Chapitre 93: Who you are
Once she gathered herself, she looked up. Only to see herself in a void of darkness. The only discernable thing able to be seen was herself. Neo blinked in confusion, looking left, right, up, down and behind her. There was nothing.
"What just.." Her voice echoed out into the void.
A sense of familiarity stopped her train of thought. A digital visual effect formed in front of her, manifesting itself as a transparent, glowing cube.
[Hello. Host has fully awakened the Authority of Balance. This is a Major authority and a unique one. There is no other holder of such an authority. Many have tried, all have failed. You were chosen. Thus, you must understand] A blue box opened in front of Neo and informed her.
"So I'm the Dragon warrior now? I don't have to say 'Skidoosh', right? I can't pull it off.. I'm not Jack Black" Neo joked, only hearing a crisp chime from the system in return.
"Fine fine.. I'll wait to joke around. What's happening now? Am I being tested?" Neo asked, moving the cube between her hands casually.
[You may say that. To use Balance, you must seek it. To become] The system replied before Neo blinked and found two more additions in the void with her.
A male, with short dirty blond hair. He was wearing a denim fur collared coat with black jeans and sneakers. His face was covered in a light stubble and he looked at Neo with a tired yet amused expression. The other figure being Neopolitan (Trivia Vanille). Though she was far slimmer and looked closer to what Neo looked like in canon. She was seated on a trunk and looking at them with a curious expression.
"What's up, future me? Blake, Neo, Pyrrha, Raven, Rias, Arturia, Yang and Ruby eh? I didn't think we had the rizz to pull that off.." The male said with a smirk.
"Ah damn.. Okay, I think I'm starting to understand. Hey, Chris. Long time no.. be..?" Neo retorted, creating a throne of monster energy drink boxes to sit on.
"Don't.." Chris warned.
"Don't what?" Neo replied with an enormous grin as she cracked one open.
"Hmhmhm!" Neopolitan (Trivia) laughed.
"Want one?" Neo asked Chris, whose face soured at the offer.
"Fuck no. I know I probably can't die here but I'd be tempting fate.." Chris sighed.
"Well, now that we established we all know who we are.. I think I better get some good old fashioned exposition out. Since.. well, Trivia over there can't" Chris said, motioning to Trivia, who rolled her eyes in response.
"Stage's all yours, past me" Neo replied, hearing them both chuckle.
"Well that's the thing, isn't it? We're both 'Past me' Trivia and I" Chris folded his arms and looked at Neo, gaining a more focused look to him.
"I wasn't Trivia though..?" Confused, Neo replied.
"Well what are we but the sum of our memories? When you chose whose memory and body to have, you chose hers" Chris gestured to Trivia.
"You took more than just a slideshow of events. You took her happiness, sorrow, embarrassment, anxiety.. You possess the emotions as well. But you knew that. It's why you can even have an unspoken conversation with her. And considering Trivia created the 'Neo' persona as a friend and eventually, someone to become.. Your appearance and understanding settled the demons she'd been battling since childhood. Even if I'm hurt by the reason you chose to become someone else.. I'm glad you did that for her" Chris explained, though he seemed dispirited at the end while Trivia looked at him in concern.
"I.." Neo seemed at a loss for words, seeing her past self so dejected.
"I know how you felt, Neo. I hated myself too. Too angry at our situation.. Too blind to see Ashley was suffering. The self loathing and desire to be someone.. Anyone else? I know. Just don't fucking forget me. Hah.. Sorry.. Got a little emo there!" Chris brightened up at the end after shaking his head.
"I have no intention to" Neo replied firmly.
"Now that that's outta the way.. You ought to know. You're dangerously out of balance" Chris continued as Trivia nodded.
"You mean with you two?" Neo asked.
Trivia shook her head and put up three fingers. Pointing at Chris, Neo and herself.
"Us..?" Neo looked confused again.
"Yeah. Weird coincidence right? Trivia's fairy tale. Kinda suitable for this situation, isn't it?" Chris smiled.
"Trivia. Or another name for her, Hecate. The Goddess of three-way crossroads. Me, her and you. We find ourselves here, trying to achieve something" Chris explained.
"Oh yeah.. I do vaguely remember some of that stuff" Neo replied, looking at them both.
"So one of the issues has to be our influence on you via memories. See, I would have been sick to my stomach after our first human kill. Trivia had already killed her first person at fifteen. You're desensitized to it because you remember doing it quite a bit. That's just one change, too. So far, our morality has been mainly good. Until our quest with Tearwyn. That mass murder in New Vegas was kinda morally grey. They were slaves but still.. We're outta balance here" Chris explained, seeing Neo rub her temples.
"Fuck.. Is this a karmic system? Do I have to kill a puppy after saving someone now?" Neo grumbled.
"No, that'd be annoying as hell. The issue comes with the fact that if we lean too far one way, we run the risk of letting the 'Hearts' influence us" Chris replied, seeing Trivia nod warily.
"These 'Hearts' being infinite sources of power for both factions. They can influence me if I lean too far on any side.." Neo muttered, crossing her legs.
"Yup" Chris responded, popping the 'P'.
"That's not all either. You fall too far and you'll turn on your sisters, Artoria, Tearwyn and Raven. Too much positive emotions and actions? You'll become a Light Goddess with a disdain for evil and darkness. Dark Goddess? You'll become like Sakura or Artoria and disdain goodness and light. Not that it'd be BAD to be like Artoria and Sakura.. It's just not who we are. You have to control your emotions to a great extent" Chris informed, seeing Neo rub her temples again.
