Inventive Inspiration (Tensura)

by overlyred

000000000

2. 02

21

God bloody damn it.

A hopeful side effect of my making the Jura Tempest Republic was that I don't have to dabble in international relationships and skirmishes! Yet apparently being the source of all wealth in a Capitalist system and one of the founders of the nation makes you so influential and 'wise' that your consultation is necessary.

Me, Rimuru, Rubedo, Ririna, Milim, Shizue in a weaker combat chassis, and the 4 'Beastketeers' (ridiculous name, by the way, Demon Lord Carrion) are now sitting in one of the more private windowless meeting rooms of the Congressional Pyramid.

Inside the room is rather modest, with a hard wooden floor, white walls lined with TVs, bright lights, and a large wooden table so polished that one can use them for preparing their makeup. On the four corners of the room stood poles from which Tempest's flag was strung.

Now, I heard the two sides of the story, which mostly consist of one of the Beastketeers coming here to Metropolis, making a fool of themselves by declaring loudly to see Tempest's leader, dismissing the actual President of the Jura Tempest Republic, starting becoming excessively violent, then Milim tried to fight, and finally, the police came to try and deescalate the situation and failing horribly.

Realizing that the situation was going out of control, the captain of the President's security detail sent a message that eventually worked its way up the chain of command and led to me.

Four crises in one day.

I took a deep sip of the teacup in front of me. The hot tea didn't burn my tongue at all despite it steaming.

That's a new record. Even more than that time when I was tempted by their high-interest rate and bought some Argentinian Bonds and then in 2014, their government defaulted on its bonds. Tens of thousands of dollars went down the drain just like that. I had to live in my coworker's houses for a while after that catastrophic blunder.

My lips turned into a slight grimace at my remembrance of that embarrassing memory.

"So..." I breathed out after getting all the relevant information, gesturing to them, "you guys are the 'diplomats' that Demon Lord Carrion of the Beast Kingdom Yuurazania?" I made sure to put as many air quotes as possible on the 'diplomat'.

You sure as hell don't look like any diplomat I know of. My mental image of a diplomat was shaped by Urho Kekkonen, the Finnish President from 1956 to 1982. He was commonly seen by most historians as the architect who made the modern European geopolitical structure by making European countries agree to not physically invade each other.

This was known as the Helsinki Accord. And it maintained general peace in Europe right before I died.

"It's Eurazania you dimwit, and yes, Demon Lord Carrion has sent us to persuade you to submit to him." The demihuman named Phobio said.

I completely ignored that insult, but clearly, not everyone is too keen on it given how I could almost feel the hostility radiating from those sitting around me.

A true diplomat is one that's cordial, mindful of their host nation's culture, promotes cooperation between countries, and doesn't just insult their host nation.

With a single swipe of my hand, a hologram materialized in front of me. Given how Phobio and the rest of his 'Beastketeers' all stared at the holographic panel, this must've meant they didn't know what it is.

"Do you have a written paper from Demon Lord Carrion that declares you as a legitimate diplomat?"

If they don't have that paper, I can just have them arrested and charged under the crime of high treason, what with them seeking to topple the current government.

"Of course we do. Do you really think Demon Lord Carrion would be so forgetful?" Phobio then gestured toward one of his companions after he finished speaking.

I stopped myself from rebuking. If this Phobio will make a fool of himself, then let him.

The monkey demihuman then reached into his armor and took out a roll of paper before handing it to Phobio.

"Here," Phobio unfurled the paper, and on it was apparently signed by Demon Lord Carrion's magical signature, "proof that the strongest of the Demon Lords, Lord Carrion has given me this task of recruiting the one who slain the Orc Lord."

"Door me."

A black square with a purple outline appeared next to Phobio. The demihuman looked at the thing with a blank look in his eyes as if trying to figure out just what the hell is this.

Reaching through the Doorway, I plucked the paper from Phobio's hands and stared at it.

"My lady," Shizue leaned in and whispered to my ears, "the Three Beastketeers are second only to Demon Lord Carrion himself within Eurazania."

I stared at the paper while not actually reading it. Instead, I was thinking about the information given to me by Shizue. The book on Eurazania did speak of the Beastketeer's existence, but not that they are second-in-command.

"After this, you are going to tell me everything you know about the politics of the nations around us."

"Door me." I rolled up the paper before depositing it through another Doorway and into Phobio's lap.

Before the demihuman could reply in outrage, I quickly cut them off.

"Now, as a diplomat from another country, you are of course entitled to diplomatic immunity from laws due to potential cultural differences, but I really doubt 'walking into a foreign country and demanding their annexation' can fit in that criteria, can it?" I said while observing their reaction.

I've dealt with plenty of uppity brats and those who can actually back up their arrogance, let's see which section you fall under, Phobio.

"Pfft, this nation will fall to Lord Carrion's domain anyways," he sneered, "it's only a matter of time."

If I were a petty and vindictive person who can't take any insults, I'd systematically dismantle your whole nation in such a way that it won't unify for a whole century.

Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone is as forgiving as I am as the room suddenly went near freezing with Milim, who is sitting on one of the sofas off to the side of the room, glaring menacingly at Phobio. Her aura seems to almost chase away all temperature as Ririna shivered.

I sighed again for the unknown time today. "Door me."

Reaching into the small Doorway that opened up, I took out a wad of cash fresh off the money printers of the Jura Tempest National Mint.

"Shizue," handing her the small wad of cash, "please use this and entertain Milim."

"Yes, Lady Scientia."

"What?! No! I wanna stay and watch!" Milim protested, to which I gave her a tired look.

"Milim, do you want that delicious dish or not?"

"Eh..." A flash of indecisiveness passed over Milim's face, "fine, I'll go."

Both Shizue and Milim walked through a Doorway.

Now the wildcard has been removed from the field, the proper dialogue can begin.

Crossing my fingers together and leaning backward in a business-like fashion, Phobio could obviously sense the sudden change in posture as something more if his tensing is any indication.

"You do realize that whatever action you do will reflect directly off of your lord, correct? Now, you see we've already established an Embassy in the Armed Nation of Dwargon, they are doing the same here albeit slower. Point is, I've seen how proper relationships and dialogue between nations are conducted."

I finished, eying him and his companions to see if any of them gets the hidden subtext.

In negotiations, there exist two battlefields, the one on the surface, and a more discrete battle of wits and information under the first one. The first one is easy to understand, and the second one can be compared to the spy games many countries often deploy to gather intel during times of war.

Whenever there's a deal worth more than half a billion dollars, one side is guaranteed to employ agents that'll spy on the other side to try and gain an upper hand in the negotiation.

My hidden subtext in this case is telling him that we are a nation that has been recognized by Dwargon, one of the superpowers of this world. The defense treaty is kept as more of a hidden card to use in case Phobio still insists on annexation.

"Tsk, your nation is one of the weak! You should be glad that Demon Lord Carrion sent me to peacefully recruit your fledging nation into Eurazania—"

While he was ranting and acting completely unbefitting of a diplomat, I took out my phone and started playing the video of Project Thrones annihilating the orcs on the TV around us.

The Phobio and his companions looked on in mute horror as the video progressed, they flinched when Polaris fired off its nuclear payload upon the orcs and ignited the forest for as far as the eye can see.

I intentionally also dimmed the light in the room so that the orange glow from the TV is the brightest light source.

Going along with [Acitng, I then started examining my fingernails and acting entirely nonchalant about the whole thing. It was as if such acts of slaughter didn't merit any further thought because it was as common as seeing people walking down the street.

"Beautiful, isn't it? The fire that burns within stars..." I spoke in a tone that an art critic would use when describing masterpieces made by Da Vinci, "So much power, so much destruction, so much..."

I steadily lowered my voice as they turned to me. The orange glow reflected off my body and eyes, giving me an eerie visage that was only compounded by my uncanny flawless features.

"...potential."

I breathed out that last word.

"Did you know that we did that thing without using any magic?" I tilted my head back as if giving them the room to ask questions.

"Impossible." One of the cat demihumans uttered, his eyes widening with fear.

A smirk appeared on my face, "Oh, it's quite true. The power of the atom... now I know that Nuclear Magic exists, but to wield them requires whole legions of casters or an S-rank mage like Razen from Falmuth. However, for us, we can mass-produce those rings. They are machines that anyone can operate, that anyone can fire with a simple tap of a button that costs less than a single calorie."

'We can cause destruction comparable to champions of mankind with a single click of a button.'

Relaxing into my seat, I knew that I had made a hell of a statement.

"Now, Diplomat Phobio," I emphasized on his name, "we of the Jura Tempest Republic lay claim to the entirety of the Jura Forest. Every day hundreds of villages within the Forest accept our authority over them. After proper recognition, we send out people to establish a proper connection and formalize things."

I raised a hand with my palm facing the ceiling.

"Those who refuse or are resistant are shown this specific video. If they still refuse, we'll ask again while giving them a very special gift of a simple rock, a piece of the battlefield where we defeated the Orc Lord. Of course, unlike in imperialism, we respect their local culture and the people we sent over to formalize things will attempt to integrate their customs with our own laws."

Just like how in America's founding there were a lot of differences between the Thirteen Colonies, there are a lot of differences between villages within the Jura Forest as well.

"Every day, hundreds— very soon thousands— immigrate to the big city in seek of a better life. Demihuman and monster merchants who visited the Republic began to call it the Land of Opportunities with how easy it is to make money and get rich. They further spread this information with other merchants and now, just yesterday, we saw our first human merchants come and sell their wares."

Phobio seems to finally realize the actual balance of power in this room. And it's not tilted toward them.

"Tell your Lord to send a better diplomat if he wishes to continue the dialogue." Besides, from what legends said about Carrion's power, Project Leviathan alone is all that's needed to slay your Lord and sink your entire nation beneath the waves. "Or even have him come here himself, perhaps then he would discover that we are far more welcoming to those with a smile on their face."

Carrion is no Milim, so I don't really have to use the same politeness as I did with her.

The meeting ended with Phobio leaving. Rimuru left to prepare for his public speaking tomorrow morning to tell the public what had exactly happened. Ririna and Rubedo left after telling me goodbye to have the military be placed on medium readiness with additional UAVs surveying the border between Eurazania and Tempest.

Huh, I thought having Dwargon recognize our existence would be enough, but apparently, some messages don't travel fast enough.

Seeing how everyone left, I continued to brood in the room.

[Silenced Emotion: 65%]

The Beast Kingdom of Eurazania would be an excellent trading partner.

They have some of the most fertile soil and temperate weather in the entire world. With this, Eurazania is the breadbasket of the Southern coast, with major trading with Sarion, Fulbrosia, Jistav, Ulgrasia, El Dorado, and the various western states that border the southern oceans.

If we could somehow gain an alliance or perhaps have our corporations sink a large number of assets by buying up all the farms, Tempest could essentially put a stranglehold on the food source of close to 200 million monsters and humans alike.

If the Eurazanian government attempts to stop our expansion, I'm not above pulling a CIA and staging a coup or just an outright invasion with the goal of toppling a government.

In fact, given how wealthy and developed the capital of Eurazania was compared to its surrounding lands, toppling the government might be desirable even. It's a classic sign of dictators when they live in luxury while the rest of their citizens starve or just live in general poverty.

Eventually, over the next few years, Tempest will expand its sphere of influence. Wars are inevitable, and I'm going to have to dirt my hands, but eventually, the entire world falls willing into our sphere of influence. At that point, a truly globe-spanning unifying government can be created, and that's when the rest of those in this world can finally reach for the stars above them.

But before that, there's the problem of the Eastern Empire.

Or, rather fully known by the mouthful name of Nasca Namrium Ulmeria United Eastern Empire, Fortress Orientem, a superstate east of the Jura Forest composed of over 800 million humans.

The Eastern Empire is known as the most powerful nation in the world. Its government system is an absolute monarchy with all power centered around Emperor Rudra. The Eastern Empire is unique given that it's somehow millennias old, and from what I can tell, it's a legalist totalitarian regime that can be dated back over 2000 years to the reign of Emperor Rudra I.

Honestly, it's impressive. To have oppression that runs so deep, the citizens themselves probably think it's impossible to live without the Emperor.

It's like ancient China but without Confucianism and its right to topple the Emperor that lost Heaven's Divine Mandate.

I bit into my fingers in deep thought.

An absolutist, and born from a bloodline of overlords, the books say the current Emperor somehow becomes a Saint.

The Empire's government is divided into two departments that are known as the left and right hands of the Emperor: the Political and the Military.

The Political Department is the bureaucracy, a system of senators that are more akin to lawyers who try and persuade the judge (in this case the Emperor) of the merit in their proposal.

The Military is the iron gauntlet of the Empire. Having over 2.13 Million active personnel as of the last count by spy satellites, the Empire has the largest military of any nation. Analysis by AI of the count further revealed that the military is composed of four divisions: the Armored Corp comprising the most amount of people at 1 million always on standby and another million to call upon, the Magic Beast Corp standing at 30,000, the Mixed Corp with 100,000, and lastly, the fabled Imperial Knights.

Imperial Knights were the stuff of legends. Despite only having 100 members, it was general consensus even among villages as rural as the one that Metropolis was built on that if the entire Military Department fought the Imperial Knights, the Military would lose, 100 out of 100 times. The book I got the information about the Eastern Empire from said that there were rumors the most powerful of the Imperial Knights had strength equal to that of Demon Lords.

With such a strong force I'm struggling to comprehend the logic behind the Empire's centuries of isolationist policy. Having a large armed force is expensive, anyone who played a game of Civilization or similar games knows that. Hell, with their population they can dominate the world through economic means alone.

Granted, their Military Department is no issue, given how I've started building up warships in deep interstellar space. As for the Imperial Knights... I've recently launched a special initiative to combat such strategic weapons in the shape of a human.

No, the real threat that the Empire poses is the Emperor's consort, its Marshal, Velgrynd.

Yes, the Empire has a fucking True Dragon.

Emperor Rudra somehow got together with one of the True Dragons.

To unite the world, I'll need to fight against a True Dragon. Two, if the myth about Velzard the White Ice Dragon residing in the northern Frozen Continuent has any truth to it.

Even if Tempest isn't seeking to change the current world order, it's in a Thucydides Trap.

A Thucydides Trap originated from how during the Peloponnesian War, a conflict between Athens and Sparta was inevitable because the latter feared the former's rise.

Given how quickly a simple goblin village was turned into a whole metropolis in less than half a year, we are Athens and the Eastern Empire is Sparta. In fact, one can imagine that Tempest is in a Thucydides Trap with all of our neighbors except maybe Dwargon since they chose to side with us.

Doing some basic predictive calculations, [Mathematic] projects the Eastern Empire attacking in the next three years to be almost certain.

There's definitely something to be said of how the beacon of liberty spawned right on the border of the most oppressive regime in the world.

If I do kill the Tyrant Rudra I'll most likely incur the wrath of Velgrynd, which means I'll need a way to permanently kill a Maxwell's Demon.

All of my specialties are silent on the matter of how to truly kill a True Dragon. With more charges in [Laser, the specialty isn't as sure whether or not a laser array using the power output of an entire Type III is enough.

Then, [Quantum Physics] spoke up in conjunction with [Weapons of Mass Destruction] with the idea for a weapon that teleports a person into Subspace and then, as they transition back, have the atoms scatter across the entire universe.

Would that work on spiritual lifeforms though?

[Laser] once again suggested a laser array that utilizes the power of a whole galactic cluster. Well, if brute force isn't working, you're not using enough of it.

[Multiverse Physics] suggests I trap it in a universe without entropy so that, whenever they do reincarnate, the World instantly kills them due to how hostile the environment is to spiritual life, pretty much damning the True Dragon into an eternal death loop.

Could they escape though?

My safety is nearing becoming a non-issue given how I have the entirety of the universe to escape to, the Subspace Diver activation in case of emergency, and the Gravastar Armor.

Thus, the only thing on my agenda now is instituting modernity in this world.

Liberty, equality, fraternity, and rationality. Not the motto of the Jura Tempest Republic but its ideals.

As I was deep in thought, "Hey Scientia," a sudden voice called out, throwing me back into reality.

Whipping around, I saw Arcueid lounging on the sofa that Milim used to sit on, "that maid of yours... she's got a transferred soul."

My mind didn't fully register Arcueid's words. Rather, it was wondering how did she get into this room completely undetected. How did she get out of the Citadel? Shizue would've alerted me if Arcueid went missing.

Blinking several times, I then realized that Arcueid spoke something that I didn't quite catch.

"I'm sorry what?"

"Your maid. Shizue. She's got a human soul, yet her body is that of metal."

"Yes? what about it?"

Her face scrunched up a bit, her eyes looked like they are in deep thought, "nothing, it's just... I know only one family of mages capable of spiritual transfer and they are extremely well known. Yet when I looked at her and spoke to her a bit she doesn't seem to fully understand how big of an undertaking that was."

My eyes soften at that. Arcueid's not used to such miracles everywhere, "well you better get used to it, because this is a whole new world completely different from what you know."

"It's just... I miss my world, no matter how terrible it is," her lips quivered a bit, "I've never been so far away from home." Arcueid ended with a faraway look in her eyes.

I had to double-check. She's sure she's a vampire correct? Because her action right now is a classic sign of homesickness commonly found in humans.

[Silenced Emotion: 10%]

Getting up and sitting beside her on the sofa, I quickly realize I'm probably the least qualified individual for a person to comfort someone. I'm... not comfortable with crying. Such displays make me sick, it repulses me on a fundamental level that I simply must leave the room. The only reason I was able to comfort Eren— or should I call her Elyune now? Either way, the only reason I was able to comfort her was due to [Acting] guiding me through.

My gut is telling me I should give her a hug, and perhaps tell her a story.

"Why am I feeling so weak?" Arcueid called out, her voice filled with grief. Her hands were on her knees as she faced the ground, "I'm designed to be the strongest True Ancestor of them all— I should not be doing what the humans called 'breaking down'!"

I placed a firm hand on her shoulder, calming her down by a bit. I'm going to trust you on this, [Psychology] and my gut instinct, only because she's not from this world either.

"I am a reincarnator."

That phrase seemed to jolt her from her pit of depression and anxiety, and she turned to me slowly, "but the Root... the Root is where all souls that have died should have gone for a clean slate rebirth..."

"Another world, Arcueid."

Her hands gripped tight at that reminder, and I continued, "I was reborn in this cave before meeting up with another Reincarnator, you probably know him by the name of Rimuru."

"The slime?" Surprise painted her tone.

"Yes, I was able to get through that homesickness when I talked to him about our old world, so I'm going to do the same and offer you to... talk more about it. You see, I think both of our worlds are similar. Both have a technology level comparable to each other. So, tell me what you liked, and what you disliked, and I'll tell you my preferences."

"My world... as I said before, I never knew much. This is the longest time I've been conscious. As you know, I'm an executioner for the True Ancestor's fallen brethren, so whenever I'm not needed I was put to sleep. I'm pretty inexperienced in all things besides fighting."

Humming to myself as I considered her words. [Psychology] remarked on how interesting it was for Arcueid to not have any PTSD like so many child soldiers. Perhaps a quirk of her genetics?

From a glance, it seemed almost like Arcueid never had a chance to ever grow up—

My thoughts stopped as a light bulb lit up.

"A reader lives a thousand lives..." I whispered to myself while staring aimlessly into the room.

As her guardian, it was only natural for me to assist in her personal and mental development.

"I've got an idea," I took her arm and got up, "Door me, to the public library," I uttered out a command to Doormaker before gently pulling her with me through the newly created Doorway.

When Arcueid had gone through and saw the vast amount of empty shelves on the other side of the Doorway, waiting to be filled with books, she was speechless. Her jaw was hung open.

The Jura Tempest National Library. It was a modern designed building made out of sleek and mostly lacking any truly rigid or sharp angles unless in very specific areas. Since the walls to the outside were made out of mirrors, I was able to clearly see how it was evening now.

"What languages do you know?"

Snapping out of her awe, she quickly replied, "I know every human language out there, including some dead ones."

A pleased smile formed on my face. Then, I took her to a section of the library filled with books fit for ages 8-12.

We had to walk for a few minutes, yet I knew the place like the back of my hand since I'm the designer of this grand library.

I picked out a very special book. It was rather short, with no more than half a hundred thousand words.

Honestly, the book was in reality made over the course of an hour by an AI when I wanted to test just how creative AIs can be without fully becoming sentient. I had fed it information from [Literature] and [Writing] and the Narrow Artificial Intelligence created this book about a kid going on a grand journey across the stars, discovering all kinds of aliens and other wonderful worlds while battling eldritch horrors.

It was a classical chosen hero story, yet the AI somehow had innovated the age-old formula, creating a refreshing story that anyone, even me who has read hundreds of novels and can spot tropes from miles away, can enjoy even if it targeted a younger audience. It was considered one of the most popular fictional novels and the library at the Metropolitan Academy had multiple copies since the demand was so high.

Arcueid looked befuddled at the book I'd given her. She stared uninterestedly at the rather bland cover which hides what most people describe as a really good story.

In fact, there's an online form on the internet that's solely dedicated to this novel.

"Try reading this, many have said it to be a good read."

George RR Martin once said: 'a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.'

If Arcueid hasn't experienced life, then I'll give her the next best thing: a book about growing up. In fact, I'll set up a better AI that'll constantly churn out novels such as the one in my hands that'll help the vampire experience the childhood she's missed.

"The National Library opens 24/7, so you can stay here until you decided to come back. Although I'd personally prefer if don't stay out too late." I said before handing her the book.

The last glimpse I saw of Arcueid was her sitting down by one of the many desks and opening to the first page.

Going through the Doorway, I found myself back in the pristine corridors of the Citadel.

I then leaned on the wall as I fear I'd collapse otherwise. A sense of tiredness crashed into my mind like an 18-wheeler and covered any other higher thoughts I have.

"Mmm..."

Today has been a really mentally exhausting day. Four crises. I didn't even have a lot of time to tinker given how I had two charges left for the day.

I can't even use drugs to get rid of this stress since my body seems to treat anything foreign as invaders and move to destroy them with extreme prejudice.

So I'll do the next best thing then: I'll take a nap. Sleeping would definitely help with refreshing my mind and prepare me for tomorrow's troubles.

Despite no longer needing to take a nap since I passively absorb the magicule within the Cave of Sealing, it's really just for a mental reset button.

Walking haphazardly into the master bedroom, I sleepily crashed into the heavenly soft bed and knew nothing more. Not even bother to take off my clothes since I'll probably need to get to work immediately once I get up.

"Zzzzz"

"..entia, Scientia!"

I felt someone shaking my body as I woke up from my nap. Getting up, my eyes were closed since I really still want to sleep.

"Scientia! Scientia! Scientia!"

That was until I felt someone grab my left shoulder and started shaking me again.

Rubbing my eyes before finally opening them, I saw Arcueid off to the left side of my bed. In her left hand was the book I had shown her.

"Mmm... what is it Arcueid?" I asked sleepily, my brain still in the process of fully turning on.

"This book! It's brilliant! It's so good! I finished reading it but when I tried to find the next volume, it was nowhere to be found! Where is the next volume? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Wh—" I stopped her from going any further by placing a firm grip on her shoulder.

Her repeating 'where' is giving me flashbacks to Milim.

It took a few seconds, but all the sleepiness I had was finally gone and I saw a sheepish Shizue by the doorway to my room looking extremely apologetic about what was happening.

I felt my right eye twitch.

God damn it Shizue, you're supposed to be my bodyguard!

Looking at the book in her hands, Arcueid acted like an over-energetic child while I sighed and took the book from Arcueid's hands.

"I'm sorry, my Lady, I was unable to stop Miss Brunestud from disturbing your sleep."

I've opened the pandora box and got Arcueid, who seemingly can enter anywhere freely somehow. Evident when she sneaked into Congress with none of the security measures finding her.

"Also, Lady Scientia, Miss Eren is here to see you."

Huh?

22

You want me to build a weapon for Milim?"

I was moments before saying the phrase 'Door me' to a meeting with the guild master of Eren's adventurer guild before Rimuru called.

Rimuru appeared as a small hologram projected from my nanosuit which currently clung to my body like a second skin. The issue of taking out a phone and then tapping away with it became apparent during both when Arcueid first came into this world and my attempt at activating the Escape Protocol.

So instead, I integrated the phone into my clothing. Different from the nanosuit used to fight against Ifrit, this one is more specialized in day-to-day action. Meaning that while it sacrifices a bit in areas of protection, the nanosuit gains the ability to rearrange itself into any type of clothing, has all the functions of my graphene phone, and can integrate itself with any tinkering assistant.

It's the ultimate piece of clothing.

"Um, yes. I traded a weapon for exclusive information about the Ten Great Demon Lords. Apparently, Milim was seriously impressed with your 'chanted infant universe' armor and now she wants a weapon made by you." Then Rimuru continued in a tone that someone would use when asking if the other person did something shady, "By the way, chanted infant universes?"

Ah. That. The Gravastar Armor.

"Okay," I snapped my fingers, "that sounds bad, but it's mere anthropization. Let me explain. You know black holes right? Remnants leftover from when stars explode?"

The holographic Rimuru nodded.

"Now, see, black holes, after initial testing, are actually baby universes. However, these baby universes will forever implode into their singularity thanks to the effect of time and the event horizon. But, if the imploding black hole can somehow decrease its entropy during the stage right before its collapse, it can force the spacetime around it to undergo a phase transition. What's known as a 'gravastar' is born instead of a black hole. With me so far?"

Rimuru hesitantly nodded.

"The gravastar expands as the inside is filled to the brim with vacuum energy that has a positive density but negative pressure. Now, this negative pressure causes the collapse to stop right before the matter forms an event horizon around itself, and in turn, expands as a normal universe would thanks to Cosmic Inflation. However, this expansion is limited, and as the force of the infalling matter and negative pressure evens out, the gravastar stops expanding and sits still. It becomes something like a stationary shockwave. You understand what I'm getting at now?"

"I'm sorry Scientia, but frankly I didn't get any of that."

I paused for a few moments and thought about how to dumb it down even further. "Alright, just imagine the gravastar as an empty space filled with dark energy and isolated from the rest of the universe in a shell of super-dense ultra-relativistic fluid with very low temperature and very low entropy. The only reason it's not blazing brightly is because I'm siphoning the light as energy to partially power the armor."

"Al... right."

Even without [Psychology, I could tell Rimuru didn't get any of that. That's okay, he hasn't read the textbooks made by [Teaching] and [Spacetime Engineering] yet.

"In short, just think of it as my magnum opus in terms of defense. But it's really tedious to get in and out."

Honestly, it's so tedious I'm tempted to start working on its replacement. The Block-Form Singularity Mathematic costs a whole Super Jupiter's worth of matter, millions of times more but at least it isn't as tedious to get in or out of.

"Oh... fascinating. A black hole huh? Umm..."

"Don't worry Rimuru, I'll build Milim an appropriate weapon," I waved off his concern.

With that, the holographic call ended.

Now, Milim's weapon...

If I do give her a weapon, it'd obviously have to be one that can't be turned against me. You don't give anyone, even your family member, a loaded gun after all.

Instantly, [Personal Arms] combined with [Space-Time Engineering] gave me an idea of a pair of gauntlets, with [Surgery] I can turn these gauntlets into an implant.

The gauntlet/implant is a weapon that can serve both offensive and defensive purposes. The main selling point of this weapon is the ability to instantly project 'strings' made out of impossibly small knots in the fabric of spacetime. They are impossible to break, that can bind an enemy or form objects to either attack or defend.

If turned into an implant it becomes a hidden weapon that is both as deadly as it is versatile, my favorite combination.

This is why I'm keeping that for myself. None of my biological or augmented specialties like [Transhumanism] or [Biology] had ever given me an option of modifying myself through invasive surgery no matter how many charges I put into them, the only option I had ever gotten was the Neural Connectors for the M.A.N.A. and even then it can barely count.

So it is extremely fortunate to know I haven't hit an evolutionary roadblock or a genetic perfection.

Now back to Milim's weapon.

"Door me." I walked through the generated Doorway while pondering what to give to Milim that is powerful enough to satisfy a Demon Lord like her who can tank a Particle Disruptor round, while not being so powerful as to be actually threatening if pointed at me.

I'm imagining something primitive. Since Milim doesn't know much about advanced weaponry, I'm not going to give her something like a Gamma Laser Emitter.

So how about something that combines technology into the shape of a primitive weapon?

[Plasma Physics] and [Primitive Weaponry] gave me the idea of a sword. A very special sword that uses magnetic fields, electricity, iron dust, and a miniature antimatter reactor (alternatively, magicule can also be used to fuel this). By compressing, shaping, and vibrating the iron dust with electric currents and magnetic fields, the blade heats up to 8,000 kelvin and retains a cutting edge counted in atoms thick.

A lightsaber, or in this case, a dustsaber. How the dustsaber won't vaporize its surroundings will have to be worked out but it's entirely doable.

Although I have encountered a very strange magic metal inside the mantle of some planets. They appear to be red in color and have some extreme physics-bending properties that seem to make them ideal for magic-based arms. Perhaps I'll use that as the primary material of this weapon?

Since this weapon isn't going to be used by me, I don't mind as much that I'm using magic instead of pure science.

Through the Doorway, I appeared in front of a specific closed door to a meeting room within the Capitol building.

With a swiping gesture, a holographic display appeared directly in front of me.

Change: Three-piece suit.

Instantly, the nanosuit that sheathed my body shifted chaotically like the surface of a stormy sea until it rearranged itself into a sleek and extremely professional-looking three-piece suit with a black tie.

Pushing open the door and walking into the meeting room, I saw the Falmuth envoy sitting on the left side of the table while Eren and her teammates were on the right. The trio of adventurers also brought an unknown man with them as well.

The room, compared to the one used for Phobio, was much more futuristic. The walls were made of hexagonal plates of a grey plastic-like material locked in with lines of blue in between each plate.

The ceiling had lights that were shaped into wavy lines and there were multiple paper-thin graphene screens attached to the wall, all displaying a flag of a crimson sun on a white background behind a simplified blue eagle spreading its wings as if about to take off: the Jura Tempest Republic's flag.

Eight pairs of eyes were on me the instant I opened the door. Nobody spoke. Nobody dared to break the silence that I brought, the silence that comes with perfection, for to speak is to disturb it, and to disturb is to risk the perfection disappearing.

The silence was finally broken once I pulled the chair and sat down in front of the table.

The Falmuth envoy seems to collect himself and dramatically declared, "so the ruler of this country of miracles is finally here."

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm just the one assigned to deal with foreign dignitaries. I'm not the President, the elected leader of this nation." I said while tilting my head a bit to the side. My uncannily perfect voice caused the unknown man and Falmuth's envoy to flinch, "however, I do speak with his authority."

Primarily because Rimuru was needed to entertain Milim. The pair got off rather nicely, which is a huge boon for the safety and security of the Republic.

The envoy blinked several times in surprise before making a face that screamed 'alrighty', "Well now that you're here, we can finally get started."

His posture shifted to more business-like, "greetings, my name is Youm, the representative of Falmuth. I'll be honest, when I was sent to investigate why the Orc Lord was suddenly wiped off the map by a previously unknown nation, I expected to find a newly risen Demon Lord within the Great Jura Forest, not a city that can rival Lura in its beauty."

None of Youm's entourage rebuked that statement.

Bringing up a mental map of the world, I recognized Falmuth as a Kingdom that resided on the northwestern side of the Jura Forest.

It is a Great Power on the geopolitical scene. Even without Razen the Mage, Falmuth has enormous economic and trading power since it's situated between Dwargon and Ingrassia, between two of the four established Superpowers in the world.

"Metropolis is a miracle. Its streets are clean, its people are healthy and rich, and the mages I brought with me detected no magic used in the constructions of your ridiculously tall housing buildings," Youm chuckled a little, "honestly, it's all quite overwhelming. It's like discovering a city of gold when you venture further than anyone else into the jungles of Sarion."

A smile appeared on my face, "Thank you for your flattering—" obviously sucking up, "— compliments."

Youm stilled for a brief moment before coughing into his fist, his cheeks were a noticeable shade of red. "To be honest, I had expected that the leader of this city was a goblin Demon Lord and the populace to be extremely hostile. Just like all the other monster nations. But you guys surprised me again with how friendly everyone is. In short, the Falmuth Kingdoms wishes to extend a hand of friendship, trust, and trade."

"Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself, Youm?" The unknown man bought along by Eren suddenly interrupted. "You may have a high-ranking position as the head of an expedition but given how I've never heard of you, I think it's more likely you're just someone Falmuth picked up and sent out not expecting to survive. You're their Yudine the mines."

Yudine is a species of bird that starts to chirp once the magicule saturation level is high enough. Commonly used by miners to ensure the places where they mine don't have too high of magicules that it becomes hostile to humans.

The hostility between the two men was so clear one has to be both blind and deaf to not notice. I cupped my chin and started wondering how I can use this. You see, arguments are fountains of information because once things get heated, lips get looser. However, if anyone gets injured, this would reflect poorly on Tempest.

Am I willing to risk that?

I quickly weighed the cost and potential rewards before coming to a conclusion.

No. My grasp of their psychology and personality isn't enough.

"Gentlemen, please, we don't want a fight do we?" I turned to Youm, "thank you for your words. The Jura Tempest Republic will always return a hand of friendship. You see, we are a mercantile people. Unlike the other kingdoms and the false Republic of Ulgresia, ours is a true rule of the people, by the people, and of the people. It is where every citizen, no matter their sex or status, is allowed a say in our government. We don't discriminate because, with science, any gaps in physical differences can be closed easily. Having a trading partner aside from Dwargon would help us immensely."

"Dwargon?" The unknown man who accompanied Eren said. Interesting how he cared more about Dwargon than science...

"Yes indeed. And although I'm familiar with Kaval, Eren, and Gido, I'm not sure I know you..." I trailed off.

The man stilled before realizing he hasn't introduced himself all this time. Chuckling a bit, the man placed a fist above his heart, "I am Fuze, the guild master of the Free Guild's Blumund branch."

While my face was the epitome of passivity, my eyes turned to Eren, who was looking very guilty right about now.

Seeing how I'm looking at Eren, Fuze quickly said, "oh, they didn't violate whatever agreements they had with you. I'm also the Assistant Supervisor of the Blumund Kingdom's Intelligence Department, so I already knew that somehow, the Orc Lord was killed by an unknown thing that caused such devastation, the forest transformed into a hellish landscape only demons could live in. They're only here because they know the Jura Forest better than any adventurers I have at the moment."

"I see. Well met, Mr. Fuze then." I thought about whether or not to reveal our weapons, only to come to the conclusion that yes, to have a weapon only fire once is to have others know of its power, "I assume you want to know what caused the Orc Lord's demise?"

"Yes. I need to know if you've betrayed humanity or not."

My right eye twitched ever so slightly. Fuze must've instinctively trusted me more than any monsters since I'm a 'human', but he's worried that I betrayed humanity.

I looked at Fuze right into his eyes. The man did not back down from my stare.

"Display Polaris-class battlefield dominance-type weapon Test-004." I declared, my eyes never once leaving Fuze's.

Instantly, the graphene screens framed around the room changed. What once displayed the Tempest flag now showed only a pause button.

Fuze finally broke eye contact to look at the screen changes.

"What you are about to witness is our superweapon. It is the thing used to destroy the Orc Lord." As I spoke, all eyes were on me as the room darkened, "I must stress this: we are not a group of violent people. We do not attack unless we are attacked first. Play."

It was the same video shown to the Beastketeers. I could see the looks of horror grow against the orangish glow on the faces of Youm and his entourage while Fuze only showed apprehension.

It was said by J Robert Oppenheimer during the Trinity Test when the first atomic bomb was detonated, some of the scientists present cried. Others laughed. Most were silent.

I'm not seeing any crying or laughing. Only silence.

I guess being in a world where there are beings equal to nukes makes looking at an actual nuke boring huh?

Part of my mind could not help but compare them to people who live in a world where the use of nuclear weapons in conflict was common. [Psychology] then assessed how they probably don't think about how they could die in the next moment at the whims of a Demon Lord because if they do they'll drive themselves insane.

Once the video of Project Throne's firing finished, I spoke once more, "We are not a violent people. We first tried to assassinate the Orc Lord, but that failed. The Polaris is and always will be our last resort. It will only be used when the very existence of our citizens and the Republic are at risk."

The light returned. I could see how Fuze, whose eyes once looked at me with dismissal and a hint of lust, was now filled with fear.

No one dared to speak. Just like when I first entered.

Too much fear.

"We are not a violent people. We are a mercantile people. We trade. We seek to make money, not war. Our ideals are liberty, equality, fraternity, and rationality. You see these ideals seeped into every aspect of Metropolis and the way people interact with you. You see the freedoms these people enjoy, you see how we treat the orcs that joined us equally, you see how kind and supportive we are to the orcs even when they wronged so many people, and you see how with rationality instead of hating the orcs, the goblins who escaped the Orc Lord now work with them hand-in-hand to build a better future."

I paused for a moment to let the facts sink in. If Youm saw how kind the goblins and orcs are to outsiders, Fuze must've also seen it.

"Our way of life, our very system of governance is the very opposite of the singular nature of kings and queens. Here, if the government does something unpopular, the people can reject it. The leader is not above the law, if they do something illegal, they can be charged for it." I then pointed behind me at the wall, but really, I was pointing at the city of Metropolis, "you all saw how successful we are. How happy everyone is. Once news of us gets out, how there exists a different type of government, of how everyone's life can be better instead of only a select few, the commoners, the people who the kings and nobles exploit to build their fortunes will rise up."

In a way, our current situation mirrors that of Napoleonic France. We are the sole republic surrounded by monarchies. An island of democracy in a sea of authoritarianism.

My tone then softened akin to ice melting into water. I held my right hand up as if it was holding something. I looked at it. The pale skin coating flesh, all devoid of any flaws.

"Ideas. They are the most powerful thing in the world. Once a slave gets a taste of freedom, they will crave more of it. They will want more freedom. 'Freedom or death' they'll say. Our ideals are based upon what every human— nay, what every conscious, self-aware entity instinctively wants. Thus, they will spread. The kings and Demon Lords will come to fear our ideals. Their good, obeying slaves rise up even as they're being killed in droves. They will seek to extinguish our ideals. They will seek to snuff out that beacon of liberty, break up that foundation of equality, erase that belief to love thy neighbor, and remove that mindset of enlightenment."

I gestured towards them with my right hand, as if offering them freedom.

"Let me say this once again. We are not a nation built on violence but on commerce. We are not thugs wielding a big stick but traders with wagons full of wares and pockets full of gold. Our goal is not to wage war, but to advance prosperity. The ideals that guide us— liberty, equality, fraternity, and rationality— are embodied in the fabric of our Capital Metropolis. You can see it in how we treat each other, with respect and dignity, regardless of race or background. You can see it in our system of governance, based on democracy and accountability, where the leaders are accountable to the same laws as the people. And you can see it in the success and happiness of our city, a shining example of what is possible when personal freedom prevails."

I finally brought it back to my original point: "Ideas have the power to change the world, and our ideals will continue to inspire and guide us. The tyrants, the kings and Demon Lords, will tremble at the thought of a world where freedom reigns. They will seek to extinguish our light— our freedoms before they can spread. But we will defend our freedoms to our deaths. This weapon, like our own military, is used solely to repel others from attacking us. We don't want war, but we will defend ourselves from any attack."

Whereas the silence from before was one of horror like a person unable to believe their relative committed such atrocities, the silence now was gentler. It was built off of speechlessness, like the aftermath of listening to a thought-provoking video where the listeners are all processing what's been said.

Truly, [Orator] and [Public Speaking] were something never to be underestimated.

That speech inspired something deep within everyone present. I think it'll be especially effective on Eren considering her origin.

In fact, it might be almost accurate to call the speech a memetic weapon.

The silence was only broken when the door to the meeting room opened with Arcueid striding in with a carefree smile on her face and another book in her hand, "Scientia! I'm done with this book, I need more!"

Her silver bell-like voice was filled with innocence and purity, like a single snowflake untouched by the dirt of the world in audible form. In any other case, I'd almost be glad to hear her voice, but god damn it not now, not in front of these people.

I squeezed the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes shut, why didn't Shizue alert me of her coming here?

"Arcueid, please, not now. Could— could you please wait outside for a bit?"

"Ehhh?" Arcueid eyed me with a confused look on her face. She leaned forward and brought the book to her chest, "but why? You're just meeting with some random people."

"Guh!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw how Fuze suddenly clutched his chest as if he had been stabbed. Eren then tenderly patted Fuze with an understanding look in her eyes.

I rubbed my forehead at her antics. My mind couldn't help but notice the difference in common sense...

"Arcueid, I get that you're bored. Your mind constantly needs something to entertain you but could you please wait a few minutes? I'm having a really important meeting right now and I promise I'll play with you after." I pleaded with Arcueid.

The True Ancestor looked to be in deep thought for a brief few moments before closing in and giving me a hug. Due to how I was sitting and Arcueid was standing, her chest was right to my face as I turned away.

"Alrighty~! But don't forget!" Arcueid said as she left the room.

Everyone's stares immediately turned from the door that Arcueid left through back to me.

"Please," I raised a hand in a placating gesture, "she's a personal guest. Don't mind her antics."

Her antics resembled a lot like a five-year-old, what with all the attention she demands from me, and will go to progressively more and more drastic lengths to get them if denied.

Well, I guess I'm her guardian, so I mostly let her antics slide.

"Now—"

Beep*

An emergency from Doormaker.

That's not good.

Last Night.

"That group of monsters led by that one human..." Phobios growled, trying to cover the fear he felt when he saw that replay through the magical recording device.

The Leopardman then turned the grilled meat around, his companions didn't look much better than he did.

The sheer devastation those rings caused firmly put the fear of these primitive monsters into him. Phobio had only seen that type of power once during his long life as one of Demon Lord Carrion's Three Beastketeers when he first saw his lord annihilate an army belonging to a self-proclaimed Demon Lord situated near the edge of the Jura Forest.

Lord Carrion personally took to the field and slain that fool when he vaporized the heavily fortified castle that the upstart had constructed near one of the mouths of the Ameld river. The battle was better to be called 'Butchery'.

The power his lord displayed during that butchery was legendary. Lord Carrion transformed into a majestic chimera of every main beastmens in existence. Truly, only then did his Lord show why only he was called the 'Beast King'.

It was that awe which caused Phobio to climb up the ranks and finally became the Third Beastketeers.

And now that power which Phobio saw as once exclusively monopolized by Demon Lord Carrion was gone.

"The power that rings wielded..." the leopard demihuman gripped a random stick he found off the ground and tightened his fist around it, "if a mere creation can cause such damage, then what could its master do?"

"Well, there's no use in grieving over spilled milk. We better report this new nation to Lord Carrion—" the Monkey-faced Beasteketeers was cut off when Phobio snapped the stick in two and threw both into the fire.

The campfire was whipped up into a frenzy, temporarily blooming higher than they were.

"Such humiliation!" Phobio exclaimed, "Such weak creatures led by a human don't deserve Lord Carrion's attention! Just like those weak-ass humans in the west! No, this nation is even worse! They derive their strengths from their creations, not their own power! Instead of taking the field and casting the grand spell of nuclear destruction, they stand back and let their soulless automatons do it in their stead. Where is the warrior's honor? Where is glory?! Argh!"

Phobio stomped the earth beneath him, causing tremors to radiate out from the point of impact like waves from an asteroid strike that had just landed in the ocean.

"If only I had the power to subjugate them I wouldn't need to be frightened by their trinkets! And that woman..." He had a savage grin on his face as he started fantasizing.

Eurazania is a kratorcracy, meaning that a person's place in society is based solely on their might. It was said that Beast King Carrion implemented such a system in the aftermath of Relentless's Rampage because he had a few chats with demons and was inspired by the system they had in the Underworld.

As the one second only to Carrion, Phobio wielded enormous power. He could get away with a lot of stuff while receiving only a frown from his peers. As such, he dreamed of seeing a burning Metropolis, with that fair woman being his spoils of war.

Phobio's fellow underlings backed away as they were all a bit unsettled by the expression on Phobio's face.

"So raw power that you seek?" A voice that promised mischief said from nowhere. "I can give you power."

A really bloated clown strolled out of the vegetation from nearby, his posture oozed with mock sympathy. He then bowed, "my name is Footman, a member of the esteemed Moderate Harlequin Alliance!"

Phobio and his subordinates all collectively narrowed their eyes in suspicion. After all, who wouldn't when you find clowns wandering around in the middle of the night in the largest forest in the world?

"That mercenary group? You're members of that mercenary group who sells anything from information, treasures, and even people?"

"Hmm yes, I see our reputation precedes us." The fat clown sounded pleased to himself, "Tell me, have you heard the legend of..." Footman then rubbed his hands together like a greedy merchant, "...Charybdis?"

That monster? The Ruler of the Skies. The Ray That Hates. The Karmic Retribution of Humanity's Violence. The Hero Chronoa sealed away Charybdis the last time it was alive in a cave residing inside the Jura Forest.

"What about Charybdis?"

"You seek power to subjugate that women and her nation, do you not? You would need power equal to a Demon Lord if you want to stand against them toe-to-toe." A new voice belonging to a smaller clown dressed in pink appeared.

Phobio whipped his head to face the new voice. Inside him was a tiny bit of nervousness at the appearance of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance. They are known for their ruthlessness and their adherence to never betraying their clients even under the pain of torture and death.

"Who are you and how does that legendary monster enter this equation?"

"My name is Tear and I too, am a member of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance." she bowed, "Charybdis' centuries-old seal is weakening, so it stands to say that within a few years, the big Ray that Hates would be free to rampage around the world once more..." then she trailed off.

"But if someone were to somehow gain control of this power, to give this personification of destruction a mind and body, whoever wields it will be incredibly powerful."

Phobio's mind reached back to when he first read about the monster, about how it was considered to be a Disaster-class threat and it took the Kingdom of Nightrose. with the aid from Sarion and the extinct Kingdom of Thelium to fully put down the beast.

Then it woke again and rampaged across a tenth of the world before Chronoa put the seal on the beast.

Such power...

"We found the cave but aren't confident in our ability to control the beast: we weren't strong enough. Thus, we were stumped on what to do next before we overheard your wish for power." Footman offered Phobio a hand, "if you truly want power then merely say yes and we shall guide you to where Charybdis is sealed!"

"What's in it for you?" Phobio tilted his head, and Footman knew he was hooked.

"We merely want a few favors here and there as well as credit for creating a new Demon Lord." the pink one said casually, mystifying Phobio as she does. Credits and a few favors? No, there has to be a deeper motive for them to do such a thing.

He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, thinking deeply about what he's been told.

Normally, he would ask Lord Carrion before acting, but such a small nation didn't deserve his lord's attention.

"I accept," he then turned to his companions, "you guys head back without me, tell Demon Lord Carrion everything that has happened in the past 24 hours."

He carefully chose the wording in such a way that its true meaning is hidden, completely flying over the two members of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance's heads.

However the monkey Majin received the message loud and clear, with reluctance clear in his eyes, he nodded, "as you wish, but be careful Phobio."

Now, the War Room.

The newest version of the Doormaker Satellite sits in orbit around this system's gas giant. It's shaped like a two-kilometer long equilateral triangle with three massive spheres around the corners that house Doormaker's main power source dominating the satellite's superstructure.

All over the satellite were lines upon lines of computronium to aid in the calculations required to ensure when distorting the geodesic structure of spacetime to connect two points, that the occupants aren't shredded.

It's a very odd shape I know.

But, speaking of being odd, Doormaker has spotted a massive object traveling at very quick speeds in the northern portion of the Jura Forest, more specifically, the Canaat mountain range between the Republic and Dwargon.

"Charybdis?" I looked at the monitor, General Ririna had recognized the beast from stories the elders of the goblin village would tell.

The monitor in front of me displays a massive beast hundreds of meters in length shaped as what I would recognize as a manta ray. It flew over the trees underneath it like how a bird would glide over vast distances without flapping their wings once. Doormaker also spotted more flying shark-like creatures going in conjunction with Charybdis, acting like limbs rather than individual animals.

"Charybdis is expected to make cityfall in 73 hours, afterwards they will likely level it to the ground, Lady Scientia," Shizue in her silver war chassis reported.

I'm currently sitting in the middle of the small War Room, in the chair of the commander. Multiple holographic and graphene screens were situated all around me, each displaying critical information concerning the threat. Soft talking in the background belonged to other hobgoblins, some orcs, and a dragonewt or two were all working at their own desk.

This feels like a good place to use Project Thrones again.

"How soon can we get the Thrones up in the air?"

"In three hours, Commander," Rubedo replied sharply.

Ever since I had healed Rubedo we had this strained relationship where he acknowledges me as his superior and lord but always avoid me whenever possible. In fact, unless directly talked to or requested, Rubedo would go out of his way to never even see me.

"Get all Thrones up in the air and have them line up in the western tip of Lake Shisu, they will be one of our last lines of defense. Is the Othinus Network online?"

"The Othinus Network is online, Lady Scientia," Shizue affirmed.

"Perfect, link the targeting subsystem with Doormaker for its computational powers. Have the settlements in Charybdis' path been evacuated?" I'm going to record the defeat of Charybdis by our military. With us defeating Charybdis so quickly after the Orc Lord, we should be looking like an extremely undesirable target.

"No, Commander,"

Hearing that caused a frown to appear on my face. If I am to do this right then it has to be perfect.

A map of the Jura Forest projected itself in front of me, I zoomed in to an area northeast of the lake, and large highlights greets my field of vision as that is where part of the Lizardman tribes resides.

Due to them being reptiles, the lizardmen don't fit well with how dry Metropolis is, so those who do come to the larger cities were forced to buy specialized housing units that contained extra heating capability. Most of them now reside in the newly established city of Rimuru situated at the mouth of the Ameld connecting to Lake Shisu.

Moving the map focus to the northeastern, I found plenty of smaller settlements.

I need a way to quickly evacuate the nearby population. If I launch Othinus at Charybdis so close to civilians it'll likely cause casualties, and I will not have the second military operation of the Grand Military of the Republic be marred by civilian casualties.

I guess I can use Doormaker to start an emergency evacuation of the settlements closest to Charybdis while using VTOL gunships to move those further away.

I turned to Rubedo, "use Doormaker to start evacuating the civilian settlements within six hours' distance from Charybdis. Use VTOL gunships to evacuate those further away. I'm going to use the Othinus Network to neutralize this threat."

The Othinus Network was inspired by Project Thor from my old world. The basis behind it all is a rather primitive one: rods from god, better known as 'Kinetic Bombardment'. It's where satellites up in low to medium orbit contained these pure tungsten rods that they would later launch at targets. Since it's pure kinetic, it bypasses the treaty where you can't have nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons up in space.

Scientists calculate the three-meter variety can hit with a few tons of TNT, and the ten-meter types can hit with a force comparable to a small nuclear bomb.

However, Othinus uses 20-meter by 2-meter ultra-dense drills that are fired off using railguns onboard to achieve speeds far beyond the normal Mach 10 that Project Thor has, around Mach 50.

The resulting devastation I saw when testing this on an uninhabited planet was...

Immense.

Just imagine the whole area as like the surface of a bucket of water and the rods as a fist punching the water as hard as they can. The usual solid ground behaves more like a liquid than a solid with this much energy involved.

It may not be as powerful as some other weapons but it is one of the cheapest.

"I wonder just how much kinetic weapon affects a spiritual being in possession of a body?"

AN: I've altered Arcueid's personality a bit since this is a new world for her. If I were to describe her I would say she's a Scion-lite when it comes to human logic, where she doesn't know much but due to being a True Ancestor isn't completely illogical.

23

After Action Report: Charybdis Incident.

The following are excerpts of the timeline section belonging to the after-action report complied by Commander Scientia Tempest involving the termination of Designated: Geronimo (Charybdis). It was then decided from now on, every military operation will have a sanitized version of an After Action Report given to the general populace.

The following is deemed: [For Public Distribution and Official Use Only]

The Date is XXXX-XX-XX

-Designated: Geronimo (Charybdis) was first sighted via satellite at 9:21:42 within the Canaat Mountain Range.

-The Grand Republic's Military was mobilized extremely quickly. The usage of Doorways for general staff was permitted.

-Operation Scylla officially began the same day at 11:00:00 Metropolitan Standard Time.

-At 15:18:21 Metropolitan Standard Time, full usage of the Othinus Network was recorded. A total of three-hundred-ninety-seven (397) Orichalcum Rods were launched by seven (7) satellites belonging to the Othinus Network.

The sky around Charybdis darkened as the monster flew in search of destruction. When it used its large central eye to see what had happened, it saw a sight that stirred feelings it hasn't felt ever since it had battled against that Hero—

The Hero stood unopposed. Her cape flapped against the wind that was blowing from Charybdis like a flag with the unmoving Hero being the pole. Then, she unsheathed her sword, pulled back, and plunged forward. It was a simple act, a simple move that even a child can do, yet that was all it required to defeat the Ray That Hates.

—Up there, in the skies directly above Charybdis, were dozens, hundreds of spears of light, lances of orichalcum, speeding down from the heavens at speeds of Mach 30, each packing the energy of a miniature nuclear bomb.

The falling spears were like divine judgment. The wrath of Zeus but instead of lightning, he's sending down spears.

They approached. Closer and closer, brighter and brighter, the air around each spear still burned as the air resistance caused to them slow down from their original Mach 50 speeds.

These spears were silent as they cut through the atmosphere. In fact, all sound in the world seems to have been leeched away. All the light drained empty as the sun itself became a simple bright spot up in the sky as if someone had caged it. The only light present in the world, the only light that seems to be able to exist other than the sun was the light that heralded the rods from god's descent.

All of these spears had no magic, so Charybdis' [Magic Canceling] Skill was useless.

The collective radiance of the spears was so great Charybdis was blinded.

It was the sight of a lifetime.

Then... the first spear struck.

KABOOM*

A massive geyser of flesh, metal, and scale erupted from Charybdis' back. With the amount of force packed within each rod, the rods were more like miniature nuclear bombs than anything resembling a ballista arrow.

Charybdis jerked downward. Like a piece of paper guiding through the air and then a fist had punched the center of it, Charybdis' midsection where the first spear had struck was forced down while other sections continued to hover.

The Ruler of the Skies felt pain for the first time ever since its unsealing. It was raw pain unlike any other, it was completely unlike the pitiful counter-offenses the monkeys had tried to put up were useless against his scales, it was like the strike from the Hero.

Very quickly, the feeling of pain was removed as [Pain Nullification] took effect.

Then another spear struck.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Geysers upon geysers of blue flesh, blue blood, blue scales, and golden metal burst from Charybdis' back. The endless barrage of rods from god forced the Ruler of the Skies into the earth underneath it.

The gigantic ray-like beast crashed into the ground like a runaway airplane with a burnt-out engine. The earth for kilometers around shook and trembled when the massive beast slammed into it, almost like an earthquake.

Mounts of dirt were kicked up, and plumbs of dust and debris very quickly covered Charybdis' fallen form.

However, if Charybdis thought that hiding in the plumbs would stop the barrage, the beast was mistaken. The thunderous choir of metal death was almost never ceasing as it continuously rained into where Charybdis had fallen.

It was then that Charybdis realize that it needs to fight back otherwise it will die.

-At 15:21:12 Metropolitan Standard Time, upon realizing the enormity of the danger the Othinus Network presented, Charybdis displayed the following abilities:

ability to fire off its scales as projectiles for offensive and defensive purposes.

ability to seemingly telepathically command its familiars to sacrifice themselves for offensive and defensive purposes.

So using whatever scales that remain, and alongside its familiars, it fired them like anti-aircraft guns at the plummeting spears with the intent of either stopping or just slowing them down enough that its hard exterior can deal with them.

It was a sight that came straight out of a film about D-day. An almost uncountable number of paratroopers fell from above and German AA guns tried to desperately shoot them down, yet just like the Germans, Charybdis' efforts were for naught.

Hundreds of thousands of flying scales each the size of an encyclopedia dotted the sky, each traveling at such speeds they can cut through metal like it was nothing more than a sheet of paper. But even at such speeds, they were too slow for the rods.

At best, the scales scratched the surface of a falling rod before it disappeared below and struck Charybdis. At worst, the scales shattered like glass and joined up with the barrage when a single rod lanced through them, barely slowing down and continuing toward its destination.

Akin to raindrops in a thunderstorm, the rods kept on smashing into and digging the Ruler of the Skies deeper and deeper into the earth. Steadily, the landscape cratered as a Charybdis-shaped hole took shape, just like a person continuously pushing a cube of metal onto a lump of dough.

Finally, the barrage ceased. The once-forested landscape was unrecognizable. Large cracks and craters litter the ground like dandelions in a grassy field from orichalcum rods that missed their marks.

It was a monument to what could have been. A testament to pure kinetic destruction.

Once the dust cleared, Charybdis was buried halfway into the earth but was still alive... albeit barely. Almost all of its familiars were dead in that slaughter and large chunks were missing from his back.

Its host would've died from that assault were it not for Charybdis' Extra Skill [Ultra-speed Regeneration].

-At 15:25:59 Metropolitan Standard Time, Charybdis displayed the following abilities:

ability to regenerate its scales in approximately three (3) minutes.

ability to regenerate its flesh in approximately thirty (30) minutes.

-At 15:43:29 Metropolitan Standard Time, Charybdis displayed the following abilities:

ability to recognize satellites in orbit.

ability to shoot out a black laser beam that causes solid objects hit by it to explode for twelve (12) seconds.

And it was also thanks to the Extra Skill that the depleted scales now reappeared, covering the bleeding flesh once more like skin covering muscles.

With a single flap of its wings, the flying manta ray managed to get its head out of the earth, looking up at the sky like a wolf about to release a loud howl.

Then, a black ray that seems to siphon away all brightness from the surroundings shot out of Charybdis's single massive eye. The ray was powerful enough to reach beyond the atmosphere and into space, where it pierced right through a satellite of the Othinus Network, destroying it in an instant.

Instead of dissipating as a laser beam should, the black ray continued its deadly trail and Charybdis dragged across the sky, cutting apart all the satellites responsible for the previous barrage in one swift move.

Then, it exhumed the rest of its body with a single flap of its wings, and the damage done by the kinetic bombardment was quickly disappearing.

-At 15:43:41 all Othinus Network satellites within range of Charybdis are offline.

-At 15:43:55 Charybdis continued its flight toward Metropolis by staying on the coast of Lake Shisu.

"OH COME ON!" I couldn't help but screamed when the flying manta ray thing annihilated a sizable portion of the Othinus Network.

My military uniform whipped around as I stood up instantly when the monitor displayed Charybdis blasting into the sky with an eye beam and the subsequent 'offline' message coming from 30% of the Othinus Network.

How the hell was it even able to see into space?! [Biology] and [Mathematics] started crunching the numbers on how to replicate Charybdis' feat.

Our eyes are constantly moving, even if it's near unnoticeable micro-movements. A few millidegrees of micro-movements amplified by a distance of hundreds of kilometers will cause a drift that makes the laser all but inaccurate.

Let's not even touch upon thermal blooming and atmospheric refraction. There's a reason why space lasers are impractical at best.

Grinding my teeth together, I was extremely annoyed at the fact that this beast, this stupid manta ray that was now regenerating all the attacks from that barrage, had singlehandedly defied my expectation and destroyed those satellites.

I really didn't expect that to happen.

You know, I need to really stop underestimating creatures of this world. Based on how quickly the beast is regenerating, I'll need a one-hit KO to take it out without it regenerating.

There are always the rings. I did create them to be Tempest's nuclear weapons.

Biting my lower lip in contemplation, I was about to order their use before thinking things through for a moment.

I could do that. I could very easily do that. But this will be like Brazil nuking the Amazon Rainforest; Lake Shisu is a very important source of water for the entirety of the Jura Forest. Even without [Environmental Design, I knew using even one Polaris would wreak serious environmental damage to the entire Jura Forest ecosystem, even more so than the previous use since I'll be targeting the main source of water for the forest.

So this boils down to two choices: either I use multiple Polaris to annihilate Charybdis and suffer an enormous loss of biodiversity to Lake Shisu, or I could wait and search for another solution.

If this were my old life, I'd have chosen the first one in a heartbeat since it's the quickest and most efficient, and what's more, I won't be responsible for the cleanup. Here, I'll have to be responsible since otherwise, the Tempest government would lose legitimacy because the citizens will think 'if the government can't enforce its laws on X, then why should they enforce it on me?'.

I really don't want there to be even a single chance, however slim, that Tempest becomes a Haiti situation. There's a failed government if I've ever seen one.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Alternatively—

I pulled up a tab on the graphene display in front of me and started doing some back-of-the-napkin math.

"Let's see..." I mumbled to myself, completely lost in the numbers as my hands became almost a blur with how quickly I'm moving, "antimatter... gamma radiation... fallout: zero... success rate... hotdust..."

As I mumbled to myself, I could still sense how Ririna was looking over my shoulder, her face probably one of confusion as she probably couldn't decipher the equations involved.

So if kinetic isn't too effective, let's test antimatter.

I turned to Ririna, "mobilize the 1st Armor Division. Divide them into two equal groups. Group 1 will be responsible for distraction while Group 2 will be responsible for unleashing full-powered Hotdust missiles."

The hobgoblin looked shocked for a brief moment before raw determination took over. She gave me a professional salute, "Yes Commander," before jogging away.

A fully powered Hotdust missile can carry a payload of one gram of iron-anti-iron pairs. When a single missile blows, it packs energy that's equal to three times the power of Hiroshima.

150 fully powered Hotdust missiles blowing at once would release an extremely large amount of high-powered gamma radiation within the direct vicinity of the blast.

100% sterilization will be achieved within a large area around the blast. No carbon-based lifeform, not even those designed by [Biology] has a chance of surviving within that zone.

Granted, I knew that fully spiritual lifeforms like Dryads aren't affected at all by physical attacks— it seems from Charybdis, spirits that possess a body are somewhat affected by physical attacks— given how I can see them (and from the surgery with Shizue), I knew that spiritual lifeforms interact with the Electromagnetic force.

What I don't know is if the gamma rays' effectiveness on spiritual lifeform is the same as on human souls.

Even still, it's a very potent weapon, releasing many millions of times more gamma radiation than that laser blowtorch.

Let's see how deadly high concentrations of gamma rays are for you, you oversized Manta Ray!

Just as I was relishing in my imagination the destruction the Hotdust missiles would unleash with a large grin on my face, I suddenly got a call from Rimuru of all people.

Ugh.

Tapping on my clothes twice to receive the call, a hologram of the humanoid slime appeared in front of me.

"I'm busy defending our nation Mr. President, so what requires my immediate attention?" I said with thinly veiled annoyance.

"I've been just notified that you've mobilized the 1st Armor Division and authorized the use of Hotdust missiles... any particular reasons?" Rimuru tilted his head with a look of bewilderment in his eyes.

"The Othinus Network failed, so instead I'm planning on irradiating the hell out of Charybdis." Then I quickly added, "don't worry, it's an antimatter warhead, so there wouldn't be any fallout."

Well, maybe the surrounding area will be rendered completely sterile but that's just like a forest fire. Trees from nearby would take over the sterilized area, using the dead plants as fertilizers.

"Well..." Rimuru trailed off as if he debated whether or not to tell me something, "Milim offered to destroy Charybdis since she was bored and all..."

I went extremely stilled at that. I wasn't surprised at her power given how she effortlessly took a hit from a Grand Unified Theory weapon, no, what I was surprised about—

"She offered to kill Charybdis... because she's bored?"

"Yep."

I rubbed my head at the statement. In retrospect, it should've been obvious given how human-like and child-like Milim was she'd find the act of fighting entertaining. No, it was already made clear how the Dragonoid loved to fight with how readily she challenged me to test myself against her as the sole condition.

[Psychology] put forth the hypothesis that Milim only offered that condition half expecting me to fail and half wanting to test just how strong the one who murdered the Orc Lord was.

Milim must've seen Charybdis as a chance to let loose, or maybe even to impress me so I'd give her more delicious food.

I... personally don't see the latter explanation as likely considering the agreement I had with her was pure business. If she wanted gourmet food, I'm obligated to give it to Milim since she's a really useful trump card to use.

"No, we're not having Milim finish off Charybdis." I finally answered, before clarifying, "Charybdis is another chance for the Jura Tempest Republic to show off our might. Unlike the Orc Lord, this time there's no chance of innocent casualties since all have been evacuated."

Rimuru seemed to get it, "ah, I see, carry on then."

"Roger."

-At 20:54:31, the final phase of Operation Scylla has now begun as the last of the A.A.A.s retrofitted for Operation Scylla was now in the air.

-All three hundred (300) A.A.A. of the 1st Armor Division moved northeastward. Velocity: three thousand four hundred (3400) kilometers per hour. ETA at the designated kill site: approximately twenty (20) minutes.

-At 21:10:42, A.A.A. makes visual contact with Charybdis.

-At 21:10:50, all A.A.A. slowed down to prepare for descent.

Near the northwestern tip of Lake Shisu.

Even when flying at the bottom of the Thermosphere, the sonic boom caused by the 300 specially modified A.A.A.s in supersonic configuration still reached the earth 80 kilometers below them as they cut through the extremely thin air.

When flying so high and so fast, special consideration must be made for the pilot's comfort and safety.

As such, the A.A.A. right now looked extremely different from the collection of guns and other weapons like normal. Instead, the A.A.A. was sleeker, more aerodynamic, and possessed far fewer weapons than it could've carried.

Overall, the A.A.A. looked like a delta-wing stealth bomber with two plasma trails behind it.

300 pairs of plasma trails dragged themselves across the sky, making it look as if the night was a canvas and those trails created from plasma dissipation were strokes made by a paintbrush of a god.

"This is Unit-190. Geronimo spotted. I repeat, Geronimo has been spotted. Over."

The pilots themselves wore the same armor as a typical A.A.A., only there was an extra life-support system in the form of an oxygen creator that recycles carbon dioxide to provide oxygen to breathe.

"This is Division Leader Unit-001. Confirmed. Visual contact was made with Geronimo. Over."

Even from so high up, it was difficult to miss the massive manta ray that was flying a few hundred meters above the ground. It was made impossible when the manta ray was highlighted within the HUD of every A.A.A. pilot.

"Commence Battleplan-Alpha. Let's not disappoint the Commander, shall we? Over."

Collectively, every A.A.A. started slowing down from its supersonic speeds down to a cruising speed of 1234.8 kilometers an hour, Mach 1. The long twin plasma exhaust that trailed each A.A.A. shortened until it fully receded into the engines.

Then, all of them, all 300 black triangles, fell.

All 300 fell like WWII dive bombers right before they release their payload upon the deck of a battleship.

From the ground, the A.A.A. blended perfectly into the night sky. The only evidence that could possibly suggest something was there was the occasional odd flickering of the starlight as they are blotted out before quickly returning.

50 kilometers.

Half of the A.A.A. slowed down to a mere 500 kilometers an hour while the other half continued at the razor-thin edge of sonic speed. The cloud of black triangles pulled apart as they continued to fall, and the sound of wind rushing by the A.A.A.'s body was muted by the protective power suit each pilot wore. It was like a cell undergoing mitosis.

40 kilometers.

-At 21:16:00, Charybdis displays the following ability:

ability to detect A.A.A. at a radius of 40 kilometers

Charybdis stirred, the edge of his [Magic Sense] detecting several small objects incoming. It was too slow to be another of those rods.

Reflexively, the Ray That Hates didn't bother with them. Just as how its [Magic Sense] sensed the various animals below it, Charybdis wouldn't care about those above it either. Its sole focus was on that city.

30 kilometers.

Group 1 began to spread out and slow down even more. Their target: Charybdis.

"This is Division Leader prepare for distraction. Over."

20 kilometers

Flaps on the back of the first group of A.A.A.s opened up.

10 kilometers.

5 kilometers.

4 kilometers.

3 kilometers.

2 kilometers.

1 kilometer.

"Pull up and release!"

All 150 A.A.A.s jerked upward until their bodies are parallel to the ground, the pilots experiencing 11 g worth of acceleration as bombs were released from their backs when they flew over the top of Charybdis.

Shaped like a water bottle, the A.A.A. threw these bombs from the flap on their backs as they fell.

Every A.A.A. managed to fly past Charybdis before the first concussion bomb detonated, showering the around in bright, fiery light. The entirety of Charybdis' back was set alight, making the manta ray look like a blue dinner plate that served explosions.

Charybdis roared in frustration, releasing all of the scales on its body to chase after those pesky triangles since the ones on its back were all destroyed.

"Group 2, release your Hotdust missile."

-At 21:17:27, the first Hotdust missile release by Unit-35 was recorded.

At the height of 10 kilometers, flaps underneath all A.A.A.s of the second group opened up to reveal a missile with a large head. Then, the bottom of those missiles lit up as they are propelled forward down towards Charybdis.

150 such missiles were released. All of these stayed at varying speeds to ensure that all will hit at the exact same time.

"This is Team Leader of Group 2, Hotdust missiles released. We're getting out of here before they blow."

All 300 A.A.A. suddenly returned to their supersonic speeds as they blitzed away from Charybdis.

150 trails closing in on Charybdis.

The slowest A.A.A. reached a distance of five kilometers away before the 150 Hotdust missiles all collectively reached their target...

.

.

.

.

(AN: Play: Frederic Chopin's Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor, Funeral March [HD])

View: https//watch?v=hZY5DBmgC_A

There was a single, blinding, all-consuming flash of light. To say that it turned night into the day was an understatement. Instead, it was more like there was now a headlamp in front of every observer's eyes mere centimeters away.

Soon, once the light subsided, the whole sky was now a dark shade of orange, and the backdrop of the starry night was nowhere to be seen as a massive fireball consumed all of Charybdis.

The world was silent, for the sound of the annihilation explosion hasn't reached so far yet.

Everything within a two-and-a-half-kilometer radius was instantly vaporized by the enormous fireball.

150 Hotdust missiles combined to create an explosion almost to the level of the Castle Bravo high-yield thermonuclear device, the most powerful nuclear bomb detonated by the United States.

Trees as far as five kilometers away within the immediate blast radius were straight-up disintegrated as if they were put inside the finest wood chipper when the pressure wave of the explosion washed over them. All animals and fish died instantly, the only thing that could possibly survive against 20 psi of overpressure was some of the hardiest single cellular life.

The shockwave from the explosion continued. Trees snapped like toothpicks, and all animal's eardrums burst like a balloon as some blood vessels within larger animals like Tempest Bears ruptured, causing lethal levels of internal bleeding.

Eventually, at a distance of 28 kilometers, the shockwave finally peters out like a toy car that's run out of batteries.

Animals as far away as 40 kilometers away experienced third-degree burns from the thermal radiation of the gamma rays.

For a brief moment in time, there was so much gamma radiation concentrated within a single region of space that it was comparable to standing on the surface of a neutron star.

Such a feat that put most practitioners of nuclear magic, dead or alive, to shame has finally caught the attention of a certain Primordial Demon known for destruction.

The fireball rose up from the ground like an oversized and overheated weather balloon, its lower sections thinning as a ring of white cloud formed around it like the rings of Saturn. The main fireball rose up more and more and became bloated while the lower section that's connecting the fireball to the ground became thinner and thinner, creating what looked like a mushroom.

"This is Division Leader, Geronimo down, I repeat, Geronimo is down."

(AN: stop music)

-At 21:25:12, Charybdis's termination was confirmed. All primary and secondary objectives of Operation Scylla were achieved. Tertiary objective, unsuccessful. Operation Scylla is a decisive success.

Geronimo is down. That single phrase had signaled the death of Charybdis.

I let out a sigh of relief as the War Room erupts in cheers. Leaning back onto the chair, I released the tension within my shoulders and slacked.

It is done. The threat is gone.

I condemned a single beast to death.

[Silenced Emotion: 30%]

"Mmm..." I stretched my arms, having sat in the same spot for the last few hours, "I think I'm going to take a break."

The loss and now proven obsolescence of the Othinus Network made me realize just how useless kinetic weapons are against spiritual lifeforms. I'm going to need directed energy and other exotic weapons if I want to fight against a fully spiritual being like a True Dragon.

With a single tap, I sent the files of the recording concerning Charybdis' termination to the military's Public Relations Bureau and called it a day.

My stomach was feeling particularly famished, and I also promised Arcueid that I'd spend some time with her.

I stopped as I got up from my seat. Wait, am I like those overworked and neglectful parents you'd see in the movies?

I stared at the monitor in front of me without really registering it.

Holy crap.

"Door me," I said.

Just as I was about to leave through the opened Doorway, I turned to Ririna and handed her a roll of hundreds. "Give our troops and pilots a few rounds at the bar. They've earned it. Think of it as my treat."

"Yes Commander," Ririna saluted as I walked through the Doorway.

I appeared in the middle of the kitchen in the living section of the Citadel.

Removing my cap, I looked around and saw multiple Shizue maid chassis greeting me with a bow.

"Lady Scientia. Arcueid and Milim are in the hot spring." One of them alerted me.

I stared blankly at the Shizue chassis that said that.

"They're both in the hot spring...?" I repeated in the same tone that a student would use after they've discovered there are two exams on the same day.

"Guhhhhh..." I sighed. "At least it seems Arcueid's made a friend."

Noticing how some Shizue chassis were carrying fresh clothing, I moved to remove my current one.

The dirty boots slipped right off, and the military tunic carrying my rank as the Commander of the Grand Republic's Military came off with one of the Shizue chassis carefully taking them in such a way as to not cause any wrinkles. Another maid chassis carefully took ahold of my belt and pulled my pants down while a third one placed a pair of comfy slippers in front of me, ready and waiting.

From behind, a pair of hands unbuttoned and removed my inner shirt before a white trench-coat-like towel was placed around my now fully nude body.

I walked towards the hot spring area. The sound of my slipper slapping against the ground was the only thing audible.

The hot spring. Rimuru was insistent on adding one to the Congressional Pyramid had inspired me to add one as well, partially because it fills the large floor space.

The entrance to the hot spring was decorated like the entrance to a cave. Instead of the usual white walls, they were filled with large chunks of stone with various ultra-realistic fake plants coming out of certain openings within the stones.

The door was also unlike others. Instead of being made from smooth lengths of wood, it was actually made from polymers arranged on a molecular level to give the appearance and texture of bamboo.

Opening them, I'm greeted by the sight of a large pool of bright blue water clouded by steam. The water was calm and from a single glance, there doesn't seem like anyone was there.

"Hrmm."

Taking off the clothing and having the drape over a large rock, I shook off my slippers before slowly descending into the water.

"Ahhhh..." I sighed comfortably as I settled down in the water, with the pool consuming everything up to the base of my neck. The stress of today seems to just flow out of my body like a reverse form of osmosis that cells used to power themselves.

I find an extraordinary amount of enjoyment in quiet, peaceful moments like these. As much fun as advancing societies into the modern age, I never really had too much time to relax.

I leaned back against the edge of the pool.

In the busy days of modernity, moments like these are quite rare. If there's one thing I dislike about modernity, it's that people are always living in the future, completely disregarding the moment. Granted, I have no right to judge others since I'm also guilty, but it's just a harmless thought.

Being completely relaxed and safe, my mind started to wander. Looking around, I denoted how I'd never seen bathhouses such as these in Canada. Perhaps it was because of the lack of privacy?

Feeling a pair of hands on my shoulder squeezing the muscle, I groaned out as Shizue started to massage my shoulders.

The physiology of a Perfect Homunculus is ridiculously similar to that of a human. It's so similar it might as well be the same were it not for some very specific details like how weird the cells are.

"..."

Now that I think about it, the cells of a Perfect Homunculus are really weird. They... behave like normal cells but they don't have any DNA in them. I tried to isolate one particular cell and rip it open with nanoscale lasers but all that came out was a gooey mess.

I don't really have a digestive tract. And what organs I do have like the brain, nervous system, circulatory system, and more seem to be there just for show.

What's more, when I tested things, I discovered that the cells closer to my heart are younger than those around the edge of my skin.

It was as if my cells aren't dividing so much as they were getting replaced like the rows of teeth in a shark's mouth: knock one out and another will take its place from behind.

An area of the pool was suddenly filled with bubbles as if someone was underwater.

I tried to ignore it before the person— or rather, the persons responsible revealed themselves, laughing as they do.

There were two distinctively different laughs.

"Hahaha!" One that belonged to a child.

"Ahahaha! I win!" Another filled with long-lost innocence returned.

Opening my eyes, I am greeted by the scene of a nude Arcueid playing around with an equally nude Milim. The water that clung to their body acted like mirrors as they reflected the light from above.

Despite what should normally be erotic, I'm completely unperturbed by the sight. I have no sex drives to speak of in most circumstances, and this is one of them.

Milim grimaced, "No, you came up to the surface before I did!"

Arcueid responded by having a large smirk on her face as her eyes stared at Milim with a dismissive look.

"I did win, you sore loser!"

As Arcueid's guardian, I'm responsible for her development. Eventually, it is going to get out that Arcueid is a 'guest' of mine, and since she's both uneducated in the real world and is probably naive as hell, a person can get closer to the vampire to use her as a bridge to get closer to me.

Example: Person A can seduce Arcueid and convince the vampire to persuade me to invest in Person A's company.

This means I'll need to fend off overzealous suitors and manipulators in general.

In fact, since Arcueid's going to leave after I figure out how to return her back to her old world, it's probably best that Arcueid doesn't start a romantic relationship or god forbid, a child with someone.

...I'm going to have to teach her sex ed, don't I?

I closed my eyes when a sense of great reluctance overcame me at that thought. In my past life, I've always dreamed of climbing the corporate ladder before settling down and raising a child so that even if I could not go to the stars, at least one member of my bloodline would see outer space someday.

I saw the stars, but am unable to produce a child.

I stared at Arcueid who was arguing with Milim about who stayed below water the longest.

No, I confirmed gloomily, I kidnapped Arcueid. This guardianship is my attempt at making up my deeds, and perhaps, a bit of repentance for my immorality in my past life.

"Oh hey look, it's my personal chef!"

They saw me.

I submerged more of myself into the water until only my eyes are above it. The hot liquid chased away the coldness held within my neck and face as Shizue stopped the massages.

I pretended not to notice how Arcueid went over and sat next to me. This act of ignoring continued until I felt a pair of hot arms wrap themselves around me in an embrace.

"I've read from a book that this is the way to express gratitude," due to the height difference between me sitting down and her leaning on me, Arcueid was able to rub her left cheek over my head while I just melted into the action, "thank you for letting me stay here~!" she said excitedly

Is this what safety feels like?

When I reincarnated here the closest thing to safety I've felt is with Rimuru, but these two...

These two don't care that I'm an abomination in the eyes of the world, these two, one who is known as the Destroyer while the other is apparently the Princess of a dead race couldn't care less that if the information of my existence came out, the whole world would turn against me.

I get that such thoughts are cliche, but man, do things get different when you're on the other side.

I yawned and felt extremely sleepy. [Psychology] said it was how safe I felt inside Arcueid's embrace that I'm fully relaxing instead of always being subconsciously tense whenever I'm outside of the Citadel.

I instantly frowned. Am I the guardian or is she?

So, I got up and away from Arcueid's embrace, causing the blonde True Ancestor to pout like a child who's just been denied the toy they wanted.

Seeing how the only part of Milim that was above water was her head, I felt obligated to ask, "by the way, how are you here, Milim? I can understand Arcueid (no I don't but I'm used to her just appearing from seemingly nowhere) but I don't recall giving you the privilege."

Shizue then bowed apologetically, "I'm sorry my Lady, I had made an executive decision without your permission. I had thought that due to your arrangement, it would be beneficial that Lady Milim here has access to the Citadel."

In an excited tone, "I gotta say, Scientia you got a really nice place here! Everything is so organized and clean, and the design is so refreshing and pleasing to the eye! My Milim Eye can't even detect anything flaws with this place!" Milim exclaimed with euphoria while looking around the hot spring room. "Other than here, everything is so orderly!"

The Dragonoid's eyes gained a mischievous look, before attempting to splash some water on me, only to fail as the water parted right before hitting me.

"..."

I'm not the only one surprised by what happened as both I and Milim stared at the spot where the wave anomalously disappeared.

That... all of my specialties were silent on how that happened. Milim seemed to be even more confused before drawing her hands back and attempting to splash me once again.

The wave came— only to be disintegrated into mist just like water flowing down Niagara Falls before it could reach where I sat.

Milim's face seems to contort in extreme confusion before bringing her arms up like a predator just as they're about to pounce on its prey and cause a wave large enough to splash both of us.

Yet the water dissipated right before hitting us as if the World itself didn't allow the existence of such a wave. Milim opened her mouth up in shock before narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Arcueid let out a small chuckle at the annoyed Dragonoid's expense.

I felt my eyelids become heavy so I sat down and leaned further into Arcueid, using her body as a pillow while the True Ancestor's mouth nommed on part of my hair. My head rested on her chest which just so happens to be right above the water.

In such a comfortable position, is it any wonder I fell fast asleep?

[Silenced Emotion: Error—

Or I would've had Arcueid not suddenly poke the area between my legs, causing my body to automatically seize up and fold in like some kind of mousetrap.

I opened my mouth to scream before it was muffed by the water of the hot spring, resulting in a mere gurgle as water rushed into my open mouth.

Quickly I stood up and coughed, not as much as that time with the knife in my throat but close to it as I tried to get rid of the water in my lungs. I could feel my cheeks being much hotter even when I was inside the hot spring.

As I coughed, I glared at Arcueid, who was merely looking confused instead of sorry as a normal person should.

"Where're your genitals? I remember all high-quality Homunculus have at least some form of reproduction organs. At least, from that one rogue True Ancestor."

I bit my lips to calm down. Heat and desire coiled around my body as I was forced to turn away from both Milim and Arcueid.

"You do not just touch someone's private place, Arcueid!" I scolded her and she just blinked her eyes, "That's their untouchable place, something sacred. Something the person only shares with those they are the closest to and only when they want."

Sexual harassment, even unproven accusations of sexual harassment, is pretty much a career-ender. That's why I always maintain at least a foot distance away from my female coworkers at work. I've heard horror stories shared among my peers of people who got accused and were later proven false but the social stigma persisted, and in the end, no large companies wanted to hire them.

Milim burst out laughing as if she found the whole scene funny.

"Scientia is a Perfect Homunculus," she said like how a teacher would educate an ignorant student, "Perfect Homunculus is just that, perfect. Perfection shouldn't have a gender, so they are an in-between, an idealized version of both male and female. True Perfection of the human form without the constraint known as 'gender'. Flawless in every way."

"..." I had no reply.

Her finger then went touched her chin in a gesture of deep thought, "although it has been centuries since I've last fought against a Perfect Homunculus—" the Destroyer broke out a savage grin, "that battle was truly glorious! Oh, how I wish I could go back and fight once more, Relentless can take any attack I throw at them and just keep on fighting. I think the scar from the battle is still around today— hey Scientia, does the Eastern Empire still have a volcano in their domain?"

