Ch.172172. Disconnection.

I no longer feel the warmth.

Something, definitely feels severed.

The feeling of something that had been connected until now suddenly snapping.

“W-what have you done, magical girl!”

“Hmm? I just terminated a needlessly malicious and irrational contract?”

“You…! How did you…!”

“Well, anyone could see how flimsy it was. The contract’s bond had weakened to the point where even a magical girl like me could break it? I could see it, so I cut it. That’s all.”

“Do you think that makes sense…! It’s a deep covenant formed between souls! Even transcendent beings shouldn’t be able to sever a contract’s bond! That’s what promises are! That’s what contracts are!”

“Well. I guess it’s thanks to your negligence. You really didn’t care about Vine, did you?”

“Kugh… Indifferent? Hah? Are you saying you shower affection on your tools?!”

“See. You reveal your true feelings again when things don’t go your way. Vine. Your boss that you trusted so much. Getting so agitated over what a mere magical girl says?”

“…”

Why would Boss…?

“Well, you grabbed the core and ran away. I guess you really think you’re in trouble now?”

“Shut up, magical girl…!”

“Hmm… I thought you’d be stronger. To think you’d be weaker. I was nervous for nothing.”

That’s…

Boss wouldn’t act like this.

I’ve never seen this side of them.

It’s too contradictory.

Until now, that Boss who easily escaped from any hardship or adversity…?

“Blanc. Something’s wrong. We can’t let our guard down…!”

…!?

KWAAANG!!!

“Blanc!!”

“Kuhuk?! A surprise attack…?”

From beyond the dust, I hear a familiar voice.

“As expected, the core alone isn’t enough to draw out the previous power. And to think the contract would weaken and break.”

“Doctor…?”

“However, I prepared a backup connection for such a contingency.”

The doctor appears in between, with something shining.

After manipulating a terminal.

A sudden rush of ‘warmth’.

This warmth…

The doctor…?

“Whether monster or human. In the end, they’re beings moved by the brain and hormones. If magic also affects hormones. Though not directly, it can indirectly guide thoughts like emotions.”

“What have you done…?”

“Can’t you see? It’s a process to allow Boss to possess Vine’s power?”

“You’re insane…!”

Blanc launches a sword strike toward the doctor.

Naturally, though it feels odd to say it.

Using something like an electromagnetic field, the doctor easily blocks it with a barrier.

And I continue to feel this ‘warmth’ being injected into me.

So that’s what… was being injected?

Warmth can be forcibly inserted…?

It’s warm.

It’s so warm, I want to approach.

I want to get closer.

No, I shouldn’t approach.

I shouldn’t approach.

If I approach, the truth I just learned will.

“Do you think that’s possible? Vine. Come over here and surrender your power to Boss.”

“Ugh… th-this… I, I should, I should go… warmth feels good, but… I, I shouldn’t go, I, I should go, no. I shouldn’t go…”

“This is for Boss’s ideal, to resolve Eden’s destiny, Vine. Following your instinct isn’t strange. Isn’t it natural as a monster? Monsters are beings who utilize instinct more strongly than humans. Our instinct is greater than reason, isn’t it the sum of big data?”

“The doctor who stands at the pinnacle of reason… w-warmth…”

“Yes. I acknowledge it. Just follow your instinct. Just follow that warmth and come over here.”

Follow the…

warmth?

The doctor is smart, but…

My head is getting drowsy.

My thoughts are becoming strange.

I absolutely shouldn’t go there.

I shouldn’t go there.

…

Boss’s will?

Is what I’ve been shown until now the truth, or is what’s being revealed now the truth…?

“I guess you’re getting desperate too?”

Blanc lightly waves her hand, as if brushing something away.

Instantly, my head clears.

“Wait…?! Signal lost? Again, again…! After years of implanting it…! This?”

“Did you think our Elise wouldn’t know? She already found and reversed everything. Controlling the body… Hah. You did quite a lot, didn’t you? Even Vine’s well-used tail. You messed with that too?”

“H-how did you…!?”

“…You didn’t know? But Elise helped me. The Elise that you, no, all of you ignored created the biggest variable, didn’t she?”

“W-what…! I still have something left! You idiots…! There’s no way I wouldn’t have prepared for such things!”

The doctor throws away the terminal he was holding and approaches a control panel behind him, trying to manipulate something.

But Blanc immediately throws her sword.

