[Assistant] Archi sprinted through the forest.

[User] “You, youngster there—!” A sharp voice calls out as someone leaped out onto the path.

[Assistant] Archi immediately shot a wary look toward the individual in a black habit who had slipped through a gap in the trees.

[User] “Wait! I am one of Lord Archbishop Romanée-Conti’s ‘fingers’!”

[Assistant] “The Lord Archbishop’s…”

[User] “Yes, be at ease. You are safe he… Wait, could that be…? !”

[Assistant] Archi solemnly nodded at him. "Lady Fortuna entrusted her to me. She is assisting the others in battle. It shouldn’t be long before she sweeps the forest clean of enemies …”

[User] “…It pains me to say this, but that will be somewhat difficult.” The man made a bitter face.

[Assistant] “Eh?”

[User] “We have confirmed the presence of one of the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins: Greed, head of the radical faction.


[User] "The Lord Archbishop has engaged him in combat, but the situation cannot be resolved by simply driving him off.”

[Assistant] “An Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins…but what problem is there beyond him?”

[User] “The demon beast Black Serpent has been released into the forest.”

[Assistant] “Th-the Black Serpent—? !” The man’s words rocked Archi. He gazed back toward the forest with a look of disbelief. “That’s crazy—it’s not possible! The Black Serpent is a pure calamity, even more than the White Whale and the Great Rabbit—a natural disaster that obeys no one. The timing of its arrival, right as this attack is going on—that’s…”

[User] “A being…a Witch, who can make that possible, has come to this forest.”

[Assistant] “Witch? Witch, you say? That’s even crazier talk! The witches besides the Witch of Jealousy are long destroyed, and the Witch of Jealousy should herself be sealed in the sands of a far-off…”

[User] “There was a hidden Witch— Her name is Pandora. She is a part of the Witch Cult, the world’s forbidden Witch.” The man spoke as if he were wringing out every word, leaving Archi agape.

[Assistant] An Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, and even a Witch he had never heard of before, had arrived—and what kept Archi’s heart from crumbling into despair was the small heartbeat he could feel through his own chest. He’d been entrusted with something. Archi could not back away from it. “…Lady Fortuna entrusted me with Emilia so that she might escape. Whatever happens to our homeland, I must at least protect this girl…protect our hope!”

[User] “…I shall accompany you. Old as I might be, I am still part of the Romanée-Conti family.” The man was roused by Archi’s words and he bowed deeply to the young elf who literally nestled his bundle of hope against his breast. With a flutter of his habit sleeve, the aged man leaned forward and impressively kicked off the ground. Then he trained his eyes toward the path leading out of the forest, intending to guide them—

[Assistant] “—No!” The instant they broke into a run, the man suddenly shouted, and the urgency in his voice made Archi immediately stop. As Archi opened his eyes wide, wondering what was going on, the man stood, both arms spread wide. “What a blunder… To think it would come so quickly…”

[User] “What has…? Wha, huh? !”

[Assistant] The man murmured in anguish, bewildering Archi—a moment later, the man’s arms fell from their shoulders. Like a doll with bad stitching, his outstretched limbs detached completely, just like that. No blood spewed from the fallen arms or from where they had been severed. In fact, the arms were shriveled in an unnatural way that had nothing to do with age, rotting like tree roots starved of water. "The Black Serpent’s vicious tongue…! Please flee!”

[User] “But!”

[Assistant] “It is too late for me…” Forcefully shouting for Archi to run, the man looked back, his face rapidly losing all color.


[User] “Bu, bubu…aaa, bu…!” Moaning in anguish, the armless man collapsed onto the ground, his upper torso writhing. Black blood gushed out of his eye sockets, nostrils, earlobes, and more places, until finally, he stopped moving at all.

[Assistant] "The crucible of disease…the plague-bearing demon beast the Black Serpent…! !" In a raspy voice, Archi covered young Emilia’s eyes as he invoked the name of the enemy that had slain their companion.

[User] "—Sh-shit! !" Realizing the approaching danger, Archi yelled a curse and fled. He did not know which way to run. This was the enemy’s hunting ground. They’d been herded into it unawares. He’d put as much distance as he could between him and the man’s corpse. If possible, he’d leave the forest entirely. Focusing only on the rigid presence of Emilia pressing against his chest, Archi desperately fled from the menace.

[Assistant] Ah— While getting ready to launch himself forward, he felt a scalding heat run up his right ankle. The instant he realized he’d been licked, his willpower crumbled. The wicked tongue was slithering up his bare flesh. The illness it caused spread across his skin, manifesting as reddish-black burn scars.

[User] “…Fulla!” Without hesitation, he used a blade of wind to send his diseased right leg flying off from the knee. Needing support to remain upright, he angled his falling body against a tree.

[Assistant] “Hyuma…!” With the sound of air cracking, he froze the stump of his own severed leg. White steam rose from his wound, and Archi raised up a renewed scream over his extremely crude method of stopping the bleeding.

[User] "Archi…?" With her face firmly pressed against his arm, Emilia could not see what had happened.

[Assistant] Archi forced a smile onto his face, sitting up as he downplayed the greatest agony he had ever experienced.


[User] "It’s nothing… It’s all right… It’s all right, so…!" His words fragmented, Archi lied to Emilia that nothing had happened.

[Assistant] "...Emilia. Um, you see the white flowers on the other side of those two trees?"

[User] "...Y-yeah." Released by Archi, who sat with his back against a large tree, Emilia put both her feet on the ground and looked in the direction he pointed. Gazing at the pair of trees and the white flowers beyond, she nodded.

[Assistant] "Can you run in the direction of the flowers? Past the flowers…straight ahead…"

[User] "R-run… I can run. But…"

[Assistant] "Then run…"

[User] "It’s all right, Emilia. You won’t…be alone…"

[Assistant] "Archi…"

[User] "Now, run. No matter what you hear, don’t turn back… Run!" Archi’s sharp voice made Emilia jump. She took one step forward, then broke into a run. She forced herself to not look back because Archi said not to.


[User] He heard a sound. Sss, sss. It was the sound of a demon beast licking its lips after spotting its prey right before it. It came as if to steal away the escaping girl, the forest’s hope, and to rob all meaning from the tiny, remaining flicker of Archi’s ending life. “As if…anyone would let you pass…” Eyes burning with the will to fight on, Archi ignored his immobile legs, using the strength of his arms alone to sit himself up.

[Assistant] The ominous sound stopped…as if the beast was taking renewed interest, captivated by the prey it had presumed stricken down.

[User] It was because he sensed his own impending death that he’d sent the girl as far as possible away from her own. “Lady Fortuna…that girl…will probably be all right.”

[Assistant] Sss, sss, was the sound that heralded the approach of the end.

[User] Hearing this sound, knowing that it represented nothing less than the greatest peril to his life, Archi proudly smiled. “” Exhausted as that smile might have been, it never faded.


[Assistant] The forest had already changed so dramatically that it seemed to have forgotten its original form. It was a land in a mournful state, as if some angry, rampaging, giant serpent had violated the earth in its passing. Numerous trees had been mowed down; many rested upon their sides, snapped at the roots. A number of great holes with no visible bottom pockmarked the surface of the ground. If someone claimed that this was the aftermath of some unnatural being purging the surface world, the overwhelming destruction would have convinced many of the preposterous explanation. A single man—the one who had wrought the shocking spectacle—stood at the center of the destruction. His face marred by fresh blood, out of breath but his spirit undiminished, he was the great sinner who had embraced inside him a Deadly Sin that suited his body not, gaining power at the cost of whittling away his own life—Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti. With sheer force of will, the man named Geuse forced down that unnatural power as he stood. The Authority one perhaps ought to call invisible arms had given Geuse the means to defy an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins—

[User] “—You know, it really is time for you to acknowledge this is useless.” Even having obtained power at such great cost, his target Regulus was completely unharmed and even scornfully laughing at him. Standing amid a hovering cloud of dust and unnatural destruction, Regulus seemed bored.

[Assistant] “Even after doing…this much…!”

[User] “It’s time to face up and realize it already, yeah? We’re different. You and I are actors meant for different stages. It’s not an issue of whether you can beat me. No one can beat me. No one can hurt me. Sword Saint or dragon, it’s all useless.


[User] "All of it, every last bit…useless.” Speaking bluntly to Geuse, who was coughing up blood, Regulus nonchalantly waved an arm.

[Assistant] Coughing up blood, Geuse is put on guard, offering his flesh to the black power wriggling inside him.

[User] He prepared to deal with it—then his right arm was sent flying. “Wha…? !”

[Assistant] “I’m bored stiff of seeing that reaction, too. I went through the trouble of giving you time to spend with your wife and all. I wanted at least some kind of reward for that, but it looks like I got my hopes up for nothing.”

[User] “Ngh…what are…? Guh, agh! Whoaaa! !” Pressing down on the remains of his severed arm, Geuse tumbled spectacularly.

[Assistant] The pitiful sight made Regulus grimace. “In the end, see, this is all your resolve and determination and all that stuff amounts to. But don’t mind that too much. It’s not you; it’s everyone. No one can hold more than their own two hands can carry. You have to live within your means. That’s normal. You understand, right?”

[User] “Gah, aah, aah…”

[Assistant] “Really, I hate all this. Maybe you think I like hurting other people out of some kind of sadistic hobby, but you would be mistaken, and I would take great insult at that mischaracterization. I’m not doing this because I particularly want to. It only seems like I’m bullying you because you’re weak. I don’t have any desire to do things like this any longer. For good or ill, I, a satisfied man, do not want to interfere with anyone else. I am content, without want. You need to accept that.”

[User] His raspy, ragged breaths and the spasms of his body invited pity, like an insect on the verge of expiring.

[Assistant] With Geuse thus on the brink of death, Regulus looked down at him, speaking without malice or enmity or anything else.

[User] He felt there was no need for personal emotions to come into play when he was merely listing off facts.

[Assistant] As she stood in the destroyed forest, Pandora showed no more sign of change than Regulus did.

[User] The very embodiment of beauty, her lovely visage, let alone the white cloth that enveloped her small, slender torso, remained utterly unaffected.

[Assistant] “Among the masses, not everyone can think like you, and certainly not everyone will reach the same lofty realm. You are more special than others. You should be content that you are so. Your completed form is marvelous.


[User] "And they, the incomplete, are marvelous in their own way.”

[Assistant] “I do not seek your praise, nor do I endorse your opinion that they are marvelous or anything of the sort. At any rate, neither I nor the Black Serpent needed to show up, Lady Pandora. You could have handled this much all by yourself.” Showing no sign of joy over her words of praise, Regulus indicated the forest with both hands as he spoke to Pandora.

[User] She gracefully acknowledged his words with a nod. “Yes, that might well be the case. However, I needed to see with my own eyes just how earnestly people strive for their revered goals and just how lovely they can be while doing so.”

[Assistant] “The gist is, you wanted to see the desperate faces of people backed into a corner, didn’t you? Ha-ha-ha, if that’s all, you should just put it simply so people can understand. Making a needless excuse feels like it only wastes my time.”

