Shizue slowed to a walk, before looking around her. Everywhere she looked was the same. A barren city. Rubble, no life. Broken pavement and old cars, the occasional dead body that was rotting away. Not a single life form to be seen, not even insects or rats or even plants.

The sight, for some reason, reminded her of her hometown. She wondered if this is what it would have looked like, after the fire.

She had lost everything she knew back then, before being summoned to the otherworld. In the otherworld, she felt lost, and felt used by Leon. Then she was saved by the Hero, who turned out to be Chloe and Hinata. Although she loved and respected them, she still hated the world that caused her this much suffering.

That all eventually changed when she met Rimuru, a lovable slime who showed her the way their original world had turned out. More modernized, more beautiful and much more peaceful. She was finally satisfied and ready to die.

She was swallowed by Rimuru, and was able to dream. But she could also see what was going on in Rimuru's life. His perseverance, his naïve ideals, his mistakes and his accomplishments, all surprised her. His will to keep persevering, despite everything thrown at him, reminded him of her of her mother and father. The fact that he cherished his companions more than anything else was incredibly selfless in her eyes, especially since she felt used ever since she had arrived in that world. She felt extremely lucky to have met him, and started to wish to be by his side once more. The fact that he did what she could not, and saved both the children and Hinata, simply augmented that feeling.

Her mother, who she could see and talk to in this dimension, simply told her to follow her heart, before laughing and saying something inaudible, but it sounded like young love…

At the final battle, she felt tremendous pain, seeing one of her beloved students acting so deranged, and simply refused to believe that that was Yuuki. And despite the situation, instead of simply killing Yuuki, Rimuru acted on her behalf once more, aiding Yuuki in regaining his senses. When asked why, he simply said that he would have felt guilty if he didn't do so.

Perhaps that was what made her fall in love with him. She felt that this was beyond simple romantic love. A selfless being who simply did what he felt was right, would feel guilty if other's he knew were upset. It was ironic that a monster like him was more human than many other humans she had seen, in both worlds.

But even he had his limits…

Those that hurt others, or hurt the people around him, got no mercy from him. The army from the late Falmuth Kingdom is one prime example.

She could still remember the anger, sorrow and then hatred that had engulfed him back then. That was when she realised what it truly meant to anger him. A person who had been so kind to her back then, who aided her, a random stranger he came across, just because they were both Japanese.

That kind soul had been engulfed in darkness and rage. An aura of endless death, ready to engulf even those around him.

She understood why Rimuru killed humans, and it was because he prioritized those close to him over those unknown to him. Yet despite him holding hate for these men, even she could tell that he had to steel his heart to kill them. And this happened every time he had to do so. He was kind. Too kind, but it was not like she would have told him to change.

And this was why she understood his pain now, to see a place where he had lived the majority of his previous life reduced to this. For some reason, it infuriated her.

"Whoever caused this will pay."

Deep in thought, she nearly missed a movement out of the corner of her eye. But she didn't. She whipped her head to the left, hand immediately moving onto the handle of her katana. What she saw surprised her.

An old man was walking to her left, his head facing away from her. He had long slick and graying hair, with a white beard to boot. He wore a black tailored suit, and in his right hand held an antique cane. The classic stylish-old man look.

However, what set him apart from the rest were his eyes, which were blood red, similar to Roy Valentine, the person she had seen through Rimuru's eyes when he became a demon lord.

On guard, she then called out to him.

"Who are you?"

The man turned around, as he gazed at her. A pair of long, thin canines sticking out of his mouth came into view. A flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes, before it disappeared.

"A human…that is surprising. I thought all of you died out already?"

The man was met with silence, as Shizue opted for the silent treatment, while contacting Rimuru through {Thought Communication}...

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…

"A human…that is surprising. I thought all of you died out already?" said an unknown voice.

"A vampire is here, he may know something. Not sure if I can beat him though, he is dangerous."

Rimuru heard those words through {Thought Communication} from Shizue, and those words sent shivers down his spine. He stood up, before signalling to Veldora.

"Let's go. Shizue found someone. Might be trouble."

Veldora didn't hesitate, he immediately moved towards Rimuru, as the two teleported beside Shizue.

They were met with a pair of shocked red eyes, as one of the man's eyebrows shot up, intrigued.

"So, old man, it sounds like you know something. Care to explain? What do you mean humans "died out already"?" asked Rimuru, hand on his straight sword.

The man chuckled, but it was clear that he was on guard.

"There is no need to fight." he said. "I played no role in the annihilation of humanity."

"So you are hinting you simply stood by…" retorted Rimuru.

"Well, even if I tried to intervene, it's not that simple when the cause of it is simply a deviation in history itself."

Rimuru froze. "So it's really complicated huh…" he thought, before taking his hand off of the handle of his sword. Shizue did the same.

"So, could you elaborate? You seem to know a lot more, and I would prefer not to force you to talk." Rimuru continued.

The man in front of them simply sat down and began shuffling a set of particular cards. He then started to tell a story.

"Well, in order for you to understand, you need to know what date it is. The current year is 5290, over 3000 years since the destruction of humanity. Back then, humanity was composed of Magi and non magi, those that practiced magic in secret, and those that were normal human beings. Quite similar to that book series… What was it again? Hurry Potery?"

