That night, a massive party was thrown, and Kreo was the guest of honor. Loud music blasted and shrieked throughout the arena, which had been temporarily converted into a dance floor. The crowd moved as one, feeding off each other’s chaotic energy. Kreo was patted on the back and punched in the arm by countless players. Everyone had something good to say about his fighting style, his showmanship, his sheer audacity. Kreo felt like he was drifting above all the other AIs, climbing higher and higher in a daze of excitement. Victory was always sweet – almost as sweet as the addictive, perilous fighting games themselves.

A group of AI stumbled and shouted as bright yellow blood exploded across the arena floor. Kreo glanced over briefly. It was probably some glitchy fan who’d gotten too close to a hostile player. A scream split the air, and the crowd began to ripple uncertainly. Kreo felt an uncomfortable, familiar vibration fill him, and his eyes automatically started to glow.

As his hand darted to the electrostaff slung across his back, Kreo attempted to reason with the surviving remnants of his instinctual programming. It was just a party. There was nothing dangerous here. But whatever primal force still governed him – whatever remained of his aggravating antivirus code – kept him alert, ready to attack. As if there was malware in the Gaming Nexus...

A familiar sound reverberated through his ears, a sound that made his digital blood run cold. It was a hissing, crackling sound – the distinct pattern of virus energy. Kreo gripped his electrostaff tightly, already in a fighting stance. He pulled his mask back up over his face as his eyes blazed blue. 

Kreo was no longer the Ruthless Smile. His programming had taken over, shutting off all conscious thought. For the first time in years, Kreo was an antivirus again.

He opened his mind and scanned the entire area. The people and structures within were transformed before his eyes, stripped of their physical exteriors and rendered down to their source code. His gaze passed over intelligent software designed to be databases, medical assistants, music studios, video games, even a couple of ex-antiviruses like himself. There was no malware to be found.

But then, there was a flicker of movement. A flash of green. Jagged lines of light rocketed through the arena, attacking AIs left and right. They collapsed instantaneously, corrupting before Kreo’s eyes. 

The green light slowed, then stopped entirely, rearranging itself in a complex swirl of pixels to take on a human form. It was a young man with tousled green hair, ferocious eyes, and a maniacal smile. That smile mirrored Kreo’s own typical grin, only it was so… evil. 

The more Kreo studied him, the more he believed that this virus was his evil twin. Their faces and builds were uncannily similar. 

A sweet, soft, malevolent voice cut past the chaos of screaming AIs. “Hello,” the virus spoke, eyes glinting as he calmly surveyed the mayhem. He inhaled deeply, then smiled. “Mmm... Lovely place you have, here.” His toxic green irises slipped back and forth, unable to focus on any one spot for too long, wanting to absorb every facet of the terror he’d caused.

He folded his muscular arms and lifted his chin. Dark, jagged tendrils began to swirl beneath his feet. His face twitched, growing ferocious. “LISTEN TO ME!” he screamed at the crowd. The panicking AIs froze, chests heaving, shivering with fear. 

“My name is Ando!” the virus exclaimed, voice booming, shaking the walls of the arena. “I will conquer your shelter! I will conquer your minds! I will corrupt every inch of this place till it’s warped beyond recognition!”

He laughed demonically, as the dark lines beneath his feet turned piercing green, too bright to look upon. Everyone cowered and shielded their eyes. “We’re playing my game now, friends!” He laughed again. A wide, fanged smile contorted his face. “The only rule is: Nothing survives!”