Defense specialization and the end of dreams.

Maple steps back again. Risa attacks with magic, examining Maple’s movements one by one with careful precision.

【Flame Barrage】【Wind Cutter】!

Maple blocks Risa’s magic with her large shield. The magic rebounds without being absorbed. Risa confirms: no lingering traces of 【Greed】 remain.

Among Risa’s remaining abilities, one proves troublesome.

She knows what it is. She knows its strength.

【Rebirth of Shadow】【Ancient Sea of No】!

“You’ve used that one before!”

“You’re going to win with that!”

“Let’s see about that…!”

Maple pushes the aberrations toward Risa while preparing her next move. She acts without speaking to Risa. She puts into practice what she has just thought of.

【Ice Spire】! 【Path of Water】!

Risa extends threads to the 【Ice Spire】, avoiding direct assault from the aberrations. She rides the flow of water to move to the edge of the area.

The aberrations burst through, kicking up dust and sand. Risa draws them in to the limit, slips beneath their feet, leaps through the gap, and passes them with flawless distance management—taking no damage. Now, just as before with the toxic fragment, she pushes them outward.

“Hurt…!”

“【Paralyze Shout】!”

“Ah—!”

It is reflex. Her hand moves automatically, in sync with Maple’s skill declaration. From her pouch she draws a crystal and smashes it.

“Can you really… make it…!?”

“Mm, 【Torrent】!”

Yet Risa sees the effect of the 【Paralyze Shout】 surrounding her—Maple is far away, still.

And she has thought of a tactic not of Risa’s own design.

“【Deadly Breath】!”

“【Wind Blast】…? Is that… a lifeline?”

White hands holding a short blade rise beneath the grotesques, hidden by dust and bulk.

Shielded, poised for a fatal status effect.

Without training to the limit of her endurance against Hinata, she would have died in that instant.

"【Wave Ride】【Icebound Domain】!"

After pushing back the grotesques, the wave freezes solid, locking them in place. They will free themselves soon enough, but even if they do not die, there will be no need to push them again.

A strike enhanced by 【Sword Dance】 easily defeats a dying grotesque not protected by 【Love That Offers the Body】.

Yet Maple cannot use 【Love That Offers the Body】 so long as she has 【Armor Pierce】 active.

While their abilities restrict each other’s movement, Maple uses the grotesques as lavish decoys, driving her true blade through. But here, Risa prevails.

"Won’t work twice, Maple."

Deadly Breath is rendered inert. Risa closes the distance toward Maple.

"Not just that!"

Light flares and flickers beneath Risa’s feet, scattering spells of varied elements.

Knowing full well that Risa cannot be trapped by Shadow of Rebirth, Maple uses aberrations as shields, placing a multitude of items in position.

"Attack Initiated! Poison Dragon!"

A saturation assault of sheer volume overwhelms Risa. Rescue Hand fires the Poison Dragon from behind and projectiles from the front, leaving no room for evasion through item placement.

"Still… Risa’s amazing…!"

Yet Risa twists through the narrowest gaps, moving toward Maple like stitching, nearly lossless.

Each time Risa glimmers, Maple feels a surge of joy.

She wants to draw it out herself. Risa’s brilliance.

Maple calls forth a panel, opens her inventory.

"【Ice Spire】!"

"!"

She cannot cut through the 【Cannonwater】 rising from beneath her feet with 【Heavy Body】.

To be immobilized now is equivalent to accepting death.

Risa comes in with 【Armor Pierce】 as Maple is launched into the air, defenseless.

"Risa...!"

Perfect opportunity. Yet Risa heeds the alarm ringing in her head and does not press forward a single step.

She senses Maple is preparing a counter.

And she is right. The timed bomb Maple has fastened to her chest detonates, launching Maple into the air with the force of the 【Cannonwater】—a defensive move that could also be used to obliterate Risa if she closes in.

As she is thrown backward by the blast, Maple keeps the blue panel active, manipulating it to set the next bomb to her chest.

One explosion after another—she evades Risa’s pursuit, creates distance while pressing forward with the ancient weapon.

“Clever trick.”

“Can’t attack, can you?”

“As long as this remains.”

“Ugh.”

Maple, outmatched in mobility compared to Risa, uses both her item and the Machine God’s self-destruct mechanism to keep Risa from closing the gap within the armor-piercing range. She wants just one more strike.

