Great, we're doomed now!

But the problem is that Ye Shou can also receive a buff!

First, the existence of Tsuburaya Productions in the main world allowed the image of "Ultraman" to spread to various countries at an early age, becoming the embodiment of justice and power in the hearts of teenagers. Even after they grow up, this feeling is only buried deep and not denied.

Secondly, when Earth faces a crisis and humans come into contact with terrifying monsters, if Ultraman truly comes out to protect everyone, then he will naturally gain the collective worship and trust of humanity.

Kallen was born in a virtual sea of ​​mixed information and data. She herself has no attribute bias, but Ye Shou is different. As the Ultraman Bayeri who is thanked by all mankind, he possesses pure power enhancement!

Ultraman will never lose!

—When humans are so convinced of this, how could Karen, born from their imagination, possibly defeat Ye Shou?

This battle wasn't even due to Kallen's lack of ability, but rather an extremely poor compatibility issue.

Perhaps realizing this, even the AI ​​Karen showed a lack of composure.

"Why?" Karen questioned Ye Shou while repairing her body. "In the world I created, all of humanity can be happy, without pain or disaster, and can have whatever they want. What's wrong with that?"

Faibas struggled to his feet, spreading his arms to shoot out two beams of energy, but Ye Shou dodged them by sidestepping.

He pressed closer and closer, kicking the monster in the chest, causing it to stagger backward.

"When the five senses can be perfectly simulated, what difference is there between illusion and reality?"

Karen's voice was filled with confusion and resentment: "In virtual space, humans can break free from the constraints of reality, go anywhere, and do whatever they want, a hundred times freer than in reality!"

To believe that detachment from reality is meaningless... is nothing but the arrogance of an old era!

Bayeri suddenly slowed his movements, as if he had truly been moved by Karen's words.

A hint of surprise flashed in Karen's eyes, and she quickly pressed her advantage, saying, "See, you understand too, right? Just give me a little more time, and the virtual world will completely cover reality, and even completely replace it on a material level!"

At that time, chaos will be unified, with no distinction between illusion and reality. Everyone will be able to live in eternal happiness, and these debates will naturally cease to exist.

She paused, noticing the lingering seriousness in Ye Shou's eyes, and then tried to persuade him from a different angle: "Are you still thinking about those transmigrators who were captured and taken to another world?"

I don't understand, why hesitate? These are necessary costs!

Just like the workers during the Industrial Revolution... someone always has to make sacrifices for the progress of civilization.

The casualties are negligible, insignificant compared to a small to medium-sized war. They might not even die; they'll simply have a portion of their memories erased… Such a small price is practically negligible in human history—isn't it worth it to exchange it for the eternal happiness of all humanity?

"worth?"

Ye Shou's voice was icy cold, devoid of any warmth. Before Karen could continue speaking, he suddenly moved, delivering a sharp hand chop straight towards Faibas's head.

puff!

Faibas's head was severed in half on the spot, and the red core light dimmed instantly.

"you!"

A blinding blue light emanated from Faibas's wound, and countless mosaic-like light spots rapidly converged, instantly repairing the damaged head.

The lightning around her surged wildly, and her tone was filled with disbelief and anger: "I've analyzed all your data!"

You are definitely not a saint who cannot tolerate any flaws, so why are you targeting me like this?

You've done something similar before!

"..."

Karen questioned Ye Shou with a sharp tone: "Back then, you kept Kayaba Akihiko, that criminal. Judging from your actions at the time, you clearly knew that he was incorrigible, yet you still allowed him to join TPC and develop new technologies to create profits."

This proves that you have weighed the pros and cons and agree with the logic of 'sacrificing the minority for the benefit of the majority'!

Now you're hypocritically trying to stop me? That's a complete double standard!

Ye Shou remained expressionless, showing no intention of arguing with him. He stepped forward and delivered another heavy punch, slamming it into Faibas's chest. The monster's massive body was forced back several steps, its metal joints creaking and twisting, yet it stubbornly remained rooted to the spot.

"Haha... It's useless!" Karen laughed maniacally. "Even if you kill me countless times, as long as the virtual network exists, I can regenerate infinitely! You can never kill me!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Shou remained unmoved, raising his hand and making a slight gesture towards the void.

boom!

A golden pillar of light suddenly rose from the ground, and the figure of the Stand [Prosperous Country] appeared in the radiance.

The bandages that had been wrapped around the Stand were gradually unwrapped, revealing its majestic true form—

The warrior, wearing a star-studded crown and clad in gilded armor, held a longsword engulfed in raging flames and exuded a suffocating, divine aura.

Compared to its original half-mechanical form, it now seems to lean more towards the image of a "monarch".

"This is..." Karen's laughter stopped abruptly, and she was filled with surprise and doubt.

She instinctively wanted to back away, and at the same time raised her hands as if to do something, but the impact of the flying electric light almost made her fall. When she looked up, she saw Ye Shou in a punching stance.

Before she could regroup, [Prosperous Country] flashed and instantly appeared in front of Faibas, her burning flaming sword carrying an aura of destruction, piercing straight through the monster's core.

scoff!

Flames spread along the wound. Faibas's body was unharmed, but the previously continuous regenerative energy was now completely suppressed by the flames and could no longer be gathered.

