Chapter 29

Nepgear point

After they got the rare items which Kei had requested, they brought them back to the Lastation Basilicom to hand them over. After receiving them with gratitude, the Lastation Oracle had then noticed the unconscious Uni they had also been carrying and, after calling for some staff members to take her to her room, wanted to know why Uni had been reduced to that state, exactly like what Alpha had predicted. They didn't hold the truth back and Kei didn't say anything in return, but she did know why Uni was acting so high mighty. However, as to why she didn't tell them Kei had reasoned that it had been their Candidate's business, and thus Uni would have to deal with it herself in order to accept she is not a burden. Nonetheless, she had told them this was fine, that this wasn't the first time this had happened before, apparently Noire and Vert had battled each other multiple times before, so it wouldn't be surprising if CPU Candidates fought one another. She DID, however, ask Nepgear to give her one final chance since what happened three years ago had been something which really changed someone's perspective.

Something which she agreed with, since Nepgear's perspective had also been affected, she couldn't see her past self accepting this kind of monstrous power without the revelations she had gone through.

Anyways, after this had happened, the Party had spent a night at a hotel while waiting for Vali and Krul to return to them, but by the time that the next morning came along Alpha (correctly) assumed that their job may take them a long while. As such, since they hardly had time to wait for their two party members to return, it was decided by a group discussion for them to go and visit Lowee where their Mascot was located and, hopefully, meet with Mina again, the one who helped Vali save Nepgear.

In current times, Nepgear stood on an outside metallic walkway, one which belonged to the Airship that had housed Luxon before meeting Vali as it sailed through the air towards Lowee, her hair flowing behind her as if each strand were alive. This happened thanks to the winds surrounding the ship, which also ruffled her clothes a bit too though Nepgear didn't pay attention to this. Instead, her mind had been rather occupied as her eyes gazed without focus into the lands passing by below, not being disturbed by the changing climate as they got closer to their destination.

'Back then... '

Thoughts focusing on what had happened with her SDD Powers filled her mind, memories of the battles she had fought in it returning to her while also the memories of the emotions she felt while in that form could be comprehended as clearly as crystal. Having never given this much thought before now, she didn't realize it but in terms of personality changes, IF and the others were right… she DID notice some MAJOR changes to herself when entering that form. She remembered how she considered everything with an almost nonchalant detached attitude, save for a few exceptions which fired her up more than she had ever considered possible for a meek person like herself.

She glanced down at her hand which she raised so her eyes could gaze into its palm, as she thought of what Alpha said. This power she had gained had come from Vali when he injected his mana into her, doing two things while one hadn't been made apparent till later: one, and the most intentional of the two, saving her life. The second: giving her not only a new power but a new form as well. Like she'd mentioned last chapter, Nepgear hadn't given any thought of possible consequences of using her SDD form, but this stuff had pretty much flipped that on its head. If she wasn't careful then…. She could potentially have killed Uni, and wouldn't have felt remorse over that. It likely would have pushed Gamindustri back to what it was during the… past, during the Console War's most hectic times so far.

The Console War wasn't nearly as 'peaceful' and 'friendly rival-like' as it was now with focus being on competition and all that. There had been times when all of Gamindustri had been put into one big conflict which scarred the lands with fierce fires from mass produced weaponry, missile fire and exploding bombs. Planes fell from the skies after being shot down, and countless good souls perished before their time across huge fields of blood. Nepgear remembered when her sister told her about these times since despite her youth Neptune had been WAY older than herself. Nepgear may have a few centuries of life experience, but her sister had multiple thousands despite her personality as the joke character, similar to the other CPUs. The CPU Candidates may be only multi-century years old (even Rom and Ram, though they may be the youngest of them) but the differences in experiences said much about them as people.

Maybe that contributed to Uni's behavior, but back to the war stuff.

Those wars had been the bloodiest phases of Gamindustri's history, with many defining moments being conducted by the humans who believed in them. As such, these conflicts had been designated as the 'Mass Wars', the first Mass War and the Second Mass war respectively.

As for why Nepgear thought about this compared to her current problem, well, she had simply been trying to think that there had been people in the past who had it much worse than her, as well as Uni. But even they probably didn't lash out like she had. Now she was afraid of what would happen if she lost control completely.

Blinking several times, Nepgear began to think of what Vali had said to her during the beginning of their training sessions:

'Listen up CPU candidate, when you use my power that I injected into you, you have to be very careful. The reason for this is that my Mana is very, VERY destructive but it also has many uses. Now I wouldn't care about this but since the situation requires it, I will say this: be sure to keep your emotions in check because if you lose control…. Then from what I can sense of your power, it could potentially destroy an entire continent.'

Once again, Nepgear blinked a few times before she returned to her senses, seeing that they looked to be within Lowee Territory now due to multiple factors: one, the lands beneath them looked to be that of Lowee's, which basically meant they were large snowy plains and stuff. Then there's the second factor: that the climate had changed to a more chilly one.

That wasn't important though, not compared to the fact that now she knew what Vali had meant back then. Those words had been the first which he had told her before all of this had begun when he knew her only as a CPU Candidate and not as personally as he did now, but even so, she understood just how GREAT they impacted her now. Previously, her emotions weren't used for her power before, that honor had belonged to the faith provided to her by the people of Planeptune. Now however, that had changed, for not only was she empowered by their faith but also her own emotions, which now had become a dangerous tool for her. Like what Vali had told her, she felt like she hadn't discovered the full potential behind her SDD Form, but from what he had said it looked like he did, so she may very well be able to destroy entire continents with it.

Thus, she REALLY needed to know how to control her anger better when Vali got back.

