Richard and the doll were continuing to maneuver themselves in the air. As the doll making that the brown-haired boy didn't plummet to his death in a way, Richard was trying to devise a plan to stop this thing from even trying to get close to his friends inside the Gear. The doll decided to switch from grabbing on Richard tightly to getting him to grab its shoulders while said doll proceeded to shoot from its arm cannons. It did little to no effect, in fact, it seems to get the Wormroid mad! At least they got its attention.
"Man this is really tough I can't attack it long-range unless I can use White Dragon Strike Fang, and I really don't know how to properly charge it up." It was true, the only way that he has been able to do so is when he heard a voice in his head telling him information about how to strike each attack and the procedures of countering the classes and attacks of his opponent. But so far he hasn't had any luck unlocking our even hearing said voice! Who was that voice anyway? The doll continues its assault on the Wormroid, she has a duty to protect the teenage boy from danger. Her master seems to have entrusted that duty to her and she will not fail to fulfill her mission. "Whoa, Slowdown a bit will you?!" cried the brown-haired boy to no avail. The Wormroid screeched at them before opening its mouth and sending small cables to them.
"..."
"Okay, now I know that it is based on those worms," Richard said as he recalls saying that they looked like the Graboids from the movie Tremors and those small cables that are going directly at them confirm it. The small cables let small screeches at them before one of them pass them by. The doll outmaneuvers them thanks to their master's scouter trait before shooting at them in retaliation. Richard slashes some of them as best as he could while maintaining himself holding on for dear life. While some attacks failed some prove to be very effective on the small creatures cutting them in half or even where their heads should be. "Had enough?!" The response was the screeching of the worm.
()
On Omega Corp. The white hackers have cleared all sectors with the exception of one: Sector 8. It was the most difficult one as it was where the source of the virus originated from.
"Commencing infiltration of Sector 8." Said A.V. Gamma. The 4 white hackers started to work on stopping the virus right away. Hmm, it seems that the core is inside something that is moving rigorously on Sector 8, and from the looks on their scans, it was very huge.
"I have never seen anything like this," Bulldog said as he looks at the scanner. When he starts cracking the codes with the scripts to give him access inside the virus, the image of the Wormroid popped up making him back away from his seat. So this was the huge thing that was running around Sector 8, Hmm, the scripts were corrupted and the binary numbers...The message was very dark. Kill? Is it following the players that were inside the game? If so then they have not much time to waste. Knowing that he and his group are on a limited time he starts solving and recovering as much data as possible using new scripts and binary commands. Hmm, some of the data_cast_api have been programmed to false, also their Virus scanner has also been turned off. Scanning even further the bios for some of the structures of the city are corrupted beyond repair so they will have to delete and restore them. It is a good thing that they have backup files of every single detail and updates from the game in a very secure complicated password file. Only a Rank SSS Black Hacker will be able to crack to that file and he hasn't seen nor has heard of someone reaching that level of threat yet. In any case, with this file, they don't have to re-create and rebuild each and every detailed structure from Sector 8 that will result in them spending almost 2-3 weeks to do and restore into the game. With this file, it will only take about 12-18 hours which is nothing, especially with the tournament only about a week away from today. Damn, the body is all a mess for being a Rank A black hat hacker this person is really good at corrupting and destroying files with ease.
"Accessing the city's corrupted data." Viper continues to write away and deletes corrupted data that she deemed non-salvageable.
"Hmm?" Bulldog look at some data. It was under the corrupted file Y_O_U_A_J_3. As he opened that file he saw a file that wasn't corrupted which he found strange, it was C_L_C_L_E_2102 He clicks on it twice and saw a lot of binary codes. In it, a message said: "We cannot forget what we originally created. However, we can appreciate what we have in our future. It is okay to listen to everyone, and with this, it will..." but before he could read any further his computer alerted him of a virus entering inside.
'Alert! Alert! Unidentified virus detected...Level threat...Unknown!'
"What the...?" Bulldog started scripting command codes to prevent this unknown threat from destroying his computer. Was this the hacker? That will not make any sense as this file was inside the game and the date it was created seemed to be over 10 years old. So who left it there? Did that person expect someone to see the message? Could it have been President Leos himself? If so, Why? So many questions that he has.
'Warning!'
"Tch." For now, he would have to ignore these questions, right now he must get back control of this situation.
