Shantae looked up at the clock tower where some of the players were impaled as they began to disappear. "Those players are disappearing!"
"Aw, looks like I strung them a little too high." Jamilov said. "Oh well, I won't make that mistake twice!" he said gleefully as Maria charged, the group dodging out of the way of the shadowy beast.
"Do you have no shame in your actions?" Elisabeth said. "Or is this all just a big joke to you?"
"Don't bother with figuring this guy out, Liz." Emo said. "He's just a psycho, simple as that."
"And as long as he's got those damn cheats of his, all we can do is - DODGE!" Undyne yelled, the group ducking under another of Maria's charges.
"I'm going to try hacking into his PC." 9S said, initiating his Hack.
"Yes, try that. In the meantime…" Pearl said, noticing that Maria had smashed through a tower, causing it to start falling. "We may be able to use the environment to our advantage. Shiki, the tower!"
"Right!" Shiki nodded, as he made the broken tower weightless, holding up in the sky before he threw it at the PKer.
"Oh, how interesting…" Jamilov said as the tower landed on him. When the dust from the impact cleared, only the bottom of the tower was left, rubble directly below it.
"Yee-haw! It'll take that no-good varmint ages to get outta that!" Applejack-2 said.
"Ah yes, that reminds me, I had plans today." the voice of Jamilov said as the tower's base cracked and fell apart, revealing the serial killer crouching, not a scratch to be seen. "It's frustrating, but my friend Drakken Joe isn't one to be kept waiting. We'll have to resume our little playdate another time. Maria and I look forward to feeding on more of your fear!" the PKer laughed as he vanished before the group's eyes.
"Darn it, I only managed to get halfway through." 9S said.
"What a freak…" David said.
"In more ways than one." Hisui added.
"Nothing we did had any effect on him." Sachiko said. "There has to be a way past his mountain of cheats somehow."
"Either way, this does not change the fact that our primary objective is to locate Hermit." Pino said.
"Yeah, good point. Who knows, maybe she can help take this hacker-slasher down." Sans said.
"We just need to figure out where she is." Rutee said.
"Well, aRPeGe said they were on a hill outside this city." Steven remembered. "But which hill would that be?"
"There's a hill just west of this town." Catra said. "Betting she's there."
"Well, it's the best lead we got." Hyde said.
After a bit of hiking, the group arrived at a crystal range of hills. From up high, RD-2 was the first to spot Hermit. She was sitting in the same position she was found on Iron Hill, but her outfit was different, being dressed in a sleeveless black dress shirt with a fur collar and a ribbon, a pair of light-colored sleeves, a white skirt, and dress shoes.
There she is, guys!" RD-2 called.
"Good eye, Dash. Man, think she's been there this entire time?" Kazuichi asked.
"Yes. Since her first login…she has not once logged out." aRPeGe said.
"Doesn't it feel lonely up there?" Dynasmon asked.'
"Yes. It's a lone hill. I once tried to get her to socialize with other players. However…all she said was…'I despise humans.'" aRPeGe said.
"Yikes… Don't know the story there, but that line is never good." David said.
"You can talk to her all you want…but she won't leave that hill." aRPeGe said.
"I see. Well, at least we know where to find her." Sachiko said. "I mean, if she really hates humans as much as she says, then she's not going to listen to anything we say."
The group turned and began to walk away, Alkal stopping to look back at the blue-haired robot sadly before he rejoined the group's walk.
Later, in Crysta…
"Okay, brainstorm folks." Eddy said, the group gathered in the center of the city. "Hermit hates humans for some reason, how do we convince her otherwise?"
"It's not gonna be easy. If she hates humans enough to shut herself off from the real world, something really bad must've happened to her in her time away as a Shining Star." Bow mentioned.
"A human would be the cause of it." A2 said.
"And given how destructive humans can be, it can be practically anything. We should try not to accidentally invoke any bad memories she may have." Sachiko said. "Though even that's easier said than done if she wants nothing to do with humans."
"This is the first time I've met a machine that hated humans." Shiki said.
"Sadly, it's not that uncommon in this universe." Jet said.
"It varies from world to world, but yeah… they're far from being considered equals most of the time." Alkal said.
"Yeah, humans across other worlds have a tendency to treat machines as tools for their own desires. Those who become aware have a tendency to be contemptuous." Fulgore said.
"It's true. Even the robots on Spirit Force are treated like tools even if they have free will. Though not by the teams." Jet said.
Leviathan was about to retort, but realized the truth in his words.
"Fact is, humans and machines may never get along. One will always try and destroy the other." Jet said.
"I guess some worlds are just lucky in treating both as equals." Fefnir said.
"So what, are we just gonna leave Hermit alone?" Kaibara asked.
