Part 62: ????

BGM: Organ Short #600 Million in C Minor



"*cackle*cackle* My, my, but you're as harsh as always. Considering how proud I was to have created a development so impactful that it might satisfy even the boredom-hating Lady Bernkastel, this response is quite harsh."
"...Well, I'll admit it was impactful. However, it was horrible as a fair game. Unless you make the conditions a bit more even-"
"...Are you saying there's no way to win? Not even for Lady Bernkastel? *cackle*cackle*."
"...I wonder what you mean by that, Beato."



"..."
"Were you planning on hiding it? You're an outrageous person to come into someone else's territory from such a great distance to work against them. You came to watch from the sidelines, and probably to push strongly for my defeat. I've guessed right, haven't I...?"
"...And if so?"
"...*cackle*cackle*! Truly amusing! That I should be granted a chance to fight against Lady Bernkastel, the strongest of witches who defeated Lady Lambdadelta, is truly a pleasure!!"
"...Yes. I'm also pleased. I came all this way because I really wanted to see you, brimming with confidence, fall apart and lose."
"What an honest person. *cackle*cackle*!! Even so, it would be a shame if the contest between me and the great Lady Bernkastel was resolved without at least one observer."
"...You called her here, didn't you. That child."



BGM: Black Liliana

"...How are you, Lambda? Looks like you've got lots of spare time too. I wonder if it's fate that the pair who hates boredom should run into each other again..."
"Stupid kid. Can't you see you only won against me because of a little luck and a problem of compatibility? After that, you became such a brag, and now you're even picking a fight with Beatrice? Shouldn't you learn your place?"
"*giggle* Beatrice is strong. And she's even more brutal than I am. Just a bit!"
"And by the way, don't go shortening people's names without their permission!"
"...You're dumb too, Beato. If this kid's in your game, she'll make a mess of everything."
"I certainly didn't just bring Lady Lambdadelta here to watch from the sidelines."



"...You're still holding a grudge, aren't you."
"Hohohohoh!! Because I'm the strongest witch in the universe. But I lost to you, which means I'm not the strongest!
"So any enemy of yours is my ally!!"
"*cackle*cackle*! And there you have it. With the great Lady Bernkastel as our opponent, this may not even count as a handicap, but it should make for good entertainment."
"...Do as you like. Now that the cat's out of the bag, allow me to get serious."
"That would be well. 'Leniency' has never been written in my dictionary. *cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle*! Lady Lambdadelta, let us enjoy our precious time together."
"Yeah, I'll be counting on you, Lady Beatrice! I've been betrayed pretty bad by her too. Until the two of us smash her up and pay her back double, I won't be able to rest!!"
"...I'll be counting on you, Lambda. And you, Beato. No matter what we fight over, this will be a very significant battle for us all."
"That's right. Of course, I don't plan on losing, but we've got a goal beyond who wins and who loses."
"After all, we hate boredom."



"...That's right. I should thank you, Beato. It looks like I'll finally be able to escape my boredom. Do your best to entertain me. Along with Lambdadelta."
"Leave it to me. *cackle*cackle*!!"
"If we're decided, Beato, then let's start a strategy meeting right now! I know all of this girl's weak points, and I'll teach you all of them!"
"And yet, Lady Lambdadelta, you were defeated by her, *cackle*cackle*!"
"Urrrrrrrrgggh, I won't tell you, I won't tell you! Tsun!"
"*cackle*cackle* Hahhahahahahahaha! She's never boring, that Lady Lambdadelta."
"...Isn't she? Take care of her. She gets lonely easily."
"I see. So she's one of 'those' that are popular these days. *cackle* As expected from Lady Lambdadelta. Quite cutting edge. *cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle*."
"Go already. That kid's waiting for you to chase after her."
"...Then, if you'll excuse me. See you next game. *cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle*!"



More importantly, things sure got ugly. I thought I experienced a very tragic end in Lambda's game, but this one is... exceptionally horrible. I can't say I don't understand why you're hugging your knees and closing up your heart. If you meet a fate like that a few more times, it'll take a lot less than a hundred years to kill your heart.



BGM: As Time Goes By

You are now just like I was in the past, when I was imprisoned inside Lambda's world. Shut inside a labyrinth of cruel fate, tormented by a witch, in a manner of speaking. I am a witch who was born from there. So maybe I'm like an older sister to you. So I decided that I'd lend you my power.

However... even compared to my fate, yours is... truly brutal. Not only do I sympathize with you, I'm almost brought to tears by your tragic fate. But please, don't lose heart. Please don't submit to Beato, no matter what.

