Chapter 55 『Perpetrator of the Domain』

—Aldebaran’s 『Domain』 is an Authority tied to the Witch Factors.

However, Aldebaran is not a holder of a Witch Factor. The 『Witch』 called this an out-of-category or special case, but Aldebaran thought it shouldn’t be prettied up like that and insisted it ought to be called outright theft or a missing number.

As a phenomenon, there is precedent: for example, the 『Witches of Sin』 who once synchronized with a Witch Factor and obtained an Authority retain the same power even after death, when they are reduced to souls alone. Regarding this, the 『Witch』 hypothesized that a Witch Factor is a key that opens a door granting the right to interfere with the world, and that once opened, the door remains open even if the key is lost.

In that case, it accounts for the 『Witches of Sin』, but not for Aldebaran or the 『Witch』 herself; on that point, she advocated a handover theory. A deep bond with someone who adapted to a Witch Factor might have caused, from birth, the door to the right to interfere with the world—that is, an Authority—to be opened. However—

“Just as it’s hard for a winged being to explain to someone without wings what it feels like to move them, our Authorities that aren’t add-ons are hard to explain. From birth, the door’s half open—that’s about it.”

The 『Witch』 who said that wore a smug look—no doubt because, to her, it was a bit of peak humor. Unfortunately, Aldebaran couldn’t find it funny at all, though he could nod at the substance.

Indeed, had the door been fully open, the airflow would have been far better. With poor ventilation, he peers through a half‑open door and sticks his hand through it; that’s why the door blocks his view, or his hand gets caught, and he’s struck by unforeseen accidents.

Perhaps it would have been better if, like the 『Witch』, he could have firmly decided not to open the door. However, Aldebaran was too ordinary and too powerless to do that. An Aldebaran who didn’t open the door had no prospect of fulfilling the role expected of him by the 『Witch』. If so, then even half‑open, leaving the door shut was never an option for Aldebaran.

Therefore, Aldebaran’s Authority, being a half‑open door, has many opaque parts. Combining feel and rule‑of‑thumb with the 『Witch』’s conjectures, they understand about eighty percent of the whole picture. Even so, there’s no hindrance to using the Authority, and Aldebaran does not hesitate to use it. It may sound dangerous, but it’s like how you face no mortal risk in using a cell phone even if you don’t understand how a cell phone works. Granted, Aldebaran’s Authority is intimately tied to life, so the circumstances may differ from a cell phone.

At any rate, it’s an Authority he has lived with long enough that, in subjective time, his life has been magnified a dozenfold or more, and yet there are many black boxes in the 『Domain』. The bugs that sometimes occur are the foremost of these.

A bug in the 『Domain』 is a phenomenon in which the holder of control over the configured matrix shifts from Aldebaran to some other subject placed within the same matrix. Normally, Aldebaran wills the 『Domain』 into existence and is permitted to make endless attempts, but only within the allotted time and space set there. During that time, Aldebaran alone continuously retains memory, and with each attempt he conducts different tests to search for a breakthrough—that’s the standard MO. However, if a button gets fastened wrong and a bug occurs, the right to retry the 『Domain』 is transferred to another party within the matrix, and that party goes on repeating the never‑ending matrix over and over until the 『Domain』 is dispelled.

This bug, which never manifested back when he was under the 『Witch』, is something Aldebaran suspects first developed because he lost his maiden battle and thereby lost trust in his Authority. In fact, a bug always happens when Aldebaran doubts his own Authority.

Long ago on 『Gladiator Island』, when he was matched for a duel to the death with a formidable foe against whom he hadn’t one chance in ten thousand; later as well—during his clash with 『Leip Barielle』, when Aldebaran was at a loss as to where he stood, and in his fight with the assassin 『Yae』 sent by 『Priscilla』—this bug arose. Above all—

“—How interesting. I’ve never heard of entrusting the initiative of an Authority to the other party.”

It happened when he challenged the 『Witch of Greed』 who welcomed Aldebaran in the 『Castle of Dreams』.

“It was quite a rare experience. I see—so that’s the world you’re seeing. Certainly, if you had no idea of the cause of the occurring phenomena, it would be the sort of thing to drive you insane.”

He charged at the altered 『Witch of Greed』, demanding she give back the 『Witch』 he knew. He launched attacks from every angle, and when all his trial and error and ingenuity proved completely ineffective, the suspicion toward his Authority that had arisen within Aldebaran—almost as if to prove it—produced a bug.

