◆◆◆ Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness,” First Midpoint, Observation Area: Kyouichirou Shimizu

As soon as I allowed Jupiter to join our party, I figured we’d have to deal with the “cleansing” of Keraunos eventually.

Cleansing is a general term for when a spirit user seeks to improve the terms of their pact by knocking some sense into their spirit.

In the original Dungeon Magia games, it was mostly used either as a system for gaining new skills or as a plot device to liven up a character’s story. But in the real world, cleansing basically boiled down to taking an arrogant spirit down a peg.

…Yeah, not exactly the most gentlemanly of practices.

The game’s official description of cleansing is “a demonstration of one’s power to a spirit in order to make way for new possibilities,” but that’s going way too far to dress it up, if you ask me.

For better or worse, cleansing is a method of getting what you want from a spirit by force. Before you start thinking of it in terms of right and wrong, though, I think it’s important to consider things like the purpose of the cleansing and the relationship between the spirit user and their spirit.

So let’s take a look at the relevant facts.

Keraunos was a Sublime Demis spirit belonging to Jupiter, one of our party members. It had the ability to create and manipulate black bolts of lightning. The bolts themselves had two attributes: lightning and miasma (aka poison). As a spirit, it had a high aptitude for offensive Astral Skills.

Of particular note was the sheer power of these skills. Keraunos’s lightning was a cut above that of other High-Demis spirits, due in part to the fact that it had been modified in a laboratory. Its maxed-out stats meant it was closer to a Supreme-Demis spirit, which was usually one rank above. There was no room for complaint in terms of its power. It certainly had the strength one would expect of a true-route miniboss.

The problem was the spirit’s personality and the pact it had forged with its partner, Jupiter. These were about as bad as you could get. Keraunos had a short fuse and was an unimaginably toxic father. It was a monster parent, through and through.

“It might sound good that Keraunos wants to take over as her parent, but its methods are waaay over the line.”

It was nighttime in the midpoint. These massive safe areas set up throughout dungeons were always comfortable no matter what time of day it was.

The temperature was perfect. The humidity was exactly right. The air was always refreshingly cool. There was never any of the rain I loathed so much, and there weren’t any bugs, either. The divine Yalda Series (aka, the Jigglies) who served as proxies of the dungeon’s god, and who created the town, had imbued the place with a mysterious magic that kept it comfortable for everyone.

Every day felt like a festival, complete with food stalls. The spicy scent of seasoned meats and the sugary smell of cotton candy wafted through the air. Squint, and you could see street performers competing for the attention of great throngs of passersby. Every night, it seemed there was a new event being held on the silvery outdoor stage of the entertainment district.

It was bustling. It was noisy. It was crowded. The scenery was a blend of Western and Eastern architecture. And yet there were no fancy-looking high-rises anywhere. And the ever-cheerful atmosphere brought to mind a small rural town’s summer festival.

Haruka and I stood up on an observation deck, staring out at the lively scene below. We were discussing how best to deal with our little situation.

Jupiter wasn’t with us. She was fast asleep in her bed in our midpoint rental home. Our battle with Keraunos had ended only a few hours prior. She must have been exhausted. She woke up just long enough for a short chat before quickly falling back to sleep.

We hadn’t planned to keep our discussion secret or anything, but Jupiter’s exhaustion had given Haruka and me the perfect chance to talk things over alone.

We left the rental house and found a bench outside to sit on. The situation with Jupiter was a delicate topic, and I think, more than anything, we just wanted to get a glimpse of the normal lives of others in the city.

Not even half a day had passed since our battles on the fifteenth floor. First, we’d taken care of the boss, Kamaku the Doomquill Condor. And then, as soon as it sensed its “daughter” was in danger, the black-lightning beast known as Keraunos had attacked us, and we’d fought to quell its rage.

After two tense back-to-back battles, we wanted to put our minds at ease. That was when the two of us remembered the festival-like atmosphere back at the first midpoint and agreed it was just the thing to raise our spirits… And that was how we ended up here.

But we didn’t feel right about leaving Jupiter behind, even if she was fast asleep. If she woke up to find that no one was home, she would probably feel left out. Worse, she might get some weird idea in her head and decide to run off on her own… We had to avoid that at all costs.

So, to prevent that scenario, we hired some jiggly creatures to keep an eye on her and alert us if she woke up. We’d paid the Yalda in spirit stones, and they were currently crowded into our rental home. If anything happened to her, they’d let us know right away.

We didn’t want to choose between Jupiter’s aching heart and our own worn-out nerves, and frankly, there was no reason for us to. We needed to make sure she wasn’t left alone and took some time away—both were necessary and right.

I watched the fireworks burst in the sky above us before replying to Haruka.

“Right? I know it wants to protect her, but it was going overboard.”

“Yeah, totally! That oversized puppy acts like it’s looking out for Jupi, but it’s doing a terrible job. If it keeps going berserk like that, it’ll only guarantee that Jupi ends up totally alone!” A second later, she added, “Not that I’d ever let her be alone, obviously.” It was a very Haruka thing to say.

She was wearing a navy-blue tank top and a sports jacket by a famous overseas brand. Haruka could make anything look good, mind you, but the airy pearl-white jacket really brought out the bold charm of the inner layer.

Her hair stood out even more. It was tied back into a high ponytail, making her the spitting image of her younger sister, Kanata Aono, one of the heroines of the first Dungeon Magia. But one close look at her face was enough to tell the difference.

Haruka’s features weren’t as sharp as her sister’s, nor did she have Kanata’s calm, serious demeanor. Her blue eyes were round, almost like a cat’s, and she always seemed ready for anything.

The biggest difference, however, was her rainbow of expressions. Watching her face was endlessly entertaining. When she was happy, she would grin from ear to ear. And when she was excited, her eyes would sparkle.

Watching her enjoy life with every ounce of her being never failed to cheer me up. Even as we stood there in the darkness, she was cramming a hot dog into her mouth like it was the most delicious thing in the world.

“Huh? What are you looking at?” she asked. “…Have I got ketchup or mustard on my face?”

“No. Your face is fine. You’ve always been a clean eater.”

“Why, thank you very much,” she said, taking another hot dog out of its wrapper and stuffing her face with it. I’d lost count of how many she’d eaten today.

My body was feeling oddly warm, so I grabbed the bottle of water I’d set down by my side and took a swig to cool off before resuming the conversation.

“What do you think we should do?” I asked.

Haruka’s brow furrowed as she thought this over. Her ponytail and the serious look on her face really made her look like Kanata. “Well, we’re obviously going to have to beat up that big pooch again. Aside from that, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I figure thrashing it the way we did is basically pointless.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it ‘pointless’ exactly, but you’re right that it doesn’t matter how many times we beat it up. It’s never going to be the same as a proper cleansing.”

The Keraunos we fought on the fifteenth floor was essentially just an avatar. While it was connected with the real spirit, it was merely a puppet created from Keraunos’s spiritual power.

Whenever certain conditions were met—in other words, when Jupiter’s stress levels crossed a certain threshold—Keraunos would create a virtual body and run amok.

As the silver-haired girl had said, that was the sort of pact they’d formed. Keraunos was acting to protect its beloved daughter from pain and suffering. To an outside observer, it might look like the beast was going berserk, but its actions all conformed to the internal logic of its pact with Jupiter. That was why it wouldn’t stop, no matter how much Jupiter pleaded with it.

After all, that was the sort of pact they’d formed.

A pact with a spirit was absolute. To spirits, such pacts were what connected our world to the Astral Plane—their pipeline, their power, and their obligation.

And so, as long as Jupiter’s “father-daughter pact” with Keraunos remained in effect, the beast was duty bound to bare its fangs at anyone who dared put its daughter at risk. And it would target almost anyone—including us. The only thing that mattered to Keraunos was keeping up its end of the deal by protecting its daughter. It was following the contract to the letter, using the vague wording as an excuse for its behavior. It certainly wasn’t going to listen to any rational arguments from us.

And its violent behavior was only creating a feedback loop. The more Keraunos went on a rampage, the more isolated Jupiter became. And the more she was isolated, the more stress she would feel.

Stress. Rampage. Isolation. Stress. Rampage. Isolation. Stress. Rampage. Isolation. Stress. Rampage. Isolation. It was a never-ending downward spiral. In the game, the stated reason for Jupiter turning evil was because an evil organization recruited her. But the root cause of her antisocial tendencies was this cycle of negativity—what you might call the “Keraunos cycle.”

The key to her whole story was the father-daughter pact Jupiter had forged with the beast years before. As long as that pact remained in effect, Keraunos could run amok as much as it liked, under the guise of “protecting its daughter.” Likewise, in accordance with the conditions of the pact, Jupiter was forced to play the role of daughter and allow herself to be “protected.”

Our only hope was to alter the pact itself. And the most realistic way to do that was through the cleansing system.

“We can help her as long as we meet the right conditions, but…”

While it was certainly possible for us to help with the cleansing as outsiders, we could do little more than assist with the preparations. We wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the actual proceedings.

The cleansing was a renegotiation between a person and their contracted spirit, decided through a contest of brute strength. In other words, no matter how much we tried to help her, Jupiter would still need to beat Keraunos on her own. If she couldn’t do that, nothing would change.

“So Jupi’s gotta fight that monster…?” Haruka asked. “Oof. Just thinking about it gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

Her reaction surprised me, since she usually got her kicks from this sort of thing. I guess, as excitable as she was, even Haruka got nervous when it came to putting her friends in danger. Her concern was kind of moving. That aside…

“Okay, okay, but how do we drag that thing’s true form out of her? Tell me, Kyou! Please and thanks!”

“Actually, getting to Keraunos isn’t all that hard.”

With the exception of the highest-ranking spirits—Ultimas like Albi—most lived inside their pact holders. That made it easy to begin negotiations with them and even to directly start a cleansing trial. One just needed to open the door to their heart, either by using some special technique to access their inner self or by an outside party giving them a considerable shock.

“Huh, really? My Mimi’s nowhere near that much of a pain in the butt. I tell her what to do, and she just does it. Plus, we can always talk things out.”

The radiant star cocked her head, seeming genuinely surprised.

According to Haruka, Futsu-no-Mitama—which she lovingly referred to as Mimi—had been a very well-behaved spirit ever since she inherited the pact from her parents.

“I imagine that’s because you’re the best user Futsu-no-Mitama could have hoped for.”

Spirits like Haruka’s Futsu-no-Mitama or Kanata Aono’s Ameno Habakiri—those with powers centering around sword work and slashing skills—tended to desire pacts with accomplished sword masters. In that sense, there was no better candidate than Haruka. It was no wonder Mimi was so docile. Even an Ultima spirit would leap at the opportunity for a pact with the greatest sword practitioner in the world.

“In any case,” I explained, “people who get along with their spirit as well as you do are pretty rare. It’s much more common for users to argue with their spirits every now and then. Hell, mine kicks me in the crotch like all the time.”

“Oh? Now that sounds funny! I would love to hear mo—”

“Anyway.” I forcefully cleared my throat and tried my best to get the conversation back on track. “Like I was saying, it won’t be much of a problem for Jupiter to connect to the real Keraunos. The problem is she won’t be able to keep it up.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I paused for a breath and tried my best to stay composed, despite the harsh prediction I was about to make.

“As she is right now, Jupiter…” I was extremely relieved that the silver-haired girl wasn’t around to hear what I was about to say. “She can’t possibly beat Keraunos.”

The radiant star’s sky-blue eyes clouded over with disappointment. “Can you elaborate? What makes you think that?”

“To be blunt, the battleground will be very unfavorable. Actually, it would be more accurate to say the problem is the rules.”

“What ‘rules’?”

“There are certain things a user and their contracted spirit can’t do when facing one another in battle.”

Haruka brought her hand up to her lips and mulled this over for a brief moment. “Well, killing is probably off the table, right? That would cause problems for both parties.”

Her conclusion was right on the money. Whether she was born smart or simply had amazing instinct, Haruka never let her lack of knowledge impede her ability to think things through. As long as she had time to consider the matter, she always came up with a worthwhile, interesting answer. That was why everyone around her, myself included, liked to test her like this. It was devilishly charming—the kind of thing only prodigies like her could get away with.

“That’s right,” I said. “If one of them killed the other, their pact would be dissolved. That’s why they have to duke it out in a place neither of them can be physically harmed.”

As I mentioned before, cleansing is basically a negotiation conducted through violence. It’s a ceremony meant to show a spirit their user’s power to alter or expand the conditions of their pact. And that meant either party dying was out of the question. Of course, aside from outliers like Haruka, it was pretty damn difficult to defeat one’s spirit in battle.

“Knowing Keraunos, it’ll probably throw a fit outside, too. But the real battleground will be inside Jupiter’s heart. If she can’t prove herself to its real body, then it won’t make a bit of difference how much we kick its ass out here.”

I thought back to the battle we’d fought a few hours prior against the rampaging black-lightning beast. It had taken all our strength and cunning, but we’d driven the thing back and made sure Jupiter didn’t feel like she had hurt us. In that sense, we had defeated Keraunos.

…Sure, we’d merely fought a manifestation of its power with only a fraction of the real spirit’s strength, and it would continue to create more such virtual bodies whenever Jupiter got too stressed, but that was beside the point. A win was a win. And yet…

“At the end of the day, she couldn’t prevent that black-lightning bastard from running wild. She was taken in by its promise to protect her, and essentially let her daddy do whatever it wanted.”

“I don’t like the way you phrased that,” said Haruka.

Her voice was tinged with anger, but I sensed affection for Jupiter behind her words. I felt gratitude well up in my heart; I was happy to have someone so thoughtful in my party. Despite that, I thought it was important to speak frankly about the situation—both as party leader and as someone who wanted to be a good neighbor to that silver-haired girl well into the future.

“We’ve got to face the facts,” I said. “We can’t change what’s already happened. Jupiter is scared of Keraunos. And regardless of anyone’s thoughts on the matter, she’s under the spirit’s control. With things in such bad shape, do you seriously think it’s possible for her to beat that monster?”

A firework burst in the sky, forming the shape of a pink heart. Most of the crowd probably thought of romance when they saw it. But right now, the two of us were thinking about the upcoming battle in Jupiter’s heart.

“Well, I…” The words caught in her throat. A smart, tough girl like her couldn’t bring herself to lie. “Are you trying to say Jupi’s weak?”

“She is weak.”

My throat felt cold as the words left my mouth. I didn’t want my partner to hate me for what I was saying. I felt the urge to turn away in shame.

“Yes, she’s weak,” I repeated. “Of course she’s weak. The psychos at that facility forced her to let Keraunos live inside her all this time. Thanks to that, she’s had to spend her life alone. After everything she’s been through, how could she not be weak?”

Despite feeling disgusted with myself, I tried my best to maintain eye contact with Haruka.

“But weakness is just a state of being,” I continued. “It just means you haven’t met the baseline for a certain metric. It’s like when someone is hurt or sick, and they’re incapable of doing the same things as everyone else. We’d say, ‘They’re weak right now,’ wouldn’t we?”

“Yeah.”

“So of course she’s weak. She’s been weakened by her experiences. You wouldn’t turn to someone with a broken bone who was covered in blood and tell them ‘you look fine; time to leave the hospital and go fight,’ would you? Even if that person cheerfully told you they were fine and that there was no problem, that would just mean they either couldn’t feel the pain or they were putting on a brave face.”

“I guess you’re right,” she said. Even Haruka couldn’t deny it. She was as calm and collected as ever and far more mature than I would’ve been if I were in her shoes. She continued to listen attentively.

“So the most important thing we can do right now is to make sure that she—and her weakened heart—are taken care of. We’ve gotta make sure she’s well-fed and rested.”

The battle against Keraunos would be a mental one. As such, the most important stat for Jupiter to strengthen was her emotional toughness.

There was a void in the girl’s heart. Her past was tragic and full of holes. According to her, she didn’t have a single pleasant memory. That was why…

“We’re going to create a place for her. We’re gonna help her make a bunch of new, happy memories and let her be a damn kid for once. We can be the home she’s never had.”

With a movement as smooth as a calm breeze, the radiant star’s left hand reached up and came to rest on my head, patting me gently.

“You really are a nice guy, huh?”

I was speechless. The boom of the fireworks grew suddenly distant.

“…I’m really not.” A simple rebuttal was all I could manage. “She’s our bombardier. We’ve gotta make sure she’s well enough to help us out, and that means using Keraunos to its full potential.”

I wasn’t lying. I really wasn’t just being kind. Truly kind people always put the well-being of others above their own, like Arthur, the main character of Dungeon Magia. Compared to him, I was just a hypocrite who wanted to use Jupiter. I just needed her to take on the boss on the final floor of Eternal Darkness so I could get the Elixir.

◆Shimizu Home: Living Room

The next day, we took Jupiter to my place. My slightly frustrated yet still wholly angelic sister met us at the door. She had a lot of questions.

“I need you to explain it to me once more, Kyou.”

In the Shimizu household, my sister’s words were as good as law. If my sister told me she wanted to eat acqua pazza, then we’d have acqua pazza for dinner. If my sister told me she liked those chocolate crackers shaped like bamboo sprouts, then from that day forward, their rival snack—chocolate mushrooms—would never again grace our cupboards.

Thankfully, my sister liked both bamboo crackers and chocolate mushrooms, so there was no need to worry about such a tragedy ever befalling our house. That aside…

…my sister wanted me to explain the situation.

Sister, sister. Oh, dearest sister. Let me count the ways in which you are a perfect angel. I would love nothing more than to stare upon your angelic visage all day and night—

“Kyou. Stay focused.”

My party’s radiant star politely slapped my knee, snapping me out of my trance. I cleared my throat before attempting to summarize our current state of affairs.

“Well, basically, what I’m trying to say is… This kid’s just joined our party, so would it maybe be okay if she came to live with us? You know, something like that… So, uh. What do you think?”

“……”

Jupiter, sitting on my left, bowed slightly. She seemed pretty nervous. She hadn’t said so much as a word since we arrived at my house.

Well, whatever. I can handle this.

“Like I said, she’s been through a lot. And she’s got nowhere to live right now.”

I wasn’t lying. Szilard was more than happy to have her stay at the Rosso and Blu clan house and had even left her on the register, but Jupiter had voluntarily chosen to move. When I asked her why, she’d told me that she was no longer a member of their clan. I could see why it would be tough to stay, all things considered…

“Technically, she does have a place to live, since we’re renting a house in the dungeon. But aboveground, she’s got nowhere to go. So I was thinking that maybe, we could, y’know, take care of her…”

“Okay. I understand the situation,” said Fumika. “Now, tell me, Kyou. What exactly is your plan, taking in little Jupiter here?”

“My…‘plan’?” I hadn’t really thought much beyond giving her a comfortable place to stay. “Well, I mean, we’ll make sure she doesn’t cause any trouble for you, Sis. And I can cover her part of the rent and food budget using the money I made—”

“This isn’t about money. I’m asking you in what capacity you expect her to live here. What will she be to us?”

“Uh… Like a long-term houseguest, I guess?”

Basically, she would be the same as Albi.

I had assumed that so long as I took care of the financial aspect, Fumika wouldn’t have a problem letting her stay…but the conversation seemed to be heading in another direction.

I thought things over and realized that the wicked goddess’s position was rather unique—she’d won Fumika over easily, thanks to her special power to make those of the Shimizu bloodline fawn over her. And while my sister’s compassion ran as deep as the ocean, suddenly asking her to take in a foreign child she’d only just met was probably pushing it. Her bewilderment was understandable.

“Sorry, Sis. I realize now that this was all pretty sudden. Maybe we can wait a little while and then reconsider the guest idea.”

“Not a chance!” she exclaimed, standing up in one graceful movement. “I refuse to have her stay with us as our guest.”

She’s…rejecting her? Really? Just like that? I mean, I expected a bit of pushback, but for her to completely shut it down…

I was at a loss. I’d never expected things to turn out this way, even in my wildest dreams.

“But…Sis!”

“This child…” My sister crossed over to our side of the table, her voluptuous body swaying. “This child… She…”

Fumika approached Jupiter, then suddenly bent down.

“She’s…!” She grabbed the girl’s face and pulled it close, burying it in her ample bosom. “Why, she’s going to be the newest member of our family!”

“What?!”

This bombshell from Fumika silenced not only me but the radiant star as well.

Uh… What’s going on?

“What do you mean, ‘What’?! I’m saying that as long as this child wishes it, we will gladly welcome her as a member of the Shimizu family!”

It was a powerful and sincere proposal. Everyone present was astonished.

“I’d expect nothing less from Fumika. She’s as bold as ever,” came Albi’s beautiful voice.

She was using telepathy as she sat across from me, munching away on pickled cucumbers. She probably just didn’t want to put down her food.

What a pig. Take a look at Haruka—she’s munching on pickled cucumbers, too, but at least she looks shocked. Now there’s a proper lady— WAIT! HOLD ON! Why are all these women always shoveling food into their mouths?!

I had been wondering for a few minutes why a mountain of pickled vegetables was piled up on the table in front of us. I felt like I was going crazy. Would it have killed them to stop eating for two seconds?

“Are you listening to me, Kyou?”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, Sis. I’m listening.”

I decided to shift my attention from the gluttons back to my sister.

Ah, what divine features. My sister truly is an angel.

“So what exactly do you mean she’ll be a member of our family?” I asked.

“I mean exactly what I said. I’m going to ask Aunt Sayaka to help us legally make Jupiter a Shimizu.”

“Huh?!”

Her response far exceeded my wildest expectations. Making Jupiter a legal member of our family, rather than just a housemate, was sure to improve the situation in all sorts of ways. First of all, it would give her protection under the law. There were plenty of things Jupiter couldn’t do that would be possible for Jupiter Shimizu. That was how much it meant for a foreigner to receive a local surname.

The government would still require strict background screenings, and as guardians, we would be responsible for any misdeeds she might commit. But it was well worth it for the potential benefits. And most importantly…

“We’ve already set a precedent for this with Albi.”

“Exactly.”

She was right. The evil deity sitting across from me and happily munching on cucumbers had been given a new name in our three-dimensional realm—Albion Shimizu. Legally speaking, she was our aunt Sayaka’s adopted child.

We had already achieved the unthinkable by having the government officially recognize Himinglaeva Albion—a foreign woman we’d claimed had amnesia and didn’t even know where she was from—as a Shimizu.

In other words, so long as we had our aunt’s help, there was a high chance we could successfully add Jupiter to the family.

Out of all possible solutions, this is easily the best one.

I could feel excitement welling up inside me. But I still needed to air my concerns. If we were going to follow through with this ingenious plan of ours, we needed to address the biggest potential issue.

“Do you really think Aunt Sayaka will help us out?”

“It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of how long it will take to convince her. We’ll all need to negotiate. We may even have to beg.”

What a glorious answer. Fumika must have been the most dependable sister in the world.

The girl with silver pigtails looked up from her comfortable position between my sister’s bountiful hills and asked, “…Are you sure?”

“I know the pain of growing up without parents all too well,” she replied.

That seemed to be enough for Jupiter. Fumika wasn’t making this offer out of empty idealism or some innate urge to protect; she was sincere. She wanted to help.

And so Jupiter gave an equally earnest response.

“This sounds like a dream come true. If you’re serious…then I want to be part of this family.”

Our plans now settled, Fumika reached out to Aunt Sayaka immediately.

Our aunt was much more receptive than we’d expected.

“This sounds like my chance to get in good with the rising stars of the adventuring world,” she said over the phone. “Nothing wrong with having a favor to cash in later. I’ll give it my best shot.”

What could I say? The Shimizu women were all gloriously bold and daring. My sister and aunt both had good heads on their shoulders. And they were both just so damn cool.

I was a bit terrified at the prospect of owing my aunt a favor, but I decided that was a problem for my future self.

We had more important things to worry about right now. We had a reign of terror to stop—a lightning beast to catch and collar.

◆Shimizu Home: Kyouichirou’s Room

“I’m Albion Shimizu. From today, please think of me as your elder sister. You may feel free to refer to me as Albi.”

Albi, the woman least suited to the Shimizu name, introduced herself to Jupiter, a serving of smoked squid in one hand as she spoke.

Squid? Seriously? And it’s so stinky…

As much as I preferred she kept the squid stench out of my room, I knew bringing it up would get me nowhere, so I meekly cracked the window.

“Hold on.”

But as it turned out, she wouldn’t even let me have that much. The source of the stink herself stared at me. Her gaze was beautiful yet deadly.

“Think carefully, Master. We are about to have a secret meeting. Do you really believe you should open the window? How absurd.”

“Then go put your squid back in the kitchen. It freaking reeks.”

“Nom. Not a chance. Mmm.” The wicked goddess bit into the squid, sitting down with a self-satisfied smirk.

I suppressed my growing rage and turned to our newest guest. “Ah-ha-ha. She’s quite the mischievous one, isn’t she, Jupiter? Just make sure you don’t imitate her, all right? She’s the poster child for reckless eating and drinking, not to mention vulgarity and violence.”

“How rude. Saying ‘reckless drinking’ makes it sound like I imbibe alcohol, which I do not.” Albi’s objection came paired with a kick to my shin. It barely hurt, so I ignored it.

I can still remember when her kicks made me cry out in pain. Guess I’ve come a long way, huh?

“Kyouichirou… Doesn’t that hurt?”

“This is nothing compared to our usual training. Mere kitten scratches. Oh, by the way, why don’t you join us next time, Jupiter?”

“…I politely refuse.”

I was a bit disappointed. Training your body was also an effective way to train your mind.

“Oh well. I’ll put a pin in my get-Jupiter-ripped training plan for now. We’ve got something more important to attend to anyway. Hey, Albi.”

“Leave it to me.” The wicked goddess rose to her feet, pulling a second bag of smoked squid out of her pocket as she did. She walked over to the corner of the room where Jupiter was sitting. “This may get a tad bright. Please close your eyes.”

She placed her free hand—the one that didn’t reek of smoked squid—on the silver-haired girl’s forehead. A warm glow enveloped my room. It would have been quite a fantastic scene were it not for the stench.

Between her glowing body and that smell, you’d think she was a cephalopod herself. I really wish she’d stop squidding around in my room.

While I was distracted by idle thoughts, the white glow dissipated, and Albi resumed her munching. Jupiter’s jaw dropped.

“What…did you…? You just… But how…?”

“Allow me to address your confusion,” the secret boss announced breezily. “I have used my powers to seal away the large and violent four-legged beast currently under the delusion that it is your father.”

Jupiter was stunned, while Albi looked as collected as ever.

I get how you feel, Jupiter. What she’s saying sounds like absolute nonsense, but…

“Everything Albi just said is true,” I told her. “That deadbeat spirit inside you has been completely sealed away.”

“What’s going on?” said Jupiter.

“Which part are you asking about? The means or the ends?”

“Both.”

Feeling oddly satisfied by my cinematic line, I launched into as simple an explanation as I could muster.

