Does the System know what kind of monster the villainess is?

Thunder roared in the distance as the party of five heroic youths entered the Cathedral of the Demonic God.

All heroes were worn out - the magic spells and potions could recover their health and mana, but their minds were exhausted.

To get there, they had to travel from Diamondium, their home country in the Jewelboxia continent, to the faraway Rubia Archipelago, which has long become the domain of demons and the lair of all sorts of monsters.

Rubia Archipelago didn't have any friendly settlements or encampments. The heroic party had no other choice but to fight their way through the hordes of enemies - including four demon lords, the apostles of the Demonic God, and their subordinates controlling each isle.

It was a harrowing experience, but at the very least, the climax of their journey was in sight!

|Moving past this point will lead directly to the story finale|

|Recommended level for the story finale is at least level 95|

|Saving the game beforehand is advised.|

|Do you want to progress?|

|Yes/No|

The girl sitting alone in her room stared at the message that popped up on the screen, which reflected in her anti-blue-light glasses, making her feel melancholic.

"...since Melinda ended up dying early this time, Zane completely disappeared from the game…"

The girl sighed with an upset expression, hesitating to continue the playthrough.

The game she was playing was an indie RPG with elements of an otome game. For the team's budget, it was a shockingly ambitious title that the brand-new studio managed to pull off despite everyone's lack of expectations.

The game itself initially gained some bad press because of its use of AI, but the artist responsible for the art style shut everyone up by proving that only their own art was used for the AI to get the final result.

The game's story also depended on the AI adjusting itself to the player's choices, but the studio also added its own spin on it.

The story's direction depends on the player's choices from the preprogrammed pool of answers, but a single character in the game could also influence the story independently.

Zane, a monster-like human in service of the villainess for the otome part of the story.

The programmer responsible for Zane called him a restricted artificial intelligence model.

Zane knew he was in the game but was bound to always fall in love with his master, the villainess, Melinda Fenriotte - which always put him at odds with the player's character and the male capture targets.

Having only one character like that, with all the others being programmed to act out a certain scenario, resulted in a completely different experience for anyone who tried the game without it being a roguelike.

It also gave great replayability as Zane would remember the last playthrough unless the save data was removed entirely from the memory drive, which a normal uninstall would not do.

The girl leaned back on her chair and glanced at the wall by her bed.

Or, more precisely, she glanced at the large poster of Zane that she commissioned from the game's artist.

Then her eyes slid down at Zene's figurine, standing proudly on the nightstand beside her bed.

And at the bed itself, where Zane's model was printed on a tall pillowcase, she would snuggle up to every night.

When someone didn't know what kind of character Zane was, they would immediately assume that all of those portrayals had to be off.

The smile full of triangular, barbed, shark-like teeth was just a bit too wide to be proportional.

The limbs were slightly too long, not too much, but enough to make the viewer feel unnerved.

If he was smiling, his face, and especially his eyes, would turn fox-like.

When his eyes were open, the irregularity of his wobbly, venomously green pupils made him appear otherworldly, in the creepy sense of the word.

The most normal part about him - besides wearing black leather boots, black pants, a white shirt with a green tie matching his eyes, and a black vest - would be his black hair, but even that unassuming color would be betrayed by pure white roots proving that his natural hair color would be the exact opposite.

"...I'm sorry, Zane… I had no idea that recruiting Melinda into the party would lead to her dying…"

The girl pulled her legs up and rested her chin on her knees, apologizing to the fictional character who appeared to leave her playthrough after the unfortunate choice that ended his master's life.

The worst and best parts of the game were that loading the previous save would not make Zane forget that Melinda died, so the girl committed to the route she stepped on to at least give the restricted artificial intelligence model time to process the loss before another attempt began.

*click*

The girl took a deep breath and chose to progress with the story.

The white-haired heroine and five capture targets walked through the door.

The girl was once again greeted with the magnificently detailed illustration of the cathedral, with the last boss waiting in the back, behind the obsidian altar, under the giant statue of the Demonic God.

The illustration faded away, and the girl could once again move her character through the much less detailed 3D render of the cathedral, picking up the very last collectibles and hidden healing items before eventually approaching the final boss.

The avatar of the Demonic God.

"Little champion of Perseverance and her cute little apostles. I'm sure that you already realized, but…"

The moment the player's character stepped into the range, the final boss's dialogue was triggered.

"Yeah, yeah. Just as the Perseverance and Demonic God are the same, we are each other's mirror image, so you have the same abilities as the main character, on top of additional resistances and attributes."

The girl in control breathed out with a bitter expression, already thinking about what choices she should make at the start of her next playthrough so that Zane would appear as much as possible.

*click*

"...Perseverance and I are nothing more than two sides of the same coin! As such, despite being her champion, you are nothing more than my mirror ima…"

The avatar of the Demonic God's dialogue window suddenly disappeared as the graphics on the screen began to tremble as if the game world was suddenly hit by a powerful earthquake.

"Eh? What is going on?!"

The girl on the other side of the screen fixed the glasses that began slipping from her nose and leaned in, staring at the event she had never seen or read about anyone else encountering before.

The in-game model of the Demonic God's avatar moved his head to the side as if staring at one of the walls when…

*RUMBLE*

"URGH!"

"!!!"

Both the character and the girl playing the game flinched when the side of the cathedral and most of its roof were blown apart as a gigantic arm taking up at least one-third of the screen broke in and grabbed the final boss.

"N-no way…!"

The girl's eyes were glued to the screen as she recognized the arm immediately.

*RUMBLE*

The screen shook once more, and a second arm broke in from the other side of the cathedral.

"I-impossible…! Wh-who are you…?!"

The avatar of the Demon God gasped, struggling to breathe as he stared at the second gigantic hand coming towards him.

*CRUNCH*

Before the final boss could utter anything else, the other hand reached his head, and then both arms moved, wringing the Avatar of the Demon God as if he was a wet rag.

The next moment, the hands with red liquid dripping from in between their fingers moved away - both still holding on to the torn-apart final boss, who became nothing more than a mass of bloodied rags and scraps of metal.

No second phase.

No third phase.

The last boss's health bar never appeared, so none of the latter stages of the fight could get triggered.

"What in the world is happening?!"

The tank of the group - the brown-haired capture target, filling the role of the group's tank - cried out while doing his job and standing in front of the party with his massive shield raised.

|We have to fall back!|

|We can't retreat yet!|

|Let's strike first!|

"Wh-wh-wh-what is going on?! Zane?!"

With her face no more than an inch away from the screen, the girl gasped, ignoring the window with available dialogue choices and staring at the giant arms whose proportions seemed slightly off, even without the need to see the whole thing.

"I STUMBLED INTO THE ENDING WHERE ZANE IS THE FINAL BOSS?!"

The girl freaked out, covering her face with both hands to muffle her scream so as not to bother any of the neighbors in the apartment complex and almost knocking off her glasses in the process.

|Unable to save|

Out of habit, the girl tried to save the progress, but a quick notification reminded her that for the final act, the ability to save and therefore save scum was disabled.

"Wait! If he killed the avatar of the Demonic God so easily… what level is he?! Was he absent throughout the playthrough because he was out there leveling up?!"

The girl was so moved that she kept trembling, her throat tightening.

The choice she would make would matter greatly because Zane would remember the option she picked - even if she reloaded the last save, he could choose a different approach and wait until the avatar of the Demonic God would exhaust the party's mana and recovery items despite her - the player - making the same choice!

"...but I don't want to fight him…!"

The girl whimpered to herself.

"...but I want to see what he will do…!"

Still, her curiosity was far too great to just back off.

|We can't retreat yet!|

*click*

The girl steeled herself and selected the middle option.

"Fine, but I am uncertain whether we will live long enough to regret it."

The blue-haired capture target's sprite popped up next to the dialogue window, showing him pushing up his square glasses while wielding a truly massive tome in his muscular hand.

"I sure hope this is the awakening of your sense of humor."

Next to show up was the usually cheeky and playful green-haired capture target - this time presented with a troubled expression.

As the dialogue window faded, a large chunk of the cathedral's roof caved in, breaking the statue of the Demonic God in half - causing it to bleed for some reason - and exposing the party to the night sky.

And there, with the stars as the background, a humongous silhouette with burning green eyes revealed itself.

"Z-Zane?!"

The sprite of the utterly bewildered heroine popped up, but the big reveal wasn't necessary for the girl in control as she could recognize the monstrous servant with far fewer details.

|Zane! What happened to you?!|

|What are you doing here?!|

|S-step back! Or else…!|

"..."

The new set of options that presented itself made the girl frown.

"Or else?! What do you think you can do against him?!"

She scoffed at her character, shaking her head in annoyance.

"That said… Zane could get that big…?"

The girl breathed out, moving her head from side to side as if it was supposed to allow her to examine the two-dimensional pixels on her screen any better.

|Zane! What happened to you?!|

*click*

With her throat completely dry from nervousness, the girl made her choice.

"Zane?!"

"What happened to you, Zane?!"

The prideful but caring red-haired capture target appeared together with the blue-haired one to voice their shock, but it wasn't what the girl on the other side of the screen was waiting for...

"..."

The enormous hands moved away, but the burning green eyes grew closer, and the face of the monstrous servant with all of his uncanny features appeared as he leaned in.

"...!"

The girl in control tried to gulp down her saliva, but she had none - she could only stare at the green eyes with wobbly irises that, despite appearing empty and lifeless, somehow conveyed both rage and suffering that were consuming the monstrous man.

"It is Zane!"

"I know! But how is that possible?! His ability should only allow him to be the tallest in the room, not to become a giant!"

This time, the brown-haired capture target showed up together with the blue-haired one - of which the blue-haired one spouted some exposition to remind the player of the detail that might have escaped them.

|Zane! What is going on?!|

|Zane! Do you recognize us?!|

|Zane! Thank you! You defeated the avatar of the Demonic God!|

"...not in the room… in the area…!"

As the window with more choices appeared, the girl playing the game leaned back and whispered, feeling a surge of heat hitting her face.

She read through Zane's character profile so many times she could recite it whole or at random, even if she was woken up and questioned about it in the dead of night.

"...but he was supposed to have a limit of effective range it would activate in…"

The girl bit her lips and added while rapidly clicking the screenshot button on her keyboard using the chance while Zane's face was in the frame, frozen because of the choice selection.

"...it feels like the middle one is the most correct…"

The girl took a few deep breaths while selecting the choice without confirmation.

She was prepared for combat but was ready to shut it all off and start another run if there was a chance of killing Zane.

After all, she did her research and learned about a few cases where other players managed to enter combat involving Zane, which resulted in Zane's death…

…and caused him to not appear in any consecutive playthrough, forcing those who wanted to see him again to wipe out their save data…

The girl could feel cold sweat drenching her clothes at the mere thought of erasing her version of Zane, which belonged only to her—which she could never allow to happen.

"...haaaaaaaa… let's do this…!"

She breathed out and cheered herself on…

*click*

*zooooop*

"?!?!"

But right as she confirmed her choice, instead of any follow-up choices appearing and without any dialogue popping out, the camera suddenly zoomed out, changing into a bird-view of the half-collapsed cathedral and the giant crouching behind it - activating a cutscene.

From the heroic party's perspective, Zane was leaning in as if edging the possibility of conversation, but with the top-down view, it was clear that he had raised and put together both hands, ready for a strike.

"YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

"OH, SHIT!"

The next moment, the inevitable happened, and Zane roared, destroying the cathedral of the Demonic God with the heroic party still inside. But what made the girl playing the game jump up from her seat was the sight of the whole island with the cathedral breaking apart and collapsing, causing all the smaller islands to get ravaged by the enormous waves created by the destruction.

The cutscene continued, showing Zane emerging from the bottom of the sea, now even larger than he was only seconds prior.

Without looking back, the humongous monstrosity made his way through the water, walking towards the mainland of the Jewelboxia.

What followed was the destruction of the lighthouse on the friendly shore that the party of the most likely deceased heroes left behind in-game weeks ago.

"..."

The girl glued to the screen once again witnessed the complete eradication of life on the continent.

Finally, the remains of humanity gathered their focus in front of the royal castle of the Diamnodium kingdom in a desperate attempt to oppose the giant of destruction…

…or rather, die trying…

None of them expected that Zane somehow became so humongous that he merely needed to lean down to reach them while his knees crushed the neighboring kingdom's capital.

And when he arrived, it was too late for the defenders.

It only took one swipe of the monstrous forearm to wipe out humanity's last army, Diamondium royal castle, and the entire abandoned capital.

"..."

After that, the girl was left speechless when the final artwork showed lonely Zane from the back—him sitting in the middle of a deserted wasteland, looking up to the stars.

"...!"

Before she even realized it, she was on her knees, hugging the monitor as if her warmth could pass through the screen and reach the pixels and code composing her beloved character.

She was so moved that she completely forgot about making screenshots - at least until she calmed down and pulled herself away.

"...? Hmm?"

What made her regain some sense was an unpleasant smell… as if something was burning.

The girl hurriedly began to sniff around, checking all her electric appliances and even sockets in the wall, but that wasn't it.

It also couldn't be the stove or anything on the stove, as she was simply treating herself to takeouts the entire week.

She managed to vaguely locate the source of the smell only when she opened her apartment door a little.

"Ugh… those idiots again…"

Smelling the burning scent coming from below, she immediately pinned it to the neighbor from the first floor, who had already received two warnings about tempering with the smoke detector so he could smoke indoors.

Furious and fully intending to complain to the landlady the next day, the girl shut her door, locked it, and stuffed a towel under it to block as much of the stench as possible.

Then she made her way to the bed, kissing the forehead of the character printed on the pillowcase before hugging it as tightly as she could and falling asleep just like that.

She wished to dream about Zane.

For her dreams to be full of him and warmth.

Maybe even heat?

Heat…

…and…

…smoke…?

"!!!"

A girl woke up with a start, drenched in sweat and short of breath in the middle of the night, clenching something in her hands.

"What was that?! What in the world was that?!"

She wheezed, gasping for the precious clean air, clenching the front of her damp nightgown…

…nightgown…?!

"What the…?!"

The girl freaked out seeing the clothes that definitely weren't the hoodie she remembered going to bed in and almost fell out of her canopy bed. Still, luckily, the copious amount of fluffy and frilly pillows, not to mention the sheer size of the double-king-sized bed, saved her.