Clayg 

The man's world was dyed red. Amid the scattered wreckage and rubble, sounds of cracking and popping shook his eardrums. He took in a large breath in search of oxygen—and a sudden dull pain brought his hazy consciousness to sharp clarity.

"...ah, nnh... Agh..."

The first thing he saw was the mass of crushed iron pressing down on his own body. It wasn't something he could handle by himself. At the same time, he realized his body could no longer feel any pain.

"I guess...I'm done for."

Uninterested in his own life, he readily accepted his death. The one thing on his mind was regret. Just when he thought the research he staked his life on had finally borne fruit, an inexplicable explosion from the equipment destroyed everything. It was do-or-die, and he had failed.

"What a shitty life it was. If I'd known this would happen I wouldn't have bothered with that—"

If I could at least know the results of this experiment...

Just then, a scraping metal sound echoed from somewhere. The man gasped. Something was slowly coming his way—a figure in front of him.

The person's appearance was somewhat strange. A body covered in metallic armor, covered by a gray coat and a hat that curved up toward the sky. Thanks to the helmet, the man couldn't tell their expression, or if they were even human. Most surprising of all was the silver liquid coming from their arm. It floated in the air, behaving as if it had its own will. It didn't look like something from this world.

"...kh, ha!"

Deep creases appeared on his cheeks. A smile both genuine and mad rose to his face as he shouted at the person before him.

"Hahahaha! I knew it—I was right!"

"..."

"Can't you say something sensible, like, hey, congrats! Or, you did it!—or anything? Cold-hearted jackass!"

"...You're awfully spirited for someone about to die."

The voice from the gray coat was detached, as if reading from a document. Uncanny as it was, something so trivial didn't make a difference to the man who had accepted his death.

"Ooh, he talks. Then you should get it. There's no saving me from this situation. So you'd wanna die basking in joy 'til the end, right? I mean, I got to meet you—someone who's not from this world!"

"I'm sorry."

"...Sorry? No, that's not right. Apologizing meaninglessly for what's already happened isn't what you should be doing! It's praising me for not wasting my efforts!" Eyes wide open and still full of stinging vigor, the man continued on. "So, what's going on!?"

"You're right. Just as you've said, our world is different from your own."

"Heh...aha, hahahaha! Here it is! God's abandoned me—gah!"

He choked, a large amount of blood spurting from his mouth.

"Damn...it... Already...time...?"

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

A shining silver liquid spilled from the hand of the man in the gray coat. It slowly grew thin and sharp, eventually changing shape into a sword.

"Oh, that's nice... Getting to die with someone from another world at my deathbed. Pretty fitting end...for me."

Then, a high-pitched voice rang out around them. It was just an ordinary scream, but he knew exactly who it belonged to.

"Will...why...? ...Hey, while you're here, don't just let me talk at you...listen to...my request."

Mustering all his strength, the man made a brazen plea.

"And that is?"

"...My son... Look...after him..."

Without even listening for an answer, he launched into reminiscing about his son. His son's name was William. He was kind, unlike himself—that was when he realized he had hardly spent any time with Will.

"A day, no, a week. That's about right."

"...I don't mind."

"Heh... Just had to...ask nicely..."

Just as his consciousness faded like a sigh of relief, someone hiding in the rubble jumped out toward the man in the gray coat.

"Aaaaaahhh!"

The man in the coat turned around. There was a boy drawing closer with anger on his face—William.

Several years had passed since his promise to the man who poured his entire being into his research. Clayg was once again paying a visit to that fateful place—Megacity Libra. He had made his way to the harbor district, Libra's supporting foundation. This district, normally bustling with people in the daytime, was scarce of other people once the sun sank below the horizon. The scenery hadn't changed since Clayg first visited this Otherworld. It was almost as if time were repeating. However, something this time was a bit different.

"..."

