EBO: Resume - Chapter 11

December 31st, 2026

Today was New Year’s eve, it was a day of merry. Players partied from evening to midnight to celebrate the arrival of the new year, preparing for the next day. Because a couple of brave players had decided to fight Genm almost a week ago, the other thousand or so players saw that one had died, and the other two who initially fought had been scared away even before their ally’s death. The fight was a failure, yes, but some had decided that enough was enough. A new year was arriving, so they figured they’d begin the new year by fighting to free themselves. Tonight, they would revel in their last night of freedom before they steeled their senses for the fight against their overlord Genm.

Hunter and Haruko had spent their New Year’s eve talking with each other over a bottle of sake, as did Kyoka and Hideo. To Hunter’s surprise, they seemed to be handling the alcohol well, even if it was just a simulation in a virtual reality.

“In any case, we’re going to kill Genm tomorrow, right?!” Hideo yelled, clearly intoxicated.

“Well, knowing him, it won’t be that easy. He’ll probably have found a method to upgrade his immortality, and he’ll probably make it at Level 50. At this rate, we won’t stand a chance until the developers are finally shown his power. After that… we just need the support of Nexus Theory and we can kill the bastard.” Hunter spoke after another sip of sake.

“Hehe~ I can’t wait to run my knife through that bastard’s skull and see him drop dead,” Kyoko mumbled in a nonchalant tone despite the rather sadistic sentence.

“I’ll put a bullet through that fucker’s heart!” Haruko shouted heartily, following her exclamation with a generous gulp of sake. “Fill ‘er up, Hunter!”

“Easy on the sake, guys. Keep this up, and you’ll be too hungover to get out of bed tomorrow…” Hunter decided then and there to put the sake away, heading to the kitchen to get them water.

“Noooooooooo, more sake!” Kyoka clung to his leg as he marched into the kitchen with the bottle in hand.

“That’s enough, you’re already tipsy as hell.” Hunter put the sake in a specific cabinet and locked it with a variety of electronic and physical locks before grabbing a pitcher of water out of the fridge.

“Sake! I want more sake!” Kyoko pounded the floor like a child throwing a tantrum while Hunter left the kitchen. He almost bumped into Haruko, who was waiting right outside the door. She pinned him to the wall, causing him to nearly drop the water.

“Give us the sake… or I’ll send the first bullet of the new year to you.” She looked up at him, cheeks flushed from alcohol.

“If you really want a hangover that badly, fine.” Hunter tried to pry himself away, but Haruko kept him up against the wall.

“Ya know… maybe you and I should spend the rest of this year in your bed~” She whispered into his ear. Hunter shuddered for a moment, but held onto his chivalry as he finally pulled himself away from her grasp.

“Nope, you’re not getting into my pants like that. God, I really am the only sane one, even if I’ve had more to drink than them…” Hunter returned to the main office, where they had set up some folding tables to create a pseudo-party table. He sat down and poured four mugs of cold water, handed one to Hideo, and drank. “How are you handling the alcohol, Hideo?”

“Surprisingly well,” He hiccupped, but drank the water. “But that sake, man… I want more…”

“Nuh uh. Drink water or else the hangover hits hard tomorrow morning. Speaking of…” A virtual clock appeared in front of them, counting down the seconds until the year ended. Haruko and Kyoka had finally joined them and reluctantly began to down the water as the year was left with 5 seconds. “It’s almost time.”

“3…” Hideo started.

“2…” Kyoka continued after some water.

“1!” Haruko finished.

“Happy New Year!” They all shouted, the clock projecting virtual party streamers everywhere as the time shifted to 12:00 AM of 2027.

“Well guys. It’s officially 2027. Here’s to kicking Genm’s ass out of this game!” Hunter raised his mug of water for a toast, to which the others clinked their glasses together in recognition before gulping down the water.

“It would’ve been better if we had sake…” Kyoka pouted.

“No it wouldn’t have…” Hunter sighed, exasperated. “In any case, drink plenty of water. I’ll try to wake up at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning to make a decent breakfast so we’re ready to fight.”