Later

Finally, the group arrived at Lowee's Capital City, which had a platform for the Luxon airship to dock so they didn't have to walk there, fortunately. However, along the way something unexpected for Nepgear had happened, with a small frigate of sorts arriving on the Airship and dropping off Lowee's two CPU Candidates, Rom and Ram. When questioning what they had been doing here, Ram had pretty much declared that she and Rom would be helping them, since they didn't want to sit around twiddling their thumbs when there was 'booty to be kicked' in her words. Heh, mind of a child, essentially, but the meaning behind those words had been simple enough to get: they wanted to help out since they had a duty to do so.

Internally, Nepgear had to wonder if Vali had something to do with this if they (or Ram to be more specific) wanted to grow strong enough to get back at him for how he handled them previously.

As for Mina, after she had helped heal her from her affliction, the Lowee Oracle had returned to her nation because she needed to keep up her duties despite all the dangers from ASIC. She had been escorted on a frigate made by Luxon, hence why she had designed a docking area for the Airship, for when they would inevitably arrive here.

Well, Mina's foresight would be paying off then.

They walked for a while before entering a small hallway where they saw Mina. The said blue-haired Oracle had just finished talking to what looked like a bunch of women in white robes, before she had turned when hearing their footsteps, her eyes brightening behind her glasses upon seeing the girls walk up to her. "Ah! Neogear! It's good to see you again." she exclaimed, beaming happily as Nepgear approached, Rom and Ram on either side of her with the rest following from behind.

Nepgear nodded her head, a smile on her lips as she responded in kind. "You too, Mina." she replied, and she meant it. As someone who had helped save her life back in the past, Nepgear, of course, held a high degree of respect for her.

Glancing down and noticing the twin CPU Candidate's, Mina inevitably inquired as to how they had been doing. "How is Ram and Rom doing? Have they been misbehaving?" she questioned with a light shadow covering her eyes.

"N-n-n-nope Ms. Mina! We have been behaving very well right Rom?"

"Y-y-yup!"

"Hmmmm… I find that hard to believe coming from you two….. If I find out, then you two will be in a whole lot of trouble."

"G-g-got it Ms. Mina!"

Now thoroughly satisfied in that she had 'warned' the two problematic children, Lowee's Oracle then addressed the whole party. "Alright so what do you girls need?"

"We….. we need the Mascots' power in order to destroy the barrier surrounding the Graveyard." Nepgear answered.

Mina nodded her head in understanding. "I see….. All of you are seeking our Mascot's power, correct?" she questioned, though it was more of a statement.

The entire party nodded this time. "Yes."

However, the mood shifted to a more negative one when Mina frowned and shook her head, worry etched onto her face. "Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to help you right now." She told them.

Now THIS confused and shocked them all, but Alpha had been the one who recovered first so she could query about this. This entire PLANET was in danger of being reduced to ruin thanks to ASIC, so why the hell wasn't the Oracle cooperating? "What? What do you mean Oracle?"

"Lowee's mascot has a very important mission. If it leaves, our nation will be swallowed up by unpredictable chaos." Mina answered, looking to the side.

Alexia narrowed her eyes at this. This sounded suspiciously like a lot of political mumbo jumbo that she had heard before as an excuse to not take action when it had been deemed necessary. Still, she wanted to believe that this woman had more sense than that, so she decided to query some as well. "And what is that mission?"

For a moment, Mina looked torn on whether or not to tell them about her words, but eventually relented. "Since all of you and the Crimson knights have been battling the ASIC and trying to gather the shares, a strategy which seems to be working, I'll tell you. But first, let me tell you a story about the deity of sin, Ariforie." she began.

"... you know about the deity too?" Alpha questioned, narrowing her eyes. It irked her somewhat, hearing that someone else knew about the Deity of Sin and spoke of it like it was a normal thing.

Mina confirmed this. "Yes, in fact Arfoire is said to have been born Lowee." she told them, sending a WAVE of shock through the group.

"WHAT?!" The girls yelled in unison.

"Yes, shocking isn't it? It is said to have been born when Gamindustri was at the brink of destruction." Mina explained, before looking to the side. "Lowee wasn't always the way it is now, all snowy and eternally cold. There have been records in which the Deity of Sin's power originally left a nasty impact on its birthplace, leaving nothing but cold ice and snow in its wake. If you look in the history books, Lowee looked VERY different way into the past." She explained grimly.

This caused some of the more… studious members of the group like Alpha, IF and Alexia, to remember that in the history books there were indeed records stating that Lowee had indeed been a different kind of Nation compared to what it was now. Instead of snow, they had these huge things called 'sakura trees' with 'cherry blossoms' which would fall during the beginnings of each year. They had a different architecture where they built their structures out of wood and with a rather charming yet intimidating aesthetic. Heck, back then there had also been a major thing about spirituality, Yokai and the like, although in current times those customs had all but vanished. From what Mina had told them, they had likely met their end thanks to the Deity of Sin, which only added to their hate for the damn thing. "Then why are ASIC so hellbent on reviving it?" Alpha questioned.

At this, Mina shook her head in a negative manner before providing her answer. "They don't truly wish to revive it. It's a tool, a ploy, used to increase their organization's clout." she told them.

Increasing their clout, huh? Of THAT, the more learned of the group in the ways of business and economics could picture it well. Using the name of a powerful deity to coerce people into doing what they wanted with them wasn't something they couldn't imagine a business tycoon doing. As much as IF disliked Kei for how she conducted herself, she had to admit that the Lastation Oracle actually had to be on the lighter side of things regarding business. "I see….. Still the deity of sin, Arfoire must not be revived then." the brunette stated, furrowing her brows as she pondered the information.

