Their plane landed near the top. Dororo and Keroro walked towards the last level. Both of them were in grief, wishing to end all these soon.

They thought there would be a crowd of NPC, or at least some scary final boss. However, there was only a young woman sitting quietly. Her costumes looked like kimonos but were definitely not. In front of her was a tea table, and four glasses were on the table.

"Welcome." She gave them a smile, which wasn't even enough to mask the sadness in her eyes. "There will be a winner between the two of you."

Keroro relaxed. This enemy looked much less dangerous than the previous ones. "Are you keeper of the last level? What's your name?" If her name was as funny as the other four, at least he could have a good laugh.

She hesitated for a while. "My name is of no importance. Now listen to the rules. There are four glasses of drink her. Three of them are poison and one is wine. You can ask me questions. One question each. You will guess which is wine based on my answers, then both of you will drink one of them. Note that my answers won't always be true. If the hour is even number, I will tell the truth, or I will tell lies."

Keroro could only manage a "What" after hearing that. They didn't have a watch, so how could they know what time it was? And how could they find the wine among four glasses with only two questions?

Dororo began to analyze. If she was telling the truth, they could find the wine by using dichotomy twice. The first time to exclude two glasses, and the second time to confirm. But what if they couldn't verify her words?

Suddenly he remembered Kururu's hint in level 3.

When truth is false, lies are true.

He realized.

He taught Keroro how to ask the question. Although Keroro didn't get the logic, he was able to do as instructed.

Then Dororo walked towards keeper of this level. She gave him a respectful deep bow, and some jingling sound could be heard when she moved. Jewellery? No time to think about that.

"Looks like you know the solution, Dororo-kun..." She stopped halfway, changed the suffix. "Dororo-san, please." With a wave of her right hand, Keroro was surrounded by a transparent soundproof barrier.

"If I ask you 'Is the wine in the first two glasses or not' in the next hour, what's your answer?"

If she tells the truth now, she will lie in the next hour, so the final answer would be false; and if she lies now and tells the truth in the next hour, the final answer is still false. In a word, whatever she says, the opposite is the truth.

He wondered why Kururu could give them clue of the final level.

The girl smiled. "Yes." So the glass of wine wasn't in the first two.

She bowed deeply again, and he heard the clear sound of clash again. It reminded him of those crytals. Then it's Keroro's turn to ask.

Dororo had told Keroro to ask "If I ask you 'Is the wine in the fourth glass or not' in the next hour, what's your answer?". In spite of the sound barrier, he could read lips. Keroro didn't change a single word. And even if the girl answered in a language he didn't know, it's the same with the time he asked. That is to say, the third glass is safe.

Soundproof barrier disappeared. The keeper bowed for the third time. "Please choose."

Keroro told Dororo the result. "She said 'No', so the fourth one is wine. Take it. I don't want to win..." He avoided looking at him when lying. The keeper of level 5 frownen upon hearing Keroro lying but said nothing.

Dororo smiled bitterly. He'd rather believe Keroro had remembered incorrectly. Fine, finally he could escape from this game. He didn't took the third galss, neither did he took the fourth one. He picked up the second one.

After some certain trainings, assassins were immune to most poisons, but not including those unknown to Keron Army. The poison on that bear trap had paralyzed him for three days. It's like a gamble.

Keroro knocked over that glass of poison in his hand. "It suddenly occurred to me that... you don't drink, right? So... it's the same." Before Dororo could do anything to stop him, Keroro picked up the fourth glass and drank it.

"That's poisonous!" Too late. Keroro has already fell down.

"So you knew that... Sorry... for everything." Then Keroro vanished, leaving only the green crystal.

Dororo couldn't utter a single word. A friend for years just passed away, and his last words were apologies... Grief at this degree could not be washed away by tears.

"So you win this time." The female voice sounded sad, too. She presented him the black, pink, yellow and red crystals with both hands.

And now he knew where the clash sound came from. Not these crystals, but the transparent crystal chain locked on her left wrist. The other end was fixed on the ground.

He didn't took those crystals, but looked at the chain puzzled.

"As you can see, I'm merely a prisoner. After you have all the crystals, you will become god of this universe. I know you have no interest in becoming god, but you can also have god-like power and get rid of these limitations."

He couldn't care less about powers. He only wished to return to the original world. "How to revive my friends?"

She shooked her head. "Even god cannot revive dead people."

That statement deprived all his hope. Why... Why? Why! If not to find a way to save everyone, how could he stand here?! Did others die for nothing? What about their hopes? Tamama, Mois, Kururu, Giroro, Keroro... I will revenge you.

"Are you the manipulator of this game?" He asked directly, holding the hilt.

"It's my responsibility that Keroro platoon is chosen, and the Gameplay is the way you see." She replied bluntly.

He unsheathed the knife, ready to attack.

"I know my sins. If you want to kill me, do as you wish." She closed her eyes. Her arms fell to her sides.

But he couldn't do that. Just couldn't. What happened? He was an assassin! A deadly assassin! Why did he have trouble making this decision? That's a sinner who had killed many! For sins there had to be punishments.

Nevertheless, there was something that didn't fit. Is she really the manipulator? A prisoner with no freedom?

Anyway, it's time to decide.

Switching the knife to left hand, a clear cut.

Blood spilled out.

She had expected death, but she was still alive. She opened her eyes, only to find the crystal chains on the ground, along with her left hand.

"You've disregarded lives, making them killing each other, calling this a game. That's all unforgivable sins. A hand as punishment and warning." He tried his best to maintain a cold tone.

Sorry for not revenging you all... If the chains were unbreakable like the crystals, this was the only way to free her. And this was enough as a karma.

The next thing... He pointed the knife at himself. Time for reunion.

"Wait! They are still alive!" She shouted out.

The knife fell off from his hand. "What?"

"Tamama and Mois was simply taken away from this Game world, so is Kururu before the explosion. The bullets were anesthetic projectile and the 'poison' was hypnotics. They are all safe and in the space you were in before this Game start."

He didn't ask questions, so she went on. "Everything starts from a free universe independent from endless parallel universes. It has it's own space-time and dimensions. Sometimes it could connect with other universes with wormholes. During its timeless existence it gained consciousness, and started catching conscious beings from other universes like Keroro platoon and me."

"This game is a nested world in this universe, like a virtual reality game based on programs. The other four keepers were artificial intelligence. So the most important feature of this game is that it could be reset."

"One of the powers god possesses is to destroy the crystals, then the Game will automatically reset. Kururu chose it when he won in Round 1. After the reset, winner of last round could keep a little memory, but others will forget everything."

So that's why Kururu was able to predict the last level. He thought.

"But even god has limitations. Although it's possible to create anything, it's impossible to jump out of this cycle. No one could."

Dororo couldn't keep his curiosity. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" And let him to kill her? Why?

"Who doesn't hope to escape in this endless cycle?" Her reply was reasonable. "In brief, either to enjoy this world and anything in mind, or to reset the Game, you have to become the god first."

Dororo took out the blue crystal, picked up the green one, piece them together with the other four. They become a six-point star, but nothing else happens.

Yet he could feel that power. He'd only have a try, and the snow-covered Mount Fuji turned into active volcano in a second.

"Endless cycle is valueless, but what can enjoying this world achieve? If the god is away, will this cycle end?" He walked towards the crater.

She shook her head repeatly. "No, please don't... At least not so early... You could wait for a few days-"

"If my guess is wrong, it would be dangerous to stay here." He activated the emblem on his hat. "Put this envirmental regulator on, so that you won't get involved." Throwing the emblem into her right hand, then took another step towards the lava.

She was still saying something, but without the translator, he could no longer understand her words.

Looking at boiling lava, he wasn't afraid at all. Even though he couldn't return to the original world, he would only die or reset the game again. Either outcome is liberation. No more pressures.

Keroro, Giroro, Tamama, Kururu, Mois. He thought to himself. Wish you safe and well.

With one last leap, he fell into the lava lake.

On the top of Mount Fuji, only a figure could be seen.

"君无独行,彼岸相随."

On the top of Mount Fuji, only a crystal star could be seen.

Fuji volcano erupted.

Blinding white light swept the world. Data and matters disintegrated. Space and definition disassembled. Links of logic cracked. There came silence.

It was an ordinary day. The Hinatas were doing ordinary things as usual. Natsumi and Koyuki were listening to "623 my radio", Fuyuki and Momoka were doing research for occult club's next presentation. Aki was working extra hours. There was nothing unusual happening, at least not on the surface.

Dozens of meters below, five alien invaders were having their daily invasion meeting. Four keronians sat around the table, while Angol Mois stood by with a sweet smile. On the whiteboard behind her wrote countless absurd invasion plans that had been discarded.

"Why can't we come up an adequate plan?" Keroro slumped on the chair, looking at the rotating fan on the ceiling.

Giroro gave a snort of derision. "When was the last time we had an executable plan?" After staying here for two hours, he's obviously become impatient.

"56 days ago in pekopon calendar." Kururu answered casually. He leaned back on his chair with his feet on the desk, resting leisurely.

Tamama rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. In fact he paid more attention to his Coca Cola than the meeting.

Mois stepped up to massage Keroro's shoulders at the right time. "You could say, have no clue?" She didn't notice Tamama's jealousy in his eyes.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"Keroro decided to simply give up further efforts. "Enough for this meeting. Now dismiss!"

They chatted as they came into he living room. Natsumi spotted Keroro immediately. "Stupid frog, you have chores today!"

Koyuki added. "Hurry up and do as Natsumi-san said, or I will help her with the punishments!"

Keroro saluted them. "Get it!"

"Get it!" The word came out from the audio equipment. Ice-blue eyes watched the screen.

"Maybe I'm the best choice to be erased from their timeline." The black-haired man said without thinking. "I'm the last to rejoin the team, so I'm not in the life they are used to. It looks like the others didn't change much. Koyuki doesn't need a father figure either. Nothing could be better."

He turned away from the screen and smiled. "Don't you think so?"


I don't know who He's talking to in the last. The only thing I know is that He becomes a human.