Chapter 15

When the girls heard the feminine voice that had spoken to them just now, they thought that it had come from behind them. Therefore, when they turned around, each of them expected to encounter some kind of big boss kind of opponent that they would have to beat the answers out of then escape this place together… This turned out to NOT be the case, since there was hardly anyone there, not even a shadow.

Angelica became the first one to point this out to the group. "What?! Who's there?! Show yourselves!" She declared to the darkness as the members of Shadow Garden (the ones who wore the Slime Suits: Gama, Alpha, Emilia, Angelica, Beta, Delta, and Epsilon) all grouped together with their backs linking up, making some kind of defensive formation. Meanwhile, Neptune just looked around like a child searching for some christmas presents that were hidden away by her parents.

A low, distorted chuckling escaped the feminine voice as it now sounded like it came from all around them.

"Why, there's no need for that, pretty ones. Why not just surrender to the grasp of our Goddess: the Deity of Sin? Meh, you have no choice anyways, so it's redundant for me to ask that of you."

"And WHO do you think YOU are to try and order around ME of all people?!" This time, it turned out to be Neptune who had retorted sharply as she seemingly shook a trembling fist at the space above their heads like that was where the voice was coming from. She had multiple tick marks on her forehead too, actually as she stared upwards with puffed up cheeks. "I mean, not even bothering to introduce yourself like a good 2-bit villain is just plain wrong, y'know! Did ya even read the 'how to be a villain' instruction manual?"

"There is no need for me to introduce MYSELF..."

FWOOSH!

"?!"

SMASH!

At first, the female voice had stayed silent, to which the girls wondered if the owner had left them here which would have been terrible for them. However, things turned out to be even worse when, not long after the feminine voice spoke again, a MASSIVE looking Double bladed, two-handed Axe got launched from the darkness of the corridor towards them, with the intent to take their heads off. However, thanks to their formation Delta had been the one to see it coming and respond appropriately, doing so by jumping upwards and launching a spinning roundhouse kick that hit the weapon in the back of it's blade to deflect it to the side.

"... Since my companion wants to 'play' with you all before you depart to the afterlife. Have fun."

Unperturbed by this failed surprise attack, the feminine voice gave one last distorted giggle before it became silent, and this time they felt SURE that the owner had somehow vanished. This didn't register to them as important for long though, as each of the girls quickly jumped away from the Axe and landed in a semicircular formation. Good thing they did, for the instant they did so, the space they once occupied got suddenly occupied when a large, black blur crashed into it and covered itself in a plume of smoke/debris.

"Nepu?!"

"Tch!"

"Eh?!"

"Kyaa!"

"Holy…!"

"This is…!"

"Damn…!"

"Oh shit…!"

"My Goodness…!"

Neptune, Alpha, Emilia, Olivia, Angelica, Gama, Delta, Epsilon and Beta all made their own exclamations as they saw something swing the Halberd around to disperse the smoke, revealing it's form to them all. It took the form of some kind of mech, one with a mostly humanoid structure. Well, the upper portion looked humanoid, but the lower portion seemed more reminiscent of a tank or something, since there were about 4 black and light blue pillar-like constructs attached to some kind of mechanical device substituting as a waist, with various bolts and D-Pad buttons on them. They were also covering what looked like a single large gear, one which looked to be what kept the thing floating above the ground somewhat like how the rumours of the CPUs doing whenever they did their so-called HDD Transformation. The upper portion resembled a humanoid, as per mentioned, with two large black and light blue horns that pointed forwards with his head several elongated plates in a crown-like form. Out his back, were two large wings, wings mostly mechanical with multiple sharp talon-like curved blades for feathers that were attached to these circular disks, disks attached to mechanical-looking arms that protruded out from his back.

Essentially…

"Uhhhhh… is this guy a robot, or something? I swear, the developers must have been on high when making this guy's design. Most fanfic writers probably struggle with this guy's appearance alone, I bet!" Neptune remarked, scratching her head monkey style.

"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! YES! FINALLY! I CAN FINALLY LET LOOSE AFTER SO LONG! IT'S FINALLY TIME TO DESTROY! WRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

After grabbing onto the Axe's shaft and pulling it out of the ground, the robot swung it horizontally with enough force to bend the shaft backwards. As a result, a great shockwave burst forth from the swing, carrying with it a bunch of dust which caused the girls to cover their eyes to protect them from the dust cloud.

"Ugh!" Angelica Cursed under her breath when this happened, her sword already deployed as she quickly realized the robot's intent. 'Shit… looks like it plans to strike from our blind spots!' she thought as she glanced downwards and noticed a rapidly growing shadow looming over her from behind. Her eyes widened in shock and horror at this, before she glanced behind her at the source and quickly notified the others. "Guys, SCATTER!"

Good thing that the rest of them had prior fighting experience on their side, for the girls didn't see the shadow yet showed no hesitation in following the Duke's Daughter's orders to the T, quickly jumping in all sorts of different directions. The result was that they managed to evade the Axe head that slammed into their position, causing the robot to hit nothing but hard dirt as the girls all twisted about in mid air to face it, landing on the ground and each sliding to a halt.

"Haaaaaah! Delta LOVES hunting!"

