ll there, with a gaze full of determination.

She had something L?vateinn didn't.

A mechanical imitation.

An organic imitation.

Wasn't that the difference? Were they different there?

Was that the thing that L?vateinn hadn't been able to obtain, but that girl had obtained?

The answer was....

Hurry, answer.

Tell me the answer.

Tell me the answer.

Tell me the answer.

If it could be conveyed.

If it could reach here.

The answer.

The answer.

She wanted more answers.

What she should do.

What she could do to reverse this situation.

In her battle procedure there were no methods regarding avoiding this situation.

Then was there an answer in the battle experience that she still hadn't organized?

She searched.

In order to obtain the answer.

In order to know an even more correct answer.

In order to find a way to break open this situation.

A scene went through her mind.

Or perhaps, if she were a person, it would have been called a light bulb going off.

Since she hadn't organized the battle records, it should be a record from not too long ago.

She had invaded Grendan, and fought with the Heaven's Blade successors who possessed extraordinary fighting power.

What had they done?

Hopeless before L?vateinn's fighting power, how had they dealt with it?

These records....

Give these records....

When the records were being recreated, they stopped at an image.

It stopped after she had invaded Grendan, in the place of the first serious battle.

It was two Heaven's Blade successors.

They hadn't had the answer in their battle.

But the scene stopped there.

On their hands.

On the image of two Heaven's Blade successors fallen on the ground, with their hands overlapped.

The two hadn't died at the same time.

They hadn't done that before they died.

But, at the end when they met death together, the one who had died first had seemingly replied to the longing of the one who died second, and overlapped their hands.

Pulling them together.

Why?

historical

A new query.

She was searching for the answer.

But, was this a problem.

It was far too....

"Hands...."

If she reached out her hand.... If she could link hands together....

Then, could she be happy?

But, where should she reach her hand to?

Would there be anyone who would hold that hand?

Would anyone pull her hand?

Would anyone's hand overlap with hers?

"So....So....Sa- ma.."

She knew that she wouldn't have that kind of ending.

That sort of ending would no longer appear.

But, even so....

Was there anyone, who could hold that hand....

"Mas....................ter........................"

That hand.

Who would.

Things became black.

Her vision and her thinking ability.

The activity of her core was already drawing close to stopping.

Was there anyone.

Was there anyone who would.

Was there anyone who would come........

Anyone........................

◇

"How truly heartwarming."

The irony in that speech made something inside Layfon's heart tremble.

He felt a feeling like loathing or perhaps rage.

He had started seeing it at some time.

The voice came from a black cat.

"....I think that it's better this way."

Leerin replied with that.

Leerin's hand was holding L?vateinn's.

Though he felt extremely confused at a black cat talking, his fatigue was already near its limits right now, and his wounds were extremely serious.

A pistol was under Leerin's feet, a pistol that felt too large for her to hold.

A bullet from that pistol had defeated L?vateinn.

But, since when had she had that pistol?

She didn't seem to be carrying Dites.

Though he longed for the relaxation brought about by their final victory, right now the most important was still to use internal Kei to treat his wounds. In order to prioritize treatment, he didn't care even if a black cat was speaking or if Leerin had gotten a pistol at some time.

Layfon treated himself while helplessly looking at the strange post-crisis situation in front of him.

"Is that kind of tenderness necessary? Isn't it because of this mechanical doll that you ran into this kind of trouble?"

The black cat spoke.

"Isn't it because of her that you were unable to live like a normal person?"

"....But, she can no longer move. Then shouldn't she be already dead?'

Leerin spoke while holding the hand of L?vateinn who had stopped moving.

L?vateinn no longer moved.

Fallen on the ground, with a large hole opened on her body, motionless. No blood flowed, and though she was dead, she seemed too clean, feeling like it wouldn't be too strange even if she started moving again at some time.

But, Leerin didn't think of destroying her body completely because of this.

Because she had the outer appearance of a human.

Because they had been companions living together in the Academy City in the past.

The hate for her enemy that battle had inflated disappeared along with the end of the battle.

