Going back in time a little.

d.a.m.n, I"ve let my guard down ---

Thought Hishiro Shiro as he lay fallen on the ground, with a sword pierced through his back.

Looking behind him, both Yousuke and Himi too had swords impaled into them. He could not move his body at all. It seemed like this was due to the magic embedded into the sword.

A magic used for restraining others.

"Kiri, you b.i.t.c.h......"

By the time Shiro had uttered that, she was already onto her next prey. With beautiful long hair fluttering in the air, her body advanced lightly. A new j.a.panese sword was magically conjured into her right hand. She readied it.

Her prey was a fool who was desperately trying to save his comrade. The fool"s back was completely defenseless. He was totally unaware of Kiri behind him.

Shiro attempted to shout "Shinnosuke!" to that fool, but it was already too late. Kiri"s sword stabbed into the back of Shinnosuke.

Shinnosuke did not react at all. It seemed like he never would have imagined that his comrade...... Kiri, would attack him from behind.

And with that, it ended.

They lost.

Kiri was a traitor.

Gunjou could not be saved.

Then, what should he do?

What was the correct thing that he should do?

How could he protect his comrades?

The only obvious choice was to Escape but, he couldn"t move his finger. He couldn"t select his magic song slots. He could move his head and mouth, but can"t move anything below his neck.

Thus, right now, the only cursed song that was playing in his head was the Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch.

【Open the foolish sky ♪

Open the foolish land ♪

The foolish us open Nirvana ♪】

Shiro looked at Himi and Yousuke once again. He tried to query them with his eyes, but it was futile. But since he couldn"t move his fingers, he couldn"t Escape.

Then how could they get out?

"...... be on standby."

He mouthed the order with only his lips. Himi and Yousuke"s eyes responded to that.

Shiro turned to face his front. And pondered.

He probably could Escape. Since he had the cursed song, Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch, playing.

Additionally, he could freely bring out Thousand Deities Flash Of Light from anywhere that his hands could reach. If he invoked the boring-like magic with the drill-like tip ofThousand Deities Flash Of Light switch into the sword that was impaled into his chest, he could probably wrench the sword out.

Of course, that carried some risk. For Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch carried too much power and was a comparatively bland magic, he might fail to properly bore into the sword and end up shaving off part of his body instead. If that happened, he probably would have less than half of his body left.

Besides, once he invoked that magic, he would leave himself a big opening. When that happened, the Valor Team probably wouldn"t just sit around and watch.

Therefore, he only had one chance.

To pull out the sword with Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch.

And save his comrades.

But which of his comrades should he save?

Gunjou? Or Shinnosuke?

Or, save Himi and Yousuke, regroup, then proceed to save Shinnosuke and Gunjou with them?

Which one would it be? Which one had a better chance of succeeding?

At any rate, he only had one chance.

Just one.

While Shiro was seeking for that one chance, this was what Shinnosuke and Kiri said to each other.

"...... Kiri......, pull out your sword."

"No way."

"No, you"ll pull it out. I believe in you......"

"Ah-haha. You can"t do that. You can"t trust someone like me."

"No way. I trust you."

"You can"t."

"I trust you."

"I said you can"t."

"Shut up! Didn"t you talk about being comrades earlier! Therefore, you are our comrade!"

Bellowed Shinnosuke.

Comrade.

That twisted Arisu Shinnosuke with a s.h.i.tty personality hollered "comrade".

"...... hey hey, are you for real?"

Shiro smiled slightly. And his belief in Shinnosuke grew stronger.

It seemed like Shinnosuke had yet to give up on saving Gunjou. In that case, he couldn"t just bail out like that.

It was decided. He would pull out Kiri"s sword and run towards Shinnosuke. And he would leave everything to that rarely worked-up, desperate fool. If he was that serious, he might be able to succeed in saving Gunjou.

Thus,

"...... Thousand Deities......"

However, Shiro"s words stopped halfway.

Because the situation suddenly changed.

Kiri"s back quivered. He could hear her voice that was hoa.r.s.e with tears.

