The lab used for the Deep Dream Project was built by Kanon, who fully displayed her power and talent as a doctor. As a result, it was a secret location known to only a few, even within the academy.

The only people who knew about this place, aside from Kanon, were other doctors who obtained the information from the academic society, her supporter Konie, and—

“You’ve come, Luka.”

Luka’s pass was still valid.

What this meant was that in Kanon’s eyes, Luka was still not an obstacle.

Kanon glanced at Luka and began manipulating the console in front of her again.

She had a smile on her face, but there was a hint of urgency in her demeanor.

“Ugh, Sorciera really got me. I can’t believe she summoned something like that. The academic society’s done for. I’m so bummed out.”

“—GM04, Ruruika.”

A mechanical dolphin jumped beside Luka.

The summoning of Ruruika at such an unnecessary moment made Kanon tilt her head.

She stopped what she was doing and turned to look.

“…Luka, what’s wrong? You don’t need that thing right now.”

Seeing Kanon’s confused expression, Luka clenched her fist and swallowed her saliva.

Then, with a strained voice, she spoke.

“Kanon, it’s time to stop. We need to face the past.”

Without changing her expression, Kanon opened her mouth.

“Ah, so you’re going to that side?”

The exchange was too brief to be considered a break in their friendship.

There was neither sadness nor despair in it, as if confirming a fact.

But at that moment, Luka had certainly become Kanon’s adversary.

“You’ve been swayed by Konie? Or did something change after contacting Sorciera? Either way, we have to eliminate the obstacle—Divided Death Must Die.”

Kanon sat down in her chair.

Then, she waved her fingers like a conductor’s baton, making butterflies appear.

“I won’t kill you. I’ll be nice since you’ve been with me this long. But you’ll regret betraying me so much that the pain will make you wish you were dead.”

“…I’ll stop you.”

“Hahaha, come here, coward.”

The butterflies spread out in a black wave, as if welcoming Luka.

In the center of it, a path leading to Kanon stretched out.

With no choice but to move forward, Luka expected this.

(So, she took away Ruruika’s mobility. But…)

Luka pulled out a mechanical mask from the expanded area and put it on her face.

“Ruruika.”

The mechanical dolphin named by Luka appeared in front of her.

Then Luka jumped on top of Ruruika.

In a position similar to riding a bike, Luka controlled Ruruika, directing it toward Kanon.

“It’s nice that Luka can ride like that. I can’t, though. Well, I can do this.”

Even as Luka approached, Kanon manipulated Divided Death Must Die with a carefree smile.

She gathered butterflies in Luka’s path and formed a guillotine.

The nature of Divided Death Must Die, which absorbs magic, combined with the guillotine, created a deadly one-hit kill.

But instead of stopping, Luka accelerated.

“Submerging.”

At the moment the guillotine fell, Ruruika, having carried Luka a certain distance, lightly leapt and dived into the floor, taking Luka with her.

It was as if they had truly submerged in water, as ripples spread across the floor, and the guillotine struck the floor and turned back into butterflies.

Seeing this, Kanon spoke, impressed.

“I see. You’ve improved Ruruika’s dungeon space creation ability. Being able to submerge with someone… It’s great for movement and reconnaissance.”

The generation of localized dungeon spaces had become commonplace in Zilnius Academy.

Luka had further modified and applied the technology used to store special autonomous armaments like Ruruika, making it her own.

(This technique is my original. Konie and Kanon don’t know it!)

The dungeon space, devoid of its master, constantly collapsed from the edges.

Holding onto Ruruika’s dorsal fin as they swam through a world of defective white-and-black objects, Luka prepared another weapon.

Her opponent was the vastly superior doctor.

If that was the case, her own power alone wasn’t enough.

“—Ah, from behind.”

Kanon sensed Ruruika’s launch without even looking.

Now connected to Divided Death, Kanon had no blind spots.

“Tch, Ruruika!”

From Ruruika’s abdomen, three powerful missiles made of magical alloy were launched.

They were certainly powerful missiles not intended for indoor use, but Kanon used Divided Death to create a barrier, completely blocking the attack.

The explosion blew her hair, but she smiled brightly as she pointed at Luka.

“Boom!”

Countless Divided Deaths behind her were fired like a machine gun.

“Tch.”

