"My my, I keep saying it but I wouldst have never imagined the same woman who tried to killeth me would be taking a pounding from me with such obedience."

I talk to Lust in an imperious hum as she's prostrated beneath my swinging hips. Her lusciously curved ass is raised high and aimed in my direction, her plump little body is squirming and shaking blissfully on top of the bed as I thrust my cock deep inside her while in my goddess form, and she is gripping the linens of my bed with vigor while feebly sending her moans into the mattress.

"Y-Yes, Mistress..." she manages to sound out once she lifts her head seconds after I address her. The title of "Mistress" charges me with excitement.

Leaning in close while I prolong my thrusts, I whisper sweet nothings in her ear, my full, heavy breasts resting on her back and providing that additional stimulation that I saw she needed.

We've been at it for a couple of minutes so far, nearing close to an hour if I could keep this up. Plutes had fallen asleep downstairs with the babies when I went to check on her and, since Lady Histoire didn't seem to have any work for me since she never gave me a call, I decided that I would play with Lust since I never got the chance until now.

It's been about two weeks since Lust agreed to become my toy and things have been great since. In the beginning, having Lust around while I slept did not sit well with me but she never once tried to do anything like kill me. We've gotten to the point that, when I allow her to, she sometimes even sleeps in the same bed as Plutes and I. She's up for anything and is always ready to please me whenever I demand her to. I've been able to amuse myself with her body without needing to restrain myself since she even lets me do whatever she wants to her. She takes anything I can dish out. While she's being submissive now, she isn't always like that.

There are times when she'll be the one to coax me into having sex with her and I'll let her indulge in that desire. Rather than a pet or toy, she's more of a domesticated sex partner who's happy to be under my thumb. But I'm fine with that.

Once Ilesa, Blanc, and Noire find out though... that might become troublesome. I'm not exactly trying to give them the image that I'm a promiscuous woman, even I want to just be in a happy relationship with one person as opposed to a harem. But when you're me, these sorts of things happen and it's better to just go with the flow than resist.

Ah, I'm proud of myself for having learned so much. Though now I wonder if I can take her back with me to Hyper Dimension.

Gripping her ass and pulling it right up against me, I grunt loudly and my entire body tenses as my balls compact. For the ninth time, blast after blast of my bulky load spews into Lust's womb, supplementing every load I shot in her in the minutes before. Like every other time I cum inside her unannounced, the demoness convulses beneath me and lets out a stifled wail as yet another orgasm wracks her body.

We stay connected in a sweaty embrace for a moment longer. Lust lays on the bed shivering, the after-shocks proceeding to give her smaller orgasms. My cum seeps out of her well-fucked pussy in fat globs that pool between her legs, soiling the mattress. I'm sure Lady Histoire won't mind cleaning that up for me. If not her, then Lust can do it herself. I'm sure she's been through enough of these kinds of sessions to know how to clean after herself.

Like every other time I've made her cum, Lust unconsciously releases a black orb from her body. It's the same orb that she used to erase her previous victims after pleasuring herself with them but now that she isn't involved in that sort of practice anymore, she simply unleashes it as in instinctual reaction to show that she came. How cute.

Once it disappears, I pat her head, break my HDD, and redress myself, my fatigue subdued as I head out the room. Before I'm out the door, I face the spasming succubus with a smile and flash her a thumbs up.

"Th'was fun. Let's do this tomorrow morning too."

I've said that every day to her for the past eight days and each time I got the same incoherent response. It's not a "no" though~

「NOW LOADING」

And just like that, my morning continues. What happens between Lust and I stays between Lust and I. For the rest of the day, I function normally as if she was never even there to begin with. That's the beauty of having an outlet to relieve stress. Everyone gets a happy Rouge and I get to feel liberated. It's like a win-win for all involved.

Every day with Lust around for me in the morning has been a great one. It's like she's some sort of good luck charm or something. After each morning spent playing with her, Plutes and I have a lot of fun taking care of the babies and hanging out together. We haven't seen Ilesa, Noire, or Blanc since the day I came back to get my wounds treated but I'm sure they've just been swamped by paperwork or something. It's not like we can't have fun without them though. Plutes has been enjoying my company and me hers.

