Cowards!

[Boss, please overcome your depression and help me!!]

"... I'm a man."

"Hooo~, so you have the audacity to look away when I dedicate my time to 'educate' you, huh?~"

[No, that's not it, please help!!]

"......"

"Mom...?"

Hahhh... In this state, keeping my mind blank for much longer seems impossible, apparently...

(I told you!)

By the way... why haven't you disappeared yet...?

(I will use every last vestige of my presence until you cheer up!)

(Me too.)

Damn it... Fine, fine, you win... Hahhh... Happy?

(Victory~!)

(We won.)

I really wonder who Melioris and you, too, Dea-M, take after...

(Obviously, you!)

(We're a part of you, after all.)

So I'm really annoying.

(Stop wasting time on purpose and say the intro phrase!)

(Quick, quick, quick.)

Hahhh... Okay, everything's fine... It must have been a while since I saw the readers... They must have forgotten my behavior, right?

(.... Yes, of course they forgot!)

(.... Surely.)

...That doesn't give me much confidence, but it's okay, that'll have to be enough... Fuff... It's okay, I can do it!

(Here it comes~!)

(Excitement, excitement.)

Hello, everyone!!

(He said it!!)

(Hooray!!)

With you, your favorite protagonist (or at least I hope so) is back! But wait, what do we have here? It's the surprise guest commentators for tonight!!

(Melioris is making her debut again~!)

(I was born recently. Nice to meet you, I'm Dea-Machina, but you can call me Dea-M if you want.)

Hey!! You were supposed to wait for me to say, "give them a warm welcome!!" So why are you getting ahead of yourselves?!

(Because we can.)

(Because we can.)

GO SCREW YOURSELVES, GIRLS!

(You're the one who needs to stop wasting time!)

(That's right... look, the readers are already asking and you're just ignoring them.)

Ugh... They have a point... But...

(No buts! Now go out there and start answering!)

(Nod, nod.)

Damn it... H-hello, dear reader, how have you been? Have you been doing well lately? ¡¡Because I've been doing great, Ahahaha!!

Huh...? You're wondering what the hell is going on right now?

Well... Yes, of course, you'd be wondering that... Okay, let's recap how we got here... Hahhh... Hey, girls, you're going to have to help me, okay?!

(You can count on it~!)

(Affirmative.)

You have my support... Ahem! Well, continuing from where we left off last time, after those arduous weeks of investigation into the whereabouts of the causes that, in simple terms... tried to kill the 'ship' I've supported for so long!!

(Purge, purge, purge, purge~!!)

(Purge, purge, purge, purge!)

That's right, they had to be purged at all costs! And that's why... I made the ultimate sacrifice... I released Melioris from the trunk... no offense...

(.... That's very offensive, you know...?)

But maybe you're wondering, who is Melioris?

(Did he just ignore me?)

(Don't worry, don't worry.)

Well, don't worry, dear readers, because I will answer you!

You see, Melioris is basically a fusion between Echidna and me when using resonance. Huh...? Are you asking how you've never seen her before?... Well, there are significant reasons for that... Yes, significant reasons...

(LIAR!!)

Hey, don't say that!!

(You just kept me locked up with the others in your stupid mental trunk!)

Don't believe her?! She doesn't know what she's saying!!

(You even hid our presence from the readers for years!)

Damn it, somebody get her out of the studio!

("We are experiencing technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you very much for your patience.")

Hahhh... Haaa... Uf, Ahem. Okay, everything's in order! Right, Melioris?

(Mmph, mmph, mmph!)

(Melioris asks when she'll be untied.)

Good question... Well, that would be... ¡¡when she reflects!!

(Mmph!!)

(She says the truth will be known.)

We'll see... Huh...? How long have you been watching?!

(The readers have been there for a while now.)

And why didn't you say anything?!

(You didn't ask.)

... Did Melioris teach you that?

(Yes, she said to never say anything until I'm asked because it's more interesting that way.)

... Okay... Okay... Melioris isn't to blame... If I think about it, Melioris came from me and Echidna... That's right... If I have to blame someone, there's only one real candidate, isn't there...?

ECHIDNAAAAAA!!

"You got away for now."

[I'm... free...]

"Don't you dare run away!!"

("We are experiencing technical difficulties. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience.")

Tch... Damn it... Echidna ran away.

(How sad, right?~)

How did you escape?!

(Easy! You focused too much on Echidna and I took the opportunity to escape.)

Haaaa... I don't have the energy for this, so let's just continue... Where was I?

(About releasing Melioris.)

Ah, right, thanks!

Well, as I was saying, I released Melioris from her confinement after discovering the first culprit of the damage caused to my 'ship', and that was... drumroll, please...

(Tantaran, tantaran.)

(Tantaran, tantaran.)

The Temple of Couples!!

So, if you know who the culprit was, why didn't you go beat him up?

An excellent question, dear reader, and I'll give you the answer right away!

I COULDN'T!!

You see, that damned temple only manifested under certain conditions, among which a group of two had to go: one male and one female. Which prevented me from going!

Why couldn't I go?