The first to strike back turned out to be Delta, whose sword looked less like the rest of the girls and more like a broadsword than anything else. The thing about Delta was that she found herself to be a very simple girl, one who didn't see the point about complex matters and just went with what she wanted to do at that moment in time. One such thing she wanted to do was bite people, something she'd done quite a bit when she had been younger until Vali managed to straighten it out in the best way he knew how: kicking her ass in a fight. It had been a… brutal takedown, let's just say that, since Vali made it a point to NEVER go easy on anyone in battle, even if it were training.

Hence, from there forth, Delta had thrown herself into her training in a relentless manner so she could eventually fight back against him. Then, once she won and had him under her for once…

Well, lets just say there would be a lot of small silver haired pups running about.

But back to the fighting, the reason why this was so significant was that thanks to her simple minded nature, Delta's fighting style ended up reflecting that, as she held her sword in one hand as she ran towards the large robot who thrusted it's Axe at her. She grinned at this, a feral growl escaping her throat as she thrusted her sword up towards the tip…

BOOM!

Only for a shockwave to be released from the point of impact when the two weapons clashed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! YES, YOU'RE STRONG GIRLIE! I'LL TAKE PLEASURE IN-!"

The robot tried to speak, only for Delta to already be on the move by jumping onto the Axe's shaft then, after using it as a springboard, bounced towards the robot's face. Her mouth opened wide, showcasing her various fangs and… bit into his crown.

"ARGH! YOU LITTLE!"

Outraged and furious at this action, the Robot began swinging it's head around to try and throw Delta off, however she instead clung to him like glue, wrapping her arms and legs around him whilst raising her sword and repeatedly bashing away at his head like she were some kind of caveman wielding a club.

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

Each time her sword landed on the creature's body, a loud booming sound would erupt as the blows, even when not reinforced by Magic, struck with force equal to a strike from a multi thousand pound monstrosity. Proof of this also came in the form of the robot being forced into the ground, its automatic floating systems raising it back up only to be brought back down into the ground once more. Even without Magic, a Beastman's vicious strength proved far superior compared to a normal human, even a magically enhanced human.

"Delta!"

When she heard Alpha's voice however, Delta quickly let go of the Robot's crown then planted her feet onto it, using the robot to jump away from it just in time for some sword slashes from Alpha, as well as Beta and Epsilon, to land across its body. All four ladies then landed in unison as several more slash marks appeared across the robot's body, causing it to howl in outrage once again.

All the while…

'Tch, too shallow.'

Alpha made this declaration in her mind as she noticed how the wounds they'd inflicted didn't do nearly as much damage as they had hoped.

It didn't help that the wounds started to heal up as the robot's body repaired itself, this process taking only a couple seconds.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHH! YOU WRETCHED-!"

The Robot, now utterly furious, began to lash out by launching a wide area slash that swept across the ground around it, causing the girls to jump into the air to avoid it with Neptune, who had made to try and smack it in the face with her own blade, smirking gleefully after she did so. "Heh, looks like ya kinda slow, ya big lard. Bet ya-" But before she could finish, the Robot quickly slammed into her body with it's upper one like some kind of shoulder tackle, causing her to gasp and get sent flying across the corridor. "Ouch! Oof! Ugh! Guh!" Various sounds escaped her mouth in the form of grunts until she slid to a halt along the ground… before she raised her head with an annoyed look on her face. "Oh, come the Nep on! That was just rude, buster! Alright, now ya've gone made me mad! Traaaaansformation time!" She declared as she began to get covered by a white light.

"Eh?! Is that a transformation…?!"

"No way! This is the first time I've…!"

Emilia and Olivia, who had kept back along with Gamma and Neptune whilst the rest of the girls had charged in for battle, made their own exclamations when they had seen this happening. Following this, the two then glanced at one another to see their reactions, the result being both of them becoming eagerly excited at what they might witness. To see a CPU transform like this wasn't something they got to see every day after all, so this became something they eagerly looked forward to…

Only, just as the light began to envelop her…

It suddenly vanished without a trace.

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"Nepu?! What the heck, what happened to all my mojo?! This should have lead to my epic entrance as the main character, what gives?!"

As the onlooking girls wondered what was going on alongside the stunned Neptune, the same feminine voice from before spoke up. "Ah, I forgot to mention, that place you're in right now, it serves as a means to disable all Magic. It's happening now because you're quite close to the centre, though I'm surprised your friends can still somewhat maintain control over their Magic. Impressive, but not enough to keep it from being somewhat suppressed. That seems to include your Share Energy too, Planeptune CPU."

"Are you freaking NEPPING ME, LADY?! THIS SUCKS!"

"I would focus on my comrade if I were you…"

"GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DESTROY, DESTROY-DESTROY-DESTROOOOOOOYYYYYYY!"

"... Otherwise this may be your last days on Gamindustri."

Meanwhile, deeper inside the Sanctuary…

"We're here…"

At last, the woman and Vali had finally arrived at the Sanctuary's source. Upon their arrival, Vali and the woman took in their surroundings, allowing them to see how the place they were in somewhat resembled a room in some sort of ancient medieval ruins. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, all of the room seemed to be covered by this light… a light which Vali DEFINITELY believed originated from Magic according to what his senses were telling him. They also told him that something had gone wrong, somehow, but for the life of him he wasn't completely sure on what it was.