Time for another great day to pass.

"Rouge, it is good to see you. I was just about to go to your room." Lady Histoire flies up to me the moment I enter the living room. I momentarily look past the tiny Tome to see that Plutes is already awake and playing with the kids, balancing the blonde girl in her lap while the brunette draws on the floor.

"Good morning, Lady Histoire." I throw a hand on my hip and smile. "What'd you need?"

"It's terrible news," she says. "Something akin to a declaration of war has been imparted to all four nations by an island-nation called Leanbox."

"Haaah?!"

So much for another great day.

Histoire explained to me what exactly had happened while I was disconnected from political affairs and fueled the irritation that had been building in me from the start. I was initially livid at Vert and her betrayal. From how things sounded, it made her look like she used me as a power source just to push her agenda. Then I found out that rather than a combative war, Vert had simply declared a war of consoles. Although such is important, it's not something that I can see Plutes, Noire, Blanc, or even Ilesa taking too seriously.

After Lady Histoire clarified all misunderstandings, I leave the Basilicom to get to Leanbox and confront Vert about this whole thing. The sight of the clear blue skies reminds me of home once again. It's something I don't dwell on for long and soon, my mind is employed by this proclamation of battle Vert felt she had to send to every nation in Gamindustri.

Console-related matters have been pushed to the side in regards to national proceedings as far as I'm aware of. I'm not quite sure for how long but it's seemingly been this way since I arrived in this dimension. Every CPU has her sights focused on either gathering Shares or dealing with the growing problem of the Seven Sages. A competition to see who can produce the best console is a trivial matter when compared to those things and sounds more like something the CPUs of my dimension would come up with.

No offense, guys.

Still, I can't help but feel like Vert is wasting that power-up I gave her. This is unquestionably better than her abusing her strength increase to lay waste to every other nation in bloody combat, but I'm sure there are better things for her to do than flaunt a measly console in a time of strife like what we're all going through right now.

I'm sure Blanc feels the least bit intimidated by this report, Ilesa probably doesn't care like always, and Noire will likely acknowledge Vert's declaration of war as no more than a diminutive blip on her radar.

Though now that I'm thinking about Noire... something is resurfacing in my memory about her confrontation with Vert back when Blanc was still our enemy. It's something that, if I forgot, I know I would regret it. Yet as I try to remember just what it was...

A well-manicured finger points itself right in front of my face as I face the rolling pastures of Planeptune, obstructing that memory from completely coming back to me. I look up and see it's Noire standing there with her other hand pushed on her hip. The two of us haven't seen each other in weeks so I suspected some sort of affectionate greeting from her.

But no. She instead has this incriminating expression on her face that I pray I'm not the to-be victim of being on the wrong side of. No matter what she is about to throw at me, I know for a fact that I'm blameless.

"Rouge. Leanbox. CPU. Explain now."

I attempt to disguise my confusion with a wry smile. I know that she truly has no one else to give her an explanation since I was the one who made Vert seem like such a good person, but did she have to come to me first?

"Hey, Noire... I, like, missed you too..."

She replies with a grunt and that incriminating look roughens into a scowl ferocious enough to frighten quite a bit of honesty out of me. Now I know I'm in hot water.

"R-Right, right... I'm sorry. I had no idea she was a CPU until recently..." I explain, deciding that prolonging this will probably just make things worse for me. "As you may recall, her name is Vert. She's a very smart woman, sisterly, somehow got a CPU Memory, and holds an advantage over all of us that we can not even hope of overcoming."

"Hmph. Speak for yourself, you useless goddess," the twin-tailed goddess scoffed, her arms crossed. "There is nothing this half-baked CPU possesses that I can't exceed."

In comparison to Ilesa, Plutia, and Blanc, Noire is relatively new as a goddess. It's strange to hear her describe another CPU as half-baked but I suppose she has the right to make that call considering she elevated her nation to the top in such a short time.

