most difficult one to trace, Acclaim told me to shut up…

Competitions are about to be held everywhere. Technically, they aren't allowed in Lastation, but as long as adventurers do normal things in the city that are legal anyway, no one will interrupt them. Except for these weird guys. Like, there is this odd cult or whatever. This was NOWHERE on the news, but Lastation's Basilicom seems to be occupied by these robed weirdos.

I still can't tell who they worship. I heard mention of Darkness Heart. Now that doesn't sound very pleasant, does it? Actually, the only other time I heave heart of a Heart without a color is Bios' Goddess name…
These cultists seem devoted in keeping Lastation 'clean', their moto being "A nation for everyone", but they are constantly out to stop people from making dark jokes or lewd expressions. No matter what or where, even in their own homes, these guys cause disturbances and censor games.

There are a few here who argue back against them, which ends up in discord. We have seen it happen once on the street, but it happens almost multiple times a day. A bunch of shouting on the streets. It is usually former or secret Lastation operatives that acts as peace keepers, disparaging both groups to get them to leave quietly. The atmosphere here has gotten bizarre. I see more factories causing pollution as well, how did that happen? It is especially odd with their image of wanting cleaner energy. I don't understand what is happening at all, but I guess it isn't our problem. Let's not think about it.

In our short time here, we notice a man with a lab coat on. Now obviously, scientists are just normal people and exists in any country…Except, in Lowee they wear different uniforms and work with mages. However, I can't help but see him turn around nervously. He is constantly checking if he's being followed or not. It might be nothing, but my instincts tell me there is something to him. So, against Acclaim's criticisms, "Silicon, we can't simply appropriate someone's pockets out of curiosity.", I pickpocketed him.

Using my string, I easily grab some kind of device from his pockets…It's not anything illegal or suspicious by itself. It's merely a recording device for abnormalities in the area regarding temperature, air quality and all that stuff. But the logo on it says Computement-Corp. And the SD inside has the Justit logo on it on top of Computement-Corp. They have merged only recently, this guy already has one of their devices. It could be nothing, but if there is a chance…

"I'm for tracking the man. But do not cause any trouble. A Goddess being onto us would compromise our mission.", Acclaim says.
"You got it, boss.", I respond to him. I can tell by his frown he doesn't appreciate my funny words.
We both tail the man from the many buildings. There are lots of oil refinements with cylinder designs that make it easy for us to hide with string, no one would expect us to hide there after all. He almost never looks our way. Now he gets into a car. With my string and Acclaim's many skills, we follow him. Nothing felt really odd for now…But then he gets out, and immediately walks into another car.

Why does he own two cars? Why on multiple streets? Why in such a rush? Does he have that much money? Acclaim doesn't see the scientist in any database, meaning he isn't that remarkable.
"This man is certainly suspicious. I bet we're walking in on something juicy.", I say, somewhat feeling excited.
"Time isn't an issue in our current position. Let us pursue this strange man.", Acclaim seems to agree.

We both follow the man as he gets into a rough looking neighborhood. There isn't much criminal activity or poverty in Lastation, though prices for consoles are getting out of hand. The people living here have mostly done delinquent things in protest for current policies like censorship. Otherwise, the place just looks older. But the balconies are easier to travel on and hide behind as we watch this car slowly drive through, not making a single sound.

We see him park near a random home, someone there is waiting on a black bike. The person on said bike covers the scientist in a black robe as he steps out the car. Trying to hide his identity I suppose. He gets behind the motorcyclists as they drive away. At this point, I notice no caution. They must be feeling a lot safer here. Hopping over buildings, we finally see them reach some large-run down building that looked like a combination of a factory and a residential home. The house certainly was a work of art, even if it looked abandoned.

The two step out and approach the door. The Scientist holds up some kind of card key, the double door opens for him, with someone coming outside to check on him. They let him enter the building. We see the motor-cyclist leave.
"I'm ready to infiltrate, how about you?", I ask Acclaim.
"If we want the most out of this excursion, silence is required. Utmost care is a virtue we should emphasize for this curiosity.", he tells me.
"We should be able to get through the front door. I have an idea.", I tell him.

This is far from my first heist. There are likely a lot of guards in front of the door. We need to get them out first. Acclaim knows Bios' moves. He can use Reflection on us to get right there at light speed. First, I go down. No one seems to be on watch outside. The cameras are unable to spot me, they barely even work from what I can tell. I guess having higher tech camera's here would give their position away.

Even if the door is openable electronically, the electronic lock is an add on, the door itself is rather old and has a lock in it. I bet it still opens physically as well. I can use my many strings to fiddle with it. At first, I get a feel for its mechanisms in front of the door. Once I have a good understanding of it, I return on top of the houses near Acclaim. I can open the lock and pull the doors open from here. Any guard should be wanting to go outside.

"Got it. Are you ready, Claimer?", I ask him.
"Commence.", he replies.
I open the doors. And a panic, it does cause. No alarms, though. A bunch of armed men get outside, scurrying around like headless chickens. They do not seem used to any action. I first use string to confirm if anyone was in the entryway, but there were only a few, which I easily pulled outside.

"Now.", when I said that, Acclaim shoots me into the entryway at light speed, with him following soon using a burst of Light Step. Now, Acclaim is slower and louder, but he can cover himself and his noise with Stealth Speed as he lands, and I instantly closed the door as he goes through it. Now, this will cause commotion, but with how run down this building is, I can string up a bunch of ruble for us to hide behind, mostly for myself, Acclaim prefers ninja tricks I guess.

The guards shortly open the door and run inside, only to find nothing. Hehe…They don't know.
"What is going on over here?!"
"Intruders! The door opened on its own and closed!"
"Did you see anyone?"
"Well…No"
"Maybe the door just glitched or something?"
"That's not how electric locks work, idiot. The door isn't self-opening.!"
"But no one is fookin here! …We don't even have camera footage!"

After some conversing with some lady, the guards decided to spread out and search, promising not to bother the guests with any noise. I wonder who the guests are?
It may be good that they spread out, sneaking alongside them is not so difficult. From the entryway, there seems to be a wide main hall across and one hallway to the left and another to the right.
Acclaim has the ninja skill, for him it may be easier. All I have to do is stop the camera's movements for a bit with string. The walls here are pretty worn down, we could actually hide within or behind them…

I take the wall route and Acclaim decided to use Stealth Speed to sneak past guards and hide in shadows. Lights are not turned on in the hallways. I'm sure they don't want anyone to see any lights from outside. There is this large dome-like main room across the main hall, there are over a dozen people gathered here. They all talk like they are in a library, but just loud enough for us to hear. Their conversations aren't very interesting. Most of them are either talking about pretty normal sounding scientific theory and research. There are some developing weapons and making blueprints and stuff.

But, when I asked Acclaim…
"Those weapons are within my knowledge of legal consumer grade weapons. They will probably sell them to the commercial market. Nothing out of the ordinary here.", he says.
"Well, I don't see our scientist in here. So I don't think we're done.", I argue.
"Do not fret, I myself still think we have more to see. Just don't break anything…", Acclaim tells me.
We had gone halfway back already, so we quickly move to the right hallway instead. Acclaim doesn't want us to string up any guards, since we don't know if they are actually bad guys yet.

At the end, there is a three-way split, one leads to a room to my left that goes behind me, the other is a larger hall way in the corner to my right, and around the corner, the hallway continued.
"My gut feeling says to take the wider hallway.", I say.
"There is no logical way of knowing where the scientist could have gone, I'll let your instincts guide us.", Acclaim agrees with me, I think.
There were way more cameras inside this Hallways, it is also a lot cleaner. The walls were made of metal this time.

At the end, we find this large metal entrance to a basement.
"Every villain hides something in the basement.", I say to Acclaim with a hint of smugness.
He replies with a dry tone, "The basement has the least amount of sound, making it a nice place to do secretive activities. Villains use a lot of basements, however, it is Illogical to say a basement is evidence, the majority have one."
"Yeah Well…", I say before simply just using my string to force the door open.

We look below and see there is nothing to use to get down to.
"I believe a key card is required for a ladder or other accessibility mechanisms.", Acclaim tells me.
"Well, it's a good thing our knees are made of sterner stuff.", I respond.
We jump right into our hole. Down here, it's pretty dark, only a few red lights allow us to see. I am immediately stop Acclaim from walking.
"Stay here. Up ahead is a string, it must be some kind of trap.", I warn.

"The thread is too thin to see to the eyes of a normal human.", he tells me.
There's no way I wouldn't notice a string or rope, I've practically gained a super power to see any thread.
"Allow me to scrutinize it.", Acclaim says before crouching, carefully examining the trap.
"It is an electric mine. If you were to activate it, it wouldn't simply blow your leg off, but electrocute you. The thread is tin, using electricity to signal the mine, you would never notice it. This has been banned for use in all of Gamindustri, even disallowed for their military.", Acclaim explains.
"So…These are illegal then?", I ask him.
"Correct. No one should have access to them, not even the Basilicom or army. According to my knowledge of weaponry.", He answers.
The corners of my mouth raise as I say, "So, we got a hit."

"Affirmative. We should be allowed to be aggressive, since we are dealing with criminals.", Acclaim voices his agreement. Since the electricity required body heat to go off, I can easily disable it with string, pulling it until it tears. There are more cameras down here, but we can just disable them now. At worst someone comes to check them and we can hang them, but that didn't happen.

Walking around here feels like we entered some kind of ventilation shaft. We encountered the typical laser trap. Rather than setting an alarm, it cuts through people. But lasers are just light rays, we can reflect them off of certain surfaces. Acclaim uses the Reflection Blade enchantment on my sword and two of his to redirect the Lasers. We carefully get through moving like we are playing twister as we slowly place our arms and legs in the right places until we get through.

Many locked doors were opened with my string, I noticed they had some kind of puzzle mechanics in place but uh…I hate puzzles. Traps here are mostly modern, there are some pressure plates here and there, but my string can be super thin, with them I found any kind of trap along our way. We didn't want to trip any alarms either, so activating a trap on purpose to avoid it wouldn't work for us. If it were a dungeon it wouldn't be a big deal. There is one door with a trap that would cause the small room we're in to flood with water from above.

To solve this, I open the door ever so slightly to not activate this trap, then I shoot string through it and weave it until I can entangle the mechanism that opens the roof above us. I pull it in the opposite direction while carefully opening the door. Now we are in a short hallway. We can immediately see another door, but it isn't trapped. It simply has a wheel for a door opener, probably to make sure it is shut tight just in case.

It would normally make a loud noise, so whilst Acclaim opens it, I try to make sure to oil up my string and insert it in any small gab within the wheel. Slowly, we open the door and hide inside the room. Our Scientist friend is right here. We see some lights shone onto a black human-sized automated mecha. There were three others inside, one a woman with a lab coat, wild hair, and square glasses with thick frames.

"Is it ready?", someone asked the scientist.
"O-oh yeah sir. The anti-share unit, Radeon X6800 should be fully operational once charged with energy.", he reacts sheepishly.
"Good. Set up the network with the other units.", a dark figure commanded.
"Yes sir!", the scientist and one other figure we can't make out respond, getting to work right after.
"Anti-Share unit? Claimer…Do you know what that means?", I whisper to him.
"Anti-Share would come from Anti-Share crystals, capable of nullifying a goddess' power. In the worst case, enough of them could completely weaken one to the point they stop moving, and maybe even kill one.", Acclaim explains to me.

"Isn't that super-duper illegal?", I ask him.
"It would be blasphemy, treason, heresy and more. Capital punishment is not unfeasible in this scenario.", Acclaim tells me.
"Hehe, how do you like my version of her invention? Aren't you proud? We can mix share energy and Anti-share energy, creating a god killing weapon that can even take out that pesky Phantom Crusader, the Switcher.", the lady says, sounding slightly raspy but high pitched.
"Hm…It's capable for certain. The other units should be up by now, am I right?", the big man asks.