“Albi has some pretty mysterious powers. And—can you believe it?—all she has to do is touch someone to heal them or seal away their spirit.”

“I don’t know where I obtained these powers. I suppose they must be a blessing from a divine being.”

“You sure you don’t mean an evil deity, Squid Girl?”

“You are aware that I can kill you anytime I want, yes?”

“Go ahead and try it.”

A swift punch came flying at my groin, but I’d been expecting it. I easily blocked it with my leg.

“Quite the clever one these days, aren’t you, Master?”

“That’s because, unlike a certain someone who sleeps and stuffs her face all day, I’m out in dungeons, adventuring, and putting my life on the line. At this rate, I’ll be stronger than you in no time.”

“Your jests aren’t funny, Master. But your face is more than enough to make me laugh.”

“Wow, how shallow. It’s super rude and offensive to comment on a guy’s looks. Are you even human?”

“…This sounds totally made up,” muttered Jupiter, interrupting our bickering.

A lot of what we had said was made up, so her comment didn’t surprise me…but I couldn’t tell her that, so I kept up the ruse.

“I get what you mean, Jupiter. But Keraunos has settled down, right?”

“Well…yes…”

“I guess you could say she’s one of ‘the gifted’—people who have no pacts with a spirit but still have access to mysterious powers. You’ve heard of them, right?”

“Yes.”

That seemed to do the trick. Saying someone was one of the gifted was like uttering a spell that magically cleaned up any mess.

“Anyway, I bet you can guess the reason she’s sealed Keraunos away, right?”

“So that he won’t go on a rampage.”

“Right. Don’t worry, though. The seal can be undone whenever you want.”

“……”

Jupiter cupped her face in her hand and thought this over. It couldn’t have been easy to come to terms with everything that was happening.

For better or worse, Keraunos was a permanent fixture in her life. And now, with little more than the gentle touch of a smelly girl, the spirit had been silenced.

Jupiter’s face was marbled with a complex, disparate blend of joy and unease. She seemed to be struggling to take everything in. But after a while, she finally spoke.

“Okay. I’ll trust you.”

Her answer was short and simple but carried a clear weight.

She trusted us. And we were now responsible for living up to that trust.

“Great. We won’t let you down,” I swore to her. “Whatever happens, we’re on your side.”

I was going to keep her from becoming a villain. No matter how unlikely my success, I would make it happen with my own two hands.

◆◆◆ Shimizu Home: Jupiter

My life changed a lot after the Shimizu family took me in.

For one thing, I stopped accidentally breaking things whenever I had a bad dream.

I guess Keraunos really is asleep. Even when I think about the past, he doesn’t do anything. Nothing happens. I can’t even sense the black lightning.

It’s like I’m the same weak girl I was before I met Keraunos. Powerless. Useless.

But the Shimizu family are all so nice to me anyway. They’re nothing like the doctors at the facility who treated me like a guinea pig. And they don’t treat me like an outcast like the other clan members, either.

“Jupiter. I recommend you try this■■■■■■ ■■■. It should allow you to have■■■without feeling any stress. You have my word it will work, or my name isn’t■■■■■. Now, let’s…”

Everyone is simply kind to me. Like Fumika.

“Good morning, Jupiter. Did you sleep well?”

Fumika often makes me food. It’s so warm and yummy. We always eat dinner together, and everyone talks about how grateful they are for the meal before eating.

No one ever had dinner with me where I used to live. They took care of me, but I didn’t really know who they were. James would show up sometimes, I guess.

“Why must you only ever eat■■■■■■es? Anytime I take my eyes off you, you always■■■■…”

But I was almost always alone. No one ever talked to me. Life was boring and empty.

And before that…it was even worse. Everything was awful. I’d rather be alone than go back to that.

So getting to eat dinner with everyone while watching TV is completely new to me.

No one is mean to me. No one is scared of me. I don’t have to hurt anyone anymore.

They told me that everyone wants me here.

I can’t believe how different everything is now that Keraunos is asleep… I know this sounds weird, but it feels like I’ve been given everything I’ve ever wanted.

And it’s all thanks to Kyouichirou and his friends. Especially my big sister, Albi. She’s the one who helped me get away from Keraunos. Even if her “treatment” won’t last forever.

“I’m Albion Shimizu. From today, please think of me as your elder sister. You may feel free to refer to me as Albi.”

Big Sister Albi is a very strange person. Her powers are mysterious, and she’s really pretty. She’s always lying around doing nothing. She doesn’t work. And she doesn’t study. She only eats and sleeps. But she’s not shy or anything. She’s actually very straightforward.

“Little Sister, let us play video games together. According to Master, this game involves hunting and the like.”

Soon after I came to stay here, she began referring to me as her little sister. According to the “official record,” that’s what we are, so I guess it makes sense. But it still feels really weird. I was surprised the first time she called me that. But I’ve already gotten used to it, even though I’ve only been here for a few days. Maybe it’s because she’s so blunt. She calls me “Little Sister” like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

…But just because she calls me that doesn’t mean we’re actually related. It’s just her way of referring to me.

“Oh? Despite my excellent mastery of the controls, my character seems to have been devoured by those creatures there. How perplexing. And irritating.”

“Well, that’s because you’re not avoiding any of the enemies’ attacks.”

“Is this character not my avatar? In that case, she should be forever impervious, just as I am. Am I supposed to believe that these four-legged beasts are capable of harming me? Even fantasy has its limits.”

“What do you mean ‘forever impervious’? That would be cheating. And it sounds scary.”

But even if it’s just the way she refers to me, it means something. It makes me feel all warm inside. That’s why I decided to return the favor and call her “Big Sister Albi.” I want to be as comfortable calling her my big sister as she is calling me her little sister.

Big Sister Albi is a very strange person. She’s really odd. But she’s not a bad person. She eats a lot, and she’s always lazing around. She kicks Kyouichirou sometimes, too.

But there’s something Kyouichirou doesn’t know about her. It’s my secret.

Big Sister Albi… She’s…

“Little Sister. Let us put an end to this video gaming session and take a trip to the pond.”

“What are we going to do at the pond?”

“We are going to fish for frogs. We should do some real hunting.”

“Frogs?”

“Little Sister, let us leave monsters behind. This is the age of the frog. Unlike the creatures in those games, frogs can provide us with tasty snacks.”

…really, really bad at video games.

◆Old Shrine Grounds

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

It was nine in the morning, and my desperate, depraved cries of agony were sullying the solemn grounds of the old shrine.

Looking down at me as I lay in a sobbing heap from the recoil of Fourth Field (not to mention the pain in my crotch) was the prison warden in charge of my torture. She held a bag of tortilla chips in one hand.

“Hmm. It seems you can still take more.”

“Like hell, you jerk!”

You can’t just train your junk to be tougher! Goddamn it! I can’t believe my stats are even weaker now than they used to be! This blows!

“You gain nothing by complaining, Master. As I am using my time-freezing abilities on my little sister, the amount of power I can spare for you has been reduced. You would do well to resign yourself to this truth.”

“I…get that…but…”

I was struggling just to breathe. This was one of the major drawbacks to Albi using her time-freezing abilities to seal Keraunos.

Unlike End of Zero, which was a one-time payment, continuously freezing Jupiter’s time required Albi to keep using spiritual power to keep it active. Essentially, it was like attaching another faucet to the water supply and leaving it running all the time.

At any given moment, Albi had to spend spiritual power to maintain her form in our world, feed me a steady stream of power, seal my sister’s curse, and keep the seal on Keraunos active. Even the Goddess of Time herself had her limits, and it was starting to show.

The amount of spiritual power she had could be increased if I improved my stats and leveled up, but that wasn’t going to be doable in the short term. So she’d cut the least crucial drain on her spiritual power—the part she sent me.

I was getting only about two-thirds of what she had been sending me before she sealed Keraunos. To put it bluntly, my combat abilities had decreased significantly.

My stats had always been pretty bad. But there was no escaping it now—I was weak as hell.

Fourth Field was the skill most impacted. It required a steady stream of spiritual power to maintain. Now it had been nerfed to the point where it could put my life at risk. And yet…

“Don’t you think aiming for a new uptime record for Fourth Field is kind of insane in my current condition?!”

That question was rhetorical, of course.

Forcing me to attempt to break my previous record while I had only two-thirds of my former spiritual power was absolutely evil. It was completely unreasonable.

“I believe I’ve already answered that question. You will benefit even more from your training right now, when the amount of spiritual energy you receive is at its lowest.”

My devil of a training coach was clearly not backing down.

The wicked goddess’s reasoning was this: The true test of a spirit user’s mettle, the deciding factor that separated the pros from the amateurs, was their ability to use spiritual power as efficiently as possible.

Spiritual power was the energy from the other side sent to a person by their contracted spirit. It was the foundational energy that made it possible to use Astral Skills. The larger the scope of the skills used, the more spiritual power expended—this was common knowledge to all spirit users. But there was a step beyond that basic knowledge, and that was the crux of this training.

“We need to maximize results while simultaneously minimizing the energy required. Processing, refining, circulating, and discharging—if you can learn to do each of these steps more efficiently, you will greatly decrease the amount of spiritual power expended.”

According to Albi, the better the user, the less energy they used when manifesting their skills. Or, taken another way, the less experienced a spirit user was, the more spiritual power they wasted. That meant getting better at conserving energy would improve my skills in general.

Conceptually, it all sounded fairly similar to the proficiency system from the original Dungeon Magia, which allowed players to improve their abilities with their weapons and skills the more they used them. This is a fairly common system in a lot of games, so it’s not too hard for players to get used to. But now that it had become my reality, it seemed like a bunch of BS. It’d be fine if I could just beat up some weaklings to improve my proficiency, like in the game, but…

“You honestly expect things to be so simple?” Albi made it clear that it was a no-go. It was a tough world out there.

“I’m not trying to dismiss this training out of hand or anything. Now that I have less spiritual power, I can feel how important it is to use it efficiently. But…” I clutched my groin with both hands as I spoke. “…Why the hell do you have to kick my balls every single time I fail to beat my record?!”

“Compared to your prior training, when I was aiming to destroy your disgusting private parts regardless of your success, I believe I’ve made quite a few concessions in your favor.”

“Why do you have to kick me in the crotch in the first place?!”

That was what this all boiled down to. I had nothing against the training—what I didn’t like was being kicked in the nuts. Why did she have to hit my one and only weak point?

Ugh. It still hurts. They’re throbbing in pain.

“Do you plan to complain the entire time, Master? You realize the outcome of your next battle will rely on how long you can keep Fourth Field active, yes?”

“Guh…”

Calm down, Kyouichirou. She’s purposefully using false logic. There is absolutely no correlation between extending Fourth Field’s uptime and her kicking me in my pride and joy.

I didn’t care what she said. I knew the two were unrelated.

“You must accept reality, Master. Based on our previous findings, when you’re afraid of being kicked in that silly bulge of yours, you summon up more power to prevent it from happening. That is proof that the training is working.”

“That’s got nothing to do with anything. It could be a total coincidence.”

“It is no coincidence. My wealth of experimental data points to one truth: You work harder when you’re being kicked in the testicles.”

“Quit talking like I’m some kind of sexual deviant!” Despite my complaints, my body braced itself for the “training” at hand.

“Well, now. It seems your body speaks the truth even when you speak falsehoods. How sensible of it.”

“If I had any sense, I’d escape from this hell while I still have the chance.”

Ugh, this freaking sucks. I know it’s gonna hurt like hell, but my body’s acting on its own.

As much as I hated to admit it, it seemed I was subconsciously prioritizing the safety of my friends over the safety of my crotch. That concern was making my body put itself in danger, regardless of how much I wanted to resist.

How heroic of me. I ought to reward myself with a gold star and a punch in the head.

“Look, I’ll try my best. So please. Just don’t kick my crotch anymore.”

“You seem prepared, despite your pathetic whining. Now, let us resume!”

The beautiful girl, her features pure and white, rushed across the sun-drenched shrine grounds. I knew if I took a kick at that speed, my crotch would be absolutely obliterated.

“Goddaaaaamn iiiiiiit!”

I threw up Fourth Field, trying to protect my manly dignity.

What a cruel world. Would Kyouichirou Shimizu ever know peace?

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness”

Once I completed my hellish training with Albi, I headed for Eternal Darkness.

My goal for the day was to have a sparring match with the radiant star. The cocoons used for simulation battles could be found in just about any dungeon. I mean, they were so useful, why wouldn’t you want some around? They were a necessity for gaining battle experience and a must-have item for professional adventurers and mercenaries.

As long as we were in a simulation, I could experience a master’s sword skills firsthand with no fear of losing my life.

Haruka was a real prodigy. In fact, she was something special even among prodigies. How gifted was she? I once told her about the skills of a certain swordsman from the Dungeon Magia canon—easily one of the top five strongest—and she was able to perfectly replicate his skills from my description alone. That was how impressive she was.

She left me speechless. Then she furrowed her brow and tried to tell me this and that about what kind of skills were easier to replicate. But the fact of the matter was, we were talking about a skill that was practically impossible to pull off in the first place. This was a move capable of changing the very history of swordsmanship, and she’d just performed it as though it were a simple feat of acrobatics. It was mind-boggling.

Plus, she still had her best years ahead of her. The prospect of what she might one day be capable of had me equal parts excited and terrified.

It should go without saying that in a match against someone so talented, I didn’t stand a chance.

“Whoo-hoo! Today was a blast, huh?”

Still full of energy, she stretched, her back to the setting sun. Then she took a big swig of her yogurt drink. She was as lively as ever.

“Thanks for the match,” I said. “I learned a lot today.”

“I should be the one thanking you. I learned a lot today, too, Mr. Kyouichirou.”

We exchanged humble pleasantries. But the facade soon broke, and we burst out laughing.

I loved spending time with Haruka. It didn’t matter how tough the training was. As long as I was with her, I could muster up enough energy to keep going.

“That said, something’s off about you today, Kyou. Did something happen?”

We were sitting outside on a bench when she made this sharp observation.

…How does she know?

“Oh yeah? I got my ass kicked just like I always do, though.”

“No, something’s different. You’re usually way stronger… It’s almost like you were fighting at two-thirds your normal strength.”

Bull’s-eye. Is this chick psychic or what?

“…You’re right. My spirit’s a bit under the weather right now. But I know what’s causing it, and I’m gonna make sure it gets sorted out before our next battle, so don’t worry about it.”

“Hmmm…”

“Why are you gawking at me like that? Wait—you’re trying to read my thoughts from the look on my face again, aren’t you?!”

“It doesn’t look like you’re lying. But I can tell you’re hiding something.”

Damn it! Why the hell am I so easy to read?! I seriously need to invest in something to hide my face.

“By the way…” Once our conversation came to a natural lull, Haruka changed the topic. By this point, the chatter of birds had petered out, replaced by the gentle hooting of owls (this place had actual wild owls). “…Is Jupi doing all right?”

“Huh? She’s fine. She’s probably playing games with Albi as we speak.”

“Oh yeah…? That’s good to hear…”

“Yeah…”

Huh? Something doesn’t feel right. This isn’t like Haruka at all.

If she was worried about Jupiter, wouldn’t she just drop by to see the girl for herself? She’d already come by a few times the previous week to poke her nose into Jupiter’s business.

She’d kept up her end of the promise we made that night beneath the fireworks, and her devotion to the girl was obvious.

Wait, hold on. Something is definitely off.

Haruka’s most recent visit had been only two days prior. She’d spent the whole day hanging out with Jupiter, cooking with her and so on. She’d left right at five o’clock.

Everything about her visits was perfectly courteous. The time of day she visited, the frequency of her visits, and how the two of them spent their time were all normal and in no way excessive.

To be honest, I’d initially expected her to come around every single day—not that I was hoping for that or anything.

But instead, she’d been so very reasonable. On the one hand, it was perfectly polite and sensible. But on the other hand…

“Hmm.”

I stared at the radiant star. Her face, which stood out even in the twilight, held a shadow of concern. Wait, hold up. Look at those long eyelashes! Is she a model or what?!

“Wh-what is it, Kyou? Is something on my face? You really shouldn’t stare at people like that.”

“You know what they say: What goes around comes around. How does it feel to be the one being gawked at for once?”

I continued gazing at her beautiful face, trying to vent my pent-up frustration.

I guess eyes really are the windows to the soul. Even a dense lunkhead like me can get an idea of what she’s thinking if I stare hard enough.

“You’re being overly cautious around Jupiter, aren’t you?”

The radiant star’s head jerked. Her reaction told me everything.

“Ugh, darn it,” she said. “And here I was, thinking I wasn’t the type to be so saccharine.”

“‘Saccharine’? Now there’s a word you don’t hear much anymore.”

“Seriously? But my mom said that’s how all the hip young girls talk.”

“Riiight. Probably best to assume any words your mom thinks are ‘hip’ have long since become lame.”

I finally understand why Haruka’s sister always spoke in such a weirdly exaggerated way… Oops, better get back on topic.

“I think you’re very considerate,” I said. “And I mean that in a good way.”

It was easy to get distracted by Haruka’s excitable, borderline psychotic personality, but the truth was, she had pretty well-developed social skills. She was proactive when it came to starting conversations and really good at expanding them into other topics. She was a great listener, and her smile felt natural. Closing the personal space between herself and her conversation partner came easily to her. Basically, she was really well put together.

And yet—or maybe because of that—she was overly considerate. Right now, she was holding back, keeping Jupiter at arm’s length.

“You’re talking me up way too much. I’m not as put together as you think.”

“Well, okay, if you insist… But if you’ve got something on your mind, you can always tell me. I’m…y’know, here for you.” I was very up-front. I knew trying to beat around the bush would get me nowhere with Haruka.

“…All right, fine,” she said. “Mind hearing me out, then?”

“Of course not.”

She’d taken the bait.

“Even I feel like I’m overthinking things. But, well…”

“Yeah?”

She hesitated, and her voice broke as she tried to find the right words. It was kind of nice to see this side of her for a change. “So remember when we were all at your place a week ago?”

“Yeah.”

“I feel like I realized something. I’m really lucky. Like, I’m so, so blessed.”

“Blessed,” huh? That’s true. You’re definitely blessed in a number of ways. But…

“Hadn’t you already realized that?” I asked. “Way before last week, I mean.”

Wasn’t that the whole reason she’d decided to dedicate herself to the sword? Aren’t you the person you are because you decided not to waste your talents—to work harder than anyone else?

“Yeah. I had. But I feel like I didn’t really get it, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“The things I thought were hard or painful turned out to be kind of silly compared to the stuff other people have gone through. I guess I feel spoiled.”

Haruka was avoiding going into detail, but I had a feeling I understood what she was getting at. She must feel privileged compared to the rest of us.

Jupiter had spent her life alone. Albi had lost her memory (or at least, that’s what we’d told Haruka). And my sister and I had lost our parents in an accident years ago.

Haruka probably felt that, because of her privileged and mostly carefree life, she didn’t deserve to be around people who had experienced real struggles. Or at least, that’s what I assumed.

Haruka Aono was such a kind person—and completely misguided.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Haruka, but that’s incorrect!” I said, like the host of a quiz show shooting down a wrong answer. It was time to set the radiant star straight. “None of us are quite as miserable as you think. And you’ve gone through quite a bit yourself.”

“But…”

“‘But’ nothing. Listen—this isn’t a competition. There’s no such thing as ‘more’ or ‘less’ unfortunate.”

Let’s say Mr. A caught some contagious disease, while Ms. B got into a traffic accident. Let me ask you: Which one of them is more unfortunate? The only correct answer is this: “Shut the hell up, dumbass.”

If someone tried to total up the hospital bills or something and declared, “Yep, so-and-so is definitely more unfortunate,” I’d gladly slug that person in the face. It wasn’t anyone’s place to arbitrarily judge the depth of someone else’s struggles, to measure their trauma.

“Listen, Haruka. The pain you’ve felt and the scars you bear belong to you and no one else. There’s no need for you to compare them to anyone else’s. There’s nothing wrong with feeling hurt.”

“…I’m not so sure.”

“Think about it. If all of us had to follow some stupid BS rule that we weren’t allowed to complain just ’cause some other person had it worse, then there’d only ever be a single person in the whole world allowed to feel bad about their lot in life. Do you think it makes sense for everyone else to just grin and bear their suffering ’cause they’re better off than the most miserable person in existence? C’mon now.”

Just because people in some less fortunate country far away are suffering from hunger, does that mean I’m too blessed to hope for a better life?

If I get picked on in school, but there’s another kid who puts up with worse, should I have to bear it, too?

What if I lost my beloved partner in an accident, but my neighbor lost their whole family? Can I not grieve, just because they have it worse?

“Screw that kind of world.”

No good can come from spending all your time worrying about everyone else’s pain and ignoring your own. Pain is a sign from your body that you’re in danger, and I have absolutely zero interest in becoming a saint who grits their teeth and ignores their body’s pain signals just because someone else has it worse.

“There’s no reason for you to feel guilty or obliged to us just because we’ve had some hard times, you know.”

“…I guess.” The radiant star tilted her delicate neck to one side. I could tell I was on the right track. Just one more push.

“And another thing—whenever you’re feeling suffocated at home, you can come to our place. Just tell your parents we need to discuss our next dungeon crawl or something. I’m sure they won’t mind.”

“You sure?”

“Of course. We’ve got more rooms than we know what to do with. Plus, I’m sure it’d make Jupiter happy to have you around. My sister wouldn’t mind at all, and the same probably goes for Albi.” I turned my villainous face up to stare at the moon. “And I’d be happy to have you over, too, of course.”

Hoot, hoot. An owl cried out somewhere in the darkness.

…Oh boy. As soon as I said that, I realized how embarrassing it was. It totally sounds like I’m trying to invite her over.

“Uh, hold on, Haruka. I didn’t mean that. Well, I did mean it. But I didn’t mean, well… I didn’t mean it in any weird way, you know?”

I waved my hands around, trying to convince her that, despite my jerk face, I wasn’t trying to flirt with her like some kind of pickup artist.

The radiant star stared silently at my buffoonish antics. Then her face got really red, and she fell silent.

“Uh, Haruka?”

“Oh! Sorry! Totally listening! I just… The warm air got to my head. I was kind of spacing out. Yep, don’t worry! And I totally understand what you mean. Sorry about being weird!”

“R-right…”

It’s already June, isn’t it? Maybe we shouldn’t be out taking in the heat for so long, even if it is nighttime.

“Sorry, Haruka. I should have noticed it was getting hot out. And now your face is all red. My bad.”

“Huh? Is my face red?”

“Yeah. You look like a boiled octopus. It might be the first sign of heatstroke…”

“S-stroke what now?! Who’s hot?!”

“Uh, Haruka?” Why does she seem so surprised? Heatstroke is no joke, and it can affect any of us. “You feeling all right?”

◆Sakurabana #2 Secondary School: School Gates

“Kyou! Jupi!”

Haruka stood by the darkened school gate waving happily at us.

She wasn’t wearing her usual battle costume. Instead, she was dressed in her official school uniform… That seemed strange to me. After all, she doesn’t go to Sakurabana #2 Secondary School like Kyouichirou does. As a result, her school uniform stood out even more than her battle gear.

But Haruka always stands out. She’s really, really pretty, and her figure looks a lot more mature than a middle school third-year’s. Plus, she always shows a lot of skin, especially when she’s in her battle costume. It’s really something. Her boobs and armpits are totally exposed.

“What’s up, Jupi?” she asked.

I guess when I think about it, her school uniform is a lot less flashy. Her skirt is short, and she doesn’t button up her blouse all the way, but she still manages to look presentable. Besides, her face is so cute and pretty that she manages to pull it off. She just looks like an idol walking around in costume. It doesn’t matter how much skin she shows; her outfits always suit her. Haruka’s just charming like that.

“…Nothing.” I shook my head. “Anyway, how come you’re here, Haruka?”

“C’mon. You think I’d miss something this exciting?” she asked, flashing a smile as bright as the sun. “Going to school at night makes for the perfect spooky test of courage! Talk about exciting!”

“…Is that true, Kyouichirou?” I asked, turning to him.

“I never said anything about this being a ‘test of courage,’” he replied.

Apparently, there had been a misunderstanding about our reasons for going to school. Communication is full of pitfalls, it seems.

“Well, I’m not just here for that, obviously!”

When I got off Kyouichirou’s bike, Haruka grabbed me by the hand and pulled me aside to whisper something in my ear.

◆Sakurabana #2 Secondary School: Classroom 3-B

We got inside the school easily, just like Kyouichirou said we would.

When he told the teacher on duty that he had come to get something he forgot, they let us through easily.

Even though Haruka and I don’t go to his school, the teacher said, “You’re friends with Shimizu? No problem, then.”

“This is why it pays to be a good student the rest of the year. It gets you in everyone’s good books,” Kyouichirou told me. It sounded like bad advice.

He opened the door to the classroom for us.

“There’s so much stuff,” I said.

There were a bunch of desks and chairs all lined up inside the room. I saw a blackboard and the teacher’s desk at the front of the room, and a bunch of colorful posters and pieces of calligraphy paper with unique handwriting lined the walls. Lockers and a broom closet were at the back. The wall nearest the hall had upper and lower windows, while the far wall had a big window and a door leading out to a balcony that looked out over the schoolyard. The curtains were drawn.

I’d seen rooms like this on TV and in dating sims, so I’d already known what to expect.

“What do you think,■■■■■■■? This flower■■■■■■is R■■■■and■■■’s pride and joy. And you and■have it all to ourselves today…”

But knowing what to expect and actually experiencing it were two completely different things. The floor under my feet felt hard. I could smell the faint scent of chalk. And then there was the…

“Wow! Amazing! Jupi, you look so, so cute!”

I’d changed into a school uniform that Haruka had let me borrow. She told me it was a first-year middle school uniform.

“You’re as cute as a doll, Jupi,” she said. “Dressing you up is so fun!”

She kept excitedly complimenting me as she hugged me tight and rubbed her cheek against mine. Haruka’s cheek was so soft and squishy, and she smelled like citrus.

“This uniform’s too big for me,” I said.

“Sorry about that! But it’s super cute how the sleeves are big and baggy! I just love you, Jupi! I love everything about you! From the tips of your feet to the very top of your head! I love it all!”

“Well, I…think you’re pretty okay, too, Haruka.”

“Oh, that makes me so happy to hear! Looks like the feeling’s mutual, huh?”

Kyouichirou sat on a chair nearby watching us with a pleased look on his face. He was eating a protein bar and some boiled eggs.

“Hey, Kyou. What are you doing eating all by yourself over there? Come here and eat with us girls!”

“Uh, no thanks. That’s not really my style.”

“Huh? Why’re you acting so shy all of a sudden? Don’t tell me! Are you intimidated by Jupi’s cuteness?”

“Of course not.”

Haruka moved closer to Kyouichirou, laughing the whole time. “Hey, c’mon! Let’s hang out. We’re in school at night—might as well make the most of it, right? And it’ll be a good memory for Jupi.”