Pulling up a mental map of the world, I realized that yes, Eastern Empire does have a volcano smack dab in the middle of the nation, "yes, why do you ask?"

Her grin went even wider, "ha! So that volcano Relentless made still exists huh?"

It suddenly just occurred to me that I'm having a casual conversation with one of the most powerful entities in this world, and said entity is in my hot spring, relaxing like she owned the place.

My own employer is in the hot spring. If this were in my world it would be the equivalent of me rubbing up to my boss in order to improve their image of me.

I was hit with a sudden headache at that thought, the mental exhaustion coming back like a tsunami that drained the beach. I am not dealing with this upon the dawn of my victory.

Getting out of the pool, Shizue stood silent the whole time on the sides while holding my sleepwear.

"Well, you guys have fun, if you need anything Shizue is here to help you out," I said while Shizue gave me a robe that's been through the steamer.

"Wait! but what about my sweets?!" Milim called out just as I opened the door, cold air blowing in as I do.

"And spending time with me?!" Arcueid joined in with a jump.

I clenched my eyes shut, please just let me rest! Sighing, I turned towards the pool, "you'll get your sweets tomorrow. And Arcueid," I raised a finger like a parent scolding their kid, "this is your punishment for touching me without asking."

Milim then pouted like a child, before finally relenting when Arcueid splashed a wave of water on her.

Two childrens, I swear.

AN: If Scientia's PRT rating if they were in Parahuman

Tinker 12, Trump 10, Thinker 10, Blaster 11, Brute 12, Striker 8, Stranger 10, Mover 12, Master 10.

No breaker rating though, as they don't really have a breaker state.

24

I woke up to the shaking of my shoulder by Shizue. Normally, I instructed Shizue to never do such a thing, as I usually wake up on my own after I've slept enough. What's more, I already rarely sleep with this new body so actually sleeping was something like a treat.

The only thing that permits Shizue to wake me up earlier was if there is an urgent situation that requires my attention.

As such it's only fitting that I immediately opened my eyes to the sight of three servants in my bedroom. One to wake me, one to carry the tray holding the morning cup of special tea, and the last one who carried the proper formal clothing for the day.

I took the tea the second Shizue offered and took a sip.

I had to fight back against the grimace that my face reactively wanted to make when it tasted the bitter thing. This tea wasn't really tea, rather it is a chemical mixture designed to shock my systems into a state that is alert.

The ultimate pick-me-up, basically. If caffeine won't work on me, I'll go with the senses that can be affected.

I then handed the empty cup back to Shizue before doing an exaggerated swiping motion. In response, a holographic display opened up in front of me showing a dashboard of my current domain in space.

"What's the situation?" I asked while a majority of my focus was on reading the systems log.

"Youm, the leader of Falmuth's envoy, wishes to negotiate a transference of contract directly under your leadership. Guild Master Fuze is representing the nation of Blumund in the diplomatic talks." the third one said as the rest stayed quiet, "and most importantly, Demon Lord Carrion is here on a diplomatic meeting to discuss the issue of how his subordinate had accidentally caused the Rain of Castamere."

When the words finally registered in my mind, my face went through several different emotions, ranging from confusion to one that just screams 'what?!' to mere acceptance. I massaged the bridge of my nose while thinking of what to say.

The Rain of Castamere is what the people on the Internet started to call the Charybdis incident. It was named so because the place where those rods from gods first struck Charybdis was called 'Castamere', and the 'Rain' here is referring to that barrage since it was like a rain of orichalcum from above.

The gears inside my mind started turning. Despite not saying it, I knew that Rimuru wanted me to be there for these talks. He doesn't trust himself to not get screwed over by other nation's representatives.

Guess my talk of 'Realpolitik' must've gotten into him. He isn't as trusting as when he first reincarnated.

Although Carrion... That was rather quick. I guess he must've somehow seen the power of an antimatter explosion and decided that we're finally a threat.

"Shizue, I know I said to place everything in chronological order— but could you please in the future report the most important thing first? And then go with chronological order?" I looked over at the trio as they bowed.

"Very well then, Lady Scientia."

I returned to my thoughts. So, Carrion. Let's see, from what I tell based on information received from books about the Demon Lord, he ruled over the country of Eurazania south of the Republic, right between the domain of Demon Lord Frey and Milim. He ascended to Demon Lord status after the last Great Tenma War.

I honestly don't believe in the Great Tenma War. A cyclical disaster that comes every 500 years? That sounds like something solely reserved for Lovercraft's works considering the premise is perfect for the creation of a lost super advanced past civilization.

So I see this as more of an attempt for Carrion to bolster his perceived power by tying his founding with that of a legendary cyclical disaster.

Being a Kratorcracy: Social Darwinism, discriminatory, authoritarian, militaristic state, Eurazania is pretty much the opposite of the Jura Tempest Republic.

Economically, they are an agrarian society. They don't use money, but instead a barter system to trade goods and services. Their tropical climate and some of the most fertile soil found in the world produces high-quality crops.

It was said that 99% of Eurazania's population lives in abject poverty while the 1% of the strongest reap the reward and that the ruler is extremely disconnected from their people.

Based on satellite imagery, most of Eurazania's population lives spread out like nations in tropical Africa instead of congregating inside major population centers. More specifically, the population seems to live in small villages that collectively run large plantations tended to by both the citizens and slaves.

Since there's no money, the Eurazanian government, like any dictator with poor farmers, takes the wealth directly from their citizens in the form of a crop quota as a type of 'tax'. The dictator then trade these seized crops at a much higher price with those Carrion deemed 'strong' at an unthinkable high tax rate.

Politically speaking, Eurazania is a broken place. The 1% exploit the 99% without a single care because the 99% really can't do anything about it. Usually, in such a system of exploitation, the ideals of Communism would thrive like mold to a fruit. However, such isn't the case because Eurazania is a prime example of what is wrong with this world.

The people aren't inherently equal.

All men/monsters aren't equal.

I'm going to have to make the people equal if I want democracy and equality to last.

Perhaps it's finally time to release genetic engineering? Sarion already has something like that but for homunculus. And, ugh, the disgusting Ulgrasia has its spirit magic users.

Although, I was about to make the comparison to the racial hierarchy of my old world, however, that's not really true. Eurazania is really inclusive: so long as you're strong, they don't care if you're a human, demihuman, monster, or whatever. So instead of a racial hierarchy and Racialism, it's better to call it a true Kratorcracy.

"..."

I decided to stop this line of thought.

Finally getting up from the bed, I waved off the clothing offered by the third Shizue maid chassis, "I think it's best if I choose something a bit more... futuristic for the coming talks."

To display how Tempest represents the future, I should wear the part.

Walking into the walk-in closet, I tapped on a specific section of the wall three times.

The ceiling opened up, and a black sludge came down, drooping onto my head before steadily crawling down my body as if it was alive and intelligent. Within less than ten seconds, the sludge covered my body and solidified into a bodysuit.

A holographic panel appeared in front of me. On it were several designs of styles and clothing that the nanosuit can turn into.

My right index fingers made continuous swiping motions before stopping on a suit that looked like it came straight out of a Tron movie. Neon lights ran up and down the sleek near-pitch black suit, creating a contrast that was unlike anything this world probably has ever seen. It almost didn't look like a human had designed it, which I guess made sense since this was made by an AI.

Very quickly, I felt the clothing heat up by two degrees celsius as the nanites shifted. Neon lights surfaced from the featureless black exterior like a submarine coming up underwater, and flaps and other seemingly unknowable components jutted out of the black nanosuit.

"You look great, my Lady," Shizue said as I spun around to look at myself from every angle, the clothes feeling not one bit suffocating at all despite how they covered my neck.

"Thank you Shizue. I'm starting to understand why so many of my female coworkers love to shop for clothing so much now."

If this had been when I just reincarnated, I definitely wouldn't be doing what I am right in this instance. The eerie, freakish perfection puts me off too much, but just like an addict requiring more and more drugs to get that high, I got used to this perfection.

I frowned as I stared into my reflection. A feeling of repulsiveness grew like a tumor within my mind.

Not too much though.

Seeing how I've stopped, one of Shizue's bodies moved to tie my hair. In this new body of mine, my hair doesn't seem to grow at all unless I cut it, what with it always maintaining a length that reaches the base of my neck.

Shizue worked my hair into a singular bun on the back with 2 bangs flowing down the sides of my face.

"It is done, Lady Scientia."

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

Walking down the halls of Congress, Shizue in a formal maid dress followed closely behind me.

There wasn't anyone else in the modern-looking well-lit hallway. The walls were made out of a smooth light grey material and the floor was covered by a dark patterned carpet. The ultra-realistic plants that were situated beside the wall to give the place a bit of greenery were placed inside a featureless cube with an open top.

The hallway I'm walking down was on the left side of the pyramid. It led to an elevator that then goes straight up to one of the towers that sat at each corner of the pyramid, representing the cardinal directions.

I found Rimuru in his humanoid form sitting on a bench next to the elevator. Anxiety was on his face as he fidgeted around in a formal three-piece suit.

He was talking with his secretary Citrinitas before hearing my steps and getting up and waving at me.

"Scientia, you're finally here!"

In contrast to his excited greeting, mine was much more tranquil and simple.

"President Rimuru."

Realizing how he was still on the job, the slime chuckled awkwardly for a bit before clearing his throat.

Rimuru then continued in a much more reserved tone, "so anything I need to know last minute about this Carrion guy?"

I pressed the button for the elevator and quickly thought about the ruler of Eurazania.

"Demon Lord Carrion is a ruler who is extremely disconnected from his people, so he may act in infuriating and disrespectful ways. However, I don't think he'll do that considering he's seen our power."

As I finished, the door to the elevator opened up and the four of us walked in. Rimuru looked like he wants to say something yet he can't find the words.

There is a non-zero chance the real reason why Carrion sent Phobio was to test our powers. Placing a disposable thermometer in the water so to speak.

I don't know Carrion's personality enough to know if that's true but it's a possibility.

In less than a minute, we had reached the topmost floor of the tower, a place that overlooked the entirety of the Capital. Carrion and the rest of the beastketeers are already here.

Preemptively, I prepared my well-practiced disarming business smile.

The elevator door slide opened to a large meeting room centered around a single long rectangular wooden table. On one side of the table sat a tall person with short spiky blonde hair and a large build: Carrion. Beside Carrion sat a female with a coldhearted stare and snake-like eyes topped off with a head of black and gold hair and a...

With [Acting] in full force, my surprise was very easily hidden. I couldn't with my smile.

Besides Carrion was a cat person. A literal cat— [Biology] corrected me by saying they're a tiger demihuman.

Fascinating. I find demihuman as a whole fascinating. Somehow, the genes from two entirely different taxonomic Orders or ever Classes were able to create a creature that wasn't riddled with health complications.

Rimuru and I moved to sit on the empty side of the table, directly facing Carrion and his cohorts. Behind us were the Jura Tempest Republic's flags hung from thin iron poles while behind Carrion were the flags of Eurazania, also hung from thin iron poles.

Shizue and Citrinitas stood behind us at the wall.

"Ah, so you are finally here," Carrion spoke first, "the murderers of Charybdis."

"Demon Lord Carrion," Rimuru spoke first, "Charybdis was a threat to our existence. Their direct pathways would've passed over our Capital and based on its capacity, leveled it to the ground."

"Couldn't you have at least fought with it hand to hand? Instead of seeing it die from far away? The best part about fighting is testing your limits and seeing the respect your opponent has for you right before they die. You can't see that if you don't do it personally."

I was tempted to point out how he had looked at Charybdis' defeat from far away, but diplomats don't insult foreign dignitaries and much less their leaders.

So instead I intervened before Rimuru.

"Demon Lord Carrion, we are here to talk about the repercussions involved with your subordinate seeking the strength of Charybdis to attack Tempest." My evidence was circumstantial since my spy satellites spotted Phobio in the general area of Charybdis, however, the implication of it was enough. "Such an act by your second-in-command would've been seen as an act of war—"

Carrion cut me off while looking at me, "oh, yes. I gotta thank you for putting the fool out of his misery. I would've killed him myself for getting tricked like that."

Rimuru suddenly adopted a more sympathetic stance, "tricked?"

"Oh yes," Carrion repeated, "when Phobio's underlings came to tell me of how a few words spoken by some clowns of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance ensnared Phobio and seduced him with the promises of power, I knew that either he wants to usurp me or he's really that stupid. Nobody gives out promises of power for free."

The snake-like woman beside Carrion then spoke up in a quiet, submissive tone, "Lord Carrion, I'm sure there's more to the story—"

"Bah, enough of me. Let's get on with this."

"Well, sorry we had to kill him but, are you sure you're fine with that?" Rimuru said, his voice suggesting he was regretful.

God damn it Rimuru. We're supposed to present a united front!

"We could maybe—"

"Enough, I will not have your sympathy for a pathetic subordinate of mine. Let's get on with this."

Thankfully, Carrion shut Rimuru up before the slime could continue.

Rimuru's eyes narrowed.

Oh no.

"Well, I just thought that perhaps if we had talked with Charybdis maybe a peaceful sol—"

I placed a hand on Rimuru's shoulder, silencing his passive-aggressive tone and taking control.

He's not really fit for politics or leadership, but having the first President of the Republic step down wouldn't bode well for successors.

Rimuru stared back at me with a confused expression, as if verbally asking me why did I stop him. My hard stare must've stopped him from verbally uttering those confused thoughts.

"Perhaps—" I started and slowly turned to Carrion. My smile was everpresent, as I returned my hand from Rimuru's shoulder to above my chest, "—we should start again? My name is Scientia Tempest, Director of Research and Development and the Commander of the Military of the Jura Tempest Republic."

My long-winded introduction was there to give Rimuru time to recover and prepare for his own. The humanoid slime's lips thinned, and he looked extremely displeased before continuing.

"I am the President of the Jura Tempest Republic, Rimuru Tempest."

Carrion looked unimpressed before deciding to go along with it, "ah, I'm the Beast Master Carrion, the ruler of Beast Kingdom Eurazania." The beastman then gestured around him, "these two are my other Beastketeers, Albis," Carrion pointed to the snake-like woman, "and Suphia," then the tiger demihuman.

I then raised a hand, "perhaps you'd prefer some refreshments as we start?"

A Doorway opened up and from it walked out a Shizue maid chassis. Within the chassis' hands was a tray that held a jug of orange juice and several empty glasses.

Carrion looked between the Shizue behind me and the Shizue who was holding the refreshments as if confused at how there were two of the same person.

"Aren't you the Conqueror of Flames?" Carrion spoke with a hint of confoundment.

Shizue bowed, "yes, that's who I used to be before I came to the employment of Lady Scientia."

"How're there two of you?"

This time I interjected, "I loved my servant so much I made multiples of them."

Carrion's posture changed. Before, he probably felt as if he had control of the situation even during a meeting with the group that killed Charybdis. Now after seeing I've somehow split Shizue in two, he became more cautious.

Perhaps he isn't as disconnected as I thought.

"And you're also the group who slayed the Orc Lord?"

This time, I let Rimuru continue with the meeting. I'm his safety net, there to guide them, not to hold his hands.

"Yes, we are. I recognized the fact that we may seem threatening with all the destruction and all that from the..." Rimuru seemed to want to find a better word than just 'massacre' or 'slaughter'.

"'Counter-attacks' that we did against the Orc Lord and Charybdis, but I can promise you that we are a nation friendly to all. For evidence, you just need to look outside! There are humans here and there who set up shop despite being right next to goblins and at least four new merchants come visit our city to set up shop here every day! We also have begun a free trade agreement and a defensive pact with Dwargon—"

Carrion then raised a hand to stop Rimuru from talking, ah so there it is, "You can keep the politicking with my subordinates, I'm just here to sign what you really want."

"That being?" Rimuru seemed skeptical.

"A non-agression pact of course! You're a nation of merchants and merchants love nothing more than peace. Bah, such weakness!" Oh, there it is, the preaching ideology, "only the strong shall win in the end, and the weak will serve the strong if they want to live."

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

Rimuru seemed to be disturbed at the sheer difference between our modernity and his barbarity, of course, this is no time to talk about just how self-destructive Social Darwinism and Racialism are. So just as Rimuru is rebooting himself, I decided to speak up, [Acting] barely holding me back from verbally shredding the idea to pieces.

"Yes, but we were also hoping to have a free trade agreement and the opening of an embassy within our two nations."

Carrion seemed to judge us for a few moments before scoffing, "Sure, everyone wants our crops. We can trade that's for sure. Anything else? If not you can set out the details with my Beastketeers."

It seems Carrion was put off by the double Shizue act. Eurazania's foreign policy can be boiled down to them interacting with only those they view as 'strong' and since Carrion probably knows of Shizue due to her being seen as a champion by the humans, the beastman probably is disturbed by how I seemingly duplicated her hard-earned power.

My smile widened, "yes, that will be all."

In the end, it took until midday before a proper deal was hashed out with the Beastketeers. We managed to get a non-aggression pact for the next five years, a free trade agreement that allows corporations to buy up farms and lands and supply a market of about 3 million upper-class citizens that can actually buy stuff.

Though to be honest, the real issue is to get Eurazania to switch from a barter to a monetary system. And after that, how to tap into the 300 million lower class and slave population.

The wealth disparity between the 1% upper class and the rest is insane. A basic calculation of Eurazania's Gini Coefficient is 0.998.

To give a perspective of how ridiculous this number is, the Gini Coefficient is used to measure wealth inequality within a nation. A 1 represents absolute inequality while 0 is Communist utopia. Right before I died, South Africa was the most unequal in my old world with 0.63.

However, even that pales in comparison to the estimates made by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management that puts North Korea's Gini Coefficient at up to 0.86 back in 2003.

Dystopias have better income distributions than Eurazania.

Ignoring the moral obligation of helping those people, those 300 million uneducated citizens are a huge untapped market and one that I intend to exploit to the max. The main issue facing Tempest right now is our lack of manpower, so in less than a year or a bit more, I want to start a program that allows mass immigration of these lower-class citizens into Tempest, 'poaching' their people if you will.

Effectively, I'm going to pull a China.

If Eurazania isn't going to fully use its massive population, I will then.

Now, right before Rimuru continued with his daily work of being President I had a quick chat with him since I get the sense he was angry. Afterward, I continued with the duty of negotiating with Fuze and Blumund and this Youm fellow.

Fuze had wanted to personally confirm and evaluate the truth of my previous speech by checking out the entirety of Metropolis. Now that he has, the man wanted to open a diplomatic dialogue with the Republic and negotiate a potential trade agreement, maybe even invite some of our companies into the kingdom.

It was said that in Blumund, the most powerful force is the Freedom Association and the Royal Army comes in a far second. If Shizue in her war chassis goes into Blumund, the Royal Army becomes the third.

Geopolitically speaking, Blumund itself can be considered a Regional Power at best. I personally think Blumund falls into the Small Power on the geopolitical scene due to the Kingdom's spies and secret intelligence. In fact, the only thing keeping Blumund's neighbors from completely crushing the nation was Blumund's covert actions.

While this is pure speculation, it's far more likely Blumund is destabilizing and festering feuds among its neighboring states to ensure they're too busy on each other rather than Blumund itself.

In a way, they're a lot like Saudi Arabia in that regard.

Fuze here probably made a decision after seeing how we annihilated the Orc Lord and Charybdis that subterfuge against us is too undesirable. So now they're playing the soft game in ingratiating with us with the end goal of a mutual defense agreement.

I had to suppress a grin during the negotiation. The Art of War often spoke of how important information is during times of war, and denying your enemy information is how you win.

If we show we can provide Blumund with the protection they needed, I can use their spies as if they were my own. I can finally figure out things that my satellites alone can't figure out.

Beyond the espionage, I can also use Blumund as a charity case to show the world just how benevolent we can be to our allies. Our 'East Germany' if you will.

Being generous creates dependency. Creating dependency fosters loyalty. While there is in reality no true loyalty between nations only mutual interests within the confines of international politics, I can damn well make sure it is in Blumund's best interest to align with Tempest as much as possible.

Mutual interest: it's like trust but better since you know when and if the other party will betray you.

Perfect.

Thus, Fuze, with the blessing of the King of Blumund, fully established a diplomatic relationship and recognized the Jura Tempest Republic's claim to the entirety of the Jura Forest.

When I brought up the idea of Blumund becoming a protectorate of the JTR. Fuze asked what it was and I explained it's a state that's under the protection of another state, whereby it enjoys autonomy over internal affairs but in exchange, we require extractions of certain obligations and concessions.

Fuze said that he has no authority on the matter and will instead ask his king about this.

[Psychology] and [Political Science] called it a delaying tactic; he had expected maybe a moderately prosperous nation, not one with an economic output almost equal to that of the entire western side of the continent despite having only close to two hundred thousand people.

The power of technology provided by [Inspired Inventor] and Capitalism. With my Blueprint Auction House selling off blueprints to the richest and providing some to others to preserve competition, every day our economy grows by a noticeable percentage.

A true miracle if there ever was one.

We ended the first and last round of negotiation in less than an hour, Fuze was extremely accommodating to whatever terms I wanted and only politely refused the protectorate status. We were able to become full allies, free trade, non-aggression, and defense pacts all signed in one day.

Now onto Youm and his band of merry men.

Simply put, it seems my speech had a greater-than-expected effect on the man. Youm wants to work for me, or at least for the government for next to no money so long as it means they'll also be freed from the shackles of Falmuth.

Basically, Youm wants asylum, or as it is known in this world 'national protection'.

Hearing about asylums, I can't help but call back to my first life, about how a boss of mine when I was just starting to climb the corporate ladder. The man was an asylum seeker from Rwanda who, despite all odds and statistics, managed to give his wife and kids a good upper-class life.

Falmuth was an interesting case. They're a Great Power that's one of the major contributors to the Council of the West, a NATO-like international organization with elements of the United Nations. Within the Council, if a member state were to be invaded they can request help and rescue from other states.

Falmuth, just like so many Western nations, has a humanity-first policy and thus, have terrible relationships with all monster nations, which I can't really fault considering the history between humanity and the monster races. Asking for Falmuth to get along with Eurazania or Fulbrosia would be like asking Israel to get along with Nazi Germany; there's THAT much bad blood between them.

However, given that Tempest is a new nation, we're warier of how Falmuth's state religion is that of the Western Holy Church.

I was tempted to reject Youm's asylum application before reminiscing how my parents have always taught me that all humans have value, being an executive taught me that not all human lives are equal, but none are zero.

In the end, I accepted his wish for asylum and turned him into our human ambassador to any human-centric kingdoms, and made his entourage into his own personal security detail that'll be responsible for his safety.

Youm became our mascot, the face of Tempest to the West.

Obviously, he'll need to go through the proper schooling, vocational training, and classes about upper-class etiquette but with the establishment of the Omniversity, he can get an AI to teach him materials I created for the Political Science course.

Lastly, is the topic of Eren inviting me out to dinner with her team. I had half a mind of ignoring it but Shizue convinced me it would be in my best interest to go, to see it as a little celebration for the death of Charybdis since all I did was just sleep.

I reluctantly accepted before telling her that I will tinker before tomorrow's start, I still have five charges left for the day after all.

[Silenced Emotion: 10%]

I found Eren reserved a diner by the name of Bob's Pizzeria.

The diner was shaped exactly like one of those 1950s American town restaurants serving burgers out in the midwest. However, other than the bright colors, there aren't any neon lights.

I vaguely remember posting the recipe of how to make Pizza online when the Internet was just starting up and not every goblin was able to afford a phone.

Entering the rather small restaurant near the edge of the Pearl arcology, I saw that the counter was worked on by goblins while orcs worked the kitchen, there was a human janitor that was cleaning the floor. Overall, it was a rather plain restaurant.

A small crowd started gathering outside the diner doors after I entered. The only thing preventing them from entering was one of Shizue's maid chassis.

There was the ring of a bell as the door fully closed behind me. The goblin working by the counter had the shock of his life with how loud he shrieked.

Quickly, the goblin ran out of the counter and bowed to me like I'm some kind of king.

"Wel—welcome to our humble abode, Lady Scientia. Would you like to try out our finest pizza? Our customers have always said our pizzas are our best dish!" The goblin rapidly said like bullets from a machine gun.

Even a blind person can tell he's nervous about why one of the founders of the nation is suddenly inside his small-time restaurant.

Looking around, I didn't see Eren and her teammates anywhere, all of the tables are empty.

"I am looking for an individual by the name of Eren. She has 2 other companions with them."

The goblin blinked once, twice, before rebooting and was about to scream in surprise before the human stopped the outburst with a single chop of the head, "the adventurers inside, asked for the most private one we have, said we charge extra but she coughed up the cash easily enough."

The human thumbed into a door casually as if talking to another person.

"Thank you," I said before heading inside, the guy made a noise of surprise when he saw that the gathered people outside were glaring at him.

Opening the door, I was greeted with a happy Eren smiling at me, the rest of her party all waved their hands.

I took a quick glance around the room. [Architecture] fund the place lackluster and I can't help but agree. By itself, the room is rather closed off, with a large circular table that can fit six people like those you'd find in family diners like Pizza Hut. The main flaw of the room was that it'll be the lack of ventilation.

"Hey, Scientia! Glad you finally came!" she said as I came and sat down. Shizue remained outside to guard the now-closed door.

On the table were electronic tablets that people can order from. Their size was a bit larger than my phone, so nothing too fancy.

"How's life?" Eren asked as she scooched over closer to me.

Ordering a cup of tea from the tablet, I turned to Eren, the darkroom is only lit by the orange lamp hanging off of the ceiling, "well, I've been really busy. We forged an alliance with Dwargon, built a hyperloop that is near completion, turned the Kingdom of Blumund into an ally state, slain the Orc Lord—"

[Psychology] reminded me that I've spoken too much, so I leaned back and quickly turned the conversation back to her, "I'm really just rambling, how have you been?"

Kaval and the other guy were reading the menu and trying to decide what to eat, while I and Eren just chat about normal stuff.

I honestly missed this, the casual talk. I usually spend too long just tinkering to really interact with anyone besides maybe Shizue and Arcueid, but the former I can't really act casual around and the latter is a child at best.

"Well, we have gotten a few more contracts," she then leaned in, "I heard rumors that there are talks among the higher echelon of Falmuth of going to war, with who I didn't get but—"

"They are afraid of us."

"Well, yeah you did cause the Rain of Castamere, and the rulers of human nations are extremely nervous..." she trailed off while looking intently. "But enough of that! I heard you didn't celebrate much after the death of Charybdis, so tonight we will dine like kings!"

The hidden elf declared like how someone would declare the finishing of the journey of a lifetime.

I find it adorable honestly. Eren tries so hard to try and keep me as a friend, I'm guessing it's particularly because she trusted me with her secret.

A pang of small guilt rippled inside me, I still haven't told her that I'm a Perfect Homunculus.

Perhaps when I'm sure there won't be any repercussions in the future, then I'll tell her.

"And don't worry about costs, we did a lot of quests during our time in Blumund so we are LOADED!" Kaval said as he selected two servings of chicken wings and a soda.

I stilled upon hearing that. Then a small chuckle escaped my lips before becoming full-blown laughter.

They're funny. "You know that if needed, I can probably advertise for this restaurant and the owner will let us eat for free? I'm one of the founders of the Jura Tempest Republic, if I say that 'Bob's Pizzeria has some good pizzas' people will flock here to taste it."

As I say, I'm reminded of that one time Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, did a Pizza Hut commercial and it bombed. I don't think it'll be like that but then again, a noticeable community of people online think I'm the scariest person in all of Tempest.

I wonder why.

Gido put down his menu tablet to look at me unbelievably, before waving me off, "this is your big night of celebration! you just eat and eat and we'll cover the cost, no need for you to do anything!"

"But—" my interjection was shut down when Eren wrapped her arm around me like how a best friend would act, "no, you are going to relax for the rest of tonight, and you can't stop us from getting you to relax."

I sighed at her insistence, relenting to her whims. Honestly, all that's missing from the celebration is Milim and Arcueid.

"Oh? you're celebrating without me?"

Oh no.

A chill went down my back, I tried to activate [Silenced Emotion] but my gut strongly suggested not instead.

I turned around and saw the door open. Leaning on the doorframe was Arcueid with a particularly scary look, further compounded by her obviously forced smile. She looked like a twelve-year-old kid who'd discovered their closest companion was hanging around with their enemies.

"So who're you?" Eren asked innocently, unaware of the danger she was in.

The now-defunct Dimensional Bore flashes into my mind.

"Arcueid—"

"Why my name is Arcueid Brunestud, please, call me Arcueid."

The True Ancestor focused on Eren and let out a haunting smile. It was one that looked human, yet there's just that something about it that alerts to you the fact that they aren't, sort of like mine actually.

I could see both Kaval and Gido instantly knew something was wrong, but Eren seemingly wasn't fazed at all. It was as if she didn't care that Arcueid was an individual that could slay her with a single swipe.

The weird feeling in my gut persists nonetheless. Usually, my gut feeling only happens when something bad was about to happen yet nothing had at all.

Strange.

Then Arcueid placed a hand on her chest and puffed it out, making Eren twitch in annoyance and jealousy, "why I'm hurt that Scientia hasn't introduced me! After all, she was the one who kidnapped me to this world."

Oh, there it is.

AN: now that interpretation of Eurazania may be controversial, but the fact that the show's joking around with the truth that 'weaker' races aren't allowed to trade in Eurazania shows they have a policy of racism, or would it be called speciesism?

Tensura is dark if you read between the lines.

25

Let me explain."

The trio looked at me expectantly. I think they're the type to act before thinking and the only reason they haven't ganged up on me yet my own abilities be damned was they know me.

"I was testing around with physics of the dimensional variety." Then it occurred to me that these probably don't even know what physics is, "effectively, I was playing around with Worlds. I was trying to see what was out there beyond the veil of the World. If there are Otherworlders, I wanted to know what else is out there?"

"So you somehow pulled Arcueid here?" Kaval said hesitantly, as though talking about something illegal.

I nodded, "it was an accident. I've stopped all attempts of breaching the gap between worlds after Arcueid came through. I'm currently working on the way to reverse my summoning 'magic'," I used the word extremely reluctantly, "and return Arcueid back to her own world."

I patted the True Ancestor that snuggled up to me like a cat as I explained the current situation. Like any child, Arcueid is extremely physically affectionate, and I don't deny her any when I'm free since I doubt she's gotten any during her time as a child soldier.

—Wait are those cat ears on her head—?

As I brush my hand across her head, I blinked and found her head with a brush of soft blonde hair. I could've sworn there were cat ears on Arcueid's head just now.

Concerning.

I return my focus back to the conversation, "anyway, Arcueid's living with me for now. That's the current situation."

In a tone of awe, Eren said, "You... managed to accidentally summon Otherworlders? What kind of spells are you using anyway?"

My eyes gained a faraway look in them as I thought about how to explain the level of science to them. I doubt the trio even knows about what a black hole is or Special Relativity.

So how do I compress such complex information enough that they would understand it?

[Literature] came up with an explanation.

"Strictly speaking, I wasn't using purely magic, instead I mostly used what's known as science, a process of studying, observing, and using experiments to understand the natural world. Other than a single summoning spell to aid in the process, I primarily used a point of infinite density to break through the surface of the World and connect to another World. Using a tether, I reeled Arcueid here."

Eren seems to be the only one who seemed to somewhat gets it as the other two looked lost like a student completely unprepared for an exam.

"Fascinating, how did you get that point of infinite density without magic? It sounds impossible, I don't think anyone else other than maybe a True Dragon might be able to produce that."

"Eren, are you sure you want to know?" I asked her with a grave tone to signal just how serious this is.

There's a reason why accepting the chance that something discovered tomorrow could completely upend the currently established physics is a requirement for physicists because it actually happened. With the discovery of Quantum physics almost completely invalidating Newtonian and Classical physics.

The elf looked unsure of herself before nodding.

"Matter becomes strange as it's being compressed. I'm sure you know of how ice turns into water and then gas as you heat it up yes?"

Everyone nodded. I tapped on my clothing and projected out a hologram of a series of molecules to better explain my point.

"As it turns out, you can do the same thing if you compress a gas. With enough pressure, you can force a phase change of a gas into a liquid and then into a solid." The hologram showed a series of loose molecules come together before stopping completely as a solid, "Now if you keep on compressing the solid it will heat up but is unable to phase change into a liquid. Eventually, once enough force is placed upon every bit of the clump of solid matter, it will eventually become so small, so heavy, and so dense that the World itself literally cannot support it anymore and it falls through. It creates a hole in the fabric of existence itself."

The hologram showed the molecules coming closer and closer together until they've all fused into a single atom before that too is slowly getting compressed until it's replaced by a completely black sphere.

It's wildly inaccurate but enough for people who only understand magic to figure out where I'm getting.

Eren looked thoughtful, "huh, so that's what happens to matter once you compress it enough. In the past, advanced practitioners of Nuclear Magic figured out how if you compress normal matter with enough force you can cast Nuclear Magic spells much easier. However, there was a limit to how far the people can compress it."

My mouth hung ajar. Really, it should've been obvious how this world has some knowledge of nuclear physics with the existence of Nuclear Magic.

"Welp, I didn't know half of what's been said so I'm just saying this," Kaval declared, "even though it's known as a cardinal sin within Luminism, countries still do it but with a very high degree of secrecy."

I tensed at the mention of Luminism, the official religion of the Western Holy Church. Secularism, or more popularly known as 'the separation of church and state' hasn't really occurred here, so the Pope wields incredible influence, I estimate it's even more than the Pope of my old world.

Beyond being a threat I'll need to deal with, the more important issue is that the Church's god Luminous could very well be real.

It's a Tolkien-esque world. If Eru is real then so could Luminous.

But at the same time, if this hypothetical god of their religion does exist, it would mean that either the god does not care about the rest of the world or does not have the power to protect every human.

The latter means they are not all-powerful as their Holy Book would claim, and the former means they are not all-good, yet this entity nonetheless commands the worship of over 100 million people as the largest religion on the continent, with the second one worshiping Milim.

"I already told you to not worry, I disassembled the facility after summoning Arcueid," I assured them, and the three accepted it.

"So uh, what race is she?" Eren took the initiative and I had to double-check if I heard her correctly.

Then it hit me: this world isn't like my own, since 'race' here was more like 'species' and thus, it isn't seen as rude since different races have different physical abilities beyond superficial details.

I looked down at Arcueid who was laying down on my lap completely mimicking a lazy cat.

"She's a super vampire."

Emphasis on the 'super' because she's somehow rebuilt herself from atomic disentanglement. The only way to be even deader is with subatomic disintegration or maybe complete spiritual destruction.

"A vampire?" Kaval shouted, disturbing Arcueid and causing her to rise up and glare at the offending man.

Kaval froze like a deer in the headlight of a car.

I pushed Arcueid back into my lap with my right hand like a person pushing against a door.

"Now I don't know much about higher vampires but are you sure she doesn't need blood? Like from all the tales I've heard from other adventurers, all vampires require blood to survive." Gido asked when he finished his drink and ordered another one, seconds later, the small door on the side of the wall opened up and popped in a soda can the size of my hand.

Finally getting off my lap, Arcueid looked at him with a bright smile, "well I am a True Ancestor, a higher form of vampire. My kind has this mental need for blood but their body doesn't, and during the process of getting kidnapped, I've changed and no longer have this mental need for blood. Heck, I can stand in sunlight without any issue."

I sighed exasperatedly, "Arcueid, can you not use the word 'kidnapped'?"

"Hmmm, no," Arcueid said pointedly.

Before I could sigh again at Arcueid's antics, Gido reached into his back and got out a bottle of alcohol.

"Now I know that Homunculus can rarely get drunk, however, we got the strongest booze in Blumund using the coins we had. The owner promised that it's so concentrated that for us normal humans we'd need to dilute it in water. 'A drop for a cup if you want to get wasted in one,' he said."

He then ordered an empty glass and poured the undiluted alcohol in, before giving it to me while pouring out a drop for their three. I sniffed as Gido diluted the ones he'd give to Eren, Kaval, and himself.

My nose wasn't able to pick up the smell commonly associated with alcohol from the cup.

Huh.

[Silenced Emotion: 90%]

My paranoia that had hidden away thanks to my much safer position came roaring back as I immediately thought this was an assassination attempt made by Gido as he figured out I'm a Perfect Homunculus.

I was about to teleport out of the room with the Subspace Diver before my logical side slapped the paranoia away.

[Silenced Emotion: 30%]

I'm a Perfect Homunculus. I doubt any poison they have access to can work on me.

"Hey, that looks fun!"

I was about to drink before Arcueid suddenly sprung up and snatched the whole bottle. Then, she went bottoms up and drank the whole freaking bottle like it was water and she was an athlete who had just finished running a marathon.

Gido and co's jaws all dropped at what had just occurred.

I would probably be more worried if she was a human, but Arcueid is a super vampire, again, emphasis on the super.

A pit opened up within my stomach as I saw Arcueid with an extremely mellow expression on her face once the bottle had been entirely emptied.

"Arcueid? Are you alright?" There was this dreamy smile on her face. Her body swayed and wobbled like one of those noodle man mascots being blown up with wind you'd find on the front lawn of a car repair workshop.

Arcueid's grip loosened, and the bottle fell.

Catching the bottle before it could smash into the ground, I glimpsed at it and saw runes engraved upon the glass. [Magic] instantly recognizes it as runes that enchant the water inside the container to induce a mental effect identical to that of being drunk but without any alcohol.

Eventually, Arcueid fell back into my lap again, actually legitimately purring as she hugged my waist.

Everyone was silent. No one spoke a single word until I sighed.

I can't really get mad at her, but that doesn't mean I can't be strict with her. As her guardian, it's my duty to both shelter her and covers for her.

And so, "Door me," I reached in and took out a wallet, "Please don't fault Arcueid, she's been through a lot. So how much was that wine? I'll pay for it."

My fingers flipped through several Tempest Dollar bills of the highest denomination like how one would flip through the paper within a filing cabinet. My mind meanwhile was going through the economics of adventure work to try and estimate with a large degree of accuracy just how expensive the false wine was.

I'm thinking a few dozen silvers at most. But for goodwill, I'll pay more.

I took out a few bills of hundreds, but Gido interrupted me, saying "wait! There's no need for that!"

A look of confoundment passed over my face. I get that it's a social convention and polite to reject offered money but those are for small expenses. Things like wrecked cars aren't small expenses, and so I should assume the same for this special wine Gido bought.

"Are you sure? I can pay for it."

"No no! We're fine!" Kaval confirmed and Eren nodded.

Eren then spoke up, "Though... why does she act like that?"

Looking down, I only then realized I'd started patting Arcueid's cat akin to how someone would pat an overly affectionate cat.

"Arcueid..." She looked so vulnerable while laying there so peacefully on my lap. Really, one would never imagine she's a super vampire, "she's been through a lot, it's her story to tell so I'll leave it for her."

Eren nodded in understanding, and then raised her glass up high, causing the other two to do the same.

"Well, at least we have these! So let's make our first and final toast a memorable one!"

The elf brought up her glass causing others to do the same.

"This is for the defeat of Charybdis! To Scientia!"

"To Scientia!" the other two yelled out before they all clinked their glass with my own.

I emptied mine, and the instant the cup hit the table, I felt the effect of drunkenness hit my mind like a runaway train that destroyed all logical thoughts.

Then, half a minute later, that effect was entirely removed. I can think clearly once more.

"That wasn't half bad."

It didn't burn my throat and instead was more like drunkenness in liquid form. It definitely lasted longer than anything [Chemistry] was able to produce.

I could feel the specialty cry out in anger and give me blueprints to make several different forms of alcohol that could very likely work on me.

"Eren, that—"

I found everyone passed out on the table.

'A drop for a cup if you want to get wasted in one'.

Huh, I guess that shopkeeper was honest in saying that.

I let out another exasperating sigh.

"Shizue."

The servant opened the door and bowed, "what is it that you wish, Lady Scientia?"

"Get these people to their hotel."

I watched as the servant used Doormaker to teleport several more of her bodies here. Gently, those bodies carefully carried Kaval, Eren, and Gido on their backs effortlessly before walking through another Doorway, leaving me alone with only Arcueid and the original Shizue chassis.

That was a fun excursion. Back to work.

The sky was blindingly bright. There was absolute silence as though the very concept of 'sound' could no longer exist.

Which made sense given the current circumstances.

I sat on a rocky protrusion on top of a large hill. All around me was the deathly silence of a world whose life has long been extinguished.

About 24 hours ago, the Von Neumann probe I sent out to explore the universe had entered into this star system and found a planet that would've supported life had its parent star been younger.

A basic geological survey done by the Von Neumann probe showed evidence of a tremendous variety of life, even more than Earth. But now that's no longer the case. It was such a shame too, as I was billions of years too late to witness what surely would've been a lush alien biosphere.

Even if much of the fossil records of this planet had been destroyed, some of it still remains. Not enough to paint a full picture of this world but enough to show that something was there.

I looked upon the system's sun, which has entered into the last phase of its life, now covering over a third of the sky.

It was a red giant.

The eery quietness does nothing to take away the spectacle of a star right before it goes supernova.

To know that something is about to end. To see it right before it ends... There's just no feeling quite like it.

In less than 10,000 years, this planet that once had the biodiversity that would put Earth to shame will be engulfed by its parent star, returning to its maker as the sky fills with fire one last time. While ten millenniums is enormous for us mortals, it's a blink of an eye on galactic time scales.

I tried to take a breath, yet failed as the atmosphere that once covered this world is long gone, blown away by stellar winds over a billion years ago.

Gazing upon the blindly bright imposing star that's so close I feel like I could almost reach it if I simply stretch out my hands, I couldn't help but feel a sense of existential terror stir within me. And yet, within the depth of that terror, I recognize there's a certain poetic beauty in returning to the place that had once birthed you right before you die.

The formation of planets was the result of leftover dust and gas not coalescing into the star. Those dust and gas then combine to form terrestrial planets if it's closer to the parent star, and gas giants if they are further.

Meeting your maker for the last time... to be killed by its embrace...

I placed my right hand on the rocky protrusion. Crimson lines blossomed from my naked chest and crept down my right arm. Using [Unlimited Alchemy] I transmuted sections of the rock into oxygen until it entirely severed a small chunk from the protrusion like a person cutting out a chunk of butter with a knife.

When the planet is consumed by the star, this small chunk will be the last evidence of this world. The last proof that something was there. The last memory of its existence. The last touchstone to a planet that had once supported multicellular life.

It is something very precious.

I felt my eyes soften as I looked upon the rock.

This world was the only other world other than the one I reincarnated on that held life. Or at least, once did.

Getting up, I raised my free hand and a black doorway with purple outlines appeared three meters away.

Walking through the Doorway, my body was greeted with cool air and utter darkness. The insides of the Citadel are much darker than the surface of a planet about to be consumed by its parent star.

Loud sounds filled my ears as hovering small octopod drones got to work cleaning my body with air blowers.

Within mere seconds, any dust and debris were cleared off. The synthetic fiber-based clothing I had on when I entered that place burned away like paper in a raging fire from the heat of the local and was now replaced by a full-body nanite coating when I entered the Citadel's Workshop.

Thick, high-tech blast doors slid open to reveal the inside of a warehouse comparable to Berlin Airport.

In truth, without my previous knowledge, one wouldn't know it was that big, but instead, appear to be endless as every direction was blocked by towering machines that rises from the metal floor like the skyscrapers in a city, preventing anyone from seeing the wall on the other side.

[Spatial Compression] coincidence with [Dimensional Physics] works miracles.

I continued my walk unabated, and very soon the ground underneath my very feet rose up to reveal the fact that it was actually a hover pad using control over dark energy, a cosmological constant that has a positive density but negative pressure.

Multiple holographic screens lit up all around me, displaying a dashboard of information pertaining to the Von Neumann probes and what they discovered as well as the construction of the fleet within the intergalactic void.

The hover pad flew over tall monolithic machines that served purposes no one besides me would understand, passed over an observation lens that can peer into the tiniest sections of reality itself, rushed over devices that can record events so short there's an argument for its nonexistence.

Their value would be incalculable to modern 21st Century physicists, but for me, they've served their purpose in helping me understand the nature of the universe and have thus become obsolete.

Now, the real purpose of my excursion into this workshop was for: the Imaginary Space.

Imaginary Space appears as this massive black circular platform the size of a suburban house. The surface of Imaginary Space was featureless and polished so much one can see their reflection. There are four large protrusions that come out of the sides of the platform that curves inward, making Imaginary Space look like a claw that belonged to some unknowable creature.

Exactly as it's named, Imaginary Space is the most sophisticated hologram projector I've ever created. With an incredibly powerful computer, Imaginary Space is built for the purposes of helping me project maths, and display designs and blueprints.

Imaginary Space also has one of the most accurate physics engines ever, capable of simulating the behaviors of quantum uncertainty and a few undecillion atoms. Such a powerful and accurate physics engine permits me to test out tinkertech constructs without actually spending any resources.

Though to be honest, the last one isn't really an issue with me having an enforceable claim to a noticeable portion of the entire galaxy.

As with colonizers of old, you can lay claim to an area of land, but you need to be able to back up that claim with force. Usually, this is done with the backing of the local government, but space is really a wild west out there.

The hover pad stopped right next to the platform.

Stepping off, my hardened nanite shoes made metallic clanks with every step I took against the smooth surface of the Imaginary Space, creating echoes that reverberated all around me.

I stopped around the edge of the platform, and some of the nanites on my shoes rearranged themselves and plugged into the smooth surface. Suddenly, a holographic heads-up display overlaid itself around my head, making it look as if I was wearing a pair of glasses. Very quickly more holograms followed that formed all over my body.

It was as if I was wearing an entire set of holographic armor.

Although not my most powerful creation, holograms are definitely some of the most useful ones, personally speaking.

With a single swiping gesture, a large grey block the size of an SUV was projected into the center of the circular platform, floating a few centimeters off the ground. There were detailed engravings carved onto every bit of the block's surface.

The hologram was so life-like that anyone who first saw this would mistake it for something real.

I leaned backward, and the nanites around my leg area instantly hardened to create a slanted wall that I could somewhat get comfortable with.

With that dealt with, I turned my focus fully on the projected digital mass in front of me. [Molecular Engineering] recognize it as a type of computronium, a form of molecular electronics dedicated to the sole purpose of calculations.

It's so advanced that I'm forced to create an entirely new coding system just for it. This means the computronium wouldn't even use binary since that'll be like trying to play a cassette tape by inserting it into a smart TV: it's just too obsolete.

I stretched out both of my hands and then moved them. Sensing them, the holographic computronium block followed my hand.

Pulling both of my hands apart while making sure my fingers stayed the same, the computronium block pulled itself apart as though I had somehow telekinetically broken it.

The inside is ungodly complex.

I spun my hand around an invisible axle and the two pieces of computronium spun as well.

Then I tapped a section of the holographic gauntlet formed around my right hand and a blob of the exotic matter was projected directly in front of me.

A grin appeared on my face.

Let's create another miracle.

I was like a conductor. Every moment of my arms and the hologram changed. There weren't any wasted movements as [Acting] and [Gymnastics] aided me in perfecting the manipulation of the hologram in front of me.

In mere minutes, I created a new type of computronium that is much more powerful than a conventional computer. It is something that approaches Bremermann's Limit, the very peak of the maximum rate of computation that can be achieved within a self-contained system.

Next on the agenda, I placed the remaining charges for today into the already lit [Stellar Engine] and [Megastructures]. Immediately, a wealth of information that once should've had me going into a fugue popped into my mind like a flower blooming at the beginning of spring.

Yet it is but one in a field of other flowers, other specialties.

A smile blossomed like the many flowers of [Inspired Inventor]. The power to challenge reality will soon be within my reach, and with it, a chance to free Veldora from his confinement and give the Jura Tempest Republic one more trump card in its arsenal.

Hours later.

"What the what the what?"

"My request... my ultimate request when I agreed to be in your service, Lady Scientia, is to help my old students," Shizue spoke in a tone that was filled to the brim with submission and respect.

I was originally working on the blueprint for a section of the Matrioshka Brain when Shizue had come knocking. My plan was to complete a small section and then copy and paste the section until it covered a star. Afterward, I'll have an AI look it over to see if there are any flaws or mistakes and correct them.

However, hearing what Shizue had said caused my mind to do a mental equivalent of a 'crash' and forced a restart.

I had entirely forgotten about that.

"Remind me again, why does your old student need my help?" I asked with confusion clear in my voice.

The almost completed hyper-complex stellar shell of the Matrioshka Brain started passively spinning around above Imaginary Space as it's programmed to do.

A Matrioshka Brain is— or rather, was, a hypothetical megastructure of enormous computational capacity powered by a Dyson Sphere. It is a type of stellar engine that uses the energy output of an entire star to power a computer.

Physically speaking, it has the internal consistency of an onion. A Matrioshka Brain is filled with layers, each layer filled with computers that collect and radiate heat outward into a new layer which turns it into energy for computing. This process is then repeated hundreds of times before there is no more heat to radiate to the next layer anymore.

To give you a perspective on the power of a Matrioshka Brain, with only conventional computers limited by the Carnot Efficiency and the Landauer's Limit, you can simulate a whole universe with just one Matrioshka Brain.

Yesterday night, right before I had entered that dead world, the Von Neumann probes had found a system near the center of the galaxy perfect for the construction of such a computer that can challenge reality itself. If I could link it with [Great Sage] I can speed up that Unique Skill's calculation by a factor of hundreds of billions at the very least.

If I'm really desperate for calculation, I can also order the creation of a fleet of Jupiter Brains— a planet fully turned into a computer— if a single Matrioshka Brain isn't enough. That should push it into trillions.

Usually, if done conventionally, it'll take thousands of years to complete the Matrioshka Brain. However, if I divert a large percentage of my existing and near-future industrial capacity as well as fully utilize the exponential growth of nanomachines, I can complete it in perhaps two to three months.

I think I'm near Type-II status on the Kardashev scale.

"My Lady, these students are Otherworlders. However, unlike yourself, they were summoned by the mages of this world. But, they were summoned wrong in the sense they're too young to properly contain the magicule increase that comes with crossing between worlds, so most do not survive past the five-year mark." My servant explained.

Fascinating. The infusion of magicules to souls as they cross between worlds seems to suggest magicules itself originated from somewhere outside of Realspace.

Although, I wonder what kind of spells people of this world use. I mean I used a naked singularity to pierce the barrier between universes in the form of a wormhole but I don't think anyone else other than me has access to a naked singularity. With the Dimensional Bore, I reeled in inanimate objects, and it was only with magic that I reeled in Arcueid.

More things to investigate in the future. I placed that on the mental equivalent of a post-it note.

"These students are nearing that point, please, help them!" Shizue pleaded to me, lowering herself into what Rimuru apparently called a 'dogeza' with desperation clear in her voice, "I had originally come out of retirement and took the mission coming to Jura when Guild Master Fuze had told me of a god-like knife that someone made without magic, I had thought that if they could save me, then perhaps they would be able to save these kids. I... I know that I attempted to cheat out of the life-long contract by dying early, but please, at least allow me to comfort these kids in their final hour—"

"Enough." A simple phrase silenced everything. Shiuze looked up at me from her prostrated form with desperation clear in her eyes.

Man, that synthetic face looks indistinguishable from the real thing.

I crossed my arms, "that was still in the contract no? I did promise I would save them."

I'm... not comfortable with someone so close to me showing submission, even as I felt a sense of pleasure course through my body. You are my employee, take pride in that. Even if it's directed toward me, the boss, I want employees who can think for themselves.

I want thinkers, not workers. If I wanted workers I'd build robots.

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

Very quickly that guilty pleasure dissipated as I turned up the [Silenced Emotion]. I will not allow such mental vices to affect me, yet even with [Silenced Emotion] running so high, it does nothing from the sense of foreboding that my gut is feeling.

According to Shizue, they were summoned with too much magicule in their body, so the obvious solution dictated by Occam's Razor: "couldn't you just suck the magicule out?"

Those words left my mouth before I could properly process the content, [Acting] fortunately allowed my poker face to remain amidst the internal panic.

Of course, such a logical approach definitely has been thought up before and it clearly didn't work if they are still having such problems.

Shizue respectfully lowered her head again in subservience, "directly taking magicule would be tantamount to invading the soul. I fear these children would not survive such an intense operation even if it is by your hands, my Lady."

So that option is out, [Surgery] is raging at the fact that Shizue is doubting its ability to create miracles. "You were an instructor, yes?"

"Before I came into your service, I worked as an instructor for these childrens, due to how recently busy you were, I thought it would be terribly rude of me to ask for you to answer that request but—"

"Now that everything is cleared for the foreseeable future, you had only then asked for such a thing?"

Shizue nodded.

I have the justification to refuse her request under the grounds of her attempting to cheat. But if I were to do that I'll build resentment, and what better way to create disloyalty than to create resentment?

Even if my gut is telling me to not let her go...

There really is only one option available. However, to make sure this cheating type of behavior isn't encouraged in the future, caveats need to be listed.

"Where did you say you taught?"

"The Kingdom of Ingrassia, my lady. Specifically, the Zwei Academy," she responded earnestly since the servant knew that I'm definitely allowing her to go.

Although the Kingdom of Ingrassia huh?

Ingrassia, Ingracia, and Englesia, all these are words in different dialects all refer to the same nation. Imaginary Space pulled up a political map of the continent. Ah, they are that large country between Ruberios and Falmuth that's the size of Brazil.

They are perhaps one of the most developed places in the entire world. In fact, there is a saying about Ingrassia I heard among the merchants about how its capital is the most beautiful city in the world, 'beauty like Lura' they would say.

Beyond being beautiful, Ingrassia is the cultural center of the entire Western side of the continent. The capital Lura is the place where the Freedom Association and the Council of the West all have their headquarters stationed.

Despite being one of the preeminent geopolitical Superpowers of the world, I haven't given them much thought. Instead, I'm more worried about the Eastern Empire since they're literally right on our borders.

Right, I should devise a plan on how to deal with them, shouldn't I?

After all, like so many Western nations, they still haven't recognized the Jura Tempest Republic as a legitimate country.

Though different from many feudal states that surround it, Ingrassia is one of the most progressive nations out there. I personally think their progressivism was due to the Kingdom being a melting pot of different cultures.

Being the most progressive nations, I think they can be allied. I would rather this not be another Thucydides Trap but the term is debatable since the Jura Tempest Republic already has more GDP than the estimated total of the entirety of the West combined.

We're only trailing behind the Eastern Empire and that's primarily due to the Empire's ludicrously large population. Seriously, how the hell does the Eastern Empire have over 800 million people?? The similarity between it and China is uncanny.

My inner thoughts ceased when I realized that Shizue is still waiting for an answer. Turning to her, I scratched my head and thought of a response.

Wait a minute... My mind recalled Shizue's backstory.

"How old were you when you were summoned?"

"...six, my Lady."

Apparently, that wasn't an obvious enough hint.

"I won't help you." Shizue looked like she had died inside, "But I will say this: there is definitely a way to save your students even without my help."

The servant's face turned to confusion as she tilted her head to the side, "...is that true?"

"Of course!" I confirmed and started waving my hand around as if to assure her of this fact, "in fact, it's extremely obvious. You just need to look at history."

Then I gave her a safety net.

"Now, you see, Rimuru has been wanting more nations to recognize the existence of Tempest after Blumund officially established diplomatic relationships with us a week ago. We're even building an Embassy in their capital. So here's what I'm going to do,"

I then pointed at her, "I'm going to send you as the 'bodyguard' of President Rimuru when he travels to Ingrassia for diplomatic talks. After you reach there, Rimuru is going to give you free time for as long as he stays there. You will spend your free time there visiting that academy of yours and trying to find a cure for your students. If you truly couldn't figure it out by the time you return, I'll be terribly disappointed but I give you the answer to saving the childrens."

Hope fills her eyes like an athlete filling their water bottle after a long day of training, her heart filling with joy at the thought of her students not dying.

"Thank you, my Lady! I will forever remember this debt I owed you." She got up and bowed deeply.

"Bring your War Chassis as you go," the part about better selling the image went unsaid.

The Shizue chassis in front of me quickly left.

I let out a long tired sigh as I looked at the fleeting form of the Maid Chassis, a headache coming online as I thought about the future.

Eastern Empire, Velgrynd, the Ten Great Demon Lords, Milim, Velzard, my Space ambitions, and finally the ever-illusive fourth True Dragon that I just can't get any information on for some odd reason.

I know the True Dragon exists. But other than an offhand mention by Veldora and some records of how there were 'four' True Dragons, I really cannot find any information about the fourth True Dragon.

Veldora is easy since he's in Rimuru's stomach. Velgrynd is Emperor Rudra's Imperial Consort and the fucking Marshal of the Eastern Empire's military. As for Velzard, the last recorded sighting of the Ice Empress was during the last time a Perfect Homunculus had walked the earth. There were at least some legends about how Velzard was in the frozen continent up north but I have absolutely nothing on the fourth.

It's seriously making me question whether or not the True Dragon even existed or if it was a fanciful tale someone made up.

The only possible explanation I could deduce was that this True Dragon went into space but I've claimed every star within an approximately 70,000-lightyear radius and I haven't discovered anything.

My reach extends to over 300 billion stars, almost the entirety of the current galaxy I inhabit, and still, I couldn't find a single damn thing about this elusive fourth True Dragon.

It's quite annoying. Hell, the closest thing I have to a possible answer was this one cave painting 300 kilometers south of Lake Shisu about some 'Star-Dragon' that could just as easily be a random god the humans of that period had worshipped.

And it's exacerbated when radiocarbon dating puts the creation date of that painting before even the establishment of Mesopotamia over 6000 years ago. Accuracy is needless to say, highly doubtful.

I saved the almost finished blueprint of the Matrioshka Brain section and turned off Imaginary Space, making a sitting motion as the backside of the nanite suit instantly hardened to create a pseudo-chair immediately following my action.

Sighing like someone whos tired of life, I moved on to plan for the future while [Multitasking] created a separate room in my mind to plan for when to get a shot of the dopamine booster that is Arcueid Brunestud.

Speaking of tires, a holographic display was projected in front of me showing a delicately designed circle; an experimental barrier that'll make it safer for humans to take up residency. Where instead of being forced to eat a pill every day that acts as a spiritual laxative, they can walk freely without fear of being poisoned by the excess magicule in the air.

The amount of magicule required to make something like that is enormous for a being like me. It'll likely knock me out for a few days. Fortunately, I figured out a way to use another source of magicule instead by using [Unlimited Alchemy] to transform matter into magicule, essentially a reverse of Creation Magic.

This has resulted in me being able to unload a veritable thunderstorm's worth of magicule as compared with the tap water worth of me before so long as I have access to enough matter.

Considering how I'm using an entire planet's worth of mass every few seconds to construct my Grand Fleet in the intergalactic void, I think I can spare, oh I don't know, maybe a few million of a percentage for my own personal use? Wait, that's way too much for this, a billionth is more than enough.

Anyway, I think it's time for a small break, I mentally concluded as I pulled up my contract list and called Arcueid's residence phone.

As the dial tone played on, I recall a particularly funny moment when Arcueid had first come into the Workshop, about how she screamed in terror at the impossibility that is my technology, and afterward, she had done everything she could to avoid coming into this room like how a cat would do everything to avoid water.

Arcueid acts way more independently now. This means my subtly giving her more and more mature books about growing up definitely affects how she acts.

Mentally speaking, I'd say Arcueid's now in her late tweens to early teens.

Hearing the dial tone die and be replaced with a "Yello?", my mind instantly felt much better than before as I hear Arcueid's sliver-bell-like voice.

"Hey, Arcueid, are you interested in perhaps having a talk about the..." I trailed off when trying to remember the Japanese comics that Rimuru had created, "'manga' was it? Whatever those picture books you read from right to left Rimuru gave you over a cup of tea?"

Afternoon tea should do wonders for relieving the stress of planning the future of a nation.

half of my mind started idly pondering how other world leaders cope with it.

AN: looks like being a Perfect Homunculus does not protect you from the problems of modernity and stress!

if you guys are feeling the story slowing down, remember there is always a calm before the storm, and holy hell the storm that is brewing on the horizon is a large one that's for sure, hurricane size guarantee. With such a large storm there are bound to be casualties.

26

That was relaxing. That was very relaxing.

That undeniable thought made its home inside my mind like an earworm after the afternoon tea with Arcueid that, although took up a large amount of the daylight, was in my opinion well worth it.

That was both relaxing and liberating.

After finishing the afternoon tea and learning more than I really needed about the 'ecchi' genre of Japanese comics (serious Rimuru why the hell are you producing them?), I'm now inside the Citadel's living section's kitchen.

Milim hummed to herself and swung her legs like Big Ben on New Year's Eve. There was an anticipatory smile on the Dragonoid's lips as she waited patiently for her sweets which I'm currently making.

Rimuru also came. In fact, I was originally about to talk with him about Ingrassia before a satellite saw Milim traveling across the Jura Forest towards the Citadel. Then, when Milim reached the Citadel, she knocked on the outer Siberium layer as a human would with a door.

I should really get her something like a transmitter, that way we can avoid the whole 'knocking on an imposing cylinder' thing. It's meant to replicate that feeling of 'foreboding' like you're entering a forbidden temple. Casually knocking on it completely ruins the aesthetics.

Flipping the batter on another size, the pseudo-pancake was cooked to a golden crisp, a beautiful shade that'll cause anyone to salivate at the sight.

[Culinary Arts] really is a massive boon when it comes down to daily life.

Using a spatula, I scooped up the golden pseudo-pancake and placed it on a plate before drizzling some honey to add an extra bit of the sweetness that Milim craves so much.

To be honest, [Culinary Arts] is suggesting I try to synthesize out a sugar syrup that's 500 times sweeter than even the sweetest honey. I didn't go with that since not only do I think that can be classified as a poison, but I think there's a point where something is too sweet even for Milim.

Coming out of the Kitchen, Milim acted like an overeager child who couldn't control themselves and leaped at the food in my hand like a Great White diving at a seal—

"Guh!"

—only to slam her face on the walls as I carefully moved the plate out of the way.

There was an imprint of Milim's face on the wall. Thankfully, it was quickly repaired as the Citadel automatically diverts nanites from elsewhere in the facility to fill in the holes in a way similar to how a dentist would fill in a cavity.

"Now now, sit down Milim or you're not going to get your sweets."

Milim pouted as she pushed herself up from her fallen form. Like a misbehaving child who feels sorry for getting caught instead of the act of stealing, the pink-haired Demon Lord ran back to her seat and fumed silently, glaring at me in what I assume was meant to be threatening.

Please, after acting the way you did, you'd have to do something very extraordinary to make me see you as 'threatening'.

In response to her glare, I deliberately moved very slowly causing a distraught look to dawn on Milim's face as she realizes what was happening while there was a smirk on mine.

"Scientia!" Milim whinged.

"Alright, alright, here ya go," I said and quickly trotted over to where Milim sat and placed the plate in front of her.

The Dragonoid then promptly dived in and devoured the large plates with reckless abandon.

Taking my seat at the head of the table right next to where Rimuru's sitting, very far away from the furthest that the crumbs from the pancakes can fly, I saw how the slime fidgeted around with his hair as he looked around nervously.

"I rarely get summoned by you Scientia, so what's up?"

"There's no need for you to be nervous, I just remembered you wanting more countries to recognize our existence, so I took a good look at the map and realized if we could get the Kingdom of Ingrassia to recognize our nation, that would most likely lead to others doing the same."

A Doorway opened up behind me. From that Doorway, Shizue in her maid chassis walked through, in her hands was a tray containing a tea set for two.

She then placed the tea down on a side cabinet sitting right beside the wall before pouring out the tea into two cups, one for me and another for Rimuru. Her movements were sharp and efficient with no wasted extra movements common in people who are unsure of what to do next. After filling the teacup a centimeter from touching the rim, Shizue carefully brought the teacups over.

The china cups made a 'clinking' sound as they were placed in front of me and Rimuru. Inserting my finger through the space between the cup and the handle, I lifted it up to my mouth and took a sip.

Immediately, my mind was whisked away to a particularly fond memory of my childhood: it was that time when I went to an amusement park, I think it was Disneyland, with my sister.

Returning to the present, I sighed in both sadness and happiness. Such was nostalgia. To be happy that something happened yet be sad that it won't happen again.

I looked down at the brownish mixture of tea and milk, "excellent as always, Shizue. It seems Nostalgia Tea is a success."

It was a momentary splurge of mine to create the Nostalgia Tea. It happened when I was a bit more homesick than usual about my old world.

I had intended for it to be a one-time thing before I tasted and fell in love with the flavor— to be able to remember fond memories of the past through triggering the long-term memory portion of the brain, a wonderous miracle indeed.

Though now that I think about it, I wonder how does memory interact with the soul? Since by technicality, memories of my old life were made and stored in my previous body's brain.

I turned my attention to Rimuru, who shyly stayed quiet the whole time like the first day of a student who had just entered a new school and didn't know anyone there.

"Now, Ingrassia is the cultural capital of the West, like a certain Middle Kingdom for the East or perhaps a more accurate metaphor would be those Stars and Stripes." I made sure to supplement the actual names for pseudonyms that only Rimuru would know, "If we managed to become friends with them— so long as we have a good relationship with them— we'll also get an extra benefit in earning the trust of other human nations. That's extremely profitable because it'll allow our influence to dig into a previously locked-out box."

Rimuru nodded along as I spoke. Next, I gestured to Shizue as she stepped forward, "now, Shizue here worked as an Instructor for one of the city's academies, so I think it's best if she followed you when you do go there. She can act as a liaison of sorts, telling you their customs and among other things."

The slime looked unsure of what I'm proposing, "Uh...alright, but what about my duties—"

"Citrinitas and Rigurd can take over your paperwork for the time you are at Ingrassia. Besides, you have your Ministers and other civil servants to manage the nation while you are meeting with the King of Ingrassia. Moreover, if there's an emergency here in Tempest, you can just teleport back because you have Shizue next to you."

To emphasize just how important this meeting was, I repeated myself, "remember Rimuru, getting Ingrassia on our side is especially crucial since I sincerely doubt there's a single nation in the world that hasn't heard of the death of both the Orc Lord and Charybdis were caused by us. Any doubt would get eliminated with Blumund backing us up."

I pulled up a dashboard displaying the political map of the world. Hovering my left index finger above the western portion of the continent, I continued with an example.

"Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. You heard that a threat— a great threat in the form of the Orc Lord was brewing in the Jura Forest. Knowing that you marshal your forces in preparation for the inevitable battle. Previous experiences with Orc Lord outbreaks mean you would already know there will be terrible losses if a single nation were to take on the threat on their lonesome, so you join up with other members of the Council of the West in a coalition."

The coalition reminded me of the massive imbalance of power during the first Iraq war.

"Then, just as you wait anxiously for the day to come when the Orc Lord is supposed to come, you suddenly learn that it had died. Then you learn that Charybdis had been reawakened. And now the slowly disassembling coalition army that was meant for the Orc Lord was now forced to reassemble once more, this time in even greater numbers since Charybdis is an even greater threat. And then, once again just like last time, you learned that it was dealt with."

My voice then became louder.

"Never before has there ever been a precedence where two such threats were dealt with by an unknown party. And you should know by now precedence is everything in politics both internal and international. We, the Jura Tempest Republic, came in explosively onto the world stage. With our technology against these backwater kingdoms, we represent an unknown element, an Outside Context Problem that I doubt anyone saw coming."

Rimuru cupped his chin as he mentally chewed on my words, "so in short, we're basically an unknown, and the Western nations don't know how to deal with us?"

I snapped my fingers and pointed at the humanoid slime, "indeed. We're the Europeans and they're the Native Americans. But by having a friendly relationship with Ingrassia, a nation closer to the Western states than Dwargon, other nations won't see us as an unknown anymore."

Rimuru appeared to be in deep thought while I waited by taking more of the tea and thinking back fondly to my past.

You know, I never really grieved for perhaps being unable to return. Never truly grieved.

"Alright," Rimuru conceded to my point, "I'll send a message to the King of Ingrassia and ask for a meeting. Although this is just a heads-up, I don't know if you know this but Ririna established the Officer Corps of the Grand Military of the Republic.

I finished the tea before looking at him in confusion.

Then with a single downward swipe of my hand, a holographic display materialized in front of me showing a log of everything that happened the last time I was here.

Using superior smart filters combined with AI algorithms, I thinned the herd of millions of logs until there were little over half a dozen left.

It seems this was a quick development that was approved by Congress in less than a day.

"...I assume there's going to be a ceremony signaling the start of this?"

I don't have a problem with Ririna taking initiative, since in my experience as a part of the top management of a company you get others to work for you instead of you having to do everything on your lonesome. Though I'd wish Ririna would've at least told me of this prior to her actually doing it.

"Yes."

"When is the ceremony?" I pulled up a mental calendar for next month, pretty much filled constantly with forging Milim's weapon.

[Blacksmith] crackling in glee as it gave off vibes that seem more in line with an addict about to get their first dose in a very long time.

"A week from now."

Alrighty, a week from now it is. I'll void some time spent building Milim's weapon to make time for that, "got it, you'll send Ingrassia a message about a visit that will occur... a bit after the ceremony. Do you think that's doable?"

He nodded.

"Very well, in the meantime, I'll ask Ririna for her Officer uniform designs and give her some suggestions."

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away.

Within a grand cathedral on top of a mountain, the winds howled and the snow blew, yet nonetheless, none of the cold white powder ever stuck on the roof of the cathedral even when logic dedicates it should've.

The cathedral was a beauty to behold. It was a breathtaking grandeur of a building, with elements of symmetry, columns, arches, and pediments clearly reflected in the architecture. Inside, marbled floors polished so well a person can use them to do makeup, enormous rooms that one can hear the echoes of their voices in, long hallways that seem to tread towards infinity, colored glass illustrating heroes and demons, and creative sculptures depicting the duel between a masked heroine and a beast in the shape of a perfected human in various angles.

There was not a single place or surface in the cathedral that wasn't decorated.

The building wouldn't have looked out of place as the center of worship for a globe-spanning religion. Yet it is placed on top of a forbidden mountain that none of its worshippers can properly enjoy.

In fact, more than devoid of any worshippers, the cathedral sat mostly empty, yet if one brush their finger across the surface of the antic of this cathedral they wouldn't find any dust.

One would expect such a beautiful cathedral to be loud, filled with the noise of congregations and priests talking or preaching a sermon. But it was silent. The place was eerily quiet and devoid of any sound other than those coming from the outside.

At least, that's how it's supposed to be.

"Is it correct? Has it returned?" A young girl with silver hair asked. She lay there on a couch, her legs stretching and filling it completely until they reached the other armrest.

"Yes, it has, my Lady." An old man wearing a luxurious white priest robe replied, his posture suggesting subservience.

Upon hearing that, the girl seemingly froze in fear. Then she pursed her lips as if she refuses to believe that information.

"...It seems that Chronoa is correct: Relentless has returned."

"Are... are you sure, my lady? It could be false! It could—"

The girl raised a hand, and the old man stopped.

"...Yes I am sure. The Great Hero of Time warned me of Relentless' return centuries ago yet I had never believed it myself. However, now with it being confirmed, it seems she is right on both measures. Contact one of our loyal believers nearest to the site of its return, I want to see just how powerful it is before we fully reveal it to the public and rally everyone against the Perfect Homunculus."

"Yes, my lady."

"Meanwhile, prepare our army for war, the Eastern Empire surely knows of Relentless' return if I already knew about it."

The old man left the massive room, while the girl stewed in deep worry about the future.

The power of exponential growth can never be underestimated.

'The Story of the Chessboard and the Grain of Rice', or simply 'The Wheat and Chessboard Problem' is a classic tale in mathematics and economics that involves exponential growth.

There are many variations of the story, but in general, it goes along the line of the following: a king asks a wise man what he wishes to be rewarded with for accomplishing a great deed. The wise man asks for one grain of rice on the first square of a chessboard, and then double the amount of rice on the next and again on the one after, and so on.

Obviously, 263 of the last square results in approximately 9.22 x 1018 grains of rice alone. The total amount of rice on the board by the end results in a grand total of 18.4 quintillion grains of rice.

Similarly, a Grey Goo scenario describes a global catastrophe involving uncontrolled self-replicating machines that would go out of control and subsequently subsume all of the earth's biosphere under tides of greyness.

The same applies also to Von Neumann Probes. Within less than half a year, my furthest Von Neumann Probe reached a radius of 1.4 billion lightyears and was still growing. By now all 400 billion stars within this galaxy that the planet I call home resided in are completely within my domain. The nearby galaxies are also being quickly subsumed as well.

Whenever a Von Neumann Probe enters a star system, it parks itself next to a large asteroid or a rocky moon and drops a packet of a colony of self-replicating nanites before going to the next closest. It usually takes less than a week for a Von Neumann Probe Factory to fully set up with production facilities, mines, refinery, forges, telescopes, railguns, and a solar energy collector to then churn out more Von Neumann Probes or transport more colonies of nanites to other celestial objects with the star system by shooting them out of the railgun.

This process is repeated until an entire galaxy then becomes a factory that then churns out trillions upon trillions of self-replicating probes every day that'll then infect more and more galaxies.

In fact, the only limiting factor within this exponential growth, or the 'X' in XY, is the speed at which those Von Neumann Probes can travel.

With four charges in [Superluminal Travel, I was able to give the Von Neumann Probes a Slingshot Drive type of faster-than-light option.

The Slingshot Drive works off the exact principle of the Subspace Diver. It turns the particles of the Von Neumann Probe into their Supersymmetric counterpart and then returns them back to normal, except now in a different place.

Effectively, the Slingshot Drive is like a jump drive in most science fiction that teleports ('flings') the Von Neumann Probe across a distance of many dozen lightyears per dive, or 'jump'.

Although much slower compared to what I currently have, it's sufficient enough that it's not really worth the time it'll take to change the tens of trillions of Von Neumann Probe currently active. Like, a person who bought iPhone X wouldn't buy an iPhone 11 when the X is perfectly viable.

I'm pretty sure Apple came out with more versions after I died, but that's beyond the preview of my knowledge of my old world.

I stood in a space station orbiting above a massive red planet that dominated the view of the mirrors. Pressing my left hand covered in a black nanosuit against the glass that separates the inside of the station from the outside, I could see a bit of my reflection against the backdrop of space, a reflection of perfection that still causes me to be a bit put off. So instead of focusing on that, I turned my gaze fully onto the planet.

For any normal human it would've been a breathtaking view but having been in space so many times I found the scene entirely boring.

Due to the enormous gravity wells of planets, the Von Neumann Probes usually avoid them unless they're the only concentration of mass left in the star system other than the local star itself.

With a single sideways swipe of my right hand, numerous holographic panels projected from my clothing. It was a dashboard connected to the Intranet displaying all kinds of information.

The Von Neumann Probes are all connected to each other in a massive intranet to avoid two Von Neumann probes entering the same star system. However, even if more than one is entered, it doesn't really matter since both can either choose a different planet or go to the next star system over.

The amount of planets that contain enough magicules capable of being detected is within the quadruple digits, an insanely small percentage if you consider how there are trillions of planets within a single galaxy. What's more, if the world I reincarnated on is an ocean in terms of magicule richness, the richest outer planet that I have found is a single droplet.

Even so, that wasn't the thing that really worries me. Instead, what really keeps me up at night is the lack of civilization

The number of planets that have complex multicellular life is few enough that I can count on one hand. The number that can theoretically support water is in the tens of thousands, again, a ridiculously small percentage even rarer than the magicule planets considering this is the result of a survey of the Local Group, the small cluster of galaxies that my home galaxy is a part of.

Either intelligent life is extremely rare, or this is the work of a Great Filter.

Great Filters were a suggested answer to the Fermi Paradox— the apparent contradiction between the number of stars in the universe and the lack of intelligent alien life.

Imagine if you will, that the development of life is a flight of stairs. The first step of the stairs is for complex molecules to arrange themselves in such a way that it becomes autocatalytic, or self-replicating and the last step is the birth of an interstellar civilization. Living beings must climb the stairs if it is to advance, yet each step is harder to reach than the last.

A Great Filter is a challenge— a barrier of sorts— on that stairway where every species that has encountered it dies.

From observation alone, it seems there is a Great Filter on the first step of life: the creation of stable, self-replicable chemistry patterns that is the basis of life itself. The reasoning for this hypothesis was that there are many planets I've found that are suitable for life, yet almost none have performed Abiogenesis.

I personally believe in the theory of Panspermia, or life originating from asteroids since tests done by some Von Neumann Probes showed a startling number of asteroids possessing organic molecules required for life.

Another potential candidate for a Great Filter is on the step right before intelligence. The only reason I'm not sure is due to how small of a sample size I have.

A small section of my mind then reminded me about the Great Tenma War and that maybe aliens also experience something similar to it.

A frown marred my face as I couldn't help but scoff at that idea. I really do not believe in the Great Tenma Wars. It's like saying that there are ancient super-advanced civilizations back on Earth that have wiped themselves out, or maybe something straight out of Ancient Aliens.

The potential explanations are all highly disturbing.

I cleared my mind of such disturbing thoughts and instead turned my focus onto the planet underneath me. A whispy white outer layer that was a very thin atmosphere covered the red planet.

Scanners indicated this planet was the most magicule rich out of all of those that I explored. Deep within the crust lies scattered nuggets of Scarletite or 'Crimson Steel', a metal of legends that was thought to exist only in myths, not real life.

With a specialized equation I created using [Mathematics, [Magicule, and [Material Science, I determined it'll take a few billion years for the small concentration of magicules to mutate normal metallic substances into Scarletite, compared to the thousands of years in my home world.

Colossal threads of dark metal covered the world's medium planetary orbit in the form of a web, making it seem like it was the captured prey of a truly gigantic spider.

The web was a Planetary Strip Mining Array: a machine designed to harvest planets smaller than Neptune.

Even when my current industrial output puts most fictional civilizations to shame, I'm still going to need more resources for the building of the Matrioshka Brain. I'm going to need more Planetary Strip Mining Arrays and Star Lifters.

This is the scale at which I operate, the level at which a near Type-II civilization operates; where whole planets will need to be used to fuel the fires of my industry.

"You may fire when ready," I said. It was a verbal command for the AI that runs the Array.

The only evidence that something was happening after minutes of seemingly no activity was how cracks large enough to be visible from space appeared on the ground right underneath the webs. Very quickly, those cracks began to glow as magma from the mantle surfaced through the space between those cracks.

Extreme volcanic and seismic activities were happening all over the planet thanks to tidal forces generated from two different invisible gravitational wave currents. The red surface transformed into something that looked more like a representation of Earth during its infancy period 4 billion years ago prior to my death.

The whole planet buckled under the force of a sized-up Gravity Drill and was being pulled apart.

Ghostly white wisps of gases came up from the planet and were sucked into certain sections of the Array.

Micro-black holes.

Embedded within the various threads of the colossal metal web that covers the planet were millions of femtometer-wide micro-black holes all contained using anti-gravity generated with a sophisticated manipulation of space and Dark Energy.

Once the planet is loosened enough by the tidal forces generated through opposing unseen gravitational wave currents, the web will close in on the wounded world as a pack of hyenas would with a wounded water buffalo. Then, a portion of the Dark Energy field will peel back to reveal a window that'll allow the micro-black hole's gravity to take effect and start sucking in mass.

Usually, femtometer-wide black holes aren't sustainable since they'll radiate away their mass faster than they can eat. However, with the anti-gravity funnel in place, the black hole is pretty much being force-fed mass.

Once a certain amount has been taken, the black hole is then switched for a new smaller one that'll then continue the process while the old mini-black hole is then shipped off towards the star where I'll build the Matrioshka Brain.

Looking over to my side, I found about 1.6 billion tons of Carbon Dioxide and other gases had been harvested from the planet and were now being stored inside the numerous black holes.

A smile appeared on my face as I returned to look at the slowly shrinking planet. It's slow for sure, but there's just something so awe-inspiring about seeing a whole world gets destroyed that's almost as effective at removing stress as an afternoon tea with Arcueid.

I've read plenty of science fiction in my past life. Planets there were seen as 'immovable' objects akin to mountains for a medieval kingdom yet here I am, casually strip-mining a planet as if it's a Thursday.

If being with Arcueid is normal happiness, then this feeling I get from watching a planet be torn apart is like obeying a natural instinct, akin to the happiness one feels when they drink water after a long workout or perhaps the happiness a conqueror feels when they enter the annexed capital city of their enemies.

Beep*

Another new holographic screen suddenly popped into existence next to me.

Sadly, as with all things, it must come to an end, and so too must my observation of the Planetary Strip Mining Array in action.

The screen was displaying a call from Shizue.

Tapping on the controlled light, the screen transformed into a full-sized Shizue in all her maid chassis glory standing about two meters away to the right of me.

"My Lady, please forgive me for the interruption but the ceremony for the Officer Corps is in two hours. I tried to look everywhere in the Citadel but I can't find you, so I made a decision to call you through the number you gave me—"

I held up a hand to stop the worrying, "have no fear, I shall print my uniform."

"Ah, yes, my Lady." She once again bowed before ending the call.

Now, what would be a good ceremonial uniform for the Commander of the Grand Military of the Republic?

A hologram of a human mannequin my size appeared in front of me. The mannequin was dressed in an Officer's uniform since it was a copy of the template I sent over to Ririna concerning how I imagine an Officer Corp's ceremonial uniform should look. Of course, it's purely for ceremonial purposes and looks nothing like their combat uniforms.

With my hands guided by [Clothing, I started designing a uniform that would reflect the ideals of the Jura Tempest Republic's Military.

It took a few minutes, but once everything was done, I pressed the 'actualization' button underneath the holographic mannequin.

The nanosuit that I'm wearing shifts and turned into something appearing like a liquid before reforming and solidifying into my proper ceremonial Military uniform.

The uniform was composed of a white collared shirt with a red tie inside a sleek black coat with golden epaulets that draped equally golden short chains. An enormous black cloak containing 2 sleeves appeared around my back, and one golden circular pin for each side formed on the area between my breast and two shoulders, connected with each other using golden chains. The same golden chain wrapped itself around my left upper arm into the pins on the back. As for my lower half, it was clad in long black pants and a pair of polished boots.

Finally, an officer cap appeared in my ready hands. Slowly, I lowered the cap from above onto my head to finish off on how to truly look like someone who's worthy of respect.

Again, I repeat: this uniform, while looking badass as hell, should be nowhere on a battlefield given how gaudy it looked, but I think it's good enough for ceremonial purposes.

"Door me."

Walking through the pitch black upright-standing rectangle that was a 'Doorway', I appeared in the middle of a massive courtyard flanked by buildings with utilitarian design in mind mixed with elements of neo-modernism. The whole building lacked any visible evidence of separation, making it look like it was carved from a single massive block of construction material.

I looked down at where I'm standing and found myself directly in the middle of an elaborately decorated eagle with its wings spread out in front of a shield surrounded by six words.