Still, he wanted to check up with the woman on something, something related to what had happened before, so he decided to open his mouth. "Hey if the core is destroyed, you'd disappear?" he questioned.

Turning her head around, the woman glanced back at him. "Hmm, how should I put it. Rather than 'disappear,' it'd be more accurate to say that I'd be 'freed,' I suppose."

'Looks like she's not that aware, then…' Vali thought, having feared this outcome. Even so, he decided to tell her the truth, since even if the truth should hurt one had to keep pressing forwards anyways. "...Well, I hate to be the bad news but you can't even leave this place." He told her.

This got the woman's attention, as she turned to fully face him now. "What do you mean?" She questioned slowly after a moment of silence.

Taking a hand out of his Trench Coat, Vali held it like he was offering it to her, before spinning it around by twisting his wrist as he responded. "Well this place seems to be binding you to this place since you're a living soul right? Basically, you can't leave this place. Even if you destroy the core your soul is bound to this place."

".... I see… that makes sense. Still then, I still have only one option, even if I can't leave this place the Core still needs to be destroyed. I can at least have SOME freedom then." At first, the woman looked like she wanted to scream and shout till her voice became hoarse, however she then calmed herself in the next couple seconds before replying in her composed tone of voice.

Something Vali appreciated, since it showed that she indeed could retain a calm mind under pressure, and wasn't someone who showed themselves off as a whiny bitch like a lot of girls he'd seen. "Well, it's not like you're the only one in this situation, woman. I'm stuck here too, just like you, so if you can't leave then I can't leave. However, you're in luck, I happen to know a spell that can override your binding."

"...You do?"

When she asked him that, her gaze looked to be one of disbelief, as if she hadn't actually considered the possibility of him knowing a solution to this problem. Part of him got irritated at that, but then another part reasoned that since she had only seen him as a strong fighter, she could have assumed that since that had been the case he hadn't the intelligence of someone like say a professor at a college. It was a reasonable assumption since warriors focused more on the battlefield than hitting the books. Still, Vali nodded and proceeded to explain, pocketing his hand again. "Yes, it's a simple spell that binds your soul to mine. That way, not only you can leave, but me as well. I'd say that's a win win situation."

Once she heard that, the woman gaped a bit, and stared at him like he had gone crazy for a seemingly long time. That is, until her brain rebooted and the woman's eyes narrowed into a cautious one. "... Do you realize what it is that you're suggesting?" she asked him slowly, and at first Vali thought she didn't want him to do it at all because of the forbidden nature behind the Spell. However, that soon turned out to not be the case when she held a hand out and a sphere of dark energy appeared over her palm. "Should you do that, and people find out about it, then you will have the majority of Gamindustri hunting you down like a dog. You'd have no rest, no respite, and you will not be able to live normally until you die."

Vali's answer: "Your point?"

"... You would be forever unable to have a normal life, lad. That's something many warriors cherish greatly, for their lives could end in a blink so they wish to have something to remind them of what they're fighting for. If you do this, then even your loved ones may end up being targeted." the woman once again tried to explain in some kind of attempt to dissuade Vali from this course of action. To make him see reason… though, in her eyes, the silver haired male saw something else behind it, something which he quickly recognized.

Not like he had any intention of changing his goal. "Like I said, your point?"

Once again, he had managed to catch her off guard as the sphere vanished, her eyes wider than saucers whilst her jaw had dropped in disbelief. "...You're serious." She stated, for it wasn't a question but a fact that just now seemed to dawn on her, as if it hadn't already done so before. The way he looked at her, the woman almost felt her heart skip a beat, for the way Vali's eyes looked to her right now, they showed her something: that he DID know the risks involved with this action, that he knew what would happen to him and more importantly, his loved ones should the zealous CPUs learn of this act. He knew… he just didn't give a fuck. He would go to these lengths to get them out of here. "You're willing… to take me with you…"

"You know it, and before you ask, it's not out of sentimentality or emotional attachment. It's to repay a debt. You did right by me by helping me get here, so I'll do right by you in giving you a chance at a second life. Doesn't seem like a bad trade, now does it?" At the end, Vali may not have realized it, but he had a bit of a smirk on his lips which likely came at the thought of being able to fight so many people at once should this act be known to the right people. Though even if he was a battle maniac he wasn't stupid, so he wouldn't go out of his way to broadcast this.

At this point, the woman looked like she had lost in a match, a defeated sigh escaping her lips. Although, that wasn't to say she didn't like this turn of events, as a small but very PURE smile had formed on her lipstick-covered lips. ".........alright, do it. if I can have complete freedom then I'll take it." She finally answered.

To say that Vali formed a grin so wide that it was face-splitting would be an understatement. "Okay, then. Here it goes: I, who shall assimilate. I shall absorb this soul before me, and in turn grant its greatest wish. I will be it's ship, to sail into the concept of supremacy stolen from god himself. We will not envy the infinite, and will pursue the dream. I will take us and sail into the great white paradise. SOUL MERGER!"

