More days drifted by, and Cipher finally managed to scrap together enough Aether Cartridges.
It wasn't quite enough to say she'd picked Punklorde clean, but a massive number of hackers had certainly fallen victim to her "poisonous touch."
Even several long-renowned, top-tier hackers ended up biting the dust at the hands of Cipher and Silver Wolf.
Such an exaggerated streak of victories finally forced the recent hot-headed hackers to cool their brains.
At first, they just thought these newcomers were experts.
Then, the hackers who considered themselves experts were taken down with ease.
Next, they figured Cipher and Silver Wolf had to be top-flight contenders at the very least, but those guys' Aether Cartridges were swiped with the same indifferent efficiency.
Finally, once the very best hackers Punklorde had to offer were left broken and defeated, the crowd finally snapped out of their delusions of "hacker's glory."
They realized that these phantom thieves from Amphoreus could likely only be taken down if the legendary hackers of old made a move.
Unfortunately, no one knew where those legends were or what they were up to. All anyone knew was that they had all headed for the stars.
And so, without a legendary hacker to hold down the fort, Punklorde fell into an eerie, sudden silence after a certain point.
The hackers had finally realized one thing: they couldn't handle these phantom thieves from Amphoreus. This war of hacking—devoid of smoke or death—finally drew to a close with Punklorde's utter defeat.
The once-fired-up hackers finally behaved themselves, retracting the grand boasts they'd tossed around recently.
Those who hadn't had their cartridges stolen went into hiding, terrified of being spotted by the phantom thieves.
Those who had been robbed didn't dare utter a word, fearing that the elusive little "thief cat" might double back just to give them a thrashing.
Though they never said it out loud, the hackers reached a tacit understanding: they were surrendering. But they would never admit it publicly; they would simply wait in silence for the intruders to leave.
At the very least, it would save them a final shred of dignity.
Cipher didn't care one bit about their silent surrender. As for whether it was public or not, it didn't matter to her at all.
Whatever she was about to do next ensured these hackers wouldn't be able to just "let bygones be bygones" and pretend nothing had happened.
With enough Aether Cartridges in hand, Cipher was moving on to the final stage: the construction of a Great Wonder.
She intended to erect a massive, iconic landmark of Amphoreus in both the physical and digital realms of Punklorde.
She'd already picked the spot—right in the heart of Punklorde's most prosperous district.
Of course, even though Cipher had bested Punklorde's finest, she knew her strength wasn't exactly "unbeatable." If they relied solely on the three of them to build this Wonder, it would likely be breached and dismantled by the local hackers within days.
So, it was time to call in Cipher's biggest backer and most loyal "savior," Madam Bai Ming.
Using the power of Elation to anchor the twin Wonders in reality and data, she could ensure those hackers wouldn't be able to tear it down for centuries.
Naturally, Cipher didn't plan on becoming a permanent enemy of Punklorde.
When she said "indestructible," she meant for everyone except Silver Wolf.
Cipher knew Silver Wolf wanted to become a legend quickly, clear the "starting zone," and head for the stars. Given the girl's talent and her newly enhanced Aether Editing techniques, that day wasn't far off.
But a practical problem had surfaced.
Because of their recent, over-the-top spree, all of Punklorde had been severely drained of its vitality; its talent pool was withered.
You could say Cipher had stepped on the head of every hacker in Punklorde to climb her way to legendary status. Her name was guaranteed a spot in Punklorde's future history books.
The consequence, however, was that the challenge level of Punklorde had plummeted.
While the difficulty of "clearing the game" had dropped by two or three tiers, little Silver Wolf's own skills had clearly surpassed the local ceiling.
Cipher knew that 'Silver Wolf' (the elder) didn't care if the girl cleared an "easy mode" version of her home world, but little Silver Wolf cared deeply.
She was the type of gamer who played by her own rules; she loved the game, and she loved the challenge. Only a starting zone with a high enough difficulty was worth conquering to become a legend.
A version of Punklorde with the difficulty dialed way down would be tasteless.
It might even become a lifelong regret.
So, Cipher cooked up a plan: she would leave this massive Wonder behind specifically for Silver Wolf to crack.
This would not only raise the bar for "clearing the game" back to where it belonged, set by 'Silver Wolf' herself, but it would also make the little one happy.
After all, Silver Wolf was a native Punklorder. Even if the local hackers didn't dare say anything to her face because of her strength, who knew what they were thinking behind her back?