()
The group inside the mainframe was just watching Emuna writing non-stop on it. They presumably think she is using this to resolve the dilemma they are currently in. However, that did not ease the concerns of a certain red-haired teen. Alice was worried about their leader as he is right now along with one of Emuna's dolls fending off the Giant Worm so it doesn't focus on them. She has a feeling that the creature would've focused on them since they were going ahead to the mainframe. Still, she was getting a bit anxious about it. Frederick noticed the anxiety of the red-haired girl and try to calm her down.
"Is going to be okay Alice. Rick will not get beaten very easily. He is our leader after all." Said the black-haired boy as he puts a hand on her shoulder. Alice responded with a sigh before speaking.
"I know, but..."
"Mister Santos is right, Miss Hishikawa. Kurosagi seems to be someone that will fight to protect those who he deemed as friends. I also am concern about one of our doll prioress, However, we trust her to protect the young boy as the servants of our master we will not let anyone be at harm." Regalia told her. To be told that by a doll...she either is grateful or a bit petrified. Nevertheless, she is grateful that even her worst fears can show concern toward others. She also seems to trust the brown-haired boy to be well.
"I..." Alice shook her head. "You're right, he is our leader after all," Alice told with new renewed confidence in her leadership. Regalia nodded in acknowledgment before turning to see her master.
"Master, has any progress been fulfilled?"
"Hmm, yes. However, it seems that It would not be at the promised time?" The white-haired girl sighed. She seems to have no choice but to use her final Core Shift but what could it be useful for them? As a scout her dolls have wings making them be very fast aerial threats to the enemies. Wall is the default structure. Powerhouse is only situational while sniper is rarely even used so it could go also in the situational category. The only class lefts are supportive which will only make them not very good on the offensive side and the new one Magical and she herself doesn't even know what it will do to her dolls! She would risk it if the risks weren't very high but this could be a mistake and right now, they cannot afford any! If she has to choose safely she will have to go on the supportive, her dolls will retain their wings but the speed will be a bit slower, however, they would be able to use different kinds of distractions and illusions. Not to mentions her dolls with the exception of Regalia and Magdalene who are special dolls will become wider making them look more like airships than dolls. Also, this depends on the timing if she uses it now while they are in the middle of dodging attacks from the Wormroid, then they will lose momentum and presumably their lives. Either way is a big risk and she is debating now if she should do it.
"Master..." Tch...no choice she will have to go the safest route since she really knows what will happen and it has fewer risks. She still detests it but they will have to do this if they will have a chance to get out of here alive.
"Core Shift: Supporter!" Emuna's wings disappear and her String sword becomes the size of a kitchen knife. Her dress becomes a bit shorter giving her more mobility. As she stated before Regalia and Magdalene remained unchanged. She began focusing more on the bios and scripted files. "With this, I'm sure that they will be able to fight more easily." Said the white-haired girl before proceeding to enter more command codes as her quest to save a sector continues.
()
Meanwhile, Richard and his soulless companion were gliding over the worm when the doll noticed itself changing.
"Whoa, what is happening?" Questioned the boy as he saw the doll transform and become wider. "O...kay, now you have become a ship? This day gets weirder and weirder," He then looks toward the worm who has been the bane of their existence. "Still...I guess this will give me time to fight better. So...!" Richard now gaining a wider space to move took his Kris Dagger out. "Core Shift: Powerhouse!" With this, his slashes will do more damage at the cost of his speed, not that it matters considering space is not very wide to required him to use his speed to dodge. He might need this strength for this situation more than his speed. Doing this, however, gave him the ability to hear the voice.
'...L...Pie...Mis...Dangerous...' He didn't understand the Gibberish with the exception of dangerous. Dangerous? Is the voice talking about the situation? Or is it another kind of danger? Man, thinking this much can really give you a headache sometimes. Especially, in this particular situation of a giant worm trying to eat you and the ship/doll that you're riding.
"Alright then, let's do this!" With that, the Doll charged toward the worm while evading the worm's attacks. Once again the Wormroid opened its mouth and release small cables. Richard now anticipating this held on the evasiveness and prepare his Kris Dagger. Left, Right, above, and sometimes in diagonal sides, the brown-haired boy cut through the menacing small cables. The doll doing her share of work proceeded to create an illusion of 10 of them. Confused by this, the Wormroid try to take them all by doing a vertical bite. Some of them were caught but the others escaped and flew up before descending at incredible speed. The Wormroid opened its mouth and released acid which surprised the two of them but nevertheless, dodged it. Some of the illusions took the acid and dissipated, Richard seeing the distance wildly jumped off the doll before plunging his Kris Dagger into the head. The Wormroid screeches before trying to pry the brown-haired boy off of him.
