It was nearing dusk.

After the rain stopped, the clouds dispersed and allowed the sunset to shine on the land of Shikoku. Despite that, all that could be heard was the orchestra played by the cicadas and the streams of waterfalls surrounding a shallow lake.

On a corner of the lake was a shore filled with tiny white pebbles. It was one of the few dry places and there stood an old shrine where human movements could be seen.

"Karin, lend me the hammer."

A blond-haired girl extended a hand to her co-worker who had been nailing down the jutted out wooden flooring. She heard a grunt and the object she wanted was placed on her opened hand.

Fuu immediately used the hammer to strike a bent railing back into its default position. She nodded at the result of her handiwork and walked back to her friend to return the tool she had borrowed.

"How's he?" Karin asked without looking away from her work. "I don't think staying here for long is a good idea. He needs medical treatment."

"Yeah, but the water here has actual healing properties…" Fuu turned to catch the scenery of the lake and the stone Torii that stood in the middle of it. "I guess this is a place meant for purification ritual, but everything is in shambles."

"Don't forget that we're going to sleep in a similarly poorly-maintained shrine that should not have been here the last time I checked." Karin rolled her eyes to the side. "This whole thing's fishy. Our phones don't work at all and that stupidly huge and rude guy disappeared before we could interrogate him. Then we found this shrine, spotted the tools to repair it alongside an instruction in how to heal that perverted idiot, and obtained spare clothes that have our exact measurements."

"...Yeah, the last one feels a bit too much, huh? Maybe the Gods don't have much sense of humor, unlike me."

Karin chose to nod instead of speaking out her answer. The brunette was probably going to ignore everything else while concentrating only on her job. It made Fuu sigh in exasperation.

Geez, this is getting out of control...

"If only we have more helping hands…" Fuu bent down to carry several wooden beams to the next problematic area. "But we can't leave Issei alone here, and we don't know how to get out."

More than that, is this some sort of ploy?

The man from earlier was not a person Fuu would think of as friendly. He didn't seem to care about anything and even though he called Issei a disciple, he treated her underclassman more like a sandbag than an actual person. Fuu wondered if there was some repressed hatred in play and the burly man simply wanted to find an excuse to harm someone.

As she walked along the porch, Fuu saw a petite girl walking out from the inner sanctum of the shrine. Fuu waved with her empty hand that wasn't carrying the wooden beams and her little sister responded by smiling while holding her sketchbook.

Fuu nearly stopped breathing when she recalled what Tougou and Yuuna said.

Those who used Mankai will not recover. Fuu's thought replayed the truth she came across earlier. Taisha has been lying to us, my left eye and Itsuki's voice won't recover as well—

"...H-Huh?" Fuu blinked as she felt a tugging on her sleeve. "Ah… Itsuki, what… what is it?"

The petite girl with short blond hair raised her sketchbook into Fuu's line of sight. It was right beside Itsuki who displayed a concerned expression, and her opinion was conveyed through the words written on the paper medium.

'Are you okay, Onee-chan?'

Fuu secretly sucked in a sharp breath and ignored her pounding heart.

"...I'm… fine," the elder Inubouzaki sibling said. "I'm fine, Itsuki. It's just that, well, I didn't expect the club to end up at a summer camp with absolutely no planning at all."

Itsuki stared a bit at Fuu before she nodded. She flipped a page, uncapped her marker pen and wrote a second sentence.

'Maybe you should rest. I'm done laying out the futons for everyone.'

"...Ah… I see…" Fuu tilted her head a little and scratched it. "Umm, Itsuki? Don't you think it's strange that there are futons in this rundown shrine?"

Her little sister could only frown and gave a single response at that.

'Onee-chan, you're going to receive divine punishment, you know? Shinju-sama is literally living next door to this place.'

It was unexpectedly dry and witty. A portion of Fuu's mind cheered 'As expected of Itsuki!' but the other portion wanted to scream and rage at herself for being a wuss. The two conflicting thoughts ended up frying whatever was left of Fuu's rationale side.

"Uh, right… forget what I just said then."

Despite receiving a confused stare from Itsuki, Fuu didn't deign any more response. She chose to walk off and do her job mindlessly, and wished that she could forget all of this as a dream once a new dawn arrived.

As if that would happen.

Fuu could tell. She could tell all of this was real. It was all happening, and there was no way that she could deny the truth even with her Hero's power.

