And⊠Inside the floating city of Avant Heimâs main office. Amidst the unchanging silence, only the sound of Jibril detachedly turning pages could be heard.
âI see, by losing my dice my memories were lost tooâ
That is because magical living beings like the Flugel have no clear boundary between the âBodyâ and the âSoulâ. Even her masters must have overlooked that loophole while creating the rules⊠no. That information is something that her masters⊠something that âliving thingsâ donât know. More than anyone else, Jibril herself should have noticed the problem with those rules.
In any case, Jibril continued to turn pages. If that was the case, âWhat would happen if I lost all my dice?â The other participants would become their âsoulâ, their spiritual bodies.
Then, Jibril�
On the page she just turned to, a likely hypothesis is written:
ââăOnly the âCore Spellâ will remain, then it will restartă
Yes. Thatâs all. Just like the other participants, she wouldnât die. Only the most fundamental component of a magical living being, the âSpellâ, would remain, since it has no mass. But if that happens, all her memories would just be reset.
 If that was all, there would be no problem if she just recorded everything in her diary. Even if the spell is rebooted. Even if she is reborn. Thatâs because that would still be herself, after all.
No, rather, this is closer to asking oneself: âIf I lost all my memories, would I still be the same person?â If she wrote down all of her thoughts, all of her memories in this diary thenâŠ
Even if she lost all her dice there would be no problem, she would still adore her masters.
Thatâs what she believedâŠ
Believed, however,
 âIndeed⊠until Master nonchalantly handed me those dice at that bathâŠâ
The second move. When she rolled her dice once again, the moment when they decreased by oneâŠ
Everything she had written in her diary, itâs meaning, her thoughts, even its value⊠She no longer understood any of it.
âSomeone like me lovingly calling an inferior Immanity my Master⊠It must be some kind of mistake. Most likely, that person screwed me in a game, and then planted convenient memories in me. Letâs go take a look at that conceited monkey. And if thereâs an opportunity, letâs kill him.â
While thinking thatâŠ
She went to meet them. Her masters.
And that day. In the bath, when he handed over the dice, all her memories returned. Then, she asked her masters what they thought about reincarnation. If someone had exactly the same soul as you, would that still be you?
The soul. The core spell. If all the components are the same, would that still be you? Thus, her masters answered, and this time Jibril finally⊠understood.
She finally understood what she felt at that time. It was her past self who had been writing in her diary. She opened those pages and unintentionally gave a bitter smile.
 âNo no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no noâ
She repeated the same word as many times as she read the tear-stained pages.
âThe âMeâ who lost her memories is not âMeâ at allâ She thought.
She recorded all her memories in this diary in order to study the theory of the soul. When she lost her memories and read it, she could only think of it as someone elseâs diary. If that was the case, then that was someone else, after all. If you read someone elseâs diary, could you become that person? There is no way.
It is the same as reading books, no matter how many you read, you cannot obtain anything more than âknowledgeâ. No matter how much emotion you write it with, that emotion definitely cannot be transmitted. Having reached that conclusion, Jibril did not return the dice that Sora gave her.
If she was going to forget everything again, then she refused to even roll her dice. She even thought about dying right there and then, if she was allowed to. However, if she died, then the 10 dice she was carrying would have been lost as well. Her masterâs victoryâŠÂ and maybe even her own life, she was unable to take those away from her masters. Thatâs why she asked her masters once again: âIs it fine if I win?â.
 â⊠I really am the worstâŠâ
When she turned the page and saw the part where she borrowed the dice without returning them, Jibril made an expression of self-disgust without realizing. In there, the procedure to start the âGreat Warâ game was written in detail.
The Old Deusâ âSugorokuâ. If it was fine for anyone to reach the top, then Jibril would be the one to do it. However, if she just climbed just as she was, she would surely be lacking something. Jibril was well aware of that.
 âIf anyone climbs to the top, then everyone winsâ None other than her masters, Sora and Shiro, said so, therefore, she wasnât choosing âDefeatâ. Thatâs why she made them bet âThe real way to beat the Old Deusâ too.