The Scientist fixes the position of his glasses as he raises his back replying, "Uh…Y-yes sir! We have transported the Planeptune and Leanbox units to their location. Since we are quite sure the Switcher has Lowee's treasure, we figure the Lowee unit could be given to Bowser to make getting the other treasure's easier."
"Claimer, we should mov in. If that robot activates, Leader could be in trouble. They are definitely part of SCJP.", I tell him.
"I concur, there is null reason not to intervene.", Acclaim says.

In no time, me and Acclaim cover the room in string, trapping the Scientist, another person with a lab coat, and the female scientist…Who looks way too happy for someone bound by string.
"AAAh…Quite exciting boys…But I'd prefer a cute girl string me up and call me a pig instead.", the female scientist says.
"You look nice enough, but I don't handle weirdos well, sorry.", I tell her.
"I have to turn you down also, I have lost my drive after the experiments, and also have no intention to be intimate with villains.", Acclaim says.

We couldn't catch the big guy however. He has not just moved close to the robot, but rather right behind the wall next to it, we can't see his face, the red light barely misses it. He crosses his arms and says, "Impressive for you to have entered, Phantom Crusaders. Your name certainly checks out. How do you like our little secret lab and our impressive machine?"
"We won't let you hinder our leader! We're shutting you down for good!", I tell them.
"You will not get away with making an anti-goddess weapon. As long as we lay you out with your machine, punishment will be swift and harsh.", Acclaim tells them.

String slowly approaches the large man, but he cuts it with swings of his arms. They look large and bulky, how can they be so sharp? Cybernetic enhancements?
"The Claimer, and the Silicon Knight, is that correct? Perfect. Our first test will be with you.", the man tells us, sounding only a little giddy.
"Didn't you hear us? You won't be testing anything!", I told him.
However, Acclaim warns me, "Silicon, I can confirm he has been modified. He is not human."

The man runs towards the female scientist, shouting, "Do it, Jackas!"
He cuts a string around her arm, that allows her to grab a switch from her pocket. Pressing it causes the large man to explode, alongside a few other bombs within this basement. The instability forces us to endure in order to stay on our feet. The scientist we followed presses the activation button of the machine.

"It's fully charged! Cover Jackas!", he shouts. In some form of sacrifice, the two male scientists cover Jackas, as the machine starts, it unleashes a heatwave that completely annihilates the scientists and blows Jackas into the wall, knocking her out. This place is caving in, its shockwave alongside the explosives have created a hole through the ceiling. Me and Acclaim have made the call to exit out, I am using string to reach the surface. It was difficult going without getting plunged by a falling rock, but I made it. Acclaim just blasts through the rocks with his metal arms as he easily jumps out of the hole.

The lot of soldiers and a few stragglers hurried out of the building. They saw us and the hole, but are too panicked to judge the situation.
It is at that moment, the machine called Radeon X6800 flies out of the hole and lands on the ground.
"It's the machine! It activated! We're going to be compromised! Run!", one of the guards shout, causing everyone to flee, even from inside the building people ran out as fast as possible.

We take our attention to the machine, who did not seem nice at all.
"Phantom Crusaders detected. Elimination protocol active until new orders arrive.", it said.
"Well, that does it then. Let's go!", I declare.
Acclaim goes first, trying to get a quick hit in on the robot with Light Ste-WHAT THE HELL?! X6800 just dodges him with its own version of Light Step.
"It copied Leader's moves?", Acclaim mumbles before jumping high in the sky, avoiding some kind of unstable beam, it looked like the tail of a blue comet or something.
"I can't copy that…", I barely hear Acclaim before he shouts, "He's using share energy!

But that is impossible! Only Goddesses can use it! A machine should never be able to unless a Goddess is using it! What is happening?!
Acclaim fights back, using Leader's UnionStar Light Slash from point blank range as he falls down into a sword strike, but the machine switches its dark aura to a bright blue-ish white one. The attack barely makes it budge as it blocks Acclaim's sword with its crystal arm blade. One blink of its shining eyes, and Acclaim is blown back by an energy wave of light.

He immediately does evasive moves as X6800 stabs his crystal blade into the ground, and sweeps it over the air to summon large crystal spikes from under the ground. As it shoots out of the ground, Acclaim gets into the air using various movement techniques.
"Hey! Can you not copy it?!", I ask him.
"Only the weapon…", Acclaim replies, I have never seen him this afraid.
Still, he tries, using Stealth Speed to get to X6800's flank, trying to cut him with the crystal blade filled with dark energy, albeit not quite the same as the machine's.

X6800 changes back to its dark aura and blocks the blade.
"Silicon, he can change his resistances!", Acclaim says, still pushing his blade against X6800's.
He jumps back, knowing I am about to string up X6800. I caught him in my web, he is a still a droid and its mechanical parts can be pretty easily entangled.
"I said let's go, meaning I should be the one having fun! I don't know what you are but…", my confident speech ends as I see it unload a bunch if mini chainsaws rotating all over its body, it is specifically designed to get rid of my strings. They are the perfect size and shoot out tiny lasers only capable of cutting thread.

It isn't just leader it is meant to counter…
The realization has me scared. I calm myself, prepared for its next attack. A wave of crystal spikes come my way. I figure I can cut through them with "String Cutter!", but even as I excitingly shout that, my string whip still could not cut through it. I barely dodge impalement as I shoot string to my right with my hand and pull myself away. I fall over, not even prepared for that action. I do roll back up, knowing how much danger we're in. Acclaim got next to me. He tells me, "This machine uses share and anti-share energy to coat itself into an energy so dense, normal attacks barely damage it. It isn't remarkable otherwise. The crystals are enveloped the most in this dense energy. The crystal sword being its most dangerous feature."

"You tell me. This droid shouldn't exist. I have never felt disgusted about something like this.", I tell Acclaim.
"Any Goddess with common sense would give out harsh punishments at its creator, I do believe that being righteous.", Acclaim agrees with me. I get back up, the both of us prepared to fight.
But the mood gets broken by its eyes suddenly flashing red multiple times like it was saying something through code.
"Orders received. New mission confirmed. Priority shifted. Leaving area.", it said.

Before we could do anything, it uses Light Step to shoot itself into the sky. Then it was about to fly away. I really wanted to chase after it, but Acclaim warns me, "Silicon! Hide! Now!"
Knowing how much trouble we're in, I heed his warning and hide under the rubble with him, using string to cover us up with plenty of objects. We can see through its holes, as the evil machine escapes, Black Heart arrives at the scene.

"What happened here?! What was that machine just now… I'll have to follow it later.", I can hear her speak. She slowly lowers herself a little.
"Is anyone out there?!", she shouts. She sounds incredibly stressed and alarmed.
Looking at her face, she must've been busy before this.
Black Heart looks to her left. Her face switched to an irritated one, I can just feel the tongue clicking noise she must be making.

"I don't have time for this. I'll have to follow whatever flew away!", she says before leaving. The cult we've been seeing before walked on mass here. They all prayed to this building, before making it collapse.
"Do you think it is fair to capture them and ask some questions?", I ask Acclaim.
"Against my better sense of judgement, I believe these individuals are not ones to be missed by Lastation's general populace.", Acclaim answers. I'm pretty sure that means he agrees.

With string, we tie them all up against each other. No movement could be made, any push of a limb will pull someone's else's body parts. We both advance from the rubble.
"Who are you guys?! What do you think you're doing?!", one of them asked.
Not all of them looked creepy up close. Some looked like normal men and women, but among them were elderly and a few who looked relatively strong.
"Lady Darkness Heart will get you for this!", one of them said.

"What are you praying here for? Why demolish the building? Let's skip the how, 'cuz I don't think I can understand that part with our limited time." I demand from them.
"I would listen if I were you. Lady Cold Heart wouldn't show mercy to those who stand against us either.", Acclaim sounds like he's part of a cult to get them to react, I hope so.
"C-cold Heart? Um…", a few looked confused but the elderly and strong look frozen, cold sweat coming from them.

One began to talk, "Well, our job is to inspect abandoned factories and either repurpose them or demolish them. It is what our leader told us to do. Otherwise, we pray when an incident using share energy took place, we pray it won't affect our Goddess for she is Lastation's true deity."
"And who is this leader of yours?", I ask of them…And right after, I felt a chill go down my spine. It was like a smoke of darkness got past us. One look at Acclaim, and I see his face drop. The string around us gets cut, and I don't know by what.
I see the faces of the cultists shudder, as one calls out, "L-leader!"

They all fled, with us unable to do anything, for the one walking behind our backs has a presence that feels like facing the wrath of a demon.
We turn around to see a woman cloaked in black, her hair long and white, not too different from Black Heart when she is in goddess form. Her eyes on the other hand are just red, no power symbols.

"I see you have taken quite well to my dear followers. How can I help you?", her voice is calm, eerily so. There is no tension, not even anger. Just a voice of control, like a sword held by calm but powerful hands.
Me and Acclaim stand ready to fight. But honestly, I don't feel positive about this.
"Would it be rude of us to ask you to identify yourself?", Acclaim dares ask, very carefully choosing his words.
"Hm…I would find it a little hypocritical. The Phantom Crusaders hide theirs after all. I have no obligation to tell you my name.", she answers, her face not showing any emotion, but her tone of voice sounds slightly pleased.

I feel like a fly trapped in a spiderweb.
"I am the organizer of that little group you just stringed up. Of course, there may be cases of violence, and perhaps some of my followers go too far and deserve it. But when it is strong individuals like yourselves attacking them unprovoked…Well…", after she talks to us, she pulls out a blade with a gun-handle on it out of pure darkness. She holds it over her shoulders and threatens us with a composed voice, "I have the duty to ensure their safety…"
"Understandable, your position is, and we have no qualms. It isn't our mission to stop you or help Lastation. It was a simple misunderstanding under bizarre circumstances regarding this building and the droid made to kill Goddesses and perhaps even something else.", Acclaim tries to reason with her.

"I appreciate your speech. I can tell you have an understanding of my strength. But I suppose you two can also stand against me unpetrified due to your leader, Cold Soul…Or perhaps you know her as Cold Heart instead?", she responds, her voice sounding playful whilst her smile is barely visible.
I look at Acclaim who is no less bewildered. We are messing with someone far beyond us, and even he realized how bad the situation is.
"Acclaim…She doesn't just know her goddess name…But…Wasn't that…?", I whisper with him carefully, he responds with his own whisper, "The name of the one who possessed her. There should be no way for this individual to know?"

"Ah, I understand. You have no idea of course. Allow me to enlighten you. Me and her…We are the same type of being.", she tells us.
No way. Then she is undead, right?
Acclaim and I are the only ones to truly understand what Bios means when she says she isn't a Goddess. I even more so than him.
I might regret this. But there is only one way to find out, and I know Acclaim can use this information…I might die.

I lunge forward and stab me sword all the way through this lady, even she looked stunned at me. Acclaim shouts at me in the back, but I don't listen. He'll understand soon. Yes, my sword has gone all the way through, but when I look up, I see her look down at me with no hint of pain or fear.
"Well, I must say, in this form, it is a bit uncomfortable. But by your reaction, I assume you do know something of your leader…", she says, not moving an inch.

I carefully take it out and jump back.
"…Empty.", Acclaim comments.
"Yes. Just like Leader. She can't die.", I tell him. We both see a hole, no blood or organs spilling out, just nothing as a hole is made in her torso.
"Now then. Since we have established our understanding. Let me help you fear me.", she says before jumping past our sides. She places her hand on my shoulder and says, "Your leader is unable to use SSD at the moment…That means that I am STRONGER."