“A doubt in the absoluteness of an Authority, and the change born from it… that’s a power derived from weakness. Regrettably, it’s an effect that doesn’t work on beings already mired in madness. Her, and me as well.”

Aldebaran was bewildered as the Witch of Greed spoke in detail about the hell she herself had experienced. It was certainly the same world of the Domain that Aldebaran knew—yet at the same time something decisively different, to the point that he couldn’t understand how the Witch of Greed had endured it. As she herself had said, perhaps she could bear it because she wasn’t sane.


“When you exercise your authority, in most cases you’re the weak one. You cling to the Domain in order to find the faintest chance of victory, pry it open, and ultimately seize it—essentially, you’re the victim. And if the one forcing you into the Domain is the assailant, then this becomes an exchange of initiative between victim and assailant.”


As the Witch of Greed happily revealed the true nature of that hell, Aldebaran felt the blood in his body grow cold—and at the same time, he understood that this was a nightmare of his own making. The Dream Castle turning into a nightmare, the bug that appeared in the Domain—all of it was caused by Aldebaran’s weakness. A punishment born from the unforgivable sin of being weak.


“The plan is still alive. The primary objective has failed, but the secondary objective remains intact. We’re both here now… because we’re squeezing out what little ‘best’ remains. Isn’t that right?”


The Witch of Greed sneered, as if saying she would drag along with him the cross of that sin—the cross so heavy that Aldebaran felt he might drop it, unable to carry it alone. Faced with that smile, the one he both wanted and did not want to see, Aldebaran made his decision.


“I swear—I will kill you.”


Even the Domain’s bug, even the power that arose from his own weakness, even the brand of defeat—he would use all of it to fulfill his role as the Follower Star.


“—Why does love fade, I wonder?”


The Witch of Greed whispered softly, but Aldebaran did not know the answer. He had lost the Witch who had sought love, and the Sun Princess whom he had loved—and even now, he still did not know.


—Nor did he want to know.


△▼△▼△▼△
Thought accelerated. Probably Petra’s Authority; with his thinking pressed by it, Aldebaran couldn’t assign priorities to the motley thoughts gushing out without end, and his head was fit to burst. 「――Shit」 It was a terrifying Authority. Unlike blessings, whose performance varies, most Authorities unleash power that is abnormal and off the charts, and Petra’s 『Compression』 is no exception. An Authority often hinges on how flexible the mind of the Witch Factor’s holder is, and in that regard her capacity for application is far too high. Either an unusually strong fixation, or a flexibility born of weakness— the talent to draw out the Witch Factor’s potent power is deeply tied to that sort of mentality. The Witches of Sin and the Sin Archbishops are the former; Aldebaran and Petra can be called the latter. And whether a blessed one, a Witch Factor match, or even a powerless person, the type Aldebaran always finds formidable is invariably the latter. In practice, the attack on Aldebaran that applied 『Compression』 to his thoughts worked exactly as intended. For Aldebaran, who wants to avoid mental exhaustion, it was sheer nastiness designed to whittle away his reserves. Aldebaran too, discounting Authority, stands on the side of the weak. In battles where split‑second judgment is demanded, he understands well the usefulness of the ability to keep seeking the optimal move. But in truth, in the midst of a fight you cannot ensure perfection no matter how you struggle; therefore, somewhere you must decide, sever thought, and move to action. Petra’s 『Compression』 forces him to fill in the white space of thoughts he should originally have cut away, and drives him to spend more than twice the strain just to arrive at the same conclusions. Hence, at the cost of prodigious mental expenditure, Aldebaran keeps producing optimal actions and needle‑threading, extreme answers against the fully fired‑up 『Aldebusters』. And in the midst of that drain—, 「――Old Man Rom!!」 Just as he slipped through the 『Aldebusters』’ offense and defense, what he heard was a scream‑like cry. The one who uttered it, Felt, widened her eyes and saw, in the distance, an aged giant body collapsing. In that instant, not only Felt but the other members of the 『Aldebusters』 had their hearts shaken in dismay. Before anyone understood what had happened, Valga Cromwell had fallen. 「――――」 Naturally, though they didn’t know the method, there was only one candidate for who did it. As a result, aside from those who ran to the fallen Valga, all remaining hostility converged on Aldebaran. Exposed to that hostility, behind the visor the 『Aldebusters』 could not see into, Aldebaran’s eyes were frozen wide with the same astonishment as theirs. 「――Someone just became the 『Domain』’s aggressor」 He hadn’t done it on purpose. But he knew, because he was the cause, what had happened. The 『Domain』’s bug had triggered, and one of the aggressors, Valga, had been given the initiative. And the old giant had likely been made to repeat a fleeting instant so many times his mind would be crushed. 「Tch」 Aldebaran did not welcome the arrival of what could be called a last‑ditch, once‑in‑a‑lifetime chance. As mentioned, the bug’s occurrence is independent of Aldebaran’s will—at least, it is not something he activated proactively. And Aldebaran cannot rejoice when the bug triggers. Because, in most cases, the bug destroys the mind of those it sweeps up. 「On Gladiator Island, with Old man Leip, even with Yae…」 Those who confronted Aldebaran, were swallowed by the 『Domain』’s bug, and were pulled into an inescapable loop of ‘death’ all, without exception, suffered abnormalities of the mind. The gladiator‑slaves whose minds were broken had their heads taken by Aldebaran; Leip Barielle, unhinged, forgot his years‑long ambition; and Yea Tenzen, who succumbed to fear, became a faithful servant. The bug of the 『Domain』, which warps the very shape of a person’s heart, brings outcomes that, for Aldebaran—who set a no‑kill condition on carrying out his plan—are little different from ‘death’. Therefore, Aldebaran cannot be glad about this conclusion.――Really? 『――No one can beat the you I made』 He can hear the voice, the expectations, the ideals of the 『Witch』 he once betrayed. By fearing, guarding against, and shunning the opponent’s tenacity, their plan, their solidarity, the one‑in‑ten‑thousand, the one‑in‑a‑hundred‑million, the one‑in‑a‑trillion, the 『Domain』 met the conditions for a bug to occur.――Put another way, it was nothing other than Aldebaran doubting the Authority, himself, the 『Witch』. 『――No one can beat the you I made』 Again, he heard the 『Witch』’s voice.