"'M glad you have so much pride in your chest, Noire... but even you lose when compared to Vert. Don't even get me started on her HDD."

It seems I strike a nerve and Noire ends up so flustered that she can't immediately respond to me.

"Y-You idiot! Who cares about stupid chest size?! That has nothing to do with advancement!" She quickly snaps at me in a trembling voice in spite of it being her haughtiness that embarrassed her, not me. "You just tried to get me to admit to something embarrassing and I want to hack your arms off for it!"

"No, no, no." I wave off her accusations. "I was trying to be helpful. Please forgive me."

That's all it takes the ravenette retracts her threat with folded arms. "I guess I can forgive you... just this once."

"Never change, Noire."

There's some sort of inclination that tells me to pat her head and praise her for being so forgiving but I hold back on it for my good. I don't want her head getting too big now. Hearing her brag isn't what I came outside to hear in the first place.

"You know..." I start, my smile withering as I look for the words to express myself. "We should all get together to deal with this Leanbox situation. Combat or not, this could disrupt how our Shares have been flowing. I won't be able to get home if she ends up stealing too much."

"I know. It was a thought that crossed my mind when I first heard the news and I knew I had to act immediately."

This is supposed to be a serious conversation now that we got the humor out the way but the mile-wide smirk growing on my face at her words disregards the somberness of our talk. She hasn't seemed to realize what she was implying as she said that and, to save from teasing her again, I let it pass.

Still, when she acts like this it's not good for my heart.

"Thanks. Was hoping I could get everyone to come along but just the two of us sounds nice, eh?"

"I guess... Looks like we have no other choice."

Before we even get the chance to take our first step in the direction of Leanbox, a familiar demon in a cocktail dress materializes between the two of us. Both Noire and I instinctively push each other apart from how close we were walking at the sudden, somewhat intrusive, appearance of my loyal little companion.

"L-Lust!"

"What did you say?! Who is this?!"

Lust's gaze changes to Noire and the demoness analyzes the CPU with that perpetually bland expression I had grown so used to.

"I heard everything. I am Zechia Lustrania," she says monotonously and quickly latches onto my arm, embracing it in the valley of her cleavage. Now that I'm getting a feel like this maybe she does rival Vert. Maybe she even surpasses her? "But my dearest Mistress calls me Lust. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Noire."

It looks like not even someone as unyielding and arrogant as Noire can ignore Lust's impassive yet tempting gestures. Her jaw dropped and the look of unsettlement spread all across her little pale face. A shaky finger aims itself in our direction but Lust appears unfazed by it. Yet in the time that I've known Noire, both Noires I mean, I know that this could only spell out more conflict than it can resolve.

Rallying her breath, she yells loud enough for all of Gamindustri to tremble under the power of her voice.

"EXPLAIN YOURSELVES!"

...Lust and Noire both ended up accompanying me on my trip to Leanbox despite my protests. So much for wanting to go alone.

「NOW LOADING」

"Jeez, they're still ringing..." I sigh as I walk down the stairs fronting the entrance Leanbox's Basilicom with my hands clamped over my ears.

Just as I had suspected, Noire and Vert got into an argument of sorts that only got louder the more stubborn each of them became. It was a very pointless argument, something that had no point and could have been avoided if the two just let things go.

Vert passionately promoted her 'superior' console while Noire opposed her claims with disinterest. But for some reason, Vert's claims got under Noire's skin and the two bickered over who's console was the best.

"Who does she think she is?!" Noire starts as she and Lust follow after me. "As if coming here wasn't a waste of time already!"

"Agreed," Lust adds.

"You know..." I look her way while we walk down the streets of the capital. "...You two didn't have to come here. This was supposed to be between Vert and me."

"I could not let you deal with someone that dangerous on your own, Mistress."

Dangerous?

"W-Well... I just had to voice my complaints too, you know?"

"Then you're no better than Blanc..."

