"Fufu~ I wonder how Senpai is doing~?"
BB was lying leisurely on a sunbed on the substantial island, basking in the warm sunlight.
"BB, is it okay to just play around like this?"
"Haa~? What is it, Passionlip? Are you rebelling against me now? You just have to follow my orders, okay?"
"Mother always ends up losing when she acts like this..."
Slap!
BB got angry and slapped Passionlip's large chest with her hand.
"That was all~ a handicap for Senpai, okay!?"
"You still lost miserably during the Mooncell Operation..."
"That's because Senpai is strong! And because you're incompetent, Passionlip! To begin with, your masochistic constitution means you're just meant to be a punching bag! How dare you talk back!"
"You never get summoned because you're always so hysterical..."
"Gyaaaak!"
Despite having a masochistic constitution, Passionlip had a talent for irritating people even more than Meltryllis, who had the opposite sadistic constitution.
Among the Sakura Five, BB's alter ego stood out with her unintentionally grating ability. In a way, it was as absurd as those large breasts of hers.
"Hoo... What's the point of getting angry. Anyway, I went to the trouble of calling that person, our Moon Cancer ally. Senpai must be struggling with this high-difficulty event that finally happened after so long, right? Fuhuhu... And then when he splendidly reaches here, that's when this kind BB-chan will comfort him!"
"You're dumber than Earth's AIs these days."
"Shut up!"
Slap slap!
BB vents her anger by slapping the chest. It was truly petty anger.
If it were the old days, Passionlip would cry while being hit, but she was used to BB hitting her now and just accepted it.
Lying down again, BB sips blue lemonade through a straw with a slurping sound.
"Now then~ shall we check the battle situation?"
The moment BB tries to check the battle situation, the barrier shatters and an anomaly occurs.
"Hmm?"
As the barrier suddenly shatters, BB looks bewildered, takes off her sunglasses, and gets up from her seat...
"Surprise, motherfucker!"
"!?"
Humpty, who suddenly and abruptly popped out of thin air. Humpty's party suddenly appears.
"What...!?"
BB is flustered by this...
"Hey BB, it's me, Humpty. Do you know why I've come?"
"You shouldn't have even met Mash yet...?"
"What, was the other opponent Mash? That's surprising. Then I guess the one who took Florence was her, huh?"
"..."
BB sees Abigail, standing behind Humpty with a displeased expression, soaked wet, and Archetype: Earth, standing with a serene expression.
That's right.
It was a rebellion.
"Senpai, this situation is..."
"Yeah, it's Rule Breaker. I'm pissed at you for creating a difficulty like JOT. It reminds me of the past when I got stressed from that shitty high-difficulty event in New York and eventually gave up on farming materials."
"... So you persuaded Archetype: Earth and Abigail-san to come with you."
"Yeah, from now on! I won't waste a single second defeating you."
"Ah~ is that so? Sorry but... it's all within my predicted range."
"What did you say?"
"I predicted 14,000,605 possibilities. Future sight through Xiang Yu-san's computational device? Compared to a high-performance AI like me, that's just cute. I've already calculated countless times the possibility of Senpai using a rule-breaker like this golden bastard! To begin with, Senpai can't defeat me?"
"Are you Doctor Strange or something?"
BB silently raises her hand and points to the sky, and when I look at the sky...
"... Eye?"
A huge and beautiful eye could be seen.
An eye filling the sky. It was a gigantic eye. An eye so huge it made even the band of the sky look pathetic.
"That's, don't tell me..."
"My affection is... infinite?"
"What the..."
"Fu, fufu, fuhahahaha! Now then, despair before this unstoppable, colossal power! And show me that despairing face, maybe even shed a tear or two!"
BB laughs while showing a villainous smile. Humpty looks up at the sky for a moment, then looks at BB and speaks.
"BB."
"Ye~es? What is it? Perhaps, a declaration of surrender...?"
"Stop it."
"....."
"It's nonsense. How far are you going to expand the worldview? It's not fun anymore."
"Ah, yes."
When Humpty speaks in a serious voice with a stern expression, BB immediately becomes docile. Immediately after, Kingprotea also shrinks and descends with a sword. Through Self-Suggestion EX, she could shrink via sublimation.
".. What is it, I prepared a large-scale event thinking of Senpai and all... Why are you getting serious again! Even though you defeated O.R.T.!"
"If Protea swings her fist once at that size, the Earth would be smashed, you idiot. To begin with, she has Territory Break skill, so her normal attacks are Anti-World Noble Phantasms. Someone breaks Reality Marbles with Ea, but she breaks them with one punch. Some Rider and Archer would cry, they'd really cry."
