Hyperdimension Neptunia GB

Chapter 17 (Corruption: Ceaseless Pain)

His arm burns... it's painful and an unending demonic laughter echoes in his head... It was his laughter... he desperately screams as to drown out the nauseating echoes...

Schwarz: "AHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

It throbs, it reminds him of the days when he was feared, hated, cursed...

Schwarz: "STOP IT! STOP IT!"

Eithan: "YoUrE A pUpPeT tO yOuRsElF, tO YoUr PeOpLe!"

Dark memories surged into his mind, the sins he's committed, the lives he abandoned...

Schwarz: "Noooo! It's not my fault! I had no choice! Stop it! It wasn't me!"

his feet burns, his head aches, he breathes heavily... It was a long time ago...

Schwarz: "Gh...! GUHAAAA!!!"

he stops his travel, he now levitates over a deep body of water, his burning feet starts to lose heat as he holds his head...

Schwarz: "stop...stop it....STOP IT!!!!!"

he starts punching his own face in hopes that the voices will stop tormenting him...

Schwarz: "Hgh! Ghu! Agh!"

Blood trickles down his forehead, with each blow, his vision blurs... he feels dizzy, but he kept hitting himself... and even though he feels the pain, it didn't silence the voices in his head...

Screaming...

Crying...

Dying...

Schwarz: "WHY!? WHY ME!? I DON'T NEED TO SUFFER LIKE THIS! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

The memories torment him, he hates himself, he feels the rage within him going out of control... his vision turns red, he felt heavy, his stomach reacts to the reddened world before his eyes...

Schwarz: "Urgh!"

another memory... a field of blood... a sky dyed in crimson, a day when he spilled innocent blood... a day when he had scarred his existence for life...

He is then reminded of the destruction his power has caused...

He hurls... contents from his stomach falls to the ocean...

The red sun shines above him, as if to remind him of that day... finally.. he feels the fatigue catch up to him.. the voices in his head starts to fade, he struggles to keep his consciousness intact... he moves forward... but then he realized, the sky was drifting further and further... he's falling... the sea comes close... and before he completely loses himself to the deep blue... he is reminded of the most precious treasure in his heart...

A scene from the past, of a girl standing near the sea... her hair flows in the wind, her clothes dyed in black and bluish-white... she was like a star in a sea of darkness...

...She whispers...

"...Welcome back..."

"...It's not your fault..."

"...You did your best..."

Precious memories... that he can never... ever... experience again...Moments lost... and faded...

One thought floats to his fading consciousness...

"...If ever the world ends... I'd like to see you once again..."

Finally his vision fades to black...

Meanwhile...

Black Heart: "!?"