In front of him stood a row of horribly twisted streetlights, and a sloping hill of sand piled high enough to cause trouble for vehicles passing through. Beyond that hill was an Otherworld linked to Libra—a world of desert stretching as far as the eye could see. Even now, strong winds blowing through the portal between worlds carried rust-colored sand over from the other side.

The sand itself would have no ill effects on Libra if left as is. Still, it could not go ignored. The investigators already on the scene had configured a spatial isolation device so that the citizens of Libra could not see the portal. That device inhibited one's recognition abilities, making it appear as if nothing were there. The investigators had then placed construction workers and signs in a 50-meter radius around the portal, keeping people and vehicles from passing through.

Clayg looked at the circular portal.

"Looks to be stable."

He wanted to investigate whether it was manmade or accidental, but his current priority was closing it. When he stepped closer to the portal, he suddenly felt someone's presence. At first, he thought it was an investigator on the desert world's side, but then there would be no reason for hostility. Maintaining his distance from the portal, Clayg stretched the silver liquid from his arm into midair and formed it into a sword. On the other side of the portal stood a tall woman in a cape. The veil over her mouth made her expression unclear, but she hardly looked friendly.

"..."

"..."

They exchanged stares, sizing each other up and gauging the distance. Their silent battle ended the moment Clayg stepped forward, increasing the pressure. The woman showed her empty hands, slowly retreated while staring at Clayg...and disappeared. He tried to go through the portal to see where she disappeared to, but there was no trace of her in that vast desert.

"Has she noticed the Otherworld's existence?"

There was a strange aura about her...it would be best to watch her closely. In most cases, even if someone saw the portal and realized the multiverse existed, they suspected it to be a dream or hallucination, and Logos wouldn't have to deal with them. However, Clayg's intuition whispered that she would need to be dealt with. Perhaps something unexpected would happen. He wanted to track down her whereabouts himself, but he had other things to do. For now, he would inform the investigators stationed on the other side about her presence.

After that, Clayg closed the portal, and learned that this time, William had gotten involved in all the turmoil.

"You're not surprised, are you?"

The investigators knew that Clayg had once "dealt with" William's father as the potential trigger of the collapse of the multiverse. When the investigators pointed it out, they thought someone normally so emotionless would at least react a little, but they were completely off the mark.

"I'll take responsibility for him. You all continue to check for signs of erosion here."

"Understood."

After giving the investigators his instructions, Clayg removed a thin, flat device from his pocket.

"Mr. Clayg, where are you going?"

"To the Otherworld where William is," he said, operating the device to make a small portal appear in front of him. There was no need to bother finding out his location. It was already perfectly clear where he was.

The city that continually illuminated a world wrapped in darkness—Neon Nebula. William would be there.

Clayg landed in Neon Nebula to follow William's trail. This circular city, surrounded by tall walls, was constantly lit by bright neon lights, unlike the darkness outside. A fog-like substance floated in the city air, giving it a faint white glow. The principle was unclear, but the neon lights apparently also kept the city at a constant temperature. It was a fantastical kind of spectacle. The cityscape itself was strange, cluttered with crude, shack-like housing in all sorts of architectural styles. Of course, some places were neat and tidy, but those were few in number.

Having grasped the situation, Clayg took the device from his pocket. Just then, instructions arrived from Logos HQ. According to the contents, he and the newly appointed enforcer Astor were to search Neon Nebula for a Logos investigator who had gone missing.

What terrible timing. Still, there was no disobeying orders from HQ.

"..."

With minimal complaining, Clayg followed the instructions and waited for Astor.

After that, he and Astor joined forces and discovered the truth hidden in Neon Nebula while searching for the missing investigator. What they found was the source of erosion that could cause the collapse of the multiverse. Eliminating it was Logos's highest priority, so they had to deal with it as soon as they found it. However, Clayg stopped Astor from taking the initiative to do so. He had seen the possibility that this erosion might be tied to the city's very foundation. If this erosion phenomenon was used for some kind of energy, they ran the risk of creating an unrecoverable situation. They put handling the erosion on hold, used a portal to send the investigator to HQ, then returned to the city.

