Capter 16

"What was tha-HE SURVIVED?!"

Floating in the midst of a small space encircled by a bunch of wire-like Tentacles, Magic had been about to battle against the CPUs, since this had been a perfect time to strike them since they lost so many people. To the point where they couldn't bring out most of their power, something which Magic had intended to exploit for a quick insta-defeat kind of victory over them. Once they were captured and restrained, then she and the others would have been able to swiftly conquer the rest of Gamindustri as, like the saying went: the best way to kill is to sever the beast off at the head.

However, the surge of dark magic that she'd suddenly felt at this moment, a power which felt more like a heavy pressure on her shoulders with such malice, fierce fury and almost fanatical desire for destruction, quickly grabbed her attention. Not because she felt like she could be slammed into the ground at any moment in time, but also because she remembered the feeling of this power since she'd felt it back when she had been operating her Clone in that Sanctuary, all to fight a certain someone…

Someone who she had previously thought had been trapped there forever.

"This mana..... How is that possible? I made sure that the Sanctuary would absorb that prince's power?!" She muttered under her breath, stunned disbelief coursing through her like blood in the body's veins.

"Boss what should we do?!"

Blinking owlishly as she got knocked out of her thoughts, Magic glanced to her left where a person could be seen coming towards her. When the person stopped to catch their breath, it turned out to be a girl with the appearance close to a human, though her actual race was unknown. She had light grey skin, green hair, red eyes, and pointy ears. She wore a black choke collar on her neck. She wore gloves that reach through her wrists, and are black on the dorsal side and red on the palm, and has white zig-zag lines on the wrists. On the top, she wore nothing but an opened, hooded jacket and a tube top, revealing her chest and belly. Her hooded jacket is colored grey with black trimming on the outside and red on the inside, and the hood is designed similar to Warechu's head, having his ears, nose, and white whiskers. On the back was a broken heart design with red and yellow coloring beside each of the crack's sides and black crossbones under the heart. A similar design could also be found divided by the bottom front of her jacket. Her tube top was black and had crossing strings in the middle. The same heart design on her jacket could be found on the middle of the tube top with the heart being divided by the strings. She wore grey, baggy pants with strings and is colored black on the waistline. On her feet were dark grey combat boots with a white welt and black strings.

It looked obvious by this point, but it grew apparent that she too had sensed the surge of dark Mana earlier, though unlike Magic herself this one looked like she would fall unconscious at any moment. "We felt so much Mana that is not far from us what should we do?!" She exclaimed to her superior, looking frantic and sweating bullets. The green-haired girl didn't know WHAT kind of being could radiate such maliciousness, but from what she had felt she didn't WANT to know for the rest of her days.

For a moment, Magic herself tried to regain her composure in order to calmly think about what to do. ".... We will have to finish this quickly, Underling. Call in more troops and release more monsters for reinforcement. We need more time." she eventually decided. If the unbeatable prince was here, then he would only complicate things further if he got to her before she got to the CPUs, meaning she would have to sacrifice a LOT of their forces just to keep him occupied till she could achieve their objective. If he were to blow through them and get to her though, Magic felt she could at least hold out against him, but fighting him would drain a significant portion of her power which would make fighting the CPUs a task that wouldn't be so simple.

"You got it boss!" The Underling replied, quickly saluting Magic before she rushed off to do her task.

In another portion of the transforming town…

"Oh my this Mana, it feels like..."

After cutting down yet another Monster with her Spear, one which had tried to ambush her mostly in revenge for the comrades whom she'd killed to save some of the civilians, Vert's shoulders tensed when she felt it. The surge of power which she had an intimate familiarity with, although it felt considerably 'darker' than what she had remembered, like the wielder of it had grown more furious than anything she had ever felt before.

As she cut down a monster on her side too, Noire glanced over at her whilst flicking her sword away to get rid of the excess blood. She then yelled back over the many growls and roars that sounded throughout the transforming city. "Like who Vert?!"

"......Vali!"

When she heard that name, Blanc looked over to her whilst holding her Hammer over her shoulders like she was holding an oversized baseball bat. "Vali?...." She began, confused for a moment about the connection between that name and this power, before her eyes widened when the realization clicked into place. "Wait, your Combat Saint?!" She exclaimed in anger, shock and a little concern. "What the fuck pissed him off?!"

A more worried frown formed over Vert's lips whilst twirling her Spear in one hand."If I were to guess Blanc, then the answer is around us..." she stated, trailing off as she glanced about their surroundings.

"What do you mean-ohh…... I get what you mean." Blanc began to say, but then she remembered something she had heard about Vali which caused her to groan into a hand she'd facepalmed with. Out of all the unbelievable stuff she'd heard about him, she found that he would go ballistic whenever someone threatened his family, and she'd heard that some of his family members had been present here as well. If Vali had heard that those people had been put in danger for these asshats' own gain… yeah, she could imagine what could have set him off like this.

After hearing this, Noir herself released a frustrated grunt as she raised her sword, blocking a monster's lunge as it had tried to use her distraction to try and bite into her throat, ripping it out afterwards. "Ugh, where is Neptune when you need her the most?!" she growled under her breath as she remembered seeing the said CPU jumping through the Gate with the rest of those girls.

Something which Vert had confirmed in the following seconds. "She went to the Gate with those girls that were with Vali and if I were to guess, she got out of that gate." she explained.

