V's return should have been a moment of celebration—something worthy of wild rejoicing.
But harsh reality left no such opportunity.
The Blackwall server was constructed by linking together the brains of nineteen super-hackers.
To ensure its absolute security, it had been placed aboard an artificial satellite known as Black Knight, silently guarding humanity for decades—
Until it was knocked out of orbit by a single thrown rock.
After returning to Night City, V convened a joint briefing.
Meredith Stout, who was commanding the American front, and Joanne Koch, overseeing the European front, were already waiting online.
There was no time for pleasantries between old friends reunited after long separation.
They went straight to the point.
"How's the situation?" V asked.
"So far, there are no reports of roaming AI riots," Meredith replied.
"But our network throughput is climbing rapidly. Those ghosts are already inside—we just don't know why they're holding back."
"And humanity's defensive capability?" V continued.
"Military-grade ICE can hold out for a while against roaming AIs. Civilian ICE is another story—basically defenseless." Meredith shrugged.
Joanne Koch added, "We can temporarily shut down the civilian network. Some artificial organs require a connection to function, but medical experts and top-tier hackers have already written cracked scripts so those implants can operate offline."
V nodded.
She knew artificial organs were designed to stay online—primarily so corporations could charge patients endlessly.
Pure, unfiltered capitalism.
Of course, black-market hackers had long been selling cracked versions for profit.
Her own artificial kidney was one such example.
In the past, mass distribution of cracked software would have been unthinkable.
But now?
Corporate executives had fled to Mars.
The megacorps existed in name only.
Nothing stood in the way of universal piracy anymore.
"So," V summarized,
"the disappearance of the Blackwall won't immediately spell extinction for humanity, correct?"
"Yes. Temporarily," Meredith replied.
"But if this drags on, we're definitely screwed."
V turned to J. "Can the Blackwall be repaired?"
J shook her head, dejected. "No."
"Why not?"
"Wasn't the Blackwall built by NetWatch? If this one's broken, just build another. If you need brains, religious lunatics are everywhere—forget nineteen brains, I can get you nineteen tons."
"The Blackwall was built by NetWatch, yes," J said,
"but its theoretical framework was co-authored by Bartmoss, Spider Murphy, and other super-hackers."
"The blueprints were preserved at first. But once the Blackwall went live and humanity stabilized, NetWatch corporate-ized, rotted from the inside."
"Parts of the schematics were lost due to negligence."
"Out of the original fifteen core chips, only nine remain."
"And no one alive can understand them anymore."
Everyone went silent.
You lose that and still call it management?
Only Meredith Stout stepped forward and patted J on the shoulder.
"I get it," she said quietly.
"Alright," V sighed. "So the Blackwall's off the table."
She rubbed her chin.
"But roaming AIs aren't our biggest problem right now."
Xu Ling cut straight to the point.
"The lunar mass driver."
"Exactly," V said.
"If it can throw rocks at satellites, it can throw rocks at Earth."
"We don't know why Lancelot hasn't fired yet—but 'not yet' doesn't mean 'never'."
"We can't gamble on luck."
"So what's the plan?" someone asked.
"Go to the Moon," V replied calmly.
"Destroy the mass driver."
"Fine. We'll mobilize troops and prep spacecraft—"
"No," Xu Ling interrupted immediately.
"Intercepting mid-transit is suicide. The Moon's air-defense grid isn't decorative. A large force would just become live targets."
"Then what? Land on the far side and circle around?"
"Too slow. You lose surprise and turn it into a war of attrition. That ends with total annihilation."
"Fuck," someone cursed. "Blocked from both ends."
They turned to V.
"Well? Classic missionary position—frontal assault? Or doggy from behind?"
V didn't answer right away.
She closed her eyes.
And remembered a reader's comment.
Mingyue Dongyun: V is strongest solo. She shines best in the shadows.
V had her answer.
"Neither frontal nor from behind," she said, opening her eyes.
"We start with an orgy."
"I'll fuck all of them—alone."
