Ironclad: How can hand-crafted knight belts not be considered genius?

Kafka cleared out the illusory soldiers along the way and finally met up with the virtual projection of Silver Wolf in the control room.

"When did the antimatter legions become so weak?"

Kafka spoke calmly about her experience of cutting through enemy lines.

"That's all the troops I can lure in. You don't want this place to be targeted by the legion's main force, do you?"

Silver Wolf looked at Kafka and helplessly spread his hands.

"This kind of stuff alone can't hold off the Star Train crew."

"Don't worry, a doomsday beast has arrived too."

Upon hearing this, Kafka raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.

"Alright, alright, where did you put it, Silver Wolf?"

Silver Wolf seemed to have become numb to Kafka's coaxing tone towards children, and gently waved his hand.

"The coordinates were just randomly selected, nothing fancy."

Are you concerned about the whereabouts of that dummy pawn?

"I don't care~ It's just that no matter how many times I see it, I can't help but think, your methods are truly unbelievable~"

Kafka praised him lavishly.

"It's just modifying real-world data; it's a trivial trick."

Even so, one could still clearly hear the pride that Silver Wolf was trying so hard to hide in her voice.

"Alright, let's move on. I'll show you the way."

Guided by Silver Wolf and aided by hacking skills, Kafka arrived at her destination effortlessly.

Looking at the box sealed with layers of imaginary energy, Kafka fell into deep thought.

"The Star Core is right in front of us, hurry up."

…Kafka?

Seeing that Kafka hadn't made a move for a while, Silver Wolf couldn't help but urge her on.

"No, this is going too smoothly..."

Kafka frowned slightly and muttered to herself.

Silver Wolf, standing to the side, was completely bewildered.

What does "too smooth" mean?

Isn't it good if things go smoothly? The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go back and report.

Kafka shook her head and said nothing more.

"It's okay, let's continue."

Although Silver Wolf was puzzled, he had more important business to attend to at the moment, so he did not ask any further questions.

"It has an independent protection system... It seems that the Star Core is not an ordinary collectible for the Black Tower."

"Did you manage to get it?"

Kafka asked.

"Of course, in the hacking world, even the genius Black Tower is no match for me."

Silver Wolf patted his chest confidently, then his fingers flew across the keyboard as he began to decipher the firewall set up by Black Tower.

"Okay, then I'll leave the preparation of the carrier to you as well~"

Kafka spoke casually, but her eyes kept glancing toward the door she had come from.

The door had been completely sealed shut by Silver Wolf ever since he entered, so theoretically no one should be able to get in.

As Silver Wolf completed the decoding, a star core exuding an aura of "destruction" slowly rose from the box.

Kafka reached out and caught it; the star core in her hand felt like a beating heart, shimmering slightly.

"The carrier is ready, let's get started."

Elio said that this choice would change a lot of things.

He also said that the person who carries this out must be you.

A silver-haired girl wearing a white shirt as an inner layer and a long trench coat with black and gold trim appears among a bunch of jumping pixel blocks.

Kafka held the star core in her hand, her gaze fixed on the body, a barely perceptible hint of joy flashing in her eyes.

She strode forward, raised her hand, aimed the star core at the center of the girl's chest, and pressed it down hard.

As the star cores merged, the two faces slowly drew closer. Kafka parted her red lips slightly and uttered those words, her voice brimming with complex emotions:

"Time to get up..."

The star core burst forth with dazzling light and slowly entered the girl's body. The originally strong aura of "destruction" seemed to sink into the sea and disappeared without a trace.

The silver wolf watched the scene of "motherly love and filial piety" quietly, a smile playing on its lips.

The next moment, her expression changed drastically, and a visible panic crept onto her face.

"Kafka! There's an emergency!"

The star, which had just completed its fusion with the star core, fell helplessly from mid-air and was caught steadily by Kafka.

Looking at that familiar face, Kafka's eyes were full of doting affection.

"Slow down, Silver Wolf, what happened?"

Silver Wolf furiously typed on the keyboard while reporting the situation to Kafka.

"You might not believe it, but I just managed to hack into all the monitoring systems of the Black Tower Space Station..."

Something's rushing this way! It's incredibly fast!

Kafka frowned slightly.

"What is that? A dummy soldier?"

"A... fluorescent green humanoid insect?"

Silver Wolf spoke hesitantly, somewhat unable to believe his eyes.

"How much longer until he arrives...?"

"3".

"Six minutes?"

"2".

"?"

The next moment, the heavy hatch in front of Kafka began to shake violently.

"Rising Impact!"

The rousing electronic chants roared, accompanied by the shattering of the door, reaching Kafka's ears.

As the smoke cleared, a figure entirely composed of fluorescent green and black slowly emerged.

"Kafka, your days of trespassing on restricted research grounds and molesting a comatose girl are over!"

Silver Wolf stood there dumbfounded, staring at the creature that had suddenly appeared, neither human nor ghost.

"Who are you?"

