Chapter 10: Strife
18:14 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday June the 11th…
"… Nelaus Rainon. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… battle…"
"I was waiting for you, Darth Bapgei, Talon or whatever name you prefer!"
Nelaus made it to a warehouse somewhere.
An opponent jumped down from a beam near the ceiling.
They had a hood with gloves covering their head and face.
The design was reminiscent of an owl's face.
The body was covered in black leather clothes.
They had a belt spanning from the right shoulder to the left flank.
It had sheaths for 6 knives.
It included a medallion with the drawing of an owl close to the shoulder.
Other equipment included gauntlets.
The right one had metallic armor shaped like an owl's face.
The left one had sheaths for smaller knives.
Two sword sheaths were attached to the back.
They used black boots for footing.
"Is there a point to this, anyway? Clark?"
"To keep you active when facing opponents in the flesh…"
Clark's voice echoed from a speaker.
"Whatever. It always ends in a stalemate…"
"Because it's not about or winning, but about growing…"
"Isn't it that you're bored because you don't make progress?"
"Possibly!" He chuckled.
"Then design a VR map and fight that walking nuke there!"
"Why not…"
"But, before that, I'll show you that I'm not slacking…"
"Never said that you were, comrade…"
"To begin with. Is that a human or a Navi?"
"It was a Navi in previous times, but this time it's a real human…"
"That guy that you fished up in Melbourne, Australia, I take it…"
"That chap of your school leaked it, true…"
"Chap of the school?"
Nelaus frowned.
"Now that you bring it up… You did say it before, no?"
"Yes. That one of the "Rama" members is closer than you think…"
"I see. Sounds like a ploy that Regal would come up with…"
"But it's better to ignore them and allow them to swim…"
"Fine. Don't want to start more headaches…"
"Well then… Have fun…"
The "Talon" kept both arms parallel to the body.
He held five small knives in each hand.
Nelaus assumed a defensive pose.
The opponent silently spun around the axis clockwise.
He threw the knives at him.
They were repelled, their blades bent, and they hit the ground.
The adversary wasn't too surprised.
He drew both blades and began to circle anticlockwise around Nelaus.
Nelaus ducked and rammed into him from the SE flank.
He made him crash against a pillar.
The foe recovered and quickly shot a wire with a magnetic hook at its end.
It became attached to a beam in the ceiling.
He reeled it in and swung and dropped to the ground towards Nelaus.
He hit a "barrier" and shattered it.
He quickly recovered all the knives and flung them at Nelaus.
They hit him in several spots of his upper body, but he didn't react.
He grabbed one of the short blades to start clashing with the foe.
The "Talon" suddenly swung his blade to cut the hand from above.
The wound quickly healed.
Nelaus calmly plunged his blade into the right hip.
It became stuck half-way across the cloth.
They continued cutting each other with the blades.
Nelaus ducked and rammed into the foe again.
He dropped to the ground.
But he recovered and plunged the blade into Nelaus' right arm.
He hissed and plunged his blade into the foe's extended right arm.
They then pulled them out, and the wounds healed.
"See?" Nelaus sighed.
"It's for safety reasons. This isn't a duel to the death…"
"Doesn't your man feel bored from doing the same thing the whole time?"
"No. He likes the thrill… Right, Bapgei?"
The "Talon" remained silent.
He tensed and looked towards a heap of crates.
He flung his knives there, stabbing a wooden crate.
Footsteps rang out, followed by a door slamming open.
"There was someone looking on! A homeless!?"
"Or maybe it was one of those "Rama" folk…"
"Whatever. Makes little difference…"
"Truly. Well then… Shall we resume it?"
The "Talon" quickly recovered the knives and sheathed them.
He jumped away as a crate suddenly fell from above.
"… Laser Man…"
"He did sniff us… I did suspect that it might happen…"
The "Talon" signaled the beam across the ceiling.
Laser Man stood there.
"Too bad, Lazy Laser. Bapgei has no data on him…"
Laser Man merely signaled Nelaus.
Nelaus jumped away as a crate also fell there.