The words 'Reality' and 'Fiction' exist for a certain reason, after all.

But… if this is all the irrefutable truth, then…

Fuu breathed out. "...This would have been easier had I alone suffered in everyone's stead…"


In another place, two people conversed on the edge of a flat limestone surrounded with clear spring waters.

One of them was a girl with conspicuous red hair tied in a slightly out-of-place ponytail, and the other was a black-haired girl. The two were sitting next to each other with a third person resting his head on the former's lap.

"...He's not waking up," Yuuna sighed after she glanced at her friend's half-submerged body. "Will he truly be alright…"

...Well… the instruction said physical contact with us helps stabilize his condition… but is that really how it works?

"All we can do is have faith now." Tougou bobbed her down. "Shall we switch, Yuuna-chan?"

The redhead shook her head at the suggestion.

"It's fine," Yuuna replied. "I have the highest aptitude, right? So that means I can help speed up Ise-senpai's recovery rate the best out of everyone here. I'm sure it won't be for long."

Tougou could only smile bitterly at her stubbornness. That's Yuuna-chan's most defined charm for you.

Taking a deep breath in, Tougou looked up to the reddening sky. The heaven was exceptionally clear. Without the lights of the city, she could detect faint glimmers of stars dotting the different shades of red that dyed the skies.

She felt the sky was infinitely more distant and vast than before. It made her feel like a very insignificant being.

"...Yuuna-chan." Tougou pulled out a folded blanket from by her side. "This place is going to get colder as time goes by. At nightfall, we should stop the healing session and bring Issei-san to the shrine with us."

That way, no one would catch a cold. If she remembered correctly, there was a sunken hearth for cooking and heating the room so she was sure everyone could go through the night comfortably.

However, as for food supply...

"So you're still waiting?" An irritated and rough grunt followed. "I swear, the jobs I got hired for didn't say a single thing about handling brats…"

...Here he comes, Tougou's smile thinned as she felt a violent urge to snap at the appearance of the man who caused the many, many problems the Hero Club was having.

"What are you looking at?" The man who seemed to have appeared from thin air and crouching on a nearby giant boulder scoffed. "If you want to fight, then just say the word. I don't reject entertainment."

"Oh my? It seems like someone is getting ahead of himself. Again."

Tougou heard Yuuna yelping but she was sure that it was because of the foreign man who proclaimed that he was a Hero. Indeed, he was anything but a Hero from his conducts and personality. Even though he had a great figure's name, he did not live in accordance to a noble creed and he was definitely not a person who could make friends.

Tougou understood her friend's plight the most, as her own name originated from the famous admiral Tougou Heihachirou. This crass barbarian is not what I or even anyone can call a Hero unless civilization returned back to the early years of the Old Era.

"So," Tougou said upon noticing the intense glare the man had. "Why are you here, Heracles-san? Are you here to waste your precious time again like what you did?"

The giant of a man snorted.

"Sure, let's go with that." He raised a big plastic bag filled to the brim. "I'm being kind for today but it doesn't seem like the people who needed help the most want it."

Someone clicked their tongue.

"T-Tougou-san…!?" Yuuna swiveled her head, looking between her friend and the self-proclaimed Combat Instructor for several times until she had enough of it. "U-Umm…! I''m sorry, but, is that food…?"

"I just grabbed anything I saw, so be grateful."

Heracles threw the plastic bag toward Yuuna. It was too fast to follow the trajectory and it was too sudden for anyone to respond to it properly.

However, a white cow with four wings appeared and caught the plastic bag before it hit Yuuna. The girl squeaked in surprise as a cat with fiery wheels materialized next to the cow fairy and both of them began putting down the shopping bag between their master and Tougou.

...Did they appear because Yuuna-chan is in danger? Tougou stared as Yuuna thanked her fairies with a grateful smile on her face. The timing is too convenient, and they both seem to think such a harmless act require their protection.

"...Oh, so that's what's protecting the lots of you all this time." The foreign man hummed as if pondering about something. "I see now. I get what's the deal with this immortality-thing that tiny brat spoke of, now."

...He knows?

"Don't look at me like that. Of course I know." The foreign Hero shook his shoulders. "I didn't come here without preparation. I also gained various interesting info by trading with the piece-of-shit local organization you brats call Taisha."