On top of that, she devised a game where theyâd have no choice but to renounce their rights. She wrote all that in detail in her diary so that it would still be carried out even if she lost her memories.
âBut⊠Please, MasterâŠ.â
Jibril covered her face and muttered that. They will surely look at her with disdain. No matter, she will gladly take any punishment. If, with a single word, she was ordered to die⊠No, if she was allowed to die, then she wants to die right now⊠but!
â⊠Please, please! Just one time⊠Please Master⊠Will you let me win?... Just this time⊠Please!â
She admits it. She is completely terrified.
 â⊠Not me, but someone else, with my face, with my voice!â
Everything in her diary⊠Everything she has seen and heard, everything she has learned, everything she has felt in those 6407 years. Even the fact that right now she is using dirty tactics to snatch a victory. That although she had no right to do that, she is crying and begging pathetically. All of that, and especially its meaning, if she forgets thatâŠ
âMy Masters calling someone who is not me âJibrilâ âŠâ
Her most important persons, her most important memories, calling that person by that name,
âShe would see them as worthless⊠she wouldnât recognize them no matter whatâŠâ
She imagines that person would be that kind of stranger. Besides, she has never conquered fear even onceâŠ
âââââŠâŠâŠâŠ
For how long had she been doing this?
A few movements started to appear on the âMapâ display. Jibril raised her tear-stained face, and made a small, bitter smile.
ââŠThatâs⊠right⊠my masters, BlankâŠ. would never accept⊠defeatâŠâ
Surely, they donât have any intention to renounce their rights. But that means that they one-sidedly âAccepted the challengeâ. And, at the same time, âIt is fine if Jibril winsâ.
Anyways, she received a lot of âLettersâ from Sora and the others, and they were full of complaints. If they had just written âRenounce your rightsâ or âDieâ, since she is their possession, she would have had no right to refuse.
âThank you very much, Master. I respectfully accept your challenge.â
And so, Jibril took her pen once again and started to write âCommandsâ.
 âNo matter what, I will win. If I corner them completely, even my Masters will have no choice but to renounce their rights.  ButâŠâ
She glanced at her diary one last time.
âBut even so, my Masters will most certainly winâ
She thinks about the page where that was written.
âThen, at least I want to lose to die after losing to my Masters⊠This will be the last game of my life.â
The day the Great War ended. The moment when everything ended, how did the world change then?
That answer, Immanityâs power, and the moment when the world changes once more⊠Jibril will not be able to see how this game with the Old Deus ends. But at the very least, since she will record it with convictionâŠ
â â â
At the edge of square number 308.
âLet me fucking pass, desu!!â
Unable to break through the space at the edge of the square, a red beast was rampaging and roaring. Clad in boiling blood, Izuna swings her fists down, each blow causing the sound of an explosion. Going beyond the limits of physics, âBlood Destructionâ. Using that enhanced perception, she sees a battlefield far away. From the edge of the square she looks down at a space that was compressed to the limit.
The game imitating the Great War. It was the Old Deusâ power that created such a thing. There is no way that she will be able to break the wall of such a space just by punching it, but even so, Izuna, with her blood boiling and her body burning, impatiently strikes at the empty space with her fists, her claws, and her fangs.
She must go back, go back and stop them.
That is a game, just an illusion. Izuna understands that. But, it was a scene where life was treated like nothing, and heaven and earth were torn up like toys.
Izuna knew.
It is different from the story that Tet told her, but if they follow the same path, then the conclusion will also beâŠ
âThat, is, no, good, desu!!â
Izuna knew.
Jibril doesnât know, the answer that she wants to know is:
How did the Great War end in the past? How will that game end?
It will just end with someoneâs death.
ăWhy dost thou hesitate? State one name.ă
She was coldly told that. Izuna swung her fist as her tears evaporated, then she turned towards that robotic voice.
ăIf thou doth that and become the âWinnerâ, everything will be finished at onceă
The one seated on an ink line floating through space, as if she had done that eternally. The one asking questions that she doesnât want to answer right now like, âWhat does it mean to believe?â. The Old Deus, looking down on everything, announces Izunaâs ăTaskă.
