Chapter 60

“Any word from the other rescue teams?” he asked. “Nothing yet. They’re still in the maze. It’s possible the grave robbers have become the mummies. At least you got back here. That’s a big step forward.” It proved escape was possible. With enough time, there was every chance the other rescue teams would make it back as well. There was just one tiny issue. “You’re not liking that we ended up saving down there,” Fay said. “You got it. Since you can’t give up this dungeon.” Yes, Fay and his teammates had made it back to reality—but it was only a temporary escape afforded by the save item. They wouldn’t be able to play any other games until they had cleared this one. “Next time we dive through that gate, we’re going back into the labyrinth. We can’t choose any other games,” said Fay. “Saving isn’t salvation, huh? Just a temporary reprieve.” Chief Secretary Miranda crossed her arms, frustrated. “Remind me, Fay, what’s your current win count in the gods’ games?” “Officially, six. In reality, three.” “Ah, yes. I’d almost forgotten the official number.” The Chief Secretary nodded. She was making a point, of course. Until a few days before, Fay’s record had been 6-0. But he’d given up three of his victories to enable Nel’s comeback and had fallen to 3-0. It would be too much of a shock for the world to find out the young man known as one of history’s greatest rookies had lost three entire wins, so they were keeping it quiet. Miranda’s strict and extremely confidential orders were: Don’t. Tell. Anyone. If Fay could keep winning and get back to 6-0 without anyone realizing he had lost three victories, then there would be no problem. Except, of course, that that was an extremely tall order. “Seven wins away from humanity’s long-dreamed-of ten victories. That’s quite a large step backward,” the Chief Secretary said, gazing at the ceiling. “We need you to rack up those wins, Fay. But now you’ve saved down in that dungeon with seven victories still to go, and you can’t play anything else until you finish it.” Fay nodded but didn’t move from the couch. “Uh-huh. That’s why I’m thinking we better get back in there.” He quickly scanned something in his hand with his gaze: a list of the remaining lost apostles. “We’d have to anyway. Look at all the people who haven’t come back yet. But that leads us to the second problem we have to solve.” The fact that finishing the game was impossible. The maze had a bug that would keep the story from ever progressing. Once upon a time there was a god who loved building mazes. This god would wait in the innermost depths of its labyrinth, excited for humans to come and find it. But no one ever finished the maze, and eventually the god died of boredom. This was the founding myth of this game, as told by the meep. It had also explained that the goal of the game was to defeat the final boss waiting in the maze’s innermost chamber. “You look very relaxed, Pearl,” Miranda said. “Huh?! E-eek!” exclaimed the golden-haired girl, who had been leaning back and sipping a melon soda. She quickly straightened up. “This is Fay’s angle, but tell me. Did the whole team confirm this fatal bug?” Miranda asked. “We haven’t confirmed it, exactly, but logically, between what Fay and the meep said, it makes sense. The god is waiting in the maze’s innermost depths, and the last boss is in the final chamber. It seems safe to assume the god is the last boss.” The boss, the god, waited in the labyrinth’s depths. The human players simply needed to defeat the god to escape the maze. Only… “Except according to the meep, that god has been dead a long time, right?” Miranda asked. “Yes, that’s the problem!” Pearl exclaimed. “The clear condition is to defeat the last boss, but that god went and disappeared on us, and now it’s impossible to complete the game. The door out of the maze will never, ever open!” “……” The Chief Secretary sat in silence. A game-breaking bug—the absence of the final boss—made the game impossible to complete. Finally, Miranda said, “Pearl? Let me ask you again. Is that true?” “Well, uh…” “It’s still speculation,” Leshea answered. She made it sound obvious. “We won’t know until we get to the final dungeon chamber. It’s possible the disappearance of the final boss will be counted as a player win and that the exit has been open from the start.” “I’d love to bet on that possibility,” Miranda said. “Well, don’t