13th Project: Substitute Coder

Year-End Special Chapter: Debugging the Remnants of Revelation

Usada-san went silent with her eyes trailing onto her sword until she nodded and sheathed her sword beside her hips. She then stood upright and positioned like she was holding a bow in her hand. In just a second, a bluish bow appeared with a golden arrow cocked in its string. After releasing the string, the arrow propelled onto the Malware's head, in which I was left stunned after it caused a loud explosion upon impact.

"Whatever you want to do, do it fast!!"

Hearing Keith's scream woke my mind up, focusing my attention back on its weakness which was visible in front of me, now covered with some protective barrier.

Well, what can a barrier do against me?

"Brace yourself, guys. It's gon' be a rough shot!" I yelled as a missile was summoned above me.

Highlighting the missile, I began increasing its energy for a stronger explosion. After seeing both of them having their own shields, I launched the missile towards the command console before creating a wall in front of me.

"Take that, you filthy Malware!"

In just a moment, a bright flash lit up the surroundings, followed by a loud explosion that almost broke my eardrums.

As the wall I made crumbled, the Malware could be seen with half of its body destroyed by the missile. In a matter of seconds, the rest of its body disintegrated like an ash blown by a weak breeze.

"Deactivate Developer Mode."

The black barrier faded from Keith's voice, who walked towards me and gave a pat on my shoulder with relief seen from his face.

"Nice bomb, bro. Although you should've accounted for the noise it made. I can still hear the rings in my ear."

"If I said brace yourself, then you should've brought some new ears to use."

"That was amazing. Thank you, peko!"

My heart almost jumped after hearing Usada-san's voice beside us. I really forgot about her for a moment. 

Speaking of forgetting.

"That's nothing, Usada-san. But can you give me a favor?"

"Yeah, sure. And call me Pekora instead."

"Okay, Pekora. Can you forget everything that happened here?"

"What if I don't?"

"Then I'll brute force myself into your brain and delete your memory."

"Geez, fine. I was just joking."

A brief silence came between our conversation until Keith coughed.

"We haven't even got a proper introduction yet."

"It's okay, Keith. You don't need to do that." She then glanced at me. "And you're Seijuro, right?"

"Yes, yes. You really caught up well."

"Well, you're really yelling each other's name earlier so I got the idea."

With the satisfaction visible from our faces, it gave me the signal to bid my farewell.

"Guess my job here is done."

"Where are you going now, peko?"

"Back to my world."

"Wait, other worlds exist?" Pekora's jaw dropped from that discovery

"Yes, and those worlds were as much fun as yours."

"I see." Pekora then glanced at Keith, who was silent the entire time. "How about you? Do you live in another world?"

"Nah, I live in this world. I'm omnipotent and omnipresent. It's just you didn't notice me around this world."

He then patted her shoulder and continued. "We may be godlike creatures, but we're siding no one in your war. We're just here to fix every broken piece in this server, not to give you ease in winning this fight, understand?"

"Fret not, I can manage this myself. Just wait and you'll see me leading this country."

"With that kind of motivation, you're going to achieve that goal. I will be watching your journey of progression until the end."

Keith gave a thumbs up at her before he glared at me and nodded.

"Thanks, Seijuro. You're truly a great friend."

"You mean a great jerk?"

"Yeah, that too."

We had a brief moment of laughter before I summoned a blue screen in front of me. Appearing in it was my path back to my Server.

"See you later, Keith-en!"

"In a while, Seiju-rude!"

Oh my god, that was so cringe.

As my body glowed after tapping the screen, I took a glimpse at Pekora, who's also glowing for the same reason.

"I'm sending you home," Keith stated, inputting the coordinates in his screen.

Giving a nod as a response, she peered at me and said her final goodbye.

"Hope we meet again, Seijuro."

"I hope so. Do your best!"

Within a second, my scenery changed back with me standing inside my apartment.

That was a tiring day, but fortunately, I got exposed to a different Server, discovered more about Malwares, and met a new friend. 

It's all worth it.

I should take a rest. I still have school tomorrow.

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Thanks for your hard work, Cennonn-senpai!

Wish you luck and a prosperous 2023!

From your inspired student,

Maki