"...Are you gloating, Heracles-san?" Tougou asked.

"No. I simply find you all so pathetic that I can't even take any of you seriously, not even as fellow Heroes."

Tougou was certain her best friend had flinched. She directed a smoldering gaze at Heracles because of that but he was not fazed at all. It irritated her to know that even though she would not approve of Heracles as a Hero, he had some of the most defined qualities of one.

"Don't give me that look," Heracles said with a chiding tone. "You're living in a place infinitely better than some hellholes out there. People spoiled by the kindness of others like you don't have the right to stand on the same stage as I or that unconscious brat over there."

...This man…!

Heracles slowly stood up. "Whatever the case, I'm going to drag that brat off once he recovered, so—"

"W-Why is that!?"

...What?

Tougou realized that it was Yuuna who had raised her voice. Yuuna-chan…?

"Why… can you keep on moving like that?" Yuuna inhaled, even as her eyes trembled alongside her shoulders. "I… I don't get it. How come the two of you can keep moving forward…"

The girl raised her right hand and clutched her uniform close to where her heart resided in. That hand was trembling as well.

"...Ise-senpai," Yuuna paused. "Ise-senpai already lost so much. He is… a dragon now, right…? He can't live like a human any longer because he stopped being one… right…?"

While Tougou could not say anything to those claims, Heracles confirmed it with a nod.

"That's right. The brat is basically ageless now." The man pointed at the sleeping boy. "He still can be killed, but he's immortal in the sense that his life won't be dictated by time anymore. He has also been having a hard time keeping up an appearance as a human because of his own incompetence and inexperience."

...That's… I, I didn't know that…

"...I didn't know that." Yuuna phrased out as if her thought coincided with Tougou's. "Is there… more than this? Is he hiding more than he lets on…? And, if that's so, why is..."

"Don't ask me that. Go ask him by yourself, or is your claim that you're his 'friend' a complete lie?"

The man who Tougou barely knew seemed as if he was exasperating. She wondered what went through his head but the man placed his right hand on his left shoulder and popped his neck joint.

The cracking sound soon drowned in the never ceasing streams of water.

"Either way, this is it for me today," The foreign Hero said. "Tell the brat to be ready. If he wants to take back what he lost, he should have realized by this point that throwing tantrums will not magically fix things up."

The Greek Champion turned his back toward the group before he added.

"Show me what it means for you to be a Hero."

In the next instance there was a glass-shattering sound and Heracles's figure vanished from the boulder he was on as if he had never been there at all.


[You're an awful kid, partner.]

In the pitch-black realm devoid of all existing universal laws, a red dragon looked down with his green eyes accusing the person reflected in them. The way he growled through the closed teeth that resembled an uneven saw blade and the way he glared was more than enough to give even the most courageous a serious case of heart-attack.

Under the scrutiny of the dragon, all Issei could do was looking down at his feet.

[Being angry for someone else is as good as any decent excuse is, but going berserk until you temporarily lost sanity for twenty-four hours straight?] Ddraig tilted his vaguely triangular head before he scoffed. [You should have died a dozen times over for fighting against a full-fledged hero in a crazed state like that.]

To the lecture he received, Issei could only lock his jaws in place and listen from the very beginning until the very end.

He was at fault, after all. He had let his emotions run amok, fought even though he was dead tired and he had caused problems to the point of having his Instructor talk him down by giving him a severe beating.

That still doesn't mean I can accept what he said or even did…

[Partner, hiding your thoughts is futile here. This is the border between life and death, and it's a space accessible only by you and me. I can hear you just fine.]

Issei promptly gulped. Ddraig stared for a while and then sighed, his folded wings growing less tense while his elongated neck descended to meet Issei on the eye-level.

[If you dare to rampage like that again, then I will withhold any information that I know you want to know.]

"…What!? Come on, you can't do that, Ddraig!"

[Look at your opponent in the face when you try to challenge them.] The red-scaled dragon chided. [Also, you can't leave this place until you stop fussing about those stuff. Don't try to weasel yourself out; I can instinctively tell through the state of your mental condition.]

After Ddraig said everything that needed to be said, Issei ground his teeth in frustration and resignation. Eventually, he released his balled hands and lowered his shoulders. The boy released a deep breath through his mouth.