Once Vali finished reciting the spell Aurora body glowed silver completely before going to Vali's soul as she vanished. She appeared in an icy, snow-covered field that is raining down snow. She looked around surprised at the state of Vali's soul.

"Huh a snowy field, I expected to be a bit more-"

"{Like a battlefield or something?}"

"!?"

In that one moment, the woman's eyes became dots once more, to the point where part of her wondered if she'd had more surprises today than over her multi thousand years of living. The woman practically jumped as she heard another voice that sounded like it's user was located behind her. Thus, when she turned around, the woman bore witness to the sight of a MASSIVE dragon, one much bigger than anything she had ever heard of before. It practically TOWERED over the tallest buildings in her memory, something which increased her wariness tenfold. "A dragon... what a surprise, didn't expect one to be in the boy's soul... are you a soul guardian to him?"

"{hahahahaha more you can say that woman, he is my host of a Sacred Gear he has. It is good to have company once a while.}"

"A Sacred Hear? What are those?"

"{Why don't we talk more when we first get out of this so-called 'Sanctuary'?}"

"....... ok."

Back to Vali...

As he opened his eyes once the teen felt the soul merger spell complete itself, Vali's first task was to make sure that the spell had done it's intended task. A task which he could only confirm with one source right now. ''Did the spell work? Is that woman in there?' he asked Albion, whose voice soon came back to him.

'{Yes she is, in fact the spell worked perfectly.}'

'Spell?... Wait, are you the one who provided this spell to him?'

'{Yes I did, woman. I am a dragon who has not only lived for countess centuries, but has also gathered knowledge equal to those years I've lived!}'

'Weren't dragons supposed to be brash creatures that are all full of themselves?'

'{Hah! Maybe so, but if you've lived long enough, you are bound to gain some wisdom!}'

'.... I see.'

Looked like Spell did indeed work alright, if that woman's voice could be transmitted via mental link to him. Now that he thought about it, Vali wondered who this woman was, only for a name to appear in his mind: Aurora. ' Well, Albion did say that I would get the basic information about the soul which merged with mine…' the boy mused to himself, running his mind through the information he had just gleaned. It wasn't too much, just the woman's name, age (wow, she really WAS over several thousand years old… huh.) as well as… Mentally Vali's brow began to twitch in irritation, multiple tick marks appearing on his forehead. '...Albion, why did this spell have to tell me this woman's measurements...?' he thought to the Dragon slowly whilst trembling.

'WHAT?! Was that a side effect to the Spell?! Not like I mind, but it would have been nice to know…'

'{... Lets just say the original user of this Spell had a bit of a perv nature on par with Azazel and leave it at that.}'

There were SO many things that he wanted to say to that, but Vali kept his composure and took multiple deep breaths to calm himself. No matter how the Spell worked, they still had a job to do, so Vali opted to get everyone back on track as he proceeded to walk forwards. "Alright, enough with the conversation. you two. I want to get the hell out of here as soon as possible."

'Me too, boy. Alright, if you want to get out of here then you need to destroy that core in front of you.'

Upon hearing her say that, Vali looked in front of him to see a giant pearl like object, one that was glowing with Magic. That would mean that it had to be the one absorbing all the Magic, he could tell this because he could somewhat feel it trying to tug away at his own… quite greedily too, like some kind of beast trying to furiously rip some meat that wouldn't come off it's carcas.

'Now that I think about it, I can put my earlier theory to the test…' Vali thought to himself as he raised his hand to try and form a Mana Sword. His intent was to see if the orb could truly suppress his Magic or not once and for all, since he could feel it but the tugging didn't seem to affect his Demonic Power reserves. After a couple seconds, Vali managed to form his Mana Sword over his right hand whilst the left remained in his coat pocket, and the boy then held it out towards the Orb. Whilst he managed to noticed minimal vibrations around the sword, nothing else really happened, proving to him that his Demonic Power wasn't something that could be affected by this. 'Heh, well I'm glad for that… It likely helps that my Slime Suit is controlled by my Demonic Power and is likely influenced by it, hence why I'm easily able to maintain its shape…' the boy mused mentally, proceeding to walk on forwards to cut the orb down. "Huh sounds simple enough alright let's get the fuck out of here."

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere boy."

���!?" However, when he heard a female voice that he did NOT know about, Vali's instincts went into overdrive as he hopped back from the orb, reflexively dismissing the MS in case the voice hadn't seen it and thus, hadn't figured out his advantage yet. One he halted all movement, Vali began to look around for the voice's owner, his blue eyes scanning his surroundings like an ID Scanner. "Who!? Show yourself!" he yelled out into the surroundings.

"As you wish."

Upon hearing his words, the voice's owner seemingly decided to agree to his order, which admittingly would make things quicker so Vali wouldn't complain. Still, from the space in front of him, a vortex began to form, like the space there was being literally TWISTED inwards like some kind of whirlpool. From it, a figure slowly floated on through to fully reveal themselves to Vali.It turned out to be a woman, something which Vali rolled his eyes at, but the rest of the details about her caught his attention.

