This was KOF 99's classic boss battle scenario!
However...
Just as this classic scene of the boss revealing his identity and trying to provoke the protagonist with his monologue was about to unfold perfectly.
An extremely discordant voice shattered the intended atmosphere.
"Uh... sorry to interrupt."
Cloud, who had been watching from the sidelines like an outsider with his arms crossed the entire time, suddenly spoke up.
He dug in his ear, his face wearing an expression of extreme boredom.
"I say, Mr. Krizalid?"
"Isn't your villain dialogue a bit too clichéd?"
"'I am your father,' 'you're just a tool'... what era is this? Did you copy this script from last century's Star Wars?"
The fanatical smile on Krizalid's face instantly froze.
He stared blankly at Cloud, as if he never imagined that at a time like this, someone would... come out and roast him?!
"And..." Cloud continued in a "stand-up comedian" tone. "Your plan is just... riddled with holes, isn't it?"
"You want to collect K's data? Please, his power is unstable bootleg merchandise. If you collect this buggy data and send it back, are you trying to make your NESTS servers all blue screen?"
"Also, did you think that by stalling for time here, you could successfully transmit the data back to headquarters?"
A "friendly" smile appeared on Cloud's face.
"Guess what I've been doing while you were blabbering all that nonsense?"
Behind Krizalid, Maxima, that rational cyborg, silently raised his hand.
A micro data port on his wrist was flashing green.
His electronically synthesized voice calmly announced a fact that made Krizalid's soul flee his body:
"Report, Mr. Cloud."
"All data transmission lines in this base have been severed by me."
"The core database firewall has been breached."
"All combat data, including Mr. Krizalid's own body data, has been packaged, downloaded, and sent to your private email."
"I've also taken the liberty of planting a small virus in their system."
"The virus is called 'Lonely Frog.'"
"In approximately ten minutes, all screens on NESTS' global network will begin looping this frog."
"..."
Krizalid's body froze.
He slowly turned his head, looked at Maxima, then at Cloud.
What... what was I just doing?
I was passionately facing off with the protagonist, revealing my identity.
The result...
They weren't even listening to me talk.
They were robbing my house?!
And... they installed a virus on my computers?!
"Pfft—!"
A mouthful of old blood sprayed from Krizalid's mouth.
He wasn't wounded in combat.
He was... literally enraged into internal injuries!
"You... you people... you shameless... young people!!!"
Krizalid let out a hysterical roar!
"I'm going to... kill you all!!!"
He completely lost control!
His combat suit's energy instantly went into overdrive!
"—Final Heaven!"
He condensed all his power into a single point, transforming it into a devastating tornado that swept through the entire hall indiscriminately!
However...
Facing this boss's "impotent rage."
Cloud just gently shook his head.
"Sigh, after all that, you still don't understand."
"Villains die from... talking too much."
He simply took one step forward.
Heaven and earth seemed to freeze.
That raging tornado, the instant it approached him, was as if seized by the throat by an invisible giant hand, dissipating into nothing.
Krizalid, maintaining his attack stance, froze in place.
His face was written with terror.
He saw that Cloud had somehow appeared right in front of him.
He saw Cloud's index finger, igniting a tiny flame, gently touching his forehead.
"Game over."
All the power in Krizalid's body instantly collapsed. Krizalid, from the depths of his soul, felt despair.
It was the feeling of...
Working hard, staying up all night grinding, finally reaching the game's final boss. Using all your skills, burning through all your potions, even spending money and buying a premium membership.
Then you discover that the boss not only has locked HP, invincibility, and screen-wide one-shots—he can even... reverse-hack your game data and transfer all the money you just spent to his own account...
How do you even play this?!
This wasn't even a battle on the same dimension!
"You... what exactly... are you?"
Krizalid, maintaining his attack stance, frozen in place, his voice hoarse and dry from extreme terror.
He looked at this man who had somehow appeared before him, gently pressing a finger against his forehead.
"Me?" Cloud smiled—that smile, in Krizalid's eyes, was more terrifying than a devil's. "I'm a... BUG you could never understand."
"Your data collection ability is quite interesting." Cloud's finger remained on his forehead, but his consciousness had long since invaded Krizalid's body and his prized combat suit through the system.
"Through combat, collecting the opponent's energy frequency and technique data, then using the combat suit to simulate, analyze, and even... copy."
"Good idea, very creative. Unfortunately..."
A hint of mockery flashed in Cloud's eyes.
"—In front of me, it's just a joke."
[Ding! Plunderable target detected: NESTS Combat Suit (Data Collection Version)!]
[Activating [Plunder] function...]
[Plunder mode selected: Deep Analysis!]
[Analyzing the underlying logic and construction principles of this combat suit...]
[Analyzing... 10%... 50%... 90%...]
Krizalid felt as if his brain had been plugged into a supercomputer!
The complex "data algorithms" and "energy models" in his combat suit—the ones he was so proud of, designed by NESTS' top scientists after countless hours of painstaking work.
In front of this man, they were like... elementary school-level "1+1=2"!
Easily seen through, understood, analyzed, copied...
No, not copied!
[Plundered]!
The other party hadn't just "stolen" his technology—he had even packed up and taken the "instruction manual," "design blueprints," and "source code" along with it!
...
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