EBO: Resume - Chapter 15

May 20th, 2026

Three against four. Those were their current odds. Hunter faced Satoshi, both transformed into their highest Level forms. Behind Hunter, Haruko stood in her new armor. A sleek, rounded suit of form-fitting armor with an aiming implement over her right eye. A new rifle was held in her hand, with glowing purple lights. Her driver was occupied by one unit, with a dial rotated to one position. Next to her, Hideo stood dressed in heavy armor, with weapons hidden in the armor plating. Clanking could be heard as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

On the opposite end, Kairi stood in his gleaming gold armor, a pair of sub-machine guns in both hands. Next to him, Nanaha stood holding her rifle. Her armor had no change ever since the debut of her Level 10 unit, but her abilities had been boosted since then. What neither side saw, but were aware of, was Kyoka’s presence lingering in the background. She had turned invisible, hiding the sleek, angular armor with a cyan glow to it from view.

The teams stood, paralleling each other. Our sniper girls were facing each other, raising their rifles and aiming at the respective heads of their groups. Hunter held the two swords he summoned during his initial fight with the Izanagi unit while Satoshi held his Dual-Visor II in its blade mode. Kairi aimed his guns at Hideo, who deployed a riot shield on one arm and aimed a light machine gun back at Kairi with the other.

“Today, we see if the game is unlocked…” Satoshi muttered before charging at his opponent. Nanaha dived into her void pocket as Haruko fired off several rounds at her. Hunter charged, countering Satoshi’s blade with one sword and stabbing with the other.

Kairi jumped into the air, twirled around and fired off his SMGs on Hideo, who held up his shield and returned fire. Boosting into the air, Hideo rammed his opponent with the shield before swapping to a shotgun and blasting Kairi with the weapon point-blank, dropping his health gauge significantly. Before they could proceed with another fight, Kairi dropped one of his guns and pulled Hideo closer to him.

“Listen to me. Genm has this system rigged. You have to let Hunter finish him off, no matter what!” Kairi shouted to Hideo via an encrypted voice chat.

“Why should I trust you, thief?! You’ve got a hefty rap sheet on your profile, and you’re said to be the best and most dangerous thief out there! What’s keeping you from lying to me?” Hideo replied, slamming them both into the ground.

“I know I’m not the most trustworthy person out there, but I swear to you on my life… I’m not lying. I wouldn’t lie about this when there’s thousands of people’s lives at stake here!” Kairi pushed his opponent off as Nanaha emerged from her pocket and dived at Hideo… only for Kyoka to become visible yet again and tackle her away.

“Waugh!” Nanaha yelped as the two girls tumbled to the floor.

“Listen, succubus… you’re not taking Hideo from me!” Kyoka charged, deploying a pair of hidden daggers and swiping at her opponent.

“What? He’s cute and all, but I’m not interested in him!” Nanaha dodged her swipes, blasting a hole in the ground to put distance between the two of them.

“Tch… stupid Hideo…” Kyoka muttered as Haruko slingshot herself at Nanaha, aiming to punch her with a fist of lunar energy.

“What are you two planning?!” Haruko asked as her attack made contact and the two of them rolled across the grassy terrain. She came to a halt on her knees, aiming her rifle at her enemy as Nanaha mirrored her.

“Pla- Oh, right! Come with me!” Nanaha opened a void pocket behind Haruko and tackled her in. Kyoka just barely managed to dive in with them before it closed to a tight slit of an entrance.

“Why bring me in here…?” Haruko questioned, still aiming her rifle at Nanaha.

“Listen… I need to discuss Ku- er… Genm’s plan with you.” Nanaha lowered her weapon, putting it on the ground and kicking it aside to prove she really wanted to talk.

“What about it? He said he’d let us all go if we kill him.” Kyoka pointed a dagger at their adversary, weary of her intentions for good reason.

“That only applies to your leader. The Crimson Specter is the only one who can free us without everyone being purged.”

“What do you mean?” Haruko lowered her rifle.

“I took a peak at the code holding us hostage. Ever since Genm discovered the Specter’s newest unit, he had been coding furiously. It’s impressive how secure his grip on the VR Core is, but there’s one fatal flaw… One gap in the programming that he specifically left…” Nanaha put her hands on her hips.

“I’m guessing that’s for Hunter…” Haruko murmured.

“Mhm… He left a specific vulnerability in the code that would safely release the game if he’s defeated by Hunter. If anyone else tries to do it, Sa- Genm is automatically logged out and the VR Core is purged. Meaning all of us die, and Genm is free to repeat this with another game…” Nanaha looked down at the ground in despair, as if mourning the losses of thousands.

“So Hunter has to be the one to kill him?” Kyoka asked Nanaha.

