Temporal Entanglement (before battle)

... ger.

Executive Manager.

Keeping an eye on every Sinner - focusing on their condition, lending them strength, and reviving them...

There's so much going on. My head feels like it could burst any moment; my nerves feel as though they are burning out from pouring in so much concentration.

<... I'm listening.>

Ryōshū has begun engaging the Nursefather.

With our current manpower... breaking through the situation is going to be difficult. Your orders, Executive Manager?

The Sinclair from the future is still there, summoned by the Sign that manifested on his forehead.

Gregor is still rampaging under the grip of uncontrollable metamorphosis.

Both teams were still in complete disarray.

Even the LCD team, the only ones who had been moving along fairly well... ended up missing their ace in the hole.

<Not yet.>

... I take it the situation is not favorable.

<Yeah... it looks like... we're going to have to do this on our own.>

Hah... I, Outis, never intended to showcase my competence to this extent, but very well.

There shouldn't be any issues. I merely follow the manager's orders.

Ryōshū's sword, finally drawn from its scabbard, pierced through the Pinky Nursefather with a single smooth thrust.

The enemy staggered on her feet... then opened one of the doors behind her.

The way she moved was too slow to be an escape, and her gaze, intently trained on Ryōshū, was too steady to be a look of surrender.

Soon, we realized she was trying to draw us in after her.

Wait...!

I... I know for certain, I'd sta -

I...

I had grown so sick... of this place.

I know.

You always said it was my fault that you were fettered to the House of Spiders.

What, are you saying it's not?

I was the one who was being raised in this suffocating house. If anyone has the right to be resentful, it's me.

But you left! You freed yourself anyway!

You stepped out to the ground outside... and traveled to see the sky. The real sky.

…….

I already cut you down with this sword back then.

So how come... you're still alive?

Are you sure? Did you make sure to pierce the sword clean through the heart?

Do you even have a single clear memory you can recall for certain?

If the memories themselves are gone, and all that's left is the feeling that you once had something to cherish...

How true could that feeling be?

Once something cannot be remembered anymore, its time is as good as lost.

Both the City and this house have become places where not a single soul has the heart to remember the child.

And that's how our story ends.

Maybe for me - but not for Araya.

She's still...

... waiting for me.

Araya is waiting for no one!