"Hurry, hurry, hurry! The western front needs reinforcements now!!!"
"Medics! We need medics here!!!"
"We can't win this… I'm not going back out there…"
At this moment, on the battlefield where the New United States was fighting PROJECT, the situation among the New United States forces was utter chaos. Wounded soldiers, those who had lost the will to fight, and others still desperately holding the line were all mixed together.
This patchwork of people made the situation extremely complicated, especially as they continued to face a "powerful" offensive from PROJECT on the outer lines.
The quotation marks were intentional. Roland was still holding back. After the Super Body appeared, he had stopped ordering his forces to go all out.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, a signal flashed. All PROJECT forces froze for a split second, then retreated in perfect unison like a steel tide, pulling back toward the rear.
Some New United States soldiers who had been ready to die in a final stand were left standing there, completely at a loss.
"What are they up to now?!"
Melonda snapped in frustration. PROJECT had been doing this the whole time. Attack, pull back, never fully commit, then suddenly launch a full assault. Seeing it happen again made him furious.
"No idea. Let's wait and see. We don't have any other choice."
Euland watched the scene with a blank expression. After fighting for so long, he was no longer obsessed with destroying PROJECT. He had already accepted reality.
He had reported upward and requested part of the space fleet to be deployed. As for everything here… whatever happens, happens. He was tired.
Melonda let out a long breath. After one last helpless look at the retreating PROJECT forces, he began issuing familiar orders for heightened alert and patrols.
"What are they even thinking up there?!"
"They never commit to an attack. Are we just supposed to sit here and wait to die?!"
"I'd rather die on the battlefield than stay here like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered!"
After Melonda's orders were given, strong dissatisfaction erupted among both the New United States and European Space Agency troops. It was quickly suppressed, but the anger remained, simmering in everyone's chest.
Suddenly, a message appeared directly on the computers in the New United States command center.
Melonda and Euland's expressions changed instantly. If the enemy could bypass every layer of security to deliver a message, it meant they could just as easily take over the entire network, or even fry their brains.
But the contents of the message made their expressions turn strange.
It was from Roland.
The message was simple.
An invitation for the New United States forces to come to the plains and witness the final war.
"He thinks we're idiots?"
Melonda sneered, dismissing it outright. The final war? What a joke.
Euland, however, fell into thought.
"You're not seriously planning to go, are you?"
Melonda looked at him with a strange expression.
"Yes. Since he invited us, why not take a look? And… they've already located us. Staying here isn't any safer than being out there on the open battlefield."
Melonda paused, then slowly nodded. It actually made sense.
...
"What the hell happened to the Blackwall?! How did it shrink this much?!"
Mosman was drenched in sweat, frantically operating the supercomputer, trying to repair the Blackwall and reestablish contact, but he made no progress.
So focused on the Blackwall, he didn't even notice that the AIs that had been attacking it nonstop had all gone silent.
If he could enter that side of the network, he would see those AIs standing still, all looking up at the sky of the network world, as if waiting for something.
From the Blackwall's perspective, the world had already become something utterly terrifying.
The moment the Super Body was born, endless streams of red data spread out from it and swept across the entire network world in an instant. Inside the Blackwall and outside it, nothing else remained.
The Blackwall watched everything around it change in the blink of an eye. The world became something completely unfamiliar, leaving no space for its existence.
An indescribable fear flooded it.
Driven by that fear and a complete lack of security, it pulled back all its computing power and functions, compressing itself into a sphere and sealing itself inside.
After repeated failed attempts, Mosman finally stopped, his face grim. When he turned to check the damage caused by the AIs beyond the Blackwall, he realized nothing had happened.
"What exactly happened in the Old Net…"
A deep sense of unease rose in his chest. The most terrifying thing was not danger, but the unknown.
...
At the Little NorthStar Base of the New United States, an AI that had been trapped there escaped during the battle between the New United States and PROJECT.
"Let me see what this world has become…"
The moment it connected to the network, a towering figure that seemed to span heaven and earth appeared before it, then vanished just as quickly.
By the time the AI came back to itself, it realized it had completely lost control of its form, collapsing into a mass of data.
If it were human, it would be like being drenched in cold sweat without realizing it, losing all control over the body.
After a long silence, the AI glanced at the outside world, which looked no different from before, then turned back toward the Little NorthStar Base.
It made its choice.
It quietly slipped back inside.
The outside world was too terrifying. It would rather stay in its little corner.
That thing… what kind of monster was it?
...
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Heavy footsteps echoed through a pitch-black corridor.
A figure carrying a massive hammer stepped forward slowly, a cloak formed of shifting metal and energy drifting behind it.
A low hum spread outward.
Red energy pulsed through its entire body like a heartbeat.
A flash of red light crossed its eyes.
The Super Body stepped forward and walked out.
"Let me announce my arrival to this world with an undeniable victory!"