“How can we be sure you’re not lying to us? What makes you think we’ll trust you that easily?” Haruko inquired, aiming her rifle again.

“Because I’ve had it with Genm… He’s been ungrateful and abusive. I’ve only been thanked once in the entirety of my partnership with him… All he ever does is obsess over his own work, giving his leftovers when he doesn’t need them anymore and only giving me this Succubus unit as my only upgrade. Even then, all he does is update the unit to better handle myself in combat, but it’s worthless anyway… I’m Level 30. Everyone’s at Level 50 and above! I might be a sniper, but Hunter seems generous enough to give you mid- and close-quarters equipment!” Nanaha complained, throwing her hands in the air out of frustration. “It’s stupid! I’m sick of being near him! I don’t want to work with him anymore! I’d rather die than be near him any more!”

“And how do we know that’s not a lie either…?” Kyoka glared at her under her mask. To her surprise, Nanaha tore off her helmet and revealed the tears streaming down her face from discussing all of this. “O-oh…”

“Can’t you see the emotional distress I’m in…? These aren’t crocodile tears! These tears are my true feelings! The pain and anguish my heart and soul have had to endure for who knows how long! I couldn’t fake this, no matter how hard I tried!” Nanaha screamed as she dropped to her knees and cried her heart out.

“If that’s the case… We need to ask a favor…” Haruko helped Nanaha to her feet after she had calmed down.

“I-I have to… keep fighting with him… don’t I…?” Nanaha sniffled.

“I’m sorry, but yes… We have to keep up the illusion that you’re still with him… At least until we can assure he’s beaten.” Haruko hugged Nanaha to comfort the poor girl.

“I don’t really have much of a choice…” Nanaha accepted the hug with a melancholic smile. “I-I’ll try my best… but I can’t guarantee it’ll last long…”

“It’s fine… we just need to adapt to Genm’s equipment just a little longer…” Haruko added.

“Alright… We’d better leave…”

“Right.” Haruko prepared to jump out, as Nanaha grabbed her mask and put it back on, then tackled Kyoka out of the pocket.

They returned to the battlefield, only to be paused in motion. Satoshi had activated Pause. He had seemingly abandoned his Dual-Visor as he punched Hunter over and over. Hunter was also in a similar position, having left his swords impaled in the ground as he countered each fist Satoshi threw at him. Tiring out, Satoshi’s rapid-fire strikes began to slow down, giving Hunter a window of opportunity to counter. He tackled the self-proclaimed god to the ground, pinning him before a pair of phantom fists appeared and punched along with Hunter, pummelling Satoshi into the ground with each strike.

“Do it, Specter! Kill me if you can!!” Satoshi taunted, laughing like a madman before pressing the B-Button on his belt twice to engage his finisher.

Hunter growled, using the phantom fists to launch himself away before Satoshi could throw a supercharged punch. However, Satoshi’s hand stretched and grabbed onto Hunter, pulling him back down. Holding out his hand, Hunter called his longsword back to his head, stabbing into Satoshi’s stretched hand and attempting to sever it. One sword wasn’t enough, so he summoned his other sword and used it to cut off Satoshi’s hand. The blades cut through his arm in an X-shape, causing Satoshi’s arm to flop over as he groaned in pain. Blood jetted from the open wound as the limb retracted to its original size.

“Urgh! Dammit!” He held his missing hand after slapping his Driver to undo Pause, gritting his teeth to ignore the pain.

“I’m finishing this here and now…” Hunter stalked towards Satoshi with both swords, having swiped the hand off his chestplate. He had the Izanagi unit in his belt’s side slot, charging its finisher. Before he could hit the button, the unit was taken from the slot as Kairi reappeared in a silver flash.

“Sorry. Gonna need this more than you will.” Kairi nonchalantly handed tossed the unit to Satoshi, who caught it in his only hand.

“How interesting… So much data… so many restrictions and data locks… I’m going to deconstruct this unit and learn all of its secrets…” Satoshi’s HUD was attempting to analyze all of the data in the Izanagi unit, only to find a highly compressed bundle of code and data hidden behind various firewalls and security programs. “It’s amusing to see the lengths the game developers choose to go to simply to stop me.”

“Tch… Phantom thief, huh? Couldn’t handle me on your own anymore, Kuroto? Had to resort to a petty thief to steal the competition away?” Hunter mocked as his armor returned to its Level 0 configuration, swords and armor plating dissipating into pixels after having the unit separated from the Driver for too long.

“Taunt me however you please. In your current condition, you cannot kill me. You can barely resist my powers now. You are not in the superior position here, Specter.” Satoshi waved the Izanagi unit in-hand.

“The so-called God requires a thief to keep his godhood. Pathetic.” Hunter scoffed, using his Ifrit unit for temporary armor.

