Seizing victory means pressing the advantage—especially against a powerful foe.
I leapt into the air, aiming for the crimson afterglow in the forest where Mirror Yuna had crashed. The plan was to keep piling on damage while she remained grounded.
"Left mana thrusters, engage! Time for a ‘Meteor Strike’!"
Clank, clank! Fwoooosh—BOOM!
The armored colossus’s massive arm slammed into the ground with the force of a rocket-powered warhammer. The earth shook as if struck by an earthquake, and a massive plume of dirt erupted at the impact site.
Even with her repulsion field protecting her, there was no way Mirror Yuna could walk away unscathed if she had taken a direct hit.
"Did we get her?"
"No way, you idiot! Behind you!"
Beeeeep──!
A beam of Subtraction sliced through my left arm from behind. Without hesitation, I grabbed the severed arm and reattached it, swiveling around to face her.
The Mirror Yuna I had sent hurtling to the ground now floated gracefully in the night sky, as if she had never fallen.
Teleportation.
Right, she had materialized out of nowhere when she first appeared. Could she teleport freely within this tower?
An opponent with such mobility was a headache to deal with. Still... her ability sparked an idea in my mind, a strategy slotting into place like a puzzle piece.
"Keep up the pressure!"
"Got it!"
Aisha began hurling black draconic scales toward Yuna as she weaved through the air. The scales weren’t just simple projectiles—they were laced with magic, behaving like homing missiles.
Mirror Yuna executed acrobatic maneuvers on her broomstick, effortlessly dodging the relentless barrage. Yet, her expression remained composed.
"Yuna isn’t stupid. That giant body of yours makes for a perfect shield."
With a flash of light, Mirror Yuna vanished—only to reappear directly behind me. The draconic scales hesitated momentarily, recalibrating before flying straight toward their target—me.
Thunk, thunk.
The scales embedded themselves into my squishy, gelatinous body.
At first glance, it seemed like Aisha’s attack had backfired. But no—I was silently chuckling to myself.
"You underestimate us too much. Did you really think we’d fight without accounting for friendly fire?"
Mirror Yuna’s eyes narrowed in realization.
The draconic scales weren’t an attack on me; they were compatible with Colossus properties and part of the same system. I absorbed the scales into my body, then prepared to launch them back at her with increased force.
"I’m not a shield. I’m a secondary launcher, moron!"
Ratatatatatatata!
The scales exploded outward from my body, targeting Mirror Yuna once again. She twisted and turned to minimize the hits, while her repulsion field deflected the scales that managed to connect. But I knew I had scored a direct hit.
"Punch!"
I threw a jab—not that there was anything "simple" about a punch from a 150-meter-tall colossus.
Crack, shatter!
The air around Mirror Yuna fractured like a mirror, and she disappeared into the spatial fissure, only to reappear in the sky opposite me. Teleportation confirmed.
The scales that had been tracking her instead collided with my fist.
Once again, I absorbed them.
Once again, I launched them back.
A cycle of infinite ammunition, recycling friendly fire into endless barrages, paired with the overwhelming force of the colossus’s strikes. It was like an aircraft carrier had come to life.
I gave her no time to cast. Whatever beams of Subtraction she fired were trivial—I simply absorbed the hits and healed. Against a target this massive, her precision attacks were laughably ineffective.
"Annoying."
"Yeah? Well, I’m annoyed too! I haven’t seen the real Yuna yet, so get out of the way already!"
"Die. ‘Argus of the Hundred Eyes.’ "
Beeeeep──
From the brim of her conical hat, hundreds of black, spectral hands extended outward, each one glowing with the crimson light of Subtraction .
Beeeeeeeeep!
What followed was a dazzling barrage of Subtraction beams, radiating outward like a disco ball and spinning in a deadly rotation.
Yuri flattened herself against the colossus’s head, while Aisha zigzagged across the ground, narrowly avoiding the onslaught.