There, they went to the rooftop of a building to avoid prying eyes, where they considered how to handle going forward.

"Mr. Clayg, is it really okay not to tell HQ about this?"

The handling of erosion phenomena was left up to the enforcer's discretion, but HQ had arranged to intervene directly if enforcers were having trouble. However, in most cases, intervening in Otherworlds meant the erasure of their existence. Clayg wanted to avoid that outcome...because William was here.

"This Otherworld is still on a lower layer," he said. "Whether we call them or not, our efforts here won't change that."

"But I don't think we can take out the mastermind without impacting the social system on a broad scale."

"We can."

Clayg had collected a component from the living weapons they encountered when they found the erosion. A three-letter mark was engraved on it. That mark was the name of one of the three corporations that ruled the city.

"IDC. One of the corporations that rules Neon Nebula."

"I see. So then we assassinate the head, and that solves it."

"Don't be too hasty. We won't have our solution until we find out who's behind the erosion phenomenon."

He stopped speaking and slowly turned his gaze to the cityscape of Neon Nebula.

"What exactly are you looking at?"

"You'll see in a moment."

Astor followed suit and looked down at the expansive cityscape below, but she didn't see anything especially out of place. As Clayg continued to watch in silence, Astor grew tired of waiting and quickly said, "Mr. Clayg, I haven't come here to relax. If you want to waste your time away, then I'll go on my—"

"Wait. Astor, look at that."

"What?"

Astor looked where Clayg was pointing. There was a man parading across the ground. He walked up to a distinctive-looking skyscraper and thrust out his arm—and the next moment, the barricade surrounding the building twisted up all on its own.

"Wha—an aberrant!?"

"Yes, so it would seem," Clayg replied flatly, showing no surprise.

Astor, having witnessed someone with power rivaling that of an enforcer, couldn't help but mutter, "I've got to stop him."

"Astor, we are foreigners here. Intervening recklessly might alert the mastermind to our presence."

"But there's no way they'll be able to stop him—" Suddenly, she realized something. "Don't tell me you're planning to use him to cause chaos—"

"My thoughts were different, but your idea isn't bad either. You're slowly absorbing the ways of Logos after all."

No matter how powerful an enforcer may be, they could not wield that power freely. Thus, they would have to arrange an opportunity in which they could. That was the method Clayg had meant. Astor came to realize that her beliefs and Clayg's were different from each other.

As Clayg and Astor continued to observe, the battle with the aberrant ended in an unexpected way. After a robot ran into the building at high speed, things quickly calmed down. The sounds of gunfire and destruction ceased, and the area became peaceful again. Eventually, the aberrant man came outside. He seemed to have lost the battle, his powers suppressed by a blindfold and restraints around his arms. The nearby area was bustling with residents who had come to watch the battle and spectators in the surrounding buildings.

Someone else came out of the skyscraper. It was a girl whose presence didn't fit the atmosphere of the city. Then, there was William, the boy Clayg was searching for.

Since they were observing from a distance, they couldn't hear the details of the conversation, but they were likely discussing how to deal with that man. Just as they were about to come to an agreement—

"Nyahaha! You called fur me?"

A woman's voice suddenly rang out. The voice belonged to a beastwoman riding a flying saucer above William's group. Before anyone could react, a mechanical arm extended from the saucer and grabbed the aberrant man. Then the saucer rose up to flee the scene.

"Don't you dare!"

William clung onto the mechanical arm, desperately trying to pull him back. However, the sturdy mechanical arm wouldn't give an inch. In the meantime, the woman restrained William with another arm. Before long, the saucer soared high into the sky with William in tow.

After Clayg watched the whole affair, he said to Astor, as she gazed at the ground, "We had best get moving."

"Where? What are you planning, Mr. Clayg?"

