When I regained consciousness, I realized I had already returned to reality, and the battle around us had come to a halt.
Saori, who was unconscious, along with Kei, or rather Arisu, had been moved aside. The surroundings were littered with the wreckage of Followers and dolls. After the grueling fight, the three members of the Game Development Department and Himari, all looking rather battered, noticed that I had awakened and cast eager gazes my way.
"Sensei, did it work?" Momoi asked me.
"Judging by the situation, probably..."
Because I woke up so abruptly, my head was still a little foggy. And besides that, there was something else that concerned me far more right now.
"How is Saori?"
For Saori, who had given up the chance to escape that I created for her, who had thrown herself into danger to protect us, who had traded injuries with Kei to buy us precious time so that I could enter Arisu's mental world and attempt one last rescue, my feelings were extremely complicated.
I wanted to scold her for her foolishness, and at the same time thank her for what she had done.
But more than anything else, what weighed most heavily on me was concern for this girl's safety.
Under the torment of these emotions, even my heart felt as though it were about to be set ablaze.
"There's no major issue," Himari said from the projection. "Everyone has already performed basic checks and emergency treatment under my guidance. Miss Saori is quite tenacious. Of course, she still needs to go to a proper hospital afterward for a full examination."
"That's good..." I let out a breath of relief. "Give me a moment."
With a bit of breathing room at last, I pulled the scalding card from my chest pocket, wondering whether Himari, upon seeing my enticing sleeping figure, had finally realized her sinful feelings.
Immediately after, the light screen unfolded, and what came into view was...
Two new authorities?
—
Conversion Authority: [Ultimate]
Description: Can transmit [Ultimate].pdf to electronic devices
Source: Tendou Arisu capture
—
It was somewhat unexpected, but still within reason.
When I saw this new authority, my emotions were rather complicated.
Arisu had actually been judged by the card as a valid target for capture, making me suspect that the card might have been withholding my authority earlier. At the same time, a deep and overwhelming sense of grief and indignation welled up inside me.
She had only joined the Game Development Department for such a short time, and Arisu had already been corrupted?
Couldn't it have given me something a bit more useful? Did it really have to join the Millennium bedtime reading series?
Credit Card, aren't you tired of these?
As for how Arisu could provide me with authority, whether it was because she had always been recognized by the card as a student and I only now met the basic capture conditions in the dream, or whether I had fulfilled some hidden requirement, I came up with several uncertain hypotheses.
However, compared to this authority...
What truly drew my attention, what even made my emotions surge and my thoughts wander, was the other line of text.
Among all the authorities I had obtained so far, this one was the most special in every sense...
No.
It would be more accurate to say, did this really still fall within the category of an "authority"?
And how exactly had I obtained it?
"Ah! Arisu-chan!"
A cry of surprise cut through my myriad thoughts, forcing me to pull my attention away from the card.
Midori, who had shouted in delight, quickly had the excitement on her face replaced by hesitation as she cautiously asked the blue-eyed android who had opened her eyes:
"You... you are Arisu-chan, right?"
"Isn't it obvious? You can tell just by looking at the eye color!"
Momoi retorted to her younger sister, then asked with concern, "Arisu, are you okay?"
"Midori, Momoi, Yuzu, Saori-senpai, Himari-senpai, Sensei..."
Arisu stood up and slowly looked around, softly calling out each name in turn, her friendly companions, her respected seniors, and the one she loved, me.
With every name she spoke, the atmosphere on this battlefield, where the smoke of gunfire had not yet fully dissipated, softened just a little more.
When Arisu looked at me, tears shimmering in her eyes, revealing a soul-stirring, gentle, and happy smile, the other girls' faces finally bloomed with the joy of victory.
It seemed that it was truly over.
I let out a breath of relief and prepared to deactivate the halo that I had been maintaining for who knows how long.
Compared to [Primordial Alchemy], the newly obtained [Great Alchemy] was exactly as I had anticipated, reducing the consumption rate of pyroxene by several times, and indirectly reducing the loss of my lifespan as well. Up to now, it had only cost half a year.
Adding in the previous three times, all told, it amounted to just five years.
The solar corona behind my head faded into nothingness. Wearing a warm smile, I said,
"Arisu, welcome back."
"Mm!" The girl nodded firmly. "I'm back..."
As she spoke, she walked quickly toward me.
But in an incomparably abrupt and horrifying moment, Arisu, who had come within just a few meters of me, suddenly stopped. Her expression changed drastically as she hurriedly retreated:
"Kei? Wait... no, everyone, stay away from me..."
And in the very next instant,
The clear azure in those eyes was drowned by an eerie purplish red, and her panicked expression instantly turned dark and gloomy.
"Only you... only you...!"
Kei ground her teeth, her gaze fixed on me and filled with irreconcilable hatred. "Absolutely unforgivable!"
In the blink of an eye, her petite body crossed the short distance once more, charging straight toward me. I had just reactivated my divine name but had no time to escape. Carrying the momentum of her charge, with strength already fully gathered, she struck with a palm far more than ten times stronger than the one that had destroyed my substitute before. It felt as though I had been hit head-on by an overloaded freight truck at full speed. I was sent flying more than ten meters before crashing heavily to the ground.
Thankfully, I was still clutching the briefcase containing the Shittim Chest.
Although it looked terrifying, with Arona's protection I was not actually injured. With the blessing of the divine name, I flipped over and climbed back to my feet.
"Why!? What kind of trump card is letting you not die this time!?"
Seeing me unharmed, Kei roared at me.
But the one who should have been asking that question was clearly me.
Why was Kei still able to appear? Hadn't I already reconciled with Arisu and helped her emerge from her self-imposed isolation?
How long was this thing going to haunt us?
Why could she not just obediently disappear?
"As long as you disappear... as long as you can disappear...!"
Kei let out a shrill wail, ignoring the attacks from the Game Development Department girls as she charged at me once more, only to suddenly collapse halfway.
It was not that the ammunition hitting her had dealt significant damage, but that she was no longer "her".
When she lifted her head again, the girl's eyes regained their clarity, and she shouted to me:
"Sensei, Kei seems to have entered a berserk state, Arisu can't control—"
"Princess! Please do not interfere with me! This is all this adult's fault, all of it is my fault for failing to eliminate him! As long as he is gone, everything can return to how it was!"
Shouting incoherent words, Kei, like a cornered beast driven to desperation, roared and launched another frenzied charge toward me.
With my physical abilities, even with the divine name's blessing, I could not escape her pursuit.
Especially once she closed in, the Game Development Department girls, fearing they might hit me, no longer dared to attack recklessly, allowing Kei to act even more freely.
She slammed me to the ground, grabbed my collar tightly, and raised a pale fist that contained endless violence.
I could clearly see that on Arisu's exquisitely beautiful face, there was now a twisted expression filled with sorrow, anger, and hatred.
Tears shimmered in Kei's eyes as she spoke in a choked voice, "I am Kei... she is the princess... you are just a shameless liar!"
At this moment, with me as the fish on the chopping block, though I could still hold out for quite some time, I let out a cold laugh.
"The one deceiving Arisu is you, isn't it?"
"But!" Struck at a sore spot, Kei roared, "You deceived me!"
The small, pale fist, yet carrying the weight of a thousand blows, came crashing down toward my face.
Just as I steeled myself for the Shittim Chest's power reserves to plummet over the next stretch of time,
Along with a gust of wind rushing in from the side, a clear shout that sounded like heavenly music to me rang out:
"Bad AI occupying Arisu's body, you're not allowed to hurt Master! Hah! Asuna flying kick!"
There was no need to turn my head to see the attacker's face. From the familiar voice and the name of the technique alone, her identity was obvious.
For her to appear so suddenly at a moment like this, I could not help recalling Akane's account, and at the same time gained a deeper understanding of Asuna's character.
...But when you're launching a sneak attack, maybe don't shout the name of your move!
Of course, with her extraordinary perception, Kei had long since noticed Asuna's movements. She simply did not care.
At this moment, there was only me in her eyes, the one she hated with every fiber of her being. Even if she had to take this blow head-on without holding back, she still wanted to first imprint her fist on my face—
But even that wish was shattered at the instant before her fist could reach me, as a brief flash of azure surfaced.
Even though Kei seized control of the body again at the fastest speed, it was already too late.
Descending like a divine weapon, Asuna kicked Kei off of me in one strike, then raised her assault rifle and unleashed a barrage at her.
With the halo Asuna possessed, even Kei could no longer completely ignore the attacks as she had against the Game Development Department.
Dragging her not-yet-fully-repaired body, Kei dodged Asuna's attacks while trying to close in on me. However, unable to break through the combined firepower of Asuna and the other members of the Game Development Department, and with Arisu interfering from time to time, Kei inevitably fell into a disadvantage.
"She can't hold out much longer."
Himari made her judgment. "Arisu is appearing more and more frequently, and without enemies blocking them, our reinforcements are finally about to arrive. As a Kei forcibly contending against the princess who is her master, she will definitely pay the price of data damage, or even complete annihilation."
I let out a cold laugh. "That really is wonderful."
Even so, deep down, I could not truly wish for Kei to die.
Arona's strange words, and Kei's appearance in the mental world, involuntarily surfaced in my mind.
At least in Arisu's dream, Kei also possessed a halo.
Since Arisu could be captured and grant me new authority...
But when I thought again, recalling that the large white and yellow robots I had encountered in the Abydos Desert and the Millennium suburban ruins also had halos above their heads, I shook my head hard, tossing aside this absurd thought and silently scolding myself.
What was there to feel sorry about? By now, we were irreconcilable enemies.
At this moment, Kei, who had been beaten to her knees, struggled once more to her feet.
Then she turned and bolted straight away—
Toward the direction of the Sword of Light.
Kei would not run away, nor would she sit and wait for death. To seize the Sword of Light was the claw she needed for her final struggle as a cornered beast.
Naturally, I would not let her succeed. Estimating that with the halo's protection I might be able to drag this electromagnetic cannon, I first released a deterrent to restrain her, then took a wide detour and reached the Sword of Light first, preparing to take it away just in case.
But the instant my hand touched the Sword of Light's cold casing, I froze.
"You stole my precious princess! You tried to deny the reason for our existence up to now! Since that is the case, then I will also..."
Kei roared at the top of her lungs, "Destroy the things you cherish!!!"
Along with her shout came several cries of alarm.
From the Game Development Department and Asuna, who, after closing in on Kei, were ambushed by Followers hidden in the shadows and disguised as wreckage.
"How is that possible?" Himari's voice wavered with shock. "She endured until now before using it? Could it be that Kei... Kei's target was everyone from the very beginning?"
Perhaps since Asuna appeared, or perhaps even earlier, the seemingly deranged Kei had been calculating all along.
Secretly manipulating the Followers to gather, deliberately adjusting her own position, then pretending to be desperate and trying to reclaim the Sword of Light...
All of it was done for one purpose only, to lure everyone into an ambush net, and in this final stretch of time, to exact as much revenge as possible.
Revenge against me, whom she hated to the extreme.
"Do not use that name to address me!"
Kei spoke almost word by word, yet her movements never stopped as she charged straight toward the entangled Momoi.
Halfway there, she suddenly stopped, and the Followers halted their attacks as well.
"Kei, please stop!"
But immediately after, she resumed her mad dash, and the Followers renewed their assault.
"Princess, we must complete this mission!"
Zzz—
Yet just one second before reaching Momoi, Kei's figure came to an abrupt halt.
It was not Arisu taking over, but rather Kei's auditory perception system precisely capturing a sound she was familiar with, but which absolutely should not have appeared at this moment.
She instinctively turned and dodged.
Bang!
In the next instant, a light round struck exactly where she would have been had she continued along her original path.
Kei looked at me in shock and uncertainty.
More precisely, she looked at me, holding the Sword of Light in both hands, having just independently completed a firing sequence, and appearing completely at ease.
"So that's what it's used for..."
I murmured softly, recalling the second line of text on the card.
Miracle: [The Sensei's Sword, the Dream-Forged Unformed Ideal Land]