――The cries of the battlefield kept ringing out.
Whoooosh
We were advancing through the middle of the battlefield, cutting down the enemies that came at us.
"Faust! Are we going the right way?"
"Yes. If we keep going like this, surely..."
Beep―――
Before Faust could even finish speaking, the scenery changed once more.
This place is...
"Again, the middle of a battlefield..."
"...It's the same place as before. Just a little different."
Then someone behind us urgently grabbed Heathcliff by the collar.
"Have you all lost your minds? Get to shelter, now! If you're exposed to that bomb, you'll age rapidly."
"The employees at the Nest next door can't even walk without canes right now, never mind fighting a war!"
"Wait, this guy is the one from before..."
...Wasn't he the one called Toma?
Then the next thing he'd say would probably be...
"But don't worry too much, because Lord Gregor is here!"
"Unlike the rest of us, he has fewer side effects, and he even regenerates!"
He had changed.
Something about him felt strangely different, as if a bug's body part had grown from the bandaged left eye that hadn't been there before.
"He was personally modified by Director Hermann, who's naturally gifted beyond anyone else when it comes to skill."
"Someone like that shouldn't be in the rear guard. I'll give you a ride!"
The man said that and started walking toward us.
"W-what? Don't come any closer!"
Then, with a crackling sound from his back, four pairs of wings burst out.
Ms. Rodion looked... twice as pale as before.
I really didn't expect Ms. Rodion to be afraid of bugs.
"Why are you running? You should be leading the charge with the G Corp flag in hand!"
His tone grew more and more fervent.
As if he were pressuring Gregor.
"I..."
"I never wanted any of it... not the augmentation, not the war..."
Despite the pained expression on Gregor's face, Toma kept speaking as if forcing something onto him.
"Lead the way... for... for..."
Long antennae began to emerge from his mouth.
Ugh, even I'm getting a little...
"Eek... Do we have to fight again? I'm starting to feel sick..."
"What nonsense is that? Do you want to become a disobedient subordinate?"
"...Wouldn't it be better to run?"
"Excellent plan, Manager. You know exactly when to hit and run."
...Was that really the same Otis?
For a moment, I seriously doubted whether she was even a real person.
How could someone be that shameless?
"...What the hell is wrong with this guy?"
I wasn't the only one thinking that, apparently.
...Is Heathcliff more normal than I thought?
"...Retreat will not be permitted."
Looking at the grotesquely transformed Toma, Ishmael voiced her confusion.
"I don't understand. I heard that the entire workforce underwent augmentation, but it shouldn't have been this vile."
"It may differ somewhat from the facts."
"Because this path was made not by Gregor's 'memory,' but by his 'heart.'"
So that meant his mind had always pictured allies like this.
...Truly horrifying.
"...So allies remained in his heart in this form."
"Did everyone at that Nest... undergo augmentation surgery?"
"Most of them."
"Were they all operated on with their consent? This is really..."
Horrible.
The sentence that was surely about to continue was cut off by Gregor's words.
"Did the employees of L Corp seek consent before offering human sacrifice?"
"That was... that was stated in the contract."
"We didn't know, but... for efficient management, such procedures had to be excluded..."
"They said we had to face fear."
"So... every employee who joined was effectively consenting without knowing it."
"...Were we really any different?"
"······."
"That's a common Wings trick. They write clauses only they understand and say they got consent without explaining the details..."
"They insert vague provisions that can be interpreted either way, then use them to make trouble."
"······."
For a while, Gregor and Yuri said nothing.
What were they thinking about?
...No, rather than that, it would be better to focus on the battle that was about to happen.
After all, we were in the middle of a battlefield right now.
I gripped my spear tightly.
And not long after, we were thrown back into combat.
-Srrrk... srrrk...
Dante suddenly came to a stop.
"...Did you hear something just now?"
Was that so?
Even if there had been a sound, it would have been drowned out by the loud cries all around us.
What sound had Dante heard?
"Definitely..."
With that, Dante started walking somewhere.
