The deep domain made Alain feel as if he had entered a world shrouded by an opaque container. He looked around, faintly making out the straight contours of structures in the darkness. He reached out and up, his hand touching a rail similar to a handrail. For now, he decided to leave the Crazy Mita on AFK and observe his surroundings. It was like he had fallen into a small, black world, or perhaps... a pitch-black labyrinth.

"What on earth is this..."

He followed the darkness with his eyes, looking to one side. In the next second, Alain's pupils contracted sharply.

In the very center of this labyrinth's "sky," Alain saw a colossal black sphere. It was like the Black Ball from the grey-white room had been magnified countless times. It floated at the zenith, like a god looking down on all of creation.

"A labyrinth, Crazy Mita, and... a Black Ball?"

Combining the various elements, Alain deduced some information: this was likely the White Labyrinth that Misa had once mentioned. But under the corruption of that even larger Black Ball, it had become its inverse: a world of endless black. And his bad woman—Alain's calm gaze shifted to the side, landing on the slow-moving Crazy Mita—the virus she had said she was fighting was, in all likelihood, this giant Black Ball.

Alain gave a wry smile. He had a feud with the small Black Ball; and Crazy Mita was in a stalemate with the big Black Ball. Was this some kind of "couple" activity? For now, this was the only conclusion he could draw. He would need to get more information from Crazy Mita herself.

I should try to pull her out of that strange state.

Alain walked over to the girl's side. Even though her movements were slowed countless times, he could still feel the immense power in the slow swing of her baseball bat. A bad feeling crept over him. Could it be that only her physical speed is slowed, while her thoughts are still at a normal pace? Maybe... I should just leave her alone for now?

Of course, that was impossible. She was, after all, his only ally here.

Alain tried poking the girl's cheek. His fingertip met with smooth, slightly soft flesh. At the same time, a Safety Guard pop-up appeared.

[Firewall can—]

But it vanished in an instant. The pop-up had appeared the moment he touched Crazy Mita, who was in a time-slowed state. Alain had a theory: if he touched her, he would also be caught in the time-slowing effect, but because he had the Safety Guard, its firewall could intercept it. He recalled the incident in version 1.3B, where the firewall had also intercepted the clock's "time reversal" effect.

The Safety Guard is suddenly not so useless anymore.

And so, he placed his hand on the girl's cheek, the warmth of her skin seeping into his. Just as he expected, a system pop-up appeared:

[Firewall can intercept. Intercept?] [Yes or No]

Alain clicked [Yes].

At the same time, a wave-like ripple spread across the girl's body. Her movements gradually quickened, returning to a normal speed. Alain was about to greet his bad woman, but—THUD—the baseball bat slammed down next to his feet, sending out a shockwave.

Alain stiffly turned his head. The spot where the bat had landed had been smashed into a black hole. If the "black" of the labyrinth was a "moonlit night black" where one could still make out shapes, then the hole Crazy Mita had made was a pure, "ink-black."

"Darling, I'm very happy you could come. But I didn't like what you said earlier."

Alain followed her voice and looked at her face. Her pretty face still wore a warm, beaming smile, but her brow was as deep and cold as a winter frost. The fact that his hand was still on her cheek somewhat ruined the effect, though.

He let go of her cheek, and she let go of her baseball bat. Then, as if that was that, she quickly threw herself into his arms.

"It's been so long! I missed you~"

She lifted her head, closed her eyes, and, ignoring the giant, watchful eye hanging in the sky, pursed her lips. Alain understood and gave her a deep kiss. After their breathing grew heavy, they temporarily parted.

"So, why did you come here? To help me?"

"You could say that..."

"Aww~ Fine."

As a precaution, Alain told her everything he knew about the Black Ball's abilities and what he had seen in the grey-white room. Crazy Mita seemed puzzled by this.

"What I've seen is a little different from what you're describing," she said, her gaze focusing on the sphere in the sky.

"First of all, there are two of these Black Balls. That much is correct, right?"

"Right," Alain said. That was the conclusion he had just come to upon arriving in the Black Labyrinth.

"Secondly," she said, pointing to the "Modified Entity" on the ceiling, "the abilities of the one I'm seeing... hmm, the one you're talking about, are completely different." Crazy Mita thoughtfully brushed a strand of hair from her ear. "The Black Ball you're talking about has the ability to manipulate doors, right?"

"That's right." Alain was helpless, and could only pat her on the head.

"The one on my side... its ability is [Time]."

Alain immediately thought of the strange state he had just found her in. Her time had been infinitely slowed, which must have been the effect of the big Black Ball. Right... to survive under my bad woman's attacks, it would have to pull some unexpected tricks.

"And the one I'm facing," he said, pointing at himself...

"It's not quite right," the girl with the low ponytails said, shaking her head. "Rather than 'doors,' it's more like..." She frowned and slowly uttered a single word: "[Space]."

In an instant, they both came to the same conclusion:

"The Modified Entities we're facing are not the same individual. They have different abilities."

"So, should we have a little chase scene here?" she said, picking up her baseball bat. "It's been a while~"

"Oh, come on, let's not worry about that," Crazy Mita said, waving her hand and hugging his arm affectionately. "It's only been a few days..." Seeing the girl's unstoppable eagerness, Alain quickly spoke up. "Let's not talk about that for now. Let's exchange intel."

"Don't worry, I'm very familiar with this place. That thing just hangs there in a daze. It only reacts when I attack it."

Alain gave her a brief rundown of his history with the Black Ball.

"Oh my, what a coincidence. It seems we're facing the same enemy~" Finding this common ground made her especially happy.

____

Unfortunately, two of our stories were removed... so I created a new account to post them: MikuDayo.

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