Luka once again dived into the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Seeing Luka disappear, Kanon let out a frustrated sigh.

Yeah, to her, this was just annoying.

There was no possibility of defeat.

“That’s just creating the dungeon space. So, your hiding spot will always cause a disturbance in the magic depth—if I hit it with the exact opposite magic wave…”

Divided Deaths gathered at a point and flapped their wings.

It was an amplification of the magic waves through resonance.

Kanon’s extraordinary talent allowed her to manually operate over a thousand autonomous weapons and completely understand the numerical values of Ruruika’s dungeon space.

Through this, Divided Deaths generated magic waves completely opposite to the ones in Ruruika’s dungeon.

With a synchronized flap, part of the floor began to ripple strangely.

Soon after, Ruruika shot out, accompanied by a high-pitched cry that could almost be called a scream.

“You can’t do that in front of me. Destroying a dungeon space is easy.”

“…Ruruika!”

Luka glared at Kanon, then submerged again.

This time, she moved even faster, swimming recklessly through the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Seeing this, Kanon sighed in exasperation.

“Is that it? Well, for a normal opponent, that might be enough. It’s a space that normally can’t be interfered with, after all. But… remember, I helped with the GM series. Don’t you remember?”

The room was already filled with Divided Deaths.

The black wave of Divided Deaths flapped as one again.

“I have every combat pattern to defeat you memorized. Of course, I know the other GM series too. So even if the whole student council came, they couldn’t defeat me. The president of Hishou… well, she’ll manage somehow. She’s dumb.”

Kanon said this and casually sipped her instant coffee.

To her, this was never a fight.

If anything, it was more like disciplining Luka.

There was an absolute difference between them.

“Ah, there.”

“?!”

Divided Deaths gathered and flapped at the spot Kanon indicated.

Soon after, Ruruika, who had been hiding in the wall, was pushed out as the dungeon space collapsed.

Looking at Ruruika and Luka lying on the floor, Kanon smiled without delivering the final blow.

“Are you okay? Did you fall on your face just now? Luka, you have a nice face, so be careful. Though, I guess you don’t care about your looks, huh? Try being a little more feminine.”

It was the same casual banter as always.

The only difference was that the one in front of her had once been her friend.

“Well then, I guess it’s about time to catch them. Anyway, Miyume-chan is probably in Luka’s lab, right? I should collect her too… No, dealing with Sorciera comes first. Hmm, this is tricky. What should I do?”

The eyes murmuring to herself do not reflect Luka’s figure.

Before she could even make a move, Divided Death restrained Luka.

………….It was supposed to be that way.

“…Hmm?”

The Divided Death, which was heading to restrain Luka, was knocked away and slammed against the wall.

A gigantic tail-like object that appeared from the floor swept away all the surrounding entities.

Kanon looked at the fallen Divided Death and then at Luka, tilting her head.

“What was that?”

Luka didn’t respond.

Slowly standing up, Luka showed the dive gear attached to her left arm instead of answering.

It was different from what she usually wore.

However, Kanon immediately realized whose it was.

“Konie’s dive gear?”

“It took some time before I could use it, but now I’m ready. Did you really think I was just running away?”

“…Haha, impressive. You tricked me. Well done.”

Kanon clapped her hands.

However, her eyes were not smiling like before.

A fin and a massive shadow spun around.

Seeing Luka at the center, Kanon became genuinely interested for the first time.

“What did you do?”

“It’s simple. I’m just using Konie’s dive gear and my own dive gear at the same time.”

“Hmm, that’s not really an answer.”

Kanon scratched her head awkwardly.

She could tell just by looking.

What she couldn’t understand was…

“That’s an impossible processing task for a human brain, you know?”

The one making it possible was Luka herself.

“Then go ahead and figure it out, Doctor. You’re supposed to be smarter than me, right?”

“Hahaha, alright! Then let’s finish this quickly and figure it out!”

At Kanon’s excited voice, Divided Death changed color.

The Divided Death, now transformed with fiery red wings, rushed toward Luka with a speed unimaginable compared to before.

“Please lend me your strength, Lolon.”

In response, a mechanical crocodile howled and emerged from the floor.

Its armor, thicker than normal self-sustaining weapons, protected Luka from the bullets of Divided Death.