January 1st, 2027

Haruko awoke to an empty bed, despite having slept in Hunter’s room again. Ever since he’d confessed his crush on her two weeks ago, she developed the habit of sleeping in his room whenever she was living in his office. Perhaps she had begun to reciprocate his feelings, or perhaps his feelings had invited her to lay beside him every night as a way of showing Hunter that she cared for him as a bit more than just friends. In any case, the scent of an incredible breakfast wafted through the air, tempting Haruko to get out of the warmth of Hunter’s sheets.

Hideo awoke to the same aroma that both Haruko and Kyoka were greeted by, which overrode the headache he had. He got out of bed, equipped the uniform he was so accustomed to wearing, then headed to the kitchen with a growling stomach. Once there, he found Hunter, wearing a grey shirt with red diagonal stripes and black jeans instead of his usual bodysuit. He turned around and brought Hideo a bowl of Tempura udon, placing it in front of him with a pair of chopsticks before returning to the stovetop to serve up three more bowls. By the time Hunter had set the three other bowls done, the girls had gotten dressed in their uniforms as well, yawning and complaining about their headaches.

“Here we go, guys. Kuroto’s about to unleash his Level 50 form upon us, and it’s going to be a dangerous fight.” Hunter started. “Having had the chance to test a Level 0 unit, I’ll probably bring it along with me to the fight, but I probably won’t use it to transform. It’s got no weapons, very weak defensive capacity, but its other stats are on par with Level 10, at the least. Now I’m curious what it can do used for finishers…”

“I see… Haruko’s the only other person with Level 20 in this group, right?” Hideo asked.

“I’ve got plans for the both of you, actually. But… it kind of requires me to contact that Anomaly guy and have him show off his Level 50 unit…” Hunter replied.

“Really? Well, he is the only known person with a Level 50 unit…” Hideo sighed.

“He’s quite childish, but if we need to see his unit, then there’s really no other choice…” Haruko commented. “But why just me? You and I would make up a force equivalent to Level 40, right?”

“Technically, you and I would only stand at Level 30 unless you included the Specter. When I double up, it’s just that. I do get a substantial power boost when I double up, but I still remain with the parameters that define a Level 10 unit. Since the Specter is just the same thing, our combined might and prowess makeup that Level 20 title. But even then, with all of us working together, we’d get power equivalent to Level 60, which should theoretically be enough to defeat Genm. But, he still has immortality, and Level 50 units usually have a unique aspect about them. I’ve watched some of Anomaly’s streams, and when he uses the blue half, the Puzzling Predictor form, he somehow manages to predict up to 5 seconds into the future. In his red Fighting Fists form, he’s able to produce fire-enhanced punches, which seem to be produced from latent Burst potential in the air.” Hunter began thinking out loud, having finished his udon.

“So, let me get this straight. Even with our combined combat prowess equaling something that surpasses the current Level cap, we still wouldn’t be able to beat a Level 50 unit. And, from what you’re telling us, Level 50 seems to have some kind of hidden power about it that you haven’t deciphered yet.” Hideo summarized.

“Correct. Before I went to sleep last night, I checked the game forums. There was one message that was active as hell, and it was called ‘Usurp the Zombie,’ or something like that. I read through it, and it seems the other players are finally gathering their resolve and preparing to fight Kuroto too.” Hunter even brought up the mentioned forum post to show them.

“‘Fellow EBO players, after the recent death of a brave player, I admit that sitting around hunting monsters all day instead of the real monster ruling over us makes me feel like a coward. Tomorrow, on the first day of the new year, I will be going after the player Genm to try and free us. Those who wish to join, meet me at the Central Plaza where he announced the beginning of his rule. Together, we will fight for our freedom!’” Kyoka read aloud for everyone.

“Looks like the players finally grew a pair…” Hideo finished his udon and laid the chopsticks beside the bowl. “In any case, don’t you think this might interfere with our plans a little?”

