(Where am I?)

Lucy opened her eyes, she was in a strange white place which was filled with bright lights flowing down like a river.

Her gaze lowered to see why she couldn't feel the floor.

"Waah, I'm naked!"

She shouted as she saw that she had no clothes on, it was because her body was transparent, accompanied by a golden aura like her hair that she calmed down.

She raised her hand and could sense how transparent she was.

"I-Incredible. So... this is the spirit world?"

Lucy was shaking her head from side to side looking for them, her ponytails bobbing as if she was at the bottom of a pool.

"Lucy!"

"Lucy-san!"

Alisa and Airi called out to her.

Turning to look at them, Lucy was stunned by what she saw.

"Huh?"

They were both transparent like her, Alisa's aura was red and Airi's was blue.

But that didn't shock her, it was what she heard.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes."

"I can feel a great magical power from this direction, it must be from the sacred tree."

"Come on, Lucy."

"Y-Yes."

"What's wrong?"

"... Nothing."

Lucy gave a slight thrust and went ahead of them.

The three of them floated straight to the direction Airi indicated.

But Lucy had heavy feelings.

(I don't like her.)

(I don't like Rudel-san being near her.)

(I can really hear them.)

Lucy could hear the voice of their hearts. They were not pleasant.

◇

"This is the best!"

For some reason, the armor in front of me materialized the great noble emblem with the crest of Rosenberg Household.

From its forehead came a horn that twisted like a trumpet.

It pointed its sword at me and a large number of ice floes appeared.

"Die!"

The ice floes flew to hit me, but I activated the missile launchers.

Just as the ice floes flew to hit me, the missiles in the backpack flew out to hit them.

The moment they touched, the explosion occurred, but... the explosion was frozen.

According to the book Lucy took out of the castle, the Rosenberg family possesses an ice magic which is superior to all equal magic’s.

Which means that this is undoubtedly the power of Sara who lent her the emblem.

How was this possible?

It doesn't matter.

I just know I must finish him off!

More missiles were sent and more frozen explosions occurred.

I took advantage of that opening to launch myself at him.

The armor imbued its magical power into the sword, it glowed in a sinister way.

"Cut Off!"

He shouted an attack and the magic power in the sword materialized as a crescent moon.

"Master, use the scythe skill!"

Ixion said this scythe was new. It gathered magic power to use it in a powerful attack.

I activated his ability and the blade began to glow.

A beautiful yellow color covered the entire blade.

I used its name while doing the same attack.

"Thors!"

The golden glow was so intense that it blinded the sight. A huge column of lightning struck the crescent moon.

A huge explosion occurred.

I went flying like the black armor.

But I recovered quickly, I said to Ixion.

"Open the vortex!"

"Understood."

Ixion manifested a magic circle from which cannons and bazookas came out.

"I don't want to play anymore, let's end this now!"

The cannons and bazookas launched missiles and cannonballs straight at the armored unit, but it made the same attack.

"Ahyahyahya!"

"No one will get in the way of the ritual!"

What is this ritual thing?

The explosions were so powerful that the atmosphere was getting heavy.

◇◇◇

(Why does it have to be just Rudel-san? There are so many men in this country.)

(You can have my man's body, but his heart will always belong to me.)

Lucy could hear Airi and Alisa's heart.

She could tell how much they hated her.

But Lucy ignored them.

(These girls are really pushing the limits of my patience.)

"What's that?"

"Huh?"

Airi pointed as they approached a space where strange squares floated.

The squares were emitting sounds.

They were memories of the people who was near the sacred tree, the power of synchronization affected others.

"Ah!"

Airi pointed to a specific floating box.

"What's wrong Airi?"

Alisa asked, Airi told her with a smile.

"That square is Rudel-san's!"

"What do you mean!"

In the floating square was Ixion taunting someone, that person threw garbage at him and Ixion electrocuted him.

It was Rudel without a doubt. His thoughts.

Seeing him, they darted towards that box.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Just a moment will be."

Alisa said with a smile as they approached.

"This is the perfect opportunity to find out what he's hiding."

Lucy reacted badly to hearing that.

"B-But it's wrong to find out Rudel's privacy."

"He's already seen us with our clothes off so this is nothing."

"That's not what..."

Lucy was curious too, she wanted to know more about Rudel and this was her chance.

She blushed and accepted their decision.

"J-Just a little bit we'll look, Sara needs to be rescued."