Now, she sounds way colder and a bit more ragged.
As she walks around us, her voice deepens and she threatens us, "I promised your leader I would not get in the way of her and Lowee. So let me let you off on a warning. Do. Not. Get. In. The. Way. Of my plans. In Lastation. I have my own plan for this nation. And if a single one of you gets in the way…"
For a second, her eyes have a reversed black power symbol in each of them, and she says angrily, "I will kill you."

"We have no intention of getting in your way. Our mission in Lastation is regarding the event, Justit Info and nothing of importance to you.", Acclaim ensures.
Her eyelid slightly lowers, she says, "Good…Then…Have a pleasant stay. Take in the sights…Because next year, it will be no more…"
With that, she disappears. I don't know what movement trick she used, my brain can't understand. I can't follow. I can't connect. Suddenly, we were in an empty cold dump of a neighborhood with everyone retreated to their homes. The light of the rising sun snaps us out of it. We turn to the light.
"Silicon. My recommendation is to find where the Golden Tower's remains are located.", he says.
"Yes, let's focus on the mission.", I agree with him…Swallowing my fear.

Not wanting to stick out, we hide to place our masks to our side to appear featureless rather than as a dark silhouette or a beings of smoke. We casually walk our way to the main street where the Basilicom is located, nothing really dangerous happens there at least. Black Heart may have lost the Basilicom, but the people respect her a lot more, she won't let anything happen to them and I am certain the cult knows.

Now, while it took us an hour to walk here, it's still pretty early in the morning. Most shops are usually closed, a few only opened up now that this event has attracted a bunch of adventurers. INNs and hotels are heavily advertising themselves, libraries have signs hanging out promising books specifically about information that adventurers may want to know.
Me and Acclaim are in this café, eating some breakfast. Well, he just eats some bread, I am eating a diverse amount of pastries.

"Is consumption to such degree truly vital for you, dude?", Acclaim says, although he sounds awkward and weird saying dude. He can't say Silicon anymore, since he uses that when we are phantom crusading. So I told him to just call me dude instead.
"Of course! Not only has that girl scared the shit out of me, I also haven't eaten anything whilst using all of my strength just now! Don't YOU need to eat more?!", I react aggressively at him.
"Negative. But I suppose my energy comes from external factors after the experiment, I only require ample amount of food.", he tells me.
With my elbow on the table, I lean on my hand and say, "Well, lucky you."

The wind blows into this café, as the walls are thin and the door is open. We look outside to see many playing games against each other. Mock battles are banned in Lastation at the moment, but harmless things like this are not considered illegal even during the event. This is how adventurers compete here. They are using some kind of AR glasses to play their games.
"Lastation has been focusing a lot on VR and AR recently. I heard it is quite popular with the youth.", Acclaim tells me.
"The idea is definitely cool. I prefer being transported in a game, though.", I say before drinking some blackberry juice.

I put it down, looking at the TV. TVs all over the place are showcasing the event, because Justit Info somehow hacked them.
We hear of Planeptune's monster being found often.
"Man, knowing Leader, she must be lucky having a monster that shows up so often.", I say.
"Considering speed is her forte, I do believe her lucky to have an opponent that is only a bother due to its speed as far as we understand.", Acclaim says.

Feeling better after breakfast, we go to a normal convenience store. They certainly have magazines about the golden towers.
"Well, that was easy.", I say.
"It is pretty common knowledge. I propose we head out immediately.", Acclaim says.
It was so easy to find out the Golden Tower was at the Southern end of Lastation near the cliffs. We walked quite a ways south, we see many people playing this card game about monsters and dueling.

Apparently they are holding a tournament here, winners taking good equipment from the losing adventurers, the top adventuring party winning the right to recruit a few to help in their journey to get the treasure. We try to look like normal men on our way to leave the capital city. But near the end, we get stopped by two eccentric teenagers with many different clothes on, like they were trying to design themselves as anime characters.

"Hold it right there!", they say as they do weird poses with their arms stretched to the side.
"We are the card battle brothers! You can't possibly think you could leave without having to duel!", the one on the left said.
"That's right! We can tell you two are adventurers! You walk like them!", the left one said.
"Identify yourselves.", Acclaim demands, not playing along with their goofiness.
"Gladly!", the two shout.
"I am Yugay!", the one on the left said.
"And I am Zeto Gayba", is stated by the one on the right
"AND TOGETHER WE ARE! …THE CARD BATTLE BROTHERS!", they scream.

All this for jokes that twelve years old would find funny? man.
"Acclaim, shouldn't we just ignore these idiots?", I ask him.
"Heh. We can't let you pass through.", Yugay says.
"You see, the gate behind us only opens when one wins a card game. It has been set up by the tournament holders. Those with guild passes cannot leave without having won a duel.", they said.
God da- My thoughts are cut off as Acclaim says, "I accept your challenge!", with presto.

I look perplexed at him. I ask him, "Huh? Are you serious? Wait, you look like you're in to this?!"
"Silicon…I was a card collector before I was experimented on…And I won one tournament once as a teenager. This is still my hobby to some extent.", he says, talking with a bit more feeling to it.
He says to some extent, but he pulls out a uniquely designed duel wheel.
"Hey, I don't have a Duel wheel if we are playing this game with AR.", I mention to the brothers.
"Don't worry, a judge should come and give you one if you don't ha-", before Yugai could finish his sentence, Acclaim throws one over to me.
"Huh?", I blurt out as I barely catch it.
"Don't worry, I have generics with me as well. I am prepared for everything.", Acclaim tells me as he puts his glasses on in an admittedly cool way.

"Do you have AR glasses? Gayba has multiple if you need one.", Yugai suggests.
"I'm sorry to bother, but I do need one.", after saying that, Gayba just throws one my way.
"All right. It's time to du-"
"Copyright infringement, don't make it too obvious Yugay", Gayba says.
"Who are you calling g-", I won't let him finish that sentence, "Get going already!"
"DUEL!", we all shout.

A digital coin is automatically flipped, it determined Yugay go first.
"My turn. I set five trap cards face down. I end my turn.", he says as he simply places five cards face down. Player one only has six cards in the first turn, so now he only has that one.
To have five trap cards in front of me is a real pain, he can do anything with them.
"I activate a trap card!", he says, one of the face down cards rising for me to see, "Somewhere empty", this card activates if I end my turn without summoning a monster and if my field is empty, I can take 1000 of my opponent's life points and give it to myself, this card also doesn't allow my opponent to draw in his next turn.

I couldn't even do anything yet…
"Silicon. How familiar are you with this game?", Acclaim asks me.
"I've played it too when I was a bit younger…Also as a child. Some new rules may be a little new to me. I mostly collected the cards, though, not much playing.", I tell him.
"I see, so you have your own deck?", he asks me.
"Yeah…I kind of forgot what I build, though…", I tell him.
"Worry not, my friend. I will advance us to victory!", Acclaim speaks strongly, I have never seen as much conviction from this man.

"My turn!", I shout. I look at my cards and uh…I think I know what they do… Yeah, sure.
"I summon Twinkle Dinkle in attack mode!", I shout.
Name: Twinkle Dinkle
Type: Spellcaster/effect
Element: Light
Violence: 1400
Protection: 1000

"I activate my trap card! Monster Kaboom! This card allows me to destroy a newly summoned monster, sending it to the graveyard!", so he says, but Acclaim countered him.
"I activate a quick spell! This card can be used from my hand if my trap field is empty and the opponent activated a trap card. The card is negated and destroyed! Furthermore, no more traps can be activated during the opponents current turn!", Acclaim shouts as he showcases the card in his hand.
"I activate my second trap card!, Hidden Trap! If a card negates all trap cards, I can activate this card to nullify its's activation and any further cards from negating trap cards.", Yugay shouts as he pulls out another of his trap cards.

"I activate a trap card from my hand!", Acclaim shouts. Wait, since when can trap cards do that?!
"I activate the trap card, Nuh-uh!", Acclaim declares.
No way that is an actual card!
"This card negates any card with no way to stop it and returns it from the owner's hand.
"I ACTIVATE A TRAP CARD FROM MY DECK!", Yugay screams.
If it comes from the deck, is it even really a trap anymore?! That's an assault card at this point!

"So uh…Basically uh…If a card effect is negated but the card is not destroyed I can throw it in the graveyard alongside a card chosen at random and uh…Yeah, it negates Nuh-Uh and allows any previous cards effects from me to go through.", Yugay explained it like he never used it and quickly read up on what it did.
"…But Nuh-uh can't be negated?", Acclaim asks, even he is confused.
Yugay just looks awkward. He scratches the back of his head and says, "Yes, but this trap card called "You can do it if you try", has triple negation priority and Nuh-Uh only has two…So yeah."
"Hm…That does explain it. Triple negation? That's rare.", Acclaim says, folding his arms, coming to terms with this.

So, basically my monster just gets destroyed. Acclaim apologizes to me like he made a grievous mistake. Aren't you guys taking this too seriously?
"Um. I activate my monster's ability, 'Twinkle Summon' which allows me to summon any caster monster with an attack lower than 2000. So I summon Bingle Dringle in attack mode.", I do exactly what I say.
Name: Bingle Dringle
Type: Spellcaster/effect
Element: Light
Violence: 1900
Protection: 1200

"Bringle Dingle, attack his life points directly!", I shout while pointing at Yugay, but uh… He activates another Trap card.
"Spiegel macht!", he shouts. Of course. The card that reflects the attack back.
"This card destroys all monsters on the field when an opponent's monster attacks and cancels the attack as well!", he explained the most well-known card.
"I activate another trap card! Shield of the Fallen! If three or more cards are sent to the graveyard during my opponents turn, I can special summon The Great Rising Shield Hero from my deck or hand!" He says before summoning this monster with a giant shield.

Name: The Great Rising Shield Hero
Type: Warrior/effect
Element: Earth
Violence: 0
Protection: 3000
"AND FURTHER! I activate his monster effect! If I have 5 trap, magic, or monster cards in my graveyard, I can banish each set from the graveyard and special summon, the Dark Shield Avenger in defense mode!", he shouts. Now a darker version of the same card sits next to him.
Name: Dark Shield Avenger
Type: Undead/Effect
Element: Darkness
Violence: 0001
Protection: 2999

What is with those weird stats?
Anyway. "I activate a monster effect from my hand. If Bingle Dringle and Twinkle Dinkle are both in my graveyard, I can special summon this monster during any turn or phase.", I say as I summon Big Dig Twinkle in attack mode.
Name: Big Dig Twinkle
Type: Spellcaster/effect
Element: Light
Violence: 2400
Protection: 1500

"According to the monster effect, if this monster is special summoned, it can attack or do 500 points of damage to the opponents life directly.", I say. "So?", Yugay was asking me to elaborate.
"Oh…Well I can't attack your monsters with such high protection, so you take 500 Damage.", I awkwardly say. I thought my choice would be obvious but uh…Anyway, Yugay reacts like I just punched him in the guy out of nowhere, even says, "Tch! You're stronger than expected!"

"I lay one trap card down. I end my turn.", I say.
"Pfft! Lol, only one trap card? And you have only one monster on the field. Yo, this man is playing boomer Monster Dueling over here!", Gayba was laughing at me.
"Hey, don't insult boomer Monster Dueling. It is all in the heart after all.", Yugay says some stuff that is supposed to sound deep, but uh…It makes no sense, whatever.

