"Nya, what are you doing here?!" Mira shouted.
"It's dangerous for you to be here!" Toru exclaimed.
"Nya wants to help too!" the girl protested.
"I'm afraid it's too late—she's involved now as well," the Governor interrupted.
Toru and Mira turned toward her.
"Nya, get back! We'll handle this," Mira insisted.
"With our luck, we just had to run into the strongest of all the Governors," Toru muttered.
Dia shook her head. "No. I'm the weakest."
That statement caught them both off guard. Every enemy they had faced so far had always boasted about their strength—why was she admitting to being the weakest? It was clear she was hiding something. Dia, the Perfect Hacker, was infamous for her network of spies spread all across Anima. There was no way someone like that could earn such a title without a hint of cunning.
"I hope you'll forgive me," Dia said softly, "but I'm going to involve all of you in a little game. Ethereum!"
Her transformation made her body thinner and thinner, bones protruding from her arms and legs; only scraps of flesh remained on her face. Slowly, she raised her right hand and snapped her fingers.
In an instant, the hall on the seventh floor vanished, and they all found themselves in a vast, empty room.
"I can't win against you in raw strength—that much is obvious. So instead, I'll rely on my ability to manipulate virtual space," Dia declared.
"What kind of trick is this?" Toru asked, clearly confused.
"I'm a fire Esper," Dia continued, "but since I was one of the first Espers ever created, my power has some… imperfections. In this grotesque form, if I'm even touched while Ethereum is active, my body will ignite and burn me alive. However, if no one touches me within thirty minutes of activating the barrier, the barrier will explode—killing everyone trapped inside. Only I will survive the blast."
"Just touching you? What kind of ability is that? You shouldn't even use something like Ethereum!" Mira said angrily. She wanted to end this quickly. It would've been best if the Governor surrendered, but deep down she knew that would never happen.
From her appearance alone, it was clear she had been one of the Kingdom's lab experiments. The defect in her ability proved it… So why was she still fighting for the General? The same went for Kido—or maybe… Kido and Dia—
The Governor placed a hand over her face, then smiled faintly. "My life has been a failure from the very beginning," she said, her tone resigned. "There's no point regretting it now…"
The scenery shifted again. They were now standing in what looked like a massive amusement park, built on multiple floating platforms. Beyond the edges, there was only darkness.
"If you fall, it'll cost you your life," Dia said calmly. "Once you drop more than ten meters, your body will ignite and burn away. The others may continue the game. When I give the signal, you may move—if you move before that, you'll burn. This place is filled with traps and fiery illusions, and with my ability, I can also create perfect clones of myself. Touch one, and it'll explode."
"Why are you even telling us all this?" Mira asked. "You could win easily if we didn't know about the traps."
"Because a game where the players don't know the rules," Dia said with a faint smile, "isn't a real game."
A hologram appeared beside her, displaying a countdown timer. "In one minute, you may start. I'll take a thirty-second head start."
Mira scanned the surroundings. They were in a wide plaza—the park's central area—surrounded by rides for both children and adults. A giant Ferris wheel loomed above, its shadow covering almost the entire square.
"Nya," Mira said firmly, "once the game starts, run to the Ferris wheel and don't leave it. Stay there. Promise me you'll stay safe."
Nya looked down, clearly disappointed. She wanted to help too, but finally nodded.
That was one less thing to worry about. Mira didn't want to be harsh, but right now Nya would only get in the way. Every second mattered—they had only thirty minutes. She just hoped there weren't any traps near the wheel.
"Don't worry," Dia said suddenly, as if reading her mind. "The Ferris wheel is in the starting zone. There are no traps there."
For some reason, Mira felt she could trust those words. This Governor felt different from the others—she reminded her, in a way, of Lionhart.
As soon as Dia's thirty seconds were up, she dashed toward the center of the amusement park.
"How about we use Vitalis right away?" Toru suggested. Mira hesitated for a moment—they might waste a lot of energy—but they couldn't afford to lose time.
"Alright," she agreed.
Both of them released their Vitalis.
"At least we'll be faster this way," Toru said.
The signal finally came, and the timer began its countdown. The two Libertas members sprinted in the same direction Dia had gone, while Nya ran toward the Ferris wheel's cabins.
Mira made sure Nya was safe, then launched herself at full speed.
The park's center split into several branching paths. Even though they followed the route Dia had taken, countless others spread from that same point—it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"We'll have a better chance of finding her if we split up," Toru suggested.
"Alright," Mira nodded. "If you find her, make sure I can locate you."
"You too—and watch out for her clones."
Mira smirked. "Who do you think you're talking to?"
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Five minutes had already passed since they split up when Mira finally ran into the first set of doubles. They were perfect copies of the Governor in every way—except for their eyes, which stared blankly into nothingness.
"Ah—welcome committee," Mira muttered to herself.
She immediately summoned her arsenal of air weapons and hurled them at the clones.
The first Dia-copy exploded like an incendiary bomb the moment it was struck, triggering a chain of blasts. Mira leapt over the flames and kept running until she reached what looked like a haunted tunnel.
"That dark hole would be a perfect place to hide," she thought.
Before entering, she glanced back; nobody was behind her. Inside the tunnel she couldn't see a thing.
She sent the winds ahead to map the passage and detect traps. There was no distortion in the wind—no sign of Dia or any clones. Deciding to head back, she found her path blocked by a dozen more clones. She had sent a gust forward but hadn't considered the rear guard. She couldn't make them explode at that distance without getting caught in the blast herself.
Mira backed away and darted into the tunnel, leaving runes behind her. The clones fell into the trap at once, detonating on contact with the runes. The entire tunnel began to collapse from the explosions. Mira barely escaped with her life.
"Damn it, this challenge really is tough," she said, panting. "But it's fun too!"
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Fifteen minutes had already passed.
Toru found himself on what looked like a small island in the middle of a huge pool.
"Fifteen minutes and still no sign of that Governor—or Mira. I just hope she's okay."
Explosions from the other side of the park grew louder and more frequent, which at least meant Mira was still alive. Toru knelt to catch his breath; keeping Vitalis active ate through a lot of energy.
"Your companions are fine—for now," Dia announced calmly from the pool's edge, beyond the island. Her voice was measured, as if she had everything under control.
"Finally showing yourself. I knew you'd come to me since you're a fire Esper," Toru said, not at all surprised.
The pool's water drained away, leaving nothing but void. Toru found himself standing on a floating islet in empty darkness.
"That's cheating!" he shouted.
The Governor responded to his protest. "I did nothing. The barrier and the park move on their own and shift by themselves. I simply memorized every detail of the park, including the times it changes. What kind of programmer would I be if I didn't even know my own inventions?"
Toru sent a tornado of leaves soaring into the air, hoping Mira would notice the signal, and then flung it toward Dia. The Governor merely erected a thin ring of fire and incinerated it.
Dia leapt in a wide arc and landed near Toru. The boy rushed forward to touch her but found another wall of flame between them and was forced to retreat.
Two clones rushed up behind Dia and charged toward Toru. He managed to dodge them but had to edge even closer to the islet's rim. Now he was trapped between the two clones and the void.
Dia's expression didn't change—not even when victory seemed within her grasp.
Toru did the only thing he could: he struck the clones with his leaves, making them explode. When the flames died down, Dia noticed Toru was gone.
The Governor approached the blast site and saw the boy clinging to the island's edge. A single spark flickered from his hand and immediately bloomed into a small flame.
"Mira, where are you?!" Toru shouted, using every breath he had.
Just as Dia prepared to launch a fire attack at him, an air knife slammed down at her feet. The Governor immediately snuffed the flame and stepped back; Mira dropped between them.
"Here I am," the ninja said. Toru, however, was in bad shape—he was about to fall into the void, barely holding on with one hand.
"Will you chase me or save your friend?" Dia called, leaping over the pool's edge and landing on another platform.
Mira ignored her and sprinted to Toru.
"What are you doing? Go after her now that she's here—let me go, or you'll die too, along with Nya!" Toru cried.
"I'm not letting you die here, idiot!" Mira snapped.
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Mira and Toru regrouped beneath the Ferris wheel. When they looked at the timer, their hearts sank—only one minute remained.
"Did you win?" Nya called from her cabin, suspended halfway up the wheel.
"Nya, we—" Mira began, but the girl leaned out of the window, halfway out of the cabin.
"Wait, I'm coming down to you!"
"Nya, are you crazy? Stay there! You can't jump from that height!" Toru shouted.
Nya reached up to grab the roof of the cabin—but what her hand found wasn't what she expected. What she touched were bones!
When she looked up, she saw her hand resting on Dia's gaunt, skeletal face. Shock froze her body, and then—she fell.
Toru and Mira sprinted beneath her, reaching out to catch her, but before Nya could hit the ground, the amusement park dissolved into light. In an instant, they were all back in the hall on the seventh floor.
Nya was sitting on the floor, wide-eyed, glancing around at the sudden change of scenery.
The holographic screen now displayed a new message: "The challengers' team has won! The Governor has lost!"
Dia deactivated her Ethereum and smiled faintly. "Who would've thought? While trying to get the girl out of the game, I ended up losing." She laughed softly, tears spilling from her hollow eyes. "I've really gone soft over the years…"
"You were saving her?" Toru asked quietly.
The timer faded away—and flames began to consume Dia's arms.
"When I saw the timer about to hit zero… I tried to save her. I wasn't even sure I could." Her voice trembled. "She reminded me of when I was just an experiment… watching children die every single day. When I became a Governor, I swore I'd never let another child die before my eyes."
Now her legs caught fire too.
"Wait, can't you stop it? You're a fire Esper, right?" Mira asked desperately.
"Even with the title of Perfect Hacker, I'm far from perfect. I never managed to fix the flaws in my Ethereum," Dia said, turning her back to them and walking toward the balcony of the seventh floor.
By now, her entire body was burning.
"Let me take the oxygen out of the air! I can snuff the flames!" Mira pleaded.
"Kido… I'm finally free," Dia whispered—and jumped.
Mira ran to the railing while Toru held Nya back. She looked down, just in time to see the fire reach the ground—but before the flames could touch it, Dia's body had already turned to ash, scattered to the wind in an instant.