"To begin with, it's the fault of those outdated Servants who use things as weak as Reality Marbles these days, right? Anyway, if you get serious and reject me, BB-chan will be hurt, you know?"
"No, how far are you going anyway. Stop there."
"It's been ages since we expanded into space, why are you making a fuss now..."
"It wasn't at the level of destroying the Earth... oh wait, it was."
"Right? I prepared it at that level, but you're being too harsh."
"You're the one being too harsh... Well, it's all good that you breathed new life into the ruined Septem chapter... but let's keep it reasonable."
"Who was it that used Rule Breaker?"
"To begin with, this was the original plan anyway."
"Pee~"
"Anyway... it's nonsense and not fun anymore, so the game is suspended. Let's just finish it quickly like we originally planned. It's mentally exhausting..."
Battered by the continuously stormy, rapidly changing situation, Humpty finally complains of mental fatigue, and BB, puffing out her cheeks, has no choice but to declare the game suspended.
"Why did I get blown up..."
And Meltryllis, who arrived late, could only resent BB and Humpty.
Meanwhile, news of the game suspension reaches Mash's party as well.
"The game... is suspended?"
"Aah... so that's what happened. That BB girl, it seems she went beyond the second act to the third and even fourth acts. So I told her to keep it reasonable, makes me wonder if I shouldn't have participated. If it went according to my plan from the start, there would have been no problems. Right, brother?"
"You're also problematic, I think... So, what am I supposed to do now."
"Wait, I'll give you a map or something with Rider on it."
"It's over... In the end, I couldn't reach Senpai. I'm always just a burden to Senpai..."
Mash plops down and looks up at the sky emptily.
"Why are you saying that again? How could you be a burden?"
"I wonder... I've always been that way. Always, always... I was just a burden. After the Incineration of Humanity, I lost my power but could fight again with the Demi-Servant frame... But after that, I was just a burden. With the single-minded determination to protect Senpai, I stood before Senpai, but I only ended up being a hindrance instead. It was even more so from Olympus..."
"That's..."
For Humpty, there were actually many times he got angry at Mash due to the system of forced participation and forced frontline placement. Actually, that's been a unique anger-inducing button for Masters since the Musashi days in the past. Forced frontline fixation truly ignited everyone's desire to use Order Change or Gae Bolg Alternative.
Of course, for Mash, it wasn't about such things. What she was talking about wasn't that.
"Did something happen to you...?"
To such a party, Ritsuka's group, who had their Florence stronghold taken, approaches, and Mash asks her.
Since it was more of a judgment victory for Mash, who held out against everyone with ridiculous defense until her stamina ran out, rather than losing in battle, Ritsuka's party didn't suffer much damage either.
[To begin with, we didn't even properly hear what was going on. The Singularity was on the verge of collapse and then restored, just what is happening...]
"About that... you'll find out later, Doctor."
Mash looks at Romani with a bitter smile and speaks.
"So... you asked what happened to me? Another me. I wonder if I should tell you all?"
"Regression."
Ritsuka mentions the inference she made before.
"A regressor, aren't you?"
".... Not entirely wrong."
Since it wasn't completely wrong, Mash gives a vague affirmation. Seeing Ritsuka, who seems to somewhat understand, Mash decides to try explaining.
"Let me briefly, roughly explain what kind of things happened."
"Mash?"
"It's okay, Lainess-san. I won't tell everything... So, let's see? Why I say I'm Senpai's burden. I should talk about that part, right? ... Because it's true. I was always lacking. Always..."
"... To all of you, Senpai must seem like an incredible person. Because he shows you incredible things together with incredible Servants. But... our journey wasn't like that."
Mash's story typically involves Humpty's struggles in the game, using Command Spells, Leyline Stones, and before that, even Saint Quartz, while pushing through high-difficulty events or stories.
"There were times when it wouldn't have been strange if we died. What you all have now is very comfortable. To begin with, it's that kind of period too... We couldn't have that, you know?"
"Well, it's not wrong... but that's how it was. Among those, hitting the peak during O.R.T. comes to mind. Before that, there was Arjuna who became a god, Demeter, Zeus, Cernunnos too. Those records weren't just once or twice."
[O... O.R.T., you say...?]
"Yes, O.R.T. Back then, I really thought everything was over. There were many hardships after that too... I worried so much, thinking, 'Is Senpai going to leave like this?' Each time, Senpai comforted me, saying it was okay. Even though Senpai must have been the one having the hardest time..."
"... Even so, Senpai believes in me. I too, I can't do without such a Senpai. To begin with... who could dislike Senpai? After showing such a side."
".... So Humpty-san had such a past..."
And the misunderstanding deepens.
While the person in question himself...
"I'm hungry, let's go eat."
Was thinking only about eating, knowing nothing.