Paint It, Black II

When the remaining 8 copies that had not moved, split in half at different angles surprising Muse, who again created distance when it saw its copies destroyed without any of it having noticed or been able to react.

Quickly recreated the copies that had been destroyed a moment ago.

"'I hope you're able to keep up with me'" Said the Soulcode who, with a fluid motion, jumped towards Muse with incredible speed, launching a series of quick slashes with Getsuga.

Muse managed to dodge some of the attacks, but others landed, causing damage to their code body. As Muse tried to stay on the defensive, the copies started surrounding Soulcode, attacking from different angles, repeating the strategy used against Arc.

But unlike when they attacked Arc, when its green code weapons full of malware were about to hit him, he disappeared.

Reappearing againg, behind the 8 copies that surrounded him, at the same time, creating 8 copies of himself, which again made 8 Slashes with 8 Getsugas that shone intensely, passing through the 8 copies of the jesters, disintegrating them as soon as their attack ended.

The 16 copies that had suddenly filled the server disappeared, leaving only the androgynous Muse and the Soulcode, and..... Eco, who was in a corner of the server, witnessing everything with their tail between their legs since "White Sora" had turned into "Black Sora."

Muse, resigned and angry, seeing their story beginning to spiral out of control, recreated their 8 copies, charging with them towards the Soulcode. he reacted by stepping forward, creating 8 copies on their sides, which also charged towards Muse and their copies.

A conflict erupted between 18 copies and their two original versions, who were fighting saturating the Tygers' server once again. Muse could see how, with just a few blows against their copies, the Soulcode's copies disappeared, reappearing again a few milliseconds later.

When the two-gendered Muse realized what this meant, it created an expression of surprise and doubt on tis classic theatrical mask as it fought against the only Soulcode that didn't disappear, or if it did, Muse couldn't notice.

"You...they're not copies. They're all..." said Muse, expressing it surprise in their two-toned voice of their two genders.

"Hehehe, you have already noticed? Congratulations! Let me show you," said Soulcode in front of Muse before disappearing again, along with the rest of their copies. Reappearing as a single Soulcode, away from Muse and their copies

Starting to move rapidly around Muse and its copies, without ceasing to increase their speed, it seemed that there were two of them in different positions as they moved, without reducing their speed at all, if not the opposite, doubling the number of Soulcode images from two to four, which soon became eight, without leaving any trail between them just looking like copies of the same being.

And Soulcode wasn't exaggerating when he asked if Muse could keep up, when the 8 copies generated by the speed with which Soulcode was moving changed to...16, and didn't stop there, finally stopping when they reached 32, saturating and overloading the Tygers' server.

With all of them surrounding Muse and its pitiful 8 copies of itself that it was so proud of, all of them looking incredulously at the 32 Soulcode copies surrounding them like a pack of wolves.

They began to attack, only to retreat the next moment, allowing another of the 32 copies to attack.

Far surpassing Muse's ability to create copies and replace the lost ones. Forcing Musa's copies to form a defensive circle around the original version to protect him and give him time to create more copies.

But surprisingly the defenses of the 8 copies of Muse maintained the defensive circle, against the 32 copies or residual images of the Soulcode, which did not press when a gap was created in Muse's defenses.

Almost as if waiting, to continue destroying the copies Muse was desperately generating, without Muse noticing how with every move of White-Getsuga cutting its copies, something was happening in its copies`s codes.

Until something strange happened to the last of the copies that Muse made, when the copy was just created it suddenly fell to its knees, started to swell and deform, and when the green code could not stretch any further .... it burst like a balloon.

Silencing the server and pausing the battle when it happened, and shortly afterwards, disappearing the 32 residual images of the Soulcode, leaving only one again, which was the one that had been moving around like crazy, seeming like 32 copies of himself.

Breathing heavily, showing the fatigue of his code, copying his way of showing it from his physical body, but smiling in the silence of the server with the light blue jaws of his black mask.

Interrupting the silence, when the original version of Muse and his 7 copies shouted at the same time, "What have you done!" Recriminating the Soulcode for the strange behavior of his copy and the fact that he was unable to create it again, keeping 7 of them, fearing that if the others were destroyed, he would not be able to create them again.

"Me? Nothing..." said Soulcode, who had finished breathing heavily, being able to take a break for a few seconds, while tapping the blunt part of the white version of Getsuga on his shoulder, as if it were a hint of what had happened.

Understanding what the Soulcode was hinting at, one of the 7 copies who had the expression of doubt or thoughtfulness on her classic mask, exclaimed. "That sword!"