"I have an idea," he replied, then ordered Astor to wait for him to contact her. Then, without waiting for her response, he leapt from building to building—and in no time at all, he vanished into the sea of neon lights.

After the Anthro woman, Lavina Kitten, left with William and Ankh, those left behind at the building discussed how to get William back. At the center of the conversation were Momo, the skyscraper's owner and one of the ruling pillars of Neon Nebula, and her robot secretary Gigi. Then, there was Eirene, the girl who had come to Neon Nebula with William.

"Miss Momo, how can we save William?" she asked, her voice somber. It was only natural. She possessed a power that could save him. It had been her Teleport ability, with which she could instantly move from one place to another, that let her turn the tables on the man who attacked the building—Ankh. But her power hadn't worked at the critical moment. Not only had she exhausted her strength, it happened so suddenly that she was too shaken to use her power. "Why is it that when it really matters, I..."

It was her own powerlessness that pained her more than anything. Until she awoke in that unfamiliar world, she had been raised overprotectively by her mother and her followers. She was hardly allowed to leave safety, and all she could do was read picture books. She was the one person no one relied on in that harsh world, where everyone had to rely on each other to survive. Maybe she was emotional support for her mother and the others. But there was no one to support her. That was until she met William, whose mutual support helped her stand up to the terrifying threat that was Ankh.

"If there's anything I can do, I'll do it! So, please..."

Momo listened to Eirene and said in a gentler tone than usual, "I know where they'll be. That Anthro lady is one of Ibis's."

"Then...!"

"Haven't laid eyes on that stubborn hag in a long time since she fell ill... She's letting her subordinates roam a little too free."

She seemed to have known Ibis for a long time. Momo was griping about her rapidfire under her breath. When she was done, she started talking about what kind of person Lavina was.

"Once she takes an interest in something, she wants to find out everything. She'd never let go of a Human from another world on her own. She might make 'em research subjects to find a cure for Ibis's illness."

"Research... I don't know what that involves, but what if I Teleport there and back before something awful happens to William?"

"Keheh, didn't think you'd be so bold."

"Question," Gigi said to Eirene, breaking her silence. Her torso had been twisted apart in the earlier battle. With each word she spoke, the shriek of metal on metal sounded from where her components had popped out. "Eirene, do you have a grasp on your own power?"

"Oh..."

"It would seem you have not tried it."

"I know you want to save William," Momo added, "But in battle, you gotta know yourself before you know your enemy, yeah?"

"I guess you're right..."

When she fought Ankh, William had been at her side the whole time. She had been able to Teleport several short distances inside the building because of William's precise instructions. Without him, she would have already fallen into Ankh's hands.

"I'm no help to you like this, am I?"

"Sure. But you found a problem to solve, didn'tcha?"

Eirene gave a small nod to Momo's question.

"Yeah. Well, you'd better hone your power as best you can. Before we storm Ibis's lab, that is."

"Huh!?"

A light shone in Eirene's eyes. Watching her face light up, Momo continued, "I know Ibis better than anyone. So you sharpen up that power of yours!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Momo, are you sure about this?" Gigi asked.

"'Course I am! Attacking my base and taking my guests hurts my reputation. That'll show 'em for underestimating me!"

Just like that, a new target was set. All that was left was for each of them to do whatever they could until the day of the operation. The plaza in front of the entrance suddenly started to come to life. Just as Momo was about to start building a temporary base, a sudden voice called out.

"—Um... Sorry to butt in on the excitement, but is this a good time?"

"Wha..."

"The hell... What's this!?"

There stood William, who they were planning to recapture.

"William!?"

Eirene and the others were shocked at William's unexpected return. Eirene ran to William right away, put a hand to her chest to catch her breath, and smiled, relieved from the bottom of her heart.

"I'm so glad you're safe."

"Sorry to make you worry."

"It's okay," she replied, shaking her head, and asked how he escaped. Momo and Gigi, following after Eirene, were curious as well, nodding intently.