hold your breath. Practically speaking, it’s not happening.” “So we are stuck?!” Pearl yelped. Miranda heaved a sigh so deep it sounded like her soul was trying to escape her body. Leshea was right, and she knew it. If no last boss = player win, then presumably the meep would have told them The players win! the moment they had arrived in the dungeon. Which it hadn’t. That meant the dungeon crawl was going on despite the totally unexpected bug of a missing final boss. “And what exactly do we do about this, Fay? This final boss you must beat is gone, which means you can’t defeat it and win the game, which leaves us…where?” “Yeah, about that…” Fay was about to say something when the office door creaked loudly. “It is I!” Then the door slid open hard and almost jumped its track. A silver-haired girl wearing a T-shirt with the word Undefeated printed on it came bounding in. “Tiny Human! My undefeated self has come to play!” “Oh, hey, Uroboros. Perfect timing. I want to get your thoughts on this.” Fay wasn’t the only one who had noticed the bug in the labyrinth’s system. “This game’s got a bug. One that prevents the story from progressing.” It’s not just me—Uroboros came to the same conclusion. Even if it’s a really depressing one. “Listen, Uroboros…” “Hold it right there, Tiny Human. You need not finish that sentence—I know all without you having to speak.” She shook her head, flush with the confidence only a god could have. Or so it seemed, until she suddenly turned bright red. “You wish to play with me, do you not? Oh, heavens! Whatever shall I do? For I am quite popular, it seems.” “Huh? No, no. Sorry, but I don’t have time to play with you right now.” “Well, I am undefeated, after all. I sympathize with your desire to challenge me. This game of mine, with its wildly popular content, has a perpetual waiting list of eighty-seven human years, but I might make a special exception for you, Tiny Human.” “I would say your game is the opposite of popular—” “Say no more, Tiny Human!” Uroboros grabbed Fay’s hand, not willing to take no for an answer. Almost before the thought was through his head, Fay found himself being whisked down the hallway out of the office. “We shall make a private trip to the Dive Center, just you and I!” “Seriously, listen to meeeee!” Fay yelled, his cry trailing off as he was dragged down the hall. The women remaining in the office watched Fay disappear. “Another one,” Leshea remarked. “Yes, another one,” Pearl concurred. “Another troublemaker has appeared,” Nel muttered. All three of them had hard glints in their eyes, but nobody noticed. 3 The Arcane Court building, seventeenth floor. The Special Advisor’s room on this floor belonged to Leshea. At the moment, it was echoing with Uroboros’s shout. “But whyyyyyyyyy?!” Her yell had approximately the same effect as an exploding missile. Cracks spidered along the window glass. Uroboros dropped the playing cards she’d been clutching. “Tiny Human?! I, my very self, came here in person to summon you! I have a brand-new game ready in my Elements, and I’m waiting for you!” “We just told you what the problem is.” Leshea, sitting beside the outraged god, grabbed a card… …and found herself pulling the old maid Fay had recently drawn. “Believe me, we humans aren’t any happier about this than you are. There are still 197 people trapped in that maze. We can’t just leave them there, can we?” “Grr,” grumbled Uroboros, who sat cross-legged. She gathered up the cards that had scattered on her Undefeated T-shirt. “For your information, my game is extraordinarily fun.” “I’m telling you, tempt us all you like, we can’t help you. Besides, to get to your game, we’d have to go to your Elements through the Dive Center, right?” “Well, of course you would have to come to my Elements!” The silver-haired girl puffed out her chest. At the moment, she was in a very small, adorable package, but the true Undefeated God Uroboros was a dragon some ten kilometers long. Reports also said that, in a fit of frustration at her defeat by Fay, she’d made herself even bigger, increasing to a good hundred kilometers. Admittedly, Fay was curious what kind of game a god like that would come up with next—but that wasn’t the point. “I mean, we did save in the middle of that dungeon. Even if we wanted to be part of your game, the Divine Gate down there is locked to the labyrinth.” “Soft! You are too soft, Tiny