Completely destroying the control panel the doctor was trying to touch.

“Is it over?”

“N-n-n-no way! This can’t-?!”

CHANG—!

This time, at another control unit the doctor was trying to approach.

Swords kept forming in Blanc’s hand.

As if to interfere with each and every action the doctor might take.

As if she doesn’t even consider Boss a threat.

Having barely escaped from that flood of ‘warmth’ and regaining some clarity, I say.

“…Still, with Boss here. Targeting only that side is…”

“Hmm? That one. Not very strong. If they’re weakened to the point of needing to absorb your power. Becoming a transcendent being is already out of reach, it seems. Looks like they’re planning to escape to another world. With that doctor. We can’t allow that.”

“…Then, the real truth is.”

“Yes. Just as you heard.”

“…After all.”

“…Let’s not blame ourselves for what’s already happened. Us.”

“No, that, that…”

“Let’s talk after this is over. That’s what we said, right?”

“Yes…”

The only place I can lean on now is.

This side.

That side.

Eden.

Eden, which was a false paradise.

Ah…

I.

I forge a sword with magic.

The weapon I used first.

I create it using magic.

Back then, I couldn’t materialize weapons with magic.

So I carried a scabbard.

My sword.

My weapon.

I.

What was I fighting for with my weapon?

What were the sacrifices for?

What I can do now for those people I sacrificed is.

To help the magical girls.

Subjugate Boss.

Yes, subjugation is.

“I’ll help.”

“Vine. Your magic?”

“…? It’s recovering a bit…? Compared to my magic container, it’s as little as water trickling from a cracked bottle.”

“How…? Didn’t Elise say she couldn’t solve that on her own…?”

“Perhaps… that doctor seems to be the problem. Boss wasn’t particularly involved.”

“…Then, that bas— I mean, if we take down that doctor first?”

“I’ll hold off Boss.”

“Then.”

I send Blanc behind me.

I offer my back and face Boss.

I’ve never faced Boss before.

But still, but still.

This is something I have to do.

I’m the one who needs to deal with Boss.

For me, to them.

To atone even a speck of dust’s worth to those I’ve hurt.

“…Vine. I’ll ask you one last time. Let’s realize our ideal. Come over here.”

“What is this ideal you speak of, Boss?”

“Well… isn’t it to rule everyone equally under me, to make everyone happy?”

“…When you say placing them under your feet.”

“Yes. Originally, life becomes happy through the sacrifice of a transcendent being. If someone entrusts me with unnecessary things, like issues of distribution, there would be no conflicts. Vine, I believe I’ve introduced this to you several times before.”

“So. You.”

“Don’t you understand? That if I become a transcendent being, I can save multiple worlds? The existence of transcendent beings has already been observed, proven. If I ascend to that position, I can make everyone happy.”

“…If you become a transcendent being.”

“Then, it will be a world where everyone can be happy. Without conflict, everyone considerate of each other, not treating each other with malice, excluding inefficient things like war. Free from the pain of labor, able to find all their happiness…”

“…How am I supposed to believe that?”

“What are you saying, Vine?”

“Even if I trust you, Boss. What about others who don’t? They were hostile to you. Whether you’ll truly save them, or cast them out of paradise, inflicting eternal suffering. How can I know?”

“Vine. Do I appear so petty in your eyes?”

“Human affairs are unpredictable, after all.”

“Are you saying I haven’t earned your trust?”

“…I just realized it now.”

“…”

“That you are not fit to become a transcendent being.”

“Vine.”

“You… rather, would ruin people’s happiness.”

“Hah. After I rescued you when you were crawling out of a dimensional crack, wandering aimlessly.”

“You brought misfortune to them.”

“Now you turn against your master.”

“Their sacrifices could never be justified.”

“Hah. Another failure? This time a major failure of a creation. I should have been more selective before throwing them into that crack. Was it my mistake for getting excited about finding a suitable planet?”

“Boss, no.”

“I’ll show you the difference in our caliber, Vine.”

“Ba’al, Boss of Eden. I, as the former 2nd Captain of Eden and the 1st Division Head who pursued paradise, will block your path. That plan of yours.”

Boss, like a grim reaper coming to harvest my life.

As if reclaiming a life that originally didn’t exist.

Holds a scythe, pointing at me.

“I will thoroughly interfere. May there be only obstacles in your path.”

But, what’s this?

That scythe.

It looks weaker than Arin’s scythe.