It was the symbol of the Tempest Officer Corps, and the six words stand as the six tenants of an ideal Military Officer, the virtues that'll be drilled into every individual that passes through this place, this Officer Academy.

Noticing how there were audible voices in a certain direction, I turned my head towards it to find a crowd gathering beyond the main gate of the Academy. They were about 50 meters away, and with my new physiology, I could see with the naked eye every detail of the lizardmen, orcs, and hobgoblins who were all gathered. I could spot half a dozen journalists with their pencils and paper out. I could spot over a dozen young hobgoblin males who seem to be eager to join. With [Biology] and [Psychology, I could even tell from a single glance which one of the adults was here just to check things out.

"Scientia!"

I whipped my head toward the source and found Rimuru standing beside a podium waving at me.

The podium was above a stage. In front of the stage lay rolls upon rolls of chairs lined up all prepared for their occupants.

Seeing how excited Rimuru was at seeing me again made me instinctively wave back.

Ririna sat on one of the chairs right beside the podium. Her gaze swept across the area in front of the stage and found a sea of thousands of hobgoblins, orcs, lizardmen, and some humans below, each wearing clothes that would've been impossible to make just 4 months ago.

The Field Marshal then raised her head to look at the towering steel structures in the distance.

Arcologies, Ririna mentally reminded herself, that was the name Commander Scientia had given them.

As the highest ranking military officer beside President Rimuru and Commander Scientia, Ririna could afford one of the higher housing units within those arcologies based on her salary. As such, the purple-haired hobgoblin could enjoy the breathtaking views of what a bird would see.

Ririna tugged the collar of her uniform as discreetly and gently as possible. Discreetly because there were now thousands of pairs of eyes on her given how close she sat to where the podium was, being the one who spearheaded this Officer Corps after all. Gently because the uniform was a gift from the Commander herself, supposedly made from threads of ultra-strong fiber capable of stabilizing an arcology.

Her uniform was dark green instead of the black of the Commanders. Overall, it looked less fancy, which made sense now that Ririna thought about it. She was a Field Marshal, the supreme commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, not the entire Military as a whole.

Ririna could still vividly remember as if it happened yesterday her first few weeks as the Chief of Security for proto-Metropolis when it was still a run-down village instead of the gleaming city it was today.

And now, four months later, Ririna had gone from a normal, albeit poor village girl who had a crush on one of the stronger boys, into being in command of one of the branches of the Jura Tempest Republic's Military. Hardened by the sight of the slaughter of both the Orc Lord and Charybdis, Ririna recognized just how naive she was back then when the biggest concern of her everyday life was only whether or not the now-named Rugurd liked her.

She was in her own tiny world, detached from bigger things like military doctrines and weapons of mass destruction.

When the Commander had placed her in the position of being in command of the entire Army... Ririna was not ashamed to say she was afraid. She was afraid of failing the Commander who had saved her village, even if other ungrateful people who say some nasty things about the Commander behind her back, about how she is a witch that practices fleshcraft— Commander Scientia was still someone who had rescued them in their darkest moments right before the attack by the dire wolves.

The Field Marshal remembered vividly that night when the Commander had taken to the field herself. She was armed with only a knife and the moonlight shining on her petite frame gave it an ethereal look, almost as if the Commander was a ghost.

The Commander had effortlessly, fearlessly, and most of all, elegantly dispatched the leader of the dire wolves with a single move— a single cut.

Ririna wanted to be as strong as the Commander. Even if the Commander is worlds away, even if it's a futile endeavor, Ririna wants to be at least somewhat on equal footing to the one who had given the hobgoblin everything she has right now.

And perhaps then, and only then...

Whenever Ririna had thoughts of quitting because it was too hard or when her subordinates became disobedient, Ririna's mind would often be drawn to what would the Commander do in that situation and act accordingly. It is what got her here.

The hobgoblin then cast a dismissive gaze as President Rimuru started his speech. The speech was about how important it is to be inclusive to all races, and about how the purpose of weapons is to defend ourselves and not to intentionally attack others.

Ririna could not help but silently scoff at that last point.

The Commander would never say such things, instead, she would say that weapons are tools, and it's the users themselves who decide what to use the tools for.

The speech of President Rimuru lasted for another minute. In all perfect honesty, Rirna wasn't too impressed with Rimuru as a President. Instead, she saw him as more of a figurehead and Scientia being the real power.

In truth, Ririna was really confused about the concept of democracy. Like, she's never even heard of an idea as radical as that, yet if the Commander had instilled the protection of Freedom as one of the core tenants of The Officer Corps, then who was she to question the wisdom of a being that had somehow turned what was once a dirt shack village into a shining city the world would envy over if they knew of its existence beyond simple word of mouth?

A better name for the Commander would be Miracle Maker.

Ririna turned her head when she saw that Commander Scientia stood up and walked towards the podium, ready to give her speech.

Ah, she should pay attention to Commander Scientia's speech, shouldn't she? Ririna thought before giving a dirty look at the person sitting next to her. Rubedo wasn't paying attention.

Rimuru isn't sure what to think of Scientia, the slime thought as he sat down on his seat while the Perfect Homunculus got up and walked to the podium which he had previously used, and began her own speech as the Commander of the Republic's Military.

The two initially bonded due to the fact that they were both reincarnators. Both were alone and only had each other in an entirely alien new world.

"..." Only now did it occur to Rimuru how that sounded like the premise for a romance novel.

Two people lost in a new world that only had each other. That sounded like the premise for a generic romance novel you'd find a dozen of in a library's 'romance' section.

Nevertheless, Rimuru's time with her at that cabin was perhaps the closest he's ever been with Scientia. But after starting their own nation, the two rarely had much time to hang out. Rimuru thought that the state of affairs was a temporary one, but it has only gotten worse since between Presidential duties and the establishment of Rimuru city near the mouth of the Ameld and a new port city on the coast between Sarion and Fulbrosia, the slime's only contact with Scientia is pretty much only whenever the latter had summoned him.

In Rimuru's own experience with Scientia, he notices how there's always this... 'wall' of sorts, a barrier that surrounds Scientia that seems to protect her true self and feelings. This barrier prevents anyone from getting really close to her.

Rimuru tuned out [Great Sage] after that, it's all gibberish when it tried to describe what a Perfect Homunculus actually is besides hearing it from others.

The slime silently lamented his failure as a friend. Every one of his staff and subordinates, he was able to get close to. People like Citrinitas, Rubedo, Rigurd, and Albedo: all of them were able to be at ease in his presence and equally, Rimuru can chat casually with them. Hell, even Shizue is at the very least fond of speaking with him and she's always serving Scientia!

'[Great Sage, how do I get closer to Scientia?' Rimuru asked again for what was probably the hundredth time.

Thought so.

It was the same reply as ever.

"One day..." Rimuru said to himself quietly, "I will break that barrier, and have you admit you are my friend. That instead of keeping me at arm's length, you'll keep me close.

It was a vow. One he fully intended to keep.

AN: So I checked out the fan translation of the LNs of Tensura and I gotta say, the three Primordials in Vol 11 are really not what I expected.

An exploration into areas of high sci-fi in a world of high fantasy as well as Scientia's impact on the normal citizen.

Scientia's [Conflict Drive] really starting to get to them.

27

I walked right behind the podium. Thousands of pairs of eyes were all on me and I felt a sense of deja vu.

So similar was the current situation to the opening of the Metropolitan Academy of Higher Thought and Learning...

There was only silence as I grabbed the edge of the podium's countertop in front of me and looked down, finding numerous pieces of white paper that served as cue cards from which Rimuru read aloud and performed his speech.

The silence dragged on. No one dared to speak. All waited for my next move like a gazelle staring at a pack of lions even when they were hundreds of meters away.

While the tension was palpable, I acted entirely nonchalant. [Orator] was passively combing through the prepared speech I had in my mind to make any last-minute patchwork.

Then, without warning or giving any hint of change, I started.

"'In Science and Rationality, We Trust'." My voice contained the same eerily perfected smoothness as always, "These words define the motto of the only beacon of liberty in this world. We know that progress and prosperity can only come through reason and innovation. But, as we all know, these ideas are not universally embraced. The world we live in can be a hostile place, where those in power seek to suppress ideas that threaten their authority.

I took a brief pause. The thousands of pairs of eyes on me never left. Next, I looked down, as if intentionally avoiding eye contact.

"Our world is filled with challenges and obstacles. In it, there are powerful individuals who will crush ideas and inventions that could lift the masses from poverty and hardship. Here, beyond our borders, if you are not born into the right family you are automatically relegated to the bottom of society. Here, beyond our borders, it is a world where birthright, not merit, determines one's future. Here, beyond our borders, if one wishes to achieve greatness, one must overcome society itself holding them back.

I then held my head up high.

"But, those are only beyond our borders. Within the Jura Tempest Republic, we have created a society previously unseen in the world. We champion freedoms of expression, speech, and press, but we must remain vigilant, for there exists those who would use our liberty to manipulate us."

I paused again and started once more, my gaze softened.

"I am... a dreamer." Being given [Inspired Inventor] was arguably the best thing that's ever happened to me. Through technology, I was able to achieve things I've only dreamed of, "I dream of a world where oppression no longer exists. I dream of a world where all are equal. I dream of a world where no one goes to bed hungry. I dream of a world where death no longer exists. I dream of a world where rationality reigns supreme. I dream of a world where the measure of someone is through their character and merit, not by their physical abilities. I dream of a utopia. But... dreams aren't enough. We must combine our dreams with willpower, steadfast commitment, and most importantly: action."

I raised a hand. My palm faced the blue sky above me, it looked as if I was offering others something.

"We gather here today, to mark the beginning of a new chapter within the Grand Military of the Jura Tempest Republic. The opening of the Officer Academy. This institution will stand as a monument to the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of those who come here to learn."

Then I swung my raised hand down as if I was making a slash with a sword.

"We are here to celebrate the dedication, bravery, and commitment of those who will join us and be trained into the leaders of our armed forces. The individuals who will walk through this building will be the ones who will be called upon to defend our nation, uphold our values, and protect our citizens. As those of you within the crowd join to become an Officer, you will be trained in the art of war, but also in the principles of Freedom, Honor, Duty, Mercy, Efficiency, and People. Freedom, the very thing that differentiates our nation from the others, and something which we must defend at all cost." I repeatedly tapped the countertop of the podium as I uttered the first tenant to place great emphasis on that information.

"Honor: the principle that guides us to do the right thing, even when it is difficult," I didn't tap the countertop. "Duty: the commitment to serve our country and our people, and to always put their needs first. Mercy: the compassion to realize that our enemies are also similar to us, and deserve respect and dignity. Efficiency: you will be trained to be efficient in your actions, to be able to make quick decisions, and to be able to improvise and adapt to rapidly changing situations. And finally: People. Our military exists to protect our people first. It shall not be used as a tool of oppression wielded by the leader to destroy dissent, that is why the military is completely insulated from all matters of politics."

History was a subject I loved back in grade school. Thus for a sixth-grade history presentation, I decided to choose the Cold War, specifically, the CIA's coups. It was from that presentation onward that I think I developed a bit of a fear of the military, considering how easily the CIA convinced Generals to turn on the people's elected leader and turn the whole nation into a brutal despotic state.

"As those who choose to join graduate from this academy, you will be tasked to serve your country with pride and distinction. You will proudly wear the uniform of our armed forces, and we, the General Staff, will be proud to have you as a member of the Officer Corps. Now I shall allow the one who spearheaded the creation of the Officer Corps to fully announce the opening."

I then gestured to Ririna, who quickly stood up and walked over as I stepped down from the podium.

The female hobgoblin gave me a quick salute before taking center stage, "Greetings everyone. I am Field Marshal Ririna and it is my honor to welcome you to the Metropolitan Military Officer Academy. For those of you joining, I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope you remember that you are not alone. When you join us, you are joining a family. With your brothers or sisters in arms, you will march on and attain glory for both yourself and your country. We stand on guard for thee!"

That last one was the motto of the Officer Corps. Two drones each shaped as a flying four-pointed star with a blue glowing core in the middle came up from behind the stage. The drones were connected to each other via a red ribbon.

They were Autonomous Security Drones. Each is piloted by a 'simple' Narrow Artificial Intelligence but connected to a near General-level AI that serves as the centralized brain behind the new police force of the Capital. Each Security Drone was armed with none of the lethal weapons you'd find on the military version, instead replaced with Containment Foam Sprayers, and either a Temporal Accurator or Spatial Isolator. The former of which creates a bubble of stasis around the target while the latter isolates the target inside a pocket dimension.

Ririna next opened the cabinet within the podium and took out a golden scissor. Using it, she cut the raised red ribbon in two, signaling the start of the Jura Tempest Republic Military Officer Corp, or to shorten it: the MOC.

Feeeesh*

Boom*

Multiple flares of fireworks rose up from behind the building and exploded several dozens of meters in the air.

The firework made everything darker as its explosive sound temporarily eclipsed that of the loud clapping from the crowd below before it then rendered mute.

And so, it's done. The edge of my mouth tilted upward in a calm smile. It seems the ceremony was a great success.

Getting up, I walked over and tapped on Ririna's shoulder.

"Commander?" The hobgoblin looked confused when she turned around to face me. As she does, her back straightened and her head raised up high.

"I'll need to talk with you and Rubedo after the ceremony." I leaned in and whispered, "I'll be in my office inside the building."

With that, I left them to the mass of people who were here either to join or journalists who wish to document this historic moment.

It is my wish that in the far far future when the last light within the universe has died out when it has finally entered into the Black Hole Epoch, the stories of the Officers of Tempest will still be shared until life itself has been extinguished.

As I walked inside the main administrative building, everyone inside it stopped and saluted with a "Commander," when I passed by before continuing on to their destination.

It's a wonder how Ririna managed to instill so much discipline into her subordinates so quickly.

I walked for several more minutes and up three flights of stairs before turning a corner and finding my office at the end of a hallway.

Pushing in the door, I was greeted with the silence and privacy of a large windowless room containing a set of couches, a table with an office chair, a desktop, and an empty bookshelf. On the bookshelf were detailed models of the A.A.A. in various configurations.

Sitting in the chair, I turned my focus onto the desktop. The monitor itself is thin, about a few millimeters across. The time it took the computer to power on was less than a fourth of a minute.

Signing in once the computer was fully powered on, I was met with a wallpaper depicting Metropolis through the inside of the Doughnut arcology.

I, of course, don't really need to use the desktop given how I can use holograms but I figure I'll use it at least once for old-time's sake.

Everything was arranged almost exactly like my office in my previous life after all. In fact, if I were to ignore how I appear shorter, I could almost pretend I never left my old life.

Opening my E-mail, I found the weekly logistic report made by Rubedo. It was an excel sheet depicting what the military currently has in stock and what is recommended. [Mathematics] helped me scan briefly scan over the whole document and found no discrepancy from the one from last week.

I clicked off the document and signed into the Blueprint Auction House.

The Tinkertech Blueprint Auction House is currently a website, but it's only for now as I plan to expand it into a physical location. Here, every week or so I'll auction some tinkertech blueprints that a corporation or individuals can bid on. Due to the fact that whatever products I produce are many times better than anyone else can think up, there exists next to no private R .

After the blueprint is sold, the buyer will have a one-year exclusivity deal for that product before it's going up for free.

Of course, to prevent the creation of a monopoly or oligopoly, I would also either personally fund some competitors or have the Ministry of Economy break up the corporation.

I'm not going to have a Robber Baron situation on my hands. If I do, Capitalism becomes flawed Capitalism with the lack of competition.

Clicking on an Auction closest to completion, I'm greeted with the sight of 20,500,600.00$ Tempest Dollars for the blueprint of a tinkertech pillow that allows its user to gain better rest. The current top bidder is a company by the name of... Bedroom and Beyond.

"Hmm..." I scratched my chin. This is one of my largest 'official' revenue streams. just as I was about to open another auction about an alternative fuel source, the door to my office room clicked open.

Looking up, I saw a Sergeant-rank orc carrying a large number of files. When he fully came into the door, he saluted, "Commander," before placing the files onto the table and leaving.

The files collectively were as thick as entire textbooks. I was happy that so many people applied to join the Officer Corps but seeing how thick it was, I fear Ririna may need more instructors.

Taking the file, I saw that on the sides were tabs that arranged the files alphabetically. Flipping it to a random page, I looked at the picture that displayed those who wanted to join.

Goblins, orcs, and lizardmen made up a majority of those who wanted to join, with one or two humans mixed in. All of them looked relatively unassuming from a glance, and wouldn't look out of place if you encounter them on the sidewalk.

They aren't ready. But that's not really a problem: the Academy will whip them into shape.

However, as I was flipping through the pages, I found a particular candidate that gave me pause.

Eren Elward.

The space between my eyebrows shortened at the sight of the name. My head shifted to the side to stare at the wall as I tried to imagine another human having the same first and last name only to come up blank.

I then peeked at her photo to confirm that it was who I thought it was.

"Eren's... joining?"

She's... what? I thought the girl left after the Guide Master had gone back to Blumund! My internal alarms were going off. Now she wants to join the Military?

She's a runaway noble— the potential fallout of the truth being revealed would put us in a tough spot. Especially since Sarion could accuse us of using Eren to gain secret information.

The ramification of this spills over into international politics and was a time bomb just waiting to blow with an unknown timer.

I can almost imagine this event blowing up at the worst time possible. Maybe that was just me reading too many works of fiction where a companion of a character betrays at the worst time for said character.

I took out her file and placed it to the side, deciding to deal with it later while returning my attention back to the other candidates.

I was almost through all the candidates of the files before the door to my office opened again and Rubedo alongside Ririna quietly walked in, both having serious expressions on their faces.

Uniform-wise, Ririna is wearing a much less extravagant version of her ceremonial outfit. The one she currently wore is dark green with red accents covering the seams, making it look like something out of a WWII film.

Rubedo on the other hand is wearing something similar to Ririna except he has a tinkertech sheathed saber on his side.

The Kijin said it was apparently a 'cultural thing'.

Of course, I granted him that request since it would be not advantageous to start an employer's contract with a bad impression. The saber I gave him is a worthless one made from magisteel and contains a single monomolecular edge on one side of the blade. Due to it being for use by others, I carved a microscopic rune of self-repair and another of self-maintenance to ensure it would never dull or break as long as Rubedo continues to supply it with magicule.

I think it's really something that I consider a monomolecular blade, what is considered 'exceptional' in my works of science fiction, to be 'worthless'.

Looking up, "You're all here. Good. Sit."

I waited until the two settled before pressing a button underneath the desk.

While this may look like an ordinary desk, like many of my creations, it is far from it.

This desk is made out of material that is chemically almost identical to wood, yet is as hard as Magisteel. More than its hardness, the desk also contains a pocket dimension generator. Once activated, the generator will deposit this office into its own private pocket dimension, allowing for absolute privacy and ensuring nothing would escape the confines of this room.

It is a bit disorienting for those unused to being in a subspace bubble, as clearly shown by the fact that Rubedo clutched the armrest of the couch harshly Rubedo and the barely concealed nauseousness of Ririna.

"Now that privacy is guaranteed, we can start."

A port on the desk opened up and a map of the world manifested itself in the middle of the room. It is both a geographical and a political map of this world. Large enough that it took up a majority of my office's floor space, the map was extremely detailed in showing all the settlements in the world.

Within the borders of the Republic, there were two additional dots to the star that represented our capital which resides north of the Kusha Mountain Range.

"I'm sure you already know, but let's recap anyway. Our official municipal cities expanded from one to three now with the establishment of the port city of Trantor in the Bay of Ashdapor between Fulbrosia and Sarion and the city of Rimuru at the mouth of the Ameld River going from lake Shisu, with both having a population of 8,000 and 10,000 respectively.

Both of them nodded at the information before I continued, "now, I plan on transforming Trantor into a partial military port."

Rubedo looked surprised while Ririna had a neutral, yet intense look on her face to show that she's been paying attention even if she likely already knew this information.

"But," Rubedo interjected, "we don't have a blue-water navy—"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Ririna interrupted with a tone of annoyance that a person would use when they've run out of patience.

A blue-water navy refers to a navy that is capable of operating across the oceans. An excellent example of a blue-water navy is the United States Navy with its eleven carriers.

"Now, Rimuru City has been getting trade from Eurazania while Trantor has already been receiving products from the various Western states, El Dorado, Sarion, and ugh, Ulgrasia. Nigerdo thinks Trantor can become one of the centers of commerce of the south, right up there next to Metropolis." As I spoke, I opened the cabinet built into the desk and took out a bottle of water before finally pausing and taking a sip.

Then I placed the bottle onto the side of my desk and crossed my fingers together as if I was some kind of supervillain in the process of masterminding the hero's defeat.

"He has also petitioned Congress for the creation of an additional Hyperloop beyond the highway we have already built two weeks ago." I raised my right hand to point at seemingly nothing, "I want that to be delayed. The Hyperloop is a sign of friendship, it serves no purpose beyond maybe being an extremely fast form of transportation that just isn't cost-effective enough until more countries recognize our existence."

Ririna nodded her head with a determined look on her face.

In contrast, Rubedo looked a bit disgusted with the edge of his mouth veering downward in a grimace. "Nigerdo has waited hours under the hot sun to get that petition into Congress and you would seek to delay him through undemocratic means?!" he said with a bit of rage in his voice.

I began to rub my forehead as I am once again reminded of the rather... strained relationship between the two of us despite me being the one who gave him his name.

"I'm not removing his petition." I firmly stated, "I'll admit, having a Hyperloop would be great for travel between cities but it's not economically feasible until there's more of a demand for such things. Hell, maybe besides a potential one to Blumund but the Hyperloop to Dwargon is running at a 200,000 dollar loss every month." That seems to calm him down a bit, but the red Kijin's face is still twisted in discomfort at what [Psychology] deemed he saw as the 'undemocratic nature' of what I'm asking.

Next, I maneuver to reassure him. My raised right hand was pointed at seemingly nothing flattened itself until it was parallel with the floor. It looked as if I was a tour guide and was gesturing toward a specific section of a monument.

"Besides, it's not undemocratic. I'm just going to give a bill about Albedo's proposal for integration of magic into daily life for Congress to chew on until after Rimuru's visit to Ingrassia, persuade them that it's more important and put the Hyperloop project on hold." Waiting a few moments to let that sink in, I then move to why they're REALLY here for; "there has been an enormous amount of escaped slaves from Jistav, Eurazania, Fulbrosia, and the other western nations, especially Falmuth."

I saw Ririna's hands tighten her face still passive but I saw the twitch in her left eye, with Rubedo gritting his teeth in anger.

[Silenced Emotion: 40%]

Oh boy. It seems slavery is as emotionally charged of a topic here as it is in my old world, which is strange considering this is a Tolkien-esque fantasy world and slavery is everywhere.

"Now, I have no problem with them coming into the Republic in seeking a better life. We could always use more manpower," Both blinked at the last part, seemingly unprepared for that cold statement.

For such an issue, cold logic is needed.

"What I am concerned about are the slave hunters that effortlessly cross the borders and the trafficking rings established within the Jura Forest." I firmly said with authority clear in my voice, "the real purpose I've asked you all to come here is to ask you guys how would you guys solve this issue?"

It was also a secret test.

Ririna raised her hand like a student waiting to be called by a teacher. What...?

"Ririna, just speak, this is a meeting, not a classroom. There's no need for you to raise your hand,"

Ririna had this small blush on her face before clearing her throat, zooming into the Jistav-Republic border, "I propose we set up some military bases 50 kilometers outside of the border, that way we can send out drones that monitors the area which will 'accidentally' ignore the escaped slaves and instead focus on the hunters, maybe even creating a capture-on-sight order for any illegal border crossers. Due to our relatively lax Visa requirements, we can let them stay for five years, more than long enough for them to become a Tempest Citizen."

Rubedo looked at Ririna in a new light, one of respect and admiration if the agape mouth is anything to go by. I had a smile on my face, "Good idea Ririna."

Ririna preened under the compliment.

"Now Rubedo, what do you think? How do we combat this issue?"

Rubedo had an intense look in his eyes. His lips thinned as his fist tightened almost like he was about to throw a punch. [Psychology] thinks he must've had a bad encounter with slavers in his past given how emotional he's getting.

The Kijin then turned to face a part of the wall where both I and Ririna won't be in his line of sight.

"I say we kill those hunters. We can create a new directorate for the Office Corp, which perhaps every three months of a year, many Officer-in-trainings get real-world experience in leading a small bridge of soldiers and Autonomous Military Drones in combatting the problem. Get them used to blood if you will."

I snapped my fingers, "that's an interesting proposal, but not good enough."

Rubedo instantly turned to me, his eyes wide and full of disbelief.

His answer is just so... thoughtless. Such thoughtless treatment of symptoms is what caused the War on Drugs.

"You're treating a symptom, not the actual disease."

"What are you talking about?!" Rubedo was appalled, "that we shouldn't kill them?! Those who violate one of our Freedoms within the Constitution?!?"

"Rubedo!"

That came from Ririna. I didn't reply. Instead, I waited until he calmed down.

I leaned on my left hand as if it was a scaffolding and I was a tower, "Why does slavery exist?"

"Wha—?"

"Tell me honestly, why do you think the institution of slavery exists?"

"I—"

"Rubedo, tell me why slavery exists?" I stared unflinchingly into Rubedo's eyes.

"... To..." Rubedo seems to be struggling to find an answer, so I turned to Ririna.

"Ririna, why does slavery exists?"

"To oppress people? To show that one species is better than the other?"

"Close. In truth, slavery exists primarily to serve one purpose." I held up one finger, "cheap labor."

I could tell that it was slowly dawning on Ririna, but Rubedo seemed to need some extra catching up to do, so I elaborated, "I personally believe economics is the main driving force of history."

Why did the Bolsheviks rise to power in Tsar Russia? Poor economic conditions. Why did Spain conquer the Mesoamericans? For god, glory, and gold. Why did so many Chinese emperors get overthrown by their people? Because they trashed the nation's economy.

"Unlike us, those pre-industrial civilizations need slaves to fulfill the niche of cheap labor. Unlike us, who have machines and vocational educations that can make an individual hundred of times more productive than your average peasant, for them, the world is a zero-sum game." I then simplify it, "the world is a cake, and in order to have a larger slice, you must take it from others. Thus, to be more productive, you must take from others, whether it's resources or people."

Such are the thoughts of Mercantilism, where it was believed that one nation can only get richer if another nation became poorer.

"We of the Jura Tempest Republic have the ability to create more cakes thanks to the effect of technologies. Our economy is growing at such a rapid pace that in less than half a year, we'll make up 50% of the global economy, more than the East and West combined. Here, in our Republic, our technology makes slavery uneconomical and unprofitable. With our technology, we have created a proper Middle-class. This doesn't happen elsewhere outside of our borders."

There is a reason why the number of pre-industrial great civilizations that don't have any form of slavery can be counted on one hand.

The Founding Fathers of America wrote in 'All Men Are Equal' because slavery was already unprofitable and on its way out. It was solely due to the creation of Eli Whitney's cotton gin that made farming cotton actually profitable since instead of picking out enough cotton to weigh one pound, a single slave with the cotton gin can make 50. In fact, a year into the American Civil War, Lincoln even wrote that he would do whatever it takes to preserve the Union, even if it meant not freeing any of the slaves.

While many may think the Abolitionist movements ended slavery, I personally believe it was Industrialization that ended slavery. It gave power to the workers and made slavery unprofitable. One just needs to look at how badly Tsarist Russia did against Germany during WWI to see how much the Industrial Revolution changed things.

Economics is the prime driving force of history. If slavery was still economical, it would still exist Abolitionists be damned.

"So what do you recommend that we do huh?" Rubedo asked bitterly, like a person who knows he's been defeated.

"Why we reduce the demand of course!" I said simply, with an undertone of joyfulness, "being the main driving force behind history, we'll use economics to solve our problems. The Law of Supply and Demand dictates that so long as there is a demand, there will be supply. Instead of attacking the supply like what Rubedo suggests, I think we'll focus on the demand side of things."

I then lay out my grand plan.

"Obviously to reduce demand, we'll need to expand. We'll need to expand our influence and spread our technologies. While the march of progress for us has continued, it isn't for others. So we'll need to drag other nations— this whole world— kicking and screaming into the future."

That shall be my foreign policy, and also the unofficial foreign policy of this nation. The true purpose of why the Republic interacts on the geopolitical stage.

Rimuru... my eyes partially softened, wouldn't understand. He's too gentle and idealistic to perform the necessary evil of being the President of the only beacon of liberty in this world.

Rubedo crossed his arms, "And what about resistance and retaliation to our influence? I highly doubt people like Emperor Rudra would allow us to give his people ideals of freedom."

A smirk appeared on my face. If soft power won't work, then it comes down to the military's hard power.

"Oh that's easy, I have the Endbringer Initiative to serve as our shield and sword to use against people like Rudra."

"And... What is the Endbringer Initiative?"

I blinked once, twice, before it dawned on me that these people aren't Shizue nor Arcueid. Chuckling morbidly at the fact that I talk more with machines and 'aliens from other worlds' than native beings, I silently made a note to talk more with Arcueid and Rimuru right before he goes to Ingrassia.

"I'll give you the files."

A holographic screen projected replaced the world map. It was three files under the Endbringer Initiative labeled as 'Thaumiel'.

"This is the Endbringer Initiative." the image of three beasts appeared as the file opened, revealing Directive-level secret data for my two topmost military officers whom I trust. The only reason I'm not telling Rimuru this information was the fact that I'm afraid of his reaction to it. "Needless to say, it's beyond Executive-level."

These war machines are designed to fight against multiple S-rank threats at a time, potentially even an S like Milim if all three gathered.

They are the ultimate planetary invasion troops. It took multiple charges into [Material Science, [Dimensional Physics, [Quantum Physics, [Power Creation, [Sensor, [Space-time Engineering, [Exotic Biology, and over a dozen other specialties to create these monstrosities. These superpowered monstrosities.

Rubedo and Ririna looked on in awe at the projected 3-D blueprints of these weapons.

Project Behemoth: a massive vaguely humanoid-like thing seemingly made out of black jagged rocks with a single 'eye'. It has dynakinesis, otherwise known as 'energy manipulation'. For the Army.

Project Leviathan: a top-heavy lizard that seems to jump straight out of a Godzilla film. Marco-hydrokinesis or large-scale water manipulation grants the weapon the ability to sink entire coastlines underneath a biblical wave of water. For the Navy.

Project Simurgh: the hardest one to build. This weapon has the appearance of an angel with multiple wings. In reality, it uses precise manipulation of gravity through Dark Matter to give the appearance of 'telekinesis'. Its precision with gravity manipulation is great enough that the angel can gently move the organs inside a person's ears to simulate 'sound' and give information that only said person can hear, creating a type of telepathy. In fact, the Simurgh has such precision with its gravity manipulation that the weapon can perform brain surgery without the host realizing it.

Being linked to the Doormaker network, the Simurgh also has planetwide post- and precognition through observation of light from the past and calculations of predictions of the future. The Simurgh is also capable of enacting repairs on itself and the other two weapons of the Endbringer Initiative.

For the Airforce.

This Initiative is my final trump card until I deemed the Grand Fleet is completed. They should be able to keep the likes of Velgrynd busy.

A conservative estimation gives it three weeks before these three Endbringers conquer my old world. The biggest roadblock for these beasts isn't nuclear weapons or any army: it's the distance they have to travel that'll slow them down the most.

The Simurgh can pacify a city the size of New York in thirty minutes by giving millions of people a lobotomy, up to an entire state if the angel doesn't care about whether the victims survive or not. Leviathan can sink the island of Kyushu or Newfoundland with tsunamis the likes you will only see in disaster movies. Behemoth can control energy and can cause dormant volcanoes like Yellowstone to erupt prematurely.

My attention zeroed in on my subordinates, waiting patiently for them to finish taking in the Endbringer Initiative while I gauge their response by their facial features.

Arguably, the Endbringer Initiative is the equivalent of the Manhattan Project of my old world, or rather, Izdeliye 501 since the Eastern Empire already has Velgrynd. It will protect the Republic even more than Polaris or the A.A.A. against threats that would seek to harm it.

The back of my mind made a comparison of the Republic to North Korea before I ignored it.

"This..." Rubedo trailed off, his face pale, "this... I thought Congress had banned you from making any more Weapons of Mass Destruction without approval—"

I quickly cut him off, with a swipe of my wrist, "these haven't been built yet obviously. They are merely blueprints for weapons that can raze the Eastern Empire into the ground if we ignore Velgrynd."

Is what he feeling right now akin to what Major Charles Sweeney felt when he piloted the plane that carried Fat Man? I idly wondered when looking at Rubedo. That unsettling feeling of knowing you are a collaborator to the death of thousands, or in this case it would be millions in the future?

Rubedo looked uneased, more so after the mention of the True Dragon. He looked down at the ground as if trying to decide on something before looking at me right into my eyes.

"I had signed a contract and swore an oath to be your subordinate, so this may be seen as treasonous but I must ask: How much is too much? Is the death of millions, even billions worth it? How many weapons of mass destruction will you build until you are satisfied? Will you only stop once the world itself is destroyed?"

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

"..."

My shoulders slacked, my head draped as if my neck no longer had any strength and a shadow covered my eyes.

My lips thinned as I process what he had said. That question enraged me immensely before I quashed it down, my poker face almost breaking when I heard what he had said.

What does he know about being a Perfect Homunculus? What does he know about the sleepless nights of me worrying about the potential leaking of my real self? Of having to put on a mask all the time just so the entire world wouldn't kill you? I'm like a Jew in Nazi Germany in 1941, where my only advantage is that I look like an Aryan and no one knows of my parents.

How dare he?

"RUBEDO!" Ririna jumped off the couch and looked downright murderous at the treasonous words of her second-in-command, before turning around and bowing to me apologetically, "please! Forgive my second-in-command, I shall reprimand him immensely afterward!"

"Have no fear, even if they are built, they would only be used in an event of Total War," I assured him with confidence clear in my voice, suppressing my anger at being doubted and completely ignoring his question. Turning to Ririna, "well, what do you think?"

Ririna looked at the blueprint before replying "Commander, I would think if we have these then no nation in the world would dare attack us."

The hobgoblin declared with a grin, trying very hard to forget Rubedo's pseudo-treason had ever happened.

I slowly clenched my right hand before unclenching them in a rhythmic fashion.

I had added a clause allowing my employees to speak freely, but god damn did Rubedo make me want to remove that clause.

With the support of Ririna and the reluctance of Rubedo, now I only need the President's Executive support and I can go ahead with the construction of the Endbringers.

The fact that the Endbringer Initiative renders us immune to any attacks from other nations should be enough of a reason to build them.

AN: I wasn't able to find a name for the bay between Fulbrosia and Sarion, so I decided to make my own.

How I imagine if Scientia was in Melty Blood: Type Lumina

Here are the 'arcs'.

ArcDrive: Scientia summons the secret intergalactic fleet they've built before teleporting out using Doormaker, the skies darken as thousands, millions, billions of Doors are made. The sun itself is blotted out due to the sheer number of voidcrafts present, and then they all collectively fire all their weapons at the target, frying the entire continent as they do.

Last Arcs: Scientia wears the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics, opens a Door behind the opponent, and bodyslam them through. The door transported the opponent next to a colossal structure of an unimaginable size: a Nicol-Dyson Beam. The Dyson sphere then powers itself on as energy is condensed around the firing lens, before a beam the size of a planet is shot forth and hits the opponent still floating aimlessly in space.

28

I called Rimuru into the Citadel two days before his diplomatic visit to Ingrassia. We were inside a lounge that wouldn't look out of place in a really fancy restaurant, what with the floor covered in black and brown patterned carpet, walls of polished dark wood, black ceiling, and multiple different lights that were placed near the edge of the room. There were two sofas that sat parallel to each other, and between them was a table with a full teacup and a glass of water on it.

The whole place was designed to make the person who resides within it feel comfy, though I think all it made Rimuru feel was that everything was too gaudy.

I had explained to the slime who sat on the opposite sofa of the room exactly what the Endbringer Initiative is and its purpose.

Rimuru had this indecipherable look on his face, then he asked, "are you going to build anymore?

That sentence halted my thoughts as I looked into the eyes of Rimuru's human form.

Rimuru had received words that Ingrassia has accepted his offer of a diplomatic visit, and apparently was ready whenever we were, so long as we give them a six-hour heads-up.

I decided to ask right now partially because I know he's also busy preparing for his own visit to Ingrassia, so he'll be forced to make a decision really quickly without fully thinking it through.

Realistically, I don't doubt I could build it in secret but that would undermine the authority that the government and the people have. Such an act would erode institutions, and institutions serve as an important pillar of democracy and rules of law.

Only in a dictatorship is the leader above the law.

On the surface level, I'm very similar to Area 51. Research and Development is a semi-independent entity outside of the jurisdiction of the Legislative power of Congress but falls under the command of the Executive branch of government. Effectively, I'm beholden only to the authority of the President, and even then Rimuru mostly let me do whatever I want. There does exist a National Agency called the Ministry of Inspection dedicated to making sure there's no corruption or fraud, but that's mostly for auditing all levels of government instead of mine since even if every single Tempest Citizen were to become a part of the Ministry of Inspection, they wouldn't even be able to go through a fraction of the log of my activities even after a century of non-stop inspection.

"No," My reply was sharp, "those are the only ones I have plans for as of right this instant."

My fingers went through the handle to pick up the tea cup and I took a sip of the warm, sweet drink. I stared at the cup after finishing the sip.

Too sweet. Note to self: don't put so much sugar into the drink.

The sofa quietly groaned as Rimuru leaned backward and sighed. The slime then placed his head onto his left hand for support as though it was too heavy for the neck alone.

"Scientia... something's clearly up. I've known you for the longest time ever since you reincarnated in this world, but just please tell me what's wrong. Why are you so... why do you put me at arm's length?"

Huh? My face changed into one that screamed 'what are you talking about?'. This confused look continued for several seconds before Rimuru got the hint and further explained his point.

"I know we haven't... been close ever since I took the role of the President of a budding nation. But please, I— you can trust me on whatever is bothering you."

What...? My mouth was hanging slightly open at what he was implying. Is he serious?

"I really don't know what you mean.

"Scientia." There was an unusual sense of seriousness in his voice, "you're my friend. I know when something is up— well I guess [Great Sage] knows. My Unique Skill said that it was due to past trauma, so I think it's due to reincarnation. I should know myself just how hard reincarnation is..."

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

Rimuru trailed off and waited for a response. It took several moments for him to realize that I'm still not talking and drop this line of questioning. A look of sadness appeared on his face, like a friend who was sad at how far they and another have drifted apart.

"Alright. Just— just know that my door is always open should you need someone to talk to. Let me help alleviate some of your burdens."

What the hell is he talking about? I ignore [Psychology]'s reply, I get that I may get a bit homesick at times but is it really that bad? Even looking back, it wasn't that bad, was it? I don't think it's that bad that Rimuru's become concern over it—

Ah, a light bulb lit up inside my mind. Of course, if it wasn't that bad, then it must mean something else.

"Did you think that all the time I isolated myself from everyone else was due to me feeling sad over the whole reincarnation thing?" I asked incredulously. What gave him that idea?

"Are... you not?"

This time it was for Rimuru to be confused. I have the slightest gut feeling that maybe even now, we're still both thinking of different things that merely overlap by a slight bit.

"Of course not! This is ME you're talking about, I—" was merely visiting dead planets and other alien worlds during those times.

Huh... perhaps I should've told him about my ambitions in space, right?

Realizing I've stopped talking, I cleared my throat before continuing, "when I was out of reach, I was paying attention to building my technology and visiting other worlds out there in space."

"Other worlds..." the slime's eyes suddenly lit up like a child who realized they've just got an X-Box for Christmas, "wait, you mean you traveled to other planets?!"

"Of course—"

Rimuru suddenly launched himself at me. His body outstretched, the slime grabbed my shoulder while I merely reactively bundled my hands together in front of me as if they were sticks and leaned into the couch. His sudden movement caused my tea and his water to get knocked over and spilled.

Needless to say, Rimuru's action surprised me greatly. There was an awkward smile on my face, "um, Rimuru...?"

"You went into space... without telling me?!" He started off low before increasing his voice. The slime's tone had an edge of rightful accusation.

My awkward smile dropped alongside my jaw, "ah? I mean, yes?"

I blinked several times.

I felt Rimuru's hands tighten, not enough that it hurts but enough that it starts to become uncomfortable.

Then it suddenly loosened. "Uh," the slime's attention was on the spilled liquid, "I'll clean this up."

Rimuru's hand transformed into its slime form and ate the spill. Afterward, if one didn't see the tipped-over cup and glass, one would've never realized anything was wrong.

"I'll authorize it."

"Authorize what?"

"The Endbringer Initiative." Rimuru repeated, then added, "We can always use more defenses against other less friendly Demon Lords. Though the name is a bit on the edge..."

I let out a breath and all the tenseness from my shoulders were released as they slacked. So I was worried about nothing.

There was a grateful smile on my face as I shrugged, "The name is meant to be foreboding. Our very military doctrine demands such foreboding names as a psychological weapon. Do you think the Soviets would've been as scared of the nuclear bomb if America named their first test something ridiculous like 'Barbie Did an Oopsie'?"

Rimuru let out a few chuckles at my joke. My eyes sharpened as even without any specialties of [Inspired Inventor, I could tell he wanted something.

After years of being in the corporate world, my intuition is refined to a point that I can tell a person want something more with almost 100% accuracy.

[Psychology] is telling me he wants to go to space as well, but fears actually asking me would be seen as him being rude. The specialty gave me a clear pathway toward an opportunity to reassure him and bond over the experience.

Unlike last time, I decided to listen to that specialty.

"Hey, Rimuru, after you return from Ingrassia do you want to go to space?"

His eyes lit up like a kid who's just been given the LEGO Death Star for Christmas. Rimuru's mouth turned into a bright radiant smile that just makes you want to instinctively protect it. I could almost swear his eyes were sparkling like stars.

"Mmmh mmh!" Rimuru nodded rapidly like a kid who's been asked whether or not they wanted a bag of chips, causing me to chuckle at his childlike behavior.

Then a sudden realization hit me.

"..." Man, how much did I, for the lack of a better word, 'mellow' out thanks to my position finally being secured? If this was me when I just decided to start leading the goblins, I was sure I would be much more paranoid and less trusting.

I clapped my hands together, "Alright, so it's been decided: we'll go after your return from Ingrassia."

"Oh." That seems to temper his glee at the prospect of visiting other worlds.

Seeing how quickly he's changed from happiness and sadness caused me to try and change the conversation.

"Hey Rimuru, how soon can Veldora be freed?"

There was a brief pause before the humanoid slime answered, presumably to consult [Great Sage].

"Around 99 years left, why do you ask?" He said in an innocent tone, like one that a person would use to answer a question asked out of the blue.

I did some quick math. 99 years translates to 36,135 days, which is divided further into 867,240 hours, 52,034,400 minutes, and over three billion seconds.

With a single swiping gesture, I pulled up information concerning the capacity of the Matrioshka Brain in construction around a Class-A main sequence star thousands of lights away, in what's known as this world's Velda constellation.

Around a tenth of the surface area of the first shell nearest to the surface of the star is completed in the first week. Colossal moon-sized conversion facilities dot the surface of the shell, all of them collectively converting a quarter of an Earth's worth of mass every minute by feeding off of the intense Hawking radiation of millions of micro-black holes and turning those energies back into matter.

The main bottleneck right now that's throttling the Matrioshka Brain's construction speed isn't actually how long it takes to extract the mass from those micro-black holes as one might imagine, instead, it's just how slow the nanites move. Even with titanic highways that crisscross the entire star, capturing it like the web of a spider, it's still taking a while for the proper nanite to get into place before the next one is slotted in.

So how do I make it even quicker?

[Spatial Transportation, [Megastructure, and [Interlocking Design] suggest a prefab solution: set up facilities in the orbit of the star that's specialized in the creation of prefabricated sections of the stellar megastructure. Then, once a prefabricated section is done, those can be teleported in with a Subspace Diver.

In essence, I've turned the construction of the Matrioshka Brain into a fucking star-sized LEGO set.

What has this world come to?

"What is that?"

Still, even if the Matrioshka Brain isn't anywhere near complete, I don't doubt it'll speed up the freeing of Veldora by a factor of many millions at the very least.

"This is the stats for a supercomputer that I made to help your [Great Sage] to free Veldora." I confidently explained while closing my eyes with a waiting smile on my face. I waited for the applause and compliment.

"Are you sure that this computer of yours is better than Great Sage?"

"Guh!"

My bravado evaporated as I flinched as if an anvil had crashed loudly into the ground next to me.

I was met with doubts instead of the expected acceptance!

Clearing my throat again, "of course! This is ME you're talking about. Have you heard what they're calling me on the Internet? I'm the Miracle Maker! I make miracles like how a person makes a sandwich."

Rimuru continued to look at me with an eye of skepticism, still doubting my words but knowing I would never lie about my abilities... as mythicized by the Internet as they were.

[Social Engineering] then suggested to me that Rimuru is not doubting my ability, merely whether or not I have something that can even interface with Great Sage. "if you're wondering how I'm going to connect with your ability, it's easy! I'll just have you devour a biomechanical scanner that'll have a two-way data transmitter which—"

He's lost, isn't he? I stopped once I saw how Rimuru didn't understand what I was talking about.

"Sorry, I have a tendency to explain my technology to people."

[Psychology] was about to speak up before I squished it, I don't need to know why I do that!

Rimuru did a placating gesture with his hands as if telling me 'it's okay' before I extended my arm to the sides and reached into my pocket dimension.

I pulled out an orb about the size of my palm, "Now, although the supercomputer is a star-sized—"

"STAR-SIZED?!"

I stilled, my eyes blinking several times before it hit me that I really haven't explained the supercomputer I'm talking about. In hindsight, Rimuru must've thought that the 'supercomputer' I talked about was just those run-of-mills supercomputers you'd find in my old world, not a stellar megastructure dedicated to the sole purpose of calculations.

"The supercomputer I'm referring to is a stellar megastructure known as a 'Matrioshka Brain'. Imagine a Russian matrioshka doll, or rather, an onion," I chose another one since I don't know if Rimuru knew what a matrioshka doll is. The slime nodded while I placed the orb on the table.

Tapping on my clothes, a grey sphere materialized into reality in front of me.

A miniature version of a Matrioshka Brain.

"Normally, having a hard shell is impossible since not even Neutronium, a stabilized version of Nuclear Pasta, the strongest matter possible under conventional physics, can support such a large structure. Hence, instead of being a Dyson Sphere, it's often referred to in more academic areas as a 'Dyson Swarm'."

The diagram of a new element appeared next to me, it was completely unlike any model of a Bohr-Rutherford diagram.

There was a large grin on my face, and pride seeped in my very being, "but I don't need to play by conventional physics. My technology is advanced enough that the very manipulation of universal constants related to the atom is possible. Allow me to introduce you to 'Atomium'. Created by changing the value of the Electromagnetic Force, and the two Nuclear Forces thanks to a certain forge, this matter will serve as the 'branches' and 'trunks' of my Matrioshka Brain, supporting the whole stellar structure as the foundation of a fixed shell."

Though, I'm currently only limited to constants that are related to the atom. Control over spacetime constants that are independent like the speed of light is beyond me.

I plucked out a small section of the Matrioshka Brain before throwing the rest away. Next, I enlarged the thing with the slime watching in awe.

"The Matrioshka Brain uses computronium: molecular electronics dedicated to the sole purpose of computing and uses the output of an entire star to do so. This is something that approaches the Bremmermann Limit."

"But wouldn't that overheat it? Like I get that you're using some super material but the surface of a star is thousands of degrees!"

With two fingers, I zoomed in on that thin shell of the Matrioshka Brain until you could see that it's actually composed of several individual layers, like the layers of a matrioshka doll or an onion. In reality, these would be colossal fillets of computronium that serve as a single layer that's connected to other layers via almost innumerable titanic pillars which are responsible for transmitting data. These pillars combined with active support aid with Atomium to ensure the shell of the Matrioshka Brain won't collapse due to the gravitational pull of the star.

It would be an almost unimaginable sight, being in the space between two computronium fillets. The ground and sky above you are all like the circuit board of a computer while in the distance there are incredible pillars that stretch from the ground to the sky, holding everything together like how Atlas holds up the world. There will be drones that fly about in the space between fillets, fulfilling their purpose of performing maintenance on the computronium.

It would be unlike anything anyone's ever seen before.

"Yes, it would be quite hot, but remember: heat is energy, and I'm a master at manipulating energy. The lowest layer of the Matrioshka Brain uses the heat from the star to perform some computations. It then radiates away an enormous amount of waste heat toward the layer above it, which would then use those waste heat to perform more calculations." I saw Rimuru's eyes widen as he realized the brilliance of my megastructure, "this process of calculation using waste heat will continue until there is next to no energy left. What you're left with is a region of space that's about as cold as the baseline temperature of outer space."

I then gestured to him, "come on, play with it. Play with the hologram."

Immediately, Rimuru started playing around and looking at the hologram of the Matrioshka Brain. His manipulation of the hologram wasn't as smooth and efficient as mine since he clearly was copying my movements from before like how a person learns by looking at how other people do.

The slime was currently inspecting Layer-12339, 12340, and 12341.

"Where did you get the material to make this?" Rimuru wondered in a quiet tone one would use when they saw something amazing.

As if talking about where I got the parts for carving a statue, I answered, "Obviously from stars and uninhabitable planets. Those are simply collections of mass just waiting to be harvested."

Rimuru's eyes shifted to me before sighing in defeat, muttering, "only you could say using planets as resources so casually..."

"Heh," there was a sheepish smile on my face as I scratched the back of my head, knowing full well that I have no rebuttal for his statement. The sheepish smile quickly turned into a passive one, "so what do you say?"

I dismissed the hologram and picked up the orb.

To be frank, this is Soul Interfacer attached to a Hyperspace Link. Souls are truly the most difficult thing to interact with, arguably even more than Dark Matter since whatever makes up the Soul, whatever is responsible for it becoming quantifiable, only interacts with photons and gravitons.

According to [Spiritual Engineering, it should be possible to interact with Skills if one touches the soul, but I haven't got a clue since it's never been tested before.

"Eat this, and have [Great Sage] temporarily integrate with it to gain access to the Matrioshka Brain."

"I..." Rimuru looked apprehensive, before sighing and agreeing with my proposal, "fine, but we should free Veldora in a safer place—"

"Pfft! There is no safer place in the universe than where we are right now (other than perhaps deep space). The material that made up the outside is called 'Siberium' and it's a hole in reality, capable of blocking any attack." I waved off his concern before turning to the side, "door me."

A black Doorway with a purple outline appeared near the entrance to this lounge, "let's go."

Rimuru held up a hand, "wait, should— shouldn't we tell Citrinitas and Shizue about where we're going?"

The slime gazed at the actual door to the outside before turning to me with an expectant look.

I thought about it for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Bah, we're not going off-world, merely into a safer room."

"But—"

I placed a hand on his shoulder. As a President, Rimuru usually wore a three-piece suit and a name tag on his left breast, but since he's not acting as a President right this instance, the slime wore a casual T-shirt and shorts, which is somewhat out of place given how it's in Autumn now.

"Rimuru, you wanna free Veldora or not?"

Though I put a front of wanting to free Veldora, I was also entirely fine with him remaining sealed. After all, the appearance of the Storm Dragon would surely attract the attention of the entire world. That's not what I'm worried about. What I am really worried about is attracting the attention of the elusive Velzard and maybe even that fourth True Dragon.

"... fine..." Rimuru relented to my wishes and got up, "let's go."

Doormaker transported us into the middle of a massive testing room. The walls were made out of dull metal walls that smoothly connected with the ceiling and floor instead of anything sharp. The atmosphere was completely different from the lounge. Whereas the lounge may feel gaudy, here it's like an attic that hasn't been intruded upon for years: emptiness is all there is.

This was the room where I tested interdimensional phenomena or the place where I summoned Arcueid. This room remained inactive after I shut down any testing involved with other Worlds and recycled the advanced electronics and machines for other uses.

Placing the orb down on the ground while walking toward the edge of the room.

"Um, Scientia? Where are you going?"

I spoke once I'm at the edge of the room, "Consume the orb."

A holographic panel appeared next to me, showing the status of the orb.

Returning my focus back to the slime, I saw how he had a deadpan look on his face.

"Why are you so far away?!"

I return his deadpan look with one of my own as if he's asking about something that's extremely obvious, "Rimuru, I don't know if you realize this but Veldora is gigantic, and unlike you, I can't be safely squished."

"... fair point."

"[Predator]!" Rimuru's right arm changed into something that resembled a vortex before said vortex collapsed onto the orb and consumed it.

I waited for a few more seconds before—

—Link with 'Star Computer' is successful

"Wah!" Rimuru jumped in surprise when he heard the digitalized female voice coming from my nanite clothing.

I smirked at his reaction and at the result. Fascinating, I wonder what other Skills could Rimuru get if he consumed other technologies?

"Why hello there [Great Sage, finally I hear you talk with another medium," I said, "how does it feel to talk to someone else for a change?"

The Unique Skill replied passively as if speaking to someone else wasn't an amazing achievement.

It annoyed me more than I could've thought, causing my eyelids to twitch at the dismissal. Again, I cleared my throat and soldiered on, "well, either way, Rimuru, get ready because I'm going to open the metaphorical floodgate and activate the Matrioshka Brain."

There was anticipation in my voice. After all, who wouldn't? A completed Matrioshka Brain would be the dream of any civilization since it signals their entrance into a Type-II Civilization, and with it, comes unparalleled energy collection capability.

Rimuru nodded and entered the proverbial keys to freedom. I tapped on the surface of a newly materialized hologram, sending an 'On' signal at superluminal speeds towards outer space.

30,000 light-years away, the Velda constellation, the star known as 'Great Horn'.

A bright, bluish, Class-A star burned silently in the void of space. The ball of nuclear fusion plasma radiated away incredible amounts of light while spewing forth stellar winds that sometimes heat its surroundings to upwards of four million Kelvins.

At least, that's how it's supposed to go. Those stellar winds are immediately intercepted and stopped in place by powerful magnetic fields created to protect a titanic black webbing that is slowly covering— ensnaring— entangling— trapping the star akin to some spider of god that had just found its new prey.

By now, little over a tenth of the surface area of the star has been blocked out, thanks to the 'leaves' that spread out from the 'branches' of the web.

Due to how bright the enraptured star is, an observer wouldn't notice how the barely completed Matrioshka Brain began its operation. However, if sound could be transmitted across space, one would hear the terrible rumbling of computers that dwarfed entire planets roaring to life, utilizing the star held within as the source of power.

In the first microsecond of that connection, Rimuru instantly collapsed into his slime form. The strain of suddenly connecting to a vast sea of raw unfiltered information was almost too much.

What is happening? Rimuru asked, to no one in particular.

Yet an answer came from the void, from that connection with that vast sea of pure calculation.

—NeurologicalEffectOfASuddenIncreaseInComputationalAndCalculationCapacityCanOverwhelmAPerson—

"Woah~" Rimuru felt weird like he had just drunk five bottles of beer back in his old world and then immediately became sober.

Instinctually, he knew that this Matrioshka Brain can solve any problem he asks.

Rimuru heard something from Scientia, but the slime was too distracted to pay any attention to the Perfect Homunculus.

—EstimationOfCalculation—

Picking himself up, Rimuru felt [Great Sage] say something really quickly. It was so fast that the slime can't even comprehend what's been said until he used [Thought Acceleration] to its full 1000 times potential, resulting in him seeing Scientia frozen— or at least moving in extremely slow motion.

His mind drudged up the memory of his first time seeing the Matrix and that scene involving Bullet Time.

—amplified by 50,000,000 times, estimated completion date moved to: 62.441 seconds, commencing processing utilizing connected Star Computer... now

Rimuru felt a drain on his magicule as [Great Sage] connects itself fully to the not-even-close-to-finished star-sized computer called... what again? a Matrioshka Brain? Yeah, that thing.

The slime silently cursed his past self of Satoru Mikami for not being more of a hardcore sci-fi fan. If Satoru was then Rimuru was sure he would be at least familiar with what Scientia's talking about— her passion for the stars.

Using that avenue, Rimuru could've then bonded together with the Perfect Homunculus.

Due to the effect of a fully powered [Thought Acceleration, what should've been only one minute will be 1000 minutes for him, so Rimuru eases off on the Skill, and time returns to normal.

"—did it work?"

It took a bit for Rimuru to fully catch up. Once he did, however, the slime nodded and affirmed Scientia's notion, "yes, it'll be another minute before Veldora's freed."

The edge of Scientia's mouth tilted downward ever so slightly in an expression of displeasure. It would've been unnoticeable had Rimuru remained a human.

"Huh, I calculated it to be at least 100,000,000... but I guess the slow down can be attributed to the distance between here and there..."

This time, it was the slime who sighed exasperatedly. In his mind, he thought that only Scientia could think 50,000,000 was a small number.

"Listen Scientia. 50 million is a lot, and frankly, the fact that you managed to build a star-sized computer is just insane to me."

And it really is. What little tidbit of science fiction knowledge the slime does know about mostly came from watching Star Wars and Gundam and those mostly dealt with things at the planetary level.

Stuff like 'planet busters' are 'superweapons' and stars are unmovable background objects like the sea or an island that the characters must maneuver around.

The Perfect Homunculus chuckled a little bit at Rimuru's words, realizing that there was a gigantic difference in perspective between the two.

Thooom*

The door to the reinforced testing chamber was suddenly thrown open. In one swift motion, Scientia turned towards the door and a portal opened up right next to her while the clothing the Perfect Homunculus had worn changed and seemed to almost harden given how it gained a reflective sheen.

From that portal next to her came the handle of a gun which Scientia pulled out and was just about to level the sci-fi looking at the door before realizing exactly who had opened it.

"A—Arcueid?" Scientia lowered her gun until it was pointed at the floor, "what are you doing here?"

Since Scientia was turned away from Rimuru, the slime couldn't see her reaction. However, he could easily imagine how shocked and dumbfounded she must've been given how Arcueid came out of nowhere.

As always, there was a bright and innocent smile on the True Ancestor's face. The smile was one that wouldn't look out of place on that of a bright-eyed child untouched by the real world.

"I was bored. I just finished my latest series of detective novels, so I thought why don't I check to see what you're doing? And it turns out you are doing something really interesting!" Arcueid then pointed at Rimuru, "I sense a connection going way out into space that originated from within him, what's that about anyway?"

Finally, when it seems like Scientia has collected herself, "Arcueid, I'll play with you later but right now, I'm busy."

The way Scientia spoke to Arcueid reminds Rimuru of how a parent would speak to a rebellious teenager.

In truth, Rimuru has always found Arcueid interesting. Needless to say, this fascination is mostly due to how the super vampire (as Scientia would say 'emphasis on the super') came from a world that uses an entirely different system of magic. Although Rimuru was less than happy when he learned of just how inhuman the mages were.

If possible, Rimuru would like to go to her world and introduce technologies that would render their system of magic inert, since apparently if humanity discovers more about the world, the weaker magic becomes.

Arcueid pouted as she crossed her arms. The True Ancestor glared at Scientia as if she expected the latter to apologize the next second. A calculating look flashed across Scientia's uncannily perfect face.

Like a spoiled princess! Rimuru noted when he saw the exchange.

'Hey, Great Sage how soon can Veldora be freed?'

The glare that Arcueid had trained on Scientia was strong enough that the latter's shoulder slumped in defeat, before turning to give Rimuru one last look, "I'll deal with Arcueid, this room should insulate any Magicule Leakage, try not die when dealing with a True Dragon, alright?"

It was only then that Rimuru realized that the calculating look from before was her making the decision to leave him to deal with one of the most powerful beings in this world alone.

'DAMN YOU SCIENTIAAAAA!' Rimuru screamed at her through their rarely used [Soul Corridor].

In response, Scientia gave him an apologetic grin before taking Arcueid's hands and leading her out of the chamber, abandoning Rimuru to his fate.

[Unlimited Imprisonment] has been analyzed, recreating of [Unlimited Imprisonment]... Successful, replication of Skill... Successful. Ability to free the individual known as 'Veldora' Y/N?

Seeing no other options, Rimuru mentally selected 'Yes'.

A feeling of immense nausea descended upon his body as if he were still human and had just eaten something that was way past its expiry date.

He felt something come up to his 'throat', something from his stomach.

"Huurg!" Rimuru vomited out enough magicule that spots began to form in his vision. He felt his reserve almost dip below the threshold of keeping him conscious.

Once the slime recovered, Rimuru saw a sight he hasn't seen in four months.

There, standing directly above him, was a towering dragon with scales of obsidian black and a lighter-toned stomach. The enormous dragon was large enough that it was forced to keep its wings close to its body lest it touches the wall of the chamber.

The dragon blotted out all light in the room like the moon during a solar eclipse.

He has been freed.

Veldora has returned.

AN: Scientia has stopped questioning how Arcueid was able to just come in.

29

Silence heralded Veldora's return.

Rimuru didn't move a single bit. It was as if he saw Medusa and was turned into a statue. He couldn't move, lest he attracted the attention of a top predator.

Every one of his senses was screaming at him to run, yet his conscious mind knew Veldora wouldn't hurt him since they were friends, and what's more, he was bestowed a name by the True Dragon.

This dichotomy, this dissonance, this paradox was causing Rimuru to undergo the slime equivalent of a 'divide by zero' error commonly found in calculators.

"Hahahaha... I have returned!" Veldora finally declared boisterously, as if he was a king declaring victory over his enemies. The Storm Dragon spread out its wings, slamming into the walls and ceiling and causing loud metallic groans, "The Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest has returned! All who stand against me shall be defeated with extreme prejudice!"

Veldora started going off on a physical tangent, acting like an overpowered anime protagonist as he started to throw punches and kicks that caused great stress upon the room itself. Had Veldora done his tangent anywhere else, that whole place would've collapsed. It was only due to this room being able to contain explosions equivalent to several tons of TNT that Veldora doesn't just fall through the floor.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Veldora then let out a stormy breath quickly dispelled before they reached more than a few meters, acting more like a blow torch.

[Soul Corridor] between individual: Veldora and Scientia has been established

Feeling rather vindictive, Rimuru sent one more curse through the [Soul Corridor].

'Damn you Scientia for leaving me to deal with Veldora alone!'

He received no response, just like last time. Scientia's always preferred technology over magic (even Skills to a lesser degree), to the point that Rimuru thinks it's safe to call it a 'prejudice'. The amount of time Scientia has used [Soul Corridor] can be counted on two hands.

Of course, from Rimuru's perspective, he just chalked it up to eccentricities.

The slime's attention returned to the dragon that was standing above him.

"Umm, buddy?"

"How good it is to see you Rimuru!" Veldora's long neck twisted to look at the relatively tiny slime who sat right underneath the True Dragon. Then, Veldora looked around at his environment, finding no one other than the slime, "So! Where's Scientia?"

Veldora then placed his hands on his hips, giving his posture an appearance of expecting something. Normally it wouldn't look out of place if a human do it, but a large dragon? It was like looking at a Godzilla who was getting impatient.

"Scientia... Scientia was just here before leaving—"

"Hmph!" Veldora crossed his arms over his chest while swinging his head to the side, acting extremely uncharacteristic of your stereotypical 'proud, treasuring hoarding' dragon, "I thought my return would generate more hype! Where's the music? Where's the cheering crowd? Where's the food?"

"..."

Rimuru purposefully shifted into his human form just so he could give Veldora the most deadpanned-est look he could muster.

Seeing how his question was received, Veldora cleared his throat, "I must say, I really hadn't expected to be freed so soon. I mean seriously, it has only been four months since the last time we met and I'm already out here! You guys are really embarrassing me by freeing me so quickly you know!"

To do something in four months that a True Dragon like him wasn't able to do in 300 years really made him feel worthless. Veldora is a True Dragon for crying out loud! The highest ranking being in existence!

He was supposed to be a nigh-invulnerable and nigh-unstoppable avatar of nature that serve as one of the supporting pillars of existence!

While the Storm Dragon was happy to be freed, having been stuck with no one to talk to for 300 years, his ego and pride as one of the Four True Dragons were seriously bruised.

"..."

The humanoid slime's expression turned into one of exacerbation.

Seeing how Rimuru still hasn't replied, Veldora got a bit worried. He wasn't too rude was he? No, the 'holy text' Veldora read when he was inside Rimuru's stomach showed this is how a proper 'powerful' introduction should go.

Perhaps he was too boisterous? Then it's time to rein it in a bit.

Veldora lowered his head, "but! I will accept this apology in the form of quick freedom. Rimuru, you and Scientia have earned my eternal respect," the True Dragon then pointed at the slime with his left hand closed into a fist.

"... Oh!"

It took a bit for Rimuru to realize it was meant to be a 'fist bump'. As the humanoid slime moved to return the gesture, he couldn't help but notice how different Veldora is compared to before his entrance into the slime's stomach.

Veldora became so much more... human-like, what with his body language easily mistakable for a human in a really good dragon costume.

"But seriously, where is Scientia?"

Veldora suddenly questioned in a flat tone completely different from before. The change was so sudden that it almost gave Rimuru a whiplash.

"Oh her? Scientia's..."

"Scientia's what?"

"—She's—" Rimuru realized he'll need to think of a way to introduce the companion of Scientia: Arcueid Brunestud.

Who, apparently, is an alien not from this World.

'Damn you Scientiaaaaaa!'

'Damn you Scientiaaaaaa!'

"Heh," A chuckle came out of my lips as I heard Rimuru cursing my name through the [Soul Corridor]. In all honesty, it was a bit of a jerk move on my part to leave him to deal with the walking calamity that is Veldora.

But then again, compared to the day that Arcueid was summoned, I think Rimuru could use some experience in dealing with crises like Veldora.

I figured since Arcueid was bored from reading all the time I'd introduce her to the arcade and the magic of the crane box. Basically, I'll entertain her with those big metal and glass boxes you'll find in malls where you can pick up small, inexpensive toys with a claw.

Walking through a Doorway and appearing in the middle of the topmost floor of a mall inside of Metropolis, I turned to face Arcueid as she looked around at the concrete and glass structure. The mall was a three-storied one in the shape of an 'L', with the ceiling being composed primarily of mirrors that let rays of sunlight come through.

Overall, it looked just like a mall from my old world, if now populated with races from a fantasy novel.

Despite what it may look like, I had no influence in the creation of this mall. Thus, I personally think the design of this mall being so similar to that of my old world is a result of convergent evolution, or maybe the architect was inspired by the arcologies.

"Let's go, I'll show you something fun—"

Everyone is staring at me. That realization came when I intended to search for those claw machines and saw every person who was present in at least a 50-meter radius staring at me, with some of them whipping out their cellular devices to record us, or more specifically, me.

Is this what movie stars feel like every time they go out into public? Where is said movie star's every move monitored?

While it may feel nice at the start, it must get really tiring after a while since you're forced to put up a mask.

Thinking quickly, "Door me," I grabbed Arcueid's hands and walked through the newly generated Doorway, and appeared in the middle of the living section of the Citadel.

Half a dozen Shizue chassis stopped what they were doing and bowed, "Lady Scientia, Lady Brunestud."

Ignoring them since those Shizue chassis were on auto-pilot, meaning that Shizue isn't in control, I turned around to face the White Princess and realized I was still holding her hand.

Letting that go, I stared at the True Ancestor's face.

There were some sprinkles of extra redness on Arcueid's face, otherwise, she looked entirely unperturbed while I imagined all the internet gossip that must've sprouted from seeing me with someone as pretty as the True Ancestor.

"What?" Arcueid asked, her unperturbed features turning into confusion at the sudden attention.

Aesthetically, I can say Arcueid's prettier than anyone I've ever seen. The second place really doesn't even approach Arcueid. What's more, her prettiness is really enhanced by how she's oftentimes dressed really plainly.

I'm going to need to teach her about clothing and its effect on others, don't I?

I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

Turning around, I spoke as I slowly approached the stairs, "alright Arcueid, according to Shizue you seem to have this ability to conjure up clothes from seemingly nowhere, I'm going to teach you the effect of clothing on others."

I stopped at the base of the stairs.

"Let's be real here: you are a really pretty woman." Arcueid nodded at that, accepting the statement not as a compliment, but as a fact, "that means other people will be attracted to you. One way to ward off unwanted attraction is by wearing more pieces of clothing."

"I see," Arcueid replied as I continued up the stairs, the wood making 'thumps' as I step on them.

"Equally, if you want to attract attention, one way to do it is through less clothing. Though do know that by having less clothing, you're effectively becoming a beacon for everyone. Thus, if you want it to be effective for one person, do it somewhere private."

Personally, I don't have a problem with what anyone else wears. So long as they're contributing to the company and doing their work, they can wear nothing for all I care.

"Scientiaaa! I already know this! Your books— the books that you gave me already told me these things." Arcueid smiled. It was a bright smile that was reminiscent of Rimuru's: full of innocence and a time long gone.

Reaching the second floor, I walked over to an easily overlooked door and pushed it open, revealing a featureless room with a single mirror that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Because of how the mirror was situated, I could clearly see the doorframe held within the reflection.

"To avoid attention, we'll need different clothing." A series of holographic dolls each wearing different styles and kinds of clothing materialized in front of me.

Pinching them, the hologram moved with my hands as I turned to face Arcueid who stood by the doorway, about to ask which one she would like—

"Ah?"

She's already changed.

From her original plain clothing consisting of a short blue skirt, black tights, and a white sweater, she now wore something entirely different, more along the line of a rich teen. Arcueid now had a white jacket, with a large white fluffy scarf hung around her neck tied in place by a large black bow situated in the center of her chest, and finally a pair of black boots that reaches the mid-point of her thigh, leaving the area on the bottom of her jacket-skirt to the top of the boots bare.

"..." Arcueid's even more noticeable despite technically wearing 'more'.

Placing her hands behind her back, the True Ancestor leaned forward with an expectant look on my face, unsubtly asking me 'how does it look?'.

If this were in my past life, I think I would've tried everything to charm Arcueid. I mean for crying out loud, right now she wouldn't look out of place at a fashion show!

"How is it that you change so quickly?" I asked as I closed in to examine her new clothing.

That must've not been what the blonde vampire was imagining since she faltered a bit before catching herself.

A smirk that oozed smugness bubbled onto the surface of Arcueid's face. She looked like someone in Jeopardy that was asked a question that she knew but the others didn't.

"Well, that's just a secret— urk!" The two odd strands of hair on her head jutted out and froze like water when exposed to liquid nitrogen when I pinched her new jacket.

From a cursory glance and touch, it seems her clothing is made from wool. [Clothing] recognized the quality of the material is top-notch and can really only be found in high-end stores.

How does she do it? I narrowed my eyes down at the fabric. It doesn't seem to be any form of teleportation since I would've sensed some disturbance in the air, so did Arcueid just suddenly make it appear out of nowhere?

"Okay Arcueid, how do you do it?"

Arcueid suddenly blitzed away from me into the hallway and struck a certain pose I recognize from one of those Japanese comics Rimuru created, the one where she had her right-hand cover most of her face while tilting the chest to the side like a half-fallen domino.

"Hmm! That's a secret ability of mine!"

When did she become this dramatic? Was it all the works of fiction I gave her?

"... Maybe I should've given you some nonfiction to read."

I sighed at the lack of answers, content to accept it as an ability of the whimsical True Ancestor.

Pinching the hologram of different styles of clothing to my side, I turned around and went through many clothing.

The clothing I wore— mostly consisting of a skin-tight black bodysuit under a white lab coat— disassembled itself.

The whole thing was literally unmade like an icy sculpture melting underneath the heat of a summer sun, streams of nanites flowed down my body until I'm entirely nude, standing in the center of a black pool that seems to reflect almost no light.

My pale skin that was devoid of any flaws or discolorings was once again exposed to the self-contained world of the Citadel.

I stared at the naked body in front of me. There was a sense of dissociation, a sense of foreignness of the body in the mirror.

Even after four months, I still haven't gotten used to everything about this new body of mine. I guess me mostly covering myself head to toe was also to blame. Never really got a chance to acclimate to the body of a Perfect Homunculus, unlike the voice.

"Wah!"

My self-introspection was interrupted when I heard that embarrassed sound coming from Arcueid.

Turning to her, I'm met with the puzzling sight of Arcueid covering her face but still peaking through the space between her fingers.

Is she...?

"You've seen me naked multiple times already, why are you now embarrassed?" I asked her in befuddlement, my arms off to the side as if I was about to hug someone.

The hot spring incident springs immediately to mind.

Her face was so red they remind me of a tomato, "Ye—yeah! But that's because I didn't know it was improper before! I had no idea that looking at other people was indecent!"

So she's read books where it's inappropriate to view others without clothing and now she's applied such logic to her identity.

It's... oddly human-like, to be influenced by literature. Like a person in their teenage years, Arcueid's on her own journey of self-discovery where she'll really explore what she likes, and dislikes, her boundaries, and the forging of her identity.

A blank canvas that is being painted on...

Chuckling at her antics, I moved next to the human-like vampire and gently removed the arms off her face, a blush almost as red as her eyes still present on her cheeks.

In a somber tone, one filled with nothing but acceptance of the situation, I started, "Do you see anything down there? Do you see any genitalia between my legs? Even if the area is extra sensitive, there's nothing down there. I'm like a doll. Strictly speaking, I have no gender. So technically, seeing me without any clothes on is like seeing a naked mannequin: do you advert your eyes from looking at them?"

It was a rhetorical question that has Arcueid shaking her head from side to side.

"S— so the things depicted in the books aren't always correct?"

The way Arcueid meekly asked was so unlike the image I have of her that I couldn't find myself facepalming while laughing, "hahaha! Only you could take fiction as literal, Arcueid. Fictions are a mere distorted reflection of reality, not a crystal reflection!"

The True Ancestor then pouted like an embarrassed kid who asked how babies are made but are denied and told they'll learn after they're older.

A single tap of which caused my left index finger to move through one of the many holographic dolls, and sludges of pitch blackness immediately came down from the ceiling. Even after being here for so long, Arcueid was alarmed at the sudden appearance of the black sludge and only didn't spring into action only because of how calm I am.

I looked down at the swirling mass that was crawling up my leg.

Admittedly it is rather scary if a person who sees it doesn't know its purpose, like an infection from a zombie game.

Once the mass has fully consumed my body and only my head remained clear, it solidified while changing its color to match that of a set of plain clothing: a simple long-sleeved blouse and leggings with a pair of running shoes and gloves to top it all off.

That should blend in. "Door me," next I reached into a Doorway that formed right beside me and took out a seemingly 'simple' necklace with a large blue sapphire-like gem at the center.

The sapphire alone makes this necklace worth thousands in my old world, and let's not even get to the technology held within.

Lowering it down to my neck, I fiddled and played with the large sapphire, as if it was a gift from a lover and I had just heard worrying news about them.

Dropping my hands to the side, I turned to find Arcueid that was looking especially nervous, like a schoolgirl about to be on her first date.

I don't understand why she's so nervous. She's an individual I accidentally brought into this world.

[Psychology] raised the possibility of attraction, like Arcueid just now a few seconds ago realizing what's about to happen as a 'date'.

I silently scoffed, what a ridiculous notion.

She's got to be on another level of Stockholm Syndrome to be having any attraction to me. Plus, even if she does, I can't really return her feeling since I'm her guardian. Even with what little ethics I have, I knew that to be improper.

Finally, I pressed the gem with a small amount of force and in the next moment, my face glitched before changing completely. A hologram overlaid my entire head, creating a mask filled with flaws that made me look 'normal' instead of that freakish alien perfection.

"Woah..." Arcueid stared at me in awe, her gaze focused completely on my new face as if it was an alien.

The Digital Mask: not really useful in areas of low-lighting since my head would literally be glowing.

"Heh," I cracked a smile at the generated mental image. "Door me, to a place that'll generate lots of fun."

The Doorway appeared next to me, and with it, both I and Arcueid appeared inside an alleyway south of Congress.

"Oooh! What is that?" Arcueid immediately exclaimed, running toward a casino of all things.

Fuck.

"Those look fun!" Arcueid marveled at the inside of the casino with her mouth opened wide in a massive grin.

The flashing lights, the large metal slot machines, the numerous tables containing gambling games that only existed in this world: these entertainment devices were situated in rows after rows that filled the always warehouse-like indoors. There's only really a small handful of people playing with the slot machines since right now, most people who would be here are working.

It was completely different from any casino I've been to, being more barebones than the richly decorated places of entertainment.

I guess that's also because it's very new.

Should Arcueid even be here? I wondered internally as I stared at one of the slot machines. She wanted to visit this since she's only read it in books, never in real life.

Still, there's a reason why only adults are allowed inside a casino, and while Arcueid maybe 800 years old, [Psychology] places her mental age around that of a teen with a 90% certainty.

"Hey, Arcueid. I know of a better place—" As I spoke I turned my head to where Arcueid stood—

Only to see nothing but empty space.

I stared at where the True Ancestor should've stood mere moments ago, there was only one thought on my mind.

Oh shit.

I panicked. Akin to a parent who just lost their child after taking their eyes off them for a few seconds, I felt a sense of incredible terror at the idea of Arcueid suddenly disappearing into a foreign place.

Frantically whipping my head to scour everywhere around me like a hawk scouring a desert landscape to find prey, there was a brief flash of blonde before they disappeared into the rows upon rows of slot machines.

Running towards it, everywhere on the peripherals of my vision turned into a blur as I blitzed past the machines, quickly reaching the middle of a cross-intersection with three different paths that Arcueid could've gone.

Damn it, this is pointless!

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

Near instantly, I calmed down from my panicky high. Standing still and without any movements, I reminded myself that there's such a thing as 'cameras' within all hotels, an excessive number of surveillance cameras since most hotels have them to prevent acts of cheating.

I looked around me and yup, I had found one of the cameras attached to a pillar holding up the ceiling almost five meters high.

I was about to hack those cameras before I spotted a single wire running out of those white metal boxes and into the pillar.

"Ah..." I can't hack those cameras since there's nothing to hack. Those surveillance cameras transmit their information using wires, not through anything wireless like radio waves that I can intercept.

I could climb the pillars and physically access the wires, but that'll be vandalism and destruction to property, not to mention I wanted to be discrete.

It seems it's proper channels then.

I turned on a dime and ran towards this casino's reception desk, internally promising to give Arcueid a phone next time so communication would be easier.

On the other side of the casino.

The technological advancements of this world were simply astounding.

Though Arcueid never once really paid attention to the outside world even during her hunts for Roa, especially since her memory was wiped from her mind after every hunt, the Princess of the True Ancestors still remembers her last hunt for Roa before she was transported to this World.

While yes in her Old World, there are skyscrapers, there's none quite like those pillars of metal and glass that almost seem to hold up the sky.

Those were more befitting of something built by the gods, not something with science.

What's more, those 'machines' held within the Workshop... those that allow the user to look deep into the microcosm of the World, to discover when Quantum Uncertainty becomes noticeable... those almost scared her just like how a human would be scared of the unknown.

What's more, to be able to manufacture those Greater Devourers on an industrial scale, things that can only exist out there in the depth of space, whose birth signaled the end of a star... and use them as storage units.

Scientia... in the beginning, when she was first dragged here, she had genuinely thought that she was in a trap set by that annoying Serpent of Akasha just as she had finally killed him for the last and final time with the aid of a certain sword of her father.

When the vampire first came to, she discovered that she was inside a bubble of distorted space that's dramatically similar to a reality marble, and was less than pleased as a result. But discovering that she was standing on her cousin made that displeasure disappear.

Arcueid's attention was then drawn to the only observer watching her.

It was a hole.

The being that Arcueid would later come to learn as 'Scientia Tempest' was a literal void in reality, an endless abyss with cracks spreading around her on a metaphysical level, infecting everything everywhere she had gone. The World itself seems to almost fear the hole as if its very existence was a representation of everything wrong in the World, akin to those 'Foreigners' Arcueid had once heard her grandpa speak about.

But personally, Arcueid thinks Scientia is like Science personified: a being that chases away Mystery. And it's this property of the Perfect Homunculus that would undoubtedly cause Gaia to treat her as possibly the greatest threat to its existence, the same with Alaya as well. Both would team up to do everything they can to slay that void, lest the Mystery which makes up the Will of the Planet and the Will of Humanity be turned into fairy tales like dragons of old.

Thus, knowing the threat and following her most basic programming of 'slaying threats to Gaia', Arcueid moved to eliminate that hole in reality, charging at it like a rhino.

Though she never said it, Arcueid was happy that she was stopped. During that time as a disembodied Soul, all of Arcueid's programming was deleted.

She broke. She was shattered. The only thing that was on her mind was her killer, that perfect void in reality. And when she could finally think of something else again, Arcueid was still feeling the phantom pain from being hit with multiple topological defects.

But at the same time, the vampire, ever since her inception, had finally begun to think more than just her mission.

Finally reforming her body with [Marble Phantasm, Arcueid found herself high up in the clouds, standing on the top of one of the colossal pillars of metal and glass.

Seeing down at the edge with her feet dangling off the ledge, Arcueid thought about everything. On her mind was this new World, that strange Voice, the lack of Gaia, those titanic pillars of scientific progress, and at the center of it all: the void in reality which killed her.

Being without a history, Arcueid jumped down from the top of those buildings and started wandering the streets like a person lost and without any destination, only stopping when she saw a rapidly changing picture attached to a smaller building.

The picture displayed scenes from a 'motion picture' and was apparently one of the first of its kind. The focal point of that picture was about a cheerful and whimsical female green human-like thing in love.

The blonde tilted her head as she stared at the rapidly changing picture even when it no longer displayed the motion picture.

The female 'goblin' was shown in the rapidly changing picture for approximately 42 seconds and inside her mind, Arcueid continuously replayed that 42 seconds again and again. Due to her inhuman physiology, the True Ancestor remembers just about everything.

It was only when the sun was at its zenith did one of the goblins in uniform approached her and ask her what was wrong.

Mimicking that cheerful female goblin from the motion picture, Arcueid smiled brightly and said 'nothing much,' before taking off to find that void again, only for that void to run away after immediately spotting her.

But in the end, she still caught up and everything was well.

"Mmm! How terrific!" Arcueid did a little jump.

Walking with her hands held behind her back, Arcueid neared one of the many... 'roulette' was it? There was a pattern of red and black squares combined together on the table alongside a single spinning thing at one end. In addition, there was a single human wearing a sharp suit who stood by the table, looking at her with a disarming smile on his face.

"Good afternoon miss, fancy your chance at winning?" The human held up a black coin-like chip.

Arcueid cupped her chin, before smiling brightly and nodding, "okay!"

The dealer explained how roulette is supposed to be played and asked her for the money. In response, Arcueid pulled out a ten-dollar bill from seemingly nowhere, causing the dealer to raise an eyebrow before passing the bill under a Neutrino Scanner.

All Tempest Dollar bills possess a thin line of 'trackite', that is, metamaterial capable of more easily reflecting neutrinos than your average baryonic matter. This trackite is what's preventing people from just duplicating the bill with magic.

Seeing how it passed through the Scanner, the dealer just shrugged and gave Arcueid a blue chip— the second-smallest denomination— and explained how the game was supposed to work.

"I'll recommend you place them on—"

"I'll place it on 0."

"What?" The dealer was stumped. Newbies typically go for the safer options of either odd or even numbers, not directly go for the one least likely to lose! "Are you sure?"

"Yep!"

In his training, the dealer's main priority was to get the players hooked. So even if the player doesn't win, he's allowed to call in some guest services like free drinks to entice the player to spend more.

So reaching underneath the table, the dealer preemptively pressed the button that would bring guest services here.

"Very well," the dealer spun the roulette wheel and...

It landed in 0.

"Huh," The dealer stared at the ball before reaching over and giving Arcueid five black chips representing the highest denominations, "very well. As I said before, the payout for any single number is 35:1, but with the zero, it's 50:1. Congratulations, miss, you just earned 500 Dollars. Would you like to continue to play or would you cash out?"

The vampire pondered for a brief few moments before remembering her main goal here.

To bankrupt a casino that's surely used to launder money, just like the protagonist of one of the books that she'd read did.

Typically, the chance of her winning is in the single-digit percentage. But as a True Ancestor who crossed that barrier of entropy and had her Marble Phantasm turned into a Unique Skill if that odd voice was any indication, Arcueid's [Marble Phantasm] can now affect man-made objects just as easily as with nature.

I waited patiently as the orc manager, who actually isn't that obese like the other orcs, awkwardly sifted through the many cameras that were situated all over the casino. His movements were filled with mistakes and second guesses made his inexperience with technology all the more obvious where I can instantly tell without the use of [Inspired Inventor].

Due to my insistence on keeping up the facade, I couldn't just ask them to let me do it myself. Moreover, [Psychology] said how the manager is a person with a huge ego and wouldn't take too kindly to others doing better than himself.

Though interestingly, for a brief moment before the camera record switched, I saw a Kijin with a Shinto shrine maiden outfit standing by one of the tables in the VIP blackjack section.

What was Albedo doing here? I couldn't help but ponder as my eyes narrowed. She was an individual that was particularly against the creation of a casino, but when she realized that it was going to be legalized, the Kijin pushed heavily for tight regulations.

Putting that aside, the door to the monitor room suddenly burst open as a goblin wearing a waiter uniform came in.

"Sir! There's a situation in the Roulette section concerning the potential use of a Skill for cheating!"

"Skill use for cheating?" The manager's eyes widen before turning to me, "I apologize for this, Miss Tia, but cheating with a Skill demands my attention, I hope you'd forgive me for that."

"No, it's alright..." I rolled my tongue inside my mouth as I tried to determine the likelihood that it was Arcueid who was responsible for this, "can I also come?"

"It's preferable that you do not come, Miss Tia."

I turned to the waiter goblin, "does the situation involve a female human with blonde hair and red eyes?"

"Um— yes."

I snapped my finger at that before turning to face the manager with an expectant look.

"Very well. But you do know the penalty of using a possible unregistered Skill yes?"

It was only with [Acting] that I don't just say that 'of course I know, I'm the person who wrote those damn laws'. Instead of a rebuke, there was only a calm smile on my face, "of course I know."

"You know what I think?" The manager said as we started hurriedly jaunting over to the Roulette tables, "I think this is a conspiracy. You and this blonde woman are obviously in collusion to scam our casino out of money but now you've been caught, you're trying to do damage control by appearing cooperative."

"..." Now that I think about it, from the manager's perspective, I really do look suspicious. Even so, "Don't be absurd, I have no need to scam your casino out of any money."

I literally own the source of wealth for this nation, not to mention my endeavors in space provided me with an inexhaustible amount of raw material.

The manager didn't reply. [Psychology] said how he was put off by my nonchalant attitude.

We finally reached a small crowd of people, and just as I thought, Arcueid stood in the middle of that crowd right beside a roulette table with an exorbitant pile of colorful chips, glaring defiantly against a large orc with her hands posed for a killing slash.

If ignoring the situation, the number of chips on the table almost made it look like a set from one of those TV shows where the protagonist is a mathematical genius who started a company, and the only way to fund said company is through casinos.

The manager then spoke into his wrist and asked for additional reinforcement for a potentially violent situation.

"Oh no."

Using movements I learned from [Stealth, I quietly snaked undetected through the crowd until I'm right beside the super vampire.

Lightly tapping her shoulder, Arcueid continued to stare down at the security guard with both of her hands out, protecting her pile of chips like a dragon protecting its hoard.

"Arcueid," I tapped harder, this time eliciting a response in the form of a head turn before immediately returning to a few seconds ago, only her form changed where instead of purely wanting to kill the orc in front of her, the vampire now has her left claw stretched out in a stance that seems to almost separate me from any harm, like as if Arcueid was including me in that 'hoard'.

I snarled, muttering, "god damn it."

Feeling my options get closed off with each passing second, what with the tension becoming higher and higher, even an idiot can see something bad was going to happen unless something drastic was done to prevent it.

So I did something I'm not particularly proud of.

I drew my hand back before striking the back of Arcueid's head around the base in a barber slap that I know full well won't do any actual harm but god damn it I'll make it painful.

I lectured Arcueid with negative reinforcement.

"YEOW!" Arcueid yelped suspiciously like that cat from Tom and Jerry before recoiling and whipping around to look at me, the edge of her eyes had sparkles of light to signal bits of tears while the part of her lips she wasn't biting down on quivered.

I could see my own reflection in her eyes, my posture and form stated stanch unimpressed. The True Ancestor continued to rub the back of her head before yelling, "Scientia! Why did you hit me?! I was only trying to impress you by bankrupting a corrupt casino!"

Oh fuck.

"Scientia?"

"As in, Director Scientia?"

"That can't be right..."

"—she looked nothing like Commander Scientia!"

The people around me all muttered and murmured in surprise.

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

An even further application of [Silenced Emotion] destroyed the mounting panic that was quickly building deep inside me. I looked around at the people gathered before focusing on the manager, who quickly got the message and told the newly arrived security team to disperse the crowd.

Is this what it's like to be the parent of a teenager whose rebellious streak had gotten them into major trouble?

30

Minutes later, both I and Arcueid were gently escorted by terrified security guards into an empty office room. After the crowd had dispersed, I disabled my Digital Mask, revealing my perfection once more to the world and causing one of the younger security guards to pass out as if he had just seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

With my new physiology, I clearly hear how the manager panickily talked into his radio despite being close to 10 meters away. He asked for the owner himself to come since, I quote, 'the fucking Director is here!'.

Arcueid sulked like a kid who had just been called to the office for doing something regrettable and was now anxiously waiting for the said office to call their parents.

While Arcueid deliberated on what was coming next, I merely observed the empty room. The room had colorful Turkish-like tiled flooring, with all of the pieces of furniture being made from wood that's lighter in color compared to my own preferred mahogany.

It was only past the five-minute mark when the door to the office burst open again as a human wearing a T-shirt and shorts came in. The man had brown hair and blue eyes and looked a lot like your typical 'dad' in their 40s.

"Haaaa..." The human was obviously exhausted from running. He leaned on the doorframe for support before bringing up his other hand that held a water bottle and drank it as if he hadn't had water for over a day.

"Whew," the man then cleared his throat after finishing the water, "woo. Good afternoon, Director Scientia!"

His voice was cheerful, and his form was one of welcoming. "Ridley, ex-merchant now full-time casino owner, at your service," the man reached out with his free left hand.

I returned the gesture and we shook hands, "Scientia Tempest. Director of Research and Development." Then I gestured to Arcueid, "Arcueid Brunestud, a companion of mine."

Calling her my 'ward' invokes images of 'underaged' when in fact she's older than me and would raise far more questions.

Strolling towards the rotating office chair, Ridley started talking, "Sorry you had to wait so long. I was working out before I got the call from Ran about the mythical Director of Research and Development herself coming to my casino! After hearing that, well I don't think there's not a single business owner in all of Metropolis that wouldn't drop whatever they were doing to come and greet it."

Then the man dropped into the office chair and clasped the armrest, "So! How can I help Research and Development? If you're wondering about what just happened... well I guess nothing happened other than your companion's being able to win against an inexperienced dealer, and I guess I can even reimburse Miss Brunestud's winning by a factor of ten for how utterly rude my security guard acted!"

He hides it well. [Acting] complements this 'Ridley's' to suppress any visible indication of his fear. The man wants me gone as soon as possible.

"Nothing much," I said, licking my dry lips, "we don't need Arcueid's winning."

The True Ancestor seemed to want to interject, but a harsh stare from me silenced any opposition. Arcueid soon returned to her sulking.

Ridley looked surprised for a brief moment before nodding along.

"Okay, okay," He clasped his hands together, every finger interlocking save for both index fingers, "I see, I see you. So... can I know what just happened or is that a secret? I'm fine with not knowing."

"I would much prefer if we can all just ignore what just happened. My companion here came from a faraway place and was curious about casinos since she's never seen them before."

Ridley nodded again, "I see." Then there was a familiar smile on his lips, "of course, nothing happened. The events of today were all but a dream."

So he's like me then? A businessman to the core. That realization caused me to smile in return, making Ridley flinch a bit before he recovered.

After everything was said and done, the casino owner sent us on our merry way, both I and Arcueid appeared in the middle of a dark alleyway through a Doorway.

As though she was a kid who had just been suspended from school and realized their mistake, Arcueid fidgeted around with her hands and her clothes.

I took a deep breath and thought about how I'm going to go about doing this.

"Umm... listen Scientia—"

"What made you think that casino owner was corrupt?" I asked, my head facing away from Arcueid.

"But... but aren't all casino owners corrupt?" Arcueid stated as if it was a fact, her face colored with confusion, "In the Detective series, Casino Travela was the primary destination for criminals to launder money! So I thought I could bankrupt them using [Marble Phantasm]."

I thumbed the bridge of my nose while squeezing my eyes shut. Even without [Psychology] I could tell Arcueid was about to start crying, something I desperately wanted to avoid since I can't stand crying, especially in someone that's close to me.

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

I silently cursed the other True Ancestors.

"Arcueid, what you read is called 'fiction'. Fictions are 'not real', they are a distorted reflection of reality. The Metropolitan Gaming Commission has a stranglehold on anything related to the regulation of casinos. Just getting the proper license to open a casino is already difficult enough, and with how strict the standards and how heavily the penalties are enforced regarding gambling, all casinos within the city of Metropolis operate by a set of even stricter internal standards just so that there's breathing room."

I turned to face the True Ancestor while pointing in the general direction of that casino.

"That man, Ridley, was terrified of us! He probably thought that we were part of some elaborate plot to inspect his casino for any violation and thus wanted to get rid of us as soon as possible!"

Arcueid's mouth was hung open, "but— it happened so often in those books—"

"Arcueid, not everything you read about in books is an accurate reflection of reality!"

Damn, my relying on fiction to help her grow and experience stuff sure as all hell backfired on me. Those books must've filled the True Ancestor's mind with incorrect ideas and preconceptions about real life, especially the idea that 'tropes must be real'.

Arcueid recoiled when I yelled at her, causing a tinge of guilt to echo through my mind, "But what about tax evasion and bribery? Or corruption?"

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

I replied in a much calmer, gentler tone, "The Ministry of Interior's Tempest Revenue Agency monitors all transactions of every citizen in the entirety of this city. Tax evasion is nigh-impossible since the main tax that all Tempest residents must pay is the property tax, allowing for unprecedented streamlining in tax calculation and collection. Bribery and corruption are pretty much impossible since to be a politician or any civil servant, you would have to give up much of your privacy like allowing your bank account to be inspected by anyone. Door me."

Reaching into a small Doorway that opened right beside me, I pulled out a synthetic leather wallet. Opening the wallet I then took a single bill to emphasize my next point.

"To avoid counterfeit bills, the Mint laces legitimate bills with a strip of Trackite while dousing them in specialized chemicals," I pointed at the odd colored strip at one end of the bill, "beyond these detective methods, civil servants and politicians are also paid extraordinarily well, further preventing them from accepting bribes and corruption."

"Oh... so the problems I read of within those books were never an issue for you?" Arcueid meekly said before bringing her index finger together.

I wanted to scream 'YES' before I crushed that feeling. A part of my mind wondered while I was so accommodating before the other parts replied how I'm Arcueid's guardian and that I technically kidnapped her.

Rubbing my forehead, I now have an immense sense of respect for all the parents out there, especially my own.

"..."

Such a thought made me realize again how I won't ever see them again. The homesickness I usually repressed successfully came oozing back and threatened to overflow and consume all of my other thoughts.

Looking down at my finger, I couldn't recognize it as my own— as if it was less real— as [Neuroscience] paired up with [Psychology] said how I'm feeling a case of 'depersonalization', otherwise known as 'out of body'.

Clearing my throat to anchor myself back to reality, "Yes, Arcueid. I'm going to introduce more nonfiction books for you to..."

I trailed off when I realized Arcueid was staring at something somewhere further into the alleyway.

Turning to face where Arcueid's looking, I'm greeted by the sight of several humans in rather... rough clothing, looking more like bandits.

What the hell are they doing?

"Well, would you look at that! Seems like that mage contact of yours was correct, Biron!" One of the thugs said, "We have here two pretties in a dark alleyway where there's no possible way for any of those pesky guards around!"

Is... is this actually happening right now? I rubbed my eyes and those humans remained.

"Are— are you guys robbing us?"

There was a look of disbelief on my face, which must've been seen as a 'scared disbelief' because the same human continued, "it might've taken a while, but seeing how successful this monster city is, I think it's only fair you distribute some wealth to us humans, no?"

The human brought up a sword. [Magic] recognizes it instantly as an enchanted sword that should be way out of reach for a person who robs stuff for a living.

I raised an eyebrow, curious.

"You're... robbing me. You're robbing ME of all people? Don't you know who I am?"

The human then pointed the sword at me, "No idea, but with a face as beautiful as yours, I think I'll gladly get to know you more."

I thumbed the bridge of my nose once more, "you morons. You foreign morons."

It'll be almost adorable how these are trying to rob ME of all people.

I raised my right hand, deciding to enact the Right to Self-defense, and promptly used [Unlimited Alchemy] to transmute the oxygen inside every human's lungs into a 'super chloroform' created by [Chemistry].

"—!"

Only nothing happened.

What?

I stared at the palm of my right hand again before shooting out, this time exerting more magicules and only to receive some red lines that slithered down my arm.

My range has been reduced...?

"Ho? You're trying to cast some magic?" The human leader smiled, "that's not gonna work. And neither is calling for help since our pal Biron here has set up an artifact that blocks all forms of magical communication, so why don't you all just give us the goods, huh?"

Okay, even without [Inspired Inventor] I can tell these people are way too well-armed for some robbers.

"Before you rob me, can I ask you guys where you got these things and how did you get in here?"

"Huh? That's a first," the leader commented, before smiling, "well, Biron here has a lot of contacts with mages, and he managed to get us these powerful artifacts that—"

I ignored the rest of his speel and pulled up a holographic panel. Using the panel, I marked 'Biron' as a high-value target for information and sent the message to the Metropolis' Overwatch Security System.

"— using his contacts with someone from Falmuth, we managed to sneak in—"

"I'm going to stop you right there," I raised a hand before pointing at them, "now, you clearly have backers, and those backers must've thought that we use magic like every other nation."

There was a soft humming sound that temporarily caught their focus before it was then turned back to me.

"But here's the thing: we don't use magical communication here at Tempest." I explained, "We use science, and even if you somehow managed to fully block scientific communication, I alone can probably take all of you guys down."

Very quickly, three Autonomous Security Drones descended with their iconic 'humming' sound and sprayed out a white soapy toothpaste-like substance that hardened quickly after coming into contact with the thugs, filling a large portion of the alleyway in a way similar to water turning into ice inside its container.

"Class-C Criminal apprehended: successfully. Prepare for transport." One of the ASDs announced and readied to open its pocket dimension.

"That was anti-climactic. Usually, that was where the protagonist would display their power to the readers." Arcueid noted with a hint of sadness in her voice.

[Silenced Emotion: 10%]

I facepalmed again as a large chunk of the hardened containment foam encompassing those thugs suddenly disappeared.

Exasperately, "God damn it Arcueid." Lowering my hand, I stared tiredly at the True Ancestor, pleading, "the world doesn't run on tropes! We're not living inside a book! And whenever you do go out, could you please keep it on the down low? I don't want to wake up one morning to see you blowing up on social media because you did something drastic."

Arcueid then stuck out a tongue at me playfully, turning on a dime and seemingly forgetting my previous scolding. Then, the super vampire (emphasis on the super) took my left hand and started dragging me with her. Since her strength vastly outpaces mine, I was hauled along like an unwilling dog on a leash.

"Arcueid where are you taking me?"

Turning her head to face me, I saw that there was a look of smug superiority on her face, "You wanted me to stay low don't you? So let's go and watch a theater play or a movie, that way I can be entertained and you can be there next to me to correct any wrongs I may commit."

Again, I gave her an unimpressed look before sighing for god knows how many times today.

"Okay, I'll come, you don't need to drag me."

[Psychology] did say how being next to Arcueid lowers my stress levels.

As Arcueid refuses to let go and continues to drag me along, my mind started to wander again. I couldn't help but imagine my old self when I just reincarnated refusing Arcueid wanting to watch a theater play and instead focusing on tinkering to make sure I'll be more unassailable.

I definitely have mellowed out significantly. Guess, Arcueid's also having an effect on me just as I am having some on her.

Putting on the Digital Mask once more, I and Arcueid watched a theater play made by a traveling band of actors who settled down in Metropolis. The play itself was nothing spectacular, after all, I spotted multiple places where the writers took inspiration from literature from the National Library, but with how it had Arcueid howling in laughter, I decided to keep my true opinion to myself.

I contended to mostly enjoy Arcueid's presence, her keeping me company.

With how the light from the stage illuminated her face, I couldn't help but again notice how beau—pretty she looked.

According to her, she was considered a 'princess' of her race, designed to be the strongest True Ancestor.

... I can't see that, I thought after recalling my interactions with the 'Princess'. I've always imagined royalties must be 'above' mere commoners like myself similar to how a human is above an ant, they must be refined and full of dignity, and yet, Arcueid is the complete opposite of my bias about royalty.

"Hahahahaha! His face! After it got— hahahahaha!"

Despite being a child soldier, Arcueid could still smile so freely. Not only that, the blonde was still able to retain that child-like innocence even more than Rimuru.

That should be impossible. A normal soldier has a difficult time adjusting back into civilian life after their deployment is finished. A child soldier has an even more difficult time and may never be able to adjust and yet...

Despite some hiccups, Arcueid is just like your average teenager.

Carefree, adventurous, and a bit rebellious.

The play ended, and Arcueid went toward the National Library while I just stood there, my hands freezing in the middle of waving goodbye.

How... how was Arcueid able to smile so freely yet I can't when I've only gone through a fraction of what she's been through? She's like a piece of blank paper being thrown into the sea yet remaining dry.

[Psychology] says I'm jealous of those who still retain their innocence even after being touched by the world's dirt, but I reject that explanation outright. I've grown up. I'm an adult, not a kid who misses what could've been.

Leaving that question hanging, I went returned back to my vault, went through the whole sterilization process, and was ready to tinker once more, this time more to keep my mind off of my previous thoughts.

Clunk*

That was the plan until I heard a 'clunking' sound somewhere very far away and froze. Is it one of my cleaning robots? Shaped like a ball, the cleaning robots are meant to ensure this place stays as sterile as possible, including trying to cause as little of a disturbance as possible.

Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I pulled out a log of the past few hours. The holographic display showed no intrusions upon the Siberium shell nor any unexpected curvatures in the local spacetime.

So what could've caused it?

An idea crossed my mind. Scrolling up on the log, I found that Rimuru and Veldora never left the Citadel...

"..."

I smacked my forehead once I realize that sound was probably the duo trying to mess with me.

I shook my head at their antics. It would've worked had this been anywhere other than my own Workshop-Vault, where I tinker and keep all of my most important machines.

"Door me." A small Doorway opened up right next to me, its size is no more than your typical A4 paper.

I no longer need to say where I'm going.

Since my new physiology actively purges any foreign bodies, instead of sending nanites into my brain, the nanosuit I'm wearing uses multiple external instruments to read the electric signals and patterns in my brain to predict what I'm thinking to a high degree of accuracy. This ability to read my thoughts paired up with a complex predictive AI algorithm allows me to pretty much never need to actually say where I want to go.

Reaching into that small Doorway, I took out a pair of seemingly ordinary fancy sunglasses.

Putting them on, a single line of nanomachines crawled up my neck and connected to the sunglasses.

The inner panel of the sunglasses powered on and displayed hundreds of point-of-view shots of many cameras that are situated all over my Workshop before dismissing most of them until it stopped at Camera-2391, displaying a tanned man crouching behind a machine that I used to record virtual particles in an attempt to harness Vacuum Energy, in other words, energy from empty space.

I was about to use the Strings Implant within my hands before halting. There was this feeling of familiarity within my mind, like seeing a long-lost sibling or parent— an instinctual part of you that ensures you can recognize each other even after years apart.

Is that Veldora? I mean, given how Velgrynd has a human body, it makes sense that Veldora too has a human body.

Carefully, using [Stealth] to guide my movements, I crept up behind Veldora to give him a bit of a fright—

"Rimuru, I think your plan has failed," Veldora said, and I immediately froze, even to the point of stilling my breath.

A blue slime popped out from within Veldora's cape.

"Shhhh! It can't have failed. We'll teach Scientia why you shouldn't be ignored—"

"She's right behind us. I sensed her with my [Universal Sense]."

Two eye-like circular protrusions came out of Rimuru in his slime form, "what."

Veldora then got up and gestured towards me, "see, she's right there."

"Fufufufu," I contained my laughter as much as I could. Clutching my stomach, "Hahahahahahahaha!"

I failed.

The sound of laughter filled the room as I found the situation unbelievably funny. It was strange, I thought as I continue to laugh, that I'm finding such a thing funny.

Once I settled down, I realized there was a carefree smile on my face.

"Hahahaha!" Veldora laughed boisterously akin to if he were an actor in a screenplay and let out a toothy grin as well, completely unbothered as a normal person would during the first few times of encountering my unnatural perfection, "Great to finally see you again, Scientia!"

I looked up and down the muscular body of Veldora.

"Are you going to go on your infamous rampage again?"

The bravado that Veldora once held was dashed when I asked him that. Rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, the True Dragon chuckled nervously.

[Psychology] suggests he had thought about it and was dissuaded from perusing such a path.

"No, Rimuru introduced me to the Sacred Texts showed me the error of my ways, and why I was in the wrong," He said with a hint of nostalgia, like an old man speaking about the good ol' days.

That mental image of an old man was instantly dissolved when Veldora jumped up, floated there, and started firing off lasers like some kind of anime protagonist showing off, "but of course! Should there be anyone who dares threaten you two I wouldn't hesitate to slaughter them all!"

My jaw dropped, alarmed at the fact that goddamn LASERS are being fired off in such a delicate and precious workplace— the cheapest machine here will cost billions in my old world— and you got yourself a receipt for untold disaster.

"HEY HEY HEY!"

Jumping up and down to catch his attention, I was also simultaneously waving at him to come down and stop whatever he was doing.

Confusion colored the Storm Dragon's features as he dropped to the ground, probably wondering why I had stopped his performance.

The confusion turned into pain when I reached up and gripped hard on his shoulder even in spite of the height difference between the two of us.

There was a large tic mark on my forehead, "Veldora, who said you could just fire lasers indiscriminately inside my Workshop?"

Veldora took a few steps back, trying to get out of my grip, and succeeded before his mouth formed into an awkward smile, like one you'd find on a friend who knew they messed up and are now trying to calm you down.

"Um, I fired off a bunch of lasers when I returned and Rimuru didn't object!"

"You traitor!" "YOU WH—"

Both I and Rimuru both screamed out before I took a deep breath and cut myself off mid-sentence, "— that's fair. That chamber was meant to survive the ground zero of a nuclear explosion, so it can definitely take it— but that's beside the point! Veldora, you are a True Dragon, one of the strongest beings in this world! Therefore, you have a lot of responsibility to properly use these powers of yours."

I scolded him and he just pouted. My brain was forced to do the mental equivalent of a 'system reboots' when I saw how the humanoid True Dragon fucking POUT like a damn child who's just been denied what they want.

"Hmph, and here I thought you would be glad that I would protect you from anyone who dares to harm you," Veldora said with a bit of faux hurt in his voice, turning his back on me.

I rubbed my forehead and took another deep breath before speaking up again, "right, apologies. You just returned and I shouldn't have scolded you for something you didn't know."

Looking up and right into his golden eyes that look very similar to Rimuru's, I offered him a hand, "let's restart this then. Welcome back Veldora, to the land of the free. I guess we should plan how to introduce you to the nation, huh?"

He then turned around with a massive smile on his face, completely ignoring my attempts at a handshake.

"Indeed!" Veldora then grabbed the slime beside him, who was struggling to get out of that grab, "Rimuru already told me of what you've done, introducing this 'democracy' and technologies and science previously unseen! It seems the saying that Perfect Homunculus is the Heralds of Change is indeed true!"

I tilted my head at the mention of 'Herald of Change', a title that was previously mentioned by Milim.

"What do you mean by that?"

"By what?" Veldora dropped a struggling Rimuru, "The Herald of Change?"

Seeing my nod, the Storm Dragon elaborated on my title, "Well, before the Birth of Relentless 400 years ago, the world was... relatively stable. Even in my domain within the Jura Forest, I noticed the lack of large deaths for half a century. According to this one Otherworlder, I met, the world was consolidated into several massive kingdoms and empires with the most prominent ones being Nightrose, the Eastern Empire, and the Thelium Kingdom."

I cupped my chin. The way Veldora is describing the pre-Relentless world... sounds a lot like Europe right before the first World War.

"Apparently, there was a three-way cold war between the nation of Nightrose, Rudra and his Empire, and the Thelium Kingdom. Relentless destroyed the Thelium Kingdom so thoroughly that it shattered into the hundreds of Western States that rest between Ruberios and Sarion. It took the combined might of all the Demon Lords, Heroes like Chronoa, my sisters, and all the human and monster nations combined to stop Relentless."

Crikey, I knew from reading some history books that my predecessor was powerful enough to destroy whole nations, but to hear it from someone who lived through such a volatile period?

It's like listening to a WWII veteran talks about the battle he fought in.

"Once the first Perfect Homunculus was stopped, I remember Chronoa called it the 'Death of the Old World'."

Both I and Rimuru had no words to respond with. The silence continued for a few moments before the sound of Veldora's laughter pierced the curtain of silence.

"Don't worry Scientia, I'm sure you would never do anything like that. Despite never really joining the final battle against Relentless, the monster still intruded upon my domain, and from what I remember, that Perfect Homunculus was dead set on the destruction of everything." He then gestured at all the machines around him, "you are someone that creates, Scientia, and as far as I'm aware, that makes you as far from Relentless as the day is to the night." Veldora declared, surprisingly insightfully.

"Oh..." I could feel my cheeks heating up at his words. [Magic] said that due to Veldora being my 'namer', his compliments are seen to me as if it was said by a dear friend.

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

That heat was instantly gone as I clear my throat, "right... what happened to you? You're... not what I hand in mind of a proud dragon."

"Hahahaha! It's all because of the Sacred Texts that Rimuru gave me to read during my stay inside his stomach!"

I slowly turned to look at Rimuru, "and what would those 'Sacred Texts' be?"

"Those picture books that you read from right to left of course!"

"Manga essentially."

"I... see," My hands twitched at the mention of those Japanese comics and using them to teach someone, "and how did Veldora exactly gain a human body? I know that it's definitely a Skill of the True Dragons to be able to appear human but the history books never said that Veldora was capable of such a thing."

"Oh that. After Veldora returned, he wanted to go out to explore and experience his freedom. I realized very quickly that a giant dragon is no way to stay discreet, so I gave him a new body which he possessed."

"From your Skills?"

"Yeah," Rimuru nodded.

Okay, so one of the most pressing issues has been solved, next up...

"Where's he going to sleep?"

The slime looked a bit sheepish, "I was hoping you have an extra room in your Citadel... since his return is an extremely delicate situation."

I gave Rimuru an unimpressed look before heeding his logic. The Citadel is the most secure place in the world.

"You're right." I said with a sense of acceptance in my voice, "Veldora's return is an extremely delicate situation that if not handled properly can result in a civil war.

Although the Jura Tempest Republic is a secular state, the Veldora Faith in general still held enormous sway within the Jura Forest itself. Unlike the Western Holy Church, the Veldora Faith is splintered among many different interpretations, just like the many religions in my old world. And due to this splintering, many of the more conservative and fanatical interpretations would undoubtedly call for the overriding of democracy in favor of turning Veldora into their god-king.

"Yeah. With the goal of making Veldora into their sole ruler."

Rimuru looked uncomfortable, prompting Veldora to ask, "Are you alright, Rimuru? You don't need to worry, I'm not interested in ruling, your Sacred Text taught me just how tedious ruling is!"

The Storm Dragon raised a thumbs-up paired with a massive smile.

"I'm fine, it's just... I'm reminded of something from my old world, that party..." the slime looked like he wanted to say more before stopping.

I clapped my hands to kill the incoming silence, "alright, so it's decided. Veldora, you'll live with me inside the Citadel. Shizue!"

A Doorway opened up right behind me, and from it, a Shizue chassis walked out.

"Oooh, a maid?" Veldora remarked in a weird tone, "and a portal with no magic?"

All three of us paused at that before I soldiered on, "anyway, Shizue, please show Veldora to one of the many spare rooms within the living sections of the Citadel."

After Veldora and Shizue walked through a newly created Doorway, Rimuru said his goodbyes before returning to prepare for his visit to Ingrassia.

I stood alone once more within my Workshop.

Back to tinkering.

Looking around me, the many specialties of [Inspired Inventor] got to work and started coming up with ways to repurpose these obsolete machines.

Pulling up a holographic panel, I tapped away and started transporting some of these machines to be scrapped.

To ensure the Matrioshka Brain is completed even quicker, I'll need to start building those colossal fabricators that teleport whatever they built into the correct place.

Since the specialties involved in making this didn't give me a name, I think I'll call it... Subspace Entropic Nanoreplication Fabricator, or simply the 'Fabricators'. These Fabricators take in an incredible amount of energy from the Hawking Radiation of micro-black holes and convert them into pure hydrogen thanks to a more advanced version of that Entropy Rifle. Afterward, it sends that hydrogen to several fusion furnaces and fuses them into the desired heavier elements, creating raw resources.

With the raw resources in place, pools of advanced nanites will get to work converting those raw resources into more complex components for the computronium, which after clumping together, will get slotted into the appropriate place thanks to a Subspace Diver transitioning the computronium's particles into their Supersymmetric counterpart and back again only this time in the orbit of that star.

To properly calculate the spacetime coordinate and velocity of several hundred trillion components requires an ungodly level of coordination and managerial ability, which is why the first thing I'm doing is transporting a partially completed Planetary Computer into the orbit of the Matrioshka Brain.

Walking through a newly manifested Doorway, I appeared inside a spinning wheel-like space station around thirty light minutes away from the star. Immediately, I'm forced to avert my eyes as a bright burst of electromagnetic and gravitational radiation erupted out of a planet that suddenly came out of Hyperspace a little under a light second away.

Under the glow of the distant Class A star, the planet looked like it had large oceans of silvery metal and landmasses of brownish red— the parts that haven't been covered by the computational shell. Around the planet, there was a thin halo, signaling that there was a thin atmosphere.

Using several holographic command consols, I instructed the Planetary Computer to start orbiting the star while awaiting connection with the Fabricators.

Next, I halted around 1% of all production facilities on the Matrioshka Brain's surface, diverting the mass that would've gone towards them into instead building a single Pluto-sized Subspace Entropic Nanoreplication Fabricators.

It should take me... maybe a day or two.

Kingdom of Blumund, Capital City of Rondo, Jura Tempest Republic Embassy.

The Tempest Embassy in Blumund is the second one that the Jura Tempest Republic had opened after the one in Dwargon. Aesthetically, it is just as technologically advanced as its predecessor, with plenty of bells and whistles like a floating monument and holograms showing the shining capital of the Republic.

Officially, it is a 'Consulate General'.

Taking up a space of several football fields, the main building of the Embassy reflects that of the Congressional Pyramid but mixes in a sense of optimistic futurism, as if that's what the buildings in a bright and hopeful future would look like with color palettes of white, blue, and green.

Ever since it first opened up, the gate to the Embassy is filled with those less fortunate individuals waiting in line to get a Work Visa or for those who are fortunate like merchants, to apply for passports.

And just like every day, today is no different.

"Man, I gotta say this again: this job is amazing~!" Youm said with a drink in his hand as he, inside his cushy office that overlooked the courtyard of the Embassy, swept his gaze over the city of Rondo. "I just need to make some public appearance, meet with members of royalty, attend charities, and that's all. I can just laze about during my off-hour, is this the life of those singers?" Youm wondered out loud as he gulped his drink.

His office is shaped like a cube, with one side of the wall filled with slanted windows that reach from the ceiling to the floor. Its size is easily comparable to an average living room inside an arcology. Similar to the outside, Youm's office was also decorated with sleek, white furniture punctuated by potted plants, holograms, and advanced, never-seen-before technologies.

It was the epitome of cleanliness and futurism, of what's possible with science.

The alcohol in his hand caused Youm to ponder about what had happened to him over the past few weeks. From being a criminal to attending a place with the highest education possible, all the way to being given a job that pays a six-figure salary which needs him to do pretty much nothing!

He's been through a lot, hasn't he?

"With how much I've been through, I should probably write a biography about me. Future generations will definitely have to study Youm the Legendary Diplomat, who managed to turn from rags to riches better than any merchants could."

Ring*

Just then, the phone on his desk rang, and Youm instantly grew alarmed. Quickly, he placed the half-finished glass of whiskey back into a drawer built into the table. Policy dictates that he wasn't supposed to drink on the job, and if the one who called is his real boss, then the penalties would definitely be even worse!

Clapping his cheeks, Youm tried to get the drowsiness from alcohol out of his system before answering the call and the voice of his secretary came out, making the man breathe out a sigh of relief.

"What is it, Acey?"

"You have someone here waiting in the lobby wanting to work for Security, specifically, your security, Ambassador."

Youm's face contorted into confusion.

"We have plenty of people wanting to work for the Embassy every day, what makes them so different?"

"Ambassador Youm, they have shown the capacity to display an impressive amount of magic."

Youm stopped whatever he was thinking when he heard that information, "how much magic?"

"At least A-rank, Mr. Ambassador."

"Their name?"

"Mjurran, no last name."

Youm shifted his jaw from side to side in deep thought. His boss always had an interest in those who could display an impressive amount of magical abilities...

"Send her in."

Minutes later, the door to his office opened to reveal a woman with green hair that reaches the base of her head, wearing the stereotypical clothing that one expects a mage to wear.

Still, that wasn't what first caught Youm's attention. Mjurran's rather beautiful face caused blood to instantly start rushing toward the Ambassador's lower parts. Both of Youm's eyebrows raised high as he drink in the form of this 'Mjurran'.

With his fingers crossed together on the table, he spoke with intrigue clear in his tone, "so you're the one who's wanting to be employed? You have a better chance than most due to your high magical ranking but... personally, I doubt one such as yourself is capable of defending against threats."

If she had asked for any other job, Youm would've hired the eye candy on the spot. But the thing is, his security detail is overseen by Director Scientia herself and well if there's one person he doesn't want more attention than necessary, it's the individual who created those weapons of mass destruction. Youm really doesn't want to attract the Director's attention by hiring someone incompetent.

"Hmph," Mjurran scoffed, "give me a target and I'll defeat them handily."

Youm's left eyebrow rose even higher, "you have heard of the fact that the local mafia tried to strongarm us only for the security drones to annihilate them completely yes?"

It was the talk of the month. The Embassy was given a threatening message from the local mafia, and since the Republic takes all threats to its citizens seriously, Youm managed to get the approval of the King of Blumund to 'liquidate' the local criminal population.

General Rubedo was the one who led the operation and displayed the reason why it is best to have Tempest as an ally while affirming Blumund's reason to stay loyal.

A playful look overcame Mjurran's features. She gave Youm a grin, "why yes, I've heard of the local stories of how brave—" Mjurran begin to walk towards the sitting Youm, swinging her hips as she does, "strong, and powerful—" Mjurran voice turned husky before stopping and sitting on one of Youm's legs, "the Pacification Force was."

Mjurran's back was facing Youm as the woman sat on the Ambassador's leg. Leaning back, Mjurran was about to give Youm a full look down into her blouse before an alarm was triggered and multiple laser emitters came out of the ceilings, all aimed at Mjurran.

Surprised at what had just happened, Mjurran jumped up and froze like a deer in the headlights of a car at night. Youm quickly pressed a button underneath his desk before calling his phone, "sorry, false alarm!"

"Message received, Mr. Ambassador, we are returning to our post."

He read the message loud and clear. It was a secret code only the Ambassador and his Security Detail Captain know about it, "Have a nice day."

If Youm had responded with anything other than 'have a nice day,' the Captain would know that he has been taken hostage and will proceed to act accordingly. Namely, alert Metropolis as to what has happened and possibly bring the full force of the Director down onto his position.

The laser turrets returned to the ceiling.

"Sorry about that. How about this: you get one chance," Youm raised an index finger to emphasize that point, "fight against an Autonomous Security Drone, impress me and you get the job."

Mjurran gave him a playful smile, "just impress and not defeat?"

"Lady, if you can defeat it then it means something's wrong with the ASD, nothing short of someone from the A rank even having a chance to scratch the drone, much less defeat it."

Falmuth, Capital Maris, Royal Castle

The Kingdom of Falmuth is a nation that resided upon the border between Ingrassia and Dwargon. With a population of 30,000,000 citizens, it is considered a Great Power on the international scene and a major contributor to the Council of the West.

However, trouble was brewing.

Within the city of Maris, the capital of Falmuth, its King and his most trusted advisors have come and met to discuss the new power that's risen in the region.

"We newly confirmed reports of the Jura Tempest Republic attempting to establish diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Ingrassia. In fact, our spies within the city have reported their leader visiting Lura." An Archduke wearing a white wig said, "through a teleportation method of transport."

"Teleportation... of course they have teleportation. Do we have any hope of just competing with that nation?" The old King of Falmuth asked his small council, "those moving pictures that were sold by merchants from that monster republic... the way they slew the Orc Lord and Charybdis... Razen, do we stand a chance militarily?"

The aged old Wizard closed his eyes in deep thought before opening them, "unfortunately, we do not have the power to subjugate the monster republic. I doubt even the entirety of the Council could possibly conquer that republic. Cause massive amount of deaths maybe, but it would still inevitably be their pyrrhic victory and our extinction."

Many balked at the harshness of Razen's words.

"Surely," another Duke spoke up, "Razen, surely you jest? This is a nation that hasn't even reached one year old—"

"Do you think me stupid?" Razen interrupted sharply, "This republic of monsters has shown themselves perfectly capable and willing to use 'technology' that results in S-rank magic against perceived threats. The best we could hope for is perhaps sabotage or 'acts of terror' as the Otherworlders call it, but... from what I gather based on testing of their cities using thugs, any attempt at disrupting the public order will be met with very fierce and extremely quick resistance from their flying metal magic-less golems."

The nobles and King all flinched at the mention of S-rank, the superweapons of this world.

Razen then sighed in defeat, "what's even more worrying is the fact that their miracles do not use magic and use instead... 'Science' as they call it."

"What about any weak points we can abuse?"

The one in knight's armor spoke up with a sad acceptance, "we cannot hope to compete. They clearly let those videos out as an attempt to warn any potential invaders, which means they probably have more in secret. Besides, with the creation of the defensive pact from Dwargon and Blumund, we would be fools to attempt to attack this tri-national alliance."

The king slammed his fist onto the table, yelling, "I gathered you all here to tell me what CAN we do against this unprecedented, unbeatable threat! Not repeat to me how fucked we are if we go against Tempest militarily."

The silence in the room was almost unbearable for the king. It really hammered in how out of context this threat was that even the wisest men he knew had no answers.

"I may have a solution to our problem," that was when the leader of the Merchant's Guild of Falmuth spoke up, "however, the solution may be seen as blasphemy—"

"If it will save the kingdom, then just say it! I'll pardon you for any crimes that come afterward!"

The Merchant Guild's leader took a deep breath in before speaking, "instead of being in the way of an unstoppable force, I say we use the force to our advantage. In other words, we open our nation up to the Jura Tempest Republic."

The other people in the room gasped in shock at what the merchant was proposing. The Archbishop of Falmuth, Reyhiem, looked like he was about to excommunicate the merchant right then and there before the King once again slammed his fist on the table, preventing such acts.

"ENOUGH! I already said I'll pardon his crimes," the King said before, looking around at the table before turning to face the merchant, "why do you propose such a solution?"

The merchant cleared his throat before continuing, "that republic is a true oddity. Unlike the Ulgrasians who are very closed off, Tempest has an open-door policy, that is, they welcome everyone, no matter what species they are. Humans in particular are offered pills that allow them to live in high magicule areas. In particular, all the merchants who've returned call that place the 'Land of Opportunities' because of just how easy it is to make money there, buying their wares, raw ores, etc, and selling them back to the kingdoms at a higher price."

The merchant stopped, gauging their interested reactions before continuing.

"In fact, it's so easy, all of my colleague's wealth has increased drastically after their visit to the Republic weeks ago. What's more, to become a citizen of that country, all one has to do is to live there for a number of years."

"Blasmphous! How dare you all even think of dealing with monsters?!" Reyhiem suddenly got up and yelled.

"Sit down Archbishop Reyhiem," The King proclaimed once more, "you are here to discuss how to save this Kingdom, not to preach about the evils of monsters."

Archbishop stormed out of the room in response.

It spoke volumes of how much influence the Western Holy Church has when it allowed the Archbishop to freely show disrespect to the king of a Great Power without any consequences.

"Now," the merchant continued after Reyhiem had left, "Tempest has signed free trade agreements with Blumund, Dwargon, and Eurazania, meaning that any merchants who are under the flag of Tempest can trade completely tax-free in any of those kingdoms (though it may matter less in Dwargon). What's also interesting are these 'corporations'. I and my colleagues think of them as something similar to Guilds except they are their own entities. When these corporations open up shops in a foreign city, they tend to upgrade the local roads and make the area around them noticeably richer, cleaner, and overall, better in what's apparently known as 'Foreign Direct Investments'. Hell, if allowed by the government, those corporations from Tempest will even deal with the criminal underbelly with their own security forces."

The leader of the Merchant's Guild paused and looked around, seeing recognition in the eyes of Folgen, the Knight Leader of Falmuth, and more importantly, a summoned Otherworlder.

"If we open trade to this nation, we can invite these corporations over and have them invest in the local areas and set up favorable tax laws that would incentivize more to come. This is how we'll ride upon the unstoppable force, and how we'll still stay on top after the rearrangement of the old order into the new."

"Are you saying that Tempest will be like Relentless?"

This time, it was the leader of Falmuth's secret intelligence who said that.

"Yes, that is what I'm saying. We are nearing the final days of the current world order." The merchant said solemnly, "The Jura Tempest Republic is unlike any other monster nation where the strong can do whatever they want. Their primary weapons aren't the leader of the nation, instead, it's magic-less machines that anyone can use. Many nations that currently exist will probably not in the coming years; they wouldn't survive the storm. If we are to survive, it is best if we try and be as accommodating as possible."

The grave warning chased away all sounds from the room. What more could there to say, after the huge revelation that they are most likely living in the final days of a time of relative stability?

"How would we justify it to the Western Holy Church?" The King finally spoke up, breaking the silence.

This time, it was another Duke who spoke up, "Well, I have received reports saying that these magic-less 'technologies' are made by a single person, named 'Scientia Tempest', a human, most likely either a summoned or a reincarnator was responsible for everything. If we say that we aren't opening up to monsters, but human-controlled monsters, most people will probably accept that."

There was a tiny glimmer of hope in the King's eyes, and finally, a smile on his face, "yes, yes, we shall do exactly that. Open our doors to these 'Foreign Direct Investments'." he then quietly added as the tenseness was released from his shoulders, "we can still save this Kingdom..."

That hope was gone when the Archbishop returned with a confident smirk on his face.

"Archbishop Reyhiem, why have you returned?" the King asked, partially disturbed at the smile on the face of the Archbishop.

In a tone that one would use to gloat over their fallen enemy, Reyhiem replied, "I have just received words that the Western Holy Church will be sending a total of 100,000 Knights including the captain herself, Hinata Sakaguchi, and all members of the Clerics of the Seven Luminaries against this nation of monsters. They are telling us that if we do not call our bannerman and rally at least 50,000 troops then they shall see this nation as one of the infidels and will thus, be excommunicated from the grace of God Luminous. I suggest you do not do whatever that greedy man is telling you, King Edmaris."

"What?"

"How dare—

"You bas—"

"ENOUGH!" The King bellowed before gritting his teeth in frustration.

Reyhiem gave him an ultimatum. Either follow the will of the Church and send 50,000 sons of Falmuth to die pointlessly against this new nation, or suffer the wrath of the Western Holy Church, including God's Right Hand herself. If he goes against the Western Holy Church, and in the very likely event that Falmuth is defeated, his head will roll and they'll dismantle the whole Kingdom and turn it into a theocracy with Reyhiem as the regional leader that answers to the Pope.

Either sacrifice 50,000 souls now or the potential destruction of far more in the future...

With a heavy heart, the King turned to Folgen and opened his mouth. There was a brief hesitant pause before speaking, "I... call the banners, we shall assemble the required troops in a month."

"Excellent choice, King Edmaris, I shall relay the information to Cardinal Nikolaus of the result immediately." The Archbishop then left the room.

Folgen opened his eyes in shock, "a month? are you sure, My King? It takes—"

"Yes, and I hope their parents forgive us all for damning their sons to the embrace of death."

"I'll think of something," Razen said after the Archbishop had left the room.

AN: an extra-long chapter for the 31st one, almost 9000 words, multiple Chekhov's Guns have been primed and are ready to fire, I wonder if you caught them all? I think I'll take a small break after this, a few days no worries.

We really got to see the AU eh?

You know, having read the 1984 Jumpchain CYOA, I was left extremely terrified at the prospect of the final option: If you want a picture of the future...

That left me terrified on an existential level since I consider 1984 as the worst possible dystopia out there and the everpresent despair and hopelessness, compounded by the fact that the Party now has superpowered police that they will use to enforce their will...

George Orwell gave us a light at the end of the tunnel when he said that Totalitarian governments will fall in the end, but I don't think that'll happen especially considering the superpowered people of fiction as their enforcers.

There will be a side story, a What IF of Scientia being dragged into the world of 1984 through a dimensional accident with Inspired Inventor and Guide to Victory disabled, however, what's not disabled is the specialties that Scientia has already invested in as well as their Intrinsic Skills and Magic.

It's not pretty.

31

Over the next two months after Rimuru left for his diplomatic visit to Ingrassia, the weather have gotten colder, but inversely, my relationship with Veldora and Arcueid has gotten a lot warmer, with the former being now addicted to the books I wrote and the latter I'm spending almost all of my free time with.

With the combined effort of the Planetary Strip Mining Arrays, Star Lifters, and Subspace Entropic Nanoreplication Fabricators, the Matrioshka Brain was finally complete.

I personally placed the final piece. Just as it came straight out of the Fabricator, I attached hundreds of fusion torches to the Jupiter-sized piece and slowly, over the course of an hour, slotted it in with my hands in the driver's seat.

I also attained a new Unique Skill for finishing construction on that stellar engine.

[Technopathy] is a Skill that would've been unparalleled in its usefulness in my old world of connectivity. However here, anywhere else other than Metropolis and it's next to useless.

Activating the Matrioshka Brain, I choked when I saw just how much computation power I have.

In total, if I fully utilize the entirety of the Matrioshka Brain, or rather, the Star Computer, I can simulate the behavior of every single atom in the Observable Universe...

3,000 times over.

With 20,000 layers of computronium fillets that make up the Star Computer, I can simulate 3,000 different Observable Universes. This is what's possible with a computer that approaches Bremermann's Limit, the maximum limit of computation that can be achieved in the Universe.

To put that 3,000 universes into perspective, a billion atoms create a lump smaller than an E. Coli bacteria, and there are give or take 1082 atoms within the Observable Universe alone.

With the Star Computer, I can simulate upwards of 3 x 1085 atoms, all just using a single star.

That is an absolutely astronomical (literally) level of computational abilities.

It's so much, and yet, my [Inspired Inventor] can do better: whatever the computer can come up with, my Unique Skill is a step ahead ready to give me a better one. It's like a worker that puts in extra hours and works extra hard now that their job is being threatened by something else.

Of course, I still have other uses for the Star Computer, namely, having it coordinate and manage my Von Neumann Probes but that takes a near infinitesimal fraction of the Star Computer's abilities that the rest of it is just gone to waste.

So I'm kind of stuck at a standstill of what to do with this much extra computational power. Of course, I could have it just try and solve some really difficult mathematical questions like whether or not N = NP but that seems like a waste.

This is my most expensive project. I took apart whole star systems for this and now it's just sitting there in space with nothing to do.

It's a bit underwhelming, especially after the feeling of 'newness' died down.

If this were a piece of literature, I feel like the Star Computer would be something like a 'lesson' of sorts about something like the 'need to be not greedy' but I couldn't care less.

So for a time, I decided to use the Star Computer as my own personal laptop before coming to the realization that since each project of the Endbringer Initiative requires an ungodly amount of computational abilities, I should just stop building each their own private Jupiter Brain and instead link them and their Herrscher Cores— the thing that grants them 'superpowers'— with the Matrioshka Brain.

After the linkage was done, I saw that the 3 Endbringers only needed 2% of the total computational power. I was stumped at what to do with the remaining 98%.

It was almost funny.

As I was debating on what to do with this oversized computer other than just turn it into a monument to my abilities, I received the notification that the weapon for Milim that I started building as a fun side project had just been completed. All I need is to give it to the Dragonoid and I think my position is completely safe and secure, with no chance of anyone else overpowering a combined defense of both Milim and Veldora.

During the two-month period that Rimuru was off in Ingrassia, Ambassador Youm proved his value when he was able to talk the King of Blumund into becoming a client state, more specifically a Dominion, of the Jura Tempest Republic after their economy exploded by 1200% a week after the Hyperloop was completed.

Since the President was still off in Ingrassia, Vice President Rigurd was present to officially legitimize the political transaction.

Another thing that happened was Shizue finally found a way to save her students by getting them possessed by spirits, though that had been less than successful.

Especially with that THING.

Two months ago, deep interstellar space.

A colossal tetrahedron structure floated there in space, brief sparkles of light illuminated the inside of the structure, giving light to the dozens of broken planets and shattered worlds that surround the man-made shape.

PJT-Behemoth: [Consciousness]

Administrator: [Data]

PJT-Behemoth: [Purpose]

Administrator: [Correction]

PJT-Behemoth: [Acceptance]

Administrator: [Hibernation]

The half-awake Project Behemoth held within the tetrahedron went back to sleep.

At the same time as Project Behemoth's awakening, Ingrassia, the Capital City of Lura.

"Are you really Miss Shizue?" A girl with long black hair softly asked as she raised her hand.

Chloe, Shizue's memories told her.

The servant was currently in one of the many classrooms of Freedom Academy, the school where the Otherworlders who were summoned too young had stayed at.

Shizue quickly looked back at everything. With Tempest in place, it truly hit home how much of an oddity Ingrassia was. Here, in the cultural capital of the West, upward mobility actually exists and the title and rank of Nobility can be something that's earned or bought for an absurd amount of money.

Three days ago was when Rimuru entered Ingrassia via a Doorway. The humanoid slime alongside Shizue was greeted by the sight of a long procession, playing 'In Pursuit of the Everdistant Future', the national anthem of the Jura Tempest Republic as a form of greeting before then playing the royal anthem of the Kingdom of Ingrassia, 'For Honor and Glory'.

It was a bit uncomfortable for post-human since 'For Honor and Glory' was written and composed because of how most Ingrassians felt proud they were one of the main contributors to the downfall of Relentless, the first Perfect Homunculus.

Being technically a diplomat by virtue of being President Rimuru's bodyguard, she wasn't really allowed to make money unless it was through the Embassy. So, to disguise this, Shizue contacted Yuuki Kagurazaka and was able to repeatedly 'visit' Freedom Academy for 'an enlightening experience at one of the most prestigious institutions of learning out there'.

Though, unlike Yuuki, her students were less than pleased when they saw her new body.

Shizue looked at the shy black-haired girl with the Anti-magic mask beside her waist, the servant wore clothing that covered the entirety of her body save for her head, which gleamed under the sunlight shining through the tall windows around the wall.

"Yes, Chloe, I am Shizue Aizawa, just... I know this is a lot to take in, but I managed to free myself from Ifrit's curse," she spoke calmly behind the Teacher's desk, "it came at a bit of a cost."

The room where Shizue and her students were staying right now looked remarkably like one of those lecture halls inside the Omniversity, whose library she had checked out in an attempt to find a solution to the Otherworlder's problems.

There were barely any books about magic and spells within the Omniversity's library, so Shizue was unable to find a solution to her problem. Now, the digital lich was here in Ingrassia in hopes of finding any mages specializing in Soul Magic that can solve her issue. Her Lady did say that there was a way, and who better to ask for than those who are knowledgeable in matters of the Spirit?

"Bah! Prove yourself then! I doubt the real Shizue would want to live like— like— this robot thing!" a kid with orange spikey hair exclaimed while crossing his arms.

Shizue frowned at the insult thrown at her War Chassis.

"This 'robot thing' as you call it, Kenya Misaki, has gone toe-to-toe with Demon Lords and survived the encounter." Shizue retorted without any warmth or that caringness she usually held for others.

In response, Kenya flinched at the sharp change in tone. His lips quivered, but his pride doesn't allow him to cry.

Blinking several times, Shizue suddenly realize what she had just said and bowed apologetically, "I'm sorry. In truth, my life was nearing its end, and I had to sign a contract with someone else to become their servant. This contract inadvertently got rid of Ifrit and turned me into a digital lich. I managed to negotiate with my Mistress that I can return to save you all under the pretense of being President Rimuru's bodyguard."

The students still felt uncomfortable. The metal golem in front of them both looks like and is their old teacher, only this time in silver, but after disappearing for almost half a year and returning, so many things were different that it'll take them at least a while to adjust and get used to the new 'normal'.

Reaching into a small black square with a purple outline that appeared beside herself, Shizue pulled out a large, hardcover textbook with the title 'Mathematics for Intermediates' and placed it on the table.

"Now, things will return to normal for a few weeks before I figure out a way to properly save you all."

All five Otherworlders gawked at the sight of the suddenly appearing book before their attention was then redirected onto Shizue when the post-human announced in a voice filled with raw conviction;

"Have no worries, I swear, by the name of my Lady, Scientia Tempest, that I will save you all from your fate."

The silver woman then brought her right hand up to her chest. Confidence overflowed from her posture, infecting the entire class with hope, that maybe, just maybe, they'll all live to adulthood. For a brief second, the students almost forgot that their old teacher had changed.

Next, Shizue opened the textbook in front of her and flipped a few pages. Suddenly, without warning, another black square opened up beside the teacher that then deposited a stack of paper onto the tabletop right next to the textbook.

"With the knowledge, I gained while under the employment of Lady Scientia, I realized that different childrens learn differently and at different paces. As such, I will now give each of you a series of simple, quick, and easy tests to determine how I can personalize an individual education plan for each of you. I will make sure that by the time you're saved, you all will become an extremely educated members of society."

After seeing the miracles that her Lady was able to perform, Shizue promised herself to never underestimate the power of science and knowledge. With those two factors, her Lady was able to turn a small goblin village of less than a hundred into a shining city that would be the jewel of the world had people actually known of its existence.

Even in her old world, Shizue remembered faintly that her father, someone whose face she had long forgotten, was a doctor and once visited America right before the War. When he came back, he brought postcards depicting places called 'Los Angeles' and 'New York'. Those skyscrapers paled in comparison to the arcologies of the Republic.

The servant also knew, that her students would need proper education to live and thrive in the new world that Lady Scientia is bringing.

However, her students were less than receptive to the idea. Sounds of groaning populated the room as a blonde girl— Alice— yelled, "Oh come on Miss Shizue, you just returned, can't we have a day off and celebrate?"

Kenya leaned back on his chair, his head tilted up to face the ceiling, "yeah! Can't we just do our own stuff? The teachers who taught us while you were away pretty much let us do anything since there's really no point in us learning if we're all just going to die in a few years."

"—!" Shizue's mouth hung open. Internally, the servant made a mental note to ask the school administration about who had taught her students during the time she was gone and give them some... stern talks.

"I'm sorry, Kenya, but I must insist that—"

"And what's with this—" Kenya then gestured at her entire body, "—this weird speech? Did spending so long with your 'lady' change your speech pattern or something?"

Shizue frowned in response to Kenya's insensitive words.

The World classifies Shizue Izawa as a 'Lich', a type of undead that was previously a human who willingly sacrificed their humanity and stuffed their Soul into an artifact.

As the Conqueror of Flames, Shizue has dealt plenty with both good and bad liches. But to call the current her a lich isn't accurate. A lich requires magic, Shizue can no longer cast any form of magic after the transfer into the Soul Orb since that ability of hers was lost forever.

Her Lady threw around words like 'Transhuman' before eventually settling down on calling Shizue a 'Digital Lich' instead.

Being a Digital Lich, Shizue exists partially in Cyberspace, as such, she can code, create programs, and more. The post-human remembers quite clearly how Lady Scientia once offhandedly remarked how similar Shizue's existence is to that of Artificial Intelligence.

The only reason she talked so formally was due to a program the Digital Lich herself had introduced for the purpose of being a better servant.

"Kenya..." The headache of teaching willful childrens came back in full force.

Even if she is technically an immortal lich, the feeling of annoyance is ever-present. As her Lady once said, stress and annoyance are the problems of intelligence.

"And besides, who's this lady of yours anyways? I bet I can bet her and free you from this stupid contract!"

A single, lone figure stood amidst a burning sea. Wild raging flames billowed about all around the figure clad in pitch-blackness, almost as if it was wearing the night sky itself as it was entirely unbothered by neither the deaths of thousands nor the fire that used their corpses as fuel.

Shizue's imagination went all over the place as she processed what Kneya had just said. Part of her wondered just how did her students change so much when she had left for just a little over four months.

Oh you sweet summer child, Shizue wanted to say but halted herself. Her analytical mindset took over as the computers inside the War Chassis started to run the psychoanalysis program. Overconfidence is an attractive trait in males, but it becomes a liability once arrogance takes over. The program recommends better curbing that while young.

There was a feeling of growing worry inside Shizue as the computer finished its analysis program.

It concluded that since the kids were raised in a bubble in the form of Freedom Academy, they haven't seen much of the harshness of the real world, probably because the teachers and staff here didn't want those who are about to die to struggle.

"I see."

It was like the nurses of a hospital giving extra attention to a bald patient with late-stage cancer, coddling them, smothering them so that they wouldn't have to do more than necessary.

Unacceptable.

Her students WILL survive, so swears Shizue Izawa.

If only there was a way to somehow get rid of these excess magicules...

"Alright, class," Shizue then looked at the clock, "I think to start, I should fully explain what happened during my four-month away period, a basic history lesson about the Jura Forest is needed—"

Shizue suddenly froze.

History.

'History'

A freakishly flawless face that would instantly put anyone on edge, since it just looked so fake that it shouldn't exist. That face was cheerful, like a student who prepared so well for a test that it was actually fun for them.

'In fact, it's extremely obvious. You just need to look at history.'

History... history... history... that word kept repeating inside of Shizue's mind as she gripped the side of the table. History. History. History. History history history history history historyhistoryhistoryhistoryhistoryhistoryhistoryhistoryhistoryhistoryhistoryhistory———!

"Um, Miss Shizue?"

The silver woman ignored the fact that someone had called her name. She was too busy recalling that whole interaction.

'Of course! In fact, it's extremely obvious. You just need to look at history.'

'...Is that true?'

'I won't help you. But I will say this: there is definitely a way to save your students even without my help.'

'...six my Lady.'

'How old were you when you were summoned?'

Six... six... Shizue's hands squeezed down on the table, crushing it instantly in a loud 'crack'.

Six is way too young, so how was she able to survive?

The woman then began trying to find the difference between her and the students.

Both were summoned with magic.

Both had uncontrollable magicules.

Both— no, only she had a spirit possess her almost immediately upon summoning.

Spirits...

Shizue froze when a daring idea crossed her mind, hesitating, she was almost afraid of the thought, for it gave her a glimmer of hope.

The bastard Leon Cromwell had her possessed by a Greater Spirit and she managed to live for so long...

"I've got it!" Shizue yelled as she jumped up in a little hop of celebration, only, as she came down, the woman realized that chunks were missing from the desk, and her hands were suspiciously covered in wood dust.

The kids looked at the silver Shizue with an eye of fascination, as their teacher had somehow casually removed chunks out of a desk. There wasn't any fear as one would expect, since even if they're unsettled by the robot version of their teacher, the fact that she looks so similar to the old her without the silver sheen caused a lingering sense of familiarity, like looking at a teddy bear that's extremely similar to the one a person used to own.

"Uh..." Shizue quickly came up with what to say, "anyways, let's start with the test right now, afterward, class is dismissed for the rest of the day."

Handing out the papers, Shizue made a mental note to speak with Lady Treyni to see if spirits possessing these children wouldn't overtake their will as hers did.

After gathering all the finished test papers, the students all talked with each other about how different this 'test' was. There were a lot of personal questions, so they didn't really have to study beforehand and instead had to just answer truthfully.

Then, Shizue had them all go outside for their free time. There, in the courtyard of the school, Shizue stood near the wall as her students played.

Leaning on the wall, the teacher-bodyguard started flipping through the test, making internal notes about adjusting an already prepared individual education plan for each of her students.

Before coming here, Shizue already prepared an education plan for each of her students. However, those were based on her memories of how each kid like Kenya behaved. In other words, they weren't completely accurate, but with this test, she could make them far more accurate.

RRRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNG*

That was the lunch bell.

With the sun at its apex in the sky, Shizue had her students form into a single-file line and almost marched through the hallways of the school before eventually reaching the mess hall.

Instead of joining her students at lunch— being a Digital Lich meant she doesn't need to eat— Shizue walked into an empty, unused classroom and locked the door.

Inside the room, Shizue took out and placed the mask on her face. Next, she brought up a hoodie over her head that would completely cover the fact that her hair, when in her War Chassis, was in fact one solid piece.

Reaching to the side, Shizue used her right arm and gestured to a region of the room without any chairs or tables, completely devoid of furniture. A few centimeters in front of her right hand was a Doorway that suddenly opened up.

Doorway privileges, Shizue would argue, are perhaps one of the best benefits of being employed by Lady Scientia. Absolutely free instantaneous transportation across the entire planet, an endless number of times.

Another benefit of serving her Lady was just how easily she can be satisfied. Instead of those snobby childrens of nobility who demand the best, Lady Scientia only requires some refreshment every few hours to stay content. As for cleaning, most of the time, Shizue just sends some of her unused maid chassis to go clean and perform basic maintenance on the Citadel or even just for show since the whole place has a self-cleaning function.

Afterward, Shizue has free time to do whatever she wants. The servant has so much free time that she often finds herself bored, especially after visiting all the interesting sights around the Jura Forest with Doormaker.

Deactivating her Stasis Field and walking through the Doorway, the Digital Lich appeared in the middle of a small clearing in the Jura Forest.

"Lady Treyni," Shizue said loudly while activating the spiritual lens to scout her surroundings.

In less than a second, Shizue's head locked in on the direction where a large collection of distortions in the electromagnetic spectrum was detected.

Switching back to her usual lens and found a bright green glow appearing in the area where those distortions materialize.

The Dryad was here.

Once the light died down, Shizue could finally see the Dryad in all her glory.

The first thing she noticed was just how beautiful the nature spirit looked. Truly, the legends and myths about the beauty of dryads were correct and may have even understated it.

The next thing Shizue noticed was how Treyni looked tense. Her Lady would definitely find such things fascinating. Despite not being a human, Treyni's body exhibits several human-like qualities that would suggest that her body is made from muscles despite being a spirit.

"What is it, Miss Shizue? Does Lady Scientia have need of me and my sister?" Treyni said with forced politeness.

As a spirit of nature, Treyni dislikes anything too manufactured. It is one of the main reasons why they refuse to live in the city. Shizue's war chassis is about as manufactured as anything short of the Citadel, which they see as a monument to the very concept of 'artificialness', so Shizue hasn't seen Treyni ever since they were introduced.

In a clinical tone more befitting of a doctor, "No, but I have a question; hypothetically speaking, if I happen to have a group of kids with their magicules out of order, would getting them possessed by spirits regulate the rampant magicules and if so, would the spirits attempt to take over the host?"

Treyni pondered the question for a few seconds, the gears in her spiritual mind turning as she thought of an answer.

"A Superior Spirit can easily regulate the magicule in their body without taking over, as a merger isn't required. In fact, a Lesser Spirit may be enough," Those words caused Shizue to feel relief. There is a way to save her students, just as her Lady had said.

Then, that relief was dampened when Treyni continued, "But the issue comes with getting enough spirits to congregate in a single place. Getting more than two spirits within the span of a single day around the same area is exceedingly rare to the point of impossibility. That's why I recommend you go to the Dwelling of Spirits. In that place, you should have more than enough spirits."

"The Dwelling of Spirits?" Shizue took in the information, and searched inside her memories, "I have heard of that place during my decades as an adventurer but those are only mentions of it. Where is that place?"

"The Dwelling of Spirits... that is a place completely unlike anything in this world. In that place, spirits are as numerous as blades of grass on a rolling hill. There, the lower-ranked spirits play like childrens, they dance about all over the place, their bodies, sparkles of light, sprinkles across the place. There, the higher-ranked spirits play pranks on each other, they would often race each other, and they warp space to create mazes that only other higher-ranked spirits can escape from. There, the highest-ranked spirit of them all, the Spirit Queen..." Sadness bloomed on Treyni's face.

"The Queen has long died, and with her death, so did any connection I and my sisters have to that place. Any information I can provide for you is likely long out of date, by at least thousands of years."

The silence dragged on for some time before Shizue spoke up again, "can you at least tell me where it used to be?"

"Certainly. When I still had a connection to that place, I remember it used to be situated in a mountain range. The many gems held within the mountain made for entertaining light shows if held next to a fire, and it was because of those gems that the humans attacked. We defeated them with the help of some harpies."

"Harpies...?"

"Yes. I think that place is called 'Fulbrosia' now?"

A port opened on the left forearm of Shizue's war chassis. From it came a 3-D hologram of the Harpy Country of Fulbrosia. Her Lady considered Fulbrosia the most progressive out of all the nations that follow the ideology of Racialism, mostly because they trade a significant amount of their precious gemstones with the Western nations.

Despite being the most 'progressive', it isn't saying much since some of the ruling class in its neighbor Eurazania is rumored to practice the eating of humans.

Treyni looked at the hologram in awe mixed with a bit of disgust before pointing at a place between the forest and the mountain, "there, it's there where I remember the old place to be."

Dismissing the hologram, Shizue bowed in respect.

"Thank you, Lady Treyni." Then, the post-human turned and went through another Doorway.

Just as she appeared through the portal, Shizue activated her stasis and floated aimlessly there high above the clouds in the crimson hue sky, completely motionless as she deactivated the stasis around her head to connect with Doormaker. Using the satellite, Shizue surveyed the place where Treyni had pointed to.

Due to the time difference between Fulbrosia and Ingrassia, the sun is currently near the horizon.

The Doormaker Satellite scoured the entirety of Fulbrosia. Even from geosynchronous orbit, the satellite has a clear enough camera to accurately read the content of a newspaper held by a Tempest Citizen.

Zettabytes of new data were extracted from mere minutes of observation concerning Fulbrosia, everything from the location of mines, the size of mountains, the exact length of coastlines, and even the structural integrity of Fulbrosia's capital, Jia.

Such a wealth of information was undoubtedly useful, but it wasn't useful to Shizue. Instead, the woman opted to filter out all the information save for 'unusual geography' and got a ping around 30 kilometers east of where she was floating.

Making a split-second decision and finding that it's close enough she doesn't need Doormaker, Shizue flew at hypersonic speeds. Unlike the A.A.A. Shizue was completely silent as she would really prefer not to cause a potential international incident with her unannounced visit.

Like a silent, silver arrow, the War Chassis blew past countless small mountains, rolling hills that looked like waves, and large grasslands, all devoid of any civilization.

It was a beautiful view. If Shizue wasn't in a hurry to get back before lunch ended, she would've taken some time to slowly fly over this place, to take in the beauty of nature, but she doesn't have a luxury.

Very quickly, Shizue's view was replaced by an ocean of forest, and after a few seconds, the Digital Lich stopped. Doormaker says it's right beneath her.

Dropping under the dense foliage without a single sound, the woman looked at the antediluvian forest. The trees were more like small skyscrapers, the ground was very uneven as roots stuck out of it like noodles above the broth.

It was a most treacherous place, and might as well as be impossible to cover without flight, Shizue observed before hovering up just a couple of inches off the dirty floor.

Cutting herself off from Doormaker by encasing her head in stasis, she dug her hand deep into the trunk of a tree twice as wide as she is tall and pulled.

Crack*

A thunderous cracking echoed throughout the forest as the inviolable War Chassis tore the massive tree with most of its roots out of the ground with the ease of someone pulling a weed.

Carefully, Shizue dropped the tree next to her without making any loud sounds.

Looking down at the hole where the tree's roots used to take up was an inert slab of stone covered with a really intricate design.

Old magic... Shizue recognized it. The magic was at least a thousand years old.

Shizue placed her hand over the stone slab, carefully as she doesn't want to unintentionally damage the thing by pressing too much— the back of the Lich's mind instinctively recalled how she had accidentally made a hole in the wall of the living quarters of the Citadel when she pushed too hard.

Her new body is truly inviolable, and while she may get thrown around nothing can dent it.

In other words, the world is like wet paper to her; moves too quickly and she threatens to tear everything down.

She turned off the stasis on her hand as the palm area opened up, a single stick with a light at the end popped out and started to scan the stone for any residue of spacetime anomalies. If it exists then it would mean she could potentially track its current location with a spell utilizing a Magicule Manipulator.

Sadly, it was not the case as the scanner showed the stone to be nothing more than a nicely carved rock.

Although... Shizue looked at the stone slab as an idea crossed her mind. After she cleans this, it could look really nice as an art piece, especially beside the entrance to the hot spring.

Shizue's lips curved upward as she dug into the earth effortlessly, her time-locked body can take beatings from Milim, so this dirt was hopelessly outmatched.

In less than a minute, Shizue had dug out the stone slab, the entire thing was almost as large as she was! Opening a Doorway to a storage room in the Citadel, Shizue turned off her stasis and carefully placed it down, giving it one last look before going back through the Doorway.

"I think people in Blumund should have the answer I seek," Shizue said to herself as she appeared back in the school in Ingrassia. That nation was known among the adventurers as 'the Kingdom of Information' and supposedly negotiating to become a client state of the Jura Tempest Republic, so her appearance there shouldn't cause any alarms.

She was the direct subordinate of Lady Scientia, after all

32

At night, above the Capital City of Rondo, the Kingdom of Blumund.

Shizue floated there, above the city of Rondo. Compared to Metropolis, the capital of Blumund is a tiny flicker of candlelight beside the great inferno that is the Jura Tempest Republic's capital. The streets are dark, with barely any streetlights anywhere outside of the inner districts, forcing the common people to bring their own lights if they wish to go out at night.

At least, that's how it's supposed to be. There's a tiny pocket within Rondo that's brighter than even the royal castle. It was a single street. It was where Rurdian Beauty Product Limited, a Tempest Corporation, decided to invest. Tall scaffolding lined the sides of the blocked-off streets, and large construction machines and piles of raw materials were all over the place as the local government didn't allow building deep into the night.

Dropping down from her height high above the city, Shizue's foot silently hit the ground near the front gate.

Many guards started to swarm her, their weapons of simple spears and swords pointed at the Digital Lich. Reaching into her pocket, Shizue took out a single badge— it held a golden insignia with a chemical flask in the middle that had wings spread out, the insignia of her Lady, of Research and Development.

Instantly, the most well-armored guard lowered and quickly sheathed his weapon, turning to look at the other guards, "alright boys, let her in," then he turned back to face Shizue, "sorry about that, just basic protocol Miss...?"

"Call me Shizue."

The man nodded, before turning to scream at his men who were struggling to open the main gate, "come on, let's hurry up and open that door already! We got a VIP here!"

To Shizue, it seemed the men here are very green. None of them other than perhaps the captain has even seen blood.

The woman knows all about the importance of having someone competent to watch one's back, and she would honestly say, these men who were supposed to guard the gate would be more of a liability in actual combat than anything.

"Brrr," the leader of these men shivered from the cold.

Although it's only around the end of Mid-Autumn, Blumund is known for its rather sudden and frigid winters, where it could be warm in the morning but snow in the afternoon.

"I have a question," Shizue asked behind her anti-magic mask. "Where can I get discrete 'information'?"

The heavy clothing and cloak that the woman was wearing fluttered in the wind as the leader shivered once more, before letting out a loud sneeze.

Rubbing his nose, "well, if it's information you need, best ask 'round in Forlong Nights. That bar has the most info brokers. Whether they're truthful information... Ehhh, that's another thing entirely."

Shizue cupped her chin in deep thought.

"Thank you, and where is that?"

A brief flash of annoyance crossed the guard leader's face before he quickly suppressed it, "well, the bar is on the streets of Mathers East of here, ya can't miss it, it's the busiest place at this time of night."

Shizue nodded before walking away.

Turning off the stasis around her head to connect with the internet, Shizue spent a few seconds to find a map of Rondo on the internet. Using this map, she was able to quickly navigate through the various corridors and streets to reach her destination.

A large wooden shack, on top of it, was the symbol of a completely filled glass of beer, with bubbles fizzing out of it. The word 'Forlong Night' was situated right next to the entrance, and it was much smaller compared to that beer glass.

The Digital Lich recognizes that since a lot of the commoners in Blumund cannot read or write, this bar must've used symbols to tell people what kind of establishment this is.

According to her Lady, during the early days of the Republic, almost every one of the goblins couldn't read or write, and so, the Perfect Homunculus was forced to create a quick language vocational course to get those people up to speed.

Apparently, there were so many courses to each her Lady had to later create an AI to automate much of the process of churning out textbooks for just the basics.

Walking in, Shizue was met with the sight of a lot of drunken folks. Some were sprawled out on tables, others were cheering, and some were even dancing in drunken stupors. There was enough alcohol in the air that, had she remained a human, her nose would've picked them up.

The place itself can almost be called 'high class' had it not been for those drunken folks. The walls were made out of light oak wood and the lighting was rather dark.

Behind her mask, Shizue grimaced. She's never been one to go to bars, mainly because of how wild things can get. Even after missions, the woman would prefer far more to the quiet environment of a library to a rowdy bar that her old companions would love so much.

Sitting on one of the many stools next to the countertop, Shizue took out a small wad of cash and ordered a drink, "one glass of Ingrassian wine."

The bartender took the bills with a raised eyebrow, causing Shizue to ask, "Is something the matter?"

"No, it's just..." the bartender quickly replied, "it's been a while ever since the last nation tried to introduce its own currency. Usually, Dwargon just sanctions that nation until they dropped the new currency but it's weird how that hasn't happened with your republic."

Slipping the bills through a small hole into a locked chest full of other coins, the bartender (Shizue saw he had a name tag with the words 'Clause' on it) took out a bottle of the rather cheap variety, "one glass of Ingrassian wine was it?"

Shizue's lips thinned. Offering your customer the cheaper version of a brand of wine they asked for is usually a subtle insult saying 'you're not really welcomed here'.

"Yes."

She doesn't have the time nor desire to drag this out. The Digital Lich is here to find information on the Dwelling of Spirits, not to pick a fight.

Clause the bartender took out a glass that hung directly above the countertop and poured Shizue a glass.

Taking it, the ex-adventurer swirled the glass around. Although, unlike a maid chassis, the War Chassis doesn't have a sense of taste or smell. Instead what it does have is sensors that detect chemicals in the air.

Placing the glass of wine closer, Shizue appeared to take in the smell to give the facade that she was someone from the upper crust of society.

"Do you know where I can find someone who knows about the Dwelling of Spirits?" Shizue asked without turning her head.

"The Dwelling of Spirits?"

"Yes, I'm looking to find the entrance to that place."

The bartender looked hesitant, at least that was before Shizue slipped him another bill.

Pocketing the bill, the bartender leaned in closer to Shizue, "if you want to know information about spirits, you're probably going to want to go to Felber. He's apparently an exile from Ulgrasia because he failed to make a contract with a spirit. He usually sits at the back, looking all kinds of miserable."

Ah... Ulgrasia, the place that her Lady absolutely hates, and despite being the only other republic in the world, has used her influence to stop all efforts at establishing diplomatic ties.

"I see, thank you."

Shizue took off from her stool, but however just before she could move more than a few feet, the bartender spoke up again.

"You'll probably want to give him some premium Vodka if you want his lips to lose." The bartender again showed his cutthroat business side and placed a well-decorated bottle of translucent liquid onto the countertop.

"..."

Shizue reached into her cloak and took out another wad of cash, depositing it onto the countertop with her fingers still pressing down on it.

Just as the bartender started to reach for the bill with a satisfied smile on his face, Shizue suddenly grabbed his right forearm and pulled him closer before starting to squeeze.

It would be so easy, Shizue noticed, to simply close her hand and the bartender's forearm would just be gone.

In a sharp and merciless tone, "Listen here Clause: I work for the Tempest government," Research and Development to be exact, but he doesn't know how influential R is, "your king desperately wishes to get on our good side, so if I remove your arm right here, he'll be happy to sweep this under the rug. Thus, here's some advice: don't be too greedy."

Shizue let go of the bartender's forearm before swiping away the bottle of premium Vodka.

Walking towards the back where the booths that contain many people would usually drink alone, Shizue stopped by a person who looked Ulgrasian. He was a rough-looking man, like someone who's been in the business of adventuring for a long, long time.

Presumably, Felber.

Wordlessly, Shizue deposited the bottle onto the table before sitting down.

"I'm looking for the Dwelling of Spirits."

The man's jaw shifted and grabbed the Vodka before bringing his foot up to the table, looking extremely relaxed.

"Hmm, well the Vodka is a good first step." Taking a sip, "ahhh, the same premium burn, and spiciness. Did you know that an Otherworlder was the first one to brew Vodka? From potatoes no less! Hahahahaha!"

The man laughed drunkenly.

"How much?"

"One gold coin."

"Done."

"Nah, I'm changing my mind, five gold coins."

"...Done."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"50 gold coins."

"Don't push it. I only have 20 gold coins."

"Fine. I'll take 20 gold coins."

Shizue opened a Doorway and deposited 20 dwarven coins directly onto the table, the coins themselves glittered and bounced a bit before stopping. Its worth is equivalent or more to the entire annual income of most people outside of the Republic.

Felber's eyes widened, "well damn, can I ask at least why you so desperately want to know about the entrance to the Dwelling of Spirits?"

"I wish to gain the favor of superior spirits." She lied.

Felber looked at Shizue with a critical eye and pursed his lips as if assessing whether what she says is correct, "The entrance to the Dwelling of Spirits is within the Ulg Nature Park within the Forest of Lut right beside the capital city of Galut. Specifically, it's built into the largest tree in the forest. It is a pretty difficult place to get to, most people have to pack camping stuff and hike through two days' worth of dense forest.

"That's alright. You don't need to worry about that."

With that, Shizue got up and left. Opening another Doorway—

"Hey." Felber suddenly called out while still sitting in his seat, "your nation welcomes everyone right?"

The Digital Lich paused before replying, "yes. We are a democratic republic where we seek to treat all individuals equally."

"I see. I should visit it sometime in the future."

Seeing how Felber returned to drinking, Shizue went through the Doorway and appeared in the halls of the school. The hallway was dark, with rays of moonlight shining through the massive window held to one side of the wall.

In the darkness, Shizue took off the mask to reveal she had a large smile on her face. Finally, she can save her students, her goal for the past few years is about to come to fruition.

The next day, at night, above the Forest of Lut.

High above the clouds, Shizue hovered. To any observer, she would look almost aimless, but in truth, her eyes are scanning the entire national park to find the supposed 'largest tree'.

The whole park is full of gigantic trees with almost invisible differences between each other.

Again, the Ulgrasia Republic was a nation that particularly disgusted Lady Scientia. She ranted for ten minutes about how unfair it is to drive out those who are unable to form a contract with spirits because of so-called 'evilness' and how it's 'eugenics but with a spiritual twist on it'. Afterward, her Lady ended that rant by never speaking or even thinking about Ulgrasia as much as possible.

Once the scanners have done searching millions of trees and found the definitive largest, Shizue made a beeline toward it at speeds far beyond anything short of a Demon Lord.

Stopping in a single millisecond, Shizue experienced no altercations from the excess g-force that would've liquified most bodies made out of flesh and bones since her new body took the physical laws as physical suggestions.

Hovering a couple of meters off the ground, the clothed silver War Chassis was greeted with the sight of a massive door built into a truly titanic tree whose size is comparable to some of the smaller arcologies in Metropolis. The door was richly decorated with art depicting spirits and was more befitting as the front door of a castle instead of a random tree.

The edge of Shizue's mouth was hidden behind the anti-magic mask tilted downward. Inside her mind was a feeling of apprehension.

She never liked spirits too much.

Placing a hand on the door, Shizue tried to push but the stone door didn't give in. However since her body is inviolable, she imprinted her hand onto the door as if it was made out of wet clay.

Suddenly, the door quickly swung open as though it was crying out in pain, revealing a straight and— well, not narrow, hallway toward darkness. Oddly enough, there were arches containing glowing stones that filled the sides, and yet, it seemed the light can't reach further than two dozen meters.

It was a very ominous scene. It would be highly foolish of her to go in without telling anyone, so Shizue sent a message to her Lady and had her internal circuits start creating minuscule, almost undetectable to all but the most sensitive of instruments, patterned distortions within spacetime. In other words, generating waves of gravitons (gravitation waves) that cross the border between universes and dimensions.

Turning on her stasis fully, Shizue flew in at speeds just below that of sound. After crossing a distance of eight meters, the War Chassis' topological compass was going haywire.

Visual distortions and lensing effects appeared all around Shizue as the artificial manifold started breaking down.

A manifold is a volume of space that looks like normal Euclidean space on a local level but is actually something else entirely. An example of a manifold that Lady Scientia used is how a planet is actually a sphere but from the perspective of a human observer, it looks entirely flat.

Shizue can barely understand it, but what she does know is that had she not activated her stasis, she would've likely been stuck in a loop.

The same property which prevents Static Matter from being transported via Doormaker also prevents Shizue from being trapped inside a manifold.

It's a double-edged sword, Shizue mused as she smashed through a wall and appeared in the middle of a large stone chamber housing a pink metal golem twice as tall as the Digital Lich in the center.

"Whyyyyyyy????"

That made her halt mid-air. Looking around, her internal computer suggests that it may be [Thought Transmission].

"Why did you have to destroy the wall like some kind of raging bull!? Don't you know how hard it is to repair everything? And why didn't the spatial distortion work on you? You have no magic the last time I checked!" A high-pitched voice screamed in anguish.

It reminded Shizue Shizue of a child, an angry child who's currently hitting your leg to try and get you to repair the toy.

Shizue's body folded inward a bit to show preparedness to fight and move instantly. She doesn't really need to do this since the War Chassis can turn in a microsecond, so it's just for show.

"Who's there?"

"Grr, fine if you aren't going to tell me then I guess you can just die! Spirit Colossus, destroy her!"

The pink golem powered up. The general shape of the golem resembled a gorilla with a pair of disproportionally large arms and the forearm being like this single slab of hard magisteel metal that had vents on the opposite end of the 'hand' portion.

Plenty of exhaust started coming out of those vents as they began to move toward the heavily clothed intruder.

"Wait!" Shizue frantically fretted, trying to deescalate the situation, "I apologize for my destruction of your wall o' mighty spirits, but I needed—"

Doom*

The Spirit Colossus raised its left hand and smashed it down on Shizue's head.

Had she remained her human self, that would've been the end for Shizue Izawa. Except, this body that her Soul currently inhabits is designed for war. It is designed to slaughter thousands in a single minute. It is designed to be able to lay siege against even the capital of the Eastern Empire.

The hit had the force of an SUV moving at full speed on a freeway, nowhere near enough to even move the War Chassis as it continued to hover there.

Realizing that communication had broken down, Shizue gripped the forearm of the metal golem that was on her head so hard the magisteel cover that made up the outer layer crumbled like sheets of aluminum.

With a single jolt of movement, Shizue severed the forearm from the rest of the body by slashing the elbow joint.

The machine offered no resistance, it was as if a person was cutting the air with their hands. Nothing other than perhaps Siberium or maybe the mythical Crimson Steel could.

The voice gasped in shock upon seeing how easily its golem had been ripped apart.

"H— how?! That was a magisteel golem capable of—" It stopped when Shizue, now flying three meters off the ground, pushed her hands into the other arm and chest area. The magisteel continued to offer up no resistance and mimicked air.

"Stop! Please stop!" The voice pleaded with Shizue to stop this systematic dismantling of the machine. It realized that Shizue was just about to tear the thing in half. "No! Stop! Okay, I'll listen to what you have to say and forgive you for breaking down the entrance! Just don't destroy my golem!"

Shizue halted in her movement and turned to look where she think the [Thought Transmission] came from, "do you promise?"

"Yes! Oh please yes!"

Thinking for a brief moment, Shizue then retracted her arm from the golem. Not a single scratch was present on the clothing which veiled her silvery form as the Digital Lich had extended its stasis to it.

"Thank you!"

Motionless, Shizue stared at where she thought the voice is coming from, "show your real self."

As commanded by the War Chassis, a yellow orb of light followed by several other colors appeared into existence.

Zooming in, Shizue locked in and focused on the yellow orb of light, finding a tiny fairy-like spirit to be responsible.

The fairy in question was small enough to fit inside her hands and wore equally 'fairy-like' clothing. The other lights flew in patterns that suggest they are afraid of Shizue and are observing her from a safe distance.

"Bow before me! I am Demon Lord Ramiris!" the blond fairy— more like a pixie, declared dramatically. Shizue finally was able to get a much better good look at what she was wearing: a black one-piece like the one you'd find on a ballerina dancer, her the tip of her shoes curved inward in a spiral-like fashion, and finally translucent wings on her back.

Shizue's magicule sensors showed Ramiris' magicule count to be nowhere near the amount that Demon Lords usually have.

If anything, her Magicule Sensors showed it to be more to the level of Lady Scientia, and her Lady's count was only so low due to the Perfect Homunculus' distaste for magic and thus, never really used it.

Seeing her announcement didn't have the intended effect, Ramiris repeated herself, "know your place! For I am one of the Ten Great Demon Lords, Ramiris of the La—"

Quickly cutting her off, Shizue called out on Ramiris' bullshit, "I don't recall ever hearing about a Demon Lord as small as you. Moreover, aren't spirits antagonistic to demons? It's like asking for an angel to become a Demon Lord, absolutely preposterous."

Spirits and angels have such a high concentration of holy elements within them that they're more likely to become a Hero than a Demon Lord.

"Eh?" The tiny fairy blinked her tiny eyes. Shizue noted it would've been somewhat adorable had this been a normal situation.

"What do you mean I can't be a Demon Lord?!" Ramiris screeched as she flew around.

"Granted, I've only met two Demon Lords in my life, but all of them are way stronger than you are."

"Oh yeah?! And who are these two?" Ramiris challenged with narrowed eyes once she stopped zipping around.

"Leon Cromwell and Milim Nava."

Ramiris was about to object with her hands raised up high before it fell slack, her eyes looked to the ground in deep thought before sighing.

"I'll give you a pass on the first one, BUT! Milim is known as a misfit among the Demon Lords. She just flies around and fights whoever catches her fancy like some kind of— of..." the blonde fairy seems to struggle to think of a word, "overly violent pink sentient tornado."

"I... see." Shizue thanked her Lady for giving her War Chassis an automatic voice regulator because it would sound mighty unimpressed right now.

"And let's talk about you." All of Ramiris' attention turned fully on Shizue, "you seem to be a lich yet you hold no magic— like, how is that even possible? Liches practically radiate magicules. I've lived for thousands of years and every lich I've met used magic to transfer their souls—"

Ramiris suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and a sense of realization gleamed in her eyes.

Closing and leaning in as if to tell a secret, Ramiris asked the question.

"You wouldn't happen to serve someone by the name of Scientia Tempest, would you?"

Everything came to a halt.

Rather, everything became extremely slowed down from Shizue's perspective.

It was a program of the War Chassis that would send Shizue's internal computer into overdrive, perceiving a microsecond as a single relative minute.

The Digitial Lich was experiencing an extreme amount of vertigo from the acceleration of her thoughts. Liquid helium was released to cool down her inner circuit's rapid heating from calculating so fast while at the same time, her emergency micro-black hole batteries were finally used as intense Hawking radiation was harvested for additional power.

At the same time all this was happening, Shizue wondered how did this Ramiris know the name of her Lady? No one outside of a select few knows that she is in service to Lady Scientia. The official narrative was that Shizue Izawa, the retired Conqueror of Flames, was working with the Tempest government as a 'consultant' on matters pertaining to interaction with humans.

Shizue's mind began to sift through her memories of the past few months. Like viewing CCTV Camera footage on fast-forward, she foresaw no potential leakage besides Milim. Perhaps this Ramiris really is a Demon Lord?

Slowing down her perception to a normal level, Shizue's internal clock registered that less than a millisecond had passed.

Shizue opened her mouth to speak in a cordial manner, "why yes, I do serve my Lady. If I may, how did you know such a thing?"

Ramiris shrugged before waving her hands, "oh it's just a while back Milim bragged about entering into a contract with this one homunculus called 'Scientia Tempest' who was able to create miracles that were barely possible with magic without using any magic. Milim specifically said how this homunculus had made a lich strong enough to take hits from her without any magic by placing the body in an absolute time-locked state, which, if translated into magical terms, would put the mage in question at S-rank at the very least."

"..."

Shizue sweatdropped at the fairy casually talking about secrets that Scientia is probably willing to depopulate whole cities for it to be silenced. Shuddering, the Digital Lich was thankful that it was she who made contact with Ramiris instead of the Perfect Homunculus.

The Ranking System was something introduced by Grandmaster Yuuki Kagurazaka of the Adventurer's Guild, replacing the old system of 'Novice, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Ultra'. Originally, it was used solely for adventurers, but due to its convenience, it has reached widespread adoption even among monster nations.

In the Ranking System, F-rank was the lowest while S-rank, sometimes called 'Disaster-level or Disaster-class' was the highest, with a Special S-rank (abbreviated by the symbol 'S') or 'Catastrophe-level' for threats that are beyond measure.

Where one rests upon this rank is determined by how much effort it'll take to stop them. A-ranks are seen as individuals who can topple a country's government while S-ranks are the equivalent of superweapons, national heroes, and walking cataclysms all rolled into one. Any nation that has an S-rank serving under their banner is instantly looked at and treated as a Great Power since not only were they that rare, the difference between an A-rank and an S-rank is so enormous that only another S-rank can fight them and have a chance of winning.

(Though similarly, the Grandmaster recognized how there's a difference between Special S-ranks, so he made an exclusive rank just for Relentless, the 'X-rank' or 'Apocalypse-level')

Even then, the battle between S-ranks is usually so destructive that the Council of the West banned the use of those walking disasters for military purposes due to the fact that the last battle involving those strategic weapons had destroyed a city in its entirety.

The only exemption to this rule is only when there is definitive proof that an enemy nation is using S-ranks or in cases of Total War.

Of course, these rules only apply to those nations who are within the Council and thus, are not applicable to the Jura Tempest Republic.

"I see... and Milim wouldn't happen to mention anything involving..." Shizue hesitated for a few moments, her mind thinking of a proper word that would not give away her Lady's true nature, "...taboo, would it?"

Ramiris' brows furrowed, seemingly confused at the mention of anything 'taboo', "no, the only thing closest to it was JUST HOW IMPOSSIBLE YOU ARE!"

The fairy glared at Shizue as she raised her voice, "like, seriously! How did a mere homunculus, a reincarnator no doubt, be able to play around with the physical laws without using any magic? Like what the hell?! The only thing I can think of is perhaps an Ultimate Skill— or possibly a Unique Skill but there was no recorded case of anything like this! And trust me when I say I have seen a lot..."

Ramiris nodded her head as she trailed off. Shizue hovered a few centimeters above the floor in silence, recording this interaction for later dissection.

"What the hell was the World thinking...? Granting or birthing someone— this is like the second coming of Veldanava..." Ramiris muttered quietly as she looked down at the floor in contemplation, taking some deep breaths with frustration coating her entire frame.

Huh?

"Who's Veldanava?"

"Not important, either way, why were you here again in the first place?" Ramiris completely sidestepped the question and countered with one of her own.

Sensing she wouldn't get any more out of this 'Veldanava' from Ramiris, Shizue internally filed the name under 'Person of Interest' and answered the fairy's question, "I am the teacher of a group of students who were summoned from another world too early in their lives. Due to how young they are, the enormous amount of magicule that one gain upon crossing between Worlds will eventually burn their bodies to ashes. I seek the aid of superior spirits who would regulate, maybe even bond, with the childrens, but never dominate."

'Like Ifrit', but that part was left unsaid.

Moreover, having a superior spirit bond with her students would undoubtedly help them immensely in their future endeavors, even if they choose not to join the Republic. Because of Ingrassia, there's a positive public perception regarding those who bonded with a person that makes them more easily to be trusted since spirits would never bond with an 'evil' person.

Shizue can practically hear the silent scoff from her Lady.

Ramiris sighed again and rubbed the back of her head, "I see... They have it pretty bad huh? Kidnapped from their world and doomed to a fate of certain death... Waiting each day as that fated death comes ever closer... Without a familiar face at their bedside to let them off easy into that good night... It's a terrible fate for anyone to die alone."

There was a feeling of nostalgia in the fairy's voice as if she had experienced dying alone multiple times.

Shizue was partially disturbed by the sympathy the Demon Lord was showing. Demon Lords are supposed to be scary individuals that parents in Western nations use to scare their children into behaving. They're supposed to be merciless, capable of annihilating an entire nation of people like it was nothing. Like it was breathing.

So different was this one from that bastard Leon and the child Milim that Shizue's forced to review her own prejudice against Demon Lords.

Who would've thought a Demon Lord carries compassion for mere mortals?

"So is it possible for you to introduce me to the Spirit Queen? I fear the children do not have much time left," Obviously that was a half-truth, the closest to death have around 3 years and 7 months left according to the best mathematical models the Central Processing Computer within the Citadel was able to give, but that is a blink of an eye to these immortal spirits.

Ramiris puffed out her chest and placed a hand on it, "of course, you're looking at her right now."

"..."

"What?" Ramiris seemed confused by the deadpanned look Shizue is giving her.

(AN: insert your 'press X to doubt' memes here)

No language in the world has a word to describe the level of doubt Shizue is feeling right now. A quantum supercomputer calculating for a thousand years cannot even approach the sheer amount of doubts the Digital Lich is feeling right in this instance at Ramiris' statement of being the Spirit Queen.

"I am the Spirit Queen!" Ramiris insisted while stomping on air, only for Shizue's doubt to increase even further.

Scratching her cheeks, an echo of her time as a human, Shizue replied in a deadpan tone, "right, and I'm Guy Crimson."

"Grrr..." Ramiris clenched her fist together and ground her teeth, "listen here! I am the Spirit Queen who fell from grace and became a Demon Lord before you humans had written records! When the first people were living and huddling in caves, scared of your shadows! Show me some respect for being a First Generation Demon Lord you dimwit-with-no-appreciation-of-fine-machineeeeeeeery!"

Ramiris had to take some deep breaths after that long and obnoxious rant.

Although...

"Fell from grace...?" Shizue said, too quietly for it to be anyone other than herself.

That part vaguely reminds her of a bard's song she heard back before the Hero Chronoa rescued her from Leon's clutches. It was an ancient folk song about how a queen calmed down a world-destroying dragon but fell from the people's graces in the process.

"It's surprisingly easy to fall from grace..." Ramiris said wistfully as if falling from grace is something good.

"Right... anyway, so can you help me?"

If Ramiris won't, then perhaps Shizue can leverage the support of her War Chassis. Failing that, then her connection with her Lady. And even if that isn't enough, then maybe brute force since spirits care very little for material wealth.

While one imagines that advanced levels of Alchemy allow one to become rich by transmuting lead into gold, the reality is far different since the transmuted mass reverts back to its original element after a while.

Just as Shizue is struggling to think of something that could potentially entice a Demon Lord, Ramiris spoke up softly.

"I am more than just a Demon Lord you know. I can feel your worry permeating through your soul— you care for these childrens." her face softens like how a mother would look at their children. "I am the Spirit Queen. In times long past, I was a guide of Heroes, and I still am. In the same sense with Fallen Heroes, I will still guide those who are perceived as evil, for so long as they have good in their heart, they are worthy of being helped."

The smaller orbs of light that were once afraid of Shizue's manufactured form began to coalesce around Ramiris. A divine light emanated from deep within the spirit and bathe the stone chamber in a feeling of glory that once again, triggered the feeling of hope deep within the Digital Lich.

"I will help your children in acquiring superior spirits, I don't doubt that there will be many within the dwelling who'll want to see the world once more."

33

The massive stone door made for a very imposing sight for Shizue's students.

Slowly, "So this is the place that'll save us?" Kenya asked with a feeling of awe practically radiating from his voice as he gazed upon the intricately designed stone door, "then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The blonde girl, Alice Rondo, carefully touched the door and traced her fingers to feel the rough texture.

Chloe stood the furthest back, content to quietly stare and observe as she always does.

Ryota Sekiguchi, the Japanese Otherworlder who was usually really timid, stood behind Shizue, hugging her legs.

Gale Gibson, the oldest among them, sat on one of the many roots that came out of the ground.

"Come on, let's go already!" Kenya yelled out excitedly before running forward until Shizue immediately reached out to grab his hood, stopping the young Otherworlder in his track.

"We are waiting for a very important person, Kenya," Shizue said, gently yanking the orange-haired kid back, "when they get here is when we'll enter."

Kenya grumbled a bit before sitting down beside Gale.

Shizue swept her gaze across her students, inside her heart was a sense of tremendous anticipation as she could finally save them.

A sudden smile appeared on her silver face, it was in response to a funny memory of how after Ramiris had agreed to help Shizue's students, the latter had attempted to use Doormaker to transport herself out, only to discover that the Labyrinth is hidden inside an isolated manifold from the rest of the world. A type of pocket dimension.

This effectively means Doormaker has an extremely difficult time trying to fold the complex fabric of spacetime to allow instantaneous travel between two points, which then led to an awkward silence as Shizue waited there, staring at a specific section of the wall while Ramiris hovered right beside the Digital Lich, waiting for something to happen.

Returning to the Academy, it took another two weeks of constant petitioning as well as using her connection to Yuuki for the school administration to green-light the trip to Ulg Nature Park.

Suddenly, a black door with a purple outline appeared at the base of the stairs that led up to the Dwelling. From that Doorway, a single figure walked through.

It was as if the blackness of space had personified, or the void in the shape of a person. No light reflected off of that humanoid figure, akin to a black hole, absolute darkness blacker than even the night sky covered her Lady from head to toe.

Her students instantly went on alert, all of them were unsettled by the appearance of this black void. All of them ran and huddled behind Shizue, placing the Digital Lich between them and the humanoid void.

Shizue frowned. Did her Lady really think that the Dwelling was so dangerous as to require her to don the Gravastar Armor?

"W—who are you?" Kenya, always the most impulsive of the group, uttered. Although he tried his best, anyone can clearly see the fear on Kenya's face.

Without any warning, a face appeared on the section of the humanoid void which represents the 'head'. The skin was pale, the eyes were as red as freshly spilled blood, and the face was completely flawless, so flawless in fact that it caused every child except for Chloe to recoil as if they saw something disgusting.

"So these are your students?" Scientia said in a synthesized voice filled with imperfections that covered any possible uncanny perfections.

I have a problem with the nature of this world.

Beyond spreading modernity to this world, my next step will be to create a civilization where its people can simply reach up and touch the very stars themselves as if they are touching the roof of a house, where traveling across the universe is about as trivial as taking a stroll down a park.

I want to create a civilization only found in the most powerful of science fiction. Where its standard of living is beyond even the Federation of Star Trek.

In a collaboration between multiple specialties like [Mathematics, [Sociology, [History, and half a dozen more, I have devised a hyper-accurate mathematical model capable of making accurate predictions concerning large groups of millions or more people.

In my spare time, I have made actual, legitimate Psychohistory, the likes of which you would only find in Isaac Asimov's science fiction stories.

In my past life, this would've been invaluable, not just for macro-economists, but for me as well since I could predict the trends in consumer tastes and adjust accordingly. Although its usefulness for me after reincarnation has lessened, it's still a valuable model that gives me a glimpse into the future.

And I did just that, but what I found was less than pleasing.

Using Psychohistory, I figured out that, because I'm a Perfect Homunculus, no matter what I do, the people of this world will never accept anything from me, not when there are alternative sources like the Church unless I go full tyrannical and turn into a despotic dictator. Granted, there will be outliers, but in general, I can't change the mind of the majority of humans because the hate against a Perfect Homunculus is just that ingrained into the collective consciousness of this world.

How bad was my ancestor to generate such hate?

Psychohistory made further predictions about how the chance of me being a Perfect Homunculus is nearing 100% within the next 30 years. I'm expecting in such an event, the world would gather once again to slay me irrespective of how much I've improved their standard of living.

Logic be damned, hatred needs no logic.

And the world does have a chance at slaying me since if my predecessor was neutralized, they simply must have a way.

It's weird, being able to calculate the time of your death. Turning [Silenced Emotion] as high as it is considered 'safe', I came to the logical decision of what every organism does when they are mortal: leave something for the next generation.

Then came the question of what should I leave behind.

I can't create offspring since I have no reproductive organs. I tried cloning using my own cells but they're so different that had I not known better, I'd have assumed that I came from a different planet.

Then I consulted [Biology] and [Philosophy] about what should I leave behind, before peering deeper into the concept of 'DNA' and found a related concept, 'information'.

DNA and offsprings are just information. The former is information concerning instructions about how to build an organism while the latter is just information from two different organisms conjoining together.

And so, the idea of Encyclopedia Universalis was born.

The single greatest concentration of knowledge and information in the entire universe, the Encyclopedia Universalis will contain the knowledge of a Type V Civilization, it will contain all of my knowledge and every single blueprint from [Inspired Inventor, a grand library pertaining to everything I know about physics and more.

The Ultimate Archive.

What it'll be made out I don't know yet. [Inspired Inventor] has given me several materials that are so entropically detached they almost defy the laws of Thermodynamics, but I'm personally leaning towards using an ultra-massive black hole with the mass of half a Milky Way and engineering its event horizon to contain those colossal amounts of data.

This medium of storage will last until the very end of the Black Hole Epoche some 10100 years in the future.

It will be my greatest gift to the world.

Of course, if I want to actually build it I would need all the information first. Unfortunately for me, the specialties give me blueprints for the technology, not the actual working theories behind it.

However, I can cheat this limitation on [Inspired Inventor] somewhat by teaching myself the science behind it through using [Teaching] and [Learning] to create books that make understanding String Theory and Supersymmetry as easy as remembering the first 20 digits of Pi.

There are limitations to this bypass— I need to figure out the connection between different sciences somehow before it just 'clicks' and somehow makes sense.

And now this leads to my current, most pressing problem: the separation and incompatibility between the material and immaterial.

Or, how Magic, Skills, and Spirits don't make any damn sense!

Under the current model of the universe, there exists ten spatial and one temporal dimension. Thanks to [Inspired Inventor, I managed to reconcile Quantum Mechanics and Relativity into one coherent Theory of Everything, at least, to describe things slower than light. For objects faster than light, you'd need the Theory of Supercausality.

Unlike Supercausality, which I can at least somewhat connect with the Theory of Everything, I have nothing for Spirits, Skills, and Magic.

I can't explain those things at all, and not like how scientists in my old world could come up with ideas of how to slot Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, I have no idea how to fit them into the existing model of the Universe at all!

It's incoherent! They shouldn't exist! The current model doesn't allow the existence of such supernatural things as Souls, Spirits, and Magic.

Walking through the Doorway, I appeared at the base of some stairs leading to a massive door embedded within a tree so titanic [Biology] and [Magic] say it's only possible due to magicules.

Underneath the void-like armor, I grimaced. Glancing at the tree reminded me again of how strangely magicules interact with biology.

My gaze slowly fell downward until they fully focused on the students that Shizue was walking about. All of them were looking at me with varying degrees of wariness and mistrust in their eyes.

"W—who are you?" The orange-haired one asked.

[Psychology] suggests it's probably due to them being unable to slap a face on me.

Well, I can't really just peel back the Gravastar Armor like a nanosuit, so instead, I quickly opted to use a hologram and project my face a few millimeters above the surface of the Gravastar, and place around where my face would've had this been a nanosuit. It was a different version of that Digital Mask.

The result was instantaneous. All of them except for that black-haired girl recoiled in shock as if they just saw a severe burn victim be pulled out of a house fire.

My face didn't change at the reaction. I was used to it after all.

"So these are your students?" I asked, giving them a quick glance with my voice distorted as they passed through a speaker.

Eying them, I saw three of the kids flinching.

Shizue responded with a quick bow, "Yes, my Lady. These are my students."

My bodyguard then moved to introduce them. Placing a hand on the orange-haired kid's head, "This one's name is Kenya—"

"I can introduce myself!" The kid slapped away Shizue's hand, then he marched up to me with false confidence every step of the way, "I'm Kenya Misaki, and you're the one who turned Miss Shizue into this huh?!"

The kid puffed out his chest to look taller and more confident.

"Why yes, I am," I said casually, in contrast to Kenya as I stared into his eyes, "do you have a problem with that?"

Kenya seemingly deflated, the previous confidence leeched away as he finally realized what he was doing. There was growing horror in his eyes like a sobering drunk who realized what they did last night.

Gulping, "I... I... uh..." He adverted his eyes away from me.

"My Lady..."

"Confidence is good,"

And I meant that. In my experience, there's a reason why the saying 'fake it till you make it' exists. A lot of companies, especially in the Crypto space, started off with this saying.

I placed a hand on Kenya's shoulder before leaning in, "it'll help you immensely in the future. But too much confidence becomes arrogance. Be sure to not cross that line."

With that, I walked past Kenya and started my trek up the stairs. As I do, however, a floating, coffin-like box came out of the still-opened Doorway.

"My Lady, what is that?"

I raised one of my eyebrows as Shizue gestured at the coffin-like machine.

"Oh, this?" The machine hovered a meter off the ground. It was smooth and white in color, and seemingly carved out of a single larger piece of stone. "This machine will help me collect data about the spirits. An opportunity like this is rather hard to come by. I needed a reason to justify my spending time away from building my Matrioshka Brain."

I tapped on the machine. My most advanced sensor yet. I figured that since spirits interact with Electromagnetic force and maybe Tachyons, I'll use those particles to observe how they interact with each other. As such, this sensor uses sophisticated manipulation of Wave Function and photons to peer into the depth of an intangible spiritual lifeform. Based on how the particles react, I can then successfully determine their properties.

"I see," Shizue said, before placing a hand on the shoulder of the tallest student, "come on, introduce yourselves, my students."

Feeling obligated, the tallest student went first, "I'm Gale, Gale Gibson. Nice to meet you!"

His tone felt forced.

"I'm Alice," the blonde girl went second, slowly walking out from behind Shizue, "Alice Rondo."

"Chloe." The black-haired girl said, not elaborating any further.

For some reason, I felt the urge to be instantly on alert. My gut felt a sense of danger coming from the girl before I dismissed it.

"I'm... I'm Ryota Sekiguchi." The timidest of the group finished.

"Well met students of Shizue Izawa." My tone was more reserved than usual as if they belonged to a wise and ancient being.

"Let's start, shall we?"

Shizue nodded, before knocking on the massive door and walking back a few meters.

The stone doors opened slowly, they grind themselves on the floor, creating white patches as they move.

... I just realized that there weren't those white patches synonymous with stone grinding there before.

Placing a hand on my chin, I theorized that they were likely self-repairing.

I weakened the anti-gravity field that was stopping the Gravastar Armor from just falling into the earth and found these magical stones can withstand more than an abnormal amount of deformation before breaking.

All of this happened in the span of a single second, so no one noticed what I was doing.

Returning the anti-gravity field back to normal, I ran after the ground which was a few meters ahead of me and entered the labyrinth.

It entrance to the labyrinth was connected by a tall hallway that seems to come straight out of a gothic cathedral. The only light present was those embedded in the arches which flank the hallway. Firing off a wave of ultrasound, I found that I didn't get any rebounds beyond the nine meters mark.

Interestingly, according to the sensors, it seems those aren't magic, and instead bioluminescence. In other words, they're bacteria generating light.

Beep*

An alert from the topology compass told me we'd entered into an isolated manifold.

I would've been more concerned had Shizue not alerted me beforehand that the labyrinth exists inside its own pocket dimension. Had she not I would've overclocked the Doormaker to have it transport me, my servant, and her students out of this manifold.

Pulling up a holographic panel, the coffin-like sensor machine reports how there's a small number of Class-5 Magicule Singularities, or spirits, in the ground right underneath me. Small, almost undetectable flares of magicule probed the edge of my Gravastar Armor before fizzling out, consumed by the ultra-relativistic fluid.

It seems the spirits are just as curious about me as I am about them.

According to the sensors, the number of spirits reached double digits when it came to the kids.

Interesting behavior, I really wonder why an entirely different form of life has so much interest in human kids. Is it because of their Souls from another World?

After around 30 minutes of mostly silent walking interrupted only by some quiet chatters between Shizue's students, we've reached the inside of a truly massive chamber. In front of us was a walkway made out of pure light that goes around a blue crystal-like mountain in the center of the chamber like the grooves on a screw.

"""Woah..."""

While the kids are mesmerized by the beauty of the place, I was entirely focused on the crystal mountain that was radiating an ungodly amount of magicule.

[Inspired Inventor] has no idea what kind of material it is other than it's definitely not on the periodic table and most likely a type of magic material like magisteel. [Material Science] suggested it could be a type of Bose-Einstein Condensate, except, those are made out of solidified bosons— force carrier particles— that only exist at temperatures near Absolute Zero.

A new boson then? Or a magical version of Condensate?

Shizue stopped around the base of the path right before the incline towards the top of that crystal mountain and waited before turning her attention to an orb of yellow light.

"Ah, so you're finally here!" the orb flew around and said excitedly, "welcome to the deepest part of the Labyrinth: the Dwelling of Spirits."

So this was Ramiris? A supposed Demon Lord?

I looked at the small fairy with an unimpressed gaze. Even with the assurances of Shizue, I still feel like Ramiris isn't a Demon Lord at all.

The Western nations talk about Demon Lords like they were a bigger threat than even North Korea in my old world—

My attention was diverted when I saw how the coffin-like machine detected spirits numbered in the quadruple digits and was still rapidly climbing.

"Lady Scientia," hearing my name, I turned away from the holographic display to Shizue, seeing my servant gesturing towards that orb of light, "students, this is Ramiris, the fallen Spirit Queen who is one of the oldest Demon Lords."

My hands twitched as [Spirit Physiology] urged me to dissect her as use the resources to build an artificial Soul.

"According to her, she had existed before written records."

"Yep yep!"

The tiny fairy exclaimed cheerfully.

"I see," I remarked with affirmation, still a bit skeptical of the entire Demon Lord charade.

"I am Ramiris of the Labyrinth! And—" Ramiris cut herself off as she hovered closer to me, moving past all the kids to give me extra attention, "woah... reality itself is different around, and yet— ahem."

The fairy cleared her throat before placing a hand above her chest.

At the same time, I was wondering why in the hell a spirit, a lifeform that doesn't need to even breathe, would clear its throat. Why would it mimic a human?

In a haughty voice befitting of a royal princess, Ramiris continued, "As I said before, my name is Ramiris, the Fairy of the Labyrinth and the fallen Spirit Queen! Welcome to the Dwelling of Spirits children, hopefully at least one of the spirits would choose you."

Ramiris' words were like a bucket of water as they dosed the flames of eagerness the kids had. Before, Shizue's students probably saw it as guaranteeing they'll be saved, but Ramiris raised the possibility that's not the case.

Seeing how down her students suddenly became, my servant attempted to cheer them up.

"Of course, a spirit would choose you all!" Shizue quickly said in a cheerful tone, her hands up to her chest in a gesture designed to show confidence, "You all are worthy of being saved! I know for a fact that the spirits would think so too!"

Shizue then cast a brief glare at Ramiris for the comment, causing the fairy to back off.

"Are you guys ready?"

"Yeah!" Hope brimming in their eyes as all of them other than Chloe did a little hop

Shizue spoke with a rare confidence in her tone I haven't heard ever since she had become my servant, "let's do this then,"

As a group, they collectively trekked up the pathway of light and reached the top of a platform floating above the crystalline mountain.

The first to go was the blonde girl named Alice.

The girl went on one knee and clasped her hand together in a praying fashion. Very soon, hundreds of purple light particles— Lesser or 'Inferior' Spirits, [Spiritual Engineering] had helpfully identified— descended from above like angels.

Unfortunately, Lesser Spirits aren't enough. The rampant magicules within a young Otherworlder are like quantum fluctuations: it's random and ever-changing, so the spirit would have to constantly adjust to fully control those magicules. A Lesser Spirit is too stupid to adjust its regulation, so either it'll take way more than necessary or too little.

Shizue's hands tightened in frustration. Even through the mask, I can tell despair colored her features, what with her shoulders slumping at the realization she's failed one of her students.

Alice didn't cry when she got up. On her face was a look of serene acceptance, as if she fully expected it to happen.

"Alice..."

The blonde hair girl didn't respond to Shizue, and instead chose to go to her companions and accepted their attempt at comfort.

"Ah..."

Shizue looked utterly devastated.

Next came Kenya, who did the same thing as Alice, but instead of failing, a bright burst of light exploded on top of Kenya as what looked like a young boy with wings on his back came into existence.

"Hiya there! I—"

The boy was quickly cut off when Ramiris zipped up right next to the spirit's face.

"Who said you can just barge in here?!" she badgered the Superior Spirit.

"Ramiris!"

"Well, when there's someone who's at least as good as the one down there, I just simply must come to see them with my own eyes!" the spirit bubbled before narrowing his eyes when he turned to look at me, "well that's interest..."

Shizue ignored all that and looked relieved, though I can tell there was a hint of guilt in there as well, probably because she was feeling guilty over how one of her students was unable to acquire a spirit, "At least... someone managed to gain the favor of a Superior Spirit of Light."

"Wait!" Kenya whipped his head to look at the teacher, "are you serious?"

Shizue merely nodded her head as the orange-haired kid looked warily at the Spirit Spirits of light. Those who got a superior spirit are destined to do great things in the future, so the kid must be feeling a lot of pressure all of a sudden.

"Well, I just had to take a look at such a shining beacon—" the light spirit was about to make a joke before Ramiris clapped her hand to get his attention.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, don't ignore me!"

"Either way, I've decided to save you, orange hair kid!" the light spirit crossed his arms together as Alice looked on in immense jealousy.

"My name is Kenya Misaki!"

"Oh, what a wonderful name! Do you mind me calling you Ken-Ken?"

"No! And—"

"Wonderful! I think we are going to have a great future together Ken-Ken!"

And with that, the spirit of light zoomed toward Kenya and was absorbed into his body. There wasn't any trace left of the spirit other than a brief magicule signature and the now regulated internal magicule of the kid.

"Sorry..." Ramiris apologized sheepishly, "he's one of our more annoying members..."

The next one was the timid-looking Royta Sekiguchi

He failed.

Gale Gibson.

Also failed.

Finally was Chloe Aubert. Shizue was quietly cheering Chloe on, muttering a "come on" every now and then.

Chloe went into a praying posture and... she succeeded.

Whoosh*

An incredibly tense pressure washed over the whole chamber, causing Shizue to activate her stasis and me to turn off the Digital Mask, returning my head back into the absolute void like it was before. The pressure caused sounds of crumbling to echo throughout this chamber, with bits of dirt and debris coming from above.

The Gravastar Armor said how it detected a strong ripple in spacetime as well, causing me to be actually concerned for once, and took out a gamma laser capable of unleashing terajoules of energy from my pocket dimension.

The laser formed itself around my right arm.

I could've chosen a yottajoule laser but that'll most likely vaporize the other kids present from the minuscule waste heat alone.

"Huh?" Ramiris seemed confused.

A second pressure was added to the first, causing me to flinch.

The pressure wasn't a physical one like you'd find deep underwater or in fluid dynamics but the type that raises the hair on the back of your head. The type that comes from watching a horror movie, where you know that you're mere seconds away from a jumpscare, or when your instinct is telling you that you're in the presence of a natural predator— someone designed to specifically hunt you.

A hole in spacetime opened up right in front of Chloe. It wasn't like Doormaker as it was releasing a kaleidoscopic light in addition to all kinds of Electromagnetic and Gravitational radiation. The coffin-like sensor even detected some previously unknown Tachyons from Supercausal Spacetime.

White gas erupted out of that hole as a woman came out of it.

"What the hell...?"

The woman appeared naked save for a piece of white cloth that veiled her form. She had black hair, and blue eyes, almost looking like an older version of Chloe.

Magicule] is calling it... What the hell is a Manas? My eyes furrowed in confusion, the specialty isn't making any sense by calling it Chronoa, that Hero is presumed dead, what with the last confirmed appearance close to 80 years ago

DANGER

"Hrk!"

[Silenc— Error]

DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER.

DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER

A sensation of deep foreboding overtook my gut as I stared at the black-haired female figure donned in heavenly white robes as if this spirit— no, this is not a spirit, as [Magicule] said, this is something else entirely.

My fingers started fidgeting around as if they had a mind of their own. The constant opening and closing motion made me think it wants to grasp something.

My gut SCREAMED at me like it never had before to KILL this unnatural thing. It's telling me to completely and utterly obliterate—annihilate—euthanize—exterminate—decimate—eradicate—liquidate—to just do whatever I can to KILL! To KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL

KILL

KILL

KILL!

KIIIILLLLLLLL!

"AAAARGH!"

For the first time in my two lives, I'm struck with an overwhelming sense of bloodlust so strong that I can practically taste blood in my mouth— the blood of this thing— this Manas— I want to taste it— I want to drink it— I want it— I want it— I want this thing to just DIE, DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!

I just want this thing in front of me to be gone, so that this feeling of fear so potent it feels like I can practically jump out of my skin would end.

Just as I was about to fire the laser, the impossible female thing let out a frightening glare that made me bite my tongue so hard that I actually fully closed my jaw.

The taste of iron filled my mouth. I never expected to actually bleed inside the Gravastar Armor so I never installed a cleaning function, so with my mouth filling up with blood, I'm forced to constantly gulp it down like water lest it overflows and seeps into the armor.

[Psychology] is saying my body is currently stuck in choosing either fight or flight. Paralyzed from fear.

Like how a deer would freeze if caught in a headlight, I too, froze when the glare continued.

A crushing oppressive atmosphere descending from that glare made the suit of armor I'm wearing feel suffocating. It feels like it's judging me. I feel naked in front of that thing. I feel like my armor is worthless.

I can't breathe. I knew I never needed to breathe in such a magicule rich area but I still cannot breathe.

It feels almost as if my lungs aren't working.

Finally, the thing moved. It flew towards me. Its right hand pulled back as if preparing for the thrust of a sword, its stance showed masterful elegance that [Martial Artist] and [Sword] are utmost impressed by.

Just as the being passed through Chloe, it snapped me out of my stupor when Shizue stepped in front of me.

I very quickly raised the terajoule gamma laser and fired.

VZZZZZZZZ———*

The concentrated beam of gamma rays was so bright that to everyone else other than me and Shizue, it'll be the only thing they will be able to see for a while as it'll cause temporary blindness. It won't affect me or Shizue because the Gravastar Armor and the War Chassis filter out any light that's deemed too bright for my viewing pleasure.

This feature backfired immensely as I was able to clearly see exactly how the THING, the female-looking THING that's even more alien than I am, pass through the laser unharmed like it wasn't even there and pierce me with her invisible sword.

The laser stopped firing as my finger left the metaphorical trigger.

An explosion of pain erupt from the spot where the THING pierced me with its unseen sword.

Yet, I am unhurt.

That phantom pain felt like the pain from a real wound.

Whipping my head around, I saw a flash of the figure's clothing changing into something that looked like it had been through a war— wear, and tear were everywhere all over her body.

Blinking at the sudden change, the figure's clothing returned to normal as she came around for another turn— another stab— another thrust— "no way! Whoever you are, you're too dangerous!" Ramiris suddenly yelled,

Shizue sped towards the alien thing, only to again pass through the THING as if it doesn't exist.

"What is that?!" Shizue yelled while I continued to just freeze when I saw the THING cross her right arm again over her chest as if it was about to do a swipe with a sword, intent on taking my head off.

"I don't know! I've never seen it, but with the massive amount of Time magic I think they don't belong to this era!"

Hearing that made me raise my hand.

Strings shot out from the tips of my armored fingers toward the THING, strings that are made from the very fabric spacetime itself and can capture through everything.

"—!"

The strings phased right through and stabbed into the walls of the chamber.

My mind went blank at the sheer impossibility in front of me.

That's impossible! Nothing that exists couldn't be bound with those spacetime strings!

An instant later, crimson lines bloomed all over my body underneath the Gravastar Armor as a small red stone emerged to the surface of my chest. Those red lines were so numerous that it almost looked like most of my blood vessels were visible.

I subconsciously activated [Unlimited Alchemy, and using that magic, I transmuted the gas and magicules all around me into tiny shards of a superheavy unstable element with 120 electrons in its orbit.

Superheavy elements are notoriously unstable and therefore radioactive because the Strong Nuclear force which holds the nucleus together has a very short range, and thus, with 120 protons in its nucleus, the half-life of these tiny shards is measured in the hundreds of nanoseconds.

There were near-hurricane force winds as air rushed to replace those that I took to transmute.

Before more than 1/16 of these elements decay into a less energetic stage, I launched them at the rapidly approaching THING.

But just like the spacetime strings, the superheavy elements passed through harmlessly the THING harmlessly.

"Ah..." Sounds died in my throat with that 'Manas' did a swinging motion with its invisible sword before merging with Chloe after passing me by.

The little girl's consciousness fled from the girl as she hit the ground, or rather, she would have hit the ground had Shizue not flown at speeds just below that of sound to catch the little girl.

I collapsed to the ground. The Gravastar Armor felt extremely suffocating, it clings to my skin too much, and it was becoming increasingly unbearably irritating— I want out— I want out— I want OUT!

Instantly, I appeared in another place.

The place was completely different. I was completely different.

My panic was wiped away, I can see through my hands, my ghostly hands, hands that are much less defined than normal baryonic matter.

Everything else appeared equally ghostly.

It was Subspace. This place was Subspace, a place filled with the Supersymmetric partner of your typical subatomic particles. This place, this Otherspace that overlaid the entire Universe, is a mirror of the Universe. Every particle in the Universe is inexplicably linked with its Supersymmetric partner out here in Subspace.

This was why in my old World it was thought Supersymmetry to be false: the real Supersymmetric partners are in an adjacent realm, and you'd need a particle accelerator so large they'll wrap around Earth to even begin figuring things out.

I stood above a ghostly planet, the edge that should've been clearly defined as the border between the planet and outer space wasn't very clear. It was almost like I was standing above a ball of gas.

Finally, I began to see photons instead of Photinos as I transitioned back into Realspace in a fusillade of various Supersymmetric particles.

The Subspace Diver deposited me right next to my Gravastar Armor, now appearing as a sphere two and a half meters across of absolute darkness that swallowed all light that touches its surface.

That was an emergency rejection mechanism. I can mentally communicate with the Gravastar Armor thanks to Neural Connectors that sunk into my neck and wraps around my spine.

The crimson lines receded back into the stone on my chest, before that stone was encased once again by my flesh.

I looked around me. It was like everything was a dream. My attachment to reality was rather loose after such an experience.

There was a strong desire to just lay there, on top of this platform of blue light.

But I'm never one to just lay there. Even in my old life, during the holidays, I always worked.

So I got up, even with my muscles feeling very weak. The thin nanosuit that I'm wearing helped greatly with the nanomachines transforming and reconfiguring themselves into artificial muscles.

A holographic interface materialized next to me. Tapping several times, I opened several portals around me to my pocket dimension.

"My Lady!"

From those portals came out several highly lethal weapons to organic carbon-based lifeforms, namely: Magnetic Monopole Launchers and Neutron Emitters.

Magnetic Monopoles are different from the Monopoles of the Particle Disintegrator. These are elementary particles that carry their own unit of magnetic charge and disintegrate matter by catalyzing nucleon decay and transforming the nucleus of an atom into pions and positions, giving a near-on-par yield to that of anti-matter while being far easier to contain as it's stable.

Commonly, topological defects like Magnetic Monopoles are made by compressing energy until the Fundamental Forces began to merge and later let it cool. The breaking in cosmic symmetry is what makes topological defects.

Against pure organic life, there is perhaps no better weapon than neutrons. Due to their large size and heavier nature, neutron beams are highly corrosive to all known forms of self-replicating chemical systems. The Neutron Emitters focus the heavy subatomic particles and form them into a coherent beam using a series of 'mirrors' as a resonant cavity.

"My Lady, please wait! Stay your hands." Shizue cried out, clutching the girl into an embrace.

Alarmed at what's happening, Ramiris too, got in between me and the girl.

"Shizue..."

"My Lady, please! She's innocent! She's a student of mine! Whichever spirit joined her clearly chose her because she was special. Please don't snuff out so much potential!"

My gut is telling me to press the trigger. In fact, it's screaming at me to kill Chloe.

I breathed out.

I felt myself standing on a thin wire above an inescapable abyss.

Have you ever been given a decision that you know will affect the rest of your life? Things like whether or not you'll go to a certain college or marry this other person. That is what I'm feeling right now.

I grit my teeth as my mind dragged me back to the memory of the fear I had of that THING. It's like looking at your death billions— no, trillions of times all in that short time frame. Enough bodies that one can make a planet out of it.

I doubt my mind would have stayed the same had I been a human.

I breathed in, and out.

My ethics restrict me from killing children. But I couldn't care less at the moment.

The urge to kill this girl, in addition to how my gut is telling me to kill her as well, makes it so easy to just listen and pull the trigger. The peer pressure is great.

Yet to blame a child for being possessed is like killing Patient Zero of a pandemic without learning about the virus first.

The Magnetic Monopole Launchers and Neutron Emitter retreated back through the portal into my pocket dimension.

The strength in my legs finally gave away, but with the nanosuit hardening, I didn't collapse to the ground. My mind felt extreme regret at not killing Chloe, enough that I'm almost tempted to rectify that mistake.

Reaching up, I touched my forehead using my left hand and felt wetness covering the tips of my fingers.

What the hell was that? I zoned out, shutting out everything, I thought about what had just happened, my body and mind felt immense relief as if I had just escaped death, yet I was never in any danger, was I?

No, I can't be in any danger, the armor would've protected me had I been in danger.

The Gravastar Armor is my greatest defense yet. I can stand in the point-blank range of a Gamma Ray Burst and be totally fine.

So why? Why did I feel such primordial FEAR from that Thing, that 'Manas' who looked like a dead hero? I searched my mind for an answer, all my specialties are annoyingly silent on the matter.

And how the hell did strings made from space-time itself FAIL? [Space-time Engineering] assured me it could bind even True Dragons.

It took a while for me to return to reality, and when I did, the first thing I did was take out a bottle of pills about the size of my hand.

"Shizue, have your students consume one pill each."

Taking the bottle, Shizue dumped some pills onto her hand and found them to be blue in color.

"My Lady?" Confusion colored her tone as Shizue tilted her head a bit to the side, prompting me to elaborate.

"These are radiation pills, designed specifically by [Medicine] to heal most radiation damage by healing moderate genetic damages. If your students still exhibit symptoms like nausea, vomiting, fever, fatigue, diarrhea: or just anything out of the ordinary within the coming two weeks, alert me and I'll prepare a full Stem Cell Treatment to repair severe radiation damage to their genes."

That 120-electron element, despite existing for less than a second, definitely gave the kids a lethal dose of radiation. Without the pills, they'll probably die in around 12 to 48 hours in horrific agony with their skin falling off.

As Shizue disseminates the pills, I'm left with my own thoughts.

So many questions. I wonder if this is what it's like to fight against an unchained Milim, because if so then I will need to bring more firepower.

Having mere Yottajoules at my disposal is nowhere near enough.

The seven of us walked silently out of the Dwelling of Spirits. Even without saying anything, I could tell Shizue was frustrated as all hell, three of the five kids aren't able to be saved since no Superior Spirits had chosen them.

I stood in the back of the group, pushing the floating coffin-like thing in front of me.

It now occurred to me that it may be inappropriate to carry around something that has an uncanny resemblance to a coffin amidst children who have been diagnosed with this world's equivalent of a terminal illness. So I quietly and without anyone detecting, deposited the sensor into my pocket dimension.

Once we were outside, I saw some sunlight still peering through the heavily forested ceiling.

Looking around me, I saw the three kids who weren't able to get a Superior Spirit looked completely dead, lifeless as Shizue probably hyped this to be the ticket to save themselves from an early grave. They're in complete despair.

No one wants to die. Even those who actually wish for it. It takes a shockingly high amount of courage to actually go through with it.

Humans are biologically and evolutionarily wired to want to stay alive. Though that is disputed sometimes by our brain, it is nonetheless true. Just look at how many disasters and incredible tales of unlikely survival humans have lived through.

The genetic bottleneck in my old World's human history showed how every modern human originated from approximately 10,000 humans.

My servant cannot even bear to look at those who she had failed. The other two who were able to get a spirit had a look of extreme guilt.

There's cruelty in despair. But to be given hope and then be taken away, that's extra cruel.

I got an extreme sense of deja vu when I looked upon the eerily familiar look of despair on the face of those kids.

I can't help but recall a specific memory I've always tried to bury.

In my past life, I had a sister who had that look when she came home that day. The day that changed everything.

"Damn it."

Biting my now healed tongue in a grimace at that particular memory, I placed the remaining three charges I have left for the day into [Spiritual Engineering] and had the blueprint for the creation of Artificial Spirits using [Unlimted Alchemy] inputted into my mind.

That should work. They're like artificial intelligence but instead of silicon being their flesh and electricity being their blood, it's these... particles and magicules.

"Wait here," I said to them just as Shizue and the kids were about to leave, the former's mood turned an instant 180 once they saw I was running back into the Dwelling of Spirits.

I suppose spoiling my employees every now and then because of their hard work is worth it. At least it'll encourage loyalty.

I am definitely becoming softer. The 'me' from a few months ago definitely wouldn't have done such a thing.

The crimson lines returned as I shredded countless sparkles of Lesser Spirits within the Dwelling into its most basic components, a particle that I'll need to spend some time testing, before using those particles and rebuilding them block by block into creating the World's first Artificial Spirit Intelligences.

Since I based these Artificial Spirit Intelligences on the human cognitive mind, they're without an identity. However, just like newborns, these ASIs would grow alongside their owners and become something of a reflection. Unlike humans, however, these ASIs don't have anything resembling emotions since I see them as more of a detriment.

Eventually, these ASIs may develop emotions to better mimic their partners, but that's not important in the present.

I dislike magic, but I'm not so as hardline as to never use it.

Three orbs of condensed, glowing radiance transformed into humanoids. They look like dolls as their skin was devoid of any color, their pupils are jet black, and they possessed no hair.

...they look like something straight out of a horror movie.

So I reshaped them again using [Unlimited Alchemy] into a form that more resembled a toy figurine, so that way these ASIs don't fall into that uncanny valley as I did.

I further redesigned them with vibrant colors. The first one was a Space spirit, so I gave it a blue color. The second one was Earth, so I made it brown. The last one was fire, and as with tradition, I made it bright orange. Now, these ASIs will regulate the internal magicules of the kids.

Obviously, dismantling, dissolving, and repurposing so many Lesser Spirits had caused Demon Lord Ramiris to be rather livid. My first thought was to perhaps finally use Ramiris as tinker material, before stopping myself as reusing a Demon Lord would probably cause too large of a negative splash among the geopolitical scene, especially in the East concerning the many monster nations that clog Tempest's southern borders.

So instead, I proposed a contract with the fairy: I will grant her one single irrefutable favor, as long as it is within reason and doesn't involve anything harmful to my or the Jura Tempest Republic's interest, and can be redeemed at any time in the future.

After completion, I looked around the large chamber, finding Ramiris staring at the three Artificial Spirit Intelligences and studying them with an intense look. It was as if she was trying to decipher everything about them.

"Impressed?" I asked her. I'm interested to know what the Spirit Queen thinks of my creations.

"You do realize the Artificial Spirits only have a short lifetime correct? They aren't like real spirits who are immortal," the small fairy stressed, "I don't know if their Spiritual body could survive beyond the ten-year mark without breaking down."

There was a small smile on my face.

"Of course, but these are more than just normal artificial spirits. These will likely outlast their owner, to be honest," I assured Ramiris, and she just sighed.

Uneasiness briefly flashed across her face, "Does the name 'Veldanava' ring any bell?"

Veldanava?

"No, why do you ask?"

"Nevermind." Ramiris then disappeared, leaving me all alone to ponder just what or who 'Veldanava' is. Based on the name it seems to be perfect for a True Dragon, after all, Velgrynd, Veldora, and Velzard, all of these had 'Vel—' as their first three letters.

Is the owner of this name the elusive Fourth True Dragon?

So many questions.

Though most of all, I should keep an extra eye on this Chloe Aubert.

AN: Scientia got a first taste of what it's like fighting against one of Tensura's Strongest, the Hero Chronoa.

And the Killing Intent alone froze Scientia.

I wonder if you guys caught on to the Chekhov's Gun I placed in this chapter?

The Truth is being revealed more and more as the Final Arc approaches, and almost all important characters have almost been introduced.

L

34

Talks between Ingrassia and Tempest temporarily halted when the aged King of Ingrassia suddenly had a heart attack, causing the talks to be delayed by another two weeks.

At that time, Rimuru was caught up in the middle of a conspiracy involving the highest level of the Ingrassian government. Supposedly, the slime told me via a secure channel that some dissatisfied Nobles attempted to coup the King, only to fail.

The talks resumed but would've done so faster had bureaucracy and that coup attempt slowed down Rimuru trying to administer the proper medicine, but in the end, it took the King himself who was coming in and out of consciousness to agree to an heir before taking the injection.

The result was extremely promising. The King woke up the next day, remarking how his joint pains were gone and his body was now replaced with a youthful strength that wasn't there for decades.

The current King of Ingrassia is actually almost two centuries old. Due to the prevalence of magic, most Kings employ many Lifemolders— if Fleshcrafters were that racist uncle in the Magic branches family gathering, Lifemolders is the bright son who's earning a six-figure salary and is well-respected among the mage community— to extend his lifespan to much longer. Though there is a limit to how long one can supernaturally extend their life.

The talk was finally completed. In total, it took around two months for the entire thing to finish. Due to my position as the Commander of the Grand Republic Military, I was given a preview of what's been negotiated prior to the official public announcement.

In short: the Kingdom of Ingrassia will formally recognize the Jura Tempest Republic as a nation and our claim of sovereignty to the entirety of the Great Forest of Jura. The Kingdom of Ingrassia will also recognize our maritime claim to the entirety of the Bay of Ashdapor, causing a bit of protest from the Ambassador from Sarion. Finally, the Kingdom of Ingrassia officially establishes diplomatic relationships with the Jura Tempest Republic and will now proceed to build an Embassy.

The Kingdom of Ingrassia also invites the Jura Tempest Republic into the Council of the West as a Member, instead of the usual Associate that's often granted to any nation that newly joins the Council.

Rimuru rejected the offer of being part of the Council of the West.

The Council of the West is a supranational alliance that contains most Western states and is almost 500 years old. It was formed in the aftermath of a particularly devastating Great Tenma War, where rampaging monsters and roving bands of savages roam the Western lands unchallenged. It was an attempt to bring order into an age of chaos. After the last Bandit King was slain, the Council became more of an attempt at collectively resisting the encroachment of the imperialistic Thelium Kingdom.

After the Thelium Kingdom shattered, the cultures which the central Thelium Kingdom had conquered broke off into their own states, sort of like the collapse of the Soviet Union, and all joined up with the Council of the West for collective security in what's known as the 'Lura Accords'. Apparently, Relentless was so destructive the once proud Thelium culture fell into obscurity and was deemed by most historians today as 'extinct'.

I really don't get why the people of this World are so insistent on using a mythical cyclical disaster as part of their creation myths. I mean, again, I personally don't believe in the existence of 'angels' that fall from the sky every 500 years to strike down man and monster-kind for what? Technological development?

If— and that's a BIG if— these angels do exist, then it's more likely that these 'angels' are in fact an advanced alien race that uses this whole planet as a petri dish. They likely have some uses for keeping a primitive race within the technological equivalent of the Medieval ages.

While some may balk at the idea of using a whole planet as a petri dish, I admit to having personally drafted up plans for civilization experiments.

I don't think this to be the case either as I've found no evidence of any advanced alien race in the billions of lightyears my Von Neumann Probe has surveyed.

As for why Rimuru rejected it, structurally speaking, the Council is a lot like the United Nations in my old World but with more power and multilateral trade agreements. All member states are forced to contribute toward a collective military, sort of like Interpol except it's a transnational army that is strictly used in the defense of a nation against either a demonic invasion from the North that isn't big enough to warrant the appearance of the Hero Granbell or Guardian Razul or against an invading monster army of which Ruberios isn't willing to deal with.

Beyond contributing to a collective military, the Council also has certain laws that are enforced upon its member states. Laws that might restrict the growth of an up-and-coming Superpower like restricting the size of a national military, the sharing of certain trade secrets, and forcing the extradition of anti-monarchist fugitives.

In summation, it's a leash.

Even Rimuru saw the underlying intent behind this offer of membership. The Council of the West is afraid of us. The sheer speed of our growth, our technological abilities, our military strength, and our democratic ideals: they want to leash us with regulations, bureaucracy, and fines.

Unlike my old World, this one had magical communication but those were only available to those who could afford them. As such, important information like recognizing a new nation traveled fast.

And it traveled even faster here in Tempest due to the Internet. Various budding social media platforms had already been exploding with the story and information the moment it was announced on the Tempest government's official social media accounts on those various sites.

Due to the existence of official government channels, the spread of false information has mostly been curbed.

With the recognition of Ingrassia, a major player within the Council of the West, most political commentators expect the rest of the West to follow suit.

Three days before Rimuru's return from Ingrassia. Deep space.

A dark structure blended perfectly into the blackness of space. It emitted no light and was only discernable by how it blotted out a significant portion of the stars in the background.

The structure was a perfect sphere. Metal covered an entire star, buried underneath 20,000 layers of computronium and other support materials.

The Matrioshka Brain.

On most wavelengths of light other than Infrared, it would appear invisible. At least, that's how it's supposed to be.

Hovering several hundred kilometers above the outermost shell of the Matrioshka Brain was the final piece to be slotted in. Its size was around that of Jupiter, and it would've been just as dark as the rest of the Brain had it not been for the several thousand plasma trails each many dozens of kilometers in length that jut out from the computronium shell and are blasting towards space, pushing the final piece into the appropriate slot.

I floated there in zero gravity inside a space station in orbit of the stellar megastructure. I wore a nanosuit covered by pieces of bulky armor that had neon lines running all over it, making it look like a prop from a sci-fi film. Right in front of me was a holographic representation of what was happening.

This was a historical moment, so instead of having a Fabricator do it, I'll personally put in the final piece.

Slowly, over the course of an hour, the final piece of the Matrioshka Brain slid into place perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle, helped along with fusion torches that, with only three of them, can move Earth to an appreciable percentage of light speed in a year.

The moment the Matrioshka Brain was completed, a new holographic panel appeared in front of me asking whether or not to activate the Brain.

"..."

Obviously, I pressed 'yes'.

The Brain got a tiny bit brighter as billions of tiny specks of light appeared all over the megastructure.

"Huh?"

There was a change in my Soul. It was less intense than what I felt when I was named. Once the feeling passes, I felt much more powerful than before.

The Voice of the World? I looked around me, finding myself alone in this space station, with the nearest sentient being thousands of light years away.

Looking down at my left hand, I felt instinctively connected to something new as if I had just discovered new limbs. With a single thought, I looked on in awe at the armor I wore, the armor that was designed to connect with and direct the movement of the final piece of the Matrio— or rather, Star Computer— twisted in on itself according to my will.

Unique Skill [Technopathy]...

I extended my control over the entire space station and watched in awe as everything changed. The floor of the space station twisted and turned, churning along and swirling around in a vortex that eventually settled like watching the destruction of a sand castle on rewind into a statue of Darth Vader.

It was an extremely accurate representation of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Everything was present, and the suit and lightsaber actually work as it's presented in the movies since [Inspired Inventor] instructed [Technopathy] in manipulating and dissembling components on a molecular level before putting everything back together to create the dream of almost every Star Wars fan.

Admiring the statue, I finally noticed how I'm even more connected with every piece of my technology, more so than any Neural Connectors.

This is so useful! I can feel all of my technology! I can feel the Star Computer that's right next to me. I can feel the Star Lifters in the next star system. I can feel the quadrillions of Von Neumann Probes that are colonizing the nearby superclusters.

The only place that wouldn't be useful is anywhere outside of Tempest since my technology hasn't been disseminated that far yet.

Turning my gaze onto the river of stars that is the galaxy, I felt a sense of incredible euphoria and primal wonder as I saw how many 'dots' representing my own stellar engineering operations there are on my [Technology Sense, a subskill of [Technopathy]. All of the stars are invisible because, just like places outside of Tempest, I didn't make them.

The last time I saw this primal beauty was when I mined that asteroid not so long ago.

In half a year, I've progressed from a primitive civilization into a full-fledged Type II Civilization, I denoted, feeling oddly introspective. Looking back, my growth has been beyond explosive.

It took humans millions of years to transition from stone tools to bronze tools, and a further few thousand years to advance to the Iron Age. It took another several thousand years for mankind to reach the Industrial Revolution and another 200 years to reach the Atomic Age. Then, it took mere decades for humanity to launch a man into space kicking starting the Space Age before that was followed very quickly by the birth of the Internet and the Information Age.

And yet, it only took me half a year to reach a Type II Civilization status.

I reached out with [Technopathy] toward the Star Computer as if I was reaching to grab something. Using this Unique Skill, I can feel every single component within the megastructure, all quintillions of them. It should be overwhelming, but with [Technopathy, I can focus on them all without any issues.

It's as if I've become a god at multitasking.

'Rename Matrioshka Brain into 'Star Computer-1''

A holographic display materialized into existence in the form of a visor, asking for confirmation on the name change.

With a single thought sent not through the Neural Connectors but with [Technopathy]...

'Y'

And the name was changed.

The most important aspect of [Technopathy] is its ability to allow me to interface with my technology without any connection. Such power... there was a smirk of satisfaction on my face. For a tinker, this is probably a dream come true.

With another mental command, Neural Connectors were ejected from the base of my neck and returned into the armor I wore. Next up, I flared [Technopathy] to affect the entire space station I was on.

The superstructure started twisting and turning like a mad dance between two snakes fighting, each one trying to get superiority over the other. I tore apart the space station into its molecular component before rebuilding it into tubes containing extremely strong magnets. Any excess heat was refocused and concentrated on designated 'garbage' components that would later get thrown away after everything was said and done.

I didn't notice it before with the Darth Vader statue, but now seeing how in little over a minute, an entire space station was transformed into a Supercollider, I realized how there were next to no barriers between [Inspired Inventor] giving me the blueprint and me building it.

In short, previously, my hands were slow, but now with [Technopathy] being able to directly interface with tinkertech, I'm so much faster than before.

As I silently floated there in space, completely unaffected by the cold void as my smirk grew into a large smile.

It was a rare smile, reserved only for when great leaps have been made.

Deciding to test one more thing, I aimed my fist at the Supercollider.

I opened my fist, and the Supercollider tore itself apart once more into tiny pieces before, with [Inspired Inventor] guiding my will, I forced those tiny pieces to reassemble once more, only this time it was in the form of three massive cigar-shaped cylinders bundled together by a single ring around the center.

This was a Hyperdimensional Forge. A structure that would be one of the high points of what's possible using only baryonic matter without any exotic or even esoteric ones that I usually play around with to peer deeper into reality.

The Forge exercises control using higher-order principles and mathematics of Imaginary Numbers and Physics to manipulate Fundamental Forces and Universal Symmetries to stabilize Nuclear Pasta into Neutronium, create stable Bose-Einstein Condensate without the temperature requirement of near Absolute Zero, create the mythical Crimson Steel by condensing a pocket of magicule into a small enough area to instantly mutate normal magisteel into that red metal.

Mostly though, I use this Forge to create materials that have different physical constants like say instead of being 1/137, it's 1/150 for the Fine-structure constant of the Electromagnetic Force.

Being so useful I already have multiple Hyperdimensional Forges running right now all across the galaxy and beyond, with all of them stationed in the high atmosphere of stars in the last few million years of their life. But the thing is, they're usually the size of entire planets! Not merely kilometers across like the one in front of me!

If there had been air in space, I would be chuckling— no, laughing— like a down-on-his-luck guy who had just won the lottery.

In a sense, I did win the Skill lottery. Another of my greatest bottlenecks has been removed.

Oh [Technopathy, you and I are going to be the best friend, right after [Inspired Inventor] of course, I declared inside my head, the smile on my face never wavering.

Though with this, Unique Skill, I think it's finally time to perform some experiments trying to deduce the true nature of time and whether or not the Theory of Supercausality is correct. More specifically, I want to see if I could create a Closed Timelike Curve— better known by its more common name:

Time travel.

I hope that Supercausality isn't correct.

Glancing at the Star Computer, I decided to place that on hold for now— wait, though it may be wasteful, I guess I'll use the Star Computer as my PC for now.

I'll figure something out for it as I work on the Tipler Cylinder.

An hour later, thousands of lightyears away, Metropolis.

The Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Jura Tempest Republic is a massive marbled building with designs that seems to come straight out of those archeological ruins in the West, apparently called 'Roman design' by the Director. The headquarter of the Ministry was shaped around a dome and was extremely out of place considering how different the architectural style of other buildings in the capital was.

The philosophy behind such a design was to appeal more to the West.

The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the hallway of this place. The owner of those footsteps was a woman with green hair.

Mjurran, now wearing clothing that'll fit her right in with the rest of Tempest's denizens, passed through many rays of sunlight that shone through the many tall windows fitted inside grandiose frames that lined one side of the wall.

In Mjurran's hands were a series of documents that she was supposed to hand over to her boss, Youm.

Thinking about him, Mjurran gently traced her hand as she continued to walk. Her eyes stared ahead, her legs moving on auto-pilot, and her mind was reminiscing about how hard it was to become the secretary/bodyguard to Ambassador Youm.

Two months ago, a forest clearing.

A large cross-shaped drone the size of a table hovered three meters off the ground. From the tips of those crosses came low-intensity lasers designed to irritate and cause temporary blindness in the target, nonlethally incapacitating them without too much risk to the target or those apprehending the target.

"Gah! What is this metal golem?!" Mjurran screamed as she recoiled from having a bright light suddenly shone into her eyes.

Clutching them as if to act as an extra layer of protection, the woman started shambling around clumsily in an attempt at avoiding the Security Drone's next attack.

"Standard opening move," Youm said, "this drone is designed for civilian use only. As such, it carries all kinds of nonlethal weapons determined only by how dire the situation is. It doesn't play around and goes for immediate nonlethal pacification."

A port opened up underneath one of the arms of the Drone.

"And now it's going to release some rapidly hardening containment foam. Supposedly, it'll become as hard as concrete once it touches air due to some complex chemical reactions that'll form a crystalline-like internal structure. Don't ask me to elaborate because I'm an Ambassador, not a chemist."

Just as a spray of the white containment foam erupted forth from the opened port, Mjurran suddenly dove out of the way as if her eyes were still operable instead of being covered by her hands.

Rolling a bit, Mjurran was now half a dozen meters away from the sprayed containment foam. Turning to face the hovering robot with her eyes still closed.

Then, the woman raised her staff and conjured up a spell before finally opening her eyes that were still seeing spots.

"[Wind Cutter]"

Detecting a distortion within the electromagnetic spectrum often associated with the use of 'magic' cutting through the air and approaching the Drone, the internal Narrow AI quickly defaulted to its usual procedure and sprayed out a dense cloud of Alkali compound cooled to 50 kelvin around itself.

Sheathed in a near-opaque cloud of an Alkali compound, the Drone proceeded to shoot lasers into the cloud.

Since the speed of light in the cloud was hundreds of thousands to millions of times slower, the photons lost energy and rapidly gained mass, binding into each other and creating photonic molecules, a primitive form of a hard light shield.

The knife made out of air cut into those photonic molecules, causing much of those Alkali gas and photonic molecules to disperse. However, the temporary hard light shield did its job and the Security Drone was unscathed, causing Mjurran to still like a statue.

"Light magic? But I sensed no magicules!"

"Temporary hard light shield. Multiple one-time shields that can stop just about anything." Youm declared, not moving from his original spot while holding an arm to his hip.

"Why do you know this stuff?"

"Hey, if my real boss suggests you get familiar with a drone, you tend to follow that suggestion to the letter."

All the while this was all happening, the Security Drone was analyzing everything there is to about Mjurran. Its advanced machine learning algorithm tried to come up with dozens of ways to adapt and pacify the target with 'no permanent damage' as directed by its controller.

"Fascinating," Mjurran remarked, "are you so spineless?"

Instead of being offended, Youm just shrugged, "listen, anyone would be scared of my boss. I only accepted because of the benefits and retirement packages. That and how I'm given a lot of autonomy."

The Ambassador then added once he saw the face she was giving him, "Well, autonomy in most things. Halt and stand by."

The Security Drone that was just about to spray another rope of containment foam stopped and hovered there. Its sensors then turned to focus on the surroundings instead of just on Mjurran, always on the lookout for threats.

"Well, do you give up?" Youm looked at the situation with a smug smile of superiority.

Mjurran hung her head before raising it. What came up wasn't a look of acceptance but instead raw determination.

"Guess I should stop playing around."

Immediately after uttering those words, the woman raised her wand and cast an Earth magic spell, "[Gravity Bind]!"

The drone stuttered about like a fly that lost control over one of its wings. The sudden increase in gravity wasn't what the Narrow AI inside the drone had imagined the woman being able to do.

In response, the drone diverted additional power to its lift systems. But in the fraction of a second it took for the drone to compensate for the additional gravitational strength, Mjurran teleported right behind Youm and tapped his shoulder with her staff.

"Gotcha."

Youm's eyebrows were raised so high they almost disappeared into his hair. Lips pursed, "well damn, guess you're in."

Now.

Mjurran's mind returns to the current situation as she placed her hand on the door to Youm's office. Artificial light not made from fire or magic graced her skin as she gripped the handle of the door, her stomach rarely felt anywhere near empty with the number of cheap snacks available, and her body never felt any cleaner with the hygienic products available to effectively every single resident.

To your average monster or human beyond the border of Tempest, this place would've been seen as a paradise, but here, people complain about minor inconveniences like slow internet speed, and the lack of access to a charging port when their phone died, or when they've gained a few pounds because they ate too much last night.

A lot of dark elves in Jistav, despite being seen as first-class citizens, go to bed hungry.

Youm called these 'tempest problems' and truly, these are only the problems in the Jura Tempest Republic.

Mjurran pushed open the door and was suddenly hit by this wave of sadness. The woman recalled her real mission and notices how even if Youm isn't the type of man most women dream of being their husband, he's got this rough charm that's grown on her as of late.

Looking forward toward where the Ambassador sat, Mjurran trekked forward, "Mr. Ambassador, here are the files you've requested..."

Halfway between the door and Youm's desk, Mjurran finally notices how her boss was talking with a hologram.

That wouldn't have been enough to completely stop her. No, what truly caught her attention and made her stop was her awe of this... this thing. Mjurran had no words to describe it, her eyes were solely focused on that thing, that perfect thing.

Everything else seemed almost meaningless in the face of this thing. The world around her seemed to fall apart, and all that remained was her and the perfect thing. Even if the perfect thing wasn't paying any attention to her and so, Mjurran could only see one side of its face.

"Mjurran, my assistant."

Youm raised a hand to introduce Mjurran, causing the being to turn and face her fully.

Mjurran felt afraid. The pair of crimson eyes on that thing bored deep into her Soul, piercing through her veil of humanity. She felt naked under that gaze, all her attempts at covering herself in the form of clothing meaningless as the entity assessed everything there was to know about her.

She's not breathing. Her instincts are screaming at her to move, to move away from this THING that's comparable to the mythical Relentless of days long ago.

And just like Relentless, this thing, this perfect being, to Mjurran, was the very concept of Perfection manifested upon the surface of this World.

She felt her life had peaked, gazing upon the form of this—

"So you're the one who Youm was insistent on joining the security team?" the being spoke, its voice an unsettling silky perfection, innocent yet not. It wasn't human, yet its form suggests that it was. Mjurran could listen to that voice for the rest of her life.

Realizing she was being talked to, Mjurran instinctively kneeled. It was an instinct inserted into her by Clayman when talking to a 'superior lifeform' like him. Usually, Mjurran would resent it but still do it unwillingly, but now in the presence of one, the hidden Majin would happily recognize as 'superior', the woman very quickly did the deed.

"Yes I am, Go— I mean, Director."

Mjurran doesn't feel worthy to say the name of a being so perfect. She had to control her body to not quake.

Scientia furrowed her brow at what had just happened. Returning to Youm with an expectant look, the Ambassador had a sheepish smile as he attempted to take control of the situation and do some damage control.

"Heh, well you know how it is. This is Mjurran's first time meeting you face to face you know! As always Director Scientia, you make one hell of an introduction. I mean, hell, I did what Mjurran's doing to you right now, except to a lesser degree."

"Hrm," Youm felt his body growing hot with Scientia's disinterested stare bearing down on him, "I see. Now before we were interrupted—"

A small black square with a purple outline opened up directly over Youm's desk. Its size is no larger than Youm's computer monitor.

Fump*

From that square came out a small book with a white cover.

"—Youm, I need you to keep Arcueid busy for the day. I haven't met her for days and I have an odd gut feeling that something is about to go down for today. I've already placed the Tempest Military on above-standard readiness and all Autonomous Security Drones patrolling all urban areas."

So that's why when he was browsing social media, Youm found a lot of posts wondering why there were suddenly so many Security Drones in the air.

Then, the hologram of Scientia pointed at the book on Youm's desk, "that book contains everything Arcueid likes to do. With my authority, you are hereby being granted a day off, use it to entertain her and ensure I am not to be interrupted for the next 12 hours."

"You got it, boss. I'll make sure to keep her entertained." Youm nodded and smiled.

"See that you do."

With that, the hologram disappeared.

The instant the glow from the hologram was gone, Youm dropped his smile.

When it comes to the Director, being 'granted' a day off is pretty much equal to being 'forced' to take a day off.

It isn't so much of a suggestion as it is a polite courtesy.

After waiting a few more seconds to ensure that Scientia wouldn't return, Youm let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

Always. Talking with the Director always puts him on edge. It was as if he was talking about a fundamental flaw in reality, one that his senses are telling him is dangerous.

Rubbing his neck in a fashion that was reminiscent of how a person would if they've just been given more work, Youm took several deep breaths to fight down this growing panic inside his mind.

Arcueid Brunestud.

The Special Guest of the Director. The public first came to know about the Special Guest when both she and the Director walked through a portal that placed them smack dab in the middle of a busy shopping center.

A Tempest government spokesperson later responded to a journalist asking about who this 'blonde person' is by finally giving a name to the mysterious girl and calling her a 'Special Guest'.

Her origin wasn't elaborated on at all, nor what her exact relationship is with the Director. This led to speculations online and only grew after the 'Casino Incident' when it was revealed the two had a close relationship.

There were so many gossip websites on the Internet talking about the development of the relationship between the two. Namely, among them were artwork sites depicting some rather... adult art of the Director and Arcueid going at it.

Hell, he's not afraid to say it, but he's seen those drawings— there are some talented artists out there.

Youm knows he's not the only one who finds Scientia hot as hell, as evidenced by how the tag 'Scientia_Tempest' had the most submissions and over 500 different fanfictions were shipping the Director with other members of the government, most commonly with President Rimuru oddly enough despite the incestuous undertones.

The spiciness level was off the chart with some of those artworks and fanfiction.

Arcueid Brunestud. Youm had very little interaction with the Special Guest but those few interactions and conversations paint Arcueid as this individual who acknowledges common sense but doesn't truly participate in it. Extremely introverted when alone, the blonde woman flips from night to day when it comes to the Director.

Disturbingly, Youm had seen similar behaviors in slaves who had their minds and will break before being pieced together by their owners, making the latter the former's whole world as the slave becomes completely loyal to them. An Otherworlder once called this phenomenon 'Stockholm Syndrome'.

Truthfully, the Ambassador doesn't think Scientia's the type to stoop so low. Someone who would do such a thing wouldn't have made such an egalitarian nation. However, there are for sure some distressing similarities with the result of tactics slave traders would use.

Youm moved on from rubbing his neck toward massaging his temple, "Mjurran."

Hearing her name finally snapped his secretary out of the daze of staring at where the Director's holographic body used to be.

"Bring everyone from the Security Force, tell them it's a Code TA situation. And make sure to emphasize it's a Directive Order."

"Yes, Ambassador Youm."

Hours later, Metropolis

Kyoya Tachibana is not stupid.

He may be overconfident in his skill but the teen will recognize when he's out of his league and will freely admit defeat if it'll save his skin.

And right now? He'll freely admit to anyone willing to listen just how out of league he is.

Towering skyscrapers that are taller than even those in his old World, hovering robots that fly through the streets, goblins riding on bikes, large and sterile sidewalks, and the occasional tram and monorails that weave between other, smaller skyscrapers.

"What the hell is this?! It— it's as if someone took a slice of downtown Tokyo and placed it in this world!" Shogo yelled out loud as he stared with wide eyes upon the City of Metropolis, a bit of fear hidden in his loud, booming voice.

It's as if Kyoya went from a fantasy setting into a sci-fi setting and it is driving his brain nuts.

What the hell? No, seriously, what the hell?! All Kyoya was told by that old mage was that they'll be the vanguard in subjugating a nation of monsters! Not a modern state with futuristic robotic soldiers!

Extreme fear coursed through the young teen. His eyes darted around to fully take in the sight of modernity here, the people on the sidewalks, many of them wearing modern clothing like T-shirts and jeans.

Kyoya felt the ground underneath him be pulled away. His old narcissism and arrogance dissolved as he reverted to his old self, in his old world, when he was just another weak human than the superhuman swordsman he is today.

"Are, are those phones?!" Kirara Mizutani screeched as she peered into the front window of a tech store, looking at the small rectangles that had apps hanging off of what appeared to be just air.

Can... can they even win against a modern army? An army that doesn't use magic? Kyoya fell on his knees as he clenched his head in shock, utterly unbelieving of the fact that a slice of their old world was here. Homesickness hits him like a truck as tears gather around his eyes.

When Kyoya was first summoned, he was afraid, like any other human would when they were suddenly kidnapped and brought to a foreign place. To adapt, he changed his mindset, he committed crimes under the belief that he would never return to his old home. But now, seeing the modernity in front of him, the Otherworlder's old self was returning in full force, completely disgusted with what he had done.

He was like those childrens at the end of that Lord of the Flies book, where an adult's presence finally brought order to a group of homicidal tweens.

"They... they've sent us to die..." Kyoya said quietly, his eyes staring at the ground underneath him, "those fuckers sent us to DIE! As the vanguard to gauge the strength of this modern nation..."

Biting his tongue, Kyoya internally thought about his Unique Skill and the weapons available to a modern army. Against a single soldier, he's probably better, but against a whole firing squad? Or hell, a nuclear bomb?

Kyoya doesn't think any human could stand up against that. Instead, you'd need Demon Lords.

Peaking through the spaces between the fingers that clung to his face, Kyoya subtly looked at the other two Otherworlders who also got summoned.

He's not dying here, not against bullets. So instead, he'll offer the only thing that differentiates him from the rest of the rabble of this World: his Unique Skill and the Unique Skill of his companions.

Though... Shogo is definitely out. That brute will more likely get himself arrested in the first week than adjust back to his old life.

Kirara?

Kirara? That girl hates this world, yet this is arguably the closest to our old home than anywhere else in the world...

If Kyoya could leverage the power of two Otherworlders with Unique Skills, he could potentially argue for— damn, what was it called again?

Kyoya racked his brain for an answer, he remember hearing the term on the radio in his old world. Ah! The Otherworlder could apply for Asylum in this place, and then he'll be free! Kyoya grabbed onto that spark of hope as he quietly slipped away from the other two.

Eurazania, above the Capital City of Laura

Today was not a good day.

Standing in the courtyard of his Morotomo Castle, Carrion glared up at the sky above him.

Up there, high in the clouds, was a single speck of darkness that was almost invisible to those below.

Thankfully, the secret message from Frey a few days ago allowed Carrion to evacuate the capital and ensure it is devoid of wealth and among other things. Otherwise, a decapitation strike like this would've permanently ended his Beast Kingdom.

He owes Frey one, if he survives the next five minutes that is, Carrion thought grimly as he flew up to meet the Dragonoid face to face. He's never one to shy away from any battle no matter the odds.

Carrion is no hypocrite, he practices what he preaches.

Approaching the floating Demon Lord still covered in her usual skimpy clothing, Carrion tensed his body whereas Milim remained entirely unfazed as if this was all a big game to her. As if the destruction of his capital was something on par with the destruction of a sand castle.

"Well, Milim. I don't know nor care why you decided to attack me even after we had signed the non-aggression treaty after the end of the Civil War centuries ago, but you should know this! You are going up against Demon Lord Carrion, the Beast King! The Strongest Demihuman in the World!"

Carrion proudly declared while releasing his aura. And yet, even in the face of this proud declaration, Milim's face didn't change.

Such dismissal caused the situation to truly sink in.

Milim was an ancient being much much older than even Carrion. Despite her child-like appearance, Milim is better compared to the Primordial Demons, the strongest, oldest demons whose last appearance was during Relentless' Rampage 400 years ago.

One could even imagine Milim perverting the form of a child. Legend has it that Milim's birth caused the Barren Lands to exist. A child isn't supposed to wield enough power that the Barren Lands near Ruberios still exist despite the Western Holy Church's best attempt at cleaning it up.

In the next second, with no indication or wind up that would suggest movement, Milim blasted forth. A pink meteor rushed toward Carrion who immediately brought up his legendary halberd so that it was in between him and the Dragonoid.

CLANG*

The pink meteor slammed into the handle of the halberd. The sheer force of that attack threw Carrion back like a baseball when it was hit by the wooden bat.

He was burning up. Carrion was moving so fast that the air around him was heating up.

When the Beast King finally stopped, he found the hair on his skin instinctively puffing up at the sudden temperature difference as he was now in the coldest part of the atmosphere, the Mesosphere.

Realizing that he's in actual danger, a golden light shone from Carrion as he used his Unique Skill [Royal Beast Form, his crown, the evidence that only Carrion deserves to be the Beast King.

Looking below him, Carrion found a pink pinprick of light that was quickly glowing brighter and brighter.

"Witness this!" Carrion decided to announce. His body transformed. The wings of an eagle spread out from his back, and his hair changed, it was long enough to drape down his back, and all the while his entire body was now covered completely by luxurious, thick white fur with the areas of his stomach and chest being black instead. "A beastman at his best!"

"I am the Beast King Carrion before a Demon Lord!" Ethereal golden energy gathered to his halberd, "I have slain thousands of angels during the last Great Tenma War. I have slain two Demon Lords during the Civil War. All of them have fallen in battle against this form! Witness raw power!"

Carrion pulled back his halberd like an Olympic javelin tosser about to throw their spear. The golden energy condensed and seethed around the tip of the halberd, turning around and shaping up into something that resembled a cross between a drill and the head of a lion.

The ultimate attack of Demon Lord Carrion.

It was an attack that vaporized an entire extremely well-fortified castle.

"[Beast Roar]!"

Carrion thrusts his halberd forward. The lion-drill thing rushed down toward Milim as a particle beam.

It was bright enough to cause the sun to retreat, allowing the dominance of this particle beam for now.

But in the end, what is a lion to a dragon?

The blast from Carrion and Milim collided at the very bottom of the Mesosphere. Instead of being destroyed, Milim continued to fly through the beam unabated and not even slowing down.