"You’re trying to take out the whole session, aren’t you?! Damn it, Dad, what do we do?!"
"I’ll handle it!"
I lunged forward and wrapped my massive arms around Mirror Yuna, trapping her within my gelatinous embrace. The crimson light of Subtraction began to erode my body, but my regeneration easily outpaced the damage.
I had left a module in the Erasure Zone for this very reason.
"HQ, status update on the Erasure Zone ?"
"Reporting, sir! White, snowflake-like information is drifting from the skies. It’s being processed and sent back as fast as we can. We can sustain up to 150% output!"
This was my advantage.
The very traits that had been bestowed upon me to ensure my erasure had turned into the keys to her defeat.
Trapped in my grip, Mirror Yuna muttered under her breath.
"...It’s meaningless. In the end, all this effort just leads to more scars."
"Meaning is what we make it."
"You know as well as I do—it won’t be different next time. In the end... players can’t beat the game master."
Crack. Shatter.
With a sound like breaking glass, a spatial rift opened behind Mirror Yuna. Through the gap, I glimpsed the real Yuna, slumbering peacefully. That must be the top floor—the summit of the tower.
Mirror Yuna vanished into the rift, disappearing from sight.
...Which was exactly what I had planned for.
"Yuri!"
"On it. ‘Binding Grasp: Space.’ "
Clink, clink, clink! Chains shot forward, not to bind a person, but to seize the spatial rift itself.
My plan was to use the shortcut. I had forced Mirror Yuna to escape to the upper floor, and now I would follow her directly through the same path.
"Haha, how’s that? Bet you didn’t see that—"
Bzzzzt.
The view through the rift shifted in an instant, transforming into a desolate wasteland. It was the next floor.
"...So you knew."
I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.
++++
The shortcut to the top floor had failed, but at least I had secured a path to the next level.
Getting through this trap-riddled floor would have required every trick in the book, but now, I could skip all that hassle. I stabilized the passage to ensure it wouldn’t collapse and prepared to move on after regrouping.
By the (relative) warmth of a modest campfire—tiny compared to the colossal monstrosity I had become—my allies and I sat together. Among them, Woo Chaerin, lamenting PTSD from the unexpected kaiju battle, and Oh Hyein, feeling the dopamine rush of survival.
"Boss, your body looks kind of like a marshmallow. If I tear off a piece and roast it, will it taste like one?"
"It didn’t before, but it does now," I replied. "One of the perks of being an information-based lifeform is deciding your own flavor. I’ve switched the outer layer to marshmallow mode. Go ahead, roast away."
.
"Wow, a 150-meter-tall marshmallow..."
As I basked in the strange satisfaction of being treated like a dessert, Yuri Ranster stirred the campfire with a stick and spoke up.
"Mima, her last warning... what do you think it meant? It didn’t seem like just bluster."
"‘Players can’t defeat the game master,’ huh?" The ominous statement echoed in my mind, but its meaning was clear.
"It’s simple. She’s saying, ‘Wait until we meet on the top floor—I’ll crush you there.’"
"But her Subtraction ability doesn’t work on you anymore, right? So how would she... Oh."
Yuri quickly connected the dots. Yuna’s abilities were divided into two main powers: her Subtraction ability and her sublimation ability, Gate of Illusions . The latter let her turn illusions into reality.
And this tower of illusions? It was essentially a session where Yuna was the game master. Combine those facts, and you get a terrifying answer: Yuna possessed the power to manipulate reality itself.
She could fold the ground in half or drop a meteor shower of ten simultaneous impacts—whatever her imagination allowed.
"Then why didn’t she use that power in this fight?"
"That’s easy to guess. She’s too attached to Yuna and doesn’t want to damage or alter any data Yuna treasures."
"But she tried to erase us—Yuna’s treasured ones—with her Subtraction . She even used it to remove parts of the session that she found threatening."
"Exactly. That’s the key."
Mirror Yuna wasn’t rejecting everything .
