Where do erased things go?
“Draw back the light, and close your eyes. Blackout. ”
As the incantation concluded, the sky turned pitch black, leaving only the full moon visible. The light of the heavens unnaturally refused to touch the earth. The world was submerged in darkness.
Only the vivid crimson magic of the witch stood out. A bright red sphere rotated in the air, its spiraling strands radiating a palpable, immense power.
“ The End of the Crimson Moon: Charging. ”
She suspended the crimson sphere above the moon and slightly lowered her altitude, preparing a powerful grand spell while simultaneously keeping us at bay to prevent interference.
Her slender fingers pointed directly at us.
It was coming—the prelude to Subtraction , an ability that erases all information within its trajectory.
We have to unite. Don’t be swayed by the Golden Key . Let’s stand together.
“...?”
Bang!
“What are you daydreaming about?!”
“Gah!”
Aisha’s side kick sent me flying through the air. The spot where I’d been standing was struck by a 30-centimeter-wide crimson beam. The ground beneath it was stripped of all information, leaving only a transparent, skeletal frame in its place.
I snapped back to my senses.
The scene resembled a game with unloaded textures. It differed slightly from the usual effects of Subtraction . Was it enhanced by Yuna’s domain of sublimation?
Within the Tower of Illusions , reality and illusion could be swapped. Thus, Subtraction , which erased information, might effectively remove material existence within the tower.
If I were hit directly, I’d end up like cube steak.
The so-called Dark Yuna , perched on her broom, continued her relentless bombardment of Subtraction from the high sky. How could I counter her? Think, think...
Thunk!
“What are you doing spacing out again?!”
“Geh!”
Once more, Aisha’s side kick sent me rolling across the ground. A beam of Subtraction swept past, right where my arm would have been if I hadn’t moved.
“Are you under some illusion magic?! We’re seconds from death, and you’re completely out of it, Mima!”
“Grkk.”
“Answer in words!”
A futile request.
I clutched my head with my gelatinous front paws. Strange, flickering images kept replaying in my mind.
Yuna used the key! Yuna betrayed us!
No, that’s not true! You have to believe me. I was guarding the Golden Key ...!
The scene of false accusations and betrayal in a damp prison cell. Likely, these were memories of Yuna’s past.
As a kaiju , I possessed the ability to sense human despair and suffering. It seemed this ability allowed me to glimpse fragments of Yuna’s history embedded in this place.
Periodically, my vision turned into a kaleidoscope of colors, some areas starkly black and void. Staring into those dark regions drew me deeper into Yuna’s past.
I felt tears welling up at the sight of her suffering.
If this was a boon or a bane, I’d call it a boon. Understanding her past could provide valuable hints for ascending the tower—and also give me time to think of comforting words for her.
But why now, of all times, during a battle?
This intermittent blindness was going to kill me. Without Aisha, I’d already be in pieces.
“Dad, are you malfunctioning? What’s the problem?!”
“Grkk...!”
I mimicked covering my eyes with my front paws. I couldn’t see.
“Ah, Despair Vision ?”
Aisha seemed to realize what was happening to me. Right— kaiju was derived from a fragment of that thing in my mind. My daughter likely had similar capabilities.
Like a child explaining modern technology to their clueless dad, Aisha began instructing me.
“There’s a switch hovering about 30 centimeters behind your head! You know what I mean, right?”
I understood.
Click.
Flipping the internal switch cleared my vision, locking it in place. Good. With that fixed, it was time to act. Get it together, Mad Wizard
. This is the moment to give it your all. Dark Yuna was preparing a grand spell. If she completed it, we were done for. Even now, things didn’t look great— Subtraction rained down like a storm.
How could I deal with her, hovering so high above us?
“You cannot defeat Yuna, evil dragon. Not unless you were in your true form.”
“Don’t get cocky. If Mima were in full condition—dammit, Dragon Scale Fortress !”
“ Subtraction. ”
Boom.
Crash-crash-crash!
Aisha stomped her foot, and walls of interwoven dragon scales rose from the ground. The moment they intercepted Subtraction , the scales began groaning under the strain.
Creak, crack.
I hastily grabbed the gun Abraham had given me—but my slimy hands were infuriatingly uncooperative. I missed my human fingers.
Squelch.
Tentacle-like appendages extended from my limbs, wrapping around the gun. I aimed carefully at Dark Yuna ’s left eye, silhouetted against the full moon.
Even in this monstrous form, my mind was still sharp. Wind direction, trajectory—perfect. Predicted hit rate, 100%. I pulled the trigger.
Bang!
“Oh.”
A small sound escaped Dark Yuna ’s lips as her head tilted back slightly, as if she’d been flicked on the forehead.
I knew a single shot wouldn’t take her down, so I yelled preemptively:
“Grraah?”
Did I get her?
