Chapter 18

"Alright girls, this is a very risky mission for all of you. I don't want any of you complaining when we have to run and by run I mean get out of that graveyard before that damn barrier regenerates, got it?"

The words of Alpha, who stood in the middle of a rather large room, clad in her Slime Suit with Angelica and Delta standing before her, both also clad in their Slime Suits. The three of them had also been requested by Histoire to join them on the rescue mission that was being planned since the Oracle had noted their own strong techniques from their official battle records that were stored within their family Archives.

As for the reason why there were such things regarding Vali's companions in his family's archives, as well as the fact that they now HAD some archives was due to the numerous accomplishments belonging to Vali, as well as their own. As a result, the Bartford Family had risen to a high degree of prominence within the Leanbox Community to the point where many who had looked down upon them initially now had some 'interest' in learning more about them.

One of those eyes belonged to Histoire herself, who had made it a point to keep an eye on the politics of other Nations, not just Planeptune's. She had thus reached out to them with agents from the Guild as their proxy, with the trio of girls responding positively when they had heard their man being involved with the case. Furthermore, this gave them the chance to have Shadow Garden, a hidden player in this war against ASIC and the Diabolos Cult, access to important information about prospective targets.

It had been the condition that the blonde elf (who acted as the 'official' leader since Vali wasn't someone who wanted to be in the political limelight) had come up with in order for their help to be guaranteed, to which the Oracle had accepted, though the fact that Histoire had accepted so easily unnerved Alpha a little bit. It felt to her like Histoire knew more about them than they let on, and as for why it had been them who had answered her call, well…

The other members of Shadow Garden had their own jobs to do across the four Nations, jobs that made it impossible for them to participate although each of them had been made aware of the upcoming rescue mission on Vali's order. None of them deserved to be left out in his eyes, something which had warmed their hearts when he had told them this.

"Understood."

"Delta hates this, but if it's the only thing to do... then Delta understands."

Both Angelica and Delta, once Alpha had finished telling them the specifics of their mission, gave their own confirmations. Whilst the noblewoman had more than enough experience with this due to having a formal upbringing thanks to her family, Delta looked just annoyed and impatient about it all, preferring to be out there hunting monsters or something of the like rather than doing all this 'official' stuff. It was just too complicated for her simplistic mind to understand, and the only reason why she had even agreed (aside from it being Alpha's orders) was so that she could spend more time with Vali even if it were on the battlefield.

Of course, Alpha had seen this when she saw the girl's animal ears and tail drop down low, a clear sign of her emotional state. As such, she aimed a supportive smile towards her, reaching out and petting Delta on the head, much to the girl's surprise as her Tail shot straight up as did her dog ears. "Don't worry Delta, sometimes we have to make a retreat if the odds are not with us."

".... Delta's got it." she eventually admitted as her Tail began to swish slowly, a little energy being built up which Alpha took as her reluctant acceptance.

With that said, the trio all walked through the halls, heading down to the main Hallway of the Basilicom where they had been told the group would be gathering for the assignment. When they got there, they got greeted to the sight of Vali in his slime suit, IF with her Qatar Claws ready for action and Compa with.....

"Is that..... A giant medical needle?" Angelica questioned slowly, glancing at Delta who looked about ready to cower in a corner at the sight of the massive syringe the sweater-wearing girl possessed. Not to mention it's size made her hold it like it were an assault rifle or something, which only frightened the beastman girl further.

Unaware of the 'danger' her weapon showcased, Compa nodded with a beaming smile, completely innocent to their thoughts. "Yes it is!"

".... why do you even have that as a weapon?"

"It's for when other people get hurt I heal them to make sure no one would get hurt!"

The trio stayed silent, staring at the happy-go-lucky girl as she cradled her Syringe lovingly. After a few seconds of Angelica consoling a shuddering Delta who looked to almost be having some PTSD Flashbacks, Alpha turned her direction to IF with deadpanned eyes. "How is she even on the team?"

Even the brunette shook her head in exasperation, planting a hand on her face whilst making sure not to let her claws scratch her. When Vali noticed this, he realized that the brunette must be a veteran Guild Agent cause she had pulled that movement off rather naturally, like it was second nature to her. "I've asked myself the same question many times, but even I don't know."

Obviously, this didn't sit well with Compa, who puffed her cheeks out as she glared at her friend. "Hey, that's rude Iffy! We've known each other for so long!" She yelled, but it sounded more like a whine.

Before anyone could continue this conversation however, Vali stepped forwards whilst adjusting his gloves like s certain silent protagonist from the fifth entry into a series about summoning monsters by pulling off masks. "Alright we are wasting time. The sooner we get this candidate, the faster we finally destroy those bastards." he told them all, getting a multitude of 'Right' from the Shadow Garden Trio.

Delta idly glanced over at Compa, then shuddered once more as she tried to keep herself together. "As long as that girl stays away from that... thing Delta will comply." She remarked, causing IF to frown in concern.

Turning to Vali, she began to talk with him whilst arching a brow. "Your friend there seems to be agitated, any reason as to why that is?" she questioned him, and when Vali glanced at Delta to notice what the brunette had, the silver-haired boy sighed.