Something which the Lowee agreed with considering her following words. "Indeed, now that I told you the story of Ariforie, let me explain why I can't give you the Mascot. It is used to seal the Killachines." she explained, although the Party didn't really get what she meant by that.

"Killachine?"

Upon viewing their reactions, Mina went and elaborated as she took something out from her inventory. It looked to be some kind of holographic projection device shaped like a sphere, before she pressed it and it began projecting an image in front of them. The moment they looked at it, the party saw that the image showed a huge ass robot, one without a lower body in light of a Tail while it wielded a bunch of different weapons on its person. One didn't need to be a rocket scientist to tell that this thing looked to be bad news. "Yes, Arfoire created it as a tool of destruction. Their power… is very destructive. Not only that but there are hundreds of them sealed."

"Oh my."

While Alpha cupped her chin and examined the image more thoroughly, committing every last detail to mind, Ram didn't seem so impressed. Instead, she just waved it off like it was no big deal for her. "Pft numbers mean nothing to me. Just say the word, me and Rom will take care of it."

"Ram…"

"Eep!"

After Ram got a bit of an eyeful from Mina, who had just developed a few pulsating veins on her forehead with a shadow cast over her eyes, Nepgear tried to clear her throat to get things back on track. "I-I see….. So there is no hope of getting the Mascot then?" she asked sadly.

A notion of which IF quickly made to assure Nepgear over. "Don't give up, we can come up with another reason for how we can get their help Nepgear." she told her, placing a hand on Nepgear's shoulder.

For a moment, the Planeptune CPU Candidate didn't look like she fully bought into that, but she nodded her head anyways since there wasn't much else that could be said about the matter. "... Alright, I got it."

"Sweet, so do you know where the Mascot is?" IF then asked, turning back to the Lowee Oracle after she had mitigated the blow to her companion's confidence.

"Yes, but you have to be careful, it's at the world labyrinth."

"World Labyrinth huh? Better than the dungeon we went to."

Alexa and the others nodded in response to the brunette Guild Agent's words. "Indeed."

Vali point of view

Well…. This just got more and more complicated now, first revenants, blood beads, the queen and now a successor? What's next a magical girl monster that is turned into a lost?... Honestly he wouldn't be surprised because after years of living in this dimension since he had been a baby, he'd gotten used to it. But Albion? Poor Dragon had begun losing his mind, which sounded REAL bad considering how old and experienced this Heavenly Dragon of Supremacy had to be.

Part of him even wondered if the Dragon Queen Tiamat found herself on a similar boat.

But still, another shinso vampire….. He doesn't know what kind of damage one of those could do, but from what Krul had provided from her perspective on the matter during their trip back to their base, it sounded like they have the power to match her or the CPUs if she feared it.

Krul honestly reminded him on how many hybrids believed that they were a race shouldn't exist, something which reminded him of Emilia, the half elf.

Flashback.

Vali was walking through the hospital again but this one is a different one. He had a neutral expression on his face, but inside the silver haired hybrid felt like a volcanic eruption of rage, ignoring the people and doctors who peeled to the sides to avoid him, knowing and fearing his potential as the combat saint and unbeatable prince.

Why was he angry, one might ask? He had just gotten the news from the director of the hospital who belonged to Angelica's family, that Fortuna had died from the ASIC attacking her. She had fought against them in an effort to help her niece when they had ambushed them during their return from a particularly dangerous quest. They had managed to fatally wound her despite Emilia's best efforts, but Zangetsu arrived in time and killed them before taking her to the hospital where the doctors tried their best to save her... but in the end, they couldn't. The wound had been too deep and it pierced her organs and she won't be able to live long.

Entering the room which had housed the now dead aunt, the silver haired male spotted Emilia, whose head hung low to hide her eyes within her bangs, All the while, in front of her the deceased body of Fortuna lay as the nurses covered her body with the blanket. The longer he spent looking at Fortuna, the greater the rage he felt inside as Vali gripped his hands hard, to the point where they could potentially draw blood, his eyes blazing like the flames of the beast which he associated himself with. Again… this had happened AGAIN! This fueled his anger towards the ASIC, anger born from the loss of one of his important comrades. He may not have known her the same way as Emilia had, but Vali saw Fortuna as one of the few respectable adults in the world. It helped that she had quickly made friends with his mother, too.

Looking back at the silent half Elf, Vali tried to open his mouth to try and console his girl, already imagining the pain she had to be going through. Though he couldn't relate completely as while his mother may be in a coma, her family relative had been murdered, no hope remained of her ever seeing her again. "Emilia… I…" he tried, however to his shock Vali found himself unable to form the right words correctly.

However, turned out that the half Elf beat him to the goal of forming a sentence, though the teen didn't like what he heard. "It's… all my fault." she told him.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"My mother was right… my existence is the bane of all things."

Now THAT wasn't something Vali could accept, nope no way. He knew that girls had stronger emotions than men did, he knew that from the very beginning, however he refused to allow Emilia to fall down THAT particular rabbit hole. "Don't say that Emilia, you're not." he stated.

However, it looked like she would need more convincing as Emilia finally looked up at him, tears having built in the corners of her eyes as a look of someone who had been utterly broken shone from her usually vibrant eyes, now dead and seemingly on the verge of losing themselves. "It's true Vali, my father died because of me, my aunt is dead and now I'm cursed to lose another one."

"..."

Vali remained silent about this, as Emilia looked back down to the bed which once had been occupied by his mother, but now became bare since the corpse had been carried away by the medical staff at the hospital. Although the phantom images of her aunt still remained in the Half Elf's eyes as she asked in an even more broken voice. "Why do you still love me Vali? I'm a half elf, a race shouldn't exist. I only bring death to the ones close to me." she questioned him.

