The end of the nightmare

Nero snickered as frustration quickly overcame Averice's face. "There goes your prized robot," Nero smirked.

"Damn you! I won't let you destroy the Roboborg union," Averice glared as he fired some gold coins at Nero.

"You talking about the Echidna wanna be? Honoka's gonna slay her easy. Though I might end up killing you first," Nero snickered as he swatted away the coins with ease.

A platinum-gold laurel then appeared above Averice's head as the room began to turn to gold. As the gold reached Nero, however, it was unable to turn him into gold and instead found itself destroyed by his black flames.

"You're weak, I don't even need to go OP-drive stage 0," Nero snickered as he one-shot Averice with a mere punch to the gut, bloodying him instantly.

"Y- You monster," Averice trembled as he became encased in his own blood.

"Do you know how many alternate universes I had to use to cushion the blow to prevent it from destroying this universe? Well I bet you do, but now it's the end for you," Nero glared as Averice was encased in his black flames.

However, a purple cephalopod-esque man clad in pirate attire suddenly appeared and ate Averice along with the flames. "Bleh, your flames taste like shit as always. Well, at least I consumed them before they ended Averice," the figure stated.

Nero's expression changed as he stared at the new challenger. "Gula, so you're here," he glared.

"Muramasa Jouzu, I'm the only being that can truly counter you. While your flames may bring the end to anything, I consume everything."

"Then I just need to end you first."

"Can you? The last time we clashed, you defaulted to expelling me from the area rather than trying to end me."

"Because I don't feel like it. This isn't the stage for our final battle, now piss off you cephalapod fly," Nero glared as he gave Gula a double middle finger salute.

Gula immediately went flying out into space, but remained completely conscious and eventually stopped his momentum.

"Well, I guess a draw is fine. I might have risked losing Averice, or ended up being held back because I'm trying to preserve him. Well, I guess I'll leave you alone for now," Gula snickered as he summoned a portal.

Once he arrived at his destination, he spit out Averice.

"Ugh, I despise the inside of your stomach," Averice groaned.

"Well I expect gourmet meals in return, especially since I consumed all your injuries," Gula grinned.

Like Averice, Gula was also one of I.L.U.'s secret leaders that only the governing board knew about. He was also considered the only being that could counter Muramasa Jouzu. Though he also preferred not to rush things and was content with waiting as long as needed to battle his foe once more.

Back at the Roboborg union base, Nero returned to his human form and began destroying the base with his flames. "Now, I can rescue, no seems like Rika will overcome this trial on her own," Nero thought.

...

In the pit, Rika continued to flail around in the darkness, screaming for Masaru. Suddenly, the room lit up, allowing Rika to see M45-4RU standing before her.

"System error. Communication error," M45-4RU muttered.

"Rika, please, I don't want to see you suffering anymore," Masaru's voice echoed in Rika's head.

Rika tearfully looked down at her knife and slowly approached M45-4RU. She then performed a slash, causing M45-4RU to lose power and slump to the ground. Rika then collapsed to the ground and rested Masaru's now robotic head on her lap before she lost consciousness, crying.

The lone remaining functioning camera then zoomed in on Rika.

"Yes, just like I wanted. A shame the Roboborg union got wiped, but that is on them for being weak. Now I can become Prime Minister with no opposition," Ookuma thought as she closed the camera viewing app on her phone.

...

When Rika came to, she found herself in Shiori's place. "Wha-"

"Your ass was saved by Nero," Shiori growled.

Rika darted around the room until she found Masaru's metallic body restrained to a table.

Shiori let out a sigh as she put her hand on her head. "He's pretty much a robot at this point. All his organic matter has been destroyed. I was able to find that his consciousness was still intact, but locked behind a microchip. Guess they wanted him to be conscious of his actions as a cyborg. But even then, it's not like he's able to do anything. He's basically a mind trapped in a metal statue," she stated.

Rika slammed her fist in frustration. "That bitch, that f****** piece of shit BITCH! SHE SENT THOSE MONSTERS TO TAKE HIM! THEY DESECRATED HIM! ALL BECAUSE... of me. Why!? I wanted to make him happy because he made me feel happy!"

"Ri-chan! I ran into Nero on the way here, are you alright!?" Mimi cried as she slammed the burnt Waki down on an open table.

"What the hell is that?" Shiori growled.

"Waki! We were attacked by Roboborgs and Waki got burned and skewered!"

Shiori walked over to Waki and examined her for a second before shaking her head. "She's dead. She's not surviving no matter what I do," she sighed.

Rika began to tremble as Mimi began crying. "Waki's dead? The Roboborg Union attacked the restaurant? WAS ANYONE ELSE HURT!?" Rika cried.

"No, it was just me and Waki there. Everyone else went on break and all the customers there were actually robots. When I got back from my break there was a sign on the door that said we were closed, but when I went inside, Mille was stabbing Waki!" Mimi cried as she tried to tell Rika what happened.

"Oi... I'm..."

Everyone turned to notice Waki struggling to move her charred lips. Rika immedietely rushed to her side.

"Ri.... Good. I protected... Your dream."

And with that, Waki went silent. Shiori shook her head and began wheeling her to the back. "Sorry you two, but you can't save everyone," she thought.

...

As Mimi and Rika began mourning Waki, Mimi informed Rika of all that had happened at the restaurant. Newfound rage began to creep into Rika.

"How the hell did they all get in!? Did they assimilate our patrons!?"

"I don't know. Waki was the one there from the start. At least the others were out of the restaurant."

"They better be alright."

"You done crying yet? If you want to wail some more, wail to a counselor," Shiori growled as she reemerged from the back.

"I'm not in the mood for this. Waki's dead and Masaru pretty much is as well. I don't want to hear anymore bullshit!" Rika trembled.

"Well in that case, I got one more thing to ask. While you were out, I examined you and found something. Now how recently did you have sex?" Shiori glared.

"St. Patrick's day, Masaru wore the- no, actually he just wore one condom unlike at Christmas," Rika sighted.

"Well, it failed; you're pregnant."

A swarm of emotions hit Rika. "P- Pregnant? IS THE BABY-"

"Looks fine, though you damn well not go flipping around and shit. Also you're gonna need to watch your diet..."

As Shiori trailed off, Rika began to cry. "He- this is our- I'll protect them. I'll protect this child so that they can live," she sobbed.