Lucy entered after them into Rudel's mind.

◇◇◇

"T-This is..."

They entered Rudel's personal world.

They could see floating images the size of plasma screens.

There were a lot of them.

"Ixion, this soup is horrible."

"Stupid prince, stop eating all the meat."

"Pola-chan, your big brother brought you presents!"

There were different memories of him from all his life.

In some he was visible as he was in front of a mirror.

Alisa commented with a smile.

"So this is Rudel's inner world, it's amazing."

"Ah, Alisa! Look, it's us."

Alisa followed Airi who found a flashback about the academy.

Lucy was curious and also went to look.

There was Airi in her meeting with Rudel, they could hear her thoughts.

"A beautiful girl came up to me, of all the girls in the academy, she is the prettiest I have ever seen. I really like her haircut, it gives her a soft and relaxed style."

Airi blushed when she heard what Rudel thought of her at that time.

"Hehehe, if only we could have confessed earlier, we could have had more time together."

Then the three of them heard something that froze them.

"Plus, she has amazing big breasts, they're really big! I wish I could put my face in them, aah~ how I wish I had a wife with breasts that big and who would be affectionate with me."

Airi was frozen as she heard how their first meeting was ruined by Rudel's own feelings.

"Rudel-san, we need to have a serious talk about your addiction to breasts."

Then came Alisa.

"Today was crazy, I got into a duel against an heir of a ducal family for a girl I don't know. I really must be mad."

Alisa could hear their first encounter. She knew that time brought him trouble.

"But, it can't be helped. She doesn't look like one of those hideous women who make fun of me. I was able to research her before and I know she is a girl of the high nobility, unlike a peasant like me, she hung out with the best of the social classes."

"Still, she was abandoned by those idiots. I can't leave Alicelotte alone, I couldn't sleep knowing I was able to prevent something bad from happening to her."

Alisa was also flushed to hear that he cared so much about her. Then she remembered that it was Rudel speaking.

"After all, I can't let those huge breasts fall into ruin!"

"Seriously, what the hell did they feed her?"

"They're huge! In that dress, her breasts looked so wild, I felt that she chose it because she's a pervert at heart."

A vein marked itself on Alisa's forehead.

"Rudel... when we get back I'm going to teach you how to talk to a woman politely. I've been through a lot with your lack of etiquette and manners."

"I agree on that."

Alisa and Airi were angry with him, their thoughts made that clear.

Lucy laughed seeing how they too can get mad at him the same way he does for her.

"Hello~, I'm Lucy Algrand, nice to meet you. Huh? Did I say it wrong? Sorry, the Kingdom's language is not my strong suit."

The three became aware of a new floating memory.

Lucy was there.

Rudel thought dialogues about the game information he knew, but they couldn't understand it.

"So she's Lucy, huh? It's totally like Erselica said, I'll have to tell Ixion to ask her later for more details."

Neither Lucy nor they could understand what he was referring to.

"I see, she has a sister. I must know more details about that."

"Lucy is certainly different than Erselica told me she would be. She is bullied by Jude and bullied by Sara. Whereas Diana is with Lugh and the villainess doesn't bother her. It's all confusing."

"What is he talking about?"

Alisa didn't understand what he was speaking about.

But the next thing that happened left her and Airi really annoyed.

"Leave me alone!"

It was the day of the wedding with Jude.

"You have fiancés right? Go to them and leave me alone!"

They watched what happened that day, Lucy remembered it too.

Alisa squeezed her hand when Rudel kissed Lucy and she said.

"Why? You have fiancés don't you? Why do you enjoy torturing me when you have them?"

Rudel thought.

"I'm sorry. But I really do have feelings for you. And I won't let Jude or anyone else stand in the way of getting you back, I'll have you just like them."

Lucy felt ashamed, Rudel really did love her.

Her heart pounded.

"I want to see more."

Alisa said moving deeper into the background.

"Me too."

Airi went after her. Then Lucy.

◇◇◇

"What exactly are they looking for?"

Lucy asked as they floated through Rudel's mind.

They heard many things, among them they didn't understand.

But Alisa and Airi seemed to be looking for something specific.

"I want to know just one thing. Something that has always bothered me."

"Me too. I'm sure we know what it is, that's why we're looking for it if there is."

Lucy didn't understand what they were referring to.

"Please count, let go of my hand."

It was Lecia's voice asking Rudel to leave her hand.