She appeared to be almost nude in appearance, clad in a VERY revealing/barely-little attire in total. The outfit somewhat resembled a two-piece black and dark pink mechanical bikini, one which barely covered her crotch area whilst only covering the tips of her boobs. Furthermore, the piece looked to be connected by straps that ran up her sides, with some kind of cross-shaped piece going around her neck and down her torso between her boobs. Her arms from the biceps to her hands looked to be covered by dark coloured gloves though, with thigh high stockings on her legs that ended in armoured, heeled boots. Attached to her shoulders and hips were some mechanical orb-like devices that had dark coloured knightly shoulder pads attached to them, whilst similar devices floated beside her feet. In addition, floating atop her head looked to be one HELL of a wicked halo-like construct, with spiked ribbons holding her hair into two ponytails. From her back, protruded two large wing-like constructs with pink blade-like feathers protruding from each one, similar to Vali's Divine Dividing actually.

As he absorbed these details and had gotten into a cautious battle stance, the woman seemed to be evaluating him as well by the way she looked at him up and down. She then spoke, her lipstick-covered lips oozing with seductive yet sinister undertones. "My I should've expected that you wouldn't have been trapped or killed by this Sanctuary." she remarked, her lone yellowish eye (the other one covered by an eyepatch) filled with contempt.

".... so, it was you who pulled me here. Let me guess, somehow you hijacked this whole thing whilst the CPUs were on their high horses being lazy fuckers, in order to activate and trap me here." Vali questioned, narrowing his eyes at her whilst making sure to not miss a single detail about her bodily movements. Mostly to prepare for any incoming sneak attacks the woman may look his way.

One thing he felt annoyed by was how she simply nodded like what he had just described was simply the state of the weather to her. "Indeed I did, boy. Looks like the rumors about you weren't all talk, like your reputation as the so-called 'unbeatable prince' as they say."

Now absolutely done with all this shit, Vali slowly inched forwards as a faint silver glow started to form over his eyes. "Who the fuck are you woman? Why did you even drag me to this place?" he demanded, thinking that since this woman had been in a divulgatory mood, he shouldn't waste the opportunity.

Cockiness was always so sweet to beat, after all.

"Hmmm... I suppose that it doesn't change anything at this point. Very well, shall indulge you: my name is CFW Magic, the follower of the Deity of Sin." The now named 'Magic' (bit of an arrogant statement to name oneself after the very definition of this world's power system, Vali had noticed) declared, performing a mock courtesy before him like she was mocking Leanbox's customs.

However, one detail she'd mentioned piqued the boy's interest more than that stuff. "Deity of Sin...?" he whispered under his breath, wondering what that name was about.

"Oh no! Not her can't it not be her!"

Unaware of the words made by the woman inside his mind, the woman known as CFW Magic smiled like a psychopath. "And the reason why I dragged you here, simply because you are a threat to our plans."

"A threat, huh? How can I be threa-..... Ah, that's right. Zenon." Vali began to say, before it clicked in his mind and the boy got the urge to face palm.

He didn't follow up on it.

Magic nodded, her smile widening into a grin as she looked the boy up and down licking her lips in a sensual manner at the end. Though he would NOT admit it, Vali would rather have gone back to Gamicademi and been around the students there than endure HER looking at him like he was nothing but a slab of meat. "Correct unbeatable prince, you see not only you were trying to discover our existence and uncovered some knowledge, but we have to get rid of you because of that Variant mana you have, the one that is not effective in this Sanctuary. Now then, I, the faithful follower of the Deity of Sin, shall execute you!"

The woman named Magic then proceeded to throw her arm to the side, a flash of black and pink energy erupting forth from it. It formed a shaft, then a blade, until she finally held a rather large Scythe, one which looked quite fitting for the colour scheme she had going for her. With her Scythe in hand, she then pointed her weapon at Vali, who rolled his eyes at her without much of a care.

'Tch, looks like she already knew about my Demonic Power being unaffected by this place…' Vali thought to himself, all whilst smirking like a delinquent. "Let's see if you can try, woman. Because I'll be frank: all the others were weak so let's hope you can provide a challenge for me." Vali declared as he flexed his fingers before summoned two MSs, pointing the right one at her…

Before his form abruptly vanished.

Instinctively, Magic rapidly ascended, avoiding a reverse horizontal slash launched at her from behind that would have cut her head off if it had landed. However, she twirled into a roundhouse kick that Vali blocked with one MS, but the force behind it sent him sliding backwards slightly. 'Looks like she has SOME force behind her blows…' Vali thought as he quickly activated his Mana Skin along with his Mana Zone.

Once his form became cloaked in these abilities, the boy quickly dashed forwards as Magic spun her Scythe, launching several slashes from below and chaining them together as if her weapon was a wheel. Vali however, side stepped each one and used his MS's to parry the rest, pushing them away from him before he swung downwards with his left MS, Magic parrying it before he thrusted the right one towards her face. One which she bent her head back to avoid before swinging her Scythe in a reverse horizontal manner. Vali dodged this by ducking under the swing then performed two upward slashes that the woman strafed backwards to dodge, then raised her Scythe to use it's back edge to block the MS's from hitting her with their follow-up overhead smash.

BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT!