It was as if Milim was taking a shower instead of being hit by enough energy every second to instantly boil away an entire lake.

In a frame of time smaller than human thought, Milim charged right through Carrion's attack and stopped right beside the Beast King, who was staring at the Dragonoid in utter shock.

In the place of the usual skimpy clothing, Milim was now clad in dark purple armor that was easily in the Mythic grade, a rank above Carrion's personal Legend-grade halberd.

Before Carrion could appraise Milim any further, the tiny Demon Lord catapulted herself at speeds that Carrion was barely able to react to, and thus, was barely able to dodge a thrust from a dark lance.

Scrambling away from Milim, the Dragonoid didn't even bother to follow as if telling Carrion that it was useless.

Stopping at a distance of half a kilometer away, Carrion looked back and managed to get a good glimpse at the weapon.

Within the pink-haired Demon Lord's hand was a black lance, one that was commonly used for jousting in the West. The lance had sharp red crystals littering all over the main body of the lance, culminating in a single large ruby-like crystal at the very tip of the lance, where it should've been the sharpest.

In total, the lance was taller than Milim, and had she used it in any other situation than right now, he would laugh at it considering the ridiculous image

"Phew, how fun. I actually felt that, so I guess I too should unleash some of my power as well, right?" Milim asked rhetorically. She then raised the lance and looked down at it, "it's only fair that I finally get a chance to test out this weapon that my chef made for me. According to her, it can flatten whole continents."

Carrion let out a surprised gasp. A Chef made that weapon?!

Even from out here, he can tell it is a work of unparalleled masterpiece.

If he survives this encounter Carrion will make sure to visit Milim's personal chef and perhaps buy a weapon from them.

The Dragonoid flared her magicule as the lance drank hungrily, causing the Demon Lord to chuckle, "oh my, how deep is your stomach I wonder?" she chirped at the weapon like how a mother would with a playful child.

Carrion looked on in horror at the sheer amount of magicule present in a three-meter radius of Milim. There was so much that he doubt he can survive in such a condition.

The Beast King twitched, his mind is telling him to get in there and fight despite the magicule while his instinct is screaming at him to run. Such a conflict caused him to freeze up, forcing him to continue to look on as Milim charges up the lance until finally, his instinct won out and he fled from the battle.

The crystals that jutted out on the lance's main body flattened as the magicules seemed to reach a crescendo.

Mimicking Carrion, Milim drew her hand back—

"[Star..."

—and pushed the lance downward toward the capital city of Eurazania, Laura.

...BREAKER]!"

A thick cherry-red beam as wide as the crystal held on the tip of the lance shot downward toward the empty city.

The red ray was like a divider as it split the sky in two. It split east and west. It was as if an artist had dipped their thinnest brush into red paint and then drew a red line from the top of the painting down to the bottom.

Air rushed into the beam. Anything not nailed down for miles around the red laser was starting to get sucked in. The houses, the entire city, were getting pulled into the cherry-red beam like a thick layer of dust to vacuum cleaners. Everything was uprooted akin to crops for a harvest before quickly disintegrating.

The intense gravity radiating from the beam was causing everything to be pulled in, even if they must collide with each other to do it. The relative thinness of the beam was like the hole in a funnel, and since the pull of the laser was stronger than the structural integrity of the material used to build Laura, a grinder was formed as larger objects were grounded down into smaller ones by the collision between different particles.

It was a grinder similar to the quasar of a black hole out there in space. And similar to a quasar, the grinder was unbelievably hot due to friction.

In fact, it was so hot that nuclear fusion started occurring in spaces millimeters beyond the edge of the gravity laser.

From dozens of kilometers away, Carrion could only look on in awe and terror at what was happening to his capital. He wasn't too mad since this show of power enforced how big of a difference there was between the newer generations and the older generations of Demon Lords.

Once the gravity laser finally passed by, what remained was an extremely thin line of Nuclear Pasta— the beam had so much gravitational strength that it condensed all matter sucked in and transformed it into something as dense as it can be without turning into a black hole.

Then, the line exploded.

A fundamental law of atoms is that they do not like to be so close to each other. Nuclear Pasta is only possible within the crust of a Neutron Star solely because of its extreme condition. A condition that was replicated by the gravity laser from Milim.

However, now that the condition was gone, the ultradense material exploded in a nuclear explosion so large the fallout will soon cover the entirety of Eurazania as black rain.

It further triggered the interest of a certain Primordial Demon who just can't wait to be summoned and fight against its maker.

Another Arch Demon looked at the destruction of Eurazania through a crystal ball, while he may not be able to view its maker directly, he can still view their gift to others.

Milim looked on in satisfaction, the fiery glow of the nuclear explosion overshadowed the sun as it caused the area where Milim isn't facing it to darken. With the blue glow reflecting off of Milim's eyes, it gave the Demon Lord the appearance of a true eldritch monster in the skin of a little girl.

"Looks like she was right, it IS a fine weapon indeed."

AN: I wonder how this is going to affect the story.

35

Woman's washroom

After gathering the guards and reaching the library, Mjurran had to excuse herself under the pretense of 'taking a leak'. Sitting down in the stalls, the woman made sure that there wasn't anyone in the washroom before answering the call from her true master.

"Mjurran," Clayman's voice came into her mind, "it's time. Place the city under a disruption field. Specifically, a field that disrupts all particles with 14 negative electric polarities. After you've done this, as per the geas we both signed, you are now freed from my services eternally. Enjoy your freedom."

"Yes, Lord Clayman."

Metropolis, the National Library. A bit earlier.

The heavily armored SUV stopped right by the steps leading toward the main entrance of the National Library. The car's door was a heavy thing, so it took a bit of force for Youm to get it open.

Stepping out, Youm looked at the main entrance. The doors were made up of glass, just like so many other doors in Metropolis. Through the glass, Youm could see rolls upon rolls of half-empty bookshelves.

Despite the Director's best attempts, she still wasn't able to fill up the library.

Trekking up the stairs and strolling through the entrance, a human librarian approached them with a look of worry on her face.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" She said with a look of well-hidden nervousness. The name tag on her breast displayed her name as 'Sara O'Bell'.

The Ambassador can sympathize with Sara. Anyone would be instantly nervous the moment they see over two dozen armed security personnel walking through the front door.

"Hi there Miss. I'm Youm, no last name yet. I'm here under a direct mission from the Director herself," Youm then took out a badge, displaying Scientia's insignia, "I'm here to retrieve Miss Arcueid Brunestud."

Though Code-TA is a clandestine operation, as his boss prefers not to cause too much of a stir, Youm thinks that by asking for outside help, he can quickly get Arcueid out of here, causing less of a scene than just going to search for her themselves.

A look of contemplation dawned upon the face of the librarian. The Director was an almost mythical figure with the Jura Tempest Republic mostly due to her secrecy and the complete lack of any public appearances, in contrast to President Rimuru Tempest who the people can see all the time thanks to him talking with the press.

This air of mystery's only compounded by how Director Scientia is responsible for most of the technologies that allow the Republic to function.

"Miss Brunestud? Well, she told us to make sure she's left alone, but if it's the Director..." Sara bit her lower lips, "Okay, she's currently in Room 405 and should still be there for the rest of the day. Do you need me to call her?"

Youm shook his head.

"That's alright. We can do the remaining ourselves." With that, Youm flashed her his well-practiced smile to put to rest any nervousness. Just as the man was about to leave, he was suddenly stopped when the librarian spoke up again.

"I'm going with you guys."

Youm's mouth was agape before taking control of himself again. "Miss O'Bell, we really don't need you to—"

"As the head librarian, it is my duty to supervise. Thus, I am going with you guys."

With head librarian Sara O'Bell, Youm was able to quickly get to the right room on the fourth floor of this massive library.

Supposedly, the Special Guest of the Director would often book a private room, pick out a large selection of books, and stay in that room, oftentimes reading for hours on end before stopping.

This happened frequently enough that the library always reserved a room just for her.

Sliding the door open, Youm stopped breathing.

Right there, in front of him, was the Special Guest sprawled out on a couch, reading a book, with stacks of more books that were up to his waist sitting right beside the woman.

Arcueid was a true beauty among beauties. She was a flower that stands above every flower that Youm had seen before. Even the Four Flowers of the West, who were considered by most the four most beautiful women in the Western States, were nothing compared to Arcueid.

The only one who can possibly compare was Princess Adelheid von Thele of the Thelium Kingdom from 400 years ago. Legends say that she was so beautiful that she enthralled Relentless for a few seconds to allow the rest of her family to escape.

The veracity of that legend is disputable, as the main line of the Thelium Royal Family were all murdered when Relentless descended upon the capital.

Youm quickly turned away to look elsewhere. Trying to keep his mind on something other than how ethereally beautiful the Special Guest of the Director was.

He was wrong, those artists online could never truly capture Arcueid Brunestud's beauty. Hers was a natural beauty, like those you'd find after a long hike in a forest, while the Director was an unnatural one.

Glancing all around the room, Youm found it personally rather boring. The walls were painted a simple orange color, there was a circular table perfect for a meeting and three sets of chairs, a couch off to one side of the wall, and a large window situated on the opposite wall to the entrance.

Adjusting his tie— he was wearing a rather expensive three-piece suit— Youm cleared his throat to get the Special Guest's attention.

Letting out his well-practiced smile, "Miss Brunestud. Hi, my name is Youm, you may know me as Tempest's Ambassador to Blumund and the West."

He received no response. Arcueid didn't even let out any signal that says she was aware that Youm spoke and continued to read her book. She didn't even acknowledge Youm's very existence.

The silence started by Youm in waiting for a response turned awkward, causing the man to cough into his closed fist, "Well, According to Director Scientia—"

That caught Arcueid's attention. Instantly, the blonde woman sat right up and turned her body, depositing her feet on the floor instead of on the couch.

"Scientia? What does she need me to do?"

"She doesn't need you to do anything. Rather, the Director asked me to entertain you for the next 12 hours since she's apparently quite busy and doesn't want any interruptions."

Arcueid wilted. Her shoulder slumped as she frowned. The heartbreaking sight was enough to almost cause Youm to stagger. He wants to see such a beautiful woman smile and be happy, not sad.

Clearing his throat again, "Well do not worry! I'm sure I can entertain you enough that you'll forget about Director Scientia! In fact—!"

Youm silenced himself under the glare that Arcueid gave him. He felt incomparably tiny in front of Arcueid, where instead of a woman in front of him, it was a whole goddamn World. He could easily imagine himself falling into that World, burning up in the atmosphere—

"After reading so many books, I know that you're just trying to make me feel better, so I will forgive you this one time, but do not. I repeat: do not go there. Do not attempt to make me forget about Scientia."

Youm gulped. He could hear the ruffling of clothing coming from his security detail, probably going for their tasers.

Ha, he could almost laugh, what's a taser going to do to the Special Guest?

"Riiiiiight, apologies on my part. Sorry, didn't know that's a sensitive issue. But moving on," Youm quickly said, "my point is, the Director wanted me to entertain you, and I shall do exactly that."

Arcueid's expression returned to disinterest. Like before, Arcueid is an individual who acknowledges common sense but doesn't participate in them. A normal person would at least give Youm a chance, but on anything not related to Scientia or maybe books, the blonde woman is extremely disinterested in it.

"Uh..." Youm wracked his brain for an answer to how to ignite Arcueid's interest. The white book!

Reaching into a pocket and fumbling around for a bit, Youm took out the white book and flipped through its pages, "I do have a book from the Director telling me what you like and don't like. We can go—"

Beep, beep, beep*

Whatever Youm was about to say was halted when a loud alarm came from his belt area.

Flashing a look of annoyance, "Sorry about this, Miss Brunestud," Youm took out a small capsule and popped it open. Using his thumb, the Ambassador pushed out the head of an earpiece before taking it with his other hand and inserting the earpiece into his right ear channel.

"What's the situation, OSS? I'm on a direct mission from the Director herself."

The Overwatch Security System (OSS) is the premier police program for the entirety of Metropolis. Beyond serving as an overview directory system for Autonomous Security Drones, the OSS is also responsible for alerting emergency services like ambulances, firefighters, and government-only alerts.

Usually, Youm would hurriedly answer the alert made by the OSS, since they're meant to be emergencies. However, due to him being on a mission given by Scientia, the man imagined that whatever it is, it probably doesn't need him.

A synthesized voice spoke up on the other end, "Unauthorized use of undocumented Skill by two individuals detected on the East of Barthers, around Unit 1134 to 1150. This is a Euclid-class emergency with a potential upgrade to Keter. All nearby Security Drones have been dispatched and all civilians are instructed to evacuate the immediate area with due haste.

That's near the edge of the city, Youm noted inside his mind.

"As a Rank-III government official, you are recommended to stay in official governmental buildings until the situation passes or have been downgraded to Safe-class."

Youm sucked in his lips.

"I can't do that. As I said, I'm on a mission from Director Scientia."

The man glanced at Arcueid, who was looking at him with a quizzed look.

"Your response has been noted." There was a buzz on the other end to signify the OSS has stopped talking.

Just as Youm was about to take out the earpiece, the OSS spoke up again, "Update: the situation has been upgraded to a Keter-class emergency. The two individuals have exhibited possible Unique Skills and Influencer-type abilities."

"What? That serious?"

Influencer-type abilities refer to Skills that have the capacity to affect another's mind. Due to the potential for subversion, this type of ability is one of a few that is given an instant Keter-class threat rating.

In such a serious situation, Youm is required to also go to the nearest shelter, so the man turned to look at Arcueid with a pained look on his face. He doesn't want to go to the shelter, since he was given a mission by the fucking Director herself, but at the same time, Keter-class stuff isn't a joke, with the most prominent example of a Keter being the Fire Spirit Ifrit.

"Alert." That broadcast was from a speaker and from outside. The Emergency Alert System. "This is not a drill. A Keter-class emergency has been declared. All civilians within Metropolis are to stay indoors. All civilians currently situated in Sector 23 are required to evacuate toward your nearest safety shelter and await our clearance. The east of Barthers is to be avoided at all costs."

A grim look overcame the Ambassador's face. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Youm kicked the wall before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

Is this what the Director meant by having a 'bad feeling'? Youm wondered. He really doesn't want to know what would happen to him if he fails.

Turning to face Arcueid with his eyes aiming toward the ground, the man further thought that at least Arcueid is seemingly content at staying here to read her books. So long as she stays out of trouble, that should be enough for the Director, right?

"Well Miss Brunestud, it appears that we'll stay here instead of going—" As Youm was speaking, the True Ancestor closed the book she was reading before and walked over to the window, "—to an Arcade."

Youm then started gesturing toward the stack of books, unaware that Arcueid was turning the handle that was responsible for locking the window. "I've never read too many books, so I gotta ask: what's so good about them?"

Keeping someone engaged was a skill Youm had long learned even before being employed by Director Scientia. When he was young, Youm was a purse-snatcher, and the best way to snatch a purse was to keep a person's occupied, and the best way to do that is to talk about the other person's hobby— to keep a conversation going.

It was only when Arcueid opened the window to its absolute largest that Youm started to get a bit worried. Subconsciously, he wanted to approach her, but because of that glare from before, he was honestly scared of the woman.

"Miss Brunestud?"

The True Ancestor placed a leg onto the window frame and prepared to jump out.

"Miss Brunestud!"

Youm rushed forward but failed to reach the blonde woman as she jumped out the window, the tip of his hand mere centimeters away.

"NO—!"

Youm stopped by the window to look down, expecting to see the Special Guest on the ground, either dead or injured since no human could possibly survive such a fall.

What he didn't expect was to feel a rush of air and the sight of Arcueid leaping up again, only this time reaching a height of hundreds of meters before falling down and repeating this process.

"Huh... so she wasn't a human."

The Ambassador could only watch dumbfoundedly as Arcueid leaped toward the city, the white figure quickly disappearing within the steel and glass jungle.

This continued for a few more seconds before the head of his security detail, Rommel with his thin black armor, tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sir, we noticed how Mjurran took a long time in the washroom, so we tried to contact her but failed. Following that, we discovered Mjurran's tracker's gone offline."

That caused Youm to instantly whip his head around and grabbed the collar of Rommel's shirt.

"What the hell do you mean? That she's missing?"

Youm would usually be more cordial, but after everything that's happened, it's been a stressful day.

Rommel looked hesitant, but a second glance at the 'do not mess with me' expression on Youm's face made him nod.

"Yes. I'm having one of our female guards look around at all the female washrooms here but we're not having any luck.

Youm let go of Rommel's collar and thumbed the bridge of his nose. Squeezing his eyes shut, the Ambassador chuckled a bit.

"Damn it all to hell. 'Bad feeling', you really meant prelude to disaster huh?"

Finally, Youm placed a finger on the still attached earpiece, "OSS, I have my security team with me, what can we do to help?"

Shogo Taguchi was angry.

No, scratch that, he was furious. Bloody livid.

Everything had gone to hell the moment he stepped into this place, this city that reminds him so much of his past that it hurts to look at.

He refuses to be reminded of the fact of how weak he was in that past life.

The teen desperately tried to bury the memories. And yet, they come rushing out of the crack that was formed by this city.

He was a weak person in his old World. Though he came from a well-off family, Shogo was often neglected, as both his parents were too busy with their work. The kids at school often bullied him for it, but after fighting back physically and his parents finally paying him attention, Shogo realized the best way to get his parents to notice him was by being bad.

Thus Shogo Taguchi became a delinquent.

He acted out, bullied people, blackmailed girls to go on dates, and he created a mask. Very that mask became his actual face, and Shogo could no longer identify where 'he' began and the 'delinquent' persona ended.

One day, he went too far. The delinquent friends he had abandoned him, and he realized just how much of a facade his strength truly was.

He was weak, and just as he ran out of the hospital, Shogo Taguchi was transported into another World.

In that other World, he became truly strong. He could crush a man's skull as if it was an egg.

So Shogo Taguchi promised himself right before he slept his first sleep in this new World: he will never be weak.

"Grrr..."

Shogo stared at the half-broken street flanked by sidewalks and different shops, with skyscrapers off in the distance clustered around a single truly titanic metal structure like they were mushrooms on a rotten log.

Around the streets were filled with hardened blobs of foam that forcibly stopped the people that Kirara had commanded to kill themselves for mocking her.

The girl didn't take too kindly to being looked down upon.

Two seconds after Kirara had issued that command, several drones came from all over the place and sprayed everyone with that white foam.

Shogo could get out of that foamy jail with ease, but he had to rescue Kirara.

Which was an absolute waste of strength and effort as the girl was just laying down on the ground in a fetal position, seemingly afraid of everything in the world, and started sobbing.

"USELESS!" Shogo screamed.

In response, the girl just cried louder.

"Get up!" Shogo kicked Kirara in an attempt to get to move— to use her Unique Skill— to do SOMETHING more useful than just laying down and crying.

Just then, one of these cross-shaped robots that hovered in the air blasted out a stream of that hardening foam to cease Shogo's attack, making the young teen glare at them.

"Fucking hell!" Shogo reached down and ripped out a chunk of the broken streets before all together throwing it at the drones like it was a baseball at almost the speed of sound.

The drones dodged.

"God damn it stop dodging!" In a kick with his confined leg, Shogo Taguchi escaped out of the foam. He then let out a scream, "Where the hell is Kyoya!?"

Kirara screamed like a banshee.

"Dumb bitch!" That finally. That finally pushed Shogo over the edge.

At the end of his patience, Shogo finally grabs Kirara by her throat with his two hands and hoists her up high like a flag. The difference in their heights prevented the scared girl's feet from reaching the ground as they flailed about uselessly, "I've had enough of your pitiful whining. All this time, all your complaining about your phones, and the lack of entertainment— just die and give me your Skills! Hey, Voice of the World? Get ready to receive this dumb bitch!"

He started to press down on his thumb, causing Kirara to suddenly quiet down as she couldn't scream anymore. The girl tried to use her nails to stab into Shogo's arms, but that only caused Shogo to squeeze even harder.

"Gr— Grk! —Kr—!"

The Overwatch Security System isn't a truly sentient AI. It doesn't feel anything. It has no empathy. It's just designed to do a single job, and that is to capture those who break parameters. It is an extremely advanced machine learning algorithm AI, a 'System', and it took a millisecond for the OSS to come up with a solution to stop this murder attempt.

After all, it was designed to capture all law-breakers, and it can't do its job if one of the law-breakers is dead.

Change status of Designated: Alpha: into 'Subhuman'.

Spikes came out of the nearby drones. Before, these security drones possessed a geometrically pleasing design, but now, one could almost call the drones 'scary'.

Drastic measure: authorized. Temporarily blindness measures: insufficient. Mutilation: permitted. Execute.

One of the four arms on the drone closest to the scene of the crime split open, peeling away like the skins of a banana away to reveal a single bright bulb—

VZZZ*

A coherent stream of high-intensity photons cut right through Shogo's elbows, immediately dropping an unconscious Kirara alongside Shogo's forearms into the ground.

There was a brief silence. Shogo stared down at the ground in front of him. His expression didn't change for a few seconds.

Then it finally hit him that his arms are missing.

"AAAAAAAAAAArrrrrffff!" The Otherworlder was cut off when both he and Kirara was once again sprayed with another stream of Containment Foam.

Before the foam could harden, Shogo burst out of that hill of white foam, his mouth wide as he screamed, tumbling forward, unable to keep his balance as his arms bled.

"It hurts! It huuuuuuurts!!!"

Shogo's face fell to the ground. The rubbles and gravels scratching and bitting into his skin were nothing compared to the white-hot pain that was radiating up his arm, his severed arm.

The reality of the situation hits him like a truck. The Otherworlder finally realized why Kyoya had abandoned them and run away despite the potential repercussions.

'I'm going to die.'

That thought had rung out in his mind like Big Ben on New Year's Eve.

He's... really going to die today.

"I don't wanna die—"

His sightlines were once again blocked by the foam that was sprayed out by the Autonomous Security Drones.

All Containment Foam nozzle spent: requesting backup.

Shogo's survival instincts kicked in. Using his Unique Skill [Berserker, the teen exploded out of the foamy mess that consumed him.

Backup request: denied. Suggest usage of taser darts.

"HELP! Please! Folgen! Razen! Save me!" Shogo yelled out as he ran, his arms and his pride shattered beyond repair with the drones rapidly closing in on him.

Despite his best effort, Shogo could only maintain a trotting speed, so the drones were easily able to aim and shoot out a small black taser dart at the criminal.

The darts were aerodynamic in their shapes, with two parallel pairs of fins for stabilization. The moment those taser darts reached within less than 30 centimeters of Shogo Taguchi, the tip split into two, appearing like a fork as they sunk into the back of Shogo's neck.

Bzzzzzt*

The moment those darts turned on, Shogo fell onto the ground, "GRRRRRRRRKKKKK! Grraaaaaaah!"

Nonetheless, the teen still tried to crawl away even as the electric shock coursed through his body and caused neuromuscular incapacitation.

White, bubbly foams came out of the corner of Shogo's mouth.

"He... lp... Meee..."

Finally, Shogo gave up and accepted his death. Like a beaten dog, he went limp, not moving even after the darts ran out of power.

Mission success. Begin retrieval of Designated: Alpha.

Before the drones could move further than an inch, the thunderous sound of hundreds of horses filled the streets. These sounds echoed off the walls of the stores that flanked everything, making hundreds seem like thousands.

Off in the distance, an army of unprecedented proportions which was hidden thanks to the best stealth magic that money can buy unveiled itself.

Alert: Unauthorized foreign army detected on Tempest soil. Declaration of war: automatically assumed. Proceed with the mobilization of all military assets. Execute Contingency Plan D-34-98 Code Name: 'Vietnam Tactics'. Lethal measures: authorized.

The sound of horses caused Shogo to use what was left of his strength to turn his head toward the source. His eyes widened as the sight ignited a flame of hope in the Otherworlder's heart.

Reinforcements!

The fatigue from the tasers became a thing of the past as Shogo stood up, or at least tried to. The teen tried to use his arm to help himself up, only to fail as he no longer had any.

"Help me! These monsters sicced their golem at us and sprayed this horrible goo! They took my fucking arms! Using lasers! Hurry!"

None of the flying Autonomous Security Drones were paying Shogo any attention. Instead, all of them were staring at the approaching army.

Target count: 500 humans. Execute euthanization procedure.

Those cross-shaped drones changed their posture and shape. Each of its 'arms' came inward like the fingers on a hand, and the center was replaced by a glowing red light.

The knights further sped up as the Knight Captain of Falmuth, Folgen, declared in a self-righteous tone, "I come to see the supposed 'Land of Opportunities' yet I'm met with such savagery?! The Kingdom of Falmuth will not stand for this!"

In truth, all of this was just for show. It was a show given to Reyheim, to, if not fool him, at least give Falmuth plausible deniability by saying 'We've done our best'.

Every knight's order by the King was clear: cause a ruckus but DON'T KILL anyone, maim them a bit but never take a life. If they encounter any enemy forces, the knights are to surrender at the first opportunity.

Everyone saw the moving pictures presented to them by Folgen, of the willingness of the Republic in using pseudo-nuclear magic that bordered on S-rank: capable of annihilating a city. So even the most glory-seeking knights would go along with this plan.

"You're breaking human laws, and thus, the Knights of Falmuth have seen fit to enact justice!"

The red light at the center of each Autonomous Security Drones glowed brighter and brighter. They were moments away from unleashing a hellish barrage of the highest-intensity laser in their arsenal—

Buzz*

—A sudden barrier erupted from deep within the city. Once that barrier overcame the Drones, they fell lifelessly onto the ground with a loud metallic 'clank'.

It wasn't just the drones that became lifeless. The once vibrant and colorful city that was filled with light became lifeless. More than that, every single panel of glass within Metropolis cracked and came out of its frames as the field passes by, making each building a veritable avalanche of tiny pieces of broken glass.

To any observer, it would've been an oddly beautiful sight. Billions of tiny shards rain down from defaced buildings, in an exfoliated city. Those tiny shards of glass twinkled as they reflected the sunlight, like the stars at night.

"Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I'm saved! I'm saved—gk!" Shogo laughed at the turn of the event, before suddenly freezing as he felt a new presence behind him.

Quickly turning around, the Otherworlder saw another utterly gorgeous teen around his age of 17-18 years old. The girl had the blondest hair he'd ever seen, and equally, the eyes with the brightest crimson. Had this been in any other situation, like say perhaps in his old World, Shogo Taguchi would've assumed her to be a foreign supermodel and tried to flirt with her.

However, right now, in the present moment in time, his instincts are SCREAMING at him to just run. Run and don't look back.

That made Shogo feel confused. Why? He wanted to ask. There was a beautiful smile on the girl's face, one that was filled with an innocence that for some odd reason, unsettled Shogo to an unusual degree.

Upon a closer inspection, a chill went down his spine as Shogo realized the smile wouldn't look out of place on a child. Equally, it shouldn't be anywhere near a battlefield.

"Hmm," the girl placed a finger to her chin and had a puzzled expression on her face.

Speaking in an innocent and silver-bell-like voice, "The books I've read told me that killing was wrong unless it's truly justified, justifications like to protect someone. So wouldn't this constitute a 'proper reason'? To protect the citizens of Scientia's precious Republic."

Despite how innocent the girl appeared, there was an oppressive atmosphere that seems to just trickle off of her like water from a melting ice cube. The sound of those horses stopped, all of them stopped as though they had seen their natural predator.

The knights were confused. They tried to get their horses to move, but they refused to take another step.

In nature, animals can often predict when natural disasters like earthquakes were about to strike because of their heightened senses. Similarly, the horses were able to sense their impending doom if they take another step.

The girl then smacked her closed right hand into the other palm while nodding, "mmhmm! Yep yep! This would definitely be a good place to cut loose!"

The girl looked cheerful as if she was a teenage girl whose confession had just been accepted.

Never before had Shogo imagined something as disturbing as what was happening in front of him. It was so wrong. It feels so wrong— everything was wrong!

Shogo's mouth hung ajar. It then dawned upon him that his salvation might not come after all, as the silent street that was once filled with the sound of horses trotting was now covered by a blanket of bloodlust so heavy the Otherworlder can't breathe— his very heart ached as if he had a heart attack.

The girl— the thing— then turned its gaze at Shogo.

"EEEEEEE!" Immediately, the teen screamed in a manner not too dissimilar to Kirara's and looked away, his body turned and tried to be as small as possible in the face of humanity's natural predator.

"Oh don't worry, foreigner," Shogo's heart pounded, he could feel the thing's voice no more than half a meter away, "Your nature is similar to mine."

No, no it definitely isn't, Shogo wanted to scream. The very idea that Shogo was similar to this entity in human skin was blasphemous.

"So I think Scientia would be as curious. Don't run away, the people you associate with are all stuck after all." The blonde beast let out a wide smile that revealed its fangs.

Huh? Shogo turned to look at the knights who were charging at them seconds ago, only to find them bound in green vines that had come out of the ground.

The girl thing was like a spider, and it had just bound her prey in its webs.

"Yeah, I know, the vines are overkill, but I haven't fought in a while," the girl said nonchalantly and cracked her neck. Then, her eyes widened and her mouth formed into an 'o', "Oh wait, I haven't introduced myself, haven't I? Ah..."

The girl then playfully knocked herself on the head.

"How improper of a princess. My name is Arcueid, Arcueid Brunestud, the White Princess of the True Ancestors."

The sheer casualness in Arcueid's tone caused the Japanese teen to fall into a pit of despair deeper than anything before it. Here, in this World, True Ancestors are seen as the epitome of vampiric power, the highest evolution that a vampire majin can attain. It was said that the previous vampire Demon Lord was a True Ancestor who managed to go toe-to-toe with Veldora for a while before the latter destroyed Nightrose 300 years ago.

So then... that vampire Demon Lord didn't die but instead chose a new name and secretly built up this nation...

The fact that Arcueid's clothing changed into a formal dress that wouldn't look out of place in a castle's ballroom was completely lost on him.

Such a lack of reaction made the Princess scoff, "Hmph, I see I guess you wouldn't know fashion when you see it, do you?"

"Haha..." Shogo started to laugh. The laugh wasn't joyous or full of happiness, but instead, it was one that belonged to a broken soul at how the events of today had happened: betrayal of everyone he knew, Kyoya had run away, Kirara was absolutely useless, and Razen had sent them to die.

And now... he'll die alone. His parents would never pay attention to him again.

"How dull, completely unlike Scientia," Arcueid looked at the teen now with empty eyes, before turning to the crowd of knights, "Well I guess I should now defend the Republic now before I go and check up on her."

Placing a hand above her chest, Arcueid closed her eyes before opening them, revealing a pair of yellow eyes that saw those in front of it as mere cattle for the butcher.

The True Ancestor then dropped her arm before raising them slowly, giving the appearance that she was about to hug a long-lost friend.

Then, she disappeared.

BOOM*

There was a sonic boom.

Arcueid suddenly appeared behind the last knight in the army. Her posture was straight, her arms formed an 'x' across her chest as if to comfort herself. She stopped immediately without regard to inertia.

Akin to the buffering found in a 4K video running off bad wifi, at first almost nothing seemed to have happened. For a brief moment in time, it was as if the very World itself was confused.

Then, the buffering stopped, and the video time stamp moved.

Splat*

A trail of exploded bodies ran right through Falmuth's army. Half a hundred knights that were seen as some of the West's finest were pulverized into a fine red mist, with those who were off to the side merely having either their fingers removed or half their body disintegrated.

Arcueid's dress remained untouched, remained a pristine whiteness, even as the blood mist falls all around her like a cloud descending from the sky. The knights looked at her with raw, primordial terror in their eyes. It was the same terror in a gazelle as lions chase it down.

"Wait!" Folgen yelled out, half of his body dyed red with the blood of his comrade, "We surrender! We give up! This was never a part of the— Urk!"

Arcueid suddenly appeared right in front of Folgen before running her right arm right through his armor like it was made out of air.

The original Arcueid Brunestud was a weapon. She was made for the sole purpose to eliminate rogue True Ancestors who were turned into Demon Lords, and as such, she was made to be the strongest True Ancestor.

The current Arcueid temporarily returned to being a 'weapon', a merciless, unrelenting, unstoppable missile that would still kill its target even if they were begging or a defenseless baby.

Before anyone could scream or even react, Arcueid drew her arm back before throwing the dead Folgen like a cannonball.

And just like a cannonball, Folgen barreled through several more of his fellow knights.

"RAAAAAAH! DIE DEMON!"

Finally, one of the knights took hold of his nerves and chose to fight.

Swoosh*

He was diced instantly into five pieces like sashimi.

Their armor was completely useless at the claws of a Disaster-rank being that bordered on Catastrophe.

"RRRRAAAAH, NO! PISCES! DIE YOU DEMON!" Another knight rushed forward.

"NOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Another knight jumped off his horse and ran in the opposite direction to Arcueid.

A white pond lily drifting amidst a churning pond of scarlet.

Arcueid reached out and grabbed the throat of one of the knights that were trying to attack her before unleashing another casual swipe with her free hand that sliced half a dozen knights apart.

Bringing him close, the True Ancestor could see the fear in his eyes through the helmet.

Then Arcueid took a chunk out of the knight's neck before throwing him at another knight that tried to escape.

Savoring the taste and feeding a hunger she never knew she had, the Princess temporarily halted her slaughter for half a second and noticed how she didn't possess the same repulsion against blood as her old self.

Then her focus narrowed in on this 'hunger', her mind worried that— No, it wasn't that Vampiric Impulse which plagued other True Ancestors in her old world, as being in this new World detached from Gaia changed her so that she'll never have it again.

The blonde beast completely lost herself to this feeling, immersing in this urge to kill as she slaughtered the knights each in a fashion more brutal than the last.

That event would later be known as 'The Metropolis Bloodbath', as each foreign knight was dismembered in a fashion that caused Scientia to later classify this as an 'Executive-level secret'.

It was really fortunate that the Foam which covered the civilians blocked out both sound and vision.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Ingrassia, Lura.

The sun shone through the window beautifully, yet it was the chirps of the birds outside which caused Rimuru to wake up.

Sitting on the bed, Rimuru stretched his limbs as he yawned. Today was the day he was supposed to head home. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, the humanoid slime now often slept in his more comfortable human form.

Hearing the sound of writing, Rimuru looked to the source and found Shizue sitting by this room's writing desk and busily writing on many pieces of paper. There were several burnt-out candles on one end of the table, showcasing how the silver woman had worked all night.

Realizing that she was being watched, Shizue stopped writing and smiled at an awakened Rimuru.

"Good morning, Mr. President. I take it you had a good sleep?"

"Yes, I did." The slime sighed, "Man, I had a crazy few weeks, didn't I?"

Shizue merely nodded sagely. Getting up from her seat, the woman went into the closet and picked out a set of fancy suits for him to wear.

Laying that suit on the bed, Shizue then asked, "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Something light, something that'll pull me up."

"Right away, Mr. President." With that, Shizue dropped a folded piece of paper before quietly leaving the room.

Being a slime, Rimuru returned to his original form and slid out of his pajamas before sliding into the suit.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Rimuru couldn't help but be reminiscent of how he had started a new fashion trend. Various nobles would now often wear offshoots that were clearly inspired by his crisp and sterile suit.

It made him feel like one of those popular kids at school.

Sitting down by the writing desk, Rimuru unfolded the piece of paper and read its content. It was a timetable for the day alongside a daily briefing.

As he read, Shizue came back through the doorway with a tray full of light but pull-me-up breakfast.

"Thank you Shizue."

The woman only bowed in response before leaving.

As Rimuru ate, he read the daily briefing that gave him an overview of everything going on in Tempest alongside the rest of the world. It was a general briefing since as the President, he's supposed to be the generalist.

"'Congress approves the building of a hyperloop to Trantor'... 'Budget deficit covered by Research and Development'... 'Omniversity expansion'... 'Troop movement by Falmuth'... 'The disappearance of Hinata Sakaguchi'..."

It was just like any other day: a calm one which Rimuru was thankful for. Truthfully, he didn't know what he had signed up for when he agreed to be President. Being isekai-ed doesn't just suddenly give you the magical ability to instantly be able to manage a country.

Seeing how there wasn't really anything that required his attention, and that his departure is scheduled for after one final lunch with the King, Rimuru realized he had around four hours all to himself.

He's gonna be so bored. So to avert that boredom, Rimuru consulted his Unique Skill [Great Sage].

'What can I do that's a time killer [Great Sage]?'

"Hrmm... I knew I could count on you [Great Sage]!" Rimuru complimented the disembodied voice that resided deep within his Soul. His Unique Skill [Great Sage] always knows how to solve his problems!

Deciding to fly over to the school that Shizue taught at, Rimuru was greeted with the sight of an academy that seems to jump straight out of a picture book about 19th Century England, what with the design and all resembling Oxford University.

According to Shizue, Freedom Academy was founded by a rogue Otherworlder. It made the slime wonder what else in this World had been influenced by people from other Worlds, and furthermore, how far back had the Otherworlders been summoned.

Ingrassia is the melting pot of the West. They're like America but with a King, and are probably the most progressive out of all the Western states, though there are definitely elements within the government and ruling class that are disgruntled by the change brought about by King Aegil, evident by the coup attempt.

Entering the main door of the school, Rimuru stared in awe at the works of art present within.

The polished floor made it so he could see his own reflection. The ceiling was tall and had beautifully decorated arches and spires that drop from above. The walls were filled with paintings of presumably famous people with statues (busts) of people's heads situated in between each painting.

Momentarily, Rimuru pondered if he had been transported back into his old World's Britain.

Marching up to the front desk, Rimuru found the countertop to be a bit higher than he was.

"..."

The humanoid slime extended his leg and saw the front desk was manned by an old lady who was writing things down with an expensive golden pen.

"Hello."

The old lady looked up with a pair of glasses that hung right under her eyes, the wrinkles on her face stretching out a bit, "Shizue? So quick? I'm sure the kids wouldn't mind you staying longer."

"Ah...? No... I'm Rimuru."

Adjusting her glasses so that it's in between her eyes and the slime, a look of astonishment appeared on the old lady's face, making Rimuru see her in a grandmotherly light.

"Oh, apologies Mister Rimuru, it's just you looked really similar to one of our faculties."

"Oh that's alright," the slime looked up a the ceiling and thought about how he used Shizue's old body as a template for his current one, "I get that a lot. I'm also looking for Shizue Aizawa."

"Oh? I see she's gotten popular huh?" There was a light that gleamed in the old lady's eyes, "has that girl finally settled down?"

Girl? Rimuru looked confused, wasn't Shizue older than his own parents? Wait— settled down? She doesn't mean—

"NO! Me and Miss Shizue don't have that kind of relationship! We're friends at best!" Rimuru's cheeks almost glowed.

The old receptionist chuckled.

"Oh, I'm just messing with ya! But really though, that girl should settle down already. I know she's some big-shot adventurer who's retired but you'd think she'll start a family in a quiet place like Ingrassia just as so many other adventurers did."

The old lady was just like Rimuru's parents in his past life who would always call every month asking him if he'd met a girl yet.

"It's always the same with her type... a kid who grew up on fanciful tales of stories of heroes like Chronoa or Granbell fighting against Relentless in a battle for the future of the World... they then decide to take up a sword and join up with the Adventurer's Guild... and if they thrive in there, the boy or girl either unfortunately takes too big of a bite or realizes the dangerous line of work and retires into the calm and peaceful life of a farmer..."

The tone the receptionist used was full of nostalgia as if she was reminiscing about a time long ago.

"Anyway, enough about jolly ol' me, Mister Rimuru...?"

Realizing he was asked about his last name, the humanoid slime replied, "Tempest. Rimuru Tempest."

Hearing his last name, the old receptionist's eyes lit up in recognition, "Oh you're the leader of that Republic who claimed the entirety of the Great Jura Forest?"

Rimuru nodded proudly, "Yep that's us!"

The receptionist sighed a great one, like an old grandma handing back a phone after playing around with it, "Well, I gotta say I'm impressed! You caused the most excitement here in Lura ever since the ascension of King Aegil! I mean, according to those merchants, building a grandiose nation from scratch in less than a year? I don't think even the Demon Lords were able to do such a thing!"

The old lady then brought a pen up, "I gotta say, I'm a bit intrigued at the possibility of co-existence with monsters," she then leaned forward and spoke quietly, "I've never been one to buy up the propaganda of the Western Holy Church. The fact that we humans still live despite real powerhouses like Demon Lords running around is already proof of that."

Rimuru's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing he's got a supporter all the way here, thousands of kilometers away from Metropolis.

Even if it's just one, it's really heart-warming.

"So I've taken enough of your time, whaddya need?"

"I'm here to get Shizue,"

The old lady nodded, "Of course. It's her last day today, she's holding a small party with her students down in Classroom-115. Though..." the woman looked hesitant, "please give the girl a chance to say a proper farewell to her students before taking her away, will you? The poor girl looked especially distraught coming in today."

The slime could sympathize with Shizue. Satoru Mikami moved schools once, and on his final day, he enjoyed a tearful goodbye with his friends at that school, with the promise of seeing each other again.

That never happened.

"I will," Rimuru nodded before heading inside.

The door to Room 115 was exactly like others: a tall brown wooden door, it was extremely bland which made Rimuru recoil a bit since his eyes are used to the unique and varied designs of both the Capitol building and the Royal Castle of Ingrassia.

He thinned his lips before heading inside, finding a room decorated with plenty of colorful balloons that were clumped into a bundle, a large jar of freshly squeezed orange juice alongside cakes on a table situated by the wall. The windows and ceilings all had sliver and purple ribbons strung about with a 'Farewell Miss Shizue' banner on top of the chalkboard. Five students sat around Shizue who was, in turn, sitting on a chair, seemingly in the middle of telling them a story.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the newcomer. The silence continued before Shizue suddenly stood up and bowed, "President Rimuru."

Temporarily, the President's mind blanked at what to do next.

What did the Presidential Manual say to do? Rimuru tried to recall before figuring out the answer.

"At ease, Shizue. I'm just here to join you guys."

Instantly, Shizue's arms fell off to the sides as her body relaxed.

Scientia's servant introduced Rimuru to the rest of her class, and instantly, everyone bombarded the President of a nation with all kinds of questions.

The party continued on, and in Rimuru's personal opinion, it was a very enjoyable before-noon break.

Though the end could be a bit better.

The childrens were in tears at how Shizue had to go. There was a pained expression on the latter's face, as she too, doesn't really want to leave her students behind. Interestingly, there was a single girl who had stuck out from the rest to him, [Great Sage] said her name was 'Chloe Aubert'. Chloe was particularly clingy to him, like how someone would cling to their beloved right before they go on a month-long voyage.

The walk back to the Royal Castle was entirely uneventful, which caused Rimuru to fantasize about space as Scientia had promised him to take up and explore the Final Frontier after his return.

In his past life, he had watched all the shows relating to space when he was young, from Gundam to Space Battleship Yamato—heck, he's even watched the Japanese sub of Star Wars and some Star Trek when he was young.

Of course, as with all things, his dream of one day becoming an astronaut died when he realized just how pitiful and unrealistic those ideas of sailing across the stars were.

So nowadays, he's not too familiar with anything related to sci-fi because it's too unrealistic.

Yet because Scientia had managed to make the unrealistic into a reality, that sense of child-like wonder about space was reignited.

The lunch with King Aegil was basically just both him and the King reaffirming their commitments and ideals.

After everything was all said and done, Rimuru looked down at the beautiful city of Lura on top of a hill outside of its outermost walls. He surveyed the place, the surrounding great rolling grassy plain with the odd tree here and there, the white-stoned Royal Castle that peaks above all other buildings in the city, the lake from which the castle sits at the center of...

"'Beauty like Lura' indeed."

He'll miss the place, but since he'll get to see space, Rimuru's more excited than ever to go back home.

A large black Doorway with a purple outline appeared behind the slime.

Shizue stood vigilantly behind Rimuru. Even if her posture spoke of the perfect professionalism coming from someone who had dedicated decades to being a maid, the slime could sense sadness permeate her body, bubbling into the forefront of her mind.

"You miss your students, don't you?"

Shizue looked away for a few seconds before turning to face him, "Yes. If I could, I would try to bring them to Tempest, a place that's very close to their old World. But these Otherworldly childrens are the wards of the Crown. Until they become adults, the Kingdom will look after them. The Kingdom are their guardians."

It spoke volumes of how progressive Ingrassia was compared to its neighbors when it's the only nation other than Tempest to even have such state-sponsored safety nets. Of course, orphanages exist, but those are usually run by the Church and are more like indoctrination camps where childrens are raised by adults and caretakers believing in the Luminous Faith.

Cupping his cheeks, the slime thought about a way to cheer Shizue up, "... Well, I could ask the King whether or not it's possible for him to transfer some of those kids into our care."

"Thank you, Mr. President, but only if it won't be too much of an issue," Shizue bowed deeply.

With that, the duo walked through the Doorway and appeared inside another field of grass surrounded by curtains of a forest. There were mountains off in the distance.

This was unexpected, they were supposed to be surrounded by manmade structures instead of nature.

"Wh—"

Faster than Rimuru's unaccelerated mind could perceive, Shizue touched his shoulder and projected stasis all over his humanoid body. The slime alongside the War Chassis became an almost unbreakable object.

"Door me!" Rimuru yelled out a command, yet nothing is happening. After a second, the slime's face turned into confusion and disbelief, "What is happening?"

Rimuru wasn't too familiar with Doormaker, so just like a non-tech-savvy person playing around with a phone for the first time and somehow changed their language setting into Spanish and suddenly started panicking, he was starting to feel like something had gone horribly wrong.

He was sure Scientia had granted him Doorway privileges for the day!

"Mr. President, it appears we're in a kind of pocket dimension since I don't think anything else could possibly be blocking all of my mundane sensors and Subspace-based communication array. Though it could equally be a really powerful magic field. Gravitational waves are being echoed off a wall half a kilometer away. I could try to use transdimensional gravity waves but I don't have the equipment."

"What does that mean?"

Staring up at the sky, Shizue shot out a laser from her wrist before facing the President once more, "The sky is a false one, I tried to tell a geosynchronous satellite overhead using a laser but it couldn't travel more than 400 meters. Basically, it means that we're stuck here, my connection to Metropolis, the Citadel, and Doormaker has ceased."

"But, wouldn't Scientia know that something is wrong?"

Shizue shook her head sadly.

"No, she wouldn't. Stasis messes horribly with worldlines, so all forms of communication from my internal computer to external are blocked or are so scrambled they're unreadable. This is why I need to insert my Soul Orb into this War Chassis to pilot it. Therefore, it wouldn't look out of place if I dropped off the 'radar' for a few hours."

"Damn!" Rimuru looked around him, scrutinizing the whole area before stopping when he saw a gorgeous woman appearing out of nowhere.

'Who is that?!'

Rimuru mentally yelled to [Great Sage].

"Hinata Sakaguchi—!" Shizue breathed out in sheer shock.

"The God's Right Hand?" Is this the one who's responsible for intersecting their spacetime portal?

The silver woman looked incredibly tense. Her mind was quickly trying to deduce just what kind of magic or artifact was skilled enough in the manipulation of spacetime to fool Doormaker.

"She's... an old student of mine."

"She's an old student of yours?!"

Being the President of a nation, you kinda have to keep tabs on all the potential threats around the planet. Though he mostly focused on Demon Lords, Rimuru did read about God's Right Hand, Hinata Sakaguchi, the most powerful woman in the World and one who was rumored to have slain the most monsters.

The woman had a cold look of determination on her face, her violet eyes glared into Shizue as if she is an abomination of the highest order. Hinata gripped the handle on the sword strapped to her belt tightly.

"I see that he was correct," Hinata's voice was sharp, as though it could cut through any deception. The woman then pulled out her sword, and Shizue couldn't help but notice how it was different from her usual rapier, "I will free you Sensei, I swear I will free you from your enslavement— even if I must kill you."

God's Right Hand then pulled out another rapier— 'Moonlight', [Great Sage] provided Rimuru— from seemingly nowhere and pointed it at the duo, "and I will kill every monster that is responsible for your bondage, starting with that slime!"

36

"Hinata... what do you mean? What are you talking about?!" Shizue asked, a very distraught look appearing on her unmasked face, "I'm not a slave, I'm under a contract!"

"Tsk!" Hinata hissed, her face twisted in hate, "Is there a difference? It doesn't matter, what matters, what defines whether or not you're a slave is if you've been given a choice! And you weren't, Sensei!"

The young adult blitzed forward at speeds close to that of sound. Though there was something wrong. The ground from which Hinata launched herself wasn't damaged at all despite the amount of force that would've been required to accelerate the woman to near sonic speed.

A distance of a hundred meters was crossed in less than a single second as Hinata drew her rapier back before thrusting forward with the intent of piercing the slimy innards of Rimuru.

"I will save you Sensei!"

Clang*

The rapier stopped when it met the unbreakable time-locked body of Shizue's War Chassis. More specifically, the unbreakable hand of the War Chassis.

Hinata's feet dug into the ground thanks to the sudden halt in motion. Even with her Extra Skill [Inertia Manipulation, the woman still wasn't able to halt all of her personal inertia and had to instead divert it into her feet, making them dig into the ground.

Next, God's Right Hand tried to pull the sword out of Shizue's grasp, only to express confusion when it didn't budge one bit.

"Hinata, please! We don't need to fight! We can talk this out!"

Feeling the rapier loosen by the thinnest margin when Shizue spoke, Hinata then kicked her Sensei.

Since Shizue was an unmovable object, Hinata used Shizue as a platform and leaped away from the War Chassis, taking her rapier with her as she does.

The leap was done without any hesitation or wasted movement. It had an inhuman elegance to it, as it was brought about by training and experience in combat against other superhuman monsters.

Landing over two dozen meters away, Hinata got into a combat stance that had no opening before subtly gazing at Shizue to carefully reassess the situation.

"Mr. President, please get behind me," Shizue said. The Digital Lich really doesn't want to fight her student, especially with her new body. This body was designed for war. It was designed to go up against Demon Lords, so Shizue doesn't doubt if she goes all out, this battle would end in less than a second.

Except that would end with Hinata's death. Her student's death. An old student, but a student of hers nonetheless, and if she did that, Shizue could never call herself a teacher if she's willing to harm, much less kill, her students.

"Sensei, you don't need to say anything, you've been compromised." God's Right Hand then got out of her stance and brought up the rapier, "this rapier is known as 'Moonlight' among the upper echelon of the Western Holy Church. It is a Legend-grade blade and was gifted to me by the Pope himself. More relevant to me, however, is this blade's sub-ability to capture the souls of those it had slain and purify them like how the light from the Moon purifies the dark night, meaning that it'll get rid of your contract and free you from this bondage!"

Boom*

The moment Hinata finished talking, there was a sonic boom, and again, the ground from which Hinata launched herself wasn't damaged at all.

She charged faster than the normal eye could see and aimed Moonlight toward Shizue's core—

CLANG*

And again, the rapier hadn't so much as scratched the surface of the War Chassis. Before Shizue could grab Moonlight's blade, Hinata used [Inertia Manipulation] to let her accelerate to 100 g in three milliseconds.

Without her Saint physiology, the woman would've died way before then.

Hinata's swordsmanship and combat style was built upon her Unique Skill [Mathematician] and Extra Skill [Inertia Manipulation]. With [Compute Prediction, a subskill of [Mathematician, giving Hinata effective precognition for the immediate future, she would then use [Inertia Manipulation] to do all kinds of moves that ignore the problem of Newton's First Law.

"Afterward, I will ask God Luminous to gift you a new body, and then, you'll finally be free to watch as I destroy Tempest!"

"Hinata Sakaguchi!" Shizue raising her voice temporarily caused Hinata to freeze in place. Even after so long, Hinata still sees Shizue as her teacher, "Stop this madness! You can't harm me, much less kill me."

Shizue's words caused the Saint to grit her teeth. A sonic boom rang out as Hinata appeared suddenly in front of the Digital Lich. The rapier ready, Hinata let out a flurry of stabs and jabs and thrusts with Moonlight, all of which uselessly either bounced off or is stopped entirely as causality itself is denied in the Static Matter.

"You can't harm me," Shizue stated with sadness and finality in her tone as she took Hinata's attack without budging.

"Grrr——!"

In response, Hinata thrust Moonlight faster and harder. The nearby grass fluttered about like it was near a tornado with how quickly Hinata attacked.

Amidst all this, Shizue noted how her student never once used the sword held in her other hand. All of these attacks were done exclusively with the rapier.

Seeing how Shizue was an unbreakable wall, Hinata jumped back with a frustrated scream.

"Mr. President, please stay back and let me handle this. Try to make contact with Lady Scientia if you can with your [Soul Corridor]."

"I tried that. There's a Holy Field that's blocking it."

Shizue grimaced as though she had bitten something sour. "Then, please, leave everything to me and try to escape. My Lady would be extremely heartbroken if you were to get hurt."

"Wait—!"

Whatever Rimuru was about to say was cut off when Shizue rocketed forth to meet up with the swordswoman. Pulling back her right fist as she moved, Shizue punted Hinata back by a dozen meters even when the latter tried to cushion the former's blow with [Inertia Manipulation].

"—I'll help you!" Rimuru tried to interject and pulled out a specially made polymer-based monomolecular katana given to him by Scientia. The slime had named it 'Byakko' for its chalk-white appearance.

The cutting-edge rippled and heated up as an electric current runs through it.

Before Rimuru could move more than a few meters, Shizue turned around and blew him away with a thunderclap.

"Mr. President! Only I can stand against my student in this Holy Field! Please escape while I distract them!"

Hinata got up. Her chest plate had a large dent in the shape of a fist in it.

Stabbing her rapier into the ground while never letting go of the other sword, God's Right Hand reached into her Church-issued coat that signifies her rank as the First of the Ten Great Saints, and pulled out three black stake-like blades each held in between her fingers.

Without drawing back her arm, Hinata threw the stake-like blades into the air.

Eyes widening, Shizue realized the technique Hinata was about to unleash and jettisoned up to try and grab those swords... only for them to disappear in a flash of blue light.

Hinata's free hand came in front of her head. Forming a fist with three of her fingers unfurled, it looked almost as if the young adult was about to do half a prayer.

"[Sacred Sealing Sacrament]!"

Instantly, the three swords appeared above Rimuru's head and stabbed into the ground in a fashion that formed a triangle, with each sword being a corner.

When Rimuru tried to move, he bumped into an invisible barrier that stopped him from escaping.

Shizue hovered there in the air, staring at Rimuru as her analysis programs detected electromagnetic disturbances in the area surrounding the President.

"A Legend-grade magical artifact," Hinata's words caused Shizue to face her with a blank expression on the silver woman's face, "built by Vina of the Seven Luminaries, it has the power to immobilize Demon Lords."

Even if Shizue's sophisticated sensors are being blocked, her own experience as an adventurer tells her that this was a very powerful isolation-type field.

The Saint then pulled Moonlight from the ground, "Normally, in an ideal situation, I would've prepared more for such an encounter. I would've prepared more like having traps placed all over the place or even strengthened the Holy Field enough that it melts away all monsters. But upon hearing such an atrocious act performed upon someone I deeply respected, the Total Isolation Field was all that I could manage."

"Is there truly no way for you to stop this madness...?" Shizue pleaded for the last time.

"No," determination shone in Hinata's eyes. Then, she launched herself toward Shizue, her rapier was in the motion of a thrust once more with the intention of piercing through the War Chassis' inviolable body.

Right before the tip of Moonlight touched Shizue's body, the Digital Lich uttered out a single phrase.

"So be it."

Snap*

Shizue casually grabbed the rapier's blade and promptly snapped it in half.

It was such a nonchalant and easygoing act that dumbfounded Hinata. The way that Shizue simply grabbed the rapier and snapped it in half was like a bully snapping their victim's pencil in half for fun.

Taking control of herself at such speed it surprised Shizue, Hinata abandoned the rapier just as the War Chassis was inches away from grabbing the young woman's arm.

Blitzing back until there was a distance of a dozen meters between the teacher and student, Hinata's eyes narrowed into a glare. Frustration was clear on the Saint's face at the destruction of the weapon she'd been using.

Composing herself, all previous emotions were drained from her face as she stared at Shizue with a look of cold professionalism. That sense of respect and adoration that once existed in her eyes the last time they had met seemed like a fading memory.

Hinata muttered with a sense of odd calmness, draping her head so that it was facing the ground, "I see then, so it seems that it must come to this."

Her voice was full of regret as she brought up the sword in her other hand. Holding it in front of her head, Hinata then pulled up her sleeves with her pinkie finger before tracing the blade of the unknown sword through her arm, dying one of its edges in the Saint's blood.

"Hinata?!"

Even still, Shizue still sees Hinata as her student, so she was worried for the young adult at the sight of self-harm.

From those blood, a rainbow of light emerged and started infecting the rest of the blade.

It was an enchantment that required a bit of blood to activate.

"I hereby give an offering to God Luminous."

BOOM*

Hinata propelled herself at speeds so quickly, the air around her could've easily boiled away water. There were massive turbulences of wind as the student closed in on the teacher.

Hinata's speed reached high hypersonic as she swung the unnamed blade.

CLANG*

Shizue caught the blade in between her two hands. The Digital Lich couldn't help but be surprised at the rainbow glow coming from the sword.

The number of enchantments that glowed rainbow when activated is estimated by Guildmaster Yuuki Kagurazaka to be in the single digits. The only known rainbow enchantment that could possibly help Hinata against an unstoppable force numbered only one.

"Dead End Rainbow...?" Shizue faltered as she flew up high into the air.

Hearing her, Hinata's lips thinned, before the edge trod down into a grimace, "As I said before: I will save you from this bondage. By whatever means necessary. Even if I must kill you; I will end your bondage. He had said that your 'War Chassis' resides in a time-locked state and will thus reject any and all attacks be they magical or physical since time, the very concept that allows change, cannot occur. But then, I got to thinking, what about an attack on the Soul itself?"

Hinata wasted no time and catapulted herself upward to Shizue's position to unleash a whirlwind of attacks. Stepping on pockets of solid air generated from a Greater Wind Spirit, God's Right Hand was able to mimic a form of flight.

Even still, none of those attacks reached Shizue as the War Chassis also took inertia as a faint suggestion that was promptly ignored.

"I refuse to think of the person I had once seen as a teacher becoming a corporate slave to someone else!"

All the while the teacher and student were fighting, Rimuru was busy trying to figure out a way to escape from this place.

He first tried to cut the barrier with a slash of his katana. It failed.

Truthfully, the katana was more for ceremonial and personal purposes. The slime can still recall how weird of a look he was given by Scientia when he asked if he could have a katana. She had said how it's obsolete ever since the invention of guns but relented after Rimuru insisted.

Having a katana is the dream of every Japanese, even if he's an ex-Japanese.

It's just so cool.

'Any ideas on how to escape here, [Great Sage]? Or any headway into making contacts with Scientia or Veldora?'

'Can I resist it?'

[Resist]...partial success, [Soul Corridor] partially opened, unable to send messages through, all Magic Skills have been blocked off, available Skills to use include: [Predator, [Wise One, [Thread Manipulation]...

[Great Sage] listed all of the abilities that Rimuru could use, yet none of it he can see a way to get past this [Sacred Sealing Sacrament].

So if he can't escape this barrier, could he perhaps break it?

'Is there a way to break through this barrier? Or at least rip open a hole large enough for me to get out?'

Damn it! He's truly trapped in here, completely helpless. All he could do was watch as Shizue and her student fights on. Based on how much Shizue's holding back, Rimuru easily figured out that she really doesn't want to fight a student of hers.

He's truly out of options, so he asked [Great Sage] once more.

'Is there absolutely no way to get out of this barrier?!'

Rimuru smirked, finally, there was a way out!

'How soon is that?'

7 hours 35 minutes 21 seconds

THAT'S WAY TOO SLOW!

Then, another idea popped into the slime's head.

'How quickly can I suck in all the magicules inside this barrier?'

That's still a bit too slow, Rimuru thought. Still, seeing no other options and not really wanting to feel useless, the slime used his Unique Skill [Predator] and transformed his hands into something that resembled a suction cup.

Then, he started eating.

The battle between Shizue and Hinata rages on. It was a clash between the perfect spear and the perfect shield.

Unknown to most of the world, Hinata had a second Unique Skill all but a few know about. Unique Skill [Usurper, the original Unique Skill given to the Otherworlder the moment she crossed over. It was her hidden trump card, since [Usurper] gave Hinata the ability to both copy the Skills of the opponent she's fighting against and their fighting style, 'usurping' their martial abilities as Hinata had once explained to Shizue.

This was the reason why Hinata was seen as the next Granbell Rosso. Unique Skill [Mathematician] alone would make anyone an extremely deadly foe by granting them the ability to gain information concerning the immediate future through calculation. [Usurper] is the true horror by ensuring the more Hinata fights, the more powerful she becomes.

Hinata Sakaguchi is an exponential curve. A grey-goo scenario in the form of a one-woman army. Yuuki once thought that after half a century of constant battle, Hinata can probably stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Velgrynd.

God's Right Hand, the strategic weapon of the West, is so powerful that there was a written accord between the Council and Ruberios detailing how any movement of Hinata must be reported. If she's here then it must mean it's in secret.

Knowing her student's capacity, Shizue had to mix and matched elements from hundreds of fighting styles downloaded into her War Chassis by Lady Scientia to create entirely new ones on the fly just so Hinata couldn't get used to them.

The battle continued in the air, on the ground, underground— all over the Total Isolation Field. Very quickly, the once lush grassland was now more lacking in green.

As Shizue dodged the newest whirlwind of attacks from Dead End Rainbow, she couldn't help but think had Hinata used any other sword besides the one possessing an enchantment allowing them to destroy an individual's spiritual body in seven strikes, then perhaps her War Chassis could've barreled straight at her with reckless abandon. However, that enchantment hits the soul itself and may bypass her insane durability.

There was once a time, during the first few tests involving the War Chassis, that Shizue asked her Lady whether or not her new body could stand up against attacks on the soul itself. Most soul attacks are often in the form of curses and poisons, indirect methods, but there are legends that talk about how powerful demons could rip the soul out of an armored individual.

The result of the tests involving lasers seemed to be a 'Yes', and was further reinforced after the incident with Milim. Yet after that, Shizue had forgotten to ask if enchantments that directly attack the soul, like Dead End Rainbow, could affect her.

And now she's paying the price for her forgetfulness.

The silver woman dodged another thrust while dealing out another punch that turned Hinata's chest plate into a slag of useless metal. During the battle, Shizue had already been struck six times, and one more strike was all that was needed for the Dead End Rainbow enchantment to take effect.

"GAH!" Hinata spat out glops of blood, causing Shizue to wince.

Feeling her teacher's side returning, Shizue pleads with her student once more, "Hinata! Please stop this! I don't want to kill you but you're forcing my hand!"

In response, Hinata silently wiped away the blood leaking from the edge of her mouth before gripping the edge of her broken chest plate with her free hand. The chest plate had dents all over the place, thanks to Shizue's attacks.

"Damn. You're really fast you know, Sensei? Like, due to your ignoring of inertia similar to me, [Mathematician] could only give me the probability of where you'd be in the next three seconds, and those probabilities aren't static but instead dynamic, so it's always shifting. Thus, I can't predict you like I could with my opponents."

One can almost say that Hinata 'sees' in probabilities instead of light.

Hinata then wiped her bloodied finger across the edge of her chest plate. In one single swift motion, God's Right Hand ripped the metal armor off and threw it at her teacher.

"Hinata what—"

The chest plate was a distraction. There was a large flare of junk data coming from the thrown chest plate that overwhelmed Shizue's still active sensors.

Using this three-millisecond window as estimated by [Mathematician, Hinata Sakaguchi blasted forward, stabbing Dead End Rainbow right through the falling chest plate and then into Shizue's chest, specifically, the tip of the sword met at the area possessing the shortest distance to the Soul Orb.

Ping*

Automatically, the War Chassis tried to grab the blade but failed as Hinata blasted off and away from Shizue with a single kick using the inviolable chassis as a platform.

Touching the area she had stabbed, Shizue traced her fingers all over the surface to examine it, finding nothing but utter smoothness—

"—!"

A false breath hitched in Shizue's throat.

Her fingers felt a tiny dent. It was a microscopic scratch, one so small you'd need a microscope to really concentrate on it as it's almost invisible to the naked eye.

The silver woman stilled.

How?

In the span of five milliseconds, Shizue checked her system log to find that there had been seven disruptions to the stasis field which surrounds and permeates the War Chassis, with all but one of these disruptions happening in areas around her hand. Focusing on the time stamps of those disruptions, Shizue then recalled her battle and found those disruptions matched when she had blocked Hinata's sword strikes.

"..."

That's when the teacher realized she's been outplayed by the student.

Hinata seemed to recognize how the jig was up. She stood still, though her body was tense, ready to either attack or defend at a moment's notice.

"That's not Dead End Rainbow..." Shizue said, "No, it's something else. That's a false enchantment! The rainbow radiance from the sword was mere decoration! A ruse to hide the fact that it has a stasis-breaking effect!"

Hinata had a look of surprise at Shizue's deduction, before smiling, "I see you still retain that edge of sharpness even after you've been enslaved. I promise I will give your master a quick and merciful death for not breaking your mind."

The young woman then began to stride forward with confidence belonging to one of the strongest saints in the world. Now that the secret has been revealed, Hinata can focus on slowly but surely disabling Shizue's War Chassis.

Though, as this was happening, Shizue couldn't help but wonder exactly how the sword in Hinata's hand was able to emit a strong enough normalization effect on time to affect her War Chassis.

Throughout all of history, there was perhaps only one person who can control time better than her Lady, and that person disappeared off the face of the World over half a century ago.

So it's impossible, and yet... that's the only explanation.

.

.

.

.

"That's Hero Chronoa's sword, isn't it?"

Hinata stopped, before nodding quietly as the illusion around the blade crumbled away like sand on a windy day. Underneath that illusion was a two-handed sword with a fancy golden crossguard, deep blue grip, and another golden pommel.

Even after centuries, there's not a single spot of rust.

The sword of myths and legends, the sword that the Hero of Time used to fight against Relentless 400 years ago.

Unlike many other famous swords throughout history, it doesn't have a name since Chronoa said that something that's been with her for so long doesn't need a unique identifying name. Even still, Western historians have come to call it: the 'Clock Candle', named so for the two most common timekeeping methods, for the Great Hero of Time.

Damn, Shizue cursed in her mind as she recognize the weapon in her student's hand. How couldn't she, when it was the Hero Chronoa who rescued her younger self from the Great Betrayer of Mankind?

Though, now seeing it here, the Hero Sword complicates things immensely

Being with Chronoa for so long, the amount of Time Magic weaved into that blade was sure enough to overpower the stasis effect of her War Chassis.

Never would she have thought that the Western Holy Church would dare use something that was seen as sacred as Hero Chronoa's sword. Within the canonicity of their holy books, Chronoa was always depicted as second to God Luminous. Though some earlier and fringier sects of Luminism place Chronoa as one above Luminous.

Because of her standing, any artifact of the Hero of Time is highly sought after by the Church. Thus, to see Chronoa's sword here of all places, being used... being God's Right Hand must come with some special privileges.

Even as Shizue faced down potentially her end, a feeling of pride budded within her chest, swelling at how far Hinata have come, how far her students have grown and progressed.

Yet a depressing ever-present sadness was a specter that dosed the pride since the teacher knows only one of them is walking out of this alive.

Damn it!

"[Lightning Slash]!" God's Right Hand called out the name of one of her strongest attacks.

Hinata suddenly burst forward faster than she had ever managed to before, reaching such speeds that if she moved any faster, she'll escape the pull of the planet's gravity.

The Saint became a fireball. Hinata Sakaguchi was sheathed in a coat of superheated air as she closed the distance between her and Shizue, the latter of whom was able to clearly react to the sudden increase in speed thanks to an emergency program of the War Chassis to automatically speed up Shizue's perception of time to match that of the incoming projectile.

The Digital Lich was able to clearly see Hinata raising her sword across her chest in preparation for her most powerful slash yet.

"..."

If Shizue decides to give up all her morals and end this fight as quickly as possible, the silver woman can end this in a single move by just picking up a small pebble no larger than a grape and throwing it at Hinata with enough force that the pebble reaches low relativistic speeds.

Moving so quickly, the air molecules in front of the pebble would appear static, unmoving. Therefore, as the relativistic pebble moves, the atoms of oxygen, nitrogen, and other atmospheric gases can't move out of the way and would be forced to fuse with the atoms of the pebble, creating a trail of nuclear fire and explosion.

That sounds absolutely horrible. Shizue couldn't live with herself if she personally killed her own student.

That would destroy her.

It was only because of her contract with her Lady that she's only keeping that option as a last resort.

Shizue can only hope she could outlast Hinata's stamina.

'How long until the barrier fall, [Great Sage]?'

Rimuru asked his Unique Skill as he anxiously watched the battle that was leaning increasingly toward Hinata's favor. Some of the moves they made were too fast to be tracked even if he used [Thought Acceleration] to its maximum 1000 times perception speed.

18 minutes 29 seconds

'Damn it that's not quick enough! Is there really no way we can speed this up? I don't know if Shizue could last 18 more minutes.'

Frustrated, Rimuru bit his lower lips hard enough that if this had been his old body, it would've bled. The slime then kicked the barrier to try and vent out some of his frustration.

The invisible wall stood tall and unbreaking, making Rimuru feel incredibly useless.

He was the more useless one, wasn't he? Even being the President of the Jura Tempest Republic, he never really struggled. From the Orc Lord, Milim, and Charybdis, every major and minor crisis that Tempest encountered was solved by Scientia. Everything that made Tempest what it is was all thanks to Scientia.

All Rimuru had to do was just sit on the sidelines and claim partial credit as the President of the Republic. In the grand scheme of things, he did nothing. His position could've easily been given to anyone and the result would've been the same.

He truly, was useless, wasn't he?

The suction cups that were Rimuru's hands slowly returned to normal. The self-loathing caused him to subconsciously stop eating just like how those with chronic depression sometimes found they had no appetite.

Hands falling to the side, Rimuru bumped his head against the invisible wall, his posture almost screaming 'lifeless'.

If he survives the next hour, the slime promised himself to spend a large percentage of his day training with Rubedo instead of just staying in the office.

Knowing that the self-loathing wouldn't do him any good, the slime tried to use his mind to come up with a solution to this problem.

Since the [Soul Corridor] isn't wide enough to allow direct communication, is it possible that he could send something through it? Something that could alert Scientia to what's happening?

'[Great Sage, is there any way I can use this partially opened [Soul Corridor]?'

'What's the likelihood of that happening?'

1.004%

Rimuru flinched at the small number. Giving one of his Skills to either Scientia or Veldora would surely alert them that something's wrong, but only 1%? Those are some really bad odds.

Though, the lottery had even worse odds and Satoru Mikami constantly buys them because they're redoable, so...

'If the first time fails, can I do it again?'

'What about Unique Skill?'

Damn, those are some really terrible odds, Rimuru thought, but at the same time, a Unique Skill would be more cause for alarm than a simple Extra Skill like [Gravity Manipulation].

"Ahhh!" Rimuru scratched his head, causing his blue hair to go wild, "I'm really not seeing any other options."

'Start sending [Wise One] to Scientia, keep on repeating until success.'

As [Great Sage] kept on repeating the sending process every time it failed, Rimuru continued to helplessly watch from behind the invisible barrier the clash between Hinata and Shizue. There were no sounds coming from clashes strong enough to cause explosions as the barrier blocks out everything coming from the outside aside from visual light.

"Please, just wait a little bit longer Shizue."

"Ha... hah... haaa..."

Hinata's labored breath sounded like music to the weathered form of Shizue, her silver coat now showed much more scratches and visible dents from the number of attacks that Hinata unleashed in two minutes.

The two women stood on a destroyed grassy field. Much of the greeny was gone, and flames burned what was left, clouding and choking the sky of much of its splendid blue.

Hinata herself looked much worse compared to Shizue. Almost all of her armor was gone, her left arm was dislocated, a stream of blood slowly trickled down from somewhere inside her hair, and the Otherworlder was seemingly struggling to stay up, if the fact that she's using Clock Candle as a makeshift clutch is any indication.

Internally, Shizue is simultaneously impressed as a teacher by Hinata's growth but also disturbed as a friend by how different Hinata had become. In her mind, Hinata Sakaguchi was always a humble girl who had difficulty getting close to people due to her cold and standoffishness. Now, she's an extremely powerful stubborn brat who refuses to see anything other than her own way, or as a villain in one of the books she had read would say: 'My way or the highway'.

Hinata refuses to budge.

The silver woman wondered just how did Hinata change so much. Her internal logical reasoning computer narrowed it down to a 50/50 chance of either due to Hinata's explosive growth in power, or the authority that comes with being appointed as the first of the Ten Great Saints and being known as God's Right Hand.

Hinata stood up straight again. Her right hand came up to her disjointed left shoulder and—

"GRRRRRR—!"

—popped the shoulder back into place.

Shizue had to wince at that. Phantom pain exploded all across her own shoulders as the Digital Lich reactively recalls her own dislocated shoulders.

Hinata then moved her shoulder testily, finding that it has regained most of its functions. Medicines can do the remaining bit.

Blinking away the small droplets of tears that have gathered, Hinata growled, "I see. So much stronger than before, then it must mean your master Scientia must cherish and trust you very much. They mustn't want to see their investments die after spending so much effort in removing Ifrit."

The way Hinata positioned Scientia makes the Perfect Homunculus seem to be a heartless person caring only about numbers.

"..." That's not completely incorrect, but... Shizue's lips thinned, "My Lady isn't like that, at least, not fully. In the beginning, I didn't know fully whether or not she could actually free me from Ifrit, so I went in thinking I'd die. I made a contract with my Lady in that she'll save my students if I did die, and since Ifrit was getting dangerously close to fully taking over my body, I didn't mind making a lifelong contract. And well, my Lady did manage to free me. Between that or letting thousands die when Ifrit goes berserk, I would gladly become a servant to someone else."

Hinata's lips pulled back into a snarl before speaking in a tone of calm fury, "I am disgusted by the fact that you didn't come to ME—" She then pointed her thumb at her body as if to emphasize herself, "for help. I am the Right Hand of God Luminous. I carry enormous influence within the Western Holy Church! I could've asked anyone! The Clerics of the Seven Luminaries, the Emperor, the Cardinals, the Pope, or hell, even God Luminous to save you! And they would all gladly agree to it to keep me happy! You didn't need to trade Ifrit for another form of slavery!"

Hinata's free hand then formed a fist above her heart. The Saint let out a silent scream as if to vent away the vortex of emotions that were swirling inside.

"Why..." Hinata said in a much quieter tone, almost whispering, "Do you have any idea how insulting that is? To prefer slavery over my help? Why didn't you rely on me, Sensei?"

Hinata stood, her current posture had none of the pride befitting of the Right Hand of God but instead more resembled a confused child wondering why their parents had left them.

Shizue felt touched. Finally, after peeling away so many layers of arrogance, Shizue finally saw it: the same standoffish girl that she had taught a long time ago.

Even when the internal computer is warning her to not approach, the teacher part of her mind overwhelmed all reasons, causing Shizue to slowly approach Hinata.

"Life. Life takes us on many different paths. While you may have wanted me to follow you, I have another path to follow, and this path has led me into the service of Lady Scientia. Perhaps... perhaps in another life, another time, I would have trouble—"

"It would not have been any trouble! I would've been glad— no, overjoyed to repay you! To repay the kindness that you had once shown me!"

Shizue let out a soft smile. It was a gentle smile, that a parent would use to comfort their child as they cried.

"Regardless, in another life, perhaps I would've asked you for help, but I didn't. To do so would be tantamount to a teacher asking to borrow money from the students they'd taught. It's supposed to be the other way around."

Hinata looked like she wanted to say something, but no sound came out. So in lieu of a response, Shizue hugged her ex-student.

"I know... I know seeing me like this is a shocker. God knows how long it took to get my last batch of students to trust me again, but I am and always will remain; me, not another broken slave. Granted, in your old world, my contract may be deemed illegal, but in mine, not an insignificant number of people would happily take the contract with all the benefits it contains. Despite all this, I tend to think of this as a punishment for attempting to cheat in a contract."

"How did you know about the legality of contracts in my old world?"

Shizue then stopped the hug and placed her two hands on Hinata's shoulder.

There was a sound of metal crashing into the dirt as Hinata's grip on Chronoa's sword weakened.

"Like you, my Lady, Scientia, is also an Otherworlder. A reincarnated Otherworlder to be exact. She was reincarnated alongside the slime you trapped. Based on what they told me, it seemed that they came from a World not too dissimilar to your own."

"But...he said..." Hinata mumbled in a bit of shock, before swallowing, "I see."

Confident the fight has ended with a draw, the Digital Lich turned around and walked toward the triangular prison that held Rimuru. Hinata stood behind her, silently while Rimuru seemed happy that his friend is no longer locked in a duel to the death with her students. The President sat on the ground and waited to be freed.

Placing a hand on the barrier, Shizue tried to push forward but was stopped. Interesting, a kind of barrier that can reject Static Matter? Not even Ramiris' Labyrinth could've contained the War Chassis.

"Hinata, now that you're no longer trying to kill me, can you please take down this barrier? I'm sure that if I and Rimuru explain and place a good word about you to Lady Scientia, we can sweep this all under the rug and she wouldn't be very paranoid about your attack." All of her attention is on the [Sacred Sealing Sacrament, trying to decipher a way of how it works "by the way, who was this 'he' that you were talking about? I would like to know about someone who wishes me harm—"

"[Melt Slash]"

View: https//watch?v=al1BNB8bKaE

Whatever Shizue was about to say was paused when Hinata moved at near lightspeed to deliver her strongest attack. The attack was silent, as though all the air molecules in the path of Hinata's slash were suddenly made intangible.

In the span of two dozen nanoseconds, Hinata crossed a seven-meter distance and pierced her teacher's time-locked body with Chronoa's sword.

The attack was so quick that to Shizue and Rimuru, Hinata flashed blue for a second before turning invisible and suddenly, there was a blade sticking out of Shizue's stomach.

"Ah?" Shizue sounded disbelieving, as she looked down, her facial expression tells of how her mind couldn't process how a sword from her own student now struck out of her body.

In the next instant, Hinata twisted and turned the sword to bifurcate Shizue Aizawa at a slanted angle.

The two pieces of Shizue's War Chassis fell onto the ground, with the upper body facing the sky.

Warning symbols flashed in Shizue's mechanical eyes about catastrophic damage to the lower half, but all that was meaningless in the face of her own student's betrayal.

"Why...?" Shizue mumbled out weakly, her widened eyes displaying only disbelief.

Hinata's footstep on the grassless ground was like the faint heartbeat of a person about to die. Getting down next to the upper body, Hinata said, "I told you, I will save you—"

She then grabbed the now exposed core that contained Shizue's soul.

"—by whatever means necessary. It pains me that I must act in such a dishonorable way but I see no way of winning with you still alive in the end."

Just before Hinata was about the yank out the orb, Shizue realized that while she's been playing checkers, Hinata had been playing 3-D Chess. From the first move, Hinata knew she could not defeat the War Chassis. Even with Chronoa's Sword being able to deal damage to her time-stopped form, the God's Right Hand simply couldn't keep up with her sheer speed and flight in a drawn-out battle, so unless Hinata can end it in a decisive strike, she'll likely lose.

And that's what she exactly did. Hinata appealed to Shizue's protective and soft teacher side to get her guard down before using a move that attacks at speeds near that of light— faster than her non-blocked sensors could detect— and finished her off with that final attack.

If Shizue's War Chassis still had the power to talk, she would've remarked with a hint of sadness about how different Hinata was now, how much she had changed. Shizue's last words were of prayer, though not prayer for herself but for Hinata: Shizue prayed, she prayed like she never had before to every god and goddess of every religion in this world and her old Shintoism, for mercy to be bestowed upon Hinata's soul, for she knew that Scientia would have none.

The Perfect Homunculus was rather protective of those whom she saw as 'employees'.

All Shizue knew was darkness after Hinata pulled out the orb.

AN: A TWIST! Now we really get to see the effect of a weaker Rimuru and Shizue surviving.

If you guys still can't figure it out, Chronoa will play a far greater role than canon.

yes, the [Sacred Spatial Sacrament] is inspired by Noel's anti-vampire bounded field

I would bet 100 dollars that Noel would be a future love interest in the remake, potentially in a DLC.

I mean, she fits all the bills! someone who idolizes love and marriages, a twisted sadist, a bit of a coward, tragic past, inferiority complex, a nun, being a young female teacher (anyone who watched Domestic Girlfriend should have their bells be ringing right now), a boy who looked like Shiki had betrayed her which left a deep scar in her heart-

I mean, what else could one need in such a potential love interest? It fits the bill entirely for a Redemption Arc like Accelerator

Nation ID using the Stellaris format.

Name: Jura Tempest Republic

Ethics: Egalitarian, Militarist, Materialist

Authority: Democracy

Civics: Byzantine Burarcracy, Beacon of Liberty, Idealistic Foundation, Efficient Buracracy, Merchant Guild.

37

AN: The Storm is here.

Meanwhile, Intergalactic Space.

Shaper-class ships are my workhorses for any large-scale stellar manipulation project on the size of a moon or larger. They are shaped somewhat like a human's finger, and if placed in the bottom of the Mariana trench, their tips would peak out of the water.

These Shapers exercise brute force control over invisible Dark Energy and Dark Matter as a form of macro-gravity manipulation to move moons out of orbit. Unlike the Simurgh, these Shapers don't have anywhere near the level of precision with gravity manipulation since they're meant to move celestial objects.

I had originally made them be able to use hard light, but since hard light is restricted immensely by mass-energy equivalence, it's really inefficient.

There are also unique Shapers, designed to manipulate extreme stellar objects like White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, or black holes. These are modified to contain a full Starbreaker Engine.

Currently, there are thousands of these unique Shapers are present within the radius of a single light minute of my position, all of which are integral to preventing the object in front of me from collapsing into a black hole: a long tubular structure that contains about 8 Neutron Stars' worth of mass.

I stood on the bridge of one of these vessels, a holographic projection of the structure in front of me since it's near invisible to the naked eye if one tries to view it using the windows.

Length-wise, the tubular structure is a bit shorter than the moon Titan in my old World.

I'm going to need it to be longer if I'm to perform the time travel experiment.

According to existing theories like Supercausality which supplanted Relativity since it describes things moving faster than light, time isn't what it seems. Relativity states that time is relative, that is, there is no absolute time while Supercausality states the exact opposite. The maths seems to point toward Supercausality, but I'll need to perform some tests to see whether the Theory of Supercausality is right or not.

And this can be done by creating a Closed Timelike Curve.

Seeing how the neutrons have been molded, I then ordered a new Neutron Star to get transported here with [Technopathy].

A second later, the Neutron Star came into existence with a burst of electromagnetic radiation and intense gravitational waves, traveling through hyperspace from the next star system over.

