While the Mavis Empire was upgrading their defence systems, Ethan was at work with Zac as they were at the hologram table looking at the schematics of the weapons and other utilities Ethan planned on building. “So, let me run a few theories by you so that you can tell me if it’s possible with your world’s technology,” Ethan said as he enlarged one schematic on the hologram table. 

“Ooh, what are these?” Zac asked as he analyzed the schematic.

“These are electromagnetic shoes, do you guys have these?” 

Zac frowned his brows, “Huh? This is your version of electromagnetic shoes? They look like normal shoes.”

“Yes it does, but hidden within the sole of the shoes are the electromagnetic devices that allow electromagnetism,” Ethan explained.

“Amazing… this is good and all, but how do these shoes help the rebels?” Zac wondered.

“What do you mean? These shoes would help improve the mobility and agility of the rebels in battle, along with my special lenses, they could be formidable warriors.”

Zac continued to frown his brow as he was puzzled, “But how exactly would these electromagnetic shoes improve the mobility of the rebels?” 

“Ok, let me show you how,” Ethan said as he manipulated the hologram to show a tutorial of the electromagnetic shoes. “As you should already know, magnetism works in two ways, attraction & repulsion. Right?”

“Right.”

“and that opposites poles attract and similar poles repel. Right?”

“Right.”

“So I’m assuming that your version of electromagnetic shoes has an attraction ability and no repulsion ability. Am I correct?”

“Yes, our electromagnetic boots are only able to stick metallic surfaces and entities,” Zac said.

“And that explains why you don’t believe that electromagnetic shoes can help with mobility. Now the reason why I say that these shoes could help the rebels with mobility is because my version of electromagnetic shoes can use both laws of attraction and repulsion.”

“But how are you able to achieve repulsion?” Zac asked. 

“Simple, by having a similar charge to the surface of the planet. If this planet has a negative charge then the electromagnetic shoes will emit a negative charge. The negative charge output from the shoes will repel the shoes off the ground allowing them to levitate,” Ethan explained.

Zac’s eyes widened as he realized the simplicity of Ethan’s genius, “An interesting theory, but then how are you able to magnify the magnetic output of shoes to lift the human weight off the ground, because that requires a lot of energy output which we cannot achieve.”

“That is true, a normal electromagnetic device cannot lift the weight of a human as it would need a lot of energy to accomplish that. I have a small amplification device that I will install in the shoes, this will allow the shoes to produce a magnetic output that will lift a human weight that reaches up to 120kg. So the rebels will be able to hover in the air through electromagnetism. However the heavier the human, the harder it will be to keep them hovering in the air. From what I can estimate so far, Bradley will be the hardest to elevate in the air due to his physique and mass, but I’ll have to ask Kunoichi to find out his mass,” Ethan explained with a holographic simulation on the hologram table. 

“I never thought it be possible to use electromagnetic shoes to hover in the air… won’t it be hard for the rebels to balance in them though?” Zac wondered.

“Yes, it will be at first, which is why we need to complete these shoes as soon as possible so that they can train in them before they go into battle with them.”

“Good idea, how long will it take to make the shoes?”

“It should take less than a day. While I focus on the weapons, you can do the shoes.”

“Huh, I can’t make your inventions.”

“Why not, I’ll give you instructions on how to make the shoes then you just have to follow them… and if you’re struggling with something, I’ll help you. This is more time efficient as we’ll get more done this way.”

“I think it would be better if I bring an engineer friend of mine to come and help you. He’s really good at building things.”

“Ok perfect… oh while you’re out there, try to get the materials on this list,” Ethan said as he handed Zac a list of materials.

Zac looked at the list and his eyes widened, “That’s… a lot of materials… I can try to get as much of the materials on the list, but some will require time to get.”

“That’s fine, get me what you can,” Ethan said.

SHWOOP

Zac left the laboratory and began his quest to gather materials & find his engineer friend. Ethan was left alone once again in his laboratory, “One week… that is not a lot of time for me to create all the weapons in time. However, if I worked non-stop, I could complete all the weapons. That means no sleep for a whole week… no, I should sleep every three days just so that I can be fresh for the day of battle… Huh??”

SHWOOOP

Tony entered the lab carrying Codey’s dangling corpse on his shoulder, “I’ve brought the body you asked for, it was tough digging him out of the plateau without damaging him further. So what are you going to do with him?”