The sound of electrical energy sparkts resonated between them as sparks flew forth into their surroundings from the points of collision. This only lasted a couple seconds though, as Vali planted both feet onto the Scythe's back edge to launch himself away from her, twisting so he was upside down yet facing her whilst dismissing his left MS to fire an MR at her face. Though, he put more Demonic Power into it which resulted in the ray being bigger. At least big enough to envelop an entire person whole. 'Let's see how she handles THIS one…' Vali thought to himself, dismissing his right MS to plant the freed hand onto the ground to do a handstand.

Seconds later though, he felt something hitting his MR and dismissed it, looking to find that Magic had thrown her own hand forwards and had erected a pink coloured barrier made from her own energy to block his attack. Something which caused Vali's eyes to narrow behind his Domino Mask whilst flipping back onto his feet as Magic smirked playfully at him. "Is that all?" she asked mockingly.

WHAM!

"?!"

The following second, Vali had instantly closed the distance between them and smacked her right in the chest with a shoulder tackle, knocking the air out of her and sending Magic to the ground.

"Of course not…"

Not intending to let her fall, Vali grabbed her extended arm, yanked her back before stepping to the left, wrapping the same arm that had grabbed her earlier around the back of her head in order to hold her steady for the following pounding. "I'll simply BAM! Knock BAM! You BAM! Down BAM! On BAM! Your BAM! Ass BAM! And BAM! Take BAM! My BAM! Sweet BAM! Time BAM! With BAM! The BAM! Final BAM! Blow BAM!" Whilst he spoke, Vali had repeatedly rammed his knee into her torso which, combined with the improvements of his Mana Skin, did a number on Magic's chest as she struggled to catch her breath and escape the boy's surprisingly tough grip.

Eventually, she found an opening between the strikes as small as it had been, and flexed her hand. This caused her Scythe, which had been dropped from the shoulder tackle, to appear in her hand so she could stab at him with the reverse end of it's shaft, though Vali managed to separate from her in time to dodge it…

WHAM!

… Right before Magic launched a roundhouse kick into the side of his head, sending him flying through the air and bouncing across the ground like a rock being skimmed across an ocean.

"Not a bad set of knees to the chest, I will say…" the pink haired woman began, smirking as she wiped her mouth clean of saliva and blood with the back of her hand before she gripped her Scythe in both and proceeded to fly forwards. "But 'not bad' simply won't cut it, boy!" She declared, closing the distance between them and swinging her Scythe multiple times to try and cut off each of his limbs before going for the final blow.

However, fortune favoured Vali as he managed to recover quick enough to manipulate the coattails of his Slime Suit getup, hardening them and launching them into the path of each strike like they were living Tentacles. The male then jumped forwards, launching a series of punches and kicks such as: Jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts, mixed in with front kicks, roundhouse kicks, back kicks, scissor kicks, axe kicks and knee strikes, all chained together like he were some expert martial artist. Each blow being delivered with the precision and strength of a bullet train slamming into something at full speed…

So it came to a surprise for him, when he saw how the woman tossed her Scythe into the air and began parrying his blows by mirroring them with her own, countering them at every turn without fail.

By the time the last blow struck, Magic used it's momentum to twirl herself around a full 360 degrees, nearly striking Vali with the blades on her wings had he not moved his head to avoid them. Mid turn however, she managed to catch her falling Scythe behind her, then she spun into a diagonal slash that would have sliced clean through any normal human had Vali not blocked with a quick MS deployment, resulting in a brief deadlock between them before he then formed a second one to thrust at her face. Shame for him that she had anticipated this and simply thwacked it away with her scythe, thrusted it's back edge into his gut to bend him over then spun into a reverse backhanding motion that was aimed at Vali's face. The boy crossed both MSs and slid backwards when the woman's blow connected, sliding till he had reached about 8 meters or so before lowering his blades and… wound up smirking at her, much to Magic's confusion. "Why are you smiling, boy?"

"Look at your Scythe." Was his simple answer.

She did, and when she did so her eyes widened when she saw a whole line of silver Spheres draped across her Scythe's backedge like they were some kind of cloak. Spheres which were seconds away from detonating like bombs. 'What!? When did he…?!' The last image she had in her mind before being engulfed in silver explosions was that of their prior deadlock earlier. 'That's when…!'

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The area soon got promptly covered in smoke when Vali activated his trap on that girl Magic. Though as the smoke lingered around the area, Vali's eyes narrowed as he wondered if he had caught the target he had intended.

As soon as the smoke cleared out there on the ground lies the arrogant girl Magic on the floor, defeated and wounded. Vali walked to her and saw that her eyes went white which means that she is unconscious for now. Vali then walked away from her, leaving her there so she can be trapped forever in this prison...

But it turned out her voice echoed through the halls.

"My my, so you are strong."

"Wha?! You! How are you not defeated!!"

"Mhmhmhmhmhm why you did defeat me but not the real me. It's a clone that has little of my power."

Vali turned his back and saw the girls body, one that began turning into light particles and disappearing like she was never there.

"Why don't you face me proper instead of hiding like a coward you are?!"

"Oh I would love to kill you, but instead you will be trapped here forever, unable to hinder us any further. Oh, and I made sure that you won't get out, including your friends and that CPU as well."

"What did you do to them, you bitch?! ANSWER ME!!"

"You'll know soon enough, that is if you're still alive."