"I'm assuming you mean Harry Potter." stated Rimuru, as Shizue looked on clueless. Veldora, seeing as there was not going to be a fight, sat down as well.

"Ah yes, forgive me." The man then chuckled. "Unlike that universe, however, the magi are mostly focusing on discovering what is known as the root, and will do everything, anything, in order to accomplish this, though there are some exceptions."

Rimuru understood what he meant. "So the world was much darker than I thought huh."

"That's right." said the man. "I should probably introduce myself, or else the rest of the story gets complicated. My name is Kishur Zelretch Schweinorg, the current user of the Second True Magic, also known as the operation of parallel worlds." The man then smirked, revealing a rather toothy grin, before standing up and bowing dramatically. He then immediately sat down.

Rimuru then introduced himself.

"Sheesh, well, guess it's my turn. I am Rimuru Tempest, the King of the Jura Tempest Federation, Great Demon Lord that saved the world, one of the current 5 True Dragons and sworn brother of Veldora Tempest, the Storm Dragon, who is sitting behind me. I am also known as both God and Demon God. Finally, I am also the successor of Veldanava, the being that created our world, quite possibly many others."

Rimuru's title as successor of Veldanava also happened at the final battle. After being banished to the end of time, Yuuki was the only remaining individual that housed both the power and potential to become the next god. However, his goal, the destruction of the world, was fundamentally opposed to that of Veldanava, which was the prosperity of the world. His nature was fundamentally different to Veldanava as well. However, the most important reason for why he did not become a new god was because he did not hold {Wisdom King Rapheal}, now known as {Manas: Ciel}, one of the most important conditions to become the god acknowledged by the {Voice of the World}. As such, Rimuru Tempest was already identified and acknowledged, as he shared both Veldanava's personality, and understood his way of thinking. Although the both of them were different individuals, their similarities were numerous. This deciding factor allowed the {Voice of the World} to deem Rimuru Tempest the next god. The individual in question was unaware of the decision. The {Voice of the World} did announce it to the individuals that were fighting Yuuki, however, which shocked them all...

Zelretch pondered for a while. He then started to state questions.

"You don't look like a dragon."

"I know, consider it a title the world gave me."

"You don't look like a demon either."

"There are many humanoid demons."

Shizue, not appreciating that Rimuru was being interrogated, quickly moved to interfere with the current situation.

"Oh, and since I did not introduce myself yet, my name is Shizue Izawa, the Conqueror of Flames. I am currently a demigoddess, and a True Hero." stated Shizue, interrupting the back and forth between Rimuru and Zelretch, with a smile on her face.

"Well, that is a lot to take in…" said Zelretch, while rubbing his head. "Anyways… since you know that I can manage multiple universes, I can tell you that they all mostly follow the Will of the World, known as Gaia, which strives for the planet itself to survive. There is also Alaya, the collective will of humanity, that plays a role in guiding humanity. Eventually, humanity developed into an organization called Chaldea, after the Holy Grail War in that universe. The Holy Grail War itself is a war between factions for the Holy Grail which can grant any wish. The wish that the winner of the first war wished for was the prosperity of Chaldea. Using Chaldea, they could peer into the future, but they saw that humanity no longer had any future after 2016, or 2019, depending on who you ask, due to a Singularity known as Singularity F. To put it bluntly, these Singularities are the result of someone messing with history itself, deviating its path towards destruction. In order to avoid this, the people in this organization summon servants, the heroes of humanity, from all the separate universes, and fight to solve these Singularities. It is both entertaining and full of drama."

Rimuru was shell shocked. He didn't know that so much was going on behind his back when he was still human. However, a question then bore to mind. "So why is it that you did not intervene? You could have saved so many lives."

"It is not my place to do so…" Zelretch stated. "Despite a few powerful beings meddling, it is up to humanity to save itself. That is how humanity grows stronger. If I did something, things would get complicated…"

"So humanity failed, huh…" stated Rimuru.

"Not quite, you are simply in one of the many possibilities, though the current main timeline is doing quite fine, despite their losses."

"So, if you can't do anything, can I? Can we?" stated Shizue, once more entering the conversation.

Zelretch raised an eyebrow, before responding.

"For the blue haired deity, she is considered an outer-god, and the world is constantly trying to erase her existence as we speak, since it deems her as unnatural. Granted, it is too weak to affect her. She should be able to sense what is going on, however. That goes the same for both the dragon and you, since the both of you are connected to Rimuru here. The world will not recognize your deeds, even if you did something. You may help, but humanity needs to triumph in the end."

Zelretch then looked at the group. To his surprise, Rimuru was groaning and face planting into a nearby wall, while Shizue was holding in laughter. Veldora was wheezing on the ground, barely able to breath.

"What is wrong with you all…" he murmured.

Shizue then responded. "Sir Zelretch, Rimuru is a male."

Silence.

Zelretch was unable to conceal his surprise.

"Hah?"

"AND THERE GOES HIS COMPOSURE! BHAHAHAHAHA!" roared Veldora, before Rimuru hit him across the back of the head with a paper fan. Hard.

"Shut up." said Rimuru, as he glared at Veldora. Veldora nodded his head and promptly shut up.

"Well then, my apologies…" apologized Zelretch, still completely shocked that Rimuru was a male.

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