AN: A new chapter for you guys, hope you all like it.

  Finally found some time to py GoW III, and I’ve been having a bst. I had pyed Ascension not too long ago, and I have to say the GoW 3 wins by a ndslide, it's simply one of the best games I’ve ever pyed, it just feels so good to py it, it’s insane. GoW II is still my favorite tho, it holds a very precious and nostalgic pce in my heart.

  Sad we don’t have many, if any, GoW fics around. Like, I would totally read a fic of someone who reincarnated as Kratos and did stuff differently from him, it sounds pretty amazing, you could even fuse it with the PJO world without much difficulty if you wanted to as well. (I would love to see a Kratos that doesn’t lose his powers every game as well, lol.)

  Now, enough gzing old games, let’s go to the question of the week.

  Question:

  If you could live in the universe of one Fanfic, which one would you choose?

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~

  Floor 49 - Day 185 -

  With Neptune now his lover, things were a little weird for a while –not the bad kind of weird, mind you, but the good kind. They were still figuring out a lot of stuff, but Eu has honestly been a massive support.

  For Antares, who lived in the 21st century in his past life, it was a bit strange from his perspective, but the good kind of strange as well. He thought maybe complications would arise, perhaps envy or fights here and there… but nothing, it has been a veritable bliss ever since Neptune became his lover. Eu accepted the purple-haired woman with open arms, already calling her sister this and sister that in that adorable way only the bluenette seemed to manage.

  Not to mention the fact that he sleeps with a beautiful woman on each arm every day. Something the Devil Heir could help but agree it was one of the best things that has ever happened to him.

  Midna’s reaction to Antares’ and Neptune's union was just an eye roll and a mumble of ‘About damn time.’ As if the very fact they would get together was obvious to everyone but the two of them, Eu's adorable nod of agreement in the background was just the icing on the cake that almost made Antares and Neptune ugh.

  Pyra just offered a shy ‘Congratutions’ and gave both of them a warm hug. Antares thought it was adorable, and Neptune fully agreed with him.

  The floors after were, as everyone was already expecting, a massive slog. On some floors, they were unlucky enough to meet 5 elites back to back, with only one of them dropping a Rare Grade Item, on others, their passage was a veritable breeze, with The Tower spawning only a massive quantity of High Css mobs –and considering the group’s sheer Aoe potential—Antares Gravity Sphere and Pyra Magama Sphere being the stars of the show—the group easily delta with those groups.

  The Bosses were a tad bit more difficult, principally considering they were more than just like an Elite enemy that was dialed up to 11. All bosses in Morpheus’ Arena were faster, stronger, more resistant than any enemy the group could find on the Arenas, and worst of all, smarter. The battle against them could take hours, even with every one of the group on the Ultimate Css threshold when fully equipped.

  Yes, all the bosses Antares and company fought in Morpheus’ Arena were Ultimate Css, very weak Ultimate Css, of course, but they were still Ultimate.

  The first Ultimate Css boss they fought on floor 41 had been a very close call, but thanks to Eu using her Ice Magic to slow it down, Neptune managed to hit the monster with a massive Kirin made of Lightning that instantly paralyzed it. Allowing Pyra and Antares to finish it up with a Wave of Force Lances —that almost blotted out the sky for a moment, and Pyra’s triple Magma Spheres —that exploded with a fury that almost made Antares freeze in reminiscence of Shamash.

  And then the Devil heir exploded all his Force Lances, causing an even bigger explosion that completely–

  “Are you okay, stud muffin?” Asked a worried Neptune. “You’ve been staring at the ceiling for quite a while.”

  Kissing the purplette on her delicious lips, Antares smiled and split the trail of saliva; “Sorry, I was a little lost in thought.” He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of her soft and curvaceous body pressed against his left side; “Just reminiscing about the past floors.”

  Eu, who was hugging his right side and resting her head on his chest, hummed, “Are you worried about future floors?” She adorably huffed. “No need for that, love. We will surely get through.”

  “Yeah.” Neptune hummed in full approval. “We have a marriage contract,” and Neptune almost spat the world in sheer hate. “To break and finally be free.”

  Antares winced internally. It was no surprise that the contract worked at The Tower as well, principally considering it was more of a Soul thing than just a magic one. He first hoped his Aethermorph Heritage would be of some help, but no luck until now.

  “Can you imagine? Me the loner.” Neptune gnashed her teeth; “Finally found a boyfriend, a lover that I not just like but love.” She was almost breaking her own teeth by now; “And some idiotic contract won’t let me express this love more deeply? I loathe it.”

  Eu nodded in full seriousness; “I share the same sentiment, sister.” She almost growled out in anger. “I don’t think there is anyone in Draconic Deus that I hate more than Revya Phenex.” The only reason Eu didn’t spit that name was due to her training as a dignified noble dy. Neptune nodded in full agreement before resting her head on Antares’ left chest and calming down a little.