Not something that Lastation's CPU found very helpful nor something that she liked. But then again, because of her high standards, she didn't have many things she did like. "Ugh just when we are in a crisis?!"

"Doesn't matter Noire we have to call her now and fix this before it gets worse!"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT IS GETTING WORSE VERT?!"

"This Mana….. It feels too dark..." a girl standing atop a toppled vehicle, whispered to herself as she had just finished taking out a couple monsters. She looked to be older than Neptune and is noticeably taller than the said purplette too. She was a fair-skinned girl like a lot of girls in Gamindustri, with long lilac-purple hair almost waist in length with few loose strands of long hair curling down. Her bangs were neatly brushed, her eyes slightly darker.

Her outfit was also somewhat similar to Neptune's but with more reserved styling, almost resembling a school uniform. It consisted of a white jacket-dress with purple lining consisting of thin double white stripes. A white choker, and around her neck was a pale yellow ribbon/ascot like piece with an N in the center. At her chest was a small pink marking while the pockets and buttons are purple, while on her right leg's thigh was a white belt like purse object. Additionally, she wore pink and white striped socks with white and purple shoes very similar to Neptune's own on her legs, too. In her hair she wore a single direction pad button.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

"There is no time to even think about that Mana, Nepgear. We have to get out of here!" A girl said as she, after slicing up a Monster that had tried to chomp onto the purplette from behind held onto the girl who'd been called Nepgear. She looked to be a fair-skinned girl with a short physique. Her hair had a pale brown hue and reached down near her waist, along with sharp, green eyes.

On her head was a Leafy Bow, which consisted of two green leaves on the left side of her head. She wore a loose, large, blue coat with silver buttons and trimming that is worn open and looks like it's many sizes too large for her to wear. Being too loose for her, the sleeves reached through her hands. From the shoulder to the elbow level of the sleeves was an orange lightning bolt with white trimming. On each side of the bottom of the sleeves were buttoned-on black cuffs with silver trimming. Her coat also had two pockets on each side of the waist. The lower end of her coat had a brown fur lining. A loose belt strap held nine cell phone holders attached to the waistline of her coat. In order from the left side of the coat to the right are the colors of the cell phone holders: blue, light blue, green, black, magenta, white, lime green, orange, and light pink. Beneath the open coat, she wore a tank top and a pair of shorts that were black with silver trimming. She wore a black belt with silver trimming and is adorned with a black and silver, diamond-shaped buckle with her name engraved on it, stylized as "IF". She wore medium-length black socks and blue boots with silver trimming that matched her coat.

"What about my sister, IF? We can't leave her there!"

"Don't worry about her Nepgear, she's a strong girl and nothing can stop her (Whisper) except for some pudding.���

"What was that IF?"

"Nothing, let's just go!"

"Dammit….. JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY!"

"{COLLIDE!}"

BOOM!

With that said, Alexia had made sure that the monster that was following her for a while was dead, once she confirmed it she flew through the ruined city with Vali's mother in her arms. If one looked at her, they would immediately tell that she had some fatal wounds under her belt, ones which demanded medical attention and fast before it's too late. Alexia wasn't looking good for herself because her Mana is almost gone to sustain her Sacred Gear in order to leave this place alive with Vali's mother too.

"{It was a good thing that those wings were somewhat helpful for you or else you would have had a hard time leaving this place.}"

At Tiamat's words that came from her Sacred Gear Tail's Jewel, the silverette couldn't help but nod in agreement, and would have thanked lady luck for blessing her with them had she not been focused on other matters. Oh yeah, Alexia did have a hard time trying to get out of this place with an injured, unconscious woman in her arms.

Previously, when she had been almost completely exhausted and had multiple wounds from fighting so many Monsters, things had been bad enough. But then, she had come across someone whom she KNEW would have to survive this otherwise the consequences would have been dire: Vali's mother Luce Fou Bartford. She'd found her lying in the middle of a bunch of rubble, unconscious with seemingly a head injury which likely had knocked her unconscious, but she still breathed. The girl didn't know how or why she was here, but Alexia knew that if Luce died here, then the fury of the white dragon emperor would have been catastrophic, she remembered some of the tales Tiamat had told her of the furious rampages NORMAL dragons had, which nearly gave her nightmares every night. For a HEAVENLY DRAGON to go on a rampage in Gamindustri when they had god-defying abilities, she didn't want to even THINK of the damages.

Therefore, she had needed something that could help her get out of the city fast and swiftly, so she could get her to a hospital within her family's territory. Tiamat had an idea for her on that one, though it had been a risky one. She had told her to grab the wings of a large, bug-like monster that she'd defeated, and put it in her Sacred Gear, allowing them to fuse with it so that she could fly out of this place.

The monster in question had the form of a blue, armored rhinoceros beetle, with six of its seven tails having resembled green insect wings, along with an actual seventh tail, all growing from the end of its abdomen. The stem of the tail had been green, but the wings themselves had been orange. Its eyes had seemed to be covered by a helmet-like skull, from inside of which an orange glow had been seen before Alexia had managed to defeat it. It also once had spike protrusions on its shoulders and a row of slits on each shoulder, along with six legs — three on each side. The legs had been covered by blue armour, with the exception of extreme ends which had been green in colour. It had two pincers with three parts on its face, covering a mouth full of sharp teeth. On its back behind its head, it once had a large two sectioned horned protrusion.