――He saw the next aggressor roll his eyes back and collapse.

△▼△▼△▼△

――Gods, Buddhas, Mr Od Lagna. I swear that for the rest of my life, I will not cherish quiet.

△▼△▼△▼△

「――Old Man Rom?」

The situation shifts—and for Petra and the others, it’s for the worse. Suddenly, with his massive frame lurching, Old Man Rom crashes to the ground, and Petra’s eyes fly wide. A surge of surprise, incomprehension, bewilderment, agitation, and a host of other emotions threatens to seize her whole body, but—,

『—Petra!!』 「—!」

Imaginary Subaru’s sharp bark just barely yanks Petra’s consciousness back. It’s fine to be startled by an unforeseen turn of events. No human takes a blow from outside their awareness and stays calm. But as the Witch of Melancholy, there’s something Petra must do before she lets herself be surprised: apply 『Compression』 to every reaction to what just happened.

「You gotta be kidding me, what the hell is going on! Somebody get Old Man Rom up!」「Don’t be stupid, his eyes just rolled back all of a sudden! What happened, what did he get hit with!?」「Hey, what do we do! If the old man’s out, then who…」「Damn it! Ram! It’s gotta be Ram!」「—It can’t be helped. The queen’s piece will be unusable. Etch that into your skull.」「If we don’t move at once, we’re no better than pigs waiting for feed. We strike first.」「Damn it! We can’t lose after coming this far!」「“Obviously!!”」

In an instant, she 『Compression』-packs the spreading unrest, and Petra fulfills the duty of the Witch of Melancholy. The cause hasn’t been pinned down. Even so, the response is immediately decided, and everyone as one starts searching for the best move. —Of course, Petra is the same. Entrusting the field to Ram, who has taken over the role of commander in Old Man Rom’s place, Petra activates the Authority of Melancholy and uses 『Compression』 to collapse the distance between her and Old Man Rom.

「Old Man Rom…!」

Old Man Rom’s massive body has fallen face-down; Petra’s slender arms can’t lift him. But when she peers at the old giant’s turned face, her throat catches at the obvious abnormality. —There’s no life in his features, as if he had aged a hundred years in an instant, the very picture of exhaustion.

『He never exactly had a face exploding with life energy to begin with, but…』

「He wasn’t like this just now, absolutely. And if he thought something was off with his body, Old Man Rom would have told us。」

Old Man Rom knew full well that carelessly hiding a change in his body would only aid the enemy. If the Authority of Melancholy had been putting excessive strain on him, or there had been any sign he might pass out like this, he would absolutely have reported it himself.