  Eu also calmed down and closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of her lover and basking in his warmth.

  The trio stayed there, silent on their bed, just enjoying each other’s presence as best as they could. It was a blissful and peaceful time –today, they were going to fight the 49th-floor boss, so they wanted to just have a little bit more personal time on their hands.

  Sadly, all good things eventually come to an end, and theirs came from a few enthusiastic knocks at the door.

  “Coming.” Excimed Neptune with a grumble. “We just got up, give us a few minutes to get ready.”

  “No problem, me and Pyr are going to get breakfast first,” replied Midna from the other side. “Don’t be te~” she added in a sing-song voice before presumably flying off towards the Inn's restaurant.

  Groaning Neptune reluctantly separated from Antares before going towards the showers; “Let me shower first, you guys know I am pretty fast.” Eu just nodded absently while leaning on Antares even more.

  Enjoying the sensation of Eu’s body pressed against his, Antares brought up his mission on his HUD—more specifically, the Additional Objectives.

  Additional Objectives:

  .No one in your cohort dies. |R: A Demipne Perk of your Choice. (Max 100c in value)[PENDING]

  .Defeat all the main Bosses of the tower. |R: 5 Tempte Stackings I and II of your choice. (The rules of your Patron still apply.) [48%]

  .Find 10 Unique Artifacts. |R: A bnk Sacred Gear Seed. [PENDING]

  .Find all the Legendary Colored Rings. |R: 150c and The One Ring. [PENDING]

  .Discover a secret of the Devil Race. |R: One Heritage Perk of your choice. Only avaible ones. [43%]

  .Finish the “Sky Floors” without getting hit. |R: One Ride of at least Medium size of your choice and the ability to freely move through 3D space. [PENDING]

  .Stop your Cohort from splitting up. |R: 10c [OK]

  .Bring Midna’s and Pyra’s body inside the dreamscape. |R: 1 Tempte Stackings I and II of your choice. [PENDING]

  .Discover the great mystery behind the Dreamscape and stop The Mantling. |R: 2000c and 3 Demipne Perks of your choice. [PENDING]

  Antares frowned slightly when he saw the mission to discover a secret of the Devil Race was 43% complete, as he had yet to even know what this secret was. ‘Maybe it was the fact that the current Four Satans conquered the tower in the past?’ he thought inwardly.

  He definitely wanted the free heritage perk, it was one of the missions he was the most focused on.

  Seeing his distracted countenance, Eu patted his chest. “Still worried about us, Antares?”

  And that wasn’t exactly what he was thinking at the moment, it still held true; “Yeah…” he answered absently.

  Eu smiled and kissed his cheek; “Don’t need to worry about it, love, we are all already fully equipped with Rare Grade Dream Equipment, our skills are as sharp as ever, and even Pyra started to become exceedingly proficient with Ki.” Eu knew she was repeating herself, but knowing how much her words helped her lover, she didn’t mind saying the same thing a billion times over.

  Antares chuckled, “Yeah, didn’t know our shy Pyr could become such a menace with Ki.” The Devil shook his head exasperated. “To induce a burning effect with her Ki, her lifeforce, I don’t think I’ve seen something like this.”

  “Now that you mentioned it…” Eu mumbled while hugging Antares tighter. “How can she keep up with us? I mean–” She stopped as if trying to find the right words to voice. “We three have both Soul and Martial Talent, but she rarely, if ever, falls behind us.”

  “Do you remember when I and Neptune expined to you who Pyra is?” asked Antares while closing his eyes.

  Eu nodded; “Yeah, she was some super overpowered Bde called Mythra, but due to how powerful she was, she ended up sealing— Oh, I get it now.”

  Antares smiled, “Yeah, she isn’t as much learning new stuff as she is just remembering it.” He then kissed Eu on the forehead. “Think of it like she is a professional cyclist who stayed an entire decade without riding a bicycle; she didn’t exactly forget it, but she is rusty enough that it will take some effort to recover. And when you put the constant challenges of the tower and our own support, it is no wonder she can keep up.”

  “Do you think she wants to break her seal?” Eu asked curiously. Both Antares and Neptune specuted that Pyra may have more than one seal, but neither of them had any certainty about the information. Something about Pyra herself being heavily AU, what they knew about Xenobde might not be true.

  “Possibly?” The Devil shrugged. “We could always just… ask her?”

  Eu raised her eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, we spent more than half a year together,” Antares hummed. “Are you saying you do not trust Pyra at this point?”

  Eu closed her eyes; “Of course I trust her, she saved me more times than I can count.” The bluenette huffed, “After so many battles back to back… yeah. We should definitely come clean with them.”