It had been one HELL of a painful experience, assimilating a foreign object into the Sacred Gear as it connected her bones to the wings, but Alexia persevered regardless. She knew that she had to stay conscious or else she and Luce would become nothing but food for the monsters. Once the Wings got connected to the base of her Tail in a similar manner to the Monster she'd beaten, Tiamat had told her that she can control the wings but didn't have time because Luce wounds had begun to bleed. Therefore, her instincts helped her control the wings as she soared to the sky whilst killing every monster that had begun sniffing her tail (no pun intended).

Just as she had been on the Island's edge, her eyes had widened as Alexia had felt Vali's mana return, then intensified when he let out of the roar. On the good side, this would mean that he had managed to get out of the gate safely. However, on the bad side he must be FURIOUSLY angry that maybe some of Vali's friends had died here in the city. Yet, to Alexia who'd been told some of the stories about dragon rampages back in that guy's home dimension, she knew this would only be the tip of the iceberg should Luce die. But, right now she couldn't think about that stuff, instead she focused on the task of getting out of here, to get Luce to the hospital as soon as possible.

"#Huff.....#huff...."

Feeling more exhausted than he had felt in a long time, Vali slumped downwards to where he knelt on hard dirt with one leg, both hands on the ground in an attempt to support himself whilst he took constant, heavy breaths. The exhaustion he felt right now, it had been a first for him, he felt more tied down than in any of his training sessions combined which, for him, sounded absolutely befuddling. Yet, the truth had been presented before him as he slowly but surely recovered his breathing rate. 'Damn… breaking that orb thing and escaping that so-called 'Sanctuary' took a lot more out of me than I expected…' The silver-haired Hybrid thought to himself.

"..... Vali....? Is that you?"

However, his eyes widened when he heard the small, unsure, and nervous sounding voices of someone who he knew, causing him to look up. Sure enough there they were, to his relief: Alpha, Emilia, all of them. He remembered briefly seeing them making moves to try and help him back when he had been sucked into the Sanctuary, but it had been so fleeting that he had thought he'd been imagining things. Heck, he even saw Gamma, Epsilon, Delta and Beta with them which surprised the silver-haired hybrid, since he didn't expect them to be here of all places. However, the looks on their faces provided him more concern than that as he began to address them once he got his breath back. "#Huff….. Huh? Emilia? Is that you?... girls? Are any of you alright?"

Hearing his voices seemed to work in assuring them somewhat, judging by how their eyes literally lit up like lights in a dark room whilst Emilia skipped forwards, followed by Olivia, then Angelica until finally all of the girls had formed a semicircular formation around him. "It IS you, Vali! We're okay for now, what about you?" she asked with worry.

"I'm fine Emilia. Just..... Fine."

After he had answered her question, Vali then noticed the purple-haired CPU jump over the girls, land beside him and began bonking him on top of his head. Though, to his confusion, he didn't feel anything from it, like she was just doing the motions and not actually the action itself. "Hey mister Vali, what is that cool looking armor that you have there? You look like a game character from Dragon Age!"

"Huh armor? I'm not wearing ar-?! What the?!"

As Vali was telling the small girl (Hey I'm not small you meanies! #Shut up will you, we are narrating our main character.# Ahhhh, can't I be the main character? People love me more than some edgy teenager, ya know! #Because this is our story, now shut the fuck up and stop breaking the fourth wall or else we will remove you# ooookkkaaayyy.), he made a simple gesture, but then he saw instead of his regular hand a claw that was attached to his hand. Not only that but he saw white armor that covered his arm causing him to stand up and looked at himself over. Doing this allowed him to see how his entire body was indeed wearing silverish white armor, but what confused him was that he didn't feel any heavyweight on him and he could move freely. "When did this-?"

"{I'll explain it later Vali, but right now we got bigger matters to take care of!}"

Albion said to him as Vali remembered that bitch Magic, causing his eyes to narrow behind the yellow eyepieces of his Armour's helmet. "That bitch Magic, I'll kill her for sure..." he whispered, an almost animalistic growl escaping his lips which quickly caught everyone's attention.

Olivia was the one who asked him about this first, though. "Uhhhhhh who is Magic Vali?"

"I'll tell you later Olivia right now let's stop this mess once and for all."

"Alright Vali, lets go!"

At this declaration however, Vali shook his head at the girls. "No you all can't, you're all too wounded and weak right now. You need to find and get out of this city before it's too late, and as for you brat..." the boy mused, glancing at Neptune who puffed her cheeks out whilst glaring at him. Though Vali felt nothing threatening from her glare. "You might want to help your fellow Goddesses. Sounds like they could use the assistance."

"..... are you sure of this Vali?" Alpha asked, looking utterly shattered at him. Inside, she knew another reason why Vali had told them to run aside from their weakened states and Mana Reserves. It was that if they were to go with him, then it didn't matter how good their skills were or how much stamina they still had (which wasn't much), they would still be a liability. Dead Weight. This had been the feeling that NONE of them had wanted to feel ever again, especially those of them who had been saved by Vali from their Demonic Possession curse, but right now that uselessness had reared its ugly head during the ONE time when they wanted to fight alongside him the most.

It was… more than a little frustrating, she admitted.

Something which Vali also seemed to know about if the look of understanding in his eyes was any indication, since he HAD spent so many years with the majority of these girls. Grown-up with them. Sparred with them. It would have been foolish of him to NOT have developed the ability to read their thoughts and emotions, not like they tried to hide them from him in the first place. "I'm positive Alpha, now go!" He told her softly at first, before his tone hardened. "I promise you all, that if the situation does not go well I'll leave this place!"

