Noticing his startled jump, Altair focused her attention on her captive fully. "Selesia is obviously an important person in your world so, by removing you, there goes any chance of her powering up."

This statement caused Takashi to mentally sweat-drop. There was no way she knew about his special upgrade for Selesia, surely? If she did, however, was she some kind of time traveller?

Nah, that couldn't be right. What they knew of her was that she was a spin-off of another game's character that Setsuna had drawn. But if they reversed what they thought they knew, things were grim.

Because if she was able to work out their long-term goal, they were pretty much screwed. To test his theory, Matsubara responded to her claim with a question of his own.

"What are your own goals, aside from crushing every world?"

Altair quietened, reluctant to answer her captive's deceptive query. "I want to see Setsuna again," came her hushed reply, her voice whisper soft with grief.

The Creation's emotions were still very raw regarding her Creator's death. She didn't even want to talk about Setsuna, so inside she was seething that the focus of the interrogation had been turned around.

Since it had been too late to attempt a retrieval that night, Aki had instead set up a retrieval team and told them to be ready the next morning. Morning came and Aki was standing outside Sōta's house early, with the team nearby.

"She is dangerous and will kill you." The woman warned her companions: the team consisting of the remaining Creators and the Creations. They acknowledged her warning with serious nods, but she continued, as if ignoring them.

"It won't matter if you're human or not, if you're stuck, get away from her as soon as you possibly can."

At this comment, they glanced at each other, their eyes widening. This was what Aki meant by "she was dangerous"? Now they truly understood, reassuring the woman they would take all necessary precautionary measures against Altair.

The government official didn't seem convinced still, but smiled faintly and sent them off.

The team had no idea what Altair's lair would look like or if she had any other Creations working with her aside from Blitz Talker. They didn't even know if the wildcard, Magane, had entered an alliance with her in place of Alicetaria.

There were so many variables and unknowns.