[Ding! Analysis complete! Plunder successful!]
[Congratulations, Host! Obtained NESTS Combat Suit complete design blueprints and core source code (with detailed annotations)!]
[Congratulations, Host! Through deep analysis, your understanding of data-stream combat has reached Grandmaster level!]
[System Comment: Congratulations, Host. You can now hand-craft your own Iron Man suit. Though it might only be a budget version.]
"No... please no..." Krizalid let out a cry of despair.
He felt his life's work, the meaning of his existence, being ruthlessly stripped away by his opponent.
"And also..." Cloud's finger still hadn't moved.
"All that information in your brain about NESTS' organizational structure, base locations, executive information..."
"I'll be taking that too."
[Ding! Performing keyword search and plunder on target's memories...]
[Keywords: Igniz, Zero, Kula, Anti-K Project...]
[Plunder complete! Related intelligence has been stored in the system database!]
"Game over."
After Cloud had obtained everything he wanted, he also lost his last bit of patience.
His finger, still pressed against Krizalid's forehead, flicked gently.
"Ping."
A soft sound.
Krizalid's body slowly lost all signs of life.
[K.O.]
[Perfect]
Cloud withdrew his finger and glanced at K', who had been in a state of "who am I, where am I, what's happening" confusion from start to finish.
He patted K's shoulder and said earnestly, "Kid, did you see that?"
"This is the correct way to handle villains."
"—Don't talk shit, just do it. And after you're done, remember to strip all their equipment."
K': "..."
Maxima: "..."
The two of them looked at the humanoid corpse on the ground, then at Cloud's expression of "thrifty housekeeping, waste not want not."
The same thought surfaced in their minds—
This man... isn't just a devil.
He's an... "ultimate devil" who doesn't even spare "corpses"!
"—RUMBLE!!!"
The instant Krizalid was "humanely disposed of" by Cloud.
The entire underground base, as if losing its "heart," began to shake violently!
Huge metal chunks rained down from the ceiling, mixed with severed cables, like hail!
The base's self-destruct sequence had activated!
"Not good! This place is collapsing!" Maxima immediately reacted. "We need to evacuate now!"
"Let's go!"
Just as Cloud grabbed the still-dazed K' and was about to violently punch through an escape route.
An unexpected figure blocked their path.
It was Whip.
Somehow, she had also arrived at the deepest level of this base.
Her face no longer held her usual cool confidence. Instead, it was a mixture of "sorrow," "pity," and "resolve."
She didn't look at Cloud, didn't look at K'.
Her gaze was fixed firmly on Krizalid's remains.
"Whip? Why are you here?!" Ralf and Clark rushed in from another passage.
"He... hasn't completely died yet."
Whip's voice was very soft.
She slowly walked toward the debris.
At that moment!
A blood-covered hand suddenly thrust out from beneath the rubble!
Then a figure that could no longer be called "human" struggled to crawl out from under the stones!
It was Krizalid!
He was actually still alive!
But not far from death.
His lower body had been completely crushed by the boulder.
His prized combat suit was tattered and torn, having lost all its luster.
He was like a dying, struggling stray dog.
"Cough... cough cough..."
He coughed violently, each cough bringing up large amounts of blood and organ fragments.
But those eyes, clouded with pain, lit up the instant they saw Whip!
It was the light of a child seeing their mother—full of longing and attachment!
"Sei... Seirah... sister..."
He reached out his hand, struggling to touch that figure he had missed for countless days and nights.
"Sister... I... I finally... see you again..."
Whip, hearing this address, shuddered violently!
Her sharp eyes instantly brimmed with tears.
"Krizalid."
She crouched down, gently taking hold of that blood-covered hand.
"No."
Whip shook her head.
Her voice carried a trace of cruelty, yet was full of pity.
"You're wrong."
"Krizalid."
She looked at this "brother" before her, about to die, and revealed the cruelest truth, word by word.
"Actually..."
"—You are the clone."
"And he..."
Whip's gaze turned to K', who had already fallen completely into self-doubt and confusion beside them.
"—He is... your original."
"..."
"..."
The entire world seemed to freeze at this moment.
K' was stunned.
Maxima was stunned.
Ralf, Clark, everyone present, was stunned.
Krizalid was stunned too.
That last glimmer of light in his eyes seemed to solidify.
I'm... the "copy"?
My existence, my meaning, was just as a test subject?
How... how ironic is this? How pathetic?
"Heh heh... hehehe..."
Krizalid suddenly laughed.
Laughing, laughing, tears streamed down his face.
"So that's... how it is..."
"My whole life... from beginning to end... was just a... joke..."
The last light in his eyes completely faded.
His outstretched hand fell limp.
NESTS executive, KOF 99's final boss—Krizalid.
Under the massive shock of his beliefs crumbling, after learning the cruelest truth.
—Died.
...
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