This hadn't been something which she had just developed over the loss of her aunt, and Vali knew this to be true from the words that she had said. This had likely been something which had been with Emilia ever since she first lost someone precious to her, this sensation of viewing oneself as a curse to those around her, as someone who would bring misfortune to those who she loved. As cringy as that sounded in his head, that simply was how someone viewed themselves, especially when they have lost family at such a young age. Vali had read once that children's cognitive functions weren't calibrated properly, so when they see their parents fighting for example they wonder if its their fault, so Emilia blaming herself for the deaths of her loved ones, both when she had been a child and even now, was perfectly understandable.

Normally, with such a heavy revelation revealed the harem protagonist wouldn't have been able to say anything, unable to find anything that could fix the situation. As a self insert for the viewer, they wouldn't even be ALLOWED to do anything which a general person wouldn't do, nor have a proper personality. There were of course a few exceptions to this rule (Vali liked the one guy who had been both a sniper for a mercenary organisation as well as a highschool student in a school for broken 'apples', since he was not only a badass but had a unique way of handling the girls in his harem).

But a simple harem protagonist, Vali was NOT. And he knew EXACTLY what he needed to say to help Emilia through this. "... what am I Emilia?"

His question indeed did what it had been intended to, startling Emilia enough so that she looked on over to him. "What?"

Seeing the look on her face, Vali elaborated on his question a little. "I'm asking you what I am, Emilia."

"A… half devil."

The male nodded his head when she answered slowly, unsure as to where he had been going with this. "Exactly, the half of a devil, a monster born from darkness." he stated seriously, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm also a race which shouldn't exist, Emilia. People would say that I'm a monster, a bloodthirsty tyrant and other things but I won't let those stop me. You know why Emilia?"

Perhaps she was starting to see where he was going with this, because as he looked into her eyes Vali started to see signs of hope start to form within them. Hope that he could say something she really wanted to hear as Emilia fully turned on her seat to face him, utterly hung onto his words. "Why?" she asked him.

In comparison to her, Vali wasn't sure what he would say was what she'd like to hear, but he would say it anyways, the hybrid wasn't one to mince his words after all. "Because I embrace it. No matter how many times I would curse the devil inside me, I can't do anything about it because it's a part of me. I accept it because it's what I am, not a race. You are a half elf sure, but also a good person Emilia, and if you want more proof of that remember that there's those out there who would have left your aunt in the dust were they to be put in your shoes at that time. It's not about WHAT race you are, it's all about WHO you are."

After hearing those last words, Emilia lightly gasped as she felt something akin to a bell being rung throughout her insides, something seemingly resonating within her. What Vali had basically told her was to embrace her true nature without hesitation, for it did not dictate who she was but merely provided a foundation. SHE was the mistress of her power and nature, nobody else. SHE was the mistress of her fate, nobody else. Thoughts like this circulated through her mind as they warred with the previous depression that had dominated the young half Elf.

Even so, despite seeing this Vali continued to speak as he walked forwards and grabbed Emilia by the shoulders. The next thing she knew, he had her pulled into an embrace with his arms wrapped beneath her armpits and his hands on her upper back, his chin on top of her head while said bodypart found itself close to his chest. "You are never alone, Emilia. You have me, Alpha, Gamma, Beta and the rest of the group who still care about you."

Hearing those words, Emilia's eyes trembled for a moment, the war within her slowing to a conclusion as her eyes slowly regained their focus. They began to tremble afterwards, with small teardrops building within them until Emilia closed them, a few tears trailing down her cheeks. All the while, she returned Vali's embrace by wrapping her arms around him, surrendering herself to her boyfriend's tenderness, something reserved for only those he trusted… which weren't that many outside Shadow Garden now that she thought about it. "... thank you Vali." she spoke finally, a small soft yet sad smile forming on her lips.

End flashback

Sometimes the pain of losing your family really gets into one's head, just like when Vali had almost lost his mother, though his girlfriend had practically already lost hers without any chance of saving her. All because of ASIC.

Afterwards, Alpha, the entirety of Shadow Garden and their close associates all pitched in to comfort Emilia until she was back to her usual self, although internally the half Devil knew this to be a front. Even if she looked to be fine on the outside, Emilia still hid her grief inside which had been why during their dates, he would help her to let it out of her system so her grief didn't overwhelm her. He'd do this by taking her to places where she remembered growing up and holding her, supporting her when she wept and constantly informing her that she was't a curse nor would he leave her even if she was. For even if she were a curse, he wouldn't regret bearing it.

Aside from that, Vali internally felt so useless inside revolving around helping Emilia cope with her aunt's death, something he absolutely HATED, thus why he used all of his rage and anger by directing it towards ASIC. He would have his revenge, but he didn't want it to consume him too much so all he could currently do was to be patient. THAT would be the key to his goal, just like Albion had once told him. For now, getting the Lastation Mascot was a secondary objective for him because he has to secure the successor before the ASIC would find a way and discover this place.

Vali and Krul also discovered something about the Vestige when she had crushed it. She and Vali had been the only people at the memory point, which had been strange enough, but then they had gone through it and found out who and what Io truly was. According to the Vestige, Io was something known as an 'attendant of the relics', one who stood by and served the Successor as their sole source of interaction from their 'cages' from the outside world. Upon talking to her about it, Io had told them that her purpose was to stand by a Successor to serve them, but there were none for her to serve since she first awoke. She had wanted to know more about why she felt empty, she wanted to know her true purpose, and thus to that end, she had asked if she could go with them.