Alisa could hear how Rudel was courting the queen and she was rejecting him.

She felt calm hearing that.

"Well, we can─ Huh?"

Off in the distance, she saw something.

She approached, Airi and Lucy following her.

"What's that?"

In the distance they saw a door. There were more memories, but these were blocked.

The closer they got, a concrete wall similar to a condo grew.

It was so long they couldn't see where it ended, the same on its sides.

When they reached the door, Alisa and the others were surprised by the appearance of the door.

At the bottom it had an opening to place letters.

On one side it had a name on it.

The knob was different from the ones they saw as it was an electronic card that was used to enter.

Even next to it was a window which only reflected their faces.

Alisa tried to open the door, but couldn't.

"What could this be?"

Airi asked.

"I don't know, but I imagine this must be something very private... maybe it has something to do with us."

Alisa replied in embarrassment. While Lucy commented.

"Even if it does, is this door really weird? I've never seen one like it."

The girls turned around and resumed their walk.

The moment they did, a memory of when Rudel woke up in this world appeared.

Everything was black until he opened his eyes.

The memories they saw were Rudel's memories of this world.

So probably, whatever is behind that door of a condo, are Rudel's memories before he reincarnated.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

Alisa was asking Airi. She said shaking her head from side to side.

"It's nothing. I just... I just felt like someone looked at us."

"Someone? We're the only ones here, so it must be the memories."

"Yes. That must be it, sorry."

The girls continued on their way then left and resumed their goal.

◇◇◇

Before Airi and the others left.

The door that was locked opened.

The inside was dark.

On top of a chain made of carbon, an eye peered out.

The eye saw them with incredible intensity.

Then it went into the darkness closing the door and disappearing.

◇◇◇

(It really bothers me.)

(Why does she have to be cute? If she were normal I'd accept it, but she's cute. So Rudel-san would be attracted to her because of that.)

Again Lucy could hear their thoughts.

They were getting worse and worse.

(She sure used her breasts to seduce him, since he is a breast addict, it was easy for her to seduce him).

(Boyfriend thief.)

But she couldn't take it anymore. He turned around and confronted her.

"That's enough!"

"What's wrong with you?"

They asked quizzically at Lucy's sudden attitude.

"I'm already annoyed with your hostilities towards me!"

"...?"

"I can read your thoughts! Ever since we came to this place you two have been insulting and belittling me!"

Both of their brows furrowed.

"Ah yeah, that's nice. Seems to me this is the perfect opportunity to clear some things up."

Alisa said that after crossing her arms and lifting her transparent breasts.

"Lucy. I don't like you being with Rudel."

"I don't like that either."

"But why!"

"Rudel asked you to accept me and you two accepted me. I understand that we don't get along since I'm your boyfriend's lover. But... you girls aren't nice either!"

Lucy pointed at Alisa.

"Starting with you, legal wife. You're almost or worse when Sara was teasing me. You like to talk about your status in front of him, it makes you feel like you're on the same level!"

"You, the commoner! You're the worst of the two! Wearing that sweet smile, you hide some wicked hostile thoughts towards me. Truly you are the one who scares me most!"

They did not remain silent and answered him.

"We are nothing like what you say! If we were, Rudel would never have paid any attention to us."

"That's another problem! You girls have nothing more on your minds than Rudel. I understand that, but your mindset is all wrong."

"I feel that you girls want to monopolize him more like a toy than to show your love for him!"

Airi responded angrily.

"You're wrong. We are the ones who want him to be completely free. We don't want him tied to us."

"Liar! What you girls want is for him to always be with the two of you!"

Alisa angrily said.

"First of all! What do you know about us?"

"We just met, to us you're the nosy one."

Lucy scoffed at that with something very intimate.

"I know all about you two. I even know about your kiss. By the way, why don't you two stay together and leave him alone?"

"From what I could see, it didn't seem to upset you."

"...!"

Alisa and Airi were shocked to hear how Lucy knew about the kiss they had.

Alisa's mouth hung open and she didn't know what to say, then Airi elated, shouted what she always wanted to say.

"I don't want you to steal him from me!"

"Huh?"

"I don't want anyone to take Rudel-san from our side! I don't want! I don't want that to happen!"

"During the war I could feel several times how we were going to lose him, but after that, the feeling was still there when we found out about you."

"I... I'm sure you want to keep Rudel-san all to yourself and he'll leave us!"