Stop, and death draws near.

Yet both the Machine God and the bombs have limits.

Bombs are not Maple’s primary weapon; she does not carry them to maximum capacity at all times. The Machine God’s barrage, meant to restrict Risa’s freedom, steadily depletes its own reserves.

Risa cannot fully overcome Maple—but this is only delay.

A move more certain, one Risa could not have imagined. Maple must find and execute it before time runs out and her means of movement are lost.

“But… inventory. That’s interesting!”

Risa stops. Like Maple, she summons a blue panel in midair and checks the arrangement of items.

“Memorized. Now there’s no need to search for a pouch.”

Maple’s eyes widen at Risa’s startling declaration.

She is always amazed by Risa’s abilities, but she does not doubt the words.

If Risa says she can do it, then she can.

Her focus has grown so sharp that she masters new techniques without practice.

Risa now can execute any play.

“One more time would’ve been enough…!”

Maple’s earlier strike—ripping Risa’s [Kūzen] away—was, of course, a good move. But more significant was how it made Risa pause, startled.

Maple could not see a path where she alone overcame Risa.

"Time is running short... I won’t let you relax."

"【Attack Initiated】!"

There is no room for slow thought. Not in time, nor in the severity of Risa’s assault.

Maple processes a multitude of things in parallel as never before.

Handling Risa’s advance, attacking with the short blade of [Rescue Hand], deploying weapons, relocating the explosive device for movement, and assessing whether any of her own skills can reach Risa’s life.

Even her own calm observation of this, she finds herself surprised.

In the first intense burst of parallel thought, a single strategy emerges—like a puzzle solved.

A strategy she dares to believe might reach Risa.

The single answer reached at the end of her most intense focus today—better than ever before in her life.

Maple chose this as her final move.

"Win… against Risa!"

Maple shouted the resolve, loud enough for Risa to hear. Risa’s presence shifted. Joy flickered across her face. Then, with a step pressed hard into the ground, a pressure stronger than before surged forth.

Show me.

Prove it.

Risa ran through the laser rain, driven by the need to see with her own eyes what answer Maple had reached.

Risa made no use of resources in her repeated charges. But Maple had no choice but to expend irrevocable resources in response.

The bomb stock. The remaining weapons of the Machine God.

Risa would sense their dwindling, even without counting the numbers.

Risa is the only one who tracks the Machine God’s remaining power with precision equal to Maple’s. She does not, under any circumstances, fail to count this time.

"Event ending soon. Event ending soon."

An announcement flows from the blue panel left open to retrieve the bomb. The remaining time is displayed there.

At last, Maple makes her final decision.

Whether Risa will board or not remains uncertain.

But given Risa’s current state, she will not end this without confronting Maple.

"Full Armament Deployment. Attack Initiated. Partner’s Assistance!"

"……!"

Seeing the mountain of bombs Maple has placed at her feet, Risa steps back.

A movement with intent, clearly different from the evasion she used before.

Creating an environment where Risa cannot approach, Maple launches herself skyward, carried by the explosion of every item, every weapon, every blast wave.

"She’ll board—she has to."

She knows it is not mere flight for the sake of fleeing. She is drawing her in.

Still, when Risa reaches beneath Maple, she raises an ice pillar and extends her thread upward.

Maple’s mechanical god has roughly one barrage left. The timed bomb is spent.

Maple’s mobility in the air has dropped sharply.

All resources expended. Still, the danger prediction insists Maple continues to fly—because she has a plan.

Who cares.

If she does not move now, there will be no more chance, no more time to defeat Maple.

Maple holds everything—everything between them—hostage.

Not another. Herself.

She has drawn Risa into the trap.

And Risa wanted it that way.

The end of the dream is decided by her own hand.

No awakening by deadline.

“[Wall]! [Attack Initiated] [Ancient Weapon] [Seeping Chaos]!”

"Step into the Underworld—Path of Water!"

Maple inherited the skill 【Wall】 from Shiroppu.

Trapping Risa within the hollow of a towering cliff wall, she rains down a torrent of skills from above.

Risa creates a foothold in the air, ascending while maintaining flawless evasion.

Risa would not collapse merely from having her platform tied down.

Even if status drops via [Step to the Underworld], as long as it reaches Maple, [Armor Through] deals damage based on Maple’s [VIT]. [STR] is not even needed to decide the outcome.

The lag in her steps. The drift in her timing of evasion.