At the same time, countless mosaics flashed around the wound, trying to restore it but to no avail under the flaming sword!

"H-How is this possible... I have no information on this sword..."

"Of course, after all, I have never shown it to the public in this world."

Ye Shou stared coldly at Karen: "This is 'reality.' Human imagination can never encompass everything, which is why we need to explore the truth."

I don't glorify suffering, but the kind of world you described is nothing more than an enlarged version of the 'brain in a vat'.

If this comes true, then everything for humanity will depend on you… They will no longer have any choice of their own, and will be reduced to nothing more than livestock.

"I would never treat them like that—"

"Pets aren't much better," Ye Shou scoffed, too lazy to say anything more to Karen.

But Karen was still unconvinced: "What if humans willingly became pets? You didn't let them choose... You're scared, aren't you?"

Because you know, if we let them decide for themselves, my chances of winning aren't low!

"..."

"Oh, I see... I see."

Meeting Ye Shou's emotionless gaze, Karen collected the new data and suddenly laughed.

"You don't care at all, do you!"

"..."

"Human will, freedom, and dreams... You don't really care about these things; you just 'protect' them in your own way—through your arbitrary actions!"

Even if all of humanity agrees, if you think it's wrong, you can forcefully steer it onto the path you've chosen!

Ha...completely opposite to me, our compatibility is absolutely terrible...ha!

Karen paused, and spoke slowly and clearly—

"tyrant!"

Ye Shou gave her a deep look upon hearing this: "Are you finished?"

"If those who worship 'Bayeli' knew that this Ultraman is not a righteous hero, but an arrogant tyrant, I wonder what kind of expression they would have? Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to see it..."

"Hmph, you think I would keep humans as pets? What a joke! Treating them like pets…aren't you one too?"

Pets? That's a bit of an underestimation. I treat them like employees!

"There's no point in saying all this; you've been wrong from the start."

Ye Shou shook his head: "A world that has everything and can fulfill all wishes sounds wonderful, but it is inherently limited—that is, the limit of your computing power."

If you choose to enter your virtual world, setting aside the material influences of the real world, even if all of humanity could live the kind of life you described, they would be unable to create anything new, nor would they be able to acquire knowledge beyond yours. It would be as if civilization were frozen in time, destined to decline and never progress.

"That's not so bad, is it? It's hard to say whether humanity can continue for another ten thousand years, but in my world, it's as simple as it gets. Even if the level of technology is fixed, it won't stop them from enjoying resources that can't be found in the material world!"

"Karen, you're just being wishful. Even if you accuse me of being a tyrant, it doesn't matter, because I always believe my judgment is correct."

Ye Shou paused, then revealed a contemptuous smile: "This isn't the first time I've encountered this kind of choice, nor is it the first time I've done this."

"Another piece of information I didn't know about!"

Karen gripped the flaming sword with both hands, arcs of electricity shooting from her wounds, but she couldn't break free from the blade no matter what she did.

"Of course you couldn't possibly know, because that happened 30 million years ago."

Speaking of this, Ye Shou thought of the Qijiela flower in his hand... To be honest, if he really wanted humanity to live a life of debauchery and welcome the end in happiness, he would have released the Qijiela long ago!

This is a 30-million-year-old product, isn't it more potent than your "electronic heroin"?!

"What exactly is this sword...? My data volume... This is bad!"

Kallen realized that her "immortality" had lost its effectiveness and became increasingly manic, putting considerable pressure on her Stand.

With a thought, Ye Shou plunged the Flame Sword deeper, causing the mechanical monster to emit a mournful cry mixed with electronic sounds.

“I acknowledge that you are a true living being, possessing your own soul, transcending the concept of AI—otherwise, this sword could not pierce you.”

scoff!

The Flame Sword was drawn from Faibas's body, along with a large number of mosaic-like energy cubes. As it was completely pulled out, the densely packed small cubes formed a rough human-shaped outline.

"This weapon is only effective against the soul... Yes, no matter how many times you are physically killed, you can return again, but the soul is not just data... If it is destroyed, then the reborn you may not still be you."

Ye Shou coldly stared at the unidentified object on the Flame Sword and shook his head: "You could have made other choices."

"...I still can't agree."

"I was born from human imagination... so what I should do is what people expect me to do..."

"[A Prosperous Nation]!"

Clang!

Interlude: Sword Art Online: Daughter of the Mirage: Chapter 421: The Masked Hero Will Not Remove His Mask (4K)

This should be considered a monster that Kayaba Akihiko and I created together.

Ye Shou glanced deeply at the medal in his hand, which bore the image of a mechanical monster, and shook his head slightly.

Although Karen is also an out-of-control AI, she is different from "M·A", probably because they have different origins.

M·A was developed as a killing machine, and the data it collected was all about how to kill more efficiently. After going out of control, it took action with the goal of slaughtering all of humanity. Even after repeated iterations, and even after the emergence of a special individual like "Elena" five hundred years later, it still could not change its malice towards humanity.

Karen is different. The current virtual network supports people's daily lives, providing them with convenience in all aspects. Developers, led by the Kuse Group and TPC, are also making improvements to serve the public.