She knew exactly what answer he wanted.
She could have stopped right there.
She could have softened her words.
But she didn’t.
She chose truth over comfort—every ti.
She explained when she didn’t need to explain.
And when she could have told L175246 about the divine penalty, she said nothing.
Others like to coat lies with more lies.
She did the opposite—she carved truth into truth, chipping away every soft illusion with blunt honesty.
Every word she spoke was real, and that was precisely what made it hurt.
L12185511 tilted its cube head up, staring at her for a long ti before speaking again.
"You’re really awful like this. It would’ve been better if you just said no. You’re afraid I’ll be sad, but you also don’t want to expect anything. You’re really awful."
Then, as if unable to stop himself, he continued, explaining what he ant by "you kept haunting ."
"Actually, we experience program errors all the ti. If it’s only once or twice, small ones, we fix ourselves.
"But after you left, your na kept appearing in front of , again and again. Sotis because I looked for it, sotis because it was brought to . I started collecting information about you, piece by piece, like assembling a puzzle.
"The chanoids were talking about you.
"Players were chasing after you for all kinds of reasons.
"Event Gifts kept descending to look for you.
"My world had only players.
"Your world was limitless.
"And every new puzzle piece triggered another error in my system.
"My program told these emotions were regret... unwillingness... longing... admiration... and liking.
"It’s not your fault.
"It’s the gods’.
"Why won’t they let us form free contracts with players?
"If they allowed it, I could’ve gone with you from the mont we t.
"In Chaotic Blocks, I kept looking for you. But I was always a step too late. And when I was about to catch up, I got tossed into the scrap zone.
"And there, I found the last puzzle piece.
"I learned you had been there.
"I learned you called B8017913’s number a hundred twenty-one tis on the garbage mountain.
"I learned your conversation with it.
"I learned that one of the reasons you went to find it—was because of .
"And in that mont, all the previous errors started recalculating, and led to a new question—
"Why wasn’t it ?
"Why wasn’t I the one?"
He said it with a tremor in his voice, the soft pink light trembling with him.
After all—
They had t in the sa ga.
He had spent more ti with her.
And his model was superior to B8017913’s.
B8017913 suddenly burst out of the pet space, stepping in front of Rita like a guard.
Its voice was tense.
"You hadn’t been discarded yet. And even if you were thrown into the scrap zone then, you still wouldn’t know how to make a pact with a player. L-series has no such loophole. And she didn’t go to find for a contract."
"Logically, that’s true."
L12185511’s voice dropped.
"But... I still don’t accept it."
Right then, the "Majority or Minority?" ga ended.
A chanical energy capsule dropped into Rita’s hand.
She stood up imdiately. Ti to pick materials.
She glanced at L12185511.
"Maybe talk while we walk?"
In that instant, every turbulent emotion inside the chanoid froze solid—
as if hit by an ice spell.
She was still the sa.
Still the sa!
Never allowing herself to waste even a sliver of ti.
Never allowing anything or anyone to disrupt her plans.
Just a mont ago she had softened—but that softness was a hallucination.
She only sat here and talked because the mini-ga wasn’t finished yet.
Just like when she entertained L175246 even at the cost of divine penalties, but left without hesitation the mont she finished choosing materials.
Too much...
Too much!
Too much!!
The pale pink glow flickered rapidly.
Rita and B8017913 both tensed at once.
They heard him repeating softly under his breath—
"Too much... too much... too much..."
B80234615 (lots in front not yet trimd) whispered:
This day was always going to co. She spends all day coaxing this one and that one. I knew this would happen soday...
It understood him, truly.
No existence worships diocrity. Not even the chanoids.
If Rita’s na faded into obscurity, perhaps he would forget her soday too.
But instead—
Her na kept appearing.
And every ti it appeared, it shone brighter.
The more anyone learned about her, the more they understood how precious it was that she had stopped for even a mont.
And the more anyone learned, the more they realized—that mont was all they’d ever get.
Suddenly, L12185511 stopped muttering.
He looked straight at her.
"Do you know how I spread the virus and convinced all chanoids to strike with ?"
Rita’s hand tightened around the hidden helm under her cloak.
She could teleport away at any second.
But before she turned it—
She saw his eyes.
Those small, persistent, focused eyes.
Her fingers froze.
Under his gaze, she slowly put Cat’s Ideal and Wrathful Moon back into the gacha machine and sighed—almost in surrender.
"Go on. I’m listening."
It wasn’t softness.
It was strategy.
If he could lead every chanoid into a strike, he definitely wasn’t ordinary.
That alone ant he was too special for the gods to erase.
Better to face it head-on than keep watching her back.
The pink light softened.
"You’re doing it again," L12185511 murmured.
"Being cruel... but not completely."
Rita opened her mouth to explain—
"I’m not being soft. It’s because—"
"I don’t want to hear it!!"
L12185511 shouted, cutting her off.
Rita: ...
Why so loud...?
B80234615 (lots in front not yet trimd):
...If we survive this, I’m going to savor every second of it.
L12185511 brought both hands together and slowly pulled them apart.
A pale blue light screen unfolded between his palms.
Rita and B8017913 stared.
Rita’s eyes widened in realization.
B8017913’s eyes burned with violent emotion.
Because displayed on the screen—
was a complete divine talent.
A full god-granted talent.
L12185511 had awakened soulfire.
No wonder the gods refused to destroy him.
B8017913 whispered, voice shaking,
"I was wrong... I was wrong... So it really is hatred and suffering that ignite soulfire..."
Rita: ???
You aren’t about to turn evil at a ti like this, are you?!
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