To respond to this, Vali said yes she can travel with them, the more people they have, the faster they can be done with their objective.

Vali began to close his eyes, preparing for tomorrow's trip.

The snowy mountains.

Timeskip

Vali, Krul, Louis and the others including Io decided to go out and explore the city some more, their quest now to locate the rest of the Successors upon Aurora's guidance. Their first destination turned out to be the same one in which Mia had been requesting to visit: the snowy mountains where the weather rivalled Lowee's. Under normal circumstances, it would have frozen them in seconds, but the benefits of Vali training on snowy days, Krul's vampires genetic and Revenants traits that were given to them by the BOR parasite… all of these factored in to them not having this issue.

Right now, all of them were in a hurry so they didn't have the time to go through the mountains the old fashioned way. Therefore, Vali used his Sacred Gear and Krul used her Wealth of Power to spawn her bat wings, the half Devil grabbing Mia and Io while Krul got Louis and Yakumo, quickly taking to the skies before getting into a close position to where the location of the successor was located.

Eventually, the group landed together with the 'passengers' disengaging from their makeshift transports, though Yakumo and Louis gave Krul a bit of a stink eye due to how she had yanked them up before they could mentally prepare themselves. Not like Krul bothered, though.

Instead, she looked around the mountain which prompted the others to do the same, resulting in them becoming witnesses to the FANTASTIC view surrounding them..

"Holy… This is quite a view."

"Yeah. I think I'm beginning to understand why people take hiking as a hobby."

"You wouldn't be surprised on how much people would do this."

"What do you mean Vali?"

"There are women who use men as their escort to just see the beautiful view. Those men have been brought up to believe this is okay, for they would be willing to do anything to please their mistresses."

"... I hate to say this, but I'm REALLY glad I'm not a part of them or else if I lived there, (SHUDDER)! I don't want to think about it."

"Me too Yakumo."

Ignoring the two males who discussed the possibility of Revenants being reduced to such a low standing, one member of their group couldn't get their heads around something. "Nicola… what could've brought you all the way out here?" Mia wondered under her breath as she walked through the snow. Whereas some people were looking at the view, Mia, Krul and Vali walked on before she turned around and couldn't believe her eyes.

Nicola was alive as he was standing there.

"What the hell?"

"You?! But how? You were turned to ash!"

"Stay alert. It could be a trap."

"Nicola…. Is that …...really you?"

The kid was silent as he stared at Mia

"Are…. are you trying to tell me something?"

Then winds started to surround the kid before he disappeared, leaving behind a Vestige to which Mia rushed to the spot of where Nicola had been. This resulted in the rest of them noticing this and prompting them to join up with her. Among them, Krul approached where Mia was, glancing downwards and kneeling, plucking the Vestige off the ground before rising to her feet again.

Frowning, Vali walked up to her while his gaze never left the Vestige in her hand. "Are his memories inside?" he questioned.

"... we won't know unless we see it." Krul replied, her gaze never leaving the crystal. She then eventually decided to see if it's truly the boys' memories or not. As she grabs it, the vestige stabbed all over her hand again as she ignored the pain before the entire area flashed.

"Each Successor has the ability to manifest their crypt in the form that will suit them. What will you choose for yours Nicola?"

"Well if it's my choice then, I want something cool….. Like a giant robot that fights evil!"

"I'd suggest a place that puts your heart at ease."

"A place where I can relax?"

"Okay I got it!"

"So when I become a successor….. Can I use my power to make a copy of myself? Mia may look tough, but I know she gets lonely. I think she'd be really sad if she knew I was gone."

"I'm sorry but no. The relics are simply too dangerous. The more you use their power, the greater the risk of frenzy. And maintaining a duplicate of yourself would be far too much of a strain… I'm afraid I cannot allow it. Beside that, your crypt will block any transmission from the world outside. Even if the duplicate was with your sister, you wouldn't know. You wouldn't share any of its experience with her."

"Here it is…. This place is your battlefield, successor."

"Okay then, I'm off to fight!"

"You're the bravest fighter we have. I pray that you have a long and peaceful rest."

"I'm sorry, Jack, but…..raaahhh! Uuugggghhhh I … have to take care of Mia."

Once the light died down, the group reeled from the information that had been revealed to them. The information pertaining to the truth of how Mia's brother had been turned into a successor…. As well as how he had made a duplicate of himself to keep his sister company knowing of the potential consequences. All while he, the original, remained trapped inside to keep a great monster at bay. A battle of which he would inevitably lose, from what they had learned of the Relics.

The revelations being too much for her legs to bear, Mia fell onto her knees as her arms hung limply by her side. All the while, her head mirrored those thoughts as she stared at her lap, her eyes the size of dots as disbelief flooded her system. Everything she had gone through with the one who she had THOUGHT was Nicola at the time, turned out to have been just her knowing a clone of her brother who had been going through something no kid should… all for her sake. She found that…. Harder to bear than she could have ever anticipated. "Up until now….. All that time I was with Nicola….. It was just a copy he made himself… that means….. When I awakened as a Revenant, he was already…." she mumbled under her breath although the rest of them heard her.

Once she stopped speaking, Vali furrowed his brows as he pondered this new information. The implications were not lost on him, and also it explained several oddities he had found about the young boy despite hardly knowing him. He had heard stories about him from his sister though, stories which he had been told by Mia herself during their travel to this land, so he had a rough idea of what this boy had been like in terms of personality. "... I see…. That does explain why he didn't get better after taking the blood beads." he remarked, feeling slightly impressed that the boy had been able to hold out as long as he had.