Soon, they reached something that looked like the ruins of a building.
And there, a person was pinned beneath the wreckage.
"Please kill me... it hurts so much."
He already looked beyond saving.
...Even if he was someone manifested inside Gregor's heart, it still didn't sit right with me to just watch someone suffering in front of me.
Dante seemed to think something over carefully, then looked at Otis and said, "...Otis, could I ask you a favor?"
"Leave it to me."
Then Otis gripped a dagger, approached the man, and in an instant pierced his heart.
"Th-thank you..."
······I just stood there and watched the scene in silence.
Logically, I knew it was the right decision, but I didn't want to fully accept that fact.
Still, the dead soldier's expression was peaceful, so I supposed that was a good thing.
I told myself that and followed the prisoners as they continued forward.
It must be a good thing, surely.
I forced myself to look away from the dead man and walked on in a daze.
Thud.
How long had I been walking? What snapped me out of my confusion was the sound of something falling.
What was that?
I turned my head to find out.
There was Yuri, hurriedly picking something up and tying it to her bag.
"Miss Yuri? What are you doing?"
"M-my gas mask fell out of my bag..."
Ah, then that made sense.
"It's not like it'll be useful anymore. It only adds weight to your gear."
...Wasn't that a little too harsh?
"It's Aya's... keepsake."
"You're not even with N Corp, and yet you're doing the most meaningless thing in the world."
I wanted to snap back at her, but Otis was scary.
There was something about her, like the oppressive presence of a superior officer. The kind of feeling that made it impossible to speak carelessly.
"······."
As I looked at Otis with a dissatisfied expression, Ishmael, who had been quietly watching Yuri, spoke up.
"You need to tie it the other way around."
"Huh?"
"The knot. If you tie it like that, it'll come loose again right away."
"There was a way to tie it so it wouldn't come undone on the ship. I'll show you when we get back to the bus."
Suddenly, a chill sensation ran across my body.
The uneasy feeling that had been there since outside... why was it suddenly here now?
"Ah... thank you."
"What is this? What are you all being so friendly for?"
"Yuri~ Since it's come to this, how about joining Limbus Company as our newest prisoner?"
The uneasy feeling kept growing stronger.
...What on earth was the problem when things were this peaceful?
"M-me?"
"That's..."
"I know, I know. It's up to Vergilius or the higher-ups. But you can at least bring it up."
"Hmm... well."
"And pink hair is perfect for the company mascot, too. What do you think? Hm? Right?"
"M-mascot...? Hehe."
Yuri laughed for the first time since boarding the bus.
It was clearly a warm, pleasant sight, and yet why couldn't I laugh along?
I would learn the reason for that ominous, unpleasant feeling soon enough.
...In the worst possible way, regardless of my own will.
Gregor side
The war was over.
But I was still stuck in a ridiculous pose with a self-satisfied expression on my face.
Hmph. I don't make faces like that.
Still... they drew the hair on my arm disgustingly well. Who drew this?
My sense of humor had improved.
Apparently, being submerged in a nightmare for too long makes you want to live.
"Those G Corp bastards need to be beheaded, every last one of them."
I heard someone muttering as they spat onto the ground.
I didn't even need to look to know where that voice was aimed.
Maybe that was why.
"Ugh..."
My stomach turned.
"Hey, are you all right?"
Someone speaking to me overlapped with another figure.
"Gregor, are you all right?"
Where was this? It was definitely...
"The subway... maybe?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Greg, we're still on a battlefield."
I'm dizzy. Cigarettes, where were my cigarettes...?
Wait, this is...
"So now Toma's going to show up and grab us in a panic, huh..."
And then Toma's voice came right on cue.
"You people..."
"Toma, I'm getting tired of the script, so for the record, we're not crazy, and we're not getting hit by any aging bomb."
This time, Toma reacted differently.
"...No."
"I want you to save me."
"I don't want to die."
Toma pointed at the sky and said that. And then...
CRUNCH――
Something was crushed under a familiar hand and vanished without a trace.