"It's... over."
Cool Mita half-knelt on the ground, struggling to support her body, allowing the warm beads of sweat to drip one by one onto... the empty mist before her.
The girl's gaze swept around; large swathes of the floor had long since vanished under the Black Sphere's ability, leaving only the precarious spot beneath her feet.
At this moment, Cool Mita felt like a small boat tossing in a storm... one stumble, and she would be buried in the ocean of dense fog.
On the other hand, the Black Sphere... She gritted her teeth and looked ahead.
That guy... didn't need the ground to [stand] at all, because it didn't have legs; it hovered.
The constraints of the terrain applied only to Cool Mita.
She forced herself to take a breath and stood up.
The battle with the Big Spider on the side was also drawing to a close.
Of the four Man-Headed Spiders that had come to reinforce her, three had already turned into puddles of garbled code. Only one remained, lingering on its last breath.
It had to be said, the battle situation right now was the worst possible...
"No... there's worse."
Cool Mita lowered her head slightly, quietly watching as the floor beneath her feet was gradually dyed with a layer of pitch black.
After a long contest with the Black Sphere, she understood what this thing was. The Black Sphere intended to clear away her last foothold. To let her be swallowed by the thick fog just like that.
The girl glanced warily toward the Big Spider's position. The viruses seemed to recognize friendly forces, so the floor on the spider's side was intact.
Therefore, if the current Cool Mita wanted to survive, she had to jump to the platform on the spider's side.
But this cut both ways... Although jumping to the safe platform would temporarily save her life, after that, she would face a pincer attack from both the Black Sphere and the Big Spider.
"I... have no choice." This sentence was inspired by Alain. Cool Mita thought it was cool, so she said it in passing.
She still had people to protect. Alain inside the illusion, the Cute Mita she had just retrieved, and that little one cheering for her...
So, the answer to this single-choice question—was very clear!
She leaped high without hesitation, jumping away from the remnant of the small platform, towards the higher, wider platform.
In her sight, the moment her heels left the ground, her original standing spot completely vanished.
Good... she had temporarily shaken off one crisis. Even if she had to face the encirclement of the Big Spider and the Modified Entity, that was a matter for later.
That remaining Man-Headed Spider should still be able to hold on for a while, giving her a little time to breathe.
Just as Cool Mita was about to rejoice, she looked toward the platform where the Big Spider was.
In that moment, time seemed to slow down infinitely.
Cool Mita discovered that that guy—the Big Spider—was also looking at her. Its upper body was clearly a mother-form, yet it gave Cool Mita the cold, sinister stare of a "female ghost."
The feeling of meeting its gaze was like an ice-quenched dagger stabbing into her forehead.
And the remnant Man-Headed Spider confronting it was, in this instant, pierced by its thick leg appendage, spilling code all over the ground.
What happened? Why is it like this?
Cool Mita's eyes widened. Still in mid-air, she had absolutely no time to react.
Why was it so coincidental? Just as she left the Modified Entity's side, the Man-Headed Spider was defeated? Could it be...
Cool Mita discovered a terrifying fact. She made the connection that just as the Black Sphere hadn't eroded the other platform to coordinate with the Big Spider... Then, would the Big Spider coordinate with the Black Sphere?
Using the safe platform to lure her over... This way, even if the Modified Entity destroyed her last platform, Cool Mita, upon arriving at the new platform, would inevitably face a relentless, brutal blow.
Time began to flow...
Just as Cool Mita predicted: the moment her toes were about to touch the ground, before she could even hear a "Heave-ho"—a thick, long, sharp leg stabbed toward her.
Cool Mita had no space to dodge. Not only had she not fully landed yet, but also because—behind her lay a vast expanse of dense fog!
It's over... I couldn't protect...
She widened her eyes, staring blankly as that leg slowly approached. And her own chest was also slowly moving towards it...
Even though I saved Cute Mita. And met such an interesting player...
In her eyes, that leg split her pupil in two. It was the dividing line of her fate.
Am I going to die? She thought. To die as a Mita who doesn't understand the meaning of survival? Knowing nothing, blindly moving forward, yet failing countless times.
She had finally found the hope that was Alain, but in the end... she couldn't grasp it.
"I... don't want to."