ăAmongst the seven souls that the Old Deus holds, choose one to be released and killed[1], then, be transferred to the final squareă
In other words, it is asking her who to sacrifice in order to settle this match.
âââââââââ
Confusion. No, not that. With something like a gasp, Izuna just averts her gaze and trembles. If she just sacrificed this Old Deus that is looking at everything as if it didnât concern her, and one more.
It is saying that with that, everything will end.
Jibril, and Sora and the others, are also killing each other in their game. Outside, Ino and Plum, and Kurami and Feel, are also killing each other in their game. If anyone reached the goal, then this Old Deus will die. This is a game of killing each other, like all the others.
In that case... âJust one moreâ.
If, for example, Izuna herself said:Â Let me be the sacrifice?
Would she be able to stop any further sacrifices�
âDonât screw with me, desu⊠Am I not an idiot, desu!?â
Izuna bares her fangs and howls. As if such a stupid thing could be true. She howls at the Old Deus⊠No, she howls at herself for being too stupid. In the beginning, Izuna thought that it wasnât necessary to think too complicatedly about this game.
It is only because everyone betrayed each other that someone will be able to reach the goal. Going by the results, they were cooperating with each other. She was able to discover that because of her youth and sharp sensibilities.
âI will winâ, she thought after.
AndâŠ
âSave everyone, including Mikoâ She was supposed to demand that. But why didnât she notice? Â Izuna screams at herself with irritation
âIn that case, I donât understand shit, desu!?â
If she reaches the goal will everyone be saved? In that case should she reach the goal? If itâs just to save everyoneâŠÂ Then they should have never played this game!? Not to mention, even if they reach the goal, the Old Deus will become a sacrifice?
She will not even come out even. If she wins, she will lose something, right? Besides, in order to reach the goal, she needs to get past this task, in that case, one more sacrifice?
âI donât get it, desu!!â
Shaking her head like a spoiled child, Izuna thinks: âThatâs impossibleâ.
Thatâs impossible. That canât be. Thereâs no way she would have agreed to that! If she canât save everyone, then, even if she reaches the goal, what demand would she make!?
A game where someone has to be sacrificed wouldnât have even started in the first place! In that case⊠Glaring sternly at the Old Deus, Izuna howls:
âItâs not about the number desu! I really hate stinking liars like you, desu!!â
One, or two, or all, itâs the same thing. She determined that every word the Old Deus is barking is a âLieâ.
Of course they are lies.
Izuna uses her head, and focuses on the many âmysteriesâ.
In the first place, whatâs up with these ăTasksă? They have continued on since square 301. Why are they together like that!? No, if we are asking about what happened in the first place, then who wrote this ăTaskă!?
Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Izuna shakes her head and thinks. In the first place, in the first place⊠The seven souls that the Old Deus holdsâŠ? Who on earth does that refer to? Sora, Shiro, Steph, Jibril, Izuna, Ino, Plum. They are certainly seven. However, including the soul of this Old Deus⊠Arenât they eight? Furthermore, including Miko-sama then, arenât they nine!?
Wrong. Thatâs not it. Absolutely, that it not it!
âIzuna for sure will not say anyoneâs name, Â desu!â
She still doesnât understand whatâs wrong. However, she still announces her instinct. That âIt is absolutely wrong, that canât be!â She believes only that. Izuna is shedding tears and screaming, but
ăUnderstood. In any case, thy defeat hath already been determinedă
The response, as expected, is in the completely emotionless voice of the Old Deus. Yes, in any case, even if she doesnât complete the Task if 72 hours pass⊠Izuna will lose one dice, and have one remaining. Then, she wonât be able to continue.
However,
âIt is fine even if I lost desu. I really hate you desu! But!!â
Izuna glares at the Old Deus with teary eyes, and thinks.
âEven so, I will never accept your death!!â
⊠After all, there have to be no sacrifices.
She cannot change anything, she cannot stop anything. Why,