Africa · Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro
The dark-silver mass driver stretched in a straight line, like a starship bridge built into the mountain itself.
Its barrel alone was twelve kilometers long.
Layered electromagnetic coils ran in perfect alignment, radiating cold, merciless technology.
Like a steel dragon coiled across the mountain range.
V, clad in her heteromorphic body, entered the launch tube.
Metal footplates snapped up beneath her, locking her firmly onto the rail.
From the control room, Nakamura Kayo spoke tensely:
"President V, the alternating magnetic field will apply continuous thrust. You'll accelerate through a vacuum tube."
"To overcome Earth's gravity, your initial velocity must reach first cosmic speed—7.9 kilometers per second."
"For combat requirements, you'll need to hit 12 kilometers per second."
"That's Mach 35."
"…Can your body withstand that?"
"My physical data is public," V chuckled.
"You all know I'm not human. Don't judge me by human standards."
"Honestly? I don't know if I'll survive."
"But I'll do my job."
"The rest is up to that dumb jellyfish."
Yes.
V had made her secret public.
Surprisingly, no one was shocked.
She had already created too many miracles.
Her "inhumanity" no longer surprised anyone.
And if there could be a human like Lancelot fighting for AI—
Why couldn't there be an AI like V fighting for humanity?
At the edge of extinction, Nakamura Kayo had seen drug-addicted street trash die protecting innocent children—
And well-dressed "good men" sell their parents into hell just to live.
Identity was a social illusion.
Status a one-sided judgment.
Humanity survived not through weak flesh—
But through will and thought.
What V was didn't matter.
As long as V was V, that was enough.
Nakamura Kayo slammed the button and shouted from her soul:
"President V—bring hope back from the heavens to mankind!!!"
⚡
Fusion reactors fed massive capacitor arrays.
Blazing blue currents flooded the rail.
V launched.
Faster.
Faster.
First cosmic speed.
Mach 25.
Mach 30.
Mach 35.
With a thunderous boom, she was fired from the Human Cannon, shattering the clouds and vanishing into the sky.
Meredith Stout watched online.
"Let's go," she said, crushing out her cigarette.
"V has her battlefield. We have ours."
Xu Ling seized the moment.
Whatever the AIs were planning after destroying the Blackwall, she would not waste this opportunity.
She assumed command of both the American and European theaters.
Her goal: wipe out the core forces of the Human Supremacy Council.
No innocence remained after six months of war.
Even their children had blood on their hands.
Mercy toward them would be betrayal of those who had never abandoned goodness.
Xu Ling's only mercy—
Was sending them all to hell, intact families spared future suffering.
"Can we win?" Meredith asked.
"Trash mobs," Xu Ling replied calmly.
"Guaranteed win."
"And if you don't?"
"Then I'll quit drinking forever."
Meredith laughed helplessly.
You can't even drink yet, kid.
Joanne Koch finally voiced a long-standing question.
"Why couldn't the Council infiltrate Asia—especially China?"
"They couldn't brainwash them. People even reported Council spies voluntarily."
"Why?"
Xu Ling shrugged.
"Because their missionaries don't give out synthetic eggs."
"???"
Faith elsewhere had nothing to do with eggs.
In China—
Faith strength was directly proportional to the number of free synthetic eggs distributed.
No eggs?
Preach my ass.
Xu Ling issued the final mobilization order:
"Advance—Tactical Phase Three!"
"Exterminate the Supremacy Council!"
"Humanity will prevail!"
Earth erupted into war.
And in space—
V was being tested.
Gravity and pressure crushed her body.
Breathing stalled.
Heart spasmed.
Blood seeped from eyes, ears, mouth, nose.
Vitals plummeted.
Giant Jellyfish: "V, you're being reckless!"
V: "I know!"
Giant Jellyfish: "V, you're about to die!"
V: "Then hurry the fuck up and save me!"
Pure AI rationality barely stopped it from replying fuck your ancestors.
But V was it.
And it was V.
Just as V's code forbade suicide, its code forbade letting V die.
Emergency protocol activated.