"... Alright Vali, be safe."

"Are you sure this is a good idea Alpha to leave Vali behind? He could get hurt!"

After they had parted from the silver-haired male who had then shot off into the air before flying away in a seemingly random direction, Alpha, Emilia, Olivia, Angelica, Gamma and the rest all had begun quickly racing through the streets of Eden, dodging wire Tentacles that had burst out to try and grab onto them, as well as monster ambushes.

Neptune had already split from them, saying something like the main character of her franchise needs to be with her buds, but she did tell them where they could go for shelter. Apparently, there were some shelters built into Eden in case something like this had happened, and whilst the girls didn't know if they were still functional or not, it was better than nothing at least.

It was only through the quick teamwork the girls had cultivated together that had resulted in them surviving these attacks along their pursuit of a safe location, but it hadn't been long for one of them to feel their feelings overflow like they did.

It probably didn't help that their Slime Suits were still only their bikini-like outfits, something none of the girls had found important at the moment. Not even the shyer ones like Emilia and Olivia.

Glancing behind her at the one who spoke, the blonde Elf's gaze remained hard and yet torn as she gave her response while they ran. "What choices do we have Olivia?! we can't regain our strength and Mana for a while! If we did even stay with him, we wouldn't have enough power to help him!" she explained, looking downwards as she gritted her teeth in fury at the uselessness she felt in this situation, something mirrored by the depressed brown-haired commoner girl.

As they all ran, dodging monsters and Tentacles trying to likely tap their asses, one furious Delta just couldn't hold it in anymore. "Ugh Delta hate's this! Delta can't have her match with Vali if he is gone?!" She yelled into the skies.

This caused Angelica to glance over at her as she pulled her sword out and sliced through a Tentacle that had tried to ambush her from the side, then sheathed it right back into its sheath. "Don't say that Delta! Vali is a strong man and nothing can stop him!" she proclaimed, Delta glancing at her as well.

"We don't know about that Angelica! Delta always knows that even he can't last this long ARRGGHH CURSE THIS CRISIS!"

Delta screamed out in frustration that the girls knew why she is furious, she can't help Vali due to their wounds and little mana they have, even if they try to help him, they could get more serious injuries, crippled or worse.... Getting killed there. It pained them so much that they had to leave, with the girls who felt this way the most being Alpha and the original seven shadows, because Vali saved them from their curse, gave them a life which was robbed by them and.....

For making them fall in love with him.

It was saddening.

It was maddening.

It wasn't fair.

It wasn't right.

Why?

Why were things like this?!

How could they call themselves women if they just left their man for the sake oe=f saving their own damn skins?!

It wasn't fair.

IT WASN'T FAIR!

(Play Persona 5 OST - Awakening)

BA-BUMP...!

"?!"

Shrill gasps escaped the lips of Alpha, Beta, Gamma and all the Seven Shadows of Shadow Garden, causing them to stop moving and fall to the ground, rolling across it till their forms halted. Their eyes shot wide open as they tried to breathe, but it felt like their throats were being gripped by vices, locking them from their oxygen and lungs. They tried to speak, but no words could come out as they grasped their own throats whilst veins started bulging across their bodies. Delta even drooled as a side effect, likely due to her canine instincts as the girls all wriggled and writhed on the ground which caught everyone's attention.

"Alpha! Guys!"

Emilia called out to them as they writhed on the floor, to which those of the group who remained fine started quickly jogging back to them to try and see what was wrong. Although their objectives soon turned into rescuing them when they saw multiple wire Tentacles start converging on them from multiple directions, having surfaced from the streets and burning buildings around them as if they had been drawn to the struggling girls.

But, just as they were close to them, Alpha and the girls (Gamma, Beta, Delta and Epsilon) suddenly managed to let out a single, unified cry. A cry that literally sounded like banshees trying to split the heavens apart as, following this, a HUGE explosion of power suddenly EXPLODED out of them, shooting upwards into the air above them like some kind of pillar whilst covering them like a fiery cloak. The chaotic aura flared about, destroying the Tentacles as well as pieces of buildings, eradicating them down to the tiniest molecule as well as blowing the girls back.

"What's going on, Emilia?! What's happening?!"

"No clue, Angelica! But, their Mana…! I don't get it myself, but somehow it's... changing?!"

"Eh?! What's that mean?!"

"No idea, Olivia!"

Each of the girls had to cover their faces with their arms so that they could protect the said body part from the debris blown away from the girls by the aura, with many howls and cries from nearby monsters signaling to the onlookers that they had sensed the energy too, becoming frightened by it as a result.

Moments later, the aura began to cover them in a silver color, and in their amazement, they saw the wounds closing and their slime suit began to cover them. But they sensed something which made their eyes go wide.

"Alpha... You guys...Your Mana. It's the same as...."

"As Vali's!"

By the time that the aura had finished its job, all the while Angelica did indeed confirm the changes in their powers, it simply returned to their bodies as Alpha and the others began to slowly return to normal, coughing up saliva as their lungs desperately took in the air they most desperately needed. Furthermore, Alpha and the formerly possessed girls looked down at their arms and saw the color of their energy, a color which Vali also had before Beta came to realize. "Of course..."