Kafka remained calm, carefully examining the "uninvited guest" who had appeared before her.

"Just a Kamen Rider passing by. Remember him."

Jiang Ning spoke slowly, introducing himself.

Kafka remained silent, lost in thought.

The figure before her suddenly overlapped with the "script" in her memory, and Kafka's lips curled into a relieved smile.

A purple thread quietly extended from Kafka's slender fingers, connecting with the dazed virtual projection, Silver Wolf.

"It was indeed wrong of us to trespass on the Black Tower Space Station, and the Star Core Hunters are willing to provide appropriate compensation."

Kafka spoke up, taking the lead in yielding.

"compensate?"

Jiang Ning was taken aback upon hearing this. Just as he was about to speak, he saw a fierce glint flash in Kafka's eyes, and her long sword appeared in front of Jiang Ning in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Ning reacted quickly, raising his arm armor to parry the blow.

The blade clashed violently with the arm armor, sparks flying.

"Silver Wolf! Attack!"

Kafka opened her mouth.

The vulnerability data bomb, which had been prepared in advance, was launched towards Jiang Ning by Silver Wolf.

Jiang Ning reacted quickly and was about to dodge when he suddenly heard Kafka's extremely seductive voice.

Listen to me—don't move.

The muscles that had been moving suddenly froze, and Jiang Ning stood rooted to the spot, unable to move an inch...

No wonder!

Having already been familiar with the Iron Collapse storyline, how could he possibly not be wary of these two "notorious" Star Core Hunters?

Just before the vulnerability bomb struck Jiang Ning's Zero One Driver at his waist, Jiang Ning's body transformed into a flashing green data stream.

In an instant, the roles of offense and defense shifted, and Jiang Ning appeared behind Kafka.

At this distance, he could easily kill Kafka with a single blow.

But Kafka's face showed no panic or fear, only intense curiosity.

"Everything is as the 'script' suggests; you don't seem to harbor any hostility towards us?"

Have we met before?

Jiang Ning gave a wry smile.

"I don't hit women and children."

He couldn't very well tell Kafka that, because of the plot, he couldn't directly take drastic measures against them.

Kafka chuckled softly.

"An interesting little guy."

On the surface, the two were having a pleasant conversation, but Jiang Ning still managed to pick up on the key words in Kafka's words.

"script"?

Jiang Ning fell into thought.

What "script" could be related to me? Could it be that Eriol has already sensed my presence?

After only a moment of hesitation, Kafka seized the opportunity, took out a jet-black stone disc from her hand hidden in her sleeve, and quickly slapped it onto Jiang Ning's chest.

A powerful attraction arose without warning, and the excruciating pain within his body caused Jiang Ning to scream in agony.

The Knight Armor on his body gradually disintegrated without any resistance, and the Zero-One Driver and the High Leap Locust Key fell helplessly to the ground.

The disc disappeared into Jiang Ning's unsuspecting body.

Kafka looked at Jiang Ning, who had deactivated his transformation, with great interest, raising an eyebrow slightly.

When it was all over, Jiang Ning was covered in sweat and his face was pale.

Kafka walked up to the exhausted Jiang Ning, reached out and hooked her arm around the back of his neck, her red lips close to his ear.

"Listen to me—go to sleep, and wake up in three minutes, and you'll forget all about it."

Exhausted both physically and mentally, Jiang Ning was completely unable to resist Kafka's "Word of Power," and his consciousness gradually sank into darkness.

Looking at Jiang Ning, who had collapsed helplessly, Silver Wolf asked the question that had been bothering him.

"The extra 'script' Elio arranged for you, is this guy?"

"Um."

Kafka softly agreed and walked back to the unconscious Hoshino.

"It's almost time, I have to go..."

Listen to me—someone will find you soon, so go with them. You remember nothing but me.

Finally—when you have the opportunity to make a choice, don't let yourself regret it.

Thus, the "script" belonging to the two Star Core Hunters came to an end.

"Oh?"

In a dark corner, a white-haired young man wearing a hood let out a soft hum.

He slowly raised his head, and a strange light flickered in his eyes, which seemed to hold the stars.

He looked up into the deeper shadows, a smile playing on his lips.

"As you said, I passed on what you told me to him."

You're right, I really can't see his "fate" anymore.

Or rather… his “fate” disappeared from the “end” trajectory.

The young man seemed to have witnessed something extremely interesting, and his slender body couldn't help but tremble.

He remained silent for a moment, then his impressive eyes once again gazed into the depths of darkness.

"My part of the deal is done. I hope you won't forget yours."

squeak-

The iron gate was pushed open, and Silver Wolf casually walked in, blowing bubble gum.

A beam of light shone in from outside the door, making the previously pitch-black room slightly more visible.

"Elio, you've hidden yourself in a dark room again."

"Mission accomplished, where's my reward?"

The young man remained silent.

The dark corner he had been looking at was now completely empty.

A playing card, cut in half, is deeply embedded in the wall, proving that someone was indeed there just now.