The Main Brain Tower.
It was a tower made entirely of glass, situated at the center of Starlight City in the Central Residential District.
The hub and heart of Starlight City.
A long corridor. Having left Herode in charge of things, Master walked along while talking to Pakira.
—"At the end of the Great War, we desperately crossed the wall of sky and found this ship."
—"It wasn't your ship?"
—"No. The Chief God might have known how long it had been here. But at the very least, since before the Great War... this ship had been wrecked on this satellite. We only found it because there was a signal."
—"Hm."
—"Without that signal, we would have perished long ago. We came to understand this ship, and decided to live here in peace. But with just our group, this ship was far too vast and enormous."
—"Whole cities could fit inside it."
—"Three of them, in fact."
—"My word... it was that massive?"
The two of them boarded a capsule-like elevator.
Master pressed a button, the doors closed, and the elevator began to descend slowly.
—"...Aren't you nervous?"
—"About the place we're about to be shown, you mean?"
—"That's right. We don't know where we're going."
—"Hmm. Well, that's all part of exploring."
—"Exploring?"
"I'm an explorer. Someone who explores dungeons. That's what an explorer is."
"Organic lifeforms certainly do strange things."
"Indeed. By the way, are you the will of the dungeon?"
"No. That's Herode."
"Then what are you?"
"We are―――"
The elevator stopped.
When the doors opened, cool air drifted in.
"What is it?"
"It might be a little cold."
"Is it cold out... Wh-what is this place?"
Beyond the elevator was a vast space.
Huge bundles of wiring, cables, and pipes stretched endlessly onward in every direction.
The entire space was cooled and hummed with a quiet, constant droning.
"This way."
MASTER began walking, and Pakira followed behind.
The corridor was lined with cold iron grating. At the end of the pipeline connections stood a door.
MASTER placed a hand on the door.
It glowed in the shape of the handprint, and with a heavy clunk, the door swung open.
Beyond the door was yet another enormous space. It was semicircular, with a sphere floating near the ceiling.
Slightly elevated, corridors branched out in a cross pattern, and directly below, rows of semi-transparent glass capsules were lined up.
Something was inside the capsules.
MASTER walked along the corridor. Pakira followed close behind.
"What is this place?"
"Where the people sleep."
"A graveyard, then."
"No. They've merely been stopped."
"Hmm?"
"They're just sleeping."
Pakira looked down.
Inside the capsules — people who resembled MASTER and Herode, eyes closed.
"So they're sleeping..."
"For such a long, long, long time already."
"If they're sleeping, they can be woken. So that's what you're praying to the chief god for. When you say you want your people saved — this is what you mean, isn't it?"
"Yes. Even if it costs my life."
MASTER removed the hood.
Pakira's eyes widened just slightly.
That was when.
A violent tremor shook the ground.
"What—?!"
"What the—?!"
A window appears in front of Master.
"The Tower's shield is breached? Impossible — it's on par with the Wall of the Sky!"
"Looks like they've arrived, then."
Pakira figured it out more or less right away.
The Main Brain Tower's shield had been punched clean through.
At the same time, something had collided with the top floor.
It was a vessel from Etrange — a teleportation ship.
What pierced the shield was its onboard Banishment Blaster.
It had a prior record of shooting through the Wall of the Sky in a test fire.
"You — this tactic. You did the exact same thing to my building before, didn't you!"
"Hmm… Bold… Fearless…"
"Wof. What's with the sudden assault? Even a queen like me can get angry, you know."
"I honestly didn't expect Riv to have made it all the way to the top floor."
I hadn't expected to slam into the top floor myself, either.
Stepping out of the teleportation ship, I looked around. What is this room?
"A throne?"
"I never thought the shield would actually be broken… How surprising."
Someone was here.
A coat? No, a robe. A tall man with a hood pulled low over his face.
"You are."
"An intruder has no proper name to offer."
"I see. I came to help Pakira."
"Just as I thought. Rest easy — she's safe."
"That's a relief."
His tone was calm, but I could feel hostility from the man.
"I understand you came to help her, but I can't overlook this."
"Then what will you do?"
"I'll neutralize you in accordance with protocol."
What the—? A semi-transparent, diamond-shaped object materialized above the man's head.
What is that thing...? On guard, I readied my Banish Chakram and knife.
The knife had a stone handle and a bronze scabbard.
The upper half of the blade was a broad semicircle, the lower half tapering to a sharp edge.
I think it was called a "ryuro."
"For the record, I'm Wof."
"Herode."
He'd said he didn't have a name to give, yet he introduced himself once I did.
Polite, or just straightforward?
I thought the name was odd, and somewhere in my past life's memories it faintly rang a bell.
But then again, if you asked me what that meant, that was about as far as it went.
A translucent diamond-shaped object spun around and fired a laser.
"Whoa, oh!"
I hastily dodged.
"Rest assured. I won't kill you."
"Wait, that's a laser, right!?"
"It's only powerful enough not to kill organic life forms."
"That's not the point!"
I used rubble and other debris as shields to barely avoid it.
Oh, here comes a Hiyarn descending calmly in the middle of this!
It seems they're fighting without knowing the situation.
Perfect. I'll just pick them up.
"Wh-what are you!?"
"Rabbit Barrier!"
"Gyaaaah!"
The Hiyarn was hit by the laser and charred black.
However, it's only twitching.
"So it really is only powerful enough not to kill, huh?"
"That's correct, but what on earth was that action..."
"It's a practical experiment."
"I see. So that's what it is."
Why am I not killing it?
Either way, I really don't want to get hit by that. What a pain.
Honestly, the laser is no different from a gun — I've just been lucky enough not to get hit.
If it comes to this, I'll aim with Ballistic 6.
I was able to destroy it, but I can't hit without getting a bit closer.
I wish I had something I could use… I look at the twitching Higherne.
That's right. I picked up the Higherne and threw it. The laser aimed and hit it.
In that opening, I closed the distance with a single step and aimed with Ballistic 6.
But I was naive.
The next laser pierced right through Ballistic 6.
Ballistic 6 burned out in an instant.
And the laser after that locked onto me.
I thought it was over.
*Pee-pee… po.*
A pink beam destroyed a semi-transparent rhombus-shaped object.
That was!
"What the…"
Looking up, a pink sphere was floating there.
Afterlife Vision System ver.β.