Entropy vs Will
Round 2 began the moment Kaelith's fist slammed into her opponent's face, sending her skipping along the ground like a stone across a lake.
Raven Heart reacted quickly. After the 10th bounce she spread her wings out, and floated there. A bit hurt, but not that bad.
Raven Heart, suspended in the air, her black wings etched with glowing glyphs spread wide, regarded Kaelith with an intensity that could melt steel. The initial shock of the unexpected speed and power behind Kaelith's Mana Burst-enhanced strike had faded, replaced by a cold, calculating fury. A thin trickle of void-black blood escaped the corner of her lip, a stark contrast against her monochrome armour.
"Impressive," Raven Heart's voice echoed, devoid of its earlier playful tone. It was now a low, resonant hum that vibrated through the very air. "For a 'decimal,' you possess a surprising amount of… force."
Kaelith now stood mid-air herself, realising she had to take this fight into the air herself. Crackling with the lavender aura of Ki and the Mana Burst she was using, hovering amidst the debris of splintered trees and stone fragments that now floated around them like drifting ruins. Her stance, a fluid amalgamation of the myriad martial arts she had mastered, spoke of coiled potential, ready to unleash a torrent of precisely aimed strikes. Her eyes, sharp and analytical, tracked Raven Heart's every minute movement, anticipating the next attack.
The silence stretched, thick with unspoken threat. Then, Raven Heart moved.
It wasn't a teleport this time, but a burst of raw speed. She launched herself forward, a black streak against the green and brown of the ravaged landscape. Her movements, while not as technically refined as Kaelith's, possessed a brutal efficiency, each strike carrying the weight of her immense power.
Kaelith met the charge head-on. She shifted her weight, redirecting Raven Heart's momentum. A subtle shift of her hips, a precise placement of her hands, and she guided Raven Heart's powerful fist harmlessly past her face, using the goddess's own force against her.
Before Raven Heart could fully adjust, Kaelith unleashed a rapid-fire series of strikes. A lightning-fast jab to the solar plexus, a sharp elbow to the ribs, a low kick to the shin–each movement flowed seamlessly into the next.
Raven Heart absorbed the blows, her monochrome armour shimmering faintly as it deflected some of the kinetic energy. She retaliated with a wild, powerful haymaker that forced Kaelith to duck and weave, the wind generated by the swing buffeting her hair.
'Damn, she's stronger than me.' Kaelith had mentally calculated the PL difference between them. It was 2.1 million, in Raven Hearts favour. 'I have 840 unspent points. But even if I used them all, catching up to 3.6 million would be near impossible. But of course there was 1 other option. And it's the only choice I have. Natural Regen turn off.' Kaelith turned off her natural regeneration in her mind. Then turned her Aura off completely.
Kaelith was breathing heavily, she was barely keeping up with her opponent due to her martial arts experience. And so she took a chance.
Her HP would no longer regenerate, and her MP would no longer guard her as she needed significant damage to be dealt for this to kick in. Kaelith also turned off her Mana Overload. She might need to be significantly exhausted to increase that proportionally.
The two hovered high above the ravaged battlefield—the remains of the ancient temple far below them now just scattered rubble. Raven Heart's dark silhouette shimmered ominously against the fractured clouds.
Raven Heart's eyes narrowed, the remnants of her earlier smugness replaced with something far colder. The voice that echoed from her lips was low, almost primordial, reverberating in the air around them.
Kaelith didn't flinch. She was not afraid.
She never was.
With the instinct of a seasoned fighter, Kaelith moved before Raven Heart could even reach her. The goddess's burst of speed tore at the air but Kaelith was already preparing. She ducked under a wild jab and swiftly countered: a one inch punch directly to her solar plexus.
Raven Heart staggered back, her eyes widening in shock as Kaelith's strike landed with pinpoint precision. The speed of the blow generated more force than a regular blow which was enough to leave Raven Heart gasping for air.
For the briefest moment, Kaelith saw the surprise in her opponents eyes. Yet Kaelith knew she wasn't going to win this fight with the PL difference. But in this dance, speed, precision, and adaptability were her weapons. She could outlast Raven Heart's power with her skill, and she could outthink her. The only issue was she could not outlast her completely. With over a 2X strength difference, technique did not matter.