"YOU THINK THIS WILL HOLD ME BITCH?! WAIT UNTIL I GET OUT OF HERE, SO THAT I CAN MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CORPSE WILL BE A FEEDING PLACE FOR MONSTERS!!"

"I think I've talked with you too much, now if you'll excuse me I have to do stuff for my Goddess, so tata... oh! And before I forget, here is a little present for defeating my clone, let's see if you still have anything to fight for."

With that said a screen was projected in front of him, it was static before it became a clear screen as Vali had his eyes into dots as he saw what happened outside of the gate.

"No... please no."

What he sees instead of a glorious city of Eden... it was now a completely different place from what it had once been.

The place now looked to be a dark landmass littered with defunct objects such as old pieces of gaming consoles and technology. The sky now radiated a grim dark aura, paired with dark roaring thunderclouds and lightning. Yellow liquid flowed through some places in the burning city. Large pipes were scattered everywhere, sticking in and out of the ground, eventually branching in the middle. Everywhere he looked, Vali saw areas that were filled with television screens, a noticeable lone tower standing out in the middle of the whole continent where the large pipes branched off.

One could hardly recognize the city as it had once been, for the snake had successfully corrupted it after defiling Adam and Eve. Worse still though, was the fact that what remained of the city looked to be both burning as well as being in the middle of some kind of transformation thanks to the pipes moving throughout the buildings like they were living Tentacles. Worse, was that Vali saw countless bodies sprawled unceremoniously across the ground like they were yesterday's garbage. Some of them were left wholly intact for the most part… and they were the lucky ones. Arms, legs, torsos, heads, hands, all sorts of different body parts could be seen scattered across the city the more that Vali watched the screen. He also made out a couple of nobles trying to run away with their tails between their legs, but got caught by some huge monster, promptly getting eaten alive in the messiest, most savage manner possible.

One time, Vali even witnessed a frantic-looking Reinhard fighting like it was the last day of his life, doing what he could for the goal of protecting civilians while escorting them to safety, the red haired woman beside him likely being Iris who directed a bunch of Knights with the charisma any respectable leader would have.

He even saw a brief few images of Zora getting eaten alive by a bunch of monsters, though he did not care about her death. She deserved it, as far as he was concerned.

However, he couldn't focus on his newfound freedom from that bitch as the most suitable thing that made Vali mind go blank got shown: the teacher of Gaminacademi that never was afraid, never scared of him, and was always there for him. He was the first person to ever care for him like his father at that damn school, having taught him much about the school, the regulations, and the stuff he needed. He was like a second father to him to the point he listened to the class, paid attention to him, and never tried to ruin his reputation because of him. Now, there he was, lying down to the ground with a peaceful smile on his face, as behind him an utterly stupefied Vali saw a family running away in tears, making the boy realize that he had sacrificed himself, thinking that his actions would give them time to run away from the monsters that had begun a vicious rampage.

Truly he was...…. A gentleman, even in death he was still one.

Vali was about to lose it as he still had a rational mind but the next one revealed to him that his eyes turned that he lost his pupils and made him be on his knees... he saw his mother in Alexia's arms. It looked like the base of her Tail had a set of bug-like wings on it which weren't there before, but that wasn't important to him. What WAS important to him, was that he could see that his mother had multiple fatal wounds, with Alexia not looking too good herself. Now, he found himself at his breaking point at the thought of losing his mother, the one who he'd strove so hard to make sure had the happy life she deserved with his father.

'Mother… is hurt… the old man… is dead… everyone… is nearly dead…'

BA-BUMP!

The feelings of guilt, shame, sadness, and most importantly RAGE, roared within him at the sight of his precious mother being reduced to such a state, so much so that it reached a point to where something inside of him began to crack, before it repeatedly cracked like chains being broken.

BA-BUMP!

His aura began to glow around him as he began to stand up, hanging his head so the shadows of his hood and hair concealed his eyes and the majority of his Mask. Not only that, but his lower lip trembled constantly as his arms hung in front of him, idly trembling from the emotion coursing through his veins. Emotions which soared to heights that even surpassed the times when nobles insulted his family in front of him, before Divine Dividing got summoned onto his back.

But… this was no normal summoning. One could IMMEDIATELY tell this due to how the blue feathers began to glow with an ever-increasing brightness, the jewels doing the same as the aura around Vali intensified in response to his emotions. Watching all this from deep within his mindscape, Albion spoke with a foreboding tone to his words.

'{..... What a mess indeed, truly that girl Magic... will face her doom soon.}'

'What is happening Albion?! What is going on with Vali?!'

The two voices in his head talked to one another as the state Vali found himself in got increasingly intense as the seconds passed. Even as his eyes remained concealed by darkness, they both began to glow alongside the rest of his body until they showed a pair of completely silver eyes.

'{In all of my time, never this has happened before. Especially when a family member dies, but this.... Truly exceeds my expectation on how many people he cared about so much.}'

"There is so much magic that not even the Sanctuary is absorbing it! WHAT IS HAPPENING DRAGON?!"