"So I have to be on my tippy toes at all times is what you're saying..? Fuck! How do I fix all this crap?" Neo asked, seeing Trivia and Chris look at each other.
"You have to find out. We're here for you though. Not like we'd be anywhere else though" Chris retorted with a shrug.
Trivia rolled her eyes and walked over to Neo, rubbing the top of her fox-eared head. Her eyes lit up and her face adorned with a small smile.
"Three crossroads huh.." Neo muttered, enjoying the head rub.
"Yeah. I think you're on the right path. Anyway, we'll see you when you drop by next time. Later" Chris waved her off with Trivia before Neo awoke in her office again.
Trivia looked at Chris, who had a stoic expression. He shook his head and looked back.
"Yeah.. something's bound to happen. I don't like the idea of someone else connected to those things" Chris said, looking up and seeing two orbs of such massive sizes, they dwarfed hyper-massive black holes.
One brighter than a star, the other darker than the void. They were rather far away but their presence within the space was unmistakable. Chris shook his head despondently before looking to Trivia.
"Well.. Hopefully she gets it next time she comes here" He finished with a sigh.
-A week later-
The week following wasn't particularly remarkable. Aside from training, going to Yokai Academy and spending time with the people in town, Neo didn't do much. She watched Artoria with Tearwyn, happy her sister seemed to have someone she liked. And she sent Freed and Medusa back to Death City to try and mend the relationship with the Grim Reaper. She did solve the biggest issue plaguing his world, so it wasn't that hard to look past wrecking the moon.
Herself, Tearwyn, Rias and Neopolitan were currently in the Newspaper club. Writing about the incidents that happened every day. Moka and herself had been the target of affection from an eleven year old Witch girl named Yukari. Of course, not being a lolicon, Neo shoved her onto Moka to deal with. Until a group of niceguy™ lizard men tried to assault the girl after school. Neo kicked their teeth in and used a newly devised evil spell to shrink their penis sizes by two inches before stealing their wallets to counter her good deed of saving a child.
"Annnd done..! 'How to traumatize the lizard people' has a nice ring to the title, right?" Neo spun around in her swivel chair and looked to her fellow club members.
"Did you really have to steal their wallets..?" Moka asked, giving her a small look of disapproval.
"Yes, absolutely. Gotta balance my karma, you know?" Neo replied with a shrug, taking out a wad of cash and grinning.
"No no.. You put yourself in the negative by shrinking their.. 'things'. That was the most evil thing I ever witnessed" Rias mumbled, giving Neo a helpless look.
As a response, Neo and Neopolitan cackled evilly. Tearwyn, however, seemed a bit confused still.
"Hm~? What did you shrink? I was a little too busy laughing at how you started picking up their teeth and came up with the idea to give them to Palentologists" Tearwyn chuckled to herself as she remembered.
"I shrunk their pride and joy, little Sister.. That's all you need to know. Lest I get punished for real this time.." Neo stroked her head and placed her on her lap.
While they were talking, Gin was subtly trying to look up Kurumu's skirt, only to feel a sense of dread suddenly hit him.
"Gin, I'll do the same to you if you keep doing that. Actually, better yet.. I'll turn you into a woman, shrink your entire body down, put you in a glass jar and hand you over to those gross otaku fans of ours" Neo threatened, not even looking at Gin.
"That threat seems so random.. I don't know why but I got chills for some reason.." Gin replied, getting a bit pale.
"They'll fill that jar up quick, Gin.." Neo added, making Gin shudder.
"Oh fuck no..!" Gin ran out in terror as Neo started laughing to herself.
"Wait.. what?" Yukari asked.
Everyone but Neo herself seemed confused at the threat. She waved off their curious stares and saved their work before standing up again.
"Don't sweat it. It's just a reference Gin and I know. It'll keep him from perving on you guys. For a while anyway.." Neo replied, taking two steps before stopping.
~'Purify them all. Beings of darkness have no place in-'~ A stray thought appeared in her head, causing her to shake her head before it could even finish.
"Tch.. Still need to balance it out a bit" Neo muttered to herself.
"Alright I'll be back in a bit. Gonna go around campus and 'have fun'" Neo put on a smirk and waved before walking out.
"Is.. she okay? She seemed a little out of it for a second there" Moka asked, looking around and seeing the others all looking a little confused as well.
Neopolitan furrowed her brows and got up out of her seat. Looking at Rias, they shared a look of concern and both nodded to the other.
"I think she'll be fine. You know how Neo is. Always something on her mind. Never know what'll happen next with her. Hehe" Rias commented with a small assuring smile, placating everyone but Neopolitan.
~Balance..~ Neo thought to herself, letting a soft sigh escape her lips.
-Kuyo-
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Academy. Kuyo had been struggling as of late. How to deal with his instincts telling him to submit to Neo. His pride and instincts were constantly clashing and he was losing sleep. He wanted to re-establish control over Yokai. The newspaper club was running again. Even slandering himself. Yet every time he gathered up the anger and courage to confront them, he was suffocated in Neo's presence and turned tail. Now, even some other clubs were defying him, seeing him as weak.
He struggled to pay attention to the meeting, too obsessed with trying to find a way to overcome his instincts. When a voice whispered in his ear. It sounded.. unworldly. As if it were not just one voice, but a cacophony of different tones in a single voice, speaking to him.
"ⱧØ₩ ₣ØⱤ₮Ʉ₦₳₮Ɇ. ł ₣ØɄ₦Đ Ø₦Ɇ ₳ⱠⱤɆ₳ĐɎ. Ⱡł₴₮Ɇ₦ ₵ⱠØ₴Ɇ, ₭ł₮₴Ʉ₦Ɇ.."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone