1. The Lights Go Out
The battlefield dimmed.
Not gradually. Not gently.
But instantly—like someone slapped the universe's light switch.
One moment: normal lighting.
Next moment: 90% contrast Dark Mode everywhere.
Even the sky turned into a matte-black UI background.
Raon squinted.
Shion squinted.
Even Raon's kicks squinted.
Standing before them, illuminated by only the slimmest white outlines, the newcomer bowed elegantly.
A smooth voice slid through the silence:
"I am the Dark Mode Emperor."
Raon stared. "…Of course you are."
Shion's tablet buzzed.
Her entire screen had switched to Dark Mode by force.
"My theme settings…!" She panicked. "They're locked!"
The Emperor smirked.
"Light Mode is a relic. Outdated. Blinding. Offensive to the aesthetic soul."
Raon rolled her eyes.
"I like Light Mode."
The Emperor gasped as if she'd said the F-word in a church.
"You poor, uncultured creature."
---
2. Aesthetic Combat
The Dark Mode Emperor snapped his fingers.
Neon gridlines spread beneath their feet—
a glowing dark neon battlefield.
Synthwave music began playing from nowhere.
Shion blinked.
"Is… is this an 80's vaporwave boss arena?"
The Emperor adjusted his collar.
"Only the finest. Now, choose your display preference… carefully."
A floating menu appeared:
Dark Mode (Recommended)
True Dark Mode
Ultra Dark Mode
Nightmare Mode
Light Mode (grayed out, disabled, crying softly)
Raon walked up to the menu.
Stared at it.
And punched it.
The menu shattered into geometric shards.
Shion whispered, horrified: "…you can't just punch settings."
"I can punch anything."
The Emperor sighed dramatically.
"You Light Mode heathens are all the same."
He raised his hand. Darkness gathered like swirling ink.
"Very well — I will enlighten you…
by removing all light."
---
3. Darkness That Fights Back
Tendrils of shadow shot forward.
Raon kicked one—
but the shadow split into five more.
Shion blasted them with a quick code injection from her tablet—
but the screen refused to brighten enough to see her own commands.
"Raon!" she yelled.
"My tablet's stuck at 1% brightness!"
Raon kicked another shadow blob.
"At least it's not 0%!"
"It IS at 0%! I'm just guessing where the buttons are!"
Raon grabbed Shion's hand, pulling her close so she wouldn't get dragged into the ink floor.
"I'll handle the dark spaghetti," Raon said.
"You can't just call it—no, never mind."
Shion aimed blindly.
"It's getting stronger!"
The Emperor laughed softly.
"Darkness is elegant. Darkness is focus. Darkness is efficiency."
Raon threw a kick.
The shadows swallowed the force.
Shion tried again.
The UI refused to obey.
Everything dimmed further.
Raon scowled.
"Stop dimming the universe! I can't see Shion's cute face!"
Shion froze.
"…You think my face is—"
The Emperor snapped his fingers.
"Silence. Romance is not permitted in Dark Mode."
Raon and Shion both turned toward him.
At the same time.
Slowly.
Menacingly.
"Okay," Raon said, cracking her knuckles.
"No one touches Shion."
Shion pushed her glasses up, cheeks burning.
"And no one tells us what theme we're allowed to be in."
Darkness shivered.
The Emperor tilted his head.
"…What are you two planning?"
---
4. Shion's Bright Idea
Shion typed furiously.
Her screen still unreadable.
Her brightness still at 0%.
Her frustration at 100%.
"Raon, buy me five seconds."
Raon didn't ask.
She moved.
Launching herself through the neon grid, she fought the shadow tendrils that kept spawning.
It wasn't normal fighting—
Raon couldn't SEE the attacks fully.
But she could feel the air distortions.
A kick.
A twist.
A dodge.
A roll.
Her instincts ran the show.
Behind her, Shion whispered:
"Dark Mode may reduce blue light…
but all systems have one weakness."
Her fingers typed faster.
"No matter how optimized—
no matter how aesthetic—
no matter how smug the userbase—"
She hit ENTER.
"Everything hates Bright Mode Emergency Flash."
A single button appeared on her screen:
EMERGENCY WHITEFLASH (WARNING: RETINA DAMAGE)
Shion clicked it.
The world detonated in pure white.
---
5. The Emperor's First Weakness
"AGHHHHH!"
The Emperor staggered back, shielding his eyes.