If she truly believed that love leads to unbearable pain, she would have placed Yuna in an empty, featureless white void.
Moreover, she hadn’t touched the self-aware NPCs. With her authority to freely move between floors and set traps, she could have modified characters like Abraham or Oh Hyein if she’d wanted to.
This means...
"Mirror Yuna’s hysteria is focused on specific relationships."
"You mean...?"
"She prioritizes erasing people she loves so much that she couldn’t bear the pain of losing them. Then she protects what Yuna moderately cares about. Finally, she maintains what Yuna doesn’t care about."
With that perspective, the chaotic formation of this floor started making sense.
Yuna loved martial arts and romance, so the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ main theme was based on a wuxia session. She didn’t particularly care for kaiju-versus-giant-robot battles, so those elements were erased—too dangerous and unnecessary.
Or another hypothesis: Mirror Yuna’s power was limited because she was far from her original body. Before this incident, Yuna and her reflection had never been separated, supporting this theory.
"Or," I added, "maybe my lab’s simulation control device is at the top floor, where she’s consolidating her power. Either way, the Mirror Yuna on the top floor is going to be exponentially stronger than what we just fought."
"I see..."
"The important thing is this: we need to prepare to face reality-warping powers."
And I had a plan.
Up until now, I’d held back. This tower was entirely Yuna’s memories, and destroying or altering them felt wrong. But with Mirror Yuna as a clear and dangerous threat, my restraint was over.
"An eye for an eye, a world for a world. If she wants to fight with reality, we’ll use reality too. I’m claiming this floor as a command center. From here, we’ll systematically take over the lower floors and ascend. If we steal her resources, she won’t have enough left for her reality manipulation."
"Claiming the floors, you say."
"Exactly. Yuri, head down with Aisha and Abraham. Take over the second floor—and the first floor if you can manage it. Oh Hyein and Woo Chaerin will hold the third floor. The Erasure Zone is under Crow’s control, so no worries there."
"Boss, but... I can’t use illusion magic..."
I had that covered. Gathering some of my gelatinous body, I shaped it into a container and created a launcher for them.
"Coat yourselves with this. It’ll work. Why the weird face?"
"Boss, can I just say this? The idea of spraying white slime everywhere feels like..."
"Pfft! Hahahahaha!" Aisha burst into uncontrollable laughter before I could stop her.
"Shut up!"
I slapped Oh Hyein’s mouth shut with a tendril before she could finish her thought, but it was too late to stop Aisha’s laughter.
The plan was set. Now it was time to execute.
"I’ll head up through the passage. How well you secure the floors will directly impact my survival. I’m counting on you."
"Wait, boss. Take this with you!"
Oh Hyein tossed me a device.
It was the magical transformation tool, Dreaming Mirror .
"You can’t keep climbing in that monstrous form, right? This’ll let you transform into your human shape."
"Oh."
"You remember how to use it, right? You have to recite the emergency transformation code. You know, ‘Pure-pure fluffy-fluffy cutest-in-the-universe me, make my entrance!’ You got this?"
"Ah..."
I sighed deeply. My past had come back to haunt me. Aisha’s eyes sparkled with anticipation, already revving up to tease me. Even Yuri looked like she was enjoying this way too much.
Fine. Embarrassment only made teasing worse. Time to lean in. Who was I, after all? The creator of Heart of Mystery , the emperor of improvisation. Lines like this were nothing.
I took a deep breath and declared:
"Pure-pure fluffy-fluffy cutest-in-the-universe me, make my entrance!"
Ping!
Bling-bling-bling!
Rainbow lights swirled around my colossal body. With a flourish of sound effects and sparkles, I was human once more—a mad magician in a sleek form.
"...Alright, I’m going up for real this time."
"Dad, why are your ears so red? Huh? Were you embarrassed? Did you feel shy being cute without sticking to a concept?"
"There’s no shame in facts, Mima. You are the cutest in the universe. Now go. We’ll be waiting for you."
"..."