"..." The doll silently looked at the situation before flying over and releasing two shots toward the right lower side of the Wormroid damaging it temporally.
"Whoa! Easy there boy," Richard said holding on for dear life. The Wormroid then decided to open its mouth and release more small cables before these ones appeared hovering on top of its head and screeched at the boy. "Hehe, Hi." The cables go after him which makes Richard pry the dagger off the massive head before dodging and slashing toward the small cables. As the Wormroid tries again to shakes Richard off he stabs the body of the Wormroid keeping him from falling to his death. The remaining worms charge toward him but they were blown away by the cannon shots of the doll.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
"..."
"Hey! Thanks!" The boy thanked the soulless doll before proceeding to hold on to the monster. "There's got to be a way to stop you!" Richard said before he starts to think of a plan to stop said Worm. It has a very strong defensive armor and the only attack he hasn't done is his White Dragon Strike Fang although he doesn't know where to exactly hit it to have an effect on the worm. And the voice he heard it once but he hasn't heard it again. The brown-haired mentally sighed, man how can't this be very simple? Then again if it was so simple then it wouldn't be very fun. ('Hm, if only I had explosives, this would've been solved already. But then again, it would come back since this city is full of wires and cables.') He closed his eyes to think even further. Maybe if he can concentrate hard enough he might get a reaction from that voice. Urgh, his eyes are burning. They didn't hurt but they kind of stung as if he put drops in his eyes to cure his conjunctivitis. Then it happened as if the voice heard his calls it responded in his head.
'Analyzing...it is required to have your eyes opened during scanning.' Richard confused but nevertheless, listened to the voice. He opened his eyes to reveal that he had them with the Omega Symbol. The brown-haired boy looked at the creature who was still violently trying to shake him off. '...Scanning...Please wait..........Analysis Completed. New creature found...Identified as XWR-820 Ground Worm, analyzing structure...Done, the body contains wires and electric cables from S.K.Y.H.I.G.H. City, it is recommended that you charge and unleash a slash not much bigger than 4 feet of the center-front of its body. The result will make an opening that will give time to unleash another one no more than 4.3 feet thus opening a wound big enough to damage XWR-820.' So its weak spot is in the front, even more, it was on the lower level. Two slashes 1 4 feet and the other 4.3? Is it telling him to unleash not 1 but 2 White Dragon Strike Fangs on it? But how will he be able to do that?! Wait, he feels something different in his body. Richard then holds his Kris Dagger and sees that it is glowing.
('This is?!') The brown-haired boy exclaimed in his mind. He doesn't know how he did this again but now that he knows how to hurt this XWR-820 Ground Worm as that voice called it he can defeat it. "Alright! Time to go to work!" He said as his necklace glowed in delightfulness.
()
Meanwhile, back in Omega Corp. Leos' Hexagon of Fate started glowing as if it was excited to see someone soon.
"Hmm? Oh, what's this? Did one of the pieces woke up from it slumber Hexagon of Fate?" It kept glowing. "Hmm, I see well then it seems that they will get out of this mess pretty soon." The president said. He is aware of the situation they are in but until the black hacker doesn't show up in the tournament, then they will not resolve this situation completely. The best that they can do is continue to promote this tournament until the day of its arrival. People from all over Paris will see this event so they better be prepared to give them a show that they will never forget.
()
After a few minutes of landing from the plane that got them to Paris, Both Genre and Aeris' legendary pieces started to glow. While Genre's Sharp of Sinfonia hummed creating a song that only Genre can hear, Aeris Rubix of Knowledge was more noticeable as it started to wildly move itself to different positions before it glowed blue.
"The Rubix," Adel said as she watches the Rubix glow.
"Not only that but Genre's Sharp is responding too!" Yuma pointed out.
"Do you think it is responding to something?"
"I...I don't know." Concern the pink-haired owner of the Rubix Of Knowledge observe her legendary piece before touching it. The Cube opens before a projection appears. From it, a lot of dates appeared from the year 2015 to the year 2029.
"What are those?" More curious than ever Aeris touched the date of September 29th, 2019 in it, she saw some images from the last owner of the cube. It involved that owner looking at some documents about an attack by some hackers on a satellite from about 2 weeks ago. The name of the group happens to be called Level Seven T.V. a name previously used by a group back in the '90s. Their goal was to use the satellite to get information on the secret project known as M.I.S.T. in order to sell said info to the highest bidders. ('This is...the previous owner's history!')
