*Chapter 31: Silver Wolf Really Got Controlled by Jizo Mitama !*

Silver Wolf had never hated cheaters this much.
Seriously.
Not even once.
Cheating in single-player games, whatever. But cheating in multiplayer online games?

What's the meaning of that? !
What 'special ability doesn't count as cheating'? If that counts, isn't my ability to edit reality data also a cheat? !
Then what's the meaning of my Aether Editing being sealed? ! I'm asking !
What kind of special ability can seal a cheat? ! Even though that person left, for some reason, I still can't use Aether Editing to escape ! Creating data normally for attack and defense is fine, but I can't directly teleport with this ability anymore !

The only thing she could do now was hack into the Simulated Universe's code and stall until Kafka arrived.
And this cheater is also an insidious guy who likes sneak attacks from behind and uses unscrupulous means !
Getting killed by someone who suddenly appeared... she refused to accept it ! No one ever said this Stelle learned how to instantly summon backup !
Damn it ! She's going to summon backup too !

"You're still here sending messages? Not leaving? Want me to treat you to dinner?"
Herta saw immediately what Silver Wolf was doing, though she couldn't see the message content, only trace where it was sent.
What puzzled her, however, was why Silver Wolf wasn't running.

It's not Herta's fault she couldn't immediately consider the possibility that Silver Wolf couldn't leave. The reality-editing Aether Editing wasn't a common ability. Asking her why Silver Wolf didn't leave, Herta could only think she might still be planning something behind the scenes.
If someone from the Genius Society suddenly stopped doing research, you wouldn't immediately suspect they lost their research ability, right?

Well, not leaving was fine too. A good opportunity to settle the total score during this time.
She didn't care about station matters, but the Simulated Universe issue was different, and it landed right in her lap. Settling both matters together... just banning seventy-six game accounts wasn't enough.
Anyone who dared provoke her would pay back a hundredfold !

"Leave?"
Leave my ass !
Silver Wolf desperately wanted to rage back like that, then use every means possible to dismantle this puppet into parts and mail it back to Herta's main body for super-assembly.
But she couldn't.
Aether Editing was locked down.
Even though that person left, Aether Editing was still largely unusable.
Couldn't pull open a portal. This meant even the most basic logout button was grayed out.

The good news, however, was that her message to Kafka hadn't vanished into the void. The recipient status showed 'Received'.

[Kafka: You messed up? ]
[Silver Wolf: Someone has a way to block Aether Editing ! I messed up ! Save me ! ]
[Kafka: Don't die. I'm coming right away. ]

Silver Wolf could feel the gray-haired girl beside her watching with rapt attention, as if observing some amusing monkey show.
Stop looking ! Look again and I'll gouge your eyes out !

Seeing Silver Wolf glare over, Stelle averted her gaze, happening to see Jiang Liang stroking his chin, seemingly deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about?"
Stelle always felt Jiang Liang was brewing some mischief.
She'd read a book on cannibalistic social skills... it said simply: when someone stays inactive for a long time, they're either AFK or thinking about how to cause trouble.
Clearly, he wasn't AFK.

"I'm thinking... maybe this weapon has more than one use," Jiang Liang murmured.
Key of Erosion... erodes all things, erodes everything.
In Kevin Kaslana's memories, living beings could also be controlled by the so-called Authority of Erosion.

During the fight with Silver Wolf, he had struck her several times with Jizo Mitama.
Although Kevin Kaslana's combat memories didn't feature the tachi many times, he had trained with a tachi during his hundred deaths.
Otherwise, forget fighting Bianka 'Durandal' Ataegina, the Strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal, to a 40-60 split; he'd have been stabbed to death on sight.
When the blade pierced Silver Wolf's body, he could clearly feel Jizo Mitama injecting something into her, just waiting for him to activate it.
Unfortunately, the battle ended too quickly. But it wasn't too late now.
He felt Silver Wolf was still struggling, hadn't given up.

"Stelle, swap bodies. I'm scanning the code to log in."

As Stelle closed her eyes, Jiang Liang felt his body regain tangibility. Reopening his eyes, he met Silver Wolf's glaring gaze directly.
"What?" Jiang Liang asked calmly (through Stelle's mouth).
"You're not convinced?"
"Key of Erosion, activate !"

Silver Wolf was glaring at Stelle, then suddenly noticed that with a blink, the person opposite her underwent a complete change in aura, as if someone had scanned a code and logged in.
This guy... you were watching me just now, weren't you? !

"Tsk ! So what if I looked? Hm?"
A very soft sound, as if squeezed through clenched teeth.
Silver Wolf looked up, the flush still lingering on her face, but confusion and doubt now dominated her pale gray eyes.

Jiang Liang occupied Stelle's body, his golden eyes calmly observing Silver Wolf, who was still in a defensive posture. With a thought from him...
The Key of Erosion activated.

Silver Wolf almost immediately felt something was wrong.
It was an extremely bizarre experience, like her game character suddenly receiving a forced command from the system level, some background program crudely overwriting her operational authority.

The first thing she lost control of were her fingers. Those fingers, usually nimble on a virtual keyboard, now felt as if injected with cement, freezing stiffly in mid-air, unable to even make the slightest tremble.

What? !

Silver Wolf instinctively tried to cry out, but then found her vocal cords seemed sluggish for a moment.
The feeling of losing control spread rapidly like a plague.
Not just fingers, but wrists, arms... the paralyzing sensation of being manipulated by an invisible force climbed up her nerve pathways. She tried to resist, tried to mobilize her body's strength against this erosion, but it was all futile.

Her body felt like it no longer belonged to her. The loss of motor function made her stumble slightly, her vision blurring momentarily. She subconsciously tried to steady herself, only to become more keenly aware of her current existence.

"How can you steal accounts too? !" Silver Wolf managed to force out, each word seeming to be squeezed through clenched teeth.

This cheater could not only seal her Aether Editing…

How could this 'Stelle' control her body in return? ! This was unheard of !
Reasonable suspicion: this isn't 'cheats on,' it's 'never turned cheats off' !

She could even feel this power attempting to probe deeper into her consciousness. Although it was currently limited to physical control, the feeling of being watched, being analyzed, made her scalp tingle.

Thankfully, it didn't continue.
That feeling slowly stopped after her body was controlled.

But before Silver Wolf could breathe a sigh of relief, she saw her own fingers slowly reaching towards the chat interface with Kafka.

[Silver Wolf: … ]
[Silver Wolf: Hehe ! ]