Gayba draws a card and says, "It is my turn. DRAW!" Without much time between, he places a card on his wheel and says, "I activate the spell card, Destructive Hands! Your hand is thrown into the graveyard and you have to draw 7 new cards from your deck!" Acclaim throws the cards in his hands in the graveyard before pulling new cards. He looks stern.
"I activate another spell card. Copy technique! This card allows me to use an effect that has been activated earlier in the game. I use Destructive Hands to make Yugay throw his one card into the graveyard, allowing him to draw 7 new cards!", Gayba says.

It goes exactly like what he described. Than he activates another spell card, "Grave Tragedy! The top five cards of your deck are sent to the grave, each card making you take 100 points of damage to your life!" Now Acclaim's life is at 7500 just like Yugay.
"I activate a continuous spell card, Tax Collectors. This card makes the opponent discard three cards to the graveyard from the top of his deck each of his drawing phase. That includes you too!", so he says.
Both me and Acclaim are going to lose cards, I guess.
"Dude. He is using a deck destruction deck. Watch it for any combos you're making, every card counts now.", Acclaim tells me.

"I summon the monster, Gabe the Clown in Attack position!", Gayba says.
Name: Gabe The Clown.
Type: Fiend/effect
Element: Darkness
Violence: 0
Protection: 0
"Gabe The Clown gets 100 Violence and Protection points for each card in my opponent's grave. Furthermore, if it is targeted by an attack, the opponent has to discard three cards from his deck into the grave and take 500 points of damage.", Gayba says.
Violence: 1100
Protection: 1100

"I put one card face down. Turn end.", Gayba says.
I hear Acclaim mumble, he is quiet enough for me to hear, "Gabe The Clown with his low attack points clearly is a trap. He wants me to attack it. The consequences are not as bad as the reward if the attacker has high enough attack points, and I am certain he is aware of such…"
He looks at the cards in his hand. It seems he has come to a conclusion.
"I shall proceed with my turn. Draw.", Acclaim eyes the card, and as rare as it is, he smiles.

"I activate a monster's ability from my grave! Once, I can special summon it from the grave if no monster is on the field. Come on out, Stank Hedgehog.", he says, summoning the monster.
Name: Stank Hedgehog.
Type: Beast/Effect
Element: Darkness
Violence: 1000
Protection: 1300
"Next, I activate a monster card from my deck. If a three star or lower monster has been summoned, I can special summon this tune monster on the field.", Acclaim says as he summons a monster called, "Sky Fish of Beauty", on the field.

Name: Sky Fish of Beauty
Type: Fish/Effect/Tune
Element: Wind
Violence: 100
Protection: 500
"I special summon the monster, Stank Racer!", Acclaim shouts right after slapping it on his wheel.
Name: Stank Racer
Type: Machine/Effect
Element: Darkness
Violence: 1600
Protection: 1200

"I tune my Flying Fish with Stank Hedgehog and Stank Racer to Sync Summon Stankstar Dragon!", he shouts, as the tune turns into one ring and the two monsters turn into seven stars that go inside the ring. Then, a dragon comes forth.
Name: Stankstar Dragon
Type: Dragon/effect/Sync monster
Element: Fire
Violence: 2500
Protection: 2000

"I activate Stankstar Dragon's special ability! If it is summoned with Flying Fish as his tuner, he can special summon it on the field! Next! I activate the Spell Card, Level up! This card allows me to increase a monster's level by 1! I now Tune the level 2 Tune monster with the level 8 Stankstar Dragon to Sync Summon my love, Surpassing Comet Dragon: Richstar!", he says as he summons this large shiny armored dragon.
Name: Surpassing Comet Dragon: Richstar
Type: Dragon/effect/Advanced Sync monster
Element: Light
Violence: 4000
Protection: 4000

"I normal summon Stank Goblin Chief in attack mode!", Acclaim shouts.
Name: Goblin Chief
Type: Beast Warrior/effect
Element: Earth
Violence: 1400
Protection: 1200
"I use Golbin Chief's ability! If this card is normal summoned, I can summon another 4 star monster from my hand. I special summon, Stank Swordsman!"
Name: Stank Swordsman
Type: Warrior
Element: Earth.
Violence: 1700
Protection: 1000

"I use the 4 star Goblin Chief and 4 star Stank Swordsman to Dimensionally summon Rainbow emperor: Love.", He says as the two monsters created some kind of galaxy that brings forth this huge armored dude with large rainbow wings of steel.
Name: Rainbow Emperor: Love
Type: Warrior/Dimensional/Effect
Element: Light
Violence: 2500
Protection: 2000

"I now activate this spell card! It allows me banish two monsters from my grave and fuse two monsters from my field, hand or deck! I do lose 1000 life points, unfortunately. Now! Come forth! Fuse! Space Stank Monster! Space Stank Hero. Settle your differences to face the great threat of the void! I summon! Universe of Stank: Spartan!", he says all of that to summon some guy in a tight suit.
Name: Universe of Stank: Spartan.
Type: Warrior/Fusion/Effect
Element: Light
Violence: 3000
Protection: 3000
How does this thing have that high of Violence points?!

"Emperor Love! Attack Gabe the Clown!", Acclaim shouts, taking the risk.
"I activate Gabe the Clown's ability! Furthermore, I activate a trap card!", Gayba shouts.
"If my opponent attacks my monster and its effect activates, I can double all negative effects happening to any party during the confrontation and give it to the next person.", Gayba says.
"I activate Love's ability! Using one of the Dimension Tokens, I can cancel any monster attack and negate any effects that would've come from the encounter!", As Acclaim says that, he chooses his own monster, now Love lights up his wings as he uses them as a shield.
"Dang it. Now I can't deal all that damage and card destruction to your friend.", Gayba says.
"Heh, I was just testing you.", Acclaim starts trash talking, I have never expected that from him.

"Next, I attack with Richstar! Attack The Dark Shield Avenger!, Acclaim shouts as his dragon flies through the dark shield monster, slashing it apart.
"By my dragon's ability, all cards it attacks will be destroyed, not allowing their protective effects to activate! To make it clear, Dark Avenger's effect to destroy monsters after it is destroyed will easily be nullified as well.", Acclaim says.
"Yeah, that's why I'm not activating it, and I don't need to.", Yugay answers.

"Now! Stank Spartan! Attack the Rising Shield Hero!", so he says, but Acclaim knows he can't destroy a monster with 3000 Protection if his monster only has 3000 Violence.
"I activate Stank Spartan's ability!", Acclaim says as Stank Spartan is flying over to Shield Hero, a bunch of monstrous body parts sprouting from his back.
"If it fails to destroy a monster, I can lower his Violence points by 500 until my next turn and phase, but the surviving monster is destroyed!", Acclaim shouts as Stank Spartan pulls a sharp bone blade from his right arm and cuts through the monster.

I read up on Rising Shield Hero…I see. If he attacked with Richstar, Shield Hero's ability would allow him to damage Acclaim by 1000 points and also resummon Dark Avenger. The resummoning doesn't work if it is destroyed by card effect.
"Dude, Gayba, he is actually reading.", Yugay says in a mocking tone.
"What a scrub.", Gayba comments.
I hate all of you.

"I set down two trap cards. I end my turn!", Acclaim says.
"My turn! Draw! I activate My Shield monsters' effects! If Dark Shield Avenger and Rising Shield Hero are in my graveyard, I can special summon a level 5 monster and equip the monsters from the grave onto it! I special summon Glave Brawler in attack mode!", Yugay shouts as he summons a monster that looks like a yellow body builder monster with goat horns, armor and a glaive.
Name: Glave Brawler
Type: Beast Warrior/effect
Element: Wind
Violence: 2000
Protection: 1500

"This monster's special ability is to stop any battle phase, with the drawback being that it can't attack the next turn. But there's more! I can equip the two shield monster onto him from the grave! Dark Shield Avenger increases his attack, Rising Shield Hero increases his defense. Both by a thousand. Once attacked, I can either sacrifice Avenger or Hero, each having a different effect. Avenger will destroy your monster and deal damage based on the difference between the attacking monster and Glave Brawler. Hero Will heal me instead and simply end the battle phase.", so he explains.

"Now, I activate my spell Card! If I have five trap cards in my grave yard or in banishment, I can special summon a monster for each card.", he says.
"Clock Blocker! This card negates all trap cards. Juto Slapper, this card stops all monster card effects. Knife Ear Hater! This card stops all spell card effects! And Wizard of Paper, Kami! He can do my taxes!". he shouts. Now, I am not even bothering with naming all the monsters, but uh…
"Yeah right, no way a monster card can just do your taxe-", I stopped myself upon seeing the wizard put a pencil between his earlobe and slowly work through the papers.
Oh wow, he actually is doing his taxes.

Of course, my monster gets destroyed and I take 900 damage. The Duel goes on for quite some time. I could not do much but put a monster face down in defense mode and maybe use a trap card to defend myself. Acclaim does most of the work. Even dealing with the Deck Destruction Deck guy, the monsters he set up helps a lot. He can get rid of the Dark Avenger equipment card with Richstar due to Richstar's ability, and Yugay couldn't ignore it because Richstar's ability to attack 4 times uninterrupted would activate in response which would likely put one of their lives to zero. Unfortunately, with Brawler's ability, we cannot attack anyone else.

This was all a way for him to set up a bunch of combos with continuous spell and trap cards.
In the meantime, Gayba had set up a ritual summon. By getting rid of half the cards in his deck, he can sacrifice Gabe the Clown Specifically to Ritual Summon Black Lust Soldier.
"Do you mean Black Luster Solider?", I asked him.
"No, he is a very lewd Soldier.", Gayba responded.
Ah, I see, this is the lewd joke chapter of the fanfic.
Name: Black Lust Soldier
Element: Darkness
Type: Zombie/Warrior/Effect/Ritual
Violence: 3000
Protection: 3000

Black Lust Soldier has an ability to reverse outcomes of battle. He attacks Richstar and destroys it dealing 1000 damage to Acclaim. He had equipped it with the spell card, "Destroyer blade, Eater of Worlds, Consumer of Stars." This card gives an extra bonus to Black Lust Soldier, allowing him to destroy one monster once per turn. It cannot be destroyed by card effect or in battle. Black Lust Soldier also has the ability to parry once per turn to stop a monster's attack and reduce its Violence points to Zero until the next turn if it has a card equipped to it.

At the final few turns, our status are as follows:
me: 900 Life points left, four cards in my hand, no face down cards.
Acclaim: 3000 Life points left. Only Stank Spartan remains. He has one trap card. Only two cards left in deck. Empty hand.
Yugay: 4000 Life Points. A bunch of monsters All of the trap and spell cards.
Zeto Gayba: 6700 Life Points. Black Lust Soldier. Empty hand.

Yugay's turn arrived and he snickers with glee.
"The continuous spell card Gamer Rising has attained 10 Gamer Tokens allowing me to summon the Great Gamer of the Deep, Goban! Once this monster is summoned, all monsters with 2 or more Gamer Tokens can be send to the graveyard to summon any card from my deck. I summon all my level 6 and higher monsters! I Excel Summon my level 7 Gamer Knight with my level 7 Gamer Speedrunner to Dimension Summon Numbers 34: Uncensored Gamer! I use its monster effect to bring any monster from the grave and give it a Dimensional Token which can negate an ability once per turn sacrificing a token. I summon the Tuner Monster, Overclocking PC Gamer. I activate my eternal trap card! Gamer Respawn! For half my life points All Tokens I have sacrificed determine the amount of monster I can summon with the total amount of stars. I summon two level 10 monsters!"
Dude, I am already dead, just kill me already

"I summon the Dimensional level 10 Numbers 69: Great Pirate Hydra Gamers! I activate the ability of Overclocking PC Gamer's ability! Once per turn, I can overclock a monster giving it two gamer tokens! I activate Hydra Gamers' ability to turn Gamer Tokens into Dimension Tokens. I use two Dimension tokens to special summon any monster from my deck, I special summon MMO Junkie Gamer and Gamer John Dark Soul! I use the spell card, Fusion, to fuse MMO Junkie Gamer and Gamer John Dark Soul to fusion summon Hardcore Pro Gamer! I tune my level three Overclocking PC Gamer with my level 7 Uncensored Gamer to Sync Summon Grand Gamer Dragon! I activate Gamer Dragon's abilities to special summon any Gamer Monster I want for 500 Life points! So I special summon raging Gamer!", he keeps saying things but I've lost the plot a while ago.

