167: Heartless Enterprises, Part Three

Heartless Enterprises, Part Three

"Okay... So, where do we find this stuff?" Neve asked. 

"The Unity Trials gave you a map, did it not? I will mark the locations of the necessary resources on it." 

In an instant, Neve's mini-map was updated to show two additional markers, alongside the boss marker. 

Which was a problem, given that Andromeda had listed 3 items that she needed. 

"Uh, where's the last one?" 

"What do you mean?" Andromeda asked. 

"I only see two markers on the map." 

"Hm?" Andromeda hummed out, tilting her head. "You should be seeing three markers, one to the east, one to the west, and one just beside this tower. Is one of them missing?" 

Neve almost smacked her forehead when she realized the misunderstanding at play here. 

[Of course, one of these things is in the boss arena.] 

"Sorry, I see it now." 

"Ah, wonderful," Andromeda said. "Here, take this as well."  The android then handed Neve an earpiece of some sort. "It will allow us to communicate while you are outside of the tower. I will not bother you while you are not doing anything related to me, though." 

"Okay... Is that all?" 

"Yes. Good luck. I hope you are successful." 

---

As Neve and Erin walked out of the tower, the earpiece Neve was now carrying turned on. 

"Ah, I forgot to mention," Andromeda told her. "While I cannot leave this tower, I do have a few openings from which I may be able to help if you run into trouble." 

[Wait, what? Does this mean I have a sniper on my side, now?] 

"Uh, wow. Thanks." 

"Don't mention it." 

Just like that, the earpiece turned off and Neve was left with a task to accomplish. 

Almost immediately, however, her phone began ringing. Given that she disabled all notifications except the ones from one particular person, she knew who was calling her before she even saw the caller ID. 

"Hello." 

"Hi~" Charlotte greeted her on the other end. "How goes the journey? I hope I'm not interrupting anything." 

Admittedly, Neve was still getting used to having someone from outside of this place talking to her. 

... In reality, though, even before she came into the Final Challenge, she hadn't been used to people calling her. 

"No, you're not." 

"Ah, wonderful. I'm calling because I was about to write an article and I was wondering if you could tell me a little about yourself." 

"About... me?" Neve raised a brow, though Charlotte couldn't see her. 

"Yes," Charlotte confirmed. "Nothing too deep, just... You know, where you're from, a little bit of what you did before the Unity Trials, that sort of thing." 

Neve considered it for a moment. 

"I... I didn't do much," she replied quietly. "I was just kind of on autopilot. I didn't really have any dreams or goals." 

"Really? There was nothing at all?" Charlotte asked and, honestly, Neve felt like a knife had just been pushed into her heart with that question. 

"Uh..." With a little bit of pressure on her, Neve's mind quickly began digging through folders of memories for anything worth saying. 

To her own surprise, she did find something. 

"Well..." 

Like a fisherman who'd just got a bite, Charlotte began to reel her in. 

"Yes?" Charlotte urged. 

"I..." Neve sighed. Even to her own ears, what she was about to say sounded pathetic. "I thought about becoming a streamer." 

Charlotte did not laugh. Charlotte did not mock her. Instead, she politely asked: 

"Really? What sort of games would you have streamed?" 

"Uh, MOBAs, m-mostly," Neve replied. "I, ehm... I liked RPG games too." 

"Ah, which ones in particular?" 

Neve had very little idea what to do with this attention she was receiving. People being interested in what she liked, her thoughts, what she wanted to do... She wasn't used to it at all. 

"L-Legends of Overcraft. I liked that one a... a lot." 

"Ah, I've heard of it. It's quite the popular esports presence, is it not?" 

"Yeah, y-yeah, it is..." 

It was getting harder to breathe for some reason. 

Thankfully, Neve calmed herself down a little as she remembered: 

[Right, she's just doing this for an article. That's all. Relax, relax.] 

"Well, for what it's worth, I think you would have been quite successful if you tried that." 

"Y-Yeah?" 

"Mhm~" Charlotte giggled. "You certainly have the face for it." 

"What?" 

"I'd tune in," Charlotte stated. "Whenever I needed something to brighten my day, you know?" 