"Seems like she hasn't gotten over it… well, let's just say it's a childhood fear she's had. One time when we had to vaccinate Delta to cure her of a dog-related disease she caught due to her beastman heritage, she thrashed about during the operation and the Syringe hit… somewhere other than it's intended spot." Vali explained, shuddering whilst unconsciously, Delta rubbed a spot on her right boob.

An action which clued the Guild Agent in on the situation, as evident by how she winced with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Ah… that would do it…" she muttered, remembering a past memory of hers that, whilst not as traumatizing still helped her relate somewhat to the beastman girl's plight.

Vali shook his head in exasperation, a hand over his eyes under his Domino Mask as he did so "You have no idea how many people had to hold her...." he muttered but the Guild Agent had caught it. Before she could ask, Vali decided to stride on over to the shaking girl and wrap his arms around her from behind, pulling her into a reverse embrace. He knew that she had a fear of needles since then, so he figured some warm contact would help calm her down.

It worked like a charm, considering how Delta looked to have swooned with a blissful smile, calming down quickly whilst leaning into his hug. If it could, her Tail would have started swishing in excitement and happiness.

After a couple seconds of being silent, IF decided to question him. "... dare I ask Vali?"

As a result, Vali looked up to her whilst turning Delta around, pulling her back into his arms and exposing her swishing Tail for all to see. Much to the beastman girl's approval. "... it took three adults, including two guild agents to vaccine her." he told her bluntly, finally pulling away once the girl had settled herself down for the time being.

"..... I see."

"Alright, enough talking let's go-"

"WAIT!"

A voice screamed out behind them, catching everyone off guard. When Vali and the rest turned around to look at the source, they got the surprise of their lifetimes when they saw someone in the way of the entrance, looking to be catching their breaths from running so much. Though, when they saw the brown hair, the black Slime Suit covering her form, and heard the light wheezing each of the Shadow Garden members quickly recognized her.

"Olivia?" Vali questioned, his eyes wide in surprise. It had been decided that he, Alpha, Angelica and Delta were to be the ones to go on the mission, with Olivia being requested to remain behind for her own safety. Compared to the rest of them, she could be seen as one of the weaker members, something which had influenced their choice. Yet, now she stood here with them, prompting him to ask the following question. "What are you doing here?"

As she quickly regained her breathing, Olivia lifted her head up to gaze at them, her eyes shining like two pools of determination. "I….. I want to go with you!" she proclaimed.

Once again, Vali's eyes widened when he heard this, before they returned to normal as he took a step forward. "You can't Olivia, this mission is so dangerous that it could kill you." he told her, frowning.

Briefly her gaze faltered with her lower lip trembling slightly, before she regained her composure and levelled Vali's gaze with her own. "I….. want to be useful for once instead of always staying back, I don't want to be a burden to you Vali. Please let me go with you." she once again pleaded with him.

"..... I'm sorry, but n-"

"Let her go with us, Vali."

Before Vali could deny her again, Alpha suddenly stepped forwards with a hand on his shoulder. This drew Vali's surprised gaze to her in the form of him turning his head to look behind him through the corner of his eye at the blonde elf. "Huh? You can't be serious, she could die there!" he protested.

Something which the woman also agreed with judging by her gaze, but still Alpha pressed on. "I know but...…. Give her a chance to prove herself, Vali. It's time she faces reality."

"..... fine, but she will have to stay close to us, Alpha."

"Got it."

Finally, Vali reluctantly accepted Olivia's request to come with them, if only to (as Alpha had put it) teach her the lessons of reality. Out of all of them, Olivia wasn't only one of the weaker members but also the one who had been sheltered from the outside world the most. Whereas Vali constantly traveled around to seek out and fight strong enemies, Alpha and the other members of Shadow Garden sometimes following him or going on their own paths, Olivia had simply been a common country girl who had grown up within the safety of her Village. So, she didn't know NEARLY enough about the outside world compared to them. Therefore this experience would be quite beneficial for her… if she survived that is, as Vali had pointed out. "Oh! That reminds me: there is another person, one who I requested to come with us."

"Really? And who would that be?"

As the doors opened, there was someone who was leaning the walls as Vali had his eyes widened before returning to normal. "Well, should've known that you would be here….. Alexia." he commented dryly… although the smirk on his lips spoke a different story whilst Alpha and the Slime Suit-wearing girls did the same… though theirs were considered remarkably 'kinder' than Albion's host.

There, standing at the door and leaning on the side of it's frame, stood Alexia Midgar, younger sister of Iris Midgar… as well as the one who was possessed by the Chaos Karma Dragon: Tiamat. The young silverette, now a woman whose height had become slightly like that of her older sister, had her arms crossed in front of her chest whilst leveling a smirk of her own at Vali, looking at him out the corner of her eye like he had done to Alpha before. Her silver hair now reached her backside in length, whilst her eyes had an almost orangish glow to them. The woman's apparel was also something to consider, as it took the form of a Slime Suit which she had received not long after she'd helped get Vali's mother to her family's hospital by the silver haired Hybrid himself, marking her as a Shadow Garden member.