“Really tough, Lolon. It’s been customized for me, and Konie’s such a hassle. It was totally the right call to ambush them there. That one can’t be controlled at full capacity by anyone other than Konie.”

Even Kanon could see that Lolon, the self-sustaining weapon, was beyond the norm.

By using Konie’s sense of “just put all the strong stuff on it,” it had become a monster machine that only Konie could control.

“I bet there’s a trick to using the dive gears simultaneously. Let’s see how long your crazy stunt lasts!”

“No need. I don’t have time to entertain you. I have to go back to Miyume and Konie.”

Luka jumped onto Lolon’s back.

Then, she reached back.

“I’ll borrow this.”

The gigantic great sword equipped on Lolon.

Luka drew it and slung it over her shoulder.

But her footing was unstable, clearly not accustomed to holding a weapon.

At the awkward sight, Kanon couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Pfft, haha! There’s no way you can use that, Luka! It’s so lame. You’re not used to using weapons, are you?”

Luka didn’t deny Kanon’s teasing.

(That’s right, I can’t swing this great sword. But—this was never intended to be used as a weapon in the first place.)

Luka managed to hold the great sword in position and leapt off Lolon.

She then plunged the sword deeply into the floor.

In that instant, the mechanism of the great sword activated, and its parts began to shift and expand.

Eventually, the great sword transformed into an antenna embedded into the ground.

“Huh? What’s that? What do you—?!”

Out of the corner of her vision, one Divided Death fell to the ground.

Kanon recognized the scene.

“—It’s the same as Sorciera! A weapon solely to neutralize Divided Death!”

Although the approach was different from the jade scythe, the solution Konie had come up with was the same as Sorciera’s.

The Great Sword, in essence, was a jamming device that interfered with the communication between Divided Deaths and rendered them unable to act.

“This is where the real fight starts. Ruruika, Lolon!”

With Ruruika on her back, they accelerated with Lolon.

The Divided Death, which should have been blocked, grew confused and scattered or fell to the ground.

“Tch, this is annoying!”

Quickly reconnecting with several groups, Kanon prepared to intercept Luka.

But the forces she controlled were nowhere near as powerful as before. Lolon was ahead, crushing them as they came.

“Ugh, today’s just unlucky!”

The situation had reversed from earlier.

Kanon stood up and, using the nearby Divided Death, managed to form a wall.

A solid defense was established, abandoning the intercept.

(Controlling someone else’s dive gear and jamming Divided Death… neither is a force that can last long.)

Kanon, while feeling the pressure, understood that victory was still within her grasp.

She could predict that Luka was pushing herself too hard.

Now, she just had to wait for her to collapse.

(If I just hold out, it’ll be fine. This battle is mine.)

Behind the wall, Kanon smirked.

Even Lolon and Ruruika couldn’t completely break through the wall of Divided Death.

New Divided Death would be replenished as the old ones were destroyed.

Though its function had been drastically reduced by the jamming, it was still enough to block attacks.

However, this only held true if Luka’s goal was to defeat Kanon.

“…Huh?”

Luka passed by the wall Kanon had created without slowing down.

Then, approaching the console by the wall, she connected her dive gear.

“—No way!”

Kanon understood Luka’s intent and shouted.

“You’re trying to steal Miyume-chan’s data!”

“I’ll complete Miyume with this. As a human.”

“You can’t! If you don’t follow the proper procedure, she won’t be Miyume anymore!”

Luka’s goal.

It was to steal the final data required for constructing Miyume’s body.

The necessary information, granted to the data-roid in appropriate amounts as human-like data, had been completely taken.

“Ruruika!”

Luka forcefully yanked the code used for the connection and commanded Ruruika, immediately reversing direction.

She then rushed toward the door.

“You won’t escape! Don’t mess with me, that’s my precious data!”

The Divided Death chased after Luka.

Gradually, the effect of the jamming began to wear off, and the number of Divided Death controlled by Kanon was returning to normal.

(I won’t last more than a few seconds. But that’s why I was able to catch her off guard.)

Everything had led to this moment.

From the beginning, Luka never thought she could defeat Kanon.

(I would lose in a direct fight. That’s why… this is my way of resisting, Kanon…!)

“Just a little more…!”

Ruruika accelerated towards the exit.

Lolon threw itself in the way to block the approaching Divided Death.