“There’s going to be 50 people coming?!” Haruko read the edits the original commenter made, who was tallying the amount of players coming to support him in the fight. “50 players… best case scenario, they’re all at Level 10. Worst case, they’re at Level 2 or 3. Either way, that amount of people at all those varying Levels would definitely exceed Level 50 at the least! Combined with our Level 60 power… we’d lay waste to Kuroto in no time!”

“But you forget.” Hunter interjected. “Kuroto has immortality. Knowing him, he’s probably got some other broken-as-hell power installed in his new unit or units to keep him far above the rest. He could easily slaughter all 54 of us with little to no effort.”

“Damn, you’re right…” Haruko sighed as she and Kyoka finished their udon. “Whatever the case, we need to get Nexus Theory the data they need to write the next update that’ll force Kuroto out of power.”

“I’ve been wondering…” Hunter reached into his pocket and took out a unit with an ornate design. “This Izanagi Arms unit. It’s been inaccessible ever since I found it. It won’t activate, so I can’t find out what it does or what Level it is. Any ideas?”

“Where did you get it?” Haruko asked the obvious question.

“Where I got Zero Specter. In my secret hideout.”

“What secret hideout?” Hideo asked.

“It was my original base of operations in the closed beta before I moved to the main city and set up shop as a mercenary.”

“If you got it with Zero Specter, maybe it’s supposed to pair with it!” Kyoka exclaimed.

“Can’t activate it to find out, so…”

“Well, Izanagi is the deity who created the islands of Japan, so… maybe it has something to do with that?” Haruko conjectured.

“That would be really cool…” Hideo supported the hypothesis, thinking about how well it would work.

“Well, if Level 0 is such a glass cannon, maybe I could just use it with something else to give it some armor. I still have my personal Level 3 augment units, maybe I’ll just use one of those and Zero Specter for the time being. Plus, I’ve got weapons on those Level 3s, so I should be able to access them.” Hunter hypothesized before tucking Izanagi Arms away. “But, before we leave, I wanna test that. Learned my lesson last time I used an unknown unit without prior experience. Kyoka, take care of the dishes. I know you’ve been slacking on chores.”

“Dammit... “ Kyoka cursed under her breath as Hideo smirked.

“When she finishes the dishes, we’ll head out.” Hunter stated before heading to the garage of the office and activating two units: Zero Specter Origins and Ifrit Slasher. “Let’s see what happens…”

He moved the two cartridges to one hand and equipped his Cartridge Driver with the other. Once fastened to his waist, Hunter loaded the two units into the slots on the buckle before flipping the lever open. He chose the black and white icon from before, revealing his Level 0 form before red armor appeared and attached itself to him, transforming him into black, white, grey, and red version of his usual Level 3 form. The armor he gained did seem more militaristic and combat-oriented than usual, however.

“Hm. Defensive parameters seem sub-par, even with Level 3. Weapons…” Hunter held out his hand and a sword appeared in it. “They seem fine. Even with a Level 3 augment, it seems my Defensive Capacity won’t last against anything. Best bet is to keep this unit on standby…”

“Hunter, we’re ready!” Haruko yelled to him from the hall.

“Got it! I’ll be out in a minute!” Hunter cancelled the transformation, keeping the belt by putting the two units on the carrier strap.

The four of them regrouped in the main room, equipping their Level 10 armors beforehand. Haruko’s armor was the only one that immediately went to Level 20, as Hunter’s was a unique unit that required a transformation into Level 10 before transitioning into Level 20. With their equipment ready to go, the quartet drove towards the Central Plaza that every player knew. When they arrived, they had to dismount their bikes almost immediately and weave their way through the crowd of 50 players that had gathered. All of them wore their armor, though Hunter’s beta tester-exclusive Level identifier placed them all around Level 5 or 4. There was only one other person wearing wearing a Level 10 armor, and he seemed to be the leader of the rally. His name? Evocry.