Her Slime Suit had multiple similarities to Vali's actually, consisting of a black ankle-length tailcoat that had two large cuffs, and split into three Tails at the waist. Unlike Vali's though, whilst hers had a medium length collar it lacked the hood that Vali's had. Underneath the Tailcoat, was a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, black winklepickers and a pair of black gloves. Over her face, covering her eyes was a birdlike, black domino mask (Hunter: Think of an all black P5 Joker outfit)..

"What, not excited to see me again, Vali?"

Vali rolled his eyes at this coy-sounding question, although his lack of denial made a chuckle escape Alexia. Throughout the three years, Alexia and Vali had only met on rare occasions, and a lot of those times included sparring sessions in order for them to test out each other's strengths, what considering that both of them had become somewhat associated with the 'Dragons' of Albion and Tiamat's home universe. As such, they had each gotten quite familiar with one another in terms of their combat abilities as well as each other personally, to the point where both of them could consider each other as both friends as well as rivals.

Heck, some within the nobility world had even speculated them to be going out with each other, even though Vali had a harem of girls already interested in him, and would have tried to spark some kind of feud between the group to break them apart using this information. Keyword being 'would' there, since Alexia had already befriended the other girls in Vali's harem thanks to her actions towards them as well as how she had helped heal Vali's important mother who remained in a coma till this day. Thus, that wouldn't have worked, though some did try regardless…

Let's just say they learned why pissing off two Dragons as well as the charge of one was a BAD idea.

When he heard the woman say that, Vali rolled her eyes though his smirk remained ever-present on his face. "We saw each other the last time when we had a spar. And also the time when your family requested a favor for later when they healed my mother. Wonder what kind of favor they want?"

"Yeah... a favor." When she heard that, a flicker of complexity passed through her eyes, though Alexia soon shoved it aside. She knew what kind of 'favor' they would use on Vali later once they had the chance.

"We wasted enough time, let's go."

Later

Not long afterwards, Vali and co stood by the edge of the barrier on the formerly known Island of Eden, blocking their progression deeper into the graveyard. Whilst everyone had serious or solemn looks on their faces as they recalled happier times, times when this place had been pretty much a bustling paradise, Vali had a hard look on his face as he remembered what had happened between him and Magic. To his left were IF and Alpha, whilst to his right were Angelica, Alexia and Delta. Olivia and Compa took to the rear, though this didn't stop their legs from shaking at the sight of everything around them.

Before they could continue with their task, Alpha turned her head to Vali as a question popped into her mind, one which she had been intending to ask for some time. "Hey Vali? Um, is it possible for you to like um, use that lost item of yours to take the energy from the barrier?"

When he heard her question, Vali blinked a couple times as he thought about it… somehow finding that it sounded like a plausible idea. ".... I actually don't know." He replied, stunned at how he hadn't actually thought of that before.

'{Then I would say that it might work but it won't.}'

Although soon his thoughts got soured when Albion interjected with his words. He glanced behind him at the Sacred Gear which had formed on his back when the Dragon had spoken. 'Huh what do you mean, I can divide energy in half Albion, how is that it's not going to work?' he questioned through their mental link.

'{Allow me to explain: when Aurora and I talked about the barrier, she told me that even IF you could take the energy from the barrier, it would just simply regenerate itself to fix the damage as quickly as possible. Furthermore, there is a LOT of energy in this Barrier, so even if you try to take the energy, you would be so full that you can't even take another energy for a week}'

'.... I fucking hate regeneration, I hate it so, so much.'

'{Me too, partner.}'

Vali then explained to Alpha about what his tenant had told him, prompting her to grit her teeth in annoyance. "Dammit, I fucking hate regeneration." she muttered, pretty much mimicking her man's words earlier.

"Swear!" Compa yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Alpha before her.

Glancing behind her, the blonde elf spoke in a deadpanned voice, a blank gaze focused on the apparent Nurse according to what she'd researched about her before coming to Planeptune. "You're an adult as well, Compa."

As if she didn't see anything wrong, Compa nodded her head as she crossed her arms under her ample bosom, something which would have irked her as a woman had she not known that Vali didn't care for such things. "I know but still you can't say bad words you know!" she declared passionately.

For a moment, silence reigned supreme between them, before Alpha turned to the brunette for answers."...... (Whisper) is she always like this IF?"

"(SIGH)(Whisper) she is, since she was raised to be a sweet girl."

"...(Whisper) You mean TOO sweet."

"(Whisper) exactly."

Before their near-silent conversation could continue, Vali cleared his throat as he pocketed his hands inside his Trench Coat. "Alright enough with the conversation, how will we even get through this damn barrier?"

"Swear!"

"...Say that one more time, and I'll make sure that mouth won't speak again." Vali snarled as he held a hand out, pointing an index finger at Compa that had already begun charging an MR.

"Eeep!"

Needless to say, Compa's heart leaped out her chest figuratively as she mentally noted to not do that when Vali was around.

"I have just the thing to get us through the barrier."

"What is it woman?"