[User] “I find that way of taking it to be quite adorable.” As a smile that could charm the heart came over Pandora.

[Assistant] Regulus replied with a wicked smile of his own. From there, he turned his eyes toward the collapsed Geuse, walking over to inflict the final blow. “Well, even if this body dies, it’s not like you don’t have spares. Dragging what’s inside you and keeping a grip on the scruff of your neck will make dealing with you easier. For someone who made me use up all this time, you really are a talentless hack.” As he spoke, Regulus lifted his foot over Geuse’s head. It was clear he would squash Geuse’s head like an overripe melon—

[User] "Al Hyuma! !" In accordance with the chant, the world accepted the transformation of mana; with a cracking sound, it became destruction made manifest.

[Assistant] The sound of the atmosphere crackling made Regulus lift his head, scowling in disgust. “If it’s not one thing, then it’s another…!” Regulus clicked his tongue— The next moment, a mighty spear of ice sufficient to blot out the sky slammed into his face, and the resulting quake, having nowhere else to go, became a ferocious shock wave that enveloped Regulus, completely crushing his slender frame.


[User] "Geuse! Geuse, hold on! What did they…? Ahhh, what should I do…? !”

[Assistant] Responding to that voice, light returned to Geuse’s eyes, though he was barely breathing. “Lady Fortuna, is that you…?”

[User] It was unmistakable that his life was in peril even so, but as Geuse barely kept his consciousness tethered, Fortuna nodded to him several times.


[User] “Yes, yes, that’s right, it’s me. Geuse, to see you like this…”

[Assistant] “It iiiis fine… A body of flesh must someday perish… The finger who entruuusted this body to me surely understood as much… More importantly, is Lady Emilia…?”

[User] “I left her to Archi…the next Guardian, so she could have a chance to escape outside. I’m sure they’re all right, thanks to you.”

[Assistant] “Iiis that so…? That iiis very…good.”

[User] “—It’s not remotely good whatsoever! !” As Geuse relaxed his blood-ridden face in relief, his words made Regulus cry out with an angry voice. Blasting apart the ice-covered soil, Regulus brushed away white mist with both arms, his expression indignant. He plucked at his head, enmity resting in his eyes like nothing before.

[Assistant] “Who do you think you are, coming back and pulling that out of the blue? I was about to stomp and crush his head just now! With what right, with whose permission, do you dare! Interfere! With me…me me me me me me me me me me ME?! !” In a fit of rage, Regulus squatted and plunged both his arms into the ground. He proceeded to swing them upward, tossing soft soil toward Fortuna and Geuse. His demeanor was truly like that of a child, throwing a tantrum and scattering earth about—

[User] “No! That debris… You must evade all of it…!”

[Assistant] “Eh?” Fortuna was ignoring the shower of dirt and trying to refine her mana for a counterattack when Geuse pushed her down. The action he chose over counterattack, over defense, was to push her straight to the ground without even breaking her fall— Fortuna raised her voice, questioning Geuse’s decision…and then she saw.

[User] The sand and pebbles Regulus threw had opened “countless holes” in the surface of the ground. These were literally countless holes. Almost like the marks raindrops left upon parched soil, the dirt Regulus had thrown gouged the ground with such penetrating power that she could not see where they bottomed out. The might of the attack was obvious from one glance at the fallen trees caught in its area of effect. They had been turned into wood chips from the countless, tiny holes punched into them; a human body subjected to the same would have surely turned to bloody mist. It was nigh unbelievable destructive power, and most frightening of all was—

[Assistant] “Hey now! What did you go dodging it for?! Just soak it up and turn into mincemeat! That goes for the talentless hack Petelgeuse and that woman over there, too! I would’ve been fine adding you as my seventy-ninth wife, so what’s with this stupid behavior, huh? Huh? !” Whining loudly, Regulus thrust his arms into the ground’s surface once more—

[User] He could do this consecutively. He was a being who could not be harmed by some of the deadliest spells in existence yet could kill by scattering some dirt and pebbles. In spite of this, his mental state was as immature as an infant’s, destructively egotistical beyond anyone’s reach.


[User] This dangerous being, like a badly raised child who was liable to bite anyone depending on his mood, had been granted power on par with a dragon—that was how Fortuna appraised the vile man before her.

[Assistant] “If you don’t like me taking one limb off, I’ll take all four! I’ll make you regret making a fool out of me…out of Greed! !”

[User] “—Please wait, Archbishop Corneas.”

[Assistant] “Aah?” Just when Regulus was about to resume his attacks, the platinum-haired beauty urged him to wait. Still squatting, Regulus looked back at Pandora. His eyes were still thickly colored with anger, and it seemed even his ally, Pandora, was in danger of winding up on the receiving end. With that dangerous look still in his eyes, Regulus spoke to Pandora, his lips trembling. “…What is it, Lady Pandora? Right now, I am in the middle of punishing the louts infringing upon my rights. What do you want from me? Whatever you intend, watch your words and answer me right now…!”

[User] “Please restrain your anger, Archbishop Corneas. I will not permit you to kill him, or her, in this place. Do you not feel anything when you gaze upon them?”

[Assistant] Pandora’s words were unexpected to Fortuna and Geuse alike. It was unthinkable that she, an enemy to both of them, would plead with Regulus to spare their lives.

[User] Then he looked at Fortuna and Geuse, finally turning back to Pandora. “Did you just…order me to restrain my anger?” His tone was quiet, sounding emotionless to the ear. However, that calm crumbled a moment later. “—You’ve got some nerve butting in where you’re not wanted, woman!! !” In that situation, where everyone was trying to have their own way, Regulus’s short temper hit its limit and exploded in the worst way possible. Though they had been both on the same side, though he had paid respect to his superior, Regulus hurled sand toward Pandora without hesitation, seemingly having forgotten their relationship entirely. The might of the earthen shrapnel was immense. The dirt he scattered ravaged any part of the forest that was in its line of fire with overwhelming force, bearing down upon the beautiful girl—and this girl, a goddess of beauty, a living masterpiece, was cruelly transformed into a cloud of blood.

[Assistant] “—You’re kidding me.” Defenseless and showered by the soil, Pandora was flayed apart, leaving Fortuna agape. It was a natural reaction. Her reviled opponent had died a dog’s death at the hands of a former comrade. Her supernatural nature was rendered meaningless, the girl’s dead flesh fated to be eaten amid a ravaged forest.

[User] “This is what happens when someone gives me lip. Why can’t people just treat me with the consideration anyone else is due? Don’t get in my way. Don’t interrupt when I’m talking. Don’t object to what I do. Is that so hard to ask?


[User] "Hey, you two over there…what do you think?” Having murdered Pandora, though the madness residing in his eyes remained unexhausted, Regulus turned back toward the other two.

[Assistant] “Let us buy time so that Emilia might escape…”

[User] “In that case… Lady Fortuna…leave this to me…”

[Assistant] “No matter how much blood I must shed…until this flesh of mine yields, I…I will buy time…so please, Lady Fortuna, escape…”

[User] “Don’t say stupid things.” To Geuse, who lay within her arms and had resolved to be a stone to cast away, Fortuna spoke in a gentle voice, her cheeks softening.

[Assistant] “Are you saying to leave you here and run? If I was going to do that, I’d never have come back. I even parted ways with Emilia to return. How can you tell me to run now?”

[User] “But…why iiis it, then, you have returned…? I am…”

[Assistant] “—To not let you die…and if you must die, to be at your side.” With Fortuna’s violet eyes staring at him, Geuse’s eyes, misty with blood, opened wide.

[User] Fortuna held Geuse, who was lighter from the loss of one arm and so much blood, pressing him close to her as she spoke. "What awaits me in a world without you, in a forest where you will never come? I am too weak to live long in a world that doesn’t have you in it.”

[Assistant] “You, weak…?”

[User] “I am weak. All I did was put up a brave front for you and Emilia.” Fortuna lifted Geuse up, looking at him with a face that somehow seemed freed of all burdens.

[Assistant] Trembling, Geuse leaned on her arm for support, the two embracing each other as they faced forward.

[User] Gazing at the pair, Regulus clicked his tongue, disgusted from the bottom of his heart. “Not only do you ignore my question for a prolonged period of time, but now you’ve gotten yourselves all worked up? Makes me wonder what in the world could you be thinking? What’s the meaning of this? I’ve already shown you the superiority of my power, explained everything in easy-to-understand ways, so why are you going We can do it over and over? What the hell are you thinking? !”

[Assistant] “What a tiresome and noisy man. Get a clue already.


[User] "For us, there is only one answer.”

[Assistant] "Yeeees, I suppose so…” Fortuna and Geuse exchanged glances, their voices in tandem as they spoke to the indignant Regulus.

[User] ““—Who knows and who cares, moron?”” Their voices overlapped, and Fortuna stuck up her middle finger for good measure. Uttering those biting words together, Fortuna and Geuse gathered their power in their taunt, making Regulus’s face red with rage.

[Assistant] “Fine with me! I’ll make both of you indistinguishable puddles of blood and use you to fertilize this filthy forest—”

[User] "—I told you to wait, did I not, Archbishop Corneas?” For her own convenience, Pandora impeded Regulus for the third time— Dancing softly in the sky, she pressed her slender hand down upon Regulus’s head, forcing the disturbing man’s body to sink without any apparent resistance from the ground. In an instant, he was buried from the tips of his toes to the crown of his head. As Pandora landed right beside him, Regulus stared up at her from directly below.

[Assistant] “Over and over again… What does it take to kill you…? !”

[User] “I forgive your violent actions, your violent deeds, all these things. You have already fulfilled the purpose for which I brought you here. It is fine for you to go now.”

[Assistant] “After calling me here, you tell me to go now that you’re satisfied? Just how much do you think you can make a fool out of me…?”

[User] “Is it that unacceptable? Then I shall take care of it. Archbishop Corneas cannot possibly be here. He is spending time at his mansion, surrounded by his wives.”

[Assistant] “Wa—” The instant she made that one-sided argument, Regulus tried to shout something as he suddenly vanished from sight. It wasn’t that he sank deeper into the ground. His very presence had truly, suddenly disappeared. As a matter of fact, the place where he had assuredly been bore no trace of burial at all. It was as if, when Pandora said, …cannot possibly be here, the very world had affirmed her words.

[User] “At my request, the boisterous one has departed the stage. Now we can take our time to chat, yes?”

[Assistant] “…Before that, may I ask one thing? You should be dead and in pieces, yes?” Fortuna posed that question to Pandora, who was smiling gracefully and standing there like it was the most natural thing. Surely, that smile, along with that graceful body, had been turned into fragments of bloody flesh and scattered around the forest in its entirety. And yet, the tragic state Fortuna was certain she’d witnessed was gone, and the dead had unnaturally come back to life. To Fortuna, who was unable to conceal her shock at that fact, Pandora tilted her head.

[User] “Perhaps…you are ‘mistaken’ about something?”

[Assistant] “—!” Pandora’s words, spoken without malice, sent a deep shudder through Fortuna. Though it should not have been so, the world had changed out of respect for Pandora’s opinion.


[User] The scene Fortuna herself had seen with her own eyes had been denied, and history had been supernaturally rewritten with a scene she had no recollection of seeing. —A corpse had been erased, and Pandora had returned to life. Regulus had vanished, along with all traces of his presence. Moreover, the consequences did not end at Pandora being safe and sound, with the hole Regulus had been in now buried. When she first realized the effects, Fortuna nearly let out an unwitting yelp. Opening her eyes wide, Fortuna moved her trembling fingers toward Geuse, who was assuredly on the brink of death— His torn-off arm and the grave wounds to his legs had been healed and restored.

[Assistant] "It is a simple matter. If Archbishop Corneas was never here, it follows that all the results of Archbishop Corneas’s actions would also vanish. Although, you may consider the healing of your wounds a gesture of goodwill on my part…"

[User] "G-Geuse, that arm…"

[Assistant] "There’s nothing amiss. My body…is sound, aside from what resides inside it."

[User] "I have not gone so far as to overwrite the fact that you incorporated the Witch Factor into yourself. I wish to praise your actions and the actions of the woman who returned for your sake. Please think of this as a kindness from me."

[Assistant] Geuse was bewildered by Pandora’s elegant smile even as he acknowledged that his own body had been healed. Fortuna heard the words from a distance as she felt the ground crumble under her own feet. Pandora, her hated foe, was not an opponent Fortuna could take on. Everything that had happened in the forest that day had far exceeded Fortuna’s puny imagination. Or perhaps, at that rate, everything that had happened would simply vanish into thin—

[User] "Lady Fortuna, please get ahold of yourself!"

[Assistant] "—! Geuse!" As Fortuna wavered, Geuse used his restored right hand to pinch her cheek. Fortuna was surprised by the pain as Geuse grasped both her shoulders and continued.

[User] "I am sure you have doubts. I am sure you are bewildered. However, these are thiiiings we must leave for another time. Right now, what is important…is that we do what we can for Lady Emilia’s sake!"

[Assistant] Little by little, his desperate plea restored Fortuna’s waning vigor. Yes. It was just as Geuse had said. She was afraid, not knowing what this incomprehensible foe might do. But surely, she already knew the most frightening thing of all. —If this woman’s objectives involved her own precious, beloved daughter…

[User] "Whatever happened, I don’t care. Right now—!"

[Assistant] "Iiiit falls to the two of us to strike her down! If she iiiis defeated, the militants assaulting the forest will surely retreat! —We wiiiill save Lady Emilia!"

[User] Geuse’s words, and her feelings for her beloved daughter, made Fortuna’s internal hate grow white-hot. Before, she’d resigned herself to never seeing Emilia ever again. Up until a moment before, she’d intended to see that resolve through. But now, her hopes and her ideals resounded powerfully in her chest.


[User] "—O ancient, mystic ice, so cold and white even time shudders, ice so great the soul sleeps eternal." The mana she had gathered up to strike down Regulus whirled about, seeking a place to explode. She gave that latent energy form, purpose, duty; it took shape, ready to freeze the world.

[Assistant] "My life, my duty, my love… For all their sakes, I…!"

[User] Geuse embraced his own shoulders with both hands as he spun those words of bloody resolve. Power raged under his tattered habit, and his healed body began falling into ruin once more. Blood gushed, bones cracked, and life dissolved.

[Assistant] Pandora merely spread her arms wide, her cheeks flushed. "Now, come— Let me taste the embrace of your tenacity until the bitter end."


[User] Emilia had already gone well past the white flowers Archi had pointed out. And yet, her legs did not cease. She was told not to stop running, so she kept doing as she was told.

[Assistant] "Uu…uuuu!" She shook her head. Tears were flowing. She desperately held back the sob that was threatening to leak out from the corner of her mouth. Emilia earnestly stretched her tiny gait as far as it would go as she ran through the forest.

[User] "Se…al…"

[Assistant] Emilia stopped. Even if she looked back, she’d long left behind the place where Archi was. She could not see him. Nor Fortuna. Nor Geuse.

[User] "But…if—if I don’t do…s-something…"


[User] "If I go to that place… Ahhh, but…" Thus deciding, Emilia tried to dash off but hesitated before taking the first step.

[Assistant] "Uh, hu…!" Confronted with her pathetic powerlessness, young Emilia could restrain her sobs no more.

[User] Emilia wiped her flooding tears with a hand, her eyes widened as a faint light abruptly passed before them.

[Assistant] "Fairy…?" Emilia called out to the fairies, the supernatural beings that Fortuna and Geuse had termed lesser spirits.


[User] "You’ll tell me where…?"

[Assistant] "If I go that way, I’ll get to the seal? I’ll be able to save Mom and everyone…?"

[User] Emilia wiped her tears away with all her might.

[Assistant] "Yeah… Yeah, yeah!" Nodding with a mix of thanks and determination, Emilia broke into a run, following the belt of light.

[User] "Huu, huu…!" Her lungs hurt. Fluid dripped from her nose.

[Assistant] Emilia wiped off her teary and muddy face, getting angry at her scuffed knees as she ran.


[User] With insufficient oxygen, Emilia found her vision wavering, and her consciousness was like a daydream as memories resurfaced. Emilia remembered all the time she had spent in that forest, in that settlement, loved as she was. —She remembered Fortuna’s love. She remembered days when she’d been scolded. Emilia also remembered crying and apologizing and Fortuna spending the whole night holding Emilia in her arms, continuing to stroke her head until morning, seemingly so that she would not wake alone. Fortuna had not spoiled her and had been strict, but she had also given her such precious things. Even though she had a habit of saying she was not Emilia’s real mother, Fortuna was Emilia’s mother, her first and most important mother. —She remembered how Archi and everyone else in the settlement were kind to them. She understood there was just the tiniest bit of distance between them. She knew they were hesitant, now knowing exactly how to approach her. But everyone had always been gentle to her, and they had absolutely never hurt Emilia or Fortuna. Even the Princess Room was something everyone had worked hard to improve so Emilia would have an easier time. It was difficult being in that place, but she’d liked it anyway. —She remembered hating Geuse so much. He was related to the things the adults were hiding, and he’d gone and drawn out the smiling face that was for Emilia alone, so she thought she could never forgive him. Yet, when they’d met by chance, he’d cried the moment he set eyes on Emilia. He cried and cried, crying out of happiness, and so Emilia forgave him. After all, those were kind tears. Remembering how Fortuna had put her at ease when Fortuna was hugging her, she’d stroked Geuse’s head. She wanted to be at his side so that the crybaby wouldn’t be lonely. She’d thought he was so helpless. She’d thought she just couldn’t abandon him. —She remembered she loved everyone so much. Fortuna. Geuse. Archi. Everyone. They were Emilia’s precious, precious people.

[Assistant] "I can…still save everyone…!" She says. She wanted to sleep in the same bed with Fortuna again. Next time, she wanted to invite Archi and everyone to the Princess Room. Next time, she wanted to stomp on that impertinent crybaby Geuse’s foot with all her strength. She wanted to meet everyone again.

[User] "I’ll be a good girl, so…" Her vision hazy with tears, she slipped beyond the usual branches and trees of the familiar forest, her feet halting where the forest turned white. Her breath was ragged and her face was red when she finally reached the seal she’d been seeking—

[Assistant] "—Welcome. I have been waiting for you." The girl with platinum hair stood waiting before the seal, spreading her arms wide, seemingly to welcome her arrival.


[User] In that phantasmal scene, with everything dyed pure white, a beautiful girl stood, wearing nothing but a single piece of cloth. It looked as if an artist had exchanged not only his own soul but that of many others, making a deal with some devil to attain the pinnacle of painting for the very first time. "I am so glad that I found you. I’ve located the seal at long last, but I had no idea where the Key might be. But I have managed to find you, so I am deeply relieved."

[Assistant] "Why…are you here…?" Emilia's voice trembled as she posed a question to the girl with such an obviously abnormal presence.

[User] "Tee-hee, surprised, aren’t you? It’s quite simple, actually. This seal is our goal. We came to look for it… Therefore, my being here was inevitable." Pandora brought her palms together before her, smiling broadly like someone about to reveal a secret as some sort of grand finale.

[Assistant] "Why…are you here…?"

[User] "—? Ahhh, I am sorry. I gave a rather odd reply, didn’t I? What you want to know concerns Archbishop Romanée-Conti and your mother, doesn’t it?"

[Assistant] "—!" Emilia audibly clenched her teeth.

[User] "Please rest easy." Pandora spoke that one phrase as a preamble to young Emilia’s distress, her charming smile deepening. Her expression flooded with what seemed like simple consideration, wanting to wipe that gloom from Emilia’s face. "The Archbishop Romanée-Conti and your mother you are so concerned about are both quite safe and sound."

[Assistant] "R-really…?"

[User] "Yes, really— my believers and I have tried to avoid hurting everyone as much as possible. Just as I told you earlier, this seal is our goal. It is not necessary to sacrifice anyone for it."

[Assistant] "Once you finish with the seal, you’ll leave…?"

[User] "O-once you’re done dealing with the s-seal, you’ll leave the forest? You’ll leave without doing anything horrible to everyone?"

[Assistant] "—Yes, of course. It is not my desire that there be unnecessary casualties." Pandora made a promise, deeply bowing her head in response to Emilia’s clumsy plea.


[User] Pandora pointed to the sealed door, causing the teary Emilia to cock her head.

[Assistant] "Therefore, would you kindly hand over the Key? Once I am finished with my business, I will immediately withdraw from this forest."

[User] "K-Key…?"

[Assistant] "Yes, the Key. This seal takes the shape of a door because it cannot be opened without the Key. And surely, that Key is in your possession."

[User] "I don’t know anything about that…" Action/Narration As a matter of fact, she couldn’t remember any such thing. Emilia did not recall ever carrying something like a key, and in the first place, the seal itself had been kept secret from Emilia. She couldn’t think of any possible way for her to have this Key to a seal she didn’t even know about until just recently.

[Assistant] "I cannot call hiding it from me very wise."

[User] "Y-you’re wrong…!! I really— I really don’t know! I don’t have anything like a key! No one gave me a key! I can’t open this seal!"

[Assistant] "Is that so? —Well, I will have to rummage through every corner of the forest to search for the Key, then." Action/Narration Seemingly disappointed in Emilia’s reply, Pandora lowered her eyes, looking very sad.

[User] Understanding that Pandora was fully capable of following through, Emilia desperately tried to think of something.

[Assistant] "I-I’ll open it! I’ll open it! !"

[User] "Ohhh, really? I’m so glad. You really do have the Key, don’t you?" Action/Narration Not noticing how the abrupt change frightened the little girl, Pandora continued.

[Assistant] "But of course you do. You must have the Key— After all, whatever you may look like, you are still a Witch’s daughter."

[User] "Witch…?"

[Assistant] "Now, please take care of the seal. If you open this door, I will depart, immediately at that." Action/Narration Pandora’s face was filled with joy, looking like she could barely contain her impatience as she yielded the stage to Emilia.


[User] Even as Pandora’s words set her mind astir, Emilia approached the door in her stead. Firmly closed and so tall that she had to crane her neck to see it all, the door felt very weighty and oppressive. “” She already said she would open it, and here she stood before the door. However, she had no idea how to open it.

[Assistant] The one time she investigated the seal, Emilia had tried getting past it. No matter how much she pushed or pulled or even climbed over it, the door never budged. That wouldn’t change now.

[User] The door, as cold as ice, silently and emotionlessly rejected Emilia’s tiny palm. “Ha!


[User] …Haaa…ha!… Ah.” Her heart rate quickened abnormally, and she could hear the noisy sound of blood flowing in her head. The inside of her chest grew hot, and the depths of her belly grew cold. Her leaping heart threatened to jump right out of her mouth, and yet, the tips of her fingers felt heavy, as if packed with lead. Though she willed them to move with all her might, they would not. —If she didn’t open this door, something terrible would happen to everyone, she was sure of it. As fear and despair made her mind a blank, Emilia’s consciousness moved further and further away—

[Assistant] “—Think of yourself as the Key.” When Emilia sought something to cling to, that voice smoothly slid into Emilia’s earlobes.

[User] —I am…the Key. Doing as the voice commanded, Emilia’s mind settled on a single answer. That instant, Emilia felt something heavy in the palm of the hand she used to touch the door. She looked at her hand. There, she saw an old, large silver key that had appeared at some point unknown to her.

[Assistant] “Can you see it? If so, you are indeed the Key.” Standing right beside Emilia, Pandora spoke in what seemed a whisper. Her words brought a sound out of Emilia’s throat, but she realized the girl could not see the Key herself.

[User] “You don’t see this…?”

[Assistant] “—. No, I do not. This Key cannot be entrusted to anyone who does not possess the proper qualifications. There are likely only two people in the world who may hold this Key.” When Pandora murmured with a look of envy, Emilia saw something resembling emotion in her for the first time. But the impression the girl gave off that moment was meaningless. Lifting her face, Emilia turned back toward the door. Surely, the key in her palm would match the keyhole of the lock in the center of the door. It was something Emilia understood without having to try and see. Mysteriously, her hand felt accustomed to the key. It was as natural, as obvious as a key she might use to enter her own bedroom.

[User] “Now, open it. Do this, and your wish shall be granted.” When Pandora’s voice came to her from…somewhere, Emilia took a single step forward. If she put the key in the keyhole and willed it to “open,” then open it would. That was all it would take for the seal to be released from its long, long, truly so very long duty. If she did that, Geuse, Fortuna, and everyone else in the forest would surely be saved…and yet—

[Assistant] Emilia—I promise. As she was about to touch the seal, the words whispered by her mother upon their parting echoed in Emilia’s head. They were words exchanged in a promise unrelated to that seal. However, Emilia remembered. She remembered her mother had promised to protect her. She knew nothing about the seal. She’d made a prior promise never to go to this place.


[User] Emilia did not know about this place, and she was not supposed to know. She was not supposed to have anything to do with it at all. She and Fortuna had made a promise. And she had to put keeping her promises above everything else. A promise was a creation of trust and she couldn’t betray those feelings. If she became a bad girl, no one would forgive Emilia anymore. She would become unforgivable. That was why opening the seal would mean breaking a promise. “I—I can’t open it…”

[Assistant] "—Why?" Pandora spoke briefly, her voice hard for the first time.

[User] Not noticing the change in her tone of voice, Emilia shook her head even more reluctantly. “I…I made a promise. I don’t know anything about the seal. I mustn’t open it.”

[Assistant] “Is that so? Promises are important, aren’t they? I think your attempt to uphold yours is very righteous and commendable. However, such things have a time and place.” Gently, Pandora hugged Emilia from behind. Embraced by those slender, gorgeous arms, Emilia trembled from the warmth of someone who was not her mother. “You made that promise with your mother, didn’t you? Your mother is a most commendable person. She raised you to be proper and good. Such aspirations should be treasured.”

[User] “Th-then…”

[Assistant] “But sometimes, the time comes when you must decide to break a promise. Perhaps it is cruel to ask that of a child so young. However, fate does not take personal circumstance into account. What fate loves most is the struggle against the tides and embracing hope, come what may. What kind of hope do you seek?”

[User] “What kind…?” As Emilia spoke in a broken voice.

[Assistant] “Yes,” Smiling like a benevolent mother as she nodded. “One choice would be the hope that you can keep the promise between you and your mother, not opening the seal and thus antagonizing us, but then overcome these tribulations in spite of that.” Pandora lifted up her right hand to indicate that invisible hope. “And the other is the hope that by defying your mother’s promise and opening the seal, we can both fulfill our objectives and harmoniously bring this entire affair to an end.” Lifting up her left hand, Pandora similarly presented to Emilia another invisible hope.

[User] Presented with these two options, Emilia stiffened, unable to raise her voice. Her throat seemed so frozen that she couldn’t even tell how to breathe. If she said something rash, would Pandora snatch back both hands that very instant? Would Emilia lose both options without coming close to touching either one?

[Assistant] “What kind of hope shall you choose? —Your fate depends upon it.”


[User] That moment, she could not hear her own heartbeats, which had been so noisy before. All sound had vanished from the world. Even color had been erased, leaving Emilia lost and alone. Unable to hear even her own beating heart, what remained was her brain—no, her consciousness alone. She couldn’t choose. She couldn’t choose. She couldn’t choose couldn’t choose couldn’t couldn’tcouldn’tcouldn’tcouldn’t. Which was the right choice? What should she do to rescue everyone? What did she need to do to help? She wanted someone, anyone to tell her. Hope, salvation, her mother’s teachings—

[Assistant] "—Ah.”

[User] “—So you’ve made your choice. This is your decision, isn’t it?” Amid her white-hot thoughts and her hollow, nebula-like vision, she heard Pandora’s voice. Looking down at the hand the child’s palm had reached, Pandora cast her eyes, rimmed by long eyelashes, downward. Emilia had touched Pandora’s right hand. She had chosen the hope that did not break her promise, that did not open the seal, that saved no one.

[Assistant] “I…made a promise with Mom. I have to keep my promises… I have to, so… Mooom…”

[User] “You believed the words of the mother who raised you until the very end. At the end of your struggle, this is the answer you arrived at, the conclusion reached by your soul. I respect that.” As a steady flood of tears flowed from Emilia, Pandora nodded in what seemed like acceptance. Then she gently brushed away Emilia’s hand, which touched her own right hand, gazing at the young girl with apparent affection. If Pandora wanted to, she could force Emilia, the key holder, to open the door. That she showed no intent of doing so must have meant there was some kind of tangible goodness inside Pandora. If so, then—

[Assistant] “—However, please respect the decision I made to teach you the means to open this door.” It was an expression of her false benevolence. She had no qualms about completely ravaging anything that she didn’t find valuable or worthy of respect.

[User] “—Eh?' In a daze, Emilia let her voice trickle out toward the smiling Pandora. She saw that Pandora was looking not at her but at the woods behind her. From the grove of white trees, a single figure leaped, charging toward them—


[Assistant] “—Pandoraaa! !” Howling with every fiber of her bloodied body was a woman with short silver hair—Fortuna. Just how ferocious had her battles been after returning to the forest? Fortuna appeared there, wounded all over, yet the glint of fierceness in her eyes was undiminished as she unleashed tremendous magical power to impale Pandora. It sounded like the air cracked as long, massive spears of ice materialized in the area around Fortuna. Their aim was true, and with speed greater than an arrow, they streaked toward Pandora all at once.

[User] “Take this—! !”

[Assistant] “Launching an attack without looking around first is quite dangerous.” Speaking calmly, Pandora stepped forward as if to shield Emilia.


[User] Watching that cruel death unfold right before her eyes, Emilia let out a high-pitched shriek.

[Assistant] Having lost its head, Pandora’s corpse fell backward, knocking Emilia down with it.

[User] The surreal experience of being pinned under a headless corpse made Emilia scream long and hard.

[Assistant] “…Emilia?” With that scream bringing her back to her senses, Fortuna was dumbfounded as she called out the name of her beloved daughter. Fortuna raced to Emilia’s side. “Why are you here, Emilia…? You should have left the forest…”

[User] “Is it not cruel to ask why? This girl was thinking of you, her mother, as she sped here with no thought other than wanting to save you. If a mother cannot respect and praise the purity of such thoughts, what will the world come to?” As Fortuna wavered, Pandora, right beside her, arched her brows in visible reproach.

[User] “And when you make the same faces, you really do look alike. That’s a mother and daughter for you.”

[Assistant] “—! I’m not Emilia’s mother! It’s my sister-in-law whom Emilia resembles!”

[User] “Ahhh, her. How so very rude of me.”


[Assistant] Fortuna unleashed an angry cry, and right as Pandora was in the middle of apologizing for it, a sword of ice mercilessly slashed her apart.

[User] Her torso was cut in half by a diagonal slice, and fresh blood spilled out as Pandora collapsed backward onto the ground.

[Assistant] “Then I suppose that makes you the mother who raised her. If so, you should be proud of yourself. Your daughter possesses a heart most worthy of praise. I am sure that her real parents would be overjoyed.”

[User] “Don’t speak of my brother and sister-in-law with your filthy mouth! !”

[Assistant] The fallen corpse vanished, and Pandora stood at Fortuna’s side as if it was the most natural thing.

[User] Fortuna lopped her neck off with her sword of ice, skewering her torso and shattering it into fragments.

[Assistant] The next moment, when Pandora revived behind her, Fortuna closed the distance and impaled her, and when the beautiful visage appeared again farther away, she hurled the sword toward her.

[User] The second the tip of the sword caught her slender body, Pandora became a statue of ice, cracking and falling apart an instant later. “Are you not tired of always rejecting conversation with violence like this? I’ve been waiting for a moment of calm to have a proper conversation, so how about we start over?”


[User] "I told you not to run your mouth!" Fortuna glances at the shattered ice statue, and Pandora pats Fortuna on the shoulder. As a shudder went through her from the nightmarish sight, Fortuna slammed an open palm into the side of Pandora’s face.

[Assistant] “—Agh!”

[User] "Emilia?!"

[Assistant] Emilia, knocked flying by her mother, skidded across the ground’s surface, unable to break her fall. Fortuna, going pale at having inadvertently struck her own daughter, hurriedly raced over to her side. "No!! Emilia, I’m so sorry! Oh no! I didn’t mean to…!"

[User] “It hurts that much to be struck. I’m sure your own heart feels pain at least equal to that. Now do you understand just how callous your behavior is?”

[Assistant] When Fortuna picked up Pandora, she yelped loudly and thrust the girl away. When she stood up and looked, she saw Emilia standing right by the seal, same as before. There was no sign that her cheek had been slapped.

[User] “Are you relieved to know nothing happened to her? Could you not share just a little of that sentiment with an opponent you det


[User] "Emilia, I’m truly and very… You came here alone? What about Archi?"

[Assistant] "Archi…told me to run as far as the white flowers… That’s why…I ran…"

[User] "—!" Hearing from Emilia what Archi had told her, Fortuna realized that the young elf’s life had reached its end. The unfortunate end of the young man who had told them that they were family filled Fortuna’s chest with sadness. However, Fortuna did not show a tearful face to the daughter she embraced. Just how many lives had the minion of that vicious Witch stolen around the forest…? Even so, Fortuna was proud of the decision her daughter had made. "Emilia, Emilia…you did well to keep your promise. Good girl. Good girl."

[Assistant] "Mom…! Mom, I—I—!"

[User] "Emilia…you are my pride. You are my treasure…" As her daughter nestled close, Fortuna gently embraced her.

[Assistant] Pandora’s face grew hot, seemingly entranced by the sight. Her expression was as if she wanted to monopolize the world’s most beautiful scenes all for herself. "I have had my fill of beautiful love between parent and child. To love and be loved is marvelous indeed…"

[User] "I don’t feel very warm and fuzzy hearing that from you— I won’t break the seal. I won’t hand over this girl. My reply is the same as Emilia’s. Turn into an ice statue and wither here, would you?"

[Assistant] "Do you not think such a cruel statement is bad for your daughter’s education?"

[User] "Nothing can be worse for her education than having a conversation with someone like you." Rejecting Pandora’s very existence, Fortuna channeled the mana around her once more. Sensing that renewed hostility and increasing magical power, Pandora pursed her lips with a forlorn expression.


[Assistant] "After sooo long, I have finally caught up with you—!" His voice was tinged with madness, yet the man held on to an even greater sense of duty as he rushed onto the battlefield. Leaping over the tall, pure-white trees was a man wearing a habit—Geuse—passing through the sky high, fast, and with enough force that one might think a giant had hurled him.

[User] "Geuse!"

[Assistant] "Lady Fortunaaa!" Fortuna and Geuse called out each other’s names, and that was all it took to link their wills together. With Pandora standing by the sealed door, Fortuna and Geuse were in the perfect position to conduct a pincer, unleashing maximum firepower from front and rear. Fortuna gripped Emilia’s trembling right hand with her left. Emilia stared up at the side of her mother’s face. As she gazed straight ahead, ready to boldly confront her opponent, she was beautiful enough to make one tremble.


[User] "Al Hyuma—! !"

[Assistant] "Unseen Haaands—!! !" The unparalleled destruction woven by Fortuna combined with the maximum amount of heresy Geuse could derive from the power of the Witch Factor. As such incredibly devastating power swelled, the sky of the Great Elior Forest cried out in agony—

[User] "—Mom?" An invisible hand pierced Fortuna’s chest, bathing Emilia’s entire body in her mother’s fresh blood.

[Assistant] Emilia felt the hand holding her own grow limp as Fortuna’s body collapsed before her eyes.

[User] "With thiiiiis—it is over! !" Howling, Geuse landed as he waved around his blood-soaked hand. Seemingly pulled by his gesture, Fortuna’s body traced a similar arc as it danced in the air. Strength drained from Fortuna’s limbs as she was cast away like a doll and tumbled across the ground—

[Assistant] Blood poured ceaselessly out of her body.

[User] "I felt that striiike her… After sooo many tries, thiiis time…" His breathing ragged, Geuse murmured as he knelt on the spot. Emilia did not hear his voice, nor did she see the state he was in.

[Assistant] Emilia saw Fortuna alone and with a wobbly gait, she headed toward where Fortuna had fallen. Holes had opened in Fortuna’s body from both sides, chest and back, and a great deal of blood flowed from her broken flesh. Even the spurts of blood began to grow weaker by the time Emilia knelt down in the pool of blood.

[User] Embracing her pale mother’s head, she somehow brought it onto her own lap. Fortuna’s pretty silver hair was speckled and drenched with blood as Emilia desperately tried to keep it unblemished, cleaning it with her fingers. However, as she did so, Emilia’s own fingers were marred with blood; the more she touched, the less pretty Fortuna’s hair became.

[Assistant] "Lady Fortuna! Do not drop your guard! Be careful. I will check…"

[User] "Geuse…?"

[Assistant] Incredibly wary, Geuse turned a palm toward Fortuna.

[User] Emilia sluggishly raised her head; Geuse’s tense expression changed when he heard her voice. For an instant, he blinked, his face like that of one looking far in the distance.

[Assistant] "Lady Emilia?" Geuse murmured, looking like he was noticing the sight of the little girl kneeling in a pool of blood for the very first time. Then he slowly shifted his gaze to the individual whose head rested upon Emilia’s knees. His eyes opened wide.

[User] "...This…cannot be." Shocked by the scene before his eyes, Geuse could only mutter that single phrase. He looked to his side. Calmly standing beside Geuse was a woman with a beautiful visage, not a single blemish upon her. That beautiful figure, of the Witch named Pandora, flashed Geuse a smile.

[Assistant] "It cannot be helped. You were merely ‘mistaken’ in what you saw."

[User] "Ah, aah… Aaaaaaaaaagh—? !" Understanding everything from that smile, Geuse plunged his fingernails into his own cheek as he screamed. The power of it stripped his nails, gouged his flesh, and stained the man’s face crimson.

[Assistant] "Absurd, absurd, absurdabsurdabsurdabsurd! What have I—? What iiis it I have done?!"


[User] “What have I…? Why, whywhywhywhywhywhy?! This… Then what have—? For what purpose have I been…aaa? Aah?! AAAAAAAH! !” Geuse had taken the Witch Factor into himself, using sheer willpower to keep an incompatible Deadly Sin in check. The most important part of him that kept this indomitable willpower going had snapped. Geuse could almost hear the sound of it breaking as everything that had been holding him together fell to pieces inside him. With the power he had gambled his life to obtain, he had himself destroyed the life he had made the gamble to protect. “I… For what purpose have I…? !”

[Assistant] "—All was for love.” Having lost his mind to madness, a lament echoed through Geuse’s despairing soul. With a quiet voice, Pandora replied to Geuse’s mournful question. “You offered your own soul to save the one you love. That is something few people are capable of. For so very, very long, you supported the Witch Cult day after day for the sake of love. All your actions are the product of love. The path of love is marvelous indeed.”

[User] “Love… Love, love…love, love… Love…! !”

[Assistant] “Yes. There is nothing you need be afraid of, nothing you need regret. All was inevitable; the path of fate led you here. Having come this far, you must continue down this path— ‘Your love is not mistaken.’”

[User] “For love…!” Repeatedly jamming such sweet nothings into his ears, Geuse felt his mind well and truly shatter. Dropping to his knees, light fading from his eyes, he fell into oblivion, unable to move.

[Assistant] Gazing at the sight of Geuse so stricken, Pandora smiled, quite satisfied with herself.

[User] “Emi…lia…” And at the same time Geuse’s mind had been smashed, the fires of another life were going out.


[Assistant] “…Mom…” Hearing her name spoken by such a faint, fading voice, Emilia called out again in a daze. Embracing her mother with trembling arms, she found it heartbreaking how much lighter Fortuna’s body had grown. At some point, her blood must have flowed in such great quantities that it stopped coming out at all. If the bleeding had stopped, was her mother’s wound all right, she wondered? Emilia’s mind was so young; there was no way to protect it without holding on to some kind of hope. Anyone could see that Fortuna, no longer retaining any power to move, was on death’s door. “…Bro…ther…I’m…sorry.”

[User] “Mom.”

[Assistant] “I couldn’t…protect anything…you told…me to…” She voiced her regrets, her tone like that of an apologizing child. With nothing left to bleed, the only thing that came out were Fortuna’s tears. Feeling the heat of those tears with a touch of her finger, Emilia tried with all her might to gather them up. She did this thinking them the sum total of her mother’s life force at that moment. “My sister…will be a-angry, huh…? She won’t forgive me…for this…will she…?” As she listened to her mother’s words, Emilia belatedly realized. The light had long faded from her mother’s violet eyes.


[User] Those eyes could only shed tears; they could not see Emilia’s face. She didn’t realize Emilia was at her side. No matter how much she touched her, no matter how much she held her, nothing was getting through. To her mother, Fortuna, who was crying and begging for forgiveness like a little child, Emilia—

[Assistant] "—Mom, I forgive you."

[User] "Mom has…Mom has always taken care of me… You loved me, every bit as much as Father and Mother…"

[Assistant] "So there’s nothing to be sorry for. There isn’t. Emilia has always, always…always loved you so much, Mom. I love you so much. I love you, I love you… I love you…!" Her emotions were falling apart. Her voice lost all composure, and the teardrops she could no longer hold back fell onto Fortuna’s face one after another. If teardrops truly carried the power of life, there was no doubt Emilia’s tears brought about a miracle.

[User] “…Mom?”

[Assistant] “Lia.” A slowly rising hand touched Emilia’s cheek. A hand that shouldn’t have been able to move felt Emilia’s cheek, stroked her ear, tickled her hair. She gently caressed Emilia like she was touching something unimaginably valuable, something impossibly fragile. But above all, she touched lovingly. Lovingly. Lovingly.

[User] “Such a crybaby.”

[Assistant] “I really love yo…” Her strength drained away. Her arm made a soft sound as it fell. In her lap, Emilia felt the body of Fortuna, who had reached up to stroke her face, grow lighter still. Even though her whole body losing energy should have made her heavier, Fortuna became tangibly lighter in Emilia’s arms—something that must never come out had left. Fortuna was no longer there… Even Emilia understood that.

[User] Emilia says as her mother, Fortuna, was gone.


[Assistant] Geuse’s—Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti’s mind was broken. And Emilia was—

[User] "Now then, are you prepared to choose the hope of lifting the seal?" Pandora walked over, addressing Emilia as she embraced Fortuna’s remains. With a gentle face, Pandora quietly awaited her reply. Emilia lifted her head.

[Assistant] “…Open the seal?”

[User] "Yes. Unfortunately, the mother with whom you made that promise has passed away. No longer do the fetters called a promise bind you. So how about it?"


[User] Re:Zero When Pandora presented that heinous argument like it was perfectly normal, Emilia understood everything. She understood for what purpose this demon, standing before her in the form of a person, had done such things. This demon had acted for no reason other than to make Emilia break her promise. For nothing more than that sake, she had caused Fortuna to die and Geuse’s mind to break and had thoroughly trampled the forest underfoot.

[Assistant] "Oh yes, I forgot something— Come on out." Pandora made an inviting motion with her hand toward the air in front of Emilia. When she did so, faint, phosphorescent glows floated up all around Emilia, and these countless lights slowly moved toward Pandora, gathering as she beckoned. The lights added a surreal beauty to her already enchanting visage. They were fairies—or rather, lesser spirits. They were the fairies that had led Emilia to the sealed door, showing her the way. Why had they gone over to Pandora…?

[User] "I was not convinced you would come here if left to your own devices, so I asked them to help, you see. They are such dependable children." When Pandora smiled, conveying her thanks to the lesser spirits, her words made the lights happily sway about.

[Assistant] —When had it all started? Emilia no longer knew. Wobbly, Emilia’s own head swayed as she looked up at the sealed door. The door leisurely looked back down at Emilia, as if waiting expectantly for the moment it would be opened. She belatedly noticed the heavy sensation of the Key firmly in the palm of her hand. At some point, the Key had reappeared within it.

[User] "The Key… I’m so glad; it seems you still had it. You understand what to do, then?"

[Assistant] With Pandora smiling in front of her, Emilia quietly trembled. She gently slid her mother’s head from her lap, lightly resting it atop the grass. With a finger, she toyed with her mother’s hair before carefully arranging Fortuna’s beautiful face. Her hair was short, colored silver like Emilia’s own. She gently removed the floral accessory from her mother’s beautiful hair, replacing it with Emilia’s own. Finally, she put her mother’s floral accessory into her own hair. With that, she and her mother would be together…always. And then—

[User] "Die." —surging cold welled up to form seemingly innumerable blades, turning Pandora’s flesh into bloody mist in a single instant. The gushing blood instantly froze. Vivid flowers of red ice bloomed in a chaotic pattern. A single pillar of ice stood at the epicenter, petals of fresh blood scattered all about. It was a sculpture of ice and death.

[Assistant] "What a violent thing to have done to me. What has gotten into you all of a—?"

[User] "Die." Stakes of ice poured down, drilling into Pandora’s limbs, and a spear of ice thrust out of the ground’s surface, impaling her from her waist to the crown of her skull.


[User] Her frozen body, bathed in impacts from above and below, made a high-pitched sound as it shattered into tiny pieces.

[Assistant] “Please calm yourself. Surely, we can understand each other if we only speak.”

[User] “Die.”

[Assistant] Mighty blocks of ice closed in from left and right, crushing Pandora’s body and cruelly transforming it into a pathetic lump of flesh. “You are a gentle girl deep in your heart. Doing this will only make your mother sad.”

[User] “Die.”

[Assistant] A spinning blade of ice rose from below Pandora’s feet and sliced her to ribbons, sending crimson lumps of ice flying. “You are betraying the numerous wishes placed in you…by your parents, Archbishop Romanée-Conti, and your mother, as well.”

[User] “Die—! !”

[Assistant] A white cloud enveloped Pandora, transforming her body into an ice statue. A mighty sword of ice swung downward a moment later, not slicing but rather, smashing the statue, scattering it in chunks across the ground with tremendous force. Pandora was slain again and again in a tempest of bloodlust and countless, inexhaustible, violently creative means of destruction. And yet—

[User] “How troublesome. It seems this has caused the opposite of the intended effect.”

[Assistant] “Die, die, die, die…! !” As she sobbed and wailed, Emilia poured icy destruction upon Pandora over and over. However, even as Pandora assuredly died each and every time, she instantly revived just as quickly.

[User] “D-die… Die…” Each time Emilia strained her young body to cast magic, she drew closer to her limit. She cast spells one after another even though her body couldn’t support it, her face turning red as her lower half began to freeze over. She wasn’t expelling it fast enough and the increasingly vast store of mana she had drawn into her body was beginning to go out of control.

[Assistant] “Such an incredible amount of mana…and a Gate that can manage all this… It would seem a Witch’s progeny cannot flee from fate— Perhaps you were brought to this forest to make sure your blood continued to slumber.”

[User] Emilia did not understand the meaning of Pandora’s comment, but she shook her head to reject it all the same. Her right leg had completely frozen over; it was difficult for her to even stand straight. She went down to one knee. Her murderous violet eyes shot right through Pandora; the sight of bloodlust in one so young made Pandora lower her own gaze. “This is most unfortunate considering my greatest desire is right before me, but I shall leave it at this for today. Any more, and it seems I will only make you push yourself further.”

[Assistant] “Die, die, die, die…!”

[User] “We have accomplished much today: learning of your bloodline, confirming the existence of the Key, and the birth of a new Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins— More importantly, taking the seal and leaving is more than sufficient… Oh my.” Her arbitrary conclusion that left no room for discussion was the very epitome of conceit.


[User] But as Pandora put her spin on the situation, white crystals suddenly entered her field of vision. —Snow. Emilia’s absurd level of mana had gone berserk, warping the climate itself to the extreme and causing snow to fall.

[Assistant] "—From the looks of things, you are about to enter a rather long slumber." Looking up at the falling snow, Pandora then turned to Emilia, the cause of the dramatic shift in weather.

[User] "Your power will cover this forest in ice that shall never melt. At some point, your mana shall reach its very limit, or perhaps it shall be offset by someone whose power rivals your own. Until then…"

[Assistant] "Die, die…!"

[User] "Unfortunately, I shall not. When the snow melts and this icy winter comes to an end, we shall inevitably meet again. But I would feel very lonely if you were to hate me when that time comes." As Emilia spat curses, Pandora gently touched the young girl’s forehead with a fingertip.

[Assistant] Emilia’s violet eyes seethed with hatred as Pandora smiled at her with an innocent face.

[User] "You will ‘completely forget about my existence in your memories up to this day.’"

[Assistant] "—Ah."

[User] "Go ahead and fill the gap however you like. Ah, yes. You kept your promise with all your heart and soul. Carve this deeply into your heart. I would be pleased if you remain just as you are now."

[Assistant] "I wonder just what colors shall greet your heart and what kind of smile you will show me the next time we meet? I look forward to the day when we shall see each other again." Even amid the ferocious snowstorm, Pandora’s voice carried clearly as she walked forward, stroking her own platinum hair.

[User] Pandora whispered something into Geuse's ear.

[Assistant] Geuse stood up with an emotionless face.

[User] The pair, Pandora and Geuse, departed the snowy forest, walking side by side.


[User] All Emilia could do was watch them go. Her body had continued to freeze, the ice already reaching a part of her face. Only in her eyes did Emilia’s consciousness remain. Abruptly, Emilia realized she was gazing downward. There was an unnatural clump of snow on the ground right in front of her. It was as if someone was being embraced by this pure, snowy-white landscape.

[Assistant] “” She could not move her mouth. She could no longer close her eyes. Her body, her heart was freezing over. And so, too, was Emilia’s consciousness—

[User] “—om.” The girl would proceed to sleep in never-melting ice for a span of a hundred years, until a spirit who sought her, who had received life for her sake alone, found her.

[Assistant] —Emilia continued to sleep within the ice, ever, ever alone.


[User] —Emilia stood still in front of her frozen young self. She’d watched everything to the end.

[Assistant] “” Under the commanding view she’d had of her entire raging past, her memories had at some point melted away. Scenes she could not possibly have seen, events she could not possibly know, the last moments of her homeland she could never have witnessed, all of it—Emilia remembered more than the memories she had lost.

[User] —She remembered everything that had happened. Through this journey, which had filled the gaps in her memory, she had walked the path that led to her regrets. Just how sinful was the tranquility she gained by forgetting her regrets? She had seen for herself all of young Emilia’s days, all she had forgotten in order to go on living up to this day. Fortuna’s death, Geuse’s madness, the reason her homeland had been encased in ice, everything—

[Assistant] "If you wish to blame yourself for the falsification of your memories, I believe you would be in error.” Abruptly, as Emilia drifted in the chasm between memory and consciousness, a voice addressed her. It was the Witch standing beside her—Echidna. She turned her cold eyes toward Emilia as the girl hugged her own knees. Just like Emilia, Echidna had witnessed these regrets from beginning to end. She gazed at Emilia’s younger, frozen self.

[User] "You and your family faced off against the Witch of Vanity. Brandishing her flimsy, self-serving logic, she employed her power to ‘rewrite’ phenomena as she pleased. There is no question that it was the Authority of Vanity that caused your warped memories."

[Assistant] "The Witch of Vanity…"

[User] "An exceedingly filthy Authority. Your younger self outstripped Pandora in simple terms of power, but that was due to her being particularly ill-matched against your strengths and nothing more." Apparently, Echidna looked down even upon Pandora. Perhaps Emilia ought to have said, As expected of a Witch. Echidna’s barbed demeanor since coming into contact with Emilia was unchanged, but never before had Echidna replied so readily to one of Emilia’s questions.

[Assistant] "Can I ask you about Pandora?"

[User] “…I tend to be fond of conversing with others, but where you are concerned, I decline.


[User] "I don’t like the cheeky thought process behind such questions: It might be too much to ask, but I’ll ask anyway and their ilk.”

[Assistant] “Is that how it is…? Well, thank you anyway.”

[User] Hearing Emilia give thanks despite being insulted, Echidna twisted her lips in disgust.

[Assistant] Emilia actually found Echidna’s unchanging attitude incredibly comforting at the moment. That was how staggering Emilia’s past had been. In a true sense, the restoration of her memories had turned her entire life upside down. —She’d committed body and spirit to the royal selection to save everyone in the frozen forest, and yet…

[User] “I’m the one who made them all ice statues… Everyone who tried to save me…”

[Assistant] Unable to respond to their feelings, she’d ended up shutting everyone under the snow, freezing them completely. Once freed from the ice, Emilia had spent her time in the forest without any memories of her regrets. She’d spent every day continuing to speak to the people who had become ice statues—never realizing she was trying to atone for her own feelings of guilt. Now she understood why her memories had been sealed away. Even had Pandora not interfered with them, she might have wanted to forget them regardless in a moment of weakness.

[User] “You have remembered the past and seen your regrets to the end. However, the Trial is not yet finished.” The memories that led to her regrets had finished playing out. Echidna made a comment as she stared at the silent world’s snowy landscape.

[Assistant] “The past has been revealed without difficulty. You challenged the Trial, and your journey to reach your worst, most terrible mistakes, which gave rise to your regrets, is at an end. Now you must provide your answer.”

[User] “An answer to the Trial…”

[Assistant] “The first Trial is to see if you can succeed in breaking from your greatest past regret. You can accept or deny your own past. Rejection is another choice. I respect whatever conclusion you may choose.”

[User] Emilia deeply exhaled hearing Echidna’s words, which somehow sounded rather passionate. By climbing onto the stage known as the Trial, Emilia had finally confronted the past she had wondered about so many times. Having lost her pact with Puck and reclaimed herself after he had indulged her for so long, Emilia had uncovered her own memories at long last and made it this far.

[Assistant] “All that said, perhaps you are even more at a loss. After all, the starting point of your resolve has been tarnished. The sin that turned your mother, your friend, and your family into ice statues belongs to none other than you.” Echidna’s words sliced into Emilia like a blade. The frozen forest, her people who’d been turned into ice statues, the forest being corrupted by the plague-bearing demon beast, the loss of her mother, and the breaking of Geuse’s mind— Emilia had left the forest because she wanted to save everyone in the village—to save her mother.


[User] "—I’ve been taught the answer to that already.” When Emilia’s heart flirted with self-doubt, there was one thing that gave her the strength to steady herself. —Don’t give up. Look forward. Raise your head high. Look straight at me. Over and over, time and time again, he’d told Emilia those things. He’d scolded Emilia for being weak, for giving up. Without any basis, he’d declared, You’re the best. Their teeth had hurt when they’d clumsily butted together, but the heat of their tongues meeting had lit Emilia’s heart on fire.

[Assistant] "Mom loved me.”


[User] "If they live well after that, I’ll smile and be glad.”

[Assistant] “A foolish delusion.”

[User] “No, it’s a prediction of a happy future!” When Echidna tried to cut her off, Emilia stepped forward, firmly making her own declaration. Boldly facing the white-haired Witch, Emilia gestured toward the vast, snowy landscape with her hand.

[Assistant] “I won’t let anyone deny a possibility just because they haven’t seen it yet! I won’t accept that everything Mom left me will meet such a tragic end! I will make Mom’s ideals a reality!”

[User] “Ideals? Just what is it you claim that your mother sought?”

[Assistant] “Mom told me. Someday, we’d all leave the forest and live normal lives. A world where Geuse and his people could get along with all the villagers, where Subaru can tell me he loves me, where Geuse and Mom can walk side by side—I’m sure it exists!”

[User] “And do you see the frozen villagers in that world? Villagers frozen by your very own hand!”

[Assistant] “I’m so, so sorry about that. I’ll apologize over, and over, and over until they forgive me! And if they do forgive me, I’ll introduce the world to them then. I’ll tell them there’s no need to live in seclusion anymore. I’ll tell them this is the world Mom talked about!” Drawing in her breath, Emilia shouted out the words brimming in her chest. At some point, the pair had begun to stand amid not a landscape of snow but a world of enveloping white light.

[User] “I’ll preach her dream until my voice gives out and keep saying this until Mom up in the sky can hear me!”

[Assistant] “I’m happy to be in the world Mom loved—!” —That instant, the world split open with a roar. Seeing cracks running across the white space, Emilia finally realized the scenery around her had changed. As she opened her eyes wide in surprise, Echidna, now standing right before her, breathed a deep sigh as she brought her hands together before her own chest.

[User] “—I see. I understand now. I had thought I understood, but you are more of a pushy, insolent, conceited, and arbitrary proponent of hypocrisy than even I imagined.”

[Assistant] “I suppose I am. Is that bad?”

[User] “Not exactly. I do not particularly care, after all. It is merely that in those respects, you are exactly like your mother.” As Echidna grimaced, furrowing her refined eyebrows, Emilia raised her own in surprise.

[Assistant] “You know my mo… Not Mom, but my other mother?”

[User] “I know her, yes. It would be false to claim she isn’t partly responsible for why I become so emotional when I interact with you. She always did have that Why is it always you…?”


[User] “…jealousy about her…” Echidna turned away in a huff, the sight of which threw Emilia terribly off as she opened her eyes wide. Simultaneously, Emilia’s vision became cloudy, and her consciousness felt heavy. Slowly, she felt heat passing into her limbs, and in her heart, she understood she was waking from a vague, ambiguous dream.

[Assistant] “With this, the Trial is at an end. However conceited your conclusion, there is no mistaking that you have come to terms with the past. Considering you’ve used your mother’s sacrifice to bolster your resolve, do try to see your selfish, arbitrary wishes through.”

[User] “Say whatever you like, Echidna. I’m used to your insults by now.” Placing a hand on her hip, Emilia turned straight toward Echidna, who was venting hateful things until the bitter end. The boldness of her demeanor made Echidna wearily shake her head.

[Assistant] “Two Trials remain. I would like to expect much pathetic anguish from you, but…”

[User] “Eh, wait! There’s still more Trials to go? Two more? Three in total?”

[Assistant] “It does amount to that, yes. Your surprise makes me want to gloat a little…but I must say, with considerable regret, that I do not think the remaining Trials will hold out for long against you.”

[User] “Really?”

[Assistant] “An irreverent attitude is self-doubt’s greatest enemy. The Trial, meant to pick at what lies inside you, is particularly ill-suited against who you are now. In one sense, you have abandoned logic, after all.”

[User] “Hey, you’re kind of making it sound like I never use my brain, which is really rude.” Echidna’s lecture caused Emilia to puff up her cheeks in a show of clear dissatisfaction. However, there was no time for further exchanges. The Trial, and her opportunity to converse with the Witch, was reaching its end. Echidna was enveloped by light, and in that brilliance, Emilia’s consciousness began to disperse as well. At the very end, as she dissolved in the light, a malicious smile came over the Witch of Greed.

[Assistant] “—I hate you.”

[User] “I don’t hate you all that much, though.” Even without seeing, Emilia had some idea of what kind of face her reply had provoked.


[Assistant] When she regained consciousness, Emilia made a small groan as she felt something hard pressed against her back. Apparently, the cold sensation was from a wall that her back was leaning against. Having lost consciousness against it, she seemed to have rested her weight there while traveling in the dream. Reaching a hand out, she touched the wall. The wall bore scars from the crude carvings upon it, and the very part she was touching had I Love You written in I-script. The nice coincidence brought a smile over her. That moment, she wanted to be greeted by Subaru’s words more than anyone’s.

[User] “—I’m really grateful.” Though there was no way for Subaru to hear it, Emilia quietly thanked him. The Trial was over.


[User] The forgotten past had returned to her, and she had set eyes upon her sealed regrets. It had no doubt been Subaru granting her courage over and over amid those scenes. She finally realized for herself just how much she had been protected by the feelings of others. In the past, it was Fortuna, Geuse, and Archi who had protected her heart. After, she had always relied upon Puck. In the present, Subaru, Ram, and Otto were the ones who supported her. Terrified of her sealed past, she could have been convinced she could rely only on herself, refusing to show any weakness—only to spend all night sobbing, her frail heart crushed. It was thanks to everyone that it hadn’t come to that— In both past and present, Emilia was blessed. Emilia had never once been alone since that fateful moment.

[Assistant] "—I’m sorry, Mom.” Her slightly loosened lips tensed, and a seemingly suppressed voice trickled out of Emilia.

[User] Her words of apology echoed in the dimly lit stonework room and were immediately followed by the sound of a nose sniffling. Tears poured out one after another, unceasing. She could not hold them back. She could endure it no more. In the tomb, with no concern about anyone seeing the tearful face she’d absolutely refused to show the Witch out of pure stubbornness, Emilia pressed her head against the wall with loving phrases carved into it, letting her emotions all come to the surface.

[Assistant] “Mom… Mom…!”

[User] A flood of tears and a wave of nostalgia toward her gentler memories continued to spill out. They were tears that should have flowed before…a full century before. In that stone room, no one could see Emilia finally getting a chance to grieve for the mother she couldn’t remember for so long. This way, when she left in plain sight, none need know of her crying face. She wouldn’t have to show her weakness to the person who’d told her he loved her despite her weak faults. She cried, she cried, she wept… She sobbed. And then… As she mourned her mother’s memory, her mother’s love, all the things she was grateful her mother had given her…


[Assistant] Emilia continued to cry, her face pressed against Love the entire while. She wiped her tears and smacked her cheeks. Putting her disheveled hair in order, she diligently smoothed out the creases of her sleeves. She wondered if she wasn’t making a shameful-looking face that moment. Puck, who was normally so fussy about Emilia’s grooming, was no longer present. She could not feel the warmth from the cracked crystal at her neck, which had always been by her side.

[User] “…But I’ll definitely find him myself, so…”

[Assistant] No matter where he might be, there was no sign that the cat spirit had vanished from this world altogether. She was sure her contracted spirit, and her surrogate parent for all that time, was out there somewhere.


[User] "Plus, without Puck here, I really seem to be wasting excessive amounts of mana…" As she murmured, Emilia was getting dizzy from the vast quantity of mana welling from her entire body.

[Assistant] "Oh, Puck, you really are overprotective…" With a thin smile, Emilia lightly flicked the crystal with a finger. After that, she took a big, deep breath. Filling her chest with cold air, she thrust out all the weak feelings lurking inside her body.

[User] "—Okay!! I’m all right now." Emilia made this powerful declaration, speaking it for her own benefit.

[Assistant] She touched the floral accessory adorning her hair. In her heart, she’d always remembered this was a most precious heirloom from her mother.

[User] "After this, there are two more Trials…but first." As she spoke, Emilia headed outside the stonework room for the time being.


[Assistant] At the end of the stonework corridor, a breeze blew in from outside the tomb. She slowly looked down onto the grassy clearing.

[User] "—Welcome back, Lady Emilia." The fact that Ram, greeting her with polite formality, was standing all alone made Emilia blink and tilt her head in confusion.


[User] "In terms o’ wicked deeds, I think ya ain’t half-bad yerself, General.”

[Assistant] “You make me sound so bad… Forget winning or losing; being cunning the way Roswaal is is definitely a bad idea. What if people started pelting me with eggs on my way home all the time?”

[User] “Just what kind of concern is that supposed to be? Throwing eggs at a person would be quite a waste.”

[Assistant] Subaru and company reviewed their situation and what they knew, even as they spoke oddly past one another. In particular, sharing information with their newest companion, Garfiel, was an urgent priority. Since they could not leisurely take their time, the explanation was fairly rushed, inevitably making it confusing.

[User] “Actually, Garfiel, how much have you been cooperating with Roswaal anyway?”

[Assistant] “Me and that bastard? …No way in hell. We’ve talked about you and Lady Emilia for maybe a hot second, max. Also, haven’t talked with ’im since the first day you ’n’ the others arrived, General.”

[User] “That’s some pretty extreme dysfunction there… Ah, no, I get it, I get it… I just didn’t think you’d hate the guy so much, even if he is your romantic rival…”

[Assistant] “…Not like that’s the only reason. Me, I just don’t like the bastard.” Averting his gaze, Garfiel murmured in a low voice.

[User] Subaru sighed hearing Garfiel’s reply, which he felt confirmed his concern.

[Assistant] “He had the Ryuzus and Shima, then there’s Ram obviously, even Emilia would count… Geez, just how many hooks did Roswaal have in you, Garfiel?”

[User] “His prior preparations put us at a complete disadvantage, and on top of that, he’s made meticulous preparations to strike his foes down. Wouldn’t the time to run be now?”

[Assistant] “Sorry to disappoint, but this party’s current policy is Safety First While We Let ’Em Have It.” Subaru replied to Otto’s appeal with a flippant remark of his own. Seeing that Garfiel was left perplexed by their exchange, Subaru elaborated. "In other words, the covert activities spearheaded by Roswaal, the mastermind behind the current situation, are no joke.


[User] “It would’ve been simpler to take care of it if you’d simply made a deal with him to oppose liberating the Sanctuary, but…”

[Assistant] “No way I’d strike any deal with him! Me, I tried to tear out your throat outta my own free will, General!” Howling as if ready to bite then and there, Garfiel gripped the crystal dangling from his own neck.

[User] This subconscious action seemed motivated by a need for physical reassurance of where exactly his will stood.