Jeez, things are tougher than they were back in my dimension. At least everyone was somewhat friendly with one another. Building a collapsed bridge between moody goddesses is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Maybe I should just give up and find Shares another way. The faster I get home, the better now that I have a feeling that gathering the people's faith is going to become more of a challenge the longer I stay here.

Every day a new nation seems to pop up and that just creates more competition.

But then again, leaving so soon isn't something I can do. Peashy is still roaming about and I have to bring back her to Plutes before I can even think of going back home.

Peashy... that absolute monster...

"No better than me? What's that supposed to mean, Rouge?"

Raising my hung head, Blanc stands right in front of me with Ilesa standing behind her. Seeing them is enough to purge my thoughts about my battle with Peashy but it still looks like I'll have to protect myself in case either one of them charge me because of what I said.

"Blanc! Ilesa! It's so good to see you! What are y'all doing here?"

"Ignoring whatever you said," Blanc sighs. "We arrived just a few minutes ago to talk to this Leanbox CPU about this war rubbish."

"Don't even bother. It's like talking to a thousand walls," said Noire in a harrumph. She must still be irked by our visit.

"A very busty wall," My amusement is expressed in a snicker. Noire promptly rolls her eyes.

My blood runs cold when Blanc lifts a quivering fist to her inferior chest. "...'Busty'?"

"W-Well... I guess we're done. We can all go home now."

I should stop this before it starts. Blanc is fine just the way she is after all.

"Agreed. I'd rather not spend another minute in this fluke of a nation."

"You can be a little nicer about it, Noire..." It's like her words are attacking me directly despite Leanbox not being my home.

Without some kind of warning, an earsplitting shriek erupted into the morning sky and served as a prelude to the cluttered sounds of hundreds of people running toward us.

"What is going on?" Ilesa was the first of us to notice the flock of people hightailing it in our direction.

All of them are citizens of Leanbox and practically tumble over one another as they struggle for safety in the city. A few of them bump into my shoulders as they rush by, not sparing a second to apologize or even glance back to see who or what they ran into. Their screams and sounds of dread answered the sounds of explosions coming from all around the capital and woke caution in me and as I looked around for what could be the source of such calamity, my eyes quickly find the perpetrators.

"Take that!" the mature voice roars while still able to sustain a mesmerizing tone. "I'll crush everything here!"

"Arfoire!"

"Arfoire...?" Lust's voice wavered.

"Well done, dear friend!" Another voice follows the first, this one masculine and full of power. "I'll have to try even harder to keep up with you!"

"Oh no! Not him again!" I cry, recognizing that bulk to be none other than Copypaste. I still have flashbacks to when he attacked Noire's factory and my ears with his horrendous voice. Although he seems to have mellowed out a bit compared to last time.

"Shut up!" Arfoire snaps.

Maybe he's made a friend? It doesn't make sense because he exploded back when we faced him.

"Heavens, whatever might this comedy routine be?" A third voice now enters the fray. "For my city to fall under such absurd circumstances..."

Landing right beside me is Vert in her goddess form. This Vert somehow manages to expose even more of that plump skin of hers than the one from my dimension. And I thought her processor was cutting it close. It's not a stretch to say that Green Heart's bodysuit is more of a limb suit as it covers it more than anything bodily. Two thin, metallic black strips clamp over her breasts just enough to hide her nipples while the rest of her mammaries and stomach are left presented to be ogled at by yours truly, and at her hips are... a garment similar to underwear? A real feast for the eyes, enemy and ally alike.

All eyes except Blanc's, which are being shielded courtesy of Ilesa.

"You again!"

"Oh... Noire was it? Why do you sound so astonished to see me in my nation?"

A croak and the ravenette is silenced as quickly as she was irked.

"Someone's pretty jumpy..." Blanc teases.

"Save the bickerin' for later. For now, we share a common and you know how the sayin' goes." I interrupt them before we get pulled into this comedy routine too. I transform and deliver a few test swings with my chain blade. "The foe of mine foe is mine cousin!"