Human!” Uroboros said as if she had been waiting for this. Then she pointed to her right eye. “Why do you think I gave you mine eye?” “I will give this to you. A piece of mine eye. Whenever you are carrying mine eye, you will be guaranteed to ‘draw’ me.” That’s what she had said. Wordlessly, Fay dug into his chest pocket—and felt something hard. He pulled out a beautiful shard that looked like a piece of ruby. A God’s Diadem, the Eye of Uroboros. If a player was holding it when they dove into the Elements, they would be guaranteed to “draw” Uroboros. They would encounter no other gods. “Oh yeah. I guess if I dove in holding this, I wouldn’t go back to the suspended labyrinth game. I’d be pulled toward you instead. You mean this thing has more influence than the saved game?” “Heh-heh! Something like that.” Uroboros nodded, very pleased. “To be precise, their level of influence is equal. Gods may get along with one another or not, but there’s no hierarchy. Even if you dive in holding mine eye, you’ll most likely still end up in your labyrinth game. You did save there, after all.” “Huh? So there’s really no way out?” “Well, you might be interested to know—” “The rule of late rock-paper-scissors, right?” Leshea said before Uroboros could finish. She looked up from where she had been focusing on her freshly drawn old maid. “The gods’ powers are like a game of rock-paper-scissors where no one move is stronger than the other. So the person who goes last always wins. Which, when applied to this situation, means we just need to use the Eye after entering the dungeon, right?” “Huh?! Hey, Tiny Dragon! I was going to say that!” “You’ve stopped playing.” “Hrm?” Uroboros quickly looked down at her own hand. They were playing old maid, but she’d gotten so caught up in her explanation that she hadn’t noticed her turn had come around. Dragon, huh? Never met someone who called Leshea that before. Uroboros had realized immediately that the vermilion-haired girl was a former god. Indeed, that she was the Dragon God, who ruled over flames. “Is that true, Leshea?” Fay asked. “What you said just now?” “I was going to say it!” Uroboros pouted, puffing out her cheeks. Her behavior suggested it was the truth. Finally, she said, “Yeah, it is. Priority among the gods’ powers can change based on who goes last. So you would dive through the Divine Gate and enter the labyrinth game. Once inside, you would shatter mine eye. My power would ‘go last,’ and you, Tiny Human, would be drawn into my Elements.” “I see. Interesting to know there’s rules and logic to all this.” That meant they had two choices. Two games they could pick from. “I’m assuming Leshea would be happy either way. Pearl, Nel, how about you?” “M-me?!” “What do you mean by ‘how about us,’ Master Fay?” “There are two games we can play. We have to get back to the labyrinth game. It’s our duty as part of the rescue team. But we did finally reach a save point, so I could see taking a break for a quick change of pace to play with Uroboros.” He flicked his thumb up—sending Uroboros’s ruby eye arcing and sparkling through the air, where Pearl caught it. “R-right,” she said. “I admit, I wouldn’t mind a break from the dungeon crawl. We’ve been wandering around there for days, and I’m exhausted.” “I feel the same,” Nel said, nodding slowly. “The one thing that concerns me is what new game Mistress Undefeated might have come up with. I’d be happy to play a game without any stakes, but one of the gods’ games where we wager a precious win or loss?” Uroboros looked adorable but also upset by Nel’s hesitation. “Hrmph. Are you afraid, Rumpy?” “Did she just call you a rump?!” “You’ve made your comeback by Gremoire’s power. What do you have to fear now? Put yourself out there and play!” Uroboros said. “…!” Nel’s breath caught. “Where’s the fun in being worried about losing before you even start the game?” “W-well, that’s true,” Nel said, caving under the pressure. Uroboros grinned widely. “I’ve thought of a special game, just for you. It’ll be all kinds of fun, okay?” “Listen, Miss Undefeated!” Pearl said. She was staring intently at the god. “You’re not putting us on, are you? It will be fun, won’t it?” “Sure it will!” “Just to make sure…fun for who?” “For me!” “What about for us?” “…………” “Why aren’t you saying anything?! That’s the most important part!” “N-no, no! It’ll be fun, I bet! I mean, I came up with this game, after all!” Uroboros shook her head vigorously. “You must trust me, Chesty!” “You’re nicknaming me after my chest?!” “Mine game is fun! Otherwise I would not say it has highly popular content!” “I smell a rat. One more question, then.” Pearl shoved her face right up to Uroboros’s. “Shoot straight. The dungeon crawl or your new game—which is harder?” “Mine, of course!” Uroboros said, her eyes shining. She jumped up on the sofa and spread her arms expansively. “Just wait until you see what I’ve got in store this time! It’s a hundred times harder than the last game. Even if you cleared it as fast as you possibly could, there’s no way it would take less than ten thousand hours at least!” “…Hoh!” “…Wow.” “…Hmm.” “…Sigh!” “It takes place in the vast, open sky, players falling endlessly through the air as the most brutal monsters, tricks, and traps ever devised assail them, calculated to shatter their spirits! After a trail that will be strewn with thousands—tens of thousands!—of corpses, a final confrontation awaits with none other than me! By the way, my attack hits the entire field for instant KOs. No one will ever clear this game on the first try! And there’ll be plenty to enjoy the second time around.” “I see. Yes, I completely understand.” Pearl nodded, a broad smile on her face. She looked down at the Eye of Uroboros she was holding in her hand. And then… “Toss!” Without a second thought, she flung the priceless treasure straight into the trash. “Send that thing out to burn. It’s cursed!” “Ahhhh?! You must not throw out mine eye! That’s a divine treasure!” “It’s garbage, is what it is.” “You dare call mine eye garbage?!” Uroboros dove straight into the trash bin, digging furiously until she found the stone. “Haaagh… All right, I see how you feel,” she said with a sigh. “I realize your saved game calls to you. You want to finish what you started so you can give your full attention to my game. With its highly popular content.” “Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.” “So on that note…” Uroboros sat down again, cross-legged on the sofa. “I can see the writing on the wall. I don’t like to intervene in another god’s game, but this time, I’ll help you. Let’s get that maze done!” “Huh?! You’re going to help us, Miss Undefeated?!” Pearl’s voice cracked a little. Behind her, Fay traded glances with Leshea and Nel. There was unexpected, and there was unexpected. Apart from Leshea, Fay had never heard of a deity taking the humans’ side in the gods’ games. Having Uroboros with us would be like having a cheat code. It’s almost too good to be true… Makes me worry we’re going to get hit with some kind of penalty to compensate. It was unheard of—like, completely unheard of. Fay wasn’t even sure if it was technically within the rules of the gods’ games. “You sure that’s all right? I’ve never heard of the games letting anything that crazy go on.” “I warn you!” Uroboros held up her pointer finger. “It is only for this one time!” “Yeah, it’s that one time that I’m kind of worried about… You think it’s okay?” “Dunno.” “Excuse me?!” “All in the name of getting you to play my game! Ah, but don’t misunderstand me, Tiny Human.” Strangely, Uroboros smirked. Sitting there with her arms crossed in front of her chest, she radiated confidence. “I’m not just going to get all buddy-buddy with you. You are my opponent, after all. I am the rarest of rare gods, the kind that waits only after you defeat the secret boss of the secret dungeon that you discover after defeating the final boss of the regular dungeon, and even then, you must fulfill the special conditions to reach me!” “I don’t think you get to call yourself a rare god…” “If you wish for me to join your party, I would say you need at least five thousand consecutive wins in the gods’ games.” “Forget it, then,” Fay said promptly. “Guh?!” For some reason, Uroboros seemed very surprised by that. “N-now, just a second, Tiny Human! Do you not wish me to join your party?!” “Yeah, but five thousand wins? That’s a bit much.” “V-v-very well! I would accept five hundred! I am sure good things will come to you if you get me to join you! I am undefeated, after all!” “Hrm… Still not very realistic…” “Fifty wins, then! No, how about forty?! Come ooon!” Uroboros, now flushed, pulled on Fay’s sleeve as he sighed and said, “Let me guess. Chief Secretary Miranda wants me to babysit this