"One: It's IF, and two: we use this!" replied IF as she pulled out a crystal that looks like an Octahedron, but its energy wasn't like those other types that Vali had seen from books. Reaching forth, he took it from her hands and held it in front of his face, analysing it intensely.

Then, he glanced back at her with an arched brow, holding the object beside his head. "What... is this?"

The brunette explained this whilst making a gesture, prompting Vali to hand it back to her. "It's a Share Crystal, also called a Sharicite. It is the crystallized faith of people in a CPU. It is used mostly to recharge a weakened CPU's energy, and it takes immense time and effort to create. Only the Oracles know the complex, but safe manufacturing process. There are only a few people who know about this. It's also why we've waited 3 years to begin this rescue operation, the lack of faith compared to usual made things take longer than necessary."

Huh, so it was some religious mumbo jumbo, alright. Well, Vali was never one for religion even before he had heard how messed up the followers of those in his original universe seemed. "I see….. How is this going to help us if it's just filled with faith?" he questioned.

One which IF found rather easy to answer as she proceeded to walk towards the barrier.. "Simple, you put it by the barrier and it will open up a hole big enough for us to enter, but we have to be quick or else it will run out of its juice before trapping us in the graveyard. Here, like this." Once she said that, IF reached forth and placed the glowing white Sharicite onto a section of the barrier. When this happened, a hexagonal shaped glow formed before it opened up a matching shaped hole big enough for them to enter.

Seeing this and deciding not to question it further since that would just waste time, Vali decided to nod whilst walking forwards. "... lets go." he told the others, getting nods as they all followed IF and Vali into the hole.

After walking through the barrier, the group cautiously advanced deeper into the Gamindustri Graveyard, passing by all sorts of destroyed stuff such as decaying dead bodys, skeletons and other remnants of what had once been a place of blossoming civilisation. These regular sights made Olivia and Compa almost break down in tears at the memories that resurfaced in the depths of their minds, but had to hold it in as Vali continued to walk with an emotionless face. One might call him an emotional void, but then they'd notice how his hands were clenched into fists so hard that they might end up drawing blood.

Whilst they walked, Vali's ears twitched when he heard some voice in the distance, his superhuman hearing coming from his devil heritage. Still, he still caught bits of it which caused his eyes to narrow like an owl's.

"-n I can't be-"

"-w right the pot-"

"-is gold a CPU-"

Once he heard the name CPU, that became all he needed to hear before going to the direction, where he was followed by the rest of the group. For a moment, IF and Compa remained confused and would have called out to Vali, had Alpha and the other Hybrid Devils not heard some similar mumblings from that direction too and quickly set off to follow. Alexia didn't have much confusion and followed them silently, having grown to trust these guys' judgement on the battlefield.

They got their answer on where Vali had been going soon, and what they saw made them sick to their stomachs. A short distance in a small section of what used to be some sort of park were people in lab coats and tools that must be for scientific purposes. The whole thing seemed to have been changed into some kind of twisted laboratory, with on the table lying there was Nepgear the CPU candidate of Planetupe. She looked to be unconscious, with various Tentacles restraining her.

"Nepge-hmmmph?!"

Just as Compa made to cry out her friend's name in horror and disgust for the way she was being handled while unconscious, Alpha quickly put her hand on Compa's mouth before their position could be exposed. "Quiet before they hear us Compa! Do you know what would happen if you did?" she hissed quietly.

Glancing behind her, Compa's eyes showed the urgency she felt inside to the point where even if she didn't try to protest, her gaze would have been enough. "But-but Nepgear?!"

At this, Alpha sighed as she tried to placate the young Nurse. It was a good thing that, compared to her, Olivia (who was in a similar state to her) had more control over her composure thanks to Vali's training, otherwise this could have ended up way worse for them. "It's alright Compa, we will save her but for now we need to stra-wait, where is Vali?"

All of a sudden, Alpha and the others quickly became aware that one of their party members had been missing, his form nowhere to be found. Olivia made to reply of course, trying to keep her cool as she did so. "I don't know he was just he-"

"AAGGGHHHH!"

"MONSTER!"

"WHAT ARE YOU?!"

"..... Oh, no. Is he what I think he is doing?"

"Yup looks like it."

When they got out of their hiding place Compa and Olivia eyes were like dots as they gazed with horror at what the boy had done. All around him were the bodies of downed scientists, each with various slash marks across their bodies along with crushed heads, and there was one that Vali was holding on his neck squeezing his throat.

"A-Ah wha-how did you-"

"What were you doing to her, bastard?"

"Guh-we-we experimen-ted the body ugh of the CPU candidate!"

"That doesn't answer my question. WHAT. Did. You. Do. To. Her?"

"We...."

Seeing the scientist not answering for a while, Vali threw him on the ground as he put his foot on his back. Reaching forwards, he grabbed one of the man's hands and yanked the arm backwards, moving his hand to grab the Scientists' fingers. "If you don't answer, your fingers won't be useful to you anymore now. let's start one."

CRACK!

"AAHHHHH, FINE! WE WERE ORDERED TO SEE HOW THE CPUS GET ENERGY FROM SHARES! SO THAT WE CAN KNOW HOW TO WIELD THEM!"