Her invitation was so casual. She sounded like a character in a game—the bright and cheerful class-president type.

“…Nah. I can join in the conversation just fine from over here.”

“No way! Let’s bring our desks together and chitchat. C’mooon, it’s more fun when we’re all together.”

Her gestures, her absurdly friendly tone…and more than anything, when she looked Kyouichirou in the eyes, Haruka looked more beautiful than ever. To be honest, I got the impression she was trying to be beautiful. The angle of her body, how she positioned herself, and the casual way she touched him—all of it was…

“Ugh. What are you doing?” asked Kyouichirou.

Sitting there in the classroom in my borrowed uniform, I felt a distinct vibe from Haruka. She’s so pretty and cool, and I really admire her. And most of all, she’s really, really easy to read.

◆Lali-Lali, the Workshop of Dreams

“Hey, young man, I’m glad you kept your word and came back. And thanks for buying so many!”

“No problem. I’m the one that should thank you for knocking down the list price for me.”

I thanked the old guy wearing a baby bonnet and left his accessory shop.

I’d really gone wild on this shopping trip, and it had cost a pretty penny. Not that it mattered, of course. I felt confident that accessories with such high stats would be well worth what I had paid for them.

I’ve gotta admit: The stuff on sale here sure is quality.

Lali-Lali was a pretty great place to shop. Yeah, the prices were a little overwhelming, and the customer service offered by the weirdos running the shops could get pretty intense, but as long as you didn’t let that get to you, it was totally fine.

Our next battle against Keraunos would hinge on the strength of our equipment, and I knew Lali-Lali was the best bet if I wanted high performance goods. On this trip, I’d managed to gather most of the gear I’d need. I’d even picked up some new combat logic cartridges from Guren.

Though, it pains me to say good-bye to this den of perverts, I’m afraid I must take my leave. Next time, I think I’ll skip the rest of these shops and go straight to Guren.

I walked cheerfully out of Lali-Lali, overjoyed to be free of the oddball atmosphere. The air outside felt incredibly refreshing by comparison.

“Hello, hello, Kyouichirou. I trust you’re doing well?”

I received a call from Szilard on my way home.

“Oh, Mr. Szilard. Hello. It’s been a while.”

We spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to check in on me or what. But just as I was about to ask why he’d called, he beat me to the punch.

“Do you have time to meet up right now?”

It was a rare invitation from the master of Rosso and Blu. Obviously, I agreed to see him right away. As a hardcore Dungeon Magia fan, I wasn’t about to pass up such an amazing opportunity.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dora-Dora-Doraldo Steak House

When I got to the restaurant, I found Szilard daintily working his way through a thick sirloin steak.

“Hey, Kyouichirou! Good to see you again. Hah-hah-hah!”

The Rosso and Blu clan master let out his trademark laugh as he stabbed a fork into the slab of expensive-looking steak. I couldn’t believe how suave he looked even in the middle of a meal.

Damn it, handsome dudes look good no matter what they do. I think my heart just skipped a beat.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Sir. What can I do for you today?”

“Forget that for now. How about we have a bite to eat? Feel free to order whatever you like. It’s on me.”

“Oh. Thank you, Sir.”

At Szilard’s suggestion, I ordered a steak lunch. The extra-thick meat sent my taste buds to heaven. Szilard had apparently booked the whole place, too. What could be better than eating a free steak in a restaurant with no other customers?

“So? Not bad, right?” he asked.

“It’s amazing! It’s so thick yet so tender and delicious!”

The Japanese-style apple and onion sauce really brought out the flavor of the meat. I was always a grated-daikon-and-citrusy-ponzu-sauce kind of guy, but this was almost enough to change my mind.

“The owner of this place is foreign-born and hails from the federation. He’s a bit of a local celebrity for pioneering a new taste by blending flavors from his homeland and the empire.”

That made a lot of sense. I could see this sort of food being really popular with imperial citizens. It wasn’t just the Japanese-style sauce, either. The garnish and seasoning were well suited to this country’s tastes. And the chef had pulled it all off without sacrificing the traditional flavor of his homeland.

It was an exquisite dish, proof of the chef’s ingenuity. The more I ate, the more elated I became.

“I can see why this place is so popular.”

“Hah-hah-hah! I couldn’t agree more. The food is geared toward the customer’s tastes, the owner is a great businessman, and more than anything else, the empire’s tolerant attitude toward outsiders has been a great help.”

“Tolerant”? “The empire”? I thought I must have heard him wrong.

“What do you mean by ‘tolerant,’ exactly?”

“You look surprised.”

No kidding. I would’ve never expected someone like you, the face of foreigners in this country, to say a line like that.

“I mean, I’m just a kid who knows nothing about politics, but I always felt this country was incredibly strict when it came to people of other species and nationalities.”

“All countries are strict when it comes to foreign nationals. Compared to other developed nations, the empire is quite progressive.”

“What makes you say that?”

Szilard wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “Despite being a foreigner, I was accepted as a clan leader and allowed to operate in Sakurabana, the home to many of the empire’s dungeons. Similarly, this restaurant has been successful and has a good reputation despite the owner’s nationality. What’s more, I pay into the same tax system as natural-born citizens. Back in my home country, all foreigners pay extra just for the luxury of living there.”

The large, ashen-haired man casually laughed off this grim factoid.

I’d had no idea. In Dungeon Magia, the plot often focused on the darker side of the empire’s policies toward foreigners, so I’d always assumed it was pretty bad. It seemed I’d been a bit prejudiced. I started to feel guilty.

“That said, you are correct that this nation can be quite strict, particularly when it comes to crime. Should a foreigner break the law, the empire will stop at nothing to make their life miserable… But you already knew that, I imagine.”

“…Yes, I did.”

Basically, it was black and white. As long as you worked hard, you would be treated as a good neighbor. But the moment you slipped up, you’d be labeled a spy or a terrorist for life. There was no gray zone for foreign nationals.

“Jupiter was in quite the tough spot. If she sustained even the slightest injury or felt even a little stressed, that beast of black lightning would go berserk. Not that I don’t empathize with her harrowing past, but she was like a bomb waiting to go off. I’m afraid she posed far too big a risk to our clan.”

The way he was talking sounded like a confession. I could sense that he was disappointed in himself and deeply regretted not being able to help the girl.

“There were several incidents where she lost control while exploring dungeons. And I’m not talking once or twice, either. Countless clan members have suffered severe injuries at the hands of the beast.”

Despite all that, Jupiter’s outbursts had never been made public. I had always wondered why.

“So you were covering for her?”

“It was nothing quite so admirable. We were simply afraid that her transgressions would come back to haunt us. It’s true that we covered up her crimes. I can’t deny that.”

I could tell he was lying. If he was truly only concerned about his clan’s good standing, the smart thing would have been to turn her in to the police and play the victim. The risk of being caught harboring a dangerous foreigner would be too great for most. Yet Szilard and his clan had protected Jupiter.

“I always thought it was strange,” I admitted. “Why would someone of your standing propose such a risky bet to some newcomers like us?”

At first, I’d assumed he just came up with it on the spot. It had felt as though he was trying to add stakes to our match to bring out our true abilities. But thinking back on it now, I realized that was pretty naive.

Szilard had likely planned the entire thing out from the very start—even before we went to meet him. And then there was what Eliza had said to me: They were “judging our worth.” She hadn’t been lying.

“If you won, we’d have to clear the tenth floor with Rosso and Blu. And if we won, you’d have to provide us with your best bombardier. I didn’t notice it at the time, but both outcomes are exactly the same, aren’t they?”

Win or lose, the result would be this: We’d join forces with a member of Rosso and Blu. The whole thing about clearing the tenth floor was a smoke screen to throw me off track. In reality, it was totally irrelevant. The whole purpose of meeting us and conducting a virtual battle was to see if we would be a suitable party for Jupiter.

“I finally understand why you fought us so straightforwardly, without using any underhanded tricks. During our battle, you were pretending to be Keraunos, weren’t you?”

The overwhelming firepower, the barrages of energy attacks fired off at machine-gun speeds. It all made sense.

Each attack was incredibly powerful, yes, but between my Fourth Field and Haruka’s ability to slice through energy attacks, it was nothing we couldn’t overcome.

“Though, your final gambit with the Regalia felt like you were taking the fight pretty seriously.”

“Hah-hah. Sorry about that! I was just so impressed with your incredible skills that I got a bit too excited.”

The ashen-haired hero shot me a cheerful smile. At first glance, he seemed like an easygoing guy who didn’t think too hard about things. But in reality, even his expressions were calculated.

It was a fact that he’d turned up the heat toward the end of our epic virtual battle. But I knew the truth—James Szilard owned Regalia that could have easily turned the match in his favor. And I’m not talking just one or two, either—he owned a multitude of them.

So while it might have seemed like he was caught up in the thrill of the fight and went all out, it was just a calculated ploy to see how far he could push us—a perfect blend of coolheadedness and hot, fiery passion, of reason and emotion.

This guy really is something else.

The whole reason for hitting us with all those thermal skills was to see with his own eyes whether we could withstand the threat posed by Keraunos. He had even gone so far as to casually ask for a detailed explanation of Azure Skies’s abilities while we sipped our tea before the battle. He hadn’t overlooked a single thing.

But what if we had failed the test?

In that case, all he’d have to do was play off the whole bet as a joke. Most losers would leap at the opportunity to have their debts wiped clean on the spot.

“That beast is strong. Anyone unable to hold their own against me wouldn’t have a chance fighting that thing.”

Unfortunately, Szilard knew what he was talking about. Keraunos was too much for even one of Sakurabana’s top clans to control. Szilard as he was now might be able to defeat Keraunos, but he would never be able to cleanse it.

I knew he would never admit it, but Szilard was past his prime. According to his backstory in the game, he’d been severely weakened during a past incident. The long-term damage was so bad that it affected even the events of the main plot—something that wouldn’t take place for two more years. So while he was certainly strong enough to overwhelm us, he was by no means capable of saving Jupiter on his own. It had become clear that the thread of fate connecting Szilard to Jupiter’s sad end was less a matter of wrongdoing and more a case of bad luck.

“What about asking one of the other Five Major Cla—”

“If that were feasible, we would have done so a long time ago.”

“I…suppose that makes sense.”

Each of the Five Major Clans had their own way of doing things. Rosso and Blu, for example, operated as a mutual aid organization for foreign nationals. Another offered a place for members of different species to gather.

But having five clans in relatively equal standing—each with their own set of beliefs and priorities—meant an invisible power struggle between them was inevitable.

Territorial skirmishes. Backdoor dealings. Trickery.

It was a five-way balancing act held together only by the sparks of hostility. No one was going to cooperate free of charge.

What Szilard and his clan had needed was a party strong enough to handle Keraunos—something not even Rosso and Blu could manage—and with no affiliation to any of the Five Major Clans. They might as well have been chasing a golden goose.

“It’s a genuine miracle that I met the two of you when I did,” said Szilard.

A miracle, huh? I guess that’s one way of looking at it.

Our party didn’t exist in the original plot, after all. And in the version of this world where that “miracle” didn’t occur, Jupiter, she… Well, I’d rather not even think about it. The whole reason the two of us are here talking is to prevent that future from coming to pass.

“Your impervious defense and Haruka’s ability to cut through energy attacks are just what we needed. Your very presence has relit the flame of hope in my nearly broken heart.”

Even though we had no affiliation with any of the Five Major Clans, it would be a huge scandal if it ever got out that Rosso and Blu had entrusted Jupiter to us. Yet he had done it anyway. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the pressure he felt.

And if a leader of one of the Five Major Clans had put his faith in me, I couldn’t exactly pick the RUN command and flee.

“I’m not sure if we can live up to your expectations,” I said. “But we’ll do everything we can.”

“Have you come up with a winning strategy?”

“I have a plan. Whether we win will hinge on how well we can execute it.”

The ashen-haired man gazed at me in amazement. “I’d love to hear more about it.”

“Of course. First, to prepare…”

His look of surprise gradually turned into a delighted smile. And finally came his patented belly laugh.

“I’m impressed you’ve come up with such an ingenious plan in such a short time. Very interesting! A fascinating gambit indeed!”

“Things are going to be a bit touch-and-go, and Haruka and I will have to do a lot of the heavy lifting.”

If we were fighting that electric bastard, we couldn’t rely on Jupiter’s power at all. That wasn’t necessarily a problem, mind you. We had already factored that into our plan of attack. But it meant both of us had to take on more than our usual share. If either of us sustained a serious injury, that was that—game over.

We needed to successfully cleanse Keraunos and do it without taking any damage. I wasn’t stupid. Even I knew it was crazy to expect a no-hit run when we were up against a beast twice as strong as the Dungeon Reaper. But if Haruka or I got hit by that thing’s miasmic lightning, winning the fight would be the least of our worries.

If we didn’t treat every attack as a one-hit-kill move, we would be in trouble. This was going to be all or nothing. No matter the outcome, the fight against Keraunos would be an epic match full of drama.

“In that case, why don’t you allow me to share your burden?”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what Szilard was saying.

“Um, Sir? I’m not exactly sure what you’re getting at.”

“I’m telling you I want to be a part of the fight. What do you think? Got a spot on your team for James Szilard?”

◆Shimizu Home: Living Room

I headed straight home after my lunch with Szilard.

I hardly remember how I got there. My brain had allotted all its resources to thinking over the situation.

“I want to join the battle. Not as the clan master of Rosso and Blu but as a man with a fondness for my fellow adventurers. Don’t worry—I’ve written my last will and testament just in case. So feel free to use me as just another piece on your board. Hah-hah-hah!”

Don’t give me that “Hah-hah-hah” BS, damn it! A guy like you can’t just casually join the fight!

I could understand why he wanted to help—he likely felt responsible for the whole situation with Jupiter. But participating in the battle itself? This was less a bolt from the blue and more like a direct lightning strike to my system.

I had no complaints about his abilities, mind you. If anything, Szilard was a little too overpowered. It almost felt like overkill.

And more than that, he was an important character. Unlike Haruka and me, he had a key role to play in the future of this world. I was reluctant to drag him into such a dangerous fight. Even if the chances were low, the idea of Szilard dying to Keraunos sent shivers up my spine.

The only changes I wanted to make were to the BS twists of fate set to doom me and my friends. I wasn’t looking to rewrite the entire history of Dungeon Magia. As long as the people close to me could live their lives in peace without interfering with the hero’s journey, that was enough for me. If Szilard joined our battle, it could undo all my hard work and planning.

Sure, you’d be a powerful ally, but what if we lost, damn it?! The risks are too great!

I had convinced him to let me think over the decision, but I didn’t have much time.

Ugh! What the hell should I do?!

“Oh, Kyou. You’re home.”

“Yeah. Hey, Sis. Is Albi in her room?”

“Albi went out to fish for frogs with Jupiter.”

Fishing for frogs? What in the world…?

“Albi was having trouble with a game they were playing, and I think she took it to heart. She grabbed a fishing rod and told Jupiter, ‘Little Sister, allow me to show you true hunting,’ before running out of the house. It was so darling.”

So she got pissed that she sucked at hunting monsters and went off to hunt frogs instead? Talk about hardcore.

“Is there something you need from her, Kyou?”

“Yeah. I want to talk to her about something.”

Fumika hummed in thought, tilting her head and raising her hand to her chin.

Why’s Sis gotta be so cute? I wish I could marry her.

“If there’s something on your mind, why not tell me?” she said at last.

“Huh?!”

Tell Sis? I was grateful for the offer, but where would I even begin? I couldn’t just spill the beans about everything.

“I might not look it,” she said, “but I’m quite the problem solver, you know! Why, just the other day, I was able to help my friend from high school get out of an online multi-level marketing scam!” My seraphic sister proudly puffed out her national treasure of a chest.

I wish time would stop this very instant.

“Besides, I’ve been so busy lately that I feel I’ve neglected my darling little brother. I feel bad.”

“That’s not true at all. You’ve just been—”

“It is true!” she declared decisively.

As a robot brought into this world to affirm everything my sister desired, I decided it was best to back down. “All right, Sis. Maybe I could use your advice.”

“By all means! Just leave it to me!” she said, slapping a hand against her fortress-sized chest. “Come on, out with it!”

She was always so motherly. If I hadn’t come into this world as her brother, I would have proposed to her on the spot.

“All right, just gimme a sec to organize my thoughts.”

I sat down on a floor pillow and pondered how best to approach the issue.

Okay, that’s what I’ll go with, I thought, making up my mind.

“Well, I’d been keeping this a secret. But the truth is, I’m writing a novel.”

“What?! Oh! My! Goodness!”

She was 40 percent more excited than usual. I felt like total scum lying to her.

“I had heard boys grew up quickly, but this…this is incredible. I’m so proud of you, Kyou. Remember when you used to tell people your only hobby was ‘getting into fights’? It all feels like a bad dream now.”

“Ah-ha-ha. Thanks.”

Once again, the reminder about Kyouichirou’s past instantly made me want to die in a corner. But I pushed through and continued with my story.

“A long time ago, in a galaxy very, very far away…”

“Hmm.”

“…and during the long-anticipated Galaxy Wars, the Cosmos Monster suddenly appeared…”

“Goodness!”

“…and so to get revenge on Laughing Bat, a member of the Nebula Multiverse…”

“I did not see that coming!”

I made up an epic patchwork space opera on the spot to try and obscure the reality of the situation. But as I spoke, I got a little too into my own story, and by the time I’d reached the crux of my problem, the setting sun had already dyed the sky crimson.

“So you’re debating whether it’s a good idea to include General Grayhair in the operation to rescue Princess Europa because he plays an important role in the original history of the galaxy? Is that it?”

“Yep, you got it.”

She nodded to herself and looked down at the notes she’d been taking. She’d crammed so much onto the pad, it was practically solid black.

I could search the whole cosmos and never find a being as angelic as my sister— I couldn’t believe she’d taken such studious notes on the random story I’d pulled straight out of my ass. I wanted to dedicate my life to making this woman happy.

In case it wasn’t clear, General Grayhair was Szilard, and Princess Europa was Jupiter. I’ve always sucked at coming up with names.

“There’s only one answer, if you ask me. We must have General Grayhair join the battle!”

“What?” Just like that…? “But Sis, if something were to happen to General Grayhair, it might result in a time paradox. The heroes from the future really come to respect him.”

“But aren’t you worried that the main character, Dick Badman, and his partner, Master Psycho Prometheus, aren’t strong enough to defeat the beast of the black, Zeus Omega?”

“…I guess.”

Ugh. “Dick Badman”? What a stupid name. What was I thinking? I wish I’d come up with something cooler.

“Well, in that case, shouldn’t you let General Grayhair atone for his sins? After all, he’s to blame for letting the situation get so bad in the first place. Even if it was to protect the country, he exiled Princess Europa when she was still so young. If a no-good villain like that had shown up asking to be treated like a comrade, I think it’s perfectly fine to set them to work. And there’s nothing wrong with giving them the most grueling role, either!”

I was surprised that Sis had such an aggressive take on the situation.

“But what about the time paradox…?”

“You said this story has no self-correcting force, right?”

“Yeah.”

There was always the chance it did, but considering I had freed Albi and saved Haruka, it seemed pretty unlikely.

“In that case, I see why you’re worried. I can’t deny the risk.”

“Right.”

“But that just means everyone taking part in the battle will have to bear that risk together. Isn’t that what it means to take on the future, never knowing how things will turn out?”

Damn. I had no clever rebuttal to that one. Do your best and leave the rest to fate, huh?

Maybe my resolve had been lacking. Maybe I hadn’t yet fully dedicated myself to creating the future I wanted.

“Also, the main character, Dick Badman… He calls himself the enemy of fate, right? Don’t you think he’s a little bit too obsessed?”

“U-uh, what do you mean?”

She cleared her throat and pointed at the ceiling before launching into her theory.

Oh man, she is so cute. So, so cute. She’s so, so, so, so— (The rest of this adulation has been omitted to save space.)

“Basically, his stance is ‘so-and-so is an important historical figure, so I shouldn’t involve him in anything dangerous.’ It makes perfect sense. I would even say I agree. But if you think about it from a different angle, isn’t that the same fate he’s always fighting?”

“Huh…” Part of me agreed with her.

“Dick Badman knows something about how the future is supposed to turn out, and that makes him cautious. I think that shows he’s quite sensible, and I like that about him. But that sensible nature is about to make him waste a precious opportunity, just because of a silly thing like fate.” To her, it seemed like a waste.

“So you’re saying that it doesn’t make sense for Dick Badman to put himself at a disadvantage to keep things as they’re supposed to be, when his whole deal is that he’s fighting against fate, huh? Hmm, I’ll admit I hadn’t thought of that.”

“I think Dick Badman has justice on his side. But if he gets too carried away following his moral compass, he might fail to protect someone close to him. And if that were to happen, I think he would hate himself for it. I don’t want him to suffer such a sad fate.”

“Same here. I’d much prefer for Dick Badman to get his happy ending.”

She was right. What I wanted was a perfect, good ending for Kyouichirou. I wasn’t looking to recreate the original plot of the game.

I didn’t want to arbitrarily screw around with the world itself, but that didn’t mean I was some baby-faced hero of justice looking to right every wrong, either.

If one of history’s future heroes wanted to lend me a hand, maybe it was okay for me to accept his help so long as I did everything in my power to protect him.

“Thanks, Sis. I feel like I’ve figured some things out.”

“I’m just glad I was able to help. Once your novel is finished, I hope you’ll let me read it.”

Her smile was like a refreshing spring breeze.

“One day,” I promised her.

I called up Szilard later that night.

“Oh, good. I’m glad to hear it, Kyouichirou. Then we’re officially comrades in arms.”

It might only be for the length of the fight against Keraunos, but I would still get to stand shoulder to shoulder with the James Szilard. To be honest, I was pretty excited. I could feel my otaku soul quivering with delight.

“I’m happy to be part of the team.”

“We’re glad to have you. We’re a bit of a mess, but welcome aboard.”

However…

“Mm-hmm. Well, in that case… Now that we’re comrades, there’s something I need to come clean about… I was planning on telling Jupiter—and only Jupiter—this during the cleansing ritual. But I’ve just decided it would be better if I told you as well.”

…in a single instant…

“It’s about Jupiter’s memories.”

…all the excitement and childlike competitiveness that had welled up inside me…

“Let me cut right to the chase. Keraunos is the one who took Jupiter’s memories from her. I believe that was one of the conditions of their pact.”

…completely evaporated.

Suddenly, something Jupiter once said to me came rushing back into my mind.

“Who are you?”

Who…are you…?

◆◆◆ Shimizu Home: Jupiter

Kyouichirou and the others are getting things ready.

They’re preparing to beat Keraunos.

In other words, it’s the end of my little vacation.

These last few weeks have been so fun. My life without Keraunos has been full of mystery and excitement. Everyone has been so nice, and I had a really, really lovely time.

I’ve never felt as free as I have these past few weeks. I spent my whole life watching everyone else carefully, making sure they weren’t mad at me. I’ve tried so hard to make sure no one gets upset with me and that I don’t get upset, either. I pushed all my emotions deep down inside… But here… Being with Kyouichirou and the others has been a little different.

Maybe it’s just because Keraunos is sleeping, but it feels like…being alive has gotten easier than before.

I can talk a bit during dinner now.

I can get a little upset when I lose at a game.

I can ask for stuff I want.

It’s kinda scary, and I don’t want anyone to hate me. But I still ask to do the things I want to do, to eat the things I want to eat, and to avoid the things I don’t like. At least a little bit.

Thanks to everyone’s help, my first-ever vacation has been wonderful.

But it was all a mistake. I was never meant to be happy. And yet I tried anyway.

I tried to forget my sins. To be human.

And that’s why I got punished.

Or rather, why my punishment came for me.

That person is my sin, and they came to punish me. Their name is…

“Pardon me.”

She showed up at the door on a rainy day in the early afternoon. It was only two days before we planned to fight Keraunos.

She was dressed as a maid and held an umbrella in one hand as she boldly yet politely rang the doorbell.

“I’ve come to deliver a package.”

“Ah…!”

I recognized her right away. She was the secretary of Rosso and Blu’s clan master and the woman who had served as my attendant. We were finally reunited.

“…It certainly has been some time, Jupiter.”

“E…liza…?”

We were together again.

Eliza Wispard was a beautiful woman. Her hair and eyes were the same color as mine. She looked just as pretty as I remembered. The only difference was the right half of her face was covered in a mask and veil.

And what she kept hidden behind that mask was…

“Ah… Ah…!”

Before I knew it, my mind had gone completely blank.

Eliza, she…she was so kind to me.

She was very strict and particular about the rules. I remember her always watching over me, keeping me safe so that Keraunos wouldn’t come out.

◆◆◆ Kyouichirou Shimizu

In Dungeon Magia’s true route, Jupiter speaks about Szilard and the others as if she’s not quite sure who they are. She doesn’t call them by name, but for some reason, she seems irritated by the sight of them. And yet the official guide describes her as a “former member of Rosso and Blu.”

This caused a real stir in the community and had people scrambling for more info. It seemed that, for whatever reason, the Jupiter in the game had forgotten James Szilard despite having been a member of his clan. In the original timeline, she never recognizes him.

For his part, Szilard didn’t say much on the matter, either. He merely looked at the fallen Eliza and called out, “I’m sorry,” before turning back to Jupiter and saying, “…but I must take responsibility for this,” as the silver-haired girl laughed maniacally above them. That was it.

…Well, that seemed pretty normal. I mean, that’s just how people are. Forgetting about your former boss isn’t all that weird.

But when I was playing the game, I remember thinking something: In Jupiter’s monologues, she would often talk about having “always been alone.” She was a broken warrior, loved by no one and forever alone.

But that didn’t make any sense, did it? Had everyone at Rosso and Blu, Szilard included, shunned her since her arrival in Sakurabana, isolated her, and in the end, booted her from the clan?

That couldn’t be true. Sure, Rosso and Blu wasn’t perfect, but its members are the heroes’ allies. One of the heroines is even a clan member. Why would a clan dedicated to supporting foreigners treat Jupiter so badly? There must have been a misunderstanding somewhere.

I fished through my memories, giving it all a second thought.

The Jupiter we knew could speak the local language perfectly well. She knew the rules of being an adventurer and how to take care of herself. She even loved dating sims.

But who taught her all of that? Who could have raised her so well that within two years she could move out and live on her own?

Jupiter wouldn’t tell us anything. When Haruka said, “Jupi you’re so good at speaking Imperial!” she would only turn up her nose and proudly state that she “had studied really hard.”

It was the same with dating sims. Apparently, she’d been kept from playing any games that were deemed too depressing or gory and might stress her out. But in that case, who had tested the games to find out which ones were appropriate?

Dating sims with deceptive box art are a dime a dozen. Developers love to trick audiences into buying a title with a bunch of cute schoolgirls on the cover, only for the game itself to be a serious adventure story about a series of grizzly murders. What would happen if Jupiter got her hands on a game like that? That’s right—Keraunos would show up and run amok.