“Ladies and Gents of Entity Burst. Today, I’ve asked for your support as we take the fight to that monster Genm! Today, we fight for our freedom!!” He gave them all a quick sentence of motivation before they faced the doors of the city hall. “Show yourself, Genm! Don’t be a coward!”

To their surprise, Kuroto walked out of the doors without armor. What they didn’t notice was his Driver: with two slots designed in an X-shape. In his hands, he held two cartridges, holding them up so that his arms overlapped to form an X in front of him.

“Took you long enough. I was beginning to get bored of fighting just the Specter and his posse.” Kuroto activated the two units. The one in his right hand growled out “Threatening Thanatos!” while the one in his left groaned “Conquering Chronos!” before he held them both out, poised for insertion into his belt. “Death awaits all of you.”

He loaded the two cartridges in the belt’s slots, then twisted the lever at the center so that it aligned with the buttons, causing the belt to announce its transformation call. A clock projection appeared behind him, counting up from 1 as a screen appeared underneath him and rose slowly. As it rose, his armor appeared. Black plating decorated in bloody red covered the bony-white undersuit. The clock ticked down to 3 as the screen rose to his waist, producing a sickly gold coat with rough, jagged tails. His arms gained the same black armor as his legs, this time with blood spatter all over it.

The clock reached 6 as the screen progressed further upwards, revealing no health gauge on the chestplate. Instead, a wild, distorted row of red lines ran throughout it from the now-black armored grate that connected to collar bone-like joins. The clock hit 9 as the shoulder armor materialized, bulky and spiked with the same sickly gold as the coat. Hints of red and black could be seen accenting the gold around it. At long last, the clock finally completed its trip, ending at 12 as the helmet encased Kuroto’s head. Much like his previous helmet, the spiky hair design and goggles remained. However, they bore the sickly gold sprinkled throughout the rest of the armor, and the goggles remained intact. They showed pale red eyes that sparked outwards, filling the black void that previously existed around heterochromia. Instead of the previous mechanical zombie design, a spiked crown ran around the forehead of the mask, with a rather simplistic design for the remainder of the mask.

In his hands, he held the Shinigami Dual-Visor II. It was just like the original, with a dual-barrel beam gun on one end and a laser sword on the other. Here, he held it in beam gun mode, barrels pointed at the ground.

“So… what was it you were saying about your freedom?” He asked the silent crowd nonchalantly. His transformation alone had silenced them with fear.

“W-we won’t be intimidated by your equipment! Teams A and B, you know the drill!” Evocry stuttered as he commanded two groups of 10 to attack. The two teams moved to flank Kuroto, an assortment of melee weapons in hand. “Teams C and D, set up where you can! Team E, you’re with me!”

Two more groups of 10 dispersed into the nearby buildings, getting rifles and firearms out as they set up in sniper spots. The remaining 9 joined Evocry as they charged directly at Kuroto. Hunter and Hideo watched, then Hunter immediately switched to Zero Specter with Ifrit Slasher.

“Hunter, what are you doing?! Level 0 isn’t strong enough to fight Level 50, you said it yourself!” Hideo cautioned as Hunter ran into the fray, summoning a pair of revolvers and firing at Genm.

“Did you see that clock?! I figured out what he’s got in that Chronos unit!!” Hunter shouted to his comrade as he charged.

“Fools, all of you.” Kuroto held up his beam-gun and fired at the three groups around him. Some tried to deflect the rain of energy beams, but they were impeded in their progress regardless. “You think you know what I have in my arsenal, Specter? Why don’t we test your theory then?”

“Dammit…!” Hunter tried to fire at Kuroto’s belt directly, but the latter fired more lasers to disperse his attack. Then… Kuroto hit the A-button on his belt.

“Pause…” The belt echoed one simple word as the ticking of a clock slowed down to nothing in three clicks. Everyone who moved froze, as if the game had been paused. Snipers who had fired at him were displayed mid-shot, the smoke of their bullets exploding. Those who had tried to attack him directly were frozen mid-strike, weapons poised at various angles. Meanwhile, Kuroto walked freely.

