White Vs Black


The light was so bright that not even those who were watching what was happening through the screen could bear it and they had to shield their eyes.

When it faded away, a sleeping green-haired boy could be seen in Eva's arms.

" Mizel!" Her face was torn between crying and smiling, that she ended up doing both.

The boy in her arms gave a groan and opened his eyes slowly before he was strangled by her. " You... why you should always give us so much trouble..."

" Eva...?"

" For real..." Mirai's eyes were glossed over with tears as she ruffled his hair. " You're much more annoying than Hiro..."

" Just for how many times do we need to save you?" Hiro heaved a relieved sigh as he approached them. " Welcome back, troublesome younger brother."

Mizel was still befuddled, he couldn't process what was happening. However, the warm welcome made him smile.

Everyone back at Goliath exchanged smiles at that, all happy and relieved. It wasn't until Kousuke caught their attention. " Oi, we defeated Black Mizel, right?"

" True, we did!" Elie told him happily. Kousuke then pointed his finger at a side screen.

" Then why isn't the satellite stopping?"

" Huh!" Everyone rushed to the said screen. True for his words, the satellite was still speeding down to N City with only 15 minutes left before it entered an irreversible course.

" What happened!" The door slid open, letting in a flustered Haruka. She gasped when she saw the screen they were huddled around.

" Why? I don't understand!" Kirito ran a hand through his hair. " Black Mizel is gone!"

" No..." William bit on his lip as he checked the logs again. " He isn't..."

Mizel's eyes snapped wide open as he felt it. A large swelling mass of data was taking form behind him and he had so little time to react. Squeezing whatever strength he had, Mizel held up his hand and put a shield around them just as an energy eruption occurred.

The weakened sphere couldn't withstand that much damage and it broke down with all the LBXs forming it. Smoke covered the area and made it all but impossible to discern the source of the attack.

It took a moment for Mizel and the others to hoist themselves up and take in their surrounding. A figure appeared on the other side of the smoke screen. A very familiar figure.

Mizel's eyes widened at the boy who emerged from the smoke and smirked down at them.

" H-How... if I was extracted, you should..."

" You're underestimating me," Black Mizel's tone was laced with utter derision. " I have the world's strongest servers by my side. Copying my main program was no big feat. When I realized I was going to be erased, I prioritized conserving my data. And so managed to create my own core program before you were extracted out."

Mizel clicked his tongue.

" Now, what're you going to do? Fight?" Lightning sparked in his right hand threateningly as he walked up to them. " You don't have strength nor backup to do so."

Mizel flicked his eyes momentarily to the trio by his side. Recognizing the danger they were in, he made a decision. He searched the logs in his memory till he found the right address, the one Eva was using to ping him all that time. " I will take it from here on."

" Huh?" They looked up at him wide-eyed.

" I'm the only one who could fight him!"

" Don't be ridiculous!" Eva cried standing to her feet. " We're fighting this fight together!"

Mizel sighed as he looked back at her. " Even though you're all grown up, you still didn't give up on that stubbornness of yours." He placed a finger on her forehead and gave a small smile. Red eyes widened at that action. " Thanks. But I won't place any of you in any more danger."

His fingertip glowed. Realizing what he was doing, Eva cried out, attempting to stop him. But she faded instantly along with Mirai and Hiro.

" Mizel!" Her extended hand was met with the cold screen of the control pod. Eva took a moment to process what just happened before snatching the Nerve Gear and jumping out from the pod.

Mirai and Hiro's pods opened just at that moment. " We can't get back!" Hiro told her.

" Of course that idiot would block us!" She grunted before running out.

Back in the network, Mizel turned around to face his dark version. " Sending them away? Are you sure of this? You have no chance of beating me on your own."

" I won't know unless I've tried. That's what Hiro and the others had taught me."

His eyes shone brightly, and in a flash of green light, Mizel transformed into his perfect form.

" Do you hope to defeat me like that? Fat chance!"

Back in Goliath, an employee cried out from his desk to Kousuke. " Some foreign connection has been established with our servers!"

" Huh?"

" It's Mizel!" Eva cried as she ran inside the room. " He must be connecting to every server of ours to gain power against Black Mizel's processing speed! Tiny Orbit, NICS and probably Omegadain should be experiencing something similar!"

She shouldered her way up to the screen and looked down at the form of her brother. Mizel...

" If you're ready. Then let's show the whole world what happens to those who defy the new chosen race!"

Both of them lept at each other, discharging their lightning at the same time. It ricocheted everywhere around them. " Not half bad," Black Mizel mocked. " But that's not enough to hold me down!"

Mizel's eyes widened as chains shot out from his other hand. They wrung around him, and pulled him closer to the other boy who used the chance to deliver a kick to his gut. Mizel was sent slamming into the nearest site bubble.

As he looked up, he saw his opponent charging an energy beam in his hands and aiming it at him. Mizel struggled to get himself up and out of the way. He avoided by a hair's berth. " Too slow!"

Mizel was kicked again and was sent trundling all the way across two other bubbles. " You will defeat me? All I see is you getting trampled beneath my feet!"