"... still not good enough. Why were there tools there? I know you were doing something to her..... Two."

CRACK

"AAAAAHHAAAA! WE WANT KNOW HOW A CPU CAN GET STRONGER AND STRONGER!"

"..... Three. You know what, let's do all of them."

"WAIT WAIT! WE INJECTED DIABOLOS CELLS AND BLOOD TO HER SO THAT IT CAN DISRUPT HER POWERS SO THAT WE CAN USE HER TO PRODUCE MORE SOLDIERS! PLEASE I TOLD YOU ENOUGH!"

"..... fine I'll let you go.... To hell, that is."

"WH-WHAT?! WAIT PLEASE I-"

SLASH!

Vali didn't let the man finish, as with just one slash of his right hand in a chopping position to the scientist's neck, caused his head to fall from its body. Whilst it fell to the ground, Vali walked away from it and towards the unconscious Nepgear. The girl, now that he got a good look at her, looked to have been changed into a hospital gown (irking Vali further as the implications nearly sent him off into a rage) before performing a quick few arm movements. This ended up cutting apart the Tentacles restraining her like she were part of some SXM play, before Vali crouched down and slipped his arms underneath her back and knees. That done, he stood up which resulted in him pulling her into a bride style carry as he turned around. His Trench Coat fluttered from this motion as he walked back to the direction to where the group was observing the whole scene, stopping before them.

As she looked at the unconscious girl, Alpha hummed in thought as she cupped her chin with her left hand. "..... is this her?" she questioned, glancing over to IF who realized that it were her who she'd directed the question towards.

Therefore, the brunette Guild Agent nodded her head in response. "..... yes she is Nepgear the CPU candidate of Planetupe." she explained, with Alexia humming to herself.

The silver-haired Noblewoman had been close companions with IF and Compa for years now, and during those times she had been invited over to Planeptune's Basilicom on many occasions. However, she had hardly seen the CPU Candidate there, and IF had explained that it was due to her extreme shyness around new people, plus Neptune and her Oracle Histoire sheltering her from the world with the reasoning that various powers that wanted to take the CPUs away would have tried using her to get to them. Thus, she hadn't met the CPU Candidate until today… to which she could admit that she saw the resemblance she had to Purple Heart alright. She almost looked like an older version of her big sister, something which the silverette mentally chuckled in amusement at.

'It's a good thing we got here in time… although, I fear that she has had multiple experiments done to her already…' Alexia thought, frowning.

'[Unfortunately, I fear you may be right. I can sense how her body has been badly damaged by those Diabolos Cells according to that damned Scientist, and as a result even if she wakes up I doubt she'd be in fighting condition right away. I would estimate that she would need at least a couple weeks of recuperation before anything could be done with her.]'

She did NOT like what Tiamat had been implying, and worse Alexia feared that her dragon partner may have been right. Furthermore, her draconian nature which had been developing itself over the years of learning under Tiamat (who knew quite a lot just like Albion), wanted to rip the scumbags apart. Fortunately, it satisfied her that Vali had done so in a ruthless manner, though this didn't let her forget the overall mission which was proven by her following words. ".... then our mission is over."

Vali nodded his head at this since they had rescued a CPU Candidate they would be able to destroy the Barrier and launch a proper rescue of the CPUs once all the other Candidates were found. Furthermore, they didn't have much time left before the hole the Sharicite had made would close up, so continuing their search for the CPUs wouldn't have been possible anyways not to mention that apparently that Sharicite thing was a one time use kind of item, which had been why it had disintegrated after forming that hole. Odds were, that the Share Energy inside had only been enough for a one time use, so if they wanted to do a proper rescue, then they'd have to find a way to gather a LOT more Faith this time around. That was what he thought, anyways.

Still, before the teen could say anything, the silver-haired Hybrid glanced to the side to see a nervously fidgeting Compa standing there. Before he could say anything, the Nurse beat him to it. "W-was it good to kill.... Those people Vali?" she questioned him.

".... You heard what they said, woman. They were experimenting on her, likely have been doing so for the last few years. We don't know what they have done to her, but they would have done much worse if we hadn't rescued her when we did." he replied evenly, making sure to keep his hold on the unconscious CPU Candidate. Whilst he didn't notice, but apparently a warm moan escaped her lips as she curled in closer to his chest, almost like she was snuggling against a warm campfire, a look of contentment spreading across her face.

Hearing his words however did NOT give Compa the same reassurance. "But-but they could've been in jail instead of killing them!" she exclaimed in protest, prompting an irritated, if not downright furious glare from Vali.

"..... listen woman, there is no good or bad, nor is there gray in between them. People like those scientists deserve to be killed, no amount of bad deeds can ever be redeemed no matter how big they are."

"I...."

Compa looked like she wanted to say something, anything that could be used to counter Vali's cold statement about people, but IF placed a hand over her shoulder and shook her head when her friend looked towards her with teardrops in the corner of her eyes. "It's alright Compa, leave it. The sooner we get out of here the better it is."