��{What you are about to see is the awakening of a person who has achieved the highest power of a Sacred Gear. It happens when one satisfies specific conditions related to themselves, and when they do they 'peak'. They gain the power to unleash...… the Balance Breaker.}"

As soon as Albion said this, Vali then pulled his head back and unleashed a scream, a scream so loud that it practically shook the entire Sanctuary to it's core.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

His body's glow now completely shielded him from prying eyes at this point, pretty much making him look like a silver star, before Albions words echoed through the halls.

"{VANISHING DRAGON: BALANCE BREAKER! SCALE MAIL!}"

From the moment the Dragon's voice finished these words, things started to happen to Vali. Pure silverish white Armor started to appear over his legs, then his chest, arms and his head. In the end, his whole body became encased in this Armour, which made him look considerably bulkier like some kind of professional bodybuilder, with the Divine Dividing wings looking slightly larger than when Vali wasn't wearing this Armour. Protruding from his upper back was a long, almost skeletal-looking Tail which had an arrowhead-like tip, one which whipped the ground behind him strong enough to leave a large ass crater behind it.

Once it was complete Vali, in his blind fury, did not stop there as he began to point his hand at the core of the Sanctuary as Albion began to speak.

"{DIVIDE!DIVIDE!DIVIDE!DIVIDE!DIVIDE!DIVIDE!DIVIDE!DIVIDE!DIVIDE!}

The core began to lose its power as it grows weaker and weaker as Vali pulled back his arm filling up with the energy that he stole from the sanctuary as he thrust his hand with a giant MR at the Sanctuary.

BOOOM!

Meanwhile, back with the girls things didn't look too good as the more the fight had dragged on, the worse their situation had become. The thing was, their Magic had been constantly drained away by the Sanctuary according to that female���s voice, which had gradually started impacting their performance, which resulted in the members of Shadow Garden being unable to fully maintain their Slime Suits over their entire bodies. They had to keep them as two-piece bikini-like outfits for SOME protection, but that drastically weakened their defences against the massive robot's attacks. Even now, Alpha and the others had various wounds across their bodies, with Gamma and Beta having been knocked unconscious early into the battle. Olivia had been doing her best to heal their wounds, but thanks to the Magic in them being drained she could hardly do much.

"HAHAHAHA YOU ALL TOO WEAK NOW FACE EXTIN-WHAT WHATS GOING ON!"

Just as the robot was about to make his move, the Sanctuary began to shake as the girls tried to stay standing, although thanks to their injuries this ended up in vain for a few of them: Emilia, Olivia, Angelica and Epsilon being those girls whilst the rest stayed upright.

"What's happening to this place?!"

"I don���t know, but this doesn't look good!"

"Ah come the NEP on! I wanted to have a battle scene in my part!"

"Wait, look guys over there!"

Yet, even under the state she had found herself in, Epsilon noticed something out the corner of her eyes, and pointed at something that was by the columns. When the girls looked to where she had been pointing, they saw how what looked like a pure white tear in the air itself that appeared big enough for a person to fit.

"Huh?! what is that?!"

"How am I supposed to know, guys!"

"Looks like an exit for us girls, so come on! Delta grab Gamma and Beta and let's go!"

"Delta's got it!"

"OH NO YOU DON'T! YOU WON'T ESCAPE FROM ME-GAAHH!"

As the girls still had enough energy to run from the collapsing earthquake, and with Delta grabbing Gamma and Beta in her arms, they wasted no time hightailing it out of there. Seeing this, the robot did his best to try and stop them, before he could hurl his Axe and decapitate them, a piece of debris fell from above and hit his head long enough for them to escape this place.

Once they entered the tear, they all stopped on the opposite side, the Tear closing up behind them. Now that they were on the other side, the girls took a few moments to catch their breaths, heaving and heavy gasps resounding through the air. Afterwards, Delta let the two unconscious people down onto the ground whilst the rest of them looked around to see where they were… though when they did, their eyes shrunk to the size of dots.

"Is this….?"

"Please don't be what I think it is…."

"Please….."

"No NEPPING way….. Why does this have to be such a realistic story?"

Each of them became witness to the sight of the transformed Eden, looking absolutely NOTHING like the bustling paradise like they had remembered. It all looked more like a hellish nightmare generated by the forces of the underworld itself, with the sounds of burning flames, screaming civilians and loud monster roars constantly filling the air. Heck, the sight before them even made NEPTUNE of all people become paler than a ghost as her protagonist powers told her EXACTLY what kind of story she would be partaking in.

Not one she was used to, considering what Gamindustri was usually about.

BOOM!

Upon hearing something crash behind them, the girls quickly reacted, quickly turning behind them with their swords drawn and ready to fight against some mystery attacker. However, when they looked at the new arrival, they became stunned upon seeing an armored warrior crashing down on top of a monster that was about to sneak attack them. The warrior quickly got covered in blood from the monster that it had punched through the top of the head, making the girls grow considerably weary. Understandable since none of them would be at 100% right now so any attacks from THIS thing likely wouldn't end well for them. However, when they saw a familiar pair of wings behind it, their brains brought back images of the only person who possessed such Wings.

As stunned as she had been, Alpha still managed to muster up the courage to speak, having instinctively sensed something having gone horribly wrong.

"..... Vali?"

The armored warrior, in response to those words, pulled his head back and unleashed another scream.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"