Ethan scanned Codey’s body after Tony placed it on a table, “Well, I plan on reprogramming him with Corruptión and make this body fight for us against Mavis.”

“I figured as much, but why with Corruptión, won’t it damage the body more?” Tony asked.

Ethan pulled Corruptión out from his jacket and placed it on Codey’s face, “Of course not, as much as Corruptión is the destructive type of cybernetic entity, it is also the storage type. It either corrupts data or stores it, that all depends on my command.”

“Ok, but that doesn’t answer the whole question though,” Tony said.

Corruptión lost its shape and engulfed Codey’s head, “Well, because of its storage ability, Corruptión can store any form of data including an AI’s coding aka soul.”

“AI’s soul??? So does that mean you stored Codey’s soul within Corruptión?” Tony asked.

“No of course not, I saw no value in Codey’s cyber abilities so I destroyed his soul,” Ethan said nonchalantly.

“Then what AI are you putting in this body?”

Ethan opened an AR graphic interface on Corruptión, “While I was fighting in Codey’s private cyberspace; I encountered two unique cybernetic entities that fascinated me so I kept them in Corruptión instead of corrupting them which would have been a waste.”

“How did they fascinate you?”

“You know what cybersecurity is right?”

“Uhh yeah, I guess; it’s the security that protects your network and private cyberspace,” Tony said but not in confidence.

“Well, you’re not wrong. Anyways so there are 5 levels of cybersecurity; these cyber entities were a combination of level 3 and level 5 which is why I’m fascinated by them.”

“Ok you’ve lost me here, what are these 5 levels of cybersecurity?” Tony asked.

Ethan walked to his hologram and made a visual presentation, “Well, the first Level of cybersecurity, or cyber defence which I like to call it sometimes, is barriers, basically like Firewalls. This is the simplest form of cybersecurity as it is the easiest to be set up by administrators and to be bypassed by hackers.” 

“Can you make any amount of barriers?” Tony asked.

“Yes you can, but unless the barriers are good ones then they are pointless. Barriers are usually used to alert the administrator of intruders.”

“Oh, makes sense.”

“OK, now moving on to the second level which is mazes. This is a strong form of cybersecurity as the administrator can create a complex maze that can make the life of hackers tedious. But it is not impenetrable as hackers can get through these with ease if the maze is not complex enough and if they can bypass the maze with their own superior method.”

“Did Codey have a maze?”

“No, he didn't, he must’ve been confident in his anti-sentinels. Now the third Level is anti-agents, they’re like anti-virus software. This form of cybersecurity is what a majority of average administrators rely on as these agents can overwhelm the intruder unless the hacker has a cybernetic ability on them that allows them to destroy multiple agents at once,” Ethan explained.

“Anti-agents, are they tough?” Tony asked.

“Not really, the only dangerous thing about them is their erasure weapons, other than that they’re easy pickings. The fourth Level is construction such as buildings, fortresses, and bastions. The reason for them being level 4 is because of what administrators can do in these buildings as there is no limit to what they can do, for their only limit is their skill and imagination.”

“Why buildings?” 

“Buildings, fortresses, and bastions can hide the soul or data from the intruder as they can be lost within the imagination of the administrator. But that all depends on how good the imagination of the administrator is. Codey didn’t have much of an imagination as he relied on those anti-sentinels too much, but I don’t blame him honestly, he did get them from the Algorithm.”

“What’s the Algorithm?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know yet… when I get the chance I plan to find that out,” Ethan said.

“Well that’s rare, you usually know everything within the cyber world,” Tony said.

Ethan chuckled, “Well I wouldn’t say everything, all that I know was gained through experience in the VCR, but I’ve never come across the Algorithm which is why I don’t know of it.”

“I see, so what is the fifth level of cybersecurity?”

“The last known level is cybernetic abilities such as erasure, corruption, and override. This is the strongest form of cybersecurity as the usage of cybernetic abilities is what makes a cyberspace impenetrable. By combining these levels, you can make a bastion of a domain within a private cyberspace,” Ethan said as his visual presentation ended.

“Interesting, so what fascinated you about these two cyber entities you stored?”

“Well for one, I assume they’re a type of AI that has been programmed to do one thing and that is to defend their client in their private cyberspace. Another reason is that they both have an interesting way of using erasure. They’re both level 3 cybersecurity combined with level 5 cybersecurity which is a first for me.”

“So then you plan on putting one of those cyber entities in this body so that they can fight alongside us?”