Raven Heart recovered speedily, her wings snapping with unnatural speed as she righted herself. Her eyes flashed with rage, the black veins beneath her skin pulsing as the darkness of her power deepened. "You think you can outmanoeuvre me, decimal?" Raven Heart's voice was colder now, her words edged with venom. "You're nothing but a mere ant scurrying beneath my boot."
Kaelith's lips curled into a confident smirk. "Oh, is this ant giving you a bit too much trouble?"
Raven Heart didn't bother replying. Her body spoke for her-the way it launched forward in a twisting, brutal arc, a corkscrew of shadow and steel aimed right at Kaelith's centre mass.
Kaelith pivoted sideways, narrowly dodging what would've splattered a lesser fighter into paste. The edge of Raven Heart's fist still caught her ribs and crack. Kaelith felt the snap deep inside her chest. White-hot pain flared, but she didn't stop.
Raven Heart pressed the assault. Her fists became a relentless drumbeat against Kaelith's defences, each strike like a hammer blow. Kaelith parried the first few, weaving her upper body in sharp, controlled movements to avoid the worst of the damage. But no matter how good she was, Raven Heart's sheer power and speed was too much.
A spinning backhand caught Kaelith in the shoulder, sending her crashing into the remains of a ruined pillar. Stone exploded outward from the impact.
[-15000 HP]
Her ribs were definitely fractured now, her shoulder dislocated.
Still, Kaelith moved. Gritting her teeth, she popped her shoulder back into place with a sickening crack, her eyes never leaving Raven Heart. Blood trickled from her mouth, staining her chin red.
The goddess floated above her, wings flaring wide, a sneer curling her lips. "Still standing? How persistent. How...deliciously futile."
Kaelith wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand, her smirk not wavering even once. "Yeah, yeah, you talk a lot for someone who's getting schooled by a 'decimal,'" she rasped, voice full of raw defiance.
Raven Heart snarled. This time, she descended like a meteor. A devastating axe kick came crashing down toward Kaelith's head.
Kaelith raised her arms in an X-block to catch the blow — and the ground beneath her shattered from the force. Cracks spiderwebbed out for hundreds of meters. Even reinforced bedrock couldn't take the hit without screaming.
Her forearms throbbed. Her HP dropped like a rock.
[-5000 HP]
She could barely feel her fingers — but her body still moved.
As Raven Heart withdrew her leg, Kaelith exploded upward with a rising knee strike, slamming into Raven Heart's exposed abdomen. The goddess grunted, air forcibly expelled from her lungs.
It didn't hurt her much. But it irritated her.
Good. Kaelith wanted that.
Another blow, this one a brutal palm strike, caught Kaelith across the jaw, sending her spinning. She tumbled through the air before slamming back-first into the ruined temple's half-standing wall. The stone crumbled around her.
[-15000 HP]
Her body screamed in agony. Bones creaked under the pressure.
Kaelith coughed, blood splattering the ground. But smirked
"I could do this all day," she whispered, half-laughing, half-choking.
Natural Regeneration's absence was keenly felt now. Her body begged for mercy. Screamed for it.
Kaelith smiled.
She had only 600 points of HP left. Good.
"Oh, so that's your plan." Raven Heart said, "You are a Saiyan Gamer, of course you would think of that. Although, I have to wonder how you plan to heal all that damage in the time you have..." Raven Heart realised what Kaelith potentially had. And stopped talking, her expression shifting to a more... desperate one.
Kaelith flew backwards but Raven Heart followed trying to stop Kaelith from her plan, until Kaelith pelted her with a barrage of Ki blasts. They did nothing but annoy her but they made her all the more stressed, as Kaelith flew backwards, followed by the wretched goddess who was being slowed by the sheer volume of the Ki Blasts hitting her.
Kaelith's own body wanted to transform right now. To catch up to this woman. No, it needed to go Oozaru. To survive, but there was no Moon in sight, no celestial body that could give her the Blutz Waves to transform... bar the Earth Itself. Yet as it turns out, RWBY's Earth wasn't giving the Zenos needed to activate the form.