"A little too archaic but yes." Ilesa transforms next and Blanc and Noire follow suit. "If you girls are familiar with these two then beating them should be no chore in our increased numbers."

"No chore at all. Sweet green, I assume you don't mind if we assist you?"

"While it would be favored that I handle things on my own, I shall not turn away from any help. Just make sure to save the finishing blow for me." Green Heart points the head of her spear in the face of our enemies. "After all, they shall reimburse me immediately with their blood."

「VERT HAS JOINED YOUR PARTY」

Nice.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!" yells Copypaste, much to my annoyance. "To live up to my dear friend's expectations, I won't lose!"

And with another powerful roar from both, we engage. I hold no grudge against Arfoire that comes close to the problems I have with Copypaste so he takes the full brunt of my ire. Supporting me in my attack are Turquoise Heart and Lust while Black Heart, White Heart, and Green Heart battle Arfoire elsewhere in the city.

The bulk of his arms rise high above his head, blocking the sun and casting an intimidating shadow over the three of us as we prepare for this oncoming attack. They come down in a double-ax handle that is delivered rather fast for someone of his size. Though it is not too fast for either of us to react to as we each evade the blow that cracks the ground like its nothing, Lust reeling her body back while Turquoise and I soar from the ground toward his head. The CPU of the Ileshnian Konigreich provides cover for me with her bow and arrows as I rush in toward the metallic foe's to land the first blow with my sword, it crackled with electricity thanks.

"HORNET BLADE!"

I lunge the sword at his head with all my might. A strike of jagged lightning strikes the center of Copypaste's face, already breaking his guard. From below, Lust seizes the opportunity and releases her tentacles. They jet forward and bash Copypaste six times, thrice on the build of his torso and thrice at his arms. No matter how many times he's hit, he screams about his friendship and power. Had we been losing, it would have been a very vexing distracting.

"Tentacles?" Stopping her onslaught of arrows for a moment, Turquoise Heart expresses one of her limited emotions at the sight of Lust's weapons if they can be called that.

"Yes. Admittedly, it caught me by surprise too."

I glance off to the side and see Green Heart, Black Heart, and White Heart bombarding Arfoire with their attacks, barely giving the older woman any time to counter. It seems they're having an easy time too. It just goes to show how much we have grown in strength thanks to our previous encounters with these two.

My focus lands back on Copypaste who's rolling speedily at Turquoise Heart. He reels his arm back and slashes at her with his gargantuan claw. Having had the drawstring to her bow pulled back in preparation for an attack, she isn't ready for the hit and braces herself until three tentacles shield her and parry the robot's claws. Jumping from the ground to said claws, Lust runs up Copypaste's arm and, to my utter disbelief, unleashes a flying kick to his head that thrusts him back a good five meters. Her tentacles catch her fall and Ilesa and I meet her to where she lands.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he bellows until he crashes into a building. On Lust's behalf, I make a mental note to apologize to Vert and send funds her way.

"This is too easy," the succubus says with a smile that defines her unshakable confidence. Even when she's fighting she shows the elegance and grace of a swan. "The way those humans were running made me think that these two would be a threat."

"We beat them once. It's a given that we would beat them again," I tell her. By then, Arfoire is falling from the sky and lands on top of Copypaste just as my fellow CPUs ground themselves nearby.

"This battle is over and it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy me." Green Heart's disappointment clouds her judgment as we aren't fighting them to get satisfaction out of it in the first place. "Our opponent seemed distracted."

"I would be too if I had to deal with such a noisy ally." Black Heart glanced off in White Heart's direction. "Oh wait..."

"Got something to say to me, twintails?!"

"Now then. I'll immobilize them to cut off all chances of escape."

Turquoise Heart draws her bow back and releases the arrow, watching as it scatters into multiple projectiles and rains down on the defeated duo. Before they can connect, a yellow flash appears in their trajectory and parries all of them.

"WHAT?!"

Things could not have gotten worse for us. That flash, I should have known who it was from the beginning. My heart flips in my tight chest, and it's becoming hard to breathe at the sight of her. I remember everything.