one, too.” 4 Night in Ruin. Far from the sleeping city, the sun sank toward the horizon. It was late, everyone else in town abed, but on the ninth floor of the Arcane Court building—where the administrative offices were located—lights were still on. “Yawn… Argh, and I was just about to go to sleep!” Miranda sat there, staring intently at the monitor. It was nearly three at night. Or rather, almost three in the morning. At the moment, Miranda was wearing just a robe pulled over some thin sleepwear—not a very ladylike ensemble. Moments ago, she’d been dozing off in bed, but she had jumped up when certain information had reached her. Rescue team, return 1: Sacrament City of Ruin (4:19 yesterday) Rescue team, return 2: Ocean City of Fisshara (23:08 yesterday) Rescue team, return 3: East Asia City of Pol-a (2:01 today) Rescue team, return 4: Myth City of Heckt-Scheherezade (2:01 today) (Note: Returns 3 & 4 linked up in the maze and returned together.) Three more rescue teams had successfully gotten back, each with a dozen or so trapped apostles in tow. “That’s more like it, rescue teams! I knew the world’s most elite, hand-picked players could do it. Of course, we would have been pretty screwed if they couldn’t…” Miranda rubbed her eyes and continued to stare at the screen. She was in the video conference room. Names like Fisshara and Pol-a were added to the list of attendees one by one, all cities that were home to Arcane Court branch offices. The first person to appear on camera was a mature-looking young man with golden hair. “Phew, sorry about that! Getting through that labyrinth took a while,” he said. “Ezrace, Ocean City of Fisshara rescue squad, reporting in. Boy, that was even tougher than they said. The final raid boss, the Dancing Marionette General, was a real beast! It took twelve party wipes, but we got past it somehow. Oh! And we succeeded in rescuing seventeen trapped players.” He smiled enthusiastically, and then he seemed to look right at Miranda. “The Ruin branch office really pulled its weight, Chief Secretary Miranda. From what I hear, Fay got back way before we did.” “Hmm? Oh, no, I wouldn’t say way before.” Fay had returned twenty-two hours earlier, while this young man, Ezrace, had arrived three hours ago. In most games, admittedly, a nineteen-hour gap in reaching the goal would be a pretty serious difference, but in the context of this staggering maze, it was a drop in the ocean. “Congratulations on getting home. They don’t call you ‘The Second’ for nothing.” The second-best rookie, that was. “Hmm? Hah, gosh, that takes me back. You mean last year,” Ezrace said with a wry smile. “It was just a numbers game. As far as this maze goes, Fay was the first to escape, and I was, well, the second. I get it. Under other circumstances, I would have loved to have a little contest, see which of us could get out faster.” The Rookie Award was given out each year by the Arcane Court headquarters; the year before, Fay had taken first place, and Ezrace had been second. The fact that Fay and Ezrace had also been the first and second people out of the labyrinth only further proved what excellent apostles they were. “Well, thank you. Through your efforts, more trapped apostles have been saved,” Miranda said. “It’s my pleasure. By the way, where is Fay?” Ezrace looked around the screen. Only Miranda was in the room—Fay and his companions were nowhere to be seen. “Time difference. It’s past two in the morning here in Ruin, and Fay and his team are understandably tired. I made an executive decision that they needed some rest.” In fact, Fay’s fatigue wasn’t helped when Uroboros had been added to the roster of people he had to keep an eye on. She was even more unpredictable than the former god Leshea. Upsetting her could lead directly to the extinction of humanity. At least gods are very direct. Fay’s the only one she affectionately calls “Tiny Human.” Everyone else is just regular old “human.” The Endless God Uroboros seemed to have a special regard for Fay, the only person ever to win her game. If any other human carelessly approached her, though, they risked incurring the deity’s wrath. “Right, let’s get back on track. I’ve already learned something very interesting from your report, Ezrace. You called the raid boss you defeated the Marionette General?” “Are you saying Fay’s boss was different?” “Yes. He reported something called