In my fuzzy consciousness, I was looking at the white ceiling.

　I hadn't been able to remember it for a long time. I had forgotten - no, I just couldn't remember anymore.

'--I wonder why your relatives didn't try to take him in.
'It was unavoidable. His mother's family is wealthy, and the story is that she ran off with his father.
"So it must have been a shame to leave your little one behind.

　My parents died when I was a kid and I was all alone.

　I've decided to think of myself as a 'lifelong loner', but that's not really true.

　None of my relatives took me in. Maybe it was just good that they actually took me in and didn't make me limp around among my relatives.

　But sometimes I felt that. No matter how friendly they treated me, the adults at the facility sometimes showed their inner feelings in their attitude.

　-- words that were swallowed up, I would imagine, could go something like this.

'I heard you were in a hurry to get this kid to the hospital and you had an accident.'
''The other driver was slightly injured and Mr. Manned was almost unharmed. It's called trauma, but I wonder how you'll feel when you wake up.

　I don't want to hear it - and even if I did, I've always pretended not to hear it.

　Growing up, being integrated into the cogs of society, working mindlessly, I could forget that feeling. I had finally stopped reminding myself of it, but the wounds were being gouged out relentlessly.

''--poor.''
"I wish you hadn't been born. Then his parents would have...

　I know.

　The teachers at the facility never once said that to me.

　I feel hurt by these visions because I'm weak.

　I caused the loss of my parents. If I hadn't rushed out of the car that day, I wouldn't have been alone.

　--But still.

　The last thing I saw in the back seat of that wrecked car was.

　The Current Situation◆.
　Pity Winged Butterfly activates Cocoon of Imprisonment → Target: 'Alihito'.

　A white thing falls from the sky - it was the thread spit out by the "Phantom Winged Butterfly". When I jumped back to avoid getting Sion involved, I was entangled in the thread.

　I can hear Igarashi-san's voice. Zion's barking too - but I have to yell at him to stay away. I can't get everyone involved, besides.

　The ways of the "Phantom Winged Butterfly" are completely unacceptable to me. I don't accept the sophistry of tormenting people with guilt, and then trying to get them to be neutral.



　The 'Phantom Winged Butterfly' clearly has a hostile intent to dislodge the explorers. It's not surprising that some of them would lose their lives with the skill of striking a blow according to their karma.

　If Syrone had followed the same path, I thought some of the things I could see by being trapped in this thread - and I actually saw 'it'.

　A break in space was created to take me in as I began to be trapped in the cocoon. What I saw beyond that was Shirone, who was wrapped up in the thread and deprived of her physical freedom.

''-- If you shouldn't have been born, then you can be reborn again. As one swallowed by the labyrinth and born from the labyrinth.''

　The voice was no longer blaming me. It was a gentle voice, as if it would be easier if I could just get wrapped up in the thread and give it all up.

　It was like my mother's voice, which I'd already forgotten - but it was completely different.



　Neither the white thread trying to reel me in nor the madness of the blue butterflies stops - but the voice I hear doesn't reach deep into my chest.

''Neither the guilt nor the desire to atone can be decided by anyone else...!

　Current Situation
　Arihito's party's trustworthiness bonus → Disables "Guilty Feel".

Rear...
Arihito...

　We should never let guilt get in the way of getting stuck. We're a party - if one of us gets stuck, we're involved in the whole thing.

(I couldn't have used it if I hadn't been cornered to this point... to pull Shirone back from the other side. I can do that now...!

　Before coming here, I was in a tight spot many times. I ran through the labyrinth alone, surrounded by demons, battled the 'Three-Sided Mud Giant', and was driven to the brink of death by the 'Phantom Winged Butterfly' attack.

　My morale is so high that I don't even need to check it. The only way to gain the power to move even if you tear off the strings - that's the only way.

''-- 'Total Mutual Support [All-Around Rain Force]!

　Current Situation
　Aricht activates Total Mutual Support. Time limit 120 seconds.
　Enhancements to individual party members' skills are extended to all.
　The entire party is strengthened by the "Gunwolf Stance".
　The entire party is strengthened by "The Art of the Sword 2".
　The whole party is strengthened by "knife handling".
　The whole party is strengthened by "Crown of Arrogance".