“ Subtraction. ”
“Gak!”
Of course not.
Three beams of Subtraction hurtled toward me. I twisted my body acrobatically, contorting mid-air to avoid them. Slowly, I was getting the hang of maneuvering this spineless form.
While dodging, I kept my gaze locked on Dark Yuna . That shot wasn’t meant to harm her—it was a probe to see how she defended.
If her defenses were skill-based, there might be an opening to exploit. But if it was raw, overwhelming toughness... I was screwed.
Thud.
She blinked, and the flattened bullet fell harmlessly from her cornea, like something out of a Superman comic.
“Well, crap. That’s just straight-up invincibility.”
Aisha clarified for me.
“Mima, she’s surrounded by a thin repulsion field. To break through with physical force, you’d need to hit her with something the size of a building. Got any ideas? You must have something, right?”
There was # Nоvеlight # an ancient method, sure, but it wasn’t available to me now.
Beep-beep-beep!
An ominous sound. I coiled my legs like springs and lunged, grabbing Aisha and rolling us across the ground.
A devastating red beam grazed my back, taking off a chunk of flesh.
As we rolled, I thought: if Dark Yuna widened the diameter of her Subtraction beams to 50 meters, we’d have no chance. Yet, she stuck with these smaller-scale attacks.
It felt intentional, like she wanted to torment us. Psychological reasons, perhaps?
If so, it was worth a shot to provoke her.
I couldn’t speak in this form, so I tapped a message in Morse code on Aisha’s skin:
Tell her this for me—Yuna is... slightly less pretty.
“Hey, the Mad Wizard says he’s always hated your face! How can you walk around like that? Oh, is that why you’re holed up in your little tower all the time?”
“...”
Yuna is... flat-chested!
“Also, what can you do with that flat chest? You seriously lack any feminine appeal. Try putting your hand on your heart and think about it—oh wait, you don’t have one! Ah, Dad, why are you attacking me?!”
I didn’t tell her to go that far!
While I was dying inside from my daughter’s cruelty, Dark Yuna placed her hand over her chest, her expression stern.
“First, Yuna is beautiful. Second, Yuna is Yuna, and therefore, not flat-chested. Third, compared to the rags worn by that depraved dragon’s fragments, Yuna is elegant and refined.”
“That’s because the Mad Wizard forced me to wear it, you witch!”
“Yuna knows you willingly chose that outfit on this floor. You even debated whether to wear garters—”
“ Mad Wizard ! Remove the restrictions on Aisha now!”
Fine, let’s end this. The only way to counter sublimation is with our own sublimation.
I temporarily lifted the Restriction of the Evil God’s Toolbox .
“Unleash hell, Aisha.”
Click.
A lock around Aisha’s neck unlatched, and a red warning light began to glow. She raised her hand toward the sky and shouted:
“Sublimation: Cogs of the Heroine !”
Crack! Rumble!
Parts of the Tower of Illusions shattered, and from the void filled with interlocking gears, a pink pillar of light descended upon Aisha. The power to rewrite reality began to take hold.
Her movements were precise and calculated, surpassing even the chaotic, reckless application of the Heroine ability used by the Succubus Queen.
“Heroine target designation: Mad Wizard and Aisha. Primary target: that bitch up there.
Cogs, hear my name. I am deception and chaos. Turn the world according to the script!”
Click-click-click!
The gears interlocked violently, and the world began to transform.
++++
[Heroine: Mad Wizard, Aisha]
[Lover: 'Yuna']
[Initial Setup: 'Yuna' suddenly realizes her feelings for the Mad Wizard and Aisha. She knows this love will lead to her destruction, but for love, perhaps it’s okay to let herself fall apart...]
Scene 1: Hesitation, and the Beginning of Love
“ Subtraction. ”
Beeeep!
“Gyaaah!”
“Aaaah-!”
We tumbled across the ground again. One of my gelatinous legs was severed in the process. I had expected at least some hesitation from her attack, given the Heroine effect, but apparently not.
“Aisha! I thought the Heroine was supposed to work!”
“It is working! She’s absolutely in love with us right now!”
Then why is she firing Subtraction beams at us without a hint of doubt?!
Granted, I had resisted the Heroine used by the Succubus Queen in the past. It twisted her sadistic love into “affection expressed through violence,” allowing her to maintain her aggressive attacks.
Was Dark Yuna processing it in the same way?
A crimson light flashed again. She murmured softly.
“I must erase you because I love you. If I have too many people I love, Yuna will eventually get hurt. That cannot be allowed.”
“What... does that even mean? You won’t gain what you’re afraid to lose?”
“Yuna doesn’t want to attend your funerals. So, Yuna will make it as if none of this ever happened. If I don’t love, I won’t feel pain.”
“...”
So, Subtraction .
To erase, to avoid getting hurt?