  “Not that I disagree with you. But are you sure?” Antares carefully caressed Eu’s head. “Even the stuff about the company?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go with the whole thing.” Came Neptune’s voice while she exited the bath fully armored up. “I, myself, don’t like to keep these kinds of secrets from them.” She sighed a little tiredly.

  Antares closed his eyes and nodded, “I agree. This type of stuff will only get between our team dynamics. And far from me to disrupt the harmony we have built up till now.”

  “Okay, so it has been decided. We will bring Midna and Pyra into the loop.” Added Eu while reluctantly separating herself from Antares and sitting on the bed.

  “Yeah, but we can’t just drop this stuff on their ps out of nowhere.” Sighed Neptune while sitting in her armored form on one of the room's chairs.

  “Say… let’s expin it after we eliminate the 50th floor’s boss. Right before we enter floor 51, Midna has already said she wants to talk with us before we enter it, so might as well.” Antares sighed.

  “Sounds good to me.” Shrugged Neptune, internally very happy Antares wasn’t hastening such an important decision.

  Eu nodded and got up; “That’s fine,” she then stretched a bit, giving Antares quite the view. “It’s even better this way, as we didn’t need to worry about the information interfering with their performance in the battle.” Eu then went to take a bath, while Neptune picked up an empty notebook and started to write something.

  Antares then looked at the ceiling, his four minds working together to devise the best approach to the subject. It wasn’t easy, but he had some time and enough brains to work on it, so he didn't feel as pressured as before.

  Not to mention his Strong Force Goetia was starting to show signs it was finishing forming, which is quite excellent news in his books.

  Even then, he hoped everything would turn out all right.

  .

  .

  .

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~

  Floor 50- Day 186 - After Defeating the Boss

  “... So, you are saying you three work for some kind of multiversal corporation?” Asked Midna while blinking owlishly, the imp was feeling quite a bit perplexed with the bomb that had just been dropped on her p.

  Pyra just looked at Antares with slightly widened eyes, one of her pupils fshing gold while the other was jade green.

  After a very grueling battle against the boss of Floor 50, who some kind of super-boosted Zombie Gdiator capable of using both Martial Arts, strategy, and Magic coupled with the fact it also wore one of the hardest and most durable armors Antares even has the displeasure of fighting against, yeah, It was a very long, hard, and tiresome battle –so much in fact that everyone instantly went to sleep after it.

  The next day, after everyone had properly rested and fed, Antares, Eu, and Neptune took Pyra and Midna to a distant clearing not too close to the city so they could talk in privacy.

  After putting up plenty of wards around the pce and summoning a table and a set of chairs, Antares finally came clean with the girls, expining all about his background, the company, his patron, and everything he could reasonably remember at the moment. Eu and Neptune also helped, complementing and adding their perspectives to help Midna and Pyra understand it all better.

  “Kinda?” Antares made a so-so gesture with his hand. “I am a contractor, so I am not exactly a direct worker, but I do have a patron.” He then smiled awkwardly. “A Patron who sends me missions to complete from time to time.”

  Pyra raised her eyebrow; “That sounds like just an A-Adventurer to me, just with extra steps.”

  Antares sighed, “That’s not that far off the truth.”

  Midna then looked confused at Pyra; “And you believe them? This easily?”

  Pyra nodded; “They h-have no reason to lie.” She briefly closed her eyes, her pupils going back to their normal red color. “It would be e-easy to just stay silent and not tell any of this to us… more a-advantageous even.”

  “Yeah.” Midna sighed. “It’s just that… It feels more like some kind of fairy tale, you know.”

  Pyra hummed in partial agreement; “Still… Do you think this B-Body Tune-Up Perk of yours can give us bodies, A-Antares?”

  “Well, I am not certain…” He added after some brief consideration. “But for me to even reincarnate you into Devils—and thus add you to my retinue—I would need your bodies to be present in the first pce.” Antares already checked with the proper spell, Pyra and Midna didn’t even register as possible targets, but neither did anyone inside the tower.

  ‘Is this due to us being Dream bodies at the moment? Or some restriction Morpheus put in this pce?’ thought Antares while looking at both girls.

  He sighed, “Not to mention I am not about to force someone to be part of my family.” He then looked intently into Pyra’s eyes. “I will only reincarnate you if you want to, Pyr. Same for you, Midna.”

  Pyra blushed before she avoided the Devil’s gaze, her face turning beet red before it suddenly retreated back, her red eyes now shining golden. “I want it.”

  Pyra said it with such seriousness and determination that Antares almost couldn’t recognize the shy girl in there. But he still felt the need to confirm it; “Are you sure?” he asked tentatively. “You will forever be connected to me in such an intrinsic and personal way, there are few more intimate—and we are both from an ageless species—so that’s potentially for an eternity and forevermore.”

