Battler pays Gretel to go too far. (Light spoilers, Pink Trigger's Power >3499, Favors -1)

Battler reached his hand over to where the two witches fought for the final card and plucked it out. "Enough of that. That Little Sis said something smart earlier: money's nothing, and I do need to be more careful. That's why I'm going with the devil I know. If you'll give me the last part of that dance, Gretel..."

"Big Bro... Battler..." Gretel looked back into his eyes and smiled. "You did it... I'm so glad..."

Beatrice, on the other hand, drew her hand back with a look of disgust, her snarling face twitching. "No... This isn't possible. Dammit, Bernkastel... Gretel...!"

Battler ignored her, rubbing the back of his head and returning Gretel's smile. "Hehe. It does feel like I made the right choice, for once. I made a cute girl smile, too! Not too shabby for a guy like me."

"Mm..." Gretel didn't say much more, but she hugged his neck tighter and leaned in against him, nuzzling her pigtails against his shoulder shamelessly in spite of her half-naked state. "I'm sorry it had to be like this, but... I'm so glad we got to meet. I'm so glad you didn't give up to that witch, and now you'll get to go home. I just-!" She paused with a sharp gasp, drawing her head back from his shoulder with a red face and wide eyes.

Battler had moved his hands to her soft ass, grabbing a cheek in each hand. He was still smiling, but flushing a bit himself now. "This... You're okay if I help myself, right?"

The witch frowned, but it wasn't the same impatient scowl from before. She had an uncertain look, as if trying to decide the correct response. Finally, she moved one hand to her mouth, biting along the length of one finger. "Battler..." Breathing heavily, she gave a short nod.

As if worried she'd change her mind, Battler explored more of her body, sliding his fingers up her slender back and digging them into her exposed upper legs. Tentatively, he leaned in for a kiss, and Gretel shared one with him, both of them moving slow and without much experience. The young man's hand finally found a catch at the back of her bikini top and undid it, allowing the garment to come free. Her white shirt still hid her chest from sight, but not from Battler's hands: she let out an uncharacteristic moan and leaned back from him as he moved both hands beneath her shirt and fondled her large breasts. "Amazing... This witch's sexy body... is too unreal..."

"Battler..." Gretel gasped again, biting her lip now as her fingers dug into the armrests of the chair. I saw her begin to grind her soft hips against the young man's erection with **** energy. "I want to see yours, too... I want to see what your body looks like, once, before I have to leave... B-but, it doesn't have to be that! Just, please... don't go back to the others. I'll have to leave soon...! Y-you can play with them as much as you want, so just don't leave before I'm gone..."

Beginning to sweat in his suit from excitement, Battler gave her a cheeky grin. "By 'play with them', you mean the cousins, or these?"

Beatrice laughed, wearing a cheery smile that didn't match her dead eyes. "Kyahaha! Maybe Ange means those massive mounds of hers, huh?"

"Does she?! Maybe Ange means..."

Battler's face froze as his smile slowly twisted, his whole body breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Maybe... Ange... means..."

"Oops!" Beatrice covered her mouth with a dainty hand, her grin spread too wide to be hidden by it. "We were calling her Gretel, right? Or maybe 'Little Sis!'"

"Ange. Your name is... Ange?" Battler looked at the red-headed witch with a crazed, unbelieving expression. "Ha... Haha... Y-you even kind of look like her, if I squint... B-but Ange's a kid, and my sister... and you're... who?"

Gretel shook her head, still smiling. "That witch doesn't play fair... Don't worry, Battler. This was the only way I could save you. You may be a perv, but... I'm not your Ange. You don't have to be ashamed of being tricked. You just need to live... Okay? Live, so the Ange in your world has a brother..."

Battler gawked at the impossible phantasm of the witch on his lap. She was becoming translucent, with cracks like shattering grass spreading across her form. He didn't have any words. He tried to reach out a hand for his sister's shoulder, only to find it crumble beneath his touch. "Ange... I didn't... I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologize, Battler." His little sister from another time seemed to ignore any pain that her collapsing form was causing her, continuing to smile. "Ange loves you, and you need to be there for her. Don't let any trick by any witch interfere with that. And I... loved you too, big brother. I hadn't shown that silly dance to any boys. I was, maybe, even a little happy when you called me a 'hot babe.' And my first kiss... It wasn't too bad. Being wanted by you made me happy... Sorry if you didn't end up happy, too. But now, I'd be happiest if you forgot we met. <See you again never>, Battler..."

I didn't see the moment Ange actually fell apart. Before I knew what was happening, I was off of the game board. I was back in the witch's smoking room, but it felt strangely empty. There was no Gretel, no Bernkastel, and no sneering Beatrice... Come to think of it, we lost the game. There was no way for Battler to pay for Beatrice's second game, so she must have lost...

I realized the only person still here was sitting across the board from me. It was the victor: EVA-Beatrice, the proper successor and the victor of this game. She was smiling, casually turning a black bishop from the board over in one hand, but I had no idea how to interpret or trust that until she opened her mouth.

"Ange, huh...? Who knew she'd be the one to end up helping me out... That kid's full of surprises, as it turns out." She kicked her chair away from the table, then rose to her feet, summoning her golden eagle staff casually from thin air. "I always thought she was kind of a sour, sickly brat, but it turns out she's cute when she smiles. Not much of a witch, though. A real witch can't be broken to pieces by someone saying her name. And a real witch doesn't become some piece on someone's board..." She paused, lifting the white queen from the other side, before chucking it off into the darkness carelessly. "... Only to end up tossed out, out of play, under a couch cushion collecting dust! If I was a witch that lame, I'd just give up and die!"

As EVA continued to laugh about Beatrice's fate, I managed to rise to my feet. Putting my hand on the board, I asked her what I was sure would be my last question: Ange's added herself to the board. She can appear as a piece. What is going to happen to that kid, now...?

"Whatever I want, of course!" EVA smiled at me, tilting her head at an odd angle and swishing her skirt. "I've got plenty of ideas, and I'm sure they're way cuter and more clever than whatever trash my predecessor came up with. I might leave her alone one time, as a thank you... But then, then! I wanna try pulling on those pigtails! I wanna see her crying face! I kinda wanna see if I can get her to fuck Battler. Hey, do you think-?!"

Too late, she realized what I was up to. I smashed one of my hands through a nearby window into the darkness that surrounded our smoking room, ignoring the pain of the glass shards tearing through my unprotected hand, then released the black bishop I'd collected from the board a moment ago.

That kid isn't part of this. Somehow, by some miracle, she'll return to her own time! There's no reason she should-

I felt a wire tighten around my arm, then found myself slammed to the floor by an inhuman ****. "Heeey, bastard! First you support my predecessor, now you're throwing away my toys?! I think I'll practice on you a bit before I get back to Rokkenjima. 'Kay?"

...

At the whims of that witch, I died another ten or twenty times in unspeakable, un-writable ways. There was no miracle for me: after all, I'm already dead, already submitted to be the plaything of witches. That was what I asked for... But that wasn't a world Ange asked to be a part of. All she wanted to do was save her brother, and she couldn't even do that... Not in the rules of this game.

Maybe my attempt to save her was actually pretty similar... No, thinking that way is a bit of a stretch, even for me.

In the end, I didn't learn if Bernkastel granted Ange that miracle. I guess if I never see the mysterious Gretel again, I can assume so.