The distance between Silver Wolf and Haxxor Bunny had shrunk to less than five paces, their invisible auras clashing fiercely, as if even the air itself had turned thick and electric.
"Little bunny, you've got quite some nerve!"
Shaking off the strange dissonance created by their similar faces and dispositions, Silver Wolf's brows curved into a dangerous arc, her gaze sharp as a blade.
She deliberately lowered her voice, making sure Seele, standing not far off, couldn't make out the specifics.
"How dare you steal my things."
"Heh! What do you mean, 'steal'?"
With a scoffing laugh, Haxxor Bunny met that sharp gaze without flinching, even puffing out her chest for emphasis:
"This is called delivering justice on Heaven's behalf! Representing the justice of the Galaxy to punish perverts, stalkers, and creep-shot fiends!"
Haxxor Bunny deliberately raised her voice, enunciating every word crisply and resoundingly.
That righteous, dignified air made her look like an interstellar patrol officer arresting a criminal—not a trace of the hacker who had stirred up chaos in Arc City.
"Per...vert..."
"Stal...ker..."
"Creep...shot...fiend...!?"
With each word Haxxor Bunny spoke, a highly anime-flavored '#' symbol popped up on Silver Wolf's fair, smooth forehead.
Her complexion darkened at a visible pace, black as the bottom of a pot, as if it might drip ink.
Don't tell me this girl actually thinks I took those photos?!
In a flash, Silver Wolf forcibly swallowed the explanation that had rushed to the tip of her tongue.
No good!
If she told her the truth—that Caelus took them—this bunny would surely guard against it airtight from now on, and getting beautiful photos of Seele again would be harder than climbing to heaven!
For the sake of continuing to obtain photos in the future, she'd just have to shoulder this blame for now!
Silver Wolf drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the churning rage, and squeezed out through gritted teeth the question she cared about most:
"Where are the photos?"
"Deleted them."
Haxxor Bunny let out a loud whistle and tilted her head.
Sure, Bronita had been the one to provoke first in this whole affair—and under normal circumstances, when Silver Wolf came looking, apologizing on Bronita's behalf wouldn't have been out of the question. But since Silver Wolf harbored ill intentions toward Seele, what more was there to say?
Time to go off!
"Heh."
Silver Wolf let out a short, cold laugh:
"You think I'd believe that?"
The bangs across her forehead cast dangerous shadows on her face, and that smile looked sinister no matter how you looked at it. Given this bunny's little designs on Seele, only a fool would believe she'd delete those treasured collections!
"Whether you believe it or not is your problem; either way, I deleted them."
Haxxor Bunny simply crossed her hands behind her head, wearing a rascally 'what can you do to me' look.
This standoff—thick with gunpowder yet cryptic as a riddle—left March 7th, Seele, Topaz, and the rest utterly bewildered, faces full of question marks.
Only Caelus and Stelle watched with relish, their eyes shining.
Caelus was the behind-the-scenes director who knew every inside detail; and while Stelle didn't understand the truth, that didn't stop her one bit from savoring this IMAX-level blockbuster of the year, crunching away on popcorn!
Beyond that, Little Duck's brow furrowed tightly—she'd sniffed out a clue, elementary as Watson.
These two... it couldn't be over Seele, could it?
"Hmph!"
Silver Wolf was provoked. She pulled down the neon sunglasses on her head, the lenses reflecting a cold, icy glint:
"Naive! You think that just because you won't hand them over, I can't get them?"
Silver Wolf swept one hand casually through the empty air, and a holographic control panel flowing with cold, deep-blue light instantly unfolded before her, countless data streams cascading down like a waterfall.
"Today let me teach you properly—what a real hack looks like. Let me show you the skill of a senior!"
Her slender, pale fingertips tapped lightly on the virtual keyboard, trailing afterimages, as invisible data-probing waves spread toward Haxxor Bunny like a spiderweb.
Face to face with the real body, Silver Wolf had a way to use Aether Editing to locate the database Haxxor Bunny was using.
"You think I'm afraid of you?!"
Haxxor Bunny gave no ground; almost the very instant Silver Wolf moved, her hands swept in a cross before her.
A holographic screen popped up, ten youthful fingers dancing across the keyboard like flight, as she precisely erected a dynamic firewall around the perimeter of her own data stream, intercepting Silver Wolf's probing waves.