"And Nelaus is hardly involved in our game…"
Nelaus rushed for the door and kicked it open.
"Value your skin? Get out of there…"
He made it outside of the warehouse.
He saw an excavator equipped with a wrecking ball headed there.
"Plug In! Isaac, Transmission!"
He aimed the PET at it and sent Issac there.
"It's full of Viruses!"
"Take control of it and stop it…"
"Roger!"
The "Talon" also made it out, shattering a window.
Several explosions happened inside of the warehouse.
"Those crates had bombs on them…"
"How could you tell?"
"Because it's Regal that we're talking about…"
"Fine. Guess that my scouting was lacking…"
"To the point that you overlooked that "spy"…"
The excavator stopped altogether.
"I'm back. I locked it with 5 layers of encryption…"
"Alright. But we better get out of here before more come…"
"Agreed… Our battle is postponed for the next occasion…"
The "Talon" ran across the area and jumped into a rooftop.
He jumped from rooftop to rooftop and soon was out of sight.
"Say. Despite the explosions, the warehouse isn't burning…"
"True…"
Nelaus looked inside through the door.
The wooden crates had burst, but nothing was burning.
There were several small speakers linked by wires to a tape recorder.
"I see. It was a recorded sound and not an actual explosion…"
"Why doesn't he become a prop maker?" Isaac sighed.
"That's what we'd all wish for…!"
18:39 PM (Japan Time)…
"… You must be the man known as "Zero"…!"
"… What of it…?"
"You're my target. I'll delete you!"
"… Come…"
"Ronin Man! On the scene!"
Zero was collecting data from a server somewhere.
Ronin Man appeared behind him, yielding his katana.
Zero calmly formed his own blade and turned around.
Ronin Man closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
Zero held the blade horizontally to block the foe.
But the foe's blade hummed.
Cracks formed on Zero's blade and spread across its body.
It shattered, and Ronin Man landed a cut on Zero's body.
Zero merely accumulated energy on his left hand.
He held it up and shot a beam at Ronin Man, knocking him away.
His wound healed and he reformed the blade.
Ronin Man scoffed and held up the blade.
"Patience, my servant! You're facing a hardened veteran…"
"Yes, sir…"
"Go!"
Ronin Man charged up energy on his blade.
He swung it in different angles, shooting energy slices.
Zero hovered and formed a barrier to block them.
However, the slices split into smaller ones and flew around him.
They hit his sides and his back from different angles at the same time.
Zero was unfazed and merely shot the beam again.
Ronin Man waited and tensed.
He charged up energy on his blade and absorbed the attack.
He held the blade up.
The energy shot skywards and became a huge spheroid.
Thunderbolts rained down from it across the area.
Ronin Man gathered them in his blade.
They travelled across his body, forming a layer of electricity over it.
He drew his secondary blade.
A string of energy formed on the base of the hilt.
It coiled around the left wrist.
He flung the blade towards Zero, who made his hands glow.
He caught it with both hands and held it there.
"That's the Blade Stop technique…!" Ronin Man muttered.
"Patience!"
"Yes, sir. Patience…!"
Ronin Man sent electricity across the link.
It reached the blade and reached Zero's hands.
He merely let go of the blade and hovered into the air.
He formed a lightning rod below him to direct the attack there.
Ronin Man clicked his tongue.
"Use it against him!" He commanded.
"I see, sir! I shall do that, sir!"
Ronin Man flung the blade at the lightning rod and hit the base.
Electricity flowed into it and shot upwards.
But Zero was already gone from there.
Ronin Man gasped as he looked over his shoulder.
Zero had landed behind him.
He clicked his tongue.
He used the link to pull himself towards the lightning rod.
He spun around the rod and flew outwards.
Zero's beam hit the rod and destroyed it.
The flying blade hit his left torso and embedded there.
It exploded, opening a wound there.
Energy flowed inside of his body.
Purple energy patterns formed over his skin.
Ronin Man smirked.
"This virus will slowly reduce you to a powerless husk!"
Zero's eyes glowed for a moment.