the Sleeping Lion.” The Lucemia labyrinth was just too big. Fay, and each of the groups that had succeeded in coming back to reality, had simply defeated the closest raid bosses to their save points. “What about you?” Miranda asked, turning to a young woman with muted red hair. She bowed politely before introducing herself. “I’m Nayuta, from the East Asia City of Pol-a. One thing I can say for certain—I’m sure glad to be back.” Her vestment was designed to look like an outfit called a kimono, and as she sighed with relief, even Miranda could see how someone could easily fall head over heels for her. “We just got back a few minutes ago. I don’t mind saying I wish I could’ve taken a shower first.” Nayuta smiled grimly. “I’ll keep it brief. The raid boss we defeated was…uh… What was it called, again? It was a really dumb name. And it looked stupid, too, but it was wicked strong.” “The World’s Bounciest Rubber Ball,” someone said. Silence. With a flicker, a new face appeared on the screen: a man with neatly cropped brown hair and a hard look in his eyes. “It might sound stupid, but it bounced around faster than the human eye could follow, and if it touched you, it meant instant death. It took us about forty tries to fully understand the ball’s angle of reflection.” The newcomer had a vestment decorated with gold embroidery. Anyone in the Arcane Court would know what that meant—this guy was a member of headquarters. “Kilhiedge, headquarters rescue team, reporting. We met up with Nayuta’s team in the labyrinth and began working together. We just returned, ourselves, and I don’t know exactly what’s going on yet.” “Unfortunately, one thing to note is that all our teams together have managed to rescue less than a quarter of the trapped apostles,” said the golden-haired Ezrace with a sigh. “We were able to find a save point and all, and that’s great, but our poor little junior apostles are still trapped in there. People are already shouting for us to head back in.” “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk about,” Kilhiedge said with a grim nod. “As we now know firsthand, that labyrinth is simply too big. Even with all our rescue teams, at the present pace, I don’t think we’ll ever rescue all the remaining one hundred and fifty apostles. I suggest a change of strategy. I think we should shift our priority to clearing the game.” Nayuta and Ezrace both gasped and looked wide-eyed at Kilhiedge. Of course. That’s the only option. Judging by their expressions, that seemed to be what the representatives of the two cities were thinking at that moment. “The objective of the game is to defeat the boss at the end of the maze, right? You’ve got my vote,” Ezrace said with a shrug. “I mean, that’s your point, isn’t it? That it would be faster to defeat the final boss than to try to find every last missing apostle?” “Yeah, that’s right. We defeat the god, every player in the game should get sent back to reality at once.” Poof, just like that. On the screen, Kilhiedge held up a thick stack of paper. “Headquarters has been gathering data. They want a map of the dungeon, and they want as much info as possible on the monsters we encounter, the locations of traps, and raid boss patterns.” “Oh, I get it!” Nayuta said, clapping her hands. “We go into the maze. We get as much info as we can about the monsters, the raid bosses, whatever, then come back via a save point and report to headquarters.” “Exactly. We’re going to make a guidebook, if you will, for every corner of this dungeon. A strategy guide.” It would show the shortest route through the maze, explain how to beat the bosses and how to craft the rarest and most powerful items. By sharing it with Arcane Court offices around the world, they would show that the labyrinth, while time-consuming, could be cleared. At least in theory. “………” One member of the meeting, though, remained silent. What would she say next? Miranda was busy thinking: I can’t blame them. They’ve just gotten back thanks to their save items. That’s all they can think about right now. Sooner or later, they would realize. They would notice the game-breaking bug in this dungeon. “Hmm? Ruin branch office Chief Secretary Miranda? Everything all right?” “Oh! Ah. Sorry, Kilhiedge. I was just thinking. Guess you spotted my frown lines?” Miranda slid her glasses up the bridge of her nose, then looked around at the apostles who