"...... I, I really...... I thought I saw a dream in which I could really become your comrade......"

It seemed like she was crying.

"Kiri! Forget that and just pull out the sword!"

"I can"t. I...... I......"

It seemed like Kiri was crying.

"I don"t know what kind of a hold they have on you but, but I, we"ll protect you so please, pull out your sword!"

Shinnosuke yelled. His fervent voice seemed like it could move things.

But the world would not forgive that.

Because Kiri was someone who lived in the darkness. It was not an uncommon story. Humans kept by military corporations and dictatorial countries; they weren"t really uncommon.

And, she was probably someone who was working for the Valor Team.

A traitor.

But, it wasn"t really an uncommon story. It was really not uncommon to hear about someone stabbing her comrades in the back without batting an eyelid.

Since, in the world of labyrinths where the rewards that could be reaped were great, those who became strong were all like that. Born in that darkness, raised in that darkness, but yet, they searched for a light somewhere.

Kiri had probably already given up on searching for that light. That was the kind of face she had. That was the kind of girl, with a plastered smile on her face, she was.

Everything was an act; a fake beauty.

The world was dark.

Miracles did not happen in this world.

"Most of the time, that is."

Murmured Shiro.

But right now, a miracle was about to happen.

Because Kiri had ended up crying.

Thrown off by Shinnosuke"s pa.s.sion, Kiri"s heart eventually moved.

After that Shinnosuke with a horrible personality hollered loudly about her being a comrade, Kiri"s heart eventually moved.

There are times when the world changes. Even though it is an occasional thing, miracles do occur when someone hollers.

Of course, right now, it had yet to happen. But, probably, it was not Shiro who was creating the miracle here. Shiro stopped his invocation of Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch for now.

Kiri"s tears continued to flow, but she did not pull her sword out.

"...... I"m sorry, Shinnosuke-kun."

"Don"t screw with me!"

"Sorry...... sorry."

Kiri continued to apologize in a quavering voice.

Shiro looked intently at both Kiri and Shinnosuke. Staring at them with his red eyes.

Then, he started a.n.a.lyzing the situation calmly.

It was enough for just one person to holler up a miracle pa.s.sionately. Right now, Shinnosuke was doing that.

In that case, Shiro would gather in all the information calmly. This was teamwork. Since they only came to raid this labyrinth based on an agreement to trust one another. In that case, he would believe in them to the end, and it would be fine as long as they win in the end.

"............"

Kiri was crying.

But this was not a place where she should be crying. If she cried, she would not be able to fulfill her role as a traitor. In other words, there was a possibility that she was not a traitor.

Shiro looked at the sword pierced into his chest.

The sword was impaled into his heart.

But yet, he did not die.

Kiri should possess several magics that could blast a human being into oblivion in just an instant. Reason being, the magic she had used was at a level that was able to deal with the monsters inside a high ranking labyrinth diseased girl.

Then, why did they not die?

The effect of Kiri"s magic was for some reason of a restraining type. In order to make Shiro unable to move. But yet, his head and mouth could move. So that he could see what was happening. So that he could speak. Perhaps, this was actually a magic used for interrogation. While allowing the target"s head and mouth to move, one could inflict wounds on the target before his very eyes, and interrogate him.

But why did Kiri choose such a magic?

If she did not want Shiro to interfere, then it would be better to just quickly kill him off.

"Why."

Murmured Shiro.

"Why on earth."

Shiro glared at Shinnosuke and Kiri.

"What kind of visual message am I supposed to see here? Is there a hint to where the miracle will occur?"

At that moment, the leader of the Valor Team, by the name Kujaku, raised her knife.

"Stop!"

Shinnosuke hollered.

"Stop please! I...... I have a magic that can save Gunjou......"

But n.o.body waited for him.

Kujaku swung her knife down at Gunjou"s chest.

"............"

Shiro grimaced.

If Kiri was a traitor, an enemy, and only had intention of doing harm on them, then if he were to survive, he would probably later blame himself, who had been unable to move at this place.