Even then? She wouldn't let it. Getting her tail cut off would be terrible. And that thing seemed to not abide by her body's durability, meaning it would be cut off easily.
Kaelith, despite the desperation her own body felt, was calm, collected. She'd planned this the second she realised the difference between the 2 of them.
Her Mana Burst had faded 5 minutes after it was activated. Which was 3 minutes ago. But she had not let up. It would take an hour before she stopped blasting at this rate.
Due to her [Ki Manipulation] reaching LVL 4, her basic Ki blasts only used 10 MP now, compared to the 25 it took before. This also included another ability that she could probably pull off. Though Kaelith knew it wasn't a good idea. She had never practiced it, so she wasn't sure how effectively she could use it. And even then, the particular technique would drain HP over MP.
And right now, with her PL at 55,000, it would do nothing to help her. Increasing her power by 2X, would do nothing. And increasing it by 10x? It too would not work. And even then, she had never practised that technique. And therefore, she did not know how to use it. It would not be as simple as making a new Ki Attack after all.
With Raven Heart, she was being pelted, and constantly slowed down as Kaelith kept firing at her. She had no choice but to stand and take the attacks. Because in truth, she was being somewhat affected by the barrage at this point. She had no shield she could use either.
'If the Big Bang Attack could be fired as a wave and blast, then I can do the same with my Shining Star, with a different name of course.' Now only one arm was pelting Raven Heart with Ki Blasts.
As her right palm charged the orangish, yellow orb of Ki with a faint blue outline, she focused on the feeling of using a Ki Wave, instead. She cocked her arm back, before thrusting it forwards yelling out the name, "Star Burst."
A surge of energy burst forwards, rocketing towards the malevolent CPU who had been made furiously annoyed at The Gamer as the girl's plan was working. The energy wave hit dead on, Raven Heart being unable to do anything but try and fly through it. As the MP dwindled, sustaining the wave, Kaelith had to wonder why she was standing there, and taking the blast.
Either way, Kaelith muttered, "Inventory," grabbing the green bean as she waited and waited.
As soon as her MP dwindled enough she cancelled the Ki wave.
"You're too late," She said, she had been drained to 0 MP and now... she consumed the bean.
She hoped that she would get the multiplier boost because she didn't want to use a massive Mana burst to recover from everything.
The magical effects of the Senzu kicked in instantly, and suddenly Kaelith felt a surge, a massive surge of power welling up from within.
[Saiyan Power (Multiply) has been activated: all stats have been increased:]
[Strength has gone from 260 to 3000
Agility has gone from 300 to 3500
Vitality has gone from 190 to 2500
Intelligence has gone from 2700 to 7500
Wisdom has gone from 1800 to 7500
PL Calculating...
New PL: 4,015,000]
She was just slightly above the 4 million Power Level mark. Although Kaelith had been surprised by the fact that she didn't have to calculate her own PL herself, it did not matter.
Because if her earlier Calculation on Raven Hearts PL was accurate, she was now stronger than her opponent.
"Oi, non-existent woman," she started an assured smirk gracing her features, as she insulted the fact that the girl was technically in a constant state of non-existence, "I said I was gonna win wasn't I? Well then, I'll give you one opportunity to end this, right now. Surely you have 1 bar on the EXE drive, enough to use your EXE Skill. Do it, give me your best shot." Kaelith taunted standing completely still mid-air.
Raven heart glanced at her opponent, with a scowl. She didn't know how powerful the other had gotten, she had no idea in fact. But to use her Ultimate on her? Nah, she should be too weak for that.
And so, Raven Heart rushed in, dark SP gathered on her fist, activating in the form of a, "Kajin Fist."
Fire gathered in her fist, bright reddish flames ignited. Kaelith had finally seen something original, until she realised the skill was exactly like the Raijin Fist belonging to Tekken. As the fist flew at her, she grabbed the arm of her opponent , then Judo threw her to the forest beneath them.
Raven Heart landed with a loud boom, followed by a dust cloud that slowly cleared revealing a crater.
"Pathetic."
Was all Kaelith said then dashed in. Suddenly Raven Heart lost track of her. As Kaelith disappeared using the Afterimage technique.