Holding a hand up, a black and red mass was forming in it and growing larger by the second. " There is no need to give them any more time. Humans should perish already so as not to hinder me anymore." Turning to a bubble a few meters away, Black Mizel wore a broad smirk.

Mizel glanced in its direction and his eyes enlarged. It was that of the National Defense Base. Mizel didn't need to think twice. If that network fell, the whole of the hijacked satellites would lose control and either run into each other or fall onto Earth.

Just as Black Mizel unleashed the enormous ball of energy, Mizel jolted up and flew before it, blocking it with a shield. He gritted his teeth at the tremendous force. His processing speed was hardly keeping up, but he stood his ground and neutralized it, at the cost of most of his backing servers which overheated. Mizel fell down on the site's surface, his force drained.

" It's no use." Panting, Mizel looked up at the other boy floating overhead, another energy ball hovering above him, ready to be unleashed. "No matter how many times you struggle and defend it, I'll triumph in the end."

Mizel gritted his teeth as his dark version swayed his arm down, directing the energy ball at him. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact, but it never happened. A bright blue light overwhelmed the place and when Mizel looked up, the ball had faded when the light touched it.

Falling down slowly and swaying as though dancing with the wind was a single blue feather. Mizel's eyes widened as he realized what it was. " A part of Minerva..."

" Mizel..." her calm voice called. " If it's strength that you require, I can use my last left strength to grant you your wish. Will you fight to the very end then for humans' sake?"

Mizel struggled to stand up, his eyes fixed upon the glowing feather. " I said I wanted to witness the humans' resolve, didn't I? I won't be able to if they get wiped out by an Evil me."

" Then I shall grant you the last of my strength." The blue feather shone brighter as Mizel's hand stretched for it. When he grasped it, its light engulfed him, giving his hair, eyes and linings a blue hue to them. By his ankles and on his back, appeared small blue wings.

Ban's eyes wandered down to his CCM as its screen shone brightly. A very familiar owl mark appeared on it. " What..."

" It's Minerva..." William told him when the same symbol appeared on his laptop. " She is linking Mizel to any devices she could reach... to all of us..."..0

Jessica, Lilyan, and all the others around the world had the same occurrence. Jessica then looked up at the large screen where Mizel's fight was broadcast. " Don't you lose..."

" You think because you changed colors you would be able to stop me?" Black Mizel mocked as he struck with lightning again. However, this time it was blocked by a shield that Mizel had summoned. One that was strongly similar to Kirito's diamond shield.

" I still have more tricks up my sleeves!"

" Your turn is over!" With one step, Mizel was already behind him. " Now is mine!"

His eyes widened as he looked back only to be impaled by a thousand energy sword. Trying to put some distance, he pulled back, yet Mizel chased after him.

" Stay back you inferior bug!" He aimed his black flames, but Mizel shot through them unscathed.

" This is a thank you for taking care of me!" He said punching Black Mizel hard on the face, and for a moment his arm seemed to have been covered in a blue version of Zenon's armor. Their processing speed clashed, and the damage was too much for Black Mizel to neutralize. So he was sent smashing into a bridge link. When he looked up, Mizel stood over him, charging energy in his chest.

" You're kidding me... I have the world's servers by my side..."

" And I have every CCM and every computer device from every LBX player in the world along with their data. Our levels are different." Mizel narrowed his eyes as his finishing move was charged. " This is the end of your reign. World End!"

A great eruption of energy and data, one so strong Black Mizel was hardly keeping at bay. With his servers failing one after the other, Black Mizel staggered back underneath its force. " No... It wasn't supposed to end like this... I was supposed to bring a new future..." However, he was eliminated in the bright light of the explosion.

Mizel stood there, his form returning to normal, and watched as Black Mizel was dissolved back into small bits.

Sounds of rejoicing and cheers echoed back in Goliath upon that. Everyone breathed out in relief knowing that the danger passed by when the falling satellite shifted its direction, its control back to normal.

Mirai smiled proudly at the form of her younger brother. " You've done it, Mizel, you've just saved us all!"

" Now come back! Let us celebrate this victory together!" Eva told him. However, there was a prolonged silence before Mizel responded.

" Impossible..."

" Huh?" It was then that everyone realized the boy was dissolving as well.

" Defending against my last attack caused most of the servers he was depending on to fail, including the one where his program was saved."

" Eh? What..." Elie looked befuddled at that, not understanding what he meant. The rest however caught on quickly.

" The server where Mizel's main program is saved... is shutting down..." William's head hung low as he said that.

" Wait, maybe we can copy it or... or maybe..." Eva tried to think of ways to save her brother.

" You can't..." Mizel's voice came. " Not while no one knows its address, not even I do..."

" No! There should be a way!"

Mizel closed his eyes as half of his body already faded away. " There is no time left. I'm sorry Eva..."

" No!" Eva clung to the screen and shouted as loud as she could, tears overflowing her eyes as she saw her brother disappearing before her " We just had you back! No! This is not fair!"

But Mizel didn't answer, for he could no more. Getting weaker by the moment, the boy was dropping down the bottomless space of the infinity net, slowly, leaving a trail of bits behind.

Somewhere away, a server just went silent...