But, Shiro chose to believe Kiri. He chose to believe the feelings of Kiri who responded to Shinnosuke"s cries with tears.

Kujaku"s knife pierced into Gunjou"s chest.

Gunjou, for some reason, did not die. But, a gah-hah escaped from her and she coughed out blood.

At that moment, the time limit displayed in the 《Headphone Fuzz》 became 0.

But the Valor Team did not panic.

Kiri too did not panic.

It seemed like the time limit going to 0 was within their expectations.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah."

Gunjou started crying out.

《Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, aaaaah, ah, aaaah, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh》

She turned into an eternal labyrinth.

Once she got swallowed up by it, it would be the end.

They would no longer be able to save Gunjou.

They should Escape. Lying here and believing in the tears of Kiri and the pa.s.sion of Shinnosuke was never a sane thing.

However,

"............"

Shiro still did not use his magic. He searched for a chance. He believed in his comrades. At such a juncture, there was nothing else but to believe in his comrades.

Gunjou hollered for a while, then went limp. It seemed that signaled to end of the eternal labyrinth transformation.

Kujaku then said,

"All right, this should be fine. If the magic has succeeded, then this labyrinth is now connected to the 《Apocalypse Alice》."

She then pulled out the knife from Gunjou"s chest. The knife disappeared. It seemed like that knife was a product born out of magic.

"...... Apocalypse Alice."

Murmured Shiro.

In other words, that was their --- no, that was the military conglomerate Mitsutomo Group"s objective. Gunjou was just a throwaway p.a.w.n. This was a plan to use Gunjou to connect to 《Apocalypse Alice》.

Gunjou could no longer move. After ascertaining that, Kujaku looked in the direction of Kiri, and said.

"But well, your acting earlier was pretty amazing, Kiri. Is there any point to shedding those tears?"

Kiri looked at Kujaku and answered.

"Nothing ~. It"s because I"m the type that gets into the role."

"The role of --- a comrade of the Hero Team?"

Kiri wiped off tears, and a dark smile then surfaced on her,

"Yeah. The peeps of the Hero Team are all really pa.s.sionate. Things like comrades, friendship...... they"re really stupid. But since I"m a good person, when I betray my comrades, for some reason, my chest hurts a little you see ~. Here."

She said while pressing on her large chest.

Kujaku looked hard at her in disgust and said,

"...... to kill your comrades so indifferently as you"re shedding your tears, you are a pretty horrible person."

That confirmed it.

Kiri did not betray them.

Kujaku thought that Shinnosuke, Shiro, Yousuke, Himi were all dead. Of course. Kiri could kill them. She possessed the magic to do that.

But they did not die. They were merely restrained.

Then, what Kiri was doing right now ---

"Jeez, Shinnosuke-kun was just too worked-up. At the very last part, I could barely contain my laughter for crying out loud. What the h.e.l.l"s with 『We"ll protect you』, gawd...... the brat doesn"t even know a thing ~"

What Kiri was doing right now, was an act to protect her comrades from the Mitsutomo Group.

Half smiling, Kiri kicked the fallen body of Shinnosuke on the ground. Shinnosuke remained limp. If he was not dead, then he was restrained by a magic that affected even the head, different from them.

His body appeared lifeless.

Kujaku then looked at Kiri with somewhat disgusted eyes and said.

"I just can"t bear looking at that...... you"re really horrible. It"s good that you aren"t our comrade. You"ll just betray us without batting an eyelid."

Kiri wiped off her tears, and a dark smile then surfaced on her.

Kiri looked up and smiled.

"Are you being cynical?"

"No, I was praising you."

"Oh really. Well, you should get going right? You don"t have time to tarry around here right? You have to quickly go get the rights to Apocalypse Alice."

But Kujaku looked hard at Kiri and said.

"No no, we can"t have that. According to the agreement with the Kowloon Devils Group, we can use your life freely up till the very end."

"............."

Kowloon Devils Group --- that was what Kujaku said.