"..... Okay."

"Alright, lets-?!"

All of a sudden, his instincts screamed at him to dodge as Vali did just that. The silver-haired male quickly jumped to the right, just in time to avoid something rapidly spinning before it smashed to where he had once been standing.

BOOM!

"?!"

Everyone quickly gasped as they got into defensive stances, those who had been trapped in the Sanctuary quickly finding a sense of familiarity from these circumstances.

"Ugh, this is-!"

"Yeah, this feels similar to back then…"

"Argh, Delta's pissed! That guy's so annoying, Delta wants to rip out his circuits for how aggravating he is!"

These comments came from Alpha, Angelica, and Delta respectively whilst Olivia trembled, knowing just WHO this mystery attacker was right now.

When Vali would have tried to make a query with the girls on this, his eyes widened when the smoke cleared up to reveal the cause to be a large two-handed Axe. Pretty soon something slammed into the space beside it, creating a shockwave that sent them all sliding backward. When the dust once again settled, there stood a familiar large, black and green robot who held the Axe in one hand: growling angrily like he were about to go on a bloody rampage

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHHHHHH, I WAS WONDERING WHAT ALL THE FUSS WAS ABOUT, TURNS OUT A NICE LITTLE PARTY REUNION AWAITED ME! THIS IS PERFECT, NOW I CAN-"

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

Before the robot could continue, multiple MB's suddenly got thrown at its face, blanketing it's face with smoke and dust from the ensuing explosions. Their source turned out to be Vali, who had activated his refined Mana Zone to gather the ambient Mana in the air (although it felt starkly similar to his own with how dark and evil it seemed), then launched them at his target with his thoughts. 'That won't buy much time, but it should be enough…' the boy thought whilst he quickly handed the unconscious Nepgear's form over to Angelica, his tone firm when he spoke next. "No idea who this guy is, but we can't afford to remain here. You have to take the Candidate and book it, head for the Portal. I'll distract him long enough to buy you some time."

"W-Wha?! Wait, we can't just-!"

"Got it, good luck Vali."

"?!"

Just as Compa, even though she had mixed feelings regarding Vali at the moment had made to refute the idea of leaving him behind, Alexia had simply interjected before the boy could snap at her, Alpha and the others nodding in agreement although they too shared Compa's reluctance in leaving their man behind.

All the while, IF quickly began jogging away from the scene as she looked back towards them. "Guys, let's go! Like Vali said, we gotta get Gear out of here before the hole closes." she urged the others, getting nods from them as the girls all began their swift retreat.

"ARRRRRGH! FUCK! HOW DARE YOU STRIKE ME WHEN I WAS MONOLOGUING! JUDGE WILL MAKE YOU PAY!"

Learning his lesson somewhat, the large robot or Judge as Vali now knew what to call this thing, made to swing its Axe in a reverse horizontal manner to try and launch a shockwave at the girls whilst they had been retreating, only for Vali to come in and, after deploying his MS over his right hand, slice right through it before the thing could reach its target. "Sorry bud, but your opponent is me…" Vali began to say, his eyes narrowing into a deadly glare. "Looks like you're the one who tried doing them in at the Sanctuary, judging by what they said about you… which means that I, as their man, have to punish you." he muttered the last part under his breath whilst holding up his MS in a posture that implied a future reverse horizontal slash from him. His eyes glowed silver as Divine Dividing manifested over his back, flaring its wings out widely whilst he gathered Mana from the atmosphere to form multiple MBs the size of trucks. "You don't mind, right you fucker?"

"Oh no, the barrier! It's closing!"

"Hurry we don't have enough time before it's too late!"

"What about Vali?!"

"He'll come, I'm sure of it! Just run!"

The girls ran like headless chickens through the Graveyard as fast as their bodies could go. Behind them, one could hear the loud explosions and sounds of combat like they were in a warzone, with countless large pillars of smoke rising and falling throughout as a byproduct of the battle between the two. It just went to remind them of just how powerful Vali could be and how he would be able to hold out long enough for them to get out of here in time with the CPU Candidate. More than that, Alpha intended to use the earpiece inside her ear to let the guy know she and the others had escaped, so Vali would be able to book it himself.

They were close to the hole on the barrier as it began to close slowly, sounds similar to the crackling of ice when it got trampled on constantly being heard from it. Fortunately, each of the girls exited through the barrier in their own ways, with Alpha, Alexia, Angelica and Delta dive rolling through (Angelica tossing Nepgear's unconscious form into the air through it, rolling along the ground, then catching her whilst rising back up as if she were some kind of stuntwoman). IF and Compa quickly jumped on through normally, sliding to a halt before all of them turned to see their last member Olivia still behind them…

Although, to their shock Olivia slid to a halt just before the Barrier, turning her back towards the direction where Vali had stayed behind in order to fight the robot. She could see the explosions in the distance still too, as well as feel the faint shockwaves born from their blows which gave her the scope of the battle despite not being part of it herself. 'Vali…' she mused in her mind, her hair fluttering slightly in a small breeze.

"Olivia, what are you doing?! Get out the barrier, quick!"

