I'll kill you after I finish this game!

Mercury Serpent chuckled and revealed an advantage that Fujii Ren didn't want to admit and found repulsive.

And now she began to take the other person seriously; the owner of this voice was—no, Cagliostro was—

Karl Craft, the deputy leader of the Black Round Table! Such an ending, without a doubt.

The other party is the mastermind behind my existence, manipulating everything.

She no longer cared whether the other person was doing it for Mary, after all, the other person had already done many things that she could not tolerate.

They are the prepared enemy!

"The bond between us is unbreakable, irresistible, and inescapable. Now, let us intertwine once more, more intensely and more deeply than before!"

However, this enemy still looked down on her, not taking her seriously, and said as if offering his blessings:

"【To get closer to completion, transform, my substitute—my prince.】"

Crash————

At the same time, the sound, breath, and sense of incongruity all conveyed the guy's words, and all the elements were scattered like waves by the sound of the tide.

After that, all that remained were the ocean waves and the ever-changing sunset.

Left all alone, Fujii Ren became incredibly lonely and quiet, staring blankly at the twilight-colored sea.

"I......"

The hoarse words were squeezed out of her throat. The other person said she was his relic? The other person said she was her creator?

The other person's words shattered the sense of belonging she had cultivated until now, and Fujii Ren was now completely silent.

Accompanied by the echoing sound of the ocean waves, the familiar sound of reflection can now be heard.

Mary, Skadi, I... what should I do...?

They believe that their own feelings, their own choices, and the path they are forging ahead with unwavering determination are meaningless if the other person's words are true.

In summary, all of this was preparation for triggering the outflow of domineering influence.

Anger, sadness, or pain—the hostility towards the Black Round Table stems from the desire not to die or to prevent those they care about from dying.

And then there's my own feeling for Mary, and for everyone else...

It's clearly not a lie, it's clearly the truth, yet we don't know where the source is.

That being said, we cannot stop, but this is probably also that person's wish.

So what should Fujii Ren believe?

What is it based on, and what is its core?

Tell me, anyone can come.

Skadi, Marie, everyone... what should I do?

"lotus......"

Mary walked barefoot on the beach and looked at Fujii Ren, who was sitting on the shore looking somewhat lost. She called out to him softly but received no response.

Stepping into the past, Fujii Ren's memory of Skadi overlapped with that of Mary.

Skadi had this expression before, exactly the same as Ren Fujii now.

Unconsciously, memories of the past surfaced in Mary's mind.

Just as Fujii Ren had witnessed, Cagliostro shyly confessed his feelings to her, and Mary hadn't forgotten what he had said:

"I am infatuated with you, flower."

Mary, who was also the first to make this blunt statement without any external context, was stunned and somewhat frightened.

More importantly, she didn't know what the other person meant by "love," or how it applied to her.

"I want to kneel before you, Flower."

Looking at Cagliostro kneeling before her, the young Marie didn't understand what it meant, but she was always happy.

After her death, she gained two very important friends.

Cagliostro, Reiji...

These two people felt different to her. Mary's intuition was that they were very different from the people she knew, and that they were telling her things she didn't know.

Mary felt that the only people who were actually happy, who were smiling and talking to her, or rather, who could only smile at her, were them.

Cagliostro gave Marie a very special feeling; she was always being given to, and she passively accepted it.

Unlike Reiger, he often gave Mary a soft feeling of being surrounded and forgiven.

It cannot be denied that both of them were in a good mood.

"【But wait, I see, now I understand.】"

That was the tender care of a fledgling bird.

"[I simply firmly believed that the people I met for the first time were special. Based on my interpersonal experience, which is only O or 1, their friendliness at the time was undoubtedly the highest priority.]"

"[Because there is no object of comparison, it is only natural that this is the case.]"

"[But the trip with Skadi, what I saw and heard, and what I recently learned about all sorts of things I've experienced, it feels like I've grown up.]"

