There was one strange thing about this situation that bothered me. If Shien Kageyama was just another victim of Mithra's accident, then it should be almost impossible for him to become an influential person in a rebellion.
After all, he shouldn't be able to speak this Server's language. Even if someone would use Soul Talk on him, it would be difficult for him to actually influence the rebels and make him lead them.
That was why when I found out that he was involved in the rebellion after encountering a Hacker, I was alarmed. If he had the help of Hackers, then things would be much easier to understand but more difficult to solve.
"W-What are those things?!" Aiyu asked when she saw the large Dump Files.
"Focus on the enemies in front of you. I'll deal with them", I said.
Since Developer Mode was active, that meant I could freely use my Coder abilities as well without worrying much about creating contradictions. I inputted commands on the violet screens that were surrounding me and several missiles materialized.
The missiles launched at the Dump Files and exploded. If they were that large despite being less than 1 GB, then that meant they had no other tricks on their sleeves. They should be an easy kill.
Everyone stopped fighting when they saw a miraculous sight. Thousands of swords appeared and floated above them. After a press of a screen, they flew at fast speeds at the Dump Files and exploded after stabbing them.
With that much damage, the Dump Files were easily defeated. I pressed another screen and instantly teleported beside the Hacker.
I threw a punch but he blocked it. No matter how I tried to punch or kick him, I couldn't land a direct hit. It didn't matter what kind of martial arts I was using, he managed to read all of my moves.
"A Patch will only give you a slight advantage over other lines of codes. You must be quite inexperienced since you think you could fight me with that", he scoffed.
Several magic circles appeared in front of me and shot out beams of light. The Hacker put up a barrier in front of him and protected him from my Saber Lights.
I materialized a sword and swung it at him but it was no use. Even if I combined magic and martial arts, he continued toying with me.
"How naive. You may be a Coder but you think like any other lines of codes", he said.
"Thorn Bind Hostage!" I chanted.
Several violet thorns wrapped around him. I knew it wouldn't last for long but I needed all the time I could get. During our fight, I was secretly gathering mana on my right fist. If I fulfilled the conditions, I could use a magic that could give me an opening to strike him down.
"Eh? Lightning crash!" I heard Aiyu's voice shout.
All of the mages on both our side and the rebels' were confused. I gritted my teeth as I felt the magic I was preparing fade away. Even the Thorn Bind Hostage surrounding the man disappeared.
"Seriously. You don't know how to fight. We're Coders. We can easily give inconveniences to our enemies and that includes making the entire area of Developer Mode become an area where magic is nonexistent", he said.
I charged at him and he easily dodged my attacks once more.
"You're not thinking like a Coder. Are you really a 1412?" he taunted me.
"Shut up!"
My body couldn't move as I began to float in the air. His palms were facing me and it didn't take long for me to figure out that I was under his influence and floating helplessly.
"I thought you made magic nonexistent?" I asked.
"Use your brain. If magic is not allowed here, then that simply means I'm not using magic, right?"
He moved his palm around and I helplessly crashed to the ground and walls.
"You asshole…" I pressed a violet screen and everything began floating.
The Hacker seemed surprised that I made gravity weaker which gave me a few seconds to input several commands. When I was done, countless machine guns appeared beside me.
Even if no one was operating them, they fired a storm of bullets. However, the Hacker simply let the ground in front of him rise up and turn into a wall.
I felt that the Hacker was no longer in control of my body and I used Flying Magic to get near to him. After deleting the wall that was protecting him, I found out that he was gone.
Two pillars rose beside me and each of them turned into hands. I barely avoided their attempt to catch me as I flew away.
"I didn't expect you to weaken gravity. It seems you are slightly more competent than I thought", the Hacker said while standing in the middle of the battlefield.
"W-When did he get here?" one of my allies asked.
"Who cares? Get him!" the other one shouted.
"Wait! Don't-"
But I didn't warn them in time as three of them jumped at the Hacker. Their bodies began to glow as the Hacker highlighted them and with a press of a screen, they vanished.
"You! How could you delete them like that?!" I shouted at him.
Delete. That was one of the basic abilities of a Coder and it could be argued that it was the most dangerous one.
Coders were god-like creatures who could create something out of nothing and alter something to become anything. Our entire existence was mastering those two abilities in order to mature into an Administrator and create our own Servers.
But if we were given the power to create, we were also given the power to destroy. Our teachers at the Academy warned us about that power called "Deletion".
Every single code in the Server had an effect over one another. That's the reason why we had to be careful with what we create and alter because if we carelessly used our abilities, we could cause contradictions and create Dump Files and Bugs.
And Deletion was a sure-fire way of creating contradictions. Deleting an object wasn't as simple as killing them. Everything about the object would be wiped from the Server. What they did in the past and what they were in the present would be gone forever. If it was a nonliving object, there wouldn't be much effect.
But things would change once a living creature was deleted. All of their actions in the past, all of the bonds they made, all of the memories that involved them, and everything else would be deleted.
Of course, a Server would do its best to replace what was lost. However, there was no Coder in existence who could create a Server that would smoothly clean up the mess created by the Deletion. Deletion would cause so many contradictions that it was difficult to clean up. That was why we were warned to only delete someone if we had no other choice.
"Are you mourning for them? They are mere lines of codes. You can just replace them, right?" the Hacker asked.
"That's not the point!"
"Oh? Are you worried about the Bugs and Dump Files created by that Deletion? While it's true that they could cause damage, they will only harm mere lines of codes. It's not a loss for us because if we face them, they are as good as dead."
"You asshole!" I materialized countless swords above me and I was ready to launch them towards him.
"Go ahead. Shoot those swords. I can easily avoid them. But I don't know about your comrades near me."
I hesitated for a second. And that was my mistake. The swords began to glow and disappeared as the Hacker deleted them.
"Oh dear. You're not acting like a proper Coder. Are you sure you're okay? Can you fulfill your responsibilities as a Coder if you let those emotions take over your mind?" he asked.
Emotions?
My heart was heavy and I had trouble breathing. That was weird. Why was I so angry? Those three were just mere lines of codes. They were the same as the men I killed back when I attacked the Northern Dungeons. Then why was I acting like this?
"Jun-kun! Get a grip of yourself! The enemy is in front of you!" a voice shouted.
I looked at the direction where it came from and I saw a blue-haired boy. Eru was carrying an unconscious black-haired man with animal ears. He successfully captured Shien Kageyama, huh?
"It seems you need to learn more about what you're feeling right now. I'll gladly let you experience a much more intense emotion", the Hacker said and pressed a red screen.
Ah crap!
"Eru! Run awa-"
But it was too late. Eru's body was already glowing.
"Begone", the Hacker said and pressed his screen again.