  Pyra’s eyes turned golden while bzing with such an intensity they were almost blinding, and for a moment, Antares could swear he saw a few specks of green shining inside them.

  “I am positive,” replied the redhead, her voice so intense and full of resolve that it even echoed throughout the clearing. “Besides,” Pyra blushed and lowered her head, “Being connected to you for eternity doesn’t sound so bad…”

  Hearing that, Eu smiled softly. “Are you sure of that, Pyr?” Asked the bluenette with warmth. “We probably won’t be the only ones,” Eu sighed adorably. “I know the man I decided to spend my life with, he is way too outstanding to be just us four.”

  “Four!?” Midna excimed, speechless. “How can you suddenly include me in that?”

  Eu deadpanned towards the imp, “Are you saying you do not want it? After everything--”

  “Okay, Okay.” Midna hastily interrupted the bluenette, a look of anxiousness on her face. The imp then just nodded shyly in confirmation and blushed, swiftly hiding herself on Neptune’s hoodie, earning a soft snort from the purplette and a knowing smile from Eu.

  “I am aware, even back home, it wasn’t uncommon for powerful Leaders or outstanding Drivers to have big families.” Pyra closed her eyes and smiled, but even with her eyelids covering them, Antares could still see that her eyes were shining golden.

  Eu nodded, got up, and swiftly hugged Pyra tightly. “Welcome to the family, then, Pyra.” The bluenette smiled, while Pyra/Mythra blushed even harder. “Thank you… sister.”

  Neptune smiled, her voice carrying a hint of irony followed by good humor. “Now, we just have to find a very specific and rare, Unique-Grade item and bring your body here.”

  “Don’t say it like that,” Midna grumbled. “I was supposed to be the pessimistic one about our odds here.”

  “Well, I personally believe we can do it.” Added Eu. The imp nodded and hid herself again.

  “Still, I was here thinking…” Pyra mumbled, cupping her chin. “If we manage to find said item and bring our bodies inside the tower,” she swallowed dryly. “How do we exit it?”

  “That’s…” Midna mumbled a wave of anxiety consuming her for a moment. “A very good question. Generally, when someone exits the tower, they just go back to their bodies, but if our bodies are the ones inside…”

  “You do not need to worry about that.” Calmly stated Antares. “Remember the Pocket Apartment I talked about?”

  Pyra and Midna instantly gained a knowing look in their eyes. “That’s genius.” Added the golden-eyed girl, followed by a nod from Midna.

  The group then continued talking amongst themselves, sharing stories and interesting events that happened in their lives, slowly becoming closer, slowly becoming more intimate.

  Antares was extremely gd he decided to come clean with Pyra and Midna; just the unburdened and rexed expression they now spotted was more than worth it. And while it wasn’t his intention to start a retionship with them at first, the Devil honestly did not mind, it would be a big fat lie to say he wasn’t attracted to them.

  Pyra was an absolute bombshell. Even without becoming a Devil and having Body Tune Up work its magic, her appearance was very close to Eu and Neptune. But Antares didn’t care much about that—the body could be trained and molded with the right tools and resources, the personality, on the other hand… Luckily, Pyra had both in spades.

  The same can be said about Midna. While her imp body presented a rather interesting obstacle, Antares didn’t care; he liked her, and that was all that mattered to him.

  Of course, his retionship with Midna and Pyra didn’t suddenly become super intimate. Much like Neptune, both girls were content to take their time and let things develop naturally, but the invisible barrier that existed between them and Antares wasn’t there anymore. Like a weight had been lifted from the red string of fate that connected them.

  “…I guess, if we want this to really work, there shouldn’t be more secrets between us.” Pyra sighed, her eyes still shining golden. “Remember when I introduced myself as Pyra?” She paused, warring with herself to continue talking. “I wasn’t telling the whole truth…”

  “Wait.” Interrupted a perplexed Midna. “Your name isn’t Pyra?”

  “My name is Pyra Homura.” She added seriously, before chuckling at Midna’s contrived expression. “But I am also Mythra Hikari.” Her golden eyes shone brighter. “But My—" She stopped, seemly hesitating to part with the information, but an encouraging look from Antares gave her enough confidence. “My real identity is Pneuma Homuri, the Trinity Processor.”

  Pyra’s, no- Pneuma’s eyes seemed to shine in a sparkling spring green color, a formless pressure covering the whole clearing, for a single moment Antares felt like the Dream would pop –explode like a balloon that was under too much pressure.

  But then he felt a gaze, an incredibly powerful gaze, it was something so unfathomably exalted, so unfathomably higher in the sheer hierarchy of existence that he just stood there, frozen. It was an uncountable number of dimensions higher than Antares, and if it wasn’t for the fact that it wanted to make itself known, the Devil sincerely doubted he would even be able to feel it.