What I saw, what I heard, what I smelt, what I tasted, what I felt. Like I said before, I would never be able to forget any of them. Everyone else is oblivious to this uninhibited force of destruction but not me. Nor would I ever be.

"Man, I got here just in time! Daddy would've been soooo mad if I was just even a little bit too slow!"

Separating us from Arfoire and Copypaste is Yellow Heart. The innocence reflected in those eyes of hers contradicts everything that she is capable of. She is a CPU on another level. Something I can't comprehend.

Unconsciously, I take a step back while the others prepare themselves. Is there any way for us to avoid fighting her?

"Ooh~" Lust smirks. She shouldn't be.

"That size...!" White Heart's shock lies in all the wrong reasons.

"Look away, Blanc," Turquoise Heart advises, unaware that Blanc should be running away too.

"What is this? My selling point as a character is being jeopardized!" Green Heart should be worrying about more than her selling point.

"Quiet, all of you! This is no joking matter!" Black Heart shouts, knowing well about how much danger we're in. It looks like the two of us are the only ones who are informed of Yellow Heart's strength. "You need to all act immediately before it's too late!"

She rushes at Yellow Heart and delivers an incautious onrush of slashes, too many for me to count. Yellow Heart's wholesome laughter taunts Black Heart and she uses her clawed bracers to swipe away each wild swing as if they were being thrown by children. The white-haired CPU is enraged to see how useless her attacks are and switches up her style with a lunge but Yellow Heart naturally seizes hold of the blade in her left hand.

"That was a good workout. But down you go~!"

After disarming Black Heart, the enemy CPU suddenly nails her hard in the stomach with a kick none of us saw coming and hurls into the ground in front of our shocked-frozen party with a downward slice of her claws. The dust settles and reveals Black Heart, now reduced to just Noire, lying in the rubble of the street after all of her defenses were breached in just one attack from this abnormality of a goddess.

"Owwww..."

"Noire!"

"Who the hell do you think you are?! Screw it, you're not going to take me down that easily!" White Heart declares with a threatening shout, her original shock boiling into anger, and she storms into the air toward the laughing goddess who, judging by the stance she lowers into, is alarmingly ready to take her and the goddess flying behind on. Said goddess, Turquoise Heart, stops halfway and draws her bow, fixing her aim on Yellow Heart. Continuing to advance forth, White Heart starts spinning and drives the full force of her ax just when she's close enough to Yellow Heart.

"Tanzerin Trombe!"

All of the momentum White Heart builds up in her ax is disabled when Yellow Heart raises a claw to absorb the shock, not even recoiling from the force. Green Heart takes this opportunity to attack the busty goddess's flank while Lust provides support with her tentacles and Turquoise Heart releases her arrows. Everyone is doing something to prove that they didn't back down from a fight and yet I stand here, afraid to even look Yellow Heart in her eyes. This is not what a CPU should be doing.

Why? Why is it that when I'm needed to act as a CPU the most, I end up wavering? What the hell is wrong with you, Rouge?!

The moment Green Heart joins her vicinity, Yellow Heart leaps above her and White Heart and appears behind the smaller of the two, jamming her elbow into her back and consequently casting her toward the spear wielder who catches White Heart mid-flight.

"AGH!" she groans, her HDD broken as Green Heart checks up on her condition.

Not taking the time out to boast about and immediately moves to her next target, zipping past Green Heart to toss her body into Turquoise Heart, sending the girl into Lust's tentacles just as her HDD breaks as well.

"KYAH!"

"Wowie! I didn't think you guys would wanna play like this!" Yellow Heart exclaims, this all, just like my fight with her, a simple game to her. "But I already served as a distr... distraction, yeah! So let's go for realsies now!"