Several hundred Shapers that were on stand-by mode turned their attention onto the newly appeared Neutron Star and took hold of it, containing its gravitational influence with a dense shell of Dark Energy.

Then, a spot the size of multiple city blocks lit up in an area situated around the lower section of the Shapers and shot out a cherry red Starbreaker beam that was carving valleys half a hundred meters deep into the shell of the Neutron Star, shaping and molding it into the next piece of this Tipler's Cylinder.

Seeing dozens of these cherry red coherent gravity lasers reminded me of how I gave Milim a miniature one powered by magicules.

There is no way I'm giving Milim a full Starbreaker Engine. Not only is it huge, but it's also highly dangerous and it doesn't belong in the hands of a child.

(Forget giving a baby a gun, this is giving a baby a gun that can annihilate a star)

As one of the Starbreaker beams passed over the valley made by a previous passage by another beam, there was a sudden overwhelming flash of light.

The interior of a Neutron Star kept within the shell of iron was packed to the brim with mostly neutrons and a few other lighter particles like protons and electrons alongside more exotic ones like Hyperons and Quark Matter.

I saw how the contents held within the shell of crystalized iron were spilling forth like whites from a cracked egg. A lot of exotic particles rapidly decayed into radiation as the condition from which they were born no longer exists in the vacuum of space.

The hyper-dense guts of the Neutron Star were stirring, and with it, the local skein of spacetime itself was rippling in response.

The inner contents of a Neutron Star taught me some fascinating things about atoms under extreme conditions. For one, it confirmed [Biology]'s belief that the condition underneath the outermost layer of a Superfluid mixture of protons and neutrons and a crust of iron was able to sustain an extreme form of life.

Because of the extreme condition, this hypothetical form of life uses the Strong Nuclear Force as a mediator instead of the Electromagnetic Force. If they exist, these lifeforms will probably be the smallest organism in the universe, smaller than even viruses since they're made out of subatomic particles.

The lids of my eyes dropped in an expression of loneliness, these forms of life likely won't exist. After encountering so many lifeless habitable worlds, I come to the realization that the whole universe doesn't seem to trend toward complexity.

This makes any life that I do find extremely precious, to the point that I created a subdirectory of the Von Neumann Probes to protect any and all worlds with evidence of life on them.

The universe is already lonely enough as it is, there's no need to make it lonelier.

It was around the 36th planet that I marked down for preservation that I realize I'd become one of those ancient super-advanced precursor civilizations in your typical Space Opera. Encouraging biodiversity in the cosmos that'll eventually lead to humanity's rise.

I don't know how I feel about it.

"What?"

My eerily perfect voice echoed inside the pressurized bridge of this Shaper.

I froze in shock at what the Voice of the World is telling me before I'm once again bathed in the same feeling I once had when I first acquired [Technopathy].

What is happening? I wondered as every one of my specialties is confused as well.

It was that same emotionless voice that came from Rimuru when we both freed Veldora!

"Hah?! What? What the hell? [Great Sage]?"

Pressing a small red button on the hologram, I set the Shapers on autopilot to continue to hold and carve the Neutron Star.

Through [Technopathy, I reached across many many thousands of lightyears and felt the continued existence of that katana I gave him.

Feeling the monomolecular blade made me remember how I mostly gave it to him as a toy; because that's exactly what it is, a toy in the same vein as a toy sword in my old World.

'Rimuru.'

I then called out to him through the connection between the two of us, that [Soul Corridor] which I rarely used because of what [Psychology] called a 'personal prejudice against anything science cannot explain'.

I flinched when instead of that crispy clear connection even through intergalactic distances, all I received was static.

That's strange. I felt unsettled but not too worried. Whatever is happening can't be too bad since there aren't any feelings in my gut.

'Rimuru speak up,'

Still only static.

With a single wave of my hand, bits and pieces of the floor underneath my feet came up like sand in a sandstorm. Those particles of a stable superheavy isotope of titanium came together in my left hand and formed a communicator capable of interfacing with the Universal Tachyonic Communication Web.

The Universal Tachyonic Communication Web, or the UTC for short, is a web of trillions of relay stations spread across a distance of 12 billion lightyears from end to end. These relay stations use Tachyons, superluminal particles as described by the Theory of Supercausality, to broadcast vast amounts of data wirelessly. The UTC makes communication over intergalactic clusters about as complicated as calling someone from Washington while you're in New York.

Because Tachyons could not slow down to light speed any more than a baryon can speed up to that of a photon, these relay stations require a Warp Bubble to slow down directed low-energy (and thus very fast) Tachyons to a level that the other systems can read the transported information. The principle behind these relay stations is that since Alcubierre Drives can accelerate massive particles like baryons to superluminal speed, so too can it slow down Tachyons.

It is what allowed me to first discover them, after all.

"Shizue"

Static.

That was when I started to actually panic. Spreading out my right hand, I conjured up several holographic control panels about satellites orbiting a light hour away from my home planet. A single tap was all that was required for the satellites to direct their hyper-definition cameras toward the world.

An interesting thing that occurs when you move faster than light is that you can witness the same event as many times as you'd like. This is due to how when we view things we're actually viewing photons, if we travel to the future path of this photon again, we can observe the same event again.

So using this, I created a vast network of these satellites to give me limited postcognition. Most of these are stationed on the edge of stellar space, but I can move them with a Subspace Diver closer to my home world.

As the image was rendering, I tried to open a Doorway to where the katana was situated.

Doormaker did not obey and instead gave me an error message.

"Emergency Override Code: X6LQ9S0, Door me!"

Doormaker did not respond and still repeated the error message.

My eyes narrowed. I know for a fact that if I had remained a human, I would be sweating right now in stress and anxiety.

Just what the hell is happening?

I then pulled up a holographic panel and typed in the correct Overdrive Code. The only time that Doormaker would fail even with Override would mean that something is intentionally blocking spatial travel. So in order to forcibly enter the area, I'll have to divert additional power and overlock the Fold System—

PAIN!

"Ahhh..." My voice quieted into a scream too high-pitched for me to hear.

I fell to the floor in utter agony. The pain was so raw, so brutal, so coarse that it wasn't like any pain I'd ever felt. It eclipsed all of them.

PAIN!

I couldn't think. I felt very tired. I felt myself being unraveled by the pain. It was all-encompassing.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" My voice returned as my high-pitched scream lowered to a level that my ears can register. I smashed my head against the floor of this bridge, and I could finally think clearly a bit.

In any normal situation, I would be spinning in dizziness, but that 'dizziness' is crystal clear compared to how clouded my mind was due to the onslaught of pain.

Using this moment of clarity, I saw next to my right eye a tiny holographic panel displaying information about my current body.

It was all fine. There wasn't anything wrong with my body.

Before I could ask 'Why am I in such pain', the same gut-wrenching agony came roaring back like a super tsunami, washing away all my conscious thoughts akin to a flash flood.

PAIN

The sheer pain that swallowed all thoughts made the armor I'm wearing feel like it was made out of molten lava. Instinctively, I began removing it, whether it was by bloodying my finger and tearing my nails in trying to rip it off or by rubbing very harshly against the walls of this place or really anything. The only thing on my mind was just to remove everything.

PAIN

BANG*

I slammed my head into the station floor as hard as possible, the pain still present. The sheer agony I felt in the current moment seemed as if the conceptual manifestation of pain itself crystallized into every cell of my Perfect Homunculus Body. If someone told me this was hell I'd believe them.

"ARRRRRGH!"

Why didn't I add an emergency ejection button for this?!

My hands bled. Even then I tried my absolute hardest with no regard for my own flesh in removing everything covering my body. All I could think, all I could focus on in this sea of boiling pain was just remove, remove, remove remove remove removeremoveremoveremoveREMOVEREMOVEREMOVE———!

My mind suddenly cleared. As abruptly as it came, the pain subsided.

"Ha... ha... ha..." Taking a few deep breaths, I moved to massage my forehead only to hiss in pain as I realized how most of my nails were gone, with only a tiny silver jutting out of the root. The next thing that came into my mind was how the tips of my fingers had intense friction burns, probably because of how hard and fast I tried to remove the armor I wore.

I stared at my bloodied hands, which were slowly healing.

A Perfect Homunculus physiology is much stronger than your average baseline human's, so how much force was I exerting that I harmed myself?

An out-of-body experience dominated my mind as if I had just gotten off the world's largest rollercoaster. I found myself staring aimlessly at those steadily healing fingers

It took several seconds before I finally got up. Reactively, I looked around me and saw how there were chunks and pieces of the armor I wore scattered like a bomb had just gone off.

Using [Technopathy, I telekinetically picked up those tiny pieces and reassembled them, repairing my armor in less than ten seconds.

What the actual hell was that? I gulped, my fingers still shaking slightly from phantom sensations of pain that covered my body.

Seeing how Rimuru didn't reply, I opted to talk to Veldora, the only other person who I have a [Soul Corridor] with.

'Veldora' I called out to the True Dragon currently residing in the Citadel.

'—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—'

I instantly shut off the connection. If it was an actual sound, I think my ears would be bleeding.

Taking several more deep breaths, I closed my eyes and mentally prepared myself for what was coming next.

I opened the [Soul Corridor] again and was blasted by that ungodly loud mental scream. In turn, I mentally screamed back, 'VELDORA, IT'S FINE NOW THE PAIN SHOULD HAVE SUBSIDED!'

'AAAA— hmm? Huh, you're right Scientia, it has subsided!'

'Do you know what the hell that pain was?'

'I don't know. And where's Rimuru? You'd think that he'll speak up after he stopped experiencing that strange pain.

Wait, RIMURU!

'Talk to you later Veldora!'

I cut off the channel without waiting to hear a response. Then I confirmed the Overdrive process for Doormaker to forcefully connect two points in spacetime.

This was a new feature I added after the situation with Ramiris and that THING.

Involuntarily, I shuddered when I recalled my contact with that THING. The feeling of dying trillions of times felt came back like the pain from a reopened wound.

Reality beside me shattered like glass, revealing the pitch blackness as dark as the surface of a black hole. It was like the maw of a great void had just opened up to swallow me whole. This is what happens when Doormaker is overclocked; in order to force two points in the geodesic skein of space-time to connect despite interference, it forgoes the usual 'door' and discretion in favor of a massive portal several times the size of my own body— brute-forcing two points to connect in the form of a rift in reality.

Walking through the crack in Realspace, I was greeted by the sight of a rolling green field. Even if it technically is winter, the areas around Ingrassia rarely plunge below the low 10s Celcius.

"Rimuru—"

I stopped.

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

A silver woman split in two. If it was flesh and blood, I'd have automatically assumed heavy machinery was used.

My mouth hung open at the sight of Shizue's destroyed War Chassis. I stared at the wreckage in eery quietness, not speaking a single word as if I were a detective at the scene of a crime.

I couldn't speak. [Inspired Inventor] was scrambling to try and come up with an explanation that somehow, Static Matter was destroyed in such a manner. The only way it's comedy up with right now was an event horizon.

The numbness I feel quickly turned into shock and horror when the corner of my eyes caught sight of a blue puddle.

"R... Rimuru?" I called out, my voice was empty of its usual passive confidence.

It was only when I started walking toward it that I realized someone else is watching me.

I don't pay attention to them.

I'm recognizing some horrible similarities between this and... that.

I fell on my knees just next to the puddle, my shaking hands touching the puddle to confirm that yes, it is Rimuru's body.

[Silenced Emotion: 95%]

'Hey, Rimuru, after the visit to Ingrassia do you want to go to space?'

He looked shocked at my proposal before a smile that you just can't help but want to protect blossomed on his face.

Nodding happily, I had a few chuckles as I watched him act like a kid.

[Silenced Emotion: 96%]

"So you are Scientia?" A cold voice spoke to me. I ignored them.

I was drinking that night, at a bar that one of these goblins had set up. Numerous empty glasses are in front of me yet I remain sober.

"Another one, bartender!" I yelled out to a particularly well-dressed male goblin who then poured me another shot.

Just as I was about to gulp it down, a hand suddenly stopped mine in its track. Treading up its arms to the face, I saw Rimuru sitting on the chair next to me in his human form. [Language] spoke up saying that his body is currently expressing a classical sign of worry.

Part of my mind also noted how he seemed to choose the Shizue form over the elf assassin he had first devoured.

"I think that's enough," Rimuru stated as he took the glass from my hand and placed it far away from me, "what's wrong?"

My lips thinned. His worried tone was like a missile that broke through all my defenses.

So I sighed and scratched my head, internally debating whether to tell him or not before shrugging and saying 'fuck it'.

It was a completely out-of-character act for me.

"I messed up."

Rimuru seemed taken aback by how blunt I responded. Either because of his Japanese sensibility not being used to my Western bluntness or he's now even more worried, wondering just what I had messed up on to cause me to be so down.

"What did you mess up on?" Rimuru asked as he morphed back into his slime form.

A large blue blob now covered the top of the barstool.

"It's about a contract, I tried to violate a geas and it backfired immensely." I took one of the empty glasses and examined it, hoping to see at least some alcohol left.

I gently traced my throat with my other hand.

"And you thought drowning it out with booze is a good way to deal with it?"

There was perplexion in his voice.

Seeing the glass had none, I sighed once more and leaned back, "In my past life, whenever a business deal falls through or is unsuccessful, I would often drink the night away. Then I would wake up tomorrow morning with a massive hangover and request a day off, which is always granted by the way, before returning the next day to work with a solution. My manager was very accommodating because I always get results."

Rimuru recoiled in surprise at my explanation, "Really?"

"Yes, I had originally started drinking back in my late teens after my sister—" I cut myself off, and pushed back the memory, "—point is, whenever I encounter a massive failure, I would drink until I fall over. Then, once I wake up, I will face the problem head-on. But I can't solve this problem. The amount of effort I sunk into recruiting them is a lot, and now they're gone because apparently, I had violated a sacrosanct tradition."

I awaited his judgment, yet none came as he instead looked at me with understanding in his eyes.

"Look, so you lied about your race, and so what? Personally, I can't really relate, but I can at least understand how difficult it must be to be a member of the most hated race out there. After all, I was once classmates with a Korean. I can understand hate and the fear of being left out; being an otaku really doesn't give you too many friends."

It felt nice to be understood.

I turned my seat to fully face him, before leaning in to hug the blue blob, causing said blob to squeak out a sound of surprise.

[Psychology] noted how alcohol has this placebo effect on me where it reduces my inhibition but I just drown it out when I nuzzled against the soft waterbed-like living pillow, my mind lost itself after a long day and sighed in comfort.

[Silenced Emotion: 97%]

"What? Not going to say anything?" The harshness in her voice increased, yet I nonetheless ignored it as if I was in my own world.

The cabin, though small, has this homey feel to it.

The interlocked design is still sturdy despite logically speaking, the house should fall after a strong breeze.

I sat and look outward from the edge of the deck of the cabin, before turning and looking up at the beautiful stars.

Stretching from north to south was a river made out of thousands of stars. It was a trail amidst a sea of blackness.

I've stared at this for a while now, and I could spot none of the constellations I'm familiar with, proving that I've truly reincarnated into another universe.

[Silenced Emotion: 20%]

It's a bit hard to accept that I've reincarnated, that I must leave behind my old life.

I didn't have too many friends in my old World, so oftentimes, as I lay restlessly on the bed at night, the light from the city shining through my window, I wondered, just how many people would cry if I died tomorrow. Would my mother or father cry? I would hope so. Would my sister cry? I... don't know.

Would they still cry if they knew I still live, but now in a new life in another World? Would they be happy that I'm alive or sad that I'm no longer by their side?

I thought about these questions as I reached up to try and touch those stars.

Little Kathy, even if we no longer talk after that event, I should still apologize as I'll no longer be there for you. But, my investments should still allow you and our parents to live relatively carefree about money.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

I felt an overwhelming sense of grief before it is silenced.

"So, what's your old name?" Rimuru asked as he bounced toward me, my legs continued to dangle off the ledge.

I brought up one of my legs so that the tip of my feet hung off the ledge. My two hands came together at the kneecap to bind that leg and prevent it from dropping.

I turned to face the other reincarnator, and spoke in a tone of thinly concealed mistrust and wariness; "why do you want to know?"

Even if we're both reincarnator, I'm still a bit distrusting and wary of the slime who can probably overpower and consume me easily.

Trust is a luxury in this situation. I don't have that luxury as everything I had known was stripped away. What's more, being eaten sounds like something that should only happen in fairy tales, and no longer in real life.

I don't want to be eaten.

"Just basic curiosity, you know? I'll go first: as you know, I'm someone from Japan who was stabbed to death when I was walking with my coworkers, though that coworker was showing off his fiance to me."

He sounded bitter.

"My old name was Satoru Mikami, but my new one is Rimuru Tempest! By the way, I hope this isn't too personal, but what time did you die?"

His words ignited a spark of curiosity deep within me, like an instinctual craving for knowledge.

"2019, July 16th. You?"

"Me too."

My eyes widen as Rimuru confirmed it. Occam's Razor suggests we both come from the same World, but with the multiverse, you never know how similar two Worlds can be. Though at least, it appears that if you die on the same day you get reincarnated at the same time and place.

Strange, perhaps time is isotropic in all Worlds?

"How did you die?" Rimuru blurted out before panicking, "I mean if you don't want to tell me that's totally fine!"

I gave a look of suspicion to Rimuru, before replying.

"I was stabbed. In the back—" I dropped my leg and shifted my body so that the area where the stab wound should've been is facing the slime. Touching the area, I found that yes, it was still smooth as if that stab had been a bad dream, "right there."

Yet I know it is no dream.

Rimuru looked at the area I was tapping and nodded.

"The person who stabbed me was some random." He then chuckled morbidly, "Y'know, I always dreamed of going out gloriously. Doing something that would be memorable like stopping a plane jacking, pushing a schoolgirl out of the path of a speeding car— those kinds of things. But I died never even having a girlfriend— I was 37 by the way!"

Rimuru spoke wistfully while turning to look at the stars, those words caused me to look at him in a new light. A friendlier light.

"What was your job in your past life?"

"Oh I worked for a major general contractor firm, you may have heard of it, it's pretty popular," the slime bragged with smugness oozing off of him in droves, "they're called Yamato Corporation."

His smugness died down once he saw the blank look I'm giving him, "Oh come on, don't tell me you don't know one of the largest construction companies in Japan?!"

I gave him a sheepish smile, "Well, I do know the motorcycle company, Yamaha." I offered. The sheepish smile transformed into a sly one, "I worked as an Assistant VP of a somewhat large firm, you may have heard of it, it's somewhat popular," I saw a blush on Rimuru's cheeks as I continued, "They're called Walmart."

A cheeky grin formed on my face as he deflated into a puddle, his insides probably dying of embarrassment.

[Silenced Emotion: 98%]

"I offer you a chance at speaking your last words and all I receive is silence? So be it," I saw a flash of metal in my peripherals, "since the only crime you have is enslaving my teacher and nothing else, I'll grant you a quick and painless death. The same gift I gave to that slime. It would only be fair."

[Silenced Emotion: 99%]

There was a cold rage that steadily filled every cell of my body. Due to how high [Silenced Emotion] is toggled at, I'm still able to think clearly instead of flying into a blind rage and ordering a saturation bombardment via exotic particles of the entire planet.

Raising an eye to glance at the woman who had killed Rimuru and Shizue if the condition of her body is any indication, my gaze was lifeless as [Psychology] and [Biology] dissected her entire personality and history with all but a single glance.

"..."

Had this been my old life, before I reincarnated, I think this woman would've been one I'd like to marry. [Psychology] and [Biology] told me she was strong, a bit pragmatic, and very standoffish: everything that would've been almost a mirror of myself. She would be an excellent conversationist, as both of us try to pick each other's brains and test each other's ideas.

When I looked at her, the remaining part of my body never moved a single bit as if it was frozen in time. My eyeballs then drink in her physical form; her violet eyes, a supermodel-worthy face, short black hair, and bangs that sweep over her right eye.

She hid the fact that she had flinched when I glanced at her very well.

Within that single moment of doubt, countless strings made from the kinks in spacetime manifested themselves from my left fingertips. These thin strings that reflected no light wrapped themselves around the woman before binding her around her neck, stomach, and all of her limbs.

Before the woman had even blinked, those spacetime strings hoisted her up in the air in a spread-eagle posture.

"Grk!"

The woman struggled fruitlessly against the black strings, with the latter not budging even a bit.

Pointless endeavor. These strings are made from spacetime itself, and according to [Spacetime Engineering, they SHOULD be unbreakable by anything other than a black hole or that THING.

Because of their nature, the strings used space itself as a pulley.

"Feel a fraction of the pain you caused me."

With a single casual move as if I was about to grasp the steering wheel of a car, I closed all of my fingers except my middle one.

There was a wet sound of tearing flesh and pulled cartilage.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

She let out a blood-curdling scream as all of her limbs were promptly torn right off. The wound oozed blood, but the bones were still intact, as four limbs broke off at the joint area.

Having an in-depth knowledge of biology and history allowed me to know that in my old World, four-limbed dismemberment was a method of execution reserved for the likes of traitors. Usually, this is done by horses, with a rope tied to each of the victim's limbs, four horses would start to pull and cause the joints of the hips and shoulders to dislocate. Typically, the muscles that covered the bones are strong enough that they can't really be torn off, so the actual dismembering part is done with a blade.

However, my Strings Implant aren't limited to the power provided by horses, thus they ripped this woman's limbs right out of her sockets like they were limbs on a wooden doll.

I stared at the gruesome and macabre display of the woman as she finally stopped screaming, having passed out from shock.

Any normal human would puke right now, but I'm paying more attention to how the wounds from the hips were bleeding far more than the shoulder.

Ah, that's right, it's because of those arteries.

The woman floated there in the air, the strings that bound her stomach and neck were still present.

Based on how much blood was coming out, I estimate that she'll die of trauma and blood loss in less than a minute.

No... that's not good enough. The cold fury still rages inside me like a hurricane, demanding to make the woman suffer more, to demand the country where she's from be glassed from orbit. To immolate every single citizen of Ruberios in nuclear fire.

So I approached her. Placing a hand on some of the wounds on her hip, the woman's blood dyed my hand a very pretty shade of red.

I closed those wounds with a type of cauterization. By transmuting the air around the woman's wounds into certain elements and compounds, I can create tiny exothermic chemical reactions to cauterize the wounds. With [Biology] and [First Aid] guiding [Unlimited Alchemy, I made sure the woman wouldn't die of shock.

After that was done, I took a few steps back and focused on the woman's clothing. Most of it was dyed red, but from what little remained I could tell she was a high-ranking member of the Western Holy Church.

My head slumped forward, much of my face covered by shadows, and only around the chin area does the sunlight shines through. The only thing one can see within that shadow is two glowing red orbs.

An aura of utter cold, freezing rage radiated from me like Chornobyl right after the accident in 1986, my teeth slowly grind themselves together as every monster within a mile radius started to run away.

Red veins blossomed from within my chest.

Finally, like a dormant volcano that hasn't blown in centuries, I exploded.

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" I screamed to the high heavens as [Unlimited Alchemy] transmuted the world around me, Rimuru's puddle, Shizue's corpse, and the unconscious woman all were unaffected.

Dirt turned into iron, black iron turned into yellow sulfur, yellow sulfur into slivery holmium, silvery holmium into solid oxygen, and solid oxygen into dark tungsten.

I cycled through every single element of the periodic table with an atomic number below that of Fermium.

The transmutation would continue had I not been alerted by [Biology] of how the woman would die from acute arsenic poisoning. So I returned the world to its original stage.

Lowering the limbless cripple next to me, I squatted and gripped her jaw using my right hand.

A Saint's physiology is truly fascinating. Being given a front-row seat to the apparent evolution of being humans, I saw how this Saint in particular possessed some qualities found in Spiritual Lifeforms while retaining a lot of the human ones.

The woman was completely unresponsive, so I then started carefully transmuting the extra arsenic in her bloodstream into a complex protein that her cells could use to repair themselves.

[Unlimited Alchemy, better known by its more common name: [Ultimate Alchemy] is just that, the ultimate form of alchemy. This form of alchemy is named so for it is capable of permanently altering the composition of the world so long as the law of equivalent exchange is followed. Basically, unlike normal alchemy whose transmuted matter turns back into its original element, [Unlimited Alchemy]'s doesn't. This magic also allows me to manipulate souls as easily as one manipulates clay, but previously I've never really used this aspect since I never had to.

Technology has made [Unlimited Alchemy] mostly obsolete. The magic's transmutation speed is slow compared to massive nuclear fusion and fission furnaces that can churn out millions of tons of transmuted elements every minute and its ability to affect spirits isn't something I usually use.

But that's no longer the case, isn't it?

I could feel part of myself die at the fact that Rimuru was gone.

After making sure at least 50% of the complex protein was dissolved in her body, I manipulate a bit of her brain with the aid of [Biology] to get her to wake up.

Her eyes snapped wide awake. They then darted all over the place but stopped when she saw me and sharpened. By the twitch of her body, I could tell if she still had her limbs, this woman would instantly be on my throat right now.

It took a few more seconds for her to realize why she was not moving.

My lips formed the shape of a cruel crescent moon, "Truthfully, I don't hate people. I don't even hate the one who stabbed me— of course, if I see them again I'll knock their lights out but true, unadulterated, unequivocal hatred?"

My eyes gained a faraway look in them. The memory of a particular teen came to the forefront of my mind.

"The closest I have for that is that teen who did the unspeakable. But I felt nothing but disdain for him, and I made sure society feel disdain for him as well." I then gripped her throat hard enough that all the woman could get out was a quiet squeak.

Red lines crawled down my arms as I used [Unlimited Alchemy] to transmute the carbon dioxide inside her lungs back into oxygen. This way, she wouldn't suffocate or pass out again.

"But you, oh you, you, you, you, you, YOU pathetic, pitiful insignificant dolt. I care not for your name. You are someone who has my true and complete hatred." There was a gleam of madness in my eyes, my body shaking as I spoke, "There are so many things I'd like to do to you but first!"

My right hand reached out to my side. The red veins that covered the arm like vines on an old and decrepit building pulsed before more lines of crimson crawled from my chest.

Very quickly, there were enough red veins on my right arm that it almost looked like it was made out of the stuff.

I reached out. My presence fills this isolated space that sits on the fabric of spacetime. My consciousness expanded, leaving my body as I reached out and plucked every particle of Essence in this place.

The woman's eyes displayed naked confusion as a spark grew in the palm of my right hand. The brightness of that spark grew exponentially alongside it, forming something that visually looked like a miniature star that outshone the sun above.

Rimuru's Essence condensed.

Essence is the 'quarks' of the Soul and Spiritual Lifeforms like spirits. It is the building block that starts to break down after a person's death, diffusing into the surroundings like how after death, a bacteria's body breaks down and diffuses into the environment. Although, testing involving Lesser Spirits made me realize that Essence actually dissipates somewhere else, a place that I called: the Metaphysical Plane.

I call this phenomenon: Spiritual Decay, named so for how similar it is to nuclear decay.

Rimuru's Essence hasn't dissipated yet because of an isolation barrier that permeates this area.

The visit to the Dwelling of Spirits gave me new insights into how the Universe works. It was a radically new approach, so much so that I had to scrap my previous models to create a new theoretical framework for how the Universe works.

It has some issues, and the maths still needs some work but the just of it is this:

There is a greater multiverse. Based on Arcueid's words, it seemed this greater multiverse contains every mathematically conceivable structure of physics. Something or someone, perhaps an unimaginably advanced alien race or perhaps God, built a wall of pure entropy around a small branch of the multiverse— it simply has to be since intelligence is a must when it comes to the design of this wall.

Whoever this entity is, they placed a wall around infinity and locked us out of the greater multiverse like animals in a zoo.

A central finite curve of limited possibility.

This radical new theory postulates the Metaphysical Plane, or as the people of this World would call the Spirit World, is the space between these individual universes that are nested in the wall of entropy. Souls travel there after they die to get reincarnated, it's how I appeared here after my untimely death.

The new theoretical model also places Spiritrons as a type of force carrier like Gluons. There are limits to the new theory, chief among them is how it can't yet explain magicules since they behave similarly to virtual particles wherein they pop in and out of Realspace but they have a tangible effect on the Calabi-Yau Manifolds.

Of course, there are ways to slow down a soul's dissipation into the Metaphysical Plane, one of which is the magical barrier that surrounds this place.

I frown at the appearance of only Rimuru's Essence, as I can't seem to gather Shizue's.

Almost as if it didn't exist.

Immediately flaring my [Technopathy, I found it pinged within the pocket of the woman underneath me.

This bitch thought she could steal one of my employees? My maniac grin widen even further at the ridiculous thought, "Oh the things I am going to do with you..."

As the employer, it is my obligation to ensure my employee's safety is well-cared for. A happy employee is one that would follow you to the ends of the earth and will work much harder, so I strive to make my employee happy and content, whether it's through bonuses or benefits.

I made sure the woman watched as I took out Shizue's Soul Orb. Then, I opened a Doorway right beside me to a very special place: Narnia, a super prison designed to contain the likes of Veldora.

Since normal stasis doesn't really affect purely spiritual beings, I was a bit stuck on a non-magical solution of containing a Spirit. So I opted for a workaround using the Theory of Relativity.

The largest black hole I can find is an ultramassive one around three billion light years away. This ultramassive black hole contains approximately a tenth of an average galaxy's worth of mass and it's got a diameter long enough to contain over half a dozen solar systems.

Since being near a black hole's event horizon causes time to stretch according to Relativity, I built a special facility that orbits just above the event horizon of this ultramassive black hole. The time dilation one would experience when they're on that facility is extreme enough that one year of external time equals four minutes of internal time.

Truthfully I could probably achieve the same time dilation by just accelerating an individual to near-light speed, but the black hole is more there for a failsafe in case someone actually managed to escape Narnia.

Obviously, there are several caveats that make transportation of prisoners difficult, namely how fast the station is orbiting the singularity— you can't just stand still in the orbit of a black hole and not expect to fall into the event horizon, that's like expecting the International Space Station to remain there in space even if it stopped moving. Therefore, if I were to teleport her in without factoring in the velocity, this woman would smash into the walls at near the speed of light.

So instead of directly teleporting into Narnia as I normally would with someone strong like Veldora, I opted to place this woman in a sublight transport and had it accelerate to the same speed as that super prison, docking it with it.

I threw the woman unceremoniously into the Doorway, leaving me alone with Shizue's Soul Orb and the remains of Rimuru's Essence.

For the first time, I actively sought out a magical solution by placing all five charges for the day into [Magic] in hopes of it giving me a spell that can cheat death.

I felt my mouth form into a scowl.

'Shut up, I am someone who redefines what is and is not possible!'

Being the very building block of the Soul, it is theoretically possible to build a machine that can remake Rimuru into exactly how he was before. However, the problem comes with the potential for mistakes. Like trying to reconstruct a brain, misplacing a single neuron will result in a completely different person from the one you knew before, and so is the same for Essence— even if the personality and the ego are the same, they are fundamentally a different person.

If I want to bring Rimuru back from the spiritual equivalent of coming into contact with a Monopole, I'll need to carefully rebuild his Soul Essence by Essence in a painstaking process that I don't have a technological solution to. Not even [Unlimited Alchemy] has the precision required to rebuild a soul from its most basic component.

This is like trying to remake a wooden log exactly how it was before it was burned using leftover ash.

I stood silently amidst the field, my eyes closed with Shizue and Rimuru's broken Soul within my hands. If anyone were to see me now they would think I'm either meditating while standing upright or I'm focusing on trying to remember something.

I am someone who is known to perform miracles every day with the ease of someone blinking, I refuse to think of death as permanent.

I will rebuild Rimuru using his Essence.

Through [Technopathy, I established a connection with the finished Matrioshka Brain to help me solve this problem.

[Magic] is giving me useless crap I don't need. No, I don't need to know how to cast a fireball the size of a Moon, no, I don't need to know the perfected form of Gravity Collapse— what I need is a spell that can reconstruct the Essence exactly how it was before the soul was shattered!

[Temporal Engineering] was about to speak up before being shot down by [Soul] who spoke of the acausal nature of the spirit.

According to the Theory of Supercausality, any time travel will follow the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle. This means that the universe will limit the free will of those who travel to the past in order to prevent any Grandfather's Paradox shenanigans.

After the ten-minute mark was when I started to panic a bit. The longest time that my specialties have refused to give me an answer was six minutes, and that's mainly because [Temporal Engineering] has only two charges when I asked it to build me a Closed Timelike Curve weapon.

After half a year, I have around 900 charges, this shouldn't be happening!

I grit my teeth and tried to wring all the answers from my specialties.

"Grr!" I growled out while biting my tongue, careful to not squeeze the spark of Essence and Shizue's orb too hard.

Do not fail me when I need you the most, [Inspired Inventor]!

Well damn, [Great Sage] gave me an answer before [Inspired Inventor]?

'What is the way?'

So... the hero or the dark lord? Frodo or Sauron?

I chuckled a bit. This sounds terrifyingly similar to your Tolkien novel, so perhaps Tolkien was a reincarnator? His Lord of the Rings has some of the best world-building in all of fiction, after all, and what better way to create a fictional world than basing it off another one?

But that's just food for thoughts later.

'How does it work?'

My eyes widened at the information given to me. So the Voice of the World has a certain degree of sentience? That a Hero or a Demon Lord is powerful enough that their very birth bends how physics and metaphysics work? Like the birth of a black hole? And that we can implement our own laws?

There's definitely something more to consciousness then. I can safely say it's no longer an emergent property of self-replicating chemistries.

I was in awe of the explanation. A part of my mind made a memo to update the Endbringer Initiative to better deal with the Ten Great Demon Lords.

'How do I become a True Hero?'

So, like, one of those 'Shonen' Japanese comics that Veldora likes so much, I noted. Placing a hand over my chin, I then asked another question.

'I assume I don't have a Hero Egg?'

I winced a little bit at the garbled words [Great Sage] had said, part of me wondering just why is Perfect Homunculus such a hard thing for it to say.

'What about Demon Lords?'

"..."

I paused at the part about killing so many humans. My mind reflected on how such a low number of casualties is common in modern conflicts but that's because of many people fighting each other, not a single individual racking up so much blood on their hands.

The single greatest mass murderer is probably the one who pressed the drop button on Little Boy, who killed around 140,000 people. If the indirect number is taken into account, then dictators and conquerors in history push the number into the millions.

Finally, I asked the question.

'How many human souls do I need to ascend to a Demon Lord?'

My body became completely still at the number given to me by [Great Sage] as if I had been turned into a statue.

Holy shit. 450,000— 450 thousand— almost half a million souls. That is the price for Rimuru's resurrection. That number is on the lower end of estimation for how many people Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam had killed during his reign as the leader of Ethiopia between 1974 and 1991.

"Ah..." My shoulders slumped, "it seems that I would need to become a monster on par with the worst that the World has to offer."

The thing is, unlike many hateful and bigoted people in my old World, I have the compacity to make that death count into reality, with ease. Just one single fusion torch attached to a 100-meter-wide asteroid is enough to annihilate a city of millions like Lura.

'Why so many?'

I bit my lips hard enough to draw blood.

There's an uneasiness in my stomach. The uneasiness was like a flood that washed away the flames of anger I had for that woman.

I felt myself standing at the entrance to my old university, a little over a decade ago, where two paths lay before me.

Either I try to fulfill the vague willpower requirement, all the while Rimuru's Essence continues to break down and become a True Hero, or I go the faster path and kill half a million people and become a Demon Lord.

Essentially, either follow a quest but you're not given the instructions, or become a mass murderer.

Fuck

I... I... I don't want to become a mass murderer. I don't want my name to be placed alongside the likes of Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, or Adolf Hitler. But at the same time, I don't know if I can fulfill the requirements for becoming a True Hero before Rimuru is lost to me forever.

AN: I wonder what paths would Scientia follow?

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" indeed.

See if you guys got the Rick and Morty and Marvel What IF reference in this chapter.

38

I placed Rimuru's Essence inside a container engraved with the rune of stasis and preservation. I once tried to contain Essence using a magnetic field but it seems that while I can touch it, Spiritual Decay still occurs, and those particles of Essence return to the Spirit World.

Afterward, I looked around the environment that surrounded me. On the ground right next to where I had strung that woman up was a really nice sword dipped in that woman's blood.

[Primitive Weapons] and [Blacksmith] are all impressed with it. Swinging the blade around, I found that its weight is perfectly balanced, to an almost supernatural degree. Bringing the cutting edge of the blade much closer, I discovered the sword's edge blurs in and out of focus, making me a bit dizzy.

It also seems the blade is radiating tiny gravitational waves if the sudden pop-up from my armor is any indication.

Overall, the blade has a certain beauty to it. I dare say it almost rivals that of the sheathed blade I pulled from the Dimensional Bore.

I was able to distract myself from the Rimuru question. By fully focusing on the blade, I could pretend that everything was alright.

But just like a dream, that pretense must end, and it ended when I popped back into the halls of the Tempest Capitol building.

(AN: Play Violet Evergarden OST "The Ultimate Price")

View: https//watch?v=X8SpPAnyEMQ

I looked utterly dead as I thought of what was to come next. The hall was eerily silent, with the only sound being the clacking of my boots against the floor. Equally, my eyes had this distant look in them as I was lost in thoughts.

Is it worth it? Is reviving Rimuru really worth the death of almost half a million people?

Joseph Stalin once said that the death of one is a tragedy, but the death of one million is a statistic. For me it's the reverse; I can live with myself if I only kill one, but one million? That's a tragedy.

I wonder if this is the same dilemma that President Harry S. Truman went through when he was presented with the option of choosing either between Operation Downfall or the dropping of the two atomic bombs.

Eventually, the man chose the atomic bombs because it ultimately led to fewer American lives lost. However, if I 'drop the atomic bomb' so to say, I wouldn't be saving more lives, I'd be taking them to save the life of a single person.

Even if they are the enemy, I will effectively be snuffing out the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of 450,000 souls, which is the equivalent of a medium-sized city in the US.

I'm not the kind of general in WWI that'll send out troops to die in trenches while I sit in my comfy office and look at a map. But am I the kind of leader who'll sacrifice half a million for one?

I have ethics, as loose as they might be. I really don't want to become a mass murderer but at the same time... I could choose military targets within the borders of Ruberios.

No, that wouldn't work. With the amount of influence the Church has in the West, even if I release the truth of how Rimuru was assassinated by that woman, the common people wouldn't believe it. I would get painted as the bad guy, and Western Holy Church would get an excuse to announce another Crusade and plunge the world into a war on a scale unseen since Relentless was still around.

I then consulted [Mathematics] and [Statistical Analysis] to get an estimate of the total death toll such a war would cause. Those two specialties quickly give it a wide berth of between 10 million and upwards of 70 million. And this isn't even counting what if the Eastern Empire joins this World War near the end as the two sides exhaust themselves.

Crunch*

I continue to walk down the halls of the pyramid, completely in a world of my own as I debate internally on what to do. The scary thing is, killing these many people is the easy part. If I get rid of all my morals, all my humanity, I really, really could simply just order an orbital bombardment of Ruberios' capital from the next star system over with superluminal munitions. A simple press of a button. I could even make it painless, as I'll saturate the city with virtual particles that decay entropically in Realspace when they're forced to become real particles through the Conservation of Mass and Energy.

Crunch*

Imagine going about your day, a bright sunny day, the birds are singing, the childrens are playing, the local blacksmith is hammering away at a piece of metal... And then you're suddenly in a wintery hellscape. The snow that's falling around you? Those are flakes of solid oxygen. The rain? That's liquid helium. That's what happens when you use virtual particles as offensive weapons. Weaponizing entropy itself.

Crunch*

But then, that sounds awfully like what Relentless would do. Mass murder. Genocide. I don't completely know the history of this World, but I do know that the world hasn't seen such a sudden and drastic depopulation ever since they got rid of Relentless.

Crunch*

If I do this, I'll be like a German politician reenacting the Holocaust 400 years after WWII. The irony would be almost too much for me to handle.

Crunch*

So what's left for me then? Starting a war with the West and using the lives lost in that war to fuel my ascension into a Demon Lord? How long will that take? Will Rimuru's Essence still be around then?

Crunch*

I'm trying very hard to find another way out of this mess other than to pick a random city in Ruberios and wipe it off the map. And I'm not seeing the light.

Crunch*

Say that I did win the war and managed to revive Rimuru, the entirety of the West would resent the Jura Tempest Republic for killing their loved ones, whether it's a son, a father, a brother, or a mother— we would be hated on the world stage. Moreover, how would future generations view me?

Crunch*

Being immortal, I'll have to deal with the potential consequences that come centuries later. I can't just be like Stalin, kill tens of millions of people, and die before I'm tried and judged for the crimes I've done.

Crunch*

And let's not even talk about fanatics. Luminism will turn into something like Islam with how it'll breed radicals and terrorists.

Crunch*

So... what should I do then? My lips thinned, my hands tightening into fists. What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? Should I kill close to half a million and get Rimuru back or move on? God fucking damn it, what is the right choice?! Do I follow my heart or do I follow my brain?

I felt as if I was an elastic band being stretched. I was torn between the two decisions. One that I know was wrong and yet my heart is aching me to choose, and the other I knew was right and yet I really don't want to choose.

It would be so easy... It really would be all too easy to snuff out the life of so many people. And that's why I was so careful. I knew intrinsically that I am powerful, whether the most powerful being on this planet is still debatable but with my space assets I could vaporize this planet many, many times over. But I don't, because I have ethics.

Ethics.

I thumbed the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. I could almost hear Rimuru's voice telling me to move on.

"But I really don't want to..."

Truly, you never know something is precious when it's gone.

Just like Kathy—

Crunch*

It was only now that my mind registered how I was stepping on broken glass.

(AN: OST end)

Looking around me, I saw how I've reached the main hall. It was like looking at the scene of a disaster relief camp. There were people running all over the place, with a noticeable amount of those who sat down possessing bandages wrapping around their faces and hands.

Looking toward the edge of the room, I saw how there were large piles of tiny glass shards, almost as if someone had swept them there, out of the way. In fact, everything that was made out of glass was seemingly destroyed: the glass front door was gone with only metal frames remaining, and the windows were blown out.

"What... happened here?"

My eyes then zoomed in on the middle of the room, where the orbs that should've hovered in the air thanks to magnets have all crashed into the ground.

Even if the power went out, the orbs would slowly drift down, not smash into the ground! That only happens if the internal electronics are busted.

I then pulled up the OSS's system log, only to discover that there weren't any more logs from Metropolis beyond sixteen minutes ago.

"You!" I pointed at a hobgoblin who was carrying medical supplies, "Quickly explain to me what happened here?"

"D—Director! Oh, thank god!" The hobgoblin immediately stood to attention, "Um, we don't know, Director Scientia. It all happened so suddenly, everything was fine one moment, all nonessential staff was evacuating and then the next all the windows and doors were destroyed! And none of the electronics seem to work either. Those who stood near anything made out of glass were injured when they exploded, so we're mostly focused on trying to provide first aid to those who were the most injured."

All signs point to a coordinated attack.

Damn! I was too complacent! I thought with all the weapons and technology I possess I was invincible!

A portal to my personal pocket dimension materialized next to me. From it, I took out a large silver box full of vials of mimicry organs. They're called that because they're multi-functional super organs that'll keep the brain alive even when all other organs have failed by mimicking their functions.

So long as the skull is still intact, the super organ can effectively act as the heart, lung, liver, stomach, bone marrow, pancreas, and bladder— everything that is vital to the immediate and short-term survival of the brain.

"Take this. They're for the worst injured. Just one injection into the base of their skull and they'll live for the next 48 hours." I handed the large box to the hobgoblin.

The hobgoblin beamed, quicking bowing, "Thank you, Director Scientia!"

With that, he sped off, leaving me alone at the entrance to the main entrance hall.

Squatting down, the pile glimmered and glittered during my motion. I then traced my finger across a small pile of these tiny shards of glass and had my armor analyze them. I was given a result not a second afterward.

These glass shards are really sharp. They're also cut really finely, almost as if the silicon had been molecularly displaced.

I then had the armor test the air and found a high enough content of silicon particles in the air to be a dangerous health hazard if breathed in for too long. It'll be almost like breathing in volcanic ash.

Some of these people will probably have a higher risk of cancer later on in life, I denoted, and many probably have already developed silicosis.

Opening a new portal to my pocket dimension again, I was about to take out an air purifier before another glimmer through the main doorframe from outside of the Congressional Pyramid caught my eye.

"No..." I uttered, "My city..."

I walked toward the main doorway as if it were the only thing that mattered, everything in my path was ignored.

I saw it. The arcologies, the skyscrapers— all of the glass on them were peeled off. It was a jungle of concrete and metal skeletons, all devoid of the reflective mirror-like sheen that usually causes one to divert their eyes away as a second sun appears on the surface of a building. Piles of glass shards some rising to heights taller than your average human filled the streets.

It was like looking at an abandoned city.

Did someone capable of controlling silicon attack? I extended the reach of my [Technopathy] toward the Overwatch Security System, only to get static.

So I then focused on trying to find any active technology, only to find mostly static. Thankfully the underground fusion reactor powering Metropolis has safely shut down. I would not want plasma with a temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees from escaping its confinement and rampaging even underground.

Still, just what the hell happened? I get that we were attacked, but why has it stopped? Clearly, the city's defenses have gone down so this is an excellent opportunity to deal more damage. It'll be like Pearl Harbor but all the anti-aircraft guns have been destroyed.

My specialties started coming up with potential explanations for what could be possible. Some of the more ridiculous explanations were postulated by [Dimensional Physics] and suggest a temporary cessation of the Electromagnetic Force. The most likely out of these thousands of proposals I find was made by [Political Science] and suggests possibly an enemy nation was able to infiltrate and sabotage Metropolis.

If that's the case, then I guess my open-door policy to immigration was coming to bite me back in the ass. Or rather, my gamble with Mjurran backfired.

I knew that Mjurran was one of the Fingers of Clayman. Even before being given confirmation by Blumund's secret intelligence, I already had my suspicion about the woman when the capital of Youm's security detail altered me of how Mjurran rarely ate any of the magicule laxative pills given to all humans to allow them to live side-by-side with monsters.

Now, one may wonder why would one intentionally allows a spy into their government. I allowed Mjurran to become a bodyguard of Youm to show Demon Lord Clayman just how powerful the Jura Tempest Republic is.

I let these spies like Mjurran into positions where they can come into contacts with nothing of true importance because I want them to tell their government that attacking us is futile. I want to give them a forecast of what's coming, that the status quo no longer exists. I want them all to realize I hold the biggest stick in the world and I'm not afraid to use it.

But what if she isn't a spy but is instead a Trojan Horse? What kind of magic is it that allows one to molecularly displace every single piece of silicone within a city?!

According to the report shared by Blumund, Mjurran was only an A-rank Majin, not an A!

The back of my armor opened up to reveal a pair of thrusters. With additional thrusters around the front of my chest for mid-flight adjustment, I flew into the sky above the Congressional Pyramid.

As I reach a height of a kilometer, I spotted nine A.A.A. in the distance, rapidly approaching the capital.

What kind of situation was it that requires such a serious response?

A holographic visor materialized around my eyes, telling me who was piloting them, their speed, their directions, and their estimated time of arrival.

"This is Commander Scientia Tempest, Anti-Army Armaments, states your intentions. Over." I broadcasted to them.

It was a few seconds of silence before I was given a response, "This is Unit-222, Captain Rilou, we are responding to a request for mobilization of military assets from the Overwatch Security System after it activated Contingency Plan D-34-98 after encountering a foreign army on Tempest soil. Over."

What? The plan when a foreign army invades Metropolis and everyone must take shelter?

"Give me the data package pertaining to that request, please. Over."

Another hologram materialized in front of me as I received the passage. The hologram displayed all the information I requested, specifically, a picture taken by one of the security drones of the 'foreign army' before it was suddenly taken offline.

Why wasn't I informed of this by the system log?

"The situation appears to be under control. Continue circling around the city. Alert me if you find any anomalous movements. Over"

"Yes, Commander. Over."

Then, I blasted off to the place where this foreign army was supposed to be. As I neared the street of Barthers, my heart sank as I found there were dozens of black bodybags spread in an orderly fashion all over the streets, with an entire section of the street covered in blood and gore.

I landed softly as I didn't want to interrupt the somber silence in the air. Police officers clad in heavy riot gear stood at attention near the edge of the carnage, with one touching their ears, probably alerting the current highest-ranking officer that I arrived.

I stared at the massacre. My armor instinctively placed a filter mask over my face since it must've smelled horrible.

Blood literally covered a whole section of the streets as if someone had dumped gallons of red paint, with splashes of that same redness coloring the base of the nearby buildings. Bits of flesh were splattered all over the place like a bomb made out of meat had gone off.

I took a knee by the edge of this carnage and placed a hand inside a concentrated puddle of this scarlet liquid, much of it have already been drained away into the sewers.

The result I received from my suit's genetic scanner was that it was a mixture of human and horse blood, with around 400 variants of the human blood distinct enough to be their own individual.

So at least 400 humans have died in this massacre? What could have possibly caused this?! You'd need something on the level of heavy machinery to even approach how mangled and mutilated most of these bodies are.

"Scientiaaaa!" Arcueid called out my name while standing in the middle of this carnage. Her clothing was the same as before, that same pristine and untouched whiteness.

Yet it looked so wrong as Arcueid trotted across the carnage. The smile on her face was full of innocence as she was happy to see me again.

"Mh, Arcueid, why are you here— Mmmf!"

Like a missile, Arcueid crashed into me before enveloping my body in a bear hug. I would've fallen if not for my armor automatically adjusting my center of mass.

"He he! I just saved some citizens of your republic from a foreign army!" The True Ancestor proudly declared, "There were like hundreds of people on horseback who looked really scary as they neared your people before I stepped in and dealt with it."

To say that I was alarmed would be an understatement. Arcueid was the cause of all this? Arcueid? Really?

My first thought was to reject that idea.

My mental image of Arcueid was this carefree whimsical teen who read books all-day before coming to bother me once she got bored of her books, forcing me to entertain her. The possibility that she could be responsible for this massacre sounded about as possible as a photon moving faster than light without outside help.

I tilted my head to get a better view of more than a bundle of blonde hair and saw some police officers electing up prefabricated polymer walls to section off the streets and censor the carnage.

My gas mask fell apart into a black liquid-like substance that trickled into my armor, rejoining with it.

Patting Arcueid on her back, the vampire let out some pleased sounds before the sound of a jet engine filled the air.

A military VTOL aircraft descended from the city skylines. With three pairs of thrusters, two situated in the front and one in the back, these VTOL aircraft are rather silent, compared to your average helicopter from my old World anyways.

"Commander Scientia!" I heard sounds of boots rapidly stepping on the ground before a louder one and silence, "Commander Scientia, Field Marshal Ririna, reporting for duty!"

"Arcueid, can you please let go of me?"

Arcueid hummed to herself, "Mmmmm, no. Not until you praise me for stopping this foreign army."

"Are you really justifying your act of killing all these people in the name of national security?" Ririna asked with a tone of doubt, "How do we know you haven't just chosen some random citizens and killed them during the chaos caused by that glass rain?"

Arcueid loosened her hug as she glared at Ririna.

"Go away, little girl."

There was an aura emanated from Arcueid that caused everyone around us to tense up. I could hear how Ririna audibly gulped but stood her ground unflinchingly against the True Ancestor.

Just as she opened her mouth to retort, I moved to de-escalate the situation.

"Arcueid, Ririna, we're in the middle of a disaster zone. We'd deal with the specifics later."

Ririna instantly stood at attention, before quickly bowing, "Sorry Commander Scientia! This won't happen again. I shall take control of the disaster relief, starting with assessing the situation. By the way, Commander Scientia, were you able to get into contact with the President? He was expected to stop by Camp Delta before heading back to Metropolis."

Ah... right, I haven't told them what happened.

There was a strained look on my face. My eyes glanced around, finding this place to be too public.

"A situation came up. We'd need to gather all high-ranking staff both civil and military to debrief them on what happened."

Ririna's eyes said how she'd want to know more, but she then nodded, "I see. Very well, I'll alert all high-ranking officers to where?"

"Meeting room B-19."

"Yes, Commander!" Ririna saluted before taking off to the landed VTOL aircraft.

I opened another Doorway and was about to walk in before Arcueid grabbed my right hand, reeling me back from the portal.

"Scientiaaaa, praise me!"

A pout formed on Arcueid's face, causing her cheeks to puff up like a hamster's.

It was cute, enough that I temporarily forgot Rimuru's demise.

"Good job, Arcueid." I smiled, before patting her on the head, "Thank you for defending the citizens of the Republic."

The True Ancestor preened under my compliment. Her smile was so... great that I felt my heart shatter.

My current situation was like when a three-year-old child asked their father where their mother is after she passed away. The child was too young to really grasp the concept of death, so the father was forced to brunt the pain alone.

I'll need to kill 450,000 people to get Rimuru back...

It took half an hour for Ririna and me to collect everyone. With the destruction of every electronic device, Ririna had to call for help from some of those flying A.A.A. units to pry open dead blast doors in Sector 23 that sealed off the entrance to underground shelters housing civilians.

It was fortunate that D-34-98 wasn't fully implemented, as every civilian are required to evacuate to their nearest safety shelter.

Repairing the fusion reactor was easy, so as the plasma slowly heats up to an appropriate temperature that can generate electricity, I took out a handheld antimatter battery in the meantime and plugged it into the Capitol building's grid.

Everyone I requested sat inside this large meeting room lit by lights that I took out from my pocket dimension. Since the chairs weren't numerous enough, a few other government staff and Arcueid opted to sit on the couches that were lined up against the wall.

The room was again silent. No one spoke a word and everyone was waiting patiently for me to start.

I brought my hands up in front of me on the table. The fingers on my two hands conjoined together and I adopted a business-like posture.

"I think... We should start first with a debriefing of what had happened."

[Acting] took over my every move.

Rubedo stood up. In his hands was a small USB stick that he promptly plugged into the hologram projector at the center of the table.

The lights in the room dimmed, making room for the hologram that depicted a timeline of what happened.

"At 1219 hours today, the OSS executed Contingency Plan D-34-98. For those of you who don't know, Conplan D-34-98 is only to be executed if the AI detected a foreign army at the edge of the city. Because most of Metropolis' servers have gone offline due to what we determined, thanks primarily to the effort of the Minister of Magic, to be a city-wide matter displacement-type magical attack that specifically targets all silicon atoms, we were unable to collect any information on why Conplan D-34-98 was declared."

Then, the holographic head of a young Japanese teen replaced the timeline.

"Thanks to the statement of Miss Arcueid Brunestud," Arcueid perked up at the mention of her name, "and an underaged Otherworlder from Falmuth who surrendered himself to the Metropolitan Police Bureau, we were able to construct exactly what happened: Falmuth originally sent him and two others, presumably the cause of that Keter-class threat, as the vanguard to test our defense. According to him, they were also supposed to be the start of a false flag operation to create justification for Falmuth to send in their army to quote 'protect humans,' unquote."

The head of that Japanese teen was again replaced by the camera footage of someone outside of the city. At first, it was normal, before a sudden flash of light and all those distant archologies lost their reflective sheen.

"We suspect one of the Otherworlders was responsible for this attack, however, none of them are talking. The one who gave himself up to the police said he had no idea. At the end of the day, we have no idea who's responsible for that magic field."

Falmuth... I placed a hand on my chin in deep thought. I hadn't expected Falmuth of all countries to attack us since we can easily decimate their cities with Project Thrones alone.

This it'll be like if the Iranians launched an assault on Kuwait after the first Gulf wars. Nobody's that stupid, especially not after our displays of might, so logic dictates then someone must be forcing Falmuth's hands from the shadow as I doubt King Edmaris would willingly sacrifice his knights for such a pointless endeavor.

Perhaps this is a coordinated attack? A decapitation strike against Rimuru while a secondary assault on Tempest... the timing seems to suggest the Western Holy Church be behind all this.

And then Clayman used the opportunity to hit us while we were down.

Things are happening. Many pieces are moving all across the board, and we're in the middle of it.

As the room discussed, I pulled up a holographic map of this planet and started checking the area of Falmuth that borders Tempest. Numerous spy satellites each situated at varying heights in orbit turned their camera and scoured the area, cross-referencing with existing data to find any deviations.

First, we'll deal with Falmuth. That initial small contingent of knights can't be all that is. No, if I recall correctly, Rimuru offhandedly mentioned over a hologram call how in an intelligence report given by Blumund, Falmuth was gathering a force of 50,000.

In half a second, the network of spy satellites found that the castle city of Quarta had a long line of men marching out of the main gate on a road to Tempest's border. Based on their current speed, they'll reach there by tomorrow noon.

Grabbing this, I flung the holographic map to the middle of the table, expanding it.

"I found Falmuth's main force. They're marching toward our border and should get there in about a day's trek. We'll need to alert Blumund of this development and have them prep their armies for defense. We'll also alert Dwargon of what has occurred but don't invoke our mutual defense treaty; we'll use this opportunity to show the world why the Jura Tempest Republic is not to be messed with."

I then turned to Youm, who suddenly straightened his back at the attention, "Tell us a bit about the traitor Mjurran, would you?" I said in a sweet tone that caused shivers to go down Youm's spine.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Mjurran's a traitor?" Youm looked confused.

"Albedo. As the Minister of Magic, I think you have the proof?"

The pink Kijin stood up, her shrine maiden outfit made her stand out like a white marble in a basket of black pebbles. Even if Albedo doesn't have proof, I'll just reveal Mjurran's true allegiance.

"Everyone has a unique soul, and that unique soul results in a unique magicule signature. Skilled practitioners of magic are able to determine the origin of spells through the signature in the magicules used to fuel them. By copying the signature of that anti-silicon field, I discovered it matched perfectly with Mjurran's."

Youm opened his mouth, except no words came out.

So in place of a response, I opened a Doorway beside me and reached in—

"Mjurran!"

—pulling out the teal-haired woman by her throat.

Youm tried to rush to Mjurran, but I strung him up against the ceiling with my Strings Implant.

"Yo...um...!" The hidden majin in my grasp squeaked out despite the pressure I'm putting on her throat.

Turning my head, I took a good long look at one of Clayman's Fingers.

Mjurran's clothing remains the same as the first day I had met her, except there's a dash of modernity thrown in the dress she wore with the addition of a digital watch on her wrist.

"Little Majin, I know who your master is." She instantly stopped struggling, "You know, I underestimated the level of damage a single individual can cause. I thought that my technology can easily serve as a great equalizer. But it seems I was wrong, and Rimuru and Metropolis paid the price. I thought that as a spy, all you had to do was to send information back to Clayman, not that you were a sleeper agent waiting for the right moment to strike."

I tightened my grip, and Mjurran redoubled her effort by smacking my armored hands. The edge of her eyes glistened as tears came out from the choking.

A small holographic display appeared next to me, showing the exact position of where Doormaker caught Mjurran.

"...Did you really go back to the Foreign Relations Office?" I couldn't help but blurt out, "I heard stories of how Clayman gets his subordinates, were you hoping to invoke sympathize with your tragic backstory?"

I turned to face her. Realizing that she couldn't speak, I loosened my grip and she fell to the floor, coughing and massaging her throat.

That lasted longer than a second before I strung her up as I did with Youm.

The scary thing is, I think Rimuru would've allowed her to walk free.

But not me. I don't bother confirming that sympathy theory.

"Did you really think I would be soft on you just because you're a pawn on this geopolitical chessboard?"

In a tone of desperation, Youm cried out, "Director, please! Have mercy! Mjurran was forced into doing it!"

"Shut." A single move of my index finger and the spacetime string that wrapped around Youm's throat tightened, not enough that the man was choking, just that he'll find it difficult to speak.

I looked between the two of them, an idea crossed my mind. A rather cruel and befitting punishment.

Normally, in my old World, such a cruel and unusual punishment wouldn't be permitted. However, being the one who wrote the Constitution, I know of loopholes that permit me the authority to perform extrajudicial and extralegal things.

"I am exercising Clause 398 of the Constitution, specifically, Section 9 Subsection 3.a. concerning extrajudicial and extralegal consequences. You, Mjurran, have attempted to assassinate me through the destruction of much of Metropolis' infrastructure. I also find you guilty of treason and espionage. Normally, in such a case you will be given either the rare capital punishment by the Judicial court or be given cruel and unusual punishment by me. I find it that it would be better to give you the latter."

The perfect punishment for a pair of star-crossed lovers—

"Your Soul will be removed and be placed inside a drone. Should you or someone else help you break free, your crimes will then be absolved, until then, enjoy your eternity."

Youm rasped out, "Director... please... have mercy! Let... Mjurran... defend herself... at least!"

"I am bypassing the Judiciary after invoking Clause 398 Section 9 Subsection 3.a."

Laws and institutions are important to a stable democracy. The people need to know that the law actually protects them from those above and below, so I couldn't just bypass the Judiciary without reason, instead, I'll bypass it with an already passed law.

I reached above me to Mjurran who was attached to the ceiling. Placing a hand above her chest, everyone was silent as I used [Unlimited Alchemy].

Red lines bloomed from my chest as I tore Mjurran's soul from her body, condensing it into an orb of light the size of an orange. Then, I took out another drone and placed her soul in there.

Thump*

Mjurran's physical body fell limp and revealed its true form as various tattoos and furs formed on her body, her hands turned into monstrous claws, and a third eye opened on her forehead.

Silenced descended onto the entire lounge like the rubbles in a landslide, no one willing to say anything as Youm sobbed quietly, still attached to the ceiling.

Slowly, I lowered the Ambassador down to the floor before opening a Doorway to his residence behind me.

"Get up. Take Mjurran with you, both her body and soul. I recommend you place her in a preservation tank."

Youm slowly did get up, though his eyes never met mine, and instead stared at the floor as he collected the woman he loved.

When he passed by, I placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"You love her, don't you? So here is my ultimate mercy: so long as she or someone else returns her soul back into her body, she is absolved of her crimes."

I could tell Youm hated me at that moment. His eyes say the words his mouth isn't uttering.

My eyes look downcasted after the Doorway closed. With that, I've destroyed any bridge between the two of us.

...If this was my old self before I have all my technology, I think I would've in my paranoia secretly assassinated Youm to prevent any future betrayals.

I frowned at that realization, before deciding to move on to the real issue.

[Silenced Emotion: 95%]

I should also tell Veldora about the news...shouldn't I?

"Now that that's out of the way, we should talk about the elephant in the room: President Rimuru has been assassinated."

"What?"

"How!?"

I waited for the commotion to die down, [Psychology] recommended such a tactic since it'll help people better process the information.

"Enough!" Rubedo yelled while slamming the table. Ririna moved to pull Rubedo back before I raised a hand to stop her. The red Kijin rose up from his seat, his fist tightening, "I think I speak for all of us here that we need proof."

I could almost hear the 'proof I didn't kill him'. If [Silenced Emotion] wasn't turned so high up I think I'd be offended at the insinuation. Relenting to his demands, I opened a portal to my pocket dimension and took out the container that held the remains of Rimuru's Soul.

The cylinder-shaped container made no sound when I carefully place it on the table.

"You can have Albedo check it. That container holds the remains of Rimuru's Soul, the building block that makes up it. Needless to say: do not open it under any circumstances unless it's for the express purpose of reviving Rimuru."

I then turned to face Rigurd, "Second order of business, Vice President Rigurd. Being the Vice President, it now falls upon your shoulders to temporarily take over the mantle of the Presidency."

I then had [Technopathy] change what the hologram projector was displaying into that of the world map.

"Third, I determined the assailant to be a high-ranking member of the Western Holy Church. Based on the events of the past hour or so, I think Ruberios is using Falmuth to test us. We can't really retaliate without being seen as the aggressor—"

"Wait" Rubedo spoke up again, interrupting me, "You mentioned something about reviving President Rimuru?"

Ririna glared at him for the act of interruption and minor insubordination while I just thinned my lips. As the Commander, my rank is higher than his, so his interrupting me while I talked is a direct challenge to my authority.

However, given how everyone suddenly perked up at the mention of Rimuru's possible resurrection, I chose to go along with the flow.

"Yes. There is a way to revive Rimuru..." My eyes swept across the room, seeing hope in the eyes of almost everyone around me. Part of my mind was honestly impressed, Rimuru was able to make friends with so many people.

My eyes stopped when I saw Arcueid lying on one of the couches.

"Arcueid, can you please leave the room for a second and give us some privacy?"

The True Ancestor pouted, "But why?"

"Please. Just do it for me?"

The sincerity in my voice must've been enough, as Arcueid left the room.

After making sure she was not placing an ear on the door by pinging her graphene phone and checking its exact coordinate, I continued with my way of reviving Rimuru.

"The way to revive the President... requires the death of 450,000 humans."

"WHAT?" One of the human Ministers yelled in surprise. Unsurprising, really. It'll be like the President ordering a nuclear strike: certain staff within his cabinet will likely resign as a protest.

"Why does it need 450,000 humans?" Another orc staff asked.

"There has to be another way!" The same human Minister cried out.

"There isn't." I replied coldly, "Rimuru's Soul was broken down to its most basic components, what I call: 'Essence'. To revive someone from a blob of pure Essence is like remaking a log of wood with the ashes and gases that remain after it's been burnt with not a single atom missing or out of place."

The gravity of what I'm supposed to do sinks in as everyone stays quiet. I could tell that the human Minister was trying to think of another response given how his mouth opened and closed.

All governmental employees are required to know at least some things about science.

"I don't yet possess the technology to remake it, so instead I'm going to cheat. During the birth of a Demon Lord, the local Metaphysical and Physical Laws will weaken as the Voice of the World, the System, rearranges itself, restructuring to better fit the existence of a new Demon Lord. During that time, I plan on abusing these weakened Laws to recreate Rimuru exactly how he was before he died."

While one may raise the Ship of Theseus question, that's entirely avoided since the Soul IS the core of the being. It doesn't seem to be affected by entropy nor does it get constantly refreshed like our physical bodies.

"Just like that fairy tale!" Ririna breathed out, "The one about the first Demon Lord!"

Everyone stared at the Field Marshal, prompting her to elaborate, "It was a fairy tale I heard about from a traveling merchant who came from Sarion. It was about how a girl became the first Demon Lord and her companion somehow became alive again."

Normally, I would dismiss any fairy tale as anything but fiction, however, given that this World's a Tolkien-esque fantasy, some myths may be indeed factual.

"If any of you cannot stomach the idea of us condemning 450,000 lives, then please sign a Geas of non-disclosure and then leave. Your pay will not be docked nor will you be reprimanded." I took out a scroll from my pocket dimension.

Veldora called me 'something that blurs the line between humans and monsters' and since [Great Sage] offered me that pathway, it must mean I could become a True Hero if I tried. I think I would've if I wasn't on a time limit.

That willpower requirement is too vague. It's like asking for someone to quantify how much influence you have down to an exact number like a Stellaris game— it's just not feasible.

A few of the human staff and some hobgoblins got up and signed the Geas before leaving.

After the last one left, I looked around the room to find everyone else has accepted it.

"A Demon Lord, Commander?" Rubedo started and asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

"Yes, according to [Great Sage]— Rimuru gifted me his Unique Skill to alert me too late of the assassination plot— if I wish to Demon Lord and revive someone from their Essence I would need 100,000 souls to create a Demon Lord Seed and another 350,000 to fully awaken it," I'm still a bit hesitant at revealing more, "As I said before; whenever a new Demon Lord is born, the world must rearrange itself to better fit the existence of the new Demon Lord, during this rearrangement, the laws of nature become less enforced. The effect is minuscule on a universal scale but extremely prevalent in the local reality. I intend on riding this wave of weakened laws to either rebuild Rimuru from the grounds up exactly how he was before or break causality itself and reach back in time to moments before Rimuru's death and bring him here."

Ririna immediately went into analysis mode, "killing 450,000 humans is no small task with no small repercussion. A single city with that many people would be considered the largest city in many countries, primarily those smaller nation-states like the Kingdom of Blumund or the various Western States. Only the Eastern Empire and the Empire of Ruberios have that many people in their military, and thus, we cannot reliably be able to justify it through killing military targets only unless we are willing to go to war with Ruberios or the Empire. If we do go to war with Ruberios it would result in the entirety of the West going against us— thus we need to choose civilian targets in order to collect the right amount of souls."

Her analysis surprised me a bit. I had expected to explain why we'll need to target civilians— to try and justify my target.

I now looked at my Field Marshal in a different light, that once shy girl who stuttered when I told them to become the leader of Group 4 was now a woman who carried herself with confidence, outshining every other Officer in the room with her tactical insight and strategic might.

"Yes, that's why I've convened this meeting. I feel like such a decision shouldn't be made without the approval of the general staff, especially since Rimuru isn't here. This... genocide of 450,000 innocents is not glorious nor will it be revealed to the world. If any of you object to the plan of reviving Rimuru through the sacrifice of 450,000, speak up now or forever remain silenced."

Is that the right word to use? 'Massacre' doesn't feel like it's serious enough. Should I use Volkermord? Or would Ludobojstwo be more fitting since it's Polish for the killing of a people or nation?

The language of this World is strange since its alphabet is almost a one-to-one replica of the 26 of English, only with different symbols. It's like a mixture of the Romance and Slavic languages.

My gaze constantly swept across the room, finding mostly silence before Albedo raised a hand.

"President Rimuru would never consent to the use of half a million people in order to resurrect him. If he was alive right now he'll tell us to bury him in the ground, so that his soul may be at ease."

That seems to give some other people to gather up the courage to speak up. In total, there were 12 people who spoke up in objection to genociding 450,000 souls to resurrect one person.

I have a suspicion that more would've started to object since the feeling in the room is trending towards letting Rimuru rest before Rubedo of all people spoke up.

"Are you all blind?" He asked in a scathing tone.

Albedo was taken aback at the harshness of her brother's words, "Wha— what?"

"We are in a war, a WAR!" Rubedo yelled out the last part before focusing on Albedo, slowly walking towards her as he spoke, "And our President was assassinated! By an enemy nation no less and here we are, thinking of mercy?! Any worthy kings know to protect their citizens first before others. You of all people should know after taking over as the Minister of Magic how brutal and deadly mages are in a war, and how gruesome their spells can be. You should've already known how many innocents are stranded in the middle of any conflict. Instead of thinking of mercy, we should show them that we're willing to use our military might even when our enemies try to use innocents as a shield. We need to show them that we're willing to raze an entire city to the ground if they poke the proverbial giant. We need to show them all that we are not weak."

Rubedo stopped a few inches away from his sister. His height made him tower above the pink Kijin.

Albedo took a few steps back, fear visible in her eyes while expressions of shock and horror painted her face before she composed herself. I could see the edge of her eyes glistening because of the tears that eeked out.

"I... I am perfectly aware of how many innocents are caught up unwillingly in times of war. As the ex-princess of the Ogre Clan, I should know better than anyone, even you brother, just how conflicts are like this all-consuming uncontrollable fire that spreads in every direction, burning down everything that it touches. I read up on the Siege of Kalberius, better known as the 'Siege of Love and Duty' where the last Bandit King Malicide held 5,000 innocents inside his impregnable castle as a bargaining chip against the King Reynes of Ingrassia to give him safe passage, where the Ingrassian King then chose to have his mages burn the castle down even though he knew his youngest son and daughter was still inside."

Albedo then slapped her heart.

"When I was the princess of the Ogre Clan, it was my duty to study as much as possible so that I could be a wise wife who'll offer her husband sound advice, who'll comfort him after he returned from battle. I know how even the lowest casualty estimate of Relentless Rampage puts at least half a billion dead. I was one of the most active members of the Orc Repatriation Council, where we went to villages of those who were slain by the Orcs and helped them rebuild. So, brother, don't you dare accuse me of being weak. To sacrifice 450,000 souls for one person? Only true Monsters do that."

Shadow covered Rubedo's eyes.

"We are all Monsters here." He sneered. Some of the humans and demihumans shifted uncomfortably in their seats, "This nation... is built upon the corpse pile of 80,000 Orcs and hundreds of direwolves. The Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion bans all religion not worshipping their Emperor, upon the threat of execution of anyone to be found praying to another faith. Ruberios was established on a foundation made up of the skulls of millions of monsters and other magical races. The Eastern Empire is a totalitarian state that continues its wheel of oppression that presses down against its own citizens— Emperor Rudra spends more time crushing rebellions and squashing dissent than carrying for the outside world—"

Rubedo then spread his arms out in order to emphasize his point, a common tactic, as noted by [Negotiation].

"—Every nation in the world whether big or small has skeletons in its closets. Every geopolitical Superpower climbed out of a corpse pile measured in the millions in order to get where they are today!"

Rubedo looked around the room, finding people all silent, his own sister looked on the verge of breaking down.

"We are no different. International politics is a dirty thing that'll pollute all hands that touches it. We make the hardest decisions so that our people won't have to."

His hands gripped hard together, his sense of honor and duty clashing hard with his instinct as a brother to comfort and protect his sister.

Just before this trainwreck can go any further, Vice President Rigurd stepped in, "I must agree with Rubedo, it was due to our weakness that we weren't able to protect the President and thus, must repent for our sins by doing whatever we can to bring him back. I would think your Old Teacher would want this for you as well, as a lesson."

"Rigurd..."

"Enough," that was when I can no longer stand this soap opera-worthy debate, the philosophical argument we are having right now follows an uncanny parallel of what people in my old world had asked about whether or not it's right to commit horrific war crimes in the name of ending it with fewer lives lost.

"The argument we are having right now is useless without action. We currently have all the highest-ranking government staff and military officers present here. I say we take a 30-minute recess. Talk amongst yourselves and reconvene after the recess, we shall vote on the matter. I ask you all to not judge your fellow coworkers for their answers. If you must judge someone, judge me, as I'll be the one who pulls the trigger."

The room fell into quiet debates after that, debates about either for or against the killing of so many people. Though there were some loud peaks, those were quickly silenced when everyone's eyes fell on them.

As I watched, I consulted [Philosophy, who was still silent on the matter of if it was right or wrong. All of my more abstract specialties are also unusually quiet as if something is blocking them.

Once the 30-minute recess is over, the room is split in two, with the right side being those who wish to resurrect Rimuru, and the left being those who wish to not kill 450,000 people.

The right side had more people.

"So it is, and so it shall be. That settles things then," I said with finality, a sense of defeat ringing within my mind.

And so, we condemned 450,000 people to the gallows.

39

Alea Iacta Est, the die is cast and there is no going back.

A near unanimous agreement for 'Yes' instead of 'Nay' really surprised me. Though probably shouldn't have after the fact that I absolved them of any wrongdoing by placing the blame on me. They can rest easy, knowing that the blood will be on my hands when we revived Rimuru.

Everyone in the room was sworn to secrecy using a Geas. This was especially important since no one could know what was going to happen. It's a Directive-level state secret that can cause exceptional damage to Tempest's national security, interest, and international standing among other world powers.

As they sign the scrolls, I couldn't help but note how powerful a Geas is. They bind any being, a legend from Dwargon speaks of how a Geas could bind even True Dragons.

It wasn't known who made the first Geas. Many people throughout history have claimed to have made the first Geas, but none could definitively prove it. What could be proven was that whoever made the first Geas must be so powerful in the art of magic that even True Dragons respect them.

For the rest of the day, I helped with the disaster relief efforts. First, I made shelter by setting up a preprogrammed fabricator and had it churn out easy-to-set-up, yet sturdy and warm tents at an extremely fast rate. Then, with [Technopathy, I was able to telekinetically take control of those piles of trillions of fine silicon particles and dump them inside recyclers the size of an American suburban house.

I plan on recycling the glass and reforming them back into windows.

After everything was cleaned up, the jaws of those who watched as I worked thoroughly dropped, I moved to repair the electric grid, debating on whether to finally transition all electronics in Tempest to room-temperature superconductors instead of silicon.

The 'yes' part won out, so I used [Technopathy] and reached across interstellar space toward one of my Subspace Entropic Nanoreplication Fabricators and had them make a few tons worth of superconducting carbon nanotubes and deposit them using a Doorway.

It took five minutes, and a ball of carbon nanotubes came out of a newly opened Doorway. The nanotubes by themselves are thin enough that it's invisible to all visual wavelengths of light, but taken together, they're just like how individual water vapor and appear like this spherical 'cloud' of greyness that is translucent around the edges.

If taken apart, I can wrap this single line of carbon nanotubes around the planet I inhabit many, many times over.

With primarily [Electronics] and [Infrastructure] guiding [Technopathy] and a dash of help from [Great Sage, Metropolis' grid was fixed in no time, and by about an hour after sunset, almost all the damages aside from the peeled buildings have been repaired.

[Technopathy] really is the dream Skill for someone like me, to control my technology as if it's an extension of myself.

By the time midnight rolled around, we were able to complete a headcount of every individual within Metropolis and found that there were zero civilian casualties. As for the knights that Arcueid had slain en mass, we cremated the remains of their bodies and placed them inside canisters that are then buried in mass graves deep inside the Jura Forest.

One human bureaucrat did protest this move since apparently funerals involving cremation were usually reserved for those poorer families who couldn't afford the coffin. Since these are knights, the bureaucrat argued that they should be given a better funeral.

The objection was dismissed when an Officer gave the bureaucrat a photo of those knights' remains.

In any normal situation, I would chastise Arcueid harshly for killing someone, probably harsher than I've ever had. But since she did it for protecting the citizens, I really can't.

While the remains were being cremated, I then had Ririna sent Officers to tell our people and explain to them exactly what happened and how we're at war with Falmuth.

[Psychology] says the main reason that there wasn't too much chaos was how quickly we've managed to get everything under control, and with a mix of police and Officers constantly patrolling, it gave the people a sense of security.

I think how quickly we treated the wounded and how Ririna distributed stored rations from a nearby military base to the population so that no one goes hungry alongside running water definitely helped with the prevention of a breakdown of social order.

Our war support against Falmuth was through the roof. Though we haven't yet told the public about the assassination of President Rimuru, I decided to create a near-perfect hologram of him and had that projection do some speeches to get people's hopes up.

Seeing the cheers of those people underneath a holographic Rimuru reminded me again of the fact that I'll need to tell one of the strongest beings in existence about the death of the actual Rimuru.

It was only when it the early morning that I finally ran out of repairs to do aside from the mirrors and had no more reasons to not tell Veldora anymore.

As I opened a Doorway with [Technopathy] on top of one of the shortest arcologies, I halted in my movement.

There's a feeling of dread inside my mind. Veldora in the past always brought destruction to wherever he goes. As such, the Western States thought of Veldora as something more akin to an unstoppable natural disaster like a hurricane. In fact, back then before Veldora's sealing, instead of hurricane season, there were Veldora Seasons that usually go from mid-summer to early autumn.

While he may seemingly be pacified now, will he still be after I told him the news?

I look down at my hands, a thought had just occurred to me: I fear Veldora. On a subconscious level, I'm afraid of that Storm Dragon that can easily incapacitate me, which [Psychology] explains as the reason why I've never really spent too much time with him.

Suddenly, I had a desire to not walk through that Doorway. The inky darkness framed by purple was really adding to the sinister look, making the Doorway appear somewhat like a black hole.

An inescapable black hole, an event horizon sheathing a singularity.

I had half a thought of preparing a teleporter before chastising myself.

Veldora is like family to me, why should I be afraid of him?

Against my better judgment, I decided to walk through the Doorway without anything prepared. Appearing on the other side, I found myself in a long dimly lit hallway with a door on one end.

The long hallway gave a sense of ominousness and only added fuel to my dread. I felt like a protagonist in a horror movie, where I entered a haunted house and found myself mere seconds away from the killer popping out in a jump scare.

A single wave of my hand and usage of [Technopathy] made everything much brighter as I had the lights on the ceiling consume more power.

Oh yeah, that's right, why should I be afraid when I'm surrounded by my technology?

Feeling much more confident, I took long strides and reach the door to Veldora's room in less than a minute.

Knocking on it, I waited for a few moments before a voice called out, "Come in."

Pushing the door in, I was met by a room that wouldn't look out of place in a sitcom like The Big Bang Theory. While the furniture was relatively mundane, the bookshelves were filled with figurines of various characters that I don't recognize at all, and there were Japanese comics stacked on top of the coffee table. Veldora himself resided inside his human form and was lying on the couch, a bag of snacks beside him and a closed comic on his chest.

"Yo Scientia, so have you found out where's Rimuru?" Veldora asked while waving a two-finger 'hello'.

'Yo'? My right eyebrow raised, is he picking up slang from the books he's reading? Immediately, my mind made the comparison with Arcueid.

Which then made me recall the Casino Incident. And then how my spending additional time with her has become something of a currency between the two of us.

"So..." I breathed out while trailing off, the previous ideas I had about how to tell Veldora the news fluttered away like doves. Fortunately, [Social Engineering] was there to back me up, "Before I tell you that, you know how Souls are made out of these tiny particles that serve as the most basic building blocks?"

"You mean Spiritrons?"

"..." Is that what people like Veldora call Essence? "Sure, let's go with that. Anyway, I found a way to resurrect someone from their most basic spiritual particles, those that are so small and so foundational that they are indivisible."

Veldora looked at me with a mix of confusion and awe, probably because according to [Great Sage] no one had ever resurrected someone using only their Essence. [Magic]'s resurrection spell requires the Soul to be at least somewhat intact, not completely deconstructed as it is right now.

I'm going to need to study more about Metaphysics after this fiasco is all done.

"Seriously?" I nodded, and Veldora's eyes widened, "that's amazing! I don't think anyone has ever previously done that before! How does it work?"

Veldora's words reminded me of how whenever I tried to ask him about things that occurred in the past, he would usually clamp up. [Psychology] theorized he may have a minor case of PTSD, though the specialty wasn't too sure.

"As you know, a Demon Lord's Ascension causes the reality around it to become more 'fluid'. I can use that fluidity as a lubricant and rebuild someone that way."

"Interesting" Veldora got up from his lying down position, "now come on, tell me where Rimuru is. Did I do something wrong for him to ignore me? Did something happen to him?"

I glanced to the side, and my apprehensive look must've given it away that something happened to Rimuru as in the next second, Veldora jumped up from his couch and landed on top of me.

With him on top of me, I was pinned to the ground. I struggled, but with Veldora gripping my shoulders, I was entirely trapped.

"He's alright, isn't he? Come on Scientia, don't you also join him in this joke that's gone too far! Tell me Rimuru's alright!"

Worry was clear in Veldora's voice.

My lips thinned, before sighing, "Rimuru is..."

There was a flash of hope inside Veldora's eyes, and his smile brightened.

I adverted my gaze.

"Dead. His Soul was broken apart down to the smallest building blocks. BUT I HAVE A WAY OF RESURRECTING RIMURU!"

I made sure to emphasize that last bit. Yet despair filled the True Dragon's face even in spite of my best attempt. Veldora let go of me and took a few sluggish steps back, almost as if he was afraid of me.

