It wasn't just Stelle who was stunned. Even the Tethys System, which had been swinging its hammer down at them, was stunned.
'What exactly was that black thing? Just hitting its head made it lose 15% of its health instantly.'
"Unable to understand…"
At the moment when the Tethys System's computing power stalled briefly due to overload, Zane didn't hesitate.
He reached out, grabbed Stelle's arm, and yanked hard, pulling her straight out of the hammer's attack range.
"Are you stupid or what!" There was a trace of irritation in Zane's voice.
"Such a huge hammer coming down and you didn't even think to dodge? With your little body, even if you could block it, you'd probably get smashed flat!"
Stelle was clearly startled by his sudden action and words. She stared at him in a daze, forgetting to defend herself for a moment.
But just as she was about to speak, it was like she realized something. Her expression suddenly turned subtle.
The shock on her face slowly faded, replaced by a faint, teasing smile. The corners of her lips curved upward as she looked at Zane, half-smiling.
"You're this angry… don't tell me you were worried about me?"
"I…" Zane's voice caught. He stammered, unable to finish, then quickly turned his head away like he was fleeing, his eyes landing on the still-overloaded Fallacy of No Return.
"Hey! Monster, take a sword from me, Zane!"
Shouting as he spoke, Zane stomped the ground and shot forward like a cannonball, crashing toward the Fallacy of No Return.
Knowing his thick skin always shrank at moments like this, Stelle didn't push him further. She just pressed her lips together and smiled softly, warmth rippling through her heart.
"Don't just stand there. If you want to kiss him, wait until after the fight!"
The sharp voice beside her snapped Stelle back to her senses. In the blink of an eye, Rover had already rushed forward, holding a dark purple scythe.
Flames of annihilation ignited in her eyes. Brilliant frequencies turned into wings, and the once-soft feathers transformed into sharp blades.
The feather-blades sliced through the air with piercing sounds as they stabbed fiercely toward the Fallacy of No Return.
"Feather Transformation, Annihilate All Laws!"
Facing Rover's attack, the massive body of the Fallacy of No Return couldn't dodge. It could only let the feather-blades leave mark after mark across its body.
"The system must persist…"
The Tethys System's murmuring echoed through the space. Streams of data scattered along the cracks torn open by the feather-blades.
The Fallacy of No Return raised its hammer and smashed it down toward the man and woman in front of it.
Seeing this, Zane stepped forward. Following the path of the descending hammer, he used his waist to guide his shoulder, and his shoulder to drive his wrist, redirecting the immense force.
The hammer, carrying destructive power, slammed down beside his feet, stirring waves of data but failing to harm him at all.
"Doctor!"
At Zane's shout, the Doctor's small figure leapt high into the air. The Fallacy of No Return seemed to sense something and looked up, only to see Originium fragments raining down like a storm.
Even the thick armor that Rover's feather-blades could only scratch lightly was instantly pierced through by the Originium fragments.
"Unable to understand…"
The Tethys System had already lost count of how many times it had said that today. With its computing power, it simply couldn't produce an answer.
It had never seen anything like this in the history of Solaris. An indestructible flaming lance shield, stone fragments that could cut through data streams, and that unknown black object…
The silver heavy armor shattered piece by piece, turning into data and flying into the sky, revealing the core inside. Even the hammer it was so proud of had been sent flying far away by Stelle's impact.
Unable to stop the loss of data, it could only try to reshape the remaining data into fists and continue executing its defense program.
"Why do I suddenly feel like it's kind of pitiful…"
Watching the Fallacy of No Return stand up again despite its broken body, Rover scratched her cheek awkwardly, suddenly feeling like they were the villains.
———
'Maybe we should just give it a quick end?'
Before Rover could reach a conclusion, the Fallacy of No Return had already raised both fists and smashed them toward her like a storm.
At that moment, the black thing appeared again, flying toward the exposed core of the Fallacy of No Return.
In an instant, as the black mass was absorbed into the core, the three-meter-tall body of the Fallacy of No Return staggered once more.
"Zane, I'm going to kill you!"
Others hadn't seen what Zane threw, but Stelle saw it clearly. She immediately threw down her flaming lance and lunged at him.
Seeing a powerful enemy still in front of them while the two behind her had already started fighting each other, Rover let out a long, helpless sigh.
Meanwhile, in the Fallacy of No Return's database, the word "joy" appeared. Even as a computer, it understood joy.
Just when it thought it was about to lose, things suddenly took a turn. The enemy had actually started internal conflict.
If that was the case, turning the Supreme Administrator into the core might not be impossible after all…
With that thought, the Tethys System felt like it could fight again. Its massive body regained strength, raising a giant fist and smashing it toward Rover.
"Target: Supreme... hmm?"
Along with a strangely human-like note of confusion, the Tethys System suddenly realized it couldn't control its body anymore.
Lowering its head in confusion, it saw that the Supreme Administrator it had been targeting was now grabbing its armor with her left hand, while the mark on the back of her right hand glowed brightly.
As if noticing its surprise, Rover raised her head. A bright smile appeared on her delicate face.
"Since Zane's gotten bored of playing, there's no need for me to keep pretending."
As she spoke, her right hand reached toward the core. The closer it got, the brighter the light on the back of her hand became.
The Tethys System felt like it could still be saved, so it controlled the Fallacy of No Return to struggle wildly.
But no matter how hard it tried, the slender hand gripping its heavy armor didn't move an inch.
Ignoring its resistance, Rover extended her hand toward the core…
"Stop…"
A startled cry suddenly came from within the Tethys System, and the voice sounded strangely familiar.
Rover's face went blank as she glanced at Zane, who was still fooling around with Stelle. If it wasn't him, who else could it be?
'Who knows what that guy did this time!'
Pushing the question aside, Rover grabbed the core of the Tethys System and began to modify it.
"Ahhh…"
"It's going in…"
"There's too much!"
———
Before long, the massive body of the Fallacy of No Return gradually disappeared, and the originally cold Tethys System began rebooting.
What Rover had injected into it needed time to integrate…
And the entire Tethys System needed to be scanned again. The Zane virus had already spread throughout the entire data network.
Of course, Rover didn't care about any of that. At this moment, her cheeks were slightly flushed as she carried her blade and walked toward the still-unaware Zane…