In the same darkness, three identical men sat on identical chairs, staring at identical selves like mirrors sunk in a black lake.

D spoke first, breaking the hush like a pebble dropped in still water.

"So, does the plan really have a ninety percent success rate?"

His doubt met a firm reply from the man in the middle, voice steady as a nailed door.

"As long as you’ve told her, whether she believes it or not, the seed is buried and only waiting to sprout."

D scratched his hair, confusion ruffling him like wind in reeds.

"Eh... I don’t get your tangled theory, but if you all think it’s fine, fine."

"As long as we can really kill Aer, I’m good."

The silent one finally joined, words low like a shadow slipping out of a lantern.

"I don’t see a problem. Now we wait... and since you’re back, I should go."

He slid a glance at the center man, sighed like a leaking bellows, then dissolved into smoke and left the hushed place.

As the proposer of the plan, the man in the center lowered his head, voice like a moth fluttering in the dark.

"Of course. Ninety percent... no, one hundred percent success."

"But that’s only true for me."

—cut—

"Lian, are you sure nothing’s wrong?"

Aer watched Lian with worry pooling like rain on eaves, hunting for unseen wounds.

Lian waved awkwardly, cheeks warm as dawn clouds; she felt happy, yet embarrassed.

So she played her magic card—Topic Shift—like flicking a fan.

"Anyway, Aer, I’m fine. Let’s move on."

"Pick up the pace and smack the final boss. That’s key."

She didn’t wait for Aer, taking the stairs in big strides like a rabbit fleeing a spotlight.

Aer had words bottled like cooling tea, but seeing Lian rush ahead, she let them go and followed.

—at this moment, a Crimson King wandered past—

"Finally done climbing!"

Lian wiped nonexistent sweat, eyes sweeping like a cat’s in midnight.

The room was pitch-black, yet her night vision painted it clear as ink on rice paper.

How to put it... the place screamed dark gothic, a chapel of shadowed stone.

Dio and his crew into this kind of taste? Weirdly thrilling, like a cold song.

"Huff... we made it. Why is it so dark here?"

Alicia’s voice rose behind her like a lantern being lit.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The scream shook the empty room like thunder in a dry valley; no one would believe it came from a cute loli.

Why did Lian scream? She turned right as Alicia cast light magic—a flashlight bright as noon.

With Lian’s night vision open, the clash was a knife of sun to naked eyes.

We’ll spare the grisly details; the scene painted enough red behind her lids.

Lian clutched her aching eyes, pain drilling like an ice pick; even she couldn’t tank it.

"Lian-chan... um... I didn’t mean it."

Alicia patted Lian’s back, comfort soft as feathers, though useless as mist.

Lian stopped rubbing and met Alicia’s gaze, eyes rimmed red and glossy like wet cherries.

She looked so pitiful that a stranger might think Alicia bullied a small, cute loli.

"Hmph!"

Staring made her eyes sting again, so she turned away with tsundere flare like a cat flicking its tail.

Alicia pressed her nose, feeling a warm flow threaten like spring sap; the classic nosebleed omen.

"Miss Alicia, Miss Lian, please don’t play around. We’re inside the enemy’s base."

"Fine. Since Remi said so, I’ll be magnanimous and forgive you."

The pain had mostly ebbed like tide, and Remi had offered a step down like a small bridge.

Lian took it with grace, saving face like silk kept smooth.

"Got it. I’ll take your kindness."

Alicia stroked Lian’s small head, hand gentle as wind through bamboo.

From Lian’s blissed look, the head-pat kill worked perfectly on this loli.

"Hey! Found something weird, looks like a mechanism. Aren’t you coming to check?"

While they did their daily antics, diligent Aer had sniffed out the main plot trigger like a hunting hound.

Lian slipped free from Alicia’s head-pat, trotting to Aer like a sparrow hopping to grain.

"What’s this? A lever?"

She gripped and pulled with little hands, ignoring the trap risk like a kid grabbing candy.

Clack! Pistons nudged, and a large door slid from the wall like a stone mouth opening.

Lian watched the door yawning wider, then eyed the switch in her palm, feeling her IQ mocked like a kite cut loose.

"Is this baby-tier puzzle for three-year-olds?"

"A genius like me, doing arithmetic under one hundred, is being insulted here!"

"So what are you even hung up on?"

"Choose the simple route instead of the hard one... are you a masochist?"

Lian bristled at that; Ling’s memories held tons of puzzle games like stacked boxes.

She had wanted a puzzle to show off her towering IQ of fifty-one, a banner in the wind.

But there was no chance to flex; that felt like bullying, rain snuffing her fire.

"I don’t care! I don’t care! I don’t care!"

"It’s bullying me. It won’t let me play puzzles!"

Lian activated her loli skill, dropping to the floor in a dramatic swoon.

She flopped down, crying and wailing, a storm in a teacup.

Everyone activated their ignore skill like raised umbrellas; they walked past without looking.

They pushed the door and entered, the tide moving forward.

Loli skill effectiveness: weak; the ripple faded.

Loli—down and unable to rise, like a toppled doll.

"Ahem."

Awkward coughs, two beats; Lian dusted her clothes like brushing ash and stood.

She trailed the squad into the doorway, feet light as leaves.

Click...

The door behind thundered shut like a guillotine, pure boss-room vibes flooding in.

Candles flared one by one, small suns in a cave, and a man sat at the room’s far end.

"Welcome to my room..."