Ddraig retracted his head back to its default position once Issei had truly, truly calmed down. However, the dragon remained staring at him as if trying to drill a hole through his head and heart.

[Good,] Ddraig said with a nod. [Now, listen. You have no idea how much troubles you've put yourself in, partner.]

"…What do you mean by that?"

Was there anything else other than getting both of his arms popped out from their joints? Issei recalled the sound beating and he shivered slightly at the mention of 'should have died a dozen times over'.

He knew that was partially his fault, but Heracles could be very brutal when he wanted to.

[Yes, actually.] Ddraig closed his green eyes for a moment. […The first thing is something you really wouldn't want to know.]

"…What is it?"

Ddraig took a deep breath. [The Gods of this land have officially acknowledged your and my presence, and they have decided to aid you from now onwards.]

…What…?

"…You're kidding." Issei stared at Ddraig only to nearly lose the ability to think. "…That… That can't be right. Why are the Gods showing their interests in me?"

Why would they do that? Issei had done nothing but being a hindrance. He had caused a lot of problems and he had fought in a sacred place directly connected with the place Shinju resided in. Had Heracles not been around, he would have….

[Don't you get it? This is the same,] Ddraig pointed out. [Only those who attract the attentions of the Gods could be loved by them and blessed with their power. You, partner, have brought this result upon yourself because of what you did.]

"B-But… what about the time I rampaged around!?"

[That's actually the last nail to the coffin. As I said, you brought this upon yourself, partner.]

"No way…"

Did the Gods not care about the feelings their Chosen Ones had, to arbitrarily decide like that? However, Issei couldn't deny that it was exactly because they were Gods that they could do something like that.

The Gods were not humans. Even if they protected mankind, that still did not mean they had the same thinking pattern as humans had, or even the same heart that would bleed even for the most trivial reason. What standard did the Gods even have, and wasn't it presumptuous of Issei to even consider for a moment that Gods were no different than humans?

"…What…" Issei trailed off. "What should I… do, Ddraig…?"

The dragon he sought an answer from unfortunately shook his head.

[This is non-negotiable,] Ddraig said. [Sure, I can go toe-to-toe against a God or even the world, but I'm no longer in my prime and I'm sealed in this Sacred Gear. Even then, the last big fight I participated in was a four-way battle against the White One, and the three great Mythological Factions that once ruled the previous era.]

In other words, Issei could do nothing but accept the reality standing right before his eyes.

"…What… what should I do…?"

[Your Instructor already beat the lesson into the marrows of your bones… Or have you forgotten it already?]

No, Issei rebuked. Of course not, but if it's like that, then…

[…That's right. Though the divinity of the Gods of this land is incompatible with us, they can still supply you with the energy stored in the leylines.]

…So that means…

"Did I fight against Heracles for that long because I…" Issei pointed at himself. "Was granted near-endless energy?"

Ddraig once again nodded. [Now you can charge up further with Boost, but your physical state is inhibiting your potential severely. I estimate you can reach twenty-four Boosts at maximum.]

"…That's a lot of Boosts…"

[Those damned Harvesting Tools have recorded your pattern and will fight you with strengthened vessels each time you meet them.] The Heavenly Dragon grunted. [Unless you get yourself killed at some point, they will attack, be defeated, and then prepare themselves better for a rematch.]

..Why does that sound as if Vertexes are Shounen-manga Protagonists?

Issei honestly wished he could be given a break even if it was only for a second. There were just too much to take in, and—

"…Hold it right there." Issei raised his right hand. "Why are you making it sound as if the Vertexes don't have any limit in numbers? There are only… twelve… of them…"

As his voice faded into the darkness, Issei's eyes rounded up. He realized something was off, he noticed that the things he knew mostly came from his friends… And that very information came from Taisha who arbitrarily chose young girls as offerings to the Gods without their consent.

[Partner.] Ddraig's voice echoed and brought Issei's mind back from spiraling down into hopelessness. [I don't have any right to say this with everything that you've come to understand now, but that can be for later.]

…Why? Issei wanted to ask his battle partner that. Ddraig seemed reluctant, and his gaze seemed to have softened if not riddled with guilt and anxiety. Why are you showing that kind of face?

Even though that kind of look didn't suit a dragon like Ddraig…

"…You make it as if you're keeping a huge secret you should have told me beforehand," Issei remarked as he lowered his hand. "…At least… At least, can I ask why you're being reluctant about it, Ddraig…?"

