MHGA Chapter 236 – Kirin's Raging Unleashing
It took about half an hour for V to fully understand everything about the Hunters, Arasaka Raizen, and David.
But it wasn't until Kairo Retsu pulled out his phone and showed her a gameplay recording of Cyberpunk 2077 that V—albeit reluctantly—finally accepted that she was the protagonist of the game.
Earlier, while watching the Braindance, she had witnessed Jackie's death. She saw that her own mind had been invaded by some damn ghost from decades ago, trying to take over her body. She relived all the storms she had weathered in Night City, and at the end, she stood in silence with Johnny Silverhand on the rooftop—before the two of them stormed Arasaka Tower together.
Even though she'd succeeded in the end, the burning anger in her heart had nowhere to go. And when she opened her eyes and saw Arasaka Raizen—an Arasaka Corp executive—right in front of her, everything had exploded from there.
And now, Kairo was telling her that Raizen—this crown prince of Arasaka—was actually trying to destroy his own company? That he wanted to eliminate all the megacorporations in this world?
"F**k you—are you actually insane?!" V glared at Arasaka Raizen. "You're seriously planning to take down Arasaka?!"
V honestly felt like she was losing her mind. She'd been hit with one ridiculous thing after another today.
"Kairo-san," Raizen turned serious, "since you've decided to help us, there's something you need to know."
"Arasaka Saburo… that old bastard—he's gotten hold of one of your Hunters' drugs. He's trying to reverse-engineer it."
"And he's nearly arrived in—or possibly already arrived in—Night City," Raizen continued grimly. "He wants your medicine to fulfill his twisted dream."
"Right now, inside Arasaka Tower, they've already begun gathering massive quantities of materials to produce the drug on a large scale," he explained. "Though I'm not sure why Saburo hasn't successfully replicated it yet… the prototypes seem to have some effect. He's probably planning to make up for it through sheer quantity."
Raizen took a deep breath.
"So—can you… just kill him directly?"
Kairo raised a brow at the proposal and said calmly, "We can. But it won't do any good."
"..." Raizen exhaled sharply, though he didn't seem surprised.
"Oh, give it a rest, rich boy," V sneered with a mix of scorn and irritation. "Saburo's got a f***ing god-chariot in the form of a relic chip—even if you kill him, he'll just crawl back out of some server."
"Sht! SHT SH*T!" V cursed again, pacing in frustration. "I really am insane, sitting here talking to you lunatics!"
"My head isn't even infected with some ghost-virus from fifty years ago right now!!"
"V, wanna join us?"
Kairo turned casually and invited her. "Put a bullet in Arasaka Saburo."
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR F***ING MIND?!" V leapt to her feet, grabbing Kairo by the collar. "That's Arasaka Saburo! Dex—that fat bastard—was right: Saburo is god in Night City! The emperor! That monster could turn the whole city to ash in minutes!"
Kairo raised his hand and gripped her wrist.
"So… are you in or not?"
V felt an overwhelming force like a hydraulic clamp crush her wrist, forcing her to release Kairo's collar. He continued to meet her gaze directly.
"Jackie, Misty, Vik, Judy, Saul, Panam, Rogue… and all the others," Kairo smiled as he listed them off. "You've already seen how your future could go—multiple times, right?"
"I don't know which ending you'll choose. That's up to you. But I showed you the one I thought was the most satisfying through that Braindance."
He let go of her hand and watched as V rubbed her sore wrist. He continued:
"When I asked you a question earlier, you answered like this—"
'If you don't make a name for yourself, then you might as well cool your heels in the gutter for life. No second chances in Night City.'
Kairo stared into V's eyes.
"So now I'll ask again, after you've seen the ending called 'Burn My Body Into Fire.'"
"Same question: nameless nobody… or infamous legend? Which do you choose?"
Silence fell over the entire room.
"You—" V started to snap back at him, but the words caught in her throat—and her heart.
After nearly twenty seconds of silence, she finally exploded.
"F***!! F**K!!"
Eyes bloodshot, she swore and clenched her fists tight. "Screw being a nobody!! Screw being a legend!!!"
"And… f*** Arasaka Saburo too!" she shouted, voice trembling. "I'm in!!"
"Hell yeah!! That's the last outcome I expected!" Kairo shouted with excitement.
"Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to see!!"
Kairo shot up from his seat, grabbing V's hand and shaking it wildly.
"This is what I've been waiting for! Someone who can raise hell in a sh*thole like this world! That's why I've done all this!!"
"Then it's settled! Let's burn those bastard corporates to f***ing ash!!"
Kairo shouted with joy.
And then—
A Gathering Hub voice comm alert sounded in both Kairo's and David's ears at the same time.
Kairo froze—then saw the sender: Joseph.
[Guildmaster, David! Are you two still in Night City? Something just happened! While I was dealing with Maelstrom, I triggered a little… something bad while casting Hermit Purple!]
"…?"
A question mark appeared on Kairo's face. He glanced at Raizen and V, then opened the Gathering voice chat to ask Joseph what exactly was going on.
At that moment, Joseph had just finished clearing out a Maelstrom hideout. He'd been casually using Hermit Purple through the gang's central system to practice, when a strange, chaotic image began forming on the massive screen via the Stand's input.
That was why Joseph had contacted the Guildmaster and David—both insiders of this world—so urgently.
On the screen, a massive tower loomed over Night City—over 600 meters tall, towering above the surrounding buildings.
But in that image, the once-neon-lit tower and the rest of Night City had lost all their former glow.
The only remaining source of light…
Was a single pale bolt of lightning, thick as a skyscraper, descending from the heavens to strike the tower's peak.
Like divine wrath.
"We might seriously be in trouble—on multiple levels," Joseph muttered.
"I don't know why, but our Wasteland Hunting Plan might be scrapped. Kirin might be heading for Arasaka Tower… though I don't know why."
Back at the Wasteland camp, Kairo wailed:
"DAMN IT!! I just finalized that hunt plan!!"
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