Yet Risa continues to maintain the quality of evasion, correcting with a force beyond human limits.

The Machine God is out of ammunition.

Risa drew the image of the path to the Armor Through as she watched Maple fall from high above.

"Volcanic Eruption!"

The image was erased, overwhelmed by red that filled the field of view.

【Volcanic Eruption】

A skill acquired within the tower during the eighth event. It creates an area that ignores defense for both self and others upon impact. Incompatible with Maple and Mizari. Maple could not use it due to insufficient MP.

Now, for the first time, she set it in her skill slot.

With the skill slot, MP cost is ignored. She fired a skill she should not have fired. She came to finish Mizari.

Focus sharpened. Lava appeared slow. No escape. Surrounded by 【Wall】.

There was no time left to flee.

Then there was only one thing to do.

“【Partner’s Aid】! Hinata 【Sleeping】……【Divine Concealment】!”

In the instant before crimson lava struck, Mizari pulled herself to the limit, then slipped through all with 【Divine Concealment】.

She leaps across the makeshift platform forged with 【Step into the Underworld】, moving at speed, piercing through the lava within the effect’s duration, eyes fixed on the maple on the other side.

【Poison Dragon】!

The distance closes with free fall. Maple chooses 【Poison Dragon】, shattering every crystal of her great shield for one final attack.

Avoiding the rain of poison, Risa reaches the range of 【Armor Through】.

【Quick Change】【Unbreakable Shield】!

Maple switches her gear. It is a pure white archangel.

A second set of equipment for Maple, characterized by high HP correction and unyielding 【VIT】 correction.

She performs damage reduction and gear change, moving to receive Risa’s 【Armor Through】.

Even so, Maple remains built for maximum defense.

Risa calculates Maple’s 【VIT】 value, computes the damage from 【Armor Through】, and determines Maple’s death as the solution.

【Armor Through】!

Reaching as if to pierce the chest, she drives 【Armor Through】 into the falling Maple.

She has been entertained far beyond measure.

She truly believes there can be nothing more.

To endure such a full-force assault from Maple—she doubts her past self would have believed it.

Damage effects burst from Maple’s body.

It is the end of a long, long dream.

That was the intention.

“Huh…?”

“I’ve got you!”

Risa’s voice escapes naturally—Maple has seized her outstretched hand and pulls her tightly into embrace.

Risa was certain she had ended the dream with that hand. Yet the HP bar visible above Maple’s head remains more than half full.

【Quick Change】 — 【Unbreakable Shield】.

Such defenses do not suppress damage this thoroughly.

“【Break Core】!”

Energy detonates at Maple’s core.

A guaranteed self-destruct. Once activated, no attack actions may be taken within range.

Maple smiled, still holding Risa close, as if to say it had gone well.

Ah...

Hehe, discarded it.

Risa finally begins to understand.

Maple focuses on defense.

It was something known to all, a matter of course, no need to ask.

Thus, with few skills at her disposal, Reason guided Risa to choose [Armor Through] for her final attack.

Maple had foreseen it—both the breakthrough of the Great Eruption and the evasion of the Poison Dragon—not merely anticipated, but believed.

The Absolute Defense, the Great Devourer, the Fortress—every one abandoned, forgotten, cast aside by destruction.

There are no more skills to enhance 【VIT】.

The defense that had once been beyond human form—now abandoned here, to embrace Risa.

It was a secret tactic, usable only once in a long, long adventure.

"Strength... is gone too."

Matching, aren't they?

"Haha, that's right."

With one step toward the Underworld, STR dropped to zero.

Risa could no longer push away Maple’s arms.

Nor did she wish to, even if she could.

The city wall crumbled. The sunset illuminated the two of them.

The glow of energy from Break Core intensified. The explosion drew near.

"Say... will you listen to three requests?"

"Wha...? Yeah! That’s right!"

"Then the second one."

She leaned back, pressing her body harder into the embrace, and whispered the second request.

"Die with me."

"...!"

She watched the expression freeze on Hinata’s face—wide-eyed, stunned. A smile spread across her own lips, like a child who had pulled off a prank, and deep inside, satisfaction settled.

Seeing that smile, a quiet, certain smile bloomed across her own face.

Even beyond the end of a dream, the dream still continued.

Immediately, the sun was born in the twilight sky. Its expanding light enveloped them, burning through completely.