Someone must have tried out the games beforehand. And whoever it was, they must have understood dating sims and Jupiter.

In other words, someone had loved her. Someone had taught her all the things she knew and supported her interests.

And yet Jupiter thought she had always been alone. She was convinced of it.

Keraunos is robbing Jupiter of her memories as the price for its power.

After Szilard told me that over the phone, he further theorized that it was a way for Keraunos to make Jupiter dependent on it.

With that, everything clicked into place, and rage overtook me.

How dare that thing steal her memories? What kind of crappy father figure would rob his daughter of her support system?

“The real problem is that she’s not aware her memories are being diluted. I’ll bet the beast began by stealing her memory of forging the pact. If she can’t even remember what’s happening, how can she resist?”

Without her even realizing it, Keraunos had been stealing all her most precious memories. All the times she had fun, all the people who supported her—it had all been taken away, piece by piece, each time she used her power.

“By the time we noticed what was going on, things had already progressed too far.”

An accident occurred during a dungeon expedition. Jupiter was attacked by an enemy, and her fear summoned Keraunos. The black-lightning beast went on a terrible rampage, and its lust for destruction could not be stopped. In the end, the person closest to Jupiter suffered severe injuries to their face.

When Jupiter came to her senses and found out what she had done, she was inconsolable for three full days. Wracked with guilt, she screamed and screamed. Even when they put her in a special cell and fitted her with restraints meant to limit her emotions, she continued to scream until she lost her voice. After that, she cried out in silence.

I’m sure she was trying to say sorry. She probably wanted to die then and there.

Black bolts of lightning flew constantly around her cell. It was so dangerous that Szilard had to go himself to feed her.

And then on the morning of the fourth day, when Jupiter had finally calmed down, Szilard asked her if she remembered what had happened four days prior.

“Eliza…? Who’s that…?”

She had completely forgotten the woman who had meant so much to her.

“I thought she’d lost her memory due to the trauma,” Szilard said over the phone.

Yet, strangely, when Eliza visited her and spoke with her in person, Jupiter was able to slowly recall the events that had landed her in the cell. But then…

“She went berserk almost immediately.”

…her feelings of guilt and regret once again summoned Keraunos. And by the time she had settled back down, her memories of Eliza were gone.

“I don’t think the beast is like an eraser that permanently rubs out her past. It’s possible for her to recall things, so long as the right stimulus is used to jog her memory.”

But every time Jupiter remembered Eliza and what had happened to her, she would blame herself, summon Keraunos, and then forget her all over again.

“That is the true reason why I, as clan master of Rosso and Blu and as Jupiter’s friend, could no longer allow her to stay with us.”

The whole thing was completely messed up. What a rotten state of affairs. I wasn’t going to let that damned beast get away with this. I would purify it with my own two hands. I would defang it thoroughly and irrevocably. I’d tear it apart until it wouldn’t dare think about hurting another person ever again.

But just as the flames of my rage burned white-hot, and I swore to rip that monster parent to shreds…

“You know, Kyouichirou,” Szilard said, “I think putting that beast to sleep, even if only for a little while, has turned this terrible tragedy of ours into a brilliant opportunity. Please let Eliza and Jupiter talk things out for a bit. You have nothing to worry about. I’ve no doubt that, with the help of her new adoptive family, she’ll be able to face her long-forgotten past.”

◆Shimizu Home: Living Room

But Jupiter and Eliza didn’t speak that day.

To be honest, I stopped them.

I mean, c’mon. It was too much too soon. What was I supposed to do? Make Jupiter talk things out with Eliza when just seeing the woman’s face made her turn white as a sheet and sent her dashing out into the pouring rain?

I was lucky Jupiter was so lousy at running. If she had been as agile as Haruka… Well, I felt a shiver run up my spine just thinking about it.

Once I’d caught her, I asked Albi and my sister to watch her while I went to the living room to apologize to our guest.

“There is no reason to apologize. My master and I knew things might turn out this way.”

The silver-haired, red-eyed woman was dressed in a Western maid outfit. Yet she was sitting in the middle of a Japanese-style tatami room, sipping green tea.

The scene was so contradictory that the cognitive dissonance sent me reeling for a moment. But once I regained my composure and apologized appropriately, I walked over and sat down to share intel with Eliza.

Despite her sagacious appearance, she turned out to be quite chatty. Her character in the game was much more in line with her appearance. Then again, maybe she’d only opened up so much because we were talking about her past life with Jupiter.

She told me about the time they’d spent growing flowers and about the shocking truth that she was the one who’d gotten Jupiter into dating sims.

As she told me silly stories about a childish, innocent Jupiter, I got a glimpse of Eliza’s mischievous side.

Then, at last, she told me about what had happened to her eye. Her words were detached as she told the tragic tale. It riled me up considerably no matter how many times I heard it, but she remained expressionless to the very end.

Once, however, I noticed something flicker in her eye. But she wasn’t upset at the permanent wounds to her face or even that Jupiter had forgotten her.

“The sound of her voice apologizing over and over from within her lightning-proof holding cell still haunts me to this day.”

I could see her kindness shining through, noble and beautiful. It was proof of how she really felt about Jupiter.

“Master Kyouichirou. Please take this.” Once our conversation was over, she handed me a wooden box about the size of my palm. “Please use what you find inside when the time is right,” she said, standing up and preparing to leave.

“All right.”

Eliza didn’t implore me to “take care of Jupiter for her” or anything like that. And, for my part, I didn’t use any heroic lines, like “I’ll do everything I can.”

There are some things in life that are so obvious they don’t need to be said aloud. Like how people can’t survive without water or oxygen. Or how the night is always followed by the morning.

We were going to help Jupiter—that much was as clear as day.

◆Old Shrine Grounds

I took Jupiter to the old shrine the next day. This was our last chance to talk before the big battle.

Unfortunately, it was rainy out, so we had to bring umbrellas and wear raincoats. Some might say, “But that’s just nature. Rain makes for nice scenery every now and again.” But personally, I’m incapable of such thoughts.

I freaking hate rain. It’s one of the five things I hate most in the world. Everything about it bothers me: the sound, the moisture, the smell. And worst of all, despite how annoying it is, I know it’s a necessary evil.

And so, inevitably, I hate this time of year just as much. June—the season of rain and hydrangeas.

“Kyouichirou…you seem…on edge,” said Jupiter, her voice reverberating through the empty shrine grounds. She sounded stiff and hesitant.

I was ashamed that I’d worried her, so I tried my best to sound cheerful. “Ah, yeah. Sorry about that. I just really hate the rain.”

I tried to start the conversation with something everyone everywhere could relate to: the weather. I figured it would be easy to expand the conversation from there. And it seemed to work perfectly.

Jupiter nodded in agreement. “I don’t like the rain much, either.”

“Right? Isn’t it the worst when people try to shrug off how much it sucks just because it’s ‘necessary’ for the ‘health’ of ‘nature’?”

“…I wasn’t talking about the whole world, you know,” she said, glaring up at me. She looked like a round fairy in a yellow raincoat.

Crap. Maybe that was too negative.

“When it rains, thunder rumbles… That’s what I hate.” The silver-haired girl flapped her feet back and forth as we sat under the eaves.

She doesn’t like the sound of thunder, huh?

“Wherever lightning falls, it leaves a scar. Every time it strikes, something in the world gets hurt. Rain might bring life, but lightning only brings destruction… It’s the worst.”

“Are you talking about yourself?”

“Yes,” she said immediately, nodding.

For Jupiter, who had her powers forced upon her and had spent her whole life at their mercy, lightning was the very symbol of her torment.

A desire to push back welled up inside me.

Lightning provides a lot for the planet, too, y’know.

Lightning stirs the air, which falls to the earth with the rain and enriches the soil. I know this won’t sound convincing coming from a guy who wishes it would never rain again, so I’ll keep it to myself, but everything in life has its good points.

So maybe you don’t have to hate lightning so much as… And that was where I stopped my inner monologue.

I decided it was best to shut up. Starting an argument wouldn’t dispel the tension in the air. Sometimes, silence is golden.

“……”

“……”

The rain continued to fall.

There was nothing for us to say in praise of the harsh, sad world we found ourselves in. So for a while, we just sat in silence, watching those loathsome drops plummet down from above.

“How have these past two weeks felt?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Jupiter answered right away. “I had so much fun. It was almost like a dream.”

She spoke very matter-of-factly but also fluidly and confidently, and with obvious warmth. Her voice cut through the sound of the rain and filled the shrine.

“I got to eat Fumika’s cooking and play with Big Sister Albi. And Haruka was super nice to me, too. And you cheered me up when I was down… While I was staying with you all, I felt like a regular kid. I was so, so happy.” I could tell she meant every word. “I never knew how fun the world could be when I don’t have to worry about hurting anyone. I didn’t know how nice it could be to let myself feel things… For the first time ever, I felt like it was okay for someone like me to be alive.”

“Huh…”

Then having her stay was definitely the right choice. I was half worried I’d strong-armed her into going along with it.

“But…” She looked down, and her voice grew somber. She looked pained, like her very soul was being crushed. “…I don’t have the right to be happy like that.”

I couldn’t let that go. I had to ask her why she felt that way. Not just as her party leader and friend but as her family.

“What makes you think that?”

A long silence followed. She started to speak many times, only to hesitate and fall silent again.

“Well, I…”

But in the end, she managed to answer. She tried her best to explain.

She told me about how she joined Rosso and Blu. There were good times, and she spent many happy days there. But without even realizing, she forgot all about that. And before long, she began to mistakenly believe that she had always been alone.

And then the conversation turned to Eliza.

“Eliza told you about me, right?” she asked.

“Yeah. I mean, she explained the gist of the situation, yeah. You’ve got it pretty rough. I wish the guys at Rosso and Blue had just told me about all that from the start.”

“If they had, you would have avoided me.”

I knew that telling her something nice, like “hey, no way,” would be easy. But that wasn’t what Jupiter needed.

“Hey,” I said. “Lemme ask you something. How many of your memories are intact right now?”

“I remember everything about you and the others. And if I try really hard, I can remember things about Eliza and the clan, too. But all the stuff that happened before I came here—none of it feels real.”

According to her, those memories were less like images and more like simple words describing the events.

The fact that her parents had abandoned her, her time at the facility, meeting Keraunos—she only had a loose recognition that all those things had happened.

Weakly, she explained how it felt like a story about someone else. When she thought back, it was like looking at the plot outline on the back of a forgettable mass paperback she barely remembered reading. It left her completely empty inside.

“I’m such a horrible person. Eliza was so nice to me, but I hurt her. And I don’t even remember any of it. Eventually, I’ll probably forget what you and—”

“You’re wrong.”

“It’s true. I forgot everything about Eliza and everyone else… Maybe one day, I’ll forget everything about you, too, Kyouichirou.”

Jupiter’s expression grew stiff, like she’d just remembered something that filled her with despair. And I had a feeling I knew what it was.

“Who…are you…?”

“On the fifteenth floor, I…”

“…You were just half asleep.”

Yeah. Just half asleep. You remembered my name almost right away.

So nothing’s going to change. You woke up. You were half asleep, but you soon came to your senses. Just focus on the results and forget about what happened before that. There’s no way to prove it one way or the other anyway, so…why not just forget about it? You don’t need to worry yourself over all that, Jupiter. You deserve to be happy.

“There’s no way for a terrible person like me to find happiness. No one’s ever going to forgive me— I’m…never going to forgive me.”

She began to sob. I could hear her sniffing, trying to hold back tears.

I wondered how Haruka would handle this if she were here. She would probably hold Jupiter in her arms gently and tell her, “It’s okay.” Yeah, that was definitely what she would do. Haruka Aono wouldn’t need to rely on pretentious logic. Her actions would speak louder than her words. And she would probably save Jupiter from this despair.

“Listen, Jupiter.”

But I couldn’t compare to Haruka. I was too clumsy and awkward.

“I want you to keep this a secret between us…”

And so I chose words over actions.

“The truth is, my sister is sick. And it’s pretty serious.”

“What…?” She stopped sobbing, and her expression went blank. I turned to face her and saw her blinking over and over as she struggled to understand. “I don’t believe you. If Fumika’s sick, then why is she always so energetic?”

“I can see why you’d think that… But it’s the truth, Jupiter. Sis is…”

I explained that Fumika Shimizu had a fatal illness. I kept the fact that it was caused by a curse and Albi’s true identity to myself, but I was up-front about everything else.

“She’s in the same boat as you. Albi’s powers are only sealing the illness. That’s why she seems fine. But it’s practically impossible to treat her with modern medicine. It’s really bad, and the doctors have basically given up on her.”

“So if Big Sister Albi’s power ran out, then…”

“…Yeah.”

I nodded. That seemed to be enough for her to understand the rest.

So sharp. What a good kid.

“But y’know what? It’s not really as bad as it sounds.”

“How? Isn’t Fumika in danger? You said there was no way to heal her.”

“That’s what the doctors say. But…” I wanted to convey that not all hope was lost. And that hope could be our family’s saving grace. “I’ve heard from a reliable source that somewhere in Eternal Darkness, there’s a medicine that can cure all illnesses.”

The Elixir—a spiritual medicine that transcends human understanding, capable of instantly curing any illness or lifting any curse.

“So long as we have that, we’ll be able to restore her to full health and free her from her illness… The most important thing in the world to me is saving my sister.”

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness,” Tenth Floor

“Nooo! You brutes!”

“Quick-cut veggies, coming right up!”

The dying screams of the boss echoed through the coffin-laden space as Haruka sliced the edgelord mummy’s respawn to shreds once again.

Freed from my bondage, I muttered a prayer for the Lord of Death’s respawn as it disappeared into particles of light.

Thanks for always going down so easily. We really appreciate it. Amen.

That was enough for the appetizers. Now it was time for the main course.

“All right, that should take care of that guy. Shall we get started?”

I tried to keep my tone as cheerful as possible. I wanted to make it feel like what we were about to do was no big deal.

“You all set, Jupiter?” I asked.

“I brought it.”

The silver-haired girl lifted the pouch I had given her. She was wearing it around her neck. I could hear the clang of metal from inside.

“That thing’s the key to winning this battle. Keep it close, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. All her movements seemed sluggish, and she was even quieter than usual. She must have been pretty nervous.

“If you’re not feeling well, Jupiter, we can take a little break—”

“I’m…fine. I won’t run,” she declared, despite her faltering voice. “I want to fight. Along with all of you.”

Look at you, acting all grown-up. You’ve gotten pretty cool, Jupiter.

“All right, got it. In that case, it’s time to get this show on the road… Haruka?”

As soon as I gave the signal, the radiant star, gripping Azure Skies tightly, stepped out in front of Jupiter.

“…Sorry about this, Jupi.”

Haruka’s voice was filled with reluctance. A moment later, she brought down her sword.

“…Ah!”

The treasured blade of the Aono family sliced at Jupiter’s windpipe.

A second later, we heard a satisfying whoosh as the weapon slashed through the air. For a brief moment, everyone imagined Jupiter dying there.

Even though I knew Haruka’s slash was just a bluff, she’d swung with such force that our brains were fooled into thinking she’d made contact.

Such a clean cut delivered by a master was enough to make even Jupiter believe she’d been sliced.

Our perceptions distorted.

I felt a sense of unease, and my mind went blank.

Something began to stir.

The air around us filled with sound.

And then…

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

…it finally manifested.

Black lightning gathered and took on the form of a four-legged beast.

The avatar of paternity let out an enraged roar filled with the desire to protect its beloved daughter. It used its incredible power to absorb Jupiter into its body.

On the surface, it might look like a replay of what happened on the fifteenth floor. But this time, one thing was different.

“Looks like you’ve given up on attacking randomly and made us your targets, huh? That’s right, Keraunos. We’re your true enemies!”

The monstrous father figure began its psychotic rampage.

“Good, bring it on, you damned thunder dog. Your days of causing havoc are over. We’re gonna show you what happens when a beast picks a fight with humans, punk!!!”

Our final stand against Keraunos had begun at last.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness,” Tenth Floor

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The world’s worst dad had manifested in the coffin-filled space.

It looked about a hundred times more pissed than it had the last time it appeared. But, then again, the same could be said for us.

Sorry, Keraunos. I’ve gathered a party of people who’ve been burned by you before. In other words, everyone here wants nothing more than to kick your ass back to the doghouse. So why don’t you use that paternal instinct of yours and tell me who you think is the real prey—us or you?

“Time to put our plan into motion,” I shouted. “Mr. Szilard, you provide suppressive fire from the rear and support the front line. Just be careful of any attacks coming from its mouth.”

“Roger!”

“Haruka, you use Futsu-no-Mitama to sever the spiritual bypasses. Then you and I will attack in waves. We’ll focus our fire on the legs!”

“Gotcha!”

Both of them seemed raring to go.

All right, guys, let’s get this show on the road.

“Time to beat the crap out of this deadbeat dad! LET’S DO THIIIIIIIS!”

I used two stacks of Stride to increase my speed, Spiritas to boost my thinking speed, and Strength to buff my attack for an Agility-heavy stack. Then I rushed ahead at a speed faster than the human eye could follow. There was no need for me to use Hasten Time—I was already much faster than the black beast.

“Nyeh-heh-heeehhh!”

I let out a fierce laugh and swung Eckesachs, now in its greatsword form. The blow made a dull chopping sound as it connected with the enemy’s right foreleg. Soon, black spiritual power was gushing out from the point of contact.

First blood had been drawn. Just as I was getting ready to capitalize on the moment with a second strike, I noticed something off about the flow of spiritual power surrounding us.

I focused my spiritual senses and noticed three discharge points form around me. It was trying for a quick strike.

“No dice, kibble-for-brains!”

In a flash, the bypasses connecting the discharge points were severed by sword clones of Azure Skies, dancing like swallows through the air.

The radiant star swung her blade around with her left hand as she grinned and shot me a peace sign with her right.

“Thanks, Haruka! Good going!”

“No prob!”

I was grateful to have such a reliable partner. I felt invincible as long as she was with me, like I could do anything. And that only made me hungrier for battle.

Keraunos kept using his discharge points to shoot at us, keeping us on our toes. But unlike Astral Skills that could be fired off in the user’s immediate vicinity, the only way to attack through a discharge point was to first form long bypasses to carry one’s power.

Imagine a long hose carrying water. To use this remote skill to shoot enemies at close range, the beast had to get this really, really long hose all the way over to its target to release the water—in other words, its skill. The hose here was a long, thin tube of spiritual power that directed its flow.

These hoses, or bypasses, were key to the beast’s attack. That meant they were weak points we could exploit. And if an enemy had weak points, the most obvious thing to do was to aim for them!

These bypasses were created by a Sublime Demis spirit, of course. They couldn’t be severed with just any old weapon. But, fortunately for us, my party’s radiant star happened to own a special sword that could make quick work of spiritual bypasses. Haruka’s blade could slice through energy, spiritual matter, you name it! And that meant…

“Your pathetic sniping won’t work on us, dumbass!”

After hurling insults at the beast, I followed up with a greedy combo—a down slash into an upward cut.

It quickly began healing the gash on its right leg with spiritual power, but that didn’t matter to me. Taking down a certain perverted skeleton had given me plenty of practice fighting bosses who could heal.

“Taaaaaake thiiiiis!”

I attacked, and attacked, and attacked.

My entire body was screaming for my enemy’s blood. If it wanted to regenerate, it could go right ahead. But that meant it would be diverting spiritual power to its wounds, and that just meant more openings I could exploit.

Best of all, any slash from Haruka’s weapon could nullify energy-based healing.

Better speed up, or you’re gonna run out of legs real quick, puppo!

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Keraunos must have realized the futility of the situation, because it contorted its body into a seemingly impossible position and retreated.

I’m sure it would have preferred to run far, far away. But unfortunately for the lightning hound, that wasn’t going to fly this time.

“Nyeh-heh-heh-heh-heh! Whaddya think, bolt brain?! Pretty cramped in here compared to the fifteenth floor, isn’t it?”

The entrance was separated from the exit by less than seven hundred feet.

It was a big room but nowhere near large enough for a beast the size of a large truck to run around in.

What’s the matter? Your usual long-range tactics not working too good today? Aw, what a shame.

“AAAA…WOOOOOO!”

But Keraunos soon began to charge spiritual power in its gaping maw, as if to say none of that mattered. It probably intended to destroy the insects that had chased it into a corner, even if that meant leveling the entire area.

“If you think that’s a good idea, you’ve got another thing coming, ya mangy mutt!”

Haruka and I rushed to the right wall.

Idiot. Haven’t you noticed that guy in the back? He’s been free to do as he pleases ever since the fight started.

“I’d expect no less from such promising youths. Watching you fulfill your frontline duties so gallantly has lit a fire in my heart!”

An overwhelming torrent of spiritual power flowed out from behind us.

Our wildcard—who had until that point been sharpening his fangs behind us—had finally unleashed his power.

“Hear me, beast of black lightning. I will make you atone for your crimes!”

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Suddenly, the whole tenth floor began to shake.

Flashing lights lit up the room, followed by a thunderous noise as two massive energy sources collided.

The beast held nothing back as it unleashed a concentrated blast of dark, miasmic lightning. The attack shot ahead and spread out, destroying everything in its path.

Meanwhile, a massive beam of thermal energy shot out from the direction of the exit. The beam, composed of ultrahigh heat, painted a beautiful spiral as it soared through the air, threatening to eradicate our singular foe.

I felt like I was watching two monsters duke it out. We were being treated to one hell of a spectacle.

“Hey, Kyou,” asked Haruka.

“What is it?”

Amid the chaotic, noisy battle, the two of us had to read each other’s lips just to communicate.

“Those skills Mr. Szilard is using look super strong. But…that’s just basic thermolurgy, right?”

“Yep.”

I had no proof, but I assumed if Haruka made as many sword copies of Azure Skies as possible, she could easily repel the Astral Skill that Szilard had just fired off.

“I’m not saying I don’t trust him or anything, but…are you sure that’s going to be enough?”

The radiant star seemed to be worried that the spell Szilard was using was too weak to stand up to the black lightning.

“It’ll be fine.” If anything, Szilard was using just the right amount of power. “There’s no use in Mr. Szilard blasting the thing with something as strong as Rosso and Blu. At least not as Keraunos is now.”

“Hm…? Oh, right! This is about what you said at the strategy meeting!”

I nodded.

An instant later, the stalemate between Szilard and Keraunos came to an end. It was subtle, but Szilard had begun to overwhelm the beast.

“Hah-hah-hah! What’s the matter, monster? Is that really all you’ve got?”

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Szilard took a step forward. Then another.

Their attacks continued to clash—the black-lightning blast from the out-of-control Sublime spirit and Szilard’s plasma beam. But with each passing second, the balance shifted.

Anyone would expect the vicious beast to have the upper hand, but they would be wrong.

Szilard was winning. Keraunos was losing ground.

This wasn’t a matter of elemental weakness, either. The reason Szilard had the advantage, and the lightning hound was beginning to sweat, was simply a matter of power—there was no way for Keraunos to overcome Szilard in its current state.

After all, the spirit had been weakened considerably. Its Agility had dropped so much, it couldn’t even keep up with my paltry buffs. It couldn’t muster enough power to contend with Szilard’s basic skills, much less his more powerful ones.

Must be real annoying, eh, Keraunos? I know you can do better than this. You’re more than worthy of being a true-route miniboss. Well, you used to be anyway.

But we’re not here for a sparring match, you electric bastard. We’re here to mop the floor with you.

You thought we’d keep this aboveboard? That we’d play fair? I don’t even know the meaning of the word fair! Can you eat it?

This ain’t a sporting event. If poison would take you out, I’d use it. Hell, I’d even throw my own shit in your face if it meant beating your ass.

“To think a girl named after the god of thunder would be one of the soldiers hiding in the Trojan horse. Funny stuff, don’t you think?”

It was like giving the beast a virus. The dog had been infested by worms.

Never in a million years would this monster dad imagine its beloved daughter to debuff it and casually flip it the bird.

Unfortunately for you, your beloved little Jupiter was more than happy to screw you over.

“Damn…look at the conversion rate on this one. It might sacrifice output, but it boosts resistance like crazy. This thing’s way better than anything you can find on the regular market.”

My first visit to Lali-Lali played back in my mind.

I’d visited an accessory shop called Mother’s Milk. Its sign depicted a pair of lips meeting a heart, and the shop owner was an old guy who wore a baby bonnet.

The shop mainly sold accessories that boosted resistance to certain types of damage.

Among them was a set that worked at the cost of lowering some of your other stats, and they were the best of their kind on the market.

If you ignored the fact that everything was way too expensive and that those sorts of accessories were really unpopular, Mother’s Milk could’ve taken the world by storm. (And maybe some people would even find the old man’s baby bonnet charming.)

But people just weren’t that interested in such accessories, and the reason was simple: They were only useful in very specific situations.

There were exceptions, of course, like overpowered accessories that greatly increased resistance to all types of damage. But for the most part, type-specific resistance was only useful against particular enemies. You saw people pull them out in the metagame and almost never in casual play.

Essentially, it was hard to get your money’s worth with these sorts of accessories.

The old guy at Mother’s Milk complained to me, saying, “I just don’t get why no one ever buys my stuff.” But it seemed pretty obvious to me. Not only were these accessories already unpopular, but the ones the old guy sold actually lowered a user’s stats. There was no way something like that would ever catch on.

…That dude sure was a weirdo. And in more ways than one. But even the wares of a weirdo like that had a time and place. You just had to think outside the box.

Lowering your stats to raise resistance might seem like a big disadvantage, but what if lowering stats was exactly what you needed?

For example, what if you could use one of those accessories to nail a recently manifested spirit with a debuff it had no way of preventing?

The stats of a spirit user and the power of their spirit were by no means one-to-one, but lowering one meant lowering the other.

Albi and I were a good example. Despite having one of the strongest types of spirits on my side, I still had to resign myself to being a weak-ass loser because the vessel for that spirit’s power was Kyouichirou Shimizu, a tutorial-level miniboss.

The amount of power a spirit could exert in our world was inexorably tied to its master’s abilities. So it didn’t matter how powerful one’s contracted spirit was if the user was weak—in the end, their strength would level out to something in the middle.

The same logic applied if the user’s stats were altered after the fact or by some external force. The spirit’s power would also be affected. Whether that was a buff or debuff didn’t matter. Any changes to the user’s stats would affect both parties.

Even when a user brought out their spirit with a summoning skill, the spirit used their master’s body as a “gate” to manifest in this world, meaning they were once again subject to their master’s stats.

And that included a certain kibble-brained father figure that had just fused with its “daughter.”

So it was no surprise when the accessories I got for Jupiter at Mother’s Milk took effect. By the time Keraunos noticed, it was already too late. I was absolutely over the moon watching my clever little scheme work out.

When did I give her something like that, you ask? When I gave her the pouch, of course.