But if Silver Wolf could later, by her own strength, dismantle this Wonder that represented "Punklorde's total defeat," her reputation would surely soar.
Even if she didn't care about her public image, Cipher felt it was only right to do something for her—they had fought side-by-side, after all.
Cipher hadn't told little Silver Wolf about this yet; she'd discussed it in secret with 'Silver Wolf'.
As for the girl herself, after narrowly defeating a top Punklorde hacker in a thrilling match, she had temporarily ended her frantic training.
She wanted to cling to her "sister" as much as possible before she left. She'd even paused her Aether Editing studies just to hover around "Silver Wolf."
Even her daily shifts at the fast-food joint were handled by a holographic projection.
She was determined not to waste a single second.
'Silver Wolf' didn't mind. She knew this was the girl's quiet, awkward way of expressing her heartache at their upcoming parting.
As Cipher's mission neared its end, her time "role-playing" was also running out. This brief period of living together was about to reach its final chapter.
Even if they could keep in touch through the network, Punklorders weren't Digimon; the boundary between reality and the net, however blurry, still existed.
'Silver Wolf' wasn't her real family, after all, and couldn't stay by her side forever to watch her grow up.
And so, under Cipher's deliberate stalling, the preparations stretched on for several days. Finally, the prep was complete.
"Heh heh heh... the final big joke is finally here! This Great One can't wait to see the looks on those hackers' faces! Tee-hee~"
Bartholos wore a villainous smirk.
Out of everyone, it was the most enthusiastic about pushing this plan forward. To keep it from nagging her, Cipher had even compromised and chosen Bartholos as the model for the statue.
"Alright, stow the chatter. Have you figured out that 'meditative' pose yet? If it isn't provocative enough, annoying enough, or lacks presence, I'm scrapping your image."
"Don't you worry, Boss! This is a masterpiece I spent ten whole days dreaming up. I guarantee it meets the requirements!"
Concerned for its own legacy, Bartholos was giving it 110%, terrified the Wonder's appearance would be swapped for that boring Kephale. As it spoke, Bartholos used a tentacle on its head to fish a small model out of its mouth.
The image was, of course, its own "clever thief" self.
The statue depicted Bartholos with fists raised, looking like it was about to throw a punch.
The pose itself was fine, but the expression on that round face was incredibly punchable. At first glance, it looked like it was saying to anyone watching: "Go on, hit me!"
That wasn't all. Floating above the statue's head was a line of text:
[Legendary Hacker of Punklorde—The 'Phantom Thief' Zagreus!]
Seeing this, 'Silver Wolf's' lip twitched slightly. "...You're calling yourself a legendary hacker?"
"Grand Boss! How can you say that? With the reputation we 'Phantom Thieves' have built in Punklorde, do we not deserve the title?!" Bartholos argued its case.
Cipher was just there for the chaos, while 'Silver Wolf' could only shake her head in resignation.
Technically, it wasn't wrong. Given the name "Zagreus" had made for itself, it was legendary. But obviously, that fame was entirely negative.
Every hacker knew their skills were legendary, but no one in Punklorde wanted to admit a "Phantom Thief" was one of them.
If Bartholos actually plastered that sentence over Punklorde, it would trigger a fresh wave of heat—the bad kind.
However, that just meant the reputation Silver Wolf would gain from dismantling it later would be even greater. 'Silver Wolf' wasn't sure if Bartholos had added the line to set the stage for the girl, or if it just thought it was funny.
But seeing Bartholos looking so eager, it felt like the creature was actually looking forward to having a collective bounty placed on its head by every hacker in the world.
Cipher reached out and patted little Silver Wolf on the shoulder, smiling. "Let's go. This is our final operation. Nervous?"
"I'm fine."
"Then let's get to work!"
Cipher struck while the iron was hot, leading Bartholos and Silver Wolf toward the most bustling city in Punklorde's physical reality.
Cipher was in charge of using the massive hoard of Aether Cartridges to build the monument in the real world.
Meanwhile, Bartholos and Silver Wolf took to the digital realm, mashing the data from those cartridges together to create a gargantuan "spaghetti code" Wonder!
Finally, 'Silver Wolf' would use her Pro-edition Aether Editing to reinforce it, setting the difficulty at just the right level to ensure the little girl could solve the puzzle within a reasonable, yet challenging, range.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL