After passing through the huge door, Alice found herself in a pure white space. A large black sphere floated in the sky like a substitute for the sun, and everything else was white... and at the end of that space, a lone girl stood.
She is about 150cm tall, with long rust-colored wavy hair. A beautiful girl dressed in a white dress embroidered with geometric patterns resembling gears, and wearing a large dark brown cardigan.
The girl with the peculiar richly-colored eyes, and one wing of a machine made of gears and iron that existed only on her right side smiled softly when she saw Alice.
[Should I say "Welcome" here? Or perhaps, should I say "It's been a while?"]
[...That's quite the nostalgic form you have. Putting aside that eye color and that mechanical wing, you look just like the Makina I know.]
[Fufu.]
Looking at the squinting Alice, who muttered as if she was feeling nostalgic, the girl... Makina happily smiled. Not as if she's a God of a world, but as just Makina, she looked like she's rejoicing in her reunion with her best friend...
[Unfortunately, it seems that Information Level IV isn't enough to satisfy Alice-chan's quest for knowledge.]
[Arya, now that's a problem. I'm going to be bombarded with questions huh.]
Casually exchanging words, they walked up to each other and when they got close enough, they stopped as if it was arranged beforehand.
[...So, I can take it that you're the Makina I know, right?]
[Hmmm, I could say that you're right, but I could also say that you're not. The person running this body is definitely the Makina you know, but the body itself is a program called "Mother Brain", Code Name: Mechanized God "Deux Ex Machina"... In other words, you can take it that the Deus Ex Machina is the main device that I'm always connected to.]
[...I see, the operator is "Makina-sama", and the body itself is "Mother Brain Makina"... So that's why there's that distinction in the way Paradise-san referred to you.]
[Well, that's right. Though I say that, this body itself is a copy of my body. Incidentally, the seriously realsy real body of mine... is over there.]
Saying that, Makina pointed at the black sphere floating in the white space... her core and her heart.
[Since it's Alice, I'll especially tell you that my body inside that sphere is "the core and heart"... If my body inside that sphere is killed, I... The God called Makina will cease to exist. That sphere is my life itself.]
[So, you're saying that the sphere is your weakness?]
[On the contrary, that also isn't exactly the case. Even if you can see it from here, you basically "can't meddle with or reach that sphere unless you completely defeat the Mother Brain me". Yes, to defeat this "omniscient and omnipotent me"... you need to completely defeat the Mother Brain that is "immortal as long as the core exists"... That extreme contradiction makes me immortal.]
[That's another one of those head-scratching questions, like asking whether it's the egg or the chicken who comes first.]
Yes, the core must be destroyed in order to defeat Makina, but the core can't be destroyed unless Makina is completely destroyed.
[Except for complete outliers like Epilogue, there is no one who can defeat me... "except for one person".]
[...Me?]
[Yes, Alice is that one exception. If you use "the key that only you can use", that which I once entrusted to you, you can reach the core that even I can't reach. Well, in that sense, Alice is "the only one who can defeat me with a frontal attack".]
[...Well, I'm not really planning on using that at the moment though.]
[It would be great if the time where you use it never comes...]
When Alice said that with a chuckle, Makina chuckled too. They laughed for a while, before Alice spoke as if she's changing the subject.
[...Speaking of which, I was briefed on a lot of things before I came here, but it seems like you're keeping a lot of disturbing iron balls around here. Are you planning to start a war?]
[You're talking about the Abyss? No, rather than them me preparing for a war... I was just "recycling leftovers".]
[Unnn?]
[This was before I created my own world. After I left Alice, I traveled from one world after another to study and improve my power as a God... and it wasn't easy to live peacefully in every world. Sometimes, I had to fight the creator of that world. Well, I was pretty strong, so I had no problem dealing with most of them... but I once got into a fight with a "ridiculously powerful enemy".]
Lightly scratching her cheek with her finger, a wry smile appeared on her exhausted-looking face, as if she's recalling the battle back then.
[You know, it's that guy I used as an example when I explained Shallow Vernal's power to Alice before.]
[That infinite identical beings in an infinite multidimensional universe, with even high capabilities of omniscience and omnipotence?]
[Unnn, that's right... They really were one of the most powerful beings I've ever fought. In order to counter those infinite identical beings, I created the "Infinite Omnipotent Soldiers" and fought against it... In the end, our fight was never settled.]
[A battle between infinite versus. Another battle of a whole different level.]
[The both of us didn't have enough power to decisively end our battle. No matter how many I destroy on their side, they just keep reviving infinitely, and no matter how many they defeat, my army of Abysses keeps being created infinitely... Neither side had a decisive move to defeat the other side, so we ended up fighting for about a hundred million years. In that situation, the first one to say "Let's call for a truce" would have to sign the contract on unfavorable terms, so it ended up being a battle of endurance.]
[...So, did you win the endurance contest?]
[You already know how it ended up, and yet you ask that question?]
[..."Your opponent has met their end" huh.]
Yes, the outcome of that battle is that it ended up being used as an example back then. The being Makina was fighting was brought to their end by the phenomenon called Shallow Vernal.
In that sense, it could be said that the result was a victory for Makina, who managed to survive.
[...That was when I first learned of the existence of Shallow Vernal. When I understood what phenomenon she is with my omniscience... I was astonished, and more importantly, horrified. An opponent who was evenly matched with me couldn't even put up any kind of resistance before her, brought to their end in a flash. I still shudder to think what would have happened if Shallow Vernal had targeted me instead of them. From that moment on, I began to truly fear Shallow Vernal, just like the other world creators.]
[Well, her power certainly is outrageous. Since I saw it at Kaito-san's party, I've been thinking a lot about ways to counter it... and it's really ridiculous that the only conclusion I can come to is "to not antagonize Shallow Vernal-sama".]
[Incidentally, even after I checked the answer to that with my omniscience, the only answer I got was that "there's no countermeasure to it"... Getting back to the previous topic, after the fight ended like that, I just erased the slightly damaged Abysses and used the ones that were unharmed. Well, most of them are "stored in a dimension made especially for them". If you want, "I can give you one, you know"? It's set to respond to hostile intent and fight back on its own, so it's the perfect guard dog... You'll have to make proper adjustments though, lest it would end up wiping out the entire world...]
[I don't want your disturbing iron balls.]
After lightly throwing a tsukkomi at Makina's words, Alice lightly shook her head, as if she's brushing away the previous topic and spoke again.
[...Well, there are other questions I want to ask, but it would take a really long amount of time if I ask all of them at once, so I guess I'll stop here.]
[Right. It's also not your true purpose for coming here after all... Well then, let's put those things out of the way and start tra———–]
[Shall we eat!?]
[———-Hmm?]
[Well~~ I've been thinking about all sorts of things that I got hungry. In that case, bring out the good grub!]
[...U- Unnn.]
Thinking that they would start training immediately, Alice demanded to eat first. As if she understood that it was useless to say anything, Makina just nodded her head with a dumbfounded expression on her face.
[Ahh, but the view around us doesn't really incite my appetite, so please change it to something nice.]
[Geez, you sure got lots of demands.]
When Makina heard Alice's words, she moved her hand as if she's touching the space. Thereupon, as if it was a presentation swapping pages, the pure white scenery changed.
The landscape is a cloudy metropolis with skyscrapers, and the two of them are on the roof of a huge skyscraper overlooking the city.
They should have been at quite the altitude, but they didn't feel any strong wind, and no sound could be heard, as if the big city was just a view.
[...Isn't it cloudy? This doesn't look like it would be a good view.]
[It was cloudy "that day" too though?]
[Was that the case?]
[Unnn... Yes.]
After exchanging some words, a paper bag appeared in Makina's hand and she handed it to Alice. Alice looked a little dubious as she received that bag, but sitting down on the edge of the rooftop, she checked what's inside the bag... and lightly smiled.
[...The meal prepared by God is "hamburger". My, oh my, we've got quite the humble God here.]
[It can't be helped. I don't know any food that tastes better than a burger.]
[Oya, oya? Aren't you supposed to be omniscient?]
[It's exactly because I'm omniscient that I'm saying this. To me, the best food in the world... are hamburgers.]
When Alice teasingly told her that, Makina slightly smiled before a paper bag appeared in her hand as well and she sat down next to Alice.
Then, taking a hamburger out of the paper bag, she took a bite out of it.
[...It's quite, well, "a nostalgic taste", I guess?]
[Unnn. Whether it's the taste or the scenery... all of it is just so nostalgic.]
[It's quite the curious thing, isn't it? Who would have thought that that "naive island girl" is now a God of a world?]
[…..There it is, calling me naive island girl. You're the one that calls me that, you know, Alice?]
As the two of them laughed and ate together, there was warmth in the atmosphere between them.
[...Hey, Alice... Do you remember "our promise" at that time?]
[I remember it... You told me about how "you're doing to help me~~"]
[That's right.]
[What is it? Do you want to talk about the old days?]
[That would be nice... I'm feeling very nostalgic right now...]
Looking at the sky covered in thick clouds, the girls reminisce about their memories... "The Girl who was called Hero" and "The Girl who wanted to be a God"... The story of their encounter and their promise with each other...