When she heard that, Emilia had to ask her what she had figured out, cause she alongside the rest of them had no earthly idea what had just happened. "What is it Beta, do you know something?"

���Emilia you said when Alpha was possessed, that Vali had done something with his mana to dispel it right?"

Remembering those times, the half-elf girl nodded her head. "Yes I did Beta but what are you getting at Beta?"

"Not only did Vali dispel it, but also...… gave us his OWN Mana as well."

"..... I see... heh another reason to thank Vali. Come on girls we may not be that much but at least lets get civilians out of here!"

"GOT IT, ALPHA!"

"Hahahahahahaha looks like the CPUs are all on their knees, should've expected more from you goddesses."

Back with Magic, the pink haired lady had made her move, attacking the Cpus and drawing them into the same plain she had conversed briefly with Underling. She'd even managed to snag the CPU Candidate of Planeptune too, knocking aside her companion IF like she were a measly ragdoll. As a result, she had just managed to knock down and defeat all four CPUs alongside the Planeptune CPU's younger sister, having recently smacked the young girl upside the head to knock her unconscious. Much to Purple Heart's anger of course, but then again Magic was a villain, so why should she care?

Hence, the superiority she was exuding at the moment.

On the ground, Noire weakly rose herself up by putting weight on one of her arms as she raised her head. Through one open eye, she glared at the floating lady before them, looking as menacingly as she could although Magic looked nonchalant about it. "Grrrrrhh.... Just… .. What do you gain from all this destruction, woman?" she bit out weakly.

Something which caused an amused smirk to spread over Magic's lips. "What do I gain Black heart? Why, this destruction is all for my goddess: the deity of Sin." she replied, causing the four CPUs to go wide eyed.

"The deity of Sin?! That goddess was killed for a reason and you want to revive her!?" Vert yelled back at her, reaching for her Spear which was at her side, only for a beam fired from one of Magic's fingers to vaporize it.

Said lady blew out a small bit of steam from her finger, holding it and her thumb in a gun-like position. "Yes I do so that she will create a better world for us." she retorted casually.

Outraged, a furious Blanc glared hatefully towards her, her eyes shadowed by her bangs which caused her left one to go red. "You won't get away from this bitch! We will stop you with all of our power!" she roared, baring her fang-like teeth.

Not something which the victorious Magic felt threatened by as she rolled her eyes. Though, she did get an amused chuckle out of her words as Magic began to declare the following. "Hmhmhm and who is there to sto-!?"

BOOM!

Before she could finish, something crashed down onto Magic from above, crashing so loudly that it resembled a bomb going off. Something which remained covered in smoke from the impact, so none of them couldn't tell what it was. Though, it remained a fact that the CPUs had become surprised at how something had crashed on top of that crazy harlot, before the smoke got cleared up by a couple of wings. By the time that it got completely dispersed, they got treated to a… rather stunning sight… though, Vert had a smile on her face due to it being someone she knew all too well.

"Well well it took you long enough.... Vali."

There, Magic held her hand on her scythe, holding it horizontally in order to block an attack from a silver armored hand, one which was wielding a MS which had almost decapitated her if she did not block it in time. Maybe it was to do with the hand itself, but the MS looked to be MUCH bigger than before too, big enough to resemble a certain sword a famous black swordsman used to kill demons in one blow.

Magic gritted her teeth, utter fury and anger written all over her. "You...!?" she bit out as the two struggled to overpower one another, the woman noticing how his large wings seemed to flap constantly to push him forwards.

As their weapons trembled, an armoured Vali snarled like the dragon he was possessed by whilst his eye pieces glowed brightly. "This time, you won't get away from this, bitch."

"Hmph, lets see about that!"

Breaking off, Vali landed on the ground and slid to a halt, only clearing about 2 meters this time thanks to his Armor. He didn't waste time stopping there though, as he quickly jumped forwards, shooting through the air at high speeds with the intent of cutting diagonally through his opponent. In response, Magic dashed forwards too, holding her Scythe ready for a horizontal swing from her right side from a diagonal angle.

The two quickly covered the distance between one another, quickly entering a series of rapid exchanges between their weapons. Vali started off with a doward diagonal swing from above, the exact opposite of Magic's slash which parried his first blow, but he didn't stop and instead re-angled his MS for a reverse horizontal slash to her torso, one which she twisted her Scythe like a wheel in front of her to spin into a downward slash from above. One which Vali pivoted his form around by moving his left leg behind himself so his right side faced her. This had the side effect of her Scythe barely scraping against his Armour, allowing Vali to launch a front kick towards her abdomen which Magic dodged. She did so by flipping herself forwards and getting into a handstand, using her Scythe's shaft as a base before she began a series of rapid helicopter kicks aimed at the boy's helmet.

After the sixth one, of which he had dodged by moving his head about like he were dancing, Vali went and threw multiple MB's Magic's way, to which she pretty much flipped herself up into the air and separated from her Scythe, JUST as the MB's exploded to utterly destroy the weapon. Both of them knew that had just been a waste though, for Magic simply rematerialised it in her right hand as she came down towards him… although, her eyes widened when Vali bent his legs, unfurled his wings and took to the skies after her with his left fist clenched tightly.

WHAM!

"Guh!"