"..."
Silver Wolf's brow rose almost imperceptibly—the opponent's defensive architecture... was still so familiar!
"Since you're a bunny, you should just crouch obediently in your burrow and act cute!"
Silver Wolf ramped up her offensive, a string of extremely tricky penetration code slithering out like a venomous snake.
"Provoking a wolf? Careful you don't get swallowed whole, skin and bones, till not a scrap remains!"
"Bunnies are so cute—why would you eat a bunny?"
Feeling the abruptly intensifying pressure, Haxxor Bunny's eyes only grew brighter.
With the thrill of finding a worthy match, her hands hammered out afterimages on the keyboard, the defensive matrix she built constantly morphing and evolving like a living thing, precisely plugging every point of penetration.
Code like poison-tipped arrows shot back toward Silver Wolf's system interface. Haxxor Bunny looked up, meeting Silver Wolf's gaze directly, and laughed dashingly:
"Aren't you afraid of being eaten by the bunny?"
Silver Wolf's expression changed—not because of the pressure Haxxor Bunny put on her, but because...
"This attack pattern?"
A seemingly reckless direct assault, yet concealing within it exquisitely refined protocol spoofing and logic traps—especially the way it exploited protocols... how was it so much like her own?
"You..."
Silver Wolf's attacking motions showed a tiny hitch, her eyes locked tightly on Haxxor Bunny, shock and confusion intertwining:
"This technique of yours... where did you steal it from?!"
She was almost certain this bunny had absolutely learned something of hers—and not just surface stuff, but the kind that touched the core of her thinking!
"Steal? Don't be ridiculous!"
Haxxor Bunny scoffed, ten fingers flying like lightning, a data packet loaded with logic bombs slamming hard toward Silver Wolf's computing core:
"This is the real skill my dear sensei taught me, holding nothing back!"
This 'sensei' that Haxxor Bunny called out was not only sincere but also brimming with feeling.
His help to her, large and small, was beyond counting; without Caelus, who knew when she'd have ever come into contact with Aether Editing.
Let alone convert her potential into the strength to contend with Silver Wolf this quickly.
"...?"
Silver Wolf precisely intercepted the data packet, but the suspicion in her heart was like a giant boulder cast into a lake, the ripples it raised spreading rapidly.
Who on earth was this bunny's teacher?!
She had to probe again!
Silver Wolf's gaze turned stern; advancing on two fronts, her offensive suddenly doubled.
She already held the technical advantage—many of the ideas and algorithms Haxxor Bunny used were intimately familiar to her.
Exploiting this 'familiarity,' Silver Wolf, like the legendary butcher carving an ox with effortless mastery, precisely found a tiny, habitual flaw in the opponent's defensive architecture.
Now was the moment!
The Trojan virus, like a deadly serpent, silently slipped past the dynamic firewall and thrust along the flaw toward its core—however—
Clack!
Golden mechanical gears emerged, like the sturdiest of floodgates, jamming the Trojan virus's advancing path with utter precision.
Immediately after, more gears spun out, instantly forming an interlocking, strangling gear matrix that ground that vicious Trojan to utter dust.
"(艹皿艹 )!?"
Staring at those mechanical gears, Silver Wolf's eyes went wide at once.
She knew this thing!
Knew it well!
This was unmistakably one of the defensive methods of that metal head, Screwllum—back when she'd battled him, this damned gear formation had ground apart many a carefully prepared attack of hers!
"Your teacher is Screwllum?"
Her expression shifting through a spectacularly rich series of changes, Silver Wolf nearly blurted it out.
If it were that metal head—capable of seeing through her algorithmic logic, even reverse-analyzing the weaknesses in her thinking and passing them on to someone else—then it wasn't exactly impossible...
After all, he was Screwllum; in the whole universe, who else could pull off something like this besides him?!
But since when had Screwllum taken on students?
And taken on one whose looks and temperament were so extremely similar to her own?
"He did teach me a few things, but what's it to you?"
Haxxor Bunny spoke plainly. For the sake of that book-cake and Caelus letting Screwllum study the Universal Synthesizer, Screwllum had held nothing back.
"Damn! What's that Intellitron getting at?"