However, it didn't seem that his sister shared the mental fortitude that this boy must have, as she gripped the side of her head and closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head back and forth in denial. "It can't be! The two of us…. We were always together. We were always going to stay together….. And now….. After all this time….. He….. I didn't know, I never expected it. Poor Nicola was alone this whole time." she ranted at the beginning, before she lifted her head to look up at the grey cloudy skies above with immense emotions behind her eyes.

"...Oi, calm down Mia." Vali then stated when he saw her about to get up and start bulldozing her way through this area. He also added in the physical action of grabbing her shoulder and stopping her from making a huge mistake which, thanks to his adventuring days, the hybrid knew for a FACT would very much get her killed. WAY before she could make it to Nicola's location too, and if that happened then he believed that all the boy's efforts would have gone down the drain, something which would NOT bode well for his fight against the urge to frenzy.

Glancing behind him with rage burning in her eyes like the Hellfire that he commanded, Mia yanked her shoulder out of his grip, something which surprised him internally since even if he wasn't using his full strength that time to be able to shrug him off at all provided a testament to her power. He figured that this should only be as expected though, since these Revenants were quite literally artificial vampires and, if what Krul has said was to be believed, they didn't lack in the physical attributes department. "What do you mean by that?!" she yelled, her gaze so intense that if looks could kill they would have incinerated Vali on the spot.

Not like that stopped him from saying his thoughts as bluntly as possible however. Vali still knew for a fact that between the two of them he was the stronger one, no matter what people may think about it. He had trained to be this OP, even if this story failed to showcase how MUCH he had trained in his childhood (oh great, here we go with him breaking the fourth wall, he's been in Gamindustri for too long). "Crying is not going to help, we all saw how brave your brother is, and how he risked all of this for you. Are you gonna just cry while your brother is fighting all this time?"

Fortunately, his words had the provided effect on her, as the mentioning of her possibly making everything Nicola had done be rendered useless caused her fiery gaze to simmer down. Her mind began to calm down from the rage it had been infused with from these revelations, allowing a small bit of uncertainty to enter Mia's gaze while she looked to the side. "I…"

Seeing this, Vali pushed forwards, ignoring the remark Yakumo made behind him about how he seemed 'quite good' at dealing with women. Just went to show how much time he spent being around them, Vali figured. "He's a brave kid, more braver than I've ever seen. Don't let his sacrifice go in vain." the half Devil stated firmly. "We'll track him down by progressing through this place slowly, as otherwise this place will be like the dungeons I've traversed in my time as an adventurer, and pull a fast one under us that will NOT end well for anyone involved. Thus, we need to have our heads on straight, otherwise everything the boy has done will be for naught."

For a moment, Mia remained silent as she pondered his words, her gaze looking to the snow beside her as her eyes showcased how she processed these words like a computer downloading new data. Internally, Vali hoped she would see reason, and if not he could just knock her out and have one of the others carry her, since he wouldn't have the ability to fight while holding some dead weight onto him. Finally however, his internal worries vanished when Mia looked back to his eyes, her own not completely back to normal but much better than they had been previously. "... your right….I have to be strong for me… and Nicola." The look of uncertainty and worry remained present, but there was also a shred of resolution to them as well.

A sight which suited Vali just fine as he nodded his head, making to pass by her and start traversing this snow-covered place. "Good, now let's go, it's not that far." he stated after taking a few steps forwards, saying the last part after turning his head so he could glance behind him at not only the woman but also the rest of the Revenants… plus Krul.

Mia was silent as she looked at Vali before nodding.

Once the female Revenant's desire to run ahead had quenched, they all proceeded to head along. The group walked through the snow as they passed a ruined city, one which had been populated mostly by a bunch of Lost who had seemingly adapted to the cold weather, but it wasn't anything they couldn't have handled.

Once they looked for a tunnel or something when Yakumo found one that had fog blocking the passageway into it. At first they wondered if there may be another passage through, but luckily Krul had found a crystal flower nearby, to which she dripped her blood on it before it cleared up the miasma, allowing them access into the cave.

Inside there, the group walked through the icy cave with their weapons out and caution levels up to max, since there were enemies down here too. Enemies such as these large spiked balls which looked like they could turn humans or Revenants into pincushions. Though at this point, Vali had decided against his usual method of Hellfire to deal with them, and instead used his Hellwind to slice the enemies to ribbons while the others did their normal methods. Thing was, his Hellfire would melt the ice around them and probably cause a cave in, something which he and Krul could handle since they had the ability to fly, but the Revenants were a different story on the other hand. They didn't have enough power to get out of a Cave in unless they became stronger, not to mention they could fall to their deaths considering how there had been several points where some snow areas caved in to show huge, bottomless chasms.

Oh, and by the way, before their journey had begun, Io had chosen a weapon which she currently held: a black halberd which she had shown some considerable skill in wielding, one which she had named 'Dammerung'. It wasn't as bad as the other names, if one were to ask him. Combined with the fact that she seemed to have various support type abilities, and she showed promise as a companion.

Though this also reminded Vali to ask Louis some more about these Revenant's abilities since, apparently, there seemed to be more to them than the use of Ichor which their weapons drained from enemies to supply them with energy. He had noticed much earlier than this, perhaps since before that fight with the butterfly-shaped Greater Lost, but hadn't really focused on it till now.

Once they hiked all the way up another part of the mountain, they saw another attendant standing next to the entrance of what looked to be a massive dome. One shaped with many long curving ice spikes with smaller ice spikes protruding out from them: truly looking more like a 'cage' than anything else. "I have been waiting for you…. Io, is that you?" the Attendant began to say, before her eyes widened when she noticed that Io was with them. Something which Vali narrowed his eyes slightly about but didn't say anything.