It was the name of a huge mafia group that had bases in both China and Hong Kong.

It seemed like Kiri was a member of the Kowloon Devils Group.

An a.s.sa.s.sin raised by a mafia.

Or someone who had her family held hostage by the mafia.

He did not know the details of her situation.

But whichever way it was, right now, she had also betrayed that mafia. If this got out, she would probably get punished.

Calling them fools and abandoning them, for the sake of protecting these meaningless comrades, right now, she was risking her life.

Why did she go as far as to risk her life? He did not know. He did not know what she was feeling neither her situations. But, he knew that she could be trusted. And also, her life was already just short of getting snuffed out.

Their enemies were the Mitsutomo Group and a gigantic mafia.

Kujaku said.

"Now Kiri, please be our vanguard. Even though we were told that the difficulty level of the 《Apocalypse Alice》 would be lowered after getting connected to Gunjou"s labyrinth...... it"s hard to swallow that. A rank 666 sure is scary. So it"s better to have a thick wall of flesh. With your pointlessly large b.r.e.a.s.t.s, it"s the perfect role for you, right?"

Kiri then looked hard at Kujaku and said.

"Ah-ha, sounds like it"s real cynicism this time, isn"t it? From someone with no b.r.e.a.s.t.s."

Kujaku replied.

"For a person like me who doesn"t need to deceive others, I don"t need them to be so big...... and I don"t feel the need to be cynical."

"Uwah, that stings. Is that the kind of thing to say to a friend who is hurting and crying from betraying her comrades?"

"...... who"s your friend? Please don"t get too close to me. I can"t trust the mafia. If you get too close, I"ll kill you."

"............"

With that, Kujaku gathered her subordinates.

The guys from Kansai"s Valor Team. The other subordinates should be from the five transport choppers. If everyone had survived and arrived here, there were probably a hundred people there.

And they probably were all people gathered by Mitsutomo Group for the purpose of raiding 《Apocalypse Alice》. Carrying large amounts of water and food with them. Right from the beginning, they were here for raiding an eternal labyrinth.

After talking for a while, Kujaku looked up and said.

"My, you"re still here? Kiryuu Kiri. You should get going and stand in the front line."

"....... huh? Am I going to stand right at the front by myself with no team?"

Kujaku smiled.

"Rest a.s.sured. As your comrades, we"ll watch your back. Ah, but, since you just stabbed your Hero Team comrades from behind, you can"t trust us right?"

"...... hey."

"Just kidding. We"ll protect you to some extent. Since we have a contract with the Kowloon Devils. So, can you stop making that hurt expression for every little thing?"

Kiri then said.

"I"m an actress, right?"

"Whatever. I have no interest in you. At any rate, our relationship with you, with the Kowloon Devils Group, will end after this labyrinth raid. Now, hurry up. We"ll retrieve the magic from 《Apocalypse Alice》 before the j.a.panese government and Taikou Pharmaceuticals notice this."

She then raised her hand. Upon doing that, each of the Kansai Valor Team members started to form up at that lead. Kujaku retreated to the back.

Different from Gunjou, the true lady of Mitsutomo Group retreated to the safest place behind that wall of flesh and then said.

"But then again, it"s because you are strong that I"m having you right up at the front line though."

Kiri then turned around,

"I"m left with no choice huh ~"

While saying that, she turned towards Shiro.

And met his eyes for an instant.

Kiri was making a sad face. She did not send any kind of message to him.

At that moment, from the Valor Team group, a girl with an abnormally short skirt and twin tails jumped out. She was the one who used flame magic if he remembered correctly.

Her name should be Makoto.

Makoto said.

"Something that looks like a rabbit has come!"

He could not turn to take a look. There was a need to let them think that they were dead.

What had appeared was probably a monster conjured by the labyrinth. There were not any rabbit-like creatures among the monsters conjured by Gunjou.

Then, based on the conversation between Kujaku and Kiri, there was a possibility that the monster was from the Apocalypse Alice.