"I use his ability! Self-Destructing Anger, it destroys all monsters on the field including itself with no way for monster effects to activate that would defend them from card effects.", he says smugly. It is followed by a silence. Everyone stars at him. "Huh?", I said as I felt my brain trying to flee from this universe.
"…Wait.", as Yugay was about to panic, his monster destroys everything on the field. Well, no, Acclaim activated his trap card, Stank Bunker, which defends his entire field from any card effect until his turn.

"…I had one…Then I…", Yugay mumbled in shock.
"You combo'd too hard. You tried to show off and blew up.", I said.
"…Hehe… I end my turn…", he says weakly.
I drew a card. I awkwardly summon, "Moe Moe Kyun Spellcaster UWU in attack mode…."
Name: Moe Moe Kyun Spellcaster UWU
Type: Spellcaster/effect
Element: Light
Violence: 900
Protection: 400

"I equip Special Magical wand. It increased a spellcaster Violence by a thousand points…", I say simply. Yugay is staring at me with dead eyes.
I casually point at him and silently say, "UWU…Attack him directly." And that is how he lost. Now just Gayba is left.
"I lay down one card. I end my turn.", I say.

"It' my turn! Draw! I use my spell card, Monster Data Reconstruction! This card allows me to bring a monster back from the grave with all equipped card, this card also gets equipped to him, but he can't attack on the turn he is summoned. I end my turn.", Gayba says.
Acclaim takes a deep breath. He stands in some kind of pose as if he is about to do some special move. he dramatically draws his card. he looks at it…And smiles.
"I use My Spell Card, Law of Equivalent Exchange!". Acclaim shouts, causing Gayba to freeze in fear.

"I sacrifice Stank Spartan to draw one card. If it is a trap card, my opponent loses the life points equal to that of the monster's Violence points, whereas I shall regain said Life Points. if it is a spell card, I can summon any monster equal in level to the opponent's monster, even from the grave, with the attack points added from the sacrificed monster. If it is a monster card. All my cards in and out of the graveyard gets banished, and I can summon any monster I want from the banished cards or extra deck in any way I want and it cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect and negates card effects that would otherwise overwrite said card effects.", Acclaim says, it was like a galaxy level explosion goes off in the middle of the playing field.

"…DURAW MONSUTA CADO!", he says, as he draws a monster card with full confidence. A black hole sucks out all the cards in his graveyard, then he shouts, "From banishment, I tune Sky Fish with Richstar dragon to Over the Limit Accel Sync Summon Eternal Dimension Dragon: Neptune!", as he releases a dragon with three heads with long necks, giant wings and a silver aura.
Name: Eternal Dimension Dragon: Neptune
Type: Divine Beast/Advanced Sync/Effect
Violence: 0
Protection: 0

"Neptune is a monster from the void. He can only be summoned when thirty cards are banished in the game. For each banished Card, he gets 100 Violence and protection points. Once per turn, it can activate any trap, spell or monster effect from the banished list and put it back into the graveyard.", He explains.
Gayba smiles wickedly, he mocks him with, "Have you forgotten my monster will just parry him?"

Acclaim thrusts his hand forward and said, "Parry this, you filthy casual. MOE MOE KYUN MAGE UWU! Attack his Black Lust Soldier!", Acclaim shouts, surprising everyone but me, I just stopped caring. My mage attacks Black Lust Soldier. With him reversing all damage, my monster would not be destroyed and Gayba would take a lot of damage.
"Parry her!", Gayba had no choice, as he shots his command, he stopped my mage.

"You may have forgotten, but players are allowed to use the monsters on their partner's field.", Acclaim says.
"Darn it, he's right!", Gayba shouts.
"Now! Neptune! Attack his soldier, Final Flashing Ultimate Burst Stream of the Galaxy!", Acclaim shouts as his dragon shoots three large beams at Black Lust Soldier.
"B-but my ability to reverse…!", Gayba tried to protest, but Acclaim just shouts over him, "I activate Neptune's ability and repurpose my trap card, Nuh Uh to negate the reversal ability!"

Black Lust Soldier would not get destroyed, because that card effect does not get negated, however, Gayba takes a large hit of 3700 points, half of what he had.
"I ACTIVATE HIS OTHER ABILITY! By sacrificing the number of life points until only one remains, I can power up Neptune and let him attack the opponent with the extra Violence Points!" The dragon blasts Gayba, setting his Life points to 1, just like Acclaim.
"It…Isn't over yet. Next turn for sure I'll…", Gayba says, but it is over.
I understand…Acclaim. "I activate my trap card, Earth Shattering Kaboom! Based off of the lowest life points, all players take damage!"

"NANI?!", Gayba shouts as he looks terrified at me, then he shouts, "Do you understand what you're doing?! YOU'RE SACRIFICING YOUR FRIEND?!"
Acclaim smiles with his eyes closed. He opens them and said, "Anything to win…"
A large explosion overtakes the area. I am the only one remaining with 899 life points.
DUDE IS WINNER.
I don't really feel like I win though…

After everything is said and done, I was given a bunch of cards, I gave them to Acclaim instead, I think he likes it more.
"Well, we lost fair and square. Are you guys going to hunt now?", Yugay asks us.
"Yes. We know the monster's lair is south.", I just tell them frankly.
"Not to be rude. But aren't you two too small of a party? I am certain these monsters require at least parties of four.", Gayba asks us as he leans on a steel pillar with his arms crossed.
"We are a party of five but…Well, we want all four treasures, so we split up.", I tell them.

They looked concerned at us.
"Fear not. We are A rank party members. With the experience and due training we have gathered, we wouldn't die from an encounter with one. We have a large backup of strategies.", Acclaim assures them.
Yugay smiles and says, "After that Duel, I belief you."
Gayba throws a device at Acclaim, who catches it. Gayba tells him, "Use this to find abnormal monsters. I believe the monster to be of the hiding sort. You may trace it. It can even attract rare monsters to you."

We gave our thanks and said our goodbyes. Now it was time to enter the south. It was a pretty ordinary adventure across the rocky terrain. There wasn't much south after all. Many adventurers were doing competitions, we are challenged to duels from time to time, but we can both hold our own. I kind of learned a bit more about the game as we traveled. Every monster we came across was weak. It was only until we got to the entrance of Oil Ocean that we truly begin our quest.

In front of us was a large field of oil. Oil as wide as a lake, streaming and flowing everywhere. We can't even see where it is coming from. But it flows everywhere, there are some streams that eternally shoots from one puddle or lake to the next. Dividing these lakes were steel platforms and refineries. As far as Acclaim can tell, there never were any refineries here either, and he should know, he was originally from Lastation. The previous area was rocky, and that still remains here and there. If it wasn't large metal floors and structures, it is rocky floors with many mountains that were relatively thin in diameter, looking closer to rough uneven earth towers.

Alongside everything were crystals. Just like the north of Lowee, there were these crystals spread out, some sticking out of the oil, some even making platforms across the oil oceans. Crystals are shot out of the refineries or between its structures. We can even see crystal mountains in the distance, just as thin as the rocky ones. The crystals here are colored green however, which I find odd.

Scouting out the area, we first took our caution. We had our masks fully on to make sure our semi-mask identities won't be linked to our full-masked identities. Slowly, we traversed the terrain. But we kind of relax a bit more seeing plenty of adventurers, still doing competitions. Out here so far, they actually do battle, albeit, with some strict rules just in case they have to legally justify it. I honestly am surprised it isn't hard to breath in here, you'd think an oil field like this smells bad, right? Not at all, it smells pretty normal. Me and acclaim climbed the top of a mountain really quick to look out into the distance, but there wasn't much too crazy.

"I don't see any monster, except from some things that look like vultures…", I told Acclaim.
"I, on the other hand, have spotted the mist wall. I must warn, the distance will make our adventure quite arduous", Acclaim tells me.
"Great.", I say sarcastically, then I sit down and say, "I am happy to be walking for another 3 hours."
Acclaim looks at me and asks, "Would you prefer we take to the air instead?"
Ooh, he's thinking what I'm thinking.

Of course, using our string, these tall structures are amazingly helpful What would take an hour should take about ten minutes instead! Or, so I thought. Only the beginning had plenty of adventurers, the middle was filled with stronger monsters, and most strong adventurers were gathered near the fog wall. The vultures I had seen were flying at us.
The biggest differences was them wearing sunglasses and having green scales on their necks and faces, they looked similar to the crystals around this location. They have two crystal gatling guns on their backs.

Shooting crystal at us actually makes it easier for me to see them, so me and Acclaim stop moving to make threads that can capture the crystal projectiles and fling them back at them. When a few died, we fly under the surviving ones that were hit and smashed them into the ground with our string. We land on a metal platform.
"Well, I guess air traveling is out of the question.", I casually say as I stretch my back.
"Agreed. More like these would gather to attack us, it'd be more strenuous with little advantage in efficiency.", Acclaim says to me.

Around this point, our travel was filled with battle. There were sea serpents under the ocean that fired off some high concentrated ice beams or something. But this created platforms of ice for us to stand on, so it actually made fighting them easier. Occasionally, we would run into these…Bipedal Steam locomotives. They do look pretty cool, they were turned into mecha or something by magic I guess and now they respawn. Cool. They are the toughest to fight here…But man do they look cool.

The other giant monster was this mammoth, and I mean actual giant. As big as some of these smaller refineries. But it barely attacks people, which is why it isn't the largest threat. These mammoths' paws sometimes burst in flames and they have these exhaust pipes coming from their backs, shooting smoke. Most other monsters are small and agile. Which is not a problem for us thanks to my string and Acclaim's speed techniques he stole from Leader and Dragonette. As we walk over a steel patched up bridge, I ask Acclaim whilst strolling without a care, "So…What'd you think would happen if we threw a match into the oil?"
"According to my database, such an even had been researched the moment this land came to be. It is said a catastrophe would happen, due to all the oil being somewhat connected, however, the fires quickly lower to temperatures and sizes that are sufferable.", he tells me.

I bend forward to look at his face and ask, "How the heck does that work?"
"From my calculations, the oil is created by the magic of these crystals. They are likely the cause for these automated refineries to even spring forward. There is no common sense to be found. Lastation's scientists are still busy researching. But in theory, the oil is magical, so the flames ignited don't last long, for the crystals will manipulate the elements to die the fires down. They should all only last for 10 minutes until they calm down. Consequently, the oil ocean will be instantly recovered after. They got this from studying individual crystals themselves. Exact details I am unaware of.", he explains.

I look to the sky as I just make a "hee...", sound.
Then he tells me, "I must inform you that this event of possibility is something Lastation's officials and Black Heart are well aware of. Therefore, fire spells and flaming attacks are prohibited. It could be forgiven if aimed away from the oil, but anyone using fire here may get barred from entering at best. Though, it is a tad hypocritical, the Goddess herself has been reported to have used weaker flaming skills whilst in this area.", Acclaim tells me.
"Yeah…I suppose that makes sense…And I guess the goddess thinks she's smart enough not to burn the ocean down…", I say to myself.

