Chapter 130: Return

At the instant Zhang Jie perished, the illusion commenced its disintegration. All edifices, pedestrians, vehicular streams—everything dissipated into particles, akin to the expanse enveloped by SEED. Even the resplendent sun in the distance faded away. The space reverted to its primordial darkness, an infinite abyss, with only 13's form adrift, unwittingly returning to the white domain inhabited by the serpent.

Reclining upon the floor, Zhang Jie's cadaver appeared merely asleep.

The typically verbose serpent maintained an extraordinary hush, its profound sighs articulating its despondency.

"Why opt for suicide? You ought to realize that within the illusion, any bodily harm is embraced by the cerebrum as verity; upon cessation of your heartbeat, so too in reality. As one capable of 'interacting' with the system, you should grasp this more acutely than anyone. Escaping the illusion isn't insurmountably complex—merely eliminate the angel and disrupt the profoundest data stream in your recollections, and safe return would ensue. Alas, you were the most auspicious initiator to shatter the illusion. In essence, you're naught but a monumental imbecile!" The serpent admonished, its timbre steeped in sorrow, as if grieving a departed ally.

"The feats I can accomplish are scant; permit me to decompose your residual data-constructed form..." The serpent shut its eyes, a luminous orb coalescing above its crown.

"Whom did you declare you'd decompose?" A recognizable voice queried.

"Assuredly, you..." The serpent responded irritably, then froze, fixated upon the entity on the ground it termed a corpse. Its appendages commenced motion, propping the body as it ascended unsteadily, pivoting with a sinister leer directed at the serpent.

"Aren't you deceased??" The serpent's exclamation depleted all its vigor. The orb atop its head vanished into the void.

"You yourself affirmed it's merely a reverie. Only a simpleton perishes in a dream!" 13 retorted with disdain.

"Yet! Yet!" The serpent remained incredulous, "The method to dismantle the illusion is unequivocally to slay the angel..."

At that, 13 ensnared the ebony entity in its grasp, the familiar asphyxiation rendering the serpent nearly moribund.

"You, a mere 'worm,' exhibit considerable audacity..." 13 chuckled, albeit the engorged veins on its forehead betrayed its ire, "Daring to exploit my memories of the angel and compel me to eradicate her?! I might dispatch you forthwith to comprehend the folly of manipulating others' anguish..."

"Yet you incurred no loss... That eve... You derived considerable pleasure from it..." The serpent struggled to invoke the "ancient grievance."

Relinquishing its hold, the obsidian form plummeted to the ground, its existence preserved.

"This instance shall be overlooked..." 13's countenance flushed unusually.

"That eve, I observed everything..." The serpent smirked cunningly, "Unforeseen that the redoubtable 13 on the battlefield is but a 'lifeless fish' in repose..."

"I ought to eradicate you regardless!" 13 clenched its fists, the glyph "wing" on its left swelling as it struck the terrain where the serpent lay, instantaneously reducing the black serpent's physique to particulate matter, only to reassemble behind 13 into the serpent's configuration.

"Abandon the notion! In this virtual realm, I am the deity; how might you obliterate a program? Your prior throttling was mere indulgence." The serpent boasted triumphantly.

"You're fortunate..." 13 unfurled its fists.

"Indeed, you're quite extraordinary, compelling your cerebrum to reject the verity of your demise. Thus far, merely two individuals have unearthed such a stratagem to fracture the illusion. One leapt from the Empire State Building of their creation and metamorphosed into pulp. The other presumed itself divine and self-immolated, culminating as roast swine." The serpent reminisced about the prior duo of fools.

"There's naught exceptional; if even I distrust my mind, what remains credible?" 13's discourse was exceptionally serene, devoid of vanity.

"Very well, to the crux." The serpent seldom adopted gravity, "As you're the singular human to demolish the illusion and endure, this network deity bestows upon you the privilege of companionship, activating the serpent's principal system for your benefit..."

"Is it not that I become your sovereign?" The outcome diverged from 13's anticipation.

"You delude yourself..." The serpent scorned, "Companionship is already your boon..."

It yearned to elaborate, yet perceiving 13's darkening demeanor, it opted for restraint.

"From your awakening, the serpent's core program has been fully integrated into your conduit, namely your armor 'Night,' supplanting your antecedent auxiliary computer framework and emerging as your novel aide." The serpent elucidated the initiation procedure.

"Pause; thus, you imply you'll assist in combats henceforth?" 13 found it arduous to credit.

"Precisely, do you doubt my prowess?!" The serpent vaunted.

Yet 13 nodded earnestly in affirmation.

"Are you jesting? I am the preeminent computer system globally. Relative to me, your prior auxiliary program is infantile." The serpent was genuinely incensed.

"Demonstrate..." 13 articulated, as if orchestrating a spectacle.

"..." The serpent exhaled in exasperation, then abruptly regarded 13 with an peculiar gaze, "Alas, I fear your comrades may not persist to witness my demonstration..."

"What's transpiring externally?!" 13's visage turned glacial, instilling even the serpent with trepidation.

"The Japanese forces have unearthed the institute and deployed troops for subjugation. Your trio of comrades are resisting externally, endeavoring to procrastinate, while a portion of beasts have infiltrated the institute..." The serpent reported the circumstances candidly, as 13's scrutiny permitted no defiance.

"No further discourse. Convey me back!" 13 decreed.

The triumvirate sprinting through the forest abruptly halted.

"You bastards! How did you safeguard? Permitting beasts ingress to the ventilation conduit leading directly to the lab? Should 13 suffer harm, I'll exterminate you all!" 24 bellowed into the communicator.