That thing was practically bursting with all sorts of stat-lowering accessories. But most of them were focused on decreasing power output.

And this was the result.

That was why I could overpower and outrun Keraunos using only my regular buffs and why he couldn’t contend with even a low-power blast from Szilard.

What’s the matter? You mad?

You must be pissed.

Look at you, throwing a pathetic tantrum. You look like a real tool.

Good. Good! That look on your face is perfect! It’s the look of a beefheaded moron with nothing but brute strength that just lost its only advantage thanks to its beloved daughter’s betrayal. I’ve been looking forward to seeing this for days now.

The agony, the humiliation, the doubt, the sheer rage… Seeing your butt-ugly face twisted with all those negative emotions is so freaking hilarious.

“Whoa, Kyou. You’re making one heck of a scary face right now.”

“Sorry ’bout that. I was just spacing out a bit. I’ll get my head back in the game.”

“No, no! If anything, I…—ke that face of yours.”

I couldn’t make out all her words over the noise of the battle, but I could hazard a guess based on the context—she was probably just reassuring me it was no big deal. I’d better thank her.

“Thanks, Haruka. I appreciate that. Seriously.”

“Whaaat?! Wh-wh-wh-what do you mean by that?!”

I had no idea why she was suddenly in a tizzy. It felt like her brain had been on the fritz lately.

“Nothing. I just meant, y’know, thanks for always having my back.”

“Oh! R-right. Your back. Yep, that’s right. You just leave that back of yours to me!”

“I’m counting on you, partner.”

I tightened my grip on Eckesachs and prepared to rush the beast.

“It’s almost time to end this. As soon as Szilard’s beam hits Keraunos, let’s rush in and start attacking again, just like we did earlier.”

“Okey-doke! …But, hey, Kyou… You think Jupi’s doing okay in there?”

“…I dunno.”

There wasn’t much I could say. What happened inside Keraunos was up to Jupiter.

We were doing everything we could to help her out, and it seemed to be going well so far. But the outcome of the battle would be decided by the beast’s pact holder. If Jupiter couldn’t defeat it, none of us could.

“Give that thing hell, Jupiter! We’re gonna be out here doing the same.”

My body was drenched in sweat. The surrounding air was hot, permeated by the gross smell of something burning.

All this information was overwhelming my senses. My eyes and ears were screaming for a break.

But I couldn’t start complaining now.

You’ve got this, Kyouichirou.

I wasn’t about to be the first one to crack under the pressure.

◆◆◆ ?????: Bombardier Jupiter

The girl opened her eyes and found herself in a world of pure white.

Snow slowly drifted to the ground.

She tried to take in her surroundings, but all she saw was a world covered in endless white.

She couldn’t see so much as a figure or even a footprint.

The world around her had no scent, and she didn’t feel cold.

She soon realized that she must be dreaming.

But why?

She couldn’t remember ever going to sleep.

The last memory she could recall was…

The tenth floor. I went there with everyone else. And then Haruka cut me. It didn’t hurt, but I was really surprised. And then…

Her blurry memories gradually took form.

She had only been made to believe that Haruka cut her. The flash of her friend’s sword had been a bluff to rouse the beast of black lightning. It was no small feat for the sword master to manifest Keraunos with an illusion.

…Which means the one who brought me here was…

The girl realized that it could be none other than her own spirit.

She secretly hoped it had grown more docile during the two weeks it had spent sealed away. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

The ruse, which had seemed a little too real, had succeeded in fooling the spirit and had triggered Keraunos to manifest.

She supposed the malevolent spirit was baring its fangs at her beloved friends at that very moment. Supposedly punishing them for betraying its daughter.

A feeling of emptiness overcame her, the likes of which she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Thinking back, the malevolent spirit had always been this way. It always reacted violently, even though she wished it wouldn’t. And even when she begged it to stop, it would only continue its rampage.

It justified the violence by pretending it was for the sake of its daughter. But the truth was, it just did whatever horrible thing it pleased.

“You’re wrong, Jupiter. I only attack them to protect you.”

The deep bass voice vibrated the girl’s eardrums.

“Keraunos…”

How long had it been standing there? A singular black “smudge” sullying the pure white world around it.

It spoke to her in a gentle tone. “There is no need to worry. This world is safe. No one here will hurt you.”

“Why not take a look in the mirror? The one who hurts me most of all is you.”

“What a strange thing to say. I am your one and only ally. Your only true family. I would never do anything to harm you.”

The beast’s words awoke a terrible anger in the girl’s heart.

“Ally”? “Family”? All lies.

“But your rage always leads to people getting hurt.”

“My rage? Don’t you mean your rage?” admonished the black-lightning beast. “I simply play the role of the villain to protect you from the negative emotions that make you suffer. It would be patronizing to expect your gratitude, but I wish you would at least try to understand how much I do to keep you safe.”

She almost said, “That’s the very definition of patronizing.” But just as the words reached her throat, she swallowed them back down.

She may resent it, but there was a certain logic in Keraunos’s self-serving words.

“…You’re right. I’m the reason you appear in the first place. I won’t deny that. It’s my fault.”

The beast before her was a truly heinous monster. Its selfish fits of rage, which left nothing but devastation in their wake, were nothing short of horrific.

But the source of the beast’s tremendous power was the girl’s own heart. Anger, grief, sorrow, anguish, feelings of powerlessness and helplessness, jealousy, despair—the torrent of emotional stressors were what triggered Keraunos’s rampages.

Thus, the only way for the girl to stop the beast from running wild was to control her emotions. If she could stop herself from feeling stress, if she could maintain a positive attitude, then the beast of black lightning would no longer manifest.

Weapons, Astral Skills, any number of contrivances—they would never be enough. The only way to put a stop to this was for Jupiter to prevent herself from feeling hurt in the first place.

Holding back tears, the girl acknowledged that she was the source of all the problems her spirit caused. She couldn’t let her heart feel troubled, for even the slightest amount of stress would feed the beast.

She tried to calm the turbulent waves of emotion threatening to overtake her. She wanted to make things easier on her friends who were fighting back in the real world. All the while, the voice in her heart kept repeating, “Suppress your emotions. Keep your composure. That’s the only way to resist.”

“Huh?”

And then she saw them: countless orbs floating around the beast of black lightning. They were black and yet not. They resembled translucent soap bubbles, floating in midair. They were present physically, but they also seemed like part of the scenery.

“Those are…my memories.”

Jupiter’s understanding was subconscious. The orbs contained that which she had lost. They had all been sacrificed to feed the beast’s power.

“You must understand,” said Keraunos. “I don’t take your memories indiscriminately. I’ve only removed the ones that might cause you stress.”

“There are plenty of happy memories here, too.”

“Those, too, are problematic. Momentary happiness is quick to crumble, leaving nothing but misery in its wake. Think of what you did to the woman called Eliza. It nearly shattered you.”

You don’t get to say that, the girl thought. The one who hurt Eliza—who hurt everyone— That was both of us.

“Give them back.”

“You do not require them.”

“You don’t get to decide that for me.”

“I am the one who must control such things. This is the pact you forged with me, Jupiter… Though, I don’t suppose you remember that anymore.”

Blood seeped from the girl’s lips. I feel like all the horrible, pathetic, and angry feelings inside me are going to make me lose my mind.

I never realized…how much it’d stolen from me. My freedom. My memories. My safety. Everything. I’ve sacrificed everything to this beast that calls itself my father. And I accepted it willingly. But now I see how twisted this is. Now that I’ve lived with the Shimizu family and regained a dim glimmer of my past, I finally get it. I’m nothing but a pet. Keraunos has been keeping me as its pet this whole time.

“My weakness made you grow stronger. It was my own stupidity that led to everyone getting hurt.”

“My poor daughter. You have always been hated by those around you. But I, and I alone, am your ally. I have always been by your side, just as I am now. I will stay with you forever.”

There was no use in arguing. It would never listen. High-minded morality and logic meant nothing to the beast.

No matter what she said, the spirit would interpret it through its own twisted lens. In the end, its conclusion remained the same: “My poor daughter. I will protect you from it all.”

“Why am I so immature? Why is it so impossible for me to stop myself from feeling anger, sadness, and pain?”

“Please, dear daughter, I wish only for you to love yourself. The world out there—the world that loathes you—it is the true evil. The ones thatmake you feel sorrow are the enemy. I will never allow anyone or anything to harm your ailing heart. This I swear!”

Everything that came out of the beast’s mouth merely furthered its own agenda. The beast pretending to be the girl’s father was completely incapable of showing consideration for others. The only thing in its head was its twisted paternal desire to control its daughter. And the only responses it could muster were these sugarcoated lies that justified its violent impulses.

Their conversation was going nowhere. It was impossible for the girl to communicate her feelings to the spirit. And the spirit’s “love” for the girl would never tug at her heartstrings. Their exchange wasn’t a dialogue—it was two people speaking to brick walls. There could be no communication between them and no understanding reached.

“I’ve always hated you.”

“I will destroy those who have caused you harm.”

“I want you to leave me alone.”

“My poor, lonesome daughter. I alone will never abandon you.”

“You’re not…my family.”

“Our souls are bound by a pact. The ties between us are greater than a bond of blood. Do not compare me to the terrible parents who left you for dead. I am your true family.”

“……No. My real family is—”

A flash of jet-black lightning suddenly pierced the girl’s body.

“Ah! Ngh…!”

Jupiter fell to her knees and slumped forward.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.

In that world bereft of hot and cold, the one thing the girl could feel was the pain riddling her body.

“What were you about to say?” The beast’s words sounded calm, but the air around them was steeped with tension. “You weren’t going to say that those impostors are your family, were you?”

“…And what if I was?”

Thunder and lightning. Black bolts rained mercilessly down on the girl.

“…Ngh… Guh…”

“It’s not good to lie, Jupiter. You’ve been deceived by those shallow traitors. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They may look and act the part, with their false smiles, but once you place your trust in them, they will betray you. My poor, sweet Jupiter. The people around you all have ulterior motives. Every one of them. The only one in this world who cares for you is me.”

“…Is that why you’re hurting me with this lightning? Because you care?”

Lightning struck the girl a third time, and she cringed in pain. The sensation would drive a lesser person mad, but she maintained her blank expression.

“It is proof of my love, Jupiter. Being cruel, causing you pain—these are the only ways I can stop you from proceeding down the wrong path.”

Keraunos’s voice was filled with genuine sadness as the beast struck the girl with a fourth bolt of black lightning.

“Ngh…g-g-gaaAAHH!”

“Does it hurt? Are you in pain? Do you wish for the suffering to end? I do, too, Jupiter. I do, too. Why must you force me to harm you, beloved daughter? Why must you make me do such horrible things to you? I wish to stop more than anything. I only want to see you smile. I speak the truth. I wish only for you to be happy.”

But the self-proclaimed father didn’t let up—it cooed gentle words at her, all the while torturing her with black bolts of lightning.

She was unable to run, unable to defend herself, unable even to die. She could only allow herself to be showered with lightning.

She had no means to resist. They were facing off in a world composed entirely of thoughts and memories. And here, Keraunos’s powers reigned supreme.

Everything was as the beast willed it. So long as she stood up to it, this hell would continue endlessly.

……This is the trial, she suddenly realized, snapping out of her daze.

The Sublime Demis spirit Keraunos was a symbol of all things negative to the girl. But, at the same time, it was also her protector.

Her purpose in this imaginary world—her duty—was to confront the spirit.

The cleansing was her means of renewing their pact. And her party leader had told her that, to improve the terms of their contract, she would have to demonstrate her strength to the beast.

Jupiter needed to make the monster yield to her. And then she needed to take back the memories it had stolen. I have to become myself again.

“…I’ll say it as many times as it takes. I am not your daughter. I am your master.”

A bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky and struck the girl.

Her body was indestructible within this dreamworld. But the pain she felt was real. Her heart and mind were beginning to crack under the assault.

“I’m afraid that is only half true. You are both my daughter and my master. Don’t you recall the pact you forged with me in that terrible place all those years ago?”

“I’ll be your daughter. Just, please…I need you to protect me.”

“…Ngh.”

The memory bubbles surrounding Keraunos suddenly burst, flooding the girl’s mind with memories of her shameful past.

She’d been forced to forge a pact with the devil. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have survived. She would’ve been disposed of.

She had sworn to become the spirit’s daughter in exchange for its protection. In that moment, she had given up her dignity to live on.

But she had reached her limit.

“I can’t take this anymore. I’m done being your daughter. I’m done putting up with the misery your protection brings me.”

“It is the natural duty of a parent to protect their child. You have always been and will always be my weak little girl. This is your fate.”

“Then here and now, I terminate our pact…!”

The girl mustered up all the strength in her broken body and tried to push herself up.

She eased off the ground and got on her hands and knees. Then she struggled up to a kneel. Finally, she stood.

She’d left the white ground behind, and she was standing tall under her own power.

“I don’t like this side of you.”

The beast was not ready to commend her efforts. To Keraunos, this meager show was little more than an obstinate child rebelling against her parent.

The creature chose, instead, to trample the girl’s budding hope underfoot until there was nothing left.

“Do you think I’ll simply allow you to be with those wretched people? The ones who tell you to ignore your father’s words? How naive. Or perhaps you doubt my love for you? I’m afraid that won’t do. Not at all.”

Crash, crash, crash, crash!

A storm of lightning bolts, each one with the power to turn a person into ash, raged around them.

“Respect your father. Honor your father. Listen to your father! If you cannot do even that much, then you’re not even human! You’re lower than cattle! Oh, Jupiter. I don’t remember raising you to be like this. You’re supposed to be my sweet, innocent daughter. You’re supposed to listen to your father. That is your natural state! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten something so basic? You must remember. Remember! That is your duty, according to our pact. Useless, helpless child. That is your one and only role. Now, prepare yourself! Your period of rebellion is at an end! Sleep in the bliss of childhood made eternal!!!”

Crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash!

Keraunos continued his barrage of pitch-black lightning, scorching the land so absolutely that not even a single flower could grow there.

The father was willing to risk everything for the sake of its daughter. But what if its beloved daughter was determined to walk a path most foul?

The answer, from the beast’s perspective, was simple: The father would have to punish her until she repented. Hit her, kick her, throw her into the streets without food—this was not abuse. It was parenting. Engraving these lessons into the child’s mind was the only way to ensure that she would stay on the righteous path.

All of it was for her sake. Keraunos knew she would resent the spirit for brandishing the whip of parental love, but it was prepared to be hated for educating her this way.

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

It loved her more than anything, more than anyone, forever and ever and ever.

Bolts of lightning full of the beast’s twisted emotions rained down on the girl by the hundreds, each one of them a direct hit.

The bolts crackled, danced, and flew through the sky. It was a veritable natural disaster.

The attacks were enough to alter the climate, to ravage the earth. The fact they were confined to the realm of her heart made no difference.

On the contrary, this horrible display was possible precisely because it took place within her. This was the only way for the beast to attack its master’s heart without threatening harm to her body. It was a rare opportunity for Keraunos. The spirit could finally mold Jupiter into the “good girl” it had always wanted her to be.

“Now, tell me, Jupiter. Do you regret your actions yet? If you do, then let me hear you say you’re sorry. I want to hear you say it. Say, ‘I’m sorry, Daddy. I was wrong. Daddy’s my only real family. I don’t need anything else. I promise I’ll do everything you tell me to do, Daddy. I love you and only you. All I need is you, Daddy. You’re my everything. I want to be with you forever, Daddy. Daddy! Daddy! DaddyDaddyDADDYDADDYDADDY!!!’… Now, my good little girl. I want you to promise me. Refuse, and I’ll have to punish you even more.”

Having subjected the girl to an unprecedented level of violence, the spirit—who knew nothing but its own twisted paternal instincts—now demanded her submission. The timing could not have been more perfect; the girl’s heart was on the verge of breaking.

It hurts.

Her body screamed with pain.

It hurts so much.

Her spirit began to waver.

I’m in so much pain.

A small pouch fell by the girl’s side.

Oh. That’s right, she thought, remembering. I was told to open this if I felt like I couldn’t take it anymore.

The girl subconsciously reached for the large pouch and, still withstanding the beast’s barrage, opened it up.

“……”

For a moment, the girl forgot she was being showered by miasmic bolts of black lightning. Everything before her seemed to turn white.

Inside the pouch were countless resistance-boosting accessories—charms given to the girl to keep her safe.

But what impacted her the most wasn’t the accessories.

“Huh?”

It was a piece of paper. There was a letter inside the pouch.

“Ah… Sob.”

She knew whose writing it was. It was a promise made long ago. One she should never have forgotten.

“Let’s…”

Her tears began to flow. She finally realized…

“Let’s visit the garden again soon.”

…she had long since…

“I’m looking forward to seeing you again.”

…been forgiven.

“Eliza.”

A long-forgotten memory, from the days she had spent at Rosso and Blu, seemed to call out to her. She could hardly believe her friends cared about her so much.

I wasn’t alone after all. Lots of bad stuff might have happened to me… Life was really hard…but I was still so lucky. I had people who loved me. So, so many people. I finally get it. I can finally say this proudly… I’m the luckiest girl in the whole world.

“……No more.”

The snowstorm blowing through the area began to die down. Once it cleared, Keraunos doubted its own eyes.

There in the center of the field of snow, standing among a shower of hundreds of lightning bolts, was the girl. She was glaring at him.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness,” Tenth Floor

“Hell yeah! And take another!”

I swung my Eckesachs greatsword down and sliced the lightning beast in its Achilles tendon.

You’ve been paying too much attention to my party’s radiant star, li’l guy. Look, your legs are wide open.

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” howled the beast. Black bolts of lightning showered from above.

It was trying to use a discharge point to prevent anyone from attacking it at close range.

It wasn’t a bad call. But it was naive.

“I won’t allow it!”

Szilard’s voice rang out as he fired off thermal blasts, shooting the lightning right out of the sky.

The fact that Szilard could easily dispense with a Sublime Demis spirit’s lightning assault was insane to me, even if Keraunos’s stats had been lowered.

“This guy’s too much.”

There was no doubt about it—he wasn’t the master of one of the Five Major Clans for nothing.

I tried to hold in my admiration as I gave Eckesachs a hearty swing.

All right, now that was a clean hit.

It was time to scatter.

“Haruka! It’s almost time for that. Don’t chase it too far, all right?”

“Gotcha… Yaaah!” said the radiant star, backing off in style with a magnificently executed backflip.

Naturally, she did all this as Azure Skies’s sword clones continued attacking the beast in waves.

“As impressive as ever, Haruka.”

“Eh-heh-heh! More compliments, pleasies!” she said, fumbling her words a bit. She was probably hiding her embarrassment.

But just as we were starting to relax, I noticed a spiky circle form at Keraunos’s feet.

It was trying to catch us in some powerful area of effect attack, but we were already well out of range. If the beast was at full strength, it might have gotten us, but considering its weakened state, there was no way.

“I can see the thinking, though. It’ll keep us from coming in for more close-range attacks.”

Keraunos threw out more black lightning as it retreated. And then, for the umpteenth time since the fight had started, Keraunos changed to a long-range strategy.

“Hah-hah-hah-hah!”

“AH-WOOOOOO!”

Thermal beams clashed with black lightning.

I watched the beast and Szilard blast away at each other for a while. When Haruka came up to join me, I handed her some of the snacks we’d brought with us.

“Why’s Jupi taking so long?” she asked.

“She’s taking this bastard one-on-one in there. It’s gonna be a while.”

The only way to properly complete the cleansing ritual was for Jupiter to beat Keraunos herself.

There were all kinds of forms a cleansing might take. Some spirits held relatively peaceful trials—pop quizzes, battles of wits, things like that. But considering who we were dealing with, it was safe to say this trial would be violent.

Jupiter was going to have to face the symbol of all the trauma and negativity in her life. I knew it would be tough. I knew she would suffer. But…

“She’s gonna be fine. She’s a tough kid.”

“…Hey, I’m not saying I don’t believe in her or anything. It’s just…”

“You’re worried about her.”

I leaned against one of the coffin-lined walls as I munched on my snack. Ugh, gross, I thought. This thing melted in my bag.

“Yeah. It’s kinda hard not to be a little worried.”

The radiant star chewed nervously, eyes on the area’s entrance.

The thunder beast was making one hell of a face as it fired off more electric strikes.

There was no way for Keraunos to beat Szilard in its current state. It took everything it had just to contend with the Rosso and Blu clan master. And Szilard was holding back.

If we’d kept at it all together, we probably could have taken it down easily. But, as I said earlier, there would be no point in doing that.

Jupiter had to overcome it first, and then we’d take it down—that was the only way for us to cleanse it.

“I believe in her, but I’m still worried… Hey, Kyou. Isn’t that kind of contradictory?”

“I guess it depends. How much of you believes in her, and how much of you is worried?”

“Uh, let’s see. What if I said it was a clean split? Half-and-half?”

“Half-and-half,” like the cream? She must mean fifty-fifty.

“So you’re saying it’s an even blend, huh?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Then that’s not really contradictory. You’re just conflicted.”

“How’s that different?”

“If you’re not sure whether you want to eat curry or ramen, you’re conflicted. But if you want to eat curry and eat ramen instead, that’s a contradiction.”

“Couldn’t I just eat both?”

“…That’s cheating.”

Was it, though?

You can still worry about someone even if you believe in them. And there was no reason to choose one emotion over the other. You could have your curry and eat your ramen, too. If anything, I figured that suited the gluttonous swordmaster best of all.

As we wasted time chatting, the two active combatants seemed to have reached a conclusion.

Szilard’s thermal beams had successfully blasted through Keraunos’s assault and gotten a direct headshot on the beast.

“AWOOOOOOOooooo… Roooooooo!”

The beast of black lightning writhed on the ground, desperately trying to put out the fire on its head.

The skilled clan master had hurt the beast and knocked it over but given the spirit a chance to recover—what a treat. I’d expect nothing less from Szilard.

“Now’s your chance, Haruka. Use Azure Skies to completely sever its tendons and ground it.”

“I’m afraid the little pup’s gotten way too cautious around me,” she complained. Nevertheless, she ran off and fired her sword clones at the beast.

“…Aroooooooooo!”

Her target reacted immediately.

Its head still aflame, Keraunos used a flash of black lightning to contort its body so it would be harder for us to hit.

The spirit might have been a psychotic deadbeat dad, but its battle prowess was nothing to sneeze at.

The sheer fact that it was trying to avoid attacks with no regard for protecting its weak points demonstrated the type of creature we were dealing with.

“This puppy’s way tougher than it looks,” said Haruka.

“It’s probably figured out what we’re thinking by now.”

I’d already seen it thrusting out its head to protect its legs a few times—far too many to be a coincidence. And the fact that it was particularly wary of Haruka’s slashing attacks told me this was no dumb dog.

If Keraunos could manage to draw out the fight long enough to crush Jupiter’s heart, then it would come out on top. Even if we beat it out in the real world, if Jupiter lost, it was game over. Once the spirit realized it couldn’t beat us, it had switched to endurance tactics.

“Pretty clever, Keraunos.”

This is gonna take a while…

But just then, something happened.

“What?!”

Haruka was the first to be taken by surprise. And the reason was crystal clear.

Completely out of nowhere, one of her attacks hit its mark.

The Aono family sword sliced the beast’s tendon clean through in one fluid motion.

Only moments prior, the spirit had been doing everything it could to avoid her attacks. But suddenly, she’d landed a clean hit.

It was nice to finally do some real damage, but something felt off.

It was strange enough that Keraunos had left itself open to attack, but what was even stranger was that it reacted not in the slightest to having its tendon sliced. It just stood there absentmindedly. Like its mind was somewhere else.

“Wait, this has to be…”

I stopped myself before I could get too excited and instead called to Haruka and Szilard.

“Haruka! Slice up its other legs while we have the chance! Mr. Szilard, make sure you’re ready to move at any moment!”

Then I rushed toward Keraunos at full speed.

There was no way to know for sure, but what else could it be?

I blazed across the coffin-filled space as fast as I could move.

Damn, finally…

“We were getting tired of waiting, damn it!”

Dark gray cracks began to form on the creature’s lower half.

Keraunos’s outer shell began to crack and fall away and, slowly, a hole opened up down there, and a small girl fell out.

Her eyes were red, and she had silver hair, tied up in pigtails.

There was no doubt about it—the girl who had popped out from inside the beast was our party’s bombardier.

“Jupiter!” I shouted, snatching the girl out of the air before she could hit the ground and holding her close.

She rested in my arms and blinked for a few moments. Then, before long, she seemed to realize what was happening and looked up at me.

“I’m back,” she said.

“Yeah. Welcome home.”

“Thanks. Good to be back.”

I could feel my tear ducts start to open, but I forced them closed and got the two of us away from the lightning beast.

Moments later, the spirit rocked the area with a ferocious howl.

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

We’d never heard it howl with such intensity before.

This was no surprise, however. From Keraunos’s point of view, its sweet, innocent daughter had been seduced by a group of delinquents. They’d not only turned her against her father but had also beat it up and helped her run away. Anybody would throw a tantrum in that situation.

Not that I feel even an iota of sympathy for you. Plus, these bad people are about to kick your ass!

Adrenaline flooded my body. The rush of finally backing Keraunos into a corner had my body seething with energy.

“Let’s get back to Mr. Szilard’s position for now. I’m gonna rush, so hold on tight.”

“Okay,” the girl nodded.

I dashed across the area at full speed.

“Mr. Szilard!” I called out. “Hit it with a full-powered thermal blast! Haruka, come back right away! I’m gonna pass Jupiter over to you!”

The two of them leaped into action immediately.

A thermal blast, the likes of which I’d never seen, flew across the battlefield.

Haruka, for her part, looked like she might cry at any minute as she headed for the exit.

All the players were present.

The battlefield was just as we’d planned.

All the time we’d spent keeping that electric bastard alive had finally paid off, and it was time to settle things.

“Here we go, Jupiter.”

“We’re gonna win,” she said. “I know it.”

Our breathing grew ragged as we looked back and stared the beast down.

Get ready, Keraunos.

There’s nothing holding either of us back anymore.

From here on out, this is a battle to the death.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness,” Tenth Floor

“Jupi!” As soon as Jupiter returned to our side, Haruka threw her arms around her. “You did so good! So good!”

“I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. Thank you.”

“Oh, Jupiii!”

The two cute girls’ happy reunion almost moved me to tears. Unfortunately, I felt irresistibly compelled to interrupt them with a corny one-liner.

“Hey, save the lovefest for later! We’ve still got a fight to win!”

I don’t want to leave it all up to Szilard now that he’s actually trying. But damn it, I want to join in! A guy can’t just interrupt a yuri love sesh, though. According to the Code of Hammurabi, they’re to be dragged through the streets and publicly beheaded. Gotta reign myself in here.

“Hah-hah-hah! What a delightfully intimate moment! I wouldn’t mind getting in on that, myself!”

