“Don't be rash, Vin!” Ryuga warned.
“I know. I'm not that stupid,” Vincent retorted.
“So, what's your plan?” asked Ryuga. 
“I don't know where Kazuto got all this information? Didn't we protect the security system?” Vincent was confused.
“Do you suspect someone like I think right now?” Ryuga smiled somewhat sarcastically in response to Vincent's conclusion.
“I don't know. I'm not sure,” replied Vincent who was still shrouded in indecision.
***
At the Ryuujin-kai base, now housed in Nakamura's residence, tension filled the room as Vincent, Nakamura, Valeria, and the other clan leaders eyed Lorenzo suspiciously. Information that should have been confidential had instead leaked into Kazuto's hands, and there was only one possibility: there was a traitor among them.
“Lorenzo...” Nakamura squinted, his voice sharp as a dagger ready to stab the Italian mafia man. “What exactly are you hiding from us?”
Lorenzo remained calm, but there was tension in his jaw. “I don't know what you're talking about. I've always been loyal to Ryuujin-kai.”
“Ask my ex-wife, does it look like I'm playing a trick on you all?” Lorenzo turned to Valeria, as if asking for support from his ex-wife.
Valeria smiled slyly. She tossed a tablet onto the table, displaying the data recordings Vincent and Ryuga had found in their cyberwar yesterday. In it, there was a secret communication between Lorenzo and an unknown contact, now believed to be Kazuto.
“What is this explanation?” Ryuga demanded, his expression full of anger. “You've been in contact with the enemy! How much have you told them?”
Lorenzo fell silent. His brain was working fast, looking for an opening to defend himself, but the evidence was too clear. He had been working behind the scenes, keeping vital information, and now it was all out in the open.
Nakamura stepped closer, his gaze sharp. “If you're not a traitor, prove it to all of us. Or you will face the consequences.”
Nakamura's warning made Lorenzo hold his breath. Lorenzo knew, in the world of Ryuujin-kai, there was no room for error, and betrayal had only one punishment: death.
***
After leaving Nakamura's residence, several people followed Lorenzo in a black car. They chased each other on the highway and finally, one of their cars intercepted Lorenzo's car when the highway was clear. 
They surrounded Lorenzo's car and managed to take the mafia boss away. Lorenzo kept quiet, like he knew where they were taking him.
An hour later...
In Kazuto's underground interrogation room, Lorenzo felt the throbbing in his head getting worse. The wires connected to his temples shocked his consciousness with illusions that tormented him so much. In his vision, he saw Vincent and Milea, their bodies shattered in digital data fragments.
“Give me all the information you have about them,” Kazuto's voice echoed in her mind. “Or I will subject you to suffering worse than death,” he threatened.
“What do you mean?” Lorenzo pretended not to know.
“Don't force me to do something cruel to you!” 
“Go ahead! Then your history will be over. They're hunting you right now,” Lorenzo informed.
“Really?” In accordance with Kazuto's expectations, Lorenzo kept all the information he needed at the moment.
Meanwhile, Vincent stared at the screen displaying Kazuto's network map. He had no choice but to ask his old enemy for help. In the shadow of the screen, a man with a black hood laughed sarcastically.
“So you finally came to me, Vin?” The voice sounded like a cold, stern, and cruel programme. “Are you ready to ally yourself with the demon who once nearly destroyed you?”
Vincent clenched his fists. “I have no choice. If we don't stop Kazuto now, nothing will be left of this world.”
The shadow hacker smiled wryly. “Alright. Let's drown this demon in his own network.”
Vincent was forced to ask for help from the shadow hacker whose whereabouts were never known. It could be said that the shadow hacker was someone who programmed him and helped Vincent to become what he is today.
That night, darkness enveloped Vincent's consciousness. His eyes were open, but the world around him was no longer the reality he knew. His previously blinking computer screen was now a sea of numbers and symbols in constant motion, like a wave washing him deeper into Kazuto's system.
“What is this?” said Vincent half-consciously.
Kazuto's voice came through again, this time more clearly, as if it was directly echoing inside Vincent's head.
“Welcome inside me, Vin. I hope you feel at home there,” Kazuto said.
Vincent widened his eyes. He tried to move, but his body responded to nothing. He saw his hand in a digitised version of himself. His form faded away, replaced by a stream of data. His consciousness slowly dissolved.
“No... This can't be...!” thought Vincent, trying to activate the emergency protocol to exit the system. However, every time he tried, an error message appeared. The system had been completely infected.
In the distance, faintly, Vincent saw a silhouetted figure that looked very much like his wife, Milea. She was trapped in a data cube that glowed red. Vincent's eyes widened, fear now running through his mind.
“Milea! Hang on, I'll save you!” Vincent whispered.
But, before Vincent could get close to Milea, the floor beneath him suddenly collapsed, swallowing him into a dark vortex of codes that turned into chains, wrapping around his digital body. His breath was already coming in gasps, his consciousness getting heavier.
Kazuto chuckled. “I've been waiting for you for a long time, Vin. Now, you are no longer my enemy. You're part of my system that I'm going to develop.”
Vincent summoned up what was left of the courage he had to face Kazuto. He closed his eyes, searching for a gap in his mind that was still intact. If there was one thing Kazuto did not know yet, it was the endurance of his determination. If he could not fight from the outside, then he would fight from the inside.
With the last of his strength, Vincent sent one encrypted message to his allies outside:
[Don't save me.] 
[Find a way to destroy this system.] 
[Before I truly become his.]
The message was sent and received by Ryuga. “What does that mean?” His forehead wrinkled, astonished.
Ryuga immediately found out what exactly happened to Vincent this time. “Don't tell me that Vin got caught up in that damn programme!” 
A few minutes later, Ryuga was able to locate Vincent's whereabouts and he jumped in surprise. 
“Oh my God!”
Ryuga's heart rate continued to race as he watched Vincent's data that should have only been in the form of a digital footprint now turn into a bound signal that continued to weaken. Kazuto really is absorbing it! This is crazy, Ryuga thought.
Without thinking, Ryuga began tracing the codes connected to Kazuto's system. He was trying to find any loopholes or exits that he could utilise to get Vincent out of there. 
However, the deeper Ryuga infiltrated there, the greater the threat he would feel. Kazuto had already anticipated this. He was not a random hacker, almost on the same level as Vincent and Ryuga.
Suddenly, his terminal screen changed. A new message appeared, but not from Vincent.
[Are you going to get into it also, Ryuga?]
His heart sank. Kazuto knew he was there.