"Aeris."
"Huh?" Aeris see the group looking in concern.
"Your rhythm....it stopped for a second."
"Stopped?" Said the pink-haired girl confused by her friend's statement.
"Genre is right. You were in a trance after you touched your Rubix of knowledge." Yuma told the pink-haired girl.
"I was?" Then that meant that only she saw that event. There so many questions that she has. What was that M.I.S.T. project? And why did Level Seven T.V. wanted to do with the information? Maybe all of these answers will be revealed once she reaches this tournament...or maybe she is wrong. Only one way to find out! "...I will explain it to you girls later right now I want to reach the house we're staying and take a long bath."
"Alright, then let us not waste time then," Adel told the group. She also wants to know why her friend was in a trance after the Rubix was touched by Aeris. It seems there are still a lot of secrets yet to be revealed about the legendary pieces.
()
Richard was ready to do what he was told. As the boy concentrates his Kris Dagger starts to glow indicating that he can perform his new White Dragon Strike Fang. The doll seems to sense this and went to give a lift to the boy. As it was reaching the brown-haired boy jumped off the worm and landed on the doll before this one flew away.
"Hey, we need to go lower and closer to the worm! I have a plan on how to stop it!" The doll was a bit confused before obeying and tries to get up close. The Wormroid was having none of that as he unleashed more cables from its mouth. The doll tries to outmaneuver them but due to the fact that she is no longer a scouter, some of them reached out. Richard thinking fast swung his dagger. This resulted in him releasing a White Dragon Strike Fang that took out some of them.
"Whoa!" The brown-haired boy said in amazement as his Kris Dagger began to glow again along with his necklace.
"..." The doll used her hands to create a cannon and shoot at the worm before creating illusions. The Wormroid slam its head toward the illusions before the real ones went down.
"There it is!" Richard sees the center of the body. "Okay here goes nothing!" The brown-haired boy swings his sword to unleash his White Dragon Strike Fang. This one goes straight to the center and it was like the voice in his head said 4 feet. The slash struck and it opened a wound. The Wormroid roared it seems in agony, which was a first for the brown-haired boy to see. "It hurts him!" Wasting no time he prepares another one before he hears the voice again.
'Warning...Running low on Capacité d'alimentation, it is wisely recommended to not unleash more than 3 White Dragon Strike Fangs per stay.' So this is the last White Dragon Strike Fang that he can unleash. Capacité d'alimentation or in English Capacity Power is the source of energy that Omega Warriors use to do special abilities. This condensed energy surrounds the world of Omega also giving it life and without it, the world will die. When you're low on it, you will be warned to not use any more abilities. If by any chance you disobey the warnings you will be unable to use any abilities for 3 logs in days.
"I guess I can't miss this one, huh?" Well, the pressure is on he only has one shot at this so he better make it count. "HERE...WE...GO!!" The brown-haired boy charged it up and aim at the hole in the center of the Wormroid's body. "Now take this! White Dragon Strike Fang!" Richard unleashes the white line slash. This one was a little bit bigger than the usual one but about .3 cm bigger which was exactly as the voice told him. The Wormroid tried to cover its wound with the cables from its mouth but this WDSF was stronger than the previous one destroying the worms instantly and hitting its mark. A loud screech was heard through the city. And it was audible by the group that was inside the mainframe.
"Argh, that's so loud!" Frederick said covering his elf ears. He wasn't the only one as the others cover their ears. Emuna thou despite this commanded one of her dolls this one seemingly oblivious to the sound or deaf to cover her ears for a second before the computer made a beeping sound.
'Virus threat eliminated, proceeding to unleash antibodies to the system and deleting corrupted data.' Good now with this, S.K.Y.H.I.G.H. City will be free from the black hacker's virus.
As the Worm screeched the brown-haired boy had to cover his ears while the doll was flying out of danger albeit wobbly because the screech was hurting her ears.
"W-Whoa!" The brown-haired boy had to brace for impact as he had to jump off and roll as the doll landed badly to the floor and proceeded to cover her ears in a fetal position. "I don't blame her...Urgh! Ah! It's too loud!" Richard said as he has to cover his ears again. The screech lasted a full minute before it stopped. Confuse the brown-haired boy looked up to see that the worm was shining. "Huh?" The Wormroid started to regenerate but instead of continuing to attack them it let out a sighed of relief before it went down and bury itself into the ground. Soon the pitch-black sky disappeared and the moonlight replaced it, along with the lights of the city. The cables that were following them before started to go underground while they shined with a very joyful gold color indicating that they were all purified and the virus was no longer in control.