We hear the clanking of swords and the shooting of firearms. It isn't odd to hear adventurers fighting, but I do want to make sure no one gets hurt. The closer we get to those sounds, the more concerning they become.
"We can't pierce through these crystals!"
"Damn it! The God Arcs can cut its flesh, but the crystals are not made of oracle cells!"
"If only it stayed still…"
Upon the last line, we saw a group with large and peculiar weapons fighting a sabretooth lion who's Sabre fangs were green crystals. Its claws were crystalized, so where the edges and tips of its large spikey mane. Its size was already more than multiple people can handle, but it was fast and its arms and legs with crystal plates here and there also had steam engines coming out of them, allowing for flaming attacks.

Its back had a few crystal spikes, and he was protects by a rather small layer of crystal on its sides.
"I can eat its core if it just stood still…", one girl of the team said, pointing her large chainsaw sword at it as if it were about to shoot something.
"Claimer. If we don't help them, they'll…", I wanted to tell Acclaim we should save them, but he immediately says, "I understand. Let's help her kill it. We should be able to force it into an idle position."
I looked at the struggling party, the four of them were already pretty wounded and exhausted. They've been fighting it for twenty minutes, thinking about my experience with long fights. Their weapons are worn, though surprisingly not broken. They seem to be able to switch their weapons into guns as well.

Either way, me and Acclaim have an easy plan. He will cast Theresa's Great Explosion at the monster to not only damage it, but also create a smoke screen for me to move by, allowing me to easily tie it up. To make sure that it is down quickly, he'll fling me from his blade enchanted with light magic. We commit to our plan, our explosion causing a bit of confusion to the party we're helping. But my string easily ties it up as I got past it. I try holding it down, but it is rather tough, however, I know that when Acclaim gets down here, we can get it still for long enough.

It seems someone can see me through the smoke and shouts, "Watch out! Behind him is not save!
I look at its tail and see a crystal blade at its tip. It's glowing, probably about to shoot some magical attack. It is a beam of light, luckily for me, Acclaim has used Bios' Light Step to get in front of me and knock the beam away with Mirror Blade.
"Do your thing!", I shout.
"We'll hold him to support you.", Acclaim says calmly.

"Thank you!", the girl in front of the lion says. Her blade expands and pulls itself apart as it releases this black monster that bites into the lion. The girl pulls the monster out as it returns to her chainsaw sword which returns back to normal. The monster…Doesn't disappear in data. It falls to the ground like a dead animal…But it is smoking? Huh? It's sinking into the ground?
"What is this thing…?", I ask myself.
They probably overheard me, as the girl said, "Oh…It is uh…A super rare mutated animal. Yes. Really weird, huh?", she sounds kind of nervous, rubbing her cheek with her finger and then playing with her hair.

"It is indeed a type of monster not documented by the bestiary. An abnormality.", Acclaim says.
They look at him funny, so I point back at him with my thumb and tell them, "Don't mind him, he talks funny."
"It is also quite strange we can't tell who you two are.", one of her friends says.
"Hey hey. We can't make introductions if you don't tell us your names either.", I say raising my hands.
"Oh, my name is God Ea-", before she could finish her sentence, her friends look worried and held their hands out to make her stop.

"I mean I-uh. My name is…", as she struggles, Acclaim grabs my shoulders and pulls me gently, saying, "Could I procure some of your time, privately."
I follow him. Looking back, I see their group converse.
"Silicon. I have military intel of Lastation and Lowee due to my experimentation and history of living in Lastation. There is very little known about their group, but there is a secret unit within Lastation's army even the Goddess hasn't been fully informed of…If I recall, they call themselves God Eaters. According to very uncertain information, they are a special unit tasked to kill monsters, I presume like the one we had just witnessed. I know very little as that information had been kept under extreme confidentiality. Either way, they are a unit of mystery and we best not get involved with them.", Acclaim whispers to me.

"I understand…", I tell him, feeling goosebumps.
We go towards the group of people. Thankful as they seem, they do appear anxious like us.
"Well, I can tell you have your circumstances. Let's just keep ourselves known as fellow adventurers and move on.", I tell them.
The girl nods, she says, "Thank you for understanding. We do know a bit about some smoke figures in Lowee called the Phantom Crusaders. But that has nothing to do with us, so we won't bother you either."

In the end, we split and went our ways. Not much happened after. occasionally we get challenged by wandering adventurers. I even won a duel. For some reason we held that duel on top of a refinery. It was cool, or something like that. Either way, the person I dueled was pretty chill. He gave me some snacks and water for the journey. After I got down. Me and Acclaim entered a more wasteland-ish section of this area. We're getting somewhat close to the fog wall. But suddenly, we are surrounded by the locomotive mecha.

"This is odd…", I say as I have my hand at my sword, standing ready to fight with bated breath.
"Hm…They appear different from the usual machine monsters, even though their type is the exact same…Their behavior is less aggressive and coordinated. I wonder what could bring such change?", Acclaim says.
Suddenly, an iron pillar with an old looking pc appears before us. it had a blue screen, which flashes as a voice comes out of it.

"Unidentifiable individuals found. Curious. A magical artifact that can even block high tech sensors? Abnormal. Investigation required.", it said.
"Like we'll let some random dumb machine identify us!", I say back, scoffing at it.
But it replies like a person, "Do not underestimate my intelligence. I can at least make out you are male in your twenties by your body language and behavior."
"Well, dang.", is my reaction, I can't believe this robot isn't just a stupid machine.

The Locomotive mecha suddenly started to transform. It was like they shifted body parts or something. The train like chest piece went to their left arms turning into a fire cannon instead, its railing reformed into blades around the arm.
"Are you controlling these mecha?", Acclaim asks.
"Positive. It appears both of you are human. One is cybernetically enhanced. I can sense high concentration of metal within your arms. Possibility they are made of metal itself is 70%.", it says.

"Sorry, but we are busy. You know, adventurers seeking treasure?", I tell him. I am so annoyed, just let us go.
"My directive is finding Keys. One might be hiding or they have all perished, no data to determine whether that goal has been achieved.", it says.
Huh? How can keys perish?
"Silicon, I believe he refers to people. This thing is out to kill someone.", I tell him.
"Dying is their destiny. It will bring about a new entity. I desire this change quicken. I must learn whether or not you two are Keys.", it says.

"Well, we hate to break it to you, but we are just humans. My friend here has been experimented on, but he was just an average joe.", I tell him.
"I already calculated you not being the key…The other is male too. And too old. Possibility of being key 0%", it said.
"So these Keys are female? And how old must they be?", I asked him.
"They have not existed for more than two years. They do not have an age.". he says.

"Um…Uh…There isn't a possibility that…Right?", I look at Acclaim as I am starting to get an idea of who this Key could be.
"Do the keys come back to life after dying…?", Acclaim asks.
The blue screen flashes its light. Suddenly, it springs up into the sky, from below, a machine dragon appears that ascends and merges with the blue screen pc. The PC is absorbed into its head. The mecha around us have their cannons aimed at us know.

"Abnormal individuals, you do have information regarding the Key. Give me your details. Or I will make you.", he said.
"Silicon. I believe our friend might be the most wanted criminal A.I known as "The Blue Screen of Death", Acclaim warns me.
"Well that sounds lovely.", is my unthought reaction, but I feel like a weight is upon me, Bios' death is my fault, and this guy is involved in that.
"Our leader is already dead! Leave her alone, you bastard!", I told him off, feeling somewhat angry.

"Death confirmed…All Keys are dead. But the summoning hasn't taken place yet. Theory: Keys need to summon it themselves after revival.", it said.
"So…Can we go now?", I ask him.
"Negative. If your Leader is a Key, I must make her suffer more by killing her friends. You shall be sacrificed.", he said.
"Silicon, I do believe that giving him what he needs to know may have been ill advised.", Acclaim says.
"Too late for that now…", I reply.

We first thought this fight wouldn't be too bad. The internals of the Mecha are open enough for my string to get through and either mess them up or block their movements from the inside. Acclaim can easily tear through them with the many techniques learned from the past. The dragon just sits in the back, sometimes firing meteorites from its mouth. It barraged us with missiles once, after I bounced them, never again. Whatever damage we did with ranged attacks to the dragon, he just repaired quickly.

But our enemy number doesn't change. No matter how many mechas destroyed, new ones kept being made. And not just the train mecha, but various machines kept being build up out of the metal from the refinery. Actually, I never see the supply of metal ending. This location may be perfect for this Blue Screen guy. We really ran into a pain in the ass. These machines keep being made tighter, so my strings have less effect. I was a bit lucky the cannons fired by train mecha could easily be bounced back, but our enemies continued to be smarter.

At some point, only Acclaim can destroy monsters at mass, but I see he is getting tired as well.
"String Cutter!", I shout trying to cut one machine, but now my attacks have grown too weak to cut deep into their metal. A machine with overly large hands and thrusters on its shoulders punches me at high speed. I can block the attack with my blade, but I am flung over by twenty meters, I even bounced a few times over the ground. I sit on one knee, unable to move immediately. A bunch of machines jump towards me, about to blast me.

I hear Acclaim call my name before jumping in front of me and using "UnionStar Light Slash", to blow them all up.
"Silicon. Perhaps it is wise for you to look for the monster while I hold them off.", so he says.
What does that mean? That I am too weak again? That I can't pull my own weight once more? I understand, we all bring different things to the table, and our jobs are not all about fighting. But I can do nothing unique, with this guy learning every ability. Heck, he even surpasses copying now.

I stand back up. He looks back to me and warns me with concern. But I am not backing down. I trained for this. I know, that Acclaim is strong. But our enemy respawns quicker than he dishes out attacks. We need something devastating and fast…And I've got it…It is a risk…
"Claimer. I have a special technique. It is a bit risky, but I can destroy all of them way quicker than they can repair themselves. It requires no SP, but the different source I use can be dangerous. I just need you to blow that dragon up when the time comes.", I tell him.
He looks at me for a bit. He relaxes and says, "I shall observe your strength."

"Yeah…", I reply before walking forward. Machinery is closing in on us.
I know my strength is lacking. That is why I have made this technique. By using my HP instead of SP, I can make even stronger threads. Of course, using them a lot would kill me, but with their new sharpness, only a few are needed to kill many enemies…Let's hope that applies here.
"Red String…", I say Silently as I shoot out a bunch of red string from each piece of equipment I have around my body.

I hold the strings in my hand to gather them. One huge mecha tries to crush me under its fist, but as I let go of one thread, it is vertically cut clean in half, its two halves sliding past me.
Machines come at me, but like claws extending to whips, my red string cuts them apart. No matter what, I can create barriers that cuts the mecha as they run into it, I can extend them and cut things from far away, if necessary, I can use more to cut all the metal as they come out of nearby refineries.

The dragon attacks me, its hands being axes themselves.
I now cover my sword in the blood red string, its strength alone increasing my attack to the point I can deflect these big axes. But dang it, that dragon is made of much sterner steel than the rest. It also regenerates quickly.
I have to trick it.
I throw my sword through one wing, cutting it off, then I pull on the string to plunge the blade into the other wing, making it stuck there. From there, the string wrapped around the sword shoots out, penetrating the dragon. From there, I manipulate the red strings to hold it still.

"Now, Claimer!", I shout.
"Leave it to me…Tenchi Raigeki!", he shouts zapping it with a mighty thunderbolt. It does smoke it and make it move awkwardly, but the thing isn't dead yet. I can feel my HP is drained to half, so I am forced to stop using the string.
I kneel down. Acclaim holds my shoulder, asking me, "Silicon. Are you okay?"
"Don't worry. I haven't gone too far yet. You've copied it now, huh?", I said.

