Those METAized shipgirls had spontaneously formed an organization known as the Ember Fleet.
After the initial experiment failed, the Ember Fleet withdrew from the Native World alongside us.
Because when the Mainframe conducted its experiments, members of Ember would interfere with the process, preventing the experiments from reaching their intended goals. Thus, we of the Arbitration Mechanism were assigned the task of monitoring and pursuing the Ember Fleet."
"Likewise, the Sirens currently fighting shipgirls and conducting trials across the various test sites, including us Arbiters, were all created from the memes of the original Ember members."
After Empress finished speaking, Lavoce—who had remained quiet until then, merely watching Gwen with her watery eyes—suddenly spoke, adding a piece of information in a voice like a nightingale crying tears of blood.
"..."
Gwen met Lavoce's watery gaze, nodded lightly, then pressed on.
"So, does that mean the entire Ember Fleet was devoured by the Insect Swarm that suddenly appeared?"
"That is possible."
Though she was also somewhat surprised by Lavoce's sudden words, Hermit merely glanced at her obviously unstable colleague before answering Gwen's question.
"But not necessarily—"
"?"
Hearing Hermit's answer, Gwen did not rashly offer an opinion. He merely tilted his head in confusion—
You Arbiters who were chasing the Ember Fleet had to sacrifice part of your forces just to survive the Insect Swarm's threat. Could the Ember Fleet really be stronger than you?
Since when did the weak chase after the strong?
As if she had seen the question in Gwen's puzzled expression, Hermit prepared to explain.
Yet before she could speak, Lavoce behind her spoke once more—
"Though the Ember Fleet's members were considered failures in the original experiment, existing as proof that shipgirls were not entirely perfect individuals, they still completed every stage of the experiment and