  Pneuma just looked back and huffed, making the gaze retract, and let out a wave of amusement before disappearing.

  Antares looked around and frowned –none of the girls showed any indication they felt that gaze. ‘Was it just me and Pneuma?’ he asked internally before looking at the green-eyed girl in the eye. She just smiled teasingly, put a finger before her mouth, and made a ‘shhh’ sound that only Antares seemed to be able to notice. Seeing as he was way out of his depth, the Devil just nodded in agreement.

  “What is a trinity processor?” Asked Midna, sounding rightfully confused.

  Pneuma smiled and looked at her friend, now sister, “Putting in terms that you all can understand… It’s an incredibly advanced Artificial Intelligence.”

  Understanding drew in Midna’s face; “Ooohh, I’ve heard of those.” She nodded enthusiastically, “A few of the more recent humans have been bbbing about them non-stop. So you are what? Some super Advanced Chat GPT Robot?”

  Pneuma almost face-pnted, earning a small, discrete ugh from Eu while Neptune visibly held herself from bursting out ughing, and Antares smiled widely.

  “No, of course not, Midna.” Pneuma sighed. “I’ve already said it, I am a bde, a Supreme Sovereign Aegis Bde, to be more specific.”

  “That’s one mouthful of a name.” Pointed out Neptune. “It sounds like those absurd names in cultivation novels, like the Supreme Ancient Star Ancestor or the Primaveral Abyss Devouring Demon–”

  Antares put a gentle hand on her shoulder; “Don’t.” He interrupted the purplette. “We will be here the whole day if you—”

  Neptune blushed and nodded; “Sorry, I got excited.”

  Seeing everyone so carefree, Pneuma chuckled lightly; “It’s good to see everyone so carefree like this.” She closed her eyes; “I always thought my big reveal as The Trinity Processor would at least draw a few shocked gasps.”

  “To be fair, while it does sound impressive. We ck the necessary knowledge to truly know what that entails.” Pointed out Eu with a nod, earning a humming in agreement from Pneuma.

  “To be fair, I know a little bit about Pneuma already…” mumbled Neptune a little shyly.

  “You do?” Asked the green-eyed woman, perplexed.

  “... Do you remember when Antares was expining about the company and he mentioned the multiverse?” Asked the Purplette, earning an affirmative nod from Pneuma. “Well, let’s say your universe was a rather popur game back home.” She cupped her chin; “It was called Xenobde if I am not mistaken.”

  Pneuma froze. By this point, she knew quite well what a game was; it was impossible not to when she spent so much time with Neptune and the others. But for her whole world, her whole life to be summarized into just a game… She felt angry, extremely angry, albeit such anger quickly faded, as someone who had access to the Full Processing power of the Trinity Processor and the Infinite Energy of The Conduit, Pneuma more than knew of the limitless possibilities contained in the infinite multiverse, her life turning out into a game is quite… tame in comparison.. But she quickly controlled herself before anyone could notice, she knew Neptune, so she understood the purplette was not making light of any of the Rapture Wars.

  Not noticing Pneuma’s internal turmoil, the purplette continued, “But even then, there are a lot of differences from the game from what I was able to notice.” She nodded. “One, Pneuma wasn’t the Trinity Processor in the game, just one of its cores.”

  “Well, technically that isn’t wrong… I was born as just one of the cores who was raised in a virtual reality.” The green-eyed woman scratched her head a little awkwardly. “But due to some special circumstances during the First Rapture War, I absorbed the other cores and became the Processor.”

  “First Rapture War?” asked the purplette with a curious shine in her eyes.

  Pneuma flinched, her face growing darker for a bit; “I know I was the one to first mention it, but…” she pursed her lips, sadness visible on her brows. “Can we not talk about it right now?” Everyone nodded, they could see how the topic left Pneuma very uncomfortable, so no one pressed the Supreme Aegis Bde.

  “Okay… That’s the second different thing, there was no war in the game.” Neptune sighed; ‘Not a Rapture War,’ at least she added inwardly. “... Just to satiate my curiosity, do you happen to know someone named Rex, Pneuma?”

  The green-eyed woman shook her head. “Never heard of him.”

  “So it's an AU, one with a lot of differences to boot.” Neptune sighed. “Rex was the protagonist of the game, so for you to not know him… Who was your Driver then?”

  Pneuma raised her eyebrow. “I never needed one.” She smiled toothily. “In a way, I am my own Driver. Albeit I’ve never tried synchronizing with someone–” she stopped and shook her head. “Well, I don’t think that would be necessary anyway.” She exhaled happily. “So I take it the game wasn’t an extremely detailed expnation of the course of events?”