Without another word, I dashed into the spatial rift. Those mischievous devils—I wouldn’t forget this.
++++
After the Mad Magician disappeared, Woo Chaerin stared at the place where he had vanished, mumbling to herself.
"Should I have given him something too...?"
"Oh, don’t worry about it. Mima already took something from you. You don’t have to stress."
"...Huh? Took what...?"
"I said don’t worry about it."
It took her an entire hour to realize that Meteor , the love child of Gordiustech and Woo Chaerin’s efforts, had been utterly merged and repurposed into The Colossal Beast .
TRIALS COME, AND THE CHILDREN LEAVE.
The group of twelve children dwindled to nine before they even realized it. The causes of death were varied.
One child smashed their head against the iron bars of their cell, convinced they were trapped in a nightmare. They believed death in the dream would wake them.
May they find peace, even in the dream.
Another threw themselves out of a window. It wasn’t suicide; they were trying to escape the tower and had found an unlocked window at last.
Unfortunately, the window was enchanted with illusion magic, making it appear as though it was only one story up, when in reality, it was on the 20th floor.
May they find rest, even buried beneath the earth.
Another child fell in love with one of the mages of the Violet Tower, and the two eloped. Neither was seen again.
Though the remaining children tried to reassure themselves aloud that the pair had escaped and were living happily, deep down, they knew the truth. Two sets of ashes had been scattered in the prison courtyard.
May they find peace, even in the embrace of love.
⋯⋯⋯⋯.
The children changed—sharpened, but not in a good way. Violence erupted without fail during mealtime, and even in solitary confinement, curses and screams echoed incessantly.
With no outlet for their mounting rage, they vented it on the only ones they could: each other.
And the prime target for their anger became Yuna, the experimental subject of Yurensto. Accusations that she had used the Golden Key stoked their hatred.
Another change was religious. The tower’s mages dangled food as bait, persuading some children to abandon worship of the goddess and turn to other deities.
Alice was especially fervent.
"When He spreads His black wings across the sky—"
She became deeply devoted to the Black Dragon cult, receiving rewards from the mages for her zeal: leftover scraps of their meals, often bearing teeth marks.
Thanks to this, Alice was always full.
Now, another trial approached.
"One of you can leave this place," announced a mage. "All you have to do is step through that red door. But you only have one day to decide."
It wasn’t exactly a sweet offer.
Sounds seeped from beyond the door—whirring, clanking, and noises that screamed of pain and terror. The implication was clear.
But still... what if? What if this really was a chance to escape?
That thought—that single thought—persisted.
And it wouldn’t stop.
RUINS ARE A METAPHOR FOR DECAY.
The debris of collapsed buildings, trinkets that hinted at someone’s existence, the sands of forgotten civilizations buried beneath the soil. Monsters wandered amidst the remnants, veiling the stars with sandstorms.
An era where brilliance faded, one by one.
What little remained was clutched tightly, desperate to stave off loss. But eventually, it too slipped away, like sand through fingers.
Hope, when revisited, had lost its sweetness, replaced with a bitter taste. Despair loomed too near to allow for lamentation, survival demanding too much in the moment.
In such a time, a young man named Rearo stood before eight travelers and proclaimed hope.
"Everyone, I’ve found the location of the shelter. The location of Paradise ! Let’s move. We must journey far, following the compass to its destination!"
Opposing him, a boy named Espero denied that hope.
"You can’t go there! You won’t survive such a long journey, and there is no Paradise ! I swear it’s true!"
One spoke the truth; the other lied. In the middle of their tug-of-war stood uncertainty.
"...Role reversal, is it?"
"Oh, Destroyer, you’ve come! Please, crush Rearo’s wicked schemes! He’s leading the people to their doom!"
"Hey, Espero, calling me Destroyer doesn’t exactly help your case. It makes you sound like a cultist. Kinda undermines your argument, don’t you think?"
"Ah! You’re right! What should I do?!"
The Mad Magician had arrived.