'Thank You.' Said the voice to Emuna as their legendary pieces stopped shining.
"Is it over?" Frederick asked. Emuna looks toward them and smile.
"Yes, is over?"
()
Meanwhile in Omega Corp. The system appeared and stated that the virus was no longer in the program. Just to make sure the white hackers made a scanner to make sure that it is 100% gone. Whoever the person that was inside is, they must be good at dealing with viruses and black hackers. A.V. Gamma wonders if she will ever meet this person. That will have to wait for another day since their work is not done. They have to make sure that Sector 8 is 100% free.
Richard look at the beautiful sky and sighed.
"Glad that we're back to normal."
"Richard!" The brown-haired boy looks at the distance to see Alice, Frederick, Emuna, and her two dolls walking towards him.
"Hey, Guys!"
"You Okay, buddy?!"
"Yeah, thou, my ears will need a check-up, I think I might be almost deaf," Richard told his friend.
"Tell me about it." They look toward their opponent.
"Oh Alice, you're not scared of them anymore?"
"Huh? Oh, I...I guess." Alice said looking at the dolls. Huh? She doesn't seem to be scare nor have anxiety toward them. Are her fears gone?! If so then...
"It seems that our match was interrupted by an unfortunate incident," Emuna said to them.
"Yeah. We can continue the match thou." The other two look at him incredulously. They fought off a very dangerous virus, almost got eaten by a worm made of cables, and he still wants to fight the white-haired girl and her seemingly endless supply of dolls!
"Are you kidding!? After all, we been through you still want to fight her! We almost became worm food!" Alice said baffled by her childhood friend's obsession for competing. However, those words earned a chuckle from the white-haired girl.
"As much as I would love to do that, I will have to decline. However, I would like to tell you a bit about the legendary pieces."
"Oh yeah," Richard said as he looks at his necklace. Alice looks at her's too. She wonders what are this thing's powers.
"I assume that you all know about how the 12 children fought an evil dragon and his army in order to save the world from being engulf in eternal darkness." They all nodded.
"Yeah, I believe that the dragon is named Seifer?"
"That is correct. Seifer wanted nothing more than to destroy the world and recreated in pitch-black darkness. The humans that were fortunate or should I say unfortunately to survive will serve as his slaves for all eternity. Luckily, the twelve chosen children put a stop to this. Each child was represented by a branch. I am one of them I belong to the Chariot branch they were able to communicate with inanimate objects such as trees, the rivers, even the plants themselves."
"That will explain how you can communicate with your dolls."
"Correct Frederick." She shows her bracelet. "This is the Coffin of The Soulless it allows me to communicate with my dolls in and outside of Omega."
"So that's why you were always putting your doll in your ear," Alice said realizing that the white-haired girl wasn't being weird and creepy, she was actually listening to the voice of her doll.
"Regalia was telling me about you being afraid of her, that's why I knew about it. In any case, I will cut to the chase. You two, are part of two branches Kurosagi, Hishikawa."
"We..."
"Are? Does that mean..."
"Yes...There is a possibility that we might meet the rest of the branches one day." The rest of the branches that meant they will meet 9 more that are like them. Wait! That means that their best friend...Is she also part of it? Is she part of a clan that holds a legendary piece?!
"Master, the virus."
"Yes, it seems that whoever had created it, wants to get the attention of the president."
"But why?!" Frederick asked. Who will want to have the attention of Harry's father?
"Whoever it is, it must also know that we are owners of the legendary pieces which means that there is a possibility that our Black Hacker friend might be in possession of one too." If her theory is correct then this will not be the last time that they will have this issue. They must be prepared for that day but for now, they have to focus on one thing and that is the Omega Representation Tournament.
()
The Pentagon Of Manipulation has seized to glow.
"Oh, are you satisfy Pentagon of Manipulation? Well, I am too. However, I will not stop until He pays for what he did to my sister." She looked at the monitor. "The Whole World will know what happens when the truth comes out of the president of the Omega Corp. being a murder." She glares at the monitor. "Leos Kishima, I will have my revenge for my sister, or I don't deserve to be part of the Lahaska Branch!" The girl said before shutting down her computer and brainstorming her next move: Entering the Omega Representation Tournament. That will be The End of The Line for the entire Kishima Branch and the beginning of the resurface of the Lahaska Branch.