Magic gasped as, compared to her speed, Vali's exceeded hers by a wide margin. As such, he managed to close the distance between them faster and, before she could react, Vali drove that fist straight into Magic's gut, causing her to look more like an upside down 'U' as she coughed out vomit and spit from the blow whilst Vali, who was beside her, to glance behind him down at her, a scoff of contempt escaping his lips behind his helmet. "Hmph, frail weakling." he sneered, raising his left fist then sausage flipping sideways to send Magic crashing into the ground with a SMASH. Not long afterwards, he flew straight down into the generated smoke before it could disperse and began creating more explosions with each follow-up punch he delivered.

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

"Whoa…"

"Nepu…"

Down, sprawled out on the ground like sacks of waste, Vert and the CPUs could only watch in both awe and slight fear as they watched Vali literally go to town on Magic's ass. Noir herself flinched especially hard when, once the smoke had cleared, Vali could be seen repeatedly jumping up and coming down to stop on Magic's back, doing this several times before he reared his right leg and slammed a kick right into her side, launching the woman away from him. The thing was, Magic quickly recovered from the brutality inflicted on her by his hand, righting herself in mid air before stabbing her Scythe into the ground to slow her movement to a halt. Vali had already set himself upon her though with two MSs at the ready.

Meanwhile, Vert herself couldn't have looked any prouder of the boy, her eyes positively glowing with her pride as she watched the two clash once more, a shockwave being born from it. "The rumors are true after all, as expected from my Combat Saint." she commented as Vali launched a roundhouse kick after feigning a slash which hit the side of her head, nearly sending Magic to the ground had she not stabilized her balance in time. She responded with a jab of her Scythe's rear end towards his abdomen, but Vali twirled around the lunge to strike with a reverse elbow manoeuvre towards the back of her neck, one which she quickly ducked under before he dismissed his MSs to launch a punch beneath his other arm that hit her square in the cheek.

Seeing this, Blanc gaped as she internally marvelled at the fighting skills being shown in front of her, being reminded of some of the older style action movies that her Oracle sometimes had her see. "Incredible, he is beating up the harlot when we couldn't even scratch her." she whispered as she saw Magic swing her Scythe towards Vali after using the previous blow to fuel her momentum, only for the male to step forwards and hold his right forearm up to stop the shaft from reaching him as well as putting it's blade at the back of his neck. Instead of letting Magic make her following move though, he delivered the opposite fist to her face again, stomping onto her right leg and then shoulder tackled her, knocking Magic to the ground as he prepared to fire a couple MR's at her. Magic rolled out of the way just at the last second however, getting back to her feet and throwing her Scythe at him like a disk, causing the boy to slide on beneath it and then lead into a sausage flip, following it up with a downward kick to her left shoulder.

The sounds that this strike made caused Noire to cringe though, disturbed shudders travelling down her spine at all sorts of images those sounds provoked her brain to make. "But his fighting style looks... so brutal." She muttered, not having been used to such a barbaric display before. It actually reminded her of how Blanc fought in both her human and HDD Forms, simplistic yet very effective. She had heard that the guy liked using sword play so she had thought he'd be like her in terms of elegance, but whenever he DID use swordplay in this fight, it seemed as though it had been just as battle-honed and practical as his brutal hand to hand combat style.

"... we'll need to help him soon girls, because how can we call ourselves CPUs if we can't defend our people." After seeing the two separate and Vali launch more MRs at her only for Magic to strafe sideways and circle around him to dodge them, Neptune finally came to this conclusion. Not only that, but deep down seeing the way Magic had treated her sister (who now had been restrained by the Tendrils after being knocked unconscious) really grinded Neptunes' gears. She knew this story would be a more realistic one, but seeing how brutal Magic had handled her little Nep jr really made the sight before her feel all the more satisfying. The only way it could have been better would be if she finally got her power back so she could transform and then start beating Magic's ass herself.

Vert herself nodded in agreement, sensing that her Share Energy was slowly stabilizing itself as Vali and Magic continued their bout. When all this had happened, the attack had not just thrown the people out of whack but also hers and the other CPUs' Share Energy. Like a panicking civilian who didn't know what to do and thus ran about like a headless chicken, their Share Energy powers had gone out of control leaving them unable to transform into their true forms for the majority of their fight with Magic. Thus, now that it was slowly getting back under their control, the CPUs would be able to do something at last. "Indeed so Neptune, once the opportunity arrives, we will help him as soon as possible. We need to get our power back fast, or else Vali won't be able to defeat her."

"Got it Vert."

Meanwhile…

'{Better close the deal soon, Vali. You may have completely unlocked this form, but thanks to consecutive battling and you not being 100%, you only have about 2 more minutes before you lose consciousness.}'

Albion's words travelled through Vali's mind, alerting him to the growing weakness inside of him, which had caused the boy to scowl internally. 'Yeah, I get that. I can feel myself approaching my limit already... ' he replied to his draconian companion, not to mention that he hadn't been using Divine Dividng's power for a similar reason. The thing was, whilst it did indeed halve the enemy's power and add it to his own, Vali had discovered that continuous usage of it drained his Stamina heavily to the point where he felt like he'd fall into slumber after so many uses. Thus, he knew that he had to get this over with quickly, and he knew just the way to do so.

After once again parrying Magic's Scythe with one of his MSs, Vali hopped into the air and launched a flying kick towards Magic's position, the woman smirking as her form literally disappeared right as his metallic foot was about to meet with her flesh causing the boys' eyes to narrow. 'An afterimage?' he thought to himself, skidding to a halt before looking around for where the woman would come from.