All that was left was only the emptiness brought by the disappearance of those feelings.

The black cat replied to Leerin's question.

"Nn, yes. To express it a bit more poetically, she's dead as a doorknob. If we want to express it more mechanically, then her function has been completely destroyed."

The voice and the cat's movements weren't connected, that kind of contradiction made Layfon feel a bit queasy.

"....Do you hate that person?"

"....I remember saying so before, right?"

"I seem to remember you saying something like letting me see the answer."

"Maybe it was like that."

"Then can you let me see the answer?"

"Didn't I already show it to you? A fake can't be the same as the genuine article."

Because of the queasy feeling produced from the black cat talking, Layfon lowered his head.

He had a sort of extremely odd feeling.

It wasn't only Layfon who felt that.

"If you make the wrong choice, everything will return to zero, I hope you can understand that point again."

"You!"

Leerin got mad and shouted out at the black cat's words.

The next moment.

"It's not only this person who's made the wrong choice, right? Erumi."

A voice that didn't belong to Leerin came from Leerin's mouth.

It was a man's voice.

A low and masculine voice.

Even Leerin who had made that kind of voice covered her mouth and widened her eyes.

"Only knowing the value of something after losing it, that's something that everyone experiences. The question is whether it can be reclaimed after losing it. You know that pain as well, isn't that right?"

"....You really said something amazing."

Was it only the black cat who didn't feel surprised?

No....

"........"

Saya walked over accompanied by the sound of her footsteps.

"Airen.... Aien, is it you?"

"Ah, yes. I'm only borrowing her mouth for a bit, I'll disappear soon."

"Aien...."

"Saya, it's almost there."

"Yes."

"Ah, I have a final thing to tidy up here, so I'll stop here."

The voice said this.

"Airen."

"No one wants to hear your grumbling, Erumi. I don't need to state the reasons, right?"

"........"

The black cat who didn't know what to say went silent.

"Then I take my leave."

"Ah....Eh? Eh?"

After saying this, Leerin made a sound like she was practicing pronunciation with a surprised expression.

It seemed like he had already left.

Layfon watched from the side as if he didn't care. The fate that Leerin had been entangled in seemed far too complicated to Layfon. Lintence and Alsheyra hadn't had any big change in their expressions since just now.

But, it wasn't that he didn't care.

They had said Airen.

Then, that voice was the voice belonging to the origin of all Military Artists.

Also, there was something else he was concerned about.

"....The final thing?"

Could it be that everything hadn't ended yet?

"....Speaking of which, how are those helpers aboveground?"

Alsheyra said this.

That was a good question.

They hadn't had the leisure to think about this during battle, so nothing regarding them had appeared in their minds.

Had they been continuously fighting with the giant?

"Those guys shouldn't be that rule-abiding."

Lintence said this.

If they wanted to fight against an enemy who possessed strong regenerative ability, relying on normal methods couldn't resolve it, and wasn't suited to their styles.

They should have thought of some way to unleash an extraordinarily powerful blow.

But that kind of thing hadn't happened a single time while Layfon and the others were battling, it definitely hadn't.

Then regardless of which side had won, a victor was already decided.

But, the two sides had no reinforcements.

Did that mean they were still fighting?

While he was still thinking about those things, several floating lights flew towards Layfon and the others.

Psychokinesis flakes.

(Your Majesty, I'm glad to see you're safe and sound.)

(We finally got through.)

Two voices overlapped with each other.

One was Elsmau's voice.

The other was Felli's voice.

"Felli, how is the situation aboveground?"

His body hadn't completely recovered, and Layfon let internal Kei run through him while asking.

(They're still fighting on this side.)

"Eh?"

An unexpected response, and not only Layfon, but the others also showed the same expression.

L?vateinn had already been defeated.

Then, shouldn't the copies making trouble aboveground also have fallen?

(It's not the giant from before.)

Felli's correction made Layfon and the others look at each other again.

Afterwards, Felli and Elsmau recounted together.

Recounting the battle aboveground.