"I want to explain right away, but they should rest up first," William said, twisting around to show his back. On his back was Linne, who was last seen fighting on the building's upper floors.

"Linne...?"

Injuries from the battle were visible all over their body. When she saw that Linne wasn't moving, Eirene looked at William with concern. William said that Linne's condition wasn't serious, and asked Momo if there was somewhere to rest.

"Yeah, I'll arrange it for ya, top priority."

"Thanks, Momo."

"Don't you worry about it. Now then, how'd you get out of your restraints?"

"About that, the saucer we were riding actually bumped into a sign on the building and lost control. Luckily that loosened the restraints, so I went for it and jumped onto the roof...and managed to get away."

That was when he found Linne collapsed on the roadside and carried them over. The situation had changed rapidly thanks to an unexpected string of good luck.

"I can't believe you really came back..." Momo muttered.

She should have been delighted about the situation. However, since she had been fully prepared to storm Ibis's research building, she felt a bit dissatisfied.

"Momo, you wanted to go on a rampage, didn't you?"

"Fool. Just how many years do you think I've lived? I'm not the age to run wild like a little brat."

Momo was trying to play up her wise adult side, but her adorable mascot shape hardly conveyed that.

"..."

"Hey now, hey now, what're you lookin' at me like that for!?"

"No, I totally believe you."

"Hmph. And yet you still look like you wanna say something, huh?"

"There actually is something I want to talk to you about."

"Well then don't just stand there and say it!"

Having succeeded at changing the subject, William simply said, "That guy, Ankh—I want to save him."

"...Huh?"

Eirene was dumbfounded, unable to understand what he was saying at first. Momo, on the other hand, slowly scrunched up her big round eye...and screamed with a blazing fury.

"You whaaat!? Are you serious!? You wanna save the good-for-nothing who destroyed my bed!?"

"Snicker. It would seem William has hit his head and can no longer make rational decisions," Gigi declared, attempting to present a treatment plan with her barely functioning arms. William replied that he was as rational as ever, and explained why he came to that conclusion.

William's proposal provoked animosity at first, but as they listened, they realized that they needed him. Ankh may have been the reason William and Eirene originally got stranded in this world. Additionally, no one knew why he was attacking them to abduct Eirene. If they lost him here, it could be difficult to return to their original worlds. While everyone kept their mouths shut, Momo was the first to break the silence.

"...I get it. I'm on board with your idea. That all right with you, Eirene?"

"Y-Yes."

Momo took her guards and left somewhere with Gigi. Watching her sway lightly back and forth like a pendulum, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Well, we'd better prepare ourselves," William said. "I want to check on Linne too..."

He suddenly realized that Eirene was facing him with an earnest gaze.

"Um, Eirene?"

She clenched her fists, shut her eyes, and shouted, "William, please go out with me!"

"...Huh?"

Question marks floating above his head, William caved to Eirene's menacing look as she took him along somewhere.

"Oh, so this is what you meant," William muttered as he watched Eirene stare intently into the air. She took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and poured all her focus onto one spot—but nothing happened.

"Why can't I teleport?"

The two of them had gone to the rooftop of the building Momo made into her temporary base. By "go out with me," Eirene had meant to train her Teleport superpower.

"It might be because your eyes are closed," William pointed out after several failures. "I think understanding where you're jumping is critical."

"Oh... That's why it didn't work before..."

When she tried concentrating without closing her eyes, Eirene jumped easily to her target position.

"Yes, I did it!"

"Yep, nicely done."

By trying it several more times under the same conditions, they came to understand the nature of her Teleport little by little. The power seemed to require a lot of focus. The user's mental state also played a large part. Eirene had been able to use her power freely when she was running desperately from Ankh, and when she joined hands with William to face off against him. Her ability to make multiple short-range leaps in battle was no doubt because of her intense concentration and mental stability.

"Then, if we hold hands, we can do anything!" Eirene exclaimed, reaching out to grab William's hand. However, before she could touch him, he shrugged away.