『How about the not-funny-at-all theory that we overused your Authority and burned through Old Man Rom’s lifespan?』

「That’s really not funny, so rejected… I still don’t think it’s my Authority. Al did something to Old Man Rom.」

『But what?』

Chasing the same question into a dead end, Petra and Subaru fumble for an answer. Even as this goes on, under Ram’s orders the 『Aldebusters』 are continuing their battle to corner Al, and Petra can’t afford to devote all her thoughts to Old Man Rom’s collapse. With that in mind, Petra starts to push herself up—and,

「—Hey, dumbass! That takes priority!」

「—」

Yes—Felt, her back to her, sets Petra straight on her priorities. Petra, eyes gone round, sees Felt with the 『Star Staff』 in hand flash her sharp, fanglike canine and—

「If we can’t do something about what just happened, we’re all gonna get taken out the same way.」

Felt grits her teeth in frustration, and, as if to prove her point, the number of 『Aldebusters』 who had been surrounding and cornering Al has shrunk. A glance shows several of those left behind by the raging melee lying sprawled on the ground. From the way Felt puts it, the reason they fell is the same as Old Man Rom—,

「Old Man Rom wouldn’t go down for free! Look for it! There has to be something!」

After spending only a few seconds trading words with Felt, Petra looks over Old Man Rom’s hulking body. Old Man Rom is no slouch, and Petra believes he’s someone who lives up to Felt’s expectations. So if Felt believes there’s something, then there must be something.

『Yeah, but if he just got blasted by an Authority out of nowhere, how’s he supposed to leave anything behind…!』

「…An Authority, you think?」

『It’d be weird if it wasn’t! If it were magic, Ram would notice!』

「Right.」

Faith in Felt’s insistence × trust in Ram’s insight. That combination corroborates that what felled Old Man Rom was Al’s Authority. And if Old Man Rom really did leave something behind—,

「—! This.」

As she searches Old Man Rom’s limp form from head to toe, Petra notices the old giant’s thick fingers are caked with fresh dirt. It’s the trace of having raked the ground with his fingertips. Shoving his massive frame, which had shifted on impact when he fell, with a body check, Petra finds, mid-stumble, the message Old Man Rom left on the ground. It is—,

『A mark? A kanji… no, a map symbol…』

「No—simpler!」

As Subaru, who had seen the same thing, was mulling it over, Petra cried, 'Hold on!' in a high voice. The mark Old Man Rom had left on the ground—a thick horizontal line with four short vertical strokes laid over it. Not a kanji character or a map symbol, but tally marks, the kind that count one unit as five. In other words, just before Old Man Rom was about to have his consciousness taken—

—Was he counting something?

△▼△▼△▼△

—A bug in the 『Domain』 had begun to eat into Aldebaran’s plan. "Shit..." At the gall of that fact, curses leaked out from between Aldebaran’s clenched teeth. The first to go down had been Valga Cromwell, the strategist of the 『Aldebusters』.


Even after losing their command hub, they managed to regroup at once—perhaps the effect of Petra’s Authority. But if that effect only bridged the gap, then it was their individual innate strength that put their emotions back together. Each time he keenly felt the strength of their hearts, Aldebaran’s own weakness was thrown into stark relief. 


"Shit...!" 


In the instant he thought of his own inadequacy, another dropped out of the 『Aldebusters』. A punk hefting a massive machete buckled from the knees, spewed yellow bile, and collapsed unconscious. Aldebaran hadn’t counterattacked. He couldn’t. As a baseline tactic, they shoved the wildly higher-base-stats Garfiel to the fore, leaving him with hardly any room to strike back. And yet the enemy’s fighting strength was being steadily whittled away—an unintended result of Aldebaran’s bug. 


『—No one can beat the you I created.』 


Again, he heard the Witch’s voice. At once, the next bug triggered and another withdrew. That was hard for Aldebaran. It hurt. It was unbearable. Since waking on Gladiator Island, Aldebaran had learned that the mental attrition brought on by a 『Domain』 bug could at times lead to a conclusion more abominable than physical “death.” So Aldebaran did not want a resolution he didn’t mean, brought about by a 『Domain』 bug— 


"—What the hell are you blaming other people for?"


 "—Huh?" 


"I don’t gotta see your mug to know. It pisses me off when someone pulls a Reinhard and wears that ‘it’s all on me’ face... but you’re worse than he is."