Aisha ground her teeth in frustration.
“Damn it, Mima... let’s blow a hole in the tower wall and escape. Heroine is a tool meant to stall with love; most of its attacks take forever to charge. We can’t hold out until she finishes!”
But I can’t leave. With the kaiju skin imposed on me, Aisha might be able to escape the tower, but I certainly couldn’t.
What about switching to another tool, Aisha?
“We can’t use them simultaneously! And switching takes time! Have you forgotten I’m only at 7% capacity? And, uh, her ultimate attack is about to hit!”
“ The End of the Crimson Moon: Charging. ”
Wooooo—
Black darkness spiraled inward, as if the entirety of creation was being compressed toward the crimson moon.
This was a dire situation. Yet, strangely... I couldn’t stop thinking about Subtraction . Half of me, instinctively, was fixated on the thought that there might be an opening here.
Where do things erased by Subtraction go?
Until now, I had assumed they ceased to exist—that their information was permanently erased from the world as if they’d never been.
But the oddities in this fight made me question that. For instance, why was Dark Yuna only using small-scale Subtraction ? Why was she targeting my limbs, attacking as if to “trim” me away bit by bit?
She had gone to great lengths to limit my abilities, set traps, and impose the kaiju skin on me. What if all of this was about “safely” eliminating me?
What if—
What if targets hit by Subtraction weren’t erased outright?
What if, like a computer, they were sent to some kind of trash bin?
And what if nuking me with a large-scale Subtraction beam was too risky for some reason?
“Grkk...”
“Huh? Did you think of something?”
I severed one of my tentacle-like appendages and tossed it to Aisha. She looked startled but pocketed it, trusting I had a plan.
Aisha, this isn’t a plan—it’s a gamble.
If it works, we win. If it doesn’t... I’d rather not think about that. If you sense anything wrong, run. Run even if it’s just you.
“Wait, wait, Mima! Don’t—hey, Mima! Dad!”
Beeeep!
I timed my movement perfectly, twisting my elongated body to align myself with the incoming Subtraction beam, allowing it to engulf me completely.
Then, I dove straight into it.
...!
Dark Yuna ’s eyes widened in shock—a clear sign of her surprise. That was when I knew my gamble had paid off. The Subtraction beam devoured all the information that constituted me.
Accompanied by the sound of ringing in my ears,
I was... erased.
++++
The Yuna I glimpsed in her past, through emotions, was brave and kind. She was someone who took the lead and tried to guide others, a figure willing to shoulder the banner.
But the current Yuna, passive and shadowed, was a product of the Mad Wizards’ horrific experiments. The bright parts of her had been worn down.
I refuse to believe that this brilliance has been permanently lost. I want to believe that it hasn’t disappeared forever but is merely slumbering somewhere, waiting.
And so, I hope that one day—
Yuna Yurensto Violet Iris will pick up all the good things she had put down in exhaustion and truly smile again, a smile filled with genuine happiness.
Now then—
Where do erased things go?
To a place where chunks of information whirl leisurely in chaos. Where things swallowed by Subtraction wander aimlessly.
A place where modern skyscrapers cling to wild wastelands, where a kaiju model rotates like a satellite around a floating coconut, and where roads and streetlights undulate across the sky like waves.
Here it is: a realm I shall temporarily name Erasure Domain .
“Graaaaah...!”
I arrived. My guess was correct. The plan was a success! I applauded myself for my brilliant maneuvering.
I had wondered where the unused parts of a session went. For example, Chaerin and the petite kaiju originated from Stellaria of the Stellar Explosion . What about the parts that weren’t used—how were they stored?
Look at that colossal, radiant kaiju in the sky above!
Dark Yuna had selectively used only the parts she needed and erased the rest with Subtraction . It was to ensure that I couldn’t use them. But now... I could confront the original kaiju!
It’s over. I’ll absorb that thing and become the Complete Kaiju ! Afterward, I’ll escape this Erasure Domain through the severed appendage I handed to Aisha...!
That was when I heard a voice—a voice I really didn’t want to hear.
“...A kaiju? No, it’s too small. And it’s moving.”
“Gek?”
“Could it be... Mima?”
I turned my head toward the voice. There she was: familiar glasses, familiar pink ponytail, and a familiar—about-to-burst—corporate suit.
Yuri Lannester was staring at me blankly, her limbs shattered into pieces.
After a moment of contemplation, she said,
“Have you come to rescue me?”
“Graaaaah!”
Overwhelmed with deep irritation, I grabbed Yuri’s cheeks and pulled them sideways as hard as I could.
So she got hit by Subtraction and ended up here too?! After insisting she’d stick close, she didn’t want to be a burden, and now she’s here?!
“M-Mima, it hurts.”
“Graaaaah!”
You told me to leave it to you, didn’t you?!