To Silver Wolf's ears, these words were undoubtedly an admission, and she flew into a rage!
Deliberately cultivating a copy of herself as a student?
Using this method to stomp on her head and flaunt his power?!
Mocking her?!
Fine, you hunk of metal—looking all honest with your bushy brows and big eyes, who'd have thought you'd stoop to a move like this!
The invisible data battlefield was thick with smoke; the two top hackers' attacks and defenses had exchanged thousands of blows in mere instants, the fierce collision of data streams making this rest area bristle with tension.
Inside her, Bronie chuckled without a word—just like that, 'she' had extricated herself!
It was all taught by Screwllum, nothing to do with Director Caelus~
As for later—later could wait.
What needed to be done now was...
"Sister Silver Wolf, Sister Bronie!"
A voice, anxious and worried, soft and sweet like malt sugar, rang out as the dark-blue-haired girl trotted in between the two, her blue eyes—like lodging an entire sea—brimming and watery, her little face written all over with pure worry.
Acting skill: a full hundred points!
"Stop, stop it now! Don't fight anymore!"
Seele spread her arms wide, as if to use her slender body to hold apart the invisible data storm, her voice carrying just the right hint of a sob:
"Please don't fight anymore~!"
Fight!
Keep fighting!
The data slugfest is so fun to watch!
Don't stop those mouths—keep blowing up each other's dirt!
At this rate, no one's going to get killed!
"Seele!"
"Seele!"
The soft, sweet call seemed to hold magic; Silver Wolf's and Haxxor Bunny's hands paused, and the data bullet-hell stream—originally as airtight as a Touhou Gensokyo EX stage—gradually stalled.
The two looked at Seele almost simultaneously, both their eyes carrying the touched warmth of being cared for and a trace of hard-to-detect smugness.
See, Seele's worried about me / trying to stop her!
However, this sweetness of 'being cared for' lasted less than half a second!
Both Silver Wolf and Haxxor Bunny caught, in the way the other's gaze softened the instant it turned to Seele, an emotional shift identical to their own.
Silver Wolf's eyebrow twitched.
Damn it!
This bunny, sneaking into my base while I wasn't paying attention!
Haxxor Bunny's eyebrow twitched in turn.
This pervert wolf, taking creep-shots of Seele's privacy!
Today she absolutely had to protect Seele!
The hostility that had just eased slightly thanks to Seele's intervention now blazed up with a roar, like a fire doused with hot oil!
The target was crystal clear—the other was the number-one archenemy coveting Seele!
"Seele, stay out of this!"
Silver Wolf spoke first, her voice carrying the chill of being offended, her gaze stabbing at Haxxor Bunny like an icicle.
"This is between me and this bunny who stole my teachings and my things!"
"Ha!"
Haxxor Bunny gave no ground, immediately snapping back with a huff, turning her spearhead toward Silver Wolf:
"Seele, don't believe her! Stay away from her—careful, she's a perverted stalker creep-shot fiend!"
"What did you say?"
Silver Wolf would not allow her image in Seele's heart to be tarnished.
The wolf and the bunny bared their teeth, faces practically about to butt right into each other's.
Inside, Seele was cheering 'Fight! Fight!'—but on the surface she seemed at a loss over the two's tit-for-tat confrontation, her small, delicate body shrinking, her voice trembling:
"Uu... don't quarrel, and please don't fight either, okay? Sister Bronie, Sister Silver Wolf isn't a bad person."
"Sister Silver Wolf, Sister Bronie wouldn't steal your things—I believe her. You two must have some misunderstanding..."
Seele played the role of the peacemaker striving to mediate—this was the moment to display the art of language and mastery over psychology.
The trust-laden words she spoke—'isn't a bad person,' 'I believe her'—grated on both Silver Wolf's and Haxxor Bunny's ears, invisibly adding fuel to the fire.
Sure enough—
"Misunderstanding?!"
Silver Wolf and Haxxor Bunny raised their voices in unison, glaring at each other.
In their eyes, Seele's kindness had simply been deceived by the other!
"Seele, you're just too kind-hearted!"
Silver Wolf lamented bitterly.
"There's no reasoning at all with someone like this!"
Haxxor Bunny rubbed her fists eagerly.