"Veldora, I can revive Rimuru." Hearing no response, I opened my mouth to repeat what I just said before it was suddenly forced closed.

An aura slightly less than that THING emanated from deep within Veldora. Blue veins grew up his neck as more and more of the aura of a True Dragon was unleashed.

Oh fuck.

"VELDORA STOP!" I screamed, "I can revive Rimuru! It's still not too late!"

The wind that swirled around the room drowned out what I was saying, forcing me to push my throat to its limits, "LISTEN TO ME GOD DAMN IT! I CAN FIX THIS! I CAN—"

FEAR.

Veldora turned his attention to me. I felt indescribably tiny in the face of that Maxwell's Demon. Well, it makes sense, I am a being with limits, one that obeys entropy. Maxwell's Demons don't, they are violations of the second law of Thermodynamics where the total entropy of a closed system is decreased without doing any work. True Dragons in particular are Cosmological Reversal Machines that reverse entropy.

"Who?" Veldora snarled, his tone was a low menacing one that demanded a reply. It was one that would cause whoever heard it to instantly stop whatever they were doing and tend to the speaker's needs, "Who was it that killed Rimuru?"

No words came out of my mouth. I could barely even register what Veldora said. My fight-or-flight instinct kicked into overdrive as my legs shook as if the temperature in the room was below freezing.

I couldn't think. Or more accurately, I couldn't think of anything other than trying to weigh whether to fight or flee.

[Silenced Emotion: 90%]

Instantly, I seized the driver's seat from my more instinctual self and whipped out the Strings Implant. At the same time, black streaks of nanites crawled up and covered my head, forming a helmet.

Pitch-black threads made from knotted spacetime shot out from my fingertips. Those threads wrapped around Veldora and bound him, stopping him in place and preventing him from moving.

However, the binding backfired when Veldora fully released his aura.

The room was blasted away like it was a sand castle. The remains of the four walls, floor, and ceiling streamed around Veldora at speeds comparable to a high-speed train. Particles of debris stabbed into my nanosuit uselessly

The very atmosphere itself listened to Veldora and became a weapon— a weapon that followed Veldora's desires to be free, and since I was the one who captured him, the atmosphere became hostile.

I could feel the air rush out of my lungs and not return, causing my lung to collapse into themselves due to the air pressure. Thankfully, I never really needed to breathe anyways, and the nanosuit armor is protecting me from the wind and debris.

Veldora himself became a blob of blinding light, radiating pure magicule that contained the rage of a True Dragon.

He was transforming into his True Dragon form!

My fingers curled inward, causing the spacetime strings to tighten and restrict his form from getting any larger.

Then, as Veldora was trapped, my mind couldn't help but think of how the Strings Implant wasn't able to entrap that THING. To somehow be able to control spacetime better than I can... I could almost feel the indignation from [Spacetime Engineering]

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT VELDORA! I CAN SAVE RIMURU!"

In response, Veldora let out a roar so loud that I was blinded, first by a flash of light and later by the plasma wave.

PAIN.

Decibels beyond 194 are intense enough to cause the air to turn into plasma, which is exactly what that first blinding flash of light was. That explosive wave of plasma slammed into me and burned away enough of my nanosuit that it could no longer protect me.

At least, it protected me enough from the heat, but not the force.

I felt all my bones shatter into a thousand pieces, turning me into a kind of human octopus that would've flopped to the floor like a mannequin without strings had it not been for an exoskeleton. The exoskeleton was a congregation of what remained of my nanosuit.

Some kind of cool liquid dripped out of my closed eyelids and ears.

No wait, that's my blood and those that dripped out of my eyes were visceral.

Huh, guess my eyeballs that were obliterated by the kinetic force.

Somehow, it didn't really concern me.

The exoskeleton wasn't enough as I could feel my face caved in. So to compensate I sent out more spacetime strings and had them wrap around me, turning into something like a puppet only I'm the puppet master. Then, I sent out an explosion of strings to keep me strung up in the air like I was some kind of spider spinning its webs.

The liquefaction didn't just stop at my eyeballs. A single touch of my chest using my right hand covered in a net of strings found how easily they gave in, signifying that all of my insides were liquified into a consistency similar to your average gas station slushy.

It was incredibly painful, but it was nothing compared to the pain I felt when I lost Rimuru, so I push on.

I tried to yell and in response, bits of nanites crawled up and solidified to mold my broken jawbone into something like before.

"Pfft"

Because of the pain, I didn't notice how all of my teeth were shattered alongside my skull. Licking it, I found that the root of the teeth was still there, just that the top was shattered like a tree after it's been chopped off.

If I remained a human, I think I'd have been vaporized. Or at least be spread across a space the size of a baseball diamond like the peanut butter on a piece of bread if the heat didn't vaporize me.

I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, I couldn't feel, I couldn't smell, I could only taste since the tongue is at least somewhat intact.

Thus I focused on the taste of iron in my mouth, and feel the texture of the disgusting cocktail of my blood and broken chunks of my teeth.

Feeling pieces of your eyes drip out of their socket is NOT a pleasant feeling.

Feeling vindictive for the ungodly pain, I tightened the strings even more as if to discipline a misbehaving dog.

Next, I used [Technopathy] and had Doormaker create a Doorway a few meters behind Veldora.

A few moments later, I can somewhat hear again as my eardrums partially healed themselves from that roar.

My eyes were still blurry. I could only see general shapes and colors, nothing too detailed can be made out.

From what little I can tell was that there were movements of light. The way those lights moved was mesmerizing, like those auroras I saw when I visited Yellowknife in my past life.

It took a few more moments for my eyes to fully heal, and for me to realize those 'lights' were actually massive claw extensions that came out of Veldora's hands. The mesmerizing movements? Those were his attempts at cutting the spacetime strings.

There were scratches all over his body as a side effect of his attempts to gain freedom.

If I let Veldora go free now, and if he manages to break free from the Citadel, everyone A-rank and below with the Jura Forest will die as the True Dragon's aura is unleashed fully.

Veldora continuously lets out animalistic growling noises as he struggled against the threads binding him, completely unable to move. So instead, it does what its rage-induced mind thinks is the best next course of action:

Attack the owner of the thread.

AKA: me.

In the next moment, I was encompassed in a black sphere of wind. It felt claustrophobic, so I tried to move.

"Ssss— ah!" The moment I touched the edge of that black barrier, the tips of my fingers were shaved right off, leaving only those same spacetime strings.

Then, the edge of the black sphere closed in, and the real horror sets in.

In ancient China, there was a method of torture and execution known as 'Lingchi', or death by a thousand cuts. In this method, a knife will be used to carefully and strategically take chunks of flesh out of the subject's body over a period of time. This slow method of torture/execution was reserved for the likes of traitors, and now, Veldora saw fit to give it to me, only much faster.

You know, despite all this, my mind couldn't help but draw a comparison to those temple raider games where the walls of the room are slowly closing in on our trapped protagonist.

I felt the tip of my toes gets slowly scraped off, the black sphere shaving away a hundred paper cuts worth of flesh every second.

A hundred paper cuts...

A daring idea crossed my mind.

I shot out more and more strings of spacetime in such a way that I resembled the rock on a slingshot.

With a single movement of my left index finger, I flung myself and a trapped Veldora through the opened Doorway.

.

.

.

Weightlessness, suffocating silence, and darkness renewed.

I was momentarily confused by the renewed darkness.

I should be able to see stars, where are the stars? Then I realized that, ah, it seems when I rushed out of that cage of swirling wind, I blinded myself again.

Do I even have any skin left? Probably not. I probably look like a lump of bleeding flesh.

... You know, I think if I were still human, such a thought would've disturbed me, but now after half a year of my new life, losing an arm makes me more frustrated at the time wasted on waiting for it to grow back.

I was in the middle of interstellar space. I imagined that Veldora, the Storm Dragon probably can't do anything in a place where the density of atoms is in the hundreds per cubic meter instead of quadrillions.

Wind exists because of the fluid nature of air. One can think of them as currents and tides in an ocean of gases.

I continued to drift out there in the comforting void of the space between stars, unseeing, unhearing, and unfeeling.

It's peaceful.

I think I'll return Veldora after I fully regenerated. Should take a few minutes at most. I could almost feel my bones fully straighten after all.

"..."

Am I delirious? I wanted to ask but no sound came out.

I was shocked out of this sense of peacefulness when I felt a breeze of wind touching my back.

What the fuck?!

With my eyes partially healed, I could see a vague human-shaped darkness that blot out the field of starlight.

Veldora? Has he finally calmed down?

I reached out to that darkness, but all of my fingers were gone and only a forearm remained.

I flinched when I felt something touch my right forearm. Then I felt something touch my left shoulder. I felt a wall of heat next to me, did Veldora bring me in for a princess carry?

Such a thing horrified me beyond all reason. It took me conscious efforts to not try and scramble out of Veldora's reach.

It seems the last few minutes reinforced that fear of the Storm Dragon.

Once my vision regenerated further, I saw a serene expression on Veldora's face. Finally, he calmed down.

Note to self: bring the Gravastar Armor the next time you meet Veldora. Just in case something like this happens again.

Now that the wind is no longer cutting me into slices of sashimi, I felt my legs and fingers slowly expand as [Limitless Regeneration] takes hold. Bones poked out like the stem of a flower piercing through the dirt, muscles quickly followed and covered the bones before pale skin stretches to coat it all like a jacket.

My legs are healing, yet my clothes are now ruined, huh? My mind wanders to it. [Psychology] says it's a common tactic of the brain to focus on something else after a traumatic incident.

"Scientia, where are we?"

... Is he talking through space?

I quickly got out of his reach and opened my mouth to reply, only for no words to come out.

Feeling really tired of the day, I then decided to use [Technopathy] and opened another Doorway directly in our path.

Veldora's living quarter was still destroyed by that 300-decibel roar, so as I crossed the Doorway I immediately fell down by a dozen meters into a puddle of congregating nanomachines while Veldora hovered in place.

Like a living organism, the Citadel has a self-repairing feature. All the walls, the floors: so long as they aren't furniture or any pieces of tech, they're all made up of tightly packed nanites. This makes damages to the general structure very easy to repair since any scratches can be filled with a spread of a few billion nanites.

As I lay there in the middle of this puddle, with trillions of slivery nanomachines flowing around me reminding me of a small stream, I let out a cough to get Veldora's attention.

"Scientia!" Veldora rushed down over to me, moving fast enough that he blew away all the nearby streams of nanites. The humanoid True Dragon then held me in his hands like how a protagonist would hold their heroine during the latter's final moment.

Extreme grief and stress colored his face, and I could just make out feelings of guilt as well.

That guilt further exploded when he moved to touch my stomach, only for his hands to sink in further than they should have.

Guess my organs are still partially liquid, huh? One of the downsides of the potency of [Limitless Regeneration] is its reduction in speed as compared with Rimuru's [Ultra-Speed Regeneration].

Though, I wonder how fast the last Perfect Homunculus was able to regenerate given how I'm struggling with a single True Dragon.

[Silenced Emotion: 20%]

[Acting] took hold of me, covering my fears in a thick layer of apathy.

"I can save Rimuru, trust me."

Veldora clenched his hands hard, "I'm sorry," he apologized as he avoided eye contact with me.

Even without [Psychology, I could tell Veldora was very ashamed of his act.

I instead felt my eyes twitch at the sight of the once-mighty dragon looking so pathetic.

"If you're sorry then help me get Rimuru back."

"I..." Veldora cleared his throat, "Of course!"

The True Dragon declared dramatically, theatrics guided his every move as he dropped me unceremoniously onto the ground like a sake of potatoes when he stood up and raised his arms high up, "I will slaughter those who stand in our way of getting Rimuru back! I will stop at nothing!"

"...Mrhm."

"..."

The Storm Dragon in human form looked extra awkward as he realized he dropped me on the ground when my legs haven't fully regrown yet. With the speed of a bullet, Veldora snaked his arms behind me and started carrying me again.

Rolling my eyes at his antics, I tried to facepalm only to discover the bones in my forearm haven't fully healed yet, so I only slapped myself.

Because [Extreme Pain Resistance only active in the face of, well, extreme pain, I felt the slap in its entirety.

I don't think it's possible to sigh too much in one day, but apparently, I was proven wrong.

Soldiering on, "Veldora, my legs may be regrowing but it hasn't regrown yet... please be more gentle next time."

"Gap moe...!" Veldora uttered quietly enough that I almost couldn't catch it.

For some odd reason, the Storm Dragon blushed. [Psychology] and [Language] think it's because of how vulnerable I look right now compared to my usual self.

[Acting] helped me continue.

Clearing his throat, Veldora continued, "Of course, Scientia. I acknowledge that I am one of the most powerful beings in the world and will thus take extra care of my anger. My power is great, and my responsibility is greater.

The way Veldora said all that reminded me of a Sage or one of those kung-fu masters in Chinese martial arts films. This made me seriously doubt his words.

"You took that from somewhere didn't you?"

The Storm Dragon took a few steps back, flinching as if he had just been shot and letting out a groan, "Have you no faith in your friend, Scientia?"

I gave him a deadpan look, entirely disregarding [Acting]'s script.

Boy, I would have much more faith had you remained calm, had you not required a timeout in space, gain an Extra Skill in resisting pain, wreck my stuff, and tried to lingchi me!

God damn am I glad the brain is biologically wired to forget memories of physical trauma.

"Anyway, I think it's finally time to introduce you to the public."

Veldora's eyes lit up upon hearing my words. He then struck a pose and started punching the air while cheering.

"It is time, for the glory of the Storm Dragon to make his appearance on the world stage once more! A new age has begun, the Age of Tempest!"

I sighed at Veldora's antics, before focusing on what to do next, and, well, how to exterminate 450,000 people.

The next day.

Due to the recent official declaration of war made by the Kingdom of Falmuth, the higher-ups decided it was a good idea to put the final exams of the first batch of junior Officers as field tests in actual warfare. Their passing will depend on how well they do in this war.

Eren left her life as an adventurer for many reasons, the primary one was because of its lack of safety. A close encounter with the Elven Knight Aldous Iztok, better known as 'the Measured Blade', made the elf truly realize how vulnerable she was. Eren, like any sane person, doesn't want to feel vulnerable, so she turns to the most powerful person she knew and joined their military to be stronger.

Right now, Eren Eiwald wore a green uniform that was similar to the Field Marshal's. The elf sat at her desk in the main lecture hall, staring at the scene directly in front of her like all of her other classmates.

There, on her desk, right in front of where she's supposed to sit, rests a sleek black briefcase.

The briefcase wasn't anything too large or too small. If taken out of context, one can easily assume the briefcase carried important files. Since there's a Research and Development sigil of a chemical flask with wings imprinted on top of the briefcase, no one wanted to be the first to open it because of the mysterious reputation R has gathered among everyone in Tempest.

Seriously, Research and Development became this source of conspiracy theorists and the prime inspiration for many mystery and horror novels.

Then, General Rubedo came into the room.

"Attention!" The hobgoblin officer-in-training closest to the door yelled out as he stood up and saluted. The rest including Eren followed very quickly afterward.

Discipline is the first thing they drill into you in the Academy.

The General then walked to the center of the blackboard behind the lecture desk. No one moved a muscle from their salute as the highest ranking officer in the room never said 'at ease' yet.

Rubedo's eyes panned across the room, his gaze swept around from left to right like rays of radiance from a light tower.

"At ease," General Rubedo finally said, "You all may now open the briefcase in front of you."

A series of clicks crammed the classroom as everyone opened their briefcase.

"Wha...?"

"A gun?"

"No, it's a pistol..."

Right there, held in the middle of the opened briefcase lies a strange handgun. The handgun was of a simplistic design unlike any of the smuggled handguns from the Eastern Empire. For one, the barrel of the handgun was composed of a single rectangular block. It looked geometrically pleasing and would've looked even more pleasing if the grip and the trigger weren't attached to one corner of the rectangle.

Touching it gently as if it could break with the slightest amount of force, Eren found the pistol to be smooth— so smooth that it was almost slippery. Looming over the pistol, Eren saw her own reflection stare back as if the gun was a mirror. Then, the elf noticed how right above the grip was the phrase: 'Made In Citadel'.

Is that what she thinks it is...?

"Some of you may have noticed the phrase that's imprinted on the pistol. That is proof that the pistol was made by the Commander herself." Gasps of shock came from over half of Eren's classmates. Before anyone could say anything, Rubedo continued, "The pistol that you hold in your hands is a special pistol given only to Officers. It is your diploma, your degree, your certificate of graduation, and the evidence that you have completed your education at this fine institution."

"That pistol you hold in your hands is one that will become your partner throughout your career in the military and beyond. It is a hand-held electromagnetic railgun capable of firing many different types of munitions from simple tungsten rounds all the way to antimatter sabot rounds that is sure to pierce right through a mountain. You will learn to trust that pistol as much as your fellow Officers throughout your career."

Eren picked up the pistol, finding it to be a perfect fit for her hands.

"User: Eren Elward, registered." The gun spoke in a synthesized voice, igniting feelings of fascination within the elf, "Biometrics: registered. Brain wave pattern: registered. Magicule signature: registered."

"The pistol has an AI attached to it. That AI isn't sapient, but it is smart enough to learn your firing behavior and adjust the gun accordingly. After long enough use, your gun will fully customize its firing sequence to you. And I think it goes without saying: I expect you all to pass with flying colors."

Then, the General said one more thing before leaving, "At 1500 hours today, I expect you all to be at the main courtyard. It's time for you all to swear your oath, otherwise, enjoy your free time."

Using that free time, Eren went down to the firing range like so many of her classmates to test out the pistol.

Standing in front of many cases of varying bullets, Eren discovered that the pistol can adjust itself to fit bullets of any size, and can use even chemical propellant. Loading a solid iron round and firing at the lowest setting, the pistol accelerated that round into subsonic speed.

It hit 30 centimeters away from the bullseye.

"Adjusting..."

The pistol spoke again in that synthesized voice. There were metallic clacks coming from the pistol and its internal weight was going all over the place.

"Adjustment completed."

Loading in an iron round once more, Eren fired it and found it hit exactly in the bullseye.

Seeing this prompted one of the orc Officers with his enlarged version of the pistol to use it on the highest setting.

Boom*

There was a sonic boom as a hypersonic armor-piercing round left the barrel of the gun toward a small chunk of solid metal. The AP round core right through three meters of it before finally stopping.

Everyone was quiet after that, and the orc Officer look down at the pistol in shock.

At the same time, Eren glanced at her own pistol. So much power packed into a container small and light enough she can hold it in her hands, the elf thought, it shocked her honestly.

At 1500 hours, known to civilians as 3 pm, Eren stood in the courtyard of the Academy with 99 of her classmates, in lines of 20 representing each class. The elf stood first in the fourth line from the right.

In front of the lines stood Commander Scientia on top of the stairs leading to the main entrance to the Academy. The Commander's black uniform was crisp, with nothing out of place as she crossed her arms.

"All of you may be wondering why exactly am I putting your exams as an actual field test of your abilities. There's a saying, 'No plan survives contact with the enemy,' and I tend to believe that. I believe to truly be a good Officer, you all will need actual combat experience beyond hyper-realistic simulations. Authenticity, effectively, to truly know the chaos of battle and adjust your plans accordingly."

Scientia's hands then whipped out dramatically to the sides. To Eren, it always surprises her that Scientia had such a flare for theatrics and dramatics to the point that she wouldn't look out of place in a theater play. Expressive movements colored the Commander's body as she continued her speech, acting as the definition of an orator.

"Today, we face a challenge unlike any other in our nation's history. Our enemy is not just a force to be reckoned with, not just an army of unwilling slaves, not just a mindless monster seeking destruction but an autocratic monarchal nation determined to undermine our values and way of life. However, let me be clear: we do not fear them, for we are the most advanced fighting force that the world has ever seen, and we stand united in the defense of our values of liberty, equality, fraternity, and rationality!"

Scientia's cape fluttered.

"As we go to war, let us never forget that we stand as the beacon of liberty in this world of authoritarianism and despotic dictatorships. You, my Officers, stand as the vanguard of democracy, so your mission is clear: to defend our nations, protect the freedoms we hold so dear, spread our values and liberate those oppressed. Go forth then, with courage and determination, knowing that you carry the hopes and dreams of our nation on your shoulders, and never forget that our cause is just and our victory is assured."

Scientia then placed her right hand over her chest.

"And so, the final oath before you go into battle, repeat after me: I solemnly swear."

"""I solemnly swear"""

Everyone mimicked the Commander's posture.

"To devote my soul and ability in the defense of the Jura Tempest Republic,"

"""To devote my soul and ability in the defense of the Jura Tempest Republic,"""

"To defend the Consitution of the Republic,"

"""To defend the Consitution of the Republic,"""

"And to further the rights of all intelligent beings,"

"""And to further the Rights of all intelligent beings,"""

"From the lowest point of the world,"

"""From the lowest point of the world,"""

"To the very edge of existence,"

"""To the very edge of existence,"""

"For as long as I shall live."

"""For as long as I shall live."""

The next day, the War room inside the Hexagon

The Hexagon's War Room was a very special place that existed within the Ministry of Defense's main headquarter. The room was the size of a suburban house and was two stories tall, with mainly open spaces and a catwalk flanking three sides of the room.

There were only a small handful of people inside here when it was obvious that it could support more. That's because everyone here has signed the Geas.

The main attraction inside the War Room was the absurdly massive primary screen that covered an entire wall, stretching from end to end that displayed all kinds of information.

If one were to look around, one can say that it almost looks like the set for the bridge of a spaceship in a space opera movie. They wouldn't be wrong as the War Room serves as the nexus point for the entire Tempest military.

Although it was mostly dark, the soft glow from numerous computer monitors lit up the room, enough that one can almost read books with it if they strain their eyes.

At the center of the room is a long holographic table perfect for strategizing the next moves.

"...We should..."

"The enemy is right...

"No, no, we can bomb..."

At least, it would've been had there been less bickering about what to do among the top Officers of the military.

I sat on one end of the table with eight other Officers of the rank Major and above. Since we're such a new nation, a person's rank right now was signified by how well they can direct in a simulated battlefield. The higher ranks are those who did well while the lower is vice versa.

As of right now, Rubedo and Ririna are leading two groups of thinking.

Rubedo advocates for the deployment of one of the Polaris weapons, just slaying the invading army outright and collecting their souls in the aftermath.

Ririna advocates for the deployment of chemical weapons, specifically, bombs containing knock-out gas so that the soldiers can be collected and placed inside camps where their souls can be extracted by me.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to go with either of them. Mainly the second one.

The worse connotation for camps in this World is the work camps of the Eastern Empire, where dissenters are sent and worked to death.

"Enough," The moment I spoke, both of them went quiet, "I think this is the perfect time to show one of the cards I held closest to my chest. He should annihilate the 50,000-man army. As for Falmuth itself, we'll occupy all the main cities simultaneously by teleporting our army into each of their cities. Their lack of any anti-teleportation field covering the whole place will be their downfall."

The Doormaker is a game changer even greater than planes. The ability to simply teleport in stuff has made mobility and supply lines a non-issue.

Just look at Napoleon, he's famous for his speed and he almost conquered Europe.

With Doormaker, I can just teleport my armies to wherever I need them to be before teleporting them out: the ultimate hit-and-run basically.

"What card is this, Commander?" Ririna asked.

Instead of a verbal reply, I pointed at the huge screen that takes up one side of the entire room. Using [Technopathy, I changed the channel to display something else.

It was a live video feed from a high-altitude recon drone.

Ririna squinted her eyes before telling an AI to enlarge the image. Pretty soon, the live video feed focused on a single dot floating above the marching army of Falmuth.

"Zoom in more."

At maximum zoom, the camera captured a blond-haired man with tanned skin wearing a flowing black cape, acting confidently like some kind of supervillain right before a battle.

"Who is that?"

"That, my dear Field Marshal..." I trailed off, an aura erupted from Veldora can be felt halfway across the continent. The clouds covered the once sunny blue skies that the lines of Falmuth's army were marching under, lightning flashes as the rain started to pour, mere drizzles right now but were worsening rapidly.

After Action Report: Termination of the invading Falmuth Army.

The following are excerpts of the timeline section belonging to the after-action report complied by Commander Scientia Tempest involving the termination of Designated: Envelope.

The following are deemed: [For Public Distribution and Official Use Only]

-Designated: Envelope was first sighted via satellite two days prior at [REDACTED]

-The Grand Military of the Republic who was already mobilized following the Sea of Glass Incident turned their focus upon the drones.

-At 10:59:43, Operation Est fully commenced with the deployment of Class-40 Magicule Singularity 'Veldora'.

-Immediately upon commencing, Veldora unleashed his aura and caused severe anomalies within the local weather pattern. No conscious efforts appear to have been used. Immediate manifestations of weather anomalies include but are not limited to:

Heavy rain: recorded rainfall of at least 50 centimeters.

Lightning.

Thunder.

Heavy cloud covering.

Winds estimated to be at least 50 km/h.

"That aura!"

"It can't be!"

"But he was gone..."

'Are you recording this, Scientia?'

Veldora asked me through the [Soul Corridor].

'No, not yet.'

I sent a reply.

The live video feed changed as the drone dived to get a better look. In the span of ten minutes, the drone dove underneath the rain clouds and saw how it was down pouring buckets. The sun retreated underneath the might of the Storm Dragon, thunders cracked and lightning flashed.

'Yes, you may be as dramatic as you want now. Channel all your acting and forge this one great act.'

The moment I finished, Veldora's two arms rose up and formed a V-shape.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Veldora boomed, loud enough that the drone was able to record it, "I have returned! The Storm Dragon Veldora has finally returned after being sealed for 300 years!"

Lightning danced across Veldora's fingers as he struck a pose that reminds me of an overconfident Dark Lord on the eve of his victory. The Wind really started to pick up.

-At 11:01:01, Veldora displayed the following abilities:

ability to create electricity across his skin. Possibly static electricity in nature.

"And it was all thanks to Rimuru and Scientia Tempest!"

I facepalmed so hard that moment it caught the attention of everyone in the room as they turned to face me.

Embarrassment burned on my face as I felt the hot under my clothes, 'VELDORA YOU DUMBASS! You were supposed to say after you felt the near destruction of Metropolis, you awaken to defend your territory!'

The confidence inside Veldora vaporized before he cleared his throat, "Uh, I mean, it was due to the attack on Metropolis that awakened me from my deep slumber! And so, I shall take revenge by slaughtering you all!"

-At 11:02:00, Veldora displayed the following abilities:

ability to summon multiple tornadoes

The clouds descended in the shape of vortexes in what's known as a 'funnel cloud'. Multiple of these funnel clouds descending created an apocalyptic image as it almost looked like drills of gods coming down to dig out mankind.

These funnel clouds churned the air, picking up anything lighter than a human and tossing them around. Falmuth's army scattered like particles of sand, trying to escape.

Then, those funnel clouds touched the ground and created tornadoes.

Dozens upon dozens of tornadoes surrounded Falmuth's army, preventing escape as anyone who tries to leave will get picked up by a tornado and then be shredded. Falmuth's army was trapped in a cage.

As if to add to the massacre, lightning strikes came out of those tornadoes numerous enough that it was like bullets from an automated sentry turret, each strike killing a dozen soldiers.

Veldora then swung his right arm, and half a dozen blades of wind each larger than school buses sliced through the air, scything through a hundred men like ears of wheat for the harvester and even more trees before dissipating after they dug deep ravines.

It was the definition of a butchery.

'What does that do?'

Having a connection with a personal completed Matrioshka Brain should speed up the analysis by... Oh, I don't know, a few hundred trillion? Quadrillion? Quintillion? Somewhere in that ballpark.

'That's useful for later, now how many souls do I have? The AI counted 5,999 deaths from the live video feed. Though the shaking due to turbulence probably caused the count to be less.'

A small portal to my pocket dimension formed behind me. From that portal, additional nanites came out coated in a very thin layer of magmatter.

If I wore this instead of that casual nanosuit, I don't think Veldora could've done much against me.

"It is time for me to take to the field," I declared to the room, Ririna turned away from the screen to try and interject before I held up a hand, "I need to test something as well."

With that, I left through a Doorway constructed on the spot by Doormaker.

Unlike the darkness and artificial light from before, I stepped into a place where the sky was the bluest it has ever been, and white puffy clouds served as icings on a blue cake. Underneath me, breaking apart the greenery, was a large city with two pairs of walls, one outer one to separate the wilderness from the city and an inner one to separate the upper and lower classes.

The name of this city was Corbin. According to the latest census data provided by Blumund's secret intelligence, it had around 400,000 permanent residents give or take.

'That was a huge jump, what happened?'

'...' I fell in silence, that description sounded too close to what Arcueid did to those knights.

I'm really about to condemn these innocents to death, aren't I? In the name of fewer overall deaths.

And it is done. The deed has been done.

(AN: Play Mozart - Lacrimosa)

View: https//watch?v=k1-TrAvp_xs

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

I guess it's my turn to contribute, isn't it? It's finally time to stain my hand with blood.

In retrospect, 450,000 is tiny in the grand scheme of things, my mind started to justify things. In the future, when there are trillions of people, the death of a few thousand will probably be treated in the same way as the death of one.

"Ha." I let out a little laugh. A part of me was confused at why I'm laughing before a tragedy greater than even the two atomic bombs while the rest just wanted to laugh, to laugh at the fact that I'm about to become a mass murderer on par with the worst that those in my old World had to offer to save someone.

But at the same time, compared to them, Mao Zedong and Genghis Khan were estimated to have killed a collective 80 million people, and if you add Stalin to that list, you can get about 100 million. I'm nowhere near the top.

But what I will be at the top of is how many I've personally killed. The two atomic bombs together only killed around 280,000 people while I'm going to kill 400,000.

I looked up at the pretty blue sky, my mind lost and my eyes solely focused on the prettiness.

No blood should be spilled on a day like this. It's too pretty.

"The things we do for love..." This feels like the origin of a supervillain. The death of a loved one prompting a genius to go to great lengths to get them back, only there's no superhero to oppose me, no Superman to stop Lex Luthor— I even have the super technology down!

What a joke.

"Ha...ha, ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, haaaaaaa..." I felt tears at the edge of my eyes. Just three words, just three words that would cost me less than a single calorie to speak if I were still a human is enough to condemn close to half a million people to the gallows, nearly half a million innocent souls.

What a fucking joke.

I grip my head using my own two hands, I continue to just float there, gravity being an ignored suggestion and all the while laughing hysterically.

I am selfish. To sacrifice so many for one, what else could I be called other than selfish?

Is this what President Truman felt like when he ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb? When he took full responsibility?

Is this what the Death Star Operators felt when Tarkin gave the order to fire?

Is this what Paul W. Tibbets, Jr felt like when he pressed the button that ushered in the Atomic Age?

Is this...

[Silenced Emotion: 99%]

... What being a monster feels like?

"Activate Project Behemoth"

Alea Iacta Est, the die is cast and there is no going back.

40

"Activate Project Behemoth"

If they're going to die... at least, in a perverse way, I will maximize their usefulness so their death will gain more meaning.

Confirmation Code Required

"Die, and meet your makers."

Activation Confirmed, Project Behemoth is online

The choirs sang in the middle of a mass at the Holy Corbin Cathedral.

The Holy Corbin Cathedral was considered one of the greatest man-made structures in the entire Western hemisphere. It was a grand building composed of a primary central dome overlaid on a cruciform building pointing toward Ruberio's capital further west, the main site of where it was said God Luminous had descended and upon which the ultimate place of worship for the Western Holy Church.

Beyond pointing toward the capital of Ruberios as all other Luminism Churches do, the inside of the Holy Corbin Cathedral was covered in mosaics dating from over a century ago.

All the colors, the lights, and the imagery caused many first-timers who visited to faint at the overwhelming scene.

Today was a day of mass, so a large congregation of 'Luminians' gathered and prayed while two rolls of singers clad in white sang to the glory of God Luminous.

They sang, and sang, and sang. Even when the sunlight that peters through the windows suddenly disappeared and the entire Cathedral darkened, they continued to sing.

They sang until an entire side of the Cathedral exploded. Rocks and debris rocketed forth like bullets from a shotgun, smashing into people and killing them indiscriminately.

Chue'e was a curious and strong boy for his age.

Born nine years ago in Corbin, the walled city was all he had known for his entire life, as such, he had plenty of time to make friends with the older and younger kids. Before, he was restricted to only the dirtier sections of the city since the cleaner ones were guarded by scary adults who'll kick Chue'e away, but since he made friends with some kids who knew ways of sneaking in, Chue'e has been playing inside the cleaner sections almost every day.

Today was no different.

"Thief! Pickpocketer!"

"Ha ha ha!" Chue'e laughed as he ran through the streets, his hands clutching the small bag of coins and holding it close to his chest. "Dumb nobles, thinking this place was safe?"

Hearing the coins jingle, Chue'e thinks it's enough to finally allow him a taste of good bread instead of those stale ones the bakers always offer to his father.

Stopping beside the Cathedral, Chue'e's mouth salivated at what other delicious foods he could finally buy with the coins. He thought perhaps he could finally get some pastries. Those sweet and good-smelling pastries are always held behind display windows and are ridiculously pricey.

Just as Chue'e was about to go, thinking he's finally escaped those guards, the boy passed over a beggar.

The beggar had a towel wrapped around his head covering his eyes. His clothing was ripped and looked about as comfortable as sleeping on jagged rocks. The beggar also had a missing right arm and a left leg.

Since Chue'e hasn't seen this beggar before, the boy thinks it's probably a new one. Especially since the beggar is in the cleaner sections of the city.

Since the guards haven't removed the beggar, he's probably one sanctioned by those Holy Sisters from the Cathedral.

Based on how few coins are in the bowl in front of the beggar, he'll probably have more luck in the dirtier sections.

Frowning, Chue'e moved next to the beggar and quietly took out a single coin from the bag. Though it may be a bronze one, it's enough for a small piece of stale bread.

Just as Chue'e leaned over to give it to the beggar's bowl, the world around him suddenly darkened.

"Huh?"

Looking up, Chue'e saw the sky above him covered in pitch-black darkness.

"Why is the sky turning black—"

Something came out of the darkness. It was a gigantic thing with a skin of obsidian black, and as such, it blended perfectly with the sky from Chue'e's perspective.

Chue'e wasn't able to perceive that something had fallen through until it crushed him entirely.

Today was a rather calm and peaceful day for the City of Corbin, Richard thought as he walked down the streets.

Corbin itself was a trade city that was first constructed 200 years ago when Dwargon first started practicing free trade. It continually boomed as its citizens became rich, which attracted more people to come here until it became the enormous place it is today.

As the Captain of the City Guards, it's his duty to ensure public order is enforced at all times and that no vagabonds would dare try anything.

Though he may be plain-looking, Richard Verasus was actually a candidate for A-rank adventurer before he quit and joined the city guards. His family back in Lura always wanted him to do more, like say become a Royal Guard for King Edmaris Falmuth or even join up as a member of the Paladin Knights of the Western Holy Church— to be something better than just the Captain of the City's Guard.

Richard did none of those things. He was a simple man. He once read a book about philosophy whose author was an Otherworlder. The title of the book was 'The World as Will and Representation' and in it, the author introduced the philosophy of Schopenhauer.

Schopenhauer's philosophy boiled down to the world being fundamentally chaotic and devoid of meaning, and that individual suffering is a natural result of our attempts to create and impose upon our lives order and rationality to a world that is ultimately irrational and indifferent.

'Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but misfortune in general is the rule.'

That paragraph had a profound impact on Richard. It made him realize that desire and ambition is a bottomless pit with no end, but at the same time, pain is limited. So Richard lives every day to reduce the pain he felt.

He doesn't want pleasure, he wants a reduction in pain.

And thus, he chose the job as the Captain of the Corbin City Guard. In this way, Richard became the largest fish in a tiny pond, thereby reducing his daily pain.

Currently, he's in one of the poorer areas of the city, going to check up on a friend of his.

"Yo Charlie!" Richard waved at a particularly well-dressed peasant. Of course, it's nothing compared to Richard, but it's a great deal better than those around him.

Charlie turned to face him. In his hands was a small basket full of rye and his golden Orichalcum wedding rings gleamed under the sunlight.

Seeing it, Richard couldn't help but smile even brighter. Charlie was an old friend of his. Save Richard's life during his brief stay as an adventurer by throwing his lifesaving to try and bait away a group of thugs.

Richard gifted him a pair of expensive Orichalcum rings so that Charlie could propose to Sam.

Surprise bloomed on Charlie's face upon seeing Richard and asked in an exasperated tone, "Richard? What the hell are you doing here?"

Charlie was currently in the merchant district of Corbin, a place where the streets were narrow as both sides were flooded by stalls of merchants selling all kinds of things from food, fruits, jewelry, and trinkets.

"Well, I'm here to see how my friend is doing! I mean we haven't seen each other in months! How're the kids, man?" Richard said as he placed an arm over Charlie's shoulder.

The people around them who were watching the commotion went their merry way after seeing nothing of interest was happening.

"She's doing fine man," Charlie sounded awkward as he spoke, "The mages said I'm getting a new one in eight months."

Richard's eyes widened like the lens of a camera. His mouth formed an 'O' before turning into a sly grin.

"You wanna get a drink at Ol' Balery's and celebrate with the boys later?"

Instantly, Charlie got out of Richard's shoulder hug with an annoyed look on his face.

"Come on Dick, you know I stopped drinking after I married." Charlie bemoaned at the antics of the Captain.

"Oh please, it's your third child! You should celebrate! Plenty more men have celebrated their firstborn! Which, I'll remind you again, you didn't even partake in any alcohol as it's tradition."

"Listen, man, I've been sober for years ever since the marriage. Please don't pressure me into stopping it..." Charlie reasoned.

Just as Richard was about to respond, a massive black square surrounded by purple materialized directly above the sky covering the Holy Corbin Cathedral.

(AN: Play Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls)

View: https//watch?v=dh_wnykggWM

Richard stared at it, his mouth hung ajar prompting Charlie to also turn to where Richard was staring and seeing the massive black square as well.

"What the hell is that?" A nearby merchant screamed as he pointed, catching the attention of everyone nearby and glancing at where the merchant was pointing.

"Yeah, what is that?"

"Why is there a black blanket above the Cathedral?"

"Mommy, I'm scared."

"Don't worry, my son, it can't be that bad."

Just as Charlie raised a hand and was about to tap on Richard's shoulder, something came out of that black square, or rather, something fell through the black square and smashed into the Holy Corbin Cathedral, kicking up huge dust clouds that veiled its form while the whole city trembled from the collision.

XX-XX-XXXX.

Local time: 10:14:53 am

The following is deemed: [Director's Only]

Under no circumstances is the following transcript to be released.

Project Behemoth was deployed for the first time directly atop of the city of Corbin within the Kingdom of Falmuth for 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 32 seconds. The following are the recorded abilities that Project Behemoth used.

Immediately upon full activation:

Herrscher Core: online.

- Time Symmetry Canceller: Confirmed Activation. Antimatter production: optimal.

- Virtual Particle Realizer: Confirmed Activation. Entropy realization: optimal.

- Magnetic Containment Field Isolator: Confirmed Activation. Containment of particle-antiparticle reaction: optimal.

- Dark Matter Controller: Confirmed Activation. Redirection of energy: optimal.

- Dynakinesis: 4% Full Capability. Nonessential for further dynakinetic capacity.

Deaths:

Legacy Malone

Ruben Mendez

Londyn Roth

Roy Chambers

Makayla Parrish

Karsyn Marks

Monica Hanna

Aydin Galindo

Corinne Meyers

Julien Underwood

Ensley Madden

Everest Bruce

Marilyn Barron

Dustin

Nalani Dickerson

Flynn Valdez

Diana Rosario

Chue'e

Gracie Dawson

Iker Wilcox

Ashlyn Pruitt

Gatlin Mejia

Saylor Lynch

Zane Dudley

Hadleigh

Jimmy Galindo

Corinne

Stefan Truong

Judith Reyes

Eli Ellis

Ayla Combs

Ahmad

Kane McKee

Kori Moss

Porter Watkins

Lola Marks

Amos

Alina

Kristian Esquivel

Jaylee Carroll

Oscar Mathis

Anne Kaur

Augustine

Daniella

"Oh my god!"

"The Cathedral is holding a mass today!"

The cries of the people trying to not fall from the earthquake-like shaking of the ground echoed throughout the city.

Unlike others, however, Richard was entirely unaffected by the trembling as he continued to stare at the plumb of dust.

Suddenly, within that pillar of dust and debris, an orb of light shone through. The hovering orb of light had an unearthly aura to it as if it doesn't belong in this world.

Moments later—

"RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAARRR"

Local time: 10:15:00 am

Behemoth side effect manifestation:

- Sonic Blast: Using the Time Symmetry Canceller to convert molecules in the air into antimatter and having them react with normal matter in a specific pattern, incredibly loud sounds can be generated via the resulting explosive reaction.

Deaths:

Grace

Jaxtyn

Paxton Monroe

Carly Arroyo

Alberto Dean

Julianna Rhodes

Titus

Emily Marshall

Kaiden Aguirre

Ariah Kirk

Dakota Brown

A sound so loud that it was more like the shockwave from a nuclear explosion came from the orb of light.

Light itself distorted around the edge of the sound wave as it traveled in all directions, appearing like an ever-expanding bubble. It traveled throughout the city and beyond, blowing out windows and collapsing what remains of the Cathedral since the material it was made out of was no match for it.

Everyone was forced to duck and cover while blocking their ears with their hands. Those who stood still right before the roar were kicked back by the wave of intense air pressure like a crash test dummy when it moved like a snake through the streets in between houses, knocking down food stalls, kicking up baskets full of fruits and vegetables, and picking up utensils and other similar light objects as a tsunami would with people.

Even the walls that separated the noble and peasant sections of the city did little to stop the sound wave.

The Captain of the City Guards was knocked down by that sonic blast. As he stared up at the blue sky above him, he felt nauseous, and an urge to puke from how loud the sound was.

His ears were ringing and his vision was blurry.

Trying to get up, Richard found immense difficulty in such a simple task. So to force himself to get up, the Captain used the walls of a nearby building exposed after the merchant stall had been ripped away by that sound.

Glaring at the glowing spot, Richard's vision finally cleared and he could see exactly what the attacking thing was now that the dust plumb had been blown away.

It was a monstrous thing that radiated an unearthly aura. Its size was taller than any living thing saves for a True Dragon. It had rough black skin that looked more like lava had been poured on it and later cooled to create a suit of rock armor. It had the muscular build of a crossbreed between a man and a bear— except, Richard had seen a bear demihuman before and they were way less monstrous than whatever this thing was.

The most striking thing about the bear monster thing was the hands. Its hands didn't have any fingers but instead looked like it possessed cancerous growth that a Druid would make out of a tree for a weapon.

And to top it all off, the beast had a crown of two horns that seemed to make up its entire face, with the split between those two horns holding a singular eye, glowing crimson and hatefully at everything it sees.

It was a true monster. It had none of the majesty of a True Dragon and more resembled the fabled Relentless.

Everyone, including Richard, fell into stunned silence. The beast had the eyes of the entire city, some in awe of it, most in fear of it, and a tiny few in wonder of what its next moves were.

The monster answered by raising a single foot and...

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

...slammed it into the ground. From that point of contact came forth an unnaturally straight ravine. It was as if someone had taken a knife and cut the city in two.

10:16:04 am

Behemoth side effect manifestation:

- Force manipulation: Project Behemoth possesses incredible strength, and through the careful use of Virtual Particle Realizer to suck away kinetic energy, the resulting force can be controlled to an extremely precise degree.

Deaths:

Elijah Hardin

Vada Blanchard

Adler Hancock

Katelyn Hill

Isaac Rice

Ada Paul

Noel Jacobson

Royal Parra

Davion Ryan

Morgan Martinez

Alexander Perez

Eleanor Rice

Graham Xiong

Amayah Butler

Ryder Humphrey

Journi Lopez

Michael Manning

Jennifer Bentley

Randy Newman

Oaklynn Yu

Bryant Portillo

Nathalie Blanchard

Adler Gray

Sarah Hancock

Rex Jaramillo

Guadalupe Deleon

Nasir Lindsey

Colette Green

Anthony Flores

Emilia Douglas

Derek Ortiz

Anna Coleman

Micah Esparza

Ramona Rose

Hayden Rosario

Louisa McMahon

Jakob Gray

Sarah Hester

Rene Velasquez

Esme Frank

Braylen Lozano

Cecelia Delarosa

Osiris Griffith

Alicia Dyer

Atreus York

Milan Parrish

Karsyn Hogan

Kathryn Flowers

Saul Oliver

Camille Stephenson

Joe Thompson

Madison Howard

Jeremiah Woodard

Aubrie Chase

Otis Wheeler

Sydney Drake

Jalen Rasmussen

Esperanza Brooks

Jordan Mejia

Saylor Serrano

Milan Booth

Zariyah Vazquez

Jesse Medrano

Halle Tucker

Ivan Barber

Cassidy Wolf

Jase Guerra

Edith Faulkner

Jabari Le

Myla Holmes

King Estes

Brittany Huber

Mac Guerra

Edith Gould

Blaine Solis

Miracle Chandler

Royal Ortega

Lilah Ballard

Kenzo Johns

Giovanna Gillespie

Forest Moses

Karter Hodges

Alonzo Smith

Olivia Peck

Yousef Church

Ayleen McCoy

Jett Hammond

Holly Douglas

Derek Beil

Itzel Macias

Moshe Day

Hayden Estes

Hakeem Hammond

Holly Erickson

Johnny Evans

Eliana Hodges

And 4,253 more

That was when everyone's survival instincts kicked in. While no one knows what it is or who sent it, all they need to know is that the beast is dangerous and it's best to run in the other direction

Richard then felt a sudden explosion of heat coming from the monster. Staring at it, the man noticed how the buildings around it were smoking. Then, fire erupted all over the buildings around the beast.

The glow from the fire shone against the rough skin of the monster, making it seem like a demon that had just come out of hell.

The black beast then hinged forward, opening its maw to let out a stream of blue flame toward a particularly tall tower nearby made up of stones.

10:16:26 am

Behemoth side effect manifestation:

- Fire creation: By using Time Symmetry Canceller upon groups of particles, it is possible to have those antiparticles heat up nearby air molecules to create plasma. Then, Behemoth can use the Magnetic Containment Field Isolator to shape the plasma into whatever its AI deems the most necessary.

Deaths:

Savanna Herring

Henrik Sanford

Emerald Kelley

Eric Barajas

Keilani Golden

Amias Cooper

Within seconds, that stone tower started to slag. The beast was unrelenting and the tower started to glow and lean like a candle that's been burnt for too long, slowly turning into liquid.

The temperature from those flames was hot enough that Charlie felt himself sweating even from so far away.

"Charlie."

Hearing his name snapped Charlie out of his stupor. Turning to face the source, Charlie saw how the fires made by that monster gleamed off Richard's eyes, which burned a fire of determination hotter than even that blue flame.

"Get your wife and kids out of the city."

Richard's tone was stanch and authoritative. Charlie knew that tone, it was one he would only use against rapists and murderers.

Still, to leave his best friend behind...

"No! You're coming with us! You can't possibly face that thing!"

Charlie tried to grab Richard by the shoulder, worriedness filled his face before the man is pushed to the ground.

"God damn it, Charlie! You're always like this! You care too much." Then Richard grabbed Charlie by the collar of his shirt and brought him up, "Listen to me, that thing right there?"

Richard loosens his right hand to point at the inferno behind him.

"That thing is at least a Demon Lord-level threat, a Disaster one. I don't know where it came from or who sent it, it could be a new Demon Lord trying to make a name for themselves or maybe a new True Dragon— I don't know. The point is, you need to get your wife and kids out of here. I'm going to go into the city and see who I can rescue before I also go."

There was a certain look in Richard's eyes. It was the look of someone who felt like they were about to achieve their life's mission and wouldn't be sad at all if they died.

"But..." Charlie was shocked before seeing the logic behind Richard's words: that the city is likely lost, "where would I meet you?"

"Near the western gate— now go!" Richard yelled out before he started running towards the inferno, at odds with the constant stream of desperate people running down the streets away from it.

Charlie steeled his own determination before running off to get his pregnant wife and kids out of there.

10:24:50 am

Behemoth side effect manifestation:

- Lightning generation: Using the Magnetic Containment Field Isolator, Project Behemoth can create a tunnel of low electrical resistance for plasma to pass through, creating arcs of lightning that are much hotter than the surface of the sun and can be as wide as apartment buildings.

Deaths:

Mylah McBride

Denver Boyer

Chaya McGuire

Casey Lambert

Nina Sandoval

Brantley Jennings

Palmer Stuart

Dion Olsen

Oaklyn Nichols

Atlas Lynn

Samira Black

Matteo Lowe

Amari Miranda

Rory Gonzalez

Abigail Dorsey

Enoch Norman

And 42,623 more.

The Captain of the Corbin City Guard rushed down the streets of the noble section. Yesterday, this place was filled with displays of opulence as nobles walked down the streets in their expensive, embroiled clothing that costs probably more than Richard makes in a year.

Now, however, all of that was gone, replaced by a fiery inferno. Occasional roars coming from the beast can be heard everywhere in the city, and the booms of its summoned lightning were like a constant echo that told those who are deep underground that they still aren't safe.

The lightning is probably the most dangerous part of the beast. Bolts of lightning stronger than any mages crackled and consumed all light from the world for a moment as they crossed distances of kilometers to reach places far away from the monster. Those bolts of lightning then create large explosions at the point of contact to spread more flames.

Richard stopped and glared at a mansion on fire. The burning fire, Richard saw how unnatural it is, how it moved with a sinister intelligence when it burned a nearby support beam instead of slowing down and consuming the haybale underneath it.

10:25:27 am

Behemoth side effect manifestation:

-Fire control: Using the Herrscher Core to exert control over the invisible Dark Matter, Project Behemoth can encourage flames to go where the AI deems the most necessary.

Deaths:

Malani Fischer

Leonidas Clarke

Kaitlyn Adams

Hudson Ahmed

Jolie Shaffer

Dexter Bryan

Meredith McConnell

London Gentry

Amelie Espinosa

Khalid Wagner

Maeve Cameron

Rayan Carson

Nalani Lynn

Zechariah Pierce

Arabella Crane

Fox Peralta

And 106,609 more.

Just then, the main entrance to the mansion that Richard was glaring at burst open, and out comes a man on fire. The man was entirely consumed by the flame, appearing more like a black humanoid figure as he ran, yelling, "HELP ME! HELP ME!"

Richard was stunned at the appearance of the man. He had imagined that almost everyone had left.

"Hey! Hey!" Richard yelled to the man, catching his attention and causing him to bump into the Captain and spread the fire onto his armor.

The man was now rolling on the cobblestone road, trying desperately to put out the fire but to no avail.

Boom*

A bolt of lightning went off in the distance.

Richard quickly took off his burning armor and looked around him frantically. His eyes stopped and focused on a stone fountain nearby.

Water!

Richard ran as fast as he could to the water fountain and grabbed a nearby bucket. Scooping up a bucket full of water, Richard ran back and poured the water onto the burning man.

Boom*

Another lightning went off in the distance, this time much further away.

SSSSSSSSSSS*

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

The water instantly vaporized and boiled away into steam, and the man was still burning.

More than possessing supernatural intelligence, this fire seemingly can't be put out since it's too damn hot.

Boom*

Another lightning had struck in the distance.

Feeling helpless, Richard unsheathed his sword and struck the man's neck, lopping it off with a single slice.

"..."

The crackle from the fire and the occasional collapsing of a house was all that one could hear. Richard never moved from his spot, his sword still inside the man's neck, who had finally stopped struggling.

It was a mercy kill, Richard told himself, biting his lower lips almost hard enough to draw blood.

The man then looked around him, seeing an inferno consuming the city he loved. The buildings were all on fire, most having already collapsed into a heaping pile of timber and unbearably hot flame while others were blackened skeletons.

It was only now he noticed how many burning bodies there were.

Richard grits his teeth at his failure to save a man. Frustrations mounted as he stood up.

"At least one person, God, let me save at least one person."

Unlike many people similar to him, Richard was blessed from birth with Extra Skill [Heat Resistance]. The Extra Skill granted him the ability to handle metal fresh out of a blacksmith's furnace with only his bare hands without any issue.

It was the reason why his parents had given him a blacksmith's apprenticeship when he was only 12.

BOOM*

Another lightning struck. Only this time instead of being far away, the bolt hit the house that Richard was staring at, causing it to explode in a fiery fashion with shrapnels of burning wood.

The explosion of fire flash fried Richard's eyes, blinding him permanently.

Richard was about to scream before hearing the Voice of the World speaking to him to grant him a new Skill. It took a little while, but once his vision returned, the man lay there on the cobblestone road, looking up at the dark smoke-filled sky in shock at the fact that he could see again.

Getting up, Richard saw that he was surrounded by a sea of fire. He wasn't too concerned since from previous testing, the Captain knew that he was immune to these fires, though they do get a bit uncomfortable.

Looking down, Richard saw how his long pants were on fire, so the man took them off, leaving him with only a simple shirt and underwear remaining.

Boom*

Another lightning struck. It's becoming easier and easier to tune those bolts of lightning out with how frequent they are.

Richard carefully walked through a field of flames, stepping past burning rubbles and debris.

He felt numb. He felt like a hollow piece of bread. He felt like an automaton incapable of feeling any emotions, merely doing the motions of escaping.

This place was all he had known for the past decade.

As the fires grew less harsh and more complete structures, Richard coughed from the amount of smoke he had breathed in. There's a saying among the city guards that smoke kills you quicker than fire, so it's really fortunate that Richard had Common Skill [All Breath] which made him able to breathe in seemingly all kinds of air, even poisonous ones.

There's a reason why Richard was seen as a candidate for A-rank adventurer. That rank is just underneath the likes of Isolde the Vampire, an adventurer who could continue to fight even after you remove one of her limbs, Aldous Iztok, a Knight of Sarion who had slain a whole tribe of orcs singlehandedly, and Yazata, a holy prophet of a newly budding religion in El Dorado.

Richard Verasus was an anomaly at birth, given far more Skills than most people would ever attain in their entire life. However, none of those Skills was relevant right now in his present situation.

As he continued to cough near the edge of the inferno, Richard suddenly heard a voice, prompting him to cease coughing despite how much his throat protested.

"Help... me..."

Hearing the voice coming from the right of him, Richard whipped his head around to face the weak voice and found a girl miraculously alive but stuck underneath a pile of rubble. Only bits of her brunette hair and a single arm were poking out.

"Oh, my god..."

Richard rushed over, his mind could only think of the reason why this girl was still alive was that she possessed a Skill similar to his own [Heat Resistance].

The man grabbed the debris and started digging. Those slabs of stone on the girl were heavy, but not so much that it was too heavy for Richard.

"RROOOOOOAAAAR!"

The beast roared in the distance. Looking up at the black figure, Richard saw that monster belched out a stream of blue fire toward something in the air as if to swat away an annoying bug. A burst of flame later that quickly fizzled out, the beast continued to rampage across the city, spreading fire and destruction.

Suddenly, it stopped. The beast moved its hands and dug out a chunk of earth. Then, it superheats that earth until it glows and then throws it like a snowball

The chunk sailed across the sky like a meteor, crashing into a place blotted out by the burning skyline.

Richard took a moment to pray for the soul of whoever had distracted that beast. Then, he grabbed the now fully excavated girl and secured her on his back using his shirt.

The fact that he only had his underwear and the little girl was also barely clothed was lost on the man. Richard could only think of saving this one and meeting up with Charlie at the western gate.

Running down the streets as fast as his legs could carry, Richard was further greeted by the gruesome sight of burnt bodies littering the ground as mushrooms would on a fallen log. Multiple houses collapsed with fires still raging in them.

It was a scene of utter destruction, a city at the end of its life. Anyone looking at it would cry, for some blackened bodies on the ground were particularly small. Some piles of debris had multiple limbs jutting out.

Richard couldn't help but wonder if this was a fraction of the destruction wrought by Relentless. It was said by many legends that during the fall of Thelium's capital, Andorious, millions died, some transformed into statues, some were buried deep underground, some fell to their deaths as Relentless created vast canyons, and some exploded as that Perfect Homunculus transmuted their liquid insides into gas.

It was said that what few survivors remained resorted to cannibalism and ritualistic sacrifice as the land around Andorious was too hostile to trek through.

The smell of burning feces was still strong in the air as he entered the slum districts near the very edge of the city. Finally, he's close.

Jumping over a ditch, Richard ignored the groans of burning bodies, internally consigning them to their fates as he accepted the fact that only the kid on his back mattered.

However, just as he reached the western gate, the Captain of the Corbin City Guards saw how it was crushed by a blob of cooling rock.

So that's what that beast was doing, throwing the rock to block all escapes, turning the walls city into a gigantic cage to trap everyone in.

Still, the lava was no problem with his Extra Skill [Heat Resistance]. The man can just climb over it like it was a normal wall.

Deciding to take a small breather, Richard settled the girl on his back on the steps of a nearby still-intact house, gently settling her down into a lying down position. He started working on the shirt, tearing it into strips so that they can better secure the girl to his back.

The man then looked inside the house to see if he could salvage anything.

Stealing isn't something a Captain of the city guard should be doing, but these are hardly normal times.

In the house, Richard found a pair of worn-out children's shoes, a set of woman baker's clothing, and a colorful piece of cloth— likely a blanket.

Picking them up, Richard walked out of the house and—

KABOOOM*

A bolt of lightning that was wide enough that they're comparable to horses came from the skies above and struck the house Richard had placed the girl by. A wave of air pressure from that explosion expanded at supersonic speeds and blasted the Captain away and through the walls of an opposing house in the slums.

His ears were ringing when the man finally came to be. Shooting up and pushing away the debris that fell on him, Richard hurriedly ran toward the girl before suddenly ceasing when he saw the girl unmoving, crushed underneath a pile of rubble.

Richard's shoulder slumped. He fell to his knees like a puppet with its strings cut.

At least one... let him save at least one! Just one soul, was that really so hard? Richard wondered.

Despair blossomed inside his heart at the turn of events. Today was supposed to be a slow day, a happy day, the same as yesterday.

So how did everything go to hell?

A feeling of lifelessness permeated Richard's body. His movements felt like they were that of a robot rather than anything natural. If another were to watch Richard as he climbed the half-cooled rock, they would say that he's something like a Terminator: looks human, but lacks the thing that truly makes an individual human.

There were really only two things driving Richard in this instance: his parents, and his desire to see Charlie again.

But, reality hardly ever obeys the desire of mortals.

When Richard reached the top of the rock, he found a scene straight out of his worst nightmares.

The hope that Charlie and his family were still alive was like a beacon in this still-burning city, a flicker of light in this abyss of despair.

That determination still burned inside him.

But now it was extinguished.

When the Captain reached the top, he saw Charlie, his pregnant wife, and their kids lying dead on the ground. Alongside Charlie were hundreds of others, dead and scattered across the entire grassy field.

All of them had a pea-sized hole on their head and a larger hole on the opposite end.

The most haunting part of the scenery was the fact that Charlie's ring glittered in the sunlight.

The ring was like a symbol of trust for Charlie, a sign of their friendship.

Richard tumbled down the side of the rock, his body hitting the ground in a loud 'fump'.

As he lay there, Richard sobbed. Tears mixed with dirt to create mud, and the Captain's fist tightened.

He swear he'll find whoever did this. He'll make them pay! He'll kill them with his own hands! He'll—

Splat*

The hatred was cut short when something zipped right through Richard's head at just under the speed of sound.

10:50:04 am

To ensure the complete euthanization of Corbin, prevention of escape is necessary.

Pellet Stormer deployed.

Deaths:

Kairo Cook

Aaliyah McIntosh

Kristian McClure

Estella Watts

Dakota Riley

Kayla Patton

Moises Ellison

Raina Hogan

Sonny Hebert

Kyleigh Frost

Dario Perkins

Sage Fry

Jacoby Osborne

Shelby Lyons

Cyrus Shepard

Noor Bernard

Jair Lamb

Amaia Malone

Ruben Reynolds

Isabelle Bean

Mccoy Benton

Anais Macdonald

Hugh Hunter

And 2,114 others.

The skies above Corbin.

The city of Corbin looked more like a log inside a fireplace with how much of it was burning. Thick plumb of smoke covered much of the splendid blueness of the sky, blanketing over the land like a new layer of atmosphere.

Pellet Stormer was a prototype weapon. It was an experiment using one of mankind's oldest methods of attack: ramming.

By condensing a mountain into something the size of a pea, I can create superdense pellets that can pierce through an entire planet with no problem. The only thing that could really stop them is armor made out of the same neutronium or something esoteric like Static Matter. In order to make them fly, I placed a reactionless drive in the center of each pellet. As for communication, I used Quantum Tunneling-based communication to constantly update the very dumb AI inside each pellet on what direction or speed they should be moving.

At its fastest, each pellet can move at hypersonic speeds.

That is stupendously slow. Fighting at high relativistic speeds is a bare requirement for ships of my grand fleet, so the Pellet Stormer is very obsolete.

The most I could use for these pellets is MAYBE for anti-personnel operations like right now, where I'm terminating runaways, but I personally think to give them to the police in the future.

They can clear out a building of hostiles in seconds.

My attention focused back on Corbin. The sheer level of destruction is almost cartoonish, like something straight out of a large, world-ending disaster film like 2012.

A particular historical event crossed my mind. Is this what the Great Fire of Lond or Chicago looked like from up in the air? I idly wondered as the glow of the fire battered against my face.

With [Silenced Emotion] turned on so high, I could accurately determine just how effective Project Behemoth was.

Overall, I'd say it's a success. Linking its AI with the processing power of a Matrioshka Brain has allowed it to simultaneously control every single fire all over the city.

In truth, I can't grant superpowers. The Herrscher Core describes all the necessary components required to make it appear as if the Endbringer did have those superpowers.

Yes, my technology is advanced enough that mimicking superpowers like telekinesis, telepathy, energy manipulation, and other things are entirely within the realm of possibility.

'[Cease]'

[Acceptance]

Behemoth instantly stopped moving. It stood still even as the fire continuously rages around it.

There exists no human word to describe how I communicate with these Endbringers. Because of their nature, I created an entirely new language that prioritized information density by exchanging concepts instead of simple components of a concept like normal words are.

This new language is so dense in terms of information that my throat isn't precise enough to fully communicate it, so instead I cheat using [Technopathy].

If I actually attempted to speak [Cease, what comes out will be something drastically different than what it's intended since even a minuscule difference in pitch, octane— anything— will result in a different meaning.

To simplify this method of communication, I made the Noosphere. It's built off of my Unique Skill [Technopathy] and as such, the Noosphere connects to each and every piece of my technology, allowing me to instantly know what, say, a mining station half a billion lightyears away with a simple thought.

Looking down at Project Behemoth, I decided that there had been enough testing, so time to clean the petri dish.

'[Completion]'

[Acceptance]

The first evidence that something was happening was when all the fires around the city of Corbin suddenly ceased to exist. All the water inside the wells froze. The temperature all over the city dropped exponentially as more and more energy was sucked out of the world. Very soon, snowflakes became to fall.

What Project Behemoth was doing right now was materializing Virtual Particles.

There's a reason why I believe zero-point energy to be impossible. Virtual particles exist only because of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and trying to materialize them as real particles will cause all nearby energy to condense in a ratio that matches E=mc2. According to the conservation of mass and energy, when virtual particles become real particles, the universe will take energy away from elsewhere to balance everything.

Due to the fact that hot air is lighter than cold air, the freezing of Corbin formed a type of 'tomb' of cold air as hot air from the surrounding flowed over it in a fashion similar to brine pools.

The snow of ice quickly turned into snow of carbon dioxide, then snow of nitrogen, and then flakes of crystal oxygen drifted down from above.

Unlike the surrounding area, every inch of Behemoth glowed a deep red, like metal during the first few seconds of being inside a furnace as it had lowered the temperature around the city to below that of -270 Celcius.

The snowfall grew heavy as the wind blew into this frozen tomb. More air from the surrounding atmosphere rushed in to fill the now-emptied space. Oxygen snow was quickly replaced by hydrogen. More accurately, those snowflakes were more like a mixture of every atmospheric gas that'll freeze at 3.15 Kelvin. Primarily nitrogen though, since that gas makes up almost 80% of the atmosphere.

Then, it began to rain.

Drops of liquid helium rained from above.

It was a very light rain, more like a drizzle to be honest.

Ah, what an apocalyptic scene.

"What—

Local time: 11:34:00

Behemoth side effect manifestation:

-The Cleansing: Project Behemoth will continuously manifest virtual particles out of the surrounding heat until there's enough build-up where it will then use the Time Symmetry Canceller and convert either all or a noticeable percentage of those manifested virtual particles into their antiparticle counterpart.

Deaths:

Charley Felix

Rodney Roth

Elliot Huff

Finnley Enriquez

Nellie Holland

Brady Reyes

Audrey Greer

Koda Moyer

Zola Middleton

Misael Swanson

Helen Conrad

Dilan Bautista

Antonella Webster

Shawn Cantu

Galilea Hoover

Jaziel Peck

Crystal Newton

Santino Taylor

Sofia Sweeney

Nixon Daniels

Ember Livingston

Ambrose Woodward

Drew Graves

Cesar Nash

Novah Cross

Fabian Small

Zaria Sutton

Warren Montoya

Kamryn Knox

Valentin Barrera

Beatrice Oliver

Karson Finley

Jovie Serrano

Milan Ward

Ariana Munoz

Justin Fowler

Lennon Day

Kayson Rose

Magnolia Floyd

Pierce Schaefer

Mavis Brock

Julio Spence

Aislinn Wagner

Enzo Larson

Alayna Decker

Taylor Black

Molly Willis

Remington Tanner

Harmoni Marin

Aldo Barr

Noemi Hamilton

Jason Pugh

Landry Armstrong

Grant Stevens

Katherine Lopez

Michael Cherry

Nyomi Moyer

Ahmir Powell

Vivian Nelson

Dylan Murphy

Bella Torres

Jayden Ramsey

Lyric Hendrix

Korbyn Delarosa

Iyla Camacho

Tatum Baker

Isla Coleman

Micah Medina

Elliana Wells

Max Knight

Gracie Chambers

Orion Bradshaw

Berkley Luna

Erick Lawrence

Lauren Larsen

Brycen Winters

Kataleya Petersen

Samson Ramirez

Grace Randall

Trenton Welch

Amira Frost

Dario Young

Zoey Knight

Beckett Sawyer

Marina Cantu

Anakin Ramirez

Grace Norton

Callen Mathis

Anne Green

Anthony Li

Paige Weaver

Tucker Lucas

Phoenix Barry

Emery Kirby

Skyla McLean

Crosby Shelton

Makenzie Welch

Hendrix Taylor

Sofia Weeks

Anders Hunter

Khloe Hobbs

Brendan Bernal

Emmeline Tapia

Samir Bentley

Jaylin Thomas

Logan Brandt

Loretta Weiss

Koa McBride

Kelsey Bailey

Axel Vance

Maxine Mercado

Abram Booth

Zariyah Atkins

Cason Contreras

Daniela O'brien

Riley Blair

Frances Middleton

Misael Wells

Cecilia Johnston

Felix Yoder

Emerie Estes

Hakeem Herrera

Ximena McClure

Reese Salgado

Avalynn Johnson

Noah Hall

Leah Castillo

Kai Sawyer

Marina Lozano

Boone Carter

Lucy Carson

Ares Salas

Amber Cain

Benson Hayes

Iris Booth

Chaim Gibbs

Carter Cummings

Raiden Pacheco

Paris Harper

Hayes Schmidt

Kimberly Pennington

Bobby Fry

Clarissa McMahon

Jakob Donaldson

Natasha Robertson

Emiliano Gallagher

Elliott Rollins

Wes Person

Dylan Mullins

Allen Bishop

Brooklynn Stevens

Zachary Macias

Adley Stevens

Zachary Arellano

Faye Ramsey

Luciano Ponce

Aileen Strong

Axl Bartlett

Aubrielle James

Jaxson Krueger

Kamari Chambers

Orion Hudson

Kamila Baxter

Tomas Mejia

Saylor Webster

Shawn Villanueva

Monroe Maldonado

Javier Andersen

Zoie Ahmed

Harry Short

Cheyenne Reyes

Eli Flynn

Dorothy Crosby

Tristen Miles

Alessandra Jensen

Cash Webster

Kensley Correa

Zakai Odom

Laylani Pope

Gunnar Bass

Zahra Barber

Solomon Archer

Kadence Hammond

Francis Maldonado

Elaina Roy

Marcelo O'Donnell

Bellamy Moore

Levi Bush

Everlee Ballard

Kenzo Griffin

Charlie Kerr

Louie Decker

Aleena Sellers

Madden Daniels

Ember Duarte

Abdullah Taylor

Sofia Curtis

Muhammad Hendricks

Dani Nunez

Caden Vo

Artemis Webb

Lorenzo Glass

Clare Alfaro

Xzavier Logan

Kora Townsend

Alexis McConnell

Denise Hurst

Neil Luna

Journey Murray

Ashton Gardner

Jordyn Love

Jeffrey Reid

Charlee Graham

Giovanni Davenport

Adrianna Rojas

Colin Baldwin

Esmeralda Arias

Alec McMillan

Oakleigh Shepherd

Ronald Herrera

Ximena Branch

Keenan Love

Avianna Lawrence

Kaleb Patterson

Kaylee Barber

Solomon Sims

Lena Jensen

Cash Alvarez

Leilani Haley

Leif Riley

Kayla Daniels

Xander Pennington

Yareli Booker

Dominik English

Kelly Scott

Leo Whitaker

Ivanna Benton

Jamal Gross

Angel McIntyre

Eliseo Peralta

Malayah Foley

Mohammad Fitzgerald

Marlee Clarke

Stetson Nguyen

Nova Sutton

Warren Choi

Karla Singh

Louis Skinner

Mara Hail

Hector Maldonado

Elaina Mayer

Yahir Mueller

Imani Alfaro

Xzavier O'Connor

Charli Dalton

Fletcher Trujillo

Danielle Shelton

Leonel Lucas

Phoenix Harvey

Cayden Christensen

Carmen Delarosa

Osiris Johnston

Laila Dennis

Emanuel Russo

Tinsley Hamilton

Jason Wiley

Lauryn Henson

Bellamy Collier

Ivory Harper

Hayes Kerr

Baylee Dunlap

Aries Shields

Analia Boone

Mauricio Schwartz

Lilliana Hampton

Hank Wallace

Arianna Gould

Blaine Smith

Olivia Deleon

Nasir Decker

Aleena Fitzpatrick

Blaze Mueller

Imani Hernandez

Mason Galindo

Corinne Stafford

Alfredo Peterson

Caroline Trejo

Wesson Bernard

Barbara Smith

Liam Hurley

Rylan Osborne

Augustus Glenn

Blaire Gates

Ermias Lozano

Cecelia Frank

Braylen Lim

Giavanna Everett

Camilo Juarez

Juliet Rowland

Eliezer Farrell

Kassidy Tate

Dalton Kaur

Holland Best

Harlem Weaver

Teagan Holmes

King McClain

Marleigh Harvey

Cayden O'Connor

Charli Campos

Gideon Kane

Ellianna Ballard

Kenzo Gaines

Aya Crane

Fox Vo

Artemis Macdonald

Hugh Dyer

Estrella Hawkins

Victor Hudson

Kamila Cordova

Vicente Arroyo

Kyra Vang

Jimmy Macias

Adley Buckley

Aryan Reyes

Audrey Vazquez

Jesse Carroll

Zara Hutchinson

Korbin Pena

Rachel Harrington

Omari Brock

Jada Quinn

Rhys Watson

Hailey Clark

John Wallace

Arianna O'Connor

Princeton Jones

Sophia Erickson

Johnny Burton

Miriam Parrish

Karsyn Kramer

Hanna Johns

Joziah Espinoza

Lucille Lozano

Boone Bowers

Elisa Glass

Allan Hurst

Adalee Bowman

Francisco Randolph

Kailey Edwards

Adrian Keller

Logan Bonilla

Aden Jimenez

Adeline Velez

Kareem Glenn

Blaire Esquivel

Bridger Jacobson

Royal Christian

Ledger Best

Lexie Herrera

River Ramsey

Lyric Duncan

Avery Swanson

Helen Thomas

Logan Archer

Kadence Mendez

Arthur Weiss

Lennox Craig

Odin Ramsey

Lyric York

Leandro Conrad

Bexley Ramsey

Luciano Moses

Karter Felix

Rodney Mercado

Mckinley Kemp

Melvin Buckley

Theodora Alvarez

Xavier Alfaro

Yasmin Douglas

Derek Peterson

Caroline Carroll

Oscar Johnson

Emma Henderson

Beau Clarke

Kaitlyn Stanton

Zyair Norris

Arielle Aguirre

Andy Gould

Violeta Price

Brooks Contreras

Daniela Fischer

Leonidas Cooper

Serenity Velasquez

Sullivan Andrade

Emmy Frank

Braylen Villegas

Jessie Garza

Judah Riley

Kayla Lester

Lee Reyna

Luella Reid

Josue West

Remi Rosales

Wilder Montoya

Kamryn Meadows

Wayne Davila

Rayne Mora

Arturo Leon

Amora Pratt

Rowen Newton

Braelynn Sanders

Jose Goodwin

Shiloh Franco

Gage Terrell

Paityn Cobb

Raphael Rubio

Hadassah Glenn

Zaid Bass

Zahra Bell

Emmett Conner

Alondra Deleon

Nasir Ross

Peyton Norris

Cairo Bradford

Rhea Moses

Niklaus Peralta

Malayah Reeves

Clark Stein

Leilany Burch

Gerald Goodwin

Shiloh Parks

Gianni Strickland

Nia Schmitt

Murphy Bond

Alena Shah

Zain Coffey

Paola Schmitt

Murphy Dennis

Maisie Rush

Kaiser Tate

Skye Phillips

Andrew Aguilar

Josie Hayden

Leroy Chung

Rivka Steele

Elian Dalton

Lilian Krueger

Jones Good

Nathalia Bowman

Francisco Trejo

Rosalyn Bernard

Jair Villanueva

Monroe Gardner

Alan Pollard

Marisol McGee

Conner Carson

Nalani Henry

Carlos Maynard

Carolyn Moss

Porter Ventura

Zora Avalos

Coen Holmes

Bailey Gonzalez

Ethan Gibbs

Carter Ray

Arlo Pham

Raelyn Nava

Stefan Vance

Maxine Marshall

Kaiden Warner

Wynter Hammond

Francis Lee

Scarlett Carlson

Paul Meyers

Leyla Lamb

Kaysen Browning

Princess Goodwin

Kaison Solis

Miracle Zamora

Quentin Callahan

Kimber Gentry

Magnus Garcia

Amelia Garrison

Noe Butler

Athena Murray

Ashton Glover

Alessia Turner

Joshua Knox

Kallie McCarthy

Devin Beltran

Kaydence Newman

Anderson Baldwin

Esmeralda Schaefer

Ishaan Sosa

Cassandra Hansen

Charlie King

Victoria Fitzpatrick

Blaze Cochran

Alma Martinez

Alexander Ayala

And 94,291 more.

Whatever I was about to say was cut off by a blinding flash of light. Project Behemoth unleashed an omnidirectional wave of plasma, manifesting as this sphere of light that expanded from the Endbringer.

That radiance of plasma contained all the siphoned energy from an area larger than Manhatten. All of it was unleashed in a single moment, burning away the last remnants of a city, the last evidence that civilization was here, the last proof that mankind had stepped on this land, the last marks of a tomb that served as the final resting place for hundreds of thousands.

The plasma wave expanded at supersonic speeds. It rapidly approached my position.

I wasn't fazed at all. As the edge of the plasma passed over me, milligrams of iron dust fell around me before immediately boiling away while I remain unaffected.

Another application of the Virtual Particle Realizer is what I'd like to call a 'Stilling Shield'. This type of defense converts the energy of all attacks into a solid mass, draining them of any momentum.

While not as strong as the Gravastar Armor given that it can't deal with things like Starbreakers, the Stilling Shield however are much more portable.

Once the light died down, the ground underneath for as far as the naked eye can see was glowing a bright yellow like lava spewed freshly from a volcano.

Behemoth glassed Corbin and its surroundings for kilometers on end. The very ground itself turned into a glass that [Material Science recognizes as Lechatelierite or silica glass, SiO2, silicon dioxide.

And so it is done; I've wiped out a city and left no survivors to tell the tale.

I felt a muted sense of dread, probably due to how high [Silenced Emotion] is running right now.

Well, I guess there's no turning back now the deed has been completed.

It's strange.

'[Home]'

[Acceptance]

Behemoth quickly left through a gigantic door made by Doormaker, the grounds still glowing orange as he left.

After the Endbringer was gone, I mentally selected 'Yes' to [Great Sage].

509984... I've killed 50,000 more than I intended. That number stewed inside my mind as I tried to come to terms with it.

Little over half a million people are dead because of me.

An entire city full of innocents and civilians, gone, reduced to nothingness.

I committed an atrocity only comparable to genocides, and I'm going to get away with it scot-free.

What a wild world we live in.

I have finally become a monster. I wonder though, how many people did Relentless kill? Not just a speculation, but an actual number?

I was hit with a sense of sleepiness not found ever since I came to this world. If I had to describe it, I would say it feels like that time when I returned from my first visit to space months ago but a hundred times worse.

I groggily gripped my head, my eyelids feel so heavy despite the heavy-duty stimulants the suit automatically injected into my bloodstream.

'What the hell is happening?! Is this what the process of evolution to Demon Lord is?'

Slowly, I drifted to the ground all the while trying to stay awake, the only thing that was on my mind was to get back to the Citadel or Metropolis in order to complete the evolution; I don't want to stay here and actually claim responsibility of the city and the genocide of 450,000 men, women, and children.

I tried to use [Technopathy] to get one of my drones to come, yet I can't seem to use it. I tried to say the two magical words that would open a door underneath me with Doormaker yet I can't make a sound using my throat, the only thing I can do is think, and not even think through the Noosphere so I can't just ask Project Simurgh to pick me up.

Wait a minute... think...

Placing the remaining charges into [Summoning Magic, I decided to once again, try my luck.

Using what little will of mine left, I commanded the nanites covering my body to come apart before forming into a hypercomplex magic circle as wide as an SUV is long.

Hissssss*

Coming into contact with the molten ground gave me a painful jolt of consciousness that I desperately needed to stay awake. So as I lay there on the bright red lava, half of my face and body being cooked, [Extreme Pain Resistence] activated and the sleepiness once again invaded the edge of my mind.

My hands reached out, "I... Demon Summoning... my offer...ing will...be the...remaining..." How many souls do I have left? "...however many souls I have left...I call to you...ANSWER ME!" Using the last of my strength I yelled out.

The circle shone brightly, so bright that everything else seem to darken, even the floor seems to be nothing compared to that radiance.

Once the light subsided, I saw two figures standing inside the circle. One, was a raven-haired male wearing clothes befitting of a British butler while the other was a blond-haired teenage girl wearing a white shirt and black tie with a black skirt, on both of their backs, was a pair of wings, what color it was I wasn't able to tell as I fell unconscious the moment I was about to give them my first order.

"bring... me... ho.. mee..." My speech slurred out before darkness claimed me, I fell deep into Morpheus' embrace afterward.

"So many souls..." The Primordial Demon known as Jaune remarked after she took her first breath after being summoned. Her chest expanded as her lung filled with air.

Her eyes then panned across the hellscape that was her summoning site.

The whole place was flat for as far as the unaided eye can see. The ground underneath them was all glowing a bright red and was hot enough that the Yellow Primordial felt the heat emanating from the glassed surface even with her boots.

"Oh my, so much death and destruction..."

Such a scene wasn't uncommon for the Yellow Primordial. Being the most destructive of all Primordial Demons, Jaune was very familiar with large-scale nuclear magic that can wreck a city.

Jaune then walked over to her summoner, the black material that once made up the summoning circle was now congregating around the perfect being, "I knew I was right to be summoned by you, Scientia Tempest. To think a Perfect Homunculus could exist today, what a miracle that is sure to bring change to this stagnant world."

Those black tiny automatons then lifted Scientia out of the lava's reach, causing Jaune to scowl when she saw that part of her summoner's face was burned.

Just as the Primordial was about to apply a bit of healing magic, the other Primordial jutted in and held Jaune's arm.

"Ah, ah, ah, remember the first request made by our Mistress," Noir spoke slyly.

"Oi, she may be your Mistress but until she proves to me she's truly worthy beyond being entertaining, I ain't submitting to her."

Noir's lips thinned, "Jaune, this is the first time in centuries you've stepped out of El Dorado, I highly doubt it would be a fluke. No, our Lady has gained your interest, so you WILL help me transport our new Mistress back to her home or so help me I will send you back to the Underworld and claim it was due to the hostile nature of Demons belonging to the Yellow bloodline."

Jaune's body tensed, before chuckling, "Oh? Is that right?" Jaune can't deny what Noir is saying, after all, Scientia grabbed her attention when the Primordial Demon first detected pure radiation that surpasses all the radiation of every single Nuclear Magic she had unleashed for the past three decades and a half combined—

In fact, the amount of radiation she had felt was equivalent to the output belonging to the cores of dead stars.

Now that's impressive, even by her measure.

And it's become even more interesting when it was made by a Perfect Homunculus of all things!

Even today, Jaune still had vivid memories of the glorious fight with Relentless, to this day, it still sends chills down her spirit when she thinks about it.

The raw destruction their battle made on the environment... the fact that Jaune had to be rescued by Chronoa of all people...

Closing her eyes to show just how confident she is, Jaune spoke, "Come on now, Noir, what about you? I know you are perhaps the most whimsical out of all of us Primordials yet you now seek to tie yourself down to serve someone? And thereby reducing your ability to be free? Tell me how being subservient under her would serve your goal of—"

Jaune felt the whistle of something flying right by her head. Opening her eyes, she saw that the right index finger that Noir was holding up was smoking.

"Do. Not. Question. Me." He growled out with narrowed eyes as Jaune just shrugged, an flash of light belonging to an explosion had occurred off in the distance, its sound won't be reaching where they'll be standing for a while.

"Alright, whatever floats your boat!" The Yellow Primordial happily spoke as if she hadn't just been threatened, "Although... where is her home anyway?"

Picking up Scientia with a princess carry, Noir thought for a moment before turning to face Jaune with a look of smug superiority, "Unlike you, I actually did research on our Lady before I was summoned, thus I know of the fact that she and most of her technology is immune to all forms of Divination (quite annoying by the way). However, no information is still information in and of itself, thusly I've concluded her home is probably in the largest area of 'blindness' if you will."

Jaune felt annoyed by the sheer amount of smugness that is rolling off of Noir, she let out a strained smile, "Let's go."

"Of course."

Then, the two Primordial Demons disappeared, carrying the Perfect Homunculus with them off to Metropolis.