“Clan master or not, talking like that will get you a death sentence, Sir.”

“Very well! Then I’ll have to make do with you, Kyouichirou. What do you say? How about we have dinner together sometime?”

“Wha—? Y-yes! Absolutely!”

“Uh, Kyou…?” Haruka stared at me.

“That’s too much,” added Jupiter.

What?! Why?! How’s this any different from what you two are doing?!

“Hah-hah-hah! You certainly are a funny lot. Nothing like this brutish beast over…HERE!”

The firepower of Szilard’s thermal assault seemed to increase along with his volume.

A moment later, a swirling fire vortex engulfed the beast’s body. It was like watching the very flames of hell scorch the space our enemy stood.

I don’t care how I die. As long as it’s not like that. That damn dog’s having its skin, innards, and everything in between burnt to a crisp. Szilard didn’t even leave it any oxygen.

“……”

But the beast remained perfectly silent, simply standing in the middle of the inferno. It didn’t cry out in pain or fly into a rage. It didn’t do anything.

“This feels like the calm before the storm. I must say, I am in awe at its fortitude. To think it would keep preparing its attack despite my reign of fire.”

As Szilard had guessed, Keraunos was charging up something big.

It charged, and charged, and charged some more. I figured it was planning on releasing all the spiritual power it built up in one final attack.

It didn’t matter how badly we burned it or sliced it now—the beast could take it. The Keraunos standing before us had assumed its true form, freed from its connection to Jupiter.

Jupiter had flipped her lid during the renegotiation of their pact. Now, with their parent-child relationship dissolved, the pitiable lightning beast was no longer bound by the effects of Jupiter’s accessories.

The slate had been wiped clean, and we were in the interim period before a new pact was forged. Then again, maybe this was also part of the spirit’s trial. Perhaps it was challenging us to beat it in the real world, too, and not just the mental one.

…Well, whatever. I’ll leave the thinking for when I’ve got more time. Our main concern now is handling Keraunos.

“Let’s stick to the plan. Mr. Szilard, keep up your thermal attacks and make your way back to the rear. Haruka and Jupiter, you two get behind him.”

All three gave a short nod before quickly taking up their positions.

“Judging from its impulsive personality and the fact we can’t see a discharge point for its next attack, this last blow will probably come at us in a straight line.”

I couldn’t exactly tell them “hey, I played this game, so I’m a hundred percent sure about what’s coming next.” Trying to think up plausible explanations for why I knew everything was starting to become like a second job.

“I can’t predict how powerful the attack will be, but if it comes at us in a straight line, I should be able to protect us with Fourth Field. That’s step one. Then, Mr. Szilard, I’d like you to—”

“Create a thermal barrier, right? That was the plan.”

“Right. If you would.”

“Understood.” And with a wink that could only be pulled off by a handsome guy like him, he used thermolurgy to set up a barrier around us.

He’s just like in the game—summoning a flame vortex with a breezy wink while he keeps us all safe with a barrier. What a guy!

“Okay, Haruka. Your role is—”

“If a discharge point shows up, I intercept it and help hold the defensive line. No prob!”

“Thanks. I’m counting on you, partner.”

We lightly bumped fists in a passionate display of friendship.

But, in a change to our usual routine, a tiny third fist hesitantly came up and pressed against ours.

“I want to…fight, too.” There was hesitation in her voice, but I could tell Jupiter was determined. “I don’t care how small it is. I want to do something to help.”

“But aren’t you worn out from your one-on-one battle…?”

Jupiter looked positively exhausted. Her lips were a deep blue from lack of oxygen, and her limbs kept trembling.

She might have been in the mental realm, but I wasn’t surprised she was exhausted. She’d just faced the very embodiment of her trauma in a life-defining showdown. It was a lot to go through.

Objectively speaking, it was a miracle she could even stand. I wasn’t about to ask her to put her life on the line again. Besides, Keraunos wasn’t going to lend her its power to fight the beast itself. I was hoping she’d be content sitting on the sidelines and resting, but…

“I don’t…care,” she shot back, shaking her head with enough force to send her pigtails swinging. “I’m so happy everyone is fighting for me. But I’m the one who planted these seeds. It’s my responsibility to see this fight through to the end. I’m not going to leave it all to you and go hide in the corner. No way. I’m going to keep fighting, together with all of you.” Her face was as expressionless as ever. But her eyes were full of passion.

I take my eyes off you for one second, and now look at you, spouting off kickass lines.

I pulled out a Life Potion and passed it to her.

“There. You drink that. And, while you’re at it, keep your senses sharp and try to find any spiritual power flowing in the area. If you think Keraunos is about to do something, let us know right away. How’s that? Think you can handle it without wearing yourself out?”

“No problem,” she said, shooting me a thumbs up.

Even though her arms and legs were trembling, she still managed to look heroic as hell.

“Perfect. Stick next to Haruka. And if she thinks things are looking bad, I want you to stop and take a break right away, all right?”

“…Okay.”

Her response didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, but I figured she would be safe as long as Haruka stayed by her side.

“Well, Haruka. Looks like you’re in charge of Jupiter.”

“Yeah… You really are a good guy, aren’t you, Kyou?”

“What do you mean? I’m putting this exhausted little kid to work. You have any idea how many labor laws I’m breaking right now?”

“You’re seriously trying to play the bad guy again? C’mon now,” said the radiant star, cheerfully jabbing me in the ribs with her elbow.

I could feel embarrassment welling up inside me, so after a curt hmph, I turned away and moved back toward the front line.

Focusing my spiritual power into my right arm, I pulled the trigger on Eckesachs. A gunshot rang out as I activated the new battle cartridge I’d picked up from Guren. Then the jet-black greatsword in my hand started to wobble and change shape. Its angular form began to round out at the edges. Before long, its shape settled on a perfect circle.

“All right, I’m ready.”

Eckesachs had transformed into a massive shield. The slime steel’s black luster gave it a rugged, badass look.

That’s right—the new form I’d asked Guren to design for me wasn’t a weapon at all but protective gear. I’d also asked her to prioritize the shield’s surface area rather than focusing on durability or strength.

Shields tend to be heavy and hard—that’s what makes them useful for defense, right? It’s completely logical. Usually, it wouldn’t matter how big your shield was if it couldn’t withstand attacks from enemies.

That was why, according to Guren, you had to know what sorts of attacks you were trying to defend against when designing a shield. Once you had that figured out, you could add functionality based on your needs.

But my massive shield was different. We started off trying to protect as wide an area as possible. The shield’s actual defensive capabilities came second. So the whole thing was a bit ass-backward.

I knew it was terribly unbalanced and lacked the stats to function as a proper shield. But it suited my battle style perfectly.

The reason was simple—I’d had this shield specially designed to use in tandem with Fourth Field. By using them together, I was all set to perfectly tank area of effect attacks!

“Mr. Szilard. That’s enough for now. I’m gonna set this thing up.”

“Very well… But, my, that shield sure is large, isn’t it? For a moment, I thought you’d pried the wall off a castle.”

“Ha-ha! That’s not too far off base… Hup!”

I let the shield’s bottom edge hit the ground with a mighty thud, sending shockwaves all through the space.

Hah, wow. I can’t see anything ahead of me now.

Eckesachs was completely blocking my view of the battlefield, so I stopped relying on my eyes and switched to my spirit senses to keep track of Keraunos and adjusted my placement accordingly.

Even with Szilard standing by, we would be in deep trouble if I made even the slightest mistake. Suddenly, I felt caught between the overwhelming spiritual power Keraunos was charging up in front of me and my comrades behind, whose very lives were now in my care. It felt like I might lose my mind.

Part of me wanted to get the hell out of there. Thought this whole thing was impossible and wanted to throw in the towel.

I’m a weakling at heart.

I’m not some protagonist who can stand up to adversity without ever wavering. I’m just a regular guy.

It didn’t matter how much I trained—scary stuff still scared me.

It didn’t matter how much combat I’d experienced—pain still hurt.

Despite shamelessly admitting my own weakness, something kept me standing anyway: the friends I had counting on me.

I wanted to see them happy. So damn happy.

I felt proud that they believed in me.

So I held fast behind my shield.

“Bring it, Keraunos. Your little temper tantrum is about as scary as a kitty-cat’s sneeze to me.”

I could feel its spiritual power swell as it let out a roar of resentment.

Who’d ever believe the tutorial miniboss would take on the miniboss from the true route at full strength?

Well, whatever. I’ve got this.

If a cornered rat can bite a cat to survive, then I think a determined Kyouichirou can handle a little Keraunos.

So, c’mon, bring it!

Bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it!

“Hurry up and bring it on, you freaking scumbaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!!!”

And then, suddenly, something snapped.

I couldn’t tell if it was just mindlessly reacting to the sound of my voice or if the spirit understood my threat and flew into a rage. But one thing was certain: Keraunos finally stopped charging. It was ready.

The calm before the storm had come to an end. The incarnation of rage, now at full strength, unleashed its sublime power, and…

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

…let loose its final attack.

The blast of concentrated rage flew at us as quick as lightning. The natural disaster the spirit sent forth had enough power to outclass even Szilard’s skills.

This was the Raging Dark—the skill that took its name from Keraunos’s master. It was so strong that, during the events of the true route, not even the hero’s party could survive it. Not without bringing something along to counteract it anyway.

The situation we were in was a far cry from the events of the game, of course. But that didn’t mean that by some miracle, Keraunos would nerf its own skill on our account, either… Well, I was 99 percent sure we wouldn’t be that lucky anyhow.

I was fairly certain that the beast no longer cared if its attack hurt its daughter or not. If anything, there was a good chance that, after losing to her in the cleansing ritual trial, Keraunos had come to see its master as the enemy. I wouldn’t put it past this loser, considering how self-obsessed it was.

This beast would never abide its daughter’s rebellion. It was full of hatred for the girl who had refused to reciprocate its twisted love, and it had no use for a petulant child who didn’t listen to her father.

And so it was going to kill her.

What a freaking joke.

This jerkwad was a miserable pile of contradictions.

Imagine being such a hater that you decide to kill the one person you swore to protect the minute she becomes an inconvenience. What a goddamn prick.

They say too much of anything is bad for you, but this guy was really something else. It was like an embodiment of all the worst aspects of fatherhood—no, that wasn’t all—it was all the worst parts of manhood, too. This thing was the type of asshole that could die and be reborn a hundred times over, and it would still come back as an absolute piece of shit.

Sorry, you electric deadbeat, but your masturbatory ways end here.

I’m not letting you touch my friends with that filthy-ass skill of yours!

“Blast has made contact,” said Albi, using telepathy. “Damage successfully prevented using Fourth Field. No injuries to report from the three behind you.”

“…Good.”

I heaved a sigh of relief from within the monochromatic world.

Well, I couldn’t actually move my body because of the effects of my skill, so I didn’t actually sigh. It was more like an air sigh.

“Wouldn’t that imply a regular sigh?” Albi shot back.

“All right, fine, call it an ersatz sigh, then.”

“That makes it sound like some sort of special attack. What a nerd.”

Albi was as full of complaints and jabs as ever. But at least she was keeping me company in that lonely, frozen world. In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse her good will.

“How admirable of you. You’re far easier to deal with when you’re nice and obedient.”

“Yes, yes. Thanks a lot, O goddess of sarcasm.”

But that didn’t mean I had no complaints.

That said, after seeing Keraunos and Jupiter’s relationship, I started to think my bond with Albi wasn’t so bad after all… Comparatively speaking anyway.

“Hey, Albi. how do you think that spirit got to be such a piece of crap, huh?”

“I suppose it was simply designed that way.”

A blunt response and a strong rebuttal of the belief that human nature is fundamentally good.

“That overly idealistic point of view is only relevant when discussing people. It has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to us spirits.”

“Fair point.”

“Besides, a Sublime Demis type, such as Keraunos, traditionally has no mental or emotional faculties. Thus, discussing their lot in terms of good or evil is unproductive. They are forces of nature. No more and no less. Think for a moment, if you would, about the rain, which you so loathe. How could the rain possibly consider a person’s feelings? It cannot—that would be impossible.”

Weather can’t sense how we feel. It doesn’t matter how much I wish for the rain to stop—rain’s gonna rain. And the opposite is also true. No matter how much people might pray for it, rain just isn’t going to fall in certain regions.

How people feel about it is completely irrelevant. It just is.

“Thus, simply imbuing a being composed of little more than miasma and lightning with a single feeling and expecting it to have functioning emotional intelligence is, and always has been, foolish. But those fiendish scientists likely thought such a flaw was little more than a trifle.”

Those researchers were willing to conduct experiments on a bunch of kids. I doubted they cared one bit about the relationship between the spirits and their pact holders. For a bunch of scientists looking to upload emotions into a spirit, they were pretty damn heartless. Talk about irony!

“…Ugh.”

I could feel a dull pain spreading through my body. It felt awful—like my soul was being forcefully torn out. Despite using Fourth Field so many times, I never got used to this awful sensation.

“Already giving up?” asked Albi.

“Psh. Don’t be stupid. I’ve still got…plenty left in me…”

Keraunos’s blast was still going strong. It showed no sign of stopping or dwindling in the slightest. I had to dig in my heels and hold out against this hellish torment for a while yet.

“…Anyway,” I said telepathically. “Back to what we were talking about. You make it sound like Keraunos is a victim.”

“I suppose it is, in a manner of speaking.”

A poor spirit, captured according to the whims of a bunch of humans and forced to bear emotions it wasn’t equipped for.

Looking at it that way, I guess even that piece of garbage could garner some sympathy. A sad past is a sad past. I bet if I was one of the kind main characters, I might have even felt compassion for Keraunos. Too bad, though…

“Who gives a shit?!”

I’m not a main character—I’m the smack-talking tutorial miniboss!

Oh, it had a sad past, did it? Am I supposed to feel bad? Well, cry me a freaking river. This prick can choke on it and die for all I care.

Good or bad, just or unjust, victim or perpetrator—I couldn’t care less about any of it.

You’re the one who chose to stand against us. And now you’ve pissed me off.

That’s all the reason I need. So it’s time for you to die. Meet your miserable, pathetic end. Get ready to have every ounce of your self-respect smashed to bits before I send you to hell.

You’re gonna pay for the things you’ve done.

Sad past, happy past, none of it matters—I’m gonna straight up murder this asshole.

You tortured Jupiter for years. You screwed with Szilard’s clan. And you’re the reason we had to put our adventures beyond the fifteenth floor on hold.

You stole Jupiter’s memories and hurt Eliza. You stole the girl’s home and trampled all over her dignity. You’re the reason she cries.

Plus, do you have any idea how much money I blew on those accessories?!

And I had to pull Haruka into this dangerous fight because of you.

Even my sister and aunt were inconvenienced by your electric ass.

And now, you’re the reason I’m stuck here alone in this stupid black-and-white world struggling to hold on.

The pain I feel? Keraunos’s fault.

The suffering? Chalk it up to that electric douchebag.

This weird itchiness? All that deadbeat dad’s doing.

The nausea? It’s ’cause of the black-lightning beast, obviously.

I turned all the anguish I felt into hatred, all the pain into fodder for my murderous rage.

I hated that spirit. I hated it so much. A hundred times over, I hated it. And I wasn’t done yet.

“You’ve just achieved a new record, Master. This is the longest you’ve ever kept Fourth Field active.”

“…Yeah? Well, I’ve still got plenty left in me.”

I could feel my anger boiling away inside me, and yet I felt completely in control of Fourth Field.

Skill efficiency—it seemed I had finally managed to figure out how to maintain my skill while using the minimal amount of spiritual power.

“ Being ‘in the zone,’ or the ‘flow state’… It seems these are the terms modern people use to describe a state of psychological awakening through which one can attain extreme concentration. I believe this promising outcome is exactly that, Master.”

“I don’t care about the details. Call it an awakening, or the blood of my ancestors, or whatever the hell you want—if I can use it to get me through this, I’ll take it. We’re gonna win this fight. I’m gonna beat that prick if it kills me.”

You hear that?

Your hatred is never gonna beat my rage.

I’m seriously pissed off.

I’m a billion times more pissed off than you’ve ever been.

And there’s no way in hell I’m gonna lose to someone like you when I’m so much angrier.

I felt the spiritual power flowing through my body as I boiled and seethed.

I even used the recoil from Fourth Field to further enrage me. I wasn’t going to drop my defenses for anything.

I kept enduring, and enduring, and enduring… I endured until I completely lost track of how long I’d been going. And that was when I began to notice the beast’s power starting to wane.

“Just a little more, Master. You would look quite the fool if you collapsed now.”

“I…know that…,” I responded, almost out of reflex, before digging deep and squeezing out my last ounce of strength.

…I’m not down yet. I can keep going.

I repeated what I knew about the principles of freezing time over and over, almost like auto-suggestion, to try and encourage myself to keep going.

I wasn’t about to let up. I couldn’t let up.

Giving up wasn’t in this tutorial miniboss’s dictionary. I needed to keep my will to win strong without getting arrogant or prideful.

Keraunos’s spiritual power began to falter; the size of the black thunder began to dwindle.

Azure Skies began to dance as thermal blasts shot through the air.

After waiting for their chance, my friends had finally gone back on the offensive.

The Raging Dark wouldn’t last much longer. Keraunos started to lose control of its attack. It was clear the beast was beginning to panic.

What’s the matter, idiot? Can’t even handle your own skill?

I thought you were supposed to be a big, scary miniboss from the true route. If you keep wasting energy like that, all you’re going to do is knock yourself out faster.

Its aim became less steady as the blast began to dissipate.

As the beast realized its vaunted violence wasn’t having any effect, that knowledge began to eat away at its very identity. And so…

“It’s over, Master.”

…the time had come.

The black-lightning beast’s ultimate blast silently eroded into nothing.

“Keraunos’s spiritual power levels have dwindled to critically low levels. The likelihood that this is a ruse is less than one thousandth of a percent.”

“So what you’re saying is…”

“It’s time for you to punish the beast with extreme prejudice.”

I immediately dropped Fourth Field.

In an instant, color returned to the world around me, and I was assaulted by a wave of dizziness, stupefaction, chills, nausea, and exhaustion.

Damn, this is the worst the recoil’s ever been.

Despite the feelings ravaging my body, I pulled the trigger at the center of my shield and transformed Eckesachs once again.

I probably could have lain down on the spot and rested, and it wouldn’t have affected the battle’s outcome. I had Haruka and Szilard on my side, after all. Keraunos didn’t stand a chance against them in its current state.

But there was no way I could do that. That piece of crap had pissed me off, and I wasn’t going to let this battle end without getting in at least one good strike. That was my prize to claim, and I wasn’t going to let anyone else have it.

I’d decided that I’d only kill this loser after utterly destroying its pride.

I’ll kill it. No matter what it takes. I’m going to tear this asshole apart.

It was time to give Keraunos what it deserved.

“CHOKE ON THIS, YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING ASS​HOOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOO​OOLE!”

I stacked multiple Stride and Hasten Time buffs to give myself superhuman speed and bolted across the area with so much fury that I smashed the ground as I went.

I was aiming for the beast’s jugular.

The tenth floor was small enough that I closed the distance faster than you could snap your fingers.

“’Sup, you piece of garbage? I’m here to kill you.” I greeted the beast by slitting its throat. Then I unleashed my Regalia. “Restrain it, Desmoterion.”

The space around Keraunos warped, and black portals opened up. The Dungeon Reaper’s chains of absolute bondage emerged from them and twisted around each of the beast’s limbs. Keraunos could no longer attack, defend, or evade.

This look suits you. You’ve finally been chained up like the dog you are. After years of being a figurative trash bag, how does it feel being reduced to a literal pile of garbage?

“RAAAA…OOOOO…”

Oh yeah? No clue what you’re saying, but…

“Time to die.”

I held Laevateinn in my left hand and Eckesachs in my right.

I used the demonic dagger, capable of slicing open any living matter, to chop and cut my foe and the massive sword to hit it where it hurt over, and over, and over again.

I gouged out its eyes, sliced open its jaw, and pierced its brain.

This was only the spirit’s external manifestation, so I didn’t get to feel the satisfying sensation of tearing through its flesh. But my attacks still had an effect—it writhed around and cried out in agony as I violated it with my blades.

How’s that feel? I get serious when I’m on the hunt for deadbeats. This is a shakedown, asshole. But I’m not here for your money—I’m here for your organs.

“But you’re totally hollow, aren’t you? All function, no substance. C’mon, man. You mean to tell me you’re literally just empty inside? What a snoozefest! You seriously suck ass, you know that?!”

I shoved my blade into the mess that used to be the beast’s face and sliced downward through its body.

I sliced through its trachea, spinal cord, esophagus, lungs, heart, diaphragm, liver, gallbladder, lower abdomen, stomach, intestines, spleen, kidneys, and every other part of its body. But it wasn’t enough.

I needed to teach this old dog a lesson. I needed to strike fear into its very soul to make sure it never wanted to torment Jupiter ever again.

Like they say—“when in Rome…” Actually, I guess that doesn’t really apply here. This is more of an eye-for-an-eye situation.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and for an abuser like you? You get the worst kind of violence imaginable.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Barry X. Pensive Medical Center, Special Private Room

“That’s right! I saw it with my own two eyes during that battle. That boy, Kyouichirou Shimizu, shows much promise. I think he has what it takes to lead the adventuring industry in a bright, new direction!”

I could see Szilard on TV, saying some truly insane stuff about me.

Huh? What’s going on?

Is this…a dream? Please, I’m begging you. Let this be a dream.

“Oh, that?” Haruka sat beside me, carefully peeling an apple as she explained what was happening on the TV. “Mr. Szilard invited a bunch of media outlets to hold a press conference so he could tell them all about what happened. I totally forgot it was today.”

The radiant star happily munched away on the apple. (For some reason, she’d carved it into the shape of a Japanese castle.)

Why are you in my hospital room creating refined pieces of apple art and then chowing down all by yourself? None for me, huh?

“All right, fine. As an extra special treat, I’ll give you this other apple I’ve carved into the shape of a Klein bottle. Here.”

“…anks…mmph. Yum… W-wait, forget the apples! Tell me about the press conference!”

According to Haruka, Szilard was informing the media about Keraunos’s cleansing. And yet…

“When things were looking grim, Kyouichirou turned to me and said, ‘You go on ahead and leave this to me. I’ll take this spirit out by myself !’

“Our adversary was a truly terrifying beast. Nonetheless, young Kyouichirou was unfazed by the danger. And in the end, he endured its electrifying assault with little more than his fierce spirit and iron will!

“And then he boldly declared, ‘The people of the world are all my brothers and sisters. And helping my family is only natural!’ I was moved to tears. People of Sakurabana, should you ever find yourselves in need, I hope you will seek him out. That kind fellow, with his strong sense of duty and endless compassion, will doubtlessly solve your troubles in no time at all!”

Who is this “Kyouichirou” guy he’s talking about?! I don’t remember seeing anyone that cool and suave fighting with us against Keraunos!

“Really?” said Haruka. “I dunno. I mean, Szilard did exaggerate a bit, but that’s pretty much how you act.”

“I’m not like that at all!”

I highly doubted this “Kyouichirou” guy they were talking about would shove a drill up a monster’s ass. And he certainly wouldn’t say “Nyeh-heh-heh!” when he laughed.

“It’s not just me, either,” I pointed out. “He’s hyping up everything else, too.”

The way he described Jupiter, she sounded like someone else entirely. For whatever reason, he told people Keraunos was a violent spirit that targeted Jupiter alone for endless abuse (not that the real Keraunos wasn’t an abusive asshole, mind you), and that Jupiter left Rosso and Blu only because she was moved by the chivalrous Kyouichirou’s dutiful heart. It sounded like something straight out of a manga.

This whole thing reeks of…

“…Hold up. Was the whole reason for this press conference…?”

“Oh, you finally noticed, huh?” A mischievous grin appeared on the radiant star’s face, and she chuckled.

“So this was all just to publicize the fact that that Jupiter left his clan on good terms and joined our party?”

“Yep. Apparently, everyone in Rosso and Blu agreed to the decision.”

It seemed the members of Jupiter’s old clan still held her in high regard.

“I had a chance to talk to some of the others from Rosso and Blu while you were passed out. All of them were super nice. They all bowed and asked us to take good care of Jupi. I was really surprised.” The radiant star had such a softness in her eyes that I thought they could put her face next to the word gentle in the dictionary. “I’m sure they had their share of problems, but everyone seemed to really care about Jupi.”

“Huh. How about that.” Learning that warmed my heart.

See, Jupiter? There are plenty of people out there who care about you.

“So we’d better try our best, too! Can’t let Jupi’s old clan show us up. We’re gonna have to shower her with love.”

“Totally. But one thing’s still bothering me. Mind if I ask about it?”

“What is it?” Haruka’s sapphire-blue eyes gleamed as she leaned closer to the bed.

She was wearing a stylish blue camisole that showed off her shoulders. The material was so high-quality that it almost seemed to sparkle. That was all well and good, but…

“Have you left my side even once?”

Several moments of silence passed before she answered.

“Uh. Sure. Of course I have.” Her voice sounded forced.

“Plenty of people have come by to see me over the last three days, but I feel like you’ve been here literally the whole time.”

“‘Literally the whole time’…is a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, c’mon. I have to leave when they turn out the lights, y’know.”

“That’s not what the nurse told me,” I replied. “It sounds like you’ve been staying here all night.”

“Well, it’s not every day you get to spend the night in a hospital room as nice as a hotel. I gotta take advantage of it!”

“Why not just stay at a real hotel?”

“Oh, Kyou, Kyou, Kyou. You just don’t get it.” The radiant star dismissed me dramatically with a wave of her finger. “There’s a huge difference between ‘staying in a fancy hotel’ and ‘staying in a hospital room made to resemble a fancy hotel.’ The two are about as different as crab is from imitation crab sticks.”

“Right. So what I’m saying is, ‘why not just eat the crab?’”

Not that there’s anything wrong with imitation crab sticks. But if given the choice, I’d pick real crab any day of the week. And I assumed most people would say the same.

“Hey, I happen to like crab sticks.” Apparently, Haruka was not one of those people. “Think about it. The companies that make crab sticks have to try all kinds of things to make ground fish taste as close to the real deal as possible, right? So crab sticks are chock-full of the manufacturer’s hopes and desires. Doesn’t thinking about that excite you?”

It did not. But I could see where Haruka was coming from.

“So you’re saying the extra effort put into imitation crab is what makes it better?”

“Yeah, exactly! I’ve always loved stuff like that, ever since I was little. I remember when I was a kid, I used to be into those whatchamacallit imitation diamond things—”

“Cubic zirconia?”

“Yeah, that stuff! So anyway, I liked those cubey whatevers so much that I used to save up my money and collect them.” Haruka showed me the star-shaped pendant on her necklace. “This one’s pretty small, but check it out.”

A refreshing citrus aroma was wafting off her hair and, the moment it hit my nostrils, I thought I might lose it. Somehow, I managed to maintain my composure and looked down at the necklace.