“I will do whatever I must to maintain my power. No method is pathetic or cowardly to me. I rule over this world, and I will kill as many people as I please. Once you taste murder without consequence… there’s no going back. You might compare it to addictive substances such as cocaine or marijuana. But I’d say… it’s better than any drug on the face of the earth. Virtual Reality Murder… is beyond comparison.” Satoshi held out his arms as Nanaha approached, holding her Isis unit and healing item. She stabbed the tip of the needle gun into his arm stump rather forcefully before pulling the trigger and injecting the healing serum, removing the item and shaking off some blood as Satoshi’s hand regrew.

“So… all good to go, boss?” Kairi asked Satoshi, turning so his back was facing Hunter’s group as he glanced over to Satoshi.

“We’re clear for retreat. Until next time, Specter!” Satoshi removed his mask to show his smirk before disappearing in a cloud of pixelated mist, which engulfed his allies and swept them away with him.

“Well… this sucks…” Hunter looked down at the ground as his friends approached.

“Hey um… We’ve got some news for you, Hunter…” Hideo pat him on the back.

“Hm?”

“At your office. And… can you set up a coding barrier there too?”

“What f- Oh. I think I know where this is going.”

“Yeah…” With that, the quartet returned to Hunter’s office, where he immediately began coding firewalls and anti-spy software around the area to block off Satoshi’s all-seeing eye, with help from the developers.

“Alright… Bad news first, if applicable.” Hunter leaned back in his chair as the others sat around the place with beverages nearby.

“In that case… we need to start losing to Genm.” Hideo began.

“...I’m sorry, what?”

“His assistant told us that Hunter has to be the one to kill Genm… What are you going on about, Hideo?” Kyoka looked at him, bewildered.

“What? Oh. Uh… Well, he said bad news first…”

“What did the thief tell you…?”

“He said that we need to fake our losses against them. The thief said that Kuroto has a program on his Gear Dual-type unit, and it would unlock when Kuroto allows it to. To do that, we need to prove the thief worthy of obtaining the power.”

“And what would that reward us with?” Hunter asked, taking a sip of cola.

“Once the thief has his full array of powers accessible, he’s going to switch sides and help us. He’ll come to you about removing Kuroto’s control from his unit.” Hideo finished.

“Alright… and what did you hear from the assistant?” Hunter turned his attention to the girls.

“She said she was also planning to betray Kuroto. And, she mentioned that the game is rigged. More than we think,” Haruko began.

“Kuroto had apparently set up the game to be cleared if you were the one to defeat him. The coding around the VR Core is essentially rock-solid for that one vulnerability left for you… It could’ve all been a ploy to get Izanagi from you so they could patch that weak spot. Kuroto’s goal is to have someone defeat him. Once that’s done, the game will log him out and everyone else will be purged from the VR Core. It’s essentially mass murder!” Kyoka finished.

“What a dilemma…” Hunter leaned back and propped his feet up on the table. “I had a feeling Kuroto was after me. It was always me against him… even before we were in EBO.”

“Back in SAO, right…?” Hideo questioned cautiously, as he felt the subject was a sore spot for Hunter.

“Yeah… He always seemed to have a weird fixation on me. Not like love or something, God forbid. He always tried to fight me, and best me in every fight. I guess… I’m his only worthy rival or something. Every time I encountered Laughing Coffin, he’d always be there, sword in hand and Skill ready to go. And as we fought… our blades connected and I’d always emerge victorious. Then he’d train to get better and better. He’d win a couple of fights, but I won the majority of the time… I guess he wants me to kill him with an all-out fight, no holds barred. One last duel to the death…” Hunter reflected on his pasts, shifting his thoughts to the final confrontation.

“So you’ll help those guys out for a while?” Hideo asked.

“I’ll do what I can. I can’t promise anything, though.” Hunter took another sip of his drink.

“At the very least, we’ll be able to save one of them…” Hideo sighed, leaning back in his seat.

“Best-case scenario, we get them both free, and Kuroto is safely disposed of.” Hunter shrugged.

“Shouldn’t we have Kuroto brought into custody for premeditated murder and attempted mass murder…?”

“Well yeah, but… Kuroto can’t live… He doesn’t deserve to… not after everything he’s done…” Hunter grit his teeth, remembering all Kuroto did. “He tortured players… he took… everything from me…”

“What gives you the right to judge him?” Hideo turned to him, glaring. “He deserves due process, Hunter. Just because he’s wronged you doesn’t mean you get to decide his fate.”

“I know… but I just can’t let him walk… not after all the torture… Not after he took her from me…”

“A jury will decide his fate, Hunter. He may be the scum of the earth, but he gets a fair trial. Just like everyone else. Put yourself in his shoes, Hunter. Don’t you think you’d want a trial?”