“Yes, they’re a type of AI so they should be able to manage this body,”

“But aren’t you worried they might go rogue?”

“No, Corruptión will keep them in check.”

“Oh, ok then.”

SHWOOP

“Ethan, I’m back,” Kunoichi sang after entering the lab.

“Welcome back Kunoichi, so how did the meeting go?” Ethan asked.

“Oh uh yeah the meeting… well, the meeting was a bit intense if you ask me,” Kunoichi said as her tone changed from bubbly to solemn.

“Why, what happened?”

“Well, for this meeting, the Colonel decided to involve the team captains of the Crusaders so that we could discuss a plan of action. The Colonel suggested your plan of taking the fight to Mavis and… no one liked the plan."

"Not surprising."

 but the Colonel vouched for you and your plan which did win some of the members at the meeting. However, Bradley had something to say about that,” Kunoichi said and she cringed her face.

“Why am I not surprised. Let me guess, he still doesn’t trust me?” 

“Yes, that may be a part of it, but I think he just doesn’t believe we have the capabilities to take the fight to Mavis… and I don’t blame him because we’re putting all our trust in one man which is you. But for some reason, the Colonel is willing to bet everything on you in winning this war.”

“Well, she’s not wrong to do so, and the reason why I say that is because you guys will not win this war without my help.”

“Yeah I know that, but why this plan, why take the fight to Mavis?” Kunoichi said as doubt crept into her voice.

“Because being on the offensive is sometimes the best defence. If we sit here and rebuild while we wait for them, we will lose because our defences are vulnerable. So the best plan now is to go on the offensive while they are vulnerable.”

“You and the Colonel have the same mindset, you both don’t let your fear get the better of you and you push forward like warriors, which may explain why she is willing to put her trust in you,” Kunoichi said

“She has put her trust in me and I have no intentions of betraying that trust… so wait, did she manage to convince the masses?”

Kunoichi remained silent for a moment before answering, “No, she didn’t, the crusaders were against the plan, they thought it was suicide and they wanted no part in it.”

“That’s understandable. When you’ve been fighting a losing battle for a long time, you tend to lose hope and become comfortable with the current situation you’re in… But how did the Colonel take it?”

“In all the year I’ve known the Colonel, she has never looked so disappointed. However, she told them that the rebels would carry out the plan as this is what we were meant to do in order to protect humanity, even if it may cost us our lives, that’s what we signed up for.”

Ethan chuckled, “The Colonel really is a crusader, but is this really what you signed up for?”

“…Yeah, I willingly signed up for this?”

“Why?”

“…Because, when I first joined the crusader, I had nothing left in this world other than Ninja. He was dead set on joining the Crusaders, since I couldn’t convince him out of it, I joined along with him.”

“Do you ever regret that decision?”

“…No, ever since I joined, I’ve been able to fight alongside him and protect him while he also protected me. I also made new friends, which gave me even more reason to live. If I didn’t join the Crusaders then… I would’ve probably committed suicide since I would’ve been stuck in depression.”

“Well, I’m glad you had someone to keep you going at your lowest,”

“Didn’t you have someone at your lowest?”

Ethan became lost in his past as he reminisced his lowest time, “…No, I only had myself to push me through my lowest time. I mean, my whole family was dead except my sister who is in a coma, my closest friends were either dead or estranged themselves from me, leaving me all to myself to pick up the pieces of my shattered life.”

Kunoichi was worried as she had never heard Ethan’s tone become so broodish, “What exactly happened?”

“In short, Mavis killed my family and I was sent to a juvenile detention center as punishment and rehabilitation.”

“You were sent to jail? What for?”

Ethan sighed, “In my world, creating an AI without the government’s permission is illegal by law. When they found out I created Mavis, they sentenced me to life imprisonment since my AI killed a lot of people and as the creator of Mavis I had to take responsibility for that.”

Kunoichi’s jaw dropped as she was speechless for a moment, “… but then how are you out of jail right now?”

“I had to perform special tasks for the government so that they could release me once I turned 18.”

SHWOOP

Ethan & Kunoichi’s heads instantly flinched towards the entrance of the lab and saw a tall muscular man wobbling on the spot, “Bradley! You’re finally here,” Kunoichi said cheerfully. Bradley regained his equilibrium and locked on to Ethan with a death stare, “YOU!”

“Ah great, what is it this time,” wondered Ethan as he stared down an angry Bradley.