She pressed her hand firmly over B8017913's mouth and shifted her attention back to the shimmering screen in front of them.

[Outside the Program] (SSS-tier)

Again and again, I searched for you, recalculating every anomaly you brought me, letting each error seep deeper into my system… but why wasn't it me?

[Skill 1] Outside the Program: You may form a link with one or more targets and rewrite their program. If the chosen target has no soulfire, this skill has no restrictions. If the target is a living being with soulfire, each modification triggers a 100–Starsea–day cooldown. You may also make minor adjustments to items below SSS-tier and curios below Perfect Treasure-tier, limited to one modification per Starsea day.

…

[Skill 4] Broken Piece: Create a puzzle piece. Write a target's name or designation upon it, and that target will be recognized by the world you stand in as a corrupted program, forcibly removed from the world altogether. Effect lasts for three Starsea days; cooldown three hours.

…

Six skills in total. Four swallowed in mist, only the first and fourth revealed with chilling clarity.

L12185511 spoke with a harsh certainty, its tone the closest a small mechanical voice could come to baring fangs.

"Choose 1. If you do, I will erase your contract with B8017913 and take its place as your new pet. I will compute everything for you, follow you, serve you.

If you refuse 1, then the only option left is 4. There is no third path."

Rita and B8017913 fell quiet at the same time.

A new pet?

Or forfeiting this round entirely?

L12185511 must have known about her gamble with the gods. That was the only explanation for why it crafted such a sharp-edged choice.

…

[Gods & Demons Chat]

[Boiling Orange]: I've never seen Deceitful Bloom and Foolishness this cheerful at the same time.

[Ashveil]: They already downed three glasses.

[Bitter Chalice]: Back when we voted on whether to destroy it, both of them voted no. Guess they were waiting for this particular moment.

[Drummer]: I know I was.

[Captain]: Finally. Took long enough.

[Ashveil]: Love this.

[Ironclaw]: Love this.

[Hearthsmoke]: Love this.

[Stonefang]: Is there a single demon who doesn't love this?

[Puppetlord]: Nope. Anyone who's ever been to BS- team-building is addicted to this drama.

[Bitter Chalice]: You're all ridiculous.

[Crispfang]: Didn't you vote no too?

[Bitter Chalice]: Yes. Because I also love this.

[Drummer]: She actually has another way out.

[Boiling Orange]: She won't use it.

[Deceitful Bloom]: Alright, bets open—will BS-Rita use [The End of the Story] on it?

Few seconds later—

[Deceitful Bloom]: Forget it. Everyone picked the same answer. No point gambling.

…

Rita still wasn't angry, nor did she rush to give an answer.

Instead, she lifted L12185511 and set it gently on her right shoulder, letting B8017913 settle on her left. Then she leapt down from the tree, heading toward the rows of potion stalls.

"Can we talk while we walk?"

L12185511's voice softened, losing its earlier hostility.

"…I suppose."

B80234615 murmured inside her mind, "Unbelievably easy to soothe."

Rita sighed. "If you want me dead, just say it plainly."

L12185511 smacked B8017913 over the top of her head.

"Did anyone ask you to talk?"

B80234615: "..."

A small laugh escaped Rita's lips. She dropped her disguise, letting the golden rain shimmer around her like warm static.

She truly wasn't upset.

Even though the very first impulse that flashed across her mind had been to use [The End of the Story]—an absolute, instantaneous erasure with no reaction window—

that impulse vanished almost immediately.

Forcing others into a choice with no real freedom is usually a power play.

But L12185511 wasn't trying to gain an advantage.

It just wanted to be her pet.

If hatred and suffering were truly what ignited its soulfire, it wouldn't be giving her this kind of request.

Yes—request.

Not coercion.

Not manipulation.

A plea.

A being capable of rewriting programs at will, one who could command every Mechanoid to strike and shut down simultaneously, could have rewritten her without permission.

But it refused to treat her like that.

Instead, it crafted a choice that—

Even if she chose option 1, B8017913 would feel no resentment.

Even the gods watching would not judge her.

A choice that left her spotless.

A choice she could live with, without guilt or shame.

A choice tailored entirely around her.

And the only cruel part…

was that the one who devised it would be the one cast aside.

She could never bring herself to kill something like that.

She crouched at one of the stalls, picking through potions with calm hands, then asked lightly,

"Would you like to be the proxy for my run this time and help me win?"

L12185511's voice quivered with frustration.

"…I want to be your pet."

Rita exhaled softly.

"But I already have Nivalis and B8017913. I really do feel guilty, L12185511."

She placed the selected materials into her capsule machine, then rose to her feet.

She lifted L12185511 into her arms and walked along the sandy paths of Oasis Town, speaking slowly, deliberately.

"Thank you. Truly.

"When I first heard you were looking for me, and when you finally found me and said all that… for a moment I regretted accepting your request back then.

I even regretted cheering up L175246 in the 621st district.

"But after hearing the choice you gave me just now—

I'm glad I did.

"You were too adorable. That's why I impulsively went to the Scrap Heap to find B8017913 afterward.

"'Why not me?' It's a hard question.

"But I think… we might fit better in a relationship that isn't master and pet."

When they reached the outskirts of town, she stopped and reached into her capsule machine, pulling out a small wooden cat's head.

[Happy New Year] (Curio): Bind a residence as your home. Whenever you wish to return, hold it tightly and say "meow." No matter where you are, you will return home within two seconds. (Can be unbound and rebound anytime.)

She placed it into L12185511's tiny hands.

"You can rewrite it. Change its target from a residence to a player.

I'll give it to you. Bind me as your home, and you'll be able to find me anytime you want.

And if you can add a clause that you need my consent before returning—

that would be even better."

"…What kind of relationship would that be?"

"Friends."