"An ending? You're talking about an ending...!?"
Dogma’s expression twisted as she grasped the weight of those words.
Glaring at Lost as he smirked beneath his hood, she shrieked in a near-frenzy.
"Wait! Just wait! I might have lost this battle, but it isn't over! I can regroup! I can still make my revenge a success!"
"Yeah, none of that is really necessary anymore. Besides, it's obvious the plot would just get boring from here."
"That is not true! I will take this defeat as a lesson and—!!"
"Look... do you really think I came here on my own whim? I'm currently under a penalty, yet here I am. Shouldn't that tell you everything you need to know?"
"Hah...!?"
The conversation between Lost and Dogma was entirely beyond the comprehension of Yugo and his companions.
As they watched, unable to grasp the inner workings or the hierarchy of the Masterminds, Dogma spoke in a trembling voice.
"No... it can’t be... I’ve been... discarded...!?"
"Well, obviously. You spent all that time preparing, only to show us something this dull. It’s beyond disappointing—it’s enough to make me angry. Even if we let you go and told you to try again... it seems the top decided you’d just repeat the same mistakes anyway."
"I-It is impossible...!! Next time! Next time for sure! I will achieve victory...!!"
"Ah, haven't you noticed yet? That’s the problem, Dogma."
Lost shrugged his shoulders with an exasperated look as Dogma pleaded for another chance.
He stared at her as she stood dazed, clearly unable to fathom his meaning, and continued.
"It’s true the endings you created before might have been charming in their own way. But what is being sought now is different. No, has it ever really changed? What is demanded of us is not victory—it is a 'Dramatic Story'."
"That is why! I was going to provide that through the Destruction of the World!!"
"No, no... Everything you did was the polar opposite of a good plot. That’s why it ended like this. It’s because you don't understand that that your fate is sealed."
Lost spoke as if tossing aside Dogma's desperate pleas.
Letting out a sigh, he began to explain the reality that she had failed to realize.
"To put your plan into a single phrase, it was a 'Time Attack until you win.' Plunging the world into Despair and leading it to destruction sounds good on paper, but in practice, you were just relying on a First-time Trap. This current plan was no different, was it?"
"I mean, you used Hypnosis and took Hostages to paralyze your opponent’s resistance, then tried to puppet Hero-kun exactly the way you wanted."
"Exactly. But honestly? That is incredibly boring. If a plan like that actually succeeds, it just becomes a Story where you’re checking off boxes and clearing events without a single unexpected development."
Lost was right. If her plan had proceeded perfectly and without hindrance, it would have ended with Yugo grieving over the loss of his brother and companions, reaching a conclusion where he simply fell into Despair.
The path leading there would have been a straight line without any ups or downs. While efficiency is certainly a virtue, applying it to a Story causes all the entertainment to vanish.
"Your 'Hero Falling into Darkness Story' is a total failure. Well, you stumbled at the very first stage to begin with, but ironically, that's what made things exciting. You should be thanking My Hero, you know? Thanks to him, your plot actually managed to generate some excitement as a 'Grand Turnaround Story of a hero rescuing his friends and family from a hated Mastermind.'"
"A failure...? Our plan... is a failure...!?"
"Yeah, that's right. If there were any highlights you managed to create, wouldn't it just be the part where we see how many sloppy mistakes you could keep repeating? And then there's, you know, the Villain who gets pathetically smacked down by My Hero... that kind of thing? Honestly, anyone could have done that. Stick a complete moron in the role and you’d get the same result!"
"Wh-Wh-Wh...!?"
Dogma shook uncontrollably at Lost's mocking words.
Her eyes were wide, and though her mouth moved as if she were trying to formulate an argument, her rage and shock were so great that the words simply wouldn't come.
Lost stared at her with a thin, cold smile, and spoke quietly and flatly.
"I assume you understand by now? The meaning of my warning..."
"W-Warning...?"
"Ah, so you’d even forgotten that? It can't be helped... It’s too late now, but I’ll say it again. I told you that you would lose to Abyss—the man you mocked. That is exactly what I said."