Lilorid (4)
The average level of the creatures bombing every city in High Gear had reached 700.
Not as high as Dr. Martin, but a figure that exceeded the boss creatures that had ruled the old High Gear.
"A.n.n.i.h.i.l.a.t.e. h.u.m.a.n.i.t.y."
Bombardment erupted.
All the structures that had been beautiful, or the pinnacles of technology, collapsed.
"Damn it! This sucks! I'm getting out of this simulation. Hey, everyone, let's bail."
Users frantically tried to disconnect, but not a single one could escape.
"Wha—what?"
When they read the system message that said the connection could not be terminated, real fear finally hit them.
"Kieeee!"
Bat-like creatures dove from the sky and tore into the users.
"Wha? Gah! What is this?"
- Unidentified program detected.
When the AI was infected by the virus, users began attacking other users.
"You idiot! Don't shoot us!"
"A.n.n.i.h.i.l.a.t.e. h.u.m.a.n.i.t.y."
The infected echoed the same words, and the city turned into an instant hell.
Number Seven watched the end of High Gear from the darkness and felt unsettled.
"Now are you satisfied?"
This was the world the Operator had loved.
"I knew it from the start. I let myself be used knowing it was just the whims of some pubescent girl's heart."
From now on, she would live in reality.
'Good for her.'
She would forget the dramas that played out in the virtual world and exchange genuine feelings with real people.
"Tch. Live well."
He wanted that to be true—but why did his chest feel so empty?
"Number Seven!"
A voice echoed through the darkness, and an electromagnetic field spread as if striking an invisible wall.
Operators were breaching the system.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing? Can't you stop the event? If this keeps up, High Gear's going to be shut down."
"...Don't make a fuss."
Number Seven turned to the virtual wall rippling with the electromagnetic waves.
"It's just one simulation ending. Is losing one of them the end of the world?"
"You're insane? This is the world we made. You can't just destroy it on a whim!"
"We didn't build it. Only the Operator can create this world. We can be replaced, but the Operator can't. And now she's leaving."
"So what, then? If we stay and hold out—"
"That's exactly what I refuse!"
Number Seven shouted.
"Stay? Stay and rot like a dog guarding an empty house after its owner leaves? No thanks."
At that moment, a small craft piloted by a child clutching a lollipop tore through the darkness and arrived.
"Number Seven, big bro."
"Lollipop?"
Though blocked by the firewall and unable to move freely, the craft had infiltrated this far—an impressive feat.
"Big bro, I've got something to tell you. Block the signal that lets her go outside for a bit."
"I have nothing to say. And when did I ever become your 'big bro'? How do you even know my gender?"
"I met the Operator—your big sis."
The signal was cut.
"What? Where?"
"In reality. She was busy in the game, so I went to her workshop."
That news stunned Number Seven more than the Operator kissing Yahweh2 had.
"Why you?"
"Just curious. She told me to come to the workshop if I wanted to see her."
Number Seven was curious too.
"How was she?"
"Ha. Just the same. Harsh tone, few words. But not a bad person. She even gave me snacks."
An image flashed clearly in his mind, but his curiosity wasn't satisfied.
"Tell her to meet outside, big bro."
Number Seven said nothing.
"Ask her to meet. She hates reality, but she doesn't hate the ties she has here. That's probably why she'd agree."
"Ties?"
Wasn't that the very thing she'd fled from?
"Forget it. Why would I want to meet the Operator? We've always been enemies here anyway."
"She said something about you."
Number Seven turned his head.
"About me? What'd she say?"
"Nothing special... she said you're rough-spoken and always grumble when you meet people, so it annoys her."
The child with the lollipop laughed at Number Seven's disappointment and went on.
"But she said your skill is top-tier. She said there's no one who understands their world like you do."
That much was obvious.
"Now stop it, big bro. You don't have to destroy everything. Leave this place alone and go to reality."
It was a terrifying suggestion in its own way, but—
'I want to meet her.'
He wanted to see, in person, the only programmer in the Under Coder scene who could beat him.
"If you destroy High Gear, there'll be no chance. Don't hurt her anymore."
"Damn it!"
Number Seven spun around. "Help me. The code was written with shutdown in mind, so everything's tangled."
"Heh, that's my specialty. First let me—"
At that instant, Number Seven suddenly ejected his terminal and collapsed to the ground.
"Big bro!"
The lollipop child swallowed hard as Number Seven's craft faded translucent.
'The connection was forcibly severed.'
High Gear was still racing toward destruction.
- It has been awakened.
The little witch received a transmission.
- Hold him for now. He'll be useful later. Don't break anything.
It was the correct step to deal with Number Seven before he could change his mind.
- Understood.
After cutting the line, Uorin watched Shirone slam into Dr. Martin's main body.
'The secret of the world?'
He had never cared about that from the start.
'Shirone, you're all I need.'
If High Gear were to be terminated abnormally, the Operator would be devastated. If the apocalyptic mining was delayed, Shirone would inevitably come looking for him.
'Fermi. He's no ordinary man.'
No sly, snake-like bastard could miss how obsessed Fermi was with Shirone.