  “As if.” Neptune waved her hand. “It’s a game at the end of the day, so its focus was mostly on the gamepy. The story was pretty nice and interesting, but well… It was just a game, not real life.”

  “This AU you mentioned. Does it stand for Alternative Universe?” Asked Pneuma for confirmation. Neptune nodded.

  The Supreme Bde nodded in affirmation, her thoughts spiraling for a few moments, but tapping on the processing power of the Trinity Processor, she quickly centered herself. She—better than anyone at the table—was quite familiar with the concept of Alternative Universes –Space-Time, after all, was easily within the grasp of the Trinity Processor. She just never imagined it would fall on her p like this.

  “Wait, wait, wait.” Excimed Midna while flying out of Neptune’s hoodie and getting into Pneuma’s face. “As a Supreme Sovereign Aegis Bde.” Midna took a breath. “Aren’t you like… super strong?”

  Pneuma winced; “Yes and no.” Smiling awkwardly, the bde scratched her head. “Due to some personal circumstances and a lot of foolish decisions when I was younger and naive, I’ve sealed myself.”

  “Sealed?” Midna frowned.

  “Yeah, six seals to be more specific.” Pneuma sighed. “As Pneuma, I sealed my power thrice until I became Mythra.” Pneuma's Eyes briefly turned golden. “And after the second Rapture War, I sealed myself three times, again, until I became Pyra.”

  “Wait, so are Pyra, Mythra, and Pneuma all different people?” Eu asked with a small frown.

  Pneuma shook her head. “No, they are all me. Just different sides of myself that ended up manifesting in that way due to the seals.” She sighed. “If you want to put my strength in the bels from Draconic Deus, I, as Pyra, should be around High Css.”

  “And breaking these seals will allow you to recover your strength?” asked Antares, a little familiar with this usual troupe.

  “That’s right.” Pneuma concurred.

  “How does it work?” Asked Neptune curiously. “Do you need some special technique? Maybe rare materials? Perhaps even a ritual?”

  The green-eyed woman ughed, “No, none of that.” She smiled. “All I have to do to break my seals is to train and form bonds.” Everyone looked at her weirdly, and Pneuma smiled a little mischievously; “It’s a little more complex than that, but that’s the gist of it for now.”

  “... But well after such a long time, you could’ve broken a few Seals, right?” The purplette narrowed her eyes in fake suspicion. “So… Did you break any seal?”

  “No.” Pneuma continued smiling. “But you remember where we are, right?” Neptune widened her eyes and nodded, The Tower does indeed have as many limitations as it has benefits.

  “I have a simir problem.” Admitted Eu with a sigh.

  “… are you sealed as well?” Asked Midna, perplexed.

  Eu chuckled. “No, not that.” She shook her head. “But when I perform great feats?—I am still not 100% sure on that one—I can gain a consteltion.”

  Midna just looked at Eu, confused. Neptune ughed at the Imp’s expression before following with a quick expnation about Eu’s powers.

  “…In summary.” Continued Eu. “Consteltions strengthen me, so the more consteltions that I have, the more powerful I become.”

  “I think I get it now.” Nodded the imp in understanding. “If you get a consteltion by performing great feats, you should’ve long since received at least one, principally considering the st boss we fought against.”

  “That’s correct.” Eu willed her consteltion to appear, showing Aphros Delos, the Brilliant Sea-Foam consteltion.

  “Wow, it’s pretty.” Mumbled Pneuma, a little lost in thought, she could also see that Eu’s consteltion was far from simple.

  “I see there are only two stars alight in the consteltion.” Pointed out Neptune while cupping her chin, Antares knew that the purplette hadn’t pyed Genshin Impact with an emphasis in the past, so she may not be aware of consteltions and other more detail-oriented knowledge.

  “Indeed. I have only unlocked 2 out of the 7 stars,” informed the bluenette.

  “What happens when you unlock all 7?” Asked the imp curiously.

  Eu smiled; “Ascencion.”

  Midna and Pneuma paused. They knew exactly what that meant—to ascend is to become a higher-dimensional lifeform, to improve one's existence.

  “There is no need to hype it so much,” stated Eu calmly. “Lighting up all 7 stars is an incredibly difficult thing.”

  “I can imagine.” Midna conceded. “If it were that easy, there would be a few thousand Gods running around in your old world.” The group nodded in agreement before silence retook the clearing.

  It wasn’t that they had nothing to talk about, the opposite, actually; they simply had too much. And they didn’t know where to start, not to mention that digesting this info that was dropped on everyone’s ps was no easy feat.

  Almost like clockwork, the most outgoing person in the group was the one to break the silence.

  “… Well, if everyone is telling their secrets. Might as well spill mine’s.” Sighed Midna. “As you can guess, I wasn’t born like this.” She signaled towards her imp-like body. “While I am a Twili—that’s just a Twilight Elf for ya—I was cursed into this… diminutive form.”