"That's not what they're trying to say at all." Sachiko said. "We just need to be considerate of her plight and try not to rush into it right away."
"Right, take it slow and gentle. Got it." Frisk said.
"Um… Slow and gentle doesn't seem to be these guys' language." Genis said as he saw monsters marching towards the city.
"This…this isn't one of the listed events." aRPeGe said as he looked at a screen. "Damn…I was afraid of this. Their codes have been rewritten."
"Jamilov's aiming to make those monsters destroy the town. He really is crazy." Scorpia said.
"That bastard… He just can't leave this place alone, can he?" Sachiko asked.
"Unfortunately, it will take too long to reset them. By the time I can sort this all out, it will be too late." aRPeGe said.
"Then we don't have a choice. We're going out there!" Sachiko said.
"We'll take care of this." A2 added.
The group charged out to meet the hacked monster army head-on and started battling with them.
"Haaaaa!" A2 said as red and black energy surged around her before she disappeared, then multiple monsters were sliced through multiple times as she then reappeared.
"Cower in fear, citizens of Crysta!" a bird-like humanoid with green feathers wearing armor declared as he landed on the ground. "I am Guiron, servant of Jamilov, and I-!"
That was as far as he got before Alkal knocked him out with one punch.
"Ouch, he must've been for the early game…" Alkal guessed before he noticed a swarm of flying monsters in the sky. "Wait a sec, those monsters are heading straight towards…Hermit!"
"Anti-Human or not, she's in danger. We'd better get her to safety!" Adora said.
"No, it's too dangerous to drop everything for her. A small group will go while everyone else defends the town." Sachiko said.
"Someone is already on that." Jexi said as they saw Shiki already rocketing off.
"Wait up!" 9S said, dashing after him.
"Fulgy, we should go too." Leviathan said.
"Please…with that kid…he'll be back with Hermit before we even reach the hill." Fulgore said.
"Besides, Fulgore's strength will be needed defending the town." Miu said. "We'll leave Hermit's extraction to Shiki and 9S."
"Then that leaves the rest of us to protect the township!" Sir Saiyan declared, drawing his sword. "Lady Homura, would you guard my…"
"She's gone." some of them said.
"Hmm… She was acting very strange. I knew I had a reason not to trust her." David said.
On the hill, Hermit looked out at the monsters approaching. "Oh well…there are worse ways to die." she said before something bright zoomed by as Shiki rushed in and grabbed her.
"I made it!" Shiki said flying back to the town with 9S stopping on the hill.
"Damn, that kid's fast. What am I supposed to…" 9S said before seeing the monsters. "Oh well…since Hermit is safe…there's no reason for me to spare a single one of you. Take this!"
9S initiated a widespread propagation hack that resulted in every single flying monster being destroyed. "Huh?" he said, spotting Homura before following her before he was hit with an arrow.
"You know…you robots really stand out way too much." Homura said holding a crossbow.
"You're not…Ah!" 9S called out.
"Hush now…I'll be back to collect you after the operation is done." Homura said as 9S fell into unconsciousness.
Later, back at the village…
The group was doing well for themselves, defending the town the best they could from the hordes of monsters.
"Phew… Haven't felt a rush like this in a while." Sachiko said. "How about you guys? You all holding up well?" she asked the Royal Knights.
"This reminds us of that battle in the Underworld. That was a rush of a war." Craniamon said.
"Tell me about it, so much happened during the Underworld War, it was hard to make sense of it!" Flamberge said, cutting through a ton of monsters.
"Yes, we went through so much during our stay there." Miriam said. "I hope Kirito and Asuna are doing well." she said, summoning Valac's head as it breathed fire on another group of monsters.
"Come on, this way!" ZS waved as he and several other group members were leading the NPCs away from the battle…only to see that their escape route was blocked off by a horde of crossbow-wielding monsters. "Aw, crapbaskets…"
"Hahaha! Sorry…this is where you all die!" Jamilov laughed as he stepped forward alongside Homura.
"Homura… I knew I had a reason not to trust you." David said.
"Homura…why are you…" Shiki asked.
"You all served me well…but there's no reason for us to continue this charade." Homura said, aiming a crossbow as she and the other monsters fired. As they were inches from Shiki and David, something jumped before the two and started batting away the arrows.
"What the heck? Is this real?!" Weisz said.
"But…how…" Shiki said as the one defending the two of them, was Homura and her Soul Blades.
"Yeah… I can feel it… This is definitely the real Homura." David said. "How is this…"
"I do not know. When I arrived, I was inside of a cage and could not escape until recently." Homura said.
"I see. It all makes sense now." David said as he aimed a gun at the fake Homura. "You said it yourself. The jig is up. Now, who are you?!"