The dragon with scales as red as molten lava craned his head and tried to look away. However, he stopped himself midway through and he closed his eyes tight.

Silence ensued until Issei heard a deep, rumbling sigh from the Welsh Dragon.

[I've become too attached again,] Ddraig confessed. [My hosts… All of my hosts until now possess the blood of human, the flesh of human, the soul of a human… and the heart of a human.]

As he explained his reasoning, the red coloration of his scales seemed to grow darker. Issei could only watch and listen to what Ddraig wanted to say, and he didn't deign a response because he knew that there must be something more than this.

[Humans are weak,] Ddraig stated as if it was common sense. [They are mortals as insignificant as ants. To me who have fought against Gods and Demons for as long as I can remember, I couldn't come to care about whatever they did or whatever they thought.]

However, the Heavenly Dragon added.

[For eons I have brushed aside the weak and prioritized myself in proving my Dominion. I fought against everything that wanted me dead, and I crushed my opposition every single time excepting the White One who is my eternal rival and equal. Again and again and again.]

Issei imagined what kind of life Ddraig had. A life full of hardships, a life full of opponents that wanted to kill you even in your sleep…

It was a solitary life that focused on oneself alone.

"…Did you… have any friend, Ddraig?"

The red dragon merely shook his head. He did not put any strength or even emotion in that gesture, and he merely pulled his jaws to give an impression of an empty smile.

[There are many dragons out there, but I am a Heavenly Dragon.] Ddraig responded with half-opened eyes. [There are rare cases where Dragons are born from the fluctuation of swirling power instead of the normal, more animalistic way. I suppose you could say that I am an embodiment of power that suddenly and spontaneously gained its own conscience and ego.]

"…Then…"

[As an embodiment of power, I am thus defined as a powerful existence by both heaven and earth from the moment of my birth,] Ddraig said. [I am strong, but I am far too strong that any weaker being would die before they could touch my scale or even hear me roar. As a dragon, I too am considered to be in a class of my own, only comparable with another Heavenly Dragon who came from the same origin as me and the Five Dragon Kings, and only outclassed by the Infinite and the Dream.]

Then, Issei realized. Then, Ddraig has always been alone ever since he was born.

Without a mother and a father to love him, without a safe and warm place that he could truly call as 'home', without a friend or even a kin that he could pour his thoughts and heart out to, and without memories that could comfort him in his sleep…

Ddraig had been born all alone, and living all by himself for as long as he existed; just because he was born as a powerful existence.

[Do not pity me, partner,] Ddraig suddenly said. [I have long accepted the nature of my existence. If you ever try to tarnish that truth or even try to think about doing the same, then I'd curse you until the end of time because you are robbing me from everything that I have.]

Issei looked up to the dragon his soul was linked to.

He didn't know what kind of past Ddraig had. Issei admitted that he was curious sometimes, but he had never tried to actively pursue the truth and asked Ddraig about it. Now that another truth was revealed, Issei realized it was not as interesting as many people have said and it was clearly not something he could ever be happy for knowing.

[Either way,] Ddraig muttered with an emphasis put on his words. [After I was sealed in this Sacred Gear, I came to realize that I could not live freely like before, that I would watch over many mortals live and die out, that the best I could do was to talk to them, and that being in a position without power forced me to know what it means to lose something.]

"Lose… Something…" Issei parroted. "…Could it be…"

Ddraig nodded. [Didn't I tell you? I have met many humans before you. I have interacted with the old and the young, men and women and eccentrics that somehow put themselves in the middle, then there are the lunatics and idiots who wouldn't accept anything outside of their perception of the world.]

As he droned on, the dragon's expression loosened. Issei noticed how spirited his smile was, how the dragon's eyes seemed to glimmer in amusement and pride – and yet at the end of it he put it to a rest through a sigh mixed with contentment as well as bitterness.

[Yes,] Ddraig said with a nod. [I came to know what parting and giving a farewell is. I came to know what grieving is. I came to know what it means to shed tears upon losing someone important to me.]

The dragon then laughed. He laughed in resignation, and yet Issei sensed that there was strength and acceptance in the laughter which resembled a chuckle more than it might sound like.

"…But," Issei paused. "Even so, you… came to know more than that, right? You understand more than that… right? Ddraig…?"