[... What the hell is going on?] 

"Um... I..." Neve's mind short-circuited. "I-I need to... I need to go." 

"Oh? Something came up?" 

"Y-Yeah, something... sorry." 

"No worries," Charlotte replied. "Until next time." 

"Right. Yeah."  0

Neve hung up, staring down at her phone's screen, shaken. She was having trouble processing what she'd been told. 

[I have the face for it? What- does she- huh?] 

"Neve," Erin said, next to her. "You seem flustered. Did that brick in your hands say something you didn't like?" 

"No, no, no, I... Never mind," Neve muttered. "It's not important. So," Neve said, trying to change the topic. "Uh, the first thing we need is pretty close. Should be- no, that's the boss arena. Actually, it's-" 

"Neve," Erin said, placing a pair of firm hands on her shoulders. 

"Y-Yeah?" 

"Breathe, woman. Breathe," Erin said, half-concerned, half-amused. "Neve, the brick can't talk to you. It's okay. It's not real." 

"What? No, Erin," Neve raised her hands up defensively, and the "brick" in question. "This thing is a phone. You can use it to talk to people who are far away. I was talking to that lady with the pink hair." 

"Ohhh," Erin responded. She paused and then smiled. "Ohhhh~" 

Neve sighed. 

"So, what did she say that got my summoner so excited?" 

"I'm not- ugh, she didn't say much," Neve replied, pushing some of her hair behind her right ear. "She just..."

"She just..." 

"She just said I look good," Neve responded. "That's all. Or, well," Neve corrected herself, "she implied it. I think." 

"Ah... Is that all?" Erin asked. 

"Yeah," Neve took a deep breath. "That's all." 

"Well... She's certainly not wrong about that." 

Neve stopped, turning to look at her with an arched brow. 

"What?" Erin asked with a smile. "Is it that surprising that I think this? I've kissed you twice already, remember?" 

"I-I mean, yeah, but..." 

Honestly, even though it was true that she'd kissed her, quite passionately the last time as well, for some reason, Neve hadn't really thought that her looks had played any type of part in that. 

Neve had interpreted the first time as a "thank you" for saving her, and the second as just Erin being somewhat bored. 

"Has no one ever told you that before?" Erin asked, suddenly. "Perhaps I have different standards but the only thing that I dislike about your appearance is those things," she pointed down at Neve's legs. "The half you and I share is completely exquisite, though." 

Neve looked away. 

"There was one time..." She shook her head before the flickering of cameras in her memories could get too intense. "But, that didn't exactly go well," she said quietly.  "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Let's just keep going." 

"... Alright," Erin conceded, letting the topic go. "Let us continue, then." 

They went to the western marker first. 

The marker took them to a building with a sign outside depicting an alien woman with her body stretched out, wearing some shoes so bulky they looked like blocks tied to her feet. Neve stood before it, taking the building in alongside Erin. 

[Is this... Is this a strip club or something?] 

Now able to cross visiting one of those off her bucket list, Neve walked in with her summon. 

The lights in the club were still on. Some chrome-painted furniture, bulky and shiny, was placed evenly around different black poles. There was what looked like a broken tv in the back, and a bar just under it. 

More importantly, though, there were a couple of tanks with a System message above them reading, "FUEL" just floating in the center. 

[What? What the fuck are- whatever, videogame logic, whatever,] Neve thought as she heard an ominous whirring in the back. 

"Neve?" 

"I hear it," the healer told her. "Get ready." 

A few androids walked out from one of the doors at the back. 

Level 67

MP: 300/300

Level 65

MP: 250/250

Level 65

MP: 240/240

Erin got in front of Neve. The healer brought out Sayran's Holy Blade and prepared herself. 

Strangely, though, the fight she was about to enter wasn't really on her mind. Or, at least, she wasn't complicating things too much. She'd probably been through hundreds of battles. This was automatic at this point.

She cast {Field of Brilliance}, {Sacred Ground}, and kept her eyes on Erin so she could shield and heal her when she needed it. It was all routine. 

No, it was Charlotte's words that kept passing through her mind. Even as the fight began. 

[What the hell was that woman saying? Geez...] 

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