'Still, he made the deal because he sees this the same way I do. The difference is...'
Fermi wanted Shirone to win.
- Your Majesty.
Another transmission came.
"Hohoho."
Having absorbed everything Number Seven had confessed, she rose into the sky.
"I win."
At the same time a roar went off and Dr. Martin's main body lurched sideways.
"It's over!"
Shirone rode his boosters and struck the construct's core with the Mikelan Gun's blast.
750 million durability was shaved away, and the core erupted in a chain of explosions and collapsed.
"I did it."
The rankers fighting the creatures all turned and stared.
"You actually... took that down?"
Operators who hadn't dared join the fight sank to their knees.
"He defended it."
Then the flattened hull of Dr. Martin shuddered and its center detonated.
"Kiaaaaaa!"
A birdlike craft resembling a phoenix burst forth, opening massive wings and gliding.
An operator checked the craft's stats through augmented reality and cursed.
Boss creature: Real Martin.
Soon other users saw its durability—3.2 billion.
"Kiaaaaaa!"
As if that monstrous cry were a signal, infected users swarmed in from every direction.
"A.n.n.i.h.i.l.a.t.e. h.u.m.a.n.i.t.y."
The Operator's anger boiled over.
"Aaaaah!"
Real Martin's flash cannons swept the world, and countless rankers were incinerated to ash.
"It's not over yet!"
Only Shirone refused to give up, flying into the sky and firing Mikelan Gun after Mikelan Gun.
The rankers could only watch as overwhelming firepower crossed paths.
"A.n.n.i.h.i.l.a.t.e. h.u.m.a.n.i.t.y."
The infected stopped attacking users and formed barrier walls with their crafts.
Beyond them, creatures blotting out the sky descended and attacked the survivors.
The Operator ground their teeth and stood.
"Fight! Don't fall back!"
A full-scale battle erupted between Real Martin and Shirone, between the creatures and the rankers.
'Damn it! Let me out! Let me out, please!'
But users trapped in their crafts could only be walls and watch the war unfold.
In that battle that felt like the world splitting apart, Shirone brought Real Martin down.
"Kieeeee!"
Just before the 3.2 billion durability hit zero, the craft rapidly morphed into a new form.
'Real Martin—Stage Two?'
Rankers fell dumbstruck at the sight of its new 13 billion durability, and creatures launched a fierce assault.
"Uaaaaah!"
With infected numbers rising, Shirone fired the Mikelan Gun.
- Output insufficient.
"Grah!"
Tens of thousands of guided missiles launched from Real Martin's grotesque hull at once.
They blanketed the entire scene, and Aegis rose to activate a ballistic deception system.
- This is the last one.
Aegis lured the missiles away and was engulfed in an almost lavish explosion.
"Damn!"
Real Martin rose again, and Shirone fell back, countering with an Air-God.
Durability dropped in tens.
"...It's over."
Watching the 13 billion figure tick down, the rankers finally accepted reality.
"It's finished."
Shirone reloaded the Air-God.
"Lilorid!"
Any creatures trailing Real Martin could be intercepted.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Countless creatures fell, and Yahweh2's experience climbed rapidly.
The EXP needed for level 300 was far lower than for the rankers...
'Level up.'
As soon as one level rose, power returned to High Gear and to the Mikelan Gun.
"Yaaaah!"
A sphere of light condensed at breakneck speed in Yahweh2's palm, and the Operator shouted.
"It's not over yet!"
Yahweh2 stopped retreating and charged.
"Maximum output."
The Mikelan Gun's massive flash cleaved the air and struck Real Martin dead on.
A deafening boom wiped out every creature near Real Martin.
'Level up!'
Recharge completed again.
'Level up!'
The moment Real Martin's durability hit bottom, a roar shook the world.
"Kieeeeeee!"
The sound alone made users on the ground explode, and Yahweh2's craft crashed to earth.
"Damn it! What the hell is that now..."
Shirone's face went blank.
"What the—"
Real Martin's monstrous hull expanded even further and filled the sky.
Real Martin—Stage Three.
- Durability: 140,000,000,000 / 140,000,000,000
Thud. Thud. Rankers dropped to their knees.
Yolga's son stopped fighting, and the little witch watched the Operator with trembling shoulders.
"Ho. Hic."
She was crying.
Machines don't shed tears, but that was the most sorrowful sob she had ever made.
"What are you, you bastard." Everything she had designed was being denied.
'It's over.'
The little witch smiled.
'Completely broken. Now it can't recover.'
Users trapped inside infected crafts also heard the Operator's voice.
'This is pathetic.'
Had they really spent all that time to be mocked by some petty numbers game?
'What the hell did I do here? Just end it already. Scrap the whole thing and let's go.'
Hearing voices as if they were beside her, Uorin shrugged at Fermi.
'I won—'
At that moment—
"Li—!"
Someone shouted.
"—lorid!"
All eyes turned. Yahweh2, Air-God charged, was rising into the sky.
"??????"
The Operator, looking up at him, felt their heart begin to beat again.
Thump. Thump.
It was the heartbeat of everyone.