Cool Mita clenched her jaw tight. Taking advantage of the moment before her toes touched the ground, she tried to lean her body to the side.
Crack
With the slight tilt of her body, her toes finally touched the ground—but at a twisted angle.
Faintly, she seemed to hear a "crack," the sound of bone dislocation.
Before her pain could arrive, that leg had already pierced the position of her shifted shoulder—
Splurt
It was the blooming of a blood flower, and the withering of a small piece of flesh.
When two waves of intense pain arrived, Cool Mita felt that time resumed its flow.
Bang!!!
That sharp leg passed right by her shoulder. She fell heavily to the ground, her body scraping against the surface.
At the cost of a small piece of flesh, a dislocated foot, and an abrasion on her right shoulder from rubbing against the floor, she successfully salvaged her life.
"S-survived..."
She chuckled softly twice. The piercing pain quickly made her unable to laugh.
Rustle, rustle, rustle
The dizziness from the pain made her hazily see the eight legs of the Big Spider slowly walking over, as well as the Black Sphere floating beside the spider.
These two guys stopped in front of Cool Mita, looking so... arrogant and domineering.
She didn't understand if viruses had intelligence, but she could just see that meaning.
Cool Mita used all her strength to get up, leaning against the iron railing on the side.
"Hah, hah..."
Physical exhaustion, loss of blood, loss of mobility... This was a dead end.
"Alain, even you have times when you're wrong."
The girl vaguely remembered Alain saying—
"Fate is standing on our side."
But the reality before her eyes was not entirely so.
Fate had once stood on their side. But as if playing a joke, it had walked to the left and right of the viruses. Duplicitous fate was pacing slowly toward her.
Cool Mita narrowed her eyes.
Clack, clack, clack...
This was the crisp sound of the spider's legs stepping on the iron railing.
Rumble...
This was the Black Sphere, the code on its surface making a sound like an engine when exerting force.
Da, da, da
This was... Whose sound was this?
She followed that sound and looked over.
Through the eight walking legs of the Big Spider, Cool Mita could catch a glimpse of a pair of sprinting legs.
Da, da, da...
Thin-soled sneakers stepped rapidly on the iron railing, making a sound like bullets.
It sounded swift... yet somewhat frantic.
Cool Mita focused on those sprinting steps, and for a moment she actually steadied her mind, completely forgetting that she was the one in the most danger...
Her gaze followed his sprinting figure, moving upward, and saw that... panicked face.
Alain... Cool Mita was slightly dazed, marveling that this guy had finally come.
He didn't arrive at the most dangerous moment like a prince in a fairy tale, but he would always come...
Sweat dripped from his forehead, drop by drop along his skin, flowing down his jaw...
It was the first time Cool Mita had seen him in such a panic. How should she put it... shouldn't a hero saving a beauty be more composed?
While she was thinking this, the Big Spider didn't notice the situation behind it; it raised its sharp leg appendage. That Black Sphere guy was still arrogant and domineering; it looked like it was getting carried away.
And Alain also made his move—
A blue greatsword had appeared in his hand at some point.
"Eh? Greatsword?" Even though sweat obscured her eyes, Cool Mita thought she saw clearly... Why would he have such a beautiful greatsword? He's holding the greatsword... what does he want to do?
While she was dazed, Alain raised it over his shoulder and hurled it like a spear.
The greatsword became a sharp streak of blue light in mid-air, like a laser beam, shooting rapidly toward the Big Spider's back.
And the spider's leg was almost right in front of Cool Mita's eyes, but it was hard for her to tear her gaze away from that blue light.
So beautiful... like an aurora. She thought in her daze.
At the same time, Cool Mita slightly changed her mind:
Alain wasn't wrong: Fate had always been on their side. It just mischievously played a little joke on Cool Mita: it accidentally stood in the wrong place, standing on the Big Spider's side. And now...
The girl gazed as that blue light pierced straight into the Big Spider's body. The blade penetrated it, and on the tip of the sword... was a lump of yellow disgusting stuff.
Fate had arrived.
She raised her head, her dull eyes looking toward the female limbs on the Big Spider's upper body—
Just a moment ago it looked proud, now it was in a sorry state. If it could make a sound, it would probably be screaming endlessly right now, wouldn't it?