　Alphecca's 'Arrogant Crowning' - the property of preventing the interruption of skills - antagonizes - and defeats - the binding of the threads spat out by the 'Phantom Winged Butterfly'.

''--Whoosh!

　Current Situation
　Aricht activates Vine Chute.
　Shirone is "bound" by the "vine grass".

　He reeled in the silone with the vine grass and pulled it out in one go - barely pulling out the silone that was tangled in the threads before the rift in space closed.

''........Totally, recklessly. To rescue someone who was trapped in a different space with a spur of the moment tact,''
'Ahhhhh Alphecca, keep Syrone safe. That butterfly has to be defeated. I need everyone's help.

　She approached Elitia, who was clinging to the sword stuck in the ground. Tears were spilling from her eyes.

　Even if that butterfly is pitying us for our sins, I don't think reincarnation will make it any easier. So I hold out my right hand to Elitia.

''I........did something called the 'Sword of Death' before I left the brigade and met you guys. The truth is........I'm not qualified to say that I want to gather my friends.......
I've got the qualifications!

　Current Situation
　Suzuna activates "Tsukuyomi" → Success
　The secret skill of the Winged Butterfly of Pity, "The Cage of the Innocents" is discovered.

　-- It was a dignified voice that seemed to penetrate the fog.

　The moonlight that had been blocked by the fog fell on the 'phantom winged butterfly' - and the scales that were released from the butterfly's wings showed that this fog had some kind of power to it.

(When we encountered the blue butterfly, we were already in the 'cage'... Eritia was able to raise her karma without attacking. That was exactly what showed us that this situation was unnaturally created........!

　Details of the skills you've uncovered
　Blameless Cage: The terrain effect "Blameless" is generated within the reach of the "Scale Powder". Karma is increased by all hostile actions against the seeker's demons. Escape from the terrain is blocked until the user is incapacitated.

(The license judges the explorer's actions and raises karma....that's where the demons can get involved.

"Suzu-chan, your brothers are in this fog, aren't they...?
''Yeah... it's the only thing we can do from the outside right now... Aricht-san, Eritia-san, please don't lose!　We're here too!'

　Misaki and Suzuna - it's not just the two of them. Someone who brought them here seems to be with them too.

'Contractor, can you find a way? Do you need my help?
'Oh it's okay. I can see the way........the enemy is not 'outside the rules'. They were just 'twisting the rules'.
Rearward, what does that mean...?
''Igarashi-san, you took the 'Skin of the Snow Country' skill, right? Are there any other new ice-attribute skills that have come up?
''Yeah, well in addition to 'Decoy Doll' you have to take 'Aether Ice', but there's a skill called 'Frost Armor' at skill level 2.

　New Skills of Kyouka

　Skill Level 2
　Frost Armor: Reflects blows with an icy attribute. The effect is also given to dolls, golems, etc. created by the searcher.

　Igarashi-san will learn the skills of the lightning and ice systems - as long as I don't know how many times I'll get the chance, I want to use all the attack methods I can use. The time limit for releasing morale has somehow been extended, so the effects will continue somewhat even after he finishes giving the instructions. If you can make an effective attack during that time, the momentum should be in our favor.

''Igarashi-san, we're going to be using all of our skill points at once, but may I ask you to take 'Frost Armor'? If we don't attack actively and let the enemy set up their own attack, we should be able to prevent the rise in karma.
If I go up, I'll be prepared for that. If both you and Ellie-san have experienced the same pain, I won't be afraid of it either.
"...Aricht, what do I have to do?

　Melissa seemed to be concerned that she wasn't able to join the battle, and she asked me as if it was now or never. She looked cool, but there was a definite fighting spirit in her eyes.

''If the 'Cage of Innocents' is ever deactivated, aim for part destruction. If not, don't force yourself, because a deadly counter will come.
Okay.

　Once I jumped into the land of death, I saw something - the weakness of the Blue Butterfly that filled this place.

　If you attack the "blue butterfly" target, your karma will rise and you will be hit hard by the "pain of redemption". If you're not sure about this, then you'll want to make a technicality out of it, but there is one way to block the blue butterfly's movement without raising its karma.

　If the enemy has been using terrain effects to unilaterally raise our karma, we will also use terrain effects. If we can create terrain effects that exploit the butterfly's weaknesses - if we can do that, we should be able to create an advantageous situation without raising our karma.