Certainly, that child's game is quite unfair. I've only been allowed a glimpse of the game board, but the unfair and clever devices set up on the stage are so disgusting... that I imagine they far surpass those on Lambdadelta's game board. And what's even more frightening... is that when that kid moves a piece, she doesn't always make the best possible move. This is where she's very different from Lambda. Lambda always uses an overpowering number of pieces to make the best possible move in order to win.

But Beato sometimes intentionally goes easy on her opponent when she moves her pieces. Since, when we're in trouble, we try to seek out our opponent's strategy by looking at their moves, this creates a very formidable amount of noise in our information. That might cause a troublesome amount of disorder.



In other words, it's not like your opportunities to take advantage of this are zero. Although you may not be able to believe it, that analogy holds true for this game as well. Even though those developments looked so overpowering, there actually was a weak point. A weak point that almost looks like she wanted you to take advantage of it. Though, I don't know if it's a trap or if she's testing us.

Anyway, don't surrender. Don't stop thinking. Don't deny any possibility. As long as you continue to hold the will to fight, Beato will not win. What's the most important element in defense during a witch's battle? Rather than trying to win, try not to lose. If accepting her means your defeat, then you definitely mustn't accept her.

Making you accept witches. There is no longer any doubt that this is one of Beatrice's victory conditions. Now that I have announced that I'm your ally, I too will make as great an effort as possible to lend you my power. Make an effort yourself as well. If you're still hugging your knees, quickly stand back up.

...Umm, in times like this, what did I used to say again?



...It's so embarrassing, doing this. I've done this much for you, so quickly stand back up.





BGM: Fishy Aroma

Even so. Just like usual, the pieces Bern chooses are pretty shabby. It's the same with chess, right? If all of your pieces were pawns, you'd have zero chance to win, right? If all of your pieces were rooks and bishops, you definitely wouldn't lose.



What's up with that? That wasn't a loss or anything!! Aaah, just remembering it makes me queasy. Because of that, I won't be able to rest until I see Bern's speechless face. And since you, Bern's piece, fucked up so bad, I'm feeling just great! Plus, she may not look it, but that girl really hates to lose, so I'll bet she's off somewhere grinding her teeth and crying her eyes out right now. How totally lame, *giggle*, hoohohohohohohohoh! C'mon, laugh with me, ohohohohoh!

...Wait a sec. Are you still hugging your knees? You're already like this just because Beato got a little serious? Could you be any more pathetic? You're so pathetic, I'll help you just a little bit. I, the great Lady Lambdadelta, the Witch of Certainty and the strongest in the universe, will associate myself just a tiny bit with you and your hopeless chances at winning. You should thank me.



Why? Because she's soft. Though she'll set up the board in a way that'll let her win with just a few more moves, she'll intentionally avoid cornering you. She'll do things like take worthless pieces and place excess pieces on the board to make things more one-sided. Simply put, she's got the bad habit of playing around as soon as she thinks she's won. Almost all the various attacks that hurt you and Bern... look like utter waste and overkill to me.

...In other words, she's got a weakness, and you've got a chance. See? She isn't an opponent to be afraid of, right? She sometimes mistakes her means for her ends. And she has too much dark fun. Sometimes, that even ends up creating and exposing her own weak points. For a super-powerful witch like me, it's hard to understand why she's able to act so tough. Why she lowers her own chances of winning.

...But, well. Because of that, a witch like Bern, who likes to thoroughly read her opponent, has a really bad affinity with her. Because reading her doesn't work. Maybe it's really easy for Bern to read and handle a straightforward and honest type like me. Annoyingly enough! Well, still, a super firepower type like me can flat out beat up a light, wide-range barrage type like Beatrice, so it's kinda like rock-paper-scissors.

If I'm paper, Beato is rock. Which means Bern is scissors. Well, maybe that doesn't matter. Even though my paper loses to Bern's scissors, if I was a sheet of super-paper, which is way more awesome than normal paper, I could beat even scissors, right?!



It looks like you've regained a bit of your color. That Beato, she's having fun torturing some piece called Rosa. At a glance, you'd think she has really nasty tastes, right? Wrong. She's just killing time, hoping that you'll stand back up and return. It's a move to fire up your righteous indignation by intentionally doing something detestable. Ah man, I hate kids like that!

Anyway, I'll head on back. Ah! Don't tell anyone about me helping you out just a little bit! I mean, it's not like I helped you because I wanted to save you, okay?! I, the strongest witch in the universe, had my throne stolen away when I lost to Bern! So I've gotta take that throne back from her, but if she loses to Beato here, then it's Beato who'll get the position of strongest next, right?!

...Well, it's not like I'm complaining. It'd be easier to steal the throne back from Beato, but then I wouldn't be satisfied, you see?! I will defeat Bern! And I'll take back my position as the strongest!