Well, because of the condition of my soul, which, although I hate (really) to admit it, is more feminine than masculine in proportion. So, with no other option, there was only one way to enter, and that would be, as you can imagine... being a woman accompanied by a man...

(For me, the date wasn't bad~)

Please, don't talk about that!!

(My apologies.)

What?

(What?)

(Not to interrupt, but Brownie is getting cranky from being ignored.)

"Mmmm, mom, look at me!"

........

(.......)

Truce...?

(Truce.)

(Long live peace!)

That way, I pampered Brownie a little, who had just adopted her human form... Now that I think about it, hadn't I told you about this?

(And you say Echidna hasn't influenced you either?)

Let's ignore that and answer. You see, recently, after discovering that I could use resonance on both Silver and Goldie, I thought of other ways to use it, which led to the grave mistake of using it in my magical girl state, and this had an effect on the union.

What effect did it have?

Well... that the union became... more... perfect, so to speak... More details?

Well, so you understand, in a normal resonance, my consciousness and that of the other party coexist at the same time, it's more as if we are superimposed in a new form... although of course, there are exceptions...

(That's me!)

Yep... It's Melioris... For some reason, when resonating with Echidna, we ended up perfectly united and... well... you know who emerges.

(You know, I feel like you're looking for a fight.)

It's just your imagination!!

But hey, leaving that aside for now!

(You heard it, didn't you?)

(Nod, nod.)

The problem was that the magical girl state enhances all the abilities and qualities of its user!

What does that mean?

It's very simple, really... And that is that the resonance... was amplified... resulting in a total fusion similar to Echidna's!

Ugh... Sniff... Damn it... Sniff... Can you understand the pain I experienced when I discovered this revelation at that moment?!

The worst part was that, as collateral damage, both Silver and Goldie gained the ability to take on human form!!

And are they cute?

OK... Dear readers, let me ask you something in the face of a revelation like that... is that the first thing you ask yourselves?!

Because of course they're cute!!

(Slap!)

Ouch!

(So gratifying.)

(I want to try too.)

(Go ahead.)

Wait, stop, I've come to my senses now, don't continue!!

(Depression, depression.)

(Look what you did.)

DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE I'M THE BAD GUY HERE?!

And you guys too, please!!

Haaaa... Haaa... Haa... Uf... Dealing with myself (or something like that) is more tiring than I imagined...

But I can still continue!

(That's the spirit~!)

(Clap, clap!)

So let's try to be concise and finish this fast!

So, getting back to the plot, once I let Melioris out, I had a calm and manly friends' outing with my recently acquired friend Leo, where I must admit I had more fun than I expected... ignoring how Melioris behaved in the process, of course...

And after that, we arrived at the temple where I used my "Prism of Octave Purity" ability in its third manifestation to enter the place.

What do you mean you don't know what the "Prism of Octave Purity" is?

Ohhh... No... No, no, no, no, don't you dare say it!

(Ehehehe, you're more like Echidna!)

LIES!!

The thing is... ehm... it was all planned!

(Planned?)

(Let's see where you're going with that.)

I-I hadn't told the readers on purpose, so I could explain it at a climatic and high-tension moment.

B-but since you're so insistent, I can tell you now, just like I planned!

(Forced.)

(Very forced~)

Shut up!!

You know what? Let's continue with the story, and if you want to blame someone, blame the ones who couldn't keep quiet!

(Petty.)

(Very petty.)

I heard that...! Ahem. I mean, let's continue!

After arriving at the place, I immediately hit my forehead to painfully nullify the dizzy sensation after leaving resonance with Echidna, to then use resonance with Brownie and debut the automaton form.

So, as you know, there are things in this world that are better not to mess with, and among them are people's canonical ships. So I ask you, dear readers, what punishment do you think the person responsible deserved?

Anyone can answer!

(I know the answer!)

(Me too.)

Oh, really?! Well, go ahead and say it!

(Burn the temple!)

(Burn the temple!)

CORRECT!!

And so, in that way, I burned, shot, and exploded the temple into pieces to vent everything I had inside.

...Although while I was doing it, I realized something upon hearing a voice full of sadness and despair... that wasn't the way to deal with it...

Hahhh... I acted quite badly there by crushing an innocent living being... But hey, after repairing it by doing a total resonance with Brownie to give form to Dea-Machina. By the way, what a great introduction!

(Thanks.)

I received information from Echidna about some things the guy had done and how he had stolen worshippers from Echidna and then ran away, leaving behind a note saying, "rot in hell, old witch." So, like any man, I got out of the way so he could get what he deserved.

So there you have the answer as to why I don't feel pity for that system miserably lying on the floor!

Also, for some reason, it also started calling me "boss," even though I told it I'm a man!

(You're good at dialogue, Dea-M.)

(Thanks.)

Then, there you have it, that's how we got to the current point... Umm, it looks like it's dawning... But why is that...? Do I feel like I'm forgetting something?

(Isn't that Leo lying there?)

Leo...?

(Yes, he's right there, you see...?)

A-aaahh... I see...! There was Leo...! I had completely forgotten?!

(Oh, our time is up. Good luck~!)

(See you soon.)

Wait, don't leave me like this!!

Cowards!!