And true to her words, Yellow Heart's energy begins to rise. The levels exceed what I sensed when I first met Plutes and even when I fought her myself. It's enough to even quake the ground at my feet and, somehow, the sky itself shakes as if the others are flying on an invisible tremor. My body becomes heavier, I'm nearly brought to my knees, and my legs will give out at any minute if I keep trying to resist this overwhelming intensity. I have to strain my neck just to see how everyone else is fairing against this amplified pressure and I can safely assume that they're not having a good time.

"I-Impossible!" Green Heart gasps, her voice shaking like the world around us. All of her confidence and strength are eclipsed by a goddess not even taking her or anyone of us seriously, the concept of Share Energy worthless in her eyes. "From where is she drawing such power?!"

"This... looks pretty frickin' bad!" Blanc holds on tight, the pressure enough to seemingly fling her away.

"Do something, Rouge...!" Strained, Ilesa can barely yell.

"HERE I GO~!" Yellow Heart cheers.

"All of you! Take cover!"

An additionally flash appears in front of us and projects a transparent shield made purely out of Share Energy, wide enough to guard the entire city against what Yellow Heart is about to release on everyone. Before I even know what's going on, Yellow Heart extends her body, triggers a bright light that swallows everything in it from her core, and leaves nothing untouched by her radiant power. Tremendous pain administers itself to every part of my body like I'm being dipped in a literal bath of fire, and the torment tries to leave my body in the form of an agonized scream.

"KYAAAAAAAAH!"

「NOW LOADING」

"...Ugh..."

I wake up to a sideways world, my body sore from head to toe, and the sound of my allies groaning from the anguish shooting through their lovely bodies. The sight of my arm through the sleeve of my hoodie and the lighter feeling of my contrastingly heavy body must mean that my HDD ended up breaking after that attack. The majority of Leanbox is surprisingly still intact but the explosion leveled about five portions of the city.

That was insane. To think that Peashy is that strong and she was not even fighting seriously. Now I'm not the only one who bore witness to her prowess as a goddess. Everyone else knows it too. I know I promised I would bring her back to Plutes but at this rate... I'm going to die before I get the chance.

"You guys... still alive?" I eventually ask, pouring as much power into my voice for everyone to hear as my body would allow. I get several weak but reassuring responses from my companions.

"It hurts, Mistress..."

That must be Lust.

"Blanc... you can't die yet."

Ilesa, no doubt.

"Don't kill me off... What the hell was even with that girl? She's no joke..."

Blanc.

"This time... we were made out to be quite the fools... my poor city..."

Vert.

"The city didn't make it but we're alive... we couldn't be done in so easily..."

Even in defeat, Noire's confidence is high.

"Wow, you guys. Looks like you managed to pull through, so congrats!"

And that's—

"Wait... that was one, not-strained voice too many."

When we regain enough of our strength, we all get to our feet and look amongst ourselves to see who exactly the odd one out is. Our attention falls on a woman with sunkissed skin and bright red hair similar to mine in HDD held up in a spiky bun. A black cloak conceals most of her body but the power-buttons in her magenta-colored eyes tell me that she's a CPU.

"...A CPU?!" I recoil, inadvertently reintroducing that nagging soreness to my body. "Ouch!"

"Another enemy...?!" Noire asks.

"I cannot move another muscle for this fight..." Lust whines.

"Blanc, get back..." Ilesa weakly throws an arm out to separate the red-haired woman and the object of her affections.

"Wait, wait, you guys, It's because of my Share Shield that you guys can even still stand, y'know? I'm on your side." The woman explains, frantically waving her hands to get us settled down from our hostility. Our weak, weak hostility. "Well..."

She looks my way and walks to me. Even though I have no idea who this is, her smile is very welcoming and is the only thing that keeps me from moving away from her as she approaches.

"More specifically, I'm on your side. Red Heart of Planeptune, that's a really admirable name." She gently takes my hand and clasps it in her bigger ones. Her transformation light dies down and in front of me is a woman who has an unnatural resemblance to me, more so than Lust. "I also go by Red Heart. My name is Ruby. For as long as we are together, I will give my all to protect you."

「RUBY HAS JOINED YOUR PARTY」

No way...

「LEVEL CLEARED」