And if it was a monster from a rank 666 labyrinth, then, the people here would probably be killed in an instant.

The humans right now could not even last three minutes inside a rank 100 labyrinth.

But Apocalypse Alice was rank 666.

They could not survive in it for a second.

But yet, Makoto jumped out.

A small guy from the Valor Team by the name of Zakkii if he remembered correctly also jumped out.

Kiri also jumped out.

He heard the noises of a battle.

He heard the noises of magic getting invoked.

And finally, he heard the voice of Makoto.

"Wooooaaooorhhh, we did it! Kujaku-sama, Apocalypse Alice is probably already weakened!"

Kujaku said.

"Then, let"s begin. We shall now commence the raid on the world"s most difficult labyrinth, Apocalypse Alice. If we succeed, then the world will be ours. Are you all ready?"

""Yes!""

"Then, let"s go!"

And the Kansai team started advancing.

Everyone had a nervous look.

That was natural given that they were about to raid Apocalypse Alice.

Gunjou did not move.

Shinnosuke did not move.

No one looked in the direction of Shiro, Himi, and Yousuke.

They all had Apocalypse Alice on their hands right now.

The Valor Team disappeared from the room.

But still, Shiro did not move for a while.

Screams could be heard far away.

The sounds of battle.

The sounds of battle faded away. The screams also faded away.

But he did not move.

He did not move.

Without moving, in an unsightly manner, he reduced his breathing until it was quiet, and then,

"Thousand Deities Flash of Light switch!"

He raised his voice.

Instantly, his magic activated.

Behind him a spear with gigantic drill-like tip appeared. The drill entwined itself with Kiri"s sword. And pulled it out.

"Guh."

While he felt a strange sense of discomfort when the sword was pulled out, there was no pain. As expected, the magic was not the type that would wound an opponent.

The sword got blasted away, and fell onto the floor.

The magic was undone.

His body could move again.

He stood up.

Shiro pressed his hand against his chest and breathed in deeply,

"Fuuuuhh......"

After breathing out once, he looked around him.

The floor was completely red from the blood scattered by the Kansai people. Lying in that sea of blood, Yousuke and Himi were pinned down with swords.

He had to save them.

Shiro approached them, and pulled out the swords. The pulled out swords disappeared. The sword he had pulled out from himself had also disappeared from the floor. Since its role had ended.

Yousuke stood up immediately,

"d.a.m.n! We lost to the Kansai guys!"

He said in a slightly angry voice. Contrary to his bespectacled look, he was surprisingly sore at losing.

Indeed, they had lost. They had insufficient intel and too small a force.

But that could not be helped. Since they had to remain covert in this school.

Himi then stood up and said.

"...... we were saved by Kiri-san, right......"

Shiro nodded. He then looked at the two of them and said.

"Both of you heard what they said? This is a combined undertaking of the military conglomerate Mitsutomo Group and the Kowloon Devils Group."

"Yeah. This is bad."

Shiro nodded.

"Really bad."

This was something they should report to their organization as soon as possible. This was a big incident that might just change the balance of the military powers in the world.

But, well,

"We"ll talk about that later. Let"s save our comrade first."

Shiro turned around.

He looked at the Shinnosuke who had lost consciousness from getting stabbed by the sword, and the standing, unmoving Gunjou beside him.

If he pulled out the sword, Shinnosuke should be able to move.

Once he did that, then there was a possibility that Shinnosuke might be able to save Gunjou with his magic.

In other words, their original objective of 『saving Gunjou』 might be fulfilled.

"It"s Kiri"s complete win huh......"

Shiro muttered, to which Himi said from behind him.

"But, Kiri-san is really in a bad position."

"Hm. Then, shall we go save Kiri next? I"m already kind of tired."

Shiro said with a wry smile. With that, he continued walking towards Shinnosuke.

Yousuke said while following behind.

"But there are still things about Kiri that I do not trust."

"Like what?"

"Why did she not restrain our brains and heads like what she did to Shinnosuke? If she wanted to protect us, it would be safer to just make us look completely dead. But yet, why did she show us everything? Does that mean......"