"Oh! You're on fire! 2 for 2, you're right again! Congratulations again," the Soulcode replied, smiling with its jaws as if that were the prize for the correct answer, adding, "What do you see behind this server...."

Soulcode, referring to all the servers dyed in the same white as Getsuga, as far as the eye could see.

One by one, Muse and its copies, starting with the original version of both genders, began to understand what the Soulcode meant by those vague words, changing the expressions on their masks to anger, surprise, and fear.

"YOU ARE NOT-" shouted the original two-gender Muse.

"Yes!" Being interrupted by the Soulcode's assertion as his smile grew almost reaching the blue lines like eyes of his black mask.

The Soulcode had an idea of how the copies worked, even if it didn't seem like it, by observing the battle between Arc and Muse.

It seemed like Muse was always connected to its copies, always able to use them to appear from them if its body was destroyed, creating an equal system for the copies, in which if they were destroyed, a part of them returned to the main body and regenerated from the small part that had returned, as if the original had some kind of backup of each copy and vice versa.

And that's where the beauty of the white version of Getsuga using its connection to the Night City servers came in. Using server content, instead of the space on the servers to create a powerful attack in the Cyberspace as it had planned from the beginning.

So that with each cut with White-Getsuga in Muse's copies, there was a brief but massive data discharge from the servers that saturated the copy's code in its last moments, even the small part of the code that returned to the original, needing to repeat this process enough times for that small part of the code that returned to the original to saturate the secure code.

Reaching the point where the code was so saturated with server data that the remnants of the copy's code could not contain it, causing them to swell and explode like a balloon.

The Soulcode was the first to move again, grabbing Getsuga's blade with its free hand, running its hand along the blade, dyeing Getsuga in black code as if it were a sheath, while taking it to its waist, creating a sword-drawing posture.

Disappearing and reappearing with its unsheathed Getsuga in its hands in the midst of the rest of Muse's copies, sheathing the sword back in the black sheath in its hand, and when he did, seven intense white slashes split the rest of Muse's 7 copies.

With Muse's version of two genres taking a step back, after seeing the attack that had just slaughtered its copies. forcing it to do more against its will, fearing that it might lose them too until it figured out how to fix what was happening to them, but was forced to make the sacrifice to buy more time

And as feared, of the 7 new copies, now there were two, who kneeled down and deformed, swelling up before exploding when their green code could take no more.

With the remaining 5 charging at the Soulcode, which did nothing, just continued walking without changing the speed or direction of its steps, facing the 5 copies head-on.

Using the white version of Getsuga to stop some of their attacks and the rest ... creating a tail made of sharp sections of black code from behind his hip, surrounding him and stopping the rest of the copies' attacks.

Synchronizing Getusda and its black code tail to repel the copies' attacks. Using his tail to impale and lift one of the copies, while with Getsuga, it cut two of the classic masks with a nervous and scared expression on them in half. Moving its tail to bring the impaled copy closer and cutting it in half with White-Getsuga too.

Leaving two copies that retreated again to the original's side, while the Soulcode continued approaching them walking, having barely managed to stop a few of its steps with the desperate attack of its 5 copies.

With Muse knowing what was going to happen to the 3 copies it had lost, but still creating them, repeating the process in which, as soon as they were made, they knelt and swelled until they exploded.

Turning to the Soulcode, and it said, "Arc, human, I was wrong about you, okay? You certainly didn't stoop to joining that contru-, that human... you're a survivor, Arc! After all you've been through, you're back to being so powerful. Let's stop fighting, Arc, human, I don't want their plans to continue either. What do you think about an alliance, this side of the network against the one behind the wall? What do you say?"

"As I said ... I have nothing more to say to a dead thing," Said the Soulcode with their two voices in unison, disappearing again, but unlike the first time he did, he attacked the original Muse first, cutting off its two legs before it could react.

At the same time, with his black-coded tail, it tightly coiled around the torso along with the arms of one of the copies, while with his free hand claw-like, grabbed the neck of the last one.

After Muse's legs, the Soulcode moved Getsuga to the head of the one, he was grabbing by the neck, who tried to counterattack, cutting off his head. And he finally droving Getsuga into the mask of the coiled and immobilized copy by his tail.

After finishing all copies in an instant, the Soulcode grabbed the white version of Getsuga with both hands, performing a vertical slash towards the original Muse without legs in front of him.

But just as it was about to cut the last Muse without legs from the server.