He didn't have to do so for long however as he soon looked upwards (something which he'd learned to do quickly thanks to consecutive battles against his enemies) to see Magic with her Scythe raised, a ball of black energy with a purplish pink outline the size of a house above her weapon's backedge. His eyes promptly widened as a result. 'Oh shit!'

"Ufufufu, I think some payback for how you dealt with my clone in the Sanctuary is warranted, don't you think?" Magic sneered, before swinging her Scythe downwards and sending the ball down towards him.

'FUCK! Won't be able to dodge this one…!'

"{DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE-DIVIDE!}'

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Vali!"

Vert cried out his name in worry for her citizen that he might not make it, but as soon as the smoke cleared, the woman became relieved, sighing when she saw that Vali was still standing but without several of his armor parts. Namely the helmet, shoulder piece, and the lower legs. Furthermore, even though the armour looked damaged, it still looked to be somewhat functional although it also looked like it was on its last legs. "#Huff.....#huff....#huff is that... the beat you can do.... Bitch?" he sneered at Magic.

Said woman huffed, crossing her arms under her bosom whilst she slowly descended from her perch above him, holding her Scythe diagonally. "Hmph you are strong as they said before. I clearly shouldn't underestimate you from the beginning, unbeatable prince. But now you're too late." she declared as she finally stopped descending when she was about a couple inches above the ground.

At this, Vali raised a brow as he grew confused, although his expression remained one of fatigue at the moment. "Haaah... too late... what are you getting at..... Bitch?" he questioned, not liking where this might be going. He didn't like it whenever his opponents knew things he didn't, cause it meant they held some form of supremacy over them, when that supremacy should be HIS.

He WAS possessed by the White Dragon of Supremacy after all.

Hearing him say this, Magic tried to hold her laughter in only to fail and start howling like a hyena, holding a hand over her two eyes. "Hahahahaha, oh you silly boy. Didn't you notice?" She sneered, pulling two fingers apart to show one of her eyes as she gave a maniacal smile to the silver haired hybrid. "I've been stalling you this whole time that I've gathered enough power to finally mark this place as my goddess domain! Hahahahah!" She bellowed.

Then, as if those words were a signal, low rumbling sounds could be heard as the city's transformation quickly accelerated, with buildings collapsing and many Tentacles bursting out of the ground. Seeing this, Vali howled with anger as he glared at his enemy, holding out his right hand to start generating a Mana Ray. "YOU FUCKING WHORE! DIE!"

However, Magic swatted the attack aside when it was launched, doing so with her Scythe like she was swatting aside, knowing that Vali couldn't fight at full power anymore. "I don't think so unbeatable prince. This time we won't see each other for a long time. Tata!" Magic stated, and before Vali could do anything more she held up her hand and clicked her fingers. Afterwards, the boy's eyes almost flew out of his sockets when a repelling force slammed into his gut, launching Vali RIGHT out of the City.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Vali was pushed back by an unknown force and was out of the city. For a moment, he remained flying like that until he landed on a small section of the mountain range which surrounded the former island of Eden, as well as on his back. A few seconds after he recovered his senses, the silver haired teen got back up, looking forwards and now seeing a barrier quickly forming around the whole floating landmass.

"..."

Once he saw this, Vali remained silent at first... before proceeding to shoot right back up into the air again, charging straight at it and beginning to punch away at it. Much to his shock however, the boy saw that it didn't even had a scratch, causing him to growl like an animal as he screamed a scream that sounded borderline inhuman. "RRRAAAAHHHHH! YOU THINK THAT THIS WILL HOLD ME BITCH!? I'LL FIND A WAY TO GET THROUGH THIS BARRIER AND I'LL MAKE SURE THAT YOUR SOUL WILL DISAPPEAR!"

Meanwhile

Out on a floating Airship prepared by Leanbox beforehand, one could see Iris, the Crimson Knights including Reinhard, as well as the majority of civilians they had managed to evacuate. This included Alpha and the girls too as the majority of people had been evacuated in time before the barrier could have trapped them inside that hellhole. However, the sense of bitterness and defeat remained with them like a toxic poison, causing many to look at the barrier that now covered the formerly known as Eden with a sense of despair.

Furthermore, Iris had once tried to launch cannon fire against it, but each shot got repelled back from the density of the barrier. As a result of this, the crimson haired woman cursed whilst punching the railing she stood before. "Dammit our cannons won't do anything at all!" she yelled in fury as her Knights kept tending to the wounded civilians.

Walking up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, Reinhard tried to sooth her anger even though the crushing weight of defeat made himself want to destroy something REAL badly. "Calm down Iris." he tried to say without letting his internal struggles out into the open.

Shame that it didn't work as Iris threw her arm to the side and threw his hand off her shoulder. Turning to him, Reinhard saw the fury and frustration in her eyes as she began to rant before him. "What do you expect to calm down Reinhard!? Our people were killed left and right, the CPUs are trapped there and my little sister is still there!" She bellowed, soon stopping when she began looking torn between wanting to continue or break down right then and there. After all, she had almost lost her sister once before, and not even a year later she may have lost her a second time.

However, relief for her sister came in the form of the Sword Saint's next words accompanied by a shake of the head. "It's true that he CPUs are trapped there, but do not give up so easily Iris. The CPUs are strong, so as long as we provide Share Energy to them they will be fine. Also, I barely managed to see your little sister escaping the Island herself, although I'm confused as to how. What I mean is, I somehow saw her... flying away, seemingly with some wings growing out of her waist area, but that isn't important. Last I saw her, she was flying over there with an injured woman."