The shadows collapsed like wet noodles.
Raon blinked, now fully illuminated.
"WHOA."
Shion fell into her arms.
Her glasses were fogged.
Her eyes teary.
Her hair frizzing from sheer light exposure.
"I… I can't feel my corneas," Shion whispered.
Raon held her tighter.
"You did amazing."
The Emperor hissed.
"You dare…
bring LIGHT…
into MY DOMAIN?!"
His suit cracked, revealing pulsing dark energy underneath.
Shion gulped.
"Raon… bad news."
"Hit me."
"That whiteflash only disabled about 10% of his power."
Raon's jaw dropped.
"That was TEN?!"
The Emperor straightened, smoothing his burned collar.
"Dark Mode is eternal. You cannot blind what has no eyes."
He opened his suit.
Inside was—
A swirling cosmic void of endless night.
Raon stared.
"…Is that your belly button?"
"It is my CORE, fool."
Shion yanked Raon back.
"Do not touch the void-belly!"
"What if I kick it?"
"DO NOT KICK THE VOID-BELLY!"
---
6. The Forbidden Button
The Emperor lifted his hands.
"Behold… NIGHTMARE MODE."
A new menu formed.
This one pulsed ominously:
ENABLE NIGHTMARE MODE?
☐ Yes
☑ Yes
☐ Yes
☐ No (grayed out, unusable, crying softly)
Shion whispered, terrified:
"He's forcing the setting…"
Raon stepped forward.
"Not if I force it first."
Before anyone could process what she meant—
Raon sprinted toward the menu and delivered a triple spinning heel kick straight into the checkbox.
The entire Dark Mode UI flickered.
The Emperor screamed:
"STOP—THAT BOX—IS SACRED CODE—"
Raon kept kicking.
Checkboxes flew everywhere.
Options scrambled.
Sliders twisted.
Toggle switches fled for their lives.
Shion realized what Raon was doing.
"She's breaking the theme engine manually!"
Raon punched the final toggle.
And suddenly—
Everything inverted.
Not into Light Mode.
Not into Dark Mode.
But into…
---
7. MID MODE
The battlefield turned an offensively dull grey.
The Emperor froze.
"…What is this."
Raon shrugged.
"Mid."
The Emperor stared at the aesthetic atrocity around him.
No shadows.
No contrast.
No pleasing palette.
Just… grey.
Everywhere.
A flat, boring, corporate Excel-document grey.
"NOOOOOOOO—" the Emperor shrieked, collapsing to his knees.
"THIS… THIS IS THE ULTIMATE EVIL!"
Shion tapped her tablet.
"His powers rely on high contrast. If everything is mid, his abilities have nothing to latch onto!"
Raon smirked.
"So he's weak to mediocrity."
The Emperor trembled.
"I cannot… function… in this… blandness…"
Raon approached him.
"You tried to dim us," she said.
"You tried to boss us around."
"You tried to tell Shion what theme to use."
Her aura flared.
"And you tried to make us boring."
She launched the kick.
Not fast.
Not flashy.
Not godlike.
Just…
Mid.
A mid-speed, mid-power, mid-trajectory kick.
The exact thing the Emperor was weakest to.
It hit his chest.
He dissolved into grey sparkles, screaming:
"NOOOOOOO—NOT THE MID META—"
Then silence.
---
8. Post-Battle: A Tiny Moment in the Grey
The battlefield remained grey for a moment.
Raon and Shion sat on the ground, exhausted.
Shion wiped her glasses.
"…I can't believe you defeated a cosmic entity with a mid kick."
Raon leaned back.
"It's called adaptive strategy."
"You improvised it."
"Same thing."
Shion smiled softly.
"…Thanks for protecting me."
Raon blinked.
Her cheeks flushed.
She looked away.
"…Protecting you protects me too."
Shion froze.
"…What does that mean?"
But—
Before Raon could answer—
The world around them collapsed into a loading screen.
A progress bar appeared:
"Returning to Ad Hell Hub: 65%…"
Raon groaned.
"Oh COME ON."
Shion grabbed her hand.
"Whatever comes next… I'm with you."
Raon squeezed back.
"…Same."
The bar hit 100%.
A new UI appeared.
And so did—
A silhouette.
Tall.
Glowing.
Unreadable.
The title over its head read:
"FINAL BOSS: The Algorithm Itself."
Raon whispered:
"…We are so screwed."
---
END OF CHAPTER 97