  All of them could feel it was a rather sensitive topic for Midna, so they just stayed silent and let the Twilight Elf express herself. And while she may not have shown it, Midna was extremely grateful for such courtesy.

  “Thankfully, the full curse didn’t apply.” She tapped on her stone mask. “If it did, I reckon I would’ve turned into some kind of stone doll by now.”

  “… Do you know how to break this curse?” Asked Neptune in a soft tone.

  “I don’t know…” Midna shook her head. “But I suspect a Unique Grade Item could.”

  “Did you get cursed inside the tower?” Asked Pneuma while cupping her chin.

  “No. When I entered the tower, I was already cursed.” Answered Midna a little forlorn.

  “Don’t need to be so down, Midna. We will break this curse! That I promise you,” affirmed Antares in a serious tone.

  The imp froze, her expression falling, and tears started gathering at the corner of her eyes. “I… Thank you.” She then looked at the girls and said, “Thank you… everyone.”

  The others just smiled at Twilight Princess. Midna flew down and plopped on the table, a weight seemingly lifted from her shoulders.

  This time, it was Pneuma who broke the silence. “Say, Neptune.” The purplette looked at the green-eyed woman questioningly. Pneuma smiled and continued, “Everyone here had some kind of hidden secret –Antares is a contractor of a Multiversal Company, Eu has her Consteltions, Midna is cursed, and I am Sealed… now, what about you?”

  “Now that you put it like that…” The purplette scratched her head a little awkwardly. “I don’t have anything of the sort. Nothing that I know of at least…”She looked at Antares briefly, knowing he had some rudimentary knowledge about where she came from. But the Devil just shook his head negatively –From his knowledge, Adult Neptune doesn’t have an HDD form.

  “I… I am not even a CPU candidate…” Neptune closed her eyes. “I am just me. And nothing more.”

  Antares hugged Neptune from the side and kissed the top of her head; “And that’s already outstanding enough.” He smiled brightly, “It just shows how much more amazing you are. No need to be a candidate or have some hidden secret Power. ‘Just Neptune,’” Antares made quotation marks with his hands. “Is more than amazing enough.”

  Neptune blushed and leaned on Antares, rubbing her head on his chest and letting out a contented smile.

  The others looked at this scene and smiled. Antares spoke for all of them –Neptune is amazing, and they would all kill gods to prove that.

  “… What exactly is a CPU candidate?” Asked Midna while flying and patting the purplette on the head.

  “Well, it's kind of a little difficult to expin exactly, principally for someone that isn’t from our culture, hmm…” Neptune cupped her chin. “But you can think of them as… Apprentice Goddesses? Yeah, that’s the closest estimation I can think of.”

  “I take it the CPUs are goddesses then?” Inquired Pneuma.

  “Yup. People pray to them and everything.” Neptune smirked. “Just do not compare your stereotypical Goddesses with them, they are… hmm… how should I put it…” Neptune snapped her finger. “Way more approachable and down to earth?” She ughed at some kind of internal joke. “...That’s it.”

  “Out of curiosity, do the CPUs have an HDD form?” Asked Antares while passing his fingers through Neptune’s hair.

  “They do.” The purplette hummed. “Albeit I’ve only seen them transform once or twice. It’s still quite impressive.”

  Antares smiled and slid his company phone in front of Neptune’s face. On the screen, a Waifu Perk called HDD for Adults gripped the gamer girl’s attention.

  “... I can have an HDD form?” She mumbled, perplexed.

  Antares chuckled, “And have all the powers of a CPU, including being a Deity, without any of their limitations.”

  “So she can become a full divinity by what?” Pneuma looked at the screen and adopted an awkward expression. “... spending 100 Credits? That’s…” She was left utterly speechless.

  “Sadly, my Patron Locked Waifu/Specific Perks for my first world,” Antares sighed. “So I can’t buy it even if I have the money. Sorry.”

  Neptune chuckled and kissed Antares, making the Devil blink owlishly with a dopey smile for a few moments. “Don’t worry about it, muffin.” She smiled. “It’s not like the Perk will run away, no?”

  The purplette then smirked evilly. “Besides, being a Devil already grants me plenty of advantages.” She scratched her head. “So… I want to explore my Devil powers first. ”

  Antares nodded; “That’s wise.” He scratched his arm. “I remember Macroz—my Patron—saying something simir not long ago.” Antares smiled fondly. “Something along the lines of –with just the first 3 Perks of any heritage, I could own the world if I pyed my cards right.”

  Closing his eyes, he continued, “It took me a while to think, but sometimes it's better to look inward towards what you already have and enhance it, instead of trying to seek something new.”