Getsuga stopped in front of Muse`s mask, which, like its body, had two genders in it, expressing surprise and doubt at the same time, seeing how the Soulcode, after stopped his sword in front its mask, was moving his head as if he were talking to someone and, by the way it was doing it, getting angry.

"Tch...I didn't want to talk again and fuck up my last great line, but Arc won't stop bothering me if I don't ask... Muse, have they already obtained Arc´s Legacy?" said the Soulcode in a voice with Arc's tone and Sora's at the same time.

"....." Leaving the surprised Muse, who thought it was going to die, in silence.

"Answer!" Shouted the two voices of the Soulcode in unison.

"They have only managed to recover a small part, the part they needed to maintain the satellite servers, but they keep searching, especially for the programming to be able to move them," Muse replied, grateful for the few seconds they were gaining.

Talking about Arc's Legacy, all the files, programs and technology that Arc had stored behind the Wall, many of them being technologies lost to humans after the Datakrash. Which Arc had spread through cyberspace in his last moments to screw over the AIs that were looking for it.

"Happy?" said the Soulcode aloud, not referring to Muse. "Well, Stalker, I wonder if the AIs will have a heaven? Maybe Omnissiah?"

"No, no, wait!" Muse cried out, showing desperation in his theatrical mask, as he saw the Soulcode raise his sword again, so close to what he was hoping for.

The Soulcode stopped his strike again just as it was about to hit Muse, creating the first discrepancy in the voices of the Soulcode.

One said, "That... idiot," and the other said, "I, you.... idiot," at the same time.

When one of the arms of the Soulcode began to disappear.

Causing him to stop playing, when the Soulcode quickly stabbed the chest of the surprised Muse with Getsuga, triggering his body to swell and deform, although it took much longer than his copies. Muse desperately grabbed Getsuga with their hands, trying to remove it as their code saturated.

But the Soulcode did not allow it, increasing the strength of his grip on Getsuga and pulling it out from the opposite end of Muse's body, feeling how Arc inside of him enjoyed watching Muse's last moments

Ending when its green code could not be extended any further, exploding agonizingly like the rest of its copies.

The Soulcode felt how Arc inside him reveled in revenge against one of the AIs who had conspired to kill him.

But the rest of the Soulcode felt uncomfortable with Muse's final moments. As Muse's theatrical mask, which had embodied both genders, was about to explode, it appeared to the Soulcode that only one remained.

He had to stop thinking about them when more of his body began to disappear. He quickly turned his head to look at the part of the server where the files were stored, disappearing from where he was and appearing in front of the stacked cubes inside the server, representing different folders.

The Soulcode moved Getsuga once more towards a cube that was being reinforced with several lines of code, creating a barrier that prevented access to the data inside. Getsuga saturated and bloated the code, just like Muse and its copies, exploding like them too, revealing the cube without harm and the security that locked it, down.

"Eco!" shouted the Soulcode, when more parts of his body were beginning to disappear.

"Wo-of" Eco barked with some fear as he arrived in front of the ``Black Sora´´ that was slowly fading away.

"Take this file and give it to this IDn number, before returning to the apartment QPC, do you hear me?"

"Woof!" affirmed Eco, opening his mouth and absorbing the cube that the "Black Sora" had given him, along with the IDn number of Brock with whom Sora had made a deal, and his Soulcode also wanted him to fulfill his part of the deal.

"Good boy!" said the Soulcode, caressing Eco with the one arm he had left in front of him, adding aloud before he finished decomposing, "and you, go back home too, with your condition, you don't have much time to play outside, hehehe."

Puzzling Eco, tilting his head as he did not understand who the ``Black Sora´´ was talking to.

But, from the remains of the blue code left by Soulcode when it disappeared, it reassembled into the avatar of a blue code dog that looked just like Eco.

Upon seeing Eco's gaze, Arc snapped, "What are you looking at?" This caused Eco to whimper sadly, ears drooping at the violent tone of Arc's voice. Meanwhile, Arc looked outside the server and saw how the other servers, which had been tinted white, were starting to regain their usual colors in their codes.

At the same time, Arc's own code began to become unstable as the white code that kept it stable had disappeared along with Soulcode. This was due to Sora's loss of consciousness in the physical world, with only a few nanobots in his body, which were the ones transmitting the White-code from Sora's mind.

Arc sighed, thinking about how he ended up in this situation tied to a human, appreciating this moment, almost alone after a long time, without having to endure the obnoxious Soulcode, while also disappearing from the Tygers' server before his unstable code reached the point of no return... back to "home."

Leaving only Eco on the server, who also disappeared, to followed the orders of the ``black Sora´´ when he was left alone.