"Looking for me," the girl said from behind her. Raven Heart immediately threw a backhand at the Saiyan girl, only to be met with a punch to her face before she could react.
The HDD form of Nevara was sent hurtling through several trees as a streak of purple chased her, then as the girl slowed, the streak of purple passed her, revealing Kaelith, who was winding up a powerful axe kick that when it landed sent the other girl hurtling down, creating a ravine from the sheer impact. Yet Kaelith was not done yet.
"COMET DIVER!"
A spiralling, bluish-purple energy drill forms around her from her legs, as she dives towards Raven Heart, but then...
"Entropy Beam." Finally, Raven Heart had activated her ultimate skill. And to Kaelith's surprise, it wasn't a stolen move.
Apparently, the Evil Reincarnators who feared the Gamers, didn't feel the same way about worlds that naturally had a system baked into it. Neptunia was one of those worlds.
Share energy danced like a malignant wraith as Raven Heart charged the attack. Gathering it. Kaelith cancelled her attack and smirked. She would tank this attack.
Raven Heart's palms came together, and a chaotic orb of sickly white and pitch-black energy formed between them, expanding like a miniature dying star. The ground trembled violently beneath her, trees uprooting themselves, the very concept of stability beginning to fray in the immediate area.
The Entropy Beam shrieked into existence—a jagged, spiralling column of energy that corroded the air itself as it fired, stripping away colour, matter, even reality in its path. Anything it touched didn't just burn or explode—it unravelled, pixelating into oblivion like some glitched-out memory.
Kaelith, standing mid-air, arms crossed cockily, stared it down.
The beam slammed into her with the force of a collapsing star.
For a heartbeat, she disappeared inside it.
The ground beneath the impact cracked open, an abyssal scar tearing into the Earth itself as the Entropy Beam roared.
Raven Heart's face twisted into a snarl of triumph. "Be erased, decimal!"
The light around the beam began to collapse and extend. Space distorting somewhat.
10 seconds slowly passed.
The beam began to sputter, the energy within it finally expended, leaving a gaping blackened wound in the world—like a hole punched through the canvas of reality.
Raven Heart hovered there, panting, her black wings shuddering. "That... should have erased you from existence," she hissed.
The dust and darkness began to clear, revealing Kaelith floating there.
Arms still crossed.
Her armour was not torn. The only evidence of the attack were slight burn marks on Kaelith's arms that healed.
"Nice fireworks," she said, brushing some imaginary dust off her shoulder. "Got anything that doesn't tickle?"
Raven Heart's eyes widened. "Impossible—"
Kaelith's eyes flashed. Her Aura exploded outward in a brilliant storm of lavender light, the shockwave enough to send Raven Heart flinching backward.
"Your big scary move…" Kaelith said, slowly advancing, each step ringing out like a countdown to doom, "only took about... let's see..." she glanced at her HP bar, "5 percent of my health. Certainly impressive but you can only use that once your EXE drive has one bar in it, right?"
[HP: 380,000/400,000]
"Honestly? Disappointing." She cracked her knuckles. "My turn."
Without warning, Kaelith vanished.
Raven Heart barely had time to register the sudden lack of opponent before Kaelith reappeared directly above her, her heel already dropping in a brutal.
KRACK
The impact slammed Raven Heart down into the earth so hard the world itself whined in protest. Dust exploded outward in a new crater that overlapped the last one.
Kaelith didn't let up.
She dived down, grabbing Raven Heart by the collar of her armour, and slammed her knee into the goddess's gut, once, twice, three times—each hit echoing like cannon blasts.
Kaelith spun and hurled Raven Heart skyward like a doll. Raven Heart's body cartwheeled limply through the air—until Kaelith was suddenly above her again, kicking her back down to Earth, again.
The resulting impact cratered the entire surrounding forest, flattening it in a half-kilometre radius.
She received a notice that she killed several Grimm there, receiving a bit more EXP, but she did not care, she just looked down at Raven Heart or what was Raven Heart.
The attack had caused what little Share Energy she had to completely deplete.
Kaelith could sense her now.
Or the faintest parts of her.
Nevara's Ki Signature was... faint, barely living at most.