"You might be right, but we won't always be in a position to fight holding hands."

"Oh... I guess that's true."

"So I think right now you should dig deeper into your own power."

"Deeper how?"

William nodded as Eirene tilted her head in confusion. "This is just my guess, but I think your power is probably the ability to jump instantly from point to point."

He made hand gestures as he explained. If her Teleport was instead the ability to move at ultrahigh speed along a line between two points, then it was possible Eirene would catch fire from frictional heat like debris entering the atmosphere. Since there was no inertia right after she moved, that supported his theory.

"I thought it would be great if I could tackle someone with it, but it seems better not to, huh?"

"Yeah. Your body might not be able to take it."

Eirene grimaced, perhaps imagining herself colliding into something. The bulk of her training ended up being about understanding the nature of her power, and she hadn't come up with any new fighting techniques. As William silently watched Eirene practice improving the accuracy of her Teleport, he muttered under his breath.

"...Apologies, William. But rest assured. 'I' have no intent to take away her autonomy."

"Williaaam, did you say something?" Eirene called.

"No, nothing at all!"

A mature expression on his face, William flashed Eirene a cheerful smile, waving back at her. Then, Ibis shifted her gaze toward the IDC research building. William thought of the others, far away. About the safety of Ankh, and the "real William," taken away by Lavina.

Meanwhile...

William and Ankh, after being brought to the IDC research building by Lavina, had been bound tightly to portable tables while unconscious. William could just barely twist his neck to see the table next to him, where he locked eyes with Ankh, who turned at the exact same time...or at least felt he did.

"Mmm, mmmmmm!"

William could sense clear hostility. Even with his eyes and mouth covered, it wasn't hard to tell what Ankh was trying to say—probably something like, "This is all your fault! I'll kill you!"

Even though they'd only just met, he could somehow tell what he was thinking—maybe because his thoughts were easy to read, or maybe because he had the exact same face. There were still a lot of mysteries about him, but there was one thing William knew right now.

I saw this scenario in an old movie...

In that movie, the people on those tables suffered a cruel and tragic fate. The methods this time were different, but it might lead to the same end. When he watched that movie, he had enjoyed the strange mixture of curiosity and fear, but now that it involved him, he shuddered at the thought. Still, William had a certain conviction.

Unless something crazy happens, I'm not gonna get a propeller attached to my head or my arm chopped off. They'll probably take their time investigating our relationship. There'll be a chance to slip out. Plus Momo and the others might come to save me.

Perhaps because there was someone so furious right next to him, he was able to look at the situation more calmly than usual. He looked around his surroundings, eventually looking at Lavina walking next to him. She was smaller than William thought, just tall enough for her head to peek out over the table. Maybe the reason she was always posturing on that disc-shaped machine she rode was to avoid people looking down on her. Her labcoat was tattered, with holes here and there. Her glasses were cracked, and her hair was unkempt, too. That was enough to tell that Linne had given her a hard time.

I hope Linne's okay too...

"And what do you think you're looking at?"

"..."

"Lemme tell you one thing—you can't hide a thing from me," Lavina said, climbing onto the table..

She put her nose to the nape of his neck and sniffed. The tip of her nose was a bit damp, which tickled.

"I'm gonna get real up close and purrsonal with you two. You better get ready!"

She stood up and laughed, grinning wide. The fangs peeking out from her mouth gleamed with saliva from the sheer excitement of capturing humans from another world—like a cat licking its lips in front of a mouse.

"I'm gonna find out if you have a special power like Ankh."

"Mmm, mmm!"

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. But whether you'll have any limbs left is a different matter. Nyaaahaha!"

William and Ankh, imagining the future that awaited them, passed through the door to the laboratory.

There's a bit of pronoun trickery in the fake William reveal—at the end of Episode 7, Ibis switches to using watashi instead of William's usual boku, signalling that something is wrong.