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"{Myriad Blade Arts}: {Horizon-Splitting Slash}!"
With all her strength, she spun forward and swung her swords horizontally, slicing straight through the elemental's blazing body!
SLAAASH!
"…!?"
The Elemental, convinced the attack couldn't harm it, suddenly felt its entire structure collapse. It exploded into red pixelated data.
BOOOM!
"They might be strong, but remember—we're not in the real world, and those aren't true Elementals. They're just clumps of Data!" Zero One said. "And—"
RUMBLE!
As she spoke, another Elemental descended from the sky. A massive black cloud summoned a towering Thunder Elemental that coiled into the shape of a giant dragon.
"ROOOAARR!"
It roared with terrifying force and dove downward, jaws gaping wide.
"Okay, I take that back—RUN!"
Zero One and her sisters bolted the Thunder Elemental in pursuit, demolishing buildings in its path.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"That thing's gigantic!" Zero Two shouted. "Can we even defeat something made of pure thunder?!"
"Maybe if we focus and fight together, but we don't have time!" Zero One replied.
"Sister, the hole is over there—look!" Zero Three A called.
As they spoke, Zero Three A—the most serious of the group—pointed into the distance. A giant hole, like an open wound, gaped into the center of the ruined city.
No parasite guarded it this time, but three other Elementals surrounded it.
One of Fire, one of Light, and one of Wind.
They constantly unleashed their elemental auras, wreaking havoc and pulverizing buildings as they tried to crush everything into dust.
They seemed frustrated that no humans remained to slaughter.
"Dammit! Damn Elementals!"
Zero Two's anger flared. Her data surged with power as she channeled her processing energy to manifest her old equipment.
Black nanobot-like data swarmed over her body, assembling into a sleek, skin-tight black-and-red bodysuit—armor tough enough to withstand anything.
Then she summoned two long black-and-red katanas wreathed in blazing data flames.
"Let's kill them all, Zero One! We don't have any other choice anyway!"
"You're right! Get down now!"
Zero One expanded her golden aura, seized her sisters, and dropped just before the Thunder Elemental could slam into them.
CRAAASH!
Instead, it crashed into the Fire Elemental. The opposing forces detonated on impact, severely damaging both.
BOOOM!
As the Fire and Thunder Elementals collapsed, weakened, the Wind Elemental—a graceful woman of golden-white luminescent light—and a towering genie-like Wind spirit looked down at the chaos below.
They didn't turn on each other like invading monsters normally would, as Anna had described from her world. These ones clearly worked as a team.
Seeing them hesitate, Zero One seized the opening.
"They're confused—go, go, go!"
She led the charge. Her sisters rushed in and ambushed the Wind Elemental, catching it completely off guard.
"Take this!"
Zero Two roared, spinning mid-descent with both katanas, unleashing a tornado of fiery red slashing waves that tore through the Wind Elemental's data.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
At the same time, the Zero Three twins merged into a massive golden machine and fired a blinding beam of light from their chest, vaporizing half the Wind Elemental's body instantly.
BOOOM!
"…?!"
The Wind Elemental writhed in agony, glaring in shock, then swung all four of its muscular, spiraling emerald-wind arms. Slicing gales and brutal shockwaves erupted toward the girls.
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
Zero Two and the Zero Three twins were hurled backward. In that instant, Zero One struck.
"{Myriad Blade Arts}: {Lightning Blade Storm}!"
She fused her electromagnetic energy into the technique, creating a wholly original move that engulfed the Wind Elemental in a tempest of thunderous slashes.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The Wind Elemental screamed as its body shredded apart and burst into green pixels, its corrupted data finally cleansed.
BOOOM!
"W-Watch out!"
Zero Two shouted as the Light Elemental appeared before them, moving almost like teleportation!
It raised both hands. In a split second, dozens of light spheres formed around it, then unleashed rotating beams of searing light.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A barrage of ultra-fast laser beams rained down—almost impossible to dodge! The sisters dove behind rubble and buildings, but the structures disintegrated instantly.
"Dammit, if only Bastet were here! Her mirror was perfect for absorbing light!" Zero Two groaned.