Airi cried when she rebelled why she didn't like Lucy, Lucy herself was weirded out.

"Wai─ Wait a minute! I don't want to─"

"I'm the same way!"

Alisa after pulling herself together shouted.

"I don't hate you, I hate the simple fact that a friendly woman like you approached him."

"The way you approached Rudel is what I didn't like!"

"You knew he had fiancés and yet, you approached him! Boyfriend thief you are that!"

"Rudel is ours! We suffered so he could tell us his true feelings."

"A whole year we had to put up with the possibility of him being with someone else. I even thought of leaving my family to be a mistress... but... thanks to Ixion and the palace we got engaged!"

"And you came to steal him from us! It's not just you, there's also Alicia, Eleonora and now Sara!"

"Only beautiful women who possess a large bust are interested in him! I hate that he has that kind of luck with women."

"I'm glad that at least the queen is not like them."

"That's why, Lucy, I don't hate you or Sara, I hate any woman who wants to take Rudel away from us!"

"That includes Erselica! We hate her because she's with him now and not for humiliating us."

"Wait a momeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeent!"

After Airi's shout, Lucy shushed them both.

"You... You're wrong about something!"

"What are we wrong about? If it's all true!"

To a tearful Airi, Lucy said.

"What you said, that I knew about him having fiancés."

"I never knew!"

"... Huh?"

Both of them stared blankly.

"I found out about you girls that day we met! I never thought he had girlfriends! What's worse, he never said anything like that to me!"

Airi looked at Alisa, they were both confused.

"A-Alisa, that sounds like something like him."

"Y-You're right. Rudel is the kind of person who forgets not only important details, he also leaves things out on purpose... what does mean..."

The look on both of their faces changed to one of anger, but not at Lucy, at Rudel.

"He purposely went looking for her."

They said at the same time. Lucy could see the anger and jealousy in their eyes.

"It certainly bothers me that he decided on his own to flirt with Lucy after meeting her."

"But Alisa, Rudel-san wasn't doing it on purpose. He surely thought 'Oh, since I'm not at home I'll use this opportunity to misbehave and be unguarded'. That's what I'm sure he said."

"I see. So it's all his fault."

"Rudel-san is to blame for all this."

Lucy managed to make the anger and jealousy those two felt towards her disappear, but now it was Rudel who would face their anger.

Lucy was happy to clear everything up.

"I guess now that you know, will you let me be happy with him?"

Alisa replied with a smile.

"Not a chance. Stay away from me man... that's what I'd say."

With a smile she walked over to Lucy, Airi too.

"Lucy, you can be Rudel's woman. Believe me I hate to say it, in fact, I'm capable of finding him lovers. If he wants to have a sea of women so badly, I'll give it to him. As long as there's nothing sentimental."

"So let's hurry to rescue Sara and scold him severely."

Airi walked over and hugged her.

"Lucy-san, you are now part of the women who love him."

Lucy hugged her back.

"Yes. I want to be happy with Rudel just like you."

But the happiness was cut off when Airi's smile sent a dark feeling as her gaze.

"Don't you dare ever again in your life get a glimpse of our hearts. Believe me, I think horrendous things sometimes and you don't want to know what they are."

"..."

Lucy could feel that Airi's pure heart, was dark like Rudel's.

Airi was smiling in such a way that what happened moments ago, would never have happened.

"I-I understand. Let's go save Sara."

(Really. They're not normal. Although it's not like I'm not either wanting to be with them and him sleeping in the same bed.)

◇◇◇

Sara's inner world was a field of flowers.

There she was sitting next to someone.

"Rudel, it won't be long now. We'll be together soon."

She was talking to Rudel, Aster's Rudel.

Rudel was saying to her.

"Sara, I'm glad you accepted this. Thanks to the trouble that happened with that Lucy girl, is that my soul was able to gather enough energy to materialize me."

"I know, you told me. I freaked out when you showed up and left that rose on my bed."

Sara hugged Rudel's arm tightly.

"Before long we'll be together forever."

The happy expression on her face indicated that, for her, this place was paradise.

"There she is. Sara!"

Suddenly that happiness was interrupted by voices.

It was Lucy, Alisa and Airi who arrived after finding the window into Sara's mind.

She was annoyed, glaring at them with hatred.

"Why are you here?! Leave me alone, I can finally be happy with Rudel and neither you nor anyone else can take him away from me!"

The atmosphere of the place changed to an icy wasteland.