  “A very intelligent course of action.” Eu nodded. “That’s the main reason why I focus on my Ice Magic and Greatsword proficiency so much—yes, I did indeed learn quite a few new things in the tower—but the Greatsword and Ice Magic have always been my priority.” She smiled. “I want to elevate them, to improve, to transform, and to use them in many different ways. I believe that’s the key to true strength.”

  “Pying the Devil’s advocate here,” Midna smirked at Antares and the duo. “But isn't flexibility, variety, and new things also a kind of strength as well?”

  “To answer your question, I will borrow a Bruce Lee quote.” Started Antares before clearing his throat. “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

  Neptune ughed, “Knew you would say that.” She smiled slightly. “A Damn good–”

  Before she could continue, Pneuma started to shine in a strange mix of Red, Gold, and Green. Everyone stopped and stared, confused –none of them knew what to do.

  Worried, Antares looked at the shining girl and shouted, “Pneuma!? Is something in–”

  He was interrupted by the girl’s glow dying down and revealing a very nervous-looking Pyra behind, and Antares had no doubt it was Pyra, as her eyes were bright red again.

  “S-Sorry guys,” Pyra avoided her gaze. “But I can’t be as P-Pneuma for long. I was just using a breach in the Seal’s Logic Matrix to s-speak as my full and real self for a w-while.”

  Antares raised an eyebrow. A breach sounded like a good pce to start searching for alternative ways to break the seal. While the condition of ‘Train and Form bonds’ is a really easy one for Pyra, he can deduce that there are other ways to break the seals—the multiverse is a very big pce, after all.

  “Wait. Did you purposefully leave a breach on your own seal?” Asked Neptune incredulously.

  Pyra shook her head; “No. The T-Tower, due to it being a D-Dreamscape, gives me a little more liberty with. Outside…” Pyra pursed her lips. “I will probably go back to being limited.”

  Antares stretched his arm and patted her head, making the red-eyed girl blush even harder. “Don’t worry about that, Pyra —or you do prefer Pneuma?”

  “Any of them is fine. I am P-Pneuma, and I am Pyra. But you can call me Pyra when I am in this form… It’s a little bit easier this way.” She added shyly.

  “So, don’t worry about it, Pyra. You are part of this family now.” Antares smiled. “So your bonds are already guaranteed, and you see how much we train even when we don’t have physical gains… You can imagine how much more intense it will be outside.”

  Eu chuckled but opted not to say anything when the others looked inquisitively at her.

  “But Pyra, do you even want to break your seals?” Asked Antares, slightly concerned. “You put them there of your own free will, no?”

  Pyra nodded, “I did. B-But I wasn’t exactly in the best mental space when I did it.” She lowered her head sadly. “Sealing myself cost me much… too much.”

  Antares held her hand and squeezed slightly, offering his silent support. Pyra smiled in thanks.

  .

  .

  .

  AN: Another Chapter comes to an end, hope you all enjoyed it.

  Well, I can say I did my best to make the reveals feel as natural as possible. I know I still have a lot to improve, but this is the best I could do at the moment. Anyway, while there is still much to learn about Midna and Pyra, the team is now much closer than before.

  This chapter was mostly to develop everyone's retionship more and for Antares to finally come clean with the girls, as you can probably deduce, maintaining such a secret from them was clearly gnawing on his conscience. Next chapter Keyword is Fear.

  And well, if you aren’t aware, Pneuma is an absurdly OP existence. Her canon self is easily a T10, and when you give her The Conduit and the full Trinity Processor, she becomes a complete beast, perhaps even approaching a TX css existence if you are feeling generous.

  Mythra is also pretty impressive, her fights affecting an entire continent kind of impressive, but she is still not close to her true/full self.

  Answer:

  Well, honestly, this question is quite difficult for me. I first thought about my favorites, Hard Enough (Pokémon SI) by Viva01, as having a Pokémon world like that become reality sounds like it would be both pretty exciting and fun, even more if you managed to become friends with our boy Brock.

  Dragonborn Saga by El_Don is another banger that would totally be awesome to witness, principally because I can avoid the plot like crazy and focus on learning magic.

  There are plenty of other bangers as well, Skyrim: A Sorcerer’s Tale by Rastisv, A Light Within Darkness by Azazyel, HP: A Magical Journey by FictionOnlyReader, then we have Monster? No, I'm a Cultivator! and A Nascent Kaleidoscope by AStoryForOne and many other absolute bangers that I skulk waiting for chapters every day, but if I had to choose one, I would go with Dragonborn Saga by El_Don as I’ve been reading this one for years by now, when I started reading it I was a lost young adult and now, I am years older and a smidgen less lost, it’s special pce in my heart cannot be denied and I would love to live there.

  ~ClearSkySage