"I can immediately interpret the ability. It uses HP. That is a very risky move, but I cannot deny its power. I should tell you, I am unwilling to use such moves. It is an ability more suited for a careful individual such as yourself.", he tells me.
"Hehe…So it is a move even you find troubling…", I say that. Somehow that reassures me.
We look at the dragon. Blue Screen was clearly hurt, but it is already repairing itself. We both know we have to be quick with our next attack, but then a surprise came flying in. A woman with white hair in a black leotard with metal parts floating around her body dives down and destroys the core of that machine with a large rainbow glowing blade. The blade itself returns to a normal-ish sword in her hands as she lands.

"You were still here, Blue Screen…I have enough to do already, stay away from Lastation…", the woman says. Now she floats back into the air, she turns around and looks at us with scorn, her eyes having power symbols.
"Oh no…", is all I can say, realizing Black Heart is before us.
"Silicon. This is the worst case scenario. We must somehow find a way to distract her and make a tactical dash for the fog wall.", Acclaim tells me.
"I don't know what lead up to you two fighting Blue Screen, but don't think I am going to simply ignore your presence, Phantom Crusaders!", she says, her aura petrifying us both.

"I have no idea what your plans are in Lastation, but I have heard enough of your work in Lowee. I currently have no time for problems. A building already exploded with your presence, as far as I can tell. You two will come quietly with me and explain yourselves. Or else I will take you in by force!". she demands us to give in.
Honestly, it doesn't sound so bad. She doesn't feel hostile or anything.
"Hey, Claimer, she's not actually arresting us right now, is she?", I ask him.

"Her words give off something different, I do concur.", I say.
"I can't do arrests anymore, even if I did, I feel I need to know more about you two. And if you won't let me, I will defeat you and make you talk instead!", she tells us.
It doesn't sound like such a bad idea. We may even get her on our side…But. I know Bios doesn't want to get involved with the Goddesses…And after that Blue Screen guy mouthed off at us, I have a gut feeling as to why. So…
I let my blade rest on my shoulder, and with false bravado, I say, "Sorry, our leader prefers to work from the shadows and won't let us be known by anyone."

"I prefer staying private as well. As much as it pains me to fight a Goddess, I will not back down, for Leader's sake.", Claimer tells her.
Black Heart sighs. Then she says, "Well, I am not going to go easy on you. don't regret you choice now!
She brandishes her blade, ready to fight us. Acclaim moves forward with Light Step, tackling Black Heart as she flew our way, their swords lighting up.

"UnionStar Light Slash!", vs, "Tornado Sword!
Acclaim's blade of overflowing white light clashes with a large rainbow glowing sword, even though the white light flies into the Goddess' face with its large quantity, her strength pushes through, throwing Acclaim past me.
I can feel my heart pounding as I see my stronger friend get floored, now she looks at me. She may fly past me or attack me, either way, I make it look like I am standing still.

In reality, my strings are entangling nearby stone pillars. I fling myself to my left as Black Hear is about to pass me, then I attached a few strings on her without her noticing. When she flew a few meters further, the strings entangle her, that is when I use her strength against her, throwing her into another pillar near me. Strong as she is, she's still human sized, my strings will work just fine.
She flies straight for me now, but she wears her frustration on her face, but she gets caught in my net regardless. The untrained eye can't see these threads.

"Claimer, shoot her!", I shout. Acclaim had gotten up already, he fires many arrows at her shouting, "Arrow Storm!" Black Heart unfortunately gets away with her flight. However, as she goes over us, I wrap one string around her feet from my sword. I jump into the air and swing my sword down whilst I land, flinging he into a refinery.
"Great Thunderbolt!", Claimer shoots her with lightning on top of that. She gets up, I can see her through the hole in the Refinery. She gets out of it before by "String Clutter!", attack can hit her. I throw even more objects and rubble her way with my string, but she easily dodges all of it.

I try to catch her again within my string, but this time she notices it…Or so she thinks, I made them thicker on purpose so she won't notice the string I placed to hit her feet. In mid-air, she trips, interrupting her flight. Now, she does do a corrective flip so she can strike me, but with her weakened posture, I can use my string to weaken her sword swing and enhance mine, it does help me, but in the end, she just knocks me away by the second hit. When she chases me, I just pull myself away with string to avoid getting sliced, Acclaim came in at that point with Light Step, only for her to fly away from him and back to me again.

Black Heart is getting better at avoiding my string, but her movements slow down her flight, giving Acclaim the time to shoot a blade of light at her, "UnionStar Light Slash!", he shouts. Black Heart looks back for only a split second before rising above it, no it goes my way. But Acclaim knows I can set up a string barrier that blocks light, so the attack does nothing to me.
"These two have good coordination. But I still won't lose!", Black Heart says before diving before Acclaim, ready to plunge him into the ground. Acclaim uses Light Step to get away, she easily dislodges her sword with easy and flies over to Acclaim in one smooth motion.

She lowers her head whilst she places her sword over her left shoulder with her right hand, in the next moment she does a spin before kicking the ground and swinging her sword against Acclaim with incredible force, Acclaim's block did nothing to stop him from being knocked over. She pursuits, but I stop her with my string. She looks back at me, irritated, as I hold her back. But she gives me a sudden smile, she moved towards me instead, my string only curved around her from the front after all. I try to entangle her, but she cuts the strings apart before I get the chance.

Acclaim tries to save me by Light Stepping behind her with a thrust of his sword, but she ducks under it shouting, "You fell for it!"
She does a back flip kick that shoots Acclaim into the air, then she appears above him to knock him down with her sword shouting, "Drop Crush!" She somehow lands before Acclaim crashes into the ground behind her, looking pretty confident. However, I prepared a trap of string. From all location, string is hidden, shooting at her to fully capture each part of her body. But I know, this won't hold her for long. I am playing tug of war with a Goddess, this won't end well.

Knowing that, I shout for help, "Claimer!"
With Light Step, Acclaim appears to her right, holding string of his own. I move a bit to the left so we can pull the goddess to opposing directions.
"When did he…", Black Heart says, probably not expecting Acclaim to get up so quick.
"Keep holding her!", I tell him. Strong as she is, with the two of us getting her stuck in this much string, we should be able to wait until some monster attacks us or something. Or we find some other way to distract her so we can escape.

Of course, everywhere I go, I realize my luck is the worst. Suddenly, she emits magical flame from her sword and cuts through the string anyway. Now she flies towards me and I am not far away enough to avoid her.
"Flame Fencer!", she shouts, I can't use string, the string surrounding my blade gets burned up as I try to block her attack, but her thrusts are powerful enough to send me crashing into a stone pillar, the rocks piling up on me.

I desperately dig myself out of the rubble. While I gather my bearings, she flies towards Acclaim, who dodges her attack with Light Step. Their fighting got them closer to me. An Ice Coffin misses Black Heart, and as she moved into the air she shouts, "Fall Down Slash!" We saw Bios use these moves before, so we knew to flee. She shoots a pure energy blade down towards the ground that shoots up into an energy wall for a few seconds, we were lucky to escape it. I could barely move, I let my string pull me out, but I ended up getting dragged through the soil.

"Tornado Armor!", Acclaim uses Dragonette's technique. His jump not only avoids an incoming energy blade, but with the tornadoes surrounding his arms and legs, he is able to get up much higher, letting his shadow cast onto Black Heart.
"Tornado Sword!", Black Heart shouts, turning her blade into a heavy rainbow sword. Acclaim thrusts a tornado spear against Black Heart, but she has little trouble blocking them. With his weapon knocked out of his hand, Acclaim had to block a regular sword slash from Black Heart, fortunately, the tornadoes on his arms prevent him from being cut as he is shot back onto the ground.

Acclaim looks worn, he retains his balance, then he puts a step forward before dragging the tornado engulfed blade of his spear through the ground, then with a spin, he shoots a whirlwind of razorblades at Black Heart.
She dodges it whilst flying forward, but because of that, she is about to get hit by a tornado drilling attack as Acclaim shouts, "Arashi Daigeki!"
"Tornado Sword!", Black Hearts shouts, her sword stopping Acclaim from piercing through, but she couldn't move him either. It is an attack strong enough to hold a Goddess back, but in the and, Black Heart manages to push him aside as she flies to her left.

Acclaim stops his tornado drilling attack, firing off another razor whirlwind as he turns to Black Heart, she easily avoids it by flying up higher.
"Tornado Saucer!", Acclaim shouts as his spear turns into a buzz saw of wind, he throws it at her, but it eludes her as she flies under it, diving towards Acclaim.
Acclaim uses one hand and both feet to cast, "Explosion", to send himself flying towards Black Heart.

Before she can strike him, she barely avoids the return of the Wind Saucer, slightly moving her head down and bending her neck to her left. As the Wind Saucer curves to miss Acclaim, he throws a punch at her, still under the Tornado Armor buff. She hit his fist with her blade. And while Acclaim doesn't appear in pain, it would seem the radiating share energy is enough to knock the winds off his fists. No matter what, Acclaim can't damage her with his fists despite the buff, and the spear isn't hitting her either, until it stops. I have seen this technique, the spear will shoot at Black Heart thanks to a massive release of compressed air.

The spear blasts her away, she barely knocks it away, unable to use her sword to block Acclaim's next punch. Using her arm, Acclaim's fist is strong enough with the spiraling tornado around it to get her onto the ground.
He follows her from the ground, using a sword that also gets Tornado armor applied onto it. He tries to strike her, but Black Heart's normal blade is strong enough to stop him from pushing her any further. Black Heart fences with Acclaim, her movements being agile enough to avoid heavy slashes that Acclaim usually does, but her sword can't quite pierce the tornado protected arms, giving Acclaim plenty of options to block her.

Eventually, Acclaim uses Light Step to dodge her attack. Black Heart turns around, for Acclaim appeared behind her, throwing the sword at Black Heart, it spinning thanks to the tornado spiraling around it. Black heart knocks it away, giving Acclaim time to use Light Step, he gets next to her, his arm is placed in a way it would block incoming attacks, in return, he can kick her with his legs shrouded in winds. Black Heart is forced to block the kick with her arm, which knocks her through a bunch of stone pillars, her feet leaving a trail through the ground.

Acclaim goes after her with Light Step, but the instant he gets close to her, he disappears. Constantly spamming Light Step to circle around Black Heart like Bios would. Eventually, he stops, his feet leaving this spiking trail of white light as his fists is glowing with light magic whilst spiraling with wind magic.
"Tornado Reflection Punch!", Acclaim shouts as he uses his newfound ability to combine copied moves, he punches Black Heart into another Refinery after shooting into her at Hyper Sonic Speed.

Doing the combo moves does make his arms look hot. Like there is this orange glow for a bit, and it smokes a little after. I hope he doesn't overdo it. Black Heart is flying right back at him.
This time, she's putting way more force into her flight, she sounds like a jet. Acclaim grits his teeth as he is ready to receive any attack.
"Tornado Sword!", Black Heart uses her signature move, but is mirrored by Acclaim as he shouts back, "Tornado Sword!" The two tornado swords cross, shocking the goddess for a second.

But that shock only amounts to her holding back for a short time. Acclaim can't copy her share energy, I guess, so she ends up pushing Acclaim' sword slightly to his left before kicking him through a stone pillar. I get into the fight, catching Acclaim. I was busy preparing traps this entire time. Standing side by side, I ask, "How are you holding up, partner?"
"To help you understand our status, this is an impossible fight. Even if we have a supply of healing items, it won't be enough to outlast her.", he says.
"I suppose so, huh?", I say, smiling with sweat dripping from my face. My smile is fake, I need to stay positive somehow.