Shiro turned around and said to Yousuke.

"To show herself to us as a tragic heroine, so as to make use of us?"

"It"s a possibility, right?"

Of course it was possible.

Anything was possible in this world.

But Himi said from the side.

"But Kiri-san cried, right?"

Yousuke said.

"You"re really a naive one. A woman can easily shed tears just to draw attention to herself, isn"t it ~"

"I don"t!"

Himi said slightly angrily, but well, he did not know much about those things. However, at the very least,

"...... those tears looked genuine to me."

Said Shiro.

He could tell that those tears were real and were triggered by the heartfelt words from Shinnosuke.

Yousuke then said.

"...... yeah. I could see that too. But someone had to play the devil"s advocate."

He was right about that too.

"Well then, I"ll leave that part to you."

After making the request to Yousuke, Shinnosuke looked intently at Gunjou before getting closer to Shinnosuke.

He looked at the Mizuiro Gunjou who had became an eternal labyrinth.

Gunjou did not move.

She did not attack him.

Looking intently at that Gunjou, Shiro said.

"Hey Gunjou."

"............"

"Shrimp."

"............"

"Flat-chest."

"............"

"All right, there"s no danger."

Shiro then approached Shinnosuke.

Gunjou still did not move. Maybe she was restrained by the knife that Kujaku used to stab her.

He moved to right next to the fallen Shinnosuke.

He grabbed the sword pierced into his back and pulled it out.

The magic should have been undone right then.

"All right, get up Shinnosuke. Let"s save Gunjou."

"............"

But, Shinnosuke still did not move. His consciousness did not return. He did not even flinch.

"Ah? Hey, Shinnosuke......?"

He called him but he did not move.

He shook his shoulder. But he did not open his eyes.

"Hey."

He slapped his cheeks. But he did not open his eyes.

"Hey, stop playing! Wake up Shinnosuke."

He grabbed his hair and twisted them,

"Hey you, stop joking around. I"m telling you to get up."

But, Shinnosuke still did not open his eyes. It was not like he died. He was still breathing. He had a pulse as well. However, his consciousness did not return.

Shiro turned to his comrades behind, and said.

"Hey, this guy isn"t waking up."

Himi came over anxiously and said.

"I-I"ll try using my healing magic!"

And she started invoking her magic.

Shiro stood up.

Yousuke then said.

"Can I said something that"s dreadful and rational?"

Shiro knew what Yousuke was going to say but he still nodded.

"Say it."

"This is one thing that adds on to the possibility of Kiri making use of us."

Shiro scowled.

He was right.

If the reason as to why Shinnosuke would not wake up was attributed to Kiri"s magic (and it would be 99% because of that), then they would have to go after her. Since they could not save Gunjou if Shinnosuke did not wake up. Only Shinnosuke had the magic to save Gunjou.

In other words, if they were to Escape here, then they would have gone back empty-handed, abandoned their comrades and escaped.

"And the Mitsutomo and Kowloon Devils will get their hands on Apocalypse Alice too......"

Yousuke then said.

"But there"s also an advantage on our side. The Kansai guys think that we are dead."

"That"s part of Kiri"s plan right?"

"But if we are actually Kiri"s comrade, it"s to our advantage, right? We would be able to raid Apocalypse Alice to our benefit."

Shiro looked at Yousuke on hearing that.

He then considered.

He pondered about their current situation.

When Yousuke was talking about the advantages and disadvantages, he was not referring to the labyrinth raid.

He was referring to the people ---

Indeed, when it came down to killing people, they probably had the advantage this time.

But he did not have too much time to think.

Since there was a voice coming from the entrance to the hall.

"Yaah yaah. yaah yaah."

He looked in that direction.

There, stood a rabbit. A rabbit holding a pocket watch.

That rabbit said.

"Yaah yaah Mr. Human, it"s time to die......"

"Everyone, be prepared for battle!"

Shiro hollered, and then ---

The raid on 《Apocalypse Alice》 started.