With his massive jaws, he crushed it. With his tail, he struck it away. Even as it was consumed by Divided Death, it had undeniably bought them a few seconds.

(Thank you. I swear, I’ll bring this back…!)

Right now, Kanon couldn’t leave this lab.

That much was clear from the fact that, even though she knew where Miyume was, she wasn’t making a move.

An absolute existence—Sorciera—had trapped Kanon within the only safe space she had: her lab.

“Just a little… more—!”

Dizziness struck.

Using Dive Gear simultaneously had pushed her brain to its limits.

A drop landed on Ruruika’s back.

Seeing it, Luka realized—she was having a nosebleed.

“Ah.”

The moment she noticed, the collapse came fast.

“Ugh… ah…”

She tried to hold onto her fading consciousness, but she had already gone beyond the point where willpower could help.

For a brief moment, Luka blacked out.

Because of that, Ruruika switched to auto mode and desperately attempted to evade Divided Death.

But when it came down to pure computational ability, the advantage lay with Divided Death.

“…!”

Ruruika acted on instinct, hurling it’s master from it’s back.

As Luka tumbled across the floor, Ruruika, too, was swallowed by Divided Death.

“Ah—R-Ruruika…!”

Her partner vanished.

Despair threatened to consume her, but Luka forced herself to move, crawling forward.

But there was no way she could escape.

“Aha, got you.”

A cheerful voice sounded behind her.

Luka knew without looking.

Kanon was standing there, looking down at her.

“You can’t do that. It makes me want to kill you… like I did Konie.”

With those words, Kanon crouched in front of Luka.

“Give it back? Then I’ll forgive you.”

“…”

“Give. It. Back.”

The smile didn’t change.

But the Divided Death surrounding them made Kanon’s emotions painfully clear.

Luka glared up at Kanon with every ounce of defiance she had.

“No. If you want it that badly, then kill me. Then you’ll truly be alone.”

“What are you talking about? …I’ve always been alone.”

Kanon raised one hand slightly.

The Divided Death fused together, forming numerous small spears.

“Goodbye, Luka. Thanks for everything.”

There was no regret in Kanon’s expression as she swung her hand down.

(Miyume… Konie… I…)

Countless spears rushed toward her.

Faced with imminent death, Luka lowered her head.

“—Raise your head. You chose to fight, didn’t you?”

A thunderous roar.

A wave of jade lightning incinerated everything in its path.

The spears surrounding Luka.

The Divided Death Must Die blocking the exit.

Defeat, death—everything was obliterated by sheer force.

“No…! No, no, no! I have to kill her, now…!”

Kanon, realizing who the attack belonged to, screamed like a child throwing a tantrum.

She pulled out a scalpel meant for dissection and swung it down at Luka.

At that moment, lightning struck between them.

A deafening explosion shook the ground.

In the blinding flash and scattering sparks, a hand reached out—catching Kanon’s arm.

“How clumsy. You’re not used to wielding weapons either, are you?”

“Sorciera…!”

“A lovely night, Doctor.”

Sorciera smiled.

Then, she deployed a small magic circle at Kanon’s abdomen.

With one arm restrained, Kanon couldn’t escape.

At point-blank range, the converged energy blast fired.

“Guh—Agh!!”

The blast struck before she could even summon Divided Death Must Die.

Kanon slammed into the wall.

Air was forcibly expelled from her lungs, and the creaking of her body echoed unnervingly.

Even as an Explorer, taking that hit head-on left her unable to act.

(I—I’m going to be killed…!)

Kanon struggled to breathe, trying desperately to stand.

Seeing her, Sorciera muttered.

“There’s no need to be so afraid. I have no intention of killing you. I’ve already lost interest.”

A teleportation circle formed beneath Sorciera and Luka.

“Judgment will come from someone more fitting. Until then, sit in the corner and repent.”

“D-Don’t mess with me…!”

Desperately, Kanon attempted to command Divided Death Must Die to strike Sorciera—

But no one was there anymore.

Kanon tried to stand.

Her knees trembled.

She collapsed back onto the floor.

She slammed a fist against the wall, then curled up, hugging her knees.

“Damn it… damn it, damn it, damn it! Why does everyone keep getting in my way…!?”

A child’s sobs echoed through the room.

There was no doctor here.

No genius.

Only a single, lonely child.