“Pause. I’ve developed the ability to weaponize the ability to pause a game for my own benefit. None of you will hear or see me move within this state, but I can act as freely as I want. It’s as if time itself has stopped. I can shoot you…” Kuroto aimed his beam gun at the melee opponents, blasting them so that their bodies floated upwards and stopped in the trajectory of the incoming bullets. “I can slash at you…”

He removed the pad of the Dual-Visor II from its grip, reversing it, and attaching it to deploy the energy blade. He stopped in front of some of the close-quarters enemies, slashing at them so they were also directed into the path of their snipers’ bullets, leaving behind only Evocry in front of him and Hunter running towards them. However… Hunter’s finger seemed to twitch in the suspension of movement. Kuroto dismissed as his mind playing tricks on him, caught up in the excitement of achieving the ultimate power within the game. Discarding his weapon, he tapped once on the B-button on his belt, causing it to begin charging his finisher.

“And… I can kill you.” Kuroto grinned wickedly under his mask as he tapped the B-button once more. A clock appeared underneath him as the belt announced “Death Drive!” Mirroring his feet, the hour hand remained on 12, where Evocry was frozen, while the minute hand spun around counterclockwise following Kuroto’s feet. He had used a reverse roundhouse kick infused with the Burst potential from his belt to strike Evocry.

“Damn you…” Kuroto heard Hunter’s voice within the pause. He turned around and saw Hunter was surprisingly close, aiming his revolver at him from behind.

“Hm? How? How are you this close? You weren’t that far from this fool before!” Kuroto summoned the Dual-Visor II in beam gun mode, aiming at Hunter’s face. “Whatever, I’ll kill you here and now so that you won’t be able to interfere any further…”

“Don’t think… I’ll go down… this easily…!” Hunter began to twitch, before finally managing to move just enough to fire his revolver at Kuroto before succumbing to the effects of the Pause once more.

“The hell?!” Kuroto was struck by the bullet, which exploded and sent him stumbling back slightly. In the stumble, he ended up hitting the A-button on his belt, causing the pause to end.

The players who were flung towards their allies’ attacks were damaged and fell to the ground. Evocry, however, was hit with a finishing strike that had taken his health down significantly. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest as others saw the gauge on his chest left with one tiny sliver.

“D-dammit…” Evocry opened his inventory menu, scrolling frantically to find a healing item. His searched was abruptly ended as the menu was damaged from a beam of energy from Kuroto’s beam gun. The sliver of health that remained disappeared as he dropped dead. He hit the ground and dissipated into pixels, with the game announcing “You Died” above his remains before fading away with the pixels.

“Hm. This was the end result of your raid. You failed, and you died.” Kuroto rested his arm as the barrels of the Dual-Visor emitted an unknown vapor. “Half of you have been dealt heavy damage. The other half tried to attack, but failed miserably. One of you seemed lucky enough to be able to resist my special ability. How bothersome…”

While Kuroto monologued, Haruko had set up in a sniping spot and fired her rifle at him. The shot was countered by Nanaha, who had been waiting above them in the city hall.

“Try to shoot me again. I have my own sniper to take you down with.” Kuroto glanced at all the snipers surrounding him. Then… a player in blue armor leapt down from the nearby building. “You… you’re the one with the Level 50 unit…”

“It’s Anomaly, Genm.” Anomaly gave his name once more as he removed his double cartridge from the holster on his belt. Then, he turned the dial twice. The unit announced “Fighting Fists!” before Anomaly hit the button to activate the change. The bulky shoulder armor ejected from his shoulders before floating down and slamming themselves onto his arms as gauntlets. As they slammed into his arms, the explosion from the impact burned the blue away to reveal hot rod-red and flames. His mask was consumed by flames, leaving behind a more aggressive design to the goggles and reducing the size of the collar significantly. “My fans are telling me that you've got a fancy new upgrade, so I thought to myself for a bit. And I have to agree with my dear supporters. Let's test the power of Level 50 against one another!”