 As Aldebaran carved out gaps, prying for a breakthrough, Felt glared at him from beyond the human wall of the 『Aldebusters』. 


In the sharp crimson of her gaze burned unfeigned, harsh contempt and anger toward Aldebaran. It was a passion she hadn’t shown even when he’d spirited her away, nor when he’d ordered Roy to devour ‘memory’; he couldn’t tell what, along the way to here, had truly set her off. Not the fall of the giant who was like family to her, nor having the path she’d walked nearly stolen—what fueled Felt’s anger at Aldebaran now was— 


"When that princess was around, you did whatever the princess said, and once she was gone you started taking orders from somebody else? You spout big words about turning the whole world into your enemy, but do you not even have a self of your own?"


 "——" 


At Felt’s words—her face the very picture of genuine fury—Aldebaran’s cheek went slightly rigid, and then anger welled up at the nonsense of a little girl who knew nothing. There are limits to the insult of saying a man has no self. To claim Aldebaran has none—without even knowing the reason Aldebaran can call himself nothing but Aldebaran—how dare she.


 Indignation scorched his guts, even making the arm that ended above the elbow ache with a nostalgic pain. This kind of useless passion ought to be thrown away. He should be good at that—compartmentalizing, sneering, calling it a nuisance, and tossing it aside. Getting tangled up in such things and losing sight of the goal would be putting the cart before the horse; refusing to face true, living emotion was Aldebaran’s specialty—or rather, a sort of survival tactic he’d acquired over the eighteen years since being released from that black sphere. So this time too, the same— 


"Felt’s right!"


 "Pay for what you did!"


 "Drop dead, idiot!"


 "You don’t have a single ally left!" 


"Al, prepare yourself."


 "Time for judgment."


 "Squeal like a pig." 


"—How stupid." 


"—!"


 A torrent of abuse, a storm of contempt, slammed into Aldebaran. He tried to let it all wash past him as usual—and then his thoughts were put under 『Compression』 and forced through. His processing circuits, sped up to a rate incomparable to normal, disposed of unnecessary thoughts—emotion included. 


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


『—No one can beat the you I created.』


 He knew he couldn’t let this go on, and yet the voice smeared over his insides. Loath to surrender himself to it, Aldebaran searched for the girl at the root of it all. The Witch of Melancholy, who forced Aldebaran to contemplate all things— 


"—Were you... counting something?"


 "——"


 From afar he spotted the Witch of Melancholy—Petra Leyte—and saw her murmur that as she looked at some message left by the fallen Valga Cromwell. 


In that instant, something black and hot oozed up from within Aldebaran and turned into words.


 "—The stars were to blame."


 "Hah, that’s right. You’re not taking orders from anyone. That’s how you really feel." Felt bared her teeth at the words rasped out by Aldebaran’s passion. It shouldn’t have resembled her in the least, not one tiny bit, and yet it looked like the same kind of smile Priscilla Barielle wore. A nightmare. —I’ll end it. And thus, for the first time, Aldebaran intentionally triggered a 『Domain』 bug.

「――Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition」

△▼△▼△▼△

――Gods, Buddha, Mr Od Lagna. I swear that for the rest of my life, I will ask for no one’s kindness.

△▼△▼△▼△

「――Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition」

At the sound of Al saying those words, Petra sensed a definite change and turned around. She had already heard that call many times over the course of this battle; most likely, it was one of the conditions for activating Al’s Authority. As Old Man Rom had hypothesized beforehand regarding the Domain and the Matrix, the “time rewind” Al could perform seemed limited, but powerful. Its span was shorter than Subaru Natsuki’s “Return by Death,” and what’s more, he did it consciously.

『If a baseball game lets you save manually, you could, for example, save and load on every single pitch of an at-bat, memorize the next pitch type and location, and crank out home runs one after another, right?』

「I get it, but it’s hard to picture. Would you really do something like that?」

『It’s tough explaining the concept of games to a kid who only knows the surface-level stuff…』

She’d read Subaru Natsuki’s “Book of the Dead,” so she liked to think she understood better than the surface level, but in the sense that they were “memories” without lived experience, Imaginary Subaru’s point was right. She might have peeped into Subaru’s “memories,” but Petra’s sensibilities were still Petra’s. Of course, as with his attitude toward Emilia and Rem, what mattered was how large a share of his feelings any one thing occupied within Subaru. At any rate—

『――Don’t take your eyes off him.』 「I know.」

With the change in his voice and the air about him, their fight with Al had probably moved on to yet another stage. Even as their strength was being shaved away by the same method used on Old Man Rom, the core of the 『Aldebusters』—with Ram, Garfiel, and Felt at the center—was miraculously still intact. Their 『Compression』-boosted thinking and coordination were undoubtedly turning into a major force, and for Petra too, it felt worth wringing the Authority of “Melancholy” for all it was worth, turning a blind eye to its many drawbacks.

