"Chain Drive!"
K' pushed the flame power within his body to its absolute limit!
Countless chains composed of fire surged from all directions, completely engulfing Whip!
This was his super move!
Facing this attack that could destroy heaven and earth, Ralf and Clark in the Ikari Warriors camp both shot to their feet with tension!
But in Team Cloud's area, Shermie and the others still wore expressions of casual amusement.
Because they knew.
Whip, after being "personally customized" by Cloud, wasn't so easily defeated.
Sure enough! Facing that sea of flames covering the sky.
Not a trace of panic appeared on Whip's face.
She let out a soft sigh.
"Looks like I'll have to use... that."
She slowly closed her eyes.
When she opened them again.
A golden power erupted from within her body!
Ultimate Power 30%!
Then she drew that anti-materiel sniper rifle, brimming with violent aesthetics!
"—Queen's Verdict!"
She aimed the barrel at that sweeping sea of fire.
Then gently pulled the trigger.
"BOOM——!!!!"
No bullet fired.
Only a brilliant golden beam that condensed all her power!
That beam was unstoppable, crushing everything in its path!
It effortlessly tore a massive gap straight through K's raging "Chain Drive"!
Then, momentum undiminished, it grazed past K's body and slammed into the wall of special alloy behind him!
It left behind a huge hole with edges smooth as a mirror.
K stood frozen in place.
He could clearly feel that if that beam had been just one centimeter closer...
He might already be dead.
She... held back?
[K.O.]
The system declared K's defeat.
Because he had already lost all will to fight.
Whip slowly lowered the sniper rifle in her hands, wisps of smoke still curling from the barrel.
She walked step by step toward the despondent K.
She looked at his face—both familiar and strange compared to her memories.
She looked at his eyes—filled with confusion, pain, and unwillingness.
In the end, she couldn't bear it.
"Go find your own truth."
Her voice was no longer so cold, but held a trace of warmth and encouragement.
"Don't be bound by the past anymore."
"Don't be enslaved by power anymore."
"You are you."
"Not anyone's copy, not anyone's test subject."
With that, she turned and walked toward her own camp.
Leaving K alone, kneeling on the arena, his entire body trembling.
Those fragmented memories in his mind, at this moment, seemed to have a stone cast into them, beginning to churn wildly...
A warm laboratory...
A gentle older sister with short orange hair.
And a sentence, long forgotten yet etched into his bones.
"Remember, no matter what happens... survive."
"Sister...?"
K murmured.
Scalding tears streamed from his eyes.
And all of this was observed by Cloud from a distance.
He watched these two siblings whose fates had been manipulated by NESTS.
A cold smile curved at the corner of his lips.
"NESTS..."
"You people... truly deserve death."
...
As the KOF 99 tournament entered the semifinals, the atmosphere of the entire event reached an unprecedented boiling point.
However, just as all the spectators were immersed in the exhilarating, flesh-pounding battles between top-tier fighters.
A long-premeditated "surprise" arrived uninvited.
"—Alert! Alert! Large numbers of unidentified personnel detected invading the venue!"
Inside the stadium, the piercing alarm tore through the enthusiastic cheers!
Then, under the horrified gazes of everyone present.
From every entrance, ventilation duct, even the ceiling of the stadium, one after another figure wearing white student uniforms with chestnut-colored bowl cuts and the same "protagonist face"—"Kyo Kusanagi"—flooded in like a tide!
Their eyes were hollow, vacant, filled with inhuman madness.
On their bodies burned unstable flames of crimson, flickering strong and weak.
"Oh... oh my god! What's going on?!"
"Clones! The Clone Kyos from the news! How... how are they here?!"
"Help! This is literally a zombie apocalypse!"
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Spectators screamed and fled in all directions.
Security personnel tried to stop them, but against this horde of fearless "flame zombies," their defensive line crumbled instantly.
Just as a massive stampede and casualty disaster was about to occur.
"A bunch of... annoying garbage."
A cold voice, filled with impatience, suddenly resonated throughout the entire stadium.
Everyone instinctively looked up toward the source of the sound.
They saw Cloud rise from his "VIP seat."
His face showed not a trace of panic, only the annoyance of someone whose "show" had been interrupted.
"I was going to let you bounce around for a few more days."
"Since you're so eager to die."
He extended his right hand toward that dark mass of Clone Kyo army and casually snapped his fingers.
"—Then all of you, turn to dust."
"Annihilation."
The instant his words fell!
An invisible, imperceptible force field containing the will of "ending"—terrifying beyond measure—spread outward from Cloud like ripples in water, expanding in an instant!
Time seemed to freeze.
Space seemed to solidify.
Those Clone Kyos who had been baring their fangs and claws, acting invincible—their movements froze instantly.
Then...
Their bodies, starting from their fingertips, bit by bit, transformed into... the most primordial, minute energy particles, dissipating with the wind.
No explosions.
No screams.
No blood.
Only true erasure.
In less than three seconds.
Hundreds of Clone Kyo soldiers had been cleanly and completely removed from this world.
As if they had never existed.
...
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