When she heard Alpha's command to her, it snapped Olivia out of her stupor as her eyes hardened in determination. She then glanced behind her at them as she gave a small smile, her eyes carrying a tint of… defiance, much to their shock. "... Sorry guys, but I'm not leaving Vali behind." she told them, before breaking off into a sprint right back towards the battle. Whilst she ran, the brunette commoner activated her Hirenkyaku, a technique that allows her to gather Mana under their feet and ride them to the desired location.

"OLIVIA!"

'Alright, this fucker's a tough one…'

A Mana Skin-clad Vali remarked to himself after he twisted into a roundhouse kick to deflect a blow from Judge's Axe, Divine Dividing activating itself to divide the robot's power through that moment of contact that he had.

Afterwards, Judge tried to shoulder tackle him only for the silver haired Hybrid to ascend upwards into the air rapidly, then hold out his arm above his head to form multiple MB's and then threw his arm down, launching them towards his target.

However, Judge raised its Axe and begun spinning it like a wheel above its head fast enough to make it blur, resulting in a makeshift barrier which deflected Vali's shots away from it, resulting in Vali scowling as he deployed two MS's as he began to clash with his opponent's axe.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Every time their weapons collided, the sound of metal hitting energy filled the air as well as released lots of sparks between the two. For a robot as large as this one was, CFW Judge (Vali had learned this during their brawl) had quite the speed to its name as it struck away at him from all kinds of different angles, seemingly creating afterimages that tried to impale the smaller target.

Though, Vali himself wasn't very slow either as he expertly weaved, dodged, parried, deflected and countered each blow launched his way with similar speeds. At one point, he even wordlessly equipped his Balance Breaker Scale Mail to help him defend against the attacks, his MSs enlarging thanks to the new Armour. 'Hmph, if this continues I doubt I will be able to pull away in time to get to the Barrier…' The silver haired Hybrid thought, scowling internally.

It hadn't been too long since they'd started fighting, and already Vali had started seeing problems surfacing. One of them being how the Mana in the surroundings had become quite thin shortly into the battle, which had stopped him from continuing to use his Mana Zone since it wouldn't be as effective anymore therefore he had switched to his Mana Skin whilst utilizing his own reserves to keep his barrage going. Fortunately, he had the use of Divine Dividing to constantly cut his foe's power in half and keep his own on top, although on the flip side every time he divided it Vali kept feeling a sense of near-endless depths to this robot's power. As if it were sporting reserves of energy that were even larger than his own which wasn't something that Vali liked to think about.

'{Partner, perhaps you should try going for its face again, maybe that will distract this crazy robot long enough for you to escape.}'

'I would Albion, but the guy's been guarding its face this whole time, making any pot shots I could have taken at it pretty much non-existent. I might have to… huh?'

For a moment, Vali began to sense something… off, about his powers the more he used them to fight off Judge's attacks, eventually launching a couple Mana Rays from his hands towards it's head for Judge to disappear out of the way. Instincts saved him though as Vali dove downwards to avoid a beheading kind of motion launched from behind, allowing him to fly parallel to the ground before twirling around to face his opponent after cleaning about 6 meters worth of distance between them. Still, he noticed something… he began to feel like something was trying to get out from deep within his being, but there was something stopping it. Like some kind of damn preventing this thing from escaping. 'What the…?'

'{...Interesting… Vali, I think that there may be one more in you, though I know not how, nor am I able to communicate with it at this time. However, should you want to use its power, I can help out in that area.}'

'... Yeah, please do. I want to know what this power is myself, anyways.'

To that end, Albion nodded as Vali began feeling something akin to some gates being opened inside of his being, mostly around his abdomen area. He didn't have much time to ponder on this nor the strange power starting to fill his essence, since Judge had come in with a downward strike with It's Axe. Quickly summoning his MSs, Vali crossed them above his head and blocked the strike.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES, THAT'S IT! STRUGGLE WORTHLESS BRAT! STRUGGLE UNDER JUDGE'S MIGHT LIKE YOU SHOULD! KNOW YOUR PLACE, TRASH-HUH?"

Judge began to mock Vali for his situation, however something became clear to the robot when it began noticing something… something strange going on. Vali's armour, black splotches began to form over the joints and spread across the white sections of it, all the while the Mana Swords he currently wielded elongated and turned into light blue versions of themselves, rivalling the length of two longswords placed in a vertical line. Furthermore, the boy's form looked like it had become made from these dark, almost void-like black flames which radiated some blue ones here and there, as the lenses turned from yellow to light blue.

What the heck was going on here?

That thought filled it's mind before its destructive instincts took hold once more, making Judge roar as it reared it's Axe back for another two handed overhead smash. However, Vali looked up at this moment and quickly dashed forwards, slamming his two feet into Judge's hands with a stunning amount of force, enough to force the robot to let go of it's weapon and hold it's hand in agony whilst howling in pain.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU FUCKER, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Huh… no idea what this power is, but it feels quite interesting… maybe I should test it out some more whilst I'm still able-"

"VALI!"

"?!"