"Right—the mirror!" Zero One nodded. "If I can shape swords with this power, then…!"
She rapidly gathered ambient data into her hands, compressing and reshaping it with her internal energy.
FLUOSH!
As the Light Elemental rampaged, a massive red mirror materialized in front of Zero One. She leaped forward fearlessly, holding the mirror like a shield.
"It's now or never!"
She charged straight into the onslaught, letting the Light Elemental bombard the mirror. It absorbed every beam. When she closed the distance, she slammed the mirror itself into the creature.
CLAAASH!
The mirror shattered, but the impact dealt massive damage to the Elemental's core data. Zero One stabbed through with both swords, flooding darkness into its radiant form.
"HYAAAH!"
Like a fearless warrior, she drove the blades downward, forcing the creature to the ground. Darkness consumed its light until nothing remained, and it faded into black-and-white pixels.
POOF!
As Zero One finished it, the Thunder and Fire Elementals staggered back to their feet, glaring at the scene. For the first time, they looked intimidated.
"A-Are they… scared of her?" Zero Two asked, stepping to her sister's side.
"They better be!" Zero Three A declared.
"Go away!" Zero Three B added.
Both spoke through their towering golden mech form.
"W-Wait, they're…?"
Instead of fleeing, the two weakened Elementals began dissolving into each other, merging seamlessly.
FLUOSH!
A colossal draconic humanoid rose from the fusion—red flames and golden thunder swirling across its body, radiating overwhelming elemental power.
"HAAAAHH!"
It unleashed a deafening roar, spreading four muscular, scaled arms skyward and releasing an inferno of fire and lightning across the city!
RUMBLE!
Buildings collapsed in waves. Zero One and her sisters were hurled back once more, completely outmatched by its raw might.
But the hole lay right behind them…
"Zero One, let's jump down and ignore this thing!" Zero Two urged.
"No—that won't work!" Zero One replied. "I can sense corrupted data inside it! This fused creature and the others are like that Virus—they're disguising themselves with Mother's Memory Data to form bodies…! If we want to heal her, we have to destroy it."
"RAAAAHH!"
The Fused Elemental charged, bringing storms and hellfire that swept across the entire ruined city.
"Can we really fight something like that?!" Zero Two asked, doubt creeping in.
"Yes—together!" Zero One said. She wrapped her aura around her sisters and pulled them close. "Combine our Data—now!"
"Y-Yeah!"
"Okay."
"Let's do it."
FLAAASH!
As the Elemental's blazing, thunderous claws descended to crush them, a brilliant explosion of crimson, golden, and silver light erupted—shattering its claws into harmless data pixels!
BOOOMM!!
The Fused Elemental recoiled, staring at what emerged from the fusion: a tall, slender woman whose body constantly shifted and swirled with three vivid colors.
Her form strongly resembled Anna's Cosmic Form—the very inspiration for this transformation.
"We can't hold this shape long… So let's finish it!"
They surged forward, swinging slender arms against the Elemental's fire and thunder.
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
The Elemental howled in pain as its body filled with holes. Each small punch released tri-colored explosions that weakened it further and drove it backward.
Serpents of fire and thunder burst from its shoulders, lashing out relentlessly.
The fused girl sprouted four more arms and met every serpent head-on.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
All the serpents detonated. She pressed forward, manifesting a massive rainbow sword forged from their compressed data.
"This is the end!"
Anna poured her imagination into the strike once more.
"{Myriad Blade Arts}: {Rainbow Sunshine Blade}!"
SLAAAASH!
The Elemental screamed as its body split cleanly in two. Its entire form erupted into scattering data and vanished.
BOOOMM!!
As the fusion watched the Elemental disappear, the four sisters separated and turned. The light they had unleashed had already begun healing the wound behind them. They had to move fast.
"We did it!" Zero Two cheered.
"Yeah—come on, hurry!" The Zero Three sisters called. They fused again, scooped up the other two, and lifted Zero One—who was still dizzy. "Let's go!"
They leaped through the hole and plummeted through swirling clumps of data as everything mended around them.
The third layer opened before them.
This time it wasn't a vast ruined landscape, but a sleek, futuristic underground laboratory.
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