For a bug, Kaburagi comes outta retirement.

— The rookie doesn’t have her game face on. She’s headed for battle, but she’s still as giddy as a child. Well, I suppose she still is a child…

— At first, the battle seems to be going well on the outside. It becomes quickly apparent, however, that something is going very wrong within the nest. Even Gears are “dying” left and right, but I imagine they just get booted out of the game… right? I can’t remember if there are any real consequences to dying.

— The remaining humans go up against a Gadoll alpha. It’s apparently special because it’s smarter than your average Gadoll (it’s aiming for everyone’s tanks first and foremost) and has super fast healing. The battle is obviously unwinnable, but Natsume suddenly rages out and charges in against direct orders. Yeah, maybe sending a rookie to the front lines isn’t exactly the smartest move. I’m sure they felt that they needed all the manpower they could get, but why would she be going into the nest?

— Predictably enough, Natsume endangers herself, so her squad leader has to make a heroic sacrifice. Unfortunately, we just met this lady… I mean, I don’t even remember her name. Natsume joins her squad, and as soon as they head off into their first battle, she’s dead. Perhaps in a longer story, we might have time to get to know her. Maybe she and Natsume would share a few more missions together, and our heroine would grumble under her leader’s strict tutelage. Alas, no such thing will happen here.

— So they should retreat, right? Nope, Natsume charges in again. This time, she actually does pretty well against the Gadoll alpha. Maybe our girl is a prodigy, but only when someone dies for her. Unfortunately, this fight is meant to be unwinnable, so the Gadoll just heals its wounds right back up.

— So again, Natsume is about to die when Kaburagi finally shows up. He’s about to throw everything away for a bug. His buddy Minato even warns him about this. Oh well, the things fathers do for their daughters, right?

— Kaburagi didn’t intend to kill the “unkillable” boss. He just wanted to save Natsume and get the hell outta dodge. But the girl won’t leave without the rest of her squad mates. She barely knows them, but hey, at least she has a strong moral compass. This reminds Kaburagi of the past he thought he had gotten over, so now he’s all pumped up and ready to truly battle. Still, this is like… what? The third time that Natsume has defied orders?

— While Natsume escapes with her team, Kaburagi removes his limiter and goes all out. Minato is trying his best to talk his friend down, but it’s no use. Kaburagi doesn’t just want to protect the bug. It feels as though he wants the courage to become one himself. He wants to throw a wrench in the system. He wants to see what happens if he does break the scripted storyline. As a result, he kills the Gadoll alpha.

— The end result of that gamebreaking move? The final boss gets triggered, but it’s incomplete. It’s probably saved for the follow-up storyline that’ll never come to light now. So of course, everything’s a disaster. The Deca-Dence needs time to transform in order to take the final boss out, but obviously, the Gadoll isn’t gonna give them that luxury. Not only that, they can’t shut the Gadoll down in time either. This is one of those classic scenarios where a developer goes, “Yeah, we don’t need to worry about that scenario, ’cause that scenario can never happen.” Then of course, the end user somehow stumbles upon that scenario. So while this isn’t necessarily a bug of their making, it is a massive oversight that’s probably worse than any bug that could’ve occurred instead.

— Anyways, Kaburagi plays hero again by attacking one of the Gadoll’s limbs, I think? This results in the final boss’s laser just narrowly missing the fortress. As a result, the “good guys” have time to return fire and destroy the final boss. Yay, we’ve achieved “peace.” Well… now what? We can just create a new story, right? Make up an excuse for why the Gadolls are still a threat? Or just make a new threat.

— Well, for whatever reason, the illusion around everyone is dispelled. This reveals a world full of Gadoll-like creatures roaming peacefully. I mean, they’re probably just natural fauna that the bad guys have captured and experimented on for the purposes of this sick game. Both the Gears and the humans still think of the Gadolls as the enemy, but maybe that’ll be cleared up real soon.

— Meanwhile, Kaburagi walks off to the side in order to accept his punishment. Hm, I can only wonder how he’s gonna get himself out of this predicament.