Skadi was loved without reason, always tolerated and guided, and taught many things. She was very important.

"[She loves me, and she's the first person I've ever felt truly attached to.]"

With long, blond hair and a tall, imposing figure, Reinhardt is a beast-man whose eyes are filled with a twisted, otherworldly love.

"[He was terrifying; he was the first person I'd ever felt afraid of.]"

With long, crimson hair and a charred half-face, Eluneore is a woman who harbors love and absolute loyalty towards beasts.

"[She was terrifying; she caused me pain for the first time.]"

With Lian, they share and care for each other, finding joy in every moment and cherishing every instant spent together.

Sharing joys and sorrows with the other person, truly understanding the hardships of those around you, and wanting to connect with and be connected with them.

"【There are also bittersweet moments.】"

She felt that being protected by Ren, Skadi, and everyone else was not enough. She wanted to protect everyone and share the pain with them.

Don't give her the sweetness; swallow your pain alone in silence.

She wanted to hug them...

"[Therefore, the things we want to see have increased, the things we want to know have increased, the unknown we want to touch and experience is everywhere.]"

At the same time, there is also a despair that must be absolutely avoided.

There are also threats that must be overcome.

The fear of being hit, the sorrow of slipping from one's hand.

"Although I've learned a lot, I've also come to understand the fear of losing it."

There is also the awareness to strive in order not to lose.

On the beach at dusk, Mary looked at the dejected Fujii Ren with the pitiful and concerned expression of an abandoned little animal.

"So, don't show the same expression you had on Skadi back then, Ren."

“I’m so happy, I’m so proud. What you gave me is really important and it has melted my heart.”

“I’m sorry, I said you were going to replace Cagliostro.”

"Sorry, I said you look like Cagliostro."

"You and him are completely different."

In response to Mary's distressed and heartbroken words of comfort and apology, Fujii Ren finally turned to look at her, his eyes, already trembling with despair, filled with bitterness as he gazed at Mary before him.

"I......"

I want to say something, I want to respond to something, but my self-doubt prevents me from saying it.

In Mary's eyes, Lian's eyes, which were always filled with strength and unwavering determination, had lost their former luster.

Like Skadi from a certain period in his memory, her eyes were like those of a lost child; she had lost something important to him.

Just like Mary herself in the past.

"Who am I? What should I do?"

Even the strongest of her eyes gleamed with sorrowful tears. In Mary's eyes, Fujii Ren looked helpless at that moment, her tone full of confusion and anxiety, trying to hide her distraught state. She said:

"I know what I have to do! I know! There's no going back now! Because I have no choice, because that's the only thing I can do, so I haven't hesitated at all! But..."

I cannot believe that it was undoubtedly my own will.

What Fujii Ren didn't say was referring to this.

The path with no other choice is Cagliostro's hope. It is precisely because there is no other choice that Fujii Ren acts without hesitation or confusion.

To defeat the enemy and reclaim her daily life—that was her simple wish, but... she didn't know if it was truly what she desired, or if it was her own will.

And her life...

Because he couldn't be sure if he truly had the self-will he was supposed to have, Fujii Ren was afraid of the outcome.

"Am I... a puppet?" x2.

At this moment, Fujii Ren's eyes were empty, and she was so self-doubting that she was listless and lost. In Mary's eyes, she overlapped with Skadi in her memory.

Similarly, both of them have doubted their own will, experiencing self-doubt and a sense of loss, believing themselves to be like puppets...

She failed to help Skadi get over it; Skadi returned on her own after leaving her, as if she were a completely different person.

It was still Skadi, but she had changed. Mary felt a strange, indescribable emotion.

Now I seem to understand that the bitter emotion that surged in my heart back then until this moment is called...regret.

Therefore, Mary also has something to say to Skadi back then, and to Ren Fujii now.

"I have something I'd like to ask Lian."

So Mary didn't want to regret it anymore and hoped she could understand.

How special you are to me.