「Let’s do this, you bastards!!」 「「――Oooh!!」」

As if to back up Petra’s resolve, Felt’s rallying cry sent their morale exploding. The pressure the 『Aldebusters』 were piling on was surely shaving away Al’s reserves, abrading his mind, and driving his body and spirit to the brink of catastrophic depletion. All that remained was a test of endurance—whose will would give out first, who would be unable to stay on their feet—so Petra grit her teeth and roused body and mind, when—

「Huh?」

In spite of herself, the mouth she was sure she’d clamped shut hung open, and Petra was left dumbstruck. And small wonder. Just now, the 『Aldebusters』 had fired themselves up, morale full, and set out exultantly on an all-out assault on Al. —And then, the members of the 『Aldebusters』 suddenly toppled like dominos, collapsing on the spot without a thing they could do.

「――――」

Ram, Garfiel. Felt, Flam and Grassis, Rachins and Gaston, Camberleyー and Doltero—their core, and along with them all the other members of the 『Aldebusters』, one and all, had been drained of strength; not a single one could remain standing. Some had blacked out, some were so drained their eyes couldn’t focus, some had gone rigid like dolls, unable to move. Every one of them. —No, there was one person still on his feet.

「――The stars.」

Picking his way over the ring of fallen 『Aldebusters』, the man kept walking, fiddling with the fittings of the black iron helmet he wore as he let that slip out. Hearing it, Petra felt as if part of her brain had gone numb; she couldn’t get her head to work right. She mustn’t freeze up. 『Compression』 could fill in the gaps between events as they happened, but it was no help in filling blanks.

「The stars were to blame.」

As he spoke, Al’s hand left his helmet and reached toward Petra, who stood rooted as he closed in. Respond, react, countermeasure—now—

『――Petra! Compress straight back with 『Compression』!!』 「――!」

Reflexively obeying that near-shouted plea, Petra compressed space and sprang far back. Having opened up far more distance than a mere stumble, Petra’s knees shook as she looked at Al with a jumble of rocks between them. Meeting her gaze, Al opened and closed the hand that had failed to catch her and let out a long sigh. Then, keeping that distance, they stared straight each other down—and—

「――Play ball.」

×　　×　　×

「――Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition」

It happened the instant Petra thought Al had spoken the watchword for the start of the game. Layered over that line from Al came another, different line from Al, chasing it. At that phenomenon of the same person speaking in overlapping voices, Petra’s brain froze for a heartbeat as it tried to grasp the situation. But realizing that hesitation would be fatal, she tried to snap herself back into it—

「Let’s do this, you bastards!!」 「「――Oooh!!」」

「What!?」

Immediately after, a rousing shout and response that seemed to shake the very air rang out, and she was stunned. What unfolded there was the intact sight of the 『Aldebusters』, who should have been wiped out in an instant just moments ago. With Ram as commander, Garfiel at the vanguard, and Felt, 『Star Staff』 in hand, serving as finisher, they were about to collide with Al. But—

『Hey, hey, hey, hey—hey, this is...』

Stunned, the Imaginary Subaru floating at her side voiced his bewilderment. Even realizing that his confusion felt the same as her own brought no peace to Petra’s heart. And before she could get any words out to stop it, the situation moved.

"—ugh"

It was, quite literally, a refrain of the scene from just before. The members of the 『Aldebusters』 all collapsed at once, and that group that had seemed so reliable fell apart. As the strong, valiant Ram and Garfiel—and Felt as well—crumpled to the ground, Petra once again traded glances with the only one left standing: Al.

"The stars."

"————"

"The stars are to blame."

That, too, was the very same declaration, and what followed was exactly the same; rather than being prompted, yielding to the emotion in her own heart, Petra sprang backward by way of 『Compression』. Once again, after she opened up the distance, she and Al glared at each other, and she heard his sighing voice. It was—

"—Play ball."

—And that was the beginning of Petra Leyte’s endless hell.