Ice floes manifested in the air and were hurled against them.

Alisa manifested spears of fire which impacted against the ice floes.

She stood fighting as Lucy and Airi came closer.

"Give me peace! Don't get in the way of my happiness!"

Now an unknown force was pushing them back.

Airi put her hands in front and a white light acted as a shield for Lucy.

"Lucy-san, gooooooooooooooo!"

"Thank you!"

Lucy. Using the shield Airi gave her. She was approaching Sara, she didn't want Lucy to get close.

"It was because of your family that Rudel was taken away from me, you won't take him away from me too!"

Lucy was getting closer and closer to Sara.

She was shouting at her.

"Sara, come back to us! This place is not safe!"

"Shut up! You'll take my happiness away from me again! I refuse to. No one will take Rudel away from me!"

Then Lucy said something that left Sara puzzled.

"That's not Rudel over there! Sara, hurry up and come with us!"

Sara laughed at Lucy.

"What's not Rudel? She says. Pff, don't make me laugh."

"That girl says funny things, right Rudel... Rudel? What's the matter with you, you don't say─"

When Sara turned around, for the first time she could see Rudel's face.

A fleshy, shapeless mass stood in front of her.

"... Huh?"

At that moment, the formless face of "Rudel" turned into a wicked face with black eyes and teeth."

"You are such a stupid bitch! All you had to do that was follow my orders, but it doesn't matter. Everything is completed."

"Noooooooooooo!"

"Rudel's" body sucked Sara in. She was in a bubbly bubble.

"Saraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Lucy screamed as the same mysterious force expelled both her and the others.

"I can't take it anymore, the connection is breaking, Lucy-san we can't do anything else!"

"Saraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

From the same place they came through, a mysterious white light in the shape of a sparrow was approaching at great speed.

The sparrow flew close to Lucy, she could hear its thoughts.

(Thank you for giving me the opportunity.)

She did not understand whose voice it was.

The sparrow flew straight into the fleshy mass and then all of them returned to the real world.

◇

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn it!"

The situation was getting worse and worse.

I was out of ammunition and now I had to cut through the ice floes.

To make it all worse, the armor was increasingly no longer looking like one and looking like Diabolos.

Ixion was informing me that the cocoon was shrinking. Sara was in danger.

I couldn't get close, I really couldn't save Sara in this situation.

"Gyahaha! Give up and die, you won't be able to save─ Huh... this is..."

Suddenly, the iceberg attack ended and the armor started saying weird things.

"Iaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm burning!"

"It burns! It burns so much! It burns too much! Iaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

I could see smoke coming out of the armor.

It seemed to really start to burn.

Ixion informed me.

"Master, I detect a strange power in the air, it's the same thing that happened when we fought Diabolos─ Master, your hand!"

I looked at my hand and despite having gloves on, I could see the guardian's emblem glowing.

Then, Ixion told me that the guardian's emblem manifested on Battler's back, it was coated with a white aura.

"Noooooooooooooooooo! It's the same as that time! But it can't be, the bitch is dead! And─ there!"

The armor pointed at Ixion's main body.

It was going to attack them.

"I won't let it happen again! Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee all!"

He pointed both, I got close enough and used the scythe which was shrouded in a white aura.

I cut the left arm almost all the way through.

"Iaaaaaaaaaah! My aaaaaaarm! It hurts muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!"

The armor began to whine as if it were a small child.

It turned around and approached the top.

From which, the monsters disappeared into ashes, the same as that time.

New tentacles grew and took the shape of sunflowers which began to shoot towards us.

I will not let it escape.

I flew at high speed to get in front of him and cut him down.

Before I did so, stretching out his hand to reach the top, I could hear him say...

"Help me, Zor─!"

"Goodbye."

I came to stand in front of him, sorry Derrick, I hope in your next life you stop being a piece of shit.

With one move, I split the armor in two, the cut went to his waist.

Both floating pieces of debris exploded.

"Master, something weird is wrong with the sacred tree! This is our chance, go."

Ixion showed me how the sunflowers started attacking each other and the cocoon seemed to grow in a strange way.

Using the scythe I reached out to cut down the sunflowers and finally to the cocoon I have yet to reach.

The sunflowers were attacking me like some roots, Battler was getting only scratches so this was nothing.

Reaching out my hand, I strained to reach towards it.

"Saraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

I saw a light as I put the scythe into the cocoon.