The wound healed, and the effects vanished.
Ronin Man gasped.
"Impossible!"
"… I am a Virus, too… You only gave me new abilities…"
"What the hell!? A Navi-shaped Virus!?" Ancient gasped.
"Nobody told me that!" Ronin Man complained.
Zero didn't bother to comment.
He formed two wings of purple energy behind him.
He cut through the air in the blink of an eye.
"Have it back…"
He formed his blade and stabbed Ronin Man on the right torso.
Ronin Man groaned as the virus infected him next.
"Hell! Didn't think of making a vaccine program for that!"
"No need to worry, sir…! The antibodies will sort it out…!"
He roared as energy travelled across his body.
It formed a purple energy mass that reshaped as a copy of himself.
It flew for Zero, who shot a beam to deal with it.
The thing absorbed it and grew bigger.
Zero noticed a thin layer of energy keeping it under control.
"… This is no virus…" He muttered.
He quickly turned around and stabbed the air.
Laser Man became visible.
"Who the hell!?" Ancient growled.
"A nobody…" He merely announced.
"… Anti-matter…" Zero deduced aloud.
"What!? Wasn't that that walking nuke's monopoly!?"
"This man controls "Rama" behind the scenes…"
"What!? It wasn't some ex-cult leader!?"
Regal's voice laughed.
"Fool. That's but a farce to lure in expendable pawns like you!"
"Who the hell!"
Zero merely made it out of the area.
Ronin Man also scoffed and escaped.
The energy was unleashed, causing mutual annihilation.
A few seconds later, a huge hole opened there.
Both combatants returned to assess the extent of the damage.
"By the bloody servants of darkness!" Ancient growled.
"This is not stunt, sir. It's the real deal!"
Ronin Man crouched to rub the edge of the deleted terrain.
"Those orders were a trap to take both of us out!" Ancient guessed.
"Very likely, sir…"
"Scram before the pasma makes it here!"
"Right away, sir…"
Ronin Man escaped as Zero calmly examined the damage.
"Well?"
"Omega… As you can see…"
Omega met with him, and he signaled the hole.
"That blasted Regal. Still wants to take us out in one blow…"
"Also…"
Zero transmitted data to him.
"A new virus that steals both HP and reduces your stats to 1 point…"
He fumed.
"This is going to be annoying. I'll bring the data to the MOS…"
"Affirmative. I will return to the client's base…"
"We must be on our toes!"
19:04 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Guts. How much longer do we have to wait, Glyde?"
"I wish that I knew, too…"
"Let's hope that it's not some annoying joke…"
"Yes… Let's hope…"
Guts Man, Roll and Ice Man were talking with Glyde.
The location was inside of the mansion's systems.
Glyde was nervous, the others were either impatient or exasperated.
"The Princess sure knows how to create excitement!"
"What part of this is excitement?"
Sigma made a joke and Blood Shadow argued back at it.
"And? What's the deal about?"
Isaac joined them, but he wasn't too surprised either.
"I heard that there's a major announcement, too…"
Felicia also came into the area.
"Sorry for the wait! I must make an announcement!"
Yaito opened her screen, grinning.
"That you're engaged?" Meiru sighed.
"No, no!"
"That you held a party to crown yourself "Miss Forehead"…"
Netto sighed as well.
"Wrong!"
"It's pointless to try to guess. Get straight to the point…"
Saito wasn't in the mood to play games.
"I have the mightiest Battle Chip of all times!"
"What? A Battle Chip? Not a new castle?" Meiru sighed.
"Maybe Mr. Higure is involved…" Hikawa suggested.
"Somehow, it wouldn't surprise me…" Nelaus muttered.
"It must be something to revolutionize the world!" Tamashita joked.
"The Forehead Glory DX!"
A chorus of groans of exasperation rang out.
"Kidding. It's the Advanced Booster!"
"And where did that come from?" Netto questioned.
"Mr. Higure and I made it together!"
"I knew it…" Nelaus sighed.
"It'll give any Navi a boost of 50% on their parameters for 90 seconds!"