"An injured woman?...... of course, our territory hospital! Thank the CPUs she is safe now!" Whilst some of that information confused her also, Iris instead chose to focus on the more important details: namely the fact that her sister was ALIVE, OKAY, and NOT on that damn island. Then, she began to think on where Alexia would have gone to in such a hurry and with an injured woman no less, but soon came to a conclusion when she remembered that one of their privately owned hospitals was nearby so it's likely that Alexia would be going there.

"Wait what about Vali? He's trapped in there too!"

"He's a strong man Lady Redgrave, nothing can hold him for he is my rival."

"My lord my lady!"

"Hmmm what is it, agent?"

"We are seeing some huge explosions just by an island close to the barrier like someone is trying to get in!"

"What let me see agent!"

"Of course my lady!"

An agent handed her a telescope while getting a clear view of the person who is trying to get in the barrier before becoming surprised on who it was.

"Wait is that.... Vali?"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

"GGAAHHHHHH! DAMN THIS BARRIER, JUST GO DOWN ALREADY!"

"{Calm down partner, raging it out won't do any good now!}"

"THEN WHAT SHOULD I EVEN DO, THIS DAMN BARRIER IS NOT EVEN OPENING UP, WHAT TYPE OF BARRIER IS THIS!?"

"This barrier.... Seems to be made from dark Mana, almost the same as yours but different. It will enable the barrier to regenerate, making destroying it difficult. The only person I know who is strong enough to even destroy this is the CPUs."

"OH, WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT! NOW, WHERE CAN I FIND ANOTHER CPU WHEN THERE ARE ONLY FOUR OF THEM?!"

"Calm down Vali, you CAN find another CPU, but a candidate."

THOSE words served to catch Vali by surprise, causing him to pause in his rampage as he slowly descended down towards the space in the surrounding mountain range where he had crashed earlier. "What...… a candidate?" he questioned slowly.

"Yes when I was alive I've been hearing rumors that in case a CPU retires or is killed, then a candidate will replace them if anything goes wrong with them. Therefore, if you want to get rid of this barrier, then find the candidate of the CPUs."

".... Fine, I'll go on what you said.... Ugh!"

"{Your fatigue is coming back Vali! Find a safe place to rest quickly!}"

"I will."

Just as he was about to get up, find a cave or something to rest in, his ears twitched and his eyes perked up from their previous broodiness when he heard a familiar voice. "OI! VALI YOU THERE?!"

"That voice... Reinhard! YEAH I'M HERE!"

"OH, THANK THE CPUS YOUR OKAY! I KNEW NOTHING COULD HOLD YOU BACK! HOLD ON, WE'RE COMING!"

"This will be your room for now until we reach Leanbox to drop off the citizens."

"Hmmmmm….. It'll do for now."

After bringing Vali back to the airship, his weakened state became his rival's priority. Thus, Reinhard had taken it upon himself to bring the Combat Saint to a rather luxurious-looking room. One which wouldn't be out of place in somewhere like the Midgar family's mansion. Though the silver haired hybrid didn't give much of a shit about that, all he wanted to do was to get some rest as fast as possible.

"Thank you, have a nice day Vali even though.... We had a hell of a day."

"You too... Reinhard. When I was in that Sanctuary, that bitch Magic showed me you and that Iris woman helping civilians evacuate. Had quite a few close shaves from what I saw." Vali remarked with a slight smirk.

Something which the other man returned in kind along with a small laugh. "Heh, sounds like you had the bigger issue to deal with there, buddy. In any case, rest well. Even if we've been beat here, not like we've lost the war yet." With that said Reinhard exited out of the room, leaving him alone as Vali walked to the bed before dropping down to it due to the exhaustion he had from all those fights, though not before putting his hand on the ear piece. "Luxon, hide my Island and ship. Also, prepare for defences just in case those bastards come to it."

'Acknowledged master. preparing invisibility, activating Robot Combat Drones and Turrets.'

"Good now time to sleep." Vali didn't have the strength to even change his clothes and just went straight to sleep.

…

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…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Whilst the boy slept however, a spec of black smoke slipped through the cracks of his window and into his room. It remained undetected, sliding through the air towards Vali's prone form before stopping. The smoke appeared to be doing something akin to observing him for a while, even forming a faintly humanoid silhouette, before a voice began speaking forth from it.

"Hmmmmm...… Interesting...…. very interesting.... You have potential... potential that I have never seen before... and your firmness... it's as if greater than anyone else..."

When it spoke, an interesting quality of it was that it sounded… raspy, like it barely had any ability to breathe. It also felt ghostly, as a similar feeling echo escaped its words and filled the room with a sense of death and despair. Like even in death the living wouldn't be able to escape from it. The humanoid Silhouette then turned to smoke again before speaking again.

"Yes..... You are the one.... I have been looking for...."

The smoke then split itself into multiple long 'strips', strips which then went to Vali's various orifices like her nostrils. Mouth, ears, even his backside, making sure that the boy didn't respond or suffocate whilst this happened. It then began speaking one last time as the last of it's form disappeared into the sleeping boy.

"One day... you shall bear my title.... And be the one..... To kill that... piece of scum...….Arfoire."

Finally, the smoke was fully absorbed by the unaware Vali as he continued to sleep, again remaining unaware what had just happened.