Instead, he let Io do the talking, something which she certainly did as she stepped forwards. "Yes." She stated simply, nodding her head.

"Why are you not with a successor?"

"It is because I am trying to find a purpose for myself, somewhere in which I can truly belong."

"... I see… good luck all of you."

The attendant was then on a prayer motion as they looked at her before entering the Crypt

After they entered, each of the Revenants and the two outsiders (Vali and Krul), got the feeling that they were headed into a fighting arena. They got this feeling due to the inside being huge, wide and open in a circular shape, with next to nothing else inside of it save for the snow covered ground.

Yet, they DID see one thing standing in the centre of it.

Well, instead of standing, it'd be better to say that the thing looked to be kneeling like it were before royalty, that 'thing' being this bulky-looking creature in armor shaped like that of a Knight. Something which reminded Vali of a time when Leanbox had that kind of thing going for it before the massive influence of Planeptune changed it to what it was today. On it's right arm, it held a large shield with a saw-like edge to it, while on top of its head were two deer-like antlers though one looked to be longer than the other.

Each of the group quickly got into battle stances while preparing for battle…

"Big sis…"

Only, they stopped when they heard the sound of Nicola's voice… a voice which sounded quite strained like the owner was one step away from exploding. The voice came from behind them. Prompting Vali and the others to glance behind them at… a young Nicola.

"Nicola!"

Before any of them (bar Mia who had yelled out her brother's name) could say anything in response to this bizarre situation, Nicola shot past them in a wild-looking sprint, jumping onto the kneeling knight monster. However, it only let him stay on for a couple seconds before shrugging him off, Nicola falling to the ground… and then vanishing into nothingness, showcasing that the Nicola they had seen had been just like that of the one Mia had grown up with: a clone.

"Ah, I see…" Vali muttered as he saw more 'Nicolas' appear in the same way that the first one vanished, jumping onto the monster before they ended up enduring the same fate. His eyes shimmered at the sight while he concluded what he had realized from watching this. "Looks like the kid has been fighting the urge to Frenzy this entire time. Still is, from what I can see…" He mused, impressed.

A sentiment which Yakumo shared as he whistled, his respect for the kid growing by the minute. "Tough kid...:" he couldn't help but say in amazement, yet the fact that they would have to fight still remained present in their minds so as much as they wanted to commend Nicola for his bravery and resolve, they still felt the bitterness of reality.

None more so than his sister Mia who stepped forwards, her grip on her Bayonet-mounted Gun visibly trembling. "I'm sorry Nicola… I never realized…" she muttered to herself in remorse. Vali glanced at her, but didn't say anything as her eyes regained that fiery light to them that she had sported after his words. "But right now, your sister's here!" she declared, breaking off into a sprint with the others following suit.

All the while, the 'Knight'-shaped Greater Lost stood up with its Shield, ready to engage them.

On their side, Krul took to the skies with her wings while Vali ran by Mia's left flank. "Provide covering fire on its legs, we'll distract it!" he called out to her, Mia nodding in responde. The two of them then split to go to either side when the Knight burst forwards, almost sliding along the ground while trying to ram into them with its Shield.

Mia went first, aiming her Brodiaea at its legs and letting loose a few rounds. These rounds caused it to stumble a little as it tried to maintain its balance, although a flash of red mist appeared above it from which Louis appeared. The male Revenant brought his Enduring Crimson down on the back of its head, but the Greater Lost raised its Shield and blocked before the Longsword could reach its target. Afterwards, it then thrusted upwards to knock Louis away, before it looked to Mia's position and then threw its free hand towards her.

Said woman's eyes widened when she noticed the faint crimson glow forming around it, and allowed her instincts to guide her in the form of a barrel roll to the side. Good thing too, because the glow formed about 8 clouds of vapor in a hexagon-like formation around its hand, each one firing sharpened balls of ice towards where she had been previously. After getting into a kneeling position, Mia retaliated with more shots to its legs to which it blocked them with its shield.

This allowed Vali and Yakumo to close in (both of them noticing what looked like engine thrusters on its back) while Krul provided additional support by clenching her fists and shooting down from above like a falcon, smashing her fist into the top of its head to force it to lurch forwards. Though judging from the surprised look on her face, it looked like she had expected the head to be pulverized from that hit. 'Either her power still hasn't fully returned yet, or this thing has greater defence than she had thought…' Vali thought to himself as Yakumo sped ahead, swinging his Oni Bane in a reverse horizontal slash towards the back of its legs. He aimed for the gap behind the kneecap, but then the thrusters ignited, blowing two streams of flames out towards Yakumo.

"Fuck!" the redhead exclaimed as he fell back, not wanting to get incinerated as the Greater Lost peppered Mia with ice projectiles and then swiftly turned to face the approaching Vali. It would have tried to rush at him like before, only Vali demonstrated himself to be faster as he jumped forwards with both his arms deploying their MSs, swinging them at the same time towards its legs and sliding beneath it, stopping behind the creature… which also had a couple MB's stuck to its legs.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Several explosions happened as the MB's detonated, causing the beast to HOWL in agony (causing Mia to cringe) as it fell forwards, unable to keep its form balanced on weakened legs. That was the thing, since its upper body looked disproportionately larger than its lower body, the lower body would serve as its weakness that could easily be exploited by any decently smart person who got the right opportunity. It helped that Vali had both the brains and the brawns despite his battle maniac nature proclaiming otherwise, so instead of letting this opportunity go to waste, he promptly activated his MZ and summoned several Magic Circles around him. Each of them aimed themselves at the Greater Lost and fired a bunch of MRs at its downed form, intending to incinerate the beast before him.