"Why do I feel like it'll do the inverse instead of what it's mean to do?"
Blood Shadow was being pessimistic about the whole deal.
"Because it's the jinx of the nerd of nodes!" Sigma laughed.
"Be assured! It has Mr. Jinmei's seal of approval!"
"Mr. Meijin! Get his name right!" Netto scolded.
"His messenger, Portal Man, brought it to me!"
"Portal Man? Never heard of that Navi before…"
"He comes from the Gates of Remote Lands!"
"What kind of naming sense is that?"
"Wait a minute. Portals, gates, remote…"
Blood Shadow rubbed his chin.
"Isn't that Zoan Gate Man?"
"Who?" Yaito asked.
"A member of Neo Gospel!"
"Don't be ridiculous! Why would a terrorist…"
"Because it's a prank by Cloud Man or Swallow Man…"
"Those weren't the stars of a comedian's show?"
"No. They're the oddballs of the Neo Gospel members!"
"To begin with. Have you tried it out?"
"Was going to demonstrate it now, but…"
"Don't bother. Best outcome: it does nothing. Worst: it hacks Glyde…"
"I'll drop a cannon ball on their heads to straighten them!"
"Isn't that what you did when Glyde was hacked by Napalm Man?"
"Yes! The secret technique!"
"There's hardly any "secret" to that…"
"Remote Gates of Endless Despair and Torment!"
Countless "Remote Gates" formed around the group.
They opened and hordes of Viruses rushed out.
"Guts Hammer!"
"Shotgun!"
"Sigma Punch!"
"Roll Arrow!"
"Ice Breath!"
"Mega Cannon!"
"Punch Barrage!"
"Blizzard Lances!"
The group counterattacked to fight back the enemies.
"This is Blood Shadow! We're under attack! Neo Gospel!"
"Devil! I'm heading there!" Blues confirmed.
"Zoan Gate Man uses his gate to bypass security and send Viruses!"
"Which means that the man must be lurking nearby…"
"Possible! But we can't move from our positions!"
"Understood!"
The group continued their struggle.
"This is Blues. I arrived outside the firewalls. Will begin searching!"
"OK!"
The battle continued.
"Sigma! I sent data!"
"Roger!"
Sigma warped and landed atop one of the "Remote Gates".
He plunged his blade into it from above.
The structure frizzled and Viruses stopped flowing from it.
He then landed before it and flung a Giga Count Bomb inside.
An explosion happened and deleted the gate.
"I'm still searching! But can't find the man…!" Blues cursed.
"This is Search Man. I'm remotely scanning, too…"
"OK! Sigma! Continue busting the doors!"
"Roger!"
Sigma repeated the procedure several more times.
As he destroyed doors, the number of Viruses decreased as well.
"… These doors have a different structure…"
"What?"
"… They feel like imitations, and not the real deal…"
"Imitations!? Then…"
"Maybe it's not Neo Gospel but Rama, copying them to blame them…"
"Devil!" Blood Shadow cursed.
"To collect battle data on many Navis at once…"
"And make their Navis more versatile?"
"Or to incorporate these patterns into them as well…"
"This could be bothersome…!" Isaac grumbled.
"What mess did I walk into!?" Tamashita gasped.
"It's a bunch of battle maniacs. They don't know restrain…"
Sigma deleted the final door, and the attacks ceased.
"Yaito. Send that thing for analysis. Right now!" Netto fumed.
"Y-yes… I will…" Yaito gulped.
"And don't believe anything that sounds too good to be true!"
"T-thought that it was a smart prank by Mr. Higure!"
"Double check! Scammers and liars are on the rise!" Enzan grumbled.
"ENZANNNNNN! I'LL PAINT YOUR HAIR PINK YET!" She roared.
"Be my guest… If you make it past my security detail, that is…"
"A STRAWBERRY! MY KINGDOM FOR A STRAWBERRY!"
"Dear. What a mess!" Tamashita sighed.
"Miss Yaito…! When will you become rational!?" Glyde sighed.
"Never, I guess!"