Anomaly ran at Kuroto, immediately going for a powerful punch. Kuroto anticipated this and dodged, aiming his beam gun at his opponent and firing. Using the bulky gauntlets as shields, he defended against the lasers and quickly spun around, augmenting his next punch with the momentum. It hit hard, sending Kuroto flying back a couple of feet. Before he could recover, Anomaly was unleashing a barrage of fast-paced, brutally strong punches on Kuroto without mercy.

“Now, guys! While I’ve got him distracted, take your shots!” Anomaly announced to the awestruck crowd.

Hideo and Kyoka didn’t hesitate, quickly jumping into the fight. The latter snuck around and stabbed him in the back with several knives while Hideo jumped upwards and fired his hard-light impact bullets at Kuroto. Hunter kept his Level 0-3 Hybrid form, and rushed to the side for an opportunity to blast Kuroto with fire.

“Damn it, Nanaha…! “ He growled under his breath. The sniper in question was faced with the problem of the several other snipers, firing her Enchantress’s void bullets at them to eliminate them. Each bullet was deterred by Haruko’s bullets, who kept a vigilant eye on Nanaha’s shots.

“Don’t think you’ll win this easily…” Haruko commented to herself as she kept her sights ready on Nanaha’s next shot.

Anomaly let out a hefty battle cry as he uppercutted Kuroto into Hideo’s barrage of hard-light bullets, sending him into Kyoka’s knives before she tossed him over to Hunter’s waiting revolvers.

“Pause…” Once again, Kuroto paused the actions of the players in the surroundings. Hunter’s fiery blasts were halted in mid-air, as were the other projectiles fired.

“What a nuisance…” He hit the ground and tumbled to Hunter’s feet. Recalling his beam gun, he aimed it at Hunter’s face, only to see him twitch slightly and set his sights on Kuroto below him. “What?! How did you move within the Pause again!?”

Hunter wasted no breath on answering Kuroto as he opened fire. The scorching blasts of concentrated melted through the weapon he held, cutting into his arms and shoulder armor. Kuroto swept Hunter’s legs, causing him to trip and remain suspended in mid-air as a result of the pause.

“You insufferable bug!! I’ll end you now!” Kuroto tossed the damaged weapon aside and tapped the B-button twice, skipping the charge process as he assumed his kicking stance. Before he could even kick, Hunter twitched one more time and used this opportunity to blast himself forward, kicking the A-button on Kuroto’s belt and staggering him as the Pause ended. Having already activated his finisher, Kuroto instead directed the minor surge in energy in his feet towards the nearest enemy, who just so happened to be Anomaly.

“Don’t think so!” Anomaly cried as his armored fist met Kuroto’s foot. The shockwave of the attacks sent the both of them flying backwards several feet. “I need to end this, now…”

“That’s my line!” Kuroto growled, climbing to his feet in the rubble of the wall that he had broken from the force of their colliding attacks.

Anomaly removed his double cartridge, rotated the dial to its neutral state, then turned it so Fighting Fists was on the bottom again. This began the charging process of his attack, which ended when he returned the Paradox Personas unit to its holster. From there, the gathered energy in his armored gauntlets turned into pure fire as he charged at Kuroto, who had activated and charged his own finisher. Instead of the roundhouse kick from before, he had prepared a powerful punch of his own.

The moment the two Level 50 fists collided, the ensuing explosion caused a massive shockwave. The only players who weren’t blown away were Hunter, Haruko, Hideo, Kyoka, and Nanaha. Hunter held his hands up, using all of his concentration and focus to negate the shockwave’s effects on him. He was succeeding for the most part, only being pushed away a couple of feet instead of being blown yards away from his current spot. Haruko had anchored herself down to her spot with a shield of rotational energy that her bracer was generating; the shield’s rotational energy was redirecting the force of the explosion around her and keeping her in place for the most part. Hideo had taken cover in a nearby building and was using his armor’s built-in anchors to keep himself in place. Kyoka had created a giant icicle around her that burrowed deep in the ground to keep her still. Nanaha’s armor was generating a shield of void that erased the effects of the shockwave and kept her protected.

