"You know, Arte. This might sound strange, but..."

I have to go in there.

I told Arte this, but I wondered if she would even allow it.

It was a ridiculous thing to say, even coming from me.

I glanced at my side.

The emergency treatment Arte had performed stopped the bleeding, but the white thread was now dyed red, indicating the severity of the injury.

Even I knew it sounded absurd.

But there was no other way, and I desperately needed Arte's help to increase the chances of success.

Her presence would help fend off the beast's wild attacks.

But how could I persuade her...?

"Okay. What do I need to do?"

"...Huh?"

"Do I need to cut off a limb? Or build a wall for you?"

Arte looked at me with a bright smile, as if saying just tell her what to do.

I was speechless.

I had thought it would be hard to persuade her.

I spent a long time wondering what to say to get Arte to help me.

But she smiled at me as if to say those worries were pointless.

"...You'll let me?"

"Let you? I never planned on refusing."

"...Why?"

Siwoo was puzzled.

Arte had always relied on me, to the point of experiencing severe anxiety without me.

Yet, when I declared I would go to a dangerous place, she had no intention of refusing.

Seeing a completely different side of Arte, I felt confused.

Arte chuckled and spoke to me.

"Because I trust you."

"...Trust?"

"Yes, I trust you."

Trust.

That was why she didn't stop me from walking into danger.

Arte said so.

"It'll be dangerous, of course. Walking through that chaos is crazy."

Arte watched as the beast, with a newly grown head, flailed wildly in confusion.

"You might get slashed just by approaching, let alone getting close."

Despite saying such grim things, Arte didn't lose her smile as she looked at me.

But I wasn't worried.

Her expression.

Her smile directed at me was so beautiful.

I couldn't help but be captivated.

"No matter what happens, you'll end up with me, right?"

She raised the bracelet hanging from her hand and smiled.

A soft, reassuring smile.

Her trust in me.

Seeing Arte like this, I nodded, almost entranced.

"Okay. What do I need to do?"

"When I charge in, I need you to cover me."

"A simple yet difficult request."

"...Haha, sorry."

"No need to apologize. I have a score to settle with that creature."

Siwoo felt that Arte had changed a lot.

...It felt like a barrier had been crossed.

Like she had moved past something.

Dorothy, too, looked at Arte with bewildered eyes.

"...Now that I think about it, isn't this the first time you've worked together with Siwoo?"

"Oh? ...Is it?"

"As far as I remember, yes."

Reflecting on her words, I realized it was true.

Despite the many incidents and accidents, Arte and I had never fought on the same side.

She always went off to do something else.

In battles with event-like tendencies, we were always on opposite sides.

...I see. This is the first time we're fighting together.

"Saying this might sound a bit odd, but... I feel happy."

Seeing Arte's slightly blushing face as she spoke to me made me blush too, and I turned my head.

Seeing this, Dorothy raised her hand apologetically and interrupted us.

"...I'm sorry to interrupt your cozy moment, but it's escaping."

"Oh."

Right. We were discussing how to deal with it.

I had wasted time without realizing it, and now the girl had grown so large that her human form was no longer recognizable, far away.

"Alright, Dorothy. Do your thing."

"Okay. Please come back alive and keep showing me those scenes right in front of me."

"Right in front of you... That's a bit..."

As if it were a casual matter.

Like taking care of a minor task, I finished my chat and approached the girl.

To bring an end to her story.

Soon, I stepped into the area where the abilities wielded wildly by the girl were swirling.

It felt like stepping into an artificially created natural disaster.

As I took a step forward, Dorothy's enhancement kicked in, and I felt a terrible headache start.

But I didn't stop.

Stopping here would mean a gruesome death.

For Arte's sake, I couldn't die here.

With each step, blind flames, wildly swung arms, and sharp ice came at me.

But I didn't dodge. I moved forward, knowing they'd disappear before reaching me.

I moved one step to the left to avoid the flying ice shards.

They landed where I had stood just moments before.

Arte used her threads to protect me, but the trajectory had twisted unexpectedly.

Arte's face hardened and then sighed as if she hadn't expected this.

No, I didn't see her.

I knew it.

With a throbbing headache, I moved forward.

Many attacks came my way, but none could harm me.

With Dorothy's enhancement, even a god descending couldn't harm me.

As the monster noticed I was approaching, it roared and tried to attack me, but all efforts were futile.

It didn't matter if it closed its eyes and attacked wildly, realizing I could read all its movements.

I knew everything.

How the monster would move.

Where and how it would attack.

Even if it didn't realize, I knew.

That was my ability.

This was the pinnacle of my ability.

"I'm sorry."

To the monster, no, to the girl who lost her sanity and went mad, I apologized.

If I hadn't protected Arte, I might have ended up like this girl.

Feeling a pang of sorrow, I still had to stop her.

Before receiving Dorothy's enhancement, I didn't fully understand why.

Now, I understood clearly.

I knew.

To permanently remove the writer from this world.

I had to defeat this girl.

"Grk...?!"

Sensing danger, the girl made an extreme choice.

The beast that had injured me.

The beast that had always been by her side met its end at her hands.

Yes, you'd do that and then absorb it.

Trying to stop me with even greater power.

But that was meaningless.

You can't stop or ambush me.

A sudden transformation turned the arm into a large mouth that tried to bite me, but I dodged effortlessly, already knowing.

And then Dorothy would mutter.

"It seems like the attacks are avoiding Siwoo..."

Left, up, down, a tail emerges. Up, down, right, right, left, right, up.

I knew even the fleeting attacks in that moment.

Despite the throbbing headache and the throbbing wound in my side, I dodged all the girl's attacks.

And now.

The girl would stop her attack and jump back to create distance.

I matched her timing and jumped into her arms.

Slowly enough not to be noticed.

But fast enough to catch her.

Realizing I didn't dodge and jumped with her, it was too late for her to respond.

My sword carved into the girl's chest.

"Grk...?!"

"..."

A monster that wouldn't die even if beheaded.

The monster's death felt absurdly simple.

As I tore the heart, no, the crucible, from her chest with my sword, she collapsed like a doll with its battery removed.

...Perhaps because the writer didn't anticipate this formidable enemy, there was no grand death scene.

But that wasn't the point.

Killing this girl didn't end it.

The reason this world had changed.

The reason Arte had come to this world.

The person who wanted to plunge the world into chaos was still here.

Right now.

When he was most off guard.

This was the chance to sever him from this world.

"Amazing...! Are you hurt anywhere...?!"

"Arte, I'm sorry."

That's why I didn't lower my blood-dripping sword and pointed it at the one I loved.

"Uh?! ...Wait! Was there something wrong...?! Like mind control?!"

"...No. Stay still, Dorothy."

"What?! But...!"

Dorothy, unable to grasp my intentions, looked at me with a bewildered expression.

She was surely thinking I had been compromised.

But Arte looked at me and smiled.

The most beautiful smile I had ever seen from her.

"Do what you need to do."

"...Are you sure?"

"I told you before, didn't I? I trust you."

Even if it means giving up my heart.