''Oh my god, what the hell is that Heavenly Clan?!

　On a hilltop, far from the abandoned house we had just left.
　Barely able to see the abandoned house, Monica and Lean were in sight.

　Leanne puffed out her cheeks as if to appeal to them that she was in a bad mood and waved her wand around in an eighth-grade manner.
　The legendary equipment hits the ground with a crunch, but she doesn't pay attention to that as if it's not a concern.

''Fuu, he suddenly hits me with an attack magic!　It's not like you have to check inside first, or talk to them, or anything like that!
It was a good idea to use my illusionary magic, just in case.

　It wouldn't be surprising if Rain would have found out where they were.
　After deciding that, Monica decided to create an illusion of their own and see what happened before summoning the demon for the second time.

　That decision was the right one.
　Rain and the others immediately found their place.

　A sudden surprise attack was indeed unexpected, but.....
　Thanks to the cautious Monica, the two of them didn't have to get into a tight spot.

'I was going to bump the demon again, but this isn't going to work,'
'They've been attacked once, and they seem to be on high alert. It's not going to be as easy as it has been in the past.
"I mean. That Heavenly Clan attacked us out of the blue, didn't they?　Isn't this already a confirmed betrayal?
'Well...'

　Monica thinks.

　Did Iris make sure she was looking at us?
　Were you aware of that?

　It was an indescribable place to be.
　It wasn't like he was going out of his way to be found, and he was trying to keep the signs and such to a minimum so he wouldn't be found.

　However, Iris was intelligent.
　Even though she knew Monica and Lean were there, she might have tried to attack them.
　It's possible that she unleashed her attack magic without caring.

''Well it's hard to say for now.

　In the end, Monica made the decision to wait and see.

　Looking at the situation, Iris is not white.
　With a reasonable degree of certainty, we should assume that they've already lost their touch.

　But Iris is Reese's favorite.
　I don't want to give up on Iris so easily here, for the sake of my beloved Lord.

'We'll have to wait and see. It would be easy to cut it off, but it would be useless if we failed to do so.
''It's so boring. I'd love to make that unprincipled Heavenly Clan guffaw.
'Of course, it's imperative to be prepared for that. When the time comes....
I know. I'll do whatever Monica and the others say.

　Leanne grins.
　He's imagining the moment and is amused.

'But hey, we can take care of that useless guy, can't we?
Is this about Mr. Lane?　Well if you can eliminate it, you might as well do so. Fortunately, or rather, this is an opportune time.

　Rain's companions are trapped in their dreams.
　They are not incapable of action, but even so, their movements are certainly slower than normal.

　Their defenses are thin...
　Now, it's not impossible to deliver a painful blow to Rain.

'What do you have in mind?'
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend.



----------



But what will we do now...

　We leave the abandoned house and take a look around the city.
　We're on alert, but it doesn't feel like we're going to be attacked a second time.
　The enemy must be cautious after our surprise attack.

"Rain-sama's companions are still in a dream and the brave men are still in a dream and on top of that, a third force has appeared. It's not too bad, the situation has become chaotic.
My head hurts...
Hmm. Would you rather be buried in Alpha-san's dream?
Is that a bad idea?
'What?　That's where you say it clearly.

　Because you won't be happy.

Unusually for Lady Rayne, you reject their ideas and arguments.
The only thing is....

　I thought about it over and over again.
　But the answer remains the same.

　You can't be happy in your Alpha's dream.
　It's that or nothing.

"Since you've come to that conclusion, I suppose there's only one course of action that I can take?
...right?

　Mr. Alpha will probably never disarm the dream from himself.
　And we'll never admit it.

　Our arguments will never mix, and they will always be parallel.
　When this happens, there's only one solution.

　Defeat it with force.

''.........So that's the decision you made?
?

　Suddenly, a voice echoes from behind me, and me and Iris both turn around at the same time.

　How long have they been there?
　The figure of Alpha-san, with a somewhat lonely and sad face.

　When did it happen........I'm surprised, but when I think about it, Kagune is wrapped up in Alpha-san's wards.
　In a way, everything is in Alpha-san's hands.
　As long as we're in this city, our actions must have been detected.

''It's a pity. If possible, I wanted you to understand my ideals, but...''
That's not possible.

　Make all people happy.
　I think it's a great idea if that's the only thing you can cut out of it.

　I just can't get my way to do that.
　You're immersed in a happy dream world but it's an escape from reality.
　It's escaping from happiness by turning away from the hard stuff.

'What's wrong with escaping reality?　You're going through a hard time, you're hurting emotionally and physically, and yet you still have to stand up to it?
I don't mind if it's only temporary. We all need time off. But when it's permanent, it's a different story. We'll stop there, lose our ability to move on and then we'll just rot away.
Is that wrong?　I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as long as you're happy to the end.
'That's not good enough. Just because you're feeling happy doesn't mean you're really happy.
''........I don't understand what Rain-san is saying. After all........it seems that in the end, we have no choice but to show by force which is right.

　We've fought a lot of battles in our lives, against a lot of people.
　I didn't want to be like that with Ms. Alpha if I could.

　She's pure.
　Although her means are biased, her action philosophy is the desire to do something for someone else.

　Unlike previous enemies, she is not evil.
　I found that very difficult to do.

　Nevertheless, we cannot retreat here.
　Because I can assure you that Alpha-san's methods are wrong.
　Because I'm holding onto my beliefs, too.

　So I'm going to do what I think is right.
　That's all.

'Well let's get this settled. I will be waiting for you at my castle.

　With a bow, Alpha's figure disappeared as if it were melting into the air.
　It wasn't the real thing, but an illusion, I guess.
　This is inside Alpha-san's world.
　So it's as easy as creating your own alter ego.

　I have to deal with such a person.
　It's going to be quite a painful experience.
　The absence of everyone else is quite unsettling, but...
　But I'm going to do my best to help those people.

Miss Lane.
Yeah?

"...Iris...
I'll do my best for Lady Rayne.
...Oh, thank you.
Yeah, you're welcome.

　Iris smiled gently.