The crowd gathering to watch the spectacle grew larger and larger.
Amid the utter chaos, the mutual incompatibility of fire and water frozen into a bizarre stalemate, the venue's broadcast rang out clearly, like an ice-breaking announcement:
"Spectators! Next, let us turn our focus to the main stage!"
"About to take the stage is the ultra-popular contestant who has yet to taste a single defeat in this tournament—Haxxor Bunny!"
"And her opponent is the Iron-Armed Luka from Boulder Town!"
"Tch, why does it have to be right now, of all times?"
Stelle pulled her sunglasses down a notch in displeasure, glaring at the passion-brimming host on the screen, and muttered under her breath.
"Sister Bronie."
A voice, gentle as a feather brushing past, sounded at just the right moment. Seele gently tugged Haxxor Bunny's sleeve, her eyes filled with pure care and encouragement.
She tilted her head slightly, clenching both fists before her chest, striking an unbearably cute cheering pose:
"It's your turn to go on! You have to win!"
This gentle reminder and trust-filled cheer was like injecting a potent catalyst into Haxxor Bunny!
"Don't worry, Seele!"
Haxxor Bunny's whole being turned sharp as a drawn sword, not forgetting to shoot Silver Wolf a victor's taunting look, her voice carrying absolute confidence and the flamboyance of showing off before her little sister:
"The person who can beat me at a game hasn't even been born yet!"
She spun around gracefully, her double-spiral Augmented Duck braids carving a crisp arc through the air.
Waving to Seele with dashing spirit, under the focus of all sorts of new-model camera equipment, Haxxor Bunny strode toward the brilliantly lit main stage ahead with light, powerful steps!
On the stage, a red-haired youth was swinging his iron arm and fists against a punching bag, sweat pouring down freely.
The moment Haxxor Bunny's figure stepped onto the edge of the stage, Luka threw a punch that sent the punching bag flying, and at the same time neatly drew out an Aether Coin, ending his warm-up.
Luka's burning gaze locked onto Haxxor Bunny across from him; he grinned, baring snow-white teeth, his voice booming and full of fighting spirit:
"Come on! Let me see what you've got!"
As his words fell, summoning light flashed: an Outer-Universe Flame blazing with raging fire, two Mechanical Sawtooth Soldiers whose joints creaked with metallic friction, wielding enormous chainsaws, and a Voidranger · Falsifier floating in the air and radiating an amplifying energy field, all appeared on the stage.
"Quite an extreme offensive lineup!"
The male host's voice was full of passion:
"But it's precisely by relying on this dauntless, ever-forward power that contestant Luka fought his way out of the pack of countless masters!
"And on contestant Haxxor Bunny's side... huh?"
The host seemed to freeze for a moment, looking at the data panel:
"Strange? The System shows that contestant Haxxor Bunny has registered only a single Aether Spirit for battle? Is this... a tactical arrangement?"
At the center of the stage, the spotlight stabbed down like a sharp sword, enveloping Haxxor Bunny's figure.
A confident curve hooked at the corner of her mouth, that Aether Coin pinched between her fingertips, she looked especially slight before Luka's highly oppressive lineup.
"To handle a lineup like this?"
Haxxor Bunny's voice carried through the loudspeakers across the whole venue, laced with a trace of world-scorning pride, clearly answering the host's question—and more like a declaration to that dark-blue figure below the stage:
"A single Aether Spirit is enough!"
Haxxor Bunny tossed the Aether Coin in her hand high into the air.
The coin spun through the air, refracting dazzling light, Aether data projecting out wildly like a flood bursting through a dam.
Amid the clamor of countless spectators, a shadow so vast it was suffocating instantly draped over most of the stage.
Its entire body clad in heavy blue-and-white armor, its head shaped like a bunny's, its eyes flashing scarlet light, several massive cannon barrels mounted on its back—the mechanical giant bunny smashed through space and descended with a thunderous crash!
The entrance effects were maxed out.
Haxxor Bunny raised her hand, pointing at Luka's highly oppressive lineup:
"Crusher Bunny 19C! Crush them!"
The giant mechanical bunny head dipped slightly, the electronic eyes beneath its tactical visor locking onto the target, letting out a low rumble like an engine starting up—the entire stage trembled under its overwhelming pressure!
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