Neptunia: Merc's Involvement

Chapter 36: Planeptune - The Castle

The LAN Castle used to be the home of a CPU of Planeptune that lived hundreds of years ago, but what once was a beautiful palace now was an eerie place where only the sounds of the monsters living there filled the endless and massive hallways.

The areas without monsters were even worse, as the mortifying lack of sound would make the tension within someone's heart grow more than with the constant roaring of monsters.

Spiderwebs and dust could be seen everywhere along with crumbling walls and broken windows, all caused by the hundreds of years of aging and lack of maintenance.

The young boy walked through these hallways paying no mind to what surrounded him, since his mind was focused on finding the place where he'd meet up with his enemy. As he walked throughout the hallways, Alex's mind slowly wandered back to a few hours.

"So, what do we do?" Asked Lastation's CPU.

"First of all, we should prioritize rescuing Histoire." Answered Kei without hesitation.

"And how will we do that?"

"Shortly after the ASIC's invasion of Planeptune, all three nations received a message from Magic. All three of them saying that if we wished to recover Histoire, the merc must go alone to this location within the LAN Castle." Explained Mina.

"That has to be the most generic trap I've ever heard of." Said Noire while sweat dropping.

"Okay, where's that LAN Castle?"

Noire quickly turned around and looked at the young man with an irritated expression.

"Are you deaf or something!? There's no way that's not a trap!" She yelled at him while pointing at the message being displayed in the screen.

"You have a better idea?"

"W-Well…that's…."

"I guessed so..." Said the young boy before looking at the oracles again. "So? Where's that place?"

"I can take you there." Said Uni while taking a step forward.

Noire quickly turned her head again and looked at Uni with shock.

"Uni!?"

Alex looked at the CPU Candidate for a moment or two before agreeing to have her as a guide despite Noire's complaints about it.

"Alex! Wait up!"

As the voice of the CPU Candidate snapped him back to the present, the young boy turned around and saw Uni running towards him before stopping to catch her breath.

"I'm telling you...you don't need to go so fast..."

"You know, I think you should go back."

"Eh? Why?" Said the confused CPU Candidate.

"The message said that I should come alone. I don't want you to get caught up in any trouble that I'm in."

"Don't worry. If I need to I can hide...besides..." She said before lowering her head and making a stern expression. "If the one waiting at the meeting location is who I think it is, then there's something I need to check about him."

While looking at her, Alex could tell something serious was bothering Uni. He knew there was a reason why she so readily volunteered to guide him.

"Fine. I'm not stopping you." He said while turning around. "Just don't get killed. Last thing I need is your sister going crazy on me again." Alex said as he recalled how Noire explicitly told him , or rather threatened him by saying that if something were to happen to Uni at the LAN Castle, she would make him suffer for it until the day he died.