The monster's leg swayed in front of the girl for two seconds, finally collapsing like waterlogged cotton. Along with its owner—the spider monster—it became a corpse on the ground.
Da, da, da...
Alain's footsteps still hadn't stopped. After the Big Spider fell, Cool Mita noticed clearly: he was looking right at her.
Huh?
What puzzled the girl was that his originally slightly panicked face now bore a thick rage, as if he wished he could tear the enemy into thousands of pieces.
Why is he angry?
Cool Mita knew that Alain detested viruses, detested them to the point of hatred.
But in the past, when he talked about viruses, it was with disdain like talking about "cockroaches," far from the solid indignation of the present.
Under Cool Mita's gaze, he briskly lifted the greatsword that was deeply embedded in the spider's body and walked toward the Black Sphere.
"You guys really did something you shouldn't have."
Cool Mita's impression of Alain was still stuck on the image of a "nice guy" who was a little bit mischievous.
It was the first time she had heard Alain's voice sound like the low growl of a devil from hell. Just like his face, looking like a demon, facing the dying spider and the Black Sphere.
He shouldered the greatsword and walked in front of her, leaving Cool Mita with a view of his back.
Suppressing her pain, the girl teased him, "First time seeing you so flustered. What did you see in the illusion?"
Alain had always been composed, possessing foresight. Knowing where the viruses were before even seeing them; or issuing commands concerning battle one by one. And he had never failed in his command, planning strategies from beginning to end.
Now, seeing this young man exasperated for the first time, Cool Mita couldn't help but feel it was a little funny...
"Not because of the illusion."
He said a simple sentence, then walked quickly toward the Black Sphere. That unruly sphere was now trembling all over like a mouse meeting a cat.
"Not because of the illusion?"
Then because of what? Cool Mita curled her beautiful hair, confused.
"Because of you."
He said briefly, then charged straight at the Black Sphere. Leaving Cool Mita staring blankly at his back.
"Because of you... who is this 'you'?" She softly murmured what Alain had said, her gaze uncontrollably drifting to the battle on his side.
The Black Sphere was very hard; it didn't act as easy to bully as it seemed. Its outer shell was simply a tortoise shell; every time Cool Mita's bat struck it, her arm would ache.
But Alain's greatsword completely overturned her cognition—
"?"
It wants to get away from that greatsword? It's dodging?!
Cool Mita was surprised to see the Black Sphere gradually retreat several meters in the face of Alain's offensive.
"Have the guts to bully, but no guts to die?!" The young man's angry shout made the Black Sphere tremble all over, and also made Cool Mita puzzled.
Bully? Bully what?
She looked at the Black Sphere, then at Alain, then glanced at herself sitting on the ground.
In an instant, she understood. So that's it, Alain is caring about her...
Then, why he would be angry and flustered became obvious. He was angry and flustered for her—Cool Mita.
Oh, I see.
Cool Mita felt her cheeks tickle a bit, so she scratched them, finding them terrifyingly hot. She lowered her head, took a deep breath, and focused her gaze on the battle where the young man was "chopping" the Black Sphere.
"Hey, Alain!" Cool Mita called out.
"What? I'm—" His greatsword cleaved downward, chopping through most of the Black Sphere, "—busy right now!"
"Are you angry for me?"
"Isn't that obvious?!" Alain said darkly, which was rare for him.
"Oh, oh... I see. Can I ask why?" She scratched the roots of her ears, which had turned completely red.
"Why?"
To be honest, Alain didn't understand it himself. But did there need to be so many reasons? Saving Mita was just his nature.
But... if he had to say.
Alain used the power of a Failed Works Gauntlet, and with the superimposed power on the handle, he swung the final slash at the Modified Entity, "Fate told me to come!"
Whoosh—
A round of blue light completely tore the Black Sphere apart. The Modified Entity was cut in two.
The two sections of its body curled up, liquid drops rising from the bottom—black liquid beads dripping onto the ground one by one.
Drip tock drip tock... Many liquid beads accumulated on the ground, gathering into a puddle of pitch-black water stains.
And in the reflection of the black water was the posture of Alain propping up his greatsword and looking around.
It was the garbled code and hazy mist everywhere. It was the girl sitting on the ground, awkwardly counting her fingers, with ears turned completely red.
"I-I see..."
So willful.
___
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