Vali hummed thoughtfully within his Balance Breaker, liking this new power that had started seeping out of him. He had no idea where it came from, only that it didn't feel ANYTHING like his own. Whilst Vali's demonic power felt dark and evil, this power… it felt cold, empty and almost raspy, like it came from some kind of otherworldly spirit from the realm of the dead. He had no idea as to this power's true nature, butVali didn't care at the moment. If he could use it to defeat this foe, then he could rejoin his comrades quicker.

However, those thoughts got dashed when, all of a sudden, a familiar voice yelled out to him. Eyes fell open wide as his Balance Breaker returned to its original form, all whilst Vali looked to the source to see Olivia standing atop a pile of junk, her eyes hard and a Bow made from Mana in her hands already, plus she'd already notched it and had drawn the string back. Still, this didn't stop him from yelling out her name in surprise and disbelief. "O-Olivia?! What are you-?!"

TWING-TWING!

STAB!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Instead of answering him however, Olivia let her actions do the talking as she fired not one, but TWO arrows as large as one of the Scale Mail's arms, the two projectiles flying through the air and straight into Judge's eye sockets with speeds surpassing bullets. Needless to say, Vali had been stunned at this action even though he had been aware of her archery skill, but the sounds of Judge's cries of agony snapped him out of this stupor…

Just as Olivia looked over to him and yelled the following. "What are you waiting for, Vali?! We need to go, now while he's distracted!"

"Y-Yes!"

Uncharacteristically stuttering for once, Vali quickly flew down to Olivia's position, grabbing her by scooping her up bridal style before taking off straight for the Barrier at the highest speed he could go. There likely wasn't much time before the hole closed so they likely wouldn't have made it on foot, hence why he'd made this split second decision.

"Eep!"

"Hush, let me bring us out of here first!"

"R-RIght!"

"HA! made it!" A triumphant shout escaped his lips as Vali finally crossed the barrier, shooting through it and sliding to a halt whilst holding Olivia just before it completely closed up. Once he stopped all motion, Vali put Olivia down to let her stand on her own two feet as he deactivated his balance breaker. "Well, I will say that was some reckless shit you pulled back there…" the boy told the brunette.

Said brunette nodded her head, looking down in shame as she believed that the boy would scold her for being so careless in this mission. However, her eyes widened when the teen raised his hand and patted her on the head softly, before pulling her into a one-armed hug. "Eh?"

"Still, what you did helped me escape from that shit hole… and as usual, your archery's outstanding. You did brilliant, Olivia." He told her, making Olivia want to cry tears of joy at knowing that she had done something useful, proving to others and herself that she didn't have to be a burden to everyone.

Turning away after giving her an approving smile, Vali sternly addressed the rest of the group with crossed arms. "Alright we got what we need: A CPU candidate, though...… she looks like she's been through hell." he remarked, looking Nepgear over with a furrowed brow.

Alpha nodded her head, remaining silent as solemn words escaped Angelica who looked down towards it. "Indeed so Vali, I don't know how long will it take for her to wake up." she remarked thoughtfully.

This resulted in Vali scowling to himself as he cursed under his breath after a couple seconds of silence. "...... dammit just when we had an upper hand!"

"Master I have a solution for my creator."

Just before he could continue ranting though, he got a transmission through his earpiece from a certain AI he had a master/servant relationship with. "Huh... Luxon? What do you mean?" he questioned, frowning whilst placing an index finger on the earpiece to send his words back to Luxon.

"Simple Master, I was created by this CPU candidate and I have a way to have her awaken soon, but I require assistance from the Oracle of Lowee Mina Nishizawa."

Fortunately, Luxon's response clarified things for him as a light of comprehension entered Vali's eyes. "I see... alright Luxon, bring the main ship to us and I'll see if I can get Lowee's oracle to help us."

"Acknowledged master sending in the main ship to your destination."

"Good. Now IF, is there anyway how I can get the Oracle of Lowee to help us?" he requested from the brunette beside him.

Said brunette thought for a moment before she gave him a curt nod. "Hmmmmmm yes there is, and your in luck once you go to Lowee you can find a CPU candidate there." she told him,

This earned her a confused arch of the brow from Vali as he eyed her quizcally. "Another... CPU candidate? I thought there was only one CPU candidate like her." Vali remarked, frowning along with the others who hadn't heard about this.

"The reason is simple, they are the sisters of the CPUs. If anyone knows about this then they would use them take advantage of the CPUs. There's about 4 of them, last I heard."

Not too long after the words were exchanged, Vali looked up after a shadow began to form beneath them, seeing his personal Airship floating down from the skies above. "I see.... Alright the ship is here, IF Compa, tell Historie that we completed the mission but we need to heal her with the help of the Oracle of Lowee."

"Got it!"

"I will and Vali.... Be safe."

"I will."

With that, Vali and the others boarded the ship as it began its engine before flying away from the graveyard. Angelica gave Nepgear to Vali as he went to the medical facility while thinking to himself. 'One CPU candidate down.... Three to go, it won't be long until we finally face each that bitch again.'

'{Indeed so partner. As the old saying goes: good things come to those who wait}'

'Indeed.'