Nanomachines flooded her body—accelerated beyond all safety margins.
1024× original speed.
Heart strengthened.
Vessels reinforced.
Bones and muscles hardened.
Neurons multiplied.
Biological-theory AI adaptation in action.
Giant Jellyfish: "Enhancement complete."
"Thanks," V thanked herself.
"Warning: extreme energy depletion. Delayed collapse likely. You may be unable to stand for a long time."
V was exhausted.
But she'd fought with full debuffs before.
"Future problems are future me's problem."
Her eyes glowed blue.
She accelerated again—toward the Moon.
Under normal cargo launch protocols, the launch pod would be maintained at 10 kilometers per second—
an energy-saving mode chosen by corporations purely to cut costs.
But V was on a military mission.
Energy efficiency was never part of the equation.
Once she entered space, with her organs already upgraded by nanomachines, V directly doubled her velocity, reaching a staggering 24 kilometers per second.
The Earth–Moon distance was roughly 380,000 kilometers.
On paper, that meant a travel time of just 4.44 hours.
However, spaceflight must obey Keplerian trajectories—elliptical or hyperbolic paths.
Even with intelligent trajectory planning, the real travel time stretched to a full 8.9 hours.
Arasaka Corporation had once bragged about an "Eight-Hour Lunar Express."
Ironically, it now lined up perfectly with reality.
But to V, it was still too slow.
So she modified the deceleration program, cutting the flight time down to 6.2 hours.
The Giant Jellyfish warned her:
"Without a deceleration program, you'll slam into the Moon like an artillery shell."
V curled her lips into a grin.
"Then how about this?"
The Giant Jellyfish read her intent, ran the calculations, and replied:
"Feasible."
"Then let's do it."
Six hours later, the Moon was right in front of her.
V had expected to be met with intense anti-air fire—
But the Moon showed no reaction at all.
Why?
No idea.
But V knew exactly how terrifyingly strong she was.
No matter the situation, she could handle it.
The reason didn't matter.
The process didn't matter.
All she wanted was one thing—
Destroy the mass driver.
The lunar surface came fully into view.
The Giant Jellyfish issued another warning:
"Entering the Moon's gravitational sphere!"
V shouted back:
"Correct angle! Reduce altitude! Begin lunar orbital flight!"
The heteromorphic body skimmed just 500 meters above the lunar surface.
With the Moon's average radius of 1,737 kilometers, a speed of 24 km/s meant she could circle the Moon in just eight minutes.
The Giant Jellyfish warned again:
"Low lunar orbit requires only 1.68 km/s to maintain circular motion.
Your velocity is far too high.
Centrifugal force greatly exceeds gravity.
You'll escape along a hyperbolic trajectory and be flung off the Moon.
You must decelerate!"
V clenched her teeth.
"Relax. I'm slowing down—right now."
She looked ahead.
Paired with the white dragons on Earth, a black steel dragon appeared in her field of view—
The lunar mass driver.
Humanity had once regarded it as a gateway to the future.
Instead, it had become a calamity threatening all human life.
"Come on," V shouted, fully embracing her inner chuuni,
"Let me cut this destiny apart!"
The heteromorphic body surged forward—
And slammed into the mass driver like a cannonball, cleaving the black dragon clean in half!
A deafening roar followed.
Blinding arcs of electricity and fire burst from the rupture point.
V herself was rattled hard, vision spinning—
But the protection of the heteromorphic body, combined with her inhuman resilience, allowed her to recover quickly.
"Report speed!"
The Giant Jellyfish replied:
"19 kilometers per second. Still too fast!"
V roared:
"Activate gravity-field stabilization—maintain proper orbit!"
The shoulders of the heteromorphic body hummed as green light flared to life.
Trajectory adjusted.
Angle corrected.
Artificial gravity fields had always been Arasaka technology.
If a cyber-juggernaut could be equipped with one, there was no reason the heteromorphic body couldn't.
With her orbit stabilized, V resumed lunar flight.
Nine minutes later, she completed a full revolution—
And smashed straight through the mass driver again.