"They've targeted you with artillery!!!" 1 clamored in alarm, as over a dozen smoothbore cannons fixated on 24's position, loading high-explosive ordnance.

Extracting the dual armaments from his dorsum and chambering them, 24 glimpsed the surging beast horde ahead; he was genuinely infuriated.

"Bastards, clear the path; any obstruction meets demise!" Elevating his dual firearms, he discharged wildly while advancing frenziedly.

The terrain transformed into a crater. The tank operative responsible for the cannon stared vacantly at the accelerating 24.

"Is that even human?" This was the soldiers' exhalation upon beholding the trio in combat.

1 and 36 likewise initiated their armaments, accelerating their retreat.

Within the lab, the metallic scraping emanated from the ceiling. The uncle hoisted his assault rifle vigilantly, aiming at the overhead.

In the expansive passage, the hapless beast persisted in its anguished struggle; despite trailing the principal group, it had been compelled into this sleek conduit. Though it endeavored to ascend, its ponderous form slid incessantly in the inclined passage, akin to a sphere. Finally espying the egress, it reluctantly descended. A twenty-meter plummet was no trivial impact for a beast exceeding two tons in weight.

"Boom!" The colossal impact quaked the earth.

The uncle advanced cautiously toward the prostrate monster, rifle poised.

"Exercise caution, maintain distance!" The elder admonished, observing the lab's camera transmission.

"It's resolved..." The uncle relaxed, as the beast's emblematic red optics had extinguished.

"What an imbecile, perishing from the fall. It's likely the most inept among that assemblage of monsters..." The uncle shook his head mournfully.

Abruptly, the inert beast on the ground illuminated with red luminescence. The uncle reacted instantaneously, elevating his weaponry, yet proximity rendered it futile; the beast's massive appendage had ensnared the barrel, contorting it with minimal exertion.

"Hey, what manner of monster is this?" The uncle remarked awkwardly.

"Has the third squad arrived yet?!?!" The elder interrogated the dispatcher urgently.

"The third squad has attained the nethermost level, but arrival at the lab shall require at minimum three minutes!" The dispatcher articulated the precise figure.

"Listen! Persist for three minutes; reinforcements shall arrive!" The elder conveyed via the communicator.

Deprived of his armament, the uncle retreated five paces, adopting a combative stance.

"Engaging that entity for three minutes?" The uncle sensed an impending headache.

The beast arose steadily; the fall had induced its computer system to malfunction. Mass production invariably entailed quality deficiencies.

It rotated its spherical cranium, surveying the environs.

"Report." The soldier inclined to reporting approached Miyamoto anew, "A solitary beast appears to have infiltrated an alternate locale."

"What?" Miyamoto's intuition intimated complexity.

"Display the visual feed from that beast!" The command vehicle's personnel commenced operations, and the quiescent screen before them filled with static, flickering before linking to the hapless beast's footage.

"Ha... ha... ha... ha..." Miyamoto laughed manically, entranced, "Even the divine intervenes; I've located 13, immobile as he is. Zheng Xian is present too. Instruct the beast to eliminate 13 and Zheng Xian; disregard other impediments!" The impediments, naturally, denoted the uncle.

The ponderous beast initiated movement, advancing incrementally toward the metallic berth in the lab's epicenter, utterly dismissing the uncle.

"Dare to disdain me!" The uncle charged the beast, leaping into a spinning kick, his motions fluid, his weight surpassing 180 pounds propelling him a meter aloft. Evidently, his mercenary pedigree warranted respect. Yet, as he neared the beast's cranium, he was firmly apprehended by its colossal arm.

"Engaging a beast unarmed? Idiocy?" Miyamoto observed the transmission with scorn.

Ere reaction, the arm clutching the uncle swung, propelling him a full ten meters, where he collided with the ground and lapsed into unconsciousness.

"Uncle!" Zheng Xian exclaimed through tears, yet her feet remained rooted, for 13 slumbered behind her, and the beast encroached progressively.

"Miss!" The madman burst from the door with a solemn visage.

"Avoid if you cherish your life!" Pearl's face flushed.

"There's no temporal luxury! Miss is imperiled." The madman asserted gravely.

Pearl's expression shifted instantaneously.

"Evacuate!" She roared explosively, dual knives in grasp as she assailed the ebony monstrosity, the madman in pursuit.

The massive beast attained Zheng Xian.

Elevating its war blade aloft, the fragile damsel didn't yield an inch, quivering as she interposed between the beast and 13, sealing her eyes and raising her appendages.

"Has she lost her sanity?" Miyamoto scarcely credited it; an individual attempting to thwart a beast's assault with their physique.

The luminous blade descended; in the control chamber, companions averted their gaze, unable to endure the barbarity, the elder's hands clenched to near fracture.

Yet Miyamoto, witnessing all, perspired profusely.

An vacant barrel dominated the screen.

"Pop..." The crisp report, distinctive of the COOL-FIRE5.

"Boom!" The ponderous beast collapsed anew, its cranium pierced by a high-velocity projectile, forging a vast aperture.

The formidable impact prompted Zheng Xian to unveil her sealed eyes, glancing back at the familiar silhouette stationed there. The obsidian armor reflected a frigid radiance beneath the fluorescent lamps. The rolling shell casing from the berth halted at the silhouette's feet. The quartet of azure optics atop its crown eternally fixated ahead.

The silhouette blurred before her, solely due to the long-deferred tears.

Methodically lowering the armament, he inclined his head toward Zheng Xian.

"I've kept you waiting..." He greeted placidly, as if all were innate.

"Indeed, I've awaited an eternity..." Zheng Xian smiled and articulated...