“It doesn’t look cheap at all,” I commented. “If anything, the more I stare, the more it draws me in.”

“Right?! It’s pretty big for a pendant, too. And it’s blue!”

Everything Haruka owned had to be blue, after all.

“I kind of get what you see in these things… Well, okay. If that’s the reason—or rather, the kind of thing you’re into, I guess?—then feel free to stay here as long as you like.”

Besides, it’s nice to have someone to talk to.

“Heh-heh. Thanks. But that’s not the only reason I’m here, y’know.”

“Really? What other reason could you possibly have?”

Haruka brought her well-manicured index finger up to her lip and said, “It’s a secret.”

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Barry X. Pensive Medical Center, Front Entrance

Four days later, I was discharged from the hospital. But as I left, I had to drag a perfectly healthy Haruka out the door with me. She kept kicking and screaming, crying, “Please! Just a little bit longer!”

“Can’t we just spend one more night here?” she begged. “C’monnn!”

“Not a chance. That’s not how this works. You’re not sick or injured. You’re the picture of perfect health.”

“You never know, Kyou! Maybe I’m really sick, and we just don’t know it yet…”

“You’ve got some nerve saying that after making a doctor examine you just because you didn’t ‘feel like going home.’”

“Hey, I got permission from the nurses and Mr. Szilard, didn’t I? And they checked me out and everything.”

“Okay, yes. But you’re so healthy the doctor couldn’t find a single thing to justify keeping you there. They were shocked at how healthy you are.”

“Yep!”

Well, then, it should be obvious you can’t stay. No one in the world needs to be in that hospital less than you do.

“We can’t cause the hospital any more trouble than we already have. And I want to go home already.”

“…Jerk.”

“This is pretty basic stuff, Haruka.”

To be totally honest, I didn’t want to owe Szilard any more than I already did, so I was pretty set on leaving. But, as they say, silence is golden.

Either way, one thing was certain—James Szilard was a peculiar man.

His hand might have been forced, but he’d still reached out to us under false pretenses and practically chased Jupiter out of his clan and into our party. But at the same time, he’d done everything in his power to help us cleanse Keraunos and pulled out all the stops to give Jupiter a proper send off.

I was grateful to him, but I also kind of hated his guts. I felt pretty bad about how much he’d done for me, but I was also pissed off about the crap he’d said during the press conference. Basically, I couldn’t figure out how the hell to feel about the devious yet smooth and handsome hero. He wasn’t just “tough to pin down”—you could come at him with a hundred thumbtacks and he’d just laugh it off with his trademark hah-hah-hah!

So when he told me “the hospital stay is on me, so think of something else you might like as a proper reward,” I decided to ask for something really, really excessive. That said, I still wanted to stay in the good graces of Szilard, Eliza, and everyone at Rosso and Blu.

And so, when that one heroine finally joins their clan, well… Heh-heh-heh…

“You’re thinking of something creepy, aren’t you?”

“Am not!”

I was just gonna ask for her autograph, so I could frame it and hang it up somewhere! I’m a true gentleman, after all!

I couldn’t exactly start screaming my love for Dungeon Magia from the rooftops, though, so I tried my best to change the subject. Just a little bit of a course correction.

“Totally unrelated, but boy, oh boy has it been hot lately, huh?”

“Boo! C’mon, Kyou, that was terrible. You’re way too obvious!”

How?! The weather is the single most relatable conversation topic there is!

“The sky’s been so dry and clear lately. I guess the rainy season’s already almost over.”

“Oh, wow. You’re really just gonna keep going, huh? You’ve got nerves of steel.”

“The sky’s so blue! And the clouds are so white!”

“Ran out of commentary, did you? You sound like a kindergartner.”

We kept up our silly back-and-forth as we crossed the parking lot.

It wasn’t long before I made eye contact with someone I knew.

“I’m here…to pick you up,” said a small girl with silver hair and red eyes. She was wearing a white summer dress and a straw hat.

“Jupi! Yaaay!” Haruka’s eyes sparkled as she hugged the girl with all her might. “I’m finally out, Jupi! Safe and sound!”

“I’m glad you’re okay, Haruka.”

Uh, she’s been okay literally the whole time.

Jupiter turned to me next. “I’m glad you’re out of the hospital, too, Kyouichirou. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks to everyone’s help. It was nice to kick back and relax for a bit.”

The tiny girl gave a strange little nod. Her face was as blank as ever.

“What about Fumika and Albi?” I asked.

“They’re at home getting the party ready. They sent me to be your guide.”

Our guide, huh? That’s a pretty important job for such a little girl.

“All right, guide away. You’d better make sure we make it back safely!”

“I can do it,” she said, slapping her tiny palm against her chest.

I caught a glimpse of the look in her eyes as she gazed up—she was full of confidence.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #88, “Mother of All”

…Apparently, Jupiter had only seemed confident.

We could hear two sets of footfalls as we walked up a steep mountain path. One of them was mine—the other was Haruka’s.

As for the footfalls we should have heard, those belonging to the third member of our group, well…

“Hey, weren’t you supposed to be the one guiding us home?” I asked.

“…I can’t do it.”

The dejected voice came from behind me. Despite having just left the hospital, I was carrying the girl on my back.

“I thought I could do it. I guess I have a bit less stamina than I thought.”

Only “a bit”?

Why do I have to be the one to carry a sixth grader up a mountain right after I check out of the hospital? Where’s that responsible girl from earlier?

“I’m so sleepy.”

She was on my back, of course, starting to fall asleep. Come on! Why am I the pack mule here?!

“Oh, c’mon,” said Haruka. “Quit being a grump. She didn’t have to invite us out here. I think we can let this one slide.”

“How about you try carrying her around? We can switch anytime you want, Haruka.”

“What?! But I’ve never lifted anything heavier than a katana in my life…”

The saying is ‘chopsticks,’ you goof. Katanas aren’t light!

“So are we almost there, Jupiter?” I asked.

“Yes. It’s not far now.”

“Okay,” I said with a rough nod as I pushed myself farther up the steep slope.

If I just think of this as a workout, I’ll be fine.

Right after we left the hospital, Jupiter had said, “There’s somewhere I want to show you two before we get back. It’s a bit far, but just follow me.”

Jupiter wasn’t the type to make a lot of requests, so we quickly decided to indulge her.

It was fun at first. We rode buses and trolleys, transferring now and then, and enjoying nice views of Sakurabana all the while. I seem to recall Haruka saying something like, “It’s fun to go on an adventure where we don’t have to fight for once.” Oh, sweet, naive Haruka.

We stopped for some kakiage soba for lunch, and it was really good. After subsisting on an oil-free hospital diet for so long, my stomach was in heaven. I ended up ordering seconds, then thirds, then fourths. I ate so much, I thought I was gonna pop. I’m sure I’ll look back on it all fondly someday.

It was only once we ran out of public transit and had to take the shoelace express that I began to get suspicious.

Dungeon #88, “Mother of All,” is one of Sakurabana’s Five Great Dungeons—a massive place with over fifty floors. We’d never dreamed she was taking us there. Rather than exploring the dungeon, however, we followed Jupiter’s lead as she guided us to a nearby mountain path. And the moment we set foot on the mountain, our tiny guide had the nerve to give up.

I get not having stamina, but this is a bit much.

I’d boosted myself with power borrowed from my spirit, and now here I was, carrying her up the mountain. I was starting to think it was time to put the kid through the Kyouichirou boot camp. That said, I was impressed that she’d finally asked me outright to carry her. Maybe she’d done some growing up…

“I’ll try not to bust your balls,” she said.

…Okay, so maybe she’s just gotten pushier.

And it is way too soon to be saying things like that, for all sorts of reasons.

After another thirty minutes of climbing, we finally reached our destination.

“We’re here,” Jupiter announced.

She clambered down my back and then, with careful steps, blended into the scenery ahead of us.

“No way…”

Beside me, Haruka audibly gasped. I could understand why—the landscape in front of us packed quite a punch.

We were looking out over a gorgeous vista. Colorful flowers bloomed in all directions. There were even varieties from all four seasons, blossoming together. It was truly unbelievable.

Summer hydrangeas mingled with spring cherry blossoms. Beneath them sprouted late-summer cosmos and autumn spider lilies. There were roses, lilies, gerberas, marigolds, sweet Osmanthus, sasanquas, daisies, cyclamens, and tulips. The area was bursting with flowers from every month of the year. It was paradise; there was no better word to describe it.

“Are these all real?” Haruka asked.

The small girl nodded as she walked through the field. “They’re real. James says they’re like this ’cause of the dungeon.”

In certain cases, the bosses found inside the Five Great Dungeons were so powerful that they even affected the outside world. Maybe the limitless vitality of Mother of All had created this miraculous phenomenon. The Five Great Dungeons really were on a completely different level; this garden was more than enough to convince me.

“The flowers here never die,” said Jupiter. “They stay pretty forever. This garden is a kind of power spot.”

This area, which felt the effects of the dungeon most heavily, was jointly managed by the Adventurers Guild and the Rosso and Blu clan.

“I used to visit all the time when I was in James’s clan,” Jupiter explained.

“How did you make it all the way out here?”

“Eliza always took me.”

This dungeon was the home of the Rosso and Blu clan. It made sense that Jupiter had come to think of the place as her personal garden.

“I always liked this place. I really liked everyone in the clan, too. Eliza, James, everyone. I liked all of them.”

The girl in her straw hat looked up at the out-of-season cherry blossoms with a mix of nostalgia and sadness. She blended into the scene so perfectly that without even meaning to, I took out my smartphone and almost snapped her picture.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

“Oh, sorry. I was just, y’know… I just thought it would make for a beautiful photo.”

“Yeah. It really is beautiful here.”

She’d misunderstood me, but I didn’t correct her as she nodded in agreement and smiled.

…Wait. She smiled?

“Jupi…”

“Did you just…?”

Haruka and I looked at her.

“Huh?”

For some reason, the central figure in this unprecedented metamorphosis was the only one who didn’t realize what had just happened.

I opened the camera app on my phone and turned on selfie mode so Jupiter could use it like a mirror. Soon, the girl’s crimson eyes filled with surprise and elation.

“I’m…smiling?”

It wasn’t an ear-to-ear grin. The corners of her mouth were just barely turned upward, and her eyes had narrowed only slightly.

But there was no doubt about it—the girl had smiled. And it was no maniacal grin, either. Her smile was modest, yet gentle. It was a sight lovelier than any flower in the garden.

I could feel my eyes growing moist. Beside me, Haruka’s face was already wet with tears.

After years of suppressing her emotions to keep the people around her safe, Jupiter could finally smile.

She had been through all sorts of tragedies, suffered countless hardships. She’d fought long and hard. But in the end, she was finally able to smile.

“I guided you here today so you could see me be reborn. I want my new life to begin here, in the place I loved the most.” Jupiter said all this under the cloudless sky. She sounded just like she always did. “…I’m… I—I…”

I didn’t know if it was because she was thinking about the past or looking ahead to her newfound bright future, but Jupiter began to cry.

The way she scrunched up her face as big tears rolled down her cheeks made her look like any other kid her age. More than anything else, it was proof she was no longer under anyone else’s control. She didn’t have to swallow her emotions anymore—she could finally laugh and cry.

This was an incredible and precious victory, and it had been hard-won. It was that realization that finally broke me, and tears began to flow down my face.

“I… I want to…make lots of…sob…amazing, new memories. I’m gonna be the—the happiest…sob…kid in the whole wide world…”

Haruka and I desperately tried to hold back our tears as we waited for Jupiter to say her piece.

That’s right, Jupiter. You’re a kind girl, and you’ve worked so hard… I’m sure you’ll…

“…I’m going…to be happy…from now on.”

There was no need for anyone to say anything more.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #88, “Mother of All,” Rosso and Blu Clan House

“Byyye, Ms. Elizaaa!”

“I can’t wait for our next class!”

“I love Ms. Eliza’s lessons. It’s so easy to understand everything!”

The girls, new arrivals from far off lands, waved to her, swinging their arms in big, childish motions. They were speaking Imperial, the common language of the island empire they now called home.

It was early afternoon at the clan house. The large building had been designed to resemble a fantastic white castle. It was like something out of a dream.

And in one corner of that lavish building was Eliza’s classroom. The little sprites that spent their days learning there were foreign children who, for one reason or another, lived in the clan house. They were, of course, all associated with Rosso and Blu.

The children were not yet ten, and their only duty to the clan was to study hard. The most important thing for them to learn was Imperial, the official language of their surrogate nation. Being fluent in the local language would be crucial for them going forward, so they labored at their studies day and night.

On average, it took the children two years to master the language, and particularly enthusiastic children could learn it in only six months. This was a staggeringly short amount of time for such a difficult task. But the reason for their success was simple—the educators, Rosso and Blu clan members, had designed a very thorough curriculum.

Rosso and Blu, to which Eliza and her comrades belonged, was one of Sakurabana’s Five Major Clans. The organization had made itself famous around the city as a refuge for foreign nationals, but surprisingly few people realized this point of pride for the clan originated in the sense of solidarity fostered by their unique curriculum.

Rosso and Blu was the second newest among the Five Major Clans. It had only been active for twelve years, during which it had become a pillar of the city. But this mutual aid organization for foreign industries had a humble origin—it had all begun with one seventeen-year-old entrepreneur’s online school for youth. That enterprising young man would go on to make a name for himself as clan master.

And now, the young foreign girl who once referred to him as her big brother spent her days serving as his secretary and maid, in addition to her work as an adventurer and a teacher.

“Pardon me, Ms. Eliza,” said a female member of the faculty on that early summer afternoon. She was wearing an apron dress. “The clan master is calling for you.”

Eliza made her way toward the principal’s office. The clan master and school principal were one and the same, after all.

The walls of the clan house were white, and therefore easily sullied. But today, as always, they were sparkling enough to take one’s breath away. These spotless walls, too, were a product of their members’ excellent education.

To an outsider, it might seem strange that the school’s faculty all dressed as either butlers or maids. But for Eliza, who preferred that style to any other, it was a paradise.

Educators are to be butlers and maids.

As a reward for certain meritorious deeds, Eliza was given complete control over the school’s dress code. And that day, like every other, Eliza’s ideal world was as bright and vibrant as ever.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #88, “Mother of All,” Rosso and Blu Clan House, Clan Master’s Room

Most people saw James Szilard as a charismatic, passionate man.

He had a fair complexion and dashing good looks, dressed only in the finest suits from well-known international brands, and loved cars so much that he’d spent hundreds of millions of yen on them.

He was an influential foreign man, young and healthy, with status, prestige, and economic sway.

Because of all this, it was common for fans of Rosso and Blu to imagine its clan master lived a life of luxury and splendor. And yet that was a far cry from reality. As the maid scanned James Szilard’s room, the primary word that came to mind was busy.

The space was strewn with shelves and communications devices. Books from an array of disciplines lined the shelves, and three screens had been fixed high up on one of the walls, each playing news programs from different countries.

According to her master, he wished to be constantly up-to-date on all the latest information. But could a room so overloaded with noise and visual distraction truly be suitable for work? At the very least, Eliza could not relate. But her master had cheerfully told her, “This is the only way I can focus.” And the truth was, James Szilard did get through a truly superhuman amount of work each day.

So, Eliza figured she might as well leave him to it. This room was James Szilard’s Fortress of Solitude.

“Good day, Eliza. You’re as ravishing as ever.” The lord of the white castle rested his elbows on his black desk as he greeted the maid. The room was far cooler than one might expect for a July afternoon. “They say the clothes make the woman, but I’d say you’re contributing just as much to the equation. There isn’t a person alive who could make an apron dress look half as good as you do, Head Maid.”

The three screens up above flickered off, and the room’s round lights brightened.

Eliza was used to her master’s flowery way of speaking. His most common tactic was to begin a conversation by complimenting the other party.

People are simple creatures. When a beautiful person compliments them, they tend to listen to whatever that person says, as if the gods themselves are speaking.

No one embodied this psychological theory better than the handsome James Szilard, who would always lavish people with praise. He had a keen eye that accurately observed a person’s best traits.

“Such words are beyond a lowly maid such as myself, Master.”

“A ‘lowly maid,’ you say? Hah-hah-hah! Oh, Eliza. Your humor never ceases to tickle my funny bone.”

However, the man’s grinning facade tended to slip away in the presence of people he was close to. That was especially true when he was face-to-face with the woman who had once been his “little sister.”

“You enjoyed cosplaying so much that even starting your own clothing line wasn’t enough. Then you went on to set up over a dozen Gothic- and maid-themed cafés. Still not satisfied, you made the faculty at my school dress up like your own little parade of maids and butlers. Does any of that sound like the deeds of a ‘lowly maid’ to you?”

“You flatter me far too much, Master.”

“Hah-hah-hah. It’s not flattery, Eliza. I’m simply beside myself with surprise every time I think of how far you’ve come.”

“I beg your pardon, Sir.” The look on Eliza’s face seemed to say, Master, brother, or otherwise—nothing you say will make me give up being a maid. She tried to get the conversation back on topic. “For what reason have you summoned me, Master? I was under the impression the person charged with your care this month was that blond exhibitionist, our beautiful vice–clan master.

Once. Twice. Three times, Eliza looked around the room before feeling certain that the boisterous woman clad in a stars-and-stripes bikini was not present.

“Victoria? She isn’t here. Something came up and I sent her off to Hades to help out.”

Victoria Sylphid—Rosso and Blu’s number one female adventurer. She was the polar opposite of Eliza in almost every conceivable way and was generally considered Szilard’s number one fan.

Eliza was somewhat pleased to learn that, right at the beginning of the month, Victoria had been removed from secretary duty and sent to explore a dungeon.

“Oh? Is she to traverse a forty-floor dungeon from the very beginning, then?”

“The distance should be no problem for her invincible armada. I wouldn’t be surprised if she made it to the front lines by tomorrow.”

His assumption would prove correct. Victoria was infamous for having more than a few screws loose and for her strange catchphrases, like “clothes?! Pah! All clothes are the same!” Despite that, her skills at aviation were second to none. Even the skies of the Hades dungeon, known to span over sixty miles in every direction, were a leisurely cruise to Victoria.

…However, if Victoria was there …

“Then our two best adventurers are currently in Hades? I certainly look forward to next month’s attack on the Final Guardian.”

The ashen-haired man flashed her a cheerful smile. “According to a report that came in this morning, the Distant Realm dungeon crew is also proceeding smoothly.”

“If I’m not mistaken, the main members on that expedition were Master Baal and Mistress Noa—”

At that, Eliza realized something. Hades and Distant Realm were both large-scale dungeons with over forty floors.

“That’s right, Eliza. Our four best spirit users, the Four Elementals, have been unexpectedly split into two separate groups.”

The Four Elementals were the four highest-ranking members of Rosso and Blu. Each one of them wielded Supreme-Demis spirits (the highest level of Demis) or stronger.

Despite being incomparably stronger than Szilard, ranked fifth, and Eliza, ranked sixth—they all shared a number of things in common.

For one, each one of them were fiercely loyal to Szilard. What began as a simple love of one’s teacher reached its zenith when Szilard solo cleared a Jin spirit and stood atop all of them as their strongest spirit user. But even when a certain incident caused Szilard’s spirit level to fall two tiers, their loyalty never faltered.

“Master.”

“What is it, Eliza? I’m assuming you’re going to tell me to stop changing the subject?”

“By no means.” The maid’s one-eyed gaze grew steely. The time for casual icebreakers had long passed. “If Mistress Victoria has been sent to Hades, then every member of the Four Elementals is currently in a dungeon.”

“What a coincidence, hmm?”

All four of them had voted in favor of the girl’s expulsion from the clan. Some of them had expressed sympathy, while others were indifferent. Still others believed merely expelling her was not enough and she should be made to pay a hefty price. But in the end, every top member of the clan besides Eliza had voted to remove her.

Rosso and Blu was not only a tapestry of different ethnicities but also a fusion of multiple factions with varying spheres of influence. In a positive light, it might be called a paradise of diversity. In a negative light, one might find it a disorganized mess. Thus, cooperation was the name of the game.

Should anyone risk disturbing the clan’s fickle harmony or, worse, bring harm to their fellow clansmen, then the culprit’s age was of little consequence.

“Master.” The silver-haired maid gripped her apron dress tightly and tried to keep her composure as she asked her master about the girl. “The child—Jupiter. Has anything happened to her?”

“It doesn’t seem like it, no.” The ashen-haired man cracked a smile. But something about it seemed at odds with his usually flamboyant grin. He continued in a cold voice, “However, a situation has arisen which has a very slight chance of being related. Do you remember Waking Dream?”

“The thirty-floor dungeon, correct? The spirits there are primarily psychic types—the sort that can interfere with one’s mental capacities.”

The Waking Dream dungeon was where Eliza had earned her fifth Regalia. It was a harsh place that had two sides—scorching heat and extreme cold. But according to Eliza, who had an indestructible body, it was “no trouble at all.” Somewhere, in that familiar expanse…

“I’ve heard rumors of a strange enemy appearing in the dungeon. Late at night on the twenty-fourth floor—sometime between two and four in the morning, to be exact—a ‘black beast’ is said to show up and attack passing adventurers.”

“How many casualties thus far?”

“Thankfully, no one has died yet. But aside from one lucky person, the rest who were attacked have yet to wake up.”

All of the affected adventurers were members of Rosso and Blu. In total, sixteen people had lost consciousness. This was serious, and it would have been quite difficult to keep it hidden for so long.

It must have been top secret. Eliza suspected even Victoria and the others had not yet been informed. She wondered why Szilard was telling her, of all people. Nevertheless, she offered her take on the matter.

“Is it an Irregularity, Master?”

“A very astute guess. I would imagine so, yes.”

If an as yet undiscovered enemy had appeared in a fully explored dungeon, it was almost certainly the work of an Irregularity. Though rare, the situation was by no means unprecedented. But something about her master’s response didn’t sit well with the maid.

“Do you believe something else may have caused this, Master?”

“No, I don’t. But the only conscious witness said something that has me quite concerned.”

That was how it all started. It was the beginning of July, and a certain young girl had only just found her happy ending. However, it seemed it wouldn’t be so simple—there was always more to the story.

“The witness says the monster that appeared on the twenty-fourth floor looked exactly like the black-lightning beast.”

So began the tale of the one-eyed servant and an as yet unseen dream.

◆About the Girl: Part 1

At first, she wouldn’t so much as speak a single word.

She had only just arrived in an unknown land, and yet she hardly moved an eyebrow. She stayed as still as a doll. She didn’t even eat the food given to her. She merely sat in her room in a stupor.

“Good morning, Jupiter. Lovely weather today, isn’t it?”

“………”

The girl was an empty shell. So why did Eliza feel compelled to do more for her than what was asked?

Was it because the two of them had grown up under similar circumstances? No. Eliza had parents. Unlike this girl, she had been blessed with family, friends, and a loving environment. The maid had been able to live with dignity in the way that she pleased. As such, she felt it was wrong to hold any shallow pretense that she understood what the girl had been through. Her scars would forever be hers alone to bear.

Then was it a simple sense of duty? That, too, was not the case. Perhaps it was conceited of her to think so, but Eliza had never connected with a child in the way she felt she connected with this girl.

The students in her classes were like her precious treasures. And yet, somehow, this girl was special.

But what was it that made her stand out?

Why did Eliza find herself unconsciously praying for the girl’s happiness?

There didn’t seem to be an answer. And if there was one, it was probably something unbelievably ordinary.

“Good morning, Jupiter. Lovely weather today, isn’t it?”

“………ing.”

Nonetheless, Eliza Wispard remembered that day clearly. She wouldn’t forget it as long as she lived.

“Good…morning.”

It was the first time the girl had ever responded to her greeting.

The morning sun lit up her precious little face. Her expression was as doll-like as ever, but her cheeks had a bit of color to them as she wished Eliza a good morning.

Eliza would remember it for the rest of her life.

That scene would be locked away for all time, a precious treasure in Eliza’s heart.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Themed Café Erinnerung

Of all the themed cafés Eliza had established in Sakurabana, the one she’d put the most work into was Erinnerung.

Its name meant memories, and it had a Gothic theme. Obviously, it was a maid café.

The wallpaper was black with red rose reliefs. A golden chandelier hung from the ceiling. The walls were decorated with golden tableware, and the chairs placed at each table were made of deep red wood.

The café made good use of the two-story detached building, and thanks to its owner’s taste and the staff’s excellent customer service, it maintained a perfect balance of quality.

What people desire from a themed café is not an exact recreation—it’s entertainment. Themed cafés are like amusement park attractions. Becoming overly obsessed with accuracy was a quick way to lose one’s clientele. People did not want a sense of reality, but a sense of unreality. Eliza believed the mission of a themed café was to transport its patrons into a dreamworld.

And according to that metric, Erinnerung was a great success.

Its food and decorations were top quality. The café staff all wore beautiful Gothic dresses. They even lent out costumes to their clientele (all masters and mistresses)—a particularly popular service. A café with a dress up service was an ideal venture for someone like Eliza who already owned a clothing line. And it had made quite the splash in the themed café scene.

People loved to come to the café, dress up, have a nice time, and dine on exquisite Western cuisine. And the fact that the clientele was composed of more mistresses than masters was exactly as Eliza had envisioned it.

“……”

And on that fine morning, Eliza sat by herself in this modern maid’s battleground. She wore a blue-striped suit, her preferred style of dress for business meetings.

It was 9:50 in the morning. In ten minutes, Eliza’s guest would arrive. But before that…

I should settle this first.

Eliza sipped the crimson liquid in her teacup as she read through a record of the beast’s sightings she’d received from her master.

Tentative name: Waking Dream Irregularity. Appears on the twenty-fourth floor. Animal-type enemy. Attacks adventurers at specific times and with clear intent. As for its features…

The eyewitnesses’ descriptions certainly sounded like the black-lightning beast Keraunos.

It was larger than a truck, and its physical features were like an amalgamation of every carnivorous animal. Its fur was jet-black. Some had even claimed it was surrounded by black lightning. But most of all…

One eyewitness saw Keraunos manifest with their own eyes.

Borts Magot. He was a trustworthy fellow—a follower of Szilard who was compassionate toward Jupiter. Though it was of course possible, it was unlikely he would lie to undermine her. But it was that very fact that made his testimony so troublesome—Borts was effectively neutral and even felt goodwill toward the child.

Borts seems to believe it was Keraunos he saw inside Waking Dream. And without any other eyewitnesses, we have no choice but to treat his words as fact.

Eliza trembled from a whirlwind of emotion. Still, she tried her best to make sense of the situation. She had a task to complete. She was on the hunt.

“Let me cut right to the chase, Eliza. I want you to get to the bottom of this matter and eradicate this creature.”

An Irregularity that looked like Keraunos lurked inside Waking Dream, and she had been chosen as the most suitable person to hunt it down.