Black Heart flies towards us. This fight is now truly beginning.
"EXE Drive Skill!", all of us shout, unloading our ultimate attacks.
"Ultimate Stinger!"
"Unlimited Arsenal!"
"Infinite Slash!"
Strings followed by slash after-images and projectile firing ending up in an explosion as hundreds of visual slashes cuts it apart surrounds us, our strongest attacks clashing…How long can I hold on, I wonder?

For an hour, we fought her. It was the third most painful experience of my life. We thought we may be able to wear her down, but she had way more healing items than we did. The only thing I have are the snacks and juice I got from that guy I beat in a duel. Crashing through and in mountain and refineries. We actually had an advantage when we fought inside these refineries, there are more shadows and hiding spots. Never mind the objects being very useful with my string ability.

As much as my strings held her back, she has managed to beat me close to the breaking point, and Acclaim's many techniques were our only chance for victory, but I see that even he is out of breath. He shoots a bunch of meteorite looking builders at her from the same cannon the transformed train Mecha had, obviously, she dodges all of it, but he aimed it at me expecting that. I rebound the boulders with my string, catapulting them at her.

She simply cuts through them.
Acclaim had jumped above her without her noticing, although, once behind her, she is well aware of us having planned the previous attack as distraction. She quickly reacts and hits Acclaim with a thrust of a rainbow sword shouting, "Tornado Fencer!", Whilst Acclaim had used leader's explosive axe, so even if he couldn't make the swing before getting blown away, the axe still blows up in front of Blackheart, hurting her enough. I string her up as the smoke is fading.

Hm…Her arm holding the sword is behind her left shoulder…Has she planned…?
I hear her sigh, then she shouts, "Tornado Chain!" Within a split second, she cuts all of the string around her, she herself uses the special swordsmen technique of moving at inhuman speed for split seconds, she's already behind me. She snaps her fingers, and it feels like a bunch of swords are stabbed into me, exploding with shockwaves into my torso. I fall on the ground, hyperventilating as she looms over me.

Before she can do anything, Acclaim dashes his way over to her with two swords engulfed with overflowing white light.
"Tornado Sword!", Black Heart tries to prevent his attack, but Acclaim uses the two blades as a shield, crossing them to stop her blade and move right in front of them. His two swords are combining until they burst into a blast of light with the words, "FusionStar Light Burst!" It's power was enough to blow Black Heart far away from me, so that makes me happy at least.

I roll over to see how she's doing, she stabs her blade into the ground to make herself stop and has landed on one knee.
I barely get back up, Acclaim standing next to me.
"Silicon. I believe there is only one attack left to try.", Acclaim tells me.
"You two…", Black Heart tries to talk, but her breath is heavy, she continues, "Just give up already. I've never seen anyone fight for so long…You are like cockroaches!"
"Hehe…Long fights like these are just Tuesdays for us at this point.", I say in jest, albeit, laughing weakly.
"Leader never gives up, neither do we.", Acclaim answers.

Black Heart takes a deep breath and gets back up, hovering over the ground once more.
"Let's go Claimer…Together…", I say, Acclaim nodding at me as we walk forward.
"COUPLE EXE DRIVE SKILL!", we both shout. Combining our EXE Drives, we create a team attack Black Heart cannot avoid.
I create a network of string around Black Heart, not only does Acclaim move around by bungie jumping from one to another, but I weave the string around to give him a foothold wherever he goes, also whipping the Goddess.

Every step, Acclaim uses a different weapon, many projectiles bouncing off my string to hit Black Heart again. Magic, bullets, grenades, you name it, everything flies around her as Acclaim hits her and I juggle everything with my strings. At some point, he takes over my string to create some type of catapult for me. I jump on it to fling myself over to Black Heart, with him accelerating me with explosion magic. I get wrapped in string before quickly being unwrapped to spin around like a drill, with Acclaim coming from the opposite side using Arashi Daigeki.

We drill into her until we bounce off her, side by side we gather our fists as my strings get turned into roaring winds through magic. A tornado is created, just as we do a powerful uppercut with our fist, blasting Black Heart into the sky with a spiraling wind shouting, "String Storm!" We were pretty proud of launching her so high. But she wouldn't just drop down. Just close enough to the ground, she recovers with a back flip and gently lands on her feet.

She does look pretty hurt. She doesn't stand straight anymore, but her strength still outclasses us. With one fell swoop, she knocks both of us back. Now that our adrenaline is gone, I feel the lack of strength. We barely are able to stay on our feet after that attack. Yet, we weren't out of luck. She was stopped from flying to us by a shot from a cannon above us. Well, we thought we were lucky, but the dark Mecha Radeon X6800 drops down between us.

"Targets sighted, Black Heart, Silicon Knight, The Claimer.", it said, blasting its cannon at us. I use string to force myself away from the shot whereas Acclaim lets himself zoom away with Light Step, barely using his body to get away.
"Priority. Black Heart.", it says as it turns at her.
"You think some machine will get the better of me!", she shouts before jumping at it with Tornado Sword.

It changed its dark aura to a light one and blocks her attack, barely affected by it.
"What?", Black Heart uttered surprised, she is knocked back by a beam of light, which seemed harmless to her. What was bad was when he shot some silent quick dart out of its cannon arm as it switched back over to its dark aura. The dart wasn't expected by any of us and stabbed itself into Black heart. She reverted to her human form, with her fancy dress, red eyes, and black hair in long twin-tails.

She kneels on the ground, gasping, "Anti-share crystal? Wh…What is this"
"Claimer, I want to run. But this would be bad…", I whisper to him.
"Only minor aid. That should allow her to survive and us to run.", Acclaim answers.
"Tenchi Raigeki!", Acclaim shouts as I wrap the machine in electrical wire, the thunderbolt shot by Acclaim resonating with these special threads, stunning the machine. I don't know if we even damaged it, but that didn't matter. I removed the dart in Black Heart with string in a way of stealth.

Now she can't blame us if she loses this fight. Though I'd hate for a Goddess to die
Not having any fight in us left, we flee. The last thing I saw looking back was her transforming and their fight taking to the sky.

We hide inside one of the refineries, it is pretty dark in here. Acclaim had laid me down next to a wall for me to lean on. I feel in pain, I try not to groan.
"Silicon, you've taken the most damage. May I request you take it easy for the duration of this venture?", Acclaim worries for me.
"No. I do not want to be a burden…I have some snacks.", I reply, sheepishly smiling. I take out the snacks and drinks and consume them…It does restore a little of my vitality.
"That hits the spot. Man that was good. That guy had the best snacks ever.", I say.

"Then it is all fine…", Acclaim says. He jumps up the many platforms of the refinery, I lost him in the dark. He is going to the top to lookout. About five minutes later, he drops straight down, not caring about fall damage, I guess his legs are muscled up.
"The Goddess seems to be fine. The Gold Third arrived and is capable of penetrating its aura with golden power. I theorize it's separate from Share energy despite it merely being converted share energy.", Acclaim explains to me.
"That's a relief. Goddess killer is not something we want to add to our already notorious reputation.", I tell him, kind of fake laughing.

"Our objective is cleaning Lowee. In reality, we are no less on the side of Goddesses. If one died because of our actions, I'd consider it the most dishonorable sin.", Acclaim says.
"Yeah. I never hated them. Just never really worshipped them either…But they're having problems too, aren't they…Leader too.", when I say that, I look to the side, thinking about how Bios most likely was a Goddess too before I killed her… I know how nice she really is, even if she doesn't say much or show us much appreciation, she helps us no matter what. The others can't be so different.

"Silicon…Your breathing is still ragged.", Acclaim points out my breathing. Yeah, I feel kind of sick I think.
I get up anyway. I wobble a little, but thanks to the snacks I ate, I feel I can stand straight with some effort.
"I think we may find a healer among the ones camping out in front of the fog wall.", I tell Acclaim.
He crosses his arms and look slightly impressed, "That is a logical suggestion. Adventurers compete, but most care about each other. Emergency heals are the norm."

We walk out of the refinery with Acclaim saying, "Let us commence."
I can walk pretty alright right now. Luckily for us, the fog wall is actually nearby. We walk for what feels like twenty minutes. Now we see a row of adventurers on top of a hill. We scale the hill and see the fog wall in the distance…But why are all of us so far from here.
"Oh? New arrivals? Don't approach the fog wall now.", one of them notices us and warns us.
"Is there a reason we are gathered, away from the fog wall?", Acclaim asks them.

"Every now and then, the fog wall opens, and a large horde of monsters walk out. They often get past us and spread out, you've probably fought a few on the way over here. They would sneak up on us if we were next to the fog gate, so we take the high ground and hope to damage them with ranged attacks and magic.", he explains.
"Wow, that is fantastic. Anyway, are there any healers around here?", I ask them sounding somewhat sarcastic.

"Are you in need of healing?", I am asked.
"My friend here has sustained multiple injuries going through our supplies of healing items. He used a dangerous technique using HP instead of SP to defeat a tough enemy that infinitely spawns mobs.", Acclaim explains.
"Ew…That sounds like a pain. I understand it, but do you mind me asking if you would join us in this fight if we heal you in return?", the adventurer asks.
Acclaim opened his mouth, but I did not let him speak, instead, I claim, "I'll do you one better! Give us SP healing items on top of heals and we can decimate whatever horde comes out of there by ourselves! You wouldn't have to do anything!"

They look surprised. Some laughed. The guy we were talking to had doubts, but some other dude walks up to him with a smile and says, "Let's just let them. I respect the confidence. Even if they can't, I'm sure they would deal some blows to the upcoming monsters."
He sighs and reacts, "Well, it's all the same to me. We stopped competing knowing no one gets through this wall without defeating this horde."

I got some good healing and we were given a batch of SP items.
"We'll only give you more if you show some promise.", they said.
"Well, Acclaim, shall we show some promise?", I ask Acclaim with a devious smile.
"I trust our ability, but I am aghast at the idea you proposed regardless.", Acclaim says.
Indeed, the fog wall opens up. Monsters of all sizes get out, giant ones are aplenty. Dozens of them come armed with huge cannons as well.

Within a few seconds, cannons are fired at us. I catch them in my web of string.
"Man, I feel good! Hey, take this back, we don't want it.". I happily say as I fling the cannonballs back into the monster, creating multiple explosions.
"Archive of Magic.", Acclaim uses Theresa's SP skill the eliminate the meany small monsters with every element annihilating them.
Birds could fly over us, but I catch them with my string, entangled, they drop down, easily allowing us to cut them.

"Acclaim, give me some ammo.", I say. Acclaim could use many of the projectiles the monsters use, so he shoots them at me so I can rebound them back at the monsters.
It does take a while. The horde is as big as it was in Lowee. But not only are we much stronger since then, we have an advantage of SP healing items. Acclaim decimates most of them. Only the giants are tough enough to survive our onslaught.
"EXE Drive Skill…Extinction Meteor.", he says, using Theresa's strongest attack. The orbs of the main elements combine together, than a beam of light shoot up from under them, then darkness swallows all, summoning a meteor to wipe the rest out.

The adventurers next to us crack the ground with their jaws dropping. They were excited right after and talking about all the things we did.
"Sorry we ever doubted you. You two must be part of a Rank A party, right?"
"You guys can take the treasure. It was a fun adventure, but we can tell we're outmatched."
"Get that monster for us, will you?"
"Here, take my items. I'd love to see you two win"
We won some respect from the adventurers. With smiles, they leave us. They do look back to wave.

"Well then…Shall we cross?", I ask Acclaim.
"The monster that lurks in its lair, I am ecstatic to find out its form.", Acclaim says.
We scale down the hill and make our way to the open fog gate. It's closing behind us after we pass. What beast awaits us?

To Be Continued…