“If I was a psychopathic mass murderer, I’d want to escape jail and continue to act on my tendencies, Hideo. Therapy may be put in place to try to recondition me. But deep down, I’d want to kill. And it’s so easy to kill… It’d be near impossible to rehabilitate that kind of instinct.”

“Still… you can’t just take his life because he took something from you.”

“I don’t mean to offend you, Hideo, but you wouldn’t understand… He took the one person that gave me purpose and meaning, and slaughtered her in front of my very eyes.” Hunter had a cutting-edge to his glare, his eyes focused on the past rather than anyone in front of him. “Imagine the woman you love… murdered right in front of you as the murderer’s friends hold you back… You were powerless to save your purpose in life… You couldn’t do anything to save her…”

“I see… You’re right in that regard… but revenge would only destroy you, Hunter. You’ve managed to harness that anger and negativity into your skill with code, haven’t you? You’ve taken your pent-up negativity, and put it towards saving all these other people!”

“Because it’s the only thing that gives me purpose. Outside of all this data, I’m nothing… I don’t have anyone to be there for me. No one to talk to. No one to open up to. No one to understand me… Just an empty void…” Hunter was about to take a sip of his cola before Haruko slapped him right across the cheek.

“Then what has all this time with us been to you, huh?! What do we mean to you, then?! Just a means to an end?! A way to get revenge for your lost love?! Pawns in a game between you and Kuroto?! If that’s what you think of us, you’re no better than him!!” Haruko yelled at him, her face read and tears beginning to stream down her face.

“No… I do treasure our time together… I really do… I’m just shit at expressing my feelings. It’s hard, you know? When your father has a stroke, and your mother has to work herself to the bone… When you isolate yourself from everyone and cut yourself off… When you spend so much time by yourself, the only way you can interact is through a virtual interface… This time I spent with you all… is perhaps the most I’ve ever talked to people in years… I’ve fled the flock… My mom can manage herself better without me to worry about. I can support myself with this job… And if my mom knows I’m happy doing this, then that’s all that matters… But, I really do want to thank you all. Thank you all for the memories we’ve made, the missions we’ve completed, the time we’ve spent together… It really was, and is, an honor to be with you all.” Hunter gave a solemn smile, holding his cold cola to his cheek to cool it down from Haruko’s slap.

“You make it sound like this is the end of the world…” Hideo scoffed, taking a sip of his apple cider.

“Might as well be, considering the shitstorm Kuroto concocted.” Hunter shrugged as Haruko proceed to sit down again.

“Sorry for that, Hunter… it was uncalled for…” She apologized for her slap.

“No, I needed it. Wake up call.”

“Aww, look at us bonding like a family.” Kyoka smiled before stretching. “I don’t know about you three, but I’m hungry!”

“It is around dinner time…” Haruko looked at the clock.

“Guess I’m cooking again…” Hunter sighed as he downed the rest of his drink in one gulp before heading to the kitchen.

“Yes please!” The trio spoke in unison as they followed him.

The rest of the night was merry. They ate, drank, and laughed like a family of four. Alcohol was involved, and that lead to Hideo’s already-boisterous personality to become even louder and more open. He was standing up and pulling Kyoka in with one arm and while drinking a glass of whiskey with the other. Haruko giggled at the sight, as Kyoka was actively punching him in the stomach in an attempt to break free. It seemed the whiskey had steeled his torso, as he ignored the fairly hefty punches and laughed as if it were nothing.

Hunter sat at the end of the table, looking on and smiling as he took a bit of the fried pork cutlet he had made for dinner that night. As he observed, he couldn’t help but think back to what he said earlier, about cherishing his time spent with this team. This moment here was but another reason to cherish his team and the time they’ve been together. In a way, he was somewhat grateful for Satoshi’s machinations. Through his plans, this quartet had met and bonded like family. They would laugh together, eat together, comfort each other in times of crisis, and rely on each other without consequence. They were truly friends thanks to Satoshi’s diabolical plan. But… this would have to end eventually…

The time for the final battle would come sooner or later. This virtual reality would end, and they would have to return to their true bodies. When the time came, they would be ready. They were prepared to lay down their lives for the thousands of other prisoners. They would have to do everything they could to help Hunter stop Satoshi, as Hunter held the key to safely unlocking this dangerous puzzle. He would have to become the savior of thousands, like Kirito in SAO. Here… the rules may be different, but the fight would be the same. A clash of ideals. A battle of two powerful wills. Two cynical coders. One who murders whomever he wishes if he feels like it. And one who uses the wishes of his friends to achieve the impossible. As cliche as it may seem, the actions of his allies and the bonds he’s forged with them will be the deciding factor in this fight. Who will win? The man who sacrificed everything to kill again? Or the man whose sole purpose is to stop the murders?