[Indeed that is the case.] Ddraig sighed. [I, who once cared so little about everything that is not my equal, became curious of what made you mortals act. I desired, and I acted in accordance to what my heart wished for.]

As a result—

"There's a connection… right…?" Issei looked down at his raised right hand, and then he once again looked up to meet his partner in the eyes. "You… understand what it means to be bonded with someone because of what you have gone through."

The dragon merely nodded at his question. He did not say 'yes' or speak of anything else, but Issei could understand why; there was no need for words at this point.

To the Heavenly Dragon, the bonds he had come to know, learned, understood, and created were something he cherished.

To the Welsh Dragon Ddraig, the lesson of treasuring what he had took precedence above everything, simply because he was aware of how important that wisdom was.

In that case…

Issei inhaled. "You don't want me to know what you know because you realize I will be hurt. You're hiding the truth because you don't want to lose the bond we've created."

…Aah… I can't believe it…

Before he knew it, a smile permeated on the boy's face. He had some guesses and he probably looked weird at the moment, but he couldn't help it.

"You're surprisingly emotional for being a dragon, Ddraig." Issei pointed out as he placed his hands on his waist. "Fine, then. Don't tell me right now. Just give me what you know when the time is right and if it will help me get out of some pinches."

The red dragon let out a surprised grunt. His expression as a dragon was definitely hard to interpret, much less to notice, but Issei had communicated with Ddraig enough that he could at least understand his expression through his voice.

"Don't think of this as my goodwill," Issei added. "I don't like how everyone is hiding something behind my back, but I know that even if we're friends, there's a line we can't cross because that's just how it is."

[…Are you sure? You aren't even ready to face the new obstacle in your path.]

Meh, then I will just deal with it when the time comes.

"It's not like I will lose, anyway." Issei shrugged. "I'm going to be a Harem King, I'm going to protect my home, my family, and my friends. I'm going to make sure everyone that I hold dear can return to the place we belong to, and not even God can stop me from doing that."

So, the boy said as he extended his right arm above his head.

"Even though I can't regain what I already lost or even turn back time in hopes of fixing everything…" Issei clenched his hand and formed a fist. "I still won't give up. I will never give up on chasing my dream."

That was his vow.

That was Issei's wish and dream.

That was the boy's truest desire that came from the depth of his heart.

[…Hah.] Upon hearing that, the Heavenly Dragon suppressed a laugh. [I see that it's useless to even talk you down about what's impossible or not.]

In that case, Ddraig further whispered. He stepped aside, his gargantuan figure moving as if floating and his wings moved so as to not obscure anything that Issei was about to see.

"Huh—"

Light blinded him for a moment.

Issei shielded his eyes with his arms crossed over his face. He felt the warmth the light carried was familiar but foreign, and he couldn't pinpoint the source until the bursts of dazzling brightness faded to a level that a normal human could tolerate.

[This is the last thing I'm going to tell you for now,] Ddraig's voice echoed from somewhere far away. [It's not good news, but it's also not necessarily bad if you are prepared to deal with it.]

Issei put down his arms to see what was happening.

He heard noises. He heard the hustle and bustle that could only be said to belong to a large gathering, and he was reminded of the ground beneath his feet alongside the force of gravity.

The breath he inhaled was caught in his throat once he saw many people he did not know filled the room dyed by the light of a sunset. He saw men and women, children and adult…

There were a lot of people, but none of them seemed to be paying attention to each other. Issei felt their presence were weak, so utterly weak that they might as well be distant silhouettes yet he felt nostalgic upon laying his sight on them.

It was then a thought occurred to Issei.

[This is the hidden space residing deep within the Boosted Gear,] Ddraig whispered. [Make sure you carve this place into your memories, partner.]

Issei instinctively felt something was amiss and he wanted to move only to realize he couldn't. He didn't know why or even how, but he knew that the people before him were…

They were powerful. All of them, without any exception… They were all so ridiculously strong that Issei felt like an ant looking up at the world and the many monsters standing beyond his reach.

These people are—

[They are the lingering thoughts of my previous Hosts.] Ddraig's voice reverberated like an echo inside Issei's skull. [You skipped a lot of stairs through your rampage, partner. Now we have to deal with the consequence somehow.]

After all...

[The Juggernaut Drive has been forcibly unlocked.]