Eliza was the sixth highest-ranking member of Rosso and Blu. She had once almost risen to third place, but due to a certain incident, she and Szilard had fallen two ranks. To be more specific, Szilard had used his Planetary Regalia to resolve the incident, and she’d gotten wrapped up in its activation and paid the cost alongside him. Despite that, she was still comfortably in the top ten of her clan and a fierce combatant.

But most importantly, Eliza was Jupiter’s guardian. Unlike the Four Elementals and Szilard, whose social standings prevented them from playing favorites, Eliza could use all means at her disposal to help Jupiter.

I won’t let anything or anyone get in the way of that child’s happiness.

After countless hardships, her beloved Jupiter had finally found a place to call home. At that thought, Eliza firmed up her resolve. She would find the true identity of the Irregularity inside Waking Dream. Just as she reached this conclusion…

“……”

…the door to the café slowly swung open, and the decadent atmosphere was at once torn asunder by a piercing presence.

A large, peculiar man stood in the entrance.

He wore a long black coat, beneath which one could see a particularly archaic suit of metallic armor. His head was completely covered by a helmet, clearly made in the Western continent, that resembled a lion and rendered his expression completely unreadable.

The man, much like Eliza, only seemed to have one eye. However, unlike the maid, he had never had two. From deep within the black steel helmet shined an inorganic red light that one might mistake for a visor. It was a singular, mechanical sensor eye.

“You have my thanks for coming to meet with me today, Lord Black Knight. I am—”

“Orichalcum. Or perhaps you go by ‘Adamant’ these days?” The words spoken by the Black Knight—a mountain of metal that stood at almost seven feet—brought Eliza a sense of nostalgia. “When I heard Szilard and you were being outdone by rookies, I was suspicious. But it seems it’s true. The two of you have gone soft.”

“Perhaps,” she nodded coolly.

She felt no shame at her reduced power, nor at her loss at the hands of the knight. If anything, she was grateful—losing to him had led her to her current position.

“This is why I called you here today, Sir Knight.”

After a short silence, the knight clad in black steel sat down opposite Eliza. “Miss. A drink, if you would.”

“I recommend our limited-time-only special, the Spider’s Cotton Candy. It’s our top drink and comes with a cotton candy spider web.”

Anyone in Sakurabana who hadn’t spent the last several decades under a rock in some far flung dungeon knew of the Black Knight.

He was a legendary mercenary—the man who had conquered more than one hundred dungeons.

Some whispered that he was powerful enough to start interstellar wars with a snap of his finger. Others believed he collected Regalia so that he could feast upon them to gain limitless power. Still others said he was a demon with eternal life. Even Eliza could hardly separate fact from fiction.

But of one thing she could be sure: He was strong, and he kept to himself.

A solitary dark knight, a lone black eagle. He refused to join any clans, opting instead to explore dungeons on behalf of the highest bidder.

This man, the Black Knight, was a living legend—the owner of seven Regalia.

“I’ve confirmed receipt of payment from James. And I have no issues with the details of the request. It seems like, at least until this has all been taken care of, I’ll be working under you, Miss Maid.”

“How reassuring.”

The briefing ended without incident.

The legendary mercenary was exorbitantly expensive. It would be impossible for any regular party to hire him. And unless a clan was doing particularly well financially, he would be out of their range, as well.

On the other hand, as long as you could afford him, the ultimate knight could be bought. To be accurate, aside from the monetary, he had a few other conditions. But Eliza’s master had already arranged everything.

The Black Knight was Szilard’s gift to her. The ultimate support. Bought and paid for using his personal funds. Eliza’s master was firm, overprotective, and most of all, he cared deeply for his comrades.

Though her affection for her master was different than that of Victoria and the others, Eliza had respected and adored Szilard since she was a child. And those same feelings were still vibrantly alive inside her as she undertook the top secret mission she had been assigned.

Eliza’s party would consist of herself—Adamant—and the knight clad in black steel. Their enemy was the creature posing as Keraunos that had made its home inside Waking Dream.

“When do we depart?” asked the knight.

“As soon as possible. How long do you think it will take us to reach the twenty-fourth floor?”

“One day should suffice.”

“As expected,” said Eliza, praising the knight, as she divided up a pile of butterscotch between the two of them.

“In that case, let us depart in twenty-nine hours. At night, the day after tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll learn as much about our foe as I can.”

“Do you have any leads?”

“There is a gentleman whom I know I can trust. I will go speak with him about the matter.”

As she spoke, a face floated into Eliza’s consciousness—one belonging to a new adventurer—the rising star who had so recently defeated her.

◆About the Girl: Part 2

Anime served as Eliza’s original inspiration. One night when she was in elementary school, she stayed up late and happened upon a very cute character in an anime that played late at night. This was the girl’s first favorite character, and her gateway into the world of fandom.

The character in question wore a pristine white apron dress. To the young Eliza, it seemed to almost sparkle. She found herself longing to be like her idol when she grew up.

When she found out the anime had been based on a video game, she saved up her allowance to buy it. The pure joy she felt when she first played it was a memory that would stay with her forever.

Everything in the dating sim was completely new to the young girl. She could play it for hours and hours.

It was so different from anime, novels, and manga. There were music and sound effects, voice acting, and a cast of cute characters. But the plot was so deep. It was full of thrills, heart-wrenching moments, and things that really made her think. Eliza Wispard became fixated with this subculture at the age of ten and decided she would seize upon her passions and live the life she had always wanted. By the time Jupiter came into her life, she was already acknowledged as a queen among maids.

And that was why she recommended those same games to the girl.

It was possible that Jupiter would not enjoy them. It was even possible she’d think Eliza was some kind of weirdo. But Eliza believed a good game with a good story could add a touch of color to the girl’s life.

“I’ve brought you a present today.”

“What’s that?”

“This is called a video game. It’s a wonderful story full of charming girls.”

And after the two of them had played the games that long ago inspired Eliza to embrace her destiny, Jupiter said something to her one day.

“Hey, Eliza. This maid kind of looks like you.”

It was so nonchalant. She didn’t even look up from the screen.

“She’s so cute. Just like you are.”

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness,” Reception Room

The next day, Eliza made plans to meet up with Jupiter’s new family to find out whatever she could about the situation.

They met up in the familiar reception room inside Eternal Darkness. The members were the same as last time, with the exception of Eliza’s master.

“Master Kyouichirou. Mistress Haruka. It has been a while.”

She bowed deeply, making the sleeveless apron dress she wore in summer flutter.

In response, the boy’s face became slightly red as he tried to look away. The girl merely smiled cordially.

Their reactions were just as Eliza had planned. She had specifically chosen the sort of summer outfit that would drive any boy wild. Being a famous cosplayer, the maid was no stranger to using her beauty and fashion as a weapon to get what she desired. She also had no reservations about showing off her body and being stared at.

But what came next was completely unexpected.

“You have my sincere gratitude for taking time out of your schedule to come and meet with me,” she said.

“Not at all. We happened to have the day off today,” Kyouichirou responded. “We were just planning to see a movie. It’s no trouble at all.”

“That’s right, Ms. Eliza!” said Haruka. “Our only plan was to see a romantic movie together. Alone. And nothing else. So really. It’s totally no trouble at all.”

They seemed to be saying the same thing, and yet…

The difference in enthusiasm between them is remarkable.

The boy wasn’t cold, per se, but the girl’s response was so fiery that it almost made him seem so. A truly fearsome pair.

It seems you have your work cut out for you, Master Kyouichirou, thought the maid.

They say great men have a fondness for sensual pleasure, but it was Eliza’s belief that such pleasures gathered at the feet of great men of their own accord. The same was true of her master, James Szilard. And it seemed to Eliza that this kind boy—who looked much older than his age—was of the same ilk.

Kyouichirou Shimizu was a newcomer who had only just debuted as an adventurer that spring. And yet he had already accomplished many seemingly impossible feats and had become a fixture of the adventuring world.

But more importantly, he was Jupiter’s legal guardian and, therefore, someone to whom Eliza owed a debt of gratitude.

Not only had he rescued Jupiter from Keraunos’s grasp, but he had also managed to successfully cleanse the black-lightning beast, something she and her clan had been unable to accomplish.

Even Eliza, while she mostly felt gratitude toward the boy, wasn’t confident she could refuse him if he were to make a pass at her.

Sure, he seemed lacking in certain departments. But that was also part of his charm—as a maid, it would simply make serving him that much more worthwhile.

“Wow. Ms. Eliza, you look so much happier today than the last time we saw you,” said Hruka. “You’re so pretty. I’m totally jealous.”

But Eliza Wispard was twenty-four years old. No matter how charming the boy was, she was not so delusional as to be seriously interested in a fifteen-year-old junior high school student. Nor did she have any interest in trampling on the innocent, burgeoning hopes of the same-aged girl beside him.

“Mistress Haruka, I would be delighted if the two of us could go shopping for clothes someday. I know of the perfect outfit to seize the heart of the gentleman you hold most dear.”

“Wh-where did that come from? Well, I mean, if you have time I…uh, would love to learn.”

It was clear the girl liked the color blue and preferred a bright, refreshing style. But it was for that very reason Eliza thought a totally different color scheme might suit her.

A black and pink base palette. Something Gothic Lolita but made to pop with cute punk elements. I’m somewhat torn on the hairstyle, but I think half-up pigtails would suit her. I would love to have her carry a stuffed bunny rabbit to complete the ensemble.

Eliza heaved a passionate sigh just imagining it. With such a capable model in front of her, she could feel her creative juices flowing. The maid’s demure expression belied the passion flowing like lava inside her mind. And yet…

“Ahem.” A single clearing of the throat was enough to bring Eliza back to her senses. She quickly regained her composure as head maid. “Now, then. Master Kyouichirou. Mistress Haruka. I would like to discuss the reason I’ve asked you both here today.”

She lowered her voice and briefly went over the events of the previous few days.

Eliza had called the meeting to confirm Jupiter’s alibi. She wanted to know where the girl had been the day her fellow clan members were attacked by Keraunos in Waking Dream.

“Considering the time at which the events took place, I assume she was already fast asleep. But please, Master Kyouichirou, I wish to know everything. Please spare no detail, no matter how small you think it may be.”

“…Are you serious?”

The boy began to sweat. His forehead, neck, and even the backs of his palms were covered with it. The reaction was unexpected, and rather suspicious.

“…There’s no way. They’ve been connected like that…?”

“Master Kyouichirou?”

“…Uh, sorry. I feel a bit nauseous,” the boy responded, his voice suddenly high-pitched. “So, uh, listen, Ms. Eliza. Please keep this between us, but…”

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #336, “Eternal Darkness,” Central Entrance

By the time their meeting concluded roughly two hours later, the sky outside was already tinged with twilight hues.

“Master Kyouichirou. Mistress Haruka. I greatly appreciate you both taking the time to meet with me today.”

She’d gotten what she came for. In fact, she’d been even more successful than she’d hoped.

“I will repay this debt of gratitude to both of you soon. I swear to you on my reputation as a maid, that I will show you the greatest show of hospitality anyone has ever witnessed.”

“Whoooa! That sounds exciting! We should definitely go together, Kyou.”

Compared to the charming young girl, her male comrade was rather sullen. His mind appeared to be somewhere else. He seemed almost uneasy. It was as though he was trying to hide something he felt he should say.

“Master Kyouichirou,” Eliza said, thrusting out her well-developed chest. “I am a maid. And what you did for that girl’s sake, I will not soon forget.”

“Jupiter’s the one who did all that. I barely even helped.”

“It is not for you to decide how much you did or did not contribute.”

She grabbed his hands and brought them to her chest. The scene was dyed crimson in the twilight as the gentle summer breeze caressed their cheeks. The blue feline next to Kyouichirou hissed.

“I feel a deep sense of gratitude toward you, Master Kyouichirou. Enough that, were it your wish, I would gladly serve you as your personal maid.”

“‘P-personal maid’?! N-no, that’s not what I— Well, I mean…it certainly sounds wonderful, and I would love to say yes, but uh… Haruka! Help!”

“Not a chance!”

This was no attempt at seduction. Eliza was using the door-in-the-face technique of negotiation. She had offered something far too extravagant, knowing it would be immediately shot down. But that exchange was only meant to break down the other party’s mental barriers, making them more likely to accept her next suggestion.

“Very well. Then, Master Kyouichirou, isn’t there anything you would have this lowly maid do for you? Your word is as good as that of my master.”

The lonely cry of a single cat reverberated through the crimson sky. After a few moments of silence, the young boy—who was much larger than Eliza—spoke up. His words came slowly, and his tone was apologetic.

“Well, if you insist. In that case, can we ask you to go and meet with her?”

His request was no simple matter.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #199, “Waking Dream,” Twenty-Fourth Floor

There were two sides to the dungeon known as Waking Dream: the scorching heat of day, and the frigid temperatures of night. Anyone wishing to cross this dimension of sand would first have to brave its antipodal climates.

There was a staggering 158-degree difference between the hottest and coldest times of day. And there, within the swirling sands, braving the oppressive climate and thirty-floor depth, were the silhouettes of a man and a woman.

The moon waned in the indigo skies above. By conventional standards, the temperature in the dungeon was minus twenty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. The powdery sand mixed into the blustering winds was as white as granulated sugar.

“How are you faring, Sir Knight?”

“You’re worried about me? When you’re wearing so little?”

“I am perfectly fine. I have quite a strong constitution.”

The two figures walked through the white blizzard without a hint of distress.

The only two visible colors in that world of pure white were the black steel of the knight’s armor and the silver of the maid’s hair. And then…

“We’ve found it.”

…they saw a black smudge sullying the clean world ahead. It was a veil as dark as a shadow hanging in the air like black mist. The curtain of night seemed at odds with the dimension of snow and sand. It had no top or bottom and spanned the limits of their vision in every direction.

“So, it was a reality boundary after all,” said the knight.

“Indeed,” the maid agreed. “The stories would not add up otherwise.”

The extreme cold was no problem for Eliza—her pact with her spirit, Adamant, meant her body was impervious. But to most ordinary adventurers, Waking Dream was a death trap at this time of night, as cold as the innermost circle of Hell. Anyone who lost consciousness here would certainly freeze to death.

“I can confirm the temperature is rising. The dimensional settings have been tampered with. The boundary extends three hundred feet around us—we’ve been cut off.”

Under normal circumstances, the victims would never have survived after falling unconscious.

It seemed the creature had created a comfortable space for itself, allowing its prey to be found while still alive. If they had merely been knocked out, they would have eventually succumbed to the blizzard or, once the sun rose, the scorching heat. And that meant the offender had been keeping its victims alive on purpose.

But why?

“This is just a guess on my part, but that Irregularity? I’d wager it’s a nightmare beast.”

Kyouichirou’s guess had been right on the mark.

Back in Eternal Darkness, Eliza had asked Kyouichirou about Jupiter’s alibi. According to him, they had purchased the latest portable dating sim and had played it until dawn at a nearby family restaurant.

That was all the reassurance the maid had needed. It was possible for her to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Jupiter had not been inside Waking Dream that day.

But Kyouichirou had more to say.

“Most of the enemies that show up in Waking Dream are psychic types, right? You said none of the people who were attacked died or went missing, despite the brutal environment. In that case, isn’t it possible they were attacked by an enemy that assaulted their minds? Or maybe, say, ate their dreams?”

The enemy in question only appeared in one specific area at a set time. And its victims were trapped in a deep sleep.

“The injured adventurers are still unconscious. The creature is keeping its victims in a state of suspended animation for some reason. And all this in a dungeon called Waking Dream that’s filled with psychic-type spirits. Taking all these facts into account, the identity of this ‘Keraunos’ is probably…”

“I know your true identity. You are merely an apparition summoned by a skill that shows a person their worst nightmare.”

The black-lightning beast roared from within its black veil.

Keraunos. The spirit that had gouged out Eliza’s eye and sowed seeds of fear and hatred among the members of Rosso and Blu.

The creature had sensed the trauma in her heart and summoned an illusory beast that took the form of her greatest nightmare.

“Sir Knight,” Eliza called out to the man in black, “tell me what you see.”

The one-eyed maid pointed her index finger at what, to her, looked like the detestable figure of Keraunos. There was no doubt in her mind that the eyewitness Borts, as well as most other members of Rosso and Blu, would say they saw Keraunos. However…

“I can’t tell you that. But the monster I see looks nothing like the black-lightning beast you’ve described.”

A large explosion rang out. In the blink of an eye, a heavy machine gun appeared in the hands of the Black Knight. He fired round after round at some invisible foe.

“It would seem the two of us are being shown a different nightmare.”

“The boundary’s been corrupting reality around us. This thing could easily take out opponents twice as strong as itself, provided they never saw through the illusion.”

Eliza sent the black-lightning beast flying with a single right hook.

Her body was as hard as a diamond thanks to Adamant’s power. Her fists could punch through buildings and crush boulders with ease. Even weakened by a curse as she was, her well-trained limbs were able to unleash a barrage of martial techniques at nearly the speed of sound.

A mere respawn of Keraunos would be no match for her power. And yet…

There is no point to any of this. There is no punching a dream. This beast is merely an illusion.

As if to prove her theory correct, the Black Knight was firing his machine gun in a completely different direction.

“Sir Knight, it seems our ‘channels’ are beginning to drift apart.”

This was a common situation when facing psychic enemies. After fighting an opponent’s illusions for a time, it would become difficult to discern friend from foe. And before long, allies would be at each other’s throats.

The sort they were up against was particularly tricky, as the erosion of reality happened gradually, making it hard to discern when and where the illusion began.

If targeted attacks are prone to missing their mark, then our best option is…

As they fought, the darkness around them continued to deepen. The figure of Keraunos—so clear at the start of the fight—had now begun to blur. To Eliza, it seemed that, rather than her vision, it was her ability to see that was being compromised.

“Sir Knight.” Her voice echoed through the empty dreamworld. “Let’s proceed according to plan.”

“I’m ready anytime… On your mark,” he said through the curtain of darkness.

The next instant, Eliza called out the name of her Regalia. “Bloom in all your glory, O Goddess of the White Rose—Alba Rosea!”

A dazzling flash of white light lit up the area and dispelled the veil of darkness. As it did, the compressed air bomb Eliza had just created exploded. The blast sent a wave of thermal energy and shock waves that extended out in a diameter of over six hundred feet, scorching the entire circular boundary the enemy had set up.

Alba Rosea was a skill that could charge up and set off a devastating series of air bombs that could be detonated in quick succession. The usual downside was that the explosion would engulf the user as well. But it was the perfect skill for Eliza, whose body was impervious.

“Quite the beautiful scene, wouldn’t you say?”

Despite being the epicenter of an earth-shattering explosion of compressed air, the maid was unscathed. Even her white apron was pristine as she walked through the area, its veil of ignorance now peeled away.

Their vision had returned to normal, and they could once again see the snow as it blew across the landscape of Waking Dream.

“Well done, Sir Knight.”

The man clad in black steel was equally unfazed. Eliza didn’t know by what means he had obtained his indestructibility. Not even Szilard knew.

It might be the blessing of a spirit or the power of a Regalia. But indestructibility was one of the knight’s many talents.

“How are things on your end?” asked the maid.

“Hmph,” the knight replied, swinging his galactic longsword through empty space. “I’ve cut it down.”

The longsword was the color of a galactic swirl and roughly ten feet long. It was a Regalia with the power to cut through principles.

It required its user to recognize and understand its target. But once the knight could see through a rule’s logic, he could cut through the activation of Astral Skills or even the very rules of a dungeon.

And a boundary that manifested people’s nightmares was no exception.

“There’s its true form,” said the Black Knight, pointing a finger at the rapidly crumbling edge of the boundary.

With the Black Knight’s galactic sword and Alba Rosea striking it in a pincer movement, the enemy didn’t stand a chance.

A psychic spirit’s strong suit was their power to control their opponents. They attacked the mind instead of the body with a host of gimmicks and rules, which, if successful, could overwhelm opponents much stronger than they were. Depending on the situation, they could be practically unstoppable.

“Is that a…?”

But in exchange for that incredible power, they were quite fragile. And this foe was no exception.

The creature that had masterminded the entire series of events, the nightmare beast posing as Keraunos, turned out to be a single tiny pony.

It was black and starved, and it lay on its side. Its eyes were glazed over, and its breathing was rough. It didn’t even seem capable of standing. It was a weak, pathetic, little nag. If they didn’t know any better, they would’ve felt sorry for the poor, little spirit. But they did know better.

“…?!”

The pony turned its attention toward Eliza and glared at her. The next instant, a vision of Jupiter crying appeared before the maid’s eye.

She’s crying. She doesn’t recognize me. She doesn’t know where she is.

It’s like I’ve been cut off from everything around me. The fear of losing everything I’ve built is sending shudders through my body.

It is of no concern that I’ve lost an eye. As long as the girl is safe, that is my only priority.

Was that the right choice? Why did I see her off that day when she had to leave the clan?

“Well, I guess…when I think of what would have happened if Jupiter had never met us… If I imagine how this whole incident would have turned out if she were alone, I…”

He practically went pale when he said that to me. I could feel my heart clench.

I only wanted to protect her. Even if she left the clan, even if she forgot me over and over again, I still believed I could protect her.

“I think it’s good that things happened the way they did. If even a single button on her shirt had been in the wrong place, she probably would have…”

If that poor girl with no memory were blamed for these nightmares she couldn’t even recall, would she believe in herself?

Would anyone believe her?

“I…”

Jupiter is crying. She’s screaming because she doesn’t remember who she is.

“I…”

That’s right. I was mistaken. I should never have let you go. If it were not for Master Kyouichirou, then surely that girl’s life would have been…

“My apologies, Master Kyouichirou. But I’m afraid that is the one request I cannot fulfill.” Eliza surprised even herself with how firmly she spoke. “That child has finally found happiness. She deserves to experience exactly as much joy as she did suffering.”

Eliza Wispard had only ever wanted one thing: for Jupiter to live a happy life. That was enough for her.

“The time for us to meet is not right. I am a symbol of her past. If I were to show my face to her now, I would only upset her again, just as I did on that solemn rainy day.”

The truth was Eliza wished for nothing more than to hold Jupiter in her arms right then and there. She wished to catch up on all the time they had lost and play games together.

But she knew what she had lost would weigh heavily on the girl’s conscience. She didn’t want to see her suffer. Not anymore.

“You have my deepest apologies for my brazen rejection of your request.”

“No, it’s fine. I should be the one to apologize. It was insensitive of me to ask for such a thing.” He bowed his head sincerely and held out his hand. “At least take this. It’s a letter from Jupiter. She thought long and hard about what to write, so I hope you’ll read it when you have the chance.”

The small pony was trembling in disbelief.

It locked eyes with the maid and attacked her with its most devastating attack, Mental Massacre—a technique that assaulted the person with their worst nightmare and greatest regret.

But moments after taking a direct hit, the maid had returned to her senses. She cast a chilling gaze down on the tiny creature.

“Are you quite done?”

The single-eyed maid’s hands began to glow with a silvery light.

Ten lines of steel thread glittered through the snowy night air. This was one of Eliza’s Regalia—a weapon so sharp and destructive that she refused to ever use it unless she was absolutely certain she wished to kill her opponent.

There was no more room for sympathy. No time for quips. Eliza had been shown her worst nightmare and her greatest regret. All that was left…

“Farewell, Irregularity.”

…was to let loose her Regalia—the steel threads that had earned her the nickname “Orichalcum” in her prime. They sliced through the very ground upon which the nightmare beast lay, ripping it to shreds.

◆Dungeon City Sakurabana: Dungeon #88, “Mother of All,” Rosso and Blu Clan House, Clan Master’s Room

That was how the second Keraunos incident was brought to a close.

Peace had finally been restored to the dungeon. And Eliza had all the evidence she needed to prove the nightmare beast in Waking Dream was, in fact, an Irregularity: It had dropped a spirit stone the size of a truck and gave Eliza her sixth official Regalia.

“You’ve done well, Eliza! I should have expected no less from my trusted maid! As if getting to the bottom of all this wasn’t enough, you also skipped the Regalia lottery and got yourself a sixth one! Color me impressed!”

“It was all thanks to Lord Black Knight’s assistance, Master Szilard.”

Usually, Eliza would have mentioned the tip-off she had received in Eternal Darkness about the nightmare beast. But this time, she kept silent.

After all, her new master had asked her to.

“Sorry, one more thing, Ms. Eliza. If you don’t mind, could you avoid telling Szilard about my little theory? I’d really appreciate it. I just, well… I don’t want to cause him or the rest of your clan any trouble by getting overly involved in their affairs, you know what I mean?”

Essentially, Kyouichirou didn’t want anyone digging into the information he had provided.

A good maid perfectly understands and follows through on her master’s wishes. And Eliza was intelligent and loyal enough to do just that.

“It sounds as though all the members who were asleep have finally woken up,” said Szilard. “As long as I overlook the tremendous sum of money I paid to the Black Knight, it’s almost like nothing ever even happened!”

“A wonderful conclusion indeed.”

While Eliza was somewhat terse, she was quite relieved everything had ended this way.

She had successfully saved her fellow clan members, gained a new power, and most of all, she had been able to prove the girl’s innocence and protect her happiness.

Everything was wrapped up in a neat, little package.

…Only one thing still concerned her: the Black Knight’s words after they’d completed the job. She had no idea how he’d meant her to take them.

“What are you hiding, Eliza? The information you received couldn’t have been gathered in a single day. It was far too specific. And accurate.”

…I certainly hope nothing comes of that little comment, she thought.

Rumor had it that the Black Knight was searching for something. Meanwhile, her new master—a newcomer with seemingly miraculous powers of deduction—had somehow been able to see through the Irregularity’s identity.

The Black Knight seeketh, and the master findeth.

Should the two of them ever meet, there was no telling what might happen.

“You’ve got a source for this intel. And whoever it is, they’re quite shrewd. They were able to figure this whole thing out when no one in your clan could.”

She hoped, from the bottom of her heart, that nothing would come of it…

“It seems I’m going to have to look into this person.”

…but Eliza had a sinking feeling that the matter wasn’t over.

As soon as she finished her report, Eliza headed immediately to the garden filled with memories of the girl.

Rain or shine, no matter the time of year, the garden in Mother of All would never change. It transcended the seasons, defied the principle of death itself. It was a paradise, eternally in bloom.

It was there the one-eyed maid held up a letter to the sky and smiled.

“Dear Eliza,” the letter read. The handwriting was unique, to say the least—clearly not the work of a trained hand. Eliza could tell at a glance it was the girl’s handwriting. “I’m gonna try my best. I’m gonna work hard to find some medicine with Kyouichirou and the others.”

Come to think of it, Eliza thought, she had a knack for reading, but she was never very good at writing.

“I’ll make your eye better. Promise.”

“All right, Jupiter,” said the maid.

“I can’t wait to play with you once you’re better.”

“It’s a promise.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, Jupiter.”

End of The Dreaming Beast and the One-Eyed Maid