[Assistant] Garfiel was most likely racked with worries of his own.

[User] Anguished, Garfiel was caught between Subaru and Otto as the latter glanced at the others’ faces. "If we are to believe Garfiel’s own statement, the marquis enjoys an advantageous position because of his astoundingly good fortune.”

[Assistant] “That’s way scarier. If there’s one stat the three of us are short on, it’s luck.”

[User] Subaru and Otto exchanged grim faces as the pair let out a sigh.

[Assistant] Garfiel knit his brows, less out of surprise and more because he was feeling creeped out by their gloomy behavior. “Hey, why are you and Bro all calm about this, General? If you two are right, the bastard’s the one completely controlling everythin’ in the Sanctuary, right?”

[User] “So you really were keeping up. That’s right. If it’s like that, it’s seriously bad.”

[Assistant] By using the people who had started on his side to begin with as much as he could and manipulating those who were not with crafty rhetoric, Roswaal had inextricably tied the events surrounding the Sanctuary and the mansion together.

[User] If Subaru had to name names, it was doubtlessly Subaru as well as Emilia who topped the list of pawns Roswaal had deftly led around by the nose.

[Assistant] And he’d even woven into his strategy the wild card named Garfiel who’d caused Subaru to suffer time and time again—just how much planning had Roswaal put into this scheme?

[User] —The obsessiveness and tenacity to carry such a thing out truly was in the realm of a monster—a devil.

[Assistant] And Subaru and company were heading to the location of that very devil.

[User] Seeing Subaru and Otto bantering a bit right before they confronted that devil, it was quite natural that Garfiel felt confused. “In the first place, General, why’d we come all the way just to see the bastard…?” Suspicion rested in Garfiel as he voiced an entirely natural doubt that he had.

[Assistant] However, unfortunately for him, there was no time for a reply. After all—

[User] “—We’ve arrived.” Subaru’s brief phrase brought all three pairs of feet to a halt.

[Assistant] Straight before them stood a small stonework residence—the temporary abode where Roswaal, the mastermind of the situation and the enemy they had to defeat, awaited them.

[User] “Not that we have an appointment…” Amid tension that could not be expunged with one flippant comment, the trio stepped inside the building.


[User] The air within the structure was dry. They could sense a person behind the door at the back of the building—that was where Roswaal was. Standing before that door, Subaru hesitated for a single moment.

[Assistant] "—Come in, young Subaru. After all, I only finished preparaaations just now." The voice reaching them through the door caused all three of them to hold their breath.

[User] Looking over and seeing the tension in Otto’s and Garfiel’s eyes, Subaru checked with them with his gaze. "Preparations, the bastard says…"

[Assistant] "I wonder what preparations he might mean at a time like this? …Maybe to turn us all into bits of partly burned charcoal, perchance?"

[User] "Relax. When you turn to ash, I’ll be cinders. I won’t let you die alone."

[Assistant] "That is impressively lacking in reassurance, I’ll have you know! !"

[User] That single word, preparations, tugged at their minds. However, their opponent was not so crude as to launch an attack without bothering with words first. Oddly trusting Roswaal on that score, Subaru put his hand upon the door.

[Assistant] "Ahhh, so that’s what you meant." Now realizing Roswaal’s intentions, Subaru let a sigh trickle out along with his comment. Upon hearing that sigh, his two companions belatedly peered into the room, each seeing the same thing as Subaru and reacting in turn.

[User] Garfiel clicked his tongue.

[Assistant] Otto’s eyes widened in surprise.

[User] Now that Subaru thought of it, this was Otto’s first time seeing such a view.


[Assistant] "To think your feet would carry you to me at this very moment. Now then, what is it that briiings you here? Perhaps you have judged your prospects dire and come in search of peaceful terms?" Speaking with a jesting tone, Roswaal gazed upon Subaru and the others standing at the room’s entrance. —His face was daubed white, with suspicious-looking eyelines and reddened lips. It was the clown appearance that Subaru was accustomed to. Standing up from the bed, Roswaal hid his painful, bandaged body under his eccentric outfit, the tenor of his voice and his actions lending him an aloof air. He stood there as a devil who had no need to conceal his own obsession. The sight of him was so striking that Otto, who was seeing it for the first time, visibly shook.

[User] Glancing at that, Subaru slumped his shoulders in Roswaal’s direction. "You were so worked up about us coming that you dressed your best to welcome us. I’m gonna blush."

[Assistant] "Why, it is nothing that need conceeern you. After all, I have told you, have I not? That I would face you in a suitably prepared state once more."

[User] "Ah, you did, come to think of it." Roswaal certainly had said something to that effect as Subaru departed upon the conclusion of the conversation where he’d challenged the man to one final contest. Of course, Subaru never thought he would actually greet him with full makeup on.


[User] "In the first place, to me, putting on makeup is nothing less than preparing for battle. When girding myself for a contest I cannot afford to lose, makeup is a means of self-motivation, you seeee."

[Assistant] "I see, so it’s literally war paint to you…… Wait, for real? You’re not saying that to pull my leg?"

[User] "Well, I shall leave to you whether to believe it or not. Preparing myself properly for battle and greeting you with this appearance…I believe this amply demonstraaates my resolve to you?"

[Assistant] Subaru took Roswaal’s low and deeply suggestive voice to mean that to him, it really was his equivalent of war paint. Just like Subaru was betting everything this time around, Roswaal was pouring all his strength into this battle. It was mutual understanding that made the two of them stand before each other as true competitors on the same stage.

[User] "Now, let us return to the first question, Subaru— Why have you come here?"

[Assistant] Prompted for an answer, Subaru caught his breath.

[User] "—I’m here to demand your surrender."


[Assistant] The single phrase spoken by Subaru left the air inside the room filled with silence.

[User] Roswaal's gaze grew cold.

[Assistant] Disquiet entered his own eyes.

[User] "Whaddaya mean, demand your surrender…?"

[Assistant] "It means what it sounds like. You wished to ask why Mr. Natsuki came to see the marquis? This is the answer."

[User] Garfiel made a feeble clack of his fangs.

[Assistant] "That’s how it is. I’ve taken to heart just how meticulous you are. To be honest, I’ve seriously thought I’m done for! all kinds of times. But I’m sure you of all people get it. The setup you created…is falling apart."

[User] "Certainly, it is. Certainly, it is juuuust as you say. The situation has most certainly changed. Those accompanying you are proof enough. With that said, what weighs upon my mind is…" Roswaal closed one eye as his gaze shifted behind Subaru.

[Assistant] "You mean me?" Coming under Roswaal’s attention for the very first time, Otto’s face faintly stiffened.

[User] His words made Roswaal draw himself up, twisting his neck with a rare expression of simple confusion.

[Assistant] "I have wondered this since you first entered, but…just who are you, and from whence do you haaaail?"

[User] "You’re really something, Otto.


[User] “Looks like you weren’t included in his future-seeing book of prophecy, either.”

[Assistant] “I am not pleased whatsoever by that, and I cannot conceal my surprise at such utterly incomprehensible comments!” Otto genuinely flared up at Subaru for making a comment that was totally inappropriate for the mood.

[User] “Such an individual’s presence in this place cannot help but determine which way my contest with Subaru will sway. I see; in other words, he is ‘that.’”

[Assistant] “Yeah, I suppose. Otto is ‘that.’”

[Assistant] “—The first slip of the gears.”

[User] “…Allow me to formally ask you for your name.”

[Assistant] Subaru took a step back and gave his friend a shove. The force made Otto advance a step.

[User] He took a single breath, after which he bowed to Roswaal. “My name is Otto Suwen. I am honored to have this opportunity to set eyes upon the noble marquis in person. Though I am nothing more than a humble traveling merchant, I hope to become your acquaintance.”

[Assistant] “I shall remember you, Otto— Next time, I absolutely will not lose sight of you.”

[User] “Oh man, Otto. Just like you planned, you left a serious impression on Roswaal!”

[Assistant] “This is not exactly the way I hoped to be remembered by him!”


[User] "Thanks to young Otto, you managed to regain your footing, making you inclined to challenge me to one final contest, I take it?"

[Assistant] "That’s how it is… But isn’t this a little strange? Usually, it’d be the main heroine who has a scene to get me back on my feet. Won’t it betray audience expectations if we have a male character telling me to hang in there instead?"

[User] "Even if you look at me with such reproachful eyes, I have no idea what you want from me!"

[Assistant] "I’m kidding, kidding."

[User] It was faint, but Subaru caught a slight whiff of uneasiness in both of Roswaal’s eyes.

[Assistant] Roswaal shifted his gaze toward Garfiel. "I suppose I must say you have finally been well and properly tamed, Garfiel."

[User] "And so you, who have been so strongly set on tearing into outsiders, now find yourself gladly on young Subaru’s siiiide. I am surprised you would have a change of heart so quickly— You had protected what is precious in your heart for so very, very long, and yet, you discard even your love for your mother with such ease."

[Assistant] Roswaal’s words were a blade he used in an attempt to stir up what lay at the center of Garfiel’s core.

[User] "Stop it, Roswaal. What the hell do you understand about Garfiel’s feelings?"

[Assistant] "Of course I understand nothing of them, nor do I wish to. Losing a fight and the cheap words you replied to him with were all it took to sway his feelings. What can I call them, then, save shallow?"

[User] As Roswaal piled insult upon insult, it was not Garfiel but Subaru who flew into a rage.


[User] Subaru had slammed into Garfiel, traded punches with him, and directly heard the cry of his heart. He would never let anyone dismiss them as light or cheap. “Hold on a sec, General.”

[Assistant] However, it was none other than Garfiel himself who halted the angry Subaru.

[User] Subaru tried to intercept them rather than let them wreak havoc on the boy’s heart.

[Assistant] “It’s your words that are cheap as dirt, Roswaal.” Crossing his arms like he was bored, Garfiel clacked his fangs and spat those words at Roswaal. His demeanor took Subaru by surprise.

[User] Noticing this reaction, Roswaal slightly raised an eyebrow.

[Assistant] “Me, I ain’t denyin’ I’m half-hearted about things. It’s true I teamed up with the general just a few hours ago. Guess you saw that as a real quick change of heart.”

[User] “First a change of heart and now defiance? The feelings you dwelled upon for so long to date… The time you devoted to your wish, day after day for ten long years, is by no means a brief span. I wonder, where have those feelings vanished to?” Shrugging at Garfiel’s reply, Roswaal narrowed his eyes, growing ever colder.

[Assistant] “Desires do not simply vanish into thin air. If you truly loved her, your feelings would surely never change. Are your ten years of work something that can be changed with such ease?” The tone of Roswaal’s voice, seemingly full of lament, grew hotter and darker still.

[User] “Just how much contact have you had with young Subaru over a mere few days? Have you and he amassed a bond to rival that love? Surely not. As if anything could rise as high or reach the same depth of your love—for that is how it is when you put one thing above all else.” His voice was quiet, yet heated all the same. What had begun as censure for having a change of heart had become a plea, an earnest wish; merely listening to it struck one’s heart with sadness.