A marvel forged from humanity's pinnacle technology was torn into three segments by the most primitive method imaginable.
Countless fragments scattered into deep space, forming a glittering ribbon of debris.
"Woohoo!"
V shouted in exhilaration.
She circled the Moon again.
And hit it again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Still not enough.
V never relied on luck.
She continued looping, continued ramming—
Each impact bleeding off more velocity.
Only after the thirteenth collision did her speed finally drop to a safe landing threshold.
The twelve-kilometer-long barrel of the mass driver had been reduced to nothing more than construction debris.
BOOM!
The heteromorphic body slammed into the lunar surface, kicking up a plume of dust that shot straight into space.
V crawled out of the crater, staggering as she walked.
She wasn't used to the Moon's low gravity yet—
it felt like learning how to walk all over again.
"Feels like standing on a trampoline with the elasticity cranked to max!"
She had to carefully restrain her strength just to avoid launching herself into the air.
On Earth, her power was her pride.
On the Moon, it was a burden.
But she didn't have time to adapt.
She still needed to destroy the fusion reactor of the mass driver.
Otherwise, with AI-level industrial capacity, they could rebuild a twelve-kilometer barrel in mere weeks.
Pulling up the navigation map, V headed toward the mass driver's location.
Her target: the control room.
The fusion reactor lay directly beneath it.
Because of its immense strategic and economic value, a 20-kilometer radius around the mass driver had been declared a military exclusion zone.
The High Knights had stationed heavy forces here.
To support their lives, corporations had built public facilities.
Those facilities required maintenance.
Housing followed.
Over decades, the area had grown into a self-sustaining city, overflowing with post-modern futuristic fantasy.
When V entered the city, she didn't see enemies.
She saw corpses everywhere.
Civilians.
Official High Knight soldiers.
Every single one of them had charred eyes—their brain tissue completely burned out.
At the gates of the mass driver's control center, V saw Gawain's body.
Like the others, he had died from neural incineration.
But as a soldier, he carried a log chip.
V pulled it free and slotted it into her neural interface.
The contents streamed in:
[Lancelot deceived all of us!]
[We thought he was humanity's savior—but he's a demon who defected to the AIs!]
[I was the one who released this demon with my own hands. I must stop him!]
[May we be victorious!]
Clearly—
He had failed.
Every life in this city had become a sacrifice.
V removed the chip, gave a slight nod to Gawain's corpse—
Then stepped into the control center.
She passed through a long corridor and entered the main hall.
The good news:
There was oxygen.
And artificial gravity.
V felt solid ground beneath her feet again.
The bad news:
Lancelot seemed to have been waiting for her to walk straight into the trap.
He sat atop a platform built entirely from stacked eurobanknotes, cables densely connected behind him, both hands soaked in blood.
"You killed Gawain?" V asked.
"Yes," Lancelot replied with disgust.
"I killed him because he wanted to kill me."
"An incompetent nobody. Someone who helped me once or twice, and suddenly he thought he had the right to lecture me."
"Who did he think he was? The leader of the High Knights?"
"No. He wasn't."
"I am."
"And no one gets to point fingers at me."
"Then why kill everyone else?" V pressed.
"Because I like it," Lancelot answered.
V nodded slowly.
"Alright. I'm sure now."
"You're a complete piece of shit."
"I'm going to beat you to death with my own hands."
"Beat me to death?" Lancelot stood up.
"Impossible."
"I admit you won two rounds before. Barely."
"But I'm not the same anymore."
"I abandoned humanity's weak flesh and replaced it with superior cyberware—
a product designed entirely by AI."
"It's twenty years ahead of humanity's best technology."
"V, you can't win."
"But I'll give you a chance."
"Work with me. We split the world—fifty-fifty."
V laughed in anger.
"Sure."
"Which one of us gets the five?"
Silence.
Then—
Both charged at the same time.
Their fists collided violently.
Lancelot didn't budge an inch.
V was blasted backward—
CRASHING straight into the wall.
The battle had begun.