“Give up… dammit…!” Anomaly was struggling as their fists clashed.

“You… are a major annoyance!” Kuroto retorted, also struggling with their deadlock.

“Dammit…!” Hunter was trying his best to negate the effects of the shockwave, but he couldn’t do anything more. “Someone… shoot… Genm!”

Fortunately, someone heard Hunter’s request and a bullet struck the side of Kuroto’s helmet. It diverted his concentration enough for Anomaly to overpower Kuroto and send him flying through the city hall. When the immense forces finally faded, Hunter looked up at a building to see… Esoterror, looking down the sights of her hunting rifle.

“Late to the part, and this is what I get…” She muttered, holstering her rifle on her back and climbing down the side of the building to meet up with everyone. First and foremost, she turned to Hunter. “We’re even now, got it?”

“Thanks for the help. Greatly appreciated.” He replied.

“The hell happened to your Level 10 thing?”

“About that…”

“It’s the new year, it should be done by now, right? Last time we met was three months ago, and if you’re the master coder you claim to be, it should be done.”

“I finished it. It just…”

“It what?”

“It wasn’t the best choice for the situation.”

“Hm. Spent all that time on Level 10, but it didn’t even end up being used.” Esoterror sighed. “In any case, we’re even now. You helped me out with that crow thing, so I repaid the debt by knocking that Genm guy’s concentration.”

“Thank you again, for that. Really helpful.” Hunter expressed his gratitude once more before looking at Anomaly. “And uh, Shouma, right?”

“Finally checked out one of my streams, did you?” Anomaly asked.

“Yeah. Thanks for showing up to help. You’re the only person I’ve met so far to have actually gained a Level 50 unit by natural means. If you could let me borrow your unit to study for a day or two, that’d be nice,” Hunter wanted the Level 50 unit as basis for an upgrade he had planned for Hideo and Kyoka.

“And what do I get out of it?” Anomaly stretched his arms.

“I mean, watching me map out your unit’s data for several hours straight would probably be boring as hell. Uh… I can give you a Cartridge Driver. I mean, unless you can find a way to make that compatible with your End Driver, you might need that Cartridge Driver.” Hunter gestured towards the double cartridge holstered on Anomaly’s belt.

“Hm… how advanced is that new Driver gonna be?” He asked.

“It’ll probably be standard-issue, since the default Cartridge Driver serves its purposes perfectly. But, if I map your unit’s data, I might be able to figure out its maximum potential.” Hunter bargained.

“Hm… I’ll come with you. I know you’ll probably return it, but I wanna watch your progress. Some of my fans actually want to know how the genius Specter works.” Anomaly held out his hand, then realized it was covered by the gauntlet. “Oh. Right. Let’s talk about it at your office over some tea or something.”

“Yeah, sure. You know where it is,” Hunter reached under the gauntlet to give Anomaly the handshake he was offering before turning to Esoterror and handing her a unit. “Figured you’d want a new ride, so I figured you could have my backup Mach Corvus. Least I can do to repay for you for helping.”

“I-I really don’t need it! I’m fine with my dual-sport!” She pushed the unit away. “250cc engine is a little weak though…”

“So you’re a dual-sport gal, huh? I can upgrade it to a 650cc, if you want. Seriously, I want to pay you back for that shot. It was a legitimate life saver, even though someone already died…”

“Hunter…” Haruko growled from behind him.

“What? You were defending yourself from the shockwave too! It’s a miracle you managed to stand in that atmosphere…” Hunter’s sentence slowly shrank to a whisper.

“In any case…” Haruko cleared her throat. “Thanks to both your efforts, we were able to ward Genm off for a little bit longer. Stop by Hunter’s office, maybe we can work out some way to compensate you two for your valiant efforts. As for that Evocry guy… the least we can do is give him a proper funeral of sorts for at least trying to rally players to fight.”

“Level 50 really is something…” Hunter commented to himself before the group of six headed to his office to discuss their terms of compensation.