Kaelith landed next to the broken girl... looking down at her with something akin to... guilt.
(Kaelith's POV)
I landed on the ground with a soft whump. Approaching the priestess dressed idol CPU in her Human form... I felt strange...
No Kaelith, finish her off, she's a threat to you, and your new home world...
I raised my hand, and soon a ball of bluish Ki hummed with power.
But she also gave me my first... proper fight. My Saiyan blood had been rushing with excitement the entire fight, the fact that I could die with my strategy was exciting. Exhilarating even.
Her chest rose and fell shallowly, the intricate patterns on her white dress now marred with dirt and blood. Almost lifeless golden eyes stared up at the sky, unseeing. A strange sense of... anti-climax washed over me. All that power, all that malice, reduced to this broken doll.
My hand twitched, a phantom sensation of swinging a baton into a skull back in the White Room. Of breaking those people. It would be so easy. A swift Ki blast, a final, decisive strike... the White Room's lessons screamed for it. Eliminate the deadly threat. It was efficient... it was rational.
But the memory of the last year of my former life played out in my mind.
The warmth of Akari's laughter. Yami's unwavering yet support. The warmth of Mei's gentle smile... They wouldn't understand. They wouldn't want this.
Ren and Nora... would they want this?
The orb in my palm flickered, wavering between destruction and restraint.
Nevara didn't move. Couldn't. Her aura was a ghost of itself, like smoke curling from dying embers.
My hand trembled.
I remembered Akari, yelling for no reason at something on the TV. Yami quietly playing Undertale, choosing to spare every enemy who tried to end his life. And Mei? Mei just wouldn't want this.
Besides the maliciousness in her Ki wasn't... bad... there was a small flicker of light in it, a light that had slowly appeared after I destroyed Gehaburn. It meant that I was right, it's just she was... still evil. But she could change.
Fuck, I'm starting to sound like Goku...
But there was a logical reason to spare her.
Information.
I might have been choosing to spare my enemy, but I would require information. And so, I approached the unconscious girl.
Using the Alteration-type Ki manipulation technique, I made ropes of energy, altering the properties of my Ki. I formed a rope of Ki that I used to tie Nevara. And then picked the girl up, flying back to Beacon Cliff.
"Guess I'm taking home a boss fight. Lucky me." I muttered.
A notification flickered at the corner of my eye.
[Ding! Bonus 2, "Defeat Nevara" has been completed!
Rewards:
EXP gained: 50,000
Sharicite Blade (B) has been acquired]
I looked at my rewards.
Of course the reward would be thematic.
You see, if you obtain Gehaburn with everyone's Lily Ranks maxed out–a process that takes hours upon hours of time–then Nepgear would break Gehaburn herself, and after some dilly dallying, you turn the cursed weapon into a holy blade–the Sharicite Blade, or in short Share Blade.
Although the weapon looks completely different from Gehaburn because Nepgear redesigned everything when she was remaking the demonic blade into a divine blade fit for the Goddess Candidate of Planeptune.
It was the Excalibur of the Neptunia verse.
Personally? I loved this ending because it showed that what was a curse could become a blessing in disguise...
Was the White Room like that?
I couldn't help but think now. As bad as it was, it gave me more appreciation for the beauty of the outside world...
The trees, the colours, everything normal human beings would have taken for granted. And in the end? I loved it. No, I did not just love it. I appreciated it for what it was.
Freedom.
And perhaps, just perhaps I would like to free the girl I am carrying right now.
(A/N: This was actually originally meant to have Kaelith use the Kaio-Ken to catch up, but she's never actually practised it before. Why would she? She would never need it because she was beyond the world she was living in. And when I was writing this I changed how Mana Burst works a bit. Nothing Major it was just that reaching a PL of 1.5 Million with a 50% Mana Burst should have Agility and Strength go up by 135000 each, but that would break when it came to the fact it was a PL of 1.5 mill. Granted, I don't have a defined system for calculating PL's yet, but I feel like I have to get ChatGPT or something to figure it out now. Because I genuinely need it. Either way the MP used would be split into half between the 2 stats. That is all.
Also, one more thing, the next Chapter would have a bunch of polls. A poll I am making out of curiosity you could say)