Unfortunately, it still had MUCH fight left in it since the beast quickly shifted its position so it could put its Shield in front of the incoming MRs, blocking them from hitting the rest of its body. Compared to the threat that the MRs posed as they forced it to slide along the snowy ground, its legs unable to provide much stability for the time being, the beast ignored the bullets that peppered its armor from Mia as well as the slashes that fell upon it thanks to Louis, Yakumo and Krul after she summoned her Dragonslayer and joined them.

Eventually however, it had enough of this and angled its back so that, when its Thrusters activated again, they were just enough to promptly propel it up into the air and out of the MBs way.

Cutting the power to them when his instincts screamed at him to do so, Vali widely summoned his Divine Dividing and took to the skies, each of the Revenants doing their own means of falling back. Good thing they did, since the whole thing slammed into the ground at full force, launching this HUGE wave of snow from the impact. That and combined with the shockwave that followed, and it became a good thing none of them had been close enough to have been affected by the AOE attack.

As it stood up from this strike though, its form became surrounded by a pale glow similar in appearance to the vapor it had been commanding, as the Greater Lost discarded its shield and quickly let out a loud roar, stopping any attempts for another attack at this time due to the shockwave the roar generated.

"It's discarded its shield!" Yakumo noticed as he saw it throwing the Shield away. "Now's our chance to kick this thing in the keister!"

Mia glanced on over, glaring angrily at him. "That 'thing' is my brother, you dolt!" she yelled, with Vali and Krul glaring at Yakumo while Louis shook his head.

"Whoops, sorry!"

"Talk later, fight now!" The black haired researcher yelled as the creature jumped into the air again, its thrusters ignited for additional lift, before it slammed down on the party's position. Each of them scattered to avoid it, although Vali gasped as he quickly curled his wings in front of him, his reasoning being that due to when the Greater Lost slammed its horn into the ground it then twisted around towards him before flinging the horn upwards, conjuring and launching a series of large icicles towards him at a diagonal angle. If he hadn't blocked with his Sacred Gear, then Vali could have suffered a serious injury.

"Vali!" Krul called out after she recovered in the air using her wings.

However, the male didn't let her come to his aid, planting both feet onto the ground and sliding to a halt. "Keep your eye on the enemy, don't worry about me!"

After each of them landed, Louis charged in first, using that teleporting ability to appear in front of the Greater Lost's face and slash at its horn, slicing it off after the second strike. The knight howled in pain and anger as it then heabuttedhim, knocking the wind out of him as well as sent Louis to the ground. However, he used the momentum to flip backwards upon hitting the snowy plain via planting a hand onto it and using that hand as a springboard to bounce back into the air. He also then launched a flurry of fire attacks at its face, causing it to use one hand to cover that said area so that the attacks couldn't land.

This also showed them that apparently fire attacks didn't work so well on it, since the flames didn't look like they did much damage to the Greater Lost's hand. Lowering it, the beast growled as it flung it's not burned hand forwards, flinging a bunch of ice blasts towards Louis although Yakumo ran forwards and stood in front of his partner, using Oni Bane's large flat surface area to block them from hitting Louis.

Krul used this opportunity to strike, seeing that its legs didn't look like they had healed much since the damage they had inflicted upon them previously. 'Hmmm, looks like this thing traded healing for more defence.' She noted in her head, before shooting towards the ground beside it for an idea she had come up with. Rearing her fist back, Krul slammed it into the ground while empowering it with her energy, causing a rippling shockwave to shoot through which destabilized the creature's balance. "Vali! Use your Sacred Gear's ability on it, now!" she called out.

"Got it!" the half Devil replied, shooting forwards and launching a spinning kick to the side of the Greater Lost's head.

{DIVIDE!}

Albion's voice rang out as the half Devil grunted, feeling the energy from his opponent revitalize him for a moment, energy which he then pumped into both his hands (his MSs having been dismissed beforehand) before he launched 2 MRs from them at the Greater Lost's chest area.

GRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIND!

The moment the beams made contact with the knight-like Greater Lost's chestplate armor, it grunted as it struggled to keep its balance, the two attacks pushing it across the snowy plain past the crater Krul's previous attack had made. This didn't last long however, for its damaged legs gave out under it and caused the beast to fall onto its back. Vali then flew forwards once again, not wanting to waste this opportunity and…

STAB!

Formed an MS on his left arm to stab right into the weakened area on the beast's Chestplate. Thanks to the area having been damaged badly from his MR volley previously, as well as the two ones which he'd launched just now, that area looked like it wouldn't have offered as much protection anymore. Thus, Vali had simply chosen to end the fight now before it could drag on any longer… though, before he had, he had muttered the following words under his breath. "Sorry bout this, kid… you did well."

Now that the MS had stabbed into the enemy though, its form froze up for a moment, seemingly unable to move or perhaps it felt shock at what had just transpired… only, for this to fade quickly and become replaced by defeat as its arms fell to its side, the Greater Lost now lying motionless on the ground.

The battle was over, they had won.

Then the relic appeared as it was floating. Mia went close to the relic before she fell to her knees while looking at the relic.

"Thank you….you were the one taking care of me all along….. Nicola I'm so sorry! (SOB)."

She cried as her tears started to fall from her eyes. The Revenants looked on in pity for her, before Vali walked to her side. "You alright?"

"... Y-yeah I'm fine. It's just….. After he….."

"Remember Mia, sometimes people make sacrifices to protect their friends, or family. Your brother really is the bravest kid I've ever seen."

"... he is, Vali…...and thank you."

"Don't mention it Mia, let Krul do her job before it regenerates."

"Hmm got it Vali." Mia got up and Krul went to the relic before it did the same thing, the whole area turning bright.