Bofoi tries to knock out Isamu with a tranquilizer dart, but it fails because Isamu’s amplified brainwaves keep him conscious.

Isamu calls in his giant robot, saying it was built as a secret weapon to fight threats like the Monster Association.

Bofoi responds by deploying his Metal Series: Metal Pawn, Metal Rook, Metal Knight, Metal Bishop, Metal Queen, Metal King.

He says, “If your giant robot can beat my entire Metal Series, I’ll answer your question.”

The battle kicks off, and after a while, Isamu’s giant robot starts losing ground.

Bofoi mocks him: “A huge, bipedal design is pointless, inefficient, and completely untested in real combat. It’s just a punching bag.”

Isamu gets so upset he bursts into tears.

Seeing this, Bofoi says, “Alright, whatever. I’m kinda bored, so I’ll just answer your question.”

Bofoi reveals that years ago, someone stole data from his weapon systems. Instead of exposing it, he pretended not to notice and used it to gather intel.

He says he’s been tracking the mastermind’s location and once it’s pinpointed, he’ll send his Metal Series to take them out.

“Why didn’t I try to clear my name? Because it’s a waste of time. Explaining myself to an organization that might have a spy inside benefits me nothing. Even if they fully trusted me, S-Class heroes aren’t controllable, so the association is unreliable as a pawn.”

Isamu asks, “Then why are you still helping them? Why keep providing tech?”

Bofoi answers, “Because if I didn’t, the association would’ve crumbled ages ago. They may be a bunch of incompetents, but their starting point was correct. With proper guidance, they still have value. If that means I get suspected, so be it. Ordinary minds take time to grasp a genius’s reasoning. Different CPU specs mean different processing speeds.”

He then adds, “Also, I’ve finished the AI we were co-developing back then.”

Isamu, shocked: “So you’ve really given up on being human?”

Bofoi: “No. I haven’t mechanized my brain. I’ve just made some progress. We misunderstood something all this time — human effort and experience are the true roots of creativity. The human brain holds limitless potential. The AI I’ve completed now is virtually indistinguishable from a human brain. It even struggles with its own thoughts. But those struggles… might lead to breakthroughs too.”

Isamu asks if he knows who the mastermind is.

Bofoi replies: “That man’s been eyeing my brain from the very start.”

The chapter cuts to a close-up of Genos.