had attained a temporary reprieve from the divine labyrinth. “I’m going to go ahead and tell you what’s on my mind. You’re all a lot smarter than I am; you’d probably figure it out eventually anyway. Please take this purely as the Ruin branch office’s individual opinion—but you’ll never finish that guidebook.” “And what makes you say that?” “The last boss.” For the space of a breath, Miranda gave Kilhiedge a look. Then she said, “The god is the final boss. And that god is already dead.” “What?” “Huh?” “So that’s what’s up…” Three people, three different reactions. Kilhiedge, his eyes wide. Nayuta, exclaiming in surprise. And Ezrace, a small smile on his face. They all immediately understood the implications. The game’s win condition was to defeat the last boss and escape the dungeon—but without a last boss, the win condition was impossible to fulfill. In short, the divine Lucemia labyrinth couldn’t be cleared. Nayuta put her head in her hands. “Tell me you’re joking.” She was shaking a little. “We almost went crazy trying to get to that save point. Trying to get back home. Chief Secretary Miranda…who came up with that read on the situation?” “Someone at our office. The only one who could.” “Fay?” After a second, Miranda said, “My mistake. It’s so late, I didn’t invite him, but I should have known trying to explain without him here wouldn’t do anyone any favors.” She scratched the back of her head. “Funny thing, though. God or no god, Fay seems to be set on clearing the maze, too.” At that very same moment, Fay was walking around the grounds of the men’s dorm. Not a creature was stirring—except in the bushes outside, where Fay’s silhouette could be just made out, illuminated by one of the faint outdoor lights. “I’m so tired,” he groaned. “It’s pitch-dark out here. And it’s cold…” It was around three in the morning. Why was he out so very early? It was because he’d only just now finished what he’d been doing and returned to the Arcane Court building. Yes, despite Chief Secretary Miranda’s assumption that Fay would be asleep, he was very much awake. What had he been doing, exactly? Playing a game, of course. Not one he had wanted to, though, but one at the request of the gods. “The gods…have endless energy… It’s not fair…” To review, Fay’s schedule for the day had been: Spend eighty hours tromping around the labyrinth, finally getting back at four in the morning. Then get wheedled into a twenty-three hour “endurance game contest” by Leshea and Uroboros. In other words, since getting back to the human world at four AM, he’d been playing games nonstop until three the next morning. “Please tell me Uroboros doesn’t plan to stick around in the human world…” One thing he knew for sure: Uroboros loved games, human ones almost as much as her own. Cards, chess, darts, and on and on. She’d examined every game in Leshea’s room and had picked one after another, exclaiming, “This one next!” After eighteen solid hours of this, Pearl had collapsed. Thump, and she was out. With a chess piece still in her hand and a smile on her face, she’d keeled over like a puppet with its strings cut. Nel had followed at the twenty-one-hour mark. “And I don’t remember anything after that, myself,” Fay grumbled. That had left him, Leshea, and Uroboros—one human, one former god, and one current god. They’d begun a three-way game of Othello…and the next thing Fay knew, he had left the Arcane Court building and was standing outside the dorm. He was so sleepy, he couldn’t even form a coherent thought. In a desperate haze, he somehow stumbled his way to his own room. He didn’t have the strength to take a shower. In fact, he didn’t even think to change out of his clothes before collapsing into bed… “Huh?” Pompf. When he fell into bed, he thought his hand brushed something soft. It must have been his imagination. The fatigue was making him woozy. “Mmf…,” said a small, muffled voice. “Mm… Tiny Human. You can be very bold, can’t you?” Whoever it was, they sounded almost embarrassed. Still, it was probably just his imagination. “Hey, Tiny Human? Do you like me that much? Ahh, but…when you leave your hand there…even I start to feel a tickle…” There was that voice again. He was so tired, he was having auditory hallucinations. “Hoo… It seems Tiny Human is pleased with mine own body. Well, I am undefeated. It just makes sense my body would be, too.” The voice sounded impressed with itself. Fay had closed his eyes and was trying to sleep, but he couldn’t keep the voice out of his head—because it was coming from right next to him. He could almost feel it in his ear. “Hrm?” he murmured. Weird. Was it not an illusion? “……” No, no, it had to be. This was his room. His bed. Fay’s eyes fluttered open. The first thing he saw in the darkness was a ruby-colored gleam. It wasn’t a reflection—it was a god’s eyes, imbued with an unmistakable divine light even in the gloom. The eyes stared back, then the face grinned. “Ah, you’re awake, Tiny Human.” The silver-haired girl giggled. They were lying next to each other in bed, so close their foreheads were practically touching. And this bed was only meant for one person. In fact, it was barely big enough for that. Fay discovered the hand he’d thrust out was squarely on top of the word Undefeated on the girl’s shirt. The word was printed right over her chest. Meaning he was touching… “Yikes!” Fay jerked his hand back. “Uroboros?!” “Are you not going to sleep, Tiny Human?” “I was trying to! I mean, uh… Look…” He was so tired, his brain wouldn’t work. Weren’t they supposed to be putting Uroboros up in a room in the Arcane Court building? And anyway, wasn’t this the men’s dorm? “What are you doing in my room? In my bed?” “Was I not behind you the entire way, Tiny Human? I called out, but you didn’t hear, thus did I follow you all the way home!” “What? You did? You’re right, I didn’t hear a thing…” Fay forced himself to sit up, his body feeling heavy as lead. Uroboros, meanwhile, continued to lie there. “Heh-heh-heh. Well, I suppose I cannot blame you. I did make myself invisible and also neutralize mine own aura.” “What, did you think we were playing hide-and-seek?” “Let us return to the point. I am not yet sated with playing. It was clear our group was breaking up, so I followed you. But…” Uroboros sat up, perching cross-legged on the bed and staring fixedly at Fay. “Tiny Human is, after all, human. Judging by your looks, you only have three life points left.” “How many is that?” “If a dog barked at you, you would die.” “Whoa, I’m on death’s doorstep!” “That is precisely why I followed you!” “Yikes!” Uroboros grabbed his hand and tugged, pulling Fay further onto the bed. He scrambled to get away, but his face was suddenly buried in something much softer than his mattress. “I shall protect you!” “…?!” Fay made a choked noise; he couldn’t have spoken if he’d wanted to. Uroboros was pressing her chest into his face from above. Her “twin peaks” pushed down on him with far greater weight than her delicate appearance would have suggested. “Heh-heh! You have permission to feel honored. My undefeated self shall hold you close all through this night as you sleep. Will that not enable you to rest peacefully?” “…!” Fay choked again; she was holding his head tightly. As for Uroboros, she looked as happy as a girl with her favorite stuffed animal. “Hee-hee! You need not act so shy. After all, I’m—oop?” “You’re teasing him.” Shoop. Uroboros’s head was pulled away from her embrace with Fay by a hand that held her in a death grip. “I thought something fishy was up.” “Hngh?!” As soon as the hand grabbed her, Uroboros began to quiver. She would never have been intimidated by any regular show of strength. But she had subconsciously detected she was at a disadvantage in this place. A sort of Oh, shoot moment. “Tiny Dragon…?” she ventured. “Hello, interloper.” There in the dark of night, a pair of gleaming amber eyes bored a hole through Uroboros. “I seem to remember you leaving my room not long ago. What did you say? Ah, yes. ‘I, too, shall sleep. Farewell.’” “Oh, d-did I say that?” “You’re not a very good liar,” said the first of two figures who appeared beside Leshea. “We all heard you,” said the second. Flanking the former god on either side were a black-haired girl and a golden-haired one, both looking grim. Uroboros cringed again. “I-it’s all a big misunderstanding! I was going to protect this tiny human all through the night…” “You can tell us all about it outside.” “It’s interrogation time.” “Trying to sleep with Fay—that’s not allowed!” “Ahhhhhhhh!” Uroboros cried as the two girls each grabbed one of her